The first task ahead of me was to gather information. I still didn’t know what this supposed pirate king looked like since there weren’t even any wanted posters featuring his image, so I was going to have to use the process of elimination.
Fortunately, I had all the time in the world on my side.
Our two ships anchored with the island on the distant horizon, but I didn’t want to get close enough for the pirate ships in the harbor to take note of us. The scouting team would have to row quite a distance, but it would be worth it to keep our presence undetected.
Evangeline and Caelia would accompany me ashore so I could keep my eye on them, and I also chose Kipper and Krin for their ability to maneuver with greater stealth than some of the others. Then the five of us climbed down into a single rowboat. Between me, Kipper, and Krin, our small vessel sliced through the waves at a brisk pace, and soon, Esther Island loomed before us.
We all sat silently as our small rowboat drifted closer to shore, and I scanned over the dock as I took note of everything I could see. The harbor was empty, but it was the middle of the night.
Still, I’d expected pirates to be up at all hours.
The fog clung to everything, and the air felt damp. The glow of lanterns and torches lining the boardwalk cut through the dense condensation, but it was difficult to see farther than a few feet in front of us. The weather would work to our advantage, though, since it would be just as difficult for the pirates to see us as it was for us to see them.
Caelia shivered by my side, and I removed my wool-lined cloak to wrap it around her shoulders. The curly-haired shopkeeper flashed me a grateful smile as she nestled into the borrowed warmth, and I winked.
We touched dirt a hundred yards away from the docks, and the five of us worked together to haul the small vessel out of the waves. Then we hid it beneath the tree line, and we covered it with brush and leaves.
“Ready?” I murmured as I looked from person to person.
They all nodded, so I made a new save point before I went over my instructions one more time.
“Caelia and Eva will infiltrate the fortress through the servants’ quarters,” I said. “Krin will scale the walls and get a headcount of the guards on rotation. Kipper, you search the streets and gather as much information as you can.”
We’d all done our best to disguise ourselves as pirates for this scouting trip, and I wondered if I would recognize my companions if I saw them incognito in the streets. Eva wore a bandana around her jagged blonde hair, but Caelia’s locks were worked into thick, dreadlock-like braids. Kipper and Krin had made faux-beards, and both men wore ragged, wide-brimmed pirates’ hats we’d scavenged from the dead.
My companions all nodded in understanding, and then we moved toward the gate leading inside the pirate fortress. The walls were roughly twenty feet tall and made of humongous carved stone bricks, and I scanned over the face of it to determine how difficult it would be to scale. Each section spanned at least six feet, so it would be quite a stretch to go from crack to crack.
The two men, Eva, and I could do it, but what about Caelia?
We’d have to take the gate.
“Slight change of plan,” I said as I jerked my chin toward the wall. “I don’t think we’ll all make it up and over the wall, so we’ll have to take over the front gate.”
“Are you mad?” Krin gasped. “They’ll overpower us in moments.”
“Not if they think you’re one of them,” I said, and I gave the younger man an encouraging smile. “You and Kipper will climb the wall and shadow two guards until you can knock them out and steal their clothes. Then, when you’re sure we’re clear, you’ll open the gate, and the girls and I will go up to the fortress.”
“How do we signal you if there’s trouble?” Kipper asked as he furrowed his brow in thought. “Or should we just expect to be on our own?”
“Nothing bad is going to happen,” I promised, and I was grateful for my save point just in case I had to eat those words.
“Alright,” Kipper said with a swift exhale.
“If I must,” Krin added, and he swallowed hard.
“It’s just like fighting on a boat,” I said in an encouraging voice. “Keep your feet under you, and don’t get stabbed.”
“Heard,” the watchman sighed.
I laughed as the two men began the ascent up the wall, and I kept a close eye on our perimeter as they climbed from crack to crack. For sailors accustomed to the rigging, the wall was a piece of cake, and I smirked when they crested the edge.
A moment later, two naked men were flung from the ramparts, and the women and I had to jump out of the way to avoid the flailing arms. The guards were dead upon impact, and blood began to seep out of their heads to coat the dirt.
“Gross,” Caelia said as she wrinkled her nose.
“Should be the only deaths tonight,” I said with an apologetic smile. “This is a stealth mission, after all.”
The three of us slowly made our way toward the gate, but we hid in the shadows of the tree line as we waited for the two crew members to signal the all clear. The silence inched on for an eternity, but I practiced controlling my breathing and reminded myself to be patient.
Finally, a low whistle echoed in my ears, and I nodded to my women.
“It’s time,” I said.
We made our way to the gate, but it hung open and unguarded. There was no one inside, or anywhere within view, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“If worse comes to worse,” I said to Kipper and Krin when I spotted two men standing silently atop the wall. “Run back to the boat and wait for us there.”
“Aye, Red Hands,” Kipper said in a hushed tone.
Then the three of us turned toward the castle-like structure at the center of the walled fortress, and we jogged at a brisk pace through the littered, broken streets. The stench of death, decay, and mold clung to everything, and we passed by huge piles of waste and sewage.
It was a veritable pit of disease and despair.
“Fuck, this place is gross.” I grimaced and breathed through my mouth in an effort to avoid the assaulting odors, and I noticed the two women at my side mimicked my behavior. “We should just burn the whole thing down.”
“It would send a powerful message if you claimed the island for yourself,” Eva said.
The idea illuminated in my mind, and I envisioned the pirate king groveling before his very own throne with my ass in his spot. It was an enchanting image, and I had to admit my wife was onto something.
“Let’s do it,” I said with a decisive nod.
“The pirates won’t know what hit them,” Caelia said.
We headed toward the castle-like structure while continuing to breathe through our mouths, but the streets grew slightly cleaner as we approached the second set of gates.
“State your business,” a bear-like man growled as he stepped into the torchlight on either side of the entrance.
“Just escorting some maids back to the keep after a night drinking,” I said in a deeper voice than I normally used.
Caelia and Eva giggled in a fake-drunken nature, and they leaned heavily on each other. The pirate guard eyed them for a moment before he stepped out of the way to let us through, and I nodded my thanks as I took each woman’s arm.
“Come now, ladies,” I said in a harsh tone. “It’s about time you paid me for your escort.”
“Right away,” Eva giggled, and then the blonde burped loudly.
The burly pirate watched us head inside the keep for a moment before he returned to a chair tucked into the shadows, and I let out my breath in relief. I was glad the man was dumb enough to fall for our ruse, but I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him if necessary.
We went our separate ways in the main hallway, but the interior of the keep was dimly-lit, and we had to light the candles we found near the entrance to find our way around. Eva took the first left junction while Caelia took the right, and I continued straight.
I didn’t like letting my two ladies out of my sight, but I trusted them to handle themselves in almost every situation. For the times we couldn’t control the outcome, I could always reset and find a way around it.
“Where are you, fucker?” I muttered to myself as I peered into empty room after empty room.
I found the servants’ quarters and backtracked to return to the main hallway, but not before I spotted the silver-haired slaves asleep in their beds. I would make sure they were returned safely to Arajah, but for now, I let them sleep.
A huge throne room was decorated with smears of blood on the floor that indicated bodies had been dragged away, and chains hung from the ceiling in front of the steel-backed chair I took to be the throne.
Torches on pillars lined either side of the room, and in the shadowed alcoves were small rooms with pillowed floors, but I didn’t have to think too hard to realize what they were used for. I could only imagine the terror the female Arajian slaves endured on a daily basis at the hands of the pirates and their king, and the thought filled me with bloodlust.
I combed through the throne room without finding any signs of the pirate king, and there were no hallways leading off from the audience chamber, so I went back to the main hallway to the stairs and began to search the second level.
I encountered a few Arajian slaves, and they eyed me with obvious fear. I worried for a moment that they saw through my pirate disguise, but then they ducked their heads and scurried away, and I realized they were terrified of me because of the pirate getup I had on.
There were no more pirates inside the keep, and no one guarding the halls, but that worked out in my favor. I was able to efficiently and swiftly sweep through the second and third levels, but still I found no signs of the pirate king.
The sun began to peek in through the windows when Eva and Caelia caught up to me and reported zero findings, but they’d spoken with some of the slaves, and the two women felt confident we could count on the captive Arajians to cause a distraction if needed.
“I’m sorry we wasted so much time with so little to show for it,” Caelia said in a sad voice. “Where could the pirate king be?”
“No such thing as wasted time with me,” I reminded my soon-to-be bride. “We’ll find him, don’t worry.”
Then I reset back to my save point to get back the time we’d lost searching the castle, and the chime was ringing in my ears when I found myself on the shore of the island once more.
“The pirate king isn’t inside the castle,” I said in a disappointed voice. “I’m not sure where he is, but that’s what we need to figure out.”
My companions’ eyes widened in surprise.
“You know for sure?” Kipper asked.
“Without a doubt,” I said. “I just had to get closer to get a clear understanding.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth, either. The navigator didn’t need to know that, though, so I waved a dismissive hand and carried on with my new plan.
“We’ll go to the taverns and ask around,” I instructed. “The pirate king could be sailing the ocean acquiring more slaves or something. Let’s find out where he went, when he’ll be back, and how many men he has with him.”
Krin and Kipper eliminated the guards again, but this time, all five of us made our way into the small keep town together. There were sounds of laughter and shouting coming from a few streets over, so we made our way over to investigate and found a tavern.
Pirates fell out the doorway into the street, and they grappled and fought with each other while paying us zero attention, so we ignored them to enter the establishment. Inside was utter chaos, and the thick stench of sweat and grease permeated the atmosphere. A couple of musicians screeched out a discordant folk song in one corner while two pirates swung a large, laughing woman between them. A few tables teeming with the pirate bastards were playing cards, and my fingers itched to humiliate them with my skills.
“Let’s split up,” I suggested in a low tone. “Ladies, target the other women. They’ll be more open with another female. Kipper, charm the bartender. Krin, blend in and watch out for signs of trouble.”
“What are you going to do?” Krin asked.
“I’m going to play cards.” I grinned.
I took the last empty chair at one of the card tables, and I nodded to the pirate dealing out the deck. He slung cards my way without a word, and I subtly glanced around at my opponents. There was a good mix of men seated around the table, half young and half old, but there were no women among the players.
I played close to my chest for a few rounds as I picked up on the rules of the game, but it was very similar to rummy, so it was easy enough to figure out. I listened to the competitive banter between the other players absently, but I kept my ears peeled for any mention of their king.
“Gone for a fortnight already,” one man growled after a while of discussing their recent loot. “Think he’s even coming back at all?”
I held my breath as I waited for someone to answer him. Had the pirate king heard of my approach and fled?
“It’s your turn,” the dealer snapped at me and yanked me out of my thoughts.
I pulled my card, discarded it, and nodded to the guy next in line beside me.
“I just came to volunteer,” I said. “Used to work a freelance gig on a ship close to Sorreyal. Have any of you ever been there?”
“That’s too far,” a man across the table from me spat. “Plus, they fight back over there. That Arajah is the place to go. The women barely even struggle when you thrust in ‘em.”
I resisted the urge to grimace in disgust, but I kept my expression neutral.
“I was hoping to meet the king so I could swear my loyalties to him,” I continued.
“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” one of the men to my left said, and all eyes snapped to him. He sensed the attention and shrugged. “He always comes back on a full moon. Likes to think of himself as mystical.”
“Weird.” One of the pirates shook his head. “But who am I to judge? I grew up thinking the gods had abandoned me. Turns out I can just take whatever I want.”
His statement was followed by laughter from nearly everyone at the table, so I quickly faked a laugh of my own.
If what the man said was true, then we had just enough time to lay a trap for the pirate king to come home to, and we’d be able to seize control of the island before he arrived.
Happy with the information I’d gleaned, I reset back to my save point with a wave of my willpower.
Chime.
“The pirate king isn’t here,” I informed my companions. “He won’t be here until tomorrow.”
“What’s the plan?” Eva asked as she planted her hands on her hips.
“We set a trap,” I said. “We’ll go inside the walls and scope out the location of the barracks, armory, etc. Once we know all their defenses, it will be easy to defeat the bastards before their leader returns.”
“What about the guards at the gate?” Kipper asked.
“You and Krin will scale the walls, take out the guards, and steal their clothes.” I smirked. “Feel free to toss them naked over the walls. The fall will handle the rest.”
“Done.” Kipper grinned.
“Once we find out everything we need to know, we’ll return to The Quest and plan the rest of our attack with Black-eye.” I took the lead as we headed toward the walls of the fortress. “For now, do not engage anyone except the gate guards. We’re going incognito.”
Just as they had before, the two sailors quickly scaled the large stone wall, and they tossed the pirate guards to their deaths before opening the gate to the rest of us. Krin and Kipper stayed behind at the gates once more, and my lovers and I continued into the walled fortress. We split into two groups this time, and each group headed in opposite directions along the wall.
I winked at my women before I turned to head the other way, but a part of me would always worry about their safety whenever they were out of my sight.
I found a squat building in the corner where two sides of the fortress joined, and judging from the militant design, it currently served as the pirates’ barracks. I double-checked by dipping my head inside the doorway, but I saw the backs of sleeping pirates in steel armor.
Behind the barracks was a ladder leading to the top of the ramparts, and I scaled this in a few quick steps and followed along the length of the wall until I ran into the two sailors posing as gatemen.
“I found the barracks,” I said without preamble.
“The women were looking for you,” Kipper informed me. “They found a storage shed full of cannonballs.”
“Awesome.” I grinned. “It won’t take us much longer to locate all their defenses. Has anyone questioned you?”
“No one’s been by,” Krin said.
I went back to finding all the key points of defense for the pirate king’s fortress, but it felt like only a few moments had passed when the sun began to rise again. I trotted back to the gate to meet up with the others, and my two women were likewise hurrying to our meeting spot.
“We found an armory and an ammunition storage shed!” Eva reported with a bright smile.
“And a back entrance the servants use to haul trash away,” Caelia added.
“Alright, now tell me where everything is located,” I instructed, and I listened closely to their descriptions until I felt confident I could find them on my own in the next run through.
“What about you, Bash?” Eva asked. “Discover anything interesting?”
“I found the barracks and some access points to the top of the walls,” I reported. “There isn’t much guard action going on, so I think we could take it in a single night. The pirates will wake up with a new god in town.”
“We should tell Black-eye,” Kipper suggested.
“No need.” I grinned. “I’ll just reset.”
“What?” the navigator asked with a look of utter confusion.
Chime.
“Wait,” I said as soon as I found myself back on the shore. “I can sense the absence of the pirate king. He will return tomorrow night beneath the full moon.”
“Did you have to get closer to sense that or something?” Krin eyed me with an odd expression.
He was smarter than he looked.
“Something like that.” I waved a dismissive hand. “The point is, we don’t all need to go inside the fortress right now. In fact, some of us need to go get the rest of the crew so we can take over the island before the pirate king comes back.”
“You want to fight the entire island tonight?” Kipper swallowed, but then he pulled on a brave face.
“Yep.” I nodded. “And I need the two of you to hold the gate while I get Black-eye.”
“Alright,” Krin said.
“Aye, Red Hands,” Kipper agreed.
“Good.” I gestured to the rowboat. “It may take me a minute.”
“Not a problem,” the navigator said. “You’re a better oarsman than any I’ve ever seen. No one is faster than you.”
“Thanks.” I laughed.
The women and I were pushing across the waves back to The Quest a moment later, but it didn’t take me nearly as long as I expected to reach the rails of Black-eye’s ship. Then we climbed up a rope ladder the crew slung over the side of the hull, and the captain greeted us as soon as we crested the top.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where are my men?”
“They’re fine,” I laughed. “We just found out we have a rare opportunity to fuck shit up.”
“What’s the plan?” Black-eye’s voice immediately filled with eagerness.
“We take the island tonight before the pirate king returns tomorrow.” I clapped Black-eye on the shoulder. “I’m going to sit on his throne to wait for him.”
“That will make quite a first impression,” Black-eye agreed, but then he frowned. “He’ll surely have several ships in his fleet upon his return. We should be prepared for the fight of a lifetime.”
“The pirates are the only ones losing their lives any time soon,” I promised.
We spent the next couple of hours planning and strategizing our attack, but we incorporated everything we’d learned. Then we sailed our two ships up to the defenseless harbor, and the two crews slid onto the dock with ninja-like stealth.
Kipper and Krin stood on either side of the main gate as the sailors flowed through the archway, and then everyone went about their given tasks without any need for further instruction. Large groups went to the barracks and armory, and several people remained along the walls as our own version of guards.
We encountered a small amount of resistance when the taverns began to kick the drunk pirates out of the common rooms, and the idiots paused to blink at us for several moments before they were eliminated in silence.
“Everyone is a total ninja,” I observed to Eva as we walked along the wall.
“They know what’s expected of them,” my wife pointed out. “And they’re all very motivated to end the pirate threat once and for all.”
“This could be the end of the war with the pirates,” I said. “After killing the king, it’ll all be downhill from there.”
Once the lower city was cleared and the random pirates roaming the streets had been eliminated, my people began to board up the houses and hovels filling the remainder of the small fort town. Despite the sounds of hammers softly tapping against nails, the air was still and quiet.
Dawn was swiftly approaching, though, so we turned our attention to the castle.
I sent Arajian sailors to the servant’s quarters to escort the slaves back to our ships, and then The Quest crew members combed the hallways for any pirate guards. Meanwhile, I went straight to the throne room, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I saw the sex alcoves again.
On a whim, I shot a burst of flame into each one, and the fire engulfed the pillows. The stench of burning fabric filled the air, and smoke rolled out the archways toward windows high along the walls.
Amidst the fire and smoke, the throne sat empty, and I crossed the room to it with determined steps. My followers were all in place, and the fortress was ours.
“Ready when you are, asshole,” I said to the empty room.
The God of Time was the new Pirate King.