Rory POV

Silas and I are in utter shock as Ema explains how she marked Braxton, so they could be together forever. Damn, Ema can't hold her liquor for shit. Elias was going to ease her into it since the drinking age in White Rapids is 21, but Desfyra is a different kingdom altogether. Silas is looking at me completely lost on why I look so pissed at our drunken friends.

Braxton looked up at us with tears in his eyes. “Why…did the fluffy…” he sobbed. “Monkey…bite me?”

“Rosewyn, I need some context here. What does she mean she marked Braxton?” Silas walked over to his friend who was moaning in pain.

I could see Ema was not in control of her actions although she managed to get the poor guy an ice pack. Knowing Ema, I should have rushed back here when Silas mentioned alcohol would be involved. The girl only got a brief mate talk with Aunt Leah before we were rushed away to Pine Row. Ema has no idea about the new set of problems that she has caused for us. I am not sure how to explain this to people who know nothing about beast folk customs.

“The shortest answer is that those two got drunk and bonded themselves by magic,” I said as Ema came and tried to climb me like a tree. Silas didn't get the gravity of the situation by explanation. “They kind of got married through magic.”

“Got married!” Silas sounded exasperated as he tried his healing magic on Braxton. Ema had bitten him pretty deep in the shoulder. Her magic was coursing through him, which hurts like hell according to my aunt.

An alarm sounded throughout the city breaking up our emergency. I looked at Silas for information. “Pirates in the port,” he called out, leaving Braxton a mess on the couch. “We need to go.”

Great, that’s just what I needed. We were off to another battle while our drunk friends had to stay home. I pulled Ema off and used a blanket to tie her to a dining chair. She whined at me, trying to paw her way free. I grabbed a hunk of roast and scared it down as I followed Silas into the night.

My chest was heavy from all the activity today, but I knew my body was expelling the spores already. A few hours and I would be spore-free, but I didn't have that kind of time. Getting into our little boat, Silas uses water magic to propel us toward the pirates. They were upriver toward the North side of the port. I could see the Cyran soldiers were engaging the pirates as they tried to make their getaway. Silas’ sense of responsibility must have kicked in because he blasted across the port in mere seconds.

“Ready, Rosewyn?” Silas asked as we neared the pirate vessel.

My drive for battle kicked on in an instant as I jumped from our skiff onto the boat. I was thankful that Ebony Fungi ruined my long skirt or that climbing up the side of this vessel would be much harder. My dagger rested in its holster on my thigh as I scaled the ship. Silas used a burst of air magic to launch himself on deck. I hurried after him.

On the deck, Silas was knocking away foes with his air magic. Most of the crew coming toward us were wearing obsidian cuffs, which made this battle harder. Our foes were slaves… Was this the ship we were looking for or did all pirates use slaves in their crew?

“Cap’n Boom, we got us some rats on the deck,” an old man called to the man wearing a red hat.

“Aye, Dobber, we do.” The red-hatted man replied. “A pair of rats hoping to get the drop on Cap’n Boom, I’d reckon.”

Was heaven laughing at us right now? We ended up on the exact ship we were hoping to find. It seemed too easy to just climb aboard this damn ship as it tried to rob a merchant’s ship. The Cyran Naval Fleet was on the ship’s tail. I freed my dagger from my hip. This was a freaking tall order that Silas was asking of me under his breath.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Don’t kill them, but we can’t let this ship leave port.” He was asking for the impossible. There were only two of us against a ship full of people.

“Fine,” I growled.

Silas started us off with a burst of wind, forcing everyone away from us. I jumped up the bow to the mast. I climbed to the top, leaving Silas to fend off the others below. Immediately, I was met with company. A few pirates without obsidian cuffs descended on me once I reached the first intersection of the mast. Anchoring myself on the beam, the first pirate engaged me with a sword. My dagger was a decent match for the pirate as I dueled him. The metal of our blades clashed as the next pirate reached us on the beam.

Two on one on a ship rocking in the river water balancing on the cross beams of the mast. The sword scratched my face, and I felt my magic raging beneath the surface. The only problem was my magic could kill everyone on this boat. Silas was trusting me to solve this without a magic episode, so the only way forward was with a blade. I forced the sword up as I kicked the ankle of the first pirate, causing him to lose balance and fall to the crowd below.

I gripped my dagger tightly as the next pirate held claws capable of tearing through steel. It was the old man who had been next to the captain a few minutes ago. His name was Dobber, maybe?

We faced off on the narrow beam, the ship swayed beneath us, the river churning ominously below. Dobber lunged forward, his claws slashing through the air with deadly precision. I twisted out of the way, his claws slicing through the pirate's coat and drawing a thin line of blood. Dobber roared in fury, his eyes blazing with a savage determination.

I danced along the beam, my movements were fluid and graceful. Punching to the left, I faked Dobber out and lunged to the right, my dagger driving towards the pirate’s thigh. However, the pirate was quick, his claws deflecting the blow and sending me stumbling backward. Damn, this old man was fast. The two of us charged each other, our breath coming in ragged gasps. The light of an explosion cast long shadows across the deck of the ship. More explosions went off around us as we entangled our weapons in battle. Captain Boom was certainly making a bunch of booms around us.

With a snarl, Dobber launched himself at me, his claws flashing in the fading light. I dodged and weaved, my dagger finding its mark with deadly accuracy. Dobber stumbled, a look of shock crossing his face as he fell off the beams of the mast, his claws dropping from his grasp. Two down, one to go. I cut the ropes along the mast beams, causing the sail to collapse on itself. “Good luck fleeing without your sails, Captain Boom.”

The red-hatted captain peered up at me with disdain. “Nobody trumps Cap’n Jolly Boom Megee, lass,” he spat. His peg leg thudded against the wood of the ship. With one hand, he raised a wave to carry the ship upriver.

“Not on your life, Boom,” Silas shouted as he cast several fireballs at the captain, releasing the water from the wave.

The boat rocked and nearly tipped from the force of the water. The last pirate headed toward me fell into the water from the commotion. I crawled sling the mast until I was right on top of the captain. I pulled a move from Ema’s attack style and dropped on top of the guy, knocking him to the ground.

Captain Boom wiggles underneath me to force me off. “Lass, you’re heftier than the whales of the Northern Sea!”

I lost any control I had in that moment and pounded the bastard’s face in. Silas told me not to kill, but he didn’t say not to disable the bastard. Silas appeared next to me after a few minutes to stop my fists from killing the pirate. I turned to see the ship was boarded by the Cyran Naval soldiers. I don’t know how we managed to do this, but we just stopped Captain Boom and rescued 23 N’ila citizens. The other slaves were released as well. The captain only had ten crewmen in his vessel. The rest were slaves from all over Gleaca.

The freed slaves thanked us for our effort and the Cyran Navy took over care of the victims. My body was tired from all the swordplay with the pirates. Silas and I had to hitch a ride from another boat back to the villa because our skiff was destroyed during the battle. I wondered how the Cyran Navy dealt with pirates if it took a prince and a hybrid to sneak on the pirate to win. Silas may need to look into navy effectiveness against pirates.

We were sitting on the deck of a small navy ship bringing us back to the villa. “Silas?” I huffed. “Did we finish our mission?”

“I think we are as close as we are going to get to finishing.” Silas leaned his head against the boat. “Is your breathing better?”

“Yeah, but I am exhausted.” All I wanted to do was go to bed.

He smiled. “Normally, I would suggest going to bed, but a feast and drunk people are waiting for us.”

“Damn it.”

The boat docked at the villa, letting us off at our doorstep. Silas got up and walked over to me. With his hand held out, he grinned saying, “Come on. Let’s face it together.” I took his hand and led the way inside.