The Pirate's Legacy: New Identities

Chapter 33: Too Much to Lose

Roger, Em, Diamante, and Leo headed to Cola Port on horseback at dawn. Leo was returning with the three to Politicka. If the High Council approved sending manpower and ships to Tarym, then the Hawks' lieutenant would direct all that aid to where it needed to be when the Hawks' attack on Queen's Port commenced. Leo took this responsibility so seriously that when the Hawks' leader endowed him with the task, not one boastful word came from his lips.

Selene and Lucy would remain in Tarym at the Hawks' base. Em and Selene did not talk about what transpired between them last night when they bade farewell. However, Em's former governess gave her an embrace fit for a cherished child. This gladdened Em deeply. Whatever Selene's opinions about Em's relationship with Roger, in that small act, she at least was reassured that she continued to have a place in her surrogate mother's heart.

Before the group left camp, Dread Pirate Robin sent a messenger hawk to the Cola Port postal office telling his first mate that the captain was returning. Though the Hawks' lieutenant led the way through the wild forestland, the pirate pushed everyone hard to travel that morning to the obscure seaside town. After so many days spent on the wretched land and its damnable maladies, he was anxious to see his beloved ship and the wide ocean stretching infinitely beyond his vision again. Because of his inflexibility for no rest breaks, he and his weary companions arrived at Cola Port by late morning.

The travelers, especially the captain, were greeted enthusiastically by the crew at the dockyard. The Twins were among the loudest, throwing their arms around a grinning Em as soon as she boarded the ship. Diamante was astonished when some hands clapped his back. For Leo, a few men acknowledged him with a nod, and all the men in the vicinity eyed the out-of-place aristocrat with open curiosity.

Em's, and even the delegate's, rising worry over not being able to make the High Council's deadline in time with four days left were quelled upon arrival. According to Michael, there was word of a strange phenomena had leaked its way to Cola Port from incoming travelers: the Trade Winds had reversed their course in the time that Roger, Em, and Diamante were gone. Now instead of blowing from Politicka to Tarym, the Trade Winds went in the opposite direction.

With this uplifting news, The Jolly Roger was at sea by midafternoon, sailing toward Helaine with the changed winds and dressed in Politickan sails. Their stop at Delta Point went without a murmur, but their good luck ran out two days until their month was up. Just barely within reach of the outer ring of islands that made up Politicka, they ship was ambushed by a Draconian warship.

The first cannonball grazed The Jolly Roger's stern on the right side. The iron missile had announced the incoming trouble with a loud splash that had rained down salty water on the people up in the helm. The lookout reported for all down below that the enemy ship, decked in the same royal blue; black; and dark red colors of the new Tarymian naval vessels, was coming at the pirates at top speed from behind.

"Pull your wits together!" Dread Pirate Robin ordered, curbing swiftly the rising tide of terror among his crewmen. "Are you men of the sea, or are you lily-livered codfish?" Roger commanded everyone to prepare for battle. They were hours away from the outer ring of Politickan islands, but the possibility of avoiding a fight with the Draconians had never once crossed his mind. "Load all guns! Spring out every single firearm and blade that we carry!"

From behind the great steering wheel, the first mate remarked, "The Draconians must have prayed beforehand."

"No amount of praying will save them when I'm through here," the Pirate King retorted before he called for Em, Diamante, and Leo up to the helm. Upon their arrival, Roger ordered Em to her usual spot up in the masts. He handed her his pearl-encrusted pistol and warned her to tie a lifeline around her when she was up there before dismissing her. To the delegate, Roger sent him down to the galley with Joshua. Though the Politickan had proved himself with a sword, the captain wouldn't take any chances. Lastly, he told Leo that it was the other's choice to go down, or stay and fight, to which Leo chose the latter option.