Chapter 1 Some Vacation

Kana had never seen the sea shine as brilliantly as it did that morning. All of her favorite sights and sounds surrounded her, and she felt quite at home, but that glittering sea kept her gaze more than anything. Yesterday, after her arrival, she had barely noticed the clear blue waters as she walked tiredly to her cottage through crowds of cheering pedestrians. Her weak waves and half-hearted smiles had brought more bursts of cheers and applause, but Kana was used to it and had longed only for the comforts of a hot meal and a soft bed.

Now, gazing far out at the gently rolling hills that rose and fell in perfect rhythm, Kana wished she could remain forever. She wished these few days would never end, that she never had to return to her home, to that cold dark castle she lived in. She would be glad to never again feel the weight of responsibility crushing her mind or the stiffness of a scratchy but beautiful dress against her skin. To stay here forever would make her very happy, but it could not be.

There was much to do back home, especially now. Now she had more of that crushing weight and the fabric grew more intolerable by the day. Her brothers’ taunting felt worse than it was, the food was greasier on her taste buds than it was before, and her limbs were wearier with less exertion. She was giving up. Everyone was noticing, and eventually her father did too. He had sent her on a much needed holiday, and she had not objected. It was after all her favorite place to be. No one asked for much from her here. She did as she pleased.

Kana’s eyes drifted the men working on the docks. They carried boxes on their strong shoulders and pulled at ropes to secure large vessels in their places. Children scurried about at their feet, playing and prancing around, not a care in the world. Kana rose to leave the window, and as she did, a particular boat caught her eye. It had only four occupants, two male and two female. The men were rowing the tiny vessel up to the dock and the ladies looked very impatient for its arrival at the stable ground. One of the men hopped out and helped each of the ladies out in turn while the other assisted from the boat. Both men wore brown cloaks and pants down to the mid calf and the ladies wore short dresses reaching only their knees. Their clothing fit in with the villagers, but their mannerisms did not. The ladies did not go to the men’s sides, but instead walked on ahead, talking between themselves and pointing at things all around them. The second man jumped up from the boat and stood next to the other. He was not a man at all in fact. He was rather young, and as he brushed away the hood that had shielded his neck and face from the sun, he revealed black hair and piercing blue eyes.

Kana gasped at the sight of him. He was not only exceedingly handsome, but she could see the intelligence in his eyes. He stood up tall, almost gallantly, and when he walked he did so with a confident swagger. It was not his walk or his body that intrigued her however, it was his eyes. Those eyes were strong and daring, and they knew what they wanted. They searched the crowd carefully, decisively before he started off, leaving the other man behind. Kana watched as strode up to one of the men at the dock and paid him to dock the boat. At that moment, Kana could have sworn those blues eyes turned to her, but only for an instant. She swore that they beheld her in the window, and had stayed there, but there was much to see up her way, so she doubted their focus. The boy turned back to the man and talked for another moment before swaggered in the other direction. Kana was still staring with an enchanted heart out the window when a woman came rushing into her room.

“Close the window dear!” she insisted as she slammed it shut and spun to face the girl, “And dress this instant! Imagine if someone down there had seen you, standing about idly in your nightclothes!”

Kana moved to the trunk on the other side of the room and pulled out a simple but elegant green dress. It reached to her ankles, which she regretted because no one else in the village wore such long dresses. It had a simple cut that emphasized her delicate frame and the waist was embellished with embroidered flowers and curving vines. She smiled at her reflection in the looking glass that hung on the wall. Her hair hung gently around her shoulders and the gold colored locks danced around neck as she swished her skirt. The dress was actually soft, made from fibers harvested across the sea and shipped back to her kingdom. She bought the fabric the last time she was here and had the dress made back home.

“You do look nice,” came a voice from the door. Kana turned to see one of the maids who worked in the house, “would you like me to put your hair up for you?”

“No thank you,” Kana replied, “I think I’ll leave it down today.”

“Yes, your heiness,” the girl answered, taking her leave. Kana watched her leave and as soon as the girl had gone, Kana threw on a full-length cloak and slippers, grabbed a bag full of coins and dropped out the window onto the soft earth below. The cottage was built upon a slightly sloping hill so Kana had to carefully climb down and across the grass to the street below. She let the hood stay down and pulled her hair out into the sunshine. The warm rays felt good against her face, and the slight chill in the air kept her cheeks glowing a rosy red. The cloak hid the emerald colored dress and if one didn’t look too closely at the color of her skin, you could mistake her for a villager, out on a morning stroll. Kana stopped at a bakery as she walked and bought a small roll, for she had not eaten breakfast yet. She nibbled at the edges but gave the roll to a very hungry looking old man by the side of the road. Kana knew she didn’t have much time before her maids came looking for her, so she turned several corners to keep off the main street. She looked lovingly up at the houses of her subjects, piled two or three high in the narrow streets. She wondered what their lives were like. Were they content? Did they love her or hate her? She guessed that they probably hated her because of her relationship to the king. Very few people liked her father, it was fairly obvious too. Most people despised him and his court and anyone associated with them. Kana pulled the cloak more closely around her. She turned to go back when she had reached the end of a side street and almost ran into a tall young man who was turning into one of the shops.

“I am very sorry sir,” she apologized, stumbling backwards. The man pulled back his hood to reveal raven black hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Oh!” she exclaimed covering her mouth with her hand. She felt foolish for her outburst and turned to leave.

“No, wait!” he grabbed her wrist and spun her around, holding her facing him by the shoulders, “could you tell me where the palace is?”

His eyes were hypnotizing. Kana couldn’t look away, so she just stared at him dumbly, without realizing her mouth was hanging open.

“Well if you do not know, just say so,” he urged her. His voice was firm but not angry, as though he was speaking to a young child. He look at her a moment longer and turned to walk away.

“Sir!” she finally uttered placing her hand on his arm to stop him. Her action surprised her and she withdrew her hand.

“Sir, there is no palace here, I am afraid you have come to the wrong place. This port belongs to King Erich, but his palace is in Dellam,” she explained. The boy looked at her for a moment.

“Then may I ask who is in charge here?” he asked.

“Well, there is a royal governor in town, he lives a ways down the main road,” she said, “but there is a princess in town and I suppose she would have the main authority for the moment.” She did not reveal her identity. Even later Kana could not decide why she did not explain who she was to the mysterious stranger.

“And where might this princess be staying?” he inquired, taking a step forward. Kana stiffened.

“There is a rather large cottage that overlooks the bay,” she answered, “she is staying there I am told. That is where royalty always stays. But she isn’t there right now.”

“How do you know?” the boy asked.

“Excellent question,” thought Kana to herself.

“I am a maid in her house,” Kana lied her stomach did flips as she conjured up her story, “I am out to buy the food to make her lunch, she went out for a picnic with some local businessmen, friends of her fathers.”

“Ah, thank you misses…” he began.

“Miss,” she corrected, “Anari.”

“Well, thank you Miss Anari,” he continued, “but will you answer one more question for me?”

“Sure if I can be of assistance to you in any way I would be glad to,” she agreed, “but first, where are you from? You must be royalty, I can see a dagger in your belt sir, and only royalty are allowed to carry a weapon in this kingdom.”

“Oh, I’m royalty, of sorts,” he replied, “now for my question. What is a maid doing with a ruby entangled in her golden locks?”

He reached up into her golden hair, sliding his fingers gently down a curl and pulling out a small stone. Kana watched his hand caress her hair and stood rigid until he withdrew his hand from her hair and held the sparkling gem in front of her face. Kana knew the ruby had come from her crown, she had noticed it missing several days ago when she had left for the holiday. How she had missed it in her hair she did not know. She had washed it at least twice. Her eyes left the ruby and moved to the boy’s face. He was smiling, but it was not friendly or amiable, but mischievous and in way, extraordinarily handsome.

“I..I.. must be going,” she stuttered. She ran down the alley and turned the corner, only to slam her shoulder into a young woman. She stumbled backward a few feet and apologized profusely before continuing her escape. Only later did she realize the young woman was one of the ladies from the dock.

Kana did go on a picnic with some business men from the area. Her father had asked them, and they had agreed rather reluctantly, to entertain her for the day. Kana put on her best royal brat impression for them after she realized that they thought very little of her. She insisted on being fed only the nicest food, and turned her nose up at anything that wasn’t perfect. In truth she wasn’t hungry at all, and this was all just a game to her. Her mind kept drifting back to the boy she had met in the alley, and her eyes often strayed away from the party she was supposed to be talking to and looking around in case he had followed her. She almost hoped to see him standing among the trees that circled the clearing they had come to, staring at her with those deep blue eyes.

As soon as the wind died down a bit and she felt her excuse was believable, she complained of overheating, for she was dressed (against her will) in a very thick and quite scratchy dress, and to everyone’s relief took her leave and returned to the cottage. She read for the rest of the day, sitting by her window, occasionally glancing out. The story was not particularly interesting. In fact, it was a historical account of a war her grandfather had fought. Apparently he had won; the book was in print after all.

She was at her evening supper when the first shouts began to be raised in the village. Kana made nothing of them at first, but when they didn’t stop she rose to investigate. Moving to a large window at the front of the dining hall, she had a fabulous view of the port. The bay looked even more spectacular this evening, because every ship in the water was on fire. The black night was eerily illuminated by the burning vessels, and the reflections on the water turned the tranquil sea into a mirror of dancing flames. Kana gaped unbelievingly at the view until she realized it was not safe where she was standing. At first she was tempted to remain, for she had trouble removing her eyes from the terrible view. Only her reasoning drew her away, for she knew she was too great a prize to fall into the hands of one of her father’s enemies. Moving swiftly to her room, she reached under her mattress to remove a tiny knife with a beautiful golden handle. She slipped it into a perfectly made leather sleeve with a strap to fit around her thigh. She was once again wearing her emerald green dress, (she had changed the second she returned from the dreadful outing) and she lifted the skirt to strap the knife to her right leg. The nights were cold here, even in the summer, so she threw her cloak on.

She quietly slipped out of the room and down the hall. She looked from room to room, trying to find her maids. Not one was in sight. She heard a soft sobbing coming from one of the rooms to her left and turned to investigate. Quickly opening the door she found a young girl crying in the corner. She recognized the girl as the one who had been admiring her dress that very morning.

“Where are the others little one?” she asked in a soothing voice, moving to comfort the terrified child.

“They left,” the girl replied between sobs, “they were scared and they ran. I tried to be brave, I really did.” The girl cried even more now. Kana whispered softly to her.

“Where did they go?”

“To get help I think,” the girl answered, “maybe to the fort.” The door closed suddenly and a woman stepped out from behind where its shadow had fallen across the wall. Kana’s eyes grew wide with fear as the moonlight from the tiny window illuminated the woman’s features. She was definitely a woman, tall in stature and shapely in build. Her face was beautiful, delicate but defined. She was dressed in pants and a fitted shirt, with a think leather belt holding several gleaming knives strapped to her waist. On her feet were a pair of black boots and in her hand was a small gun.

“It looks like your friends left some very important people behind,” the woman sneered down the barrel of her well-aimed gun, “So perhaps you should come with me instead of waiting idly for them to return.”

“We will go nowhere,” Kana replied, shaking where she knelt. The woman laughed heartily and pushed her long brown hair from her eyes. Her gun stayed aimed at Kana as the woman advanced.

“I’m afraid, my dear, that you don’t have much of a choice. Come along,” she gestured pushing the gun to Kana’s back. Kana rose slowly and helped her young maid to do the same. A second gun was drawn and the maid stood next to Kana.

“Whatever you want, I can give you,” Kana offered, “my father has nearly unlimited resources, he can pay you any amount you seek for the two of us.”

“And who exactly would your father be?” asked the woman.

“A prominent merchant here in town,” Kana explained. This time she didn’t have to wonder why she lied.

“Interesting, I won’t bother to ask his name. I’m not here for the money anyway,” she remarked, pushing the two girls into the hall. They walked quickly out of the cottage and down the street. The woman stopped along one of the docks and bound the girls’ hands.

Kana moved quickly through crowds of hysterical people, the gun was always pressed firmly to her spine, no matter how quickly she walked. Once the maid tried to run, but she didn’t get more than three steps before she was grabbed and a shot rang out.

“That was a warning shot,” the woman warned. Neither girl tried to escape after that. The people in the town were not nearly as hysterical as Kana had previously thought. They were fairly used to intruders and mostly just ran about yelling for one person or another. Kana did not see many of the people who were causing the trouble. It seemed to her as if they had lit half the village on fire and then left.

The road ended only a little ways out of town and when it did, they slowed their pace. The coast bent to a point only a few minutes after they had left the road and as they came around it, Kana saw their destination. A large ship loomed off shore about 100 meters out, and several small boats waited on shore. Two large men sat in each boat which had room for three or four more passengers. Brina led them to the closest one and the three were barely seated before the men began to row.

As Kana approached the ship she realized it was painted blue, almost the same blue as the ocean. Kana knew it would be hard to spot in the daylight up against that gorgeous sky. Kana was wondering how they would climb onto the ship when the men stopped rowing. Each grabbed one of the girls, hoisting the reluctant passengers onto their shoulders as they climbed up the ship. Kana gasped for air as the man roughly set her down on the deck. The ship rocked gently in the waves, and although Kana was used to boats, her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the wood. She was picked up, more gently this time, and moved to the mast, where she and the still conscious maid were tied to it. A very loud horn sounded, but Kana did not stir.

When Kana finally regained consciousness, the ship was moving. They were out at sea and dawn was just beginning to break. Her eyes fell on two boys conversing near her. They both had several weapons hanging from their waists. Just the sight of the gun nearly caused her to black out again, and she would have if one of them had not noticed she was awake and cried out to a group of men and women standing not very far away. Two tall men walked over and untied her, hoisting her to her feet.

“I don’t know what the captain wants with you young lady,” one of the men sneered, flicking out a knife and twirling it gracefully on his hand, “but whatever it is, it doesn’t sound good. She wanted you brought to her as soon as you awoke. So I’d suggest keeping that pretty little mouth shut.” He slit the ropes binding her hands together and shoved her roughly across the ship. She stumbled and nearly fell, but the strong hands grasped her and held her on her feet.

“This may be faster,” the man said, placing his arm around her waist and half carrying her to their destination, a raised platform above the rest of the deck. She climbed carefully up the rope ladder, struggling to pull herself up. She was standing in the center of the platform, a man on either side, when she heard footsteps behind her. The man she expected to see approach… was in fact a woman. The footsteps were heavy from her boots and she was at least six and a half feet tall. She had a beautiful face, but it was her hair that demanded the most attention. It was a magnificent shade of red and hung loosely to her slender waist. Her whole body was slender, except her wide, almost manly shoulders, and her feminine hips. Her clothes fit closely, and her arms were bare. Her eyes were a soft blue, incongruous with the rest of her features. As soft as they were, they managed to burn with hatred.

The lady was beautiful, but she had an imposing aura. Kana could see the respect the men below had for her, but she also sensed a tinge of lust in their expressions. The women below also had the look of respect, and their jealousy was barely apparent from their faces. Kana realized for the first time the size of both the ship and crew. She had never seen such a large ship in her life. Not even the one used to transport her father, and her mother when she was alive, was as large.

“Kneel,” the woman commanded, her voice low but wonderfully feminine. Kana obeyed, with the help of her two “friends”, who departed afterward.

“My name is Zela, I hope I will have the honor of learning your name,” the beautiful woman announced. The crew was perfectly silent.

“Anari,” Kana almost whispered.

“Well, Anari, welcome to my ship!” Zela exclaimed sarcastically, detecting the lie in Kana’s voice, “I assume you’ve heard about me before haven’t you?”

“I’m sorry, but I have not,” she admitted. Zela was taken aback.

“You haven’t heard of me? Surely you must have heard something about me?” she inquired, without losing her forcefulness.

“No ma’am, I have heard nothing of you, what king do you serve?” she asked honestly. Zela laughed, and laughed. The crew joined in.

“Do you really think that the ruler of thieves, goddess of the sea, and queen of pirates, Zela the Red, would serve under a king?”

“Pirates!” uttered Kana quietly; she had certainly heard of pirates, they were in the story books she loved so much.

“Lock her up!” Zela ordered turning away from her, “and when I send for you again, Anari, I hope you can remember both your name and mine.”

Kana was shoved into a small cell below deck. It was surprisingly clean, and she didn’t see any of the skeletons she expected to see hanging from the roof or slumped on the floor. It was completely empty, however, so she leaned against the wall and fell asleep.

Kana didn’t know it, but right down the hall were the captain’s quarters. Here, Zela and her first mate Brina sat together. Brina was the woman who had fetched the two girls from the cottage, and she sat on a couch now, sipping a hot beverage, her feet elevated on the arm.

“Why did you retrieve the maid as well?” asked Zela, who was sitting at a long table with a map stretched out in front of her. On the table was also a small statue of a male pirate, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“You said not to let anyone see me,” she replied, “and the girl saw me, so I brought her.”

“Good thinking,” agreed Zela, “did anyone else witness the kidnapping?”

“Only the casual passersby,” she recalled.

“Excellent,” Zela remarked, “everything is just excellent.”

“What if I got the wrong girl?” asked Brina, setting her cup down.

“You didn’t,” Zela assured her, “did you take a look at her eyes?”

“No,” replied Brina.

“They are the softest blue, like the sea,” Zela sighed.

“Oh,” Brina mumbled, although Zela’s words held no significance to her.

After almost a day in the cell, Kana was awakened the next morning by the sound of a key turning in the lock. Kana smoothed her hair and stood to meet the visitor. The boy was tall, with long blonde hair and the face of a god. At first she was surprised to see such a beautiful young man on a pirate ship, but then she remembered that most of the crew she had met so far was good looking. The boy was strong as well, much stronger than she had expected. He actually reminded her of her brother Vincent. He was just as tall and even more confident. He pulled her down the hall to the captain’s quarters, knocking softly on the door.

“Bring her in!” shouted Zela from within. The boy obeyed pushing Kana through the doorway with a violent thrust, and she fell to her knees.

“Thank you,” laughed Zela, “but there is no need to go to your knees, a simple curtsy will suffice.” Kana glared up at her. She did not enjoy the roughness of the pirates so early in the morning.

“Come, sit here, have something to eat,” Zela offered, pulling out a chair for her. Kana rose and sat down. There was a wonderful breakfast laid out before her, but she didn’t touch it until she saw Zela begin to eat.

“Kana, can I ask you something?” Zela wondered, pushing away her plate. Kana only looked at her. She had finished eating a while ago.

“How much do you know about pirates?”

“Only what I’ve read in books,” Kana sighed, “and from those, I can tell you are a nasty, smelly, evil lot.”

“Oh then your heiness,” Zela cackled, “you don’t nearly understand what kind of trouble you’re in.” Kana looked at her quizzically for a moment, and then she realized her mistake. Zela had used her real name, and she had fallen for it.

“You really are a terrible liar you know; you didn’t even convince my little sister. Don’t feel bad, at least you tried. You didn’t really think we were that stupid, did you?” Zela asked.

“No,” Kana replied, “but I realize now that you knew exactly who I was when you kidnapped me, so now I want an explanation.”

“Don’t be so snappy. You’ll get your explanation. You have a right to you know, it’s your history too, which is why I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me before now. Have you ever heard of pirate named Jacques the Black?”

“Actually I have,” Kana retorted, “I was just reading about him yesterday, what about him?”

“He was my grandfather, and the best pirate who ever lived. And our grandmother, Della, was absolutely beautiful. She married Jacques, who was good looking as well, but it didn’t last long. She only had one child with him, my father Cornelius. Then she was taken from Jacques by King Erich the first, your grandfather.” Kana tried to look disinterested, but her eyes betrayed her curiosity, and Zela continued.

“When Erich took Della, he did so in a battle with Jacques. Jacques was wounded in the battle and was too tired to fight for the rest of his life. But Cornelius grew up quickly and by the time he was fifteen he went to take back his mother.

She was dying when he found her. She didn’t even recognize him, but he stayed by her bedside as she died. When Erich came up and found him, kneeling there by her bedside, he realized who he was, and ordered him put to death. His son, Erich the Second stole Cornelius’ knife while he was in the cell. It was a beautiful family heirloom, passed down for generations. My father was very angry when he escaped, which of course he did, being the son of the best pirate who ever lived. When my father returned to his father’s ship, he found that his father had passed on, and the crew had captured a beautiful young woman named Cora. Cornelius loved her after only days with her, and they married. Cornelius protected Cora with his life. He wanted nothing more than to protect her the way his father failed to protect Della. But the king was more adamant than he expected. Many, many years later he sent his son, who by now had five sons of his own, back to kill my father and he did, using the stolen knife, while my mother and her newborn child, me, watched. I was too young to remember, but my mother said I uttered the most terrible cry when the knife went through his heart that they thought some ghost had come and the terrified sailors left.

My mother, sad as she was, felt a terrible anger at the entire royal navy. She went out and got her own ship, acting as captain, and killed every royal sailor she came across in revenge. She did not last long at all though, attacking navy ships. She was eventually defeated by a ship captained by the dashing Alexander Drone. He found out about a pledge she had made never to marry or love another man, and forced her to marry him as punishment. Of course, the king relished in the forced marriage and actually rewarded Alexander. Cora had my step-brother Andreos and my step-sister Valea to him and I was forced to live with their family. Of course, when Alexander tried to marry me off to one of your brothers I refused, because I knew my family history well, and Kana, you and your brothers are my cousins.”

Kana sat perfectly still even after Zela had finished. She remembered Zela well now. Her father had tried to set her brother up with the daughter of a navy captain, and he had flat out refused to have anything to do with her. He had wanted to go into the navy himself instead, and the suggestion had died at that. No one had ever seen this girl, and now Kana had.

“Oh my goodness,” Kana muttered finally. She knew the story had to be true, Zela would not have gone through all the trouble of finding her if it wasn’t.

“So, I bet you want to know what all this has to do with us, right?” Zela asked. She didn’t wait for Kana to answer

“Of course you do. Well, you see your father still has that knife he took from my father, and I want it back. But more than that, I want to kill him with that knife, the way he killed my father, and I want you and your brothers to watch, the same way I had to, and I want to hear you scream, just the way I did, as the blood drips down the front of his royal robes.”

Kana nearly screamed then, but she held it back for fear of giving Zela too much pleasure.

“I don’t understand! Why did you kidnap me then? Why didn’t you just wait till I got home then kill him while we were all watching?” Kana nearly yelled. Zela laughed heartily at her outburst.

“Silly child,” she snarled, “you don’t honestly believe your father would just hand over the knife and go willingly to his death do you? No, I need something to, compel him if you will, and if he can’t be persuaded by any means to hand it over, I’ll get almost as much pleasure out of killing you right in front of him.”

Kana leapt to her feet now and started to leave. She didn’t want to hear another word of this. Zela reached calmly down to her hip and aimed a rather large gun at Kana, who froze in her tracks.

“See this gun,” Zela bellowed, “it belonged to my father as well, specially made just for him. Three barrels shoot three bullets simultaneously, leaving three neat little holes in the shape of a triangle on the victim’s forehead. He never used it, but I have. I like to think of it as my trademark. But I only use it on people who cross me, or my little sister.”

“What about your brother?” Kana asked quietly.

“Oh, he’s seventeen; don’t you think he can fend for himself? But Valea, she’s only eight, she needs someone to protect her. I wouldn’t dream of giving that child a gun!”

“Well, that’s a relief,” sighed Kana sarcastically, “at least someone in your family doesn’t have a weapon.”

“Oh, she has weapons, just not a gun. Her aim is too good, she might seriously hurt someone.”

“Are you telling me that your mother allows her daughter to run around her town with a weapon? Is she insane?”

“No, I allow her to carry a weapon on my ship. Now that I think about it, why don’t you come and meet her. She could use some practice with a moving target. And while we’re at it, I’ll introduce you to Andreos too, he’s bundles of fun as well.” Kana began to protest but was dragged out of the room by the determined pirate.

“Hold her right here,” Zela ordered two boys standing idly on the deck. They each grabbed an arm and hearing the anger in Zela’s voice, held even tighter than usual. Kana glared at the shortest of the two, but he just hit her in the stomach. Kana coughed and faced forward.

“Turn her around!” ordered Zela from somewhere behind her. They instantly spun her around to face the sound. Kana turned her head away from the voice and the same young man grabbed her chin and held it looking at Zela.

“Princess Kana, meet Andreos and Valea.”