Cheers erupted so loudly I thought my eardrums might burst, and I couldn’t even hear the laugh coming from my own lips. Risthan’s eyes welled up with tears, and he mouthed “thank you” to me from across the heads of the citizens.
I waved a dismissive hand and laughed off his gratitude. He’d earned his spot in the hearts of the Arajian people by standing up for them when their own king would not.
Eva and Caelia joined me on the table as the Arajians lifted Risthan to their shoulders and began to parade him down the street toward the palace. I cast a glance over at Idinavisth only to find him on his hands and knees on his table while a couple of guards stood protectively nearby.
It seemed there were still a few Arajians loyal to the former leader, but I didn’t expect that to last long. Perhaps I should have killed him just to prevent any future treachery from him, but I couldn’t bring myself to murder someone so pathetic.
“What’s next?” Eva curled an eyebrow as she flashed me that gorgeous sideways smile.
“Next, we eliminate the rest of the pirates,” I said.
“We’ll need an army,” Caelia said.
“Nah,” I chuckled. “Just a couple of ships doing a god’s work. We might need some help from the Arajians to sail our new vessels, so we’ll stick around long enough to make all the necessary arrangements.”
“Plus, we’ll want to be present at Risthan’s coronation,” Sarosh said as she climbed up to the top of the table.
“There you are!” I laughed as I embraced my priestess. “Have you been holed up with the evacuees since the battle?”
“I have been ministering to my kinsmen,” Sarosh confirmed. “I had every confidence you would succeed against the pirates, so I wanted to finish up my sermons while I had masses gathered in tight quarters. No doubt we shall be setting sail again soon? Now that the immediate threat against Arajah is removed?”
“Astute as ever.” I grinned. “We were just talking about our plans to leave. The Eastern Ocean isn’t going to clean itself.”
“Fortunately, our world has been graced with your divine presence,” Sarosh said. “I cannot wait to witness your next miracles.”
“Me, either!” Caelia chirped.
“I wonder if the world will ever be the same,” Eva mused.
“Not with me around,” I laughed.
We spent the next several days organizing for our departure and helping Risthan settle into his new position, but we managed to find plenty of time to rest and relax as well. King Idinavisth sulked off to his private mansion in the heart of the city’s rich district, and we didn’t hear another peep out of him for the next few days.
The Arajians were more than eager to volunteer to assist me in my pirate eliminating endeavor, so I had my pick of the strongest, smartest, and overall cream of the crop. The crew of The Quest helped teach the newbies how to handle the rigging, and within a matter of days, we had a full roster for both the pirate ships we’d claimed during the battle.
I gave orders for one of the ships to patrol the ocean around Arajah and intimidate any pirate vessels that got too close for comfort. The other ship would come with me and The Quest so we could effectively double-team our enemies, and excitement thrummed in my veins as I thought about having my very own ship to captain.
I planned on eventually bringing any ships I acquired back to Arajah to start their very own naval fleet, but I would always have The Quest available to take me where I needed to go.
The morning of our departure dawned bright and sunny, and I heard birds chirping beyond the windowpanes as I blinked away sleep from crusty eyes. I was surprised when Evangeline immediately woke up as soon as I did, and Caelia was opening her eyes, too.
“Good morning, my beautiful babes.” I grinned from ear to ear. “I’m eager to set sail.”
“I hope my stomach fares better during the next journey,” Caelia said with a sideways smile. “But I am excited to free the ocean from the pirates’ clutches.”
“It’s always an adventure, isn’t it?” Eva giggled.
“Let’s hurry up and say our goodbyes before we finally push off,” I suggested. “Risthan would be pissed if we left without seeing him first.”
After we pulled on the clothes and armor we’d all laid out the night before, the three of us caught up with Sarosh in the corridor, and then we went to see the new king. There was already a very different atmosphere in the hallways of the palace, and the servants all greeted us with friendly smiles. The guards held spears and had swords strapped to their waists, and their expressions were more schooled, but they nodded curtly as we passed.
It looked like a proper kingdom.
“Bash!” Risthan greeted, and a warm smile stretched across his face as soon as we entered the throne room. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Sorry it’s so early,” I chuckled.
“The high seas wait for no one,” Risthan said, and the new king stepped down from the dais to clap one hand on my shoulder and gripped my forearm with the other. “I’m honored you took the time to come say farewell.”
“I couldn’t leave town without checking on you one more time.” I smirked. “How are you feeling about your new role? Anyone giving you a hard time? I can intimidate them for you.”
“Everyone has been very gracious and kind,” Risthan said, but then he turned toward a table near the dais I hadn’t noticed before. There were maps and lists scattered all across the surface, and the king of Arajah smoothed out the edges of the largest piece of parchment. “This is Arajah, by the way.”
I crossed the distance to stand beside Risthan, and I peered over his shoulder at the image of a large island mostly covered in woodlands. There were steep mountains behind the city, with cliffs and trails between peaks clearly marked, and the depiction of Custanov was incredibly detailed and accurate, down to the picnic tables located in the market square.
I scanned over the map casually for a moment as I searched for any signs of a secret magic, but there were no markers indicating anything of the kind. I wasn’t really expecting there to be, but a god could hope.
Would Risthan reveal the secrets of the island to me now that he was the king? Did he even know what the secret was?
There were still too many unanswered questions, but I preferred action, and I had a promise to fulfill. I would request the knowledge I wanted after I’d cleaned up the high seas, and not a moment before.
“It’s beautiful,” I finally said, and I let out a low appreciative whistle. “Must have cost a fortune.”
“Well, you know.” Risthan coughed awkwardly. “I have access to the island’s coffers now.”
“I bet it feels nice to be richer than your dad for once,” I observed.
“You have no idea.” Risthan smiled. “Now, what else can I do to help you prepare for your voyage? Breakfast, perhaps?”
“Acting like a true king already,” I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll eat on the way, but it’s probably time for us to hit the waves, so to speak.”
“Be careful out there, Bash,” Risthan said, and then he flashed my women a broad smile. “Take good care of him, will you?”
“I’ll watch him like a hawk,” Eva promised.
“We’ll tend to his every need,” Caelia added.
Risthan chuckled and shot me a look that practically yelled “you lucky bastard” before he turned to my priestess, and the king gave her a deep bow.
“Sarosh of Arajah,” Risthan intoned in a formal tone. “I hereby free you from your bonds to the island. You are free to place your loyalties wherever you see fit. We just hope you’ll come and visit again someday.”
“Your Majesty,” Sarosh said as her hand flew up to cover her lips, but she recovered herself an instant later to lower herself into an even deeper bow. “You honor me. I will always call Arajah home. Watch over our people, guide them through the treacherous waters of the future, and you will go down as the greatest king in all our histories.”
Risthan’s eyes were full of emotion as he rose to his full height, and the two embraced like old friends for the first time. Much of what couldn’t be said in words was exchanged at that moment, and my women and I averted our gazes to give them some privacy.
Finally, Sarosh sniffed and pulled back, so I arched one eyebrow in a silent question, and she nodded.
“Time to go,” I said.
“Safe travels, Great One.” Risthan returned to his dais, but he didn’t sit back down on his throne until we exited the audience chamber.
The deck of the new ship felt foreign to me after how much time I’d spent on The Quest, but this vessel was all mine. I’d manned it with a mix of Arajians and borrowed crew members from Captain Black-eye, and even Caelia and Eva were already hard at work.
The two women joined the line of sailors hauling the anchor up from the depths, and they all staggered backward as the heavy cast-iron wedge lurched onto the deck. Then we were off, and the oarsmen pushed heavily against the tide to send us skimming across the waves.
As Arajah sank into the distant horizon, I thought about everything I’d experienced since leaving Sorreyal. The world was a strange place full of very different people, and I wanted to explore it all.
Thankfully, it would be much easier with the fast-traveling amulet.
We sailed for a few days without incident or any pirate spotting, but it was just after twilight on the fifth day when we spotted the skull and crossbones sigil upon an approaching vessel’s mast.
While unoccupied the previous few days, Captain Black-eye and I had developed a series of hand signals to communicate with one another across the decks of the two ships, so I quickly climbed up to the upper level and scanned the prow of The Quest.
“Sandwich formation,” I signaled silently.
“Aye,” he replied with his hands.
That was all that needed to be said before the two of us leapt into action, but the calls being barked on each ship mirrored each other almost identically.
This would be my crew’s first experience loading and firing the heavy cannons that lined both sides of the deck, so I kept a close eye on the Arajians manning the guns as I issued my instructions to the crew. My temporarily unnamed ship swerved through the waves to cut off the pirates’ ship’s escape. There were islands on the horizon, but we hadn’t taken the time to explore any of the lands while we were hunting our enemy.
Maybe there were pirate hideouts all along these foreign shores.
There would be time to deal with that question later, but for the moment, I refocused on eliminating the current pirate threat. The Quest sliced through the ocean like an expertly sharpened dagger, and we had the enemy vessel trapped between us a few moments later. The pirate ship attempted to change its trajectory, but it was too late.
“Fire!” I shouted to my cannoneers.
The quick staccato booms shook the deck, and the force of the balls blasting from the cannons caused the ship to heave from side to side. The iron projectiles slammed into the hull of the pirate vessel, and chunks of wood and splinters sprayed in every direction. An answering explosion sounded from the other side of the enemy as Black-eye released his own series of cannon fire, and some of the pirates fell overboard as their boat was rocked from either direction.
Then arrows zipped through the air and found purchase in the eyes and necks of the overboard pirates, but I noticed members of the enemy crew loading their own cannons to fire back at us.
“Target the cannoneers!” I commanded as I pointed the tip of one of my panabas toward a pirate lugging a heavy iron ball toward the rails.
The arrows of the Arajians rained down onto the deck of the pirate ship, and the sounds of death filled my ears. The former pacifists had taken to the bow like a fish to water, but I imagined they preferred to keep their distance from their targets after being abused by foreigners for so long.
After the first round of arrows were fired, my hand-picked fighters began to swing across the gap to board the enemy vessel. We’d practiced these moves a hundred times when drifting beside The Quest, but my heart was still in my throat as I watched closely.
Everyone landed safely, and only one person stumbled on the other side, but their neighbor swiftly lent a hand to steady them. The metallic sheen of my warriors’ hair made them easy to track as they engaged with their targets, but all of them had sworn to me that they were willing to give their lives if necessary.
I’d still reset over and over again to ensure that didn’t happen, but I had to admire their courage.
Chaos ensued after the first round of fighters swung over, and the pirates realized they were being beaten by pacifists. I saw the shift in the tide of battle, and I quickly grabbed the nearest rope available to swing across.
I landed in a roll, and I came up with my panabas swinging in a rapid figure eight. The Arajian fighters caught on to what was happening in time to get out of the way, but then they started pressing the pirates into a tight circle around me.
I smirked as I realized I had the perfect opportunity to completely annihilate the entire pirate crew in one move.
“Chs!” I shouted as I spun in a circle and sprayed my ice spell at the feet of my enemies.
Thanks to the water on the wooden planks, the pirates were instantly stuck in place, and the Arajians continued to herd their comrades tighter against their backs, but that was right where I wanted them. The anger and rage on their faces shifted to frustration and a hint of fear, and I grinned.
Then I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots, and I ran in a tight circle formation while simultaneously swinging my panabas. Screeches of agony sounded distant to my ears as I ran through the spray of gore, and I was moving so fast through the droplets that they stung my face where they struck.
A couple of breaths later, I had to hop over the bodies of the dead to reach the pirates behind them, so I had to go slightly slower. The pirates were sandwiched between a chainsaw of death and the pokes of former pacifists, and it did not look like they were going to get out of the situation alive. Many attempted to flee, but they received a swift arrow to the throat the instant they dashed toward the rails.
I zoned out and flowed into the dance of death. Hop, twirl, hop, twirl. The background music was screams of pain and the splash of blood, but in the distance I could also make out the cheering taunts of the Arajian fighters.
They were having fun.
The fight was over before I was ready for it to end, but the entire crew of the pirate vessel laid across the deck. Some were in pieces while others looked like they were merely sleeping, but the Arajians knew what to do next. They moved about the bodies with precision, and they sliced the throats of every last one of the pirates.
“Good job, everyone!” I shouted when I realized there wasn’t anything left for me to do. “This is just the first of many! The high seas shall be free again!”
My crew and the crew of The Quest applauded and cheered, and everyone patted each other on the back or clasped arms in congratulations.
“Let’s throw the bodies overboard and search the ship,” I instructed. “Then we leave it to burn.”
“Aye, aye, Red Hands!” everyone shouted in unison, and my chest puffed out with pride.
We found a minimal amount of stashed weapons and gold, but nothing special, so I divided up the loot between all the crew members of both ships. It didn’t go very far, but it was only the first battle of many.
By the time the ocean was rid of the pirates, they’d all be wealthy men.
There were more and more pirate ships as we sailed away from Arajah, and we fought six in almost as many days. The treasure we found soon bulged in the pockets of everyone, and the crews were amazed we’d yet to suffer a single casualty.
Then we spent a week without a single encounter, and I decided it was time to head to the pirate king’s stronghold. I still had the lesser captain I’d captured at the Battle of Custanov, but I’d been saving his interrogation for a rainy day.
And despite the lack of clouds in the sky, there were metaphorical droplets streaming into my face.
It was time to find out where we were going.
After leaving Eva in charge of the upper level, I dipped below deck to the cargo hold where the pirate was strapped to one of the support beams. His head hung to his chest, and his breathing was shallow, so he didn’t notice my approach. His hair was long, dark, and greasy, but it worked like a curtain to mask his face from me. He’d been stripped of his clothes except for a loincloth, and his scarred body was covered in tattoos.
He was every bit what I’d expect a pirate to be.
I made a new save point before I crossed the distance to him, and he looked up when my shadow drifted over him.
“Up for some company?” I asked with mock-friendliness.
“Go to hell,” the pirate growled.
“What’s your name?” I ignored him and squatted down so we were face to face.
“I ain’t tellin’ you shit,” he said, and he twisted his head away from me as far as the bindings would allow.
I slapped it straight again.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” I instructed in a calm, firm tone. “The faster you behave right, the faster you’ll be free.”
“You intend to release me?” he sneered, and his broken yellowed teeth were caked with dried blood. “I’d just go get my buddies and come back to fuck your skull.”
“Kinky,” I chuckled.
Then I punched him in the fucking face.
There was fresh blood on his teeth when I lifted his gaze back to mine, and I squeezed his jaw until he winced.
“What’s your name?” I repeated.
“Fogle,” he spat out.
“Thanks.” I released his jaw with a jerk, and I grinned into his dark, glaring eyes. “I’m Bash. As in I’ll bash your fucking head in if you don’t talk.”
I went on to question the man with patience and discipline, and by the time the sun had set outside the porthole, I’d learned a lot. Fogle was inbred, ashamed of his heritage, and ran away from home at a young age, so the pirate king took him in and practically raised him like a son.
You know, gave him beer, taught him to steal and rape, just pirate dad things.
The only thing I’d yet to learn was where the pirate king was at, and the asshole refused to divulge this one specific detail. I reset back to my save point to gain some daylight, and then I questioned with some harsher techniques.
“Where… is… the… king?” I asked in a painfully slow voice as I carefully sliced off Fogle’s fingernails one by one. I repeated the question after each removal, and I was a third of the way through his digits.
“Fuuuuck!” the pirate captain howled in pain and thrashed against his bindings, and sweat beaded all across his flushed face. “Alright! Alright! Fuck! I’ll tell you.”
I paused and lifted my blade as I arched one eyebrow.
Fogle panted for a moment as a desperate look entered his eyes, but then the fight left him, and he sagged against the ropes.
“He has a mansion on the Restless Isle,” he choked out. “But he’ll probably be in his fortress. That’s on Esther Isle.”
“You’ll mark it on a map?” I asked in a tone that left no room to say no.
“Aye.” Fogle nodded. “Just let me die…”
“You’d rather die than be set free?” I had no intention of letting him go free, but I didn’t want to give him what he wanted, either.
Maybe he’d receive harsher judgement from the pirate king than he had from me. Maybe his boss wouldn’t let him walk away with his life. Either way, I didn’t have the resources to keep a prisoner harbored indefinitely, or at least, I didn’t want to use my resources on a thieving asshole.
I grabbed a map from my personal stash and returned to the cargo hold to have Fogle mark Esther Isle’s location, and the man grumbled as he pointed to a spot on the parchment.
“Right about there.” The pirate captain leaned his head against the pole he was strapped to. “Can I die now?”
I’d gotten what I wanted, though, so I reset back to my save point to regain the daylight hours once more.
Chime.
After I returned to the upper deck, I signaled to Captain Black-eye that I needed to talk, and he quickly swung over the water to land on the port side of my vessel. His eyebrows were furrowed with concern, and he flicked his gaze about as though in search of a problem.
“I got the pirate king’s location,” I announced without preamble. “My prisoner informed me he’s either on Esther Isle or the Restless Isle, but most likely the former.”
“It would be difficult for him to keep his whereabouts unknown in Restless Isle,” Black-eye said. “Everyone there would recognize him almost instantly.”
“They won’t recognize me,” I pointed out. “If it comes to that.”
“So, you want to try for Esther Isle first?” Black-eye clarified.
I nodded. “Do you know where it is?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Black-eye frowned at an empty spot on the deck. “Did your prisoner not tell you?”
“He marked it on a map, and I memorized the location.” I didn’t want to give away too much information about how my abilities worked, but I trusted the captain with my life.
“What will you do with your prisoner now?” The captain seemed to relax a little, and his gaze settled on my face.
“Any suggestions?” I grinned.
“The sailor’s method is to make them walk the plank,” Black-eye said, and a mischievous gleam entered his dark eyes. “We’re far enough away from land to make it nigh impossible to survive, so it’s all a matter of if he drowns or is eaten first.”
“Alright,” I chuckled. “He’ll walk the plank at sunrise, but you’re sure that’s not too cheesy?”
“What does cheese have to do with it?” His confusion was palpable.
“Never mind,” I laughed. “I’ll show you the location of the island on my map, and Kipper can chart a course for us to follow. The faster we get there, the faster we can get rid of this asshole wannabe-king.”
Fogle walked the plank at sunrise with all his fingernails still intact, but that was the only mercy he received. His hands and ankles were bound with rope, but we didn’t attach a weight of any kind. He’d either drown, get eaten by a shark, or die of dehydration after days of bobbing in the waves like a buoy.
There were no cheers or applause, but both crews stood silently on the deck and watched until the man was out of sight. It added a feeling of comradery to the grizzly decision, and a sense of shared responsibility.
My people were strong.
“What now?” Eva asked after the display was over.
“Now, we go hunt down the pirate king,” I said. “We know where he’s at, we just have to get to him.”
“Do you really think they’re ready?” Her smoky-gray eyes flicked to the Arajians manning the sails.
“They have to be,” I said, and I worked the muscle in my jaw. “Their future depends on it. Once we go back to Arajah, we’ll leave them with a fleet of vessels to protect their island with, but they have to earn them first.”
“Everyone must start from the bottom,” Sarosh said in a wise voice. “You are generous to give so much.”
“Just a god taking care of his people.” I shrugged.
Esther Island was blanketed in thick fog when it came into view several days later, and a hushed silence fell upon the crews of the two ships. An imposing gray fortress jutted out from the tree line at the top of a sheer cliff wall, and I didn’t see any way to access it.
“Time to hunt a king,” I murmured to Eva, Caelia, and Sarosh as we drifted closer to the island.
Red Hands, the Pirate Bane, had arrived.