The Lion of the Sea (The Maiden Ship Book 2)

by Micheline Ryckman

  Dain’s brows rose along with everyone else's. Not only was this pirate woman offering them help—she was apparently married to a woman. Dain had only ever heard rumors of such things. Of course, it was taboo to talk about them—even in the more liberal kingdom of Zaal. Actually, it was on the same level as women in leadership, or being friends with an Iandiorian.

  The extended silence that followed was awkward, but Helda eventually took pity on them, winking as she said, “There’s a league of difference between yer world and ours. Maybe one day I’ll teach ye all about it, but fer now, ye’ve more pressing matters. My wife runs this cove, and she'll be the one yer wanting to talk to.”

  Sable found her voice first, and Dain admired her for it. “No offense intended, Helda, but how can we trust a pirate queen?”

  “Pirate queen, indeed! Well, if that’s what ye want to call her, so be it.” Helda’s easy laugh bubbled forth as she patted Sable’s hand. “It seems ye’ve little choice, lass.”

  While the tents in Nords Cove were colorful, they were also primarily functional. No bells and whistles, no opulent displays of wealth. Dain had yet to be aboard a pirate vessel, but he wondered if perhaps they made up for the lack of decor here on their ships instead. And he was surprised to see that the pirate queen’s tent, Helda’s home, was no exception to the rule. In fact, it felt even more modest than some of the others.

  Helda lifted the sand-colored flap, waving for them to follow her inside.

  Sable squeezed Dain's hand as they entered. It’d been decided that only the two of them would go—there was no sense having six voices pleading their case. Helda, however, had insisted Foxwing join them—apparently, the pirate had some explaining to do. Dain could only guess that the man had broken some rule by bringing them here, and now he'd face the consequences. When Foxwing had woken and been given this news, he’d simply looked relieved. Dain didn’t blame him. If he’d been given a choice between facing discipline or continuing in Idris’s thrall, Dain would’ve chosen the latter as well. Even so, as they entered the tent, Dain could see the man's body tense.

  The candle-lit tent was as modest inside as out, with sparse, simple furnishings, and furs and throw pillows for sleeping. The only luxuries were a large writing desk piled high with scrolled files and an impressive collection of books that overflowed onto the ground from two makeshift shelves. There were few positive tales told about pirates, especially among merchants, but from the look of this tent, it seemed they—or at least their leaders—were more educated than the stories let on.

  Helda invited them all to sit at her small, rustic table while she tossed her sullied work apron into a basket and proceeded to get them each a cup of water. “Regina will be along shortly; she’s been out on ridge patrol today.”

  Dain was growing more and more curious about the culture they’d stumbled into and he couldn’t resist asking. “The pirate queen goes on patrol?”

  Helda smiled, the kind of patient look a mother gives a child. “Well, yes. And fer the record, she’s not a queen. Now, that’s not to say she ain’t in charge—she is—but we’ve a different view of leadership than you lot.”

  Sable leaned forward, looking as eagerly interested as Dain felt, but before Helda could continue, a cool, salty breeze passed through the entrance flap toward them, and a strong female voice filled the tent. “Foxwing, stand!”

  The pirate seated beside Dain stood meekly, hat in hand, as they all turned toward the voice. Helda might not call her wife a pirate queen, but the woman now standing just inside the entry couldn’t be described as anything but. Every bone in Dain’s body wanted to bow. If Ileana was the embodiment of beauty, royal leadership and grace, this woman was the embodiment of beauty, royal strength and might. Her sleekly trained muscles were visible through her tunic and trousers, and her burnt-umber hand gripped the rapier on her belt like she knew exactly how to use it. When she pulled the large, scarlet-plumed hat from her head, Dain heard Sable draw a breath along with him. This woman was stunning. And her dark, braided hair was only a shade deeper than the eyes she fixed firmly on Foxwing.

  The pirate shivered as the queen stalked toward him. “Ye should be fed to the sharks, Trent Laughlin. We’ve no use fer yer kind in this camp.” She swept a hand toward Dain and Sable. “Ye’ve endangered us all by bringing them here.” She leaned in, nose to nose with Foxwing now. “They’re being hunted, and not just by hounds.”

  The pirate’s eyes grew wide, but he stayed quiet. Dain couldn’t help feeling like Foxwing had learned to hold his tongue in this woman’s presence long ago.

  Helda came to everyone’s rescue, sweeping cheerfully up from her chair, floating to her wife’s side and kissing her gently on the cheek before saying, “Regina, my love, let me introduce you to Sable and Dain, and let me point out that yer safe return means the hunters have yet to discover their prey, or our cove. Am I right?”

  Regina grunted. “Fer now.”

  Helda loosened her wife’s belt, lifting the weighted rapier up and off her hips before guiding her to a chair. “Our guests have a tale I think ye should hear. Lend them yer ear while I get ye some bread and ale.”

  Regina slumped in her chair, rubbing at her temples before she looked up to meet Dain and Sable’s gaze. Her next words were a complete surprise. “I know who ye are. I’d hoped the dreams weren’t true this time, but it seems they never fail me.”

  Dain felt his jaw go slack, but before he could speak, Sable pounced. “You have talents, or a talent?” She slapped his arm. “She’s a prophetic visionary like you!”

  Dain tried to smile at Sable, but he was pretty sure, by the look on Regina’s face, that this revelation wasn’t really going to help their cause.

  The pirate queen narrowed her brows. “I’ve no clue what ye speak of, lass. I only dream, that’s all, but I do know yer arrival means a whole world of trouble.”

  Helda returned to the table to set a large plate of bread, cheese, and ale in front of her wife. “Hear them out, my love.”

  Regina sniffed the food, then nodded. “Aye, let’s hear what they have to say.”

  Helda draped an arm across the woman's shoulders as she stood looking down at them expectantly—the queen obviously didn’t lead alone. Dain swallowed. “Helda tells us that you’re no friend to the emperor of Dorthane.”

  Regina simply grunted through a mouthful of food.

  “If you’ve been in this cove long, you must know he’s amassing an army, and that he plans to invade the four kingdoms?”

  She grunted again.

  “We’ve come to stop him.”

  Her head snapped up. Dain could see she thought him crazy, but he kept going before she could respond. “Not us alone. We have help—friends—but they need access to your cove.”

  Heavy fists hit the table. “That emperor is certainly no friend of ours. Blood demons walk our lands because of him; they razed our harbors, stole and killed our folk at random, and after generations of torment they drove us to the sea—to piracy. We’ve been safely hidden on the waves, and in Nords Cove fer decades, but now yer wanting to take that away by waging a war ye can’t possibly win?”

  Dain tried to hold Regina’s fierce gaze. “Those attacks weren’t random, and we want to stop the war, not wage it.”

  The queen snarled, but Helda squeezed her shoulder and said, “Explain, please.”

  Dain took a deep breath. “The demon attacks were planned, selective. They were looking for people like you and me, people with—gifts.” Dain wasn’t sure if he should go into explaining the history of magic or not, so he paused for a moment to let his statement sink in. Regina’s face eventually softened, almost like she’d known the attacks weren’t random in some way, all along. Perhaps she’d dreamed it? The thought gave him courage. “There are more of us, two ships full in fact, who like all of you, have spent years on the sea trying to stay alive. But once the emperor invades, once he takes the four kingdoms, he’ll rule everything, and there’ll be no safe p
lace left, not even Nords Cove.” He felt Sable squeeze his knee, and he knew she thought he’d spoken well.

  Helda responded. “Well, if yer not planning to wage a war, how do ye mean to stop him?”

  Dain pulled at the pendant tucked inside his tunic, holding it up for Helda and the pirate queen to see. “With this.”

  Regina’s eyes brightened in surprise, but Helda snorted playfully. “It’s pretty, to be sure, but I don’t see how—”

  Her wife’s hand flew up, cutting Helda short as she leaned across the table, fingers extended. “May I see it?”

  Dain had no idea what she was thinking, but if the awed expression on Regina’s face was any clue, he would have to guess she’d seen the Dernamn before. He pulled the chain over his head, handing the medallion over.

  The pirate queen turned it, almost reverently, in her callused palms, carefully tracing the designs engraved on the front as she murmured under her breath. Everyone seemed to hold their own breath, watching her in silence. When she finally spoke again, her tone was low, near inaudible. “I’ve dreamt of this pendant since I was girl. It was—the only dream that hadn’t come to pass.” Her gaze never left the Dernamn, but her commanding tone recovered. “Tell me what it is.”

  Dain did his best to explain. It sounded outlandish, implausible, even to his own ears, but Sable continued to squeeze his knee in encouragement as he spoke. All the while, Regina and Helda simply stared at the Dernamn. When Dain finished, Foxwing spoke up first; apparently, the pirate had grown tired of holding his tongue.

  “Yer asking us to risk everything—life, limb, and fortunes—on a magical piece of jewelry? We pirates are fearless, but we’re not stupid.”

  Regina’s chin lifted for the first time since Dain had given her the pendant. “Since when do ye have a say in anything we risk here in Nords Cove, Trent Laughlin? Yer a shipless captain, and a sorry excuse fer a pirate. Ye deserve to be flogged fer breaking the cove’s code, so I suggest ye keep yer trap shut.”

  Foxwing slouched in his chair, his bottom lip jutting out like a petulant child’s. Dain couldn’t help but wonder at the contrast between the notorious pirate who’d accosted them this morning, and the man who sat beside him now. Foxwing certainly wasn’t living up to his reputation.

  Dain looked at Regina again, and it struck him that if any pirate should have tales told about them, it was her. The queen met his gaze. “Ye believe this rightful bearer, and those keys the old siren spoke of, are in the North then, because ye dreamt it?”

  Dain nodded.

  Regina looked down at the pendant again. “We pirates rarely trust the word of a siren—but I do know my dreams have yet to steer me wrong. And it seems yer dreams and mine are on a similar path. Yer ships are free to enter Nords Cove, on one condition.” Her gaze flicked toward the still-pouting pirate. “That Captain Foxwing stays by yer side and holds ye to the code.” She gave the pirate a hard glare. “It’s the only thing that keeps us safe.” Foxwing’s lips parted, but before he could protest, the queen’s tone turned even more commanding. “I’ll be expecting a daily report.”

  For a moment, Dain wondered if trusting pirates was such a great idea. But perhaps, like the queen, Dain would just have to his trust his dreams.

  30

  Someone had to go back to The Maiden—it was the only way to set their friends on route to Nords Cove, and the only way to get a message to The Wildflower, but even after a good night’s sleep, Sable's friends were finding the decision hard. She, on the other hand, had no qualms. “I’ll be the one going.”

  Dain practically jumped off the bench they shared in Helda’s common tent. “No.” A few of the others murmured in agreement, but Sable dug her fingers into her seated hips and lowered her voice to a firm, though discreet level. She’d been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple days since being reunited with Dain, and as much as she loved him, she remembered that, in the past, she'd given up a lot of herself to please him. Especially when they’d wintered in Aalta’s harbor, where she’d constantly interceded for him with regard to his mother, and forgone studying aboard The Wildflower for his sake as well. The progression of losing herself and her own opinions had been subtle, but it’d been a simple phrase from Helda that brought the revelation home. The pirate woman had been helping Sable dress after she'd brought the new frock into the bath tent the day of their arrival. She'd said, “Those eyes of yers are mighty swollen, lass. Be sure yer treating yerself right now, ye hear?”

  A lantern had gone on for Sable then—her behavior wasn't healthy. Neither for her, Dain, or their relationship. And she didn't want to fall back into the unhealthy pattern again. She’d need to stand her ground on this one, because if she stayed in Nords Cove, the emperor and his minions would hover ever nearer the doorstep. They were searching for her, and that made her a liability to all. Plus, it was also the only logical plan. She made her tone firmer yet. “The minute we’re in the forest, the minute my talent is wielded, the stalkers will swarm, and I’ll never get back to this cove, especially not without leading the enemy directly here.”

  Foxwing piped up, his role as codekeeper giving him a new-found sense of confidence, though he still chose to sit on the opposite end of the table to Idris. “We’d sooner see ye dead than have ye lead those blood demons here.”

  Dain glared at Foxwing, but Sable just ignored the pirate, looking at the others instead. “It’s the only practical solution.”

  Casper crossed his bare copper arms over his chest. The man hadn’t bothered to dress this morning; he wore only an undershirt, and Sable had seen a number of pirates, both male and female, ogling the sailor since breakfast began. Casper seemed uncharacteristically immune to the attention today though, and his voice carried a rare serious note. “Sable’s right, and ye know it.”

  Dain let out a long breath beside her. “We’ll both go.”

  Sable bit her lip. None of this was going to be easy, but it was the only way. She turned to Dain. “No, you need to stay here. You have to work at cultivating our relationship with Nords Cove; you need to make sure the pirate queen doesn’t change her mind—trust has to be built. Plus, I’m the one they’re hunting, the cove will be safer if I’m gone.” Before he could argue she looked across the table at the others. “It’s best if Jord and Casper stay too. If, by some chance, the cove is attacked, Jord can keep the stalkers at bay, and Casper is our best swordsman.” She looked directly at the huntsman now. “Elden will go with me; he’ll be able to get us back into the forests without leaving a trace. Then I’ll shift us out from there. Plus, the huntsman has more reason than any other to return to The Maiden.”

  Elden simply nodded, while Casper looked resolved, and Jord, well, he always looked uncomfortable.

  Dain hung his head, and Sable’s throat began to throb—it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t make parting from each other again any less difficult.

  Idris started to cry. “You’re both going to leave…”

  Elden moved from his seat, laying an arm across the boy’s shoulders. “Not for long, Idris. We’ll return and bring your sister back with us—I promise.”

  Idris sniffed louder. “Why do you both have to go—why couldn’t it only be one of you?”

  Sable’s whole chest ached now, but as she moved to console the boy, Dain grabbed her elbow. “Idris is right. Only Elden needs to go.”

  She turned back. “Dain—”

  He grabbed her other arm in earnest. “We don’t have to go back into the forest to misdirect the hunters. We can go out to the sea.”

  Sable’s heart flip-flopped, and like always, she held her tongue as his pleading eyes swallowed her whole. Perhaps she'd never be able to stand her ground where Dain was concerned—love was such a messy thing.

  Foxwing chimed in again. “It’s a notion, to be sure, but persuading a pirate to let ye on board their ship is another feat entirely. We’ve strict codes and few exceptions.”

  Sable shifted out of Dain’s hold, gentl
y easing her hand into his as they sat again. Dain said, “I’m sure if Regina knew how much safer—”

  Foxwing cut him off. “Regina has no ship. She might run Nords Cove, but she’s no captain. And I fear ye’ll find the others not so welcoming.” The pirate scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “But, if I had a ship…”

  Sable narrowed her eyes at the pirate while Dain grimaced and ran his long fingers through his hair.

  Then, surprisingly, Jord turned to Foxwing. “You lost your ship, right? Is it in this harbor now?”

  The pirate gave a low growl. “Aye, ‘tis, but it was taken—not lost.”

  Jord sat up straight, looking almost confident. “If we helped you get it back, would you take us out to sea?”

  Casper had yet to uncross his arms, but now he opened them wide to give the stout man a hard slap on the back. “Yer a pirate at heart, Jord Abernoth.”

  The plan was simple, and it all hinged on Idris. Neither Elden nor Sable had liked the idea, but Dain and the others argued that, if all went according to plan, the coup would require little or no use of force with Idris’s skills in play. The boy had been excited by the prospect, and she wondered if maybe he liked using his powers a little too much. In the end, Sable had conceded reluctantly, but she was still worried it might all blow up in their faces.

  The Gilded Pearl was small by galleon standards, only able to house a crew of twenty at most, but the vessel lived up to its name—it was beautiful. Sable couldn’t help staring as it cheerfully bobbed in the harbor’s sea-green waves. The decks, rails, and masts were stained in various natural tones, and detailed with nautical carvings that ran the length of the ship. The crowning glory, however, was the seductively rendered siren fixed upon the prow. Sable would almost say she was more beautiful than Ileana. Foxwing boasted that The Gilded Pearl’s interiors were as luxurious as her exterior, and he said her modest size made her the fastest vessel on the high seas. Honestly, he talked about the ship like it was his wife, and in contrast, he talked about the man who took it from him like he was a monster. Sable took everything Foxwing said with a grain of salt, not only for how he’d treated them on their first meeting or because of his notoriety, but because of the plain and simple fact that he was a pirate. Everyone in the four kingdoms knew that, at the heart of it, pirates were brigands, thieves, and killers—no tale told otherwise. That wasn’t to say Sable didn’t like Helda and Regina—she did—but she wouldn’t trust a single hair on any pirate’s head until they’d proven themselves better than the reputation that preceded them.