Last Revised: 6/23/09
Unfinished Chapter

Chapter Seven

Port Baronis, Baronis

“Rather disgusts you, don’t it, sirs, seein’ her so peaceful.”

Shon nodded, glancing out at the harbor to where the Agranor’s King was anchored. He didn’t dwell on it long, comforted by the knowledge that the Sehmadonian Ambassador and his crew would be more than a little nervous when they noticed the Tigereye anchored just off the pirates’ corner of the harbor. At the moment, however, he was far more concerned trying to find out why the Ambassador was in Port Baronis in the first place.

“Well, boys, we’re off to the markets to learn what we can,” Dego said to his crew of twenty. “Keep your ears open and don’t start anything.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“Shon, Teagan, you’re with me. Kindra and Risho, I want you to go to the markets, as well. Davi, you take Ferran and Misara and head over to the docks. The rest of you… listen for anything useful here, but I expect fresh supplies to be arranged for a departure on the morning tide, in case we need to leave in a hurry.”

His order was met with gleeful snickers by those assigned to exploring and groans by those left to ship duties. Shon tied his favorite teal and black scarf around his head and fell into step beside Teagan and Captain Dego. They headed around the northern end of the bay from the pirates’ quarter to the markets.

It was still fairly early, a couple of hours past noon. It wasn’t hot, but it was warm enough to make Shon wish he’d chosen a shirt lighter in color than black. With a shrug, he forgot about his discomfort and focused his attention on the busy market. It was smaller than Lisandra’s and more temporary in appearance with canvas tents set up on the packed earth just above the wide sandy beach. Behind them were the permanent buildings of the merchant district. In between, there were many little eateries with walk-up windows and patios for dining that were common in the Pirate Islands. Port Baronis seemed much more open than Lisandra, but the bay was elongated with a much wider mouth and lacked high cliffs and ridges like those that sheltered Lisile’s capital.

“I’d nearly forgotten this place,” he remarked.

“How long since you were last here?” Teagan asked.

“I was here when Baronis De’yarron presented his proposed constitution to the Pirate Council, but I was too young to remember much. I was back a few months later, when Bekkil was crowned after his father’s death at sea. The last time was about twenty-five years ago. I think Prince Kelath was only a toddler.”

“And I doubt he was any more innocent then.”

Shon laughed. “I remember wondering during one of his many fits, ‘this is a prince?’ If the rumors about him are true, he apparently hasn’t changed much.”

“Baronis was a good man, though,” Dego said. “A good pirate, too.”

“I liked him,” Shon agreed. “Much more than I liked Bekkil, the few times that I’ve met him. He’s not that bad, I suppose, but… he’s certainly nothing like his father.”

“He’s no pirate,” Dego grumbled. “Not many rulers are, anymore, ‘cept you and the Princess Re’danya of Chalia.”

“And her cousin in Shemarl,” Teagan added. “He’s Prince of Redanya Island, ain’t he?”

“Last I heard, unless those Sisterhood bitches have finally found a way to de-rank him.”

“Can they? He’s elected by their democracy.”

“They can’t without breaking the laws of their own constitution, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try,” Shon informed them. “They can’t stand that the people would prefer a blood-righted ruler over them. And Eris’ counterpart on Rani Island, Seydran No’tur, is a pirate, too. Now, can we please discontinue this sad commentary? The prince ain’t here and I’d like it to stay that way.”

“Our apologies, sir,” Dego replied with a sardonic bow. “But we’re here because the prince and his father asked us to spy for them.”

“Then we’d best be getting’ to the spyin’!”

They meandered through the market district, pausing now and again to speak with other pirates and question certain shop owners about their willingness to buy goods plundered from Mainland ships. Port Baronis was a harder market for pirates, but there was still a good enough trade going on that King Bekkil’s more stringent laws had little effect. Most shop owners preferred to deal with Baronian pirates, but would always welcome rare and highly demanded items. Among the tidbits of information regarding the trade of stolen goods, they also learned that the servants of the Deyarron Palace wore burgundy and gold livery and were quite easy to spot.

“Aye! You three gents sail the Tigereye of Lisile, don’t ye?”

They turned as one to face the man who’d spoke and found themselves in the company of a pirate wearing the purple sash of Shemarl.

“Aye, we do,” Dego replied.

“What are ye doin’ in Baronis? Or are ye here to keep an eye on the Ambassador?”

“We be here to remind that fool of his fool’s errand to Lisile. Emperor Marril asked politely that we not attack him, but he didn’t say we couldn’t make him nervous.”

The Shemarlese guffawed. “That be a noble duty. Did ye really capture his entourage with only two ships?”

“And a tiny sloop with a broken mast. Aye, we did. Say, friend, ye know why that swine’s here?”

“I don’t. I only arrived a few hours a’fore you. Maybe ye can ask someone local. But it seems to me none of ‘em over on the Pirates’ Hook are happy. The locals neither. Maybe them so-called nobles, but we all know what they’re worth, the lot of lazy curs.”

“Oughta make them sail once in a while. Gettin’ off their soft rumps might do us all some good,” Teagan muttered.

“Thank ye, friend, for the news,” Shon said before Teagan could join the Shemarlese in a drawn out discussion of the failings of the nobility of the Pirate Islands. It was one of few topics that could lead Teagan into trouble.

“Wish I coulda told ye more. Fair winds to ye.”

“And fair winds to ye,” Dego replied.

The three of them returned the pirate’s hand-over-heart salute and watched him wander off. He wasn’t the least surprised that the pirates and lower class were unhappy about the Sehmadonians’ visit, so they’d learned nothing from the exchange. Disappointed, Shon led his friends in the direction of something to eat. The refreshing meal filled his belly and cleared his mind, but did little to ease his tension when, as the day wore on, they found nothing of value about Farudi Mirakea’s presence in Baronis. He had hoped they might come across a palace servant or two, but King Bekkil’s staff were remarkably hard to track down.

A trio briefly attracted Shon’s attention. Not because they appeared to be anyone who might have information that would help him, but because of their attire. The taller, older of the two women was dressed like a pirate and wore the dark blue sash of Chalia. The younger, flaxen-haired woman, though quite lovely, had the air of a servant about her. A well-treated servant who adored her mistress. The man behind them wore fine clothing which, though informal and comfortable, spoke of nobility. Rather unusual companions for a Chalian pirate walking through the market of Port Baronis. The pirate nodded her head in greeting and Shon and his friends gave her the traditional hand-over-the-heart salute. She beemed in response and Shon decided she must be new to the profession of piracy. And probably wasn’t here as a pirate. Shrugging the group off as inconsequential, Shon refocused on his task.

Finally, as the afternoon began to turn gold beneath the gaze of the westering sun, they managed to find a burgundy-garbed servant who wasn’t wearing the same down-trodden and subservient expression as the rest. Shon called out to her and jogged to catch up when she stopped and looked at him questioningly.

“You’re Lisilean,” she remarked, indicating his sash with a nod of her head.

“Aye,” Shon replied.

“I thought about going to Lisile once. Heard your royal family treats their servants real well.”

“I’ve never heard different,” Shon replied slowly.

“You think I could hire on?” She laughed mirthlessly. “Ah, what would you know? Don’t know why I stay here. It certainly ain’t because my lords are so generous and kind.”

Shon was a little taken aback by her abrupt manner. He was so accustomed to the open contentment of the servants of Setanara Palace that her cynical tone seemed all the more wrong. No servant deserved to be treated in such a way that would cause them to harbor such sentiments about their masters. Involuntarily, his lip curled in disgust. She smiled briefly in response.

“You’re loyal to your royalty. Lisileans are. I wish I could feel the same about my own.” She tilted her head and frowned. “Bet you’re wondering why the Sehmadonian Ambassador is here.”

“Aye, we are.”

“Makes you a little nervous, does he?”

Shon, Teagan and Dego nodded in affirmation. After a fruitless afternoon of searching, Shon found it difficult to hope that he might have at last found someone who might know something of why Farudi Mirakea had come to Baronis. Openly lying to the Emperor and Crown Prince of Lisile only strengthened Shon’s distrust of him and his king’s intentions toward Lisile and the Pirate Islands as a whole. And it made Shon all the more anxious to learn what Farudi was up to.

“Me as well,” the servant was saying. “He don’t belong here or anywhere in the Pirate Islands. None of his kind do.”

“That’s for damned sure,” Teagan remarked. “And Emperor Marril seemed surprised to hear he wasn’t heading home like he’d said.”

The servant’s brows rose. “That should make any pirate nervous. Secrecy rarely breeds palatable results, as my father told me once. As it happens, my niece happens to be Prince Kelath’s favorite mistress and she told me some interesting things, she did.”

“Who be your niece?” Dego asked.

“Young Rashia. Fool girl got the idea in her fool head that if she did like every other fool girl the Crown Prince has bedded, he’d marry her like his father married his mother.” Disgust and shame and worry warred in the woman’s voice. “He ain’t married her yet, but he’s claimed the four bastards she’s already borne him and will probably claim the one she’s carrying now.”

Disgust at his fellow Crown Prince’s dishonorable habits rippled through Shon and for a moment, he was too distracted to press the servant for useful information. Kelath De’yarron’s carnal exploits were not exactly a closely kept secret and Shon already knew of the four bastards he’d claimed, though the fifth was a surprise.

“And he says pirates have no morals,” he finally muttered. “More reason to be worried if he and his father be making deals with the Sehmadonians.”

The woman nodded. “Rashia told me her lover the Prince mentioned something about King Bekkil looking to trade with Sehmadonis. Safe trade, she said. The Sehmadonians want a promise that their traders won’t be attacked. Don’t know how that’d work without Lisile making a similar agreement. You know better than I that only fools looking to die try to sail the Rimsea without a Seawind.”

“Gods be thanked the Mainlanders won’t employ any,” Dego murmured.

“Aye,” Shon and Teagan replied.

“That’s all I know,” the servant said. “Just enough to be worried. But if anything is agreed upon, we’ll all know soon enough.”

With only a nod of her head, the woman trundled off, the irritation gone from her face and an expression of weary resignation in its place.

“Well,” Teagan began. “That’s more than we’ve heard all day, but nothing different from what King Jarketh has been asking of Lisile.”

“Except that Lisile was the only Pirate Nation he’d put the proposal to,” Shon replied. “And, without Lisile’s agreement, isn’t it a waste of time?”

Neither his captain nor his cousin answered. There was no answer to be found in the balmy evening. Not without knowing exactly what was being said in Bekkil’s conference room. And that wasn’t likely to happen.

“I hate to say it, but I think that’s the best we’re going to hear,” Shon said after a few moments. “And I think I’d like an ale to drown my frustrations in.”

They made their way toward the pirates’ quarter slowly, continuing to peruse the marketplace in hopes they sights and sounds and smells would distract their thoughts from the possible outcomes and implications of Farudi Mirakea’s meeting with King Bekkil.