The Pirate's Legacy: New Identities

Chapter 21: Rustic Meadows

Leonce, the eldest son of Baron Odina, stared at the formerly missing princess of Tarym as if she was an apparition. Leo, as close friends called him, was a man barely into his thirties with a long face and high, pointed cheekbones. His hair was styled the same way every male Odina in his family had—a short bowl-cut with curly bangs that fell over his forehead, hair oiled to bring a shine to its black coloring. As a rebel, he'd grown a thin beard along his jaw line, giving his face the impression of appearing round. What distinguished him from his two younger brothers the most, both of whom looked like him, was the nose piercing on his right nostril, which he had done himself at the age of sixteen out of defiance toward his father.

"Luther, get your hands off Princess Emelia!"

A sharp intake of breath came from not only Luther but from Calvin and Hox as well. When Luther dropped her back onto the ground, Em was barely able to stand upright. Then, to her embarrassment, all four men dropped on one knee.

"Please, gentlemen, get up," she said with strained voice. "There's no need for such formalities."

Leo was the first to straighten up. "Princess, no words can express my mortification of your treatment by these imbeciles. I'll personally see to it that they receive punishment appropriate to this transgre—"

"No titles, cousin," Em said, stressing her address to make her point. The Odinas were the distant relatives to the Quiesco line, making them the closest heirs after Annalyn and Em. "There is no need to punish anyone. This has all been a misunderstanding." She moved toward where Roger and Diamante were but found they had freed themselves already. Diamante, who wore his thick bifocals again, had a dazed look on his face, which Em assumed was the continued affect of having been bludgeoned on the head. Roger, on the other hand, regarded the men behind her warily underneath his wild bangs.

"Oi! How'd you two get free?" Calvin demanded. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Roger, confirming the pirate's suspicion that the rebel knew with whom he was dealing.

"Em, could you explain as to how you came to associate yourself with the notoriously bloodthirsty Pirate King?" Leo asked with a false lightness in his tone. While normally an easy-going man, Leo was as tense as his comrades at being in the presence of the infamous pirate.

"In due time," Em said. "Take us to Demitri. We need to speak with him now."

Leo nodded. "Follow me. Hox, I'll speak with you later," he added roughly to the liaison. Hox had enough dignity left to look chagrined. As Em, Roger, and Diamante followed Leo up the stairs, they heard Luther's voice.

"Hey, Cal. Look here! These ropes are cut clean." Bewilderment colored his tone.

"Now how in Onus's britches did that happen?"

Hox's voice was the last one Em heard before the door closed behind them. "I thought all their weapons had been confiscated..."

The sunlight nearly blinded her as she stepped after Leo outside the cellar door. Down in the cellar, their only source of light had been low-burning braziers. Despite the weak rays that managed to penetrate the tops of the dense trees, it was clear that it was around high noon. Leo led them toward the ruins of a small granite chapel not far away from the cellar.

The forest had claimed this house of worship for its own. Towering trees with braided trunks grew out from between large cracks of the stone floor. The roof had caved in a long time ago. What was left of it littered the ground. The trees' shiny green leaves provided a new roof. Weathered statues of the Greater Powers stood against various places of the crumbling granite walls that were overgrown with moss and ivy. Vines and tree branches poked through the open windows. On the far left side, perched inside one of these windows was a single man. He sat against one side of the window frame with his knees bent for balance on the windowsill. This allowed his hands freedom to hold the small leather-bound book he read.