Miya Black, Pirate Princess I: Adventure Dawns (29 page)

"Take a load off," said Heartless Jon as they entered, pulling his bandanna off and revealing his bald head beneath, before kicking his boots into a corner. "Excuse the mess."

Every available surface inside the house had some trinket or valuable or weapon upon it, and every spare bit of wall space was taken up with a chart or painting or more weapons, or else stuffed fish, ship's wheels, lengths of rope or other items one might expect a legendary pirate to accumulate over the course of a lifetime. Several somewhat rickety-looking bookcases leaned against one wall, almost overflowing with books and map cases, and chests were stacked everywhere.

"It's like the biggest greatest pirate ship in the world exploded in here!" Miya exclaimed, looking from one thing to another with bright eyes. She noticed that quite a few of the paintings were of a tall, stern-looking woman with long, dark red hair.

"Is this my grandmother?" she asked, pointing. Heartless Jon grumbled and waved his hand dismissively.

"Drink?" he asked. "Rum, bumboo?"

"I'm fourteen," said Miya.

"Aye?"

"So I don't drink," she said.

"Aye?"

"And Sola doesn't either. His people don't believe in it."

"Funny thing not to believe in," said Jon. He poured himself a large glass of rum. "Here it be, no faith required. Ye sure? Well, suit yerselves. Take a seat anyway, if'n ye can find a place."

In fact there were a couple of old, overstuffed couches in the centre of the room. Jon let himself down into one, grunting.

"Oof, me blasted knee," he growled, holding it as he sat. He took a quick quaff of rum. "Don't get old, lass, it's a right bugger."

Miya sat opposite her grandfather, gazing at him with shining eyes and a wide smile on her face.

"What are ye lookin' at me like that for?"

"I just can't believe I found you!" she said. "Well, I mean, I can believe it, I knew I would, but now that I have it's just, y'know, wow!"

"Wow, right," grumbled Jon. "Are ye sitting down, lad?" he said, looking over at Sola, who had gravitated instantly to the bookshelves.

"He'll be fine, he's just got kind of a thing for books," said Miya.

"Ah? Me too. Bloody brilliant things. I didn't learn to read until I were past thirty, I tells ye I were kicking meself once I found out how useful it is. But I don't suppose ye came looking for me to discuss literature, am I right?"

Miya nodded.

"Put yer head up there, let me get a good look at ye. Eye ain't what it was," Heartless Jon said, leaning forward. He reached out and took hold of Miya's chin, turned her head this way and that as he examined her.

"Ye've yer grandmother's jaw," he said, with a chuckle. "Good defiant jaw, I'd call that. Somethin' of her eyes, too. Got the Black family ears though, bless ye. What happened here?" he asked, tapping at her hair where it had singed.

"We caught the edge of a fireshot broadside," said Miya. "My hair got a little burnt while I was putting out the rigging fires."

"Oh, aye," said Jon, leaning back suddenly, as if he'd just remembered something. He sat and looked at Miya for several long moments.

"So," he finally said. "Ye're the squirt that fool son of mine's so proud of."

"What do you mean, 'fool son'? Dad's not—"

"Ah, don't correct me," said Jon. "I know what I mean. Tell me, what makes ye so special?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"How many ports have ye sacked?"

"What? None!"

"How many ships have ye captured?"

"I-I've snuck aboard one—"

"How many men have ye killed?"

"None, of course! I would never!"

"Oh, aye? What about yer friend back in the alleyway, she didn't seem the type to shy from a fight. What if it were ye or her?"

"I, I don't know, I'd figure something out, disarm her—"

"Can't disarm her. She's too quick."

"Then try to disable her, go for her legs, her arms—"

"Meanwhile she's going for yer heart, yer throat. Sometimes there ain't time for figurin', girl."

Heartless Jon took another gulp of rum, his eye fixed on Miya.

"Why've ye come here?" he asked. "Why now?"

"I ... I need your help," said Miya. "We all do, Mum and Dad and the whole island ... there's a pirate, Badger Pete, he's attacking the Rainbow Archipelago, he enslaved Sola's entire tribe!"

"Mm. To what end?" Jon asked.

"What?"

"Why'd he enslave 'em? Using 'em as crew? Keep the families in cages, show the rest what they're fightin' for?"

"I ... I think so, but—"

"Smart move," said Jon.

"It's not 'smart', it's evil!" said Miya. "It's a horrible thing to do!"

" 'Horrible' don't enter into it."

"What? How can you SAY that? Slavery is ... I can't believe—"

"Settle down there, lass, before ye do yerself an injury. Personally I'm inclined to agree with ye, never liked the idea of slaves meself. Servants, even. A man's got to stand on his own, like." Heartless Jon gazed at Miya a moment, then shook his head. "But pirating's about good moves and bad moves when ye get down to it. Ye ever play chess?"

"No," said Miya. She'd never had the patience.

"Me neither, never had the patience. But some bloke explained it to me once, told me how ye've got yer black side and yer white side, yer good and evil, only they're the same really. All the pieces move however they move and there's a whole book could be writ 'bout all the buggerin' goes on between start and end. But what it all boils down to is good moves and bad moves. Same as piratin'. Ye move yer piece, ye capture yer enemy, ye do what ye must to win. Whether ye be black or whether ye be white, it's about making yer moves with an eye to winning."

"That's not what pirating's about at all!" said Miya, standing. Sola turned from the book he was examining to look at her. "Pirating is about freedom, and adventure, and, and choice!"

"Aye. Choice," said Jon. "Ye got that part right, at least."

"Sola, help me," said Miya. "Tell him how terrible Badger Pete is!"

Sola looked at his grandfather, and his grandfather looked back.

"He knows," said Sola. Heartless Jon chuckled.

"Aye, true enough. Yer lad there's smarter'n he looks. Fact is, lass, I'm seeing more going for this Badger Pete character than you right now."

"What? How can you say that? How can you even THINK that? We're family!"

"Family ain't nothing to me, never much was," said Heartless Jon, his voice quiet.

"Then why did you help me before, in the alleyway?"

"Curiosity. Thought maybe ye'd be better than ye are, thought maybe ye'd be a pirate."

"I AM a pirate!"

"Ye're not," said Heartless Jon. He winced as he stood, drained his glass and tossed it aside. "Ye're just a wee girl playing 'pretend'."

Miya glared up at her grandfather. "I AM a pirate," she said. "I may not have a legend to my name or have captured ships or sacked ports or, or all that stuff, but that's not what being a pirate is about. It's not! Being a pirate is about freedom, about being able to choose, about fighting because something's worth fighting for!"

"Arrr," growled Jon. "Ye sound like yer father."

"Good! GOOD! My father is a GREAT pirate and a GREAT king and a GREAT man and a GREAT dad! And I'm starting to see why he left you behind, quite frankly!"

"Aye, maybe ye do," said Heartless Jon, stalking to a table and grabbing up another bottle. He took a swig as he turned his eye on Miya again. "And maybe he were right to do what he done. But that don't make ye any better'n ye are."

"And what right do you have to stand there and, and JUDGE me?"

"I've every right!" roared Heartless Jon. "I'm the Pirate King of the Necessary Ocean! I sacked the Royal Port of Jonestown, I captured Emperor Shigeru's treasure ship! I've duelled more men than ye've MET in yer LIFE and I've come out of all of that with nothin' lost but me left eye and the scars that mark a life LIVED."

He glared at Miya a moment, then waved her away like she was an annoying fly and turned, taking another gulp of rum.

"Ye don't know what ye're about, girl," he muttered. "Ye're young and stupid and got all the brightness of the world still stuck in yer head, ye're blinded by it."

"I'd rather be blind than see like you do," said Miya, her eyes shining with tears. Heartless Jon didn't respond, just took another swig from the bottle he was holding.

"You WERE a legend once," said Miya, walking forward, toward her grandfather. "Now you're just a coward, hiding on an island, paying people to say they've never heard of you. That's what you're doing, right? That's why everyone I talked to today swore they'd never heard of you, you're making sure no one finds you here!"

"Aye, and it were working just fine before YE showed up!" Jon growled, turning and glaring down at Miya. "But I had to go and start thinking, didn't I, thinking here's a likely looking lass, fits the description me fool son gave of his daughter, black hair, dark eyes, got a touch of the swagger about her, be about the right age too, could it be this here's me own granddaughter, looking all proper with her pirate clothes and daddy's sword—oh, aye, I recognise that fine old blade, all right, and wouldn't ye blush to know its history—and I let meself think that maybe, just maybe, here's someone to carry on the proud Black name after all, after the disappointment me son turned out to be—"

The bottle Jon had been holding dropped to the floor, rum pouring out over the floorboards. He raised a hand to his cheek, as Miya lowered her hand from where she'd slapped him.

"How DARE you," she said, glowering at her grandfather. "How DARE you. You know something? We don't NEED your help. We don't WANT it."

Miya turned to look at Sola, jerked her head toward the door and started towards it. Jon remained still, holding his face where Miya had slapped him. His cheek was already red.

"There is one thing you can do for me," said Miya, halfway to the door, not looking back. "My grandmother. Where is she?"

"Ye'll get less from her than ye have from me, believe that, girl," said Jon, his voice low.

"I don't care. Tell me where she is."

Jon was silent a moment, then he lowered his hand from his cheek, bent to pick up the fallen bottle of rum.

"That's alcohol abuse, that is," he said, with a rueful smile.

"Tell me where my grandmother is." Miya's voiced was clipped.

"All right, all right. Ye're like a bleedin' terrier or somethin'. Truth is I don't know, exactly. We stay out of each other's way. Makes for less bloodshed. But we meet once a year, real civil. Catch up, compare booty, show each other any good new scars."

"And that meeting's soon?"

"Nah. Had this year's meeting already, few weeks back, over on Vista Island. There's a chart on the wall there, take it if ye have a mind."

"Sola."

Sola carefully took down the chart Heartless Jon had nodded towards.

"She sailed off east after the meeting, I'd say she was headin' Turtle Island way. Couldn't tell ye if she's there or not now, but it'd be a good spot to start searching anyways, it's a decent base. Could be a mite bit pirate-y for ye, mind."

"Come on, Sola."

Miya started towards the door, but Sola hesitated.

"Why ..." he began, before shaking his head and following Miya.

"Why am I helping now, after yer sister there talked to me that way?" said Heartless Jon. Both Sola and Miya stopped, Sola looking back at him, Miya scowling straight ahead. Jon laughed. "Curiosity. I'll get a decent laugh out of hearing about yer meeting with that old hag."

Miya almost turned, but then her expression hardened and she stomped out the front door, Sola following after a last glance back at his grandfather.

Heartless Jon stood, alone in his house, nearly empty bottle of rum in his hand, looking at the door his grandchildren had just left through. After a few minutes he put the bottle down and raised his hand to his cheek again, rubbing it slowly.

*

Miya stomped down the street, Sola close behind.

"Perhaps we should go back," he said, "try to convince him—"

"No."

"He seemed—"

"No."

"Then we should rest, the past days have been—"

"No time."

"Miya."

Sola put his hand on his sister's shoulder and tried to stop her, turn her around to face him. To his great surprise she wrenched her shoulder free of his grip apparently without effort, then turned to face him of her own will, scowling.

"What?"

"Don't you think—"

"I'm a pirate captain, I don't think, I order. And my order is that we set sail immediately."

Sola looked down at his sister a moment, and she glared back up at him. For a moment he was quite grateful not to be Badger Pete, or in fact anyone that might get in Miya's way.

"Aye aye," he said, his voice low.

"By the way," said Miya, turning to stomp down the street towards the port. "What was the book you bought?"

" 'An Examination of the Techniques and Procedures Necessary in Construction and Maintenance of Dwellings for Persons and Animals'."

"Sola, I say this with all the love in the world, that's the most boring-sounding book I've ever heard of. What on earth is it about?"

"Building," he said. "Or perhaps rebuilding."

Miya's pace slowed for a moment, then she quickened her step.

"Come on," she said. "I want to leave before Grace catches up to us."

"Really?"

"No, not really. What I actually want is for her to attack me again so I can teach that stuck-up wench a lesson. But that would take time ... and," said Miya, gritting her teeth even as she admitted it, "could end up with me getting hurt."

"Do you think Badger Pete has attacked Clover Island yet?"

"I have the feeling he'd wait for Grace, what with the personal interest she's shown in it. On the other hand he might try to conquer Clover Island before she gets back, because she wants it as a 'present'."

Miya paused for a moment, then turned and punched a wall hard.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm trying to keep calm but talking about Grace makes it difficult."