Fine then. If he won’t come closer, I’ll have to lure him over.
After claiming a wedge of fruit from the tray, Tink flew over and offered it to him. “Hello, you want to join us?”
Tootles took the orange piece and peeked up at her. “You’re pretty,” he whispered. Then he turned around and dashed away.
Baffled by the boy’s behavior, Tink returned to Cook. “Did I do something wrong?”
“It’s not you,” Eliza assured her. “He was rescued from the same ship you were, and they treated him poorly. He’s barely said more than five words since he’s been here, and two of those were to you just now.”
“I’ll fix him a treat and see that he’s okay,” Cook said. “But it seems he likes you, Belle. Perhaps you could make a friend of him.”
“I can do that,” she said. She liked children, and making friends with Tootles might help break up the monotony of her new life at sea. Without the magical ability to teleport home, Tink had no choice but to make the best of her time on the ship.
When I return to Braeloch, I’ll have a tale worthy to share with Kendric.
Chapter
THREE PLEASANT DAYS aboard the Jolly Roger afforded Tink the chance to learn the ship and meet each crewmember. She also discovered a small handful of the sailors had enough whimsy in their hearts to understand the fairy tongue.
That had startled her, one pleasant surprise among many. She’d expected James, Eliza, and Cook to be the only ones capable of communication.
Usually when James roused before Tink, he left the door ajar for her to flit between the crack and onto the deck. Instead, she found it wide open and one of the crew’s repairmen sitting on a stool while he drilled a hole into the thick panel.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
While none of the pirates struck Tink as outright mean, she’d met some surly ones with no patience for her questions. Patrick grinned up at her instead, one of the most amiable when it came to satisfying her curiosity about their duties. “Drillin’ a hole for the captain. He wants me to make a wee door for you.”
“A door for me?”
“Yup. Figure it’s about time, eh?” A leather sack filled with an assortment of tools lay on his lap, along with a little round door. “Now this, I’ll fit this into the hole and nail it in place. It’ll swing open and shut like this,” he explained to her.
“You’re like a tinker!”
“A what’s it?”
“A tinker. We create and repair things.”
“Ah. Is that why you’re called Tinker Bell then?”
“Yes!”
“S’pose that makes me Tinker Patrick.”
Giggling, she settled on Patrick’s bag of tools to watch him work.
“You know, if you’re any good with repairing things, we ought to have you helping us. There’s no shortage of bloody things around this ship in need of repair. Knives to be sharpened, pots to mend for Cook, guns to maintain. Bloody things are prone to misfire when they’re not kept up, and you can’t trust these blokes to care for their own weapons.”
“I wanna help!”
“Then tell the captain you’re ours for the day and meet me below deck in the workshop within the hour. You know where to find the workshop, right?”
“Beside the crew’s quarters, near the bow.”
Patrick nodded.
James was never hard to find on the ship. She zipped up the mast to get a view of the entire deck, spotting his red coat at the front end. Giddy with anticipation, she flew down and danced around him.
“Slow down there, sweet little Belle.” James laughed and offered his palm. “What has you so happy today?”
“I’m going to help Patrick fix the ship and everything on it.”
“Oh?”
“I mean, if you don’t mind. I like to fix things, and he says there’s lots I can do to help. Oh, and thank you for the door.”
“My room is your room. You should have a way in and out on your own without relying on the door to remain cracked open. Is Patrick nearly finished?”
“Almost.” She paced across his hand with her hands clasped behind her back.
“And what shall you be repairing today?”
“Guns.” Although she was giddy enough to clap her hands together, Tink showed restraint.
“Er… Do you know how to fix a gun?”
“Well, no.” Nor had she ever seen one until the day James drew his pistol and shot the hawk hunting her on the deck. Ever since, she’d admired the sleek weapon from afar while lacking the courage to investigate it up close. “But Patrick will teach me. Then he won’t have to do so much on his own.”
“In that case, enjoy your work. Though, if I might make a suggestion?”
Tink fluttered up off his hand and hovered in front of his face. “What is it?”
“Perhaps start with Cook, if you’re able. She hasn’t said anything to me officially, but as I passed through the galley, I overheard her muttering about a deep dent and scratch in her favorite pot. I think she might appreciate the gesture if you were to fix it.”
“Say no more!”
Tink zipped away and dove into the open cargo hatch, spiraling to the rear of the ship and into the kitchen. Cook kept a tidy galley with everything in its assigned place. The woman herself was absent, but it didn’t take Tink long at all to find her special project. A large stewpot hung from the overhead on a hook.
“Did she hit someone with it?” Tink whispered to the empty room, aghast. The large dent matched the rounded shape of a man’s upper skull.
Tink sprinkled fairy dust on the pot and buffed it into the tarnished, misshapen surface. A little of a sprite’s magical essence worked for any material, making metals pliable and fabric soft as putty to mend the smallest torn threads. If the Liangese cared to learn more about her kind beyond selling them as pets or using their wings in alchemical concoctions, they’d probably abduct fae in even greater quantities.
Whistling as she worked, Tink coaxed the bottom into proper shape. Then she noticed that the repaired portion contrasted the rest, so she scrubbed the entire thing until it shone as bright as a newly minted coin.
“Perfect.”
Too excited to wait for Cook to discover the surprise, she darted away to undertake her next mission. There was a saying among the sprites, that a fairy was happiest when allowed to fulfill their purpose. Tinker Bell had been denied hers for far too long. With a renewed sense of self-worth, she passed through the berth while filing other minor repairs away for later inspection. Fraying ropes and torn clothes could wait until after the guns were finished.
She wound her way to the workshop and landed on Patrick’s work table, where she admired the assortment of tools strewn over the hard surface. A dozen sheets of parchment hung on the walls in the small room, each one displaying a different ship design. Like James, he built miniature ships from tiny, hand-carved components. An unfinished masterpiece occupied one corner of the desk, a beautiful representation of a double-masted ship with numerous sails. None of those had been attached yet, but the intricate work impressed her.
“Well, it certainly took you long enough, little one.”
“I had to help Cook with her stew pot.”
The young pirate’s eyes twinkled when he grinned. “In that case, you’re all forgiven. I’m fond of eating on time, and I imagine her needs were greater. Now, shall we begin?”
“What are we fixing?”
“I’m going over all the firearms. I like to check them once a week, at least, and as we’re soon to reach land, I’d prefer if everyone is armed with functional weaponry.”
“Why so often?”
“The damp,” Patrick said. “Out to sea as we are, you can never escape it. Sometimes the vent is clogged with rubbish or moisture gets into the primer.”
After naming each component of the weapon and describing its purpose, he walked her through the cleaning process. She watched him for the first gun, then assisted with the
second and third, before trying to handle the fourth all on her own. They discovered she was small enough to crawl into the barrel and drag a piece of cloth along with her.
Tink emerged and coughed a few times before wiping her sooty face. She smelled like gunpowder, but the pistol gleamed beneath the lantern hanging above them.
“It looks brand new. How’d you do that?”
“It’s what tinkers do,” she replied in a matter-of-fact voice. “Weren’t you listening?”
“Aye, but how? Even I’ve never gotten a weapon so clean. It looks as new as the day it was crafted.”
“Magic.”
“Huh. Well then, I guess I’ll just have to work harder to keep up with you. But seeing as how you performed a miracle with this, I wonder how you’d fare with the cannons.” He stroked his unshaven chin and gazed at the open arch leading into the gun deck.
“Oooh, what do they need?”
“A good cleaning and a fresh coat of wax to protect ’em from the saltwater. Of course, we won’t do those until we pull into port.”
“Then what else can we do?”
Patrick gestured to the remaining firearms. “If you can handle these for me, I’d be grateful. Then I can get to work on the leak in Eliza’s room.”
“I can do it!”
“Oh no, I’ve got that one,” he said with a quick grin, voice insistent. “It’s only a small matter, and I’ll be back in a jiff.”
“Okay!”
The time passed swiftly, but Patrick didn’t return. Tink finished up the last flintlock then wandered off in search of more to do. She repaired a torn fishing net and pile of bent fishing hooks before losing interest in simple tasks and ascending through the cargo hatch.
“Land ho!” Randall shouted from the crow’s nest.
A boisterous round of applause and exuberant cheers filled the air, and then the deck exploded into activity as the many pirates hurried to fulfill their duties. For a while, Tink was lost, hovering above the hatch. She’d never seen them so excited before.
“What’s happening? Where are we going?” she cried, catching ahold of Eliza when the woman stormed past, face flushed red and mouth pressed into a tight, joyless line.
“Hmm?”
“Where are we going? What land?”
“Samahara, of course. Hasn’t James told you anything?” the healer asked while offering Tink a palm to rest upon. Livid red marks and bruises stood out upon her knuckles.
“He told me after the ship has made all of its rounds, he’ll take me home to Cairn Ocland.”
“So, you’ll be leaving us then?”
Tink dipped her chin. “I have to go home. I’m a fairy godmother now, and there are people counting on me. So, did Patrick fix your leak?”
Eliza’s blinked. “My leak?”
“He said he had to repair a leak in your room.”
“Is that what he said?” The scowl intensified, carving deep furrows between Eliza’s fair brows.
“Isn’t that what he did? I fixed all the guns while he helped you.”
The mage set her free hand on her hip and huffed out an exasperated breath. “I’ll just bet he did, the lazy loaf. He came to my room because he wanted a shag.”
“What’s a shag?”
“It’s… I, ah… How old are you, little one?”
“Adult.”
“I mean in years.”
“I don’t know how many years. Why?” Her head tilted.
“Because I’m not about to talk about sex if you’re not old enough for it.”
“I’m not a child. I know all about mating!” Tink snapped, although a surge of heat flooded her face. She especially knew to announce her arrival before entering any room occupied by Conall and Sorcha for more than five minutes. The pair were insatiable.
Eliza’s scowl broke and laughter spilled from her lips. “Mating? Is that what you call it?”
“What else do you call it?”
Eliza repeated a bad word Tink had heard Conall say before. Plenty of times. Her eyes flew wide open. “You’re not supposed to say that. It’s a naughty word.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” Eliza’s brightening grin crinkled her hazel eyes.
* * *
After conducting a brief search of the ship, James found his fairy perched upon Eliza’s shoulder when the woman emerged from her cabin.
“There you are. I’ve looked everywhere for you.”
“Eliza was telling me about Samahara.”
“Perhaps I can do one better by showing you Samahara.” James performed an elegant bow before offering his left arm to Belle, palm up for her to land. Upon discovering she possessed equal intelligence to a human woman, he’d endeavored to treat her no differently from Eliza or Cook, lavishing her with the utmost respect at all times. “Would you like to join me ashore?” he asked, following a wild impulse.
“Really?” Belle flitted to him, bypassing his hand in favor of landing on a shoulder, instead.
“I see no reason why you shouldn’t. So long as you remain with me, no harm will come to you. I thought you might enjoy seeing a new place, or…” He paused, brows drawing inward as he thought back to her long tale about her homeland. “You haven’t been here before, correct?”
“No, I’ve only heard tales. Father Bear and his mate rescued an ifrit once for his mate. They really appreciated it, because they thanked Victoria with a pretty gift and burned away our cursed forest. Now it’s beautiful and thriving again. All of my fairy friends went to help.”
She never ceased to surprise him with her stories. “Djinn are quite rare. Your friends must be special indeed to have earned the favor of one.”
“In that case, I suppose I’ll prepare to disembark alone as you two lovebirds plan your visit,” Eliza said dryly. James had forgotten she was there at all.
“Sorry. You’re welcome to join us.”
After waving him off, she stepped around them and made her way to the main deck where men were lowering a smaller boat into the water.
“Why are we staying way out here?” Tink asked. Samahara’s shore gleamed pristine white in the distance.
“Docking at the pier takes effort, and we’re at the mercy of the winds when we wish to leave. Well, most ships are, at least. We’re lucky to have Little Wolf, who can conjure an acceptable wind whenever we need it, but it’s easier to moor here and row in unless we need to move large, heavy cargo. Nothing we took from the Golden Goose will require much more than a trip or two in the longboat.”
“I suppose that makes sense. So, since you’re the captain, do you get to go over first?”
“Unless I let Nigel go to handle the business end of things,” he replied with a grin. “Do you need anything before we go?”
“I’m ready now,” she exclaimed. “But…”
“What is it?”
“Won’t someone steal your ship if you leave it out here?”
The absurdity of the question took him by surprise. “Never you fear, Belle. No one would dare steal the Jolly Roger from me. Besides, Callum will be on board, as will Smee and several others.”
“But what if they steal it?”
“She won’t be stolen. I’d say that’s only a danger if I’ve done something absolutely awful to warrant mutinous behavior.”
Her green gaze searched his face and held eye contact, expression solemn in her tiny face. “Okay. Because I’d be very sad if I had to fly home to Cairn Ocland from here. The people in Liang aren’t very nice to fairies.”
“That, my dear, is an understatement.”
A crewman rowed them in the longboat to Samahara’s most prosperous port city, allowing James to leave the Jolly Roger for the first time in nearly a season. He’d forgotten how much he missed dry land at times, how good it felt to have solid earth beneath his boots. With Belle on his shoulder, he made his way through the crowded docks.
“Where are we going?”
“We are going to pay a visit to Grand Enchanter Joaidane.”
; “Who’s he?”
“You would call him the governor of these parts, I suppose. He protects the coastline from Ridaeron invaders and pirates of the more lawless variety.”
“Aren’t you lawless pirates, too?”
“Not entirely. Contrary to what I said to Captain Hawkins, we follow most laws of sea and civilization.”
“Most,” she echoed. Her frown scrunched her entire face and put a wrinkle between her small brows. He’d come to learn she was quite expressive in features, as well as her glows, and it helped him to memorize the meaning of each color. She tended to become a deep, serene blue while thinking, but when speaking of how much she missed home, the color became a pale shade closer to gray.
After a quiet chuckle, he navigated the narrow paths and walkways leading from the docks to the adjacent mercantile quarter.
“Look, James, look! They’re making glass.” Aglow with golden color, her bare feet lifted from his shoulder and she zipped around him in a circle before pointing to her object of interest. Nearby, a glassblower had drawn a crowd near the front of his shop as he twisted a piece of molten sludge with his tools and manipulated it into a horse with a flowing mane and tail.
“He does that several times a week and often makes figurines on demand. He’s quite talented.”
“I wish I had money,” she murmured. Then that soft, dismal blue color spread over her from head to toe.
“But you do.”
“Huh. What are you talking about? I don’t have any money.”
James displayed his skill with sleight of hand by producing a coin for her, making it appear to come out of thin air.
“You know magic,” she breathed, becoming a miniature sun.
“Not exactly, but this silver should cover his fee.”
Amused by her rapid change in emotions, he watched her dart into the queue with the silver bit. She waited her turn with surprising patience, and when the glassblower turned to address them, he marveled over her tiny size, too.
“What a dazzling creature you have with you this day, Captain Hook.”
“I seem to have a talent for making unusual friends. If you’re not in a rush to leave for the day, she’d like you to create one of your marvels for her.”
Belle and the Pirate Page 9
