Where Loyalties Lie

Epilogue

The crew weren’t happy, but then they didn’t need to be. On board Starry Dawn Elaina’s orders were law, and she’d ordered them here and she’d ordered them to leave every prize they spotted. The crew didn’t need to know they were actually her father’s orders. She still seethed at being sent away.

Elaina knew she should hate her father, that she had every reason to, but she didn’t. Couldn’t. He was her father, and she loved him fiercely no matter what atrocities he committed. Blu she could hate, and did so without remorse. Her brother was a devious, boot-licking coward of a bully, and it only made her hate him more that their father had chosen to take him along to Ash and leave Elaina behind. Not just leave her behind, but send her away.

A hundred other ships floated in the crystal blue waters of Rainbow Bay, their masts making the place look cluttered, like a watery pit full of wooden spikes. Elaina spotted merchant ships, fishing vessels, navy boats, and even the odd pirate ship, but there were more slavers than any of those.

Slavers were filthy vessels, with crews as filthy as the cargo and the conditions aboard. They were slow, ugly, disease-ridden, and completely unprofitable for piracy. Elaina hated them.

The city might boast a thousand different pleasures, and at least twice that many distractions, but Elaina wanted none of them. Chade was too clean these days. It had been more enticing back when it was a mess governed by criminals.

Today she was entertaining herself by running along the railings of the ship, keeping balance with feline grace and agility. Occasionally she would stop, leap up into the rigging, and scramble to the top before descending with reckless speed. She longed to go for a swim, but Rainbow Bay was renowned for its shark population, and though it wouldn’t be the first time Elaina had battled a shark, it was not an experience worth reliving.

A vessel was approaching, a small rowboat moving lethargically through the water with the laboured actions of its two rowers, neither of whom looked happy about being out in the midday sun. Sitting in the front of the little boat was a single figure, a woman with shoulder-length, shit-coloured hair underneath a large blue cavalier hat.

Elaina watched the boat approach from her position in the rigging, hanging upside down by her legs. When it bumped against Starry Dawn’s hull, Elaina released her hold on the ropes, somersaulting in mid-air and landing easily on her feet. She strode over to the railing and stared down upon her visitors.

The woman was standing up in the boat and looking none too stable; it was obvious she didn’t have any sort of sea legs. Elaina pitied those cursed to remain on the land. As the woman looked up, Elaina could see a criss-cross of scars on her face, and she was missing an ear. She sneered up at Elaina, who instinctively took a liking to her.

“Hello there, and welcome to my little kingdom,” Elaina said with a grin, patting the railing of her ship.

“You Captain Black?” the woman shouted.

“Aye. How can I help you?”

The stranger sniffed loudly and spat into the water, an act which unbalanced her and almost sent her careening into the bay. Elaina struggled not to laugh.

“You can get down off that fuckin’ boat an’ come ashore,” the woman said after righting herself. “Ya wanted an audience. Well, the Lord and Lady of Chade are jus’ about ready ta grant one.”