For all those who never judge a book by its cover, I give you the first chapter of my new book. It is now August 11, 1651. Enjoy.
Fire.
Raging, whirling, blinding flames, eating the hull of the ship with a ravenous hunger. The star-speckled sky shrouded in thick, strangling smoke. The ocean below slamming against the sides of the burning frigate, threatening to break the ship apart and drag it down to the depths. Corpses strewn across the deck, some more complete than others.
It had been nearly ten years since that night, Robert realized as he watched the candle flicker and wriggle around the wick. It was one of the few lights that illuminated the quiet tavern that evening. It only had moments to live before it would go out entirely and the tavern keeper would have it replaced with a fresh candle. Robert watched as it squirmed those last seconds out, and then tapped the bar with his empty bottle.
“One moment!” a voice called as the keeper rushed out. “Oh, the candle,” he said, and removed the exhausted light. A new one was alight in seconds. “Can’t imagine you’ll be wanting another one,” the keeper added as he took Robert’s bottle.
“I’m done,” Robert said without raising his head.
“Sure thing, Cap,” replied the keeper. “Heading back to your ship for the night? There’s a room with a bed upstairs that don't rock with the tide, if you're staying in town.”
“No, I’ll head back,” answered Robert. “Thanks, Troadie.”
“Anything for Captain Torpuly,” Troadie replied.
"Anything?"
"Course not," Troadie smiled. “See you again soon, I hope.”
Robert got out of his seat and placed his hat on his head just before there were three sharp knocks at the tavern’s door. He found his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his blade by the time the knocking had ceased.
“Now who in blazes,” Troadie began, his voice trailing off. He walked to the front door, concern in his eyes. “We’re bloody closed!” he yelled.
“I’m here for a man named Robert Torpuly,” a woman's voice replied from the other side of the door. Troadie turned to look at Robert. Robert nodded, mouthing ‘it’s okay’.
“Are you gonna smash up my tavern again?” Troadie whispered. Torpuly shrugged. Troadie groaned, and then opened the door.
“If you’ve got a fight on your mind, you’ll be staying on this side of the door,” Troadie said to the person standing there.
She shook her head in reply. “I just want a word with him.”
Robert looked past Troadie’s shoulder to get a glimpse of his visitor. She was close to his height, with long, straight golden-brown hair. Her race was instantly recognizable.
“Don’t usually let Aerbreds in here,” Troadie warned, turning to face Robert as he let the woman in. The tips of her ears were slightly pointed, the dead giveaway that she was a descendant of both men and the now-extinct Aernans. “This had better be quick.”
“Something to drink?” the woman asked Troadie as she walked past him towards Robert.
“We’re bloody closed,” he repeated, shutting and locking the door before walking to the bar to continue cleaning.
“I'm Captain Robert,” Robert said to the woman as she took a seat opposite him. “And what name have you come up with for me to call you?”
“My name is Anne Tene,” she replied, leaning back in her chair.
“And you honestly have no intention of running me through in an empty tavern in the dead of night?”
“The setting was your choice, Captain. From what I hear you’re not exactly keen on making appointments.”
“Ah.” Robert said with a slight raise of his eyebrows.
“And no, I’ve no intentions of harming you this evening,” she added. Robert nodded, deep in thought.
“And your sword,” he said, gesturing to the weapon attached to her belt. “Decoration, then?”
“Protection,” she answered simply. “It’s not safe for Aerbreds to be out at night.”
“Any good with it?” Robert asked.
“Good enough,” she responded, looking him in the eye. He met her glance for a moment, searching her deep brown eyes for anything that would tell him something. After being unsuccessful, he decided to resume the conversation.
“Most Aerbreds cover their ears,” he said. “Makes them harder to point out. I take it you must like all the attention.”
“I’m proud of where I come from,” she replied. “It makes me what I am. You would understand that.”
“Not sure why you'd think so,” said the Captain. “But I'm more interested in what you want from me.”
"What do you know about Captain William Arrow?” Anne asked. Robert leaned back in his chair and took off his hat to scratch his head.
“Oooh,” he said. “That’s a tough one. You’re talking about the Captain of the Incendia?”
“That’s right.”
"The most notorious pirate this side of Mattandia, if I’m not mistaken.”
“A widely accepted view,” she replied.
“Afraid I can’t help you,” Robert said, raising his hands in the air. “I know no more about him than the next man.”
"Is that so?”
“What do you do for a living, Miss Tene?” Torpuly returned, dodging the question.
“I work with my father. He’s a fisherman,” she answered.
“You work off the southern docks, then?”
“The northwest, Captain,” Anne answered coolly. Robert was impressed. If she was lying, she was good at it. “You’re in a very similar line of work, or so I’m told.”
“How so?” Robert asked, folding his arms.
“My father and I catch fish. You catch pirates,” Anne answered. The Captain smiled.
“Yes, but I don’t eat what I catch,” he said. “Who told you I was a pirate hunter?”
“Word gets around, Captain,” she replied. “That said, you don’t seem like much of a pirate hunter to me.”
“How’s that?”
“Anyone looking for profit in turning in pirates would know a bit more about Captain Arrow than ‘the next man’, if you ask me,” Anne said.
“Unfortunately, most of them opt out of being turned in, Miss Tene,” Robert said. “But the reward isn’t always for catching them, if you catch my meaning.”
“I get the feeling that you’re being dishonest with me, Captain Torpuly,” Anne said.
“I’ve got no reason to be otherwise,” Robert replied.
“Why not?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you,” said Robert. “That sword you’ve got there is as clean as the deck of a new ship. And it’s a thing of beauty. Putting the blade in an old sheath don’t change that. Not the kind of sword you’d be able to afford on a fisherman’s budget, especially not in a town like Chandisle. It could be a gift, but no one’s stupid enough to carry a gift that expensive around at night. More so since you’re an Aerbred. You’d be begging to be attacked. So either it’s not a gift, or you’re not a fisherman’s daughter. Can’t see why or where a fisherman’s daughter would steal a sword, so I’ll guess that you’re part of His Majesty’s Navy, and that there are a good handful of your friends outside the door should anything go wrong. Then again, you could just be an idiot, but then you wouldn’t have found me here.”
Anne sat still for a moment, watching a smug grin creep across Robert's face as he leaned back in his chair.
“Decent enough guesswork, I suppose,” she said finally. “But my compliment ends there. For all your astute observations, you’ve haven’t done a thing about it. You’ve got no escape route, and you’ve made no attempt to hold me hostage. Luckily for me, I don’t have to guess why. I know that for the past four years you’ve been hunting pirates with an efficiency that makes the Navy’s look like fresh dung, not that that’s an impossible task lately. I know that you take great pride in your work despite the vigilante nature of your actions that forces people like me to keep close watch over you. And I know that whenever the Incendia makes port or sinks a ship, your ship is never far behind. So the reason you’re still here, Captain, is because you’re reckless, and because you want to know why I’m so interested in Captain Arrow.”
Robert smiled. “Finally,” he said. “Someone to talk to.”
“So are you going to help me or not?” Anne asked.
“Depends on what you need help for,” Robert replied. “Navy or not, my secrets remain my own until I know why you want to know about Arrow.”
“He’s a notorious pirate and he needs to be stopped,” she answered.
“Don’t be proper with me like that,” The Captain said, wagging a finger. “You know how things work around here. His Majesty’s government has been shaky ever since they pulled out of the New Continent. To start hunting pirates now would be to admit the existence of a ‘pirate problem’, and that’s the kind of thing that could topple their efforts straight to Vharr’s Pit.”
Anne sighed. “It has come to His Majesty’s attention that Mr. Arrow is in possession of an item incredibly valuable to him.”
“An item?” asked Robert. “Did he lose another solid gold chair?"
“I don’t know, Captain Torpuly,” Anne said. “But we need to get it back, and it would seem you know Mr. Arrow better than anyone else.”
“So Miss Tene, let me see if I have this right,” Torpuly said. “You’ve been sent by the Navy to retrieve an object of significant value to the King. Whether this value is physical or sentimental you don’t know, but you need this object so badly you came in the middle of the night to find the only decent pirate hunter still afloat.”
“More or less, Captain.”
“Well, you’ve made two mistakes,” continued Robert. “One, you ought to have told me by now what you were willing to offer for my services. If you were going to offer something decent, I suspect you might have opened with that. Two, the reason I’m still here, as fascinating as this conversation is, is not because of you. Believe it or not, I have an appointment.”
Anne heard a shout from outside, followed by sounds of a struggle. She was on her feet in an instant, weapon in hand.
“Don’t trouble yourself,” Robert remarked, leaning back in his seat. “Whatever it is, I’m sure the hardened sailors of the King’s Navy can handle it.”
“Oh, blow me down,” Troadie said, hearing the muffled noises outside. “Torpuly!”
“Sorry, Troadie,” Robert replied. “Best head upstairs. I’ll pay for the damages.”
“To blazes with the damages!” Troadie yelled, throwing his hands in the air. “You can’t keep waltzing into my tavern and tearing it apart and building it again! My heart can’t take it, Cap!”
“We’ll settle this over a drink sometime, Troadie,” Robert said reassuringly. “Go on upstairs.”
The front door burst open and five men spilled in. All were armed with cutlasses, some that had clearly just been used.
"We're closed!” Troadie yelled, waving a rum bottle in the air menacingly. “Take your pirate nonsense elsewhere!”
“You boys still have a chance to run, in which case I might not catch you,” Anne warned as she rose to her feet. She stood directly between the pirates and Robert.
“Out of the way, Aerbred,” one of the men replied with a sneer. “This mutineer you’re defending ain’t worth your spit.”
“Ain’t worth her spit?” Robert exclaimed, bolting to his feet and drawing a rapier from his belt. “You’re late! I nearly walked out not five minutes ago!”
"Are you going to come willingly or dead?” the man asked.
“It's been too long, Edam," Robert answered. "But I’ll decide that after I cut some of you down." With that, he grabbed a candle off his table and hurled it at the group of men. Anne seized the opportunity and lashed out at the closest pirate with her blade.
"No, no, no!” Troadie yelled as Anne and the Captain began taking on the visitors. Enraged, he began throwing rum bottles into the fray. “Out, you filth! Out!”
Robert narrowly dodged one of the flying bottles while deflecting the oncoming blade meant to cut him nearly in two. “Troadie!” he yelled, unleashing a rapid offensive of swings at his opponent. “Not now!” He did not hear a reply, but instead watched as a bottle collided with his opponent’s forehead and shattered instantly. The pirate crumpled to the floor without a sound. Unable to suppress a smirk, Robert turned to thank Troadie but was met by another bottle hurtling straight towards him. Ducking to avoid the projectile threw him off balance, and his gratitude quickly shriveled away as he realized that this time, Troadie was seriously put off.
“Get out of my tavern!” Troadie roared, throwing bottles with surprising accuracy. “Bloodthirsty hornswagglers! Blundering bilge-suckers! Out!”
Anne had just finished dispatching one of the two pirates attacking her, and swung her sword effortlessly to parry the second man’s blade. These men looked and dressed like simple pirates, but they fought with exemplary skill. She understood why her guards outside had fallen so quickly. Stepping behind a table to put some distance between her and her opponent, Anne grabbed a pot of flowers and chucked it quickly. The man sidestepped to avoid it, giving Anne the split second she needed to push the table over and onto the pirate’s foot. Shouting in pain, the pirate looked down at his injured appendage. This was the moment Anne had hoped for, and she did not waste it.
Torpuly was completely focused on defending himself against Edam and the other pirate he didn't recognize, but spotted Anne run her opponent through after dropping a table on his foot.
“Nice one!” he yelled to her, swatting a blade away from his stomach with a flick of his rapier. “Now if you’re not otherwise preoccupied,” he added. Another rum bottle whizzed past Robert’s nose and nearly hit one of the pirates in the head, but both were able to recover and continue fighting. Anne bolted over to assist Robert, the pirates forced to divert their attention from him.
“Rum guzzling sea dogs!” Troadie continued, running out of bottles to throw. “Sunburned boat maggots! The lot of you!”
“Shut it, Troadie!” Robert yelled. Spotting an opening, he bounced Edam's sword upward and then finished him off. Moments later Anne dispatched her attacker as well. The two stood in silence for a moment, observing the mess of bodies, glass, and rum on the floor.
“A mop and a shovel,” Robert stated with a nod of his head. “Easy fix. What did I tell you, Troadie?”
Robert had to leap out of the way to dodge another bottle aimed at his head.
“Out!” exclaimed Troadie. “We’re closed! Get out of my tavern! I mean it, Torpuly!”
“You’re the one who made most of the mess this time,” Robert pointed out. “Tonight, my hands are clean.”
"Who were these men?” Anne asked Robert, weapon still in hand.
“A handful of-“ Robert began, and then stopped as his eyes went wide. “Blazes!” he cursed, and frantically began checking the corpses for a pulse.
"What are you doing?” demanded Anne.
“I bloody forgot that I needed one alive,” mumbled the Captain. He had checked three of the bodies already. “Wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t shown up this evening.”
“If I hadn’t?” Anne asked incredulously. “I just saved your life!”
“That’s a debate for another day,” Robert said. He finally came upon the body of the pirate Troadie had hit with a bottle. A smile crept across Torpuly’s face. “Oh, thank Loa,” he sighed. “He’s only unconscious.” He then picked the pirate up and slung him across his back. Robert was heading out the door when Anne blocked his path.
“Oh, forgive me, where are my manners,” Robert said hastily. “It has been an esteemed pleasure, but if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
“We weren’t finished,” Anne said.
“Oh, but we were,” Robert said in return, and stepped forward. Anne raised her weapon, refusing to budge.
“You can’t kill me, Miss Tene,” Robert sighed. “Aside from the paperwork you people have to fill out, I’d stop being whatever I am to you at the moment, which I presume is something important.” He then attempted to take another step forward, but Anne thrust the handle of her blade into his knee. Taken off-guard, Robert yelped in pain and dropped the pirate to the ground.
“I am more than capable of being reasonable, Captain Torpuly,” Anne said. “We’ll have plenty of time to do so once we’re on board your ship, but even so I’d like to maintain a certain amount of civility on the way there.”
“My ship?” exclaimed Robert, now the incredulous one. “You won’t set one foot on her deck if I have anything to say.”
“Captain Torpuly,” Anne said with a smile. “How many times will I have to hit you before we come to terms?”
“I’ll hit you back, madam,” Robert replied, struggling to pick the man up again. “Won’t hurt my conscience to defend myself against an armed Aerbred woman.”
Anne pulled a pistol from behind her and pointed it at the unconscious body on Robert’s back. “I haven’t got all night to debate this with you,” Anne said plainly. “Either I come on your ship and we share what we know about Captain Arrow, or I shoot and you suddenly have no reason for staying out this late.”
The pirate on Robert’s back moaned.
“Wha-who…what happened?” he said, beginning to move. Reacting quickly, Anne hit him with the butt of her pistol, and he fell limp again. The Captain paused for a moment, and then forced a cordial smile.
“Right this way, Miss Tene,” he said. He was well aware that he had done a terrible job of masking his frustration, but at the moment couldn't care in the slightest. With Anne following close behind, he began walking into the night with the unconscious pirate on his back.
Click here to continue the story.