The Fifth Empire of Man (Best Laid Plans Book 2)

by Rob J. Hayes

  “Sarth and the Five Kingdoms have sent a fleet fifty ships strong. We got them pretty equal on numbers there, but they’ll have bigger ships, more men. We win this battle and there won’t be another. The bastards will have no choice but to recognise us as a kingdom, right and true.

  “You’ve all put your trust in me to gather you together and lead you to victory. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Can’t do it alone though.” Drake sent a long, poignant look at Elaina. “So the moment this is all over and I sit down as king, I’ll be sitting down with Captain Elaina Black as queen.”

  “You’ll marry her now,” Tanner’s voice was loud and clear over the pirates clamouring at Drake’s announcement. “Don’t want ya slipping your way out of it once the hard work is done.”

  Drake clenched his jaw so tightly it hurt.

  “I’ll even perform the ceremony myself,” Tanner continued. “Elaina – daughter. Do you take our king, Drake Morrass, to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  Drake at least had the pleasure of seeing a look of panic flash over Elaina’s face, but the woman recovered quickly enough.

  “Aye, guess I have to.”

  “And Drake.” Tanner grinned across the room. “Do you take Elaina Black, my daughter, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

  Some situations there was simply no escape from. Drake nodded. “Aye, I do.”

  “Then by my power as a captain of my own vessel and by the witness of all these good men an’ women…” Tanner paused, a victorious smile spreading across his lips. “I now pronounce you man and wife.”

  A cheer rolled around the tavern, so loud that Drake had to wonder if the woman was really that popular or if the pirates were simply jumping upon any opportunity for celebration. There certainly hadn’t been too much cause for it of late. Drake let the cheer do a few rounds before holding up his hands for quiet, desperate to get the situation back under his control.

  “News worthy of celebration, no doubt, but right now we got more important things to talk about.” Drake waited a few moments for the crowd to calm down. “The fleet is coming. It’s on its way already and could be here any day. Truth of it is, we’re not ready.”

  “We’ll kill ’em!” shouted a swarthy old captain by the name of Twotone Elric, and a few of the others cheered their assent.

  “Aye, we will,” Drake said loudly. “But we ain’t got no more time to dawdle and piss about. I don’t want them getting here to New Sev’relain. A fight on land is a fight we don’t want, and the good folk here have been through enough. They ain’t fighters, and they don’t deserve to be beaten into the role.

  “I want us to meet these fuckers in open water with decks under our feet and Rin’s blessing in our sails. So load up ya ships with supplies and get your crews back on board and as sober as you dare. In three days, we sail out of New Sev’relain to claim ourselves an empire.”

  The crowd cheered.

  “To claim ourselves a legacy!”

  The roar grew even louder and the thumping of feet on the floor was a thunderous accompaniment. Elaina smiled at Drake and drew close.

  “To claim ourselves a crown,” the woman all but whispered in his ear before turning and walking to the door. Drake watched her go, admiring her presence. Elaina was as strong and skilled as any pirate, the perfect queen for the tough life of the Pirate Isles. Drake was already wondering how easy she would be to manipulate.

  Chapter 53 - Starry Dawn

  Elaina sat in the sand, staring out at the bay and all the ships that crowded it. There were so many masts it reminded her of Chade, or Larkos. Her spirits were high, and with good reason. Drake had set himself up as king and now she was his wife. Elaina would be queen, even if it did mean the occasional sharing of a bed with Morrass. The very thought of his hands on her skin sent shivers coursing through her body. Drake was pretty enough, that was true, and if even half the rumours about him weren’t shit, he knew his way around a woman’s body. But Elaina couldn’t shake her distaste for the man. He was slimy as a sea serpent and dangerous as a shark, and Elaina wanted nothing to do with him. But sacrifices sometimes had to be made, and Drake was hers. The thought of carrying Drake’s child inside her sent a new set of shivers down Elaina’s spine, and she decided to think about something else.

  She had yet to choose a ship to take as her own. She had twenty-four vessels under her command, more than anyone else, but none of them were hers. The thought of Starry Dawn, and of those who had taken her from Elaina, made for a sour state of mind. She needed to pick a new ship and quickly, not dwell on the past. It would take some time to appraise the crew and familiarise herself with the quirks of a new boat, and time was something none of them had. She briefly considered strolling back aboard The Phoenix, if for no other reason than to piss off that pregnant waif, Aimi. It wasn’t a real option though. Elaina was to be queen of the pirates and, as such, she should damned well have her own ship.

  “Hi, Cap,” Surge said, sitting down just out of striking distance.

  Elaina did a good job of holding her surprise at the treasonous pirate’s appearance. Instead of rounding on the bastard and stabbing him to death for taking part in the theft of her ship, Elaina simply offered him a cold, dead-eyed glare. Surge quickly took a particular interest in the sand.

  “Look, Cap, about the whole…”

  “Where’s my ship?” Elaina growled.

  “Out in the bay,” Surge said quickly, his hands up in the air.

  “I don’t see her.”

  “There.” Surge pointed to the bay. “Well, she’s a little hidden behind Ocean Deep, I suppose, but she’s there alright. Tanner, uh, Captain Black has her again.”

  Elaina made knuckles in the sand.

  “I’m sorry, Cap,” Surge offered. “We all are.”

  Elaina launched to her feet and strode away from the apologetic pirate. Tanner had taken up residence just a short way down the beach, setting up a large tent where he could hold his court apart from the residence of New Sev’relain, and Elaina was eager to have words with him.

  Tanner was dozing in the afternoon sun just outside his tent with his feet up on a barrel. Blu sat near him, pretending to read a logbook, and a number of Tanner’s crew were close by, guarding their captains.

  “Da,” Elaina all but shouted.

  Tanner let out a startled snort and his eyes snapped open, dark fury burning behind his crystal blues. Blu was quicker to respond, throwing the logbook into the sand and jumping up to stand in his sister’s way.

  “Don’t remember anyone requesting…” Blu started.

  “Blu,” Tanner said.

  “Sit the fuck back down, brother,” Elaina snapped. “Ya say one more fucking word to me, and I’ll have that ship of yours taken away and given to a Riverlander.”

  Blu opened his mouth to reply, but there was fear in his eyes. He’d witnessed the marriage. He knew what it meant. Elaina had all but been declared queen, and he knew his sister would happily take away his toys. Blu turned to look at their father. Tanner shrugged, his eyes now glinting with amusement.

  “Better obey the girl, lad,” Tanner rumbled. “She’s royalty these days.”

  “You got my ship over there, Da.” Elaina had decided to forgo formalities and jump right in.

  “Seem to remember we’ve had this conversation before,” Tanner said. “It’s my ship. They’re all my ships.”

  Elaina drew in a sharp breath. “No. They’re all my ships.”

  “Ah, I see the way of it now.” Tanner stood, towering over his daughter. “I send ya away ta find me some allies, and ya go and recruit them all for yaself instead, aye? What a grand daughter you turned out ta be.”

  “You sent me away to be out of the way,” Elaina growled. “Ya never expected me to find any help, and when I get back, I find ya working for the very bastard you were supposed to kill. Thanks to you, Da, I’m now married to Drake fucking Morrass.”

  For a moment Tanner looked as though he might strike h
er, and Elaina was ready for it, but he just growled and walked back to his seat. “It was the right thing ta do, lass. Ya mate, Stillwater, convinced me of that.”

  Blu looked set to burst with whatever it was he wanted to say. Elaina shook her head at him, and he kept silent.

  “I want my ship back, Da,” she pressed.

  “Aye. Take it then. Ya crew are all still there. Well, all but that treacherous weird of a first mate. Bastard tried telling me ya had run afoul of a bad take. Said ya got stuck and thrown overboard.”

  “You didn’t believe him?”

  Tanner laughed. “Ya might be ungrateful, but ya still my daughter. Didn’t take much for ya crew ta turn on the fool. Had him strung up in front of all of the town. Dumb bastard didn’t think he’d run into me here, eh?”

  “You let the rest of the crew live?”

  “Aye. Can’t go wasting the bodies, no matter how serious the crime. Killed the ring leader and be done with it. The rest can fight and die for your throne, Ya Majesty.”

  Elaina stood there for a few moments longer, unsure of what to say. “Well, uh. Thanks then, Da.”

  Tanner laughed. “A thank ya from a queen. Treasure that one forever, eh?”

  Elaina nodded and turned away, thoroughly confused as to whether she’d just earned her father’s respect or lost it.

  Walking up the gangplank to Starry Dawn, Elaina felt a fluttering in her stomach. Despite Alfer, Pollick, and Pavel being right behind her, she was nervous. This was the crew she’d hired, built up, helped train, and led to riches a hundred times over. It was also the crew who had mutinied and sailed her ship away from port, leaving her stranded in a strange city with nothing but the clothes on her back. Elaina wondered what had happened to the rest of her clothes, and her other possessions. Had Rovel thrown them overboard, sold them on, or just left them where they were? It didn’t matter, really – they were only things, and she could always get more. What did matter was that the ship was hers again, and this time she’d never let Starry Dawn go. She stepped up onto the main deck and felt the weight of many eyes turn her way. It was possible the crew hadn’t yet heard of her return, let alone her marriage to Morrass. A few of them started to slink away while others just stared in shock. Surge was on deck, wearing a stupid grin, and he was standing next to a man Elaina recognised all too well – her father’s raping son-of-a-shit first mate, Mace.

  “Get the fuck off my ship,” Elaina hissed. Her cheeks felt as though they were on fire, but she didn’t care.

  Mace looked her up and down, cautiously. Elaina felt her skin crawl.

  “Ain’t your ship,” he said slowly. “It’s ya da’s.”

  Elaina stalked over to him, fighting to retain control of herself. Just being close to the rapist made her want to both vomit and claw his beady eyes from his skull. Her skin itched, and the shame and anger she’d been suppressing for so long raged inside her.

  “Off!” she screamed.

  Mace didn’t move, or at least he didn’t move fast enough for Elaina’s liking, and she saw all manner of red. Lashing out with a wild fury, Elaina punched the bastard square in the face. Mace stumbled and grunted. Elaina wasn’t finished. She followed up with another punch, and another, and another, and another. Each time she swung at him, Mace tried to get his hands up to block, but he was off balance and reeling, and Elaina knew full well how to throw a punch.

  By the time Mace finally went down, collapsing onto the deck in a heap, Elaina was shaking and her fist was dripping blood. Judging by the stinging, she guessed not all of the blood was his, but she blocked out the pain.

  “Rope,” Elaina ordered, her voice breaking a little with her fury. A moment later Ed the Navigator appeared with a short length. It wasn’t fit for rigging, but it was long enough and sturdy enough for the job at hand.

  “Tie it off,” Elaina said as she quickly knotted a noose in one end.

  Mace was starting to come around, trying to get his hands beneath him to stand, so Elaina hit him again, a solid punch followed by an even more solid boot that left him spitting teeth and blood on the deck of her ship. Elaina knelt down and forced the noose over his head.

  With a grunt that was all raw power, she pulled Mace over to the railing and lifted him up against it, then pushed him over the side and jumped backwards out of the way of the rope as it pulled taught.

  Elaina breathed heavily, still shaking, her emotions a whirl that she was struggling to decipher. Mace was kicking against the hull of Starry Dawn, the rope choking the life from his filthy body.

  “I’m back,” she announced to the crew. “Ship is mine again.”

  Nobody argued.

  “Good.” Elaina looked over the railing. Mace was still struggling to stay alive. “Make sure this fucker is good and dead, then cut him free. I’ll be in my cabin.” The crew stayed silent, so Elaina nodded, more to herself than to anyone else, and made quickly for the captain’s cabin. She hoped she’d get there before the tears hit.

  Chapter 54 - The Phoenix

  “We’re not having this conversation,” Keelin said.

  “Why not?” Aimi said. “Seems we haven’t had a conversation in months. Might as well start up again with this one.”

  “We’re not having it because you are getting off my boat, now.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Damnit, woman.” Keelin threw his hands up in the air and stalked over to the window. “Why won’t you just listen to me for once?”

  “Why won’t you stop trying to protect me? I don’t need protecting. I managed just fine on my own before I met you, and I’d manage just fine on my own now.”

  Keelin opened his mouth to argue and quickly shut it again, taking a moment to calm down a little. “But you’re not on your own, Aimi. You’re pregnant. I’m moving you off the ship because I… we are about to sail into a battle, and I don’t want you involved in it.”

  “Stop trying to protect me.”

  “No.”

  Aimi let out a growl that was all frustration and collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. “This isn’t working, Keelin.”

  “It hasn’t been for a while,” he admitted.

  “That why you fucked Captain Bitch back in HwoyonDo?”

  Keelin sighed. Months at sea and months of the same arguments over and over again. Since HwoyonDo, Aimi had gone from cold to downright abrasive and nothing Keelin did seemed to make a damned difference. He couldn’t blame her for being angry. Keelin had fucked Elaina, and they all knew it. Aimi had every right to be angry, but she also refused to listen to reason. Keelin only wanted what was best for her, and for their child, and what was best was not being on the ship in the middle of a war.

  Aimi let out a single sob, and Keelin turned. Her head was buried in her hands and her shoulders were trembling. He left his spot at the window and went over to the bed, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her. She shrugged it away. Keelin persisted, and the second time Aimi didn’t resist.

  “I shouldn’t be crying,” she said. “I’m angry with you.”

  “I know.”

  “This ship is my home.”

  “I know.”

  “This crew are my family. I don’t want to leave.”

  “I know.” Keelin wished he had something else to say, but he’d already made his decision and there was nothing she could say to change his mind.

  They were both silent for a long time. Aimi stopped crying and seemed content to rest her head against Keelin’s chest. It was nice, and far more comfortable than they’d been for a long time.

  “Don’t die,” she said quietly.

  “I don’t intend to.”

  She pulled away from him then and gave him a strange look. He had no idea what she was thinking, but there was sadness in her eyes. Eventually, she stood and started to gather her things.

  Chapter 55 - King’s Justice

  Daimen woke to a hammering at his door. It was a small cabin, litt
le more than a hammock and some space to stand. He’d tried his best to make it his own, but it wasn’t an easy task given that he currently owned nothing. The door wasn’t locked; Admiral Wulfden had had the lock removed, so Daimen had set up a chair that provided him some measure of privacy – or at least some warning should they come for him.

  “Poole,” shouted someone from the other side. “Open this door now or I will break it down and nail you to the mizzenmast.”

  Daimen sighed. Everything was threats these days, either blatant or implied. He knew they didn’t trust him, but it grated that they felt the need to remind him of it at every possible opportunity. He missed the days of being a captain. Being respected and trusted. Drake might be a lying, murderous bastard willing to slaughter women and children to further his own desires, but at least Daimen hadn’t been living with a noose around his neck while sailing for him.

  “I’m comin’, ya ungrateful sods,” he growled.

  “Now, Poole.”

  “In a hurry ta see my cock, are ya? As ya want, mate.” Daimen swung his legs onto the deck and pulled the chair away from the door, which slammed open a moment later. He made a show of stretching and scratching at his stones.

  “Urgh,” grunted the square-jawed officer on the other side of the door, looking away in obvious distaste. “Get some clothes on, Poole. Quickly. The admiral is eager for your advice.”

  “Aye?” Daimen said with a laugh. “First time for everything, I guess.”

  He would have liked to take his time getting dressed, if for no other reason than to annoy the admiral. Unfortunately Officer Square-Jaw was having none of it, and the man’s sword looked a little loose in its scabbard. Something had got the whole ship riled up, and it wasn’t until Daimen joined Admiral Wulfden on the forecastle that he saw just what it was.

  “Fuck me,” Daimen breathed as he looked out across the sea.

  “You lied to us, Poole,” Wulfden said.