Page 7 of A Pirate's Pleasure

Meanwhile, I stood in my little circle of normality, waiting for the hail to stop so I could seize my moment. My knife lay on the ground, one soldier having dropped it in his haste to protect the softer extremities of his body. I crouched down, getting low enough that even with the handicap of my hands tied behind my back, I could close my fingers around the handle before struggling back to my feet.

Zephyr’s fingers closed into a fist, the hail stopping immediately. I took off as soon as a clear path opened up, running toward him and away from the soldiers, conscious that they’d already be picking themselves up off the ground, and that once they had, they’d come after me. At least the lack of horses would level the playing field.

Zephyr set off before I reached him, both of us heading toward the docks and the waiting refuge of The Navarino. Or at least I hoped it would provide refuge. Footsteps sounded behind us, the soldiers recovering quickly from their impromptu shower of icy rocks.

“Run faster, Lief,” Zephyr demanded.

“In case you haven’t noticed,” I ground out, ire filling me despite the direness of the situation, “they tied my hands behind my back, so I’m doing my best not to fall flat on my face. Because if I do, I won’t get back up again. Perhaps if you’d intervened a little earlier before they bound my hands, it would have helped.”

No apology. No comment at all. But then I hadn’t really expected one. And it hadn’t made Zephyr slow either, the man ahead of me by a few meters. I might have had something cutting to say about that as well, had it not been better to conserve my energy.

And then there it was as we rounded the corner.

Zephyr’s pride and joy.

His one true love.

The deck of The Navarino was a whirlwind of motion: sails being hoisted and the anchor lifted. The presence of the crew told me that this had been the plan all along, the knowledge making me feel better even as my lungs screamed at me to stop and bow to the inevitable. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. If not for me, then for poor Erolith, who’d been murdered by person or persons unknown. And I refused to go to my grave without knowing who, or why, they’d done it.

The gangplank was in sight now, Zephyr coming to a halt and turning to face the direction we’d come. “Go,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Are you—?”

“Go!” His tone said that if I continued to argue, he wouldn’t miss me with the next set of hailstones. So, I went, the gangplank a tricky prospect without the use of my arms. Somehow, though, with a great deal of concentration employed, I managed it without pitching into the sea. It was amazing what you could achieve when the alternative was drowning.

A ship’s deck had never felt so good when I finally stepped on it. That feeling wouldn’t last, but I was happy to bask in the sense of relief for at least a few moments. I turned to see Zephyr with one arm outstretched. The soldiers dived for cover as a lightning bolt arced down from the sky and narrowly missed them, striking a pile of boxes instead that immediately burst into flames.

Zephyr Chase was magnificent. But then he always had been. Something shifted in my chest, something that couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be sharp and spiky, soft and squishy, or a combination of the two, if that was even possible. Something that demanded to know how I’d ever walked away from him, and how I’d stayed away for so many years. The question would demand an answer if we were going to be spending time together. But not yet. Not until we were both safe.

Another lightning bolt zig-zagged through the sky, Zephyr’s ability to control and shape the weather never anything less than awe-inspiring. He would have been fearsome without that ability, his sword skills also a sight to behold, but with it, he was untouchable. I knelt on the deck, unable to take my eyes off him. Every time the soldiers tried to advance, Zephyr brought forth another lightning bolt to drive them back. It left them at something of an impasse. Zephyr’s magical abilities weren’t infinite, though, and would run out eventually, and then there would be nothing to stop the soldiers from boarding the ship. “We need to leave,” I shouted to no one in particular.

A man came to stand by my right shoulder. He was tall and swarthy, with a beard that reached as far as his waist. Weather-beaten skin showed him for a man who’d spent most of his life outside battling the elements, and it was a toss-up which of them had won. “Aye,” he said. He licked a finger and held it up. “But how do you propose we do that without so much as a slight breeze?”

I craned my neck back to study the sails. The act of hoisting them didn’t mean they weren’t lying limp. “There must be something you can do. He can’t hold them off forever. What do you normally do if you need to make a quick getaway?”

A wry smile curled his lips up at the corners. “Cap’n normally sees to it, doesn’t he? But I reckon he’s too busy playing with lightning to worry about it.”

Struggling to my feet—it was funny how you never appreciated your hands until someone took their use away from you—I went over to the railing. Now that the anchor had been raised, we were drifting away from the dock, but it was painfully slow. At the moment, The Navarino was more of a floating trap than a sanctuary.

Chapter Four

Zephyr

The soldiers were fun to toy with. Especially if you gave them enough of a respite to think they had a chance before sending them scuttling away from the destructive arc of a lightning bolt. It was nothing more than a deterrent, though. The authorities had turned a blind eye to my oceanic pursuits for years, as they did with most pirates. Therefore, I had no intention of changing that by murdering or maiming one of their number. Although, they were hardly likely to be pleased by me spiriting Lief away from right under their noses. Which begged the question why I was doing it? But it was too late now. I’d stated my intention, and that left ensuring it was an endeavor that ended in success.

“You can’t hold us off forever, Chase,” a soldier shouted from behind his makeshift shelter of barrels.

I said a silent apology to whoever owned the cargo before I sent them up in smoke, the soldier letting out a distinctly high-pitched squeal as he scrambled to safety. Growing tired of the game, I kept my left hand in the air, ready to dispense another lightning bolt if needed, as I lifted my right one toward the ship. Harnessing two different weather systems drained my magic far quicker, so I only ever used it in the short-term. Short-term was all I needed, though. Just long enough to get The Navarino far enough from the dock that all the soldiers could do was watch it sail away.

Wind spilled from my fingertips, drifting across the space and toward The Navarino. Once there, it would inflate the sails and push it out to sea. There was a popular saying about sailors being a slave to the weather. Not me. Why be a slave when you could be a master? It was little wonder I’d taken to the seas.

A soldier broke cover. To do what, I wasn’t sure. It was likely he didn’t know either. Perhaps he hoped to win kudos with an act of bravery. Something impressive enough to earn himself a promotion. Whatever his plans were, I brought them to a crashing halt by sending another lightning bolt zinging his way.

“Give him up, Chase, and we’ll say no more about it.”

That was the old soldier, the one who’d given the impression of being in charge. “Sorry,” I said. “I can’t do that.”

“He’ll cause you nothing but trouble. Mark my words.”