NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

47. Excerpt from siren/pirate story

Long story short, it's a mess. Sort of inspired by a long-ago story request and a Tumblr post, so... yeah. Modern/futuristic pirates, maybe? I'm not sure. I already missed a major plot point, so this one is going to need a lot of work.

Naming the ship Celtic Fire was tempting fate, perhaps, but none of her crew members were known for being beholden to fear, tradition or, quite frankly, good sense. True Celtic fire, the pride of their people and their homelands, coursed through their blood, and so it seemed a fitting name. It was also the only thing they could agree on, and since they were all eager to get out to sea, it would have to do for the time being.

Celtic Fire was a marvel of metal and machinery, but Becky was convinced she had a soul of sorts. When storms were dire or the stars were hidden, somehow the ship always took care of them. At least that had held true while they kept to the British Isles and the northern waters. Now they were venturing further out to sea to the west than they ever had before. "Why now?" she asked Finn as they stared out at the choppy waves. "Why are we leaving the realm now?"

As Finn pondered, she wondered which version of him would answer. Would it be the man who had first met her as a scrappy teen and seen something worth saving, worth training? Would it the man she had loved briefly but brightly through a tumultuous relationship before she left Ireland on her first voyage abroad? Would it be the ship's captain, leader of a ragtag group of Irish and Scottish brawlers ready for battle? Maybe it would even be the Demon Prince, the creatively cruel rogue who had made a notorious name for himself around the world. Through it all, he had never ceased being her closest friend, and that ultimately drove any answer he gave her. "Why not now?" he countered. "We have to leave sometime, Becks. We have to do something. The Skull King has controlled too much for too long, unchecked."

"I know, but...." Becky unlaced one of the bands from her wrist and used to tie her hair back, but the winds were still strong enough to tease out strands and whip them across her face. "We're one ship, Finn. One crew."

Finn shrugged and glanced over at her, the stormy grey skies making his eyes look extra bright. "We've always only had each other," he replied. "Allies come and go, but we're... beyond family." He gestured behind them. Drew, the tallest of the crew, barely had to stretch his arm to adjust some of the solar sails. Piper and Sheamus were hauling a pulse cannon from one side of the deck to the other, while Kay Lee and Nikki checking all the raincatchers stationed topside. "Would you trust anyone else to do this with you?" he countered.

Becky shook her head. "You know I wouldn't, but that's not what I mean. The Skull King has the backing of one empire and connections with another. We might be able to take down a ship or two, but we'll never get all the way across—"

"We will." Finn's voice was as strident as the waves. "Celtic Fire hasn't failed us yet, has she?"

"I'm more worried about us than her." When a particularly powerful gust of wind nearly made Becky lose her footing, she grabbed the wheel to brace herself. Like many of the things on the ship's deck, the helm wheel was largely ornamental, a nod to the sailing days of long ago; that particular wheel had been part of Finn's father's ship when he sailed the seas, and Finn had received his blessing to add it to his own vessel. The handles were smooth and discoloured from handling, and Becky couldn't fathom having to trust a single person at such a wheel. Celtic Fire had a far more complex navigational system, but she had heard Finn lament more than once that the wheel connected a sailor to the ship in a way modern technology never could. "Anything we've heard on the circuit makes it sound like the Skull King just keeps recruiting more and more people to his cause. He won't think anything of sending a few dozen to their deaths if it means stopping us, Finn."

Finn cupped her chin and leaned in to kiss her, but another gust made him stagger, his lips landing on her cheek rather than her mouth. They weren't together in any official way, but they had found their way into each other's beds more than once when they were out at sea, driven by restlessness or nostalgia or the simple urge to not be alone. Every day on the sea was a day they courted death, which made life—and sex—that much sweeter. He didn't let it affect her standing as a member of the crew, and in turn the crew never commented when they saw Finn coming out of Becky's cabin in the morning or found Becky's clothes in Finn's wash piles. "Becks, chances are he won't think of us at all. All the inroads we've made have been elsewhere: Japan, Germany, Canada. I would be surprised if he even knows the colours of our flag, let alone the name of our ship."

Becky wasn't so sure. The Skull King's reach was long and his gaze went far. She suspected he knew far more about all of them than they cared to realize. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Anyone who calls himself the Demon Prince is bound to catch the Skull King's attention," she teased. Finn had gathered many names around the world, depending on where he was and what he was doing, and he might not have had the backing of an official fleet, but she knew he had a small following of his own. The only problem was that it was scattered across the seas. In order to bring it to bear against the Skull King, they would all need to gather, which would take months. By that time, the Skull King surely would have gotten word of their efforts and come to confront them. Against such a strong opponent, their only real hope was in surprise.