Chapter 18
Eighteen
Every pirate’s head snapped to her, faces frozen in surprise before the ship erupted into action.
Bonnie raced up to the quarterdeck from below while Gert barked orders at the crew to trim the sails and catch the wind.
Thrain had a length of rope coiled around his waist, and he spun in a circle to wind it tighter.
Cali held on as the ship picked up speed, banking first to one side and then to the other. Even without the fervent actions of the pirates, the ship was trying to lose the mermaids. Apparantly, Tris was as much a fan of the creatures as Gert.
The peals of laughter that wafted up from the sea sent a shiver down the pantheri’s back and prickled the fur along her spine. Without looking, Cali knew it wasn’t the pirate crew laughing. It was the mermaids, and they were having no problem keeping abreast of The Cruel Mistress.
Cali pivoted her head from one side to the other. When she’d first spotted them, the creatures had been behind the ship. Now they were flanking both sides, glinting lavender and green as they leapt above the waves.
“This isn’t even tiring them,” Cali said to herself, as she watched the mermaids spiraling in the air and laughing while they gave chase.
“Are we losing them?” Bonnie called up, her hands cupped around her mouth.
Cali shook her head, pointing to both sides of the ship. “They’re gaining on us.”
The pirate captain turned the wheel over to Gert, whose forehead was bunched with wrinkles, and slid down the staircase railing to land on the main deck.
Seraphina was prowling the starboard railing, her cloak’s train snapping behind her at each sharp turn, so Bonnie headed for the port side.
She waved Cali down, and the pantheri passed Pinkie on the way, the gnome scampering up one side while the archer slid down the other.
When Cali reached the deck, she hurried to where Bonnie leaned over one side of the ship. From this angle, the mermaids looked less like they were leaping and playing and more like they were hunting and taunting.
“Bonnie One-Eye,” one of them called, her voice teasing. “We know what you’ve got on board.”
“The scurvy strumpets,” Bonnie said as she glared at the creatures beneath the water. “I should have known they would find out.”
“Find out what?”
Bonnie’s jaw was tight as she flicked her gaze toward Thrain, who was almost cocooned entirely with rope. “That we have a man on board.”
Cali’s heart sank as she looked at Thrain. If she’d known he would be in danger, she never would have allowed him to come. Then she swung her head back to Bonnie. “Did you know he would be in danger by coming?”
Bonnie’s blue eye wouldn’t meet hers. “I’ve never sailed with a man before, so I only know the legends and tales from other ships.”
Cali shook her head. “But other ships have entirely male crews. Why would they sail if mermaids wanted to eat their men?”
Bonnie cocked her head. “Eat men? Who said they wanted to eat men?”
Cali opened and closed her mouth. “I thought…I guess I assumed that’s why you looked so worried.”
“Do you really think I would allow anyone on my ship to be eaten?” The pirate captain looked horrified. “Do you think any ship could muster a crew if there was a chance of the men being devoured by mermaids?”
Now that she put it like that, it seemed absurd. “Then why are we running from them? Why are they chasing us for the one male on board?”
Bonnie peeked over the side again and sighed. “We’re trying to outrun them because I don’t have time to waste on mermaid games.” She flapped a hand toward the water. “They have nothing to do but amuse themselves, and I have no patience for them today.”
“And the fact that they know we have a man on board and seem to be very interested in him?” Cali pressed, not completely sure she was getting the full story from the captain.
“There are different mermaid pods in the sea.” Bonnie seemed to pick her words carefully. “I was hoping we wouldn’t encounter this particular one.”
Cali folded her arms across her chest. Bonnie might not have time for mermaid games, but she was losing patience as well. “Because…?”
“The mermaid princess Arabella has been searching for a particular sailor for as long as I’ve been crossing the seas. She claims he’s her true love and that he vowed to return to her.”
“And this was how long ago?” Cali still didn’t have a good grasp on how old Bonnie was or how long she’d been sailing, much less mermaid lifespans.
“Long enough that the man probably doesn’t have any teeth,” the pirate said in a low voice.
“But that doesn’t stop Arabella from looking for him on every ship she can catch.
Usually, we don’t have to worry about it, but I suppose someone must have spotted your dwarf friend boarding The Cruel Mistress. ”
Cali stifled the urge to laugh. “Are you telling me that mermaid royalty suspects Thrain might be her long-lost love?”
Bonnie’s lips twitched as she met the pantheri’s eyes. “That’s what I’m telling you.”
Cali snuck another glance at Thrain, who was staggering under the weight of the rope coiled around his stocky form. “Then why don’t we show the mermaid princess that this is definitely not her wayward lover, and we can be on our way?”
Bonnie released a weary breath. “I wish it were that simple, but things with the mermaids are never so easy.”
“Tsk, tsk,” a lilting voice came from the railing right next to them, and both the captain and Cali jumped back as a head appeared.
Lilac hair flowed down the creature’s pale shoulders, her skin shimmering like the inside of an abalone shell.
Her lips were blood-red, and her eyes glinted black.
She might have been the most beautiful creature Cali had ever seen until her lips stretched into a crocodile smile filled with knife-edged teeth.
The mermaid tilted her head as she eyed Bonnie. “Now, is that any way to talk about a friend?”