Pirate Princess (2 page)

“Give this letter to a guard and they will take you to see the queen. It was written by your mother and has your mother’s seal on it so they should accept it and take you to the queen without question. The queen has promised to raise you as her own and will ensure you are educated in every way, even magical arts,” my father explained.

“They teach magic here?” I asked and was a little excited at that prospect.

“Yes. Remember to write me and hide that tattoo until you need it to find my people. Do you understand?” he asked me.

I looked up at my father, the toughest man I knew and asked, “Will I see you again?”

I saw a shimmer of tears in his eyes and he squatted down so that he was eye level with me. “I definitely hope so, my girl. It may not be for a very long time though. I am going to miss you more than you know.”

I wrapped my arms around his massive neck and squeezed him as I fought back tears. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you too. Go say your goodbyes to the crew and then Rockwell will take you to land.” I backed away from him and he got a strange gleam in his eye. “Wait, I have a gift for you.” He pulled out a purple satin pouch from his pocket and set it in my hands. I untied the strings securing it and stretched the top open to find a gorgeous diamond and amethyst necklace. It was one of his greatest treasures. He loved to tell the story about how he had stolen it from a queen who had turned him down for a dance at her ball and how the look of terror on her face when she realized the necklace was missing was almost greater than keeping the necklace. “Keep this and remember that no treasure is greater than you,” he whispered.

I tied the bag shut and smiled at him. “Thank you.”

The crew said goodbye to me and I was surprised to find more than a few of them with tears in their eyes. I climbed into the dinghy that we used when we had to take a small amount of people to shore and Rockwell started rowing. I waved to the pirates I considered my family, having been raised by them since I was three years old and my mother had died, and felt a hole inside of me forming.

“Keep your wits about you and remember to defend yourself. Let them know that you aren’t to be trifled with and that you know how to use those daggers and sword you have on your sides. Even if they tell you that you can’t wear a weapon you find a way to keep at least one dagger on you at all times,” Rockwell instructed me.

“I will,” I promised.

We reached the closest dock and he held the dinghy steady while I climbed onto the creaky wood. “Good luck and I hope to see you soon,” he said with a sad smile.

I waved to him and then walked down the dock towards land. I couldn’t turn around to watch them sail off or I would cry and make a scene. I had to be strong. To stay strong I had to keep facing the land and avoid looking back at the ship that had been my home. I stood at the edge of the dock where it met the land and stared at the dirt in front of me. One more step and I would be on land and off the sea for the first time since I could remember. I had visited islands with my dad, but we only had short visits and spent most of our time on the ship. Now I wouldn’t be able to sleep on a ship in a hammock or stand at the bow with my arms out as the wind pressed against me.

Men watched me curiously, but no one said anything. People walked around me going about their days. Dock workers, fishermen, and guards milled about. I felt small and unimportant. The fish market was in full swing with people bartering prices for the fresh caught fish in loud voices. The scent of the market was almost too strong for me to handle so I hurried away, heading for guards I saw in the distance. I passed various vendors with brightly colored tents and items ranging from jewelry, to bait, to clothes for sale and moved farther inland. Finally, I found a guard with the Crilan symbol on his shirt standing with his hand on his sword’s hilt watching the people around the docks.

“Sir? I need to see the Queen,” I said in my best voice.

“Really?” he asked, looking down at me with a smirk. I held up the letter and he stared at the seal in shock and then looked at my face for a moment. “Follow me,” he instructed, the smirk gone and replaced by shocked seriousness.

He led me to a small building which had more guards and a man behind a desk, writing notes down and instructing the other guards on their tasks for the day. He was most likely the Commander. “Sir,” The guard said, “You need to see this.” He handed the man at the desk the letter I had and stepped back next to me.

“Holy Mother of All,” the man at the desk whispered. He looked up at me and swallowed, “She definitely looks like her. You escort her straight to the castle!” he told the guard who had led me to the building.

The guard nodded his head, took back the letter, and led me outside. “Put that note away somewhere safe until we get to the castle, miss.”

“Yes, sir,” I said and tucked it into my pants pocket.

“Can you ride a horse?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “I’ve never even seen one in person,” I admitted.

“Alright, we will take a cart. Wait here a moment.” He motioned at another guard across the way and spoke to him quietly a bit away from where I was standing so I couldn’t hear what he said. Quickly a cart with horses already attached to it was brought round to us and they helped me climb up into the back. “Hold on,” he told me, “It gets bumpy.”

A whip cracked and the cart lurched forward. I gripped the wooden side of the cart and watched as the sea grew farther and farther away. The land was lush and green here with many people working in the fields, including some kids my age. What did people do for fun here? Did they just frolic through the grass like the crew always teased the land lovers about? They were close to the ocean so surely they sailed. Hopefully. Soon we were entering the castle’s main grounds. I found it odd that there was no wall around the castle. Didn’t they worry about invaders?

The guards helped me down and motioned me towards the main doors. I started forward, fear making my stomach turn over in swirling undercurrents. The castle was even larger up close and loomed over me like a mountain.

“I’m going to turn you into a toad!” a woman yelled from my right side.

I spun around and watched in shock as a beautiful woman with the same golden hair as me chased a horse around the corner of the castle. She held up her hands and blue light began to glow around her. The horse stopped, one hoof raised and held perfectly still. The woman walked up to the horse, grabbed its reins, and then released the spell to let it put its hoof down. “That will teach you to run away from me,” she grumbled at it.

“Queen Esmeralda,” the guard said to get her attention.

My mouth dropped open in shock. This woman, in breeches, boots, and a billowing white shirt, that yelled at a horse, and used magic, was the
queen
?

She walked over to us and asked politely, “Who is this girl?”

I curtsied to her and said, “My name is Tilia Jasmine Swanson and I am your niece.”

The guard motioned towards me and I held out the letter to her. She didn’t even look at the letter. Her eyes widened and she dropped her horse’s reins to grab me in a tight hug. “Tilia I have been waiting so long to meet you! You look exactly like your mother.” She crushed me against her chest and kissed my cheek. “Come, we have much to discuss.”

* * *

“Tilia,” Esmeralda called, pulling me out of my daydreaming about how I first came here six years ago. She was wearing a beautiful emerald ball gown and was by far the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. Even as similar as we looked I wasn’t as beautiful as her. My nose was too short, my eyes shaped more like my father’s than hers, and as much as I wanted to believe I was beautiful, I could see the flaws in myself more often than my beauty. “What are you thinking about?” she asked as she stood beside me on the edge of the ballroom. People swirled around us in a vortex of rainbow colored silk and jewels.

“Just remembering the day I came here,” I explained.

“I know life is so boring here,” she said with a dramatic sigh.

I laughed and hugged her. “I love it here. I just miss my dad.”

“So I really came over here to see if you wanted to sneak off with me and spar? This ball is really boring,” she whispered in my ear.

I looked at the Queen, a fierce woman who was one of the best mages in all of the kingdoms, one of the only two Arch Mages, an exceptional sword fighter, and married to a man who won every tournament he entered. This country was unlike any I could have imagined. Instead of the Queen sitting in the castle and the King letting his military fight his battles from the safety of his castle, both of them set off into battle at the head of their military and bled right along with them. Women were allowed to join the military and it was even encouraged! I thought I would be stuck in a dusty castle, but instead I had been instructed in magic, reading, politics, and every fighting style available. I was already a Journeyman, but my hope was to become an Arch Mage, like my aunt, although I wasn’t sure it would happen since I seemed to have very little magic. It seemed more likely that I would progress in the King’s Steel, the men and women who preferred hand to hand combat to magic, instead of the Queen’s Fire, the men and women who possessed magic.

“Let’s go,” I said to her with a wide smile. I looped my arm through hers and we walked through the ballroom as though strolling through it and then ran to our rooms to change. I walked out of my room, closed my door, and found that she was already waiting for me. “Did anyone see you?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “We better hurry before Jared…”

“Before Jared what?” asked King Jared from the main floor below us. He had dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a chiseled jaw. Everywhere he went women stopped breathing for a moment as they took in his appearance. His good looks paired with his fighting honed physique made him a heart stopper. He also stopped the hearts of men when he approached because he was the most feared fighter in all of the kingdoms. He had obtained the highest rank in the King’s Steel before becoming King and was the one and only Dragon of Crilan.

“We’ve been found!” Esmeralda hissed. “Retreat!” She grabbed my hand and we both ran down the stairs and towards the door that led to the training grounds at the back of the castle.

“Halt!” Jared yelled.

I stopped, but Esmeralda pulled on my arm, “Your Queen commands you to ignore the King!”

I giggled and kept running with her. She reached for the doorknob and opened it to find Jared on the other side.

“Curse your swiftness!” she yelled with mock anger.

He smirked at us, blocked the doorway with his wide shoulders, and asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be at a ball? A ball that I am forced to attend as well?”

“It’s so boring!” Esmeralda whined, transforming into a spoiled child as she pouted at her husband.

“So you and Tilia were sneaking off to go have fun while your poor husband and King was left to endure the boringness alone?” he asked as though we had betrayed him.

“You could come with us?” I suggested with a smile and bounced on the balls of my feet.

He looked at me a moment and said, “She is definitely from your bloodline, Esmeralda.”

She beamed proudly and said, “I know. It’s glorious, isn’t it?”

“People will notice that you are gone,” he scolded Esmeralda.

She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and said, “Please.”

He sighed and placed his hand on her face. “Alright. Go have fun. I will be the responsible adult for tonight.”

She kissed his cheek and said, “Next boring event I will let you sneak out.”

He let us pass by him and we ran into the building closest to us, the trainees’ living quarters. We hurried through their door and into the large indoor sand arena. I had spent a lot of time in this arena since my father had sent me here and it felt like home more than anywhere else.

“How is your magic training coming?” Esmeralda asked me as she drew her sword.

I cringed. “Not good. I can do simple spells, but that’s about it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I want to keep progressing in the Queen’s Fire and get above the Minor Mage ranks to the Senior Mage ranks, but that doesn’t seem likely.”

She shrugged. “Some people aren’t magical adepts. Jared has no magic, which is why he focuses so much on his fighting skill, much like you do. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You could be very successful in the King’s Steel. Or you could be one of the few who doesn’t develop their magic level until they are older.”

“I just don’t understand why you and my mother would be such strong mages and I have very little magic,” I said, letting her in on the frustration I had been feeling recently. Many people told me that my mother was the only one who had rivaled Esmeralda in magic power and abilities when they were growing up. Why had I not developed the same magic? Why did it not pass on to me? I wanted to be at least a Master Mage, the title my mother had obtained prior to leaving Crilan.

“Everyone is different. Try not to compare yourself to anyone,” she said. “It could be worse,” she reminded me, “You could have no magic.”

We weren’t sure why some people had magic while others had none. There was no conclusive reasoning behind who obtained magic and who didn’t. Lineage had nothing to do with it and you couldn’t curse someone with magic or take their magic away. It seemed completely random.

“Let’s fight!” she yelled happily.

I drew my sword and took a ready stance. She attacked and I blocked. I attacked and she blocked. Soon our faces were split with smiles of pure joy. This was something I was good at and something I enjoyed. We sparred until sweat drenched my hair and back.

She put her sword back in its sheath on her hip and smiled at me as she caught her breath. “You have definitely improved. Soon I think you are going to have to start sparring with Jared.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly.

She nodded her head. “I fear your youthful energy has surpassed my old body.”

I laughed at her. She was only in her mid thirties and I had seen her in battle, she was incredible. “Is it your bedtime, granny?” I asked with a smirk.