The Orphan and the Thief

Chapter 16: The Firefly

Toad and Melena jerked around in time to see two large men troop to a corner table leaving a trail of melted snow in their wake.

"How d'you recognize them?" asked Toad, turning back to Joe. "How d'you know they're with this Horace person?"

"Why do you think they'd help us?" Melena asked, eying the corner where the men had settled with slight apprehension. "I'm not sure we should get help from someone called 'Horrid'."

"There is no need to fear, m'lady!" Joe insisted. "The great pirate captain—"

"Wait," said Toad quickly. "Pirate captain?"

"Master has never heard of the greatest of all Thief Lords?" asked Joe, voice brimming with incredulity.

"Greater than Jack the Barbarian?" said Toad, surprised.

"Well ... dear Jack had his impressive qualities," Joe admitted, "but the swash-buckling, bloodthirsty scalawag of the Northern Seas? Ah, Master Toad, there is no competition!"

"Bloodthirsty?" said Melena, alarmed.

"Is that why you think he'll be willing to take us to the springs?" asked Toad, growing excited. "He's taken you there before?"

"Horace the Horrid goes where he pleases," Joe stated emphatically. "One does so when one is a pirate."

A pirate! Toad's stomach swooped. A real, actual pirate. And Toad would get to meet him! Maybe (Toad's heart quivered at the thought) Captain Horace had heard of his father. Maybe they'd even had swash-buckling, bloodthirsty, pirate skirmishes together!

"What's he like?" he asked Joe excitedly.

"Finest of the fine! Scurviest of the scurvy! Foulest of the foul! Shall I speak of his women?"

"No!" said Melena, revolted. "How can someone be fine and foul at the same time?"

"By being a Thief Lord!" cried Toad, ecstatic. He was on his feet, had already taken two quick strides toward the corner table, when Melena grabbed him and pulled him back.

"I don't think we should, Toad," she said. She was eying the table nervously.

"But Joe says they'll help us," Toad argued.

"But they're pirates!"

"Yeah!" said Toad, the giddiness in his voice a stark contrast to Melena's trepidation.

"But why would they help us?" said Melena, refusing to let go of his arm. "Think, Toad! We have nothing to offer them. I don't have enough money left to even begin to tempt them and — " Melena went suddenly still, her eyes on Joe.

Toad, immediately realizing what Melena was thinking, clutched Joe to his chest. "Oh, no! We ain't doing that again!"

"Think about it, Toad!" Melena implored. "Pirates don't just help people, and we're asking them to put themselves in danger —"

"They're pirates!" Toad countered, furiously. "They always put themselves in danger!"

"They won't take us without getting something in return!" Melena snapped, losing patience. "Go ask them — go on! Go and see how they react. If they don't throttle you, they'll laugh you out of the tavern."

"But we've got Joe!" said Toad in a heated undertone. "Thieves have to do what the Thief Lord says — it's the rules!"

"We're asking them to risk their lives for us, not house us. I think ..." Melena bit her lip before plowing on with determination, "I think we should ask Joe how he feels about being traded."