“Were you the first all-female crew?” she asked.
“First, and so far, only,” Gert answered after swallowing the second half of the roll in one gulp.
Bonnie twitched one shoulder. “It’s the other captains’ loss, but I hope they never catch on. I get my pick of the best sailors, and my crew doesn’t get themselves into trouble pillaging and carousing.”
Gert sat up halfway and ladled some chunky stew into her bowl. “Nor do we have trouble with fights breaking out on board. At least, not often.”
Bonnie leveled her spoon at Thrain, soup dripping from the end and into her bowl. “I don’t expect that to change, dwarf.”
Thrain drew in a quick breath, inhaled soup from his spoon, and coughed until he almost choked. When he could speak again, he shook his head. “Don’t you worry about me, Captain. I’m more of a lover than a fighter, anyway.”
Bonnie and Gert both swung their heads toward him, eyes narrowed.
“Not that I plan to bother myself with romance,” Thrain added, the words tumbling from his mouth as his cheeks flamed red. “I’ve had my fill of that for the moment.” He shot Cali a look. “We both have, haven’t we, Cal?”
The pantheri felt curious eyes on her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at Bonnie. It was true that she’d been burned by Marina, but it hadn’t been love or even lust that had drawn her to the hellkin. It had been her need for something else, something to fill the aching hole in her heart, something to distract her from the search that never ended. Not that she could explain all that over dinner. Not with Thrain and Gert there. She wasn’t even sure if she could explain it well, even if they weren’t.
“Glad to hear it, dwarf,” the orc quartermaster said as she bent over her soup bowl. “We’ll have enough distraction when we reach Claw Island. That is, if we make it through the Sailor’s Graveyard and past the sirens.” She shuddered and slurped a mouthful of stew.
“Now, let’s not scare our guests.” Bonnie said, as Thrain’s jaw dropped again. “It’s nothing we can’t handle.”
“And we have no choice,” Gert said without looking up. “We have to get our jolly boat.”
Cali put her spoon down. “What’s so special about this jolly boat? I’m sure it would be easier to buy or make another one than spend all this time and effort to hunt down the hellkins.”
Gert snorted a laugh that rippled the surface of her stew. “Sure. You could do that.” She glanced up at Bonnie. “If you want the ship to go into full-fledged rebellion and refuse to sail.”
Rebellion? Over a jolly boat? Cali cut her gaze to Bonnie, who merely shrugged. Cali was understanding why The Cruel Mistress and her crew might be so notorious.
Sixteen
Cali attemptedto roll onto her side in the hammock, curling the flat pillow as tight around her ears as possible. She swung back and forth as the ship swayed, and if it hadn’t been for Thrain’s snoring, she would have found it easy to be lulled to sleep.
It had been two days since they’d joined the pirate crew, which meant two nights sleeping above the dwarf in the tiny room. To be more accurate, it meant two nightsnotsleeping. Cali hadn’t stolen more than bits and pieces of sleep, although her friend seemed to have no problem.
Days on the ship had fallen into a comfortable rhythm. Seraphina patrolled the ship’s railing while Gert kept the sailors working steadily. She took her shifts in the crow’s nest, ate her share of stew and rolls with the rest of the crew, and occasionally joined Bonnie on the quarterdeck to observe their progress. The captain assured her they were making progress, even though the stretch of water in all directions made it feel like they were going nowhere fast.
It was only at night, when Cali was alone with her thoughts, that she second-guessed why she was on the ship. It was only as she was lying in the top hammock, awake and listening to Thrain saw wood, that she was sure that this adventure would leave her right back where she started.
“How is he sleeping through it?” she muttered to herself as the rasping, rumbling sound echoed in the small room.
After a few more minutes, she sat up and peered down at the dwarf. Bramble lay curled in the crook of his arm, and the raccoon appeared to be oblivious to the noise, although he did have his bushy tail curled around his head. Too bad Cali’s tail was sleek and not long enough to use as earmuffs.
“This is ridiculous.” She swung her legs over the side of the hammock and vaulted to the floor, landing on silent paws. With a final glance back at her slumbering friends and a bewildered shake of her head, she slipped from the room and pulled the door behind her with a click.
The pantheri took a moment to regain her balance as the ship dipped from side to side. The door to the kitchen was now shut tight, and savory scents no longer filled the narrow hallway. Her gaze drifted to the door she knew belonged to the captain, but no light seeped beneath the closed door.
“Looks like everyone is asleep but me,” she grumbled as she headed for the stairs, her bare feet padding on the vivid colors of the steps that were muted in the blue light of the moon.
When she emerged from below deck, she sucked in a quick breath of cool sea air. During the day, the ship bustled with the crew hoisting the sails and tugging thick rope. Commands were bellowed and snippets of sea shanties were hummed. Butnow, moonlight drenched the deck of the pirate ship as its bow whispered through the water. Swiveling her head, she took in nothing but wine-dark water stretching in all directions, and she fought back the panic that clawed at her throat.
“It’s just water,” she told herself, trying not to think about all the things that could lurk beneath the surface. If the pirates were to be believed, sea monsters, mermaids, and sirens were all real.
Maybe they’d been teasing her. Or maybe Bonnie and her quartermaster had been testing her to see if she’d scare easily. Or maybe they were telling the truth. There was a reason she’d always avoided the sea. More than one, in fact, and now she had even more reasons.
Cali moved closer to the side of the ship, resting her paws on the painted wooden railing that was now dappled with cool light. She peered tentatively over the side, jerking her head back at the sight of the swells frothing against the hull. She patted the railing and whispered, “Thanks for keeping us dry up here.”
The ship made a keening noise as it rocked in the other direction, and for a moment, Cali felt like it was answering her. She smiled, thinking of the mermaid carved on the front of the ship, and wondered if she had a name or if she was the Cruel Mistress.
