When Tink joined him, he greeted her with an affectionate touch of his thumb against the narrow strip of spine between her wings. She helped herself to the pirate captain’s shoulder and made herself at home, accustomed to sitting cross-legged beneath the silky curtain of his dark hair. She loved when he wore it down, framing his face in an abundant tumble of black waves. He’d bathed that morning, too, and the rich scent of his soap surrounded her, spicy, like rum invading her senses.
Without speaking, she breathed him in and soaked in the warmth he emitted.
“Good morning, Belle. We’ll be reaching the shore soon,” James said.
An emerald hued island came into view on the horizon, with a tall mountain at its heart. The closer they came to it, the more apparent it became to Tink that they weren’t approaching one island, but several landforms clustered together, each one topped with swaying trees.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“It certainly is.”
Mesmerized, she enjoyed the view in silence until they pulled into the bay. Men cheered as the anchor dropped and some burst into song, singing of women and drinks and lazy days under the sun.
“Do you go over first?” she asked.
“Not this time. I give that honor to those with family here. Callum, Little Wolf, and a few others will take the first boat over. Then I’ll cross with the second.”
A whoop of laughter preceded a double splash, drawing Tink’s attention to two men swimming toward the shore. James chuckled and leaned both arms on the rail while observing the race between the two mages.
“I guess there will be room for me on the first boat after all.”
“What are they doing?” Tink asked.
“Swimming for it, and I can’t say that I blame them. Little Wolf has been eager to see his wife before their child arrives. He and Callum sometimes make a wager on who gets there first.”
Surrounded by a joyous atmosphere and the high spirits of the crew, Tink waited on James’s shoulder while the pirates lowered the longboat to the water. A volunteer ferried the first round of visitors to the island. Although Tink had missed the conclusion of the race, she located Callum and Little Wolf among the crowd gathered on the beach. As the latter knelt and kissed his wife’s round belly, a woman streaked across the sand and leapt into Callum’s arms. A little girl no older than Elspeth dashed after her.
“James! It’s James!” a young boy’s voice cried.
Over a dozen children converged on the pirate captain the moment he stepped ashore from the longboat. Bewildered, Tink remained on his shoulder as the kids threw themselves at him, each one fighting to the front for their turn at a hug. James only laughed and did his best to make sure everyone received his affection.
“Look at you, Georgette, you’ve grown half a foot since I saw you last,” James said to a pretty girl with black ringlets.
“And me?” asked another girl.
“As graceful as a swan, Amira,” James replied.
“What about me?” A dark-skinned boy with abundant, sand-hued curls said, standing up proudly and puffing his chest out. He and Amira must have been twins, as both shared the same button nose and sapphire eyes.
“I daresay you’re a good foot taller, Viran,” James said as he clapped the boy on the shoulder. “All of you have grown. Now, tell me, have you all been good for Tiger Lily?”
“Yes, sir,” they all replied in chorus.
“Excellent. I’m pleased to hear it. And your lessons?”
“I learned to ride a horse,” Georgette cried out.
“I learned my letters,” a small blonde girl said.
“They taught me how to shoot a bow,” one of the older boys told James.
One by one, each child shared their recent triumphs while James listened with infinite patience and praised them all. It was a side to him Tink had only seen in quiet moments with Tootles.
“Wow,” the oldest of the boys said, staring at Tink. He leaned forward on his tiptoes to look at her then scratched his head of flaxen white hair. “What’s that?”
“Hi, I’m Tinker Bell.”
“Her name is Belle, and she’s a fai—” James began, only for an enthusiastic chorus of greetings to ring out from each child.
“Hello, Tinker Bell!” the boy replied. “I’m Peter.”
“Can we just call you Tink?” Viran asked.
“No, stupid. Her name is Belle. I bet you ‘tinker’ is just like Captain James’s title,” Amira disagreed.
James blinked at them. “You understand her?”
“Weren’t you listening to Joaidane? Children always understand sprites,” Tink told him matter-of-factly. “But adults often forget how to listen and have to learn how to do it all over again.”
As Peter hadn’t stepped back yet from examining her, Tink leaned forward and kissed him on the tip of the nose. His freckled face lit red, and he bounced back, as light on his feet as a leaf on the wind.
“Ah, that explains quite a bit.” The gentle smile remained on James’s face. “I hope all of you remember to be kind to Madam Belle while she’s a visitor to the island. She’s never traveled here before, so be on your best behavior.”
“We will!” the chorus cried.
“All right, that’s enough for now. I promise I shall spend some time with all of you, but for right now, I need to check in with Tiger Lily. Oh, and Peter?”
“Yes?” the boy perked up. His eyes were the fairest gray Tink had ever seen.
“I have another boy on the ship who I’d like you to meet, but he’s rather shy. Do you think you could go back to the Jolly Roger with Smee and talk to him?”
“Of course!”
“Thank you.” James ruffled Peter’s hair before the group dispersed.
“Who were all those children?” Tink asked after the last tot left.
“I call them the Lost Boys, although we’ve received a few Lost Girls over the past year or two. They’re orphaned children taken from the Ridaeron Dynasty, Samahara, and sometimes Liang. We haven’t yet discovered if the Liangese are intentionally selling their children, but we’ve seen more of them lately.”
“They sell us,” Tink said bitterly.
“I don’t believe they realize your lot possess equal intelligence, love. Weeks passed before I registered your tinkling as more than mere bell chimes.”
Despite his rational explanation, she still wanted to throttle a poacher or two for her brief stint in captivity. When she thought of the other sprites who had been taken captive, sometimes stolen for more nefarious acts of alchemy, she shuddered.
There had to be something Anastasia and Alistair could do. Something to discourage the Liangese from abducting the fair folk and submitting them to unknown tortures. She’d been one of the lucky ones, a pet in a gilded cage.
Her mind wandered back to home again. What did Conall think of her long absence? She’d promised to return within a week or two. Would he be combing the forest seeking her by now, following the scent of her through the brush wherever she made contact with the trees? If he did, she hoped he caught the two crooks who’d abducted her and tore them into little poaching pieces.
No. Her smell would be long gone from the woodlands. Even the best trackers couldn’t follow a trail gone cold for over three months, and the altruistic part of Tink who adored her friend the most, hoped he was at home cuddling his family.
Giving little Kendric kisses. Rubbing Sorcha’s feet. That’s what Conall should have been doing.
“What are you smiling about?” James asked.
“You can see me smiling?”
“You’re always yellow when you’re happy. And now you’re pink. I haven’t yet figured out what that means, but the yellow is certainly happiness. Brighter and more beautiful than the rarest canary. As radiant as the sun.”
Her cheeks became hot as James waxed poetic about her colors. She dipped her head and let her hair fall into her face.
“I do believe pink is embarrassment, isn
’t it?”
“No.”
“What is it?”
Tink didn’t dare to say it out loud. After all, how could a sprite ever tell a human she’d fallen in love with him?
* * *
Neverland had no need for kings and queens. Instead, they had only a single chieftain among them, named Tiger Lily, and she was as fierce a warrior as any man, able to wield a sword, javelin, or bow with deadly accuracy.
James took care never to cross her, as her people were fair and just to the few pirates they gave shelter. Most importantly, he’d come to see the people of the Wai Alei islands as good people deserving his protection as much as he needed theirs.
Neverland had no official capital, each settlement and village equal to the next. The members of the tribe migrated as necessary, living among the hundred or so islands dotted throughout the center of the Viridian Sea.
“Now, Tiger Lily leads all of Neverland, so take care to be nice to her,” James cautioned Belle.
“Am I ever not nice?”
He glanced at his shoulder and raised his brow.
Belle crossed both arms against her tiny chest and glared back. “It’s always deserved if I’m not.”
“Right.”
A few wooden homes dotted the southern shore of the tropical paradise, closer to the pastures of sweet cane maintained by the locals. During their last visit, the Jolly Roger had stocked up on sugar and traded for new chickens among the locals who had some to spare. Cook would no doubt arrange for more livestock this time, as the fresh chicken had been a hit among the crew, even if the filthy animals made the belly of the ship squalid and required more care each day.
“Why are all the buildings on poles?” Belle asked.
“The locals harvest mushrooms that favor the damp soil beneath the houses, plus it also protects them from flooding.”
“That makes sense.”
Her no nonsense acceptance brought a smile to his face. Continuing up the gentle incline, he headed past the largest building and up the stairs to a humble home with colorful flowers on a vine twined around the railing beams.
“This doesn’t look like a leader’s house,” Belle mused while peering out at the paradise beyond the rail.
“Oh? And what do they look like?”
“Er… castles? Our king and queen live in a castle. Conall has the topmost room in the den.”
“The king in my home country has a castle, as well,” he agreed. “But out here, things are done differently. That big building there is a gathering hall for all who dwell among the island. Tiger Lily doesn’t consider herself better than the people who look up to her for guidance.”
When James rapped on the frame of the door, Belle leaned forward expectantly until it opened to frame a young woman not yet in her thirties. Tiger Lily’s high, defined cheekbones framed a face softened by her small, upturned nose and bow-shaped lips. Her long brown hair was tied back in a plait twined through with orange flowers matched by her bright eyes.
“Welcome back to the island, James. You’re long overdue.” Her gaze searched his face before she stepped forward to embrace him. When she stepped back, her attention fell to Belle. “She’s lovely. A new pet?”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Belle’s lavender light burn brighter red than a lit cigar. “No,” he rushed to say. “This is Belle, and she’s my friend, and a friend to the Jolly Roger, as well.”
“My apologies, Belle.” Tiger Lily dipped her head. “Any friend of James and his ship is welcome here.”
Belle settled on his shoulder once more, glow fading. “Thank you.”
“She gives her thanks,” he translated.
“You understand her chiming?”
“I didn’t at first, but over our time spent together, I’ve come to understand her clear as day. The children, however, are all able to understand the sprite language.”
“You arrived just as I planned to come meet you on the shore. I take it there are new arrivals?”
“Not as many. Only three children this time,” James assured her.
“Good. You’ll have to tell me about how you both met along the way.”
The stairs gleamed golden-red beneath James’s booted feet as they descended to the ground again, always brightest at sunset when everything appeared to be lit by flames. Beyond them a stretch of sand sparkled with all the colors of ground opal, each grain a different color from the last. Smee had already brought most of the refugees to shore, where they’d meet Tiger Lily and go through her ritual to determine if they were fit and willing to dwell in the isles.
Since James had learned the tribe’s native tongue years ago, conversation flowed easily between them as he relayed the story of sacking the Golden Goose and rescuing their newest friends. The occasional frown betrayed Tiger Lily’s thoughts related to the Liangese smugglers.
Upon the conclusion of the story, sorrowful eyes turned to Belle. “I am sorry for the pain you have endured at their hand,” the chieftain said in a solemn voice. “Should you wish to remain here among my people, you are welcome.”
“I would if I didn’t have to return home.”
“She can’t,” James said. “We’ve already promised to help her return to Cairn Ocland.”
“I am not familiar with the name.”
“I’m not surprised. The coastline is nonexistent for the most part, made up of tall cliffs.”
“Ah, the home of the giant sea hawks. We have stories of them.”
“Sea hawks.” Belle snorted. “They’re not sea hawks. They’re griffins. Shifters. How could she mistake them for stupid, mean birds?”
Her derision startled him, and he gave her a quick hard look before clearing his throat and turning back to Tiger Lily. “Belle says they’re called griffins. Her kingdom seems to be full of magical creatures who can shift from beast to man.”
“Fascinating.”
“I think so, as well,” he agreed.
“If there is no coast, how do you plan to get her home?”
“I’m not certain yet, to be honest. We’ll find a way.”
“If anyone can, it is you, James.” Tiger Lily set her hand on his arm and smiled. On his shoulder, Belle made a grunt of a sound, and then she flew off ahead of them, her wings trailing green sparkles behind her.
“She’s a colorful little thing,” Tiger Lily said.
“They seem to change with her emotions, though I haven’t quite figured them all out yet.” But he was certain green wasn’t a pleasant one, and he wondered at Belle’s sudden rudeness.
“Have you seen Peter yet?” she asked, keeping up their conversation.
“I sent him to the ship. One of the children we rescued is rather shy. I didn’t want him to be overwhelmed, so I asked Peter if he’d bring him over.”
“Good. Peter has been a great help with all the children, if a little wild.”
“Not any trouble, I hope.”
“No. He’s different from the other boys and girls, a spirit that longs to roam free, but tempered by a good heart and caring soul. I will see your lost boy when Peter returns with him, but for now, let’s tend to the rest.”
For several years now, James had delivered slaves and refugees to Wai Alei, usually bringing helpless women and young children, while taking men without families to the coast of Ankirith to be judged by Joaidane. As a djinn half-breed, the mage had a good sense for truth, and he could determine the true criminals from the innocent, the predators from the meek.
The Ridaeron Dynasty occasionally emptied their prisons to meet the demand for slaves, in light of James terrorizing their merchant ships. For every dozen men and women rescued from the slave barges, at least one had the potential to be a murderer or rapist in disguise.
Tiger Lily had her own way of cutting the wheat from the chaff and determining who had enjoyed a nefarious life. While Joaidane detected truth from lies, she’d commune with inhabitants from the other world. Before the night ended, Tiger Lily always knew who would be allowe
d to remain among the islanders. She’d once told James the spirits of the dead often trailed behind their murderers like a death shroud and that echoes of pain made discordant notes in the souls of predators who thrived on inflicting misery upon others.
Whenever Tiger Lily made an outcast of someone, James ordered them placed in the ship’s brig until they could deliver them to Ankirith—or, better yet, their homeland. Depending on the crime and what Tiger Lily reported to them, the criminal sometimes became fish food at the bottom of the sea, instead. After all, any man who would force himself upon a woman deserved nothing less.
“Greetings to each of you,” Tiger Lily said as she approached. Her command of the Ridaeron language had improved over the years since James had brought the first refugees to her. “I am Tiger Lily, chieftain of Wai Alei, and I welcome you if the spirits are willing this eve.”
Of the initial seventy-two rescued from the Golden Goose, five hadn’t survived their injuries. A dozen had been strong, strapping, and single men willing to test their luck in Ankirith, the rest children or families sold together for the Eisland market.
A few families had stayed behind in Samahara, eager to join the farming community near Ankirith, while the other half came to the islands with the Jolly Roger.
One by one, Tiger Lily spoke with them at length as the setting sun set fire to the sky, streaking it with pink, gold, and scarlet. Night fell before she completed her ritual of communing with the spirit world, and, as always, she had tears in her eyes by the time she finished. Belle, who had remained with Eliza the whole time, was the last to be addressed, and he couldn’t help but miss her company on his shoulder, as well as her laughter and insightful comments. He glanced over in her direction and saw the green glow still surrounding her.
“Each of you have a home here among us if you choose to remain.”
Tiger Lily’s decree brought James’s attention back to the task at hand. It wasn’t often he had to lock someone up during their stay, but he always worried about it, afraid he’d inadvertently bring a killer to the peaceful paradise.
Belle and the Pirate Page 14
