The blade of the rusty cutlass rested at Nira’s shoulder where the cloth of her shirt gave way to her flesh, as though the sneering unwashed brigand who wielded it at her back were performing an oath of fealty. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the prince sprawled unmoving nearby.  She lobbed a venomous glare at him, remembering the boneless way he’d crumpled to the deck with the first punch. Shadowbane indeed, she sneered silently, her relief at seeing his crumpled form rise and fall with breath turning to anger at his incompetence.

Glancing to the other side, she met Iiska’s eye and swiftly looked away again. The prince hadn’t been the only incompetent one. The fact that Nira was now being held prisoner by the very blade she had brandished scant minutes ago was seared forever into her awareness. Her pride hurt far worse than the cutlass’  bite at the juncture of neck and shoulder.

“Well, gents, it seems we’ve caught ourselves some pretty fish, doesn’t it?” A female voice drawled over Nira’s head, causing their captors to chortle heartily. “Not every day someone tries to rob us, is it?” Her head bowed, Nira peered through the forest of her braids as a pair of worn, salt encrusted boots stopped and swiveled toward her. She looked up into a pair of sharp brown eyes framed by weathered crow’s feet as the woman crouched down. The woman’s thin chapped lips twisted into a cruel smirk as she grabbed Nira’s chin in her bony hand.  “What on earth were you thinking, little fish?”

“Let us go,” Iiska said calmly beside Nira. “We’ll leave you be so long as you release us immediately.”

“Oh, we’ll release you,” the woman said reassuringly, not taking her eyes off of Nira. “You can be sure of that. But first, I have a few questions. As the captain of this ship, I’m within my rights to ask questions, after all. Now, whose idea was it to board us?”

Nira thought back to the argument she and Iiska had had when the sails of the other ship had come into view. Easy prey, Nira had said of the ship, easy prey for the likes of us. The prince had agreed with Nira, as had Shortdrop, who was always in the mood for a raid. Iiska had maintained that it was too risky and they’d come much too far to roll the dice on a boarding. Should’ve listened, Nira thought ruefully, shaking her head at her own folly.

“Mine,” she heard Iiska say plainly. Nira’s head came up and she shot Iiska a startled look. Iiska  only stared straight ahead, her cool black eyes surveying the scene as though she were watching a calley match on the back lawn of the Butterfly Garden. “I thought the ship looked soft. Easy prey. I didn’t realize how quickly that could change.”

It was then that Nira realized that while their captors had bound Iiska’s hands and feet, her own remained free. Perhaps they just don’t feel as intimidated by someone who is disarmed as easily as I was. Can’t imagine why, she thought to herself, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. I just need her to not look at me for a moment.

“Do you find us easy prey now?” The captain asked, turning her eyes from Nira to regard the other captive. A moment later, the captain was flat on her back, Nira upon her in the shape of a lynx. Her captor yelped in shock, the cutlass dropping to the deck as he staggered back a pace. He remembered himself in a moment, however, and drove a boot viciously into Nira’s ribs. She screamed a challenge and whirled, sinking her claws into the meat of the man’s thigh and climbing him like a tree. He fell, spurts of his hot blood soaking her fur as she kicked her way up his twitching body. The shock in his rapidly paling face halted Nira for just a hairsbreadth of time before she was on the attack again.

The captain had rolled away and was on her feet once more, the several deep gouges Nira had scored on her face bleeding freely. She unsheathed a short sword as she advanced on Nira, the blade catching the light. Snarling her defiance, Nira raced for the shrouds, knowing she’d badly need the advantage of height to stand any chance. The almost lazy way that the captain had cut down so many of the Orinthia’s crew was fresh in Nira’s mind, and she knew herself to be an extremely unskilled fighter, though an enthusiastic one.

Gaining purchase on the rigging, she hauled herself up, feeling her claws snag in the tough rope. Pain seared through her shoulder and then her haunch in rapid succession as she gained height, but she dared not waste time to examine the cause. At a sharp whistle, she chanced a look down and saw that the captain and several of the crew had gathered at the foot of the mast in an effort to bring her down with throwing knives, but that something had distracted them. Not one to question such luck, Nira continued her climb doggedly. As the shade of the crow’s nest began to fall on her face, she resumed her human shape. Twisting around so that she faced out toward the water, she let go of the shrouds and dove. Her mind grabbed frantically for the eagle she’d seen the day before, desperately holding the bird in her thoughts as she hurtled inexorably toward the water.

---

 

Iiska had slipped her wrists from her bonds when the shape changer attacked the captain. A small beckoning gesture had gotten the knife from her boot into her palm, and she had taken great pains to unobtrusively cut free her ankles. After a moment, it was clear that she needn’t have worried about subtlety.  Everyone seemed to have forgotten her existence in favor of helping the captain with Nira’s capture.

Standing, she took a moment to shake loose her wrists and ankles after their recent imprisonment. Glancing to where the prince still lay, she briefly toyed with the idea of slinging him over her shoulder and attempting to make for the Orinthia on her own. Though the prince was far taller and heavier than she, Iiska was strong enough that the transport wouldn’t be a problem. The idea was dead in the water  when she thought about pursuit. She couldn’t hold onto the prince and stave off any attacks. She’d need the help of the only other member of the Orinthia‘s crew still alive on this ship. That meant she’d have to help keep the shape changer alive. Damn all.

Advancing silently on the knot of men at the mast, she raised both of her hands and whistled sharply. Knives flew from several sheaths and belts among the rival crewmen. They turned in confusion as they felt their weapons leave them forcefully and whisk past their faces. They watched, stupefied, as Iiska stashed all but two of the knives with a magician’s flourish. The remaining pair she danced swiftly across her palms and swiveled to point forward, a move she privately thought of as ‘baring the fangs’.

Two of the crewmen at the forefront regained their wits enough to approach Iiska, attempting to flank her. With a viper’s speed, she struck.  Sweeping the feet out from one with a kick, she spun on her heel and leaped onto the back of the other like a child begging a ride from a favored uncle. She wrenched the man’s head back and  sliced his throat with one of her knives. She pushed off of his tumbling form to dispatch the first man she’d downed, her teeth bared in the facsimile of a grin as she stood to face the others.

The other crew members were extremely hesitant to approach the slight, blood-spattered woman standing over the body of one of their own. One of them in the back of the pack began to sidle around the others, perhaps in an attempt to get behind Iiska. A moment later he was pinned to the deck, yelling and tugging vainly at the dagger connecting his heel to the planking.

“Do I have to do everything myself?” The captain growled as she shouldered her way past her reluctant men and advanced on the other woman. Iiska whistled low without much hope for summoning the captain’s main blade. If it hadn’t come when she’d called the others, it probably wasn’t going to on its own. It was, after all, a proper sword.  The captain strode swiftly toward Iiska, who bared the fangs again and stood ready for the onslaught.

A shriek rent the air as a blur of motion hurtled down between the captain and Iiska. Iiska leaped backward, nearly losing her footing in the congealing blood that now coated the deck. The captain closed with the large eagle, gritting her teeth as the bird’s giant feet gripped her sword and the great wings beat her about the head.

“A net! A net, you lackwits!” The captain snarled as the Nira eagle released her sword and circled around for another pass. Several of the men ran to fumble with a tangle of fishing net weighted at intervals with lead balls, cursing at each other as they tugged this way and that to spread it out. Iiska called up and hurled another knife, downing one of the men who pitched forward into the tumble of netting. The others shook him free and scrambled toward their captain as Nira dove in again. Another knife felled a third man, but the others had readied to throw the net. Motion to her right caused Iiska to glance over and see that two other crew men were hefting the prince and dragging him toward the mast. His head lolled bonelessly on his shoulders, but he let out an audible groan as he was pulled along. Defiant screams alerted her and she looked back to see Nira thrashing, caught in the net and weighted to the deck.

Penned in as she was, Iiska was filled with one single, driving thought. Flee. Spinning to do so, she slid under the man who would grab her around the shoulders and slithered forward on her belly for a breath before regaining her feet. She was halfway to the railing and set to vault over when the captain’s voice halted her. She turned to face the taller woman, her expression unreadable as always.

“Run if you like, little fish! We’ll surely kill your friends when you’ve gone. It doesn’t matter to us, really. After all,” the captain spread her hands expansively to indicate the fallen of both crews, “we’ve already done for a good number of them, haven’t we?” Her laugh was brassy and invited Iiska to join in on the mirth of the decimated crews.

“You’re saying you won’t kill us if I stay?” Iiska cursed herself for staying, for this satire of parley that she was enacting now. She glanced at the prince, pale and propped against the mast. Her gaze turned to Nira, still eagle shaped, panting through her open beak as the net pressed her down. “You’ll let us go?”

“I won’t kill them if you stay, you’ve it on my word as a captain,” the other woman said, removing her hat and holding it to her breast. “I won’t say honor, I’ve got none of that.”

“But you won’t let us go?”

“You’ll go free soon enough. We’ll leave you a nice stretch of ground to make an honest living on. We get your ship, and your spoils. You get your lives. ‘S a pity we took such bites from each other, I’ve not enough crew to sail my new ship, and it looks like the rest of your folk scented the battle and left. No matter, we’ll get what we can from her and send her to the sting rays. But if you yourself leave now, we’ll not chase you. There’s a life boat, even. Some rations. We’ll do for these other two,” she gave Nira a light tap on the head with her boot, “but you’re free to stroll the world untroubled by me or mine ever again.”

You are not Alix. You cannot walk free while they die, she told herself. Remember? You were going to find him and exact your revenge for this exact thing? Remember that? She swallowed hard, her hands clenching on the hilts of her daggers. Nira’s eagle eye seemed to glare at her, and she bowed her head and stepped toward the gathering at the mast .

“Well, well!” The captain clapped and cawed in delighted surprise. “And here I thought this little fish would swim well away from the sharks. What silly fish we’ve caught today, my lads!” Her playful tone dropped as she continued. “Drop all of your weapons. All of them. Now.” Iiska did as she was bid, tossing a total of fourteen knives of varying make onto the deck.

“Where was she keeping all them blades?” One crewman whispered to another as they watched the woman dole knives out of her sleeves, belt, boots, and seemingly nowhere. The other man’s answer was to wiggle his eyebrows lasciviously and then leer at Iiska.

When Iiska had disarmed, the captain motioned for two of her burliest men to detain her. “Kindly gag her so she can’t whistle any more sharps from us,  and I want them both bound with soul-tether. We’ll have no more foolery on this ship and we’ve a journey ahead of us. Push those bodies off and feed the sharks. And get my deck clean, we want to look proper for our guests. Where’s Ekel?”

“Sleeping off his watch, captain,” one of the men holding Iiska’s arm volunteered.

” Lorkin!” The captain bellowed, her voice causing Iiska to grit her teeth. A man appeared before the captain, saluting smartly. “Lorkin, go rouse Ekel. He’s to gather a boarding party and get my new ship to rights. If he’s not on deck in ten minutes, I’ll be down to kill him, and you’ll be promoted to First Mate in his stead.”

“Aye, captain,” Lorkin said, turning and rushing belowdecks.

“Now, my little fish,” the captain addressed Iiska and Nira, “rest up. We’ll soon be on our way.”