“What is the law of the sea? What were you meant to do?”
The elf kicked at the ground like a child unwilling to look into the eyes of the parent who was scolding her. “I was trying to capture him, sir, but he’s got some kind of magic weapon.”
“I see no weapon on his person.”
Drystan stood still, arms crossed against his broad chest. The sword—and the loop on his belt—had vanished entirely.
The elf made a move towards him, but the captain raised a hand again, and she stopped in her tracks. “It was there! I fought him with it. You saw it, didn’t you?”
She gestured in Rinka’s direction. Rinka looked around to find out who she was talking to, but she suddenly realized she and Drystan were the only passengers left in the cabin. “Me?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“Yes, you. Who else? Captain, she’s acting dumb, but she’s with him. They were together at the start.”
“Then you know what to do.” The captain turned back to the door as half a dozen pirates filed in. He gestured over his head to Drystan and Rinka, and the pirates were on them. Rinka looked at Drystan, but he shook his head at her.
They were defeated.
“Yes, sir,” called the elf after the captain. She turned back to Drystan as a pair of pirates tied his hands behind his back. “I don’t know how you did what you did, but you’re about to pay for it. Do you know the law of the sea?”
Rinka held out her hands to be tied in front of her, and the pirates, perhaps seeing her size, decided it was best not to argue with her. “Please—” she began, but Drystan shook his head again.
“Out at sea, you’ve got two choices: sink or swim,” said the elf. She kicked the back of Rinka’s legs and shoved her shoulders into her, pushing her forward. Rinka obeyed. She heard Drystan receive the same treatment behind her as they were marched towards the door at the front where they’d entered.
They exited into the cool night air, the sky having gone completely dark during their ordeal, Rinka and Drystan followed by their pirate captors.
“Sink or swim,” repeated the elf as the pirates pushed Rinka and Drystan against the railing.
Rinka could swim, but she’d never tried with her hands tied before. And they were still miles from land at night with no boats in sight except the pirates’ own ship. She turned to Drystan and voicelessly pleaded with him, tears in her eyes as the fear took hold.
“Trust me,” he mouthed to her, winking as the pirates lifted them and flung them over the railing, into the inky black waters below.
Chapter Six
OLD FRIENDS
Alison
Willow hopped jauntily along the forest trail ahead of Alison and Keir, pausing on occasion to stalk a bug or bird and then trotting quickly to catch back up to them.
The forest path was wildly different from the last time Alison had taken it. The trees that were then just budding were now full of leaves, their heavily laden branches casting a welcome shade from the late spring sun. A number of birds had returned from their southern journeys, and they flitted through the branches and to the ground below in search of food for the hungry babies in their nests. The silence and stillness of the woods had been replaced by a world come to life with light, color, and noise.
“I doubt the Wildcat’s awake,” said Willow. The tabby cat had introduced Alison to one of her wilder brethren, a supposedly fearsome beast that Alison had found absolutely darling. “He likes to sleep in a patch of sunlight on a nice day like this one. I can’t say that I blame him.”
Willow yawned and stretched.
“You don’t have to come with us,” said Alison. “You can always go home and nap yourself if you like.”
“And miss all the fun? Not a chance. Besides, you’ll never find the fairies without me. I have better eyes for them.”
This was true, at least as far as Alison knew. Willow frequently seemed to react to things Alison could not see at all, often by pouncing on them.
“Not at home, as suspected,” said Willow when they reached the Wildcat’s makeshift abode at the bottom of a tree. Alison wasn’t sure how she was able to tell, but she trusted the little cat. “It’s for the best. He’s really quite rude.”
Alison supposed that was true, but he was just so cute about it.
They continued on the trail to the north, Keir growing more tense as the forest began to shift from hardwood to evergreen. This was where the spriggan had tricked them and separated them, and where he had bound them and tried to kill Keir.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked Alison. His brows furrowed as they often did when he worried for her.
