Chapter 11
Eleven
Cali navigated the painted stairs to the main deck, leaving Thrain and Bramble to solidify their claim on the bottom hammock.
She’d slept rough plenty of times in her crewing days, so a small cabin was no hardship.
That didn’t mean she wanted to spend any more time in close quarters with the dwarf and raccoon than absolutely necessary.
A briny mist hit her as she emerged from below stairs, and she was startled to see how quickly they’d left Eldu behind.
The port town had become a shadow behind the fog that had rolled in and swaddled the ship, and even the boisterous sounds of the dock workers had been reduced to nothing more than a murmur, replaced by the jaunty tune of a sea shanty being sung by the crew.
There once was a ship went out to sea,
The name of the ship was the Fiddle Fi Fee,
The storms came up, the ship went down,
Lo, the Fiddle Fi Fee was gone.
Cali could have sworn she’d heard that song before, and she started humming it to herself as she watched the pirate crew at work.
“Cali, is it?”
The pantheri turned at the voice, backing up when she saw the quartermaster looming over her.
Korl and his dads had altogether changed her opinion on orcs, but this one didn’t look nearly as friendly as her friends in Wayside.
Her skin wasn’t as green as the Wayside orcs, but her tusks were no less pointed.
“That’s right,” she said.
The woman wore her long black hair in a sinewy braid with a few slippery curls at the temples. “Gert.” She didn’t hold out her hand, so Cali kept hers to herself. “You ever sailed before?”
There was no point in exaggerating her skills. “Not on a ship like this.”
Gert made a noise that landed somewhere between a grunt and a groan. “No passengers on a pirate ship. Everyone works.”
Cali squared herself to the orc. “I don’t mind work.”
The orc’s gaze rested on the quiver still on her back. “Not much call for those at sea, but you look like you’d be a good climber.”
Cali could climb and jump and had no fear of heights. “What do you need me to climb?”
Gert tipped back her head, and Cali followed her gaze to the top of the center mast where the purple-haired gnome stood on a platform caged by wooden slats.
“You can give Pinkie a break in the crow’s nest.”
Cali squinted, even though the gnome’s purple hair wasn’t hard to see. “Pinkie?”
The orc folded her hands across her chest and nodded. Cali guessed she’d ask someone else why the gnome with the purple hair was called Pinkie.
“Now?”
Before the quartermaster could order her up the mast, Bonnie appeared at the top of the stairs that led to the quarterdeck. “I’d like a word with our guest first, if you don’t mind.”
Gert made another questionable sound, but she stepped aside so Cali could join the captain on the raised section of the stern. From there, she had a good view of the rest of the ship and all the pirates working to raise the sails.
Bonnie walked back to stand at the wheel, and Cali followed, carefully placing her feet as the ship swayed. Despite her natural agility and balance, the pantheri braced her legs wide to keep herself steady.
The pirate captain gripped the wheel, each of the spokes a different color, as she steered them deeper into open water. “Your hellkin friend said you’d spent a lot of time with the woman who escaped and took our jolly boat.”
“I did.” Cali rested her paws on the wooden railing, observing the pirate crew move about the deck as the quartermaster directed them.
The Cruel Mistress was no small ship, but the crew of dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, part-goblins, humans, and fey seemed to have no problem with the heavy ropes or the swinging booms. Not that she’d expected anything less.
“Can you tell me where you think she might flee?”
Cali glanced at the woman whose dark hair was ruffling in the breeze. “You really want your jolly boat back.”
Bonnie met her gaze without amusement. “I really do.”
Okay then. The pirate wasn’t playing around.
Cali thought back to her conversations with the hellkin.
Most of them had centered on all the adventures they’d have if Cali joined her crew, and the pantheri flinched when she remembered how close she’d come to falling for it.
But part of Marina’s ploy had been to tell Cali about many of her past adventures, which meant she knew some of the hellkin’s patterns.
“Marina’s been wandering The Known Lands for decades, but she never mentioned ships or sailing to me.
I suppose that’s because you can’t pull a con on a ship and escape so easily. ”
“Unless you steal a boat,” Bonnie grumbled.
The pirate made a fair point. “If I were to guess about her whereabouts, I’d say she’s heading for someplace to land. I don’t know if she or her crew know anything about sailing. My gut says that she’d want to reach some place where she could lie low.”
Bonnie shifted the wheel, keeping her eyes on the horizon. “I sent scouts to the nearest harbors, but there’s been no sign of a jolly boat.”
Cali could tell you the distance between most towns in the Known Lands, but her extensive knowledge ended at the water’s edge. She’d never been to Lananore and only journeyed to the Skittering Islands once.
“Where could she go if not back to shore? Is it possible she and her crew have wrecked or drowned?”
Bonnie shook her head. “Doubtful. If they had, the jolly boat would have washed up on shore somewhere, and if it didn’t return to us, we would have found it.”
Cali had never heard of a jolly boat that could find its way back to its ship, but she also knew little about ships in general. She scanned the blue-hazed edge of the horizon. “You mentioned outlaw islands, but is it possible to reach those in a jolly boat?”
“In my jolly boat, yes.”
Cali wanted to ask the pirate what made this jolly boat so special, aside from its apparent ability to route itself, but Bonnie seemed hesitant to explain why it was so crucial to retrieve a rowboat.
Bonnie readjusted her grip on the wheel so that her right hand was on a green spoke and her left hand on an orange. “My fear is that she’s headed to Claw Island.”
Cali cocked her head at the captain. “Never heard of it.”
The pirate’s lips twitched at one corner. “That’s the point. It’s an island known only to pirates and outlaws. It’s a place where there are no laws and no rules.”
“Marina would fit right in.”
“Precisely.” Bonnie tipped her head to Cali. “If she’s found out about it and managed to get the location from someone, she could be headed there.”
Cali suspected a hellkin gang who’d stolen a pirate’s jolly boat wouldn’t be the most popular visitors, especially if other outlaws knew Bonnie, but she couldn’t underestimate Marina’s talent for manipulation.
If the hellkin believed the island was a place she could hide out or even find more outlaws to join her crew, she’d take the chance. That much she knew.
“Then we should go there,” Cali said.
The wheel jerked in Bonnie’s hands, and the pirate frowned, shifting her stance as her quartermaster joined them on the quarterdeck. “It’s not as easy as that.”
“Claw Island?” Gert asked, flicking her gaze to Cali and away again.
Bonnie nodded, and the orc groaned.
Cali looked between the two women. She was definitely missing something. “What?”
“Part of what makes Claw Island a place that only pirates and outlaws dare visit is the difficulty in getting there,” Bonnie said.
“Rough waters?” Cali fought the urge to shudder. She hated getting wet.
Gert choked back a laugh. “We can handle rough waters in the Sailor’s Graveyard. I don’t even mind the scheming mermaids.” The orc made a face. “It’s the sirens I can’t stand.”