Potions, Pirates & Pie (Tales from the Tavern #4)

Chapter 1

One

There was no doubt about it. The woman who’d burst through the tavern door and crashed the wedding looking for the people who’d delivered the hellkins to Eldu was undoubtedly a pirate.

The black boots she stamped snow off were high; her puffy blouse was topped with a vest, and a red sash cinched her waist. When she twisted to catch Cali watching her, there was a black patch covering one eye.

The lute player had stopped playing festive wedding music, and Pip Brambleheart stood next to the wedding cake with a look of dismay on his face, as if the pirate’s arrival might preclude the bride and groom from cutting the multi-tiered confection the halfling had baked.

“I think you’re right,” Lira said in a low voice meant only for the pantheri. “She must be a pirate. Korl didn’t mention that they left Marina and her hellkin crew with pirates, though.”

Cali had almost forgotten that Lira was standing next to her.

The pantheri’s mind was too busy whirring with thoughts of the pirate adventures and daring, dangerous pirate captains who’d been at the center of so many of the romance novels she devoured.

She snatched her gaze from the woman to look at the bride.

It was then she was reminded that her friends’ wedding reception had been unceremoniously interrupted, and in the middle of a raging snowstorm, no less.

“How did she get here?” the pantheri whispered. “How did she find Wayside? I thought pirates stuck to the sea.”

Her half-elf friend shrugged and tucked an errant strand of auburn hair behind one pointed ear. “Pirates are nothing if not resourceful. Not that I’m an expert on them.” She elbowed Cali. “You’re the one who reads all the pirate romances. Shouldn’t you be telling me?”

“Those are just books,” Cali said, avoiding glancing at the pirate for fear she wouldn’t be able to look away. “Stories someone made up. She’s a real pirate.”

“With a real eye patch,” Lira said. “I did think pirates wearing those were made up.”

The woman pirate swiveled her head, taking in the floral arch, Lira in a wedding dress, and everyone else in their finest clothing. “Am I interrupting something?”

There was a pause in which no one spoke, as if admitting that the woman was crashing the party would be rude.

“Well. . .” Tinpin the gnome haberdasher rubbed his small hands together as he glanced at the others. “The thing is. . .”

“It’s my wedding,” Korl said, his voice solid and sure as he reached a hand back for Lira to take. “Mine and Lira’s.”

The stranger’s already snow-pinked cheeks mottled darker. “Blast and barnacles.” She bowed her head slightly to the orc and his bride. “My apologies.”

Pip half giggled, half hiccuped at the sailor's curse, and Fenni elbowed his brother in the ribs. It was possible that the halfling baker had sipped too much apple brandy already.

“Don’t worry yourself,” Lira said. “You’re welcome to join the party.”

Tinpin bounced on his heels, the gnome’s keen gaze appraising the woman’s attire. “The more, the merrier. The more, the merrier, indeed.”

Vorto, one of the proud orc fathers-of-the-groom, held out a tankard full of ale. “I’m sure you’ve had an arduous journey from Eldu in this weather.”

The pirate’s flush faded as she flicked errant snowflakes from her dark waves and accepted the drink from the bald orc in a burgundy suit. “That I have, but I didn’t mean to spoil a wedding.”

Lira flapped a hand. “Nothing is spoiled.” She glanced adoringly at her new husband. “This will make a great story to tell our grandchildren.”

Now it was Korl’s turn to blush, his green cheeks darkening as a grin teased his lips.

“Listen to the bride, hon.” Rosie called out from behind the bar, where only a poof of the gnome’s blonde hair showed. “Come on in and join us.”

Val cleared her throat. “And I, for one, want to hear what happened with the hellkins.”

Korl rumbled his agreement to that, but the pirate didn’t have the chance to tell her tale before the door opened again, bringing with it a squall of cold air and snow—and another cloaked figure.

The new arrival lowered her hood to reveal serpentine features and dark hair braided close enough to her head to show flashes of ebony, scaled skin.

Cali’s fur bristled all the way down her spine as the nagine swept her gaze languorously across the great room.

The last time she’d encountered one of the serpent people, a nagine mercenary had attempted to kill her and her crew.

A ripple of murmurs passed through the wedding guests, but the creature appeared unaffected.

“My master-at-arms,” the pirate said, as the nagine cooly nodded to the villagers. “Seraphina.”

Instead of trousers tucked into boots, the new arrival’s crimson pants ended above the ankles and were wide-legged enough to appear to be a skirt. A brown tunic was buttoned from her flared neck to her hips, and a sword hung from her waist.

“Two pirates,” Lira said, as much to herself as to anyone else. The bride’s cocked eyebrow told Cali that she, too, remembered their last encounter with a nagine and their near escape.

“Like our haberdasher said, the more the merrier.” Sass bustled up and hooked an arm through the first pirate’s, pulling her farther into the tavern. “And we’d all like to know what happened to the hellkins we sent you.”

The dwarf, who also served as the tavern’s barmaid, led the one-eyed pirate to a table as the nagine glided along behind, the action snapping the wedding back into motion.

Erindil’s lute player started strumming again, while Rosie resumed sliding glasses of brandy across the wooden bar.

Korl and Val followed Sass and the pirates, taking seats across from them as the dwarf hurried off with the promise of pastries on her return.

Even though Cali hadn’t been tasked with taking the hellkins to Eldu, she sidled up behind Val to listen in on the conversation.

“Apologies again for dropping in on your wedding.” The pirate took a sip from her tankard of ale as another was handed to her master-at-arms. “But we’re grateful for the drinks. We’ve been riding hard to reach Wayside.”

Val leaned forward, a few tendrils slipping from the guardswoman’s blonde bun. “Through the snowstorm?”

The pirate swallowed and swiped the back of her hand across her foam-speckled mouth. “It couldn’t wait. We needed to find the folks who’d brought us the hellkin cargo.”

Vaskel materialized at Cali’s side, the hellkin’s usual scent of brimstone and sandalwood preceding him by a breath. “What happened? What did they do?”

The woman raised her head, her one blue eye lingering on Cali before she turned her attention to the hellkin bartender. “They escaped and stole my jolly boat.”

“Jolly boat?” Val asked.

“A row boat,” Cali said, without thinking. She knew the term well enough from all the pirate romances she’d read.

Val nodded as Vaskel muttered some hellkin curses Cali recognized from their crewing days, his crimson hands tightening into fists.

“How did they escape?” Val rapped her fingers on the table. “When we dropped them off, they were unconscious and bound.”

The pirate didn’t seem offended as she slid her steady gaze to Val, but her words were measured. “They did not stay that way.”

Thrain ambled up to Vaskel’s side. “I thought Marina had lost her powers.”

“She did,” Vaskel’s voice barely danced above a growl. “But she didn’t lose her cunning or her considerable experience with manipulation. That’s as natural to her as breathing.”

The dwarf grunted his agreement to that and ran a hand down his dark beard. “Aye, she’s a slippery one.”

“If you’re suggesting she manipulated our crew into helping her escape, I can assure you that didn’t happen.”

Everyone turned to the nagine, whose neck had flared wider. The one-eyed pirate, who was clearly her superior, put a hand on her arm. “Seraphina is right. No one in my crew was involved in the escape.”

Sass made her way back to the table and dropped a tray of pastries in the middle. “The hellkins escaped on their own and made off with your jolly boat. Is that why the pair of you traveled through a storm? To tell us?”

The nagine’s eyes became slits. “We’re here because we need to know more about these hellkins so we can better track them. It is harder to hunt prey you do not know.”

A chill went through Cali at the low hiss of the nagine’s voice. “You’re going after them?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “For taking a jolly boat? Wouldn’t that be more trouble than it’s worth?”

The nagine’s slitted nostrils flared, but the other pirate met Cali’s gaze and held it.

The pantheri forgot to breathe as she lost herself in the blue eye, startled that this stranger had such an effect on her.

Sure, she had a thing for pirate romance, but she’d also crewed all over the Known Lands.

She wasn’t some maiden easily swayed by a pretty face.

Then again, she’d never encountered an actual female pirate.

“They took nothing but my jolly boat.” The pirate interlaced her fingers in front of her, her voice edged with steel. “But no one steals from Bonnie One-Eye.”