Page 69 of Astrid at Sea

“Astrid.” At this point, I was beyond ashamed of myself for being so forthcoming with all this information, even though the pirates hadn’t given me a choice.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on here, Astrid of Jorvik,” the pirate grinned at me. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but we’re pirates. My name is Frode, and I am the Captain. That means that I’m in charge and that Treasure Island is ours. It will be good for you to remember that.”

I gulped and nodded, biting my tongue to stop myself from saying something I would regret.

“One of my men is an early riser. Imagine his surprise when he woke up this morning to find your ship docked at our shores,” Frode chuckled as if there was anything remotely funny about this situation. “You were all fast asleep, so it was pretty easy to restrain you. You were found on the top deck with that brute of a man. He had his arms wrapped around you.” He gestured over his shoulder at Viktor, who had a trickle of blood rolling down his forehead. That wasn’t enough to stop him from continuing to struggle against his restraints. “I assume he’s your husband?” I nodded. “The man my men were kicking just now?” I noddedagain. “So, that would make him the Captain…” Frode mused aloud, a thoughtful look on his face.

“What are you doing here on the King’s Treasure Island?” I dared to ask, wanting to get the attention off Viktor. I couldn’t handle seeing him hurt anymore.

“It’s not the King’s island anymore,” Frode snorted, offended by my words. “That old fart has been dead for a long time now, and he was stupid enough to leave this island without anyone guarding his treasures. Well, his loss is our gain.”

“We don’t mean any trouble. When we docked here last night, we thought the island was deserted,” I said, urging him to believe me.

“That’s because we keep our ship hidden at the back among the trees for moments exactly like this one,” Frode grinned. “I have to say, you and your crew are a whole lot more ballsy than some others we’ve come by. No one has dared to dock on our island before. We usually sail out to introduce ourselves whenever we see passersby, but you lot decided to turn up in the middle of the night.” It almost sounded like a compliment. “When we first discovered your ship this morning, we were going to wait until you woke up to make you walk the plank together. But then we had a change of heart…”

“What kind of change of heart?” I forced myself to ask despite the dread that settled in the pit of my stomach.

“If you help us with something, we’ll let you all go.”

His words caused hope to flicker inside me, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. Not when a literal pirate was leering in my face, pretending to be kind.

“Alive?” I asked, feeling like all of this was too good to be true.

“Alive.” Frode nodded in confirmation. We’ve been here for months but haven’t had much luck finding the treasure. We’ve found some small bits here and there, but we all know there’s somuch more that we’re missing. That’s where you and your men come in.”

“What do you need us to do?” I asked, even though I already had a pretty good idea of the answer.

“You have the rest of the day to find all the treasure. Or at least enough for us to be happy to let you all go. Alive,” he grinned wickedly.

“What if we don’t find enough?” I had a pretty idea of this answer as well.

“We’re going to kill you all,” he smiled brightly at me as if he hadn’t just threatened all of our lives.

“And how do we determineenoughtreasure?”

Frode’s lips twitched higher at the corners. “Me and my men will be the judge of that.”

When he held his hand up in the air this time, all seven of his men rose to their feet and headed over to the crew. I watched as the pirates untied their hands and legs. Everyone was on edge, especially when the pirates pulled out knives and waved them in the air, threatening to make good use of them if anyone tried anything funny.

I watched with wide, fearful eyes as the pirates ushered the crew down the shore toward the line of trees in the distance. Two pirates remained behind and walked over to stand by Frode.

“Where are you taking them?” I asked in a shaky voice, craning my neck to hold onto Viktor’s eyes as he was forced into the forest with the sharp tip of a sword digging into his back.

“You’re collateral,” Frode laughed and grabbed my hand, yanking me onto my feet along with him. “If any of your crew members or the Captain, yourprecious husband, try anything funny, I’ll kill you in front of them all. That should be enough motivation to keep them in line.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Frode and the two other pirates who hung about whipped out some cards and gold to gamble with. The other five were tasked with keeping the crew in line while they were forced to dig up the treasure.

That meant there were five pirates for thirteen men and three for little old me. I wasn’t complaining, but the numbers didn’t make sense. However, I hoped it gave Viktor and the crew enough space and time to devise a plan to save us from this mess. It couldn’t take much for the thirteen of them to overpower the five pirates tasked with guarding them and then the three watching me.

“What’s wrong, Astrid of Jorvik? Cat got your tongue?” Frode laughed, taking a swig of our ale.

I pursed my lips and resisted every urge to roll my eyes. I had a feeling that wouldn’t go down so well. Instead, I kept my eyes on the small mountain of gold coins up for grabs as they played cards.

“Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you,” Frode huffed, his lips tugging down in an offended frown. He seemed bothered by my not answering him immediately, but I knew it was reallybecause he was losing so much money. But, of course, why take his frustrations out on his men when he could take it out on me?

“I’m not ignoring you,” I murmured, my eyes still trained on the game. I had never been interested in cards when my family and friends played the game, but I didn’t have anything better to do right now.

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