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Ivan swallows hard and gives me a stern look. “Princess, I insist you go back inside at once. Tell the Prince to hide the valuables and hide yourselves.”
“But the Brethren are just tall tales, aren’t they?” I ask. “They aren’t really a ship of the undead and damned.”
“Whatever they may be, Princess, they are most definitely pirates,” he says gravely. His eyes focus over my shoulder, his jaw tightening. “Now get going!”
He grabs my arm and practically pushes me along toward the steps then yells at the rest of the crew. “Pirates! Pirates spotted, ghost ship at portside! All hands on deck! Get the captain!”
Every soul on deck starts panicking and yelling, running back and forth, and their energy is contagious. I find myself nearly slipping down the stairs and across the deck, trying to stay out of their way until I’m down below.
“Aerik!” I yell down the corridor. “Where’s Aerik!?”
“What is with the blasted yelling?” Aerik says, coming out of the galley, wiping his mouth on a cloth.
“Pirates!” I tell him. “Ivan said for us to hide ourselves and our valuables.”
He frowns. “Pirates? Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, I saw them myself. They were sailing just out there and then all their lights went out as they approached.”
“Pirates don’t attack in the night like that.”
“The pilot says it’s the Brethren of the Blood.”
He snorts. “A fairy tale is all they are, straight from Brothers Grimm.”
“That’s what I thought too.” But I saw the fear in both Ivan’s eyes and the pilot’s. The Brethren were supposed to be a crew of vicious pirates rumored to be undead, their ship built in the bowels of hell. There have been countless stories of them attacking the Spanish galleon fleet coming in and out of Manila, the ships ransacked, treasures taken, and everyone on board either left for dead or kidnapped. At the heart of them is their leader, Captain Ramsay “Bones” Battista, a man deemed so evil that even the devil didn’t want him.
“Fairy tale or not, they might be coming aboard,” I add fearfully.
Aerik opens his mouth to say something, probably unkind, then there’s a loud BANG that seems to blow out my ears and I’m thrown to the ground.
“Cannon fire!” someone yells from above as I try to push myself up on my elbows. Aerik is leaning against the wall, making no motion to help me to my feet.
“What the heavens is happening?” Daphne cries out as she comes out of her room. “Princess Maren!”
She comes over and helps me up.
“Pirates,” I tell her, gripping her arms. “We have to hide.”
“Remember where the captain told us to go,” Daphne says quickly. “Down in the sailhold.”
She starts pulling me and Aerik along toward the steps leading to the decks below, but I manage to break away just as another cannon fires into the side of the ship, this time blasting all the way through to the galley where people scream in horror, shards of wood flying like shrapnel.
I’m thrown against the wall but I manage to regain my balance and start running for my cabin.
“Where are ye going!?” Daphne yells after me. “Do come back!”
“Don’t waste your life on her,” I hear Aerik say to her. “Your duty is to me first.”
“Go! Hide! I’ll follow!” I yell, the ship shuddering again, this time cannons are firing from our side. I manage to make it to my cabin and then throw back the mattress on my bed, grabbing the pouch with Nill’s tooth. I quickly take the necklace out, my hands shaking, and tie it around the strap of my stays underneath my bodice. I start heading back to the door when I hear more screams, this time from the top deck, and with a sinking sense of horror I realize the pirates have boarded.
I could go down into the sailhold with Aerik and Daphne and whatever royal servants are left, hide myself under a molding cover and hope that the pirates don’t find me. Perhaps Aerik and Daphne and I will be the only ones left alive on the ship.
But the idea of that is almost as worse as the idea of pirates, particularly a notoriously wicked man such as Captain Bones, killing us here with no mercy, or taking us on board their ship to torture us. And I’m sure what’s in store for me is much, much worse than I can imagine.
I pull the necklace out of my bodice. My fingers tighten around the shark tooth and I bring it to my trembling lips, kissing it. “Give me strength, Nill,” I say softly.
Then I tuck it back in and turn and grab the chair from the corner of the cabin. I pick it up, holding it above my head, then I throw it at the window with a yelp.
