Lions of the Sea

21

Marina jolted awake and sat up in her bed. It was dark outside and the moon shone high in the sky, bathing the leaves of the tamarind tree growing by her window on its pale light. She rekindled the lantern on her nightstand and looked around. Of course there was no trace of flooding in her room, nor blood on her bed. But she was so sweated that her nightgown and her hair were wet. She was surprised to be hungry and a little dizzy. How long had she slept?

She got up and filled the china basin to wash herself, wore a clean shirt and left her room. The house was immersed in the stillness of rest. However, she saw her mother's bedroom was vacant. At the kitchen she found out Tomasa and Colette had already gone to sleep. She noticed the amount of dishes and cups draining by the sink, and the empty bottles of wine in a corner. Had they had guests over for dinner? But her mother had invited them for the next night. Unless it was already the next night. Had she slept a day and a half?

By the plate with fresh fruit on the table there was another with roasted meat. Despite her complaining belly, she didn't touch the meat and grabbed an apple instead. She left the kitchen toward the library, thinking she'd find her mother there. She wanted to see how she was doing. After all, she'd just lost her brother.

The light from the library cast a soft glow on the hall floor tiles, showing the door was ajar. Marina was only five steps away when she heard the murmur of voices. She paused, puzzled. Who else could be there, alone with her mother in the middle of the night? She tiptoed closer and stopped only one step away from the door. A man spoke then. She recognized Laventry's rough voice, even though he tried to keep it down.

"I don't know if it was him, Cecilia," the corsair said. "But it'd be such a cruel whim of fate, if he actually killed Wan from behind, just like his father killed Manuel."

"And you say Marina and he fought each other?"

The girl frowned. Morris was there, too? What were they talking about? They knew who had killed her uncle and had kept it from her?

"She disarmed him, and I got her out of there before she killed him," Laventry replied. "The Spaniards were about to jump on her for messing with their captain."

"I can't quite understand how she found him," Cecilia said, worried.

"That I'd like to know. I saw her on the Eagle's bridge not a minute before Wan was shot. And next thing she was all the way across the Lion, fighting him! She couldn't have fought anyone else, she had no time to. She went straight to him, and he stood his ground—or tried to. Like something pushed them against each other."

"Picture that," Morris said. "Her first battle, her first close fight, and it had to be Castillano!"

In the shadows of the hall, Marina covered her mouth to suffocate an exclamation.

"My brother did right, keeping it a secret," Cecilia said firmly. "Knowing it would only bring Marina more trouble and sorrow."

"He told us only when he found out he had but hours left," Morris said. "And made us swear we wouldn't tell the pearl, and that we'd do anything to keep her away from the Lion."

"That's what's right," Cecilia said. "It's time for the bloodshed between the Velazquez and the Castillanos to come to an end. It's already cost enough lives."

Laventry let out a bitter chuckle. "Then we need to find a good reason to keep the pearl away from the sea. Because the Caribbean is vast, but I bet those two would find the way to come across each other again. It's in their blood."

"Forget about convincing her to give up sailing," said Morris.

"I'd never thought you were so innocent, my friends," Cecilia said softly. "We all know my daughter will never turn her back to the sea. And now that Wan Claup is gone, I don't think she'll seek a new captain. She'll most likely look for a ship she can command."

A baffled silence followed such a statement. A bafflement Marina shared. She hadn't had a chance to even wonder what she would do from then on. However, it was plain to see her mother had already visited the subject.

"Come, Cecilia." Laventry sounded disgruntled. "Are you going to ask me to vouch for her with D'Oregon too? She's a girl!"

Marina heard her mother chuckle gently at the corsair's shock and was curious to hear her answer.

"I married her father when I was fifteen, like she is now. To give birth to her only one year later. Did you see me as a child back then, Johannes?" Marina had never heard her mother call the corsair by his given name. "Your mistake is refusing to see her as nothing but the child you knew in her cradle. But Marina is much more than that: she's the last heir of Manuel Velazquez and Adrien Wan Claup. And had she been born with what hangs between your legs, you'd be begging me to let you vouch for her."

Alone in the hall, Marina put aside the commotion caused by what she'd just learned about her uncle's death and smiled to herself, grateful for her mother's words. She was comforted when Morris agreed.

"I've been telling them so for years," he said.

"Come, Cecilia!" Laventry insisted. "This is no joke. Where have you seen a woman commanding a boat?"

"How goes that song you use to weigh anchor?" Cecilia replied, and crooned, "We are the Brethren of the Coast and we come from Tortuga, where everything goes."

Laventry grunted something Marina couldn't understand. She felt she'd heard enough and tiptoed away, back to her room. There she closed the door and opened the window. She couldn't see the sea, but the night breeze carried its smell. She folded her arms on the windowsill and lingered there, her black eyes lost among the stars.

Her head was an uproar that refused to calm down.

So the blond officer she'd fought and beat was not only the infamous Lion all the pirates feared. That man was Castillano, son of her father's mortal enemy. And from that night on, her own sworn enemy.

She ignored how many secrets Wan Claup had taken to his grave. At least she'd found out about this one. The one that would help her avenge him.