“Was it the ship that destroyed Lillingburn?” she said.
Tanner shot his daughter a look then, and she realised that he didn’t know about Lillingburn.
“I believe so, yes,” Barklow said. “And Fair View. It’s no normal ship. It’s built to end our occupation of these isles. A warship with machines of war and as many soldiers as a Man of War. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also being escorted by three galleons. That’s probably close to a thousand men. An army come to kill us all.”
Even Tanner seemed speechless. He had maybe a thousand sailors under his command if he brought all of his ships into one fleet, but many of those were sailors only, not fighters. Not soldiers. If that number of troops decided to take Fango, Elaina didn’t think even the dangers of the Isle of Goats would stop them.
“Do they know where Fango is?” Tanner said eventually.
Barklow shook his head. “I don’t know. A source of mine from my old navy days got the information to me. He said the Storm Herald is being captained by Peter Verit.”
“I don’t know him,” Tanner said sourly.
“I do, Captain Black,” Barklow said with fear plain in his eyes. “A more experienced captain I have yet to meet. He is the type of man who will break before he bends.”
“No dealing with him then?”
“Most certainly not. He’s a royal bastard; the blood of the Five Kingdoms runs through his veins. I have also heard the soldiers have a number of knights among them, including the Sword of the North.”
That gave them all a healthy amount of pause. If the Five Kingdoms were sending the Sword of the North, it meant they were no longer fucking around. There weren’t many who hadn’t heard of that bastard’s deeds, and Elaina felt the sudden urge to sail as far away as she could.
“One man dies the same as any other in the sea’s cold embrace,” Tanner growled, but he’d waited too long, and Elaina could tell that even he was worried.
“They won’t come to Fango,” Blu said.
“What makes ya so sure, boy?” Tanner snapped.
“They just won’t.” Blu sounded worried as well, and he was right to be. “They can’t. Not Fango.”
Tanner waved away his son’s foolishness. “Anything else, Captain Barklow?”
“Um, no. I don’t think…”
“Then ya can go, mate. Enjoy Fango. I’ll no doubt be calling on ya soon.”
Tanner waited for Barklow to say his goodbyes and leave before he spoke again. Elaina shuffled around the bench in the silence to face her father and brother.
“Looks like we got ourselves a bit of a problem,” Tanner said, making what Elaina could only assume was a purposeful understatement.
“I might have the solution,” she said.
Both her father and brother turned unbelieving eyes on her, and Elaina felt her pride bristle.
“If we had Drake’s ships as well as ours, we could fight these bastards off.” Elaina searched her father’s face for a reaction.
Blu laughed.
“I stopped off at New Sev’relain,” Elaina said quickly, hoping her father wouldn’t beat her bloody right there.
Blu stopped laughing, but his face was all a nasty smile.
“That why ya sail into my port without a drop of loot?” Tanner’s voice was cold. “Trading with the enemy now?”
“Drake wasn’t there,” Elaina continued, despite the cold sensation creeping up from her guts. “Keelin was.”
If anything, Tanner’s expression grew darker, but he said nothing.
“They know they’re fucked as well as we do,” Elaina barrelled on. “And they know they need us. Keelin agreed to set up a meet between you and Morrass. On Ash, in thirty-two days’ time.” Elaina had been counting down the days in her head ever since their meeting on New Sev’relain.
“Turn up under the guise of friendship and kill both the bastards and take their ships and crew for my own,” Tanner said, fingering his beard. “Certainly has a nice sound to it.”
Elaina took a deep breath. All she had to do was keep quiet and let things run their course, and she would have revenge on Keelin for shunning her and the goodwill of her father for giving him Drake Morrass.
“Keelin is in on it,” she said before her brain could decide it was a bad idea. Once the words were out she couldn’t deny them.
“What’s that now?” Tanner said.
“Keelin is Drake’s second,” Elaina continued, hoping it was true. “He’ll bring Drake to Ash; we kill Drake, Keelin will bring the ships and their crews over to us.”
“That’s shit,” Blu said. “Ya just don’t want us to…”
“It’s a good plan,” Tanner interrupted. “Only you won’t be there, daughter.”
“What?” Elaina all but shouted. She needed to be there to make sure Keelin played his part and didn’t try to protect Drake. Now she’d decided not to have him killed right along with Morrass, it dawned on her that she didn’t want him killed. “I brought this to you, Da.”
“Aye, ya did, and I’m thankful. But I’ve a need to send someone on an errand, and I reckon I’m choosing you. Ya don’t think straight where Stillwater is concerned, daughter, and it might just be we need to deal with him and Morrass together.”
“But, Da…”
“Quiet,” Tanner roared, and the whole brothel silenced. “Decision’s made.” With that Tanner stood and walked away with a gesture towards his court that brought men scurrying after him. It was only then Elaina realised she hadn’t even had a chance to ask after Corin.
“Don’t worry, El,” Blu said with a smile that almost bordered on genuine. “I’ll make sure we bring back Stillwater’s cock for ya. Reckon I’ll nail it to his ship’s figurehead along with his shrivelled up stones.” He laughed and walked away, leaving Elaina to wonder if it was too late to warn Keelin about what was coming.
Chapter 46 - The Phoenix
Ten ships occupied the docks of Cinto Cena, a small fleet, and they all floated leisurely in the calm waters. Not all of them were properly manned – they simply didn’t have enough pirates to fill them all – but five were fighting fit: Fortune, The Phoenix, Mary’s Virtue, North Gale, and Rheel Toa.
Deun Burn, captain of Rheel Toa, had broken his rule of never bringing his ship into port, because the Riverlander had realised – as had they all – that the folk of the isles were in trouble, and a ship alone was asking for that trouble. It was a small fleet so far, but Drake insisted more ships were coming and more pirates with them.
Keelin didn’t need to stay aboard his ship; he now had a small house in New Sev’relain. But the house was bare and unoccupied, and had been since its construction. Keelin preferred the ship. Preferred to feel the sea beneath him in its gentle sway and tilt. He also didn’t trust Smithe to be left alone aboard The Phoenix. The treacherous quartermaster was ever looking to undermine Keelin’s authority with constant threats and insults.
There was one other reason Keelin stayed aboard his ship, and that was Aimi. Even floating at leisure, there were still more jobs aboard ship than they had enough men for, which was made even worse by half of the crew being ashore. Some of the men were visiting taverns or the brothels, and some had even found a woman and a house to call their own. The jobs were mostly maintenance, from tending to rope to leaning the ship and scraping the hull. Aimi, as the lowest-ranked crew member aboard, tended to find herself on the business end of many of those jobs. Keelin could have used his authority to spare her from them, but she’d have seethed at the special treatment, and they were getting on so well he was loathe to do anything that might jeopardise the growing fondness.