When Jayln woke up, Fenrin was already gone. As she emerged on deck, his voice shouted angrily, "Who was on watch?! Who's responsible?"

Fenrin clutched a frayed rope, his eyes flashing across his crew who froze glancing from one another. After a moment, Jaylin realized the small dinghy was gone.

"Tell me who it was or I start guessing." Fenrin threw the rope down and drew his sword.

Leinad piped up, "It was Tryst's watch, Captain."

There was a low murmuring from the pirates and every eye turned to the first mate's cabin. Fenrin nodded and Kalder opened the door, went inside, and emerged dragging Tryst out. He was only wearing a nightshirt and everyone got a brief glance at Echa's pale face before the door closed.

"Mornin' Captain," Tryst said in a strained voice. A frightened smile on his face as Kalder held him by the scruff.

Fenrin leaned down and Jayln couldn't help but move closer with the rest of the crew. "If we weren't three men down, I would gut you like a fish right here. Why weren't you at your post?"

"Didn't get much sleep night before last," Tryst said, before he bit his tongue and his thin smile shattered as he realized his own words.

Fenrin punched him in the stomach and Tryst crumpled to the deck, coughing. Sheathing his sword, Fenrin nodded at Kalder. "Twenty with the cat but I need him to work today."

The crew jeered as Kalder dragged Tryst to the mast and tied him to it, face pressed against the wood. Jayln got a glimpse of his face which had the look of a man who'd lost a bet and accepted his losses.

Kalder took a knife and cut open the nightshirt, leaving Tryst bare. Jayln sucked in a breath at the state of Tyrst's back. From neck to tailbone, it was a crisscrossing of white scars, layered with various ages. She was so engrossed, she missed Kalder grabbing the cat-o-nine-tails before it came ripping onto Tyrst's skin.

Blood dripped down the gashes, but Tryst managed not to scream until the third lash. Jayln had to look away, unable to stomach the sight. When the twentieth blow had fallen, Tryst was cut free and Kalder helped him stumble to his cabin. He turned him over to Echa who shut the door.

Guessing she'd be occupied for a while, Jayln took Echa's place in bringing food down to the children. She ate with them and at Anwen's request continued their training until her mother returned.

"How is he?" Jayln asked when Echa stepped into the room, lips pressed together tightly.

"He'll live. I'm no nurse but he knew exactly what to do. Captain put him right back to work and to his credit he threw himself into it hard as he could."

Jayln carried on with her lesson until the kids were tired, then she went above deck. Despite Echa's remarks, she was surprised to see Tryst alone on the starboard side, coiling heavy rope, his shirt pink on the back.

After a quick return to the cargo hold to grab a bundle of shirts, Jayln walked over to Tryst who was now raising buckets of sea water to dump into a barrel. She sat on the large pile of rope and looked at him sympathetically.

"I'd rather you not be here. Captain's mad enough at me already without you giving me any attention," he said a bit snappish.

Jayln snorted. "He won't care. Anyway I wanted to give you these in case you needed them." She handed him the bundle of shirts and after eyeing her for a moment he took them.

"Thanks. They aren't the captain's are they?"

Jayln baulked. "Of course not, I don't want you dead. No, they're from the loot." The piratical word felt funny coming from her mouth and she chuckled. "Don't worry I'll erase them from the inventory." She winked conspiratorially.

"Just don't do anything to get me in more hot water. I've got enough trying to do the work of three now to try to keep my head."

"Who were they anyway?"

Tryst paused for a moment to glance at her to see if she was serious then he quickly continued his work. "Pressganged. We took them from the other ship. We lost Gerold in the fight so the captain figured we'd need extra hands. I screwed that one up though."

Regret was mixed with bitterness as he hissed in pain, lifting the heavy water bucket over the edge and letting it pour into the barrel. As one of the pink stains got darker, Jayln winced. "Do you want me to look at that?" she found herself asking.

"Nope. I've got enough pride to take what I've been given. Besides, as you probably saw, this isn't my first time."

The crisscross of scars flashed clearly in Jayln's mind. "Not much for following orders?" she asked.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Tryst grunted again as he poured another bucket in. "No, if that were the case I'd be dead. My back just shows I have enough sense to know my place but not enough to be happy about it." Some of his usual humor crept in.

When Jayln smiled, he frowned. "Oi, forget I said that. My mouth's the real reason I get in trouble."

Jayln jumped off the rope. "Don't worry, Fenrin doesn't need anymore reason to lose his temper and I'm certainly not going to egg him on. Well, good luck with your water."

He smiled dryly and she walked off to find Fenrin. It was annoying that by alienating himself from her, he'd made her place on the ship awkward and unclear. She hadn't realized quite how much he'd guided her, telling her what to do and where to go to make herself useful. It was irksome and she wasn't going to let it continue.

She found him alone at the helm, quietly steering the ship and watching the horizon. She walked up and stood beside him. "So...three days."

He grunted. Irritated she continued, "Listen, I know this hasn't been the smoothest trip but I don't remember ending our partnership so I don't appreciate being ignored."

Fenrin turned to her, the noon sun picking out the speckles of gold and green in his grey eyes. He looked her over and she wondered what was going on in his head. Finally he spoke, "You should go home."

"What?"

He clenched his jaw. "This isn't going to work and we both know it. I'm..." He paused something unsaid dying on his tongue. "I'm no politician. I almost hate being in charge, an alliance wouldn't last. I'll carve a place on my own. I don't need you."

Jayln stepped in front of the wheel forcing him to look at her. "Yes, you're terrible at working with people. I'm almost as bad when it comes to understanding the world and how harsh it can be and in case you hadn't noticed, I don't need you either. You gave up your inheritance, remember? Threw away the name that I bargained for to protect my village."

Fenrin blinked, this dawning on him for the first time. She pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Despite that, I still think we should carry on. Because we do need each other. I'm not ready to bring my village into the world and whether you like it or not, you can't live and be happy on your own. Your little secluded valley idea is a perfect compromise and I'm not ready to give it up, are you?"

Fenrin stared at her and then his lips drew back into his wolfish grin, "A shared purpose, huh?" He eyed her meaningfully and when she realized what he was referring to, the color rose to her cheeks, unable to hide her embarrassment. "My proposal still stands you know," he teased.

"You're not much more appealing." She snorted, turning away.

"I've got a month."

She couldn't resist looking back to see if he was serious. His face was unreadable and he carried on, "By the way, we need to decide what to do when we land. The original plan's going to require some...modification."

Thinking about the unexpected turns of their voyage, Jayln nodded. Before she could give any ideas, Fenrin shouted. "Tryst!"

The man appeared a bit slower than normal. "Yes, captain." He eyed Fenrin warily.

"Take the helm."

Tryst could hardly believe his ears, he glanced quickly at Jayln but then stepped happily over to take the wheel. "Aye, aye Captain!"

Fenrin and Jayln left the happy first mate and went to the cabin where Fenrin rolled out a map and pointed to a marked spot. "That's our landing point," he traced his finger up, "and this is where we should enter the mountains. This..." he slid to the left, "is the nearest Imperial settlement. At least that's mapped."

Jayln followed his lines. "Should be easy enough to avoid."

"For us sure, not for anyone we're bringing."

Jayln stared at him. He meant the children. He was not only willing to bring the children, he'd planned on it. Fenrin the Wolf had thought of the children. A mix of pride and guilt arose as she realized Fenrin was trying, really trying. She wasn't sure she could say the same over the last few weeks.

"Actually I have a different plan for that. I'd rather we go through the mountains alone. I think Zalif, Naveem, and Jerof will want off when we reach shore. With a little convincing, I think they'll be willing to take the children and a message back to my village. We can pay them with a few of the diamonds."

Fenrin thought for a moment. "Aside from the obvious problem, that could work. I have a few messages of my own I'd like delivered."

"Obvious problem?" Fenrin gave her an impatient glance and she thought it through. "Ah, the diamonds. Gems like that on two men with ex-slave papers, no jeweler would take them."

Fenrin nodded. "Luckily, I can take care of that. I set up a nice fence when we were in Taka. I also left a few loose ends they can tie up for me."

"When did you do that?"

"While you were taking in the scenery." He took out a fresh leaf of paper and started to scrawl out instructions.

"They'll want to keep the diamonds hidden until they get to Riley's. He'll give them good enough money for them, skimming the top off for my tab. They can use that money to get a lift most of the way to your village."

He pulled another paper out and addressed it to Maurya. "I owe her a ride, so I'll arrange for Firebrand to pick her up and deliver on that promise."

"You think he'll keep to your order?"

Fenirn grinned. "He may be an ambitious hardhead, but I'm giving him the boat and more in exchange, so he'd better. Even if he doesn't, Maurya will figure out a way on herself or she'll get back to me eventually to hold me to my word."

He finished the letter, tucking in an envelope. Jayln reached over for the pen and wrote a letter to her father. "I just keep sending people out of the blue." She laughed as she signed her name. "At least these should be better received than the last."

After a moment she added a post script. Fenrin watched, reading over her shoulder.

P.S. Won't be back as scheduled. Plan to return by summer solstice.

He whistled. "You willing to tack on another two months?"

She tried to shrug it off. "Even if we left now, we wouldn't make the deadline. Besides I want to see this valley myself."

In that moment the pieces jarred out of place by the sea voyage clicked back together. They looked at each other for a moment, before Jayln turned away to stuff the letter in the last envelope. "That just leaves how the kids'll get to Redport, how we'll get to the mountains, and how the ship will get anywhere with less manpower."

Fenrin leaned back, grinning. "We've got three days."