Pirate Princess (51 page)

“He touches you again and I’ll cut his arm off,” Finn growled.

I kissed his cheek and said, “You’re so sweet.”

He sighed and the anger dissipated. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”

We started walking towards Jared. “You are getting old,” I teased him.

He growled. “I’m still in my prime.”

“Yes, you are,” I said flirtatiously.

He glanced at me and a smirk broke through his frustration. “You remember that later when we aren’t surrounded by people.”

Jared waved us forward and we sat down beside him, on the opposite side as Marquez to watch the fights. Finn draped his arm across my shoulders and I rested my head on his shoulder while we watched two men I didn’t know fight. They weren’t terrible, but they wouldn’t make it to the finals. Finn absentmindedly kissed my forehead as he watched the fighters which made my heart flutter in a way only he could. It was something he did out of love and with it I could feel his love for me.

“When’s your next fight?” Jared asked Finn.

“Two fights from this one,” he answered and started playing with my hair as he watched the men stumbling about and about to end the fight.

“You’re fighting?” Marquez asked in shock.

“I’ve been coerced into fighting,” Finn explained.

“Coerced?” Marquez asked in confusion.

“Jared and I are making him participate,” I explained.

“I think you just want to watch me fight people,” Finn said with a smirk.

“That is a definite bonus,” I answered honestly.

“So you’re not worried about her seeing you lose?” Marquez asked with a conceited smile.

“The only one I’ll lose to is Jared,” Finn said.

“I think you’re going to beat Jared,” I said and looked at Jared. “How are you going to feel when a former pirate beats you?”

“Former pirate?” Marquez asked with wide eyes.

“He’s not going to beat me,” Jared said confidently.

“What will you bet on that?” I asked him, ignoring Marquez’ shocked face.

Jared folded his arms across his chest and tapped a finger on one of his rather large biceps. “I’ll have to think about it,” he said.

“I’ll give you until the end of the day,” I told him.

“What are you going to bet?” he asked me.

“I’ll bet you a trip to Emprad,” I said.

Finn tensed, but I wasn’t sure why. “A trip to Emprad?” Jared asked and then rubbed his chin in deep thought. I knew it was too good for him to pass up.

“Emprad is an unusual Kingdom,” Marquez commented. “It would be wise to have guards with you while visiting.”

“She’ll be protected,” Finn said. The fight ended and the next fighters entered. “I have to go get ready,” Finn said and stood up.

I stood and kissed his lips softly. “Have fun.”

He stroked my cheek and said, “I’ll put on a show for you.”

“You should just end it quickly so you can sit with me again.”

“As the Princess wishes,” he said with a bow and then hopped down from the viewing area to the fighters’ area.

“Still can’t decide on something?” I asked Jared smugly.

“I’m trying to figure out something you’ll accept as equal or greater value than your own bet. I’d offer weapons or something, but you have free access to all of those.”

“Weapons are always good, but yes, I have plenty of them.”

“You refuse to get a new horse.”

“My horse is perfect! I don’t need a new one. Duke is the best out there. You wouldn’t be able to find me a better one.”

“Finn has a ship so there’s no point in offering you one.”

“Two years ago I would have been thrilled, but now I can ride on his.”

“So he really is a former pirate?” Marquez asked.

I smiled at him. “Yes, in fact he just won the pirate’s festival that ended a few days ago.”

“So he is still a pirate?” he asked with a frown.

“No, he just wanted to participate.”

“I see you’re all getting along now,” Esmeralda said as she approached us.

Jared smiled sweetly at her, the smile only reserved for his wife. “My lovely Queen. I have missed you. Where have you been?”

“Attending to business since you are otherwise too preoccupied to take care of it,” she said. She nudged me over so she could sit next to Jared. “What has you so deep in thought?” she asked him.

“He’s trying to figure out a bet with me,” I explained.

“What did you offer?”

“A trip to Emprad.”

“What are you betting on?”

“If Finn will beat Jared or not.”

She laughed. “This is one bet I will not participate in.”

Jared looked at her with his scary face, a look that made seasoned veterans cower in fear. “You don’t think I can win?”

She patted his arm. “I know you can win, darling. I just don’t want to bet against our niece.”

I laughed and she punched my leg. “Ow.”

“Don’t you have a dagger throwing contest to compete in?” Esmeralda asked me.

“I wasn’t going to participate,” I said honestly, “I don’t want to look like a show off.”

“You better go beat them,” Jared said, “Or I’ll send you to Emprad tomorrow.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and said, “I’ll go as soon as Finn wins his fight.”

“You’re so confident that he will win,” Marquez said, “It’s admirable to think so highly of your suitor, but every man falls eventually.”

Jared scoffed but didn’t say anything.

“I think you will be pleasantly surprised at his capabilities,” I replied and left it at that. Bragging about Finn wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as seeing his face when Finn fought.

The fight ended with a knockout and some assistants ran out to drag the unconscious man out of the arena for the next fight to start. Finn walked out into the arena behind a very large man with a thick scar across his chest carrying a mace.

“This doesn’t look like a good match up for him,” Marquez said.

“I know, that poor man is going to feel so humiliated when a man of a smaller stature defeats him so quickly and easily,” I said.

“I meant it the other way around,” he said.

Finn turned and bowed to us with a wink at me and then turned and bowed to the man. The man bowed back to him and then raised his mace and roared loudly as he charged towards Finn. Finn held his ground until the man was right in front of him and then he disappeared for a second only to appear behind the man and cut him with his sword across his back.

The man bellowed in pain and swung around, his mace swinging through the air with the ability to smash a man’s skull if it connected. Finn easily ducked his swing and punched his opponent in the stomach and then cut his chest and stomach, not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to bleed and hurt.

I turned and looked at Jared and found him leaning forward with his eyes focused on Finn, watching his moves and trying to learn everything about his fighting style that he could. Marquez stared with wide eyes, but said nothing. Finn cut the man’s forearm which caused him to drop his mace, climbed up onto his back and wrapped his arm around his throat. Finn’s biceps bulged as he squeezed as tightly as he could and no matter how many times his opponent hit him in the sides or arms he did not let go. The large man stumbled forward, dropped to his knees, and then fell face first into the dirt. Finn backed away from the unconscious brute. “Finn wins,” the announcer said. Finn bowed to the audience, disappeared and then appeared beside me.

“So you played with him for the audience a bit I see,” I told him and brushed some dirt off the front of his shirt.

“They wouldn’t be happy with an instant defeat so I played a bit,” he admitted.

“How do you keep disappearing from one spot and moving to another? Are you teleporting?” Marquez asked.

Finn winked at him and said, “A man must keep some secrets to himself.”

Jared turned and looked at Finn. “You’re not going to go full out until you fight against me, are you?”

Finn smiled wide. “I can’t let you see all of my tricks before our fight or you will have time to plan how to counter them.”

Jared smiled wide and said, “I grow to like you more and more, Finn.”

“Are you fighting before the finals?” Finn asked Jared.

Jared shook his head. “I’ll fight the top three finalists instead of them fighting each other to become the official winner before fighting me.”

“Better save me for last then,” Finn said smugly, “Or the others won’t have a chance to fight you.”

Jared smiled wide. “Oh I plan to save you for last.”

Faxon walked up to us and sat down behind me. Jared glanced at him, but when Faxon didn’t say anything he turned back around. Faxon leaned forward and whispered into my ear, “We need to talk.”

I kissed Finn’s cheek and stood up, knowing better than to probe Faxon for information and that it was easiest just to oblige him. Faxon walked down ahead of me and I followed him. What could he want? Finn was frowning in worry when I left, but I couldn’t tell him why I was leaving because I didn’t really know. Faxon walked until we were a distance from the arena and away from most of the people.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

He handed me a letter and I stared in shock at the Trian seal holding it closed. “This appeared in my chambers with your name on it.”

“Why would they send it to you if it is for me?” I asked.

“There’s a spell on it,” he said, “I’m not sure what kind, but when you open it the spell will activate.”

“So they wanted you to be here to witness the spell?” I asked.

“Or to try to counteract it,” he said.

“Then why even spell it?” I asked him. “Why not send it to me and let you find out later?”

He shrugged.

Jared walked over and looked at the letter in my hand. He saw the seal and a scowl wrinkled his forehead. “Where did you get this?”

“My chambers. It’s spelled.”

“You should just destroy it,” Jared said.

“I think we should see what they want,” I argued.

“What if it’s poison or some type of curse?” Jared asked.

“I can easily remove either,” Faxon said.

Esmeralda walked over and after getting updated by Jared she reached out towards the letter. A red spark was emitted from the letter and would have shocked her had she not had a shield up. “Jerks,” she mumbled.

“What are the worst possible outcomes of opening this?” I asked them.

“Transportation spell,” Faxon said.

“Plague,” Esmeralda said.

“Curse,” Faxon said.

“Death,” Esmeralda said.

“Death?” I asked in shock.

“Very unlikely,” Faxon said, “A death spell is very high level and we would be able to feel the death spell because they feel very, um, dark.”

“If it’s a teleportation spell it’ll take whoever is nearby, right?” I asked.

They nodded their heads. “So you two should move,” Faxon said to Esmeralda and Jared.

“Depending on the enemy it would be best if you had a mage and a warrior,” Jared said.

“I’m standing right here,” I told him.

He smiled. “You’re learning quickly, but you’re not quite up to par yet.”

“Faxon is the best at teleportation spells, so if you are teleported and attacked, Jared can kill the attackers and then Faxon can teleport you back,” Esmeralda said. “However, if they attack Faxon with a spell he can’t counter…”

Faxon snorted.

“…It would be wise to take a second mage.”

“You just don’t want to be left out,” Jared said.

Finn started to head towards us, but Jared held up his hand making him stop. “What’s going on?” he asked nervously from the spot he had stopped at.

People had started to look at us questioningly and a small crowd grew near the arena entrance.

“In the event of our disappearance I place Finn in charge of Crilan until our return,” Jared announced.

“Agreed,” Esmeralda said.

“Agreed,” Faxon said.

“So witnessed it has been accepted,” Jared said.

“Tilia,” Finn said, “What are you guys talking about?”

“I love you,” I told him with a smile. “Let’s hope this is something simple.”

I broke the seal and opened the letter. The letter leapt from my hands and landed on the ground between us.

Faxon yelled, “Evacuate the premises!”

I’d seen this type of spell used once before and I would never forget the events of that battle. Jared, Esmeralda, and I drew our weapons and backed up, keeping a ring around the letter. Faxon began weaving a spell of Lifire, the hottest fire in existence as we waited for what was coming.

“Tilia,” Finn called.

“Stay back,” I warned him, “We aren’t sure what’s coming out yet.”

“Coming out?”

“It’s a teleportation spell,” Faxon said, “But reversed. They’re sending us something.”

The citizens hurried away, giving us as much space as they could while still being able to watch since curiosity was too great in our kind.

The letter shuddered, a golden haze spread from it, sliding along the ground towards us. Faxon slammed his staff on the ground to create a shell to contain the golden haze, whatever it was. The golden fog ran into the confines of the shell and snaked up and around it until it was filling it and then exploded with such force that it blew us all off our feet and ten feet farther away from the letter than we had been standing.

We leapt back up, shocked to see that the golden haze had disappeared. The letter shuddered and a roar echoed from within it. I knew that roar. I would never forget that roar.

“Chimera,” I whispered in shock.

“Those idiots,” Esmeralda spat. “They captured it to send to us to try to kill us.”

Jared spun his sword as we waited for it to come out. “This week just gets better and better!” he yelled happily.

Despite his joy at the chimera I felt terror. I had only been eleven when I saw the chimera and it had almost killed me that day.

“Ground yourself and be ready, Tilia,” Jared called, “Fight this chimera like you couldn’t the last one. Take out your fear and replace it with anger. You aren’t eleven years old anymore. You can defeat this thing.”

I wasn’t so sure. Finn gripped my shoulders and whispered into my ear, “I’m here, Tilia. I’ll protect you.”

I didn’t want him to protect me and yet I couldn’t shake the fear consuming me. Finn pushed me behind him and drew his sword.