Page 25 of Scourge of the Shores
He nodded. “Ah, a personal vendetta against the sea dragon.”
“Aye,” she said with a heavy breath. The pain in her leg wound around her body.
“And you still turn down my offer? How many more must the dragon kill before?—”
Danna cocked the gun and pointed it at him. The weight of the deaths from her decisions, her actions, raged in her mind, and her finger twitched.
“Ye will shut yer mouth,” she ordered.
“Did I strike a chord?” he whispered, leaning away from her with downturned eyes.
“Shut. Yer. Mouth,” she said. Her finger itched until she pulled it off the trigger and laid it aside.
Robert took off his hat and took a deep breath. “I take it you’ve lost many to Cain? My apologies.”
“We’ve lost a lot,” she shifted under the pain. “But I gotta balance losin’ more to Cain or all to the Pirate Kings.”
Robert nodded. “That’s honorable.”
The little clarity afforded her upon lying down began to recede as Robert continued.
“My father was a man of many sayings. When I was a boy, before we attacked an enchanter’s ship that had blown way off course on its path to the Eastern palace, he told me that I had a choice that dealt with unknowns. The enchanters are known for enchanting people, bending them to their will, giving them illusions, and making their minds go mad. And this was their ship, full of them.”
Robert leaned forward, elbows on his knees, examining his hat in his hands. “He told me, if we persuaded all the Pirate Kings to descend upon them, we may win untold enchantments, but we would lose many in the process. If we did not strike, the enchanters would probably attack us for needed resources, and if alone, we would surely fail.”
The story made Danna ache for her father. He was full of quips like Robert’s father, but she only remembered a few because she was so young when he died.
“What’d he say?” Her breath came in shallow, shaky spurts.
Robert smiled. “He said, ‘Take the first fight first. Worry about the second later.’ Stuck with me.”
Her tongue was thick in her mouth, and she wiped sweat from her brow. “What’d ye do?” The words slurred.
“We took the first fight first. Knowing the enchanters’ ways, we did not want to fail, so we persuaded the Pirate Kings to attack, and we won our battle. We lost four ships, and I lost my mother. She was not a pirate and was not familiar with any weapons.”
Robert set his hat beside him on the bench. “To this day, I wonder why her? Why had the enchanters targeted her? Of all the raiders, she was the least capable of doing any damage.”
Danna stilled. His tone wasn’t cold. It wasn’t cruel. It just hurt. “I thought ye pirates didn’t care for losses.”
His gaze turned inward, and a small sweep of pain passed over his eyes. “That’s the lie we tell.”
For the first time, Robert felt real to her—genuine. And she almost reached for him—not out of pity, but recognition, comfort.
But she didn’t. Couldn’t. She wasn’t that foolish.
Danna wiped her face and rid her forehead of sweat, pushing past the glimpse of Robert as a man. Robert Jaymes was a pirate.
But he gave good advice. She knew what she had to do. Fight Cain first; figure out the second later. Try to plan for the second fight, but go in knowing more would die.
Lucas burst through the doors and kneeled beside Danna. “Yer Ma wants ye home,” Lucas said, and held out the needle and thread. “Scotty’s gonna come and take care of Captain Jaymes while I take ye home.”
Robert leered at Danna and said to Lucas, “She shouldn’t move. She’ll pass out cold before you get her to Ma, judging by how long you’ve been gone.”
Danna hadn’t realized it, but her hand holding the pistol was limp on her belly. Robert could have taken it with ease. The conversation dipped in and out of coherence.
Lucas took another glance at Danna with wide eyes. “She’s losin’ a lot of blood.”
Robert nodded and held out his hand. “Give me the needle and thread if you can’t do it; I’ll stitch her up.”
