The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (17 page)

Jenur took one step forward, but Garnal tightened
her claw around Malock's neck, making her stop. Malock felt the
nails of her claw pierce his neck slightly, enough to make it bleed
but not enough to cause any serious damage.

“Take just one more step forward, girl, one more
step, I dare you, and your Captain will lose his head,” said
Garnal. “Quite literally, in this case.”

Jenur gave her a hard look. “You wouldn't dare.”

“Many people have said similar things to me in the
past, girl, but every one of them has been wrong,” said Garnal. “I
wouldn't be the most wanted pirate in the Northern Isles if I
didn't dare to do things that lesser pirates would never even dream
of. And let me tell you that I have dreamed of killing royalty
before.”

Malock met Jenur's eyes. He tried to look as in
command and confident as he could. But frankly, in this situation,
he didn't feel confident that he or Jenur could get out of this
with his head still attached to his shoulders.

“Drop your knife, and I'll spare your precious
prince's pampered life,” said Garnal. “If you don't, then we'll see
if the color of the blood of princes really is gold, as the old
song says.”

Jenur looked torn. For a long moment, Malock thought
Jenur would attack anyway.

Then Jenur tossed her knife to the floor. “Fine. I'm
unarmed.”

Garnal chuckled. “Now tell your fellow mates to stop
slaughtering my men. I can still hear them fighting outside. And if
I don't hear them stop in five minutes ...”

Her claw tightened around his neck again. It was
getting harder and harder for Malock to breathe, not in the least
because Garnal smelled exactly like a crab that had spent too much
time lying under a rock.

“What?” said Jenur. “That wasn't the deal, Garnal.
You said—”

“So long as I hold Malock's life in my claws,
I
decide what the 'deal' is, girl,” said Garnal. “Now call
off your mates. Tell 'em this little mutiny of yours is over. For
good.”

“Don't,” said Malock to Jenur, daring to speak for
the first time. “Don't let this lowlife pirate—”

“Shut your trap,” Garnal said, tightening her grip
once more and forcing him to stop speaking. “Stop trying to play
the hero. We know what you royals are really like. You care only
about saving your own skin. You'd step over this naïve girl's
corpse if you thought it would save your own life.”

Malock didn't dare speak. He had a feeling that if
he spoke even one more word, Garnal would drop any pretense of
making a fair deal and behead him in one swift stroke.

“All right, then,” said Garnal. “Now, girl, remember
the deal. You step outside, call off the mutiny, and I won't kill
this spoiled brat. Deal?”

Jenur looked defeated. Her shoulders slumped and she
turned to leave when Malock remembered something very important.
Saying it might get him killed, but it was the only opportunity he
had.

So Malock said, in a strained voice, “Jenur, stay
where you are. You don't need to deal with lowlife scum like this
Pirate.”

Jenur stopped and looked over her shoulder. “What?
But if I don't, she'll—”

“She wouldn't dare touch a hair on my head,” said
Malock. “Right, Garnal?”

“What are you babbling about?” said Garnal. “This
isn't Poetry Day, gold blood. You don't win prizes for spouting
nonsensical gibberish.”

“I know that,” said Malock. “I also know that you
need me alive so you can ransom me off to my parents back on
Carnag. If you kill me, then you won't get the million coins you
want so badly.”

“Don't tempt me, gold blood,” said Garnal, though
there was a hint of doubt in her voice. “I've killed people more
important than you for much less.”

“But you wouldn't kill me now,” said Malock.
“Consider your situation, Pirate. By now, my men have probably made
short work of what little of your crew remains. You don't have a
ship, not even a small rowboat to call your own. Your own funds are
obviously depleted. And even if you kill me, my men will slaughter
you and bury your corpse with the rest of your sorry crew. I'm the
only bargaining chip you have left and I know you're too smart to
kill me that easily.”

Malock didn't know if talking her down would work.
Garnal was a bloodthirsty pirate and bloodthirsty pirates rarely
listened to reason. Still, he also knew that she was a coward who
would do whatever she needed to preserve her own life, even if it
meant losing. It was the only chance of survival that he had.

The seconds ticked by slowly. Malock didn't know
what to expect and based on Jenur's expression, she didn't, either.
What either of them did next relied entirely upon what Garnal did
next.

Then, without warning, Garnal's claw let go of his
neck entirely. Her other claw let go of his right arm and he
staggered forward against the desk. He turned around to see Garnal
still standing there, her arms at her sides, looking far more
defeated than Jenur had.

“I'll give you this, gold blood,” said Garnal. “If
you were a pirate, I'd fear for my very life on these sorry
seas.”

At that moment, the sounds of feet beating against
the wood floor reached Malock's ears and then a dozen or so sailors
spilled into the stateroom. They all looked like they had been
through a war, with torn clothing, bleeding wounds, broken noses,
and their weapons at the ready. Those who had guns, about half,
aimed them directly at Garnal, while those with swords moved to
apprehend her.

“Don't kill her,” Malock told the sailors who were
approaching the desk. “Tie her up and lock her up in the hold. I
want to talk to her.”

To Garnal's credit, she didn't fight back. She
allowed the six sailors to bind her with some of the rope that had
bound Malock and allowed them to lead her out of the stateroom. She
held her head high the entire time, however, much like Malock's
mother did whenever she was walking about the capital. The other
sailors, the ones with the guns, moved Daryh's corpse out of the
doorway to let the others through easier.

Jenur had stepped aside to allow the other sailors
to enter, but when they took Garnal out of the room, she went over
to Malock and sliced the few ropes still binding his hands
together. The ropes left marks around his wrists, but other than
that they were fine.

“Thank you, Jenur,” said Malock, looking at her with
appreciation as he rubbed his wrists. “There are not enough words
in the language of the gods to describe my thankfulness to
you.”

“It's nothing,” said Jenur, sheathing her knife. “I
have a special hatred for pirates, so the pleasure of killing so
many is all the reward I need.”

“But you deserve far more,” Malock said. “When we
return to Carnag, I'll ask my parents to make you royalty. How does
Duchess Jenur sound?”

“Seriously, you don't need to do anything,” said
Jenur, shaking her head. “Like I said, killing pirates is reward
enough.”

“But I insist,” said Malock. “At the very least,
please let me praise you in front of the entire crew. You are an
example to them all, a true sailor to your Captain.”

Jenur shrugged. “Whatever. I'm going to go find
Kinker. He was supposed to free the prisoners from the hold. Should
be done by now.”

“I will go with you,” said Malock. “I want to make
sure Vashnas is okay. I also need to see Banika and get her back to
work overseeing the clean up and disposal of the pirates'
corpses.”

“Okay,” said Jenur, already making her way to the
door. “Try to keep up.”

***

K
inker awoke a few hours later, his head
still pounding, to discover that Banika had stayed behind to take
care of him while Bifor and Vashnas went to join the rest of the
crew in mutiny. Banika apologized to Kinker when she saw he was
awake, explaining that she, Bifor, and Vashnas had been planning to
jump any Pirates that came to check on them. She had mistaken
Kinker for one of them and had only realized her mistake a moment
too late.

Kinker forgave her for that, even though he had a
feeling that, between being beaten by Jenur and getting thwacked on
the head by Banika, his head was going to be pounding for the rest
of the voyage. So he and Banika made their way to the top deck,
where they discovered that the mutiny had been successful and that
all of the pirates were now dead, except for Garnal, who was taken
to the hold for further questioning.

It wasn't without some losses, however. During the
mutiny, a few sailors had been lost, among them Daro Loman and
Magnisa. These losses hit Kinker and the surviving members of the
fishing crew hard, but Gino seemed to be hit the hardest of them
all. He and Magnisa had been married for fifty years, which
surprised Kinker until he remembered that aquarians had a longer
lifespan than the average human.

As with the sailors they lost on Ikadori Island, a
mass funeral was held for those who lives were lost. They lost
about five sailors overall, so on that day, five bodies, wrapped in
some extra sail cloth that Vashnas had found in the hold while
being held prisoner down there, were dropped into the sea. Gino
gave the eulogy for them. He was fine for the first three sailors,
got emotional when talking about Daro, and broke down so completely
when he got to Magnisa that Malock himself had to finish the eulogy
for the widower.

No one broke down for the Pirates. Their bodies were
looted for clothes, weapons, and anything else useful they might
have on them, and then frozen together by Bifor's pagomancy. The
block of ice was dumped into the sea without much fanfare or ritual
and was lost from view as the
Iron Wind
continued its
voyage.

Regarding the injured, most of the crew suffered
minor injuries during the mutiny, though nothing worse than a cut
or some bruises, surprisingly enough. Those few who had suffered
broken limbs were healed by Telka and Bifor with little
trouble.

The ship itself had suffered some damage. Bullet
holes riddled the deck and the middle sail, which they had to take
down for a few hours to patch. The top deck reeked of blood and
death, even with the wind blowing in the cool sea air. The
Iron
Wind
already smelled awful, but it was even worse now.

All things considered, however, Kinker was surprised
at how smoothly the mutiny went. His heart ached every time he
thought about Daro and Magnisa, of course, and their food supply
was even lower than before, but it seemed like the Gray Pirates had
done little lasting damage to the ship itself. They had lost a few
days, true, but the wind was blowing unusually hard recently and
the ship had been turned around back south, so Kinker figured they
would make up that pretty quickly.

When he mentioned that to Jenur, as they sat
together at the stern during breakfast two days after the mutiny,
Jenur nodded.

“Yeah,” she said. “Though really, it's not that
surprising. There were only a dozen of them and half of them were
mostly drunk most of the time and the other half were completely
drunk all the time. I'm surprised they had control over the ship as
long as they did, to be honest.”

Kinker took a bite from his fish, grateful to be to
eating even this much, and said, “Makes me wonder what happened to
their ship. The Gray Pirates are supposed to have had over a
hundred members, right?”

“Right,” said Jenur. “And did you see how hungry
they were? They looked even worse than us. Something on these seas
must have got 'em good. Don't you agree, Gino?”

Gino was sitting near them, quietly eating his fish.
He had been quieter since Magnisa's death, at least during the day.
At night, Kinker heard the aquarian fisherman singing a song in the
aquarian language. Kinker didn't understand the words, but the tone
was always sad, so sad in fact that Kinker himself had a hard time
not shedding a few tears as he slept.

When Jenur spoke to him, Gino looked at her and
said, “I wish that whatever had gotten them had gotten all of those
bastards. And I wish Malock would let me have a go at Garnal. I
just want to beat that scum to a pulp. Is that such an unreasonable
thing to ask for?”

“You know Malock,” said Jenur. “Seems to think
Garnal might know something about the seas that could help us.”

Gino looked at her with flagrantly unsympathetic
eyes. “You're just defending him because he praised you for
rescuing him.”

Jenur blushed. “I already said, I don't care. I
don't care if Malock thinks I'm the best sailor ever or if he hates
my guts. I'm just saying that I agree with Malock that beating
Garnal to a pulp isn't going to help us avoid whatever decimated
the Gray Pirates.”

Kinker smiled. After the collective funeral for the
fallen pirates, Malock had praised Jenur in front of the entire
crew for her bravery and courage in the face of the Gray Pirates.
He had even offered her a promotion to third mate (Banika was first
and Vashnas was second), but Jenur had declined because, in her own
words, she “would rather play with fish guts than boss around a
bunch of surly sailors.” Despite that, Kinker noticed that her
opinion of Malock had improved dramatically since that day.

“If it's any consolation, Gino, Malock might let you
beat up Garnal when she tells him what he wants,” said Kinker.
“I've heard Malock is starting to lose his temper. Been
interrogating her for two days now and she still hasn't told him
anything.”

“I doubt she ever will,” Gino said, looking
disgusted. “I know her kind. Their mouths can close even tighter
than their claws. Malock could shove a burning iron rod up her ass
and she still wouldn't tell him anything if she doesn't want
to.”

“She'll have to talk eventually,” said Deddio,
sitting down next to them, his meager breakfast of one fish in his
hands. “I heard that Malock is starting to starve her. Even a tough
pirate like her needs to eat occasionally, right?”