Soldiers rushed forwards to restrain T’ruck, and he let them, the need to fight squashed by the realisation of how futile it would be. A heavy kick forced him onto his knees, and he felt his arms pulled behind his back and ropes tied around his wrists.
An older man, impeccably dressed, with dark mahogany hair and an air of command, appeared from the press of soldiers. “Captain T’ruck Khan?” His voice was as cold as the northlands where T’ruck had been born.
T’ruck nodded, defeated and mourning the loss of his ship and his crew.
“Do you know who I am?”
T’ruck glared at the man and nodded again.
“Good,” Captain Peter Verit said. “T’ruck Khan, you are under arrest for countless acts of kidnapping, murder, theft, and piracy. You and any surviving members of your crew will be transported back to Land’s End and hanged for your crimes. Do you have anything to say?”
T’ruck grinned up at the man despite the pain from his wounds and the wave of despair that was threatening to choke him. “I like your ship.”
Chapter 56 - The Phoenix
Keelin barked orders to his crew. A course change and a threat that, if the sails weren’t properly secured, he’d use the unfortunate pirate’s intestines to fasten new ropes. It was a hollow threat, they all knew it, but he felt the need to vent his rage.
They’d done it. Despite Elaina’s betrayal, Keelin and Drake had convinced Tanner to join their cause and to follow Drake’s lead. To accept the charismatic captain as king of the isles and their people, and to help fight the enemies at their door. They’d also paid a heavy price for their victory. Mary’s Virtue and Poole were lost.
Under Drake’s orders they left Captain Poole to his fate, turned their ships, and ran. Keelin watched the battle from afar and witnessed how Poole managed to turn his ship at the last moment, tying up two of the Five Kingdoms pursuers which, in turn, deterred the other three ships from chasing down a superior force.
Keelin had also watched Mary’s Virtue go down.
The Five Kingdoms navy scuttled the pirate ship instead of capturing it, and they used black powder to do it, blowing a sizeable hole in the side of the ship. Keelin was starting to both respect and fear the destructive power of the powder like he never had before.
“Captain?” Aimi’s voice soothed Keelin even in the face of his loss.
“Don’t reckon I’ll be good company right now, Aimi,” Keelin said without turning to look at her. He knew that in his maudlin mood he should retreat to his cabin instead of haunting his ship like a spectre of doom, but he wanted to feel the wind and smell the sea.
“That’s alright,” Aimi said. “I’m excellent company and can easily take up your share of the conversation as well.
“I ran into Lumpy earlier. The mangy little beast looked at me with big eyes and meowed, so I knelt down to stroke her and she attacked me. I have claw marks and everything.”
“She doesn’t like being touched,” Keelin said absently.
“Excellent advice, if only you’d been around two hours ago. Anyway, it got me thinking. I reckon we need a new ship’s boy. With Feather graduating to real duties… Did you know he’s a weird? And me, well I just don’t think it’s right, me taking on the duties of boy, considering my obvious differences to your gender.
“I mean, I know I’m the newest member of the crew. Not the youngest though, but at least I take on real sailor duties as well. What about Kebble? He does nothing but sit up there in the nest all day, watching everything and everyone. Why can’t he scrub the sides of the ship and chase down Lumpy’s kills? Can you imagine giving that order? And even if he did agree, he’d probably be better at hunting down the rats than Lumpy. Perhaps you could get rid of the cat and give her job to Kebble.”
Keelin had no idea what to say in the face of Aimi’s torrent of chatter. He turned to stare at her and found her smiling at him.
“I just lost a friend,” Keelin said, his voice sad even to his ears. “And not the first. Likely not the last.” Keelin stopped there lest he find himself saying more. There was something that was eating away at him even more. He now knew he couldn’t trust Elaina, and that was a friendship he’d never thought he’d truly lose.
Aimi nodded. She lowered her voice so none of the nearby crew members would hear. “Do you want to talk about it?” She nodded towards Keelin’s cabin.
Keelin drew in a breath and sighed it out, turning back towards the sea and leaning on the railing. “I think I just want to be alone.”
“Oh. Well, my shift just finished so I think I’ll join you. We can be alone together.” She leaned on the railing next to Keelin and stared out across the ocean.
Keelin smiled. Despite his gloomy attitude, Aimi had succeeded in cheering him up, if only a little. He looked away from the little woman and his spirits sank again. There, sailing along next to his ship, was The Black Death, and even in the dwindling light Keelin could see Tanner staring back at him.
Chapter 57 - Fortune
Drake sat in the mess of his ship, gnawing on a stale biscuit. He’d known from the very beginning that his plan, his rise, wouldn’t come without sacrifice. Not even Hironous had been able to tell him what those sacrifices might be. They’d plotted and schemed for years. Hironous might have the sight, but Drake had something just as useful. He understood people. He could see how folk worked, and he knew how to manipulate them.
The first sacrifice had been Black Sands, and Drake had known it would happen. He’d planned it. He’d given its location to the Five Kingdoms. Black Sands was to be the catalyst to bring all the other pirates together under his rule. Sev’relain hadn’t been part of the plan. Drake didn’t know whether Hironous had seen Sev’relain’s downfall, and that was part of the problem.
Lillingburn had fallen soon after. Then Drake had lost his fortune. Then Fair View had burned; and none of those losses had been part of the plan either. They’d all helped to bring the pirates together, but each sacrifice was a heavy burden for Drake to bear. Now he’d lost Poole, one of the very first captains to follow him, and he wondered if Hironous had seen that too.
For years Drake had lived with the certain knowledge of immortality. His brother had seen his death, and it wouldn’t be for many, many years. And when it did happen, he’d be a king. Drake had been living his life accordingly, taking risks and knowing they wouldn’t lead to his death. Now he wasn’t so sure. Tanner had had Drake at his mercy. And for a while Drake had known fear again.
From the moment Tanner had taken hold of Drake’s tongue and threatened to cut it out, he'd had been scared, and now he found he couldn’t turn it off. What if Hironous was wrong? What if his death could happen at any moment? Had he been surviving on luck alone for all this time? It wouldn’t be the first time his brother had failed to predict a death.
Drake wiped cold sweat from his forehead and tried to direct his thoughts elsewhere. He failed. He couldn’t get rid of the image of Tanner standing there, holding Drake’s life in his hands.
Rag uncoiled from a shadowed corner of the mess and began weaving its way across the deck towards Drake. The creature was near two feet long now, and Drake could already see it would be more than capable of killing a man. It was dangerous, and for the first time he found himself scared of the monster. He wished he’d relented and let Princess find a cat to hunt the ship’s rats.
Rag reached Drake’s foot and slowly began climbing up his leg, winding its way around and around, and Drake forced himself to sit still. He might be terrified, and he was certain the beast could sense that, but he’d be damned before he let anyone else see his fear. The giant centipede reached his waist and curled around it like a belt, and Drake let out a ragged sigh.