“Good.” Baellius strode off with me.
My nictating membranes fluttered over my eyes, spreading the precious moisture. I was able to see for the first time in what felt like forever. Slowly, I let light penetrate my sensitive eyes. I couldn't lift my head, but I could see the change in the floorboards. We were going up. Then there was more light. Sunlight. I smelled the sea. Oddly enough, that meant we were at the shore. The sea doesn't smell when you're out on open water. Not like that. It was only where it met the land that things got a bit rank. Because the sea was sassy. She liked to shove her shit onto land.
I managed to lift my head once Baellius left the gangplank. I wanted to see what shore I was going to die on. I knew most of the docks in the world, though it was harder to recall them in my fucked up state. And they all look similar. But then I spotted a few landmarks that triggered my memory.
Holy fuck, we were back at Renris. The very same port where I had met the Sea King two days ago. Yeah, two days. That's all. We had left Renris, attacked the Tiger's Claw, and then the damn thing had brought me right back here like a piece of flotsam. Hope bloomed in my chest. Would he . . . ? But no.King Vaxarion was supposed to leave the day before. And even if he hadn't left, and was still there, he wouldn't think to look for me like this. It was foolish to even think it. But hope is always a bit foolish.
“We're taking that piece of sea shit with us?” someone asked.
“Captain's orders,” Baellius said. “He doesn't want this fucker out of his sight.”
“But we're going to the castle. We can't take a pirate to the castle.”
I started wheezing through a sardonic laugh.
“Is he fucking laughing?” the voice turned horrified.
“Been there already,” I whispered. “So take that.”
“What he say?”
“I think he said he'd been there already.”
“Met the King.” I panted. “Two of them. Only fucked the one, though.”
“He's delirious,” Baellius said with a snort. “Ignore him.”
I laughed again, unable to stop despite how painful it was.
Baellius carried me to a cart that was being filled with crates. He carelessly tossed me atop some of them.
“Hey!” someone growled. “Easy with that asshole. That's the crates of porcelain you threw him on.”
“Sorry,” Baellius grunted.
I felt the cart shift as more crates were loaded. The back of Baellius's head came into view. I shifted my head to look up at the clear blue sky instead. The rectangle of sky was edged by the buildings of Renris, Crown City of Gavemor. Unbelievable. I had never returned to a port so quickly.
“You gonna leave him like that?” someone asked.
“Like he's gonna make a run for it?” Baellius laughed.
I laughed too—that pathetic wheeze. It made Baellius laugh harder and shake his head.
“You gotta hand it to him,” Baellius said. “The fucker is as tough as one of us. He's nearly a piece of fish jerky and he's still laughing.”
The other man grunted and then we were moving.
If only Baellius had known how very tough I was—what I had survived in my youth. There was a reason I was loyal to Teng and the crew of the Lu-Ken. Especially Captain Tengven. As a child, I'd been captured by a band of rebel Gashi. Gashi are one of the larger underwater races. They have thick, dark skin and fully black eyes. Most of them are nice enough. They generally obey the laws of the sea. But these Gashi, as mentioned, were rebels. There were more rebels back then when the Sea Dragons were hibernating. All sorts of otherwise peaceful people ran amok. It's easy to break the rules when no one enforces them.
The Gashi rebels enslaved me, keeping me collared and chained constantly. I was only ten years old, but they had me doing hard labor that would have strained grown men. And I did it. Because if I didn't, I got beaten. It toughened me, but beneath my thick skin, it left an ocean of fear. That fear was one of the reasons I didn't go with King Vaxarion. I knew the Sea Kingsonly took willing slaves, but I couldn't be a slave again. Not even willing. The thought of a collar around my throat made chills race down my spine. No, never again. I'd rather die like this, withering to death on land, than live in a slave collar. Even if that collar was made of gold and I was chained to a king.
No. I know that's a leap. Vaxarion hadn't threatened to enslave me. But the possibility existed. He could have changed his mind once we reached Shasenai and collared me instead of making me his concubine. Kings do whatever the fuck they want. And there's more than one type of slavery.
Not that it mattered anymore. I was about to get my wish and die on land. I knew it, knew that fleeting hope was just my mind's way of trying to keep me sane. But down deep, the fact was that I had been caught, and I had to pay for my crimes. Fair enough. I was a criminal. That was the truth. It didn't matter that I became one because Tengven saved me.
Captain Teng and a few members of his crew had been on a necessary submergence, taking some time to refresh themselves but also to sell some of their latest take to the undersea folk. They came across the Gashi rebel camp and saw me and the other slaves, chained and wounded. They didn't even hesitate. They attacked the Gashi, killed them all, and freed us. The other slaves scattered, going home, but I had no one to go home to. The Gashi had killed my parents. I was fourteen by then, had spent four years as a slave, and never thought to be free again. But I was tough, as I said, and Teng saw potential in me. He took me under his wing, showed me how to be a pirate, and I found freedom above the water. I'd been with him ever since. Sixty-three years. Long enough to work my way up the ranks. I'd be First Mate if Ry hadn't earned that title long before they found me. But I didn't envy him. Frankly, I didn't want theresponsibility. I was happy as I was. Or I had been. The crew of the Lu-Ken was my family, and Teng, though we never spoke of it, was like my father.
I would gladly give my life for him. For all of them.
