The Merman and the Barbarian Pirate (16 page)

This isn't for me. It's … for … him.

Energy shattered through Raef. He sucked the stuff of life through his gills and beat his tail, thrusting upward, and burst into the gloaming. "Kemp. Kemp!" He whirled about, flicking his soaked hair, confirming Haverford's ship was in trouble. Waves crawled over it like some hungry creature's tentacles. The crew struggled to trim the sail and regain control before the sea claimed them. Raef experienced a slight twinge of sorrow for the servants who'd followed Haverford blindly, then dived low, eyes wide. Where was Kemp, and was he too late?

After some frantic searching, he discerned a nebulous shape in the dark waters, sinking fast. He caught Kemp in his arms and pulled upward.

When Raef regained the surface, Kemp's head lolled sideways against Raef's shoulder, and his limbs hung limp. His hair clung to his face, brushing those lips Raef had so much enjoyed, which were parted and tinted blue. Kemp's sodden shirt had molded to the contours of his chest, motionless save for the rocking of the waves. Though it was hard to tell amid the elements, Raef discerned no hint of warm breath.

"No!" The strength of Raef's shout shocked him, bringing in its aftermath the agony of loss. He hardly knew the man he cradled. They'd been through an adventure together, and they'd kindled a friendship, but it was no good. Raef
was
a mad boy, an insane merman,
and he'd mourn Kemp as if they
had
been lovers. He shook Kemp violently. "You mustn't drown. You can't."

The swell buffeted them. Holding tight, fingers digging into Kemp's solid, but currently useless, muscle, Raef succeeded in keeping Kemp's mouth and nose clear of the surge. Hot tears pricked his eyes. He shook Kemp once more, despair rising. Then those long lashes flickered. Kemp tipped sideways and started to choke. The strength of Raef's relief weakened him, and he nearly lost his burden to the deep.

But he wouldn't. He steeled his nerve and fought to keep them afloat and safe amid the tempest, blessing his tail and his mer form. He never wanted to leave them again. It felt good to be the strong one for a change and give something back.

After coughing up more water, Kemp managed to look up. "Raef," he croaked. "I damn knew it. My little merman."

"Ssssh. I must get you to your ship."

Kemp mustered the ability to wrap his arms about Raef's shoulders, clinging on, which made Raef's task easier. His cheek brushed Kemp's brow and Kemp's hair tickled his chest. Enjoying the closeness more than he ought, Raef scanned the horizons. Haverford's vessel was still afloat; it seemed like the lord he hated was going to make it back to the jetty. Right now, he cared little either way. All that mattered was Jon Kemp.

A feathery moon peeped above the cliffs. He fixed on the shape of the north headland and the darkness where the inlet wound into the forest. If that was where the
Alice O'Shanty
was harbored, they'd not too far to travel, but he'd go as speedily as he could, because Kemp already shivered. Prolonging any human's stay in cold waters would be dangerous.

Quiet and determined, he made for the shore, bearing Kemp in his arms.

Ten

Raef found the
Alice O'Shanty
near the mouth of the wooded creek, anchored mid-channel and ready for a quick getaway. He hailed her, as did Kemp in a weaker tone. When a couple of figures appeared at the rail, Kemp lifted an arm from about Raef's neck and waved.

"I'll be buggered," exclaimed George, scrambling down the ship's side so he could help. "How's the mad boy managing to swim like that?"

He hadn't seen Raef's tail yet, nor the gills concealed beneath his flowing hair. Though Raef was elated he'd delivered Kemp to safety, his nerves began to thrum. How might the crew react to him—indeed, how might Kemp react—when they no longer needed his help? After all, Kemp hadn't seen him properly in his mer form. As he glided near the hull, he recalled his grim imprisonment on the other side of the balks. He wanted to trust Kemp after all they'd just been through together. But he wouldn't be hasty.

George clung to a rope and reached out. Kemp took the proffered hand, Raef relinquished him, and George aided his progress up the side of the boat. A couple of other crew members leaned over and hauled Kemp in. George headed back down, stretching toward Raef. "Come on, lad."

Raef removed Haverford's sopping waistcoat and tossed it up onto the deck, where Peffy grabbed it. No good having it ruined further. He edged away, placing some snaking lines of foam between himself and the hull. "I'm all right in here."

"You might be the world's best swimmer," said George. "But surely you need a rest. 'Tis the first real squall of autumn tonight."

Raef paddled back another foot, grateful to be negotiating the calmer waters of the creek. He couldn't face the wild seas again tonight. Even with his tail, the hard graft was making him weary. He still didn't want to take George's hand.

"Raef, we won't hurt you. Come aboard." Kemp was leaning over the railing, a blanket draped over his shoulders. His voice remained shakier than usual.

"No," called Raef. "I need to rest, and you must set sail."

"He's right about that," said Peffy, touching Kemp's arm. "If the lobsters find this creek, we'll all be nabbed and dangled." Raef worked out the lobsters must be the dragoons, or the world was turning stranger than he imagined. He hated to think what nabbed and dangled meant, but it sounded unpleasant. "We've got to take this tide."

George climbed back onboard, and Kemp drew his crew into a huddle. Raef guessed what was happening. Kemp was telling them about him. Revealing what he was. Sure enough, moving almost in unison, the crew turned and boggled. Raef sank so the waters lapped his chin, a wet blanket to hide beneath. At least one of Kemp's pirate crew must be contemplating trapping him. A pirate captain would be bound to stick up for his followers, and Kemp might even be considering caging Raef, too.

He didn't think Kemp would do that, but he still knew so little about the man, and he couldn't endure the notion of a final farewell. He was about to dive and swim as far as he could when Kemp called him back. "Listen, lad, you're cracked and you're plucky as a wildcat. You'd fit in perfectly here. Join us?"

"I-I don't know." He wouldn't
be rushed into anything.

"But, Raef, we need you."
Eh, how?
"You said you recognized the face in that sketch."

He'd forgotten about that. An excuse for more adventure, and heavens, it was nice to be wanted. Indecision seized Raef. He thrashed his tail. Kemp grasped the railings, eager, his wet hair swirling like smoke. An owl hooted, the sea droned in a nearby cave, and somebody on the ship said, "We've no time for ditherers. We've got to get going."

"Think about it," called Kemp. "We're to shufti down the coast for a bit, but we can meet you at Deadman's Creek in two days, about twenty miles south of Lilhaven. You know the spot? The rocks are patterned black and red."

Raef knew the place. "I'll think about it," he said, glad for the reprieve and that the severing of relations needn't be final. The shallows called to him, yet he couldn't contain one last question. He paddled back near the boat, and Kemp stooped so far over Raef feared he'd topple.

"Raef?"

"One thing," said Raef, bracing himself for a blow. He still didn't quite understand why Kemp was taking such risks for Cecilia and found he
had
to know. "Why are you so desperate to help Cecilia?"

"Because she's a damned fine lady. She's a healer, she's got a heart of gold, and she'd make a better mistress of these lands than that devil who scourges them now." Kemp hesitated, frowned, and the mainmast creaked. "And besides, this chase is fine sport, is it not?"

"I suppose," said Raef, mulling the response over. It didn't satisfy him. Kemp hadn't given him the answer he was after. So he must go in for the kill. "Are you… by any chance… intending to marry her?"

"Beilby's balls, no!" Kemp chuckled so heartily the rail shook, then he coughed and turned serious. "I'll never marry, and even if I was dying of love for Cecilia, I don't think she'd have me. Besides, while I've enjoyed a good few wenches in my time, and I hope those wenches have enjoyed me, I chiefly take my blow-throughs with men. Though I might just extend my repertoire to mermen one day soon. Is
that
the answer you seek?"

"Yes." Raef's blush defied the evening's chill. He flicked his tail and swam away. Kemp's laughter rang in his ears, and Kemp's image was ingrained in front of his eyes. When he finally curled up on a sandbank to sleep, he cherished the memories, though he chastised himself for it.

Just because Kemp wasn't in love with Cecilia, or intending to marry her, didn't mean he could fulfill Raef's heart's desire. Because—gods help him—despite everything Raef had learned, he couldn't prevent himself craving his one true love. He still lived for the singular goal of finding him. The most valuable lesson he'd learned these past few days was that the search was going to be long and hard. He should consider all his options carefully before returning to the
Alice O'Shanty
.

"I must start my quest anew," he murmured sorrowfully. "I will never find my beloved on that ship."

But he couldn't kid himself. Wild seahorses wouldn't stop him going back to Kemp, if just for a little while.

He approached the
Alice O'Shanty
two days later, at that quiet hour before the fowl stirred and when the seals and their pups lay slumbering on the shale. The ship was exactly where Kemp had promised it would be—anchored at Deadman's Creek, where the rocks were stained in seams of anthracite and a rusty red.

Raef could see how this place earned its name. The rocks scattered around the mouth of the inlet jutted from the waters like blunt and broken teeth. Only a pirate would dare tuck their ship in such a treacherous natural harbor, and the
Alice O'Shanty
nestled there comfortably. As Raef strove against a receding tide, he took a moment to drink in the sight of the vessel, with her sails stripped and her decks still muffled in night's shadows. The blue figurehead smiled back at him, the emerging light catching the pink of her lips and unveiled nipples.

He'd come. He was here, though a whisper in the back of his mind insisted,
Swim away. No good can come of consorting with pirates, even good pirates.

What was the truth of good and evil? Raef didn't know anymore. As he cut toward the ship, his misgivings multiplied. He'd scarce escaped with his life from his recent involvement with these folk and humans in general. This wasn't wise.

"Ahoy there, Raef."

At the familiar hail, Raef's heart did a flip. The figurehead was no longer alone. Kemp leaned a short distance behind her, as when Raef first laid eyes on him. His hands were clasped before him, his stance relaxed. Joy shimmered from Raef's core, and Raef's smile curved, unbidden.

"You came." Kemp seemed equally delighted, his tone hushed, which pleased Raef, too. He didn't want to see the rest of the crew, not yet. Raef swam 'til he could reach out and touch the blade of the prow should he choose. "Would you like to come aboard?" asked Kemp.

"If I do, I'll shift into human form very soon." Once Raef was on the ship, before and after the change, he'd be more or less at Kemp's mercy.
Wary, he moistened his lips. "If I come, will you swear not to lock me up again?"

"Yes, I'll swear." Kemp placed his hand on the streams of Alice's golden hair. "Few folk place faith in the promises of a pirate, but I'll swear on
Alice
herself. If I let you down, she's yours to command." He winked. "And I'll make it a better promise than that one you made me not to escape."

Raef wanted to trust Kemp, though vowed to remain cautious. He gripped the rope and let Kemp haul him up, fishtail and all. Kemp lifted him over the railing, and he flopped down onto the deck.

Kemp stepped back, giving him space. Raef leaned on his palms, curled his tail in, and swished it awkwardly. An acute consciousness of his lower body swept through him—the crimped line at his slender waist where his human torso ended and his tail begun, with the shapely swell beneath. Scales covered his lower portion, silver petals layered one on top of another, and which shone all colors of the rainbow under sunlight. Now, they seemed gray and dull. The feathered tips of his tailfins quivered.