The Pirate Prince of the Ice Sea (Book 1 of The Legend Of Kaleania)

Chapter 11

Tasumah and the others grinned, agreeing with my decision. Kara and Sarngika nodded, also agreeing. "That's great," he said. "I'll send a message to the pirate captains immediately." He disappeared into a room that was behind his chair with the others following him except a lord that wore the Jewthrain colors came up to us.

"You guys are welcome to stay while you wait for the pirate captains to arrive," he suggested. We nodded.

"Is it okay if I ask for reinforcements?" I asked. I thought that since the war is against the most feared pirate, I could ask for some help from a friend.

"And where will you go?" he asked.

"I have a friend that lives in Akaenia and I thought that he could help us," I said.

"The royal's hate pirates," he started to raise his voice.

"The prince told me that he has always dreamed of meeting a pirate." I said. Kan told me that when I was hiding in his room from the king since I broke his favorite feather pen after I told him that I dreamed of getting away from him and sailing on the Ice Sea. Well, my dream came true and now it was Kan's turn.

The man sighed and said, "Fine but you have a week to make him join our side or else." He went into the other room and left me thinking what the 'or else" was about. I turned around to face my crew.

"Alright, mates," I walked through them as they made a path. I looked over my shoulder to find everyone awaiting orders. "We're heading to Akaenia." I lead the way through the tunnel while using Sarngika's Night Vision and Kara holding the torch until we got outside.

We trailed down the path and through the damp jungle until we got to the beach, where the other men were waiting with the boats. One of them asked Kara what we were going to do now. She answered with "Talk to the captain." He looked at me.

"We're going to get back to the ship and sail to Akaenia for reinforcements," I said. I got into the boat with Kara and Harlock as the others got into theirs. The tall muscular man named Kuala pushed our boat into the water and jumped in. He then began paddling towards the ship.

Once we got there, I climbed the side ladder with Harlock behind and then Kuala behind him and finally Kara. I ordered Harlock to set a course to the Kingdom that I grew up in and Kuala to get to their positions as Kara and I stood on the upper deck. The anchor slowly came up and Harlock turned the entire ship around so that it faced away from the island. Then, it slowly started moving along the waves with it rocking back and forth.

"So, Airon," said Kara. She sat onto the railing, facing me while I was looking at the vast sea. "What made you change Arak to Airon?"

"I've always wanted to travel out to sea when I was a child," I said, glancing at her. "But since I was a slave, I thought I would never gain that chance and when he asked me if I had a choose to live between the world that I was born in or raised in, I thought I would stay and live life as a pirate. So now that I learned about my parents and where I belong, I've decided to follow what my heart tells me like what Derek said."

"You do know that you can call him Father or Dad, right?" she asked.

"I'm not exactly comfortable with that," I said, nervously.

"I get it," she said. "You haven't really known him much." She stared out to the open water and something seemed to be bothering her but I didn't ask so I decided to ask her about something else.

"What were you like when you were back home?" I asked.

"Why are you asking?" she asked.

"I don't know much about you and you basically know about me," I answered.

She sighed and said, "My life before I became a pirate is pretty much like yours. Living in a prison, longing for freedom. But I was sworn to royalty. My father hated me and tried eveything in his power to get rid of me. My mother never gave birth to a boy and she died when she had me. So he tried to lock me in my room forever but I knew the layout of the castle so I was able to get out. After that, he tried to starve me to death. The servants paid no attention to me since he would hang anyone if they helped me. I stole from the kitchen and I had no friends until he finally figured out a way to get rid of me."

"What did he do?" I asked.

"He forced me to become a wife to the Prince of Akaenia," My eyes widened. How come Kan never told me that he and Kara would marry when they come of age? "And when a ship came to take me to him, I ran away to the poor part of the kingdom. There I sobbed and balled my eyes out until no tears came. Pretty soon a man came up to me and asked to see if I could join him on an adventure on the Ice Sea. I said 'I would do anything to get away from marrying a person that I don't know!' The man smiled and kneeled next to me. He asked for my name and when I told him, he said that he'd change my name and that he was going to take care of me now."

"What was your real name?" I asked, getting onto the rail next to her.

"Kerinna," she said. "So a few months past and Akira was about to give birth. I helped her with everything to make her as cozy as possible since I didn't know anything about childbirth. A few hours later, I was the first person to hold him and Akira asked if I wanted to give him a name. I've always wanted to name a boy Airon. And she agreed with me. Derek came in and took the baby as he held him in his arms.What's the baby's name? He asked me. Airon meaning leader of the pride, I answered. He smiled and that moment ended when Nekian barged in. Derek gave him back to me and said, Make sure you care good care of him. And well, you basically know the rest."

I couldn't help but hug her. She was the one that brought me into this world and named me. She was also the one that brought me to Akaenia. "I'm sorry," I muttered.

"There's no need to apologize," she said. "We knew that our lives were so much alike but somehow different." We parted and began looking back out to the sea. I suddenly noticed that it was getting dark and I told her that I was going get some sleep. She nodded as I climbed down the stairs and walked into the quarters. I went to the desk and sat behind it, while looking at a compass that was in the center of it.

Sarngika hopped onto it and said, "That compass once belonged to your father." My mind automatically went to anger but my heart told me something else.

"Why is this happening to me?" I asked, laying my head onto my arm.

"Because if you'd chosen to live back at that awful place, then you would just be a slave prince. But since you've chosen to live as a pirate, there's no turning back," he said. I pulled the necklace that made me prove that I was a Pirate Prince, off my neck and glanced at it.

"What does a Pirate Prince do anyway?" I asked.

"Well, I don't really know but I do that the Pirate King keeps to the code," he said. I continued to look at the necklace.

"Why am I the Pirate Prince? I thought there was only a Pirate King and the pirate captains take a vote for the next one."

"Well it's not how it works. The Pirate King starts with one family and that family is yours. You're only the Pirate Prince because Derek was the Pirate King." he explained.

"So is it like royalty or something?"

"Not exactly. When the father gets killed, the son becomes the Pirate King when he comes of age if he's still young, like you are. And when the father dies, the son gets the title automatically," Before he could finish, I felt tired and closed my eyes to dream about the war.