The Pirate and the Amber Cat 9
Chapter 9
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The next day dawned bright, but by evening clouds had settled in. For two days it rained steadily. Suili was grateful for the lack of wind and storm until the ship sat unmoving for two more days. The third day cleared, and a timid breeze blew in, and with it came another vessel.
Lucas identified it as a Rak ship, from the country of Kacerak, heading to southern Ullira or even the Hemtitti Islands. Suili heard Cortleno and the first mate talking and learned they planned to attack when the Rak ship was within range. She hovered between cringing at the thought of a raid and being outraged with Cortleno.
"That's what we do, Suili," he told her again as they sat on the deck over the cabin that evening. The whisper of a breeze was not enough to fill the sails and the Lita Nysse moved excruciatingly slow. "You'll be in no danger. Rak ships this far south are not eager for a fight."
"Won't it slow us from meeting Juriz?" she wondered.
He muttered a mild oath. "We can't go much slower than we are now. Shaenen will wait."
She sighed, looking northwest across the evening waters to the small dot Lucas had said was a ship. Darkness meekly enveloped the sea, slowly quenching the scorching afternoon.
"Trade places with me."
She looked at Cortleno quizzically, but obliged.
His gaze went to the main deck now behind her. "You can take off your wrap." He turned over the sword he was working on. "It's too hot for needless clothing."
She removed the damask shawl, welcoming the cool air on her shoulders. Her mild yellow skirt barely moved in the falling night. "Is it always this calm during the summer?"
"Not that I recall. We're usually farther north this time of year."
She watched him polish the gauche blade as it gleamed in the torchlight. "Will you offer them quarter?"
"Who?"
"The Rak ship."
"Why should I? They have their own vessel." He rubbed more compound onto the blade.
"But when you sink it they'll all drown."
He laughed, a sound that made Suili rethink the question. "I'm not going to sink it."
"You'll burn it?" she asked, horrified.
"You're very morbid, you know that?" He shook his head. "Generally we do not torch victim ships."
"Then what?"
He shrugged, touching the edge of the weapon, testing its sharpness. "Unload what we want and cut the main sail."
"And then?"
He read the speculation in her face. "Sorry to disappoint you, Dai Suili, but that's where it ends for us. She can keep heading south."
"With no cargo?"
"Then she can turn around and go home. I don't care." He carefully wiped the grit off the metal blade, but his eyes were on her. "You've heard stories."
Her eyes fell to the short sword. "Of you, yes."
"They're largely exaggerated, you know," he said with a casual chuckle.
She leaned back against the rail curving to the stair. "You don't know what I've heard."
His smile would have been termed charming under other circumstances. "You're right, but I've heard some of them myself. Only the worst tales make it to the mainland ears, Suili."
"I never heard your name connected with the Messel War of Jorz Baed," she said, "and I sat at King Gade's table when he spoke of that year."
"I don't think your king would consider the role of pirates and privateers polite dinner conversation." He finished cleaning the gauche and holstered the blade and brought out a cutlass to work on. "Did you go to Ridollin often?"
She watched him apply compound to the blade. "Only twice, being unmarried yet."
"Twice in six years to visit the capital. Frequent, I daresay."
"It was twice last year."
There was a challenge in her tone and eyes when he looked at her.
"Juriz is not to be taken lightly, Captain."
"Nor am I." His thumb followed the sword's arched edge. "That's why I took you, so he knows this is no prankish pastime."
Suili blushed as his eyes dropped over the cut of her dress where the silk met her skin. Instinctively she pulled on the shawl. "I'd like to go in now."
"Stay on deck." He nodded to the center of the ship. "Hendi's fixing to play a tune, if you can stomach his idea of music."
"No, thank you."
When they were in the cabin, Cortleno unlocked the sea chest by the bed. "Can you play Bull and Lion solo?"
"Yes, but . . . I'm retiring now," Suili said quietly. She adjusted the oil lamp wick as rusty-toned music began from above deck.
He nodded, eyes still lingering on her. "I'll leave this door open, in case you want to get a book, but I'm locking the outside door."
"We're two days from land, and you still lock me in," she said as she pulled the shawl close.
He laughed, but not mockingly. "No, firefly. I lock the crew out."
The next evening a brisk breeze came up from the southwest. The Lita Nysse's course quickened, bringing it upon the Rak ship at dusk. The wind lifted the crew's spirits almost as much as the impending raid.
Suili appreciated the breeze, but thoughts of the attack left her apprehensive as she had watched the crew's preparations that afternoon. Swords and knives were sharpened, boots relaced, and clothes donned or discarded, as personal preference deemed. It was a sight that drove her into the cabin.
She pulled a chair to the window by Cortleno's washbasin. The windows on her wall had been locked earlier when the Rak ship was close enough to see clearly with a scope. Which, Cortleno had pointed out, meant the other ship could also see her in the starboard windows of the Nysse.
She watched the sun slowly sink onto the western waters. Somewhere far beyond those seas lay Luxil.
"Are you still worried?"
She jumped at Cortleno's voice. The bedroom door was open and she had not heard him enter. "Of course I'm still worried. This may be common for you, but it scares me to death."
"You'll be fine."
She watched him strap on the scabbard and long poniard. His hair was tied back like Lucas', although it was not nearly as long. It gave him a fierce appearance, much like the first time she had seen him in the garden the day of his raid. It frightened her all the more.
"The lights are out on deck," he told her, rummaging through the case at the wall. "The attack shouldn't take long, Suili. Chances are there will be no fight at all."
"None?" she repeated dubiously.
"I told you, ships from as far away as this one are often eager to cooperate; there's no friendly port nearby to make repairs, not without a cargo to trade." He handed her the brass gauche. "See it that's too heavy for you."
"Me? I'm not going to fight with you," she said with a short laugh.
"I don't expect you to," he growled. "Wouldn't you feel better in here if you had a weapon of some sort?"
"Oh, well, yes," she admitted, eyeing the short sword. "But I couldn't use that."
He put the poniard in her hands. "Take this then. It's lighter." He stuck the brass sword in his belt. "Or would you prefer a large piece of glass? Lot's of throats to cut on that ship."
She only scowled at him.
"Now, Suili, don't say a word, no matter what you hear outside."
She shied unconsciously. "You said I'd be safe in here."
"You are, but the last thing we need is a woman screaming and carrying on like a wet hen." He closed and locked the shutters. "It distracts the men on both ships and can lead to worse situations. Use your imagination. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
"And don't make the mistake of thinking you'd be better off on a Rak vessel," he added in a lower tone. Only a meager candle lit the closed up room. "Slavery does exist, although not to the extent it does in Mezpar, or Luxil."
Her fingers clutched the dagger, her knuckles white. "Are you finished scaring me?"
He evaluated the prim set of her mouth. "I think so. Sit tight."
The battle did not start for another hour yet, until darkness had fully fallen, and even when it did, the fight was brief, not at all what Suili had expected.
At first she was relieved, but, as the night wore on, she became irritated with the wait. The candle was flickering in melted wax and would soon drown. After considerable hesitation, she unplugged a wall lamp and held it to the dim candle, but kept the wick down low. After another hour she went to the armoire and found the pearl studded fan, muttering about piracy in general.
Noise of the short skirmish on the Rak deck had not been too terrible, she thought with a sigh, and the sounds she heard now were of the Nysse's hold being loaded. She sighed in the hot room and shook out her azure skirt, wishing Cortleno had left even one window open a crack.
When he returned she was sitting at the table, the knife in one hand and the fan in the other.
He laughed at the sight, which annoyed her further. "Did your candle give out?"
"Long ago."
He opened the shutters wide and turned up the lamp wick. "You make a pretty mercenary," he observed. He took off his headband. "You must admit it was a mild ordeal."
"I had expected worse," she said with a sigh. "No casualties?"
He shook his head. "On either side." He extended his hand.
She gave him the knife without breaking the fan's rhythm.
"I thought there might be a problem getting that away from you."
She breathed in the cool night air. "It's too hot to fight."
He stowed the weapons in the case. "I agree." He put a piece of rolled brocade cloth before her on the table. "We're finished loading. If this breeze holds out we'll be in Leneau in two days."
Her fan halted. "To meet Juriz?"
He nodded, watching her finger the cloth. "Open it."
She bit her lip, eyeing the vivid cloth. "What is it?"
"Open it and find out." He watched her covertly as he found a bottle in the cupboard.
Suili tentatively unrolled the material, catching her breath at the necklace it revealed. The strand was of graduated lapis lazuli beads interrupted by occasional blue pearls. She touched one, expecting the pearl to be cooler than the fiery blue beads.
"You don't like it?"
She looked to him slowly, shaking her head. "Am I supposed to accept this?"
"Why not? Aside from the obvious reason."
She rolled the smooth beads in the cloth again, frowning, the lamp suddenly shedding too much heat. "Isn't that enough?"
He took a long drink from the bottle, watching the gentle night breeze lift her hair in the lamplight. "I would think so."
She avoided looking at him as he came to the table.
He nodded. "Keep them."
"No, I—"
"You don't have to tell Juriz where you got them," he added, amused at her discomfort. "You don't even have to wear them."
Her eyes narrowed, flicking to his. "What do you want from me?"
He shook his head, laughing. "Not what you are thinking, dear Suili. And not that you don't possess the provocation, but Shaenen may not be so eager for your return if your chastity were compromised. Providing it is intact now."
"That," she said after a moment, "is Juriz's concern. And only his."
He studied her for a moment, the ship creaking as it moved across the dark waters. "A careful response."
She rose and left the cloth at the table and took the sleeveless night chemise and light pelisse from the closet, trying to hide her growing uneasiness.
"Don't change yet," he said when he saw the slip. "It's cooler on deck. Come up for a while."
"I'm tired." It was true. The long, unstirring air had made sleeping impossible the preceding night.
He nodded. "Please yourself." He took another bottle from the cupboard and left its door open. "You're welcome to find something you like to drink."
"Thank you."
When he was gone, Suili changed quickly. Her mind was a flurry of thoughts, a collection of frantic, half-formed ideas that added to her agitation.
She knew it would be cooler on deck with the uninterrupted breeze, but she wanted to be alone at the moment. She sat on the bed and brushed her hair absently, her thoughts and eyes going to the table.
The gift disturbed her, not only because he dared give it, but her own reaction also.
Begrudgingly she admitted to herself that she was tempted to keep the necklace. She sighed, her hands falling into her lap. There was no way to accept the necklace without appearing friendly or contradicting her position as captive. She was not familiar with the protocol involving hostage situations, but taking a gift was certainly not a good practice.
With a surreptitious glance out the door, Suili settled at the table and reopened the cloth.
The rounds of lapis were of superb quality, she knew. The deep blue flecked with bits of gold resulted in a metallic sparkle under the lamplight. The pearls were also choice, of the best Rak variety. They shone a cool silver blue luster, mirroring the tiny spots of gold from the lapis. Even if she could summon the courage to accept them there would be Juriz to answer to.
Perhaps not, she thought with fleeting hopefulness.
Unless it was carnelian, Juriz rarely commented on her jewelry. Although dominated by the family gem, she had many other pieces, of numerous stones and designs. Jewelers were a frequent sight at the Shaenen estate, not to appease Suili's extravagance, but because Juriz was always open to discover new fittings and showcases for carnelian.
She held up the strand. It had a good weight to it.
With a sigh of regret and strange satisfaction she rolled it back in the brocade.
She wanted no souvenir from this ordeal, regardless how tempting at the moment.
PG13. #romance #cleanromance #teenromance #YA #fantasy #pirateromance #pirates #ambercat #ChancelJordan
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