The Hunter's Pursuit

55. A Song of Wind and Sea

The days blurred together until Jacob was hardly aware of their passing. He slept when he was told to and worked nonstop during his waking hours. There was no tracking the sun or moon as Ryujin's storm clouds remained constantly overhead.

No rain fell, but thunder clapped and lightning sizzled between clouds, reminding them of the beast's growing anger and impatience. Jacob and Viviane kept out of her sight as much as possible, not wanting to risk a lapse in her self-control. Not now, when they were so close to their final destination.

Caspian had been the one keeping track of the passage of time and he reported that five days had gone by since they passed Falorea's coast. Viviane had decided they would sail for six days total before releasing Ryujin's eggs. After that...

Well, Viviane was sticking with their original plan, but Jacob had been trying to come up with more secondary ideas. Ryujin wasn't going to let them escape. That much was obvious. He just didn't know why Viviane was refusing to acknowledge it.

Jacob sighed and massaged his forehead wearily as he joined Caspian in his quarters. Pops was the only other person there. He stood before Caspian who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking just as exhausted as Jacob felt. He closed the door behind himself, catching the pair's attention.

"There you are," Pops said. "I thought you might've fallen asleep while walking."

"Give me a few minutes and I can make that happen." A small smirk tugged at the corner of Jacob's mouth. Caspian pushed himself off the bed and swiped a piece of folded paper from his desk. He held it between two fingers and offered it to Jacob. "What's this?"

"A letter from Prim," Caspian replied. "Kitty sent it a little while ago."

Jacob unfolded the letter and skimmed over it. His brows raised and he glanced at his cousin. "Is this good or bad?"

"A bit of both. With Kieran and Mallory fighting between themselves over Malcolm's fleet, they'll be too occupied to come after us and Ryujin. However, it does pose a problem because Malcolm's fleet is in shambles right now, and if either of them add his forces to their own, they'll become that much more powerful."

"Not to mention it will make it difficult to find a new Pirate Lord to replace Malcolm. Kieran and Mallory will probably try to say we don't need a new Lord and kill anyone who comes forward as a replacement."

"But there has always been five Pirate Lords since the first Court was established," Pops pointed out. "As Lords themselves, Kieran and Mallory are bound by blood to honor those Laws and Code."

"Aye, but do you think they'll adhere to that after everything they've already done?" Caspian scoffed.

"Maybe that's another task for Prim, Scarlet, and Kalifa to handle," Jacob remarked. "Scarlet and Kalifa's fleets are large enough to offer protection to Captain Hugo's while they try to sort all of this out. They might be too proud to accept help, but we can give it anyway."

"I had thought of that and I would tell Prim, but we don't really have a way to send letters right now. We'll just have to trust that they figure that out themselves. I did have a few more things to talk about though."

Jacob waited patiently for Caspian to go on. "Tomorrow evening, we'll reach the spot Viviane chose to release the eggs at. Please tell me we have some sort of plan that can guarantee our survival, because I'm still not convinced that the original plan will cut it. Not after everything you've told me."

Jacob shook his head and a few stray locks of hair fell across his brow. He brushed them back with a sigh. "The only idea I have that might actually work involves help from Viviane's people. She told me that it would take several powerful Mer to control Ryujin."