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Ol’ ‘Bald’ Burton,
was a dangerous man to cross,
For he won the all captains coin toss
Ol’ ‘Bald’ Burton,
Probably left yer moth’r for anoth’r,
For he had ‘Trickster’ for a broth’r
Ol’ ‘Bald’ Burton,
served ye rum mixed wit seawater
an’ called the Pirate Queen his daughter
-
Ballad of Bald Burton,
Popular pirate song,
Circa 199 NC
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Princess Elsanne Eikenaar
‘Jade Eyes’
Fair Anne Burton
If the heir is fake
Part I
(People are dying in yer name)
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Uher’s Holy Light!
Elsanne thought staring at the broken window.
That fool is dead.
She glanced at the furious face of Captain Van Fleet and the coughing ‘Bronchitis Sam’, before tightening the soaked robes around her. ‘Bald’ Burton was looking at her though worried.
“Yer alright there Anne?” He asked.
“Aye, I’m fine good sir, thank you,” Elsanne replied politely and smiled. “Nothing happened.”
“I hear ye, but still, this was disturbing,” the tavern keeper said and grimaced. “Captain Fleet, let’s give Anne some space.”
Van Fleet turned to stare at him and then nodded.
“I’ll have ‘Mutiny’ Carter sent up here,” he offered.
“Sam can look after her,” Burton stopped him. “She’s my guest.”
“Right,” Van Fleet grunted. “I shall be downstairs then,” he added stiffly and with a last glance at the broken window where his giant dog had jumped out of –going after that debauched Vale woman, turned on his heels and walked out of her crowded room.
“Sam will wait outside Anne,” Burton informed her and followed after him. Sam tried to say something as well but failed, all the excitement worsening his coughing fit. No sooner had they left and the door burst open and Jasi walked in.
Elsanne let out a small yelp, having being caught naked for the second time in less than half an hour, but seeing the eunuch sighed deeply, while the ex-slave closed the door behind him.
“Princess… Anne,” Jasi started, after pausing to admire her joggling bits, as Elsanne was in the process of wearing Selussa’s pants again the only way one could.
Jumping into them.
Hop
Hop-hop.
“Turn around Jasi,” Elsanne told him calmly, having managed to pull the tight leather pants over her thighs. These things left no room for undergarments.
A blessing in this heat.
“Of course,” Jasi said and complied turning to stare at the closed door. “I was taken by surprise.”
“I was surprised as well,” Elsanne murmured.
“Hah,” Jasi chuckled not getting her meaning. “Well, I would have returned sooner, but there was a big commotion in the market. Property damaged, a couple of people injured. Strangely, either a very large dog was the culprit, or a pirate wench. I guess the latter shouldn’t come as a surprise—”
“She was here,” Elsanne replied. “Vale that is. She went out of that window, a wolf after her. I think she’s dead.”
“Vale is a woman?” Jasi cleared his throat and turned around. Elsanne was buttoning her clean black shirt. It was made out of soft thin cotton and her loose white hair was contrasting on it. “What happened?”
“She wanted my water,” Elsanne replied, not going into the details. “At first I thought it’s a thing here, but it isn’t. So Van Fleet sent his dog after her.”
Jasi licked his lips worried. “Did you talk with him?”
“Didn’t have the chance, seeing as I was rudely assaulted by that pervert!”
And you’ve just spilled the beans girl.
Bravo.
“Did she touch you?”
“I sure touched her,” Elsanne chuckled, afore turning serious.
“What will you say? If they learn who you are, they might sell you to the Cofols, or the Prince,” Jasi muttered unhappy.
“The Prince has left already for the forts,” Elsanne argued.
“Well that’s helpful, but there are merchants from the Peninsula here,” Jasi explained. “That darn Sopats would pay them good coin to have a dark-skinned Issir as slave.”
What?
“I’m no slave!” Elsanne snapped and stood up straighter. “I’m Kaltha’s…” She glanced at the door remembering Sam waited outside and frowned.
“Lon-Iv is the strangest of the bunch, but he is into profit more than pleasure,” Jasi explained. “We dodged a bolt here, but still it’s a risk.”
“I shall keep it in mind,” Elsanne replied haughtily. “Tell them we are ready.”
“Anne, there’ll be no announcements,” Jasi said with a smile. “People don’t do that outside a court. If you’re ready, we just waltz out of here.”
Elsanne pouted not necessarily convinced, but after a thoughtful moment she nodded softly with her head. Jasi rolled his eyes afore opening the door.
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There was a door behind the counter that led into a large room, ‘Honest’ Fleet used as an office, but to Elsanne it looked more like a warehouse with a desk for the austere pirate captain. The rum barrels were lined up against the walls and what little room was left while clean, smelled of spirits and sausages.
There was a man waiting inside with Van Fleet and just before Elsanne and Jasi lead by Sam entered through the open door, a tall Lorian followed by a blond pants-wearing woman, a large sword strapped on her waist, cut in front of them. Jasi stopped her from admonishing the rude couple and the blond with the weather-beaten face, gave her an onceover afore getting inside and slamming the door in their face.
Why you annoying…
“I’ll come along,” Burton said and tossed a towel on the counter. “Don’t anyone think o’ leavin’ without payin’ the girls!” He warned his few unsavory customers, several of them giving him reassuring nods. Elsanne was sure most would bolt it out of the door the moment he was away.
Burton murmured under his breath probably thinking the same thing, grabbed the knob and pushed the door open. He entered, Elsanne following right behind him and stopped dead in her tracks seeing the blond woman striking the man she was escorting at the back of the head with the pommel of her cutlass.
The man went down to his knees and Van Fleet stood up from his well-lacquered blackwood desk, an extremely expensive material, the furniture looking out of place inside the crude room.
“Here I be ruminatin’,” Van Fleet started pressing his lips into a thin line. “How could that harlot dare sleep in me venue, then assault a memb’r of the brotherhood and treat her alike a hooker,” Elsanne flinched at that. “When I was informed it was ye Quint that had been dippin’ yer whore-pipe into the Baphomet’s vile…” he paused to glance at the cold face of Elsanne and cleared his throat. “I stand bewildered is my meaning and disappointed.”
“I was drunk,” Quint grunted, holding his swollen head. “She tricked me captain.”
“Tricked ye you say. So you spent the night wit her drinking some more, then rented a room for the next day and all of the next night. That’s a lot of trickin’… yet it’s Bald’s broth’r that has gotten the moniker,” Van Fleet turned red in the face, but again managed to hold his tongue, the effort not to lash out noteworthy. “Given we are in the presence of guests,” he continued wiping the sweat off of his forehead with a silk hankie. “Thou find yerself blessed by Luthos Quint, which is baffling considering you’re a right idiot.”
“She don’t mind,” the blonde said, over Quint’s protests, glancing her way. Elsanne frowned unsure where the woman was going with this.
“Mutiny,” Van Fleet said and it took a moment for Elsanne to realize it was the hard-faced woman’s moniker. “I called for ye instead of ‘Salty’ because yer sensitive in these matters.”
“I am,” Mutiny Carter apparently agreed. “What’s that got to do wit punishing him Captain? Quint knew yer orders. Vale is poison.”
Van Fleet scrunched his hawkish nose, the Issir pirate one of the few Issirs Elsanne had spotted in Eikenport.
“Ye make a lot of sense for a woman,” he finally said crooking his mouth. “Cut his pinky finger off,” he finally decided.
Elsanne gasped not expecting it. Quint grunted and made to run, but Carter used her sword to calm him down.
“Now,” she said with a cruel smile. “He may need his fingers Captain for the count.”
“Eh, again ye make sense,” Van Fleet grunted and looked about the room for help. Burton smacked his lips. “Yes Bald Burton?” The pirate Captain asked.
“An ear, to better learn to listen,” the tavern keeper offered and glanced at the freaked out Elsanne. “It’s relatively painless,” he explained.
“No it bloody isn’t!” Quint protested ogling his eyes.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Fifty lashes?” Sam chanced, with everyone else murmuring, Carter the most vocal of the bunch.
“In this darn heat? Why just bend me over the desk like a short-heeled lass—”
“Mutiny!” Van Fleet snapped. “Let’s keep it civil here, we’re not a bunch of cutthroats for cryin’ out loud!”
“Actually,” Sam started saying, but Burton stopped him with a well-placed elbow in the kidneys. Jasi who was watching the exchange from the sides cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Yes, strangely effeminate person?” Van Fleet probed trying to keep it polite.
“Take his jewels away,” the eunuch suggested with a sinister grin. Everyone recoiling at his idea even Mutiny Carter.
“Jasi, this isn’t funny,” Elsanne admonished him.
“Yes,” Quint agreed looking at the eunuch with hatred. “Who in Abrakas toes is this wierd dude anyway?”
“He’s a friend,” Elsanne explained and Van Fleet frowned afore Carter came up with a compromise.
“He needs his cock,” the pirate woman said, “But has no need for nipples right?”
Good grief, Elsanne thought with a shiver. Surely no one would ever…
But despite her reluctance, or discomfort, everyone else thought Carter’s idea fantastic.
So Quint went under the knife.
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“You’re alright there Anne?” Jasi asked her. Elsanne had almost fainted when Carter cut the fleshy bits out of Quint’s chest, the man obviously in a much worse condition than her.
“Give me a moment,” she croaked, her hands shaking.
“They are finished,” Jasi explained patiently. “We need to talk with them. Forget about what happened.”
“I can’t just…”
“You can,” Jasi stopped her. “When I was nine, your husband’s father ordered me cut and bled. So they took me one morning and dragged me to the stables. I remember the knife still. It was very small, but incredibly sharp. The man holding it. It was very painful Anne and the wound never heals.”
Elsanne gulped down and breathed deeply. “Oh no, Jasi that’s horrible!”
“It was then, it is now. What Quint got, he can fix with a couple of tattoos Anne,” Jasi replied, his face tensed. “Not everyone is so lucky.”
Elsanne remembered the Crimson Band’s captain’s wife and children.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured and got up. “It was thoughtless of me.”
Jasi stood back and looked at her amazed. “By gods you are the first royal that should never have to apologize given your character and what you’ve been through, yet you do it with no thought. It will be a crime for this cruel realm to lose you Anne.”
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Captain Van Fleet stood next to his desk with Burton, both men reading a nautical map. It was held open with a couple of silver goblets and placed on top of a big water barrel. Carter was clearing the blood off the floor with a dirty cloth singing a rowdy tune. Sam had carried the unconscious Quint up to the room he’d rented earlier.
Elsanne walked carefully to avoid stepping on the stained floor and paused nervously waiting for the Captain to finish his talk. Carter, stooped before her feet, turned around and gave the ‘masqueraded’ princess an onceover.
“You don’t remember me,” the pirate woman murmured.
“We’ve met?” Elsanne asked and returned her stare anxiously.
Mutiny Carter chuckled. “Been two years almost. Here in Eikenport, I watched you step out of the Corsair’s Gold wit Dawson. Ye looked like a girl then, but yer all woman now aren’t ye?”
Elsanne frowned, not expecting it. “You are mistaken,” she lied unconvincingly, seeing as the older woman was right on both counts.
Carter stood up, wiped her hands and tossed the bloody cloth over some unopened small barrels. She sucked her upper lip, then let it go audibly.
“Yer terribly at lyin’ Jade Eyes,” the pirate lady taunted. “See to work on it.”
“Sister Anne,” Captain Fleet said turning their way, before she could attempt to save it. Not that Elsanne could think of something witty to say. Usually people didn’t question her words…
“I must get somethin’ out of the way,” the older Issir added. Van Fleet looked to be in his late forties.
“What would that be?” She asked with a small voice, her heart beating wild in her chest.
“How do you know ‘Yellow’ Dawson?”
…so Carter helped her.
“She came wit him, a couple of years back,” Mutiny said. “Part of the Prince’s entourage.”
“Ah, ye mean this whatchamacallit…?” Van Fleet asked. “That’s unusual. Whatever you did for Dawson, must have made an impression.”
“He wanted to help,” Elsanne croaked nervously.
“I’m sure he did,” Van Fleet agreed. “We shan’t judge the whys here. If he believes you are part of the brotherhood, then his wishes shall be respected. I must… eh, apologize for Captain Vale. Her father was a great man, the daughter… has few friends, let us say.”
“I would have thought she had none,” Elsanne said surprised.
“Well, she does, strange as it may sound,” Van Fleet grimaced and reached for a carafe to refill a goblet on his desk. “Do ye partake in rum?”
Elsanne made to refuse, but Jasi cleared his throat and she nodded.
“Burton is this the good stuff? She doesn’t appear enthusiastic.”
“I had her taste my recipe yesterday,” Burton explained sounding aloof.
“Good grief, no wonder she paled at the mention,” Van Fleet laughed and got another goblet for her. “Here, sit down lass. Tell us what we can do for you.”
Elsanne found a chair and collapsed on it puffing out. Jasi sat next to her with a small smile at the frowning Burton.
“I thought your rum was decent all things considered,” he told him reassuringly.
Burton raised his brows surprised. “You’re a first alright. Haven’t decided if it’s rum, or not yet, but I’ll put yer endorsement to good use for sure. All things considered.”
“Why, this is turnin’ out to be a rather cultured event,” Van Fleet decided, the whole matter of the maimed Quint apparently forgotten and stretched himself on his chair, his strange sword clanging behind the desk. “Now, Miss Anne?”
“I’d like to return to Issir’s Eagle,” Elsanne blurted out and the room turned silent immediately, other than Carter’s muffled snort behind her back. “If it’s possible,” Elsanne added in a barely audible murmur.
Van Fleet grimaced, reached for his goblet and downed its contents in a go. Blinked once, the drink strong enough for Elsanne to smell from where she sat and looked at her.
“Now Anne,” he started. “I find myself in a bit of a conundrum here. Yer obviously well-mannered, a lady even. That much is obvious and of course an Issir, so I’ll admit my bias. I want to help, but what you’re asking will have a lot of good buccaneers die of hemp fever.”
Elsanne blinked unsure on his meaning, but also worried.
“Ahm, that sounds excessive—” she mumbled and felt Carter breathe next to her ear.
“He means hanged Jade Eyes,” the pirate woman whispered.
Ugh.
“By the neck,” Burton elucidated casually. “Until they are dead.”
“You see sister,” Van Fleet picked up the thread. “Whilst our ancestors, my great-great grandfather or thereabouts, and I’m sure yours as well, fought wit Reinut, Kaltha hates pirates. Most Issirs do for some reason.”
You’re torturing and killing people?
Elsanne licked her dry lips slowly. “All Kingdoms do.”
“One King tries to one up the other, or worse, but given the opportunity they’ll hang our brethren wit the same enthusiasm,” he sighed visibly troubled and stared at a half furled map he’d in front of him. The same he was reading earlier. “You are asking me to give them the opportunity. So I must ask you why?”
“We’ll take any port,” Jasi said quickly and Van Fleet stared at him with his hard pale-blue eyes.
“Why ask for Kaltha’s capital then?”
“They look for an opportunity to get out of Eikenport Captain, if one arises,” Carter intervened. “Right Burton?”
The tavern keeper flinched not expecting it and then nodded quickly.
“Aye, you’re not in a hurry Anne, right?” He asked nervously.
“We’re not,” Jasi replied as Elsanne was hampered and didn’t know what to say.
“When is ‘Yellow Dawson’ back?” Van Fleet asked.
“A month, two at the most,” Burton replied.
“This could turn ugly,” Van Fleet warned him. “We need the ships here.”
“Why?” Elsanne asked.
“Eh, we might have trouble come knocking on Eikenport soon,” he explained to her.
“What trouble?” she insisted, thinking of Prince Radin.
“First Garth comes, but we make a deal wit him, then the ‘Three Hundred’ and a darn Prince,” Van Fleet explained then paused unsure if he should continue, until Mutiny Carter urged him.
“Tell her.”
“Why?” Van Fleet queried and Burton puffed his cheeks out very troubled. “It has nothing to do wit her. She’s in no danger now and I doubt she’ll be in any on the morrow.”
Elsanne frowned.
“You’ll leave her here Honest Fleet?” Carter asked him accusingly.
“Of course I won’t, I was just about to suggest a compromise!” Van Fleet blasted her.
“I promised to help her,” Burton intervened to calm the tempers down. “And I shall do just that. So I don’t need ye Captain.”
“Ah, damn you,” Van Fleet cursed and refilled his goblet, eyeing Elsanne that hadn’t touched hers. She brought it to her mouth and tasted it. The smallest of sips burned her tongue and made her eyes water. A tear run down her cheek, hopefully no one saw, she thought.
“You’re alright there Anne?” Burton asked seeing her all flushed and teary.
“Aye,” she muttered sounding strangled.
“Let’s give her a moment,” Burton suggested. “Have some air dear,” he suggested and Elsanne nodded and got up quickly. She walked to the door, hearing Carter ordering Jasi to stay behind.
“Aye,” Van Fleet agreed sounding relieved. “Let ‘em women talk about their own stuff, right gents?”
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“I just need a bit of air,” Elsanne said quickly turning around, but the woman shushed her and grabbed her elbow to pull her aside. She glanced at the open door to the backroom of the tavern and then sighed. “What is it?” Elsanne hissed and removed her arm out of her claws.
“There’s an army at Devil’s Cove,” Carter said, snorting at her reaction. “It’s been there for a year almost. Building a port and blocking the road to Raoz.”
“I know that,” Elsanne spat and pulled away. “The Prince is looking for a way to get to them.”
“Aha, he maybe thinks that, but give it enough time and they might come our way.”
Elsanne frowned. “Why would they move now?”
Carter pressed her lips tight, wrinkles appearing on her sea-weathered face.
“The King,” she said pausing as if pondering whether to tell her more.
“What King?” Elsanne asked raising a hand on her throat, her pulse thundering.
“Ah, darn ye Anne,” Carter shook her head right and left. “I suppose you could’ve picked yer maid’s name, but still people would have noticed. The Prince brought back an Issir Princess for a wife. It was big news then for such a remote port.”
Elsanne clasped her shaking hands in front of her. “Who else knows?”
“Right now? I guess me, but sooner or later, people will put two and two together.”
“Which King?” Elsanne hissed.
“Kaltha’s,” Carter replied. “Regia’s.”
“What happened?”
“Alistair is dead is the word and yer broth’r on his way there,” Carter replied with a grimace. Antoon how? “His wife died on childbirth and people think the heir was never delivered,” the cruel woman added.
Poor Nienke, oh my allgods no!
“There’s an heir?” Elsanne whispered and reached for the wall. She put a hand on to keep herself upright, the news devastating.
“A man came from Kaltha,” Carter said. “Looking for help, searching for you.”
Elsanne slid down on her weak knees, the tavern a blur. Everything around her turning a sinister grey. A raven flapped its wings, the black eyes wise in their cruelness.
Bend the knee, it had croaked years ago.
But it wasn’t addressing her.
“Help?” she croaked, her stomach turning into a knot.
“Pirate help,” Mutiny Carter replied and kneeled next to her. “Better to talk with him yourself, because Van Fleet and the Captains weren’t fond of his offer. All those broth’rs rotting in Caspo O’ Bor leave no room for polite conversation. Ask Leo, she’ll tell you. Pieces of her dad are probably still there.”
Uher shed yer light, Elsanne prayed desperately. Show me the way.
But the god was silent and despite the heat, she was shivering uncontrollably.
“If the baby heir is fake,” Carter whispered in her ear, her words like blades. “Or up and dies. You—”
“NAAHH!” Elsanne cried and pushed her away to get up. “I don’t want to hear it. That’s my family Carter!”
Her pain turned to fear and then panic.
“Sweet girl,” the pirate woman said without malice, seeing her shuddering on her feet again. “People are dying in yer name already and if I’m right that army is already on the move. For what’s worth I don’t envy you. You do have a choice though and true power, none of these murdering fools beyond the sea have. But ye have to play yer cards right and I’m not sure you can.”
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read it at Royalroad : https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/46739/touch-o-luck-the-old-realms
& https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47919/lure-o-war-the-old-realms
Scribblehub https://www.scribblehub.com/series/542002/touch-o-luck-the-old-realms/
& https://www.scribblehub.com/series/547709/the-old-realms/