The first pirate is rather tall. He almost has to duck in order to traverse belowdecks. Now that he’s dumped his load, he reaches into his pocket and fumbles with something there. A string of what looks like beads peeks out. Some
sort of good luck charm, perhaps?
The second stares at me as if I’m a tasty morsel of food. He makes the skin at
the base of my neck crawl. Best to stay away from that one, I decide.
The man at the back of the group is Kearan. Stars, he’s ugly. His nose is large, his eyes too far apart, his beard too long and unkempt. His belly hangs over his belt to complete the look.
I think that my opinion of him can’t get any lower when I notice what’s in his
hand. He tosses a couple of my dresses onto the heap at the floor.
I clench my teeth. “Were you dragging those? On this filthy floor? Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a girl my size to steal those from?”
“Shut your trap, Alosa,” Draxen commands. “I’m still of half a mind to toss
this lot overboard, my word be damned.”
Kearan pulls a flask from his many-pocketed coat. He takes a large swig.
“Might keep us from sinking, Cap’n.”
“Oh, hush,” I say. “It’s not too late for me to kill you.”
He has the decency to look troubled before taking another drink.
Draxen turns around. “Gents, go above and make ready the ship. I want to leave immediately. Kearan, to the helm with you. Await my return.”
As they depart, Draxen strolls up to Riden and slaps him on the back. “How
did it go, brother?”
Brother?
Draxen’s hair is darker, but his shoulders have the same broadness as
Riden’s. They have the same dark eyes, but Riden is more handsome. No, not handsome. Rivaling pirates are not handsome. They’re bilge rats.
“Well enough,” Riden responds. “She’s very much loyal to her father. She’s
confident in his ability to rescue her, since his reach upon the sea is so vast. Her words lead me to believe he’ll be looking for us in open water, so I recommend
we stay close to shore.”
Hurriedly, I think back to our conversation, realizing the all-too-revealing mistakes in my answers.
Riden’s more clever than he seems. He smirks at my startled expression, or perhaps at the look of death I send him afterward. Then he continues. “She’s got
a fiery temperament that matches the red hair atop her head. She’s intelligent. I’d guess she’s had some sort of proper schooling. As for her fighting and such, I’d
wager she was trained by the pirate king himself, which means he truly cares for
her and will agree to pay the ransom.”
“Excellent,” Draxen says. “So the blackhearted pirate king would indeed
come for his daughter.”
“Probably in person,” Riden says.
I’m careful to keep my expression the same. Let them think my father will be
looking for me, rather than sitting safe in his keep, awaiting my report. However, Riden's spot-on about my training. My father would only trust this mission with
someone he had trained himself. And he’s only ever trained one person.
“Anything else?” Draxen asks.
“She’s a dangerous one. She should be kept locked up at all times. I also wouldn’t let any of the men be alone with her, for their sakes.” Riden says that
part jokingly, but then he returns to seriousness, taking a deep breath while he collects his thoughts. “And she’s hiding something. More than the secrets we already know she keeps. There’s something she really doesn’t want me to find out.”
I stand from my chair and step up to the bars, my mind reeling. He can’t know my darkest secret. Only my father and a select few know it. “How could
you possibly know that?”
“I didn’t.”
Draxen laughs.
I ball my hands into fists. I want nothing more than to strike Riden’s cocky face again and again until each of his teeth fall out of his smile.
But, alas, his face is too far away. So I settle for grabbing the sleeve of his long shirt. Since he’s still sitting, he flies headfirst toward the bars. He braces his hands against the bars so his face doesn’t connect. That’s fine by me, because it gives me the time I need to use my free hand to pluck the key to my cell from his pocket. Once I’ve got it, I place it in my own pocket and back up to the wooden
wall of the cell.
Riden grunts as he stands.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t be left alone with her, either,” Draxen says.