Diamond Bonds (30 page)

Marin groans and stirs, but Era stomps on her head, slamming it back into the floor and again knocking her out cold.  “Fortunately, my father never outright condemned violence,” he says with a grin.

Fire turns away, unable to look at him any longer.  “Fine, leave her alive.  Do what you want,” she mutters, her entire body trembling as she continues to deal with her conflicting thoughts.  “So where are the ice queen and the whiny princess?”

Era’s smile fades.  “So, yeah… they were taken by pirates.”

She glares at him, at first taking it as a bad joke.  Realizing he’s serious, she mutters, “I seriously,
seriously
hate you guys.”

*              *              *

A lurch by the ship stirs Marin from her slumber.  Sitting up in a fog, it takes her several moments to remember what she was doing in the hold.  She jumps and looks for her adversaries but finds herself alone in the low-lit chamber.  From the rhythmic bumping of the ship, it appears the propulsion rune has been affixed and activated.

Marin darts up the stairs, carefully watching for signs of the intruders.  The middle level, however, is entirely abandoned.  Confused and frustrated, she climbs the stairs one more time, finding the entire crew watching out over the sea as they speed along.  She marches up to Giarva and pulls him aside.  “Just what is going on?”

Her subordinate salutes but looks perplexed at the demand for information.  “We’re chasing the pirate Turk, ma’am!  The rune was installed successfully, just as you requested.”

“And why did you not come find me?” Marin barks.

“Y-You were not to be disturbed, Captain.  Surely you felt the ship accelerate?  We started mere moments before you arrived.”

Marin looks out at the waves speeding by their vessel.  “So I was down there for how long?”

“Thirty minutes or so, ma’am.”

She slams the rail.  “We have a problem.  One of the spies from earlier is still on this ship.”  Marin lowers her voice to finish.  “And he has a friend. Fire, the assassin.”

Her lieutenant is taken aback, but he doesn’t act terribly impressed.  “Should I know who this assassin is?”

“Do you not read over the warrants?  She is very dangerous, and she is
on this ship
.”  Turning to address the crew, she shouts, “Everyone, back to your stations!  We’ve a pair of stowaways below deck, and I want them found!  Bring them to me before we catch up with the pirate vessel.  Do you understand?”

A chorus of “Yes ma’ams!” rings out, and everyone scrambles.  Marin ascends the stairs to the quarterdeck and watches out over the bow as the wind whips through her hair, cursing the luck she’s had in her mission to find and execute the pirate captain.  She swears to herself that she’ll have Turk’s head within the hour.

*              *              *

A slow creak catches Turk’s attention.  Standing on the quarterdeck above his cabin, he steps to the rail and glances down to find Jem quietly closing the door behind herself.  “She done crying?”

Jem looks up, startled by Turk’s appearance.  “Yep, she fell asleep.”  Closing the door almost all the way, she sits down with her back to the cabin.

“So… why not come up here and see the view?”

Jem wiggles her hand, which is still chained to the wrist on the other side.  “Took me a long time to move her next to the door.  She might wake up if I move her up there.”

The pirate offers a hearty laugh.  Leaping over the rail, he lands softly and sits cross-legged in front of Jem.  “Don’t worry, we’ll get those chains off when we’re in harbor.  Our two lock pickers were lost in the battle.”  Jem offers a half-hearted nod as she watches over the sea from her vantage point.  He studies her and asks, “Why are you so hesitant to return to Alleria?  How long has it been since you left?”

“I crossed over when I was young,” she explains.  “I haven’t been back.”

Turk scratches his cheek.  “Was that during the war?”  Jem nods a confirmation.  Not wanting to push the subject, Turk says, “You know, you never told me your name.”

“O-Oh, sorry about that.  My name is Jem, and the short one is Di.”

“Jem?” Turk repeats in confusion.  “Doesn’t sound like an Allerian name.”

“It’s not,” she affirms.  “Jem is kind of a nickname.”

“What’s your real name?”

“Lost to time, I guess,” she says with a shrug.

Turk frowns.  “Sounds like you’re more Valvoran than Allerian.  But I guess that’s to be expected if you’ve been living there most your life.”  He studies the girl and asks, “What do you have in Valvoren, anyway?  What keeps you there?”

Era immediately comes to her mind, but beyond that… “I have nothing,” Jem answers, her eyes glazed over.  “But I’ve
never
had anything.  Alleria, Valvoren… they mean nothing to me.  I have no family, no home, and no allegiance.”

Turk is taken aback by the declaration.  “But Valvorans are brutal, disgusting creatures.  Look at that captain we just encountered!  And the war… look at what they did to Alleria!  They burned dozens of cities to the ground!”

“Do you think Allerians are innocent?” she challenges the pirate.  “They’re not, you know…”

The captain leans back.  “Well, like it or not, we’ll be in Alleria by day’s end.”

Jem bites her lip as a pirate in the crow’s nest cries out, “It’s them!  The naval ship!”

The crew starts murmuring fearfully, and Turk calls out, “You’re sure?”

“They’re gaining on us fast, whoever they are.”

Someone hands Turk an extendable telescope, and he sprints up the stairs to look out over the stern.  Jem jumps up as well, momentarily forgetting about her chains and pulling the young girl through the cabin door with a shriek.  Jem looks down at the dazed girl apologetically.

“What’s going on?” Di asks, trying to get her bearings.

“Not sure yet, but I think that naval captain might be catching up.”

Di’s eyes light up.  “With Era!?”

Jem grimaces.  “Assuming he’s alive, and even then we may not live to see him.  We’ll be targeted along with these pirates if they catch up.”  Di gulps as her heart starts racing.

“It’s her, alright!”  Turk lowers his telescope and orders, “Engage the propulsion rune!”

The helmsman is already prepared for the order, and he pulls the lever to engage the large rune.  The pirates all brace for the acceleration, and the large ship starts bouncing violently over the waves as it speeds away from the approaching craft.

Turk continues to watch through his looking glass, and after several stressful minutes he folds the telescope.  “They’re still gaining on us!” he calls out over the noise of the rune’s spraying.  “They must have a better rune than we have.”

His second-in-command gives him a glance.  “I told you we shoulda’ got the bigger one.”

“Shut up, Jenkit.”  The captain draws his sword and raises it in the air.  “Men, it’s been an honor!  Today, we must fight for our right to live!”  The men cheer.  “We must fight to avenge our fallen comrades!”  The men roar.  “ARE YOU WITH ME?”  A deafening cheer erupts as the smattering of remaining pirates enthusiastically raise their blades in the air, clearly ready to follow their captain to their deaths.

Jem places a hand on the terrified Di’s head.  “Don’t worry, Di,” she says reassuringly.  “You’re the only Valvoran on this ship.  Tell them you’re Canterin’s princess, and you’ll be safe.”

Trembling, Di looks up at her protector.  “B-But, even if that’s true, you’ll be killed along with the pirates!”

Jem offers a sad smile.  “No one lives forever.  I’ve had a fun journey, and if it ends today, I think that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Di’s eyes fill with tears as she hugs Jem.  Quickly wiping her own tears away, Jem calls out, “Hey, captain!  Got a sword for me to use?”

“Not on your life!  You two lasses are staying below deck!”

“Hey, I can fight!”

“Not with that anchor around your wrist you can’t!”

“I’ll cut my hand off if I have to!  There’s no way I’m sitting back and-”

“Jenkit!  Take the girls to the hold!” Turk calls out to his second-in-command.  “Tie them up if you have to!  Don’t let them get back up here!”

Jenkit moves to contain the girls.  Jem meets his eye with a look of resistance, but the burly pirate just hoists the girls over his shoulders in one swift movement.  Jem kicks and screams, giving Jenkit a surprising amount of trouble as he hauls the two down the stairs.

“I’d say we have fifteen minutes at the most,” Turk calls to his men before forming a mischievous grin.  “But we’ll naturally be ready with some tricks up our sleeves.”

*              *              *

Marin watches triumphantly from the bow as they gain on the pirate ship.  “There will be no failure this time!” she cries as she turns and walks amidst her ready crewmen.  “No one will escape, no one will survive!”  The crew members raise their swords in the air, letting loose a rallying cry in response.

Ascending the stairs to the quarterdeck, Marin takes her place next to her lieutenant.  “How have we not found those spies yet, Giarva?”

“Ma’am!  I… I’m not sure.  I mean, we’ve scoured the ship for them, and all the landing craft are accounted for.  Is it… I mean, is it at all possible they were never-”

“They’re on my ship, lieutenant.  I’m
not
wrong.”

“Aye, Captain.  But with the pirate vessel nearing range, I think it would be wise to direct our focus to that.”

Marin watches Turk’s ship as they rapidly close the distance.  “Fine, we’ll find them after we execute the pirates.  Tell the men to abandon their search for now and prepare for battle.”  As Giarva scampers off, Marin stomps the deck in frustration, wondering how the two stowaways found a hiding place on her vessel.

*              *              *

The stomp of the captain’s foot echoes loudly into her personal cabin below the quarterdeck, making Fire and Era glance upward in curiosity.  Shrugging it off, Fire returns to her work.

“Ow!”  Era pulls his hands away from Fire and shakes them in pain.

“Shut
up!
” Fire whispers, yanking his hands back down to continue picking the locks on the handcuffs.  “Would you grow up already?”

“You pinched me!” Era whispers back, wondering how long the operation will take.  “Are you sure you can pick these?  You’re good, but maybe you’re not-”

Before he finishes his sentence, Fire successfully pops the latch and opens one side of the handcuffs.  She eyes him and mutters, “You were saying?  You’re lucky you didn’t discard my pick along with the rest of my gear.”

Era sheepishly grins, but he says nothing as she continues to work.  It doesn’t take her long to pop the other latch, freeing Era from his bonds.  Era grips each wrist in sequence, twisting and stretching them out.  “Hey, I didn’t know we’d actually end up working together.  Otherwise I’d have left you with
all
your weapons.  Well, maybe not the poison.”

Fire squats by the open window in the back, ready to escape in case someone tries to enter the locked cabin.  “Glad the captain likes her privacy.  No windows facing the deck makes hiding in here a lot easier.  Seems the crew won’t set foot in here either, considering they must be looking for us by now.”

“That’s good,” Era says in relief. “So what now?  We just stay in here until…?”

“They’ll search in here eventually.  We’ll stay here a bit longer, then we’ll sneak back into the cargo hold.  The ship will harbor, and we’ll get off.  Somehow.”

Era shakes his head.  “No, I mean… Jem and Di are-”

“They’re gone,” she says coldly.  “Mourn your loss later.  Much as I don’t like it, I’ll need you in a fight if it comes to that.  So stay focused.”

Though he agrees with Fire that he needs to concentrate on their current predicament, he can’t stop worrying about his friends.  Trying to distract himself, he offers, “That was pretty impressive though, scaling the outer hull by freezing grips into the side.  Your arm must be feeling a lot better.”

Fire twists her arm around.  “Yeah, it’s mostly healed.”

“And to think we thought it was broken at first,” Era recalls.

“
You
thought it was broken.  I just let you think it was.”

“Still,” he says, looking at his hands, “I wish I had gloves.  Those grips were
cold
.”

Fire grunts in annoyance that Era knows her most closely-guarded secret, even if that meant she was able to use it in front of him.  “Just remember that I will kill you if you tell anyone.”

Era sighs.  “With all we’ve been through, I expect you to stop constantly threatening my life at some point.  It’s clear you’re not used to working with others.”

Surprisingly, Fire hesitates at the comment.  “You’re certainly in limited company,” she eventually mutters.

Before Era can reply, the ship veers to the side as yet another cheer is raised by the crew.  Fire glances out the window, able to make out the propulsion rune below as it sprays water out the back.  “They’ve been accelerated for quite some time now.  I wonder if they’re still pursuing the pirates.”