Chapter 6
Six
Morning light slipped between the sun-faded curtains and soaked the scuffed wooden planks of her room. Cali tapped one foot as she eyed the contents of the standing wardrobe and lamented to herself that she had nothing to wear for a pirate adventure.
The burgundy vest and matching trousers she’d worn for the wedding now hung neatly inside because, if there was one thing she knew, it was that she wouldn’t need anything nearly so fancy on a ship.
She folded a pair of dark pants into her satchel, then added a patterned kerchief to tie back her hair.
It was hard to believe that the wedding—and the pirates showing up—had only been the previous night. Which meant that she didn’t have much longer to pack.
“It’s not like you won’t be back,” she reminded herself. Even though she’d been restless in Wayside, it was her new home, and it was where her friends lived. Restlessness would pass. Friends who were like family were irreplaceable.
Not that she wasn’t secretly relishing the fact that Iris had volunteered her to the pirate captain.
An adventure was exactly what she needed to forget Marina and her own foolishness.
She suspected that Bonnie One-Eye was exactly the kind of person who could make her forget the hellkin.
Her pulse quickened as she imagined the journey to Eldu with the pirate captain.
Stop it, Cal. This is exactly the kind of thinking that got you into the last mess.
She returned her focus to packing, glancing at the simple desk hunched under the window. Her leather-bound journal sat in the middle, the pages soft at the edges. She picked it up and thumbed through it, the scent of paper and ink comforting.
Well, she had to take her journal. She’d been documenting her adventures since she started crewing.
There was no way she’d miss writing about a journey on a pirate ship.
But she used her journal for more than recording stories.
She also used it to keep track of all the places in The Known Lands that she’d visited and when, so she would know which places she’d already looked for Adelaide.
“Just because I haven’t found her doesn’t mean she’s not out there somewhere,” she told herself, just as she’d been telling herself since the day she returned to her crew’s camp and found Adelaide’s tent empty.
She tucked the journal into her knapsack and gave it a gentle pat, just as the door to her room flew open and banged against the wall.
“There you are!”
The hairs bristling on the back of her neck relaxed when she recognized Vaskel’s silhouette. “We don’t knock anymore?”
He ignored that and strode into her room, his pointed tail swishing behind him. “I know why you’re doing this, you know.”
Cali had crewed with Vaskel long enough that he did know her. And he probably knew why she felt compelled to help find Marina, but that changed nothing.
“Marina is more my fault than anyone’s,” Vaskel continued. “If anyone should join the pirate crew to search for her, it should be me.”
That snapped her head up. “Absolutely not. You and Iris just figured out that you’re perfect for each other.”
Vaskel grunted but didn’t argue with her.
Cali tucked a clean vest into her almost-full knapsack. “The reason I fell for Marina’s ploy was because I don’t have what the rest of you have found in Wayside. As much as I love this village, I haven’t found my purpose here.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t,” the hellkin said, although his tone wasn’t convincing. “You’re an important part of the village, Cali, and you’re still part of our crew.”
“There isn’t much need for an archer in a peaceful village.”
“It isn’t always peaceful,” he reminded her. “And you’re valuable for more than your ability to shoot an arrow.”
Cali put a gray-and-black-striped paw on Vaskel’s shoulder. “I’m not leaving for good, Vask. I didn’t go with Marina because I knew it would mean saying goodbye to you and Lira and everyone else in Wayside. That feeling still stands. This is nothing but a quick trip.”
“With a notorious pirate crew.”
That thought thrilled her more than she wanted to admit. The pirate captain thrilled her more than she would ever say.
“She doesn’t look dangerous,” Cali said. “But even if she is, I’m not exactly helpless.”
“No, you’re not,” Vaskel admitted, cutting his eyes to her bow and quiver of arrows leaning against the wall. “I know all too well that you can take care of yourself.”
She held his gaze, searching his pinched, crimson face. “Then why the worry?”
He bit his lower lip.
“You trust me, right?” she asked.
“You know I do,” he blurted. “I trust you with my life.”
“Then trust me when I tell you I’ll return.”
His dark brows knitted together. “Promise me.”
First Sass, and now Vaskel. She must be giving off running-away-for-good vibes. She took his hands in her paws and squeezed them. “I promise.”
“Even though you have an unhealthy obsession with pirate romance and a hot pirate walked through the door of the Tusk & Tail and welcomed you onto her all-female crew?”
Cali dropped his hands and laughed. “Unhealthy obsession is a bit of an exaggeration.”
“You’ve read every pirate romance in Iris’s library.”
She brushed this off with a shrug. “She doesn’t have that many.” Her whiskers twitched. “You think the pirate captain is hot?”
Vaskel rolled his eyes. “Come on, Cal. Anyone would think Bonnie is stunning. Remember how well I know you? She’s exactly your type.”
Cali swept her gaze around the small, rented room, noticing how cramped it suddenly felt.
“I’m not going because the captain is attractive.
I’m going because I need to get away for a while.
” She released a heavy breath. “I know I escaped Marina’s clutches, but the fact remains that I let myself get manipulated by someone who could have done some serious damage to people I care about.
Not only that, but I found myself in a love triangle with Thrain, which requires some serious reflection. ”
Vaskel pressed his lips together, clearly smothering a smile or a laugh. “Thrain feels as foolish as you do.”
She cringed at the thought of battling with the dwarf for Marina’s heart. “At least he doesn’t want to challenge me to a duel any longer.”
“I should never have told you that.”
“You’re not the only one I heard it from. Thrain wasn’t shy about telling everyone how I’d betrayed him.”
“He was drunk.”
“I wish I had that excuse.” Cali hitched her knapsack over one shoulder. “I would love to explain away my momentary insanity with too much whiskey.”
“And you’re certain this isn’t more momentary insanity?”
She shook her head. “No. This is me getting some distance from my mistake.”
“By chasing down that mistake?”
Cali frowned. “By making up for my mistake.” Then she grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows, running one claw along the fletching. “Besides, I need to know why it’s so crucial for Bonnie One-Eye that she retrieve her jolly boat.”
Vaskel cocked one eyebrow. “It feels like there’s a story there.”
The hairs on Cali’s arms tingled, and the tip of her tail quivered. “I think there are lots of stories to be had on The Cruel Mistress.”
Vaskel grasped her by the shoulders. “Then I expect you to return safely and share them all.”
Cali’s throat tightened, but before she could answer, her friend pulled her into a bone-cracking hug.
“I’ll be back before you can miss me,” she said.
“Aye, we will!”
Vaskel released her, and they both turned to see Thrain standing in the shadow-drenched hallway of the inn with a pack slung onto his back. The leather coat that brushed the tops of his boots was buttoned up to the point of his wiry beard.
“What are you doing?” Vaskel said, eyeing the dwarf’s greatcoat that was sugared with snow.
“What does it look like?” Thrain’s dark eyes glinted as a grin flashed white from within the tangle of his brown beard. “I’m going with Cali, of course.”
The pantheri exchanged a glance with Vaskel, whose expression looked stuck somewhere between shocked and amused.
She bit back a groan. This might be worse than fighting a duel.