“What way is that?” Riley called to the other ship.
“Your best warrior against my best warrior. Whoever wins gets both ships.”
“Hell, yes, I’ll take that bet!” William yelled.
“Not yours to take, big man. You weren’t the first to speak. Lady there did, so she gets to make the decision. Both if she accepts and then who fights.”
The vein in William’s neck popped.
He turned around and looked at Riley. “You know I’m the best. I have to fight her.”
Riley showed her back to the opposite ship, looking at the rest of the crew. She knew William was angry at being snubbed, but she couldn’t let that influence her decision.
Was it her decision? Verith was the de facto ship’s captain, yet he looked at her now, as did the others.
“You listenin’ to me, skinny? I’m fightin’ her.”
“First, William, we don’t even know if you’re fighting her. Let’s just think for a moment, okay?”
She heard William’s throat click as he swallowed, fighting his instinct to argue.
“Verith, do you know anything about this? What she’s talking about? Our best warrior versus hers? I’ve never heard of it.”
Verith nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it. They practice it a lot on the seas, because truth be told, fighting out here is different. If you lose on land, you can run away. If you lose out here, there isn’t anywhere for you to go, so sometimes ship captains will engage in this kind of mini-battle to save a lot of lives.”
“What happens to the other ship? To all its people?”
“Usually,” Verith continued, “they have the choice of joining the winning ship or going overboard. From what I know, most choose the winning ship.”
Riley looked at William. “You won’t be fighting her. You know that, right? You’ll be fighting the blonde guy who just walked up.”
“That’s fine. I’ll fight both of ‘em if I need to.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. Think, here. It’s not just your pride at stake. It’s everyone’s life on this ship. It’s Mason’s life, and maybe even New Perth’s continued existence.”
William looked at the people in front of him.
“Sometimes ya gotta listen to her, ya big lug,” Lucie encouraged him. “She’s smart, and she’s right. One on one, your strength ain’t nearly as effective as it is in battle.”
“Oh, here she is, the cook tellin’ me my business.”
Riley heard the levity in his voice and knew he was hearing the argument.
“Hell, I bet I could beat that blond better than ya could, William,” Lucie shot back.
“Ha!” He turned from her to Riley. “I ain’t sayin’ you’re right, but it seems I’m outnumbered, so it’s up to you. You think you can beat that skinny nothing over there?”
Riley didn’t look behind her but pictured the man in her mind. They were very similar, but that didn’t mean anything.
“Magic,” Worth said. “They magic. That powers the green on the ship. Stones.”
“You still think you can beat him, skinny? I’m the one who can light my hands on fire.”
Riley didn’t need to hear any more. She might not be able to use magic, but she also knew if she couldn’t beat this guy on the other ship, there wasn’t a chance in hell she could beat Rendal.
“I’ll take him just fine. You all clear the deck.”
She turned toward the red-haired woman. “We accept your challenge. Terms are, we fight on our ship, and that the winner gets all the loot and weapons of the loser. Your men can decide what they want to do after, but we’ll have no use for them.”
“No use?” William asked from behind.
Riley turned her head around slightly. “We don’t need mercenaries fighting for New Perth.” She looked at the woman. “That fair?”
“Sure. I’m not too worried about my men, because you’re going to die, dear. However, I can tell you’re not from the seas, what with that flag you’re flying and all. There won’t be no fighting on my ship or yours. We fight in the middle, on a ladder.”
“See, William,” Lucie whispered with glee. “Your fat ass would break the ladder and fall right into the water.”
“Shut up, cook,” William spat back. “Riley, that’s nuts. That’s just plain insane, whether or not you’re skinny. Tell her to shove that offer up her ass and we’ll go to battle like normal, ‘cept we got Worth and his mages now.”
“That ship,” Worth said. “That ship different. They strong. Riley fight. Riley win. More likely.”
“Oh, hell.” A grin broke across William’s face. “We’re putting all our faith in Riley’s ability to fight on a damned ladder, and hope she doesn’t fall in love with that pretty-faced boy over there.”
Riley grinned in spite of the situation’s seriousness. She jarred William with an elbow.
“Ooof!”
“Yeah, keep your mouth shut,” she told him before raising her voice. “That sounds fine! Lower the ladder and let’s get to this!”
She turned once more to the crew. “Okay, move back. William, don’t jump in, no matter what. If you do, the bet is off, and then we’ll be at war against a ship I don’t understand.”
“So if you start losin’, you want me to just let you die?” the big man asked.
“I’m not going to lose, William. How many times have I saved your ass?”
“Never.” He grinned. “Not even once.”
“Exactly. Everyone keep their distance. I’ll take care of this, and we’ll have a new ship in just a few minutes. The only problem is who is going to steer the damned thing.”
Riley turned and pulled out her sword as she did. It moved from the sheath easily, making no sound as she revealed it to the world.
The ladder slammed down from the other side, clanging loudly.
Sure enough, she was fighting the blonde. He left his captain, stepping from her and to the ship’s rail. The wind whipped them both, jostling their short hair.
The man looked like her, but he wasn’t a mirror image, as she’d first thought.
His face was death, which Riley’s would never be. His face said he’d killed his whole life because he had to and that one more death on his ledger wasn’t going to matter to him in the slightest. He saw Riley as something akin to a piece of furniture that had to be destroyed.
She hardly existed.
Riley smiled inwardly.
Good. Let him underestimate her.
Riley stepped over to the ladder. One side rested on her ship, and the other on theirs. It stretched ten feet onto her ship, giving them leeway if either ship moved, although not a lot.
Her mind was sliding into gear, rapidly assessing her situation and preparing her body to battle. The ladder was old, and Riley understood that this man would know its weak points a lot better than her. Near his side, she saw a place that looked damaged, yet the middle of the ladder would be the least stable, based on her experience.
The ships were relatively still, but the ladder kept moving. It would move more when they both stepped on.
“Hey, Riley!” William called, “don’t trip!”
She laughed. “Fuck you.”
Riley stepped onto the ladder, focusing only on her feet. She’d never fought like this before, and none of her training had prepared her for it, either.
The ladder wobbled some. She gently tested a middle bar, seeing if it had been weakened to lure her out.
It held.
When she looked up, the man on the other side was staring back, not even looking at the ladder.
Riley nodded, the steel in her spine coalescing and her mind focusing fully. No jokes. No banter. Just war.
She held her new sword, the green stones sparkling in the sun. It felt good. It felt like it belonged to her.
Her feet started moving, her eyes not needing to look down at them. Her mind was doing it all for her, as it always did. She blazed across the ladder like the wind.
The man on the other side met her, his feet barely touching the wood as he flew toward her.
Their swords clanged when they met. Riley swirled, her feet practically magic, moving around the tiny wooden expanse and circling behind her enemy. He turned easily, meeting her attack with his sword.
His face showed no emotion, no strain—only death.
Riley brought her sword down, finding his already there. She went low, attacking his legs, but he leapt, making her miss. She swept her sword upward, knowing that he would be coming down now.
The clang of metal on metal echoed loudly across the ships.
The man came forward, his sword a blur of ferocity. Riley gave ground, perilously close to falling. She parried each attack, but her back was to his ship now and she was moving closer to it.
His attacks were unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Each slice seemed impossibly fast, each cut quicker than the last.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
She met each one, her reflexes perfect as always, her mind still in its killer’s state.
Riley suddenly felt heat. She ducked a sweeping cut, glancing behind her quickly.
A wall of fire hung in the air.
Magic.
She could back up no farther, not unless she wanted to roast herself.
Riley didn’t try bringing her own magic forth; it would only be a waste of time. She had to beat him with her steel.
The man swung his sword in an uppercut.
Riley stepped back, letting her feet go through a space in the ladder. His sword missed its target and swung upward as Riley grabbed a wooden beam. Riley swung hard, moving toward her ship and past her enemy. She hooked her legs on the ladder, then pulled herself up through another hole, giving her a separation of five feet from him.
She leapt, turning in mid-air and landing with her sword between the two of them.
The man’s eyes were wide, clearly having seen nothing like that before.
“Impressed? Come get some, and I’ll show you what else I can do.”
She felt heat at her back again, this time from the other side of the ladder. He was going to force her to face him, and that was fine. Riley was ready.
His sword was a blur, but Riley rushed forward. She was a dancer, her partner her own sword and the tune they danced to was that of war.
She met each blow but didn’t give ground. She pushed forward, ducking, sweeping with her leg while also slicing with her sword. The man parried, heading toward his ship’s wall of flames. Riley pressed on, slamming her sword down—utilizing her strength now.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
For the first time she saw fear in the man’s eyes; he realized that this warrior was unlike anyone he’d faced.
Fire erupted from his hands, but Riley gave him no time to fling it at her. She leapt and her feet snaked through the air, catching the man in his stomach. He doubled over, and Riley landed on his back. The ladder wobbled under them as she brought her sword down across his neck.
They were inches from the wall of flames. Riley smelled smoke rising into the air.
“YIELD!” she screamed. “YIELD OR DIE!”
There was true wonder in the man’s eyes. True fear too.
“I yield,” he said. The flames behind him went out. “I yield.”
Breath raged in and out of Riley’s lungs when she realized she wouldn’t have to kill him. That he was actually yielding.
A roar went up from her ship—raucous cheers.
Riley backed up, the adrenaline fading from her body. She looked around, seeing where she was for the first time in long minutes. She stood between two ships over an ocean on a ladder.
She laughed, shaking her head. “Holy hell.”
The red-haired woman was a few feet in front of her, also on the ladder. Riley’s sword ripped into the air again, prepared to take whatever the woman was ready to give.
“No need, dear,” Erin Stormhandle declared. “You won, and I honor my word. My ship and my crew are yours. Meet Eric Stormhandle, my son, and the only member of my crew.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed, and the woman laughed.
“Trust me, you’ll like the ship.”
Riley looked at the man on the other side of the ship’s mess hall. Eric Stormhandle.
He was looking back at her, but his face wasn’t as cold as it’d been above. He was still in awe of her, and Riley didn’t know how to handle it.
He hadn’t stopped staring at her since their fight had ended. Erin hadn’t been lying about the two of them being the entirety of the crew. Verith and his soldiers had searched her ship level by level and hadn’t found another soul.
“There’s no need for more than us, not with a ship like that,” she explained. “There’s enough energy to do everything we need.”
“You’re pirates.” William was standing at the mess hall’s door as if he thought the two newcomers might rush out. “Your kind makes your life off raping and pillaging others. Ships like ours. Good people who venture too far out into this watery wilderness.”
Erin smiled. Riley sensed no hatred from her, and no fear either. She wasn’t angry that she no longer owned her ship, and she wasn’t scared of anyone—as if she’d planned this, or had known it would come.
“That was just a...Well, ‘bluff’ might be the correct term. Eric and I do that because we have to, or at least we did in the beginning. It was important for us to instill fear in the rest of the pirates on the seas, especially when it got to be just the two of us.”
“Hell, Stormhandle, you’re gonna have to start makin’ sense.” William was not pleased with her answer.
Riley remained silent, wanting to listen before she made a decision. Lucie, Worth, and Verith were all in the mess hall, too. The fight outside had set up a division of labor that everyone seemed pleased with—Verith ran the ship, and Riley made decisions that affected the mission.
Erin was still smiling, William’s displeasure not affecting her at all.
“Sure, sure. I’ll explain since we’re now part of your crew. Have you all heard of Irth?”
William only glared.
Riley shook her head. “We’re from New Perth. We do not travel the great seas. We’re content with what we have.”
Erin’s eyes narrowed, the smile disappearing. “Interesting. I’ve never met anyone from New Perth. Never even heard of it, but then again, this is the farthest we’ve ventured from our usual shores.” She dropped the concerned look and smiled again. “My point is, where I’m from, certain places don’t approve of magic or those who can use it.”
“I know,” Riley said. “New Perth has until recently been one of them.”
“You don’t use magic?”
Riley grinned. “We’re coming around to it, perhaps by force. Tell us more about you, though.”
“Well, a class of Paladins started persecuting all magic users, and we bolted. There used to be a lot of us on that ship. Ten. My whole family left our city because Eric could use magic and they wanted to kill him. The city thought it was a curse to be eradicated, so my family and I simply left. This was fifteen years ago or so.”
She turned around and looked at her son.
“When Eric was just a little boy.”
He remained quiet.
“The sea isn’t an easy place, and we found that out quickly. Most pirate outfits don’t last very long. He and I have lasted much longer than we should, but it’s because of our tricks and his magic.”
“What do you mean by tricks?” William asked.
“We haven’t actually had to meet another pirate ship in quite some time, because we were smart in the beginning. When we first began, we were ruthless. We had to be. Using Eric’s magic and our sword training, we fended off a lot of attacks and killed a lot of people.
“The flag you see on our ship is well known among pirates now. They don’t want anything to do with us, because they know our ship is more powerful than theirs. They run. You didn’t, which was when I knew someth
ing was different.”
“Like what?” William asked.
“Well, for one, we didn’t recognize your flag. We knew you weren’t pirates immediately. In this business, though, you have to be aggressive or you end up dead. Most of my family died over the years.” Erin looked down at the table in front of her. “The sea isn’t easy.”
“Why didn’t ya just find another city?” William asked. “One that likes magic?”
“Some people did. Not everyone died aboard our ship. Some left us when we went ashore, but I decided when I escaped the persecution that I wasn’t subjecting Eric to that again. We would not be run out because of his talents. On the sea, we’re a city to ourselves.”
Riley leaned forward. “Then why are you here with us? If you don’t want to be on land again in another city that might run you out, why did you surrender?”
The woman glanced at her son once more.
“Well, I didn’t think we’d lose.” She laughed. “Eric’s never lost. He’s the best swordsman I’ve ever seen, and when you combine that with the fire he produces, there hasn’t been anyone who could best him. There’s a certain finality to this life that you can’t avoid, though. Perhaps if Eric had welched and run back to the ship, we could have withstood you. Our ship is powerful, more so than any other I’ve ever seen, but there’s only two of us, and that matters.”
“You were going to let your son die?” Riley asked.
“I wasn’t born to life at sea, but it’s something I adopted. I’m not lying to you when I say I’m the captain of that ship, and we are pirates. We’re not as evil as some of them, but we understand the rules of warfare at sea.”
She looked at Riley.
“You didn’t kill him, though. You’re not a pirate, and the bald man over there—I think he has some magic in him too, if I had to guess.”
“Aye, Worth magic.” He smiled as he spoke, his eyes saying he liked the woman on the other side of the table...and not just for her beauty.
Worth knew about being run out of cities, too. Maybe not for magic, but when you were unwanted, did the reason really matter?
Hand of Justice Boxed Set Page 23
