Miya Black, Pirate Princess I: Adventure Dawns (40 page)

"What? Are you serious? No way! Grace is mine, NO ONE else gets to fight her but me. Okay?" said Miya, pointing her finger at the others in the dinghy.

"If I even think you're in trouble, I'm jumping in," said Tomas. "And no arguments about that. I'm not seeing you hurt."

"I won't get hurt," said Miya, a little huffily.

Tomas looked at his daughter a moment, worried, then smiled as Lily approached them on the pier.

"Almost ready?" he asked.

"Yes, very soon. Captain Pearl just said goodbye to her husband. I'd say—"

Lily was interrupted by a piercing whistle coming from somewhere in the harbour. She looked up as Tomas scowled.

"That's from the Journey Forward," he said. "Pete's had the same damn idea as us!"

"You think they've been boarded?" Lily asked. Tomas nodded.

"Aye, I wouldn't put my money on Pete's men, though, Betty'll give them a hard time of it."

There was another whistle, followed by shouts from elsewhere on the docks.

"The Midnight Lady," said Tomas, standing in the dinghy. "And it sounds like they've put men ashore here, too—wouldn't surprise me if they're coming in from the jungle as well."

"And what do you think you're doing?" said Lily. "Sit yourself down, man."

"But—"

"I'll handle the defences here. You have an important job to do."

Tomas looked at his wife a moment, watched her eyes as they flicked down to Miya and back to his. He nodded.

"Aye," he said. "Be careful, love."

"You too. I'll see you in a while. Miya ... I ..." Lilith hesitated just a moment, then smiled grimly at her daughter. "Fight well."

"I will, Mum. Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing happens to Dad."

"See that you do. Go."

Lily untied the dinghy from the wharf and pushed it off with her foot. She raised her hand a moment, then turned and walked away, already shouting orders as she made her way up the pier. Miya watched her mother until she couldn't see her any more, then turned and smiled at her father, watching him row, his strong arms working the oars efficiently, making them seem almost weightless as he pulled them through the water.

The shouts from the docks quickly became lost in the sound of rain, and there was silence in the dinghy. For a time it seemed as though they were in their own tiny world, just a dinghy alone, four people cut off from everything else.

"Jon and I will go up first," said Tomas, breaking the silence after several minutes. "Then Miya and Sola can follow. With a bit of luck we'll get on without much trouble, and once the northern islanders on board realise what we're doing they should help us put down the crew. Miya, I know there's nothing I can do to stop you going after that Grace girl, but don't go alone. Make sure at least one of us is with you in case things go bad, preferably me."

"Dad—"

"Come on, Miya, I'm giving you a lot here," said Tomas. Miya clicked her tongue.

"Okay, I promise I won't go after Grace by myself. But you better keep up with me."

"I'll do my level best," said her father, the hint of a smile showing on his face.

"But I want a promise from you, too! Once we find Grace I want to duel her alone. No help, not even if I get hurt."

"What if—"

"No, all or nothing," said Miya. Tomas winced at the look in her eyes.

"You really do take after your mother in so many ways," he said, his voice low.

"Don't try to distract me or change the subject," said Miya. "Promise."

Tomas nodded.

"I do. I promise I will let you duel her without interfering—WITH," said Tomas, as Miya began a triumphant smile, "one condition. Should I feel at any time your life to be in genuine danger, if I feel that this girl outclasses you—"

"Dad, she doesn't—"

"—if I feel that I must—MUST—intervene, I will."

Miya thought for a moment. "All right. But you better give me enough credit. If she's about to put her sword through my heart, then you can jump in. Actually ... if it somehow gets to that point, PLEASE jump in. But anything less than that you just get to watch."

Tomas looked at his daughter, then nodded.

"Agreed."

"Agreed," repeated Miya, completing her triumphant smile.

"Before we get close to that, however," said Tomas, "we must get aboard. Miya, I want you to throw the grappling hook. You've got the best eye of all of us."

"No problem, Dad," said Miya, chest swelling with pride.

"We're near," said Sola, his voice low and certain. Miya looked around, quickly spotting the lamp burning atop the ship's mast. That was all she could see, however; all else was just rain and ocean.

"How can you tell that's the right ship?" she asked.

"I've been counting."

"Counting what? Raindrops?"

"No. Seconds."

"Oh."

"Quiet now, love," said Heartless Jon. He grinned at Miya. "I wanna give 'em a bit of a shock."

Miya nodded, excitement shining in her eyes. She checked her sword one last time, then reached for the grappling hook stowed under her seat. As Tomas brought them near to Grace's ship, Miya stood and swung the hook carefully, feeling its weight, dark eyes focused on the railing above. She smiled as she remembered the last time she'd done this, then took a deep breath, blinked the raindrops from her eyes, and let the hook loose. She watched it arc up clean and true, then jerked the rope hard as it passed through the railing, felt it bite into the wood. Miya pulled it tight and began tying it to the dinghy as Heartless Jon started climbing.

"See you soon, Coconut," said her father, patting Miya on the shoulder as he followed Jon up.

"G'day mate. Got a light?" Miya grinned as she heard her grandfather's voice from above. His words were followed by the sound of swords clashing, then a clattering—that'll be the crew member's weapon falling to the deck, Miya thought.

"I'll go up first," she said to Sola. He nodded, and Miya grabbed the rope, quickly climbing up the side of Grace's ship to join her father and grandfather above.

"Don't make pirates like they used to," said Heartless Jon, prodding with his boot at the pirate he'd disarmed. "Didn't barely even have to touch this joker, he tripped over his own feet and hit his head on the way down. Useless bugger."

Tomas glanced towards the main deck.

"Sola, Jon, you take the starboard side and head for the forecastle deck," he said, "Miya and I'll take the port side and focus on the main deck. If anything goes wrong call out, you know the one."

"Ka-ka," said Miya quietly, with a smile.

"See you in a bit. Come on, Coconut."

Jon and Sola disappeared down the stairs on the other side of the ship, while Tomas led Miya in the other direction. On their side of the main deck were a couple of pirates, weapons out.

"Sure I heard something."

"Nah."

"I'm telling you—there!"

Tomas leapt forward, sword flashing. He caught the cutlass of the first pirate with his own sword and cleanly flicked it away, then kicked the second pirate's hand, disarming him just as neatly. He then threw his sword into the air, grabbed the two pirates by their necks, clonked their heads together, and caught his sword as it descended.

"What was that about keeping up?" he asked, as Miya gaped at him. "Help me tie these two up, would you?"

"You never did that kind of thing when you were sparring with me!" Miya cried, as she helped her father secure the two stunned pirates.

"Because you're my daughter who I love, whereas these rascals—" Tomas gave one of them a cuff behind the ears "—are part of an attempt to destroy our home. Do you think I ever used even a tenth of my strength against you?"

"I ..."

"Got one up against the forecastle deck, he were attempting to have a bit of an illicit ciggie," said Heartless Jon, stepping forward from the other side of the deck, Sola close behind. "Almost felt sorry for the little blighter, trying to get it to light in this downpour."

"Is that all? Most of them must be below deck," said Tomas. Heartless Jon shook his head.

"Say it's worse than that, son, say most of 'em are doing the same thing we're doin' here to your ships back there—bet a bunch of 'em are raiding yer town too."

Tomas's face spoke to his worry.

"It's okay, Dad," said Miya, "Mum's in charge back there. She'll defend the town. We have to focus on our mission."

"Right," said Tomas. He nodded. "Right, let's make sure this deck's cleared then head below."

They encountered little resistance on the upper decks, and only slightly more below. As Jon had predicted it was a skeleton crew, just enough on board to keep the slaves in check—but once the handful of northern islanders on board realised that Miya and the others were here as part of a rescue mission, they turned on their former captors in an instant. Much sooner than anyone had expected, they'd tied up the former crew in the brig and had captured the ship. Of Grace, there was no sign.

"What kind of a captain deserts her crew?" Miya stomped around on the deck, sword in hand, slashing at the rain in frustration. "I come all the way out to this stupid ship and she doesn't have the common decency to even be here. Unbelievable."

She was interrupted by a loud, piercing sound from somewhere not too far away, one short blast followed by two long.

"That's Pearl's signal, she's taken her frigate," said Tomas, grinning. "Miya, you should sound yours, too."

"Well, I guess that'll be pretty fun, anyway."

As Miya stood in the middle of the deck, raising the shell to her mouth, her grandfather suddenly shouted out to her:

"Miya, ABOVE!"

Even with the warning, it was only Miya's reflexes that saved her from taking a cutlass full in the face—she just managed to pull her head back as Grace leapt down at her, the tip of the cutlass slicing through the left side of her mouth. Miya cried out as the pain hit her, blood already flowing from her wound.

"MIYA!" Tomas ran towards his daughter and her attacker, but Miya's outstretched hand stopped him.

"
Mine
," she growled, fury and pain in her eyes, blood dripping down from her mouth onto the deck, the scarlet drops quickly washed away by the pouring rain.

Grace stood back, smirking.

"You're ugly enough as it is," she said. "I'm almost sorry to mess you up further. Almost."

"There's nothing I could do to make
you
uglier," hissed Miya, and she attacked, running forward and slashing upwards at Grace's face. To Miya's great annoyance Grace was quick, dodging and spinning away, sending a spray of water up with her footwork.

"I see you've brought daddy along to make sure nothing happens to you," said Grace, as she and Miya circled each other, rain pelting down on both of them.

"I call him 'Dad', actually," said Miya. She spat blood onto the deck. "Because I'm not three years old."

It was Grace who attacked this time, Miya easily parrying and, seeing an opening, driving her fist into Grace's side. She followed this with a kick which Grace half-dodged, Miya's boot impacting against Grace's shoulder instead of her chest. As Grace staggered back, Miya refocused and resumed her stance, watching her rival carefully.

"You fight like a pig that's been taught to use a sword," said Miya, as Grace scowled at her and raised her cutlass once more. "That was
very
sloppy."

"Not as sloppy as your face."

Miya went to spit again, but Grace was suddenly charging, her cutlass ringing against Miya's sword, once, twice, three times and there was an opening, Miya slashing out and catching Grace in the ribs as she twisted aside, just a nick but enough to make her yelp in pain.

"You cry out over trifles," said Miya, a grim, bloody smile on her face.

"What you'll cry out over will be more than a trifle," Grace spat.

The speed and ferocity of Grace's next attack caught Miya off-guard, almost hit her in the side of her neck, would have were it not for instincts gained through hours of drills with her father, instincts that brought her sword up to block the strike, locking their swords together. Miya grunted as the taller Grace pushed down on her, knowing that in this compromised position she was going to slip any second. With a growl that quickly built to a roar, Miya clenched her hand into a fist and slammed it into the side of Grace's face, then again, making Grace cry out in pain, the lock broken as Grace staggered back spitting blood. Miya followed suit, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the deck—the bleeding from the cut on her mouth was weak but constant.

"You little wench," Grace hissed, raising her cutlass as she recovered, fat drops of rain splashing against the bright steel. "If you just blacked my eye—"

"You'll be lucky if that's the worst you have to suffer through today," Miya growled, lunging forward to slash at Grace's legs, jumping back again as Grace avoided the attack and responded with a series of short, hard, angry slashes, none of which came anywhere near hitting Miya.

"Getting a little tired?" Miya asked, before spitting another mouthful of blood onto the deck. "Need a break?"

"The only break I need is that of your neck," hissed Grace, though her breathing was heavy. She took a good breath as she ran towards Miya, who jumped back then immediately charged forward, inside Grace's guard, surprising her, driving the hilt of her sword up into her rival's jaw. Miya was rewarded with the sharp 'click' of Grace's teeth coming together and a thrilling impact that went right through her arm to her shoulder. Pressing the advantage, Miya drove her knee up into Grace's stomach then slashed down hard, was surprised when her sword met with hard resistance—somehow Grace had managed to bring her cutlass up in a block.

"Up close you're even uglier," hissed Grace, the two combatants face-to-face as each pushed at the lock, Miya's sword slowly being forced back, her boots close to slipping on the wet deck beneath.

"Face it, you're not on my level," Grace growled through gritted teeth as inch by inch she drove her cutlass forward, pushing Miya's sword back.

"You've ... lost!" Grace yelled, giving one final push, forcing Miya to choose between falling back or being cut by her own blade. Just as she felt her sword begin to slide, Miya grinned a bloody grin and spat full in Grace's face, blood splattering her rival, making her recoil in surprise and disgust. Suddenly Miya was pushing back against Grace with all her strength, both hands around the hilt of her sword, breaking the lock, forcing Grace's sword down and slashing at her face.