Valiant Valerie (the Ballad of Valerie of Mor Book 1)

Chapter Twelve

When Valerie woke the next morning, the sun was up and the barge was moving again. She heard a noise and found Jonathan snoring, sitting on the floor of the room with his back against the wall. His head lolled about a bit and she stifled the urge to laugh.

She got out of bed, got dressed in her new yellow dress, and left him asleep. She had no idea what time he had gone to sleep, and thought he could probably do with as much sleep as he could get.

The next few days were filled with a pleasant, lazy sameness.

There was not a lot to do during the day, so Valerie watched the landscape drift by and sometimes chatted to the crewmembers. Jonathan sparred with her once a day, much to the surprise of the barge's crew and Captain Griffin. The first day, they each challenged her and she bested all of them with ease.

The nights were filled with talk and song, and companionship. Valerie felt more at ease as time went by and was pleased to have a chance to sit in the background and watch others interact. She had had very little chance to do that in her life; her birth had nigh necessitated she be at the foreground of everything.

They floated along in this manner for four days.

On the fifth day, when they were nearing their destination, all was peaceful.

Jonathan and Valerie had just finished sparring, and they were having a rest and a mug of water, when the barge lurched.

"Do you think Per was avoiding more debris?" Valerie asked.

"I don't–" Jonathan was interrupted by a shout and they ran to see what the commotion was.

"We're under attack!" the first mate Ingram yelled.

He was holding up Captain Griffin, who leaned against him heavily with an arrow sticking out of his side.

The barge lurched again and Captain Griffin cursed.

"Per can feel the Captain's pain. It'll feel like his own. We have to block the pain somehow," Ingram called over the noise of yelling.

A more determined-sounding shout began, underlying the crew's cries of distress.

"Pirates! They're boarding!" Jonathan yelled, pulling his sword from his belt. "Vera, I need you by my side!"

There were seven or eight pirates swarming over the side of the barge, dripping wet, as arrows rained down on the deck. They were dirty and their clothes were little more than rags hanging on their gaunt frames. They smiled cruelly, baring yellow teeth – the few teeth they had among them, at least.

"There must be more on the bank!" Ingram said, running out of the cabins with a sword.

The captain was nowhere to be seen. Valerie hoped he was safe. If the leviathan's writhing was anything to go by, the captain was in a lot of pain. The deck weaved and bobbed as though they were sailing over a turbulent sea – so Valerie had heard, anyway.

Valerie pulled her sword as well and ran at the oncoming pirates, trying not to fall on the turbulent, slippery deck. The other crewmembers all had weapons now and had engaged pirates as best they could while dodging arrows. Valerie looked around, but Jonathan was out of her sight. She panicked for a moment, but was soon distracted by a pirate in her face.

"Hello, deary," he snarled as he swung his blade at her.

She jumped back, pushing his blade away with her own.

"What's a nice young thing like you doing out here with that sharp sword?"

He slashed at her again and once more she blocked, she tried swinging at him, but he dodged out of the way.