Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Thirty-nine (Part 1 of 2)

Jade groaned, pushing away. Her dagger and cutlass rasped against the Naval officer's blade. He closed in on her, pinning her against the gunwales. She looked out of the corner of her eyes, watching the foaming waves rattle away in the gap between the vessels. She lifted her leg and pushed the Naval officer away. He stumbled back, blades flailing, and fell, ass-first onto the deck. Jade threw her cutlass down and dragged it across his neck.

The naval officer stopped moving and Jade caught her breath, the blade of her cutlass still resting against his broken skin. She hardened. Every time she took another life, she felt like she lost a piece of herself, but for the past few months, there was no other way to live. It was either kill or be killed.

"Are you daydreaming?"

Jade looked away from the body, her hands shakily bringing up her cutlass in defense.

She didn't let her guard down when she saw that it was Sabik. The disparaging frown on his face only further provoked her.

"You are—" Her words caught. She swallowed. "Still alive."

He made a noise in the back of his throat. Contempt. "And so are you. You are not the great fighter you were made out to be."

Jade's jaw tightened. Before she could think of a response, someone advanced at her side. She swung out her cutlass, throwing a left-swipe at the officer. And within a second, she had him pinned to the gunwales, her sword holding his down and her elbow pressed hard over his neck. She heard a grunt behind her. Sabik had met an enemy. She stumbled off balance, her head spinning. Something had hit her. The naval officer's fist. The metallic taste of her own blood slipped across her tongue. Panic spiraled in her, and before she knew it, she was body slamming the officer against the gunwales. With a slice of her cutlass, she finished the fight. She rolled the body off of herself, clenching her teeth.

Sabik's opponent met a similar fate. Despite the fact that Jade had taken her fair share of lives to save herself and her crews, it was different—more disturbing to watch the doctor use his medical knowledge as a means of ending a life. Or maybe that wasn't it at all. Maybe it was the fact that a degree in medicine doesn't teach you how to use a sword. Jade inhaled sharply.

"You make good work of that blade," she said.

"Do not act so surprised."

She looked away quickly, the pirate ship had circled around them and was now sailing on their starboard side, surrounding them. Her heart threatened to stop beating all together when she saw that it was the Alphard, Tobias Zelley's vessel. Was it irrational to feel betrayed? Even though Fairburn was her sworn enemy? He wasn't an enemy of her country. Not to the best of her knowledge. Not before today.

She had to find him. She had to finish this before the Coronis sunk and her crew died.

Fairburn was around here somewhere. And if she could just find him—maybe she could stop this all. She wove in and out of fighting pairs, trying her best to stay out of another fight.

As she pushed past a fight between Suzaku and one of Fairburn's men, she saw him, warring with one of the sub-lieutenants. Jade crept up, flinching as Fairburn offed the young man and tossed him over the gunwales. Jade charged up to Fairburn, diving up to him and thrusting her cutlass. She thought he hadn't seen her, but he parried without fault and the two locked together.

"Jade," He looked surprised. "Are you okay?"

His questions were just an attempt to distract her. He didn't care. He never had. She jammed her cutlass up, headed on an angle for his skull, but he followed her out and blocked. She looked out of the corner of her eyes. There were more people onboard than she once thought. She blinked. Pirates. She could tell from their plain clothes. They must have rowed over in dinghies.