Harbinger: Fate's Forsaken: Book One (29 page)

“Like I need a
broken sword,” Kyleigh finished.

His mouth fell
open. He slung his head back and squinted at her. “Yous ‘peak our lang’ed?”

She pulled her
hood back and planted both of her hands on the table. “Hello, Lysander. I’d
heard things weren’t going well, but I must say that I didn’t expect to find
you in such a state.”

Finally,
realization seemed to dawn upon the befuddled captain. “Loo, Red!” He jabbed an
unsteady finger in Kyleigh’s direction, grinning like a fool. “Is the Draggurl!
I’ms ‘aved!”

That time, even
Thelred didn’t catch what the captain gurgled. “The what, exactly?” he said
with a frown.

Lysander slapped
both of his hands on the desk top. “Th’ Draggurl! Y’know.” He curled his
fingers and made a high-pitched noise. It sounded a bit like a cat stuck under
a cartwheel.    

When Thelred
just shook his head, Lysander stood. He swayed and rocked dangerously back on
his heels. “Abouf ‘ace! To Wendegorim!” he barked. Then he spun, lost his
balance, and fell headlong into the nearest bookshelf.

Several large
tomes rained down upon him, including one on philosophy that conked him smartly
on the head. He said a few words that made Aerilyn gasp before he hurled it
across the room, demanding that it be locked up in the brig immediately.

“Sit tight,
Captain,” Thelred said as he hauled him up by the front of his shirt. “Try not
to move —”

“Th’ Draggurl!”
He grabbed a fistful of Thelred’s hair and wrenched his head to the side. “Drag
— un — gurl.”

That did it.
When Thelred finally saw her without her hood up, his mouth dropped open. He
lost his grip on Lysander — who flopped back on the ground with a moan.

Thelred stepped
closer to Kyleigh, lightly, as if he was now suddenly afraid of her. He looked
over her once before his mouth went tight. “My apologies, Dragongirl. I didn’t
recognize you. Had I known —”

“Things would
have been a lot less interesting,” she said with a smirk. “And stop with the
titles, Red. You know my name.”

Thelred shook
her hand, and Noah rushed forward to be next in line.

Realization
struck Kael like a blow to the shin. Good lord, her friends were pirates.
These
were the men who were mad enough
to help them: this lot of drunken thieves with their magic fog. He could’ve
kicked himself for trusting her.

“So she
was
the one those guards were after,”
Jonathan muttered to Kael. “I wonder what she could’ve done to get His
Majesty’s undergarments in a knot? Think I’ll ask. Excuse me, gents — but
what exactly is a Dragging-girl?”

Noah looked like
he’d just uttered the foulest of all curses. “You’ve never heard of the
Dragongirl?” He looked at Thelred. “Tide take us — they have no idea who
they’ve been traveling with.”

He sneered. “No
lad, they don’t. And that’s because her name isn’t known among thumbsuckers and
softhands.”

“Well instead of
talking out your nose, how about you tell us?” Kael said. He was tired of
Thelred — the cabin was so packed full of his airs that there was hardly
room left to breathe.

“It’s a name the
King gave me when I served in Midlan,” Kyleigh said before Thelred could
retort. “My knight name. It was meant to be a secret, a way he could give us
commands without our enemies finding out who we truly were. But then I left the
army, did a few naughty things and,” she shrugged, “my name got around.”

Noah snorted. “
Naughty
is hardly the word for it. Last
I checked, Lord Gilderick has had to rebuild his castle twice.”

She smiled, as
if she was looking back on a fond memory. “Ah, yes. One maniacal idiot, two
very tragic fires.”

“And then there
was the stampede of elk at the Countess’s birthday last year,” Noah added.

Aerilyn clapped
a hand over her mouth. “I remember that! We were there, presenting our gifts,
when a great horde of beasts came tromping through. They slung their antlers
about and ruined all of the lovely decorations —”

“And ole D’Mere
hiked her skirts up and went screaming for the guards to do something!”
Jonathan said with a grin. “I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my
face.”

“You know, it
took me weeks to round those little blighters up. And I never got so much as a
card for it,” Kyleigh mused.

“That’s probably
because you nearly killed us all,” Aerilyn said sharply.

A low, growling
noise drew their attention back to the bookshelves. Sometime during their
tales, Lysander had passed out. He was now snoring into the rug — his
face resting gently in a puddle of his own drool.

“I should get
the captain taken care of,” Thelred said. “I’m sure he’ll want to give you all
a proper greeting. Why don’t you show our guests to their quarters, Noah?”

*******

Their quarters
turned out to be quite a bit smaller than Captain Lysander’s. The hallways
beneath
Anchorgloam
were clean, but
so tight that Kael actually had to turn sideways in some places just to squeeze
through. He kept his head bent to avoid smacking it on one of the many
low-hanging beams and watched the floor for stray coils of rope. Jonathan was
hunched over ahead of him, and with every bend of his long legs, his knees
nearly touched his chest.

Kyleigh and
Aerilyn had a room to themselves at the front of the hallway, while Jonathan
and Kael were packed into a tiny space with a dozen other men. Kael wondered
how many times he could expect to fall out of the hammock thing the pirates
called a bed.

“The days aboard
Anchorgloam
are no stroll in the
woods,” Noah assured them. “So by the time the watch bell sounds, you won’t
care where you’re sleeping — just so long as you get to put your feet up.
Now,” he clapped his hands together and grinned, “do any of you scabs know how
to play Brigand’s Luck? No? Well I’ll just have to teach it to you, then.”

He led them back
up on deck and found an empty barrel to use as a table. While the girls leaned
against the railing and chatted, Noah taught the boys how to play Brigand’s
Luck.

It was a card
game, but the pirate deck turned out to be completely different from the one
Kael was used to. There were knaves instead of knights, brigands instead of
lords, and in place of the dragon was a mischievous-looking imp.

Jonathan fanned
his hand out and grinned. “Now
this
is the deck of a proper villain! I’ve got to get me one of these.”

“Four coppers,
and it’s yours,” Noah said with a smirk, and Jonathan immediately fished the
coin out of his trousers.

The card the
pirates used for the King was a man in a tricorn hat. It was tipped low over
his eyes, revealing only his smirk, and in his hand he gripped a deadly
cutlass.

“That’s Sam
Gravy,” Noah explained. “He was the original scalawag — the first man to
build a boat for plundering. We pirates consider him the father of our kind.”

Aerilyn snorted.
“The rest of the Kingdom considers your kind to be nothing more than a gang of
sea thieves.” She looked over the railing, down to where a group of pirates
were lugging a treasure-laden crate up from the ruins of the merchant ship, and
glared. “Does Captain Lysander spend all of his gold on drink, or does he save
some to roll in?”

Noah frowned.
“He doesn’t spend any of his gold on drink.
Why
pay for ale when you can steal it from a drunkard
? That’s what he always
says.”

Aerilyn pursed
her lips. “I’m sure he does.”

“Yeah, you’re
not exactly what I thought a pirate would look like.” And there was a
considerable amount of disappointment in Jonathan’s voice. “All the stories are
about giant blokes with yellow eyes and black, rotten teeth —”

“And scars in
the shape of their mothers?” Noah laughed. “Rubbish. The Duke’s managers make
those stories up. They can’t cope with the fact that handsome, well-mannered
gents like ourselves rob them blind. And the Duke would kill them all if he
knew the truth.”

“Well if anyone
ever came across that captain of yours, there’d be no reason to doubt the
stories,” Aerilyn quipped. “I daresay he’s the most ill-mannered man I’ve ever
come across — and I’ve spent half of my life in taverns.”

“The captain is
a good man,” Noah said, his eyes suddenly hard. “He does right by his men and
right by the people of the High Seas. You ought not to talk about things you
don’t understand.”

She raised an
eyebrow. “Oh? Well, then by all means — enlighten me: the man reeks of
liquor, swears profusely, expels his … humors, in the presence of a lady and
looks as if he’s tumbled straight out from between the pages of a dirty
drinking song.” She crossed her arms. “So what am I missing, exactly? Where’s
the
good
in Captain Lysander?”

Noah opened his
mouth to respond, but instead leapt to his feet and touched his hand to his
head in a smart salute.

Kael turned and
saw Thelred making his way towards them, followed by a man he didn’t recognize.
He strode like a man with a purpose, whoever he was — swinging his arms
in tight arcs and keeping his sharp chin level with the ground. A pair of
stormy eyes looked out from beneath his crop of wavy hair, and a bit of scruff
dusted the lines around his mouth, which was set in a frown.

As he climbed
the stairs, Aerilyn whispered something to Kyleigh, and they both giggled. Kael
stood a little straighter and made a conscious effort to stick his chest out.
He didn’t know who this man was, but he’d already decided that he didn’t like
him much. Besides, his nose was a little off-center.

The man stopped
just in front of them and touched a hand to his chest. “Welcome aboard
Anchorgloam
,” he said with a smile. “I
can’t tell you how excited I am to have visitors. I’m Captain Lysander.”

Aerilyn gasped
loudly and Kael couldn’t have agreed more. The man standing before them now had
no beard and no drool. Every button on his shirt was done smartly up, and not a
wrinkle creased his trousers. He couldn’t have been more different from the
first captain.

Lysander’s face
turned slightly pink. “Yes, I’ve been told that I was a good deal less than
civil,” he said, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve. “I was — ah
— a bit down on my luck, I’m afraid, and that tends to drive a man to
drink. Now,” he clasped his hands behind his back and resumed his smile,
“you’ve all met my cousin, Red. But I’m afraid I don’t know any of you … well,
save for one.”

His stormy eyes
found Kyleigh and his smile widened into a grin, revealing two impressive rows
of very straight, white teeth. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a
rather friendly embrace.

And much to
Kael’s annoyance, she didn’t try to pull away.

“My dear, it’s
been far too long,” Lysander said when he finally released her. “It’s been
leagues and years — and I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I don’t
think I ought to forgive you, either.”

She returned his
smile and took both of his hands in hers. “I told you I was looking for
something, you silly pirate.”

He rolled his
eyes. “Oh yes, the
very important
something. How could I forget?” He lowered his voice, wisps of hair fell over
his eyes. “And I hope this means you’ve found what you were searching for?”

She nodded. “It
just took longer than I expected.”

“Excellent.” He
kissed both her hands and then waved to the rest of them. “I’m very eager to
meet your friends, Dragongirl. You always keep the most interesting company.”

She gave their
names while Lysander shook their hands. When it was Kael’s turn, he squeezed a
little harder than was probably necessary. But Lysander grinned on and didn’t
seem to notice.

Then he came to
Aerilyn, and his smile faltered for half a second. “It’s a true pleasure to
meet a lady of the High Seas. I’ve long believed that our women are the fairest
in the realm.” He brought her hand to his lips, and Aerilyn’s face turned the
color of a ripe tomato.

All
at once, a tremendous amount of heat and light flooded the deck. Kael looked up
and saw the clouds were melting away — and in their place rose a burning
sun. All across the deck, the pirates shielded their eyes and expressed their
displeasure in swears.

Fortunately, the
light didn’t last long. By the time Lysander let go of Aerilyn’s hand, the
clouds were back.

“Ah, right.” He
cleared his throat and turned abruptly towards the stairs. “Follow me, all of
you. We’ve much to discuss and very little time.”

*******

Back in
Lysander’s cabin, maps and books lay strewn all over the top of his desk and on
the rug around it. Bits of wadded-up parchment made a trail from the door to
the windows. “A dirty desk is a sign of progress,” he declared as he got them
lined up.

Kael wasn’t sure
he agreed with that. He thought there might have been a better way to make
progress — one that didn’t involve throwing books on the floor.

When Lysander
had them all arranged, he clasped his hands behind his back and paced in front
of them. For a few moments, that’s all he did. Then he stopped and fixed them
with a glare. “You’re all criminals!” he barked, so loudly that it made Kael
jump.

“I am
not
a criminal!” Aerilyn spat.

“Oh, but you
are,” Lysander said, his eyes glinting. “You’ve thrown your lot in with pirates
— the sworn enemies of the Duke himself. Aye, from the very moment you
set foot aboard
Anchorgloam
you turned
your back on Puke Reginald, on His Maggotry, on tyranny —”

“On laws and
other boring things!” Jonathan piped in.