Page 91 of Scourge of the Shores
It’s stolen from gods, yet never grows cold,
Sunk in a tomb, beneath a weeping reef,
Guarded by silence, sorrow, and grief.”
“That’s the treasure for me,”
A pirate hummed, tapping his mug.
Another sang, hushed.
“But where could it be?”
A woman at the hearth whispered the last line like a prayer:
“Only known to a maid of the sea.”
Robert’s smug grin stretched wide across his face. “I suppose I hadn’t. Thank ye for the entertainment this evenin’.”
The keeper shrugged and joked, lifting the mood once again, “I’ll add it to yer tab.”
Robert leaned back in the chair before turning his steely gaze to the stranger. Robert had planned to venture into the South Sea next summer with Rosa and Blackwood to unite the South Sea Pirate Kings under them. If he succeeded, it would be a massive feat, and his legacy would be sealed forever. But he wouldn’t even need Rosa and Blackwood if the treasure were true.
Robert ran a finger along the map’s curled edge as his voice dropped. “The shanty says only a maid of the sea knows where it lies. And I ain’t sailin’ West to find a siren.”
The stranger’s fingers twitched. "Aye, it does, and ye ain’t be needin’ a siren, Capt’n,” the man rasped, his gaze hard as barnacled wood.
“Why’s that?” Robert asked.
“Me family’s spent generations—aye, generations—trackin’ it down. This here’s the piece we’ve narrowed it to."
He paused, his voice dropping to a bitter whisper.
"But marauders took me brothers—cut ‘em down like dogs. I’m the last of me line. Too poor to see the hunt through meself."
His eyes gleamed with a mix of grief and ambition.
"I reckoned only the finest should lay claim to such a prize. And that be ye, Captain Jaymes. No other would I trust with it. The centuries-long Bloodfang line in the south? Their power wanes. The South Sea Pirate Kings grow weak, as do their brotherly bonds. Captains Rosa and Blackwood—they ain’t done nothing worthy. But ye and yer father: forty kings to three, slew a sea dragon, got its spike on yer mast. More than done yer due. For this treasure, it don’t just glisten with gold. It makes men rule the world.”
Robert took another swig of rum and set the bottle on the table. “If anything, ye’ll be rewarded for yer flattery, but if ye dare call me a princock, I’ll slit yer throat.”
“Never,” the stranger said. “All know the great Jaymes earned his place among the legends with the heir of Chadwick and a son and a daughter primed to take yer place. With the sea dragon’s prophecy, yer and yer father’s legacy ain’t gonna be swept with the tide.”
Robert didn’t trust the man, mainly since he chose to remain nameless and hid his face from the barkeep, but it was only ten Delphi, and he seemed to be a pirate through and through. Helping the poor would be considered good work and might atone for some of his more ruthless deeds when Tophet called. He glanced at Danna, who gave him a nod, likely swayed by the shanty’s weight. With her agreement, he dug into his moneybag tied to his belt and pressed ten golden coins onto the table, one at a time.
“I agree to yer trade.”
The man swept the coins into his palm. “Mind ye well, Captain Jaymes—a treasure stolen from the gods rarely comes without a price. I’ve heard madness follows the man who holds it too long.”
“Higher the price, higher the reward,” Robert said, unimpressed, and leaned in. “But if ye be a trickster, I’ll have me crew drag ye off this island, skin ye alive, and let the salty sea rot yer flesh.”
“Expect nothin’ less from a Jaymes,” the man said, pulling his hood down farther over his eyes and chin. But it was no good, Robert’d seen him and Robert never forgot a face.
“I’ll be stayin’ at the Kyve Inn should ye find a need to carry out yer threat,” the man said.
Robert watched the stranger walk out of The Drunken Sailor as he sipped from his rum bottle. He ran a finger along the map’s edge, his lips curving into a slow, satisfied smirk. His gaze flicked to Danna, who approached amid the quiet chatter of the tavern. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and she stayed his. He was king, and she was his crown.
Two familiar voices echoed from the doorway. Danna held his heart, but their twins in the doorway could melt it. Robert watched them enter—bold, brash, beautiful. Two halves of his legacy, bound by salt and blood. If the gods still ruled, they would fear those two.
