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That would be a sword. Good to know it’s there. If only I could grab it without Riden noticing, but that’s all but impossible. A sword would be much harder to hide than a dagger.
There is nothing else of interest on the ship. At least not anything that’s visible right away. There may yet be some nooks and crannies that remain hidden. But it’s also just as likely that the crew members took anything valuable with them. It’s been my experience that when a crisis strikes, the first thing that men think about are all the treasure they can take with them. Thoughts of their friends and shipmates usually come second, if at all.
“Looks all clear,” Riden says. “I’ll start looking deeper. Kindly go and hail the rest of the crew over.”
“Oh yes, I’ll just go hail the crew over. Truly, I enjoy helping the men who’ve kidnapped me.”
“Can’t leave you down here by yourself while I go fetch them. Would you rather I hauled you all the way up the deck with me? I know how much you like it when I have my hands on you.”
I huff and head up the stairs. He’s difficult to figure out, that one. One instant he seems to try to distance himself from me. The next I swear he fancies me. He’s probably keeping me on my toes, just as I try to do to him. The game of predator and prey can be a fun one. When you’re the predator, of course. It’s fun to rub the victory into your prisoner’s face. You beat them. You captured them. It’s your right. Father said once that if you can catch and imprison a man, then his life is yours to take or do with as you please. His philosophy is that if you have the power to do something, then youshoulddo it.
Once on deck, I wave at the pirates, signaling that everything is all clear.
With nothing else to do, I return belowdecks. Might as well continue to walk and stretch before I get shut into my cell again. Not that I don’t intend to spend tonight moving about anyway.
“They’re on their way,” I say as I enter the room Riden and I last checked: a storage room.
That’s when they grab me.
Riden’s shoved face-first against the wall, a sword point pressed against the middle of his back while the bearer’s free hand pushes against his shoulder. I can see now that a few panels have been removed from the wall straight ahead. A hidden room. Three men stand in the room with Riden and me: one keeping Riden where he is, and now two holding me.
“Blast it,” I say. “You couldn’t have shouted out a warning?”
“When a sword’s pointed at me?” Riden asks. “I think not.”
“Shut up!” one of the men holding me yells. “How many are in your crew? How many will come?”
“Sixty,” Riden says, exaggerating the number by twenty.
“Stars,” the man holding Riden at sword-point says. “We can’t hold them off. And we can’t count on the others returning in time.”
“Then we’ll use ’em as hostages,” the last man says. “We’ll tell ’em we’ll kill the members of their crew unless they stay back. We can buy time.”
“But will it be enough?”
“It’ll have to work.”
“But do we need them both? The man looks like too much trouble to deal with. I say we gut him and deal with the girl.”
Being underestimated always works to my advantage. But sometimes I find it offensive. That often makes me violent. It makes me question whether I should allow them to kill Riden, just so I can beat the hell out of all three of them without Riden watching. I couldn’t let him see what I’m capable of doing to them. I hate that I have to hold back now.
The men continue to argue among themselves as I decide what to do.
Riden interrupts my line of thinking. “Now, Alosa, would be a good time for you to employ that same tactic you demonstrated when we first met.”
“Are you certain you wouldn’t like to handle this one yourself? I’m just ‘the girl.’”
“Stop talking!” a sailor shouts.
But I’m not really listening to them. My eyes are on Riden. His eyes widen meaningfully, frustratingly. Then he relaxes. “Please.”
“I said—”
Perhaps it’s the fact that Riden remembered exactly what I did to those two crew members when they stole me from my ship. Or perhaps it’s that I like the sport of it. Or it’s the idea of showing these sailors exactly what I can do.
But if I’m being honest… it’s because he said please.
This prompts me to action in a way I can’t explain.
