Traveler (9 page)

Rahim pursed his lips and then his eyes widened as he saw the pendant slipping from her grip.  That pendant...he had given it to
her
so long ago...how in the Gods’ names did this woman have it?  It had been lost so long ago.  He grew angry that this girl had it.  How in the Gods’ names could anyone have gotten that pendant?  The way she looked though...he had to take her, just to find more about her.  He slipped his arms underneath her, scooping her up in his arms.  He needed to get her off the ship and back on his own, before someone came looking for her.  

Rahim moved quietly through the halls of the belly of the ship, holding her close to him so she didn’t get jarred, nodding to Luc belowdecks that everything was alright and going accordingly.  His first mate was laden heavily with trinkets and treasures and was grinning like a schoolboy.  He took the stairs carefully, not wanting her to wake just yet.  The deck above them, as they emerged, borderlined on chaos.  Fighting was everywhere, the clash of swords and the screams of the dying music to Rahim’s ears.  His men were clearly winning, their numbers and their superior fighting prowess proving to be too much for these sailors, hired hands only to make the passengers have a nice time.  His dark boots took him to the edge of the ship, towards where his sailors already waited with ropes to bring his men back across.  

Over the clash of blades and pained screams came an angry yell that made the girl whimper fearfully in her sleep and clutch tightly to the man carrying her.  Several feet away, in the midst of a fight with one of the pirates was a bloody Cedric, glaring angrily at Rahim.  He slammed the butt of his blade against the back of his opponent’s head before storming across the deck towards the two, ignoring the beleaguered sailors he passed.  “Give her back, scum! She’s mine!”

Rah stopped short when he heard Cedric’s voice.  He recognized that voice, from long ago. The way the girl had reacted, it made Rahim’s teeth grind together.  He wanted to kill this man, just as he’d wanted to beat him twelve years ago.  Rahim held her still, close.  “She’s no more yours than mine, you bastard.  If you want her, you’ll have to come and get her.”

“I’m the one that slipped the drug into her dinner! I’m the one that paid for her!  That makes her mine! Give her back! Now! Before I gut you like the faithless cur you are!”  The irate man snarled angrily, shoving a pair of fighters out of his way as he forced his way closer to the man who held his betrothed.  His fingers tightened around the hilt of his dagger as he drew closer, intent on shoving his blade into the pirate’s throat.

Rahim gently handed Bri off to one of his own sailors, knowing she’d be safe with the man who held her, especially now that he knew she was drugged.  He bared his teeth in a snarl and turned to face the man she feared.  “Then take her,” Rahim offered, opening his arms and pulling out his cutlass.  “I’ll not give her to you willingly, bastard.  And even if you did pay for her...that just makes her more valuable.”  His grin bordered on maniacal.  His dark eyes were cold, calculating.  This man needed to die.

Blinded by anger, Cedric took no notice of the way the girl whimpered as she was shifted into another pirate’s arms.  His only thought was how he was going to make the cur suffer for daring to touch what was his.  “Die, scum!”

Rahim shrugged.  “Suit yourself.”  He ran forward towards the other man, bringing his cutlass up to attack him.  He would need to kill him fast and hard, before he could find out how the other man was with a blade.  The cutlass was raised above his head, ready to strike down onto his neck.  

Cedric brought his own sword up, deflecting the pirate’s first blow, which should have decapitated him, and brought it down instead to strike into his shoulder.  It was his fighting arm, and it effectively made him useless for the rest of the battle.  His cutlass soaked with blood, Rahim backed away.  “Well now...that works too.  I’ll see you soon, bastard, and then I’ll finish what I started.”

He watched the man sink down to the deck in pain and he ran back to the rail, taking Brileia without a word from the sailor.  He grabbed the rope with his other hand, thankful the girl was small enough to hold easily one-handed.  He swung over to his ship, grinning triumphantly in the bastard’s direction.  If he wanted her bad enough now, he would pay a hefty ransom to get her back later.  

Chapter 7

Once safely aboard the Maiden’s Voyage, Rahim’s steps took him quickly across the deck.  He needed to get her into a cabin before she woke up, to let her wake up on her own and not be in the heat of battle.  The stairs to go belowdecks were not far, and he took them carefully, not wanting to wake her up, even in her drugged state.  As he moved, he looked down on her face, on the peacefully sleeping expression she wore there. Rahim nudged open the door to one of the passenger’s quarters and laid her on the bed gently, moving to leave her to wake up on her own.

As she was gently laid upon the bed, the petite girl shifted slightly, her fingers still tangled in his shirt.  She sleepily opened her eyes, unfocused cerulean orbs examining his face in through a drugged haze.  “Dragon?” She mumbled in sleepy confusion, not quite awake enough to wonder how she had gotten to wherever this was.

His heart stopped when she said the nickname that had been his when he was a child, that had followed him until he had fled the palace and grew up too quickly.  Only to those who knew who he had been, back then, but how would this one know his nickname?  The Dragon had died there, and the Captain had been born, even as a cabin boy.  He smiled a little bit, gently untangling her fingers.  “I don’t know who this Dragon is, bird, but I’m not him.  You’re aboard my ship, the Maiden’s Voyage.  Enjoy your stay here before I ransom you back in the islands.”

Brileia stared up at the man in utter confusion as he removed her fingers from his shirt.  Even the touch of his hand felt familiar to her.  How did she know him?  Dark curls spilled wildly over her slender shoulders as she abruptly sat up on the bed, her mind racing.  This was her chance to get away from her wretched fiance, even if it was a blight on her family’s honor.  She bit her bottom lip for a moment before hesitantly addressing the man.  “...must I really be ransomed back to him?”

He looked down at her.  “Yes.  You’ll fetch a pretty price when we get to the islands, and I cannot be burdened with keeping a woman on board my ship.  I already have a mermaid on my vessel; I don’t need any more trouble.”  The last was said under his breath.  “So no, Br-bird, there is no way I can’t ransom you back.”

The slight slip of the tongue was not missed.  Was that her name he had been about to speak?  Confusion and tears filled her brilliant eyes as she stared up at him, her bottom lip trembling visibly.  “Can you not just...leave me on the islands? Please? I can’t go back to them. I just can’t! I need to find him...”  The last part was more of a whisper than anything else.

Rahim’s eyes narrowed and he knelt down in front of her.  “He who?  And I couldn’t leave you alone on the islands in good conscience.  All manner of nasty beasties live there.”  He looked at her curiously.  “But...I can try to make sure you go to a nice home, instead of that pompous ass of a fiance.  To be a serving girl, or some such.”

                Small fingers curled around the pendant she wore, as if seeking strength from its mere presence.  A wistful look crossed her face, tears silently spilling down her pale cheeks.  “My dragon...he gave me this when I was very little...to protect me from the monsters under the bed.  He disappeared a long time ago...but I need to find him.  They told me he died, but I don’t believe it.  I just have this feeling that he needs me...why I’m not sure.  But I don’t care.  He’s my only friend. I would do anything for him...anything to find him.”

He wiped the tears from her face. “I hate to tell you, bird, I met this dragon of yours a long time ago, when he fled the palace.  He died, a long time ago.  You’re looking for a ghost, I’m afraid.  Everything you are feeling about needing to find him...you’re chasing phantoms.  I’m sorry to tell you this way.  He was a young man, yes?  Black hair?  Dark eyes?  A prince, when he was alive?  Who fled when his parents were murdered?  That’s what you were told, yes?  Unless they told you he died?”  It was better to let her think the man he used to be dead and gone, to remember him fondly, than realize what he had become.

“No...you’re wrong...I know you are...” She whispered fiercely, glaring angrily at him through her tears.  There was no way that she was going to believe her beloved dragon was dead.  She would have known...somehow.  “I will find him.  I don’t care what anyone says.”

He shrugged and stood.  “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I thought the truth would give you some sort of closure.  As it is...there is another woman on board to keep you company until we reach the islands.  We fished her out of the sea, like some long-forgotten mermaid.  She is in the cabin next to yours.  I don’t have any more time to spend indulging your fantasies.  Good afternoon, miss.”

Brileia stared after the man, silently wondering how he would even think that trying to shatter her resolve would give her any closure.  There would be no closure...not until she saw her dragon with her own two eyes.  Turning over, she buried her face in the pillow, her tears soaking into it.

Rahim leaned against the door for a brief moment, breathing out through his nose as he stood there.  It hurt her to hear his words, but it was the best for her.  It needed to be said.  He turned to the next room and knocked on the door there.  “Mermaid, open up!”

Aislin snapped out of her revery.  She had heard the entire conversation between the captain and the young woman--thank God for thin walls.  It seemed tragic, really.  She was looking for someone, and she was so sad.  And he was heartless enough to squash her dream before she had a chance to discover it.  Her long red hair had finally dried, and the sounds of battle had subsided quite some time ago, as well as she could infer.  There were no clocks, here.  She would kill for a wristwatch.  She stood up, the silk swirling around her feet, and opened the door. “What can I do for you...sir?” she asked, dropping into a curtsy.  It wouldn’t hurt to be polite, especially to a blood-thirsty pirate captain who could potentially kill her.

Rahim looked her up and down suspiciously.  A mermaid, was it?  Very polite, for a mermaid.  “I wanted to see this mermaid Rogue fished from the ocean myself.  Although, you don’t look fishy enough to be a mermaid.  So, what are you?”  His dark eyes bore into her green ones, demanding honesty.

Aislin was flustered and didn’t know what to say.  She looked down, fiddling with her hands in her lap.  “I’m human,” she insisted.  “I woke up in the ocean.  That’s all I know.  Please...please don’t hurt me.”  Her fingers trembled slightly before she was able to stop them.  “You must be the captain, right?”  

An eyebrow arch in amused surprise was all she got.  “You are observant, for a mermaid.”

A small smile lit Aislin’s face.  “I’ve always been observant.”

Rahim nodded.  “There are other dresses in  your cabin.  There is a woman who is in the cabin next to you, a little younger than you are, by my guess.  Please find a suitable dress for her, and please bring it to her in the next cabin.  Your cabins are both unlocked, so it will be easy to get to her.”

Aislin nodded, watching the captain as he walked away from her cabin.  She was to meet another woman?  How long was this hallucination going to last?  It had to be a hallucination...a dream, while she was asleep.  Something caught her attention before the captain walked off.  “Captain?” she asked.  

She was rewarded with a small sound of query.  “What is the name of your ship?”

“The Maiden’s Voyage,” he answered.  

Briefly a flash of words on a page flew before her.  
The waves hit the hull of the Maiden’s Voyage.
 Her eyes widened with horror.  The book!  The ship’s names were the same!  It had to be a coincidence.  It just had to be.  “Thank you, Captain,” she answered, swallowing softly.  “And, Captain, if I may be so bold...you really shouldn’t make young girls cry.  It’s not very nice, you know.  You should learn to be nicer.”

Aislin was rewarded with a slight narrowing of his eyes in anger, then he stomped off.  A small satisfied smile crossed Aislin’s face.  Even here, she still had to speak her mind.  It was probably going to get her in trouble, but it was only a book, right?  And a hallucination, at that.  Must be a hallucination.

When the captain had stomped off, the door slamming shut behind him, a tall figure detached itself from the shadows in the corner of the room.  Icy blue eyes narrowed slightly, lingering on the obstinate girl in the room. A hand slid over her mouth to keep her silent as an arm pulled her back against a muscular chest.  His breath washed over her cheek as he whispered in her ear.  “Must you always be so childish, Miss Oriole?  You have no idea what you have done.”

Aislin tried to scream as a hand came over her mouth, her eyes wide and terrified as she was pulled back against a muscular chest.  The voice, it sounded familiar.  And it knew her name. The librarian?!  She struggled against his grip, trying to spin around to face him.  She tried to bite down on his hand to make him let her go, her lips baring to show her teeth, prepared to sink into flesh.

“If you dare to bite me, girl, your punishment will be worse.” Alexander whispered fiercely in her ear, shaking her slightly.  While her feeble struggling was of no consequence to a man like him, he did not care to be bitten.  “It is bad enough that I have to come here and retrieve you.  Don’t make things more difficult than they already are.”

She gritted her teeth behind his hand and struggled again, at least trying to spin in his arms to face him, confront him about...what.  
How did you come to be in a book world where I have no idea how I got here either?
 
And how do you know so much about this place?  
She tried once more to spin, attempting to face him.  Her eyes were flinty, angry.  If she could at least shake his hand off of her...