We hurried over to the away ship and climbed aboard. The men lowered us, and we splashed down in the rolicking, magical waves that surrounded the Tempest. The ropes were just being released when something dark scuttled down them and dropped into my lap.
“You’re not leaving with me!” Ramaro insisted as he plopped his butt down on me.
I smiled and wrapped him in a tight hug. A few whispered words escaped me. “Thank you.”
Ramaro wriggled in my grasp. “Don’t thank me by squeezing the life out of me!”
Marc stood in front of me and gave a lazy, two-fingered salute to the men above us. “Gods give speed to you, and may we meet on the Golden Shores!”
“On the Golden Shores!”
Marc sat down at the bow, and his magic swept us away from the ship. We had gone only fifty yards when the waves around the Tempest ceased. The crew didn’t need any help escaping the monster or the Hetzmann. Both our foes caught sight of our little dinghy and pursued us.
Ramaro sat tall in my lap, and his tail swished against my chest. ‘The Hetzmann is coming on fast and sharp. It might reach us before the monster.”
A loud noise came from the Hetzmann, and one of the infamous grimspall flew over our heads. The ball struck the creature in the forehead and sent it tumbling backward into its own waves. Its tendrils thrashed about, but it didn’t have time to recover before another volley struck its tendrils. Neither of the balls exuded black smoke. Fire seeped out of them and tumbled over the thing’s body. The creature screeched and flailed before sinking into the waves.
Our boat kept zipping through the waves, but I noticed some of the steam was running out. The Tempest had sailed in the opposite direction from us and had vanished beyond the horizon, but the Hetzmann followed on our port side. I looked at Marc and my heart skipped a beat.
His face was ashen, and each breath was a labor. He clutched his chest and gave me a crooked smile. “I don’t think I have much left in me.”
“Let them take us alive!” Ramaro challenged the fast-approaching ship.
I tightened my arms around him. “We can’t do anything for ourselves if we’re dead.”
He whipped his tail to and fro. “That might be the only choice they’re offering.”
Marc’s strength gave out, and he slumped forward. I dumped my scaly load and slid onto the floor of the boat, where I caught Marc in my arms. He grinned up at me. “Don’t tell my men I ended up in a woman’s arms. I wouldn’t hear the end of it.”
I didn’t have time for a quip before the wakes from the Hetzmann washed over us. The ship rocked hard, and I held tight to Marc. Grappling hooks flew off the deck and dropped into the water around us. They were attached to the ship by hard chains, and those links were pulled up. The hooks caught the side of our vessel, and we were hauled out of the water.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ramaro. “Hold on-” My words caught in my throat when I saw he had vanished.
The ship was lifted over the railing and onto the deck, where rough men swarmed us. I was torn from Marc and yanked into a crowd of groping hands.
“You forget yourselves!”
The men snapped to attention, and one of the burliest grabbed hold of my arms. Marc was dragged from the boat and tossed onto the deck in front of the crowd. He had enough strength to sit up and stare into the cold face of Admiral Jaeger.
The man was above sixty with black hair speckled with white. His long locks were drawn back in a tail down his back. He wore the same perfect white uniform as I’d last seen him, and his hands were clasped tightly behind him.
Jaeger marched up to Marc and cast a long shadow over the defiant pirate. Marc smiled up at him. “It’s been a long time, Jaeger. I see time hasn’t been kind to you.”
Jaeger scoffed and spoke in a thick, guttural accent. “Time is of no matter to one who will be dead soon.”
“You shouldn’t say such things about yourself,” Marc scolded him as he looked the man over. “You look the pinnacle of health and-”
Jaeger’s eyes flickered up to the two men who flanked Marc. One of them knocked him on the side of the head. Marc stumbled, but caught himself.
The captain nodded at their captive. “Bring him into my cabin and tie this filth to a chair.”
“And the woman, Captain?” my captor spoke up.
“Bring her, as well. We will see why she is so important.”
I was only too eager to follow Marc into the captain’s quarters below the wheel deck. The spacious room was filled with bird-clawed furniture and a luxurious king-sized bed. Silken sheets covered the thick mattress. Rugs covered the floors. There was even a large portrait of the captain that hung beside the door, painted in bright colors and with a lot fewer wrinkles than he actually had.
Marc was dragged over to a high-backed chair and tossed onto the luxurious seat. One sailor tied a rope around him while Jaeger strolled over to a nearby table. He pulled a small black box to him and opened the lid, revealing a black collar on velvet.
