Chapter 17

Riley, Thomas, and Aaliyah approached the sloop with a bloodied white tunic stuck on an oar as a sign of truce. 

“Aye, that’s close enough. Who goes there?” a gruff voice called down.

Riley’s voice was a steady blade, clean and sharp. “I’m Riley of the Abyss crew. I’ve come to broker a deal.”

They climbed up the side of the ship carefully to present no threat. A small group of meek men waited at the front armed with an array of makeshift weapons. Thomas’ shoulder complained under the weight, but he did his best not to wince.

“Front of the boat!” the gruff man ordered.  Its owner stepped forward, a broad man with a tangled beard and a face mapped with old scars, his mouth a ruin of missing teeth.

Thomas’s gaze swept the stern. Eight. Maybe nine. They clung to the shadows, a collection of nervous energy and sharp angles. The tension in his own shoulders eased a fraction. They were desperate, not dangerous. Not like the ones they’d left on the beach.

“Pretty brave to try to make deals with Hunters, strangers,” the gruff man stated arrogantly. “Steal a boat and slink off before the others found you?”

Riley didn’t play into his goading, “They found us, and they fought bravely. Now they are dead.”

The man laughed heartily, “Bullshit! Two women and a boy?”

The rest of the crew chuckled until Riley held out her hand donned in new rings of their former bosses. The air on the deck went solid.

The gruff man’s hand flew to the hilt of his sword. A collective creak of leather and shuffle of feet echoed as the other men adjusted their grips on their weapons.

Thomas readied his dagger. Even though he was scared, he saw the other men clenching their weapons a little too tight. There was a reason that they stayed behind and their cowardice was evident.

Riley’s voice sliced through the panic, calm and absolute. “Steady your hands. I said we were here to make a deal. If we fight, you will die tonight.” She let the promise hang in the air for a heartbeat. “Or, you could crew this ship away from here. To safety. To comfort, under my lead. My captain will reward you handsomely.”

“Oh f**k off! I will not sail under some WOMAN!” the gruff man spewed in anger and fear. The other men looked around, some working for better positions but not truly wanting to fight. Thomas picked out the biggest one and aimed his dagger, his shoulder aching.

The gruff man’s sword scraped free of its scabbard. The sound was harsh, final. He took a step, his scowl fixed on Riley, on her unwavering calm.

A blur of movement. A soft shush of cloth.

A thin blade suddenly pressed against the leader’s throat, its silver gleam a stark line against his grimy skin. A meek, yet firm, voice came from behind him. “This man does not speak for us.”

The speaker was a younger man, all sharp angles and nervous eyes, but his hand was remarkably steady. “We don’t want a fight. We would like to accept your deal.”

A beat of silence. Then, one by one, the makeshift weapons clattered to the deck. A thump of wood. A clang of metal. The sound of surrender.

Riley smiled victoriously, she had won without a fight.

“You damn rats! Cowards, the whole lot of you!” the deposed leader screamed, his voice cracking. He threw his sword down; it skittered across the planks.

Thomas finally remembered to breathe, a deep, ragged inhale that made his injured shoulder burn. He turned to Aaliyah, and the look they shared was pure, unspoken relief. They would shed no more blood tonight.

*

Once again, Nadine found herself scaling the brothel wall. Pushing through a window, she fell ungracefully into the Captain’s room.

In the moonlit darkness, a figure erupted from the bed. Korlai was a phantom of coiled muscle and swift motion. The cold, sharp point of his cutlass settled against her ribs, a deadly punctuation to her clumsy entrance.

“What is this?” Captain snapped groggily. 

Nadine didn’t flinch. She held her hands wide, a gesture of peace. “Please. Listen. I’m a friend of Thomas.”

“Middlenight?” Captain retorted.

Nadine’s sharp eyes caught the Captain’s. “Goldhair. Keep your voice down. I know he is with the princess.”

Captain let out a small gasp. This was deadly information; how could it be out so quickly? “Who the hell are you and how do you know so much!”

“The canary next door sang very loudly,” Nadine said, sitting up and lowering her hood.

Korlai’s posture relaxed a fraction. A soft, exasperated sound escaped him. “F**king Trudy.”

“They’re already on their way,” Nadine stated, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper. “The entrance is blocked. If you do not leave tonight, you won’t leave at all.”

Nadine jumped down from the window into the waiting arms of Korlai. The Captain concerned “Where will you go? Do you need to come with us?”

Nadine shook her head no confidently, “This is where I do my best work, now go.” She flipped up her hood, exiting the garden and disappearing into a nearby alley.

Korlai and Captain snuck in the opposite direction towards the harbor.

*

The harbor was a maze of shadows and muted lantern light. The Abyss sat at her berth, looking deceptively peaceful. Four guards stood at the boarding ramps, their postures slack with boredom. On deck, a few more were visible, their attention elsewhere. Frank was a dark shape near the galley chimney, poking at the dying embers within.

Captain ran down the decks straight for the ship, “Help me! Help!”

The four guards approached her with concern. 

“Please! There’s a man after me!” she cried in feigned fear.

Korlai walked menacingly down the wooden deck with two cutlasses drawn.

“Behind us, miss!” one guard shouted, turning his back to her.

It was the opening she needed. In one smooth motion, Captain drew a sharpened dagger from her sleeve. As Korlai closed the final few meters, she plunged the blade into the nearest guard’s neck. A wet, gurgling hck was his only protest.

One swung at Korlai. The mercenary deflected the overhead strike with one blade while the other cut a swift, fatal arc across the attacker’s throat. Captain wrestled with her target, the man struggling wildly. Another guard reared back to strike her down, but his blow never landed. Korlai’s cutlass erupted from the man’s chest from behind. Captain’s opponent joined his comrades in the dark water below with a heavy splash.

From a distance, the torches on the Abyss’s deck were abruptly doused, plunging the ship into total darkness.

Captain boarded to a hearty grin from Frank, Finneas, and several crew members. “I wondered when you would be back Captain,” Frank heartily jested.

“Full Sails gentleman, let's get the hell out of this shit hole”, Captain announced.

As the boarding planks were hauled in, a unit of a dozen more guards marched into view. One spotted the Abyss already pulling away. “Hey! Wait, no. Stop!” Their sprint was futile; the ship was already slipping away.

The Abyss drove hard for the open sea, but the larger Galleons in the harbor began to stir. Bells clanged clang-clang-clang in a feverish alarm from the shore. Torches flared to life on the decks of the pursuing ships.

“Captain, we’re within their range!” Finneas called out, his voice tight.

“Keep it tight to the coast! Use the city as cover!” she ordered.

“Light discipline, Abyss crew! Full dark!” Finneas shouted the commands.

The Goldhair Brig joined the chase, its sleek form cutting through the water with alarming speed. A grapple clanged against the Abyss’s railing before being shaken loose. “Finneas, I said hug the coast!” Captain accosted.

He hesitated, “The coast is sharp Captain, this is safest!”

Another grapple whizzed past her head. “Finneas!”

The ship heeled over, turning sharply toward the peninsula’s jagged outline. The pursuing brig altered course to follow, but it was a mistake for them. A final, hopeless cannon volley boomed far behind them, the shots plopping harmlessly into their wake as the brig broke off, returning to the safety of the bay.

The Abyss was too elusive to pursue, even on a moonlight night. They had successfully evaded a premature capture thanks to support from Thomas' courtesan partner. This celebration was short-lived however. 

“Carry on Northward. Finneas, to the navigation room. Now,” Captain demanded.

*

The maps were spread across the table, a parchment prison of bad options. Sandia to the west. Hinickia to the east. 

 Their only hope was that Riley and Thomas had successfully stayed undiscovered. After murdering several guards to retrieve their stolen ship, their own reprieve would come from a princess-sized deal. Without her, they would be endlessly hunted with bounties that could turn even the most loyal crews.

“So it all comes down to the kid,” Finneas sighed, unsettled by their options.

Captain’s expression was unreadable, but her voice held a thread of steel. “Riley knows the system well. They will be there, laying in wait for us. Trust them, Finn.” She left him there, surrounded by maps and doubt, and retreated to the sanctuary of her quarters.

Outside her door, leaning against a supporting beam as if he owned the shadow he stood in, was Korlai. The moonlight through a porthole caught the sharp line of his jaw.

“You spying on us, merc?” she jested, the words lacking their usual bite.

He offered a slow, easy smile that seemed to suggest a dozen different private jokes. “Nah. Just need a spot for tonight, given my new found freedom.” His eyes, glinting with audacity, traveled over her. “That is, unless your room has a tub?”

His boldness intrigued her, not that she would ever show it. “I’ll throw you back in the dungeon if you ever outwardly suggest that again.” He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender that felt anything but. The smile never left his face. 

Captain would not acknowledge him, could not acknowledge him. She turned to hide the growing smirk on her face. She knew better to trust a handsome for-hire mercenary and yet the heat between her thighs made her question the threat of his playful eyes. The danger, it seemed, was already aboard.