Three Weeks Later

Cecco screamed as another wave of scorching water crashed down on the crew of the Jolly Roger. Thunder deafened them and torrents of toxic rain burned their skin as it fell. If Ashen had a choice, she wouldn't subject her ship and friends to the horrors. Unfortunately, escaping from Viridian meant they had no choice but to sail into Carmine.

Ashen wiped a few droplets of sweat off her face with her sleeve. She was steering her ship the best she could in the storm, but that didn't mean much. It was nearly impossible to keep the ship afloat. Without Ashen's potions and enchantments, they would have already capsized.

The ship rocked again, knocking quite a few of them off their feet. Smiegal, who was standing behind her, was almost thrown overboard by the sheer force of it.

Grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him back up, Ashen said, "I don't think now would be a fine time to go swimming, Smiegal. Nor a very fine place."

He scowled.

"How long until we reach the dock?" he grumbled.

Ashen spared a quick look at the compass.

"I don't know," she admitted. "It's spinning out of control."

"I hate this place," Smiegal muttered.

"You can stay on the ship then," she told him. "More hayweed for us."

Hayweed was the plant that would enable them to breathe underwater. It was extremely expensive, as it had to be harvested from the edge of Carmine's largest volcano. Getting enough to last all of them a week had taken a good bit of haggling on her part. As a pirate, she had more than enough practice.

On their other voyages, the crew had stayed on the outskirts of Carmine. The compass had acted the same way. Something about Carmine made everything go haywire.

"Captain!" Jukes called. "I see a light."

Ashen snatched up her telescope and peered through. Sure enough, in the distance, was a small light. It marked the dock of Carmine.

"Thank goodness for Jukes and his fine eyes!" she cried.

Others called in agreement. Jukes blushed a little—or was that just burnt flesh?

"Can I have 'em?" Cecco called. Jules threw something at him—Ashen could not see what it was—and it narrowly missed. All of them exploded into fits of laughter, each one a little hysterical from their sleepless nights and near death experiences.

After that, there was a new determination amongst them. They knew they were near their final destination. Ashen hoped they would not crash into the rocks before then.

As she was steering them closer and closer to the light, which was growing consistently and continuously larger, Smiegal approached her.

"Captain, do you think the Carminians know an Azurian was behind the murder?"

"I doubt the Viridians would admit an Azure had bypassed their security," she replied. "They might know of the murder, though, even if they know not who was behind it."

Smiegal glanced at the rising sun.

"Still though, if they report us, and the Viridians arrive while we are still there, we will have no chance of escape."

Shaking her head, Ashen replied, "We don't need to worry about that. Carmine might not be an ally of Azure, but neither are we. Viridian is one of their enemies, though, which means they will be in no hurry to aid them.  They do have a history of helping sailors, though, and we are sailors."

"Yes, because the other kingdoms do not need to protect and aid sailors."

Sighing, she said, "Smiegal, we will be alright. Most likely, if the Viridians are out looking for us, they will expect us to go to one of the islands, a safer choice, but quite the obvious one. I choose to take the road less traveled."

"I'll say," he muttered.

"What was that?" she asked, pretending to be cross.

"Nothing," he lied, a smile playing at his lips.

Ashen grinned. The whole crew was her family. She would do her best to protect them, and that meant risking the seas of Carmine.

Most sailors, pirates included, avoided the hazardous seas of Carmine at all cost. The odds of making it out in one piece were slim. While in Ebony, however, one of Ashen's contacts had passed along information concerning the Carminian royals. Evidently, they would be hosting their Red Moon Festival, celebrating the only week in which the merfolk could step foot on land. The queen would ceremoniously give her eldest daughter the tiara of the heir and the ancestral amulet. The amulet had not been bestowed with any power, but it was worth at least a thousand shillings, though Ashen suspected it was worth more.

The amulet was what they had been asked to acquire while they were docked in Ebony. A man wanted the amulet, most likely for its resale value, and refused to brave Carmine himself. After two weeks of hiding from the Viridian Guard, the whole crew was pent up enough to be willing to attempt such a mission. Even if they had not agreed to do it, someone would have. Ebony was home to smugglers, pirates, and criminals, shielding all its residents and visitors from law enforcement. The state was the perfect location for illegal deals and open thievery, especially as there was no official leader and no guard. The only form of law enforcement on Ebony was the Knights of Blacke, who would only arrest those not rich enough to pay them off.

She could not wait to go back there. Once they had the amulet, they would.

 "Ashen!" one of the crew members called.

She knew immediately who it was. He was the only one who called her by her name in front of the rest of the crew.

"Stark!" she exclaimed, glancing down at her second mate. "What's happened?"

Stark was not his birth name. He had been Stephen, but when he became a pirate, quite a well known pirate too, he had been renamed for his ferocity. At least, he was severe to his victims; to the crew he was a gentle soul.

Climbing the stairs to the wheel, Stark explained, "Someone is swimming out to meet us."

Ashen cursed.

"Smiegal," she hissed, handing him her glass sword, "hide this."

He nodded and rushed down to the deck. He then descended down the secret hatch to the bunks below deck. Another crewmate closed the trapdoor behind him.

Cecco tossed Ashen a plain sword, what people would expect from a common sailor. She caught it by the handle and slid it into her left sheath. It still felt strange to have only one sword. She could fight with dual swords or with a single, but she preferred the former fighting style. It was faster and more exhilarating, and easy to use to confuse people. They wouldn't know which hand was your stronger and couldn't use it against you, not that the tactic would work against Ashen.

George appeared on the deck, wearing a bandanna to cover his hair. He offered Ashen a hat and a similar cloth.

"In case they know an Azure was the killer," he whispered. She gave him a curt nod and went to fixing her hair.

Smiegal returned just as the merman reached their ship. Ashen watched the creature as he scaled the side of the ship.

Merfolk were said to be a combination of spider, human, and shark, able to rip human flesh off its body and weave webs, amongst other powers. Ashen placed little faith in most rumors, but this one seemed to have some basis.

"Where is the captain?" the merman, a black haired man with very dark skin and dark eyes, asked.

"That would be I," Ashen declared, stepping forward. In most cases, they had her father pretend he was still captain. Not all kingdoms respected women like Azure did.

"I am Captain of the Carmine Guard, Leo of Carmine. I have been sent to escort you to shore. The seas are especially rough this time of years, the week of the red moon."

"I see that," Cecco muttered, rubbing his burns.

"Don't rub them!" Leo exclaimed, lurching forward and falling onto his face. He sighed and closed his eyes.

The crew stared as the man's tail turned into two legs. Smiegal tossed him a pair of trousers. They were tight, but they covered everything they needed to.

"I should have remembered," Leo grumbled, standing up.

"The Red Moon," Smiegal stated.

Leo and several crew members nodded.

"Now," Cecco said, "what was that you were saying about the burns?"

"Oh, right, they spread if you rub or itch them."

Several of the crew froze, their hands sliding to their sides. One of them uttered a few curses.

"You'll need to bandage them," Leo continued.

The crew muttered their thanks and left to follow his advice. It was then just Ashen and Smiegal alone with him.

"I appreciate your offer, and your help with the burns, but I can navigate these waters just fine," Ashen told him.

"I would not be quite so cocky if I was you," he replied. "The closer you get to the shore, the more likely you are to capsize."

With a pouty face, Ashen said, "Oh, but I'm so good at being cocky."

"She really is," Smiegal chimed in.

Throwing her quartermaster a withering glare, Ashen told the man, "We are fine."

Leo rolled his eyes, a gesture that meant women. A lack of respect for women was something the Carminians shared with Viridians, and something that made Ashen want to throw all of them in the boiling water.

Still, they needed the shelter, which meant she had to be polite.

Faking a smile, Ashen said, "but we would be happy to accept your offer. I mean, you did swim all this way."

Smiegal snorted, earning a kick from Ashen. His smile faltered.

Leo turned out to be a decent guide. He wasn't very patient, but he knew the waters, which meant Ashen kept her sword in her sheath even when comments about her being captain took an ugly tone.

"You'd think they'd be more tolerable," she whispered to her father, who had come up on deck per Smiegal's request. She continued, "Their leading monarch is a queen."

Her father didn't reply. Ashen wasn't surprised. Since the death of his wife, he had remained solemn, nothing like his old, sarcastic, swashbuckling self. She had hoped the avenging of her mother's death would help him, and she had seen some improvement in the last day or so since, but it was a long road to recovery. She would rather not be dead or in jail when he reached the end.

"At least we're almost there," she murmured, leaving him alone.

She headed into her room, the captain's quarters. She crossed the room and knelt next to her desk. Opening the top drawer, she looked down at the contents. Inside was a painting of a young red haired woman with blue eyes. She was wearing pirate garb, much like her daughter did now. On her belt was a whip, the woman not being one for swordplay.

Gingerly, Ashen touched the drawing of her mother. Sometimes, she could still feel her, when she looked at the picture. There wasn't much alike in them appearance wise. Ashen looked very much like her father, though a few of Arrow's qualities had been passed down to her sole daughter. She traced those very features with her finger. The paint was rough under her fingers and paled by far in comparison to the original.

Along with the picture was a silver tiara with sapphires in it, the crown of the heir of Azure. Her mother had taken it with her when she left the castle. Ashen imagined the Royal House of Cariad would do nearly anything to regain it, which was why she kept it in a usually locked drawer.

She frowned. The drawer had not been locked. She hadn't unlocked it. The only people with keys were her and her father.

And her mother.

Emlen had taken her mother's body when he killed her, escaping before the crew could catch him. Her father could have caught and killed him, had he not have collapsed upon her death. The days following the murder, Ashen had done her best to keep the images out of her mind, done her best not to imagine what the barbarians might have been doing to her body. The fact that they still, to her knowledge, had the body in their possession meant the Viridians were in possession of the key.

She looked around carefully.

"I know you're here," she stated. "Face me like a man, or whatever it is you are."

Suddenly someone tackled her from above. She slammed against the ground face first. Rolling over, she got a good look at her attacker, and the eye patch.

She recognized both.

Her attacker was Peder of Viridian, Captain of the Viridian Guard.