His eyes twinkled. “Not too far from it. Would you like to see the inside of the tower?”
“Is it open?”
He grinned. “Nothing is shut to a pirate, at least, not a good one.”
“Was your friend Charlie a good one?”
The corners of his lips took on a melancholy touch as he stared ahead of us. “One of the best. He was quick to jump into a fight, and just as quick to sit down in front of a safe to pick its lock if it needed a light touch.”
“Why did he leave your ship?”
He looked me up and down. “Beauty and youth don’t last forever, and Charlie had a stash set aside from our successes, so he retired five years ago. Fidel took his place.”
“Then Charlie was your first mate?”
“The same, and a man couldn’t have asked for a better one, though Fidel is living up to the position. Charlie’s the one who told me to put him there.”
“So that’s why he asked about him?”
“Yep. Charlie practically raised Fidel after Leviathan’s Gale wrecked his fishing village.”
“Leviathan’s Gale?”
He chuckled. “Perhaps I should sit you down for school. Would you be a good student?”
“I’d try.”
Marc drew me close against his side, and his eye had that warm light in it. “What a pity. I was looking forward to punishing you for misbehaving.”
“You were saying something about dragons,” Ramaro spoke up as he flicked his tongue at him. “Or do I need to show off more of my infinite wisdom?”
Marc smiled and bowed his head to our short companion. “You may have the pleasure.”
Ramaro lifted his chin and cleared his throat. “The Leviathan’s Gale is an unpredictable storm that sweeps off the sea and destroys anything in its path. Many a village has been completely destroyed by that terrible power.”
My heart sank into my stomach. “And there’s no way to know it’s coming?”
He solemnly shook his head. “No way at all.”
I felt some of Marc’s muscles tense, but he didn’t speak up.
Chapter 7
We continued on our way through the dark and lonely streets. Everything was a new and exciting experience for me, so foreign was this city. It was like being thrown into a familiar and yet unfamiliar world where the rules of structure still reigned, but the designs were slightly unfamiliar. Wooden and stone houses were built in the same style, but there were flowered designs, colors, and other ornamentation that were foreign to me. Even the flowers in the boxes were different. Their petals were known to me, but their scents and shapes were strange. There were long ones and stubby ones, and others that curled and dipped into little animal shapes.
I couldn’t help but admire one of the blooming plants. It was a brilliant purple-hued specimen. I slipped out of Marc’s gentle hold and reached out for the flower.
“Watch it!” Ramaro snapped.
I blinked at him. “Why-”
Movement out of the corner of my eye made me jerk my hand back. The flower had lashed out at me, and its petals made a snapping sound like breaking bones. I yelped and flew back into Marc’s bemused arms.
“I’d tell you to watch your fingers, but I like these results.”
My face drooped. “Would I be missing a few if that-” I paused and glared at the flower. The plant merely twisted around like a Bali dancing girl, “-that thing had gotten a hold of me?”
Marc’s good humor dropped away, and he looked down his nose at me. “It would have stolen your soul.”
