Shifting Seas

A Novella Set In the

Dragon-Ridden World

By T.A. White

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter One

Jost was not a patient man by nature. Unfortunately, a man in his position learned to acquire such skills whether he appreciated the finer points of them or not. They were a necessary part of the job, and he was nothing if not good at his job.

“Please. Please, no. I’ve told you everything I know,” the man pleaded with Jost. “There’s nothing else. I swear it.”

Jost sighed. The man was lying. Why did they always try to lie? He wasn’t even being discrete about it. That was the real insult. If you were going to lie, at least try not to be obvious. Otherwise things were just too boring.

“Captain, we’ve located the cargo, and the men are transferring it to our ship now,” Jost’s first mate, Darren, said as he stepped onto the deck from the hold below. His gaze was dispassionate as he eyed the poor sap pinned to the deck courtesy of Jost’s sword through his shoulder.

“And the package?”

Darren shook his head. “No sign of it.”

Jost leaned his weight into the sword. Just a little bit. He didn’t want to accidently kill his victim before he could answer all of Jost’s questions.

“You just had to do this the hard way,” Jost told the man.

He gave the sword a small quarter twist to the right. Jost wanted to make sure the man understood just how serious he took his questioning.

“I don’t know where it is. It was never on my ship.”

“Now see, I know you’re lying,” Jost said. He ripped the sword out of the captain’s shoulder and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, taking the time to clean off his blade before sliding it into the scabbard attached to his belt. “I know this because my men watched you take it out of its nice little hidey hole in Takkan. Furthermore, they watched you carry it onto your ship and then set sail.”

The captain shook his head, one hand clapped to his shoulder as he tried to stem the blood seeping out of his wound. His eyes rolled in panicked desperation, showing the white around them. “You’re mistaken. It wasn’t me. We didn’t set sail from Takkan. We’re out of Arbon.”

“Oh?” Jost raised one eyebrow at the captain. He gestured for Darren to give him what he was holding. “Because my first mate found these in your quarters.”

Darren handed several blood lemons to Jost. They were a sunny yellow and had red thorns around the skin. Jost took one carefully and pulled out his knife to cut the blood lemon in half, exposing the light pink flesh inside. He raised the fruit to his mouth and took a bite.

“Tart but sweet and perfectly ripe. I can see why you picked a few of these up at your last port. They make a nice change from the boring meals on ship. Funny thing is, I know that this fruit is only in season right now in Takkan. Arbon doesn’t export these so the only place you could have come by something this luxurious would be Takkan.”

The other captain’s breath came in fast pants. He’d been caught and he knew it.

Jost gave him a friendly smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Would you like to tell me again how you didn’t come from Takkan?”

The captain didn’t answer, just stared at Jost with fear in his eyes.

“We could gather his crew. Make him watch as we kill them,” Darren said. He had a sour expression on his face as he watched the captain. Darren disliked weakness. He didn’t understand it and abhorred when he was forced to confront it in others.

Jost, for his part, had no more respect for it than Darren, but he at least understood it. How to take advantage of it, and how to turn it to his benefit.

“No, he’ll just watch them die while praying that we’ll spare him by some miraculous turn of events.” He studied the captain with an assessing eye. The man looked like the type to sacrifice others in the pursuit of his own survival.

“What do you suggest we do?”

“In situations such as these, it’s best to make things personal. Provide incentive to see things our way. Maybe jog his memory for him.”

Danny, a senior member of Jost’s crew, stepped up behind them carrying the blooming flower that Jost had asked for. Blooming flower was a type of explosive. This particular one was in the shape of small sticks no bigger than Jost’s forefinger and wrapped on one end in green paper. The other end was red and looked very like the petals on a flower, hence the name. The explosion it could create wasn’t very big; it was more for pinpoint accuracy.

“I’ve got what you asked for, Captain,” Danny said. He was a large man, taller than Jost and packed with muscles. Shaggy black hair and a thick beard hid much of his features and gave him a fierce look that struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. He was a brutal fighter and used his natural strength to bludgeon his way to victory.

“What’s that?” the other captain asked. Fear made his voice high and tinny.

He tried to scoot away, leaving a small trail of blood in his wake. There was only so far he could go as he was hemmed in on one side by the ship’s mast and the other by a pile of rope, something Jost would never let his crew get away with. It was sloppy to leave the ropes out and unorganized like that. It spoke of laziness. Perhaps that’s why the captain’s ship had been so easy to capture.

Jost plucked one of the flowers out of Danny’s hand and held it up. “This?” He fiddled with it, flipping it up in the air and then catching it. “It’s about to become your new best friend.”

Jost jerked his chin at Danny and Darren. They strode forward and yanked the man away from where he was trying to burrow under the rigging. They dragged him out kicking and screaming. The rest of the man’s crew looked on, a few seemed embarrassed over how much fuss he was making.

They should be. Such a disgraceful display from the person in charge. Jost clucked his tongue and shook his head. He was embarrassed for him.

Those in Jost’s crew gathered on deck and jeered. They were savages and loved Jost’s brutal ways of getting information. Some men just needed a little more convincing to give up their secrets.

A few men from Jost’s crew helped Danny and Darren tie the captain spread-eagle on the deck. They grasped one arm and yanked it away from his body before tying it flat to the deck.

Jost knelt beside the captain as he whimpered and fought, waiting until the man finally wore himself out.

“I’ll ask one more time. Where is the item you took from Takkan?”

The captain’s breathing was heavy and labored. His eyes darted from Jost and then around the deck. He looked at his captain’s cabin and then away. He didn’t look in that direction again.

He might not have meant to give away his secrets, but to one such as Jost, who had spent a lifetime learning peoples tells to determine when they were lying, the captain might as well have screamed it at the top of his lungs.

“No? You don’t want to tell me?” Jost asked with an easy smile. His brown eyes sharp in a face that he’d been told by many a lady had a certain irresistible roguish charm. The captain didn’t look moved by that charm.

Jost stabbed the metal point on the base of the flower into the captain’s palm. The captain flailed as much as the ropes would allow him, trying to throw the flower off. It didn’t budge.

“I love these things,” Jost said, flicking one of the red petals. It was smooth and hard against his finger. “Have you ever used one?”

The captain’s eyes rolled in his head, and he made an inarticulate sound. He might have been pleading for his life or asking for a cup of tea. Jost couldn’t really understand much of the garbled nonsense.

“No? Well, you’re in for a treat. This explosive is different than most. It is very precise. The blast isn’t big, which is why I can use it on you and not worry about putting my men at risk, but it gets the job done. Just a few of these flowers placed in strategic spots can take down a building.” Jost flicked a petal again. “All I have to do is crush these petals and then in thirty seconds, longer if I only crush a few, your hand goes boom.”

The man moaned.

Jost laughed and patted him on the chest, making sure to hit the wound he’d left earlier.

“What do you say, boys? Think he’ll keep any of his fingers?”

Danny gave a sinister grin. The man could be a bloodthirsty beast when he wanted to be. “Last one lost his whole hand and most of his arm.”

“Five taros that he only loses two fingers,” Riply said, coming to stand by Danny. As lean as Danny was muscular, Riply had shoulder length blondish hair tied back from his face.

“You’re on,” Danny told him.

After that, Jost’s crew shouted out their bets while the captured crew looked increasingly sick.

“Shall we find out which of my men is going home with heavier pockets?” Jost asked his victim. The captain shook his head in a frantic motion, his eyes pleading, tears and snot streaming down the sides of his face. It was truly pathetic.

Jost leaned forward. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep going, taking pieces of you one at a time until you tell me what I want to know.”

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just don’t take my hands.” The man was blubbering by now.

“Where is the package you took from Takkan?”

“My quarters. There’s a hidden panel on the side of my desk. If you open the second drawer then turn the nob two times to the left and one time to the right, it should open.”

Jost looked up. His first mate and Danny were already heading for the captain’s quarters. The rest of his crew looked disgruntled at having their fun cut short. A few looked suspicious about why they were wasting time on the captain.

Jost took note of those faces. It might mean nothing or might become something later on. He made a mental note to tell Darren to keep an eye on those men in future.

Jost hadn’t shared the real reason behind why they’d targeted this ship. To the crew, they had the cargo, which was the whole point of commandeering this vessel. It was time to get going before one of the Aurelian Empire’s fleets happened by and saw a pirate ship accosting a merchant vessel and tried to intervene. His crew would be perfectly happy if Jost killed the entire merchant vessel’s crew and then sunk the ship to hide the evidence of their crimes.

Jost couldn’t do that, at least not until he’d found what he came for. A package that was of vital importance to the Aurelian Empire. He was an agent of that empire, using the guise of piracy to carry out its agenda. Only a few men from his crew knew the real purpose behind the persona of the pirate captain Jost. If the rest of the crew found out, there would probably be an attempted mutiny. He said attempted because it was unlikely to succeed.

Danny stepped out of the quarters and gave Jost a nod.

“Look at that, you were telling the truth.” Jost patted the man on the cheek. The pat was just this side of a slap.

“You’ll let me go now, right?” The captain seemed hopeful.

Jost stared down at him in thought. “How many people did you kill to get that package?”

The captain’s face froze, whatever expression he saw on Jost’s face had him shaking his head again. Cue the begging.

The captain did not disappoint.

“I want to know how many people you killed.” Jost’s voice was calm, cutting through the pleas. It didn’t give away any of the rage he was feeling. “How many?”

“No, no, no.”

“Answer me or I’m going to do much worse than blow off your hands.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. My men killed them. It wasn’t me. You have to believe me.”

Jost looked at the men in question. Most looked confused. Only two looked angry and terrified at their captain’s words.

“How many?” Jost asked them.

One of them, a man with a flat nose and cauliflower ears from being hit too many times, spat, “Three.”

Jost’s smile was humorless. His friend flinched back.

He looked back down at the captain. “Those men were my friends. I knew them personally. One of them had two children and a wife.”

“Then they shouldn’t have been working for the Emperor,” the captain hissed, finding his backbone. It would have been better for him if it had remained missing. “Do your men know who you are? That you-”

Jost yanked the flower out of the captain’s hand and jammed it in his mouth, crushing all of the petals. He took two steps back, watching with a cold expression as the captain thrashed his head from side to side.

The flower exploded, leaving nothing but a red smear and a few ribbons of meat behind.

“Captain, what’d you go and do that for?” one of Jost’s men complained. “Now we won’t be able to tell which of us won the bet.”

“Don’t be absurd,” Jost said in a light voice. “Danny won the bet. It took off his entire head. It would have taken his arm up to the elbow.”

There were several grumbles that were quelled when Jost turned cold eyes on them. They knew he didn’t allow even the hint of insubordination on his ship.

“What do you want us to do with the rest of them,” Darren asked in a low voice at his side.

Jost’s eyes flicked over the men cowering away from them. Most of them probably had no knowledge of their captain’s treason and no involvement in the theft of the package. That didn’t really matter though, Jost couldn’t afford for even a hint of his involvement as the empire’s privateer to get out. It was dirty business but necessary. These men knew the risks as soon as they signed up for a life at sea. The oceans were dangerous and unforgiving.

“Offer to let them join our ship. Spare the first four and kill the rest. Sink the ship afterwards.” He didn’t need to tell Darren that the two who had been involved in the deaths of his friends weren’t to be spared. Darren understood without needing an order. That’s why he was Jost’s first mate.

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Darren turned to the men and started shouting orders.

Jost made his way back to their ship, turning his back on the others. He needed to contact his handler and tell him the package had been recovered. Then he planned to head for the nearest port and drink away the bad taste this latest mission had left in his mouth.

Chapter Two

A pounding at the door jolted Jost out of sleep. A naked woman lay sprawled on her stomach next to him, her hair a golden tangle down her back.

“Get the door, handsome,” she grumbled as she snuggled deeper into her pillows.

The person at the door pounded on it again.

Jost threw the covers back and padded over to the door, not bothering with clothes despite being just as bare assed as the woman. Whoever was disturbing him before dawn could deal with him as he was without complaint.

Jost’s body was lean and hard from the rigors of life at sea. Scars decorated his arms and a few spots along his ribs and back. It was a hard life, one that required strength and determination, and had molded his form into something that meant he rarely lacked for company.

He yanked open the door just as that annoying individual started pounding on it again.

Two men stood outside. Neither blinked at Jost’s state of undress. They were not men that Jost recognized. Definitely not of his crew, who were the only ones who should have been able to track him down. Their clothes would fit in all but the poorest or richest of neighborhoods, which meant they were either criminals or spies. He’d be willing to bet they weren’t on the criminal side of things either. They lacked that certain air about them.

Jost knew what was coming before the first one spoke.

“My lord, your benefactor has a new task for you,” the shorter one said.

Jost sighed. Of course he did. Jost had been in port all of one night, just long enough to deliver the package and find a soft woman to keep him company. He’d hoped to spend a few weeks getting to know all the nooks and crannies of her body before setting out to sea again. Did that matter to his benefactor? No.

Jost raised his hand and motioned for them to hand his orders over. The shorter one passed him a small envelope with a wax stamp on the back. A dragon wrapped around a large stone—the sigil of the Aurelian Empire.

He shut the door in the men’s faces before they could say anything else. Everything he needed was in this letter. The men were just the messengers. Unimportant and unnecessary after the message had been delivered.

The woman he’d spent last night with lifted her head from the pillow, her hair rumpled. She didn’t bother opening her eyes.

“Who was at the door?” her voice throaty and raspy from sleep.

“No one important. Go back to bed.”

There was a mumble of agreement before the woman tucked her head back into the pillow and the soft sounds of sleep reached Jost.

He walked to the only desk in the room and lit the candle. He tilted the paper to the dim light to read what it said.

After finishing, he ripped it into several pieces and then dropped all but one into the basket next to the desk. The last he held over the flame before dropping it too into the basket. He watched until the papers had stopped burning before taking a paper from inside the desk and lighting it on fire too. He then dropped the paper into the basket, setting the rest to burning again.

Only when everything had been reduced to a fine ash did he find his clothes and dress. He let himself out, not stopping to say goodbye to the woman or even spare her a glance.

His first stop on his way back to the ship was to a room three down from his. He knocked softly, waiting until Darren answered. Darren’s dark brown hair stuck up on the sides as he stared sleepily at Jost.

“Recall the crew. We leave at dawn,” Jost said.

The look of sleep faded quickly from Darren’s face. He didn’t ask where they were going. He knew better. That information wouldn’t be shared until they were underway and had to plot a course.

Darren gave Jost a crisp nod and shut the door. Jost’s first mate only spoke when absolutely necessary and ran the crew with a ruthless efficiency. He’d get them recalled and have the ship underway in half the time it would take most men. Anybody who didn’t make it back in time would be left behind.

*     *     *

“Months out here and it’s like trying to grab onto ghosts,” Danny said, staring at the horizon.

Jost grunted and dropped the spyglass from his eye. The ocean was a deep turbulent grey so dark it was nearly black. It had been a hard four months since setting sail on the mission their benefactor had given them. Full of harsh conditions fueled by frustration and an increasing sense of unease in the crew.

The sea of the north was an unforgiving place. One miscalculation could send the ship and all its crew to a watery grave. Less than thirty minutes in the frigid temperatures and a person would be hypothermic. Not long after that and they’d be dead.

Above water wasn’t much better. It was cold to begin with and when the wind blew it felt like it cut through a man with a thousand needles—sharp and fierce enough to steal the breath from the lungs.

Thanks to the dryness up here, Jost’s hands were chapped raw and his skin dry. No amount of grease or fat rubbed into them could protect them. His lips were cracked. He was one of the lucky ones too. Some of the crew were in even worse shape.

All the crew had to show for their work was a couple sightings of their quarry in the far distance. Before they could close on them, their prey disappeared into the fog and ice that shrouded the Northern Sea. It was like hunting a mirage, there and gone the next minute.

They’d been all through these waters and nothing.

“How are the men?” Jost asked as Darren joined them on the forecastle deck.

“Cold, hungry and wishing we’d head back to warmer seas.”

“Can’t say that I blame them.” Danny rubbed his hands together and blew on them. “Morale seems to get worse with every day we’re out here and nothing to show for it.”

Darren’s sour expression said he agreed. “They’re starting to get antsy. Guy by the name of Roger seems determined to start something. Don’t think he knows what yet.”

And antsy men were trouble. They thought they could get away with things they couldn’t. If they got restless enough, they might start thinking Jost’s position would suit them. This Roger might decide he had what it took to lead. He would be sadly mistaken, but by then it would be too late.

Jost had enough loyal men that any dissenters would be dealt with effectively and permanently, but he had no desire to sail this ship back home with a skeleton crew.

“Will it be a problem?”

Darren frowned as he considered the question. “Not yet.”

“Keep an eye on them,” Jost told the other two.

They both nodded.

“It might be close to time to rotating out the crew,” Danny said.

Darren grunted in agreement. Every few years Jost released most of the crew, keeping only those who were utterly loyal to him. The ones who knew a bit of his dealings and would follow him into the deepest pits of the abyss. Cycling the crew out every once in a while kept those who might be curious from getting too knowledgeable about his business. It also prevented the necessity of having to kill those who knew too much and became a threat.

The ones he kept would face down the Creators themselves, the greatest evil this world had spawned, if he asked it of them.

Jost looked back at the horizon. It was full of drifting icebergs and water that was becoming slushy in places. If they pushed much further north or stayed here much longer, they ran the risk of getting stuck, frozen in place until the weather shifted or the sea thawed. The ship didn’t have enough supplies to survive a winter up here.

“Push on for tonight. If the men protest, silence them.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Darren murmured. Jost handed over the eyeglass before heading to his quarters. Neither man protested the order.

The main privileges the captain’s quarters boasted of was the fact that it was dry and provided shelter from the wind. Two luxuries that were in short supply on deck.

He sat at his desk and stared at the rough sea outside of the three small windows in the back of his cabin. Glow lamps illuminated the space. The fist size globes of soft white light were less dangerous than having an open flame on a wooden ship.

Jost’s ship, The Marauder, was a schooner that predated Jost’s tenure as a pirate. Equipped with two masts and a sun engine that worked in tandem with the sails, it was one of the fastest ships on the seas. The sun engine absorbed the energy of the sun and transferred it to power the engines. The only ships faster belonged to the Emperor’s personal fleet. No other pirate ship matched it in terms of speed or maneuverability. 

His father had designed it and when he died, Jost had taken it as his flag ship. He’d modified it a little, made it more suited to his current line of work by adding several cannon ports and a few other features ideal for piracy. His father was in every inch of this ship but the additions carried Jost’s stamp. It gave him a perverse pleasure knowing something created from the legacy of both men was an instrument in avenging his family’s memory.

He was in an odd mood tonight. He hadn’t thought of his father in many years. Perhaps it was this mission and the memories it sparked.

Jost leaned forward and opened the bottom drawer in his desk, pulling out a bottle of scotch and a glass to go with it. He unscrewed the top and poured a finger’s width, before recapping the bottle and placing it on the desk.

He sipped the scotch, relishing the harsh burn in his throat and the warmth it left in his belly.

This mission had promised to put him in the path of the men he suspected had murdered his family. His father and mother, brother and sister. Instead it seemed he was stuck hunting ghosts. Capturing those men and making them pay in the worst way imaginable had been what drove him for these past two decades. It was why he got out of bed in the morning and made the tough decisions that would have seen his mother disowning him had she been still among the living.

Jost’s face was contemplative as he considered the sea out his window. He took another sip of scotch.

He had been disappointed before when he thought he was close. But this time felt different. Like it might be the last time before the window closed.

He rolled the glass in his hands. He took another sip.

Yes, he’d been here before. There would be other chances. Other quarry to hunt. Because he wouldn’t give up. Not until every last person responsible for the destruction of his family had paid in blood.

He spun the small globe on his desk, watching as it turned. He stopped it and sat forward, lightly tracing their path from the port near Takkan where they’d set sail from. He ran his fingers up far into the north until they rested in the general area of their current location. On the globe, the artist had rendered several ice bergs and small rocky islands.

If he was leading a clandestine operation way beyond the touch of the civilized world, where would he be?

Not freezing his balls off on a choppy northern sea while risking winter storms sinking his ship or getting frozen in place until the ice jams broke up. That’s for sure.

He traced his fingers east and tapped the globe. Hm. The Northern Reaches. No one on that long stretch of land. Not that he knew of.

The winters were harsh there. The summers too. There were many dangerous things that called that place home. Things not seen since the Creators retired from this world.

It would make a good base. A place to operate out of. One that held little chance of discovery since few had any reason to venture so far north. It was also off the normal shipping lanes.

He tossed the rest of the scotch back and stood. He walked to the door and called to one of the men waiting right outside.

“Call the first mate to my quarters,” Jost ordered.

The man leapt to do Jost’s bidding, disappearing across the deck.

Jost didn’t have long to wait until there was a sharp rap on the door.

“Come in.”

Darren stepped inside. “You called.”

“Set a course for the Northern Reaches. The men can spend some of their energy on hunting snow cats. If they catch any that can be traded down south, it’ll quiet any dissent. It might even be a nice way to recoup some of the profit lost on this voyage,” Jost said.

Darren cocked his head, his reserved expression taking in Jost. His thoughts remained locked behind his eyes. “As you wish.”

Jost nodded in dismissal. Darren took it as his sign to leave, closing the door gently behind him.

Yes, there would be other opportunities. Other hunts. No need to rush and get himself killed through useless impatience before his job was done.

Chapter Three

“Are we really landing there?” Trent asked, skepticism in his voice as he stared at the rocky shore in the distance.

The Northern Reaches weren’t much to look at. What wasn’t covered in snow was grey and rocky. There was little to no vegetation. Just dirt and rock and ice. Hardly an inviting place to make port.

“I’d like to say it’s better than it looks,” Riply said, resting his forearms on the railing beside Trent. “But I’d be lying. The land doesn’t get better the further in you go. Just more of the endless same.”

Jost listened to the back and forth with half an ear. Most of his attention was on the small cluster of crew near the foredeck. While they had been relieved to leave the far north seas, they weren’t happy with the lack of profit. They were in this life for the spoils and adventure. Without either, the mood had gotten increasingly dangerous.

None seemed to enjoy the thought of hunting one of the great snow cats that resided on this stretch of isolated land. Jost found it interesting that Roger hadn’t added his voice to the growing faction expressing dissatisfaction, instead choosing to stay in the background watching. Waiting like a giant spider until conditions became favorable and its prey waltzed closer and closer to the web it was spinning.

Jost could see why Darren had expressed concern. Roger was tricky. Too bad Jost was an old sea dog used to eating deception and subterfuge for breakfast. He had a feeling the crew was going to be a bit thin heading home. How much thinner was still up for debate.

He didn’t relish spilling blood, but he wouldn’t let them take what was his either. If it came down to it, he’d kill every last one of the bastards and sail the ship out of here by himself. It wouldn’t come to that though. He had many loyal men still on the crew.

“Make sure you stick close to Trent,” Jost murmured to Riply. The boy was young, no more than fourteen, and he hadn’t been with them long. Jost had picked him up in some no-name town. His mother had been desperate for help and Jost had taken to the boy. He’d given him a job as a cabin boy. It was a simple enough thing and would give him a start in cultivating skills for the future, while allowing the boy to send money home to help his mother feed the rest of her children.

Jost didn’t want him getting caught in the middle if things went bad. Riply had been with Jost for a long time. He was loyal and would keep the boy out of harm’s way if possible.

Riply looked in the direction of the knot of men clustered not far from them, his eyes knowing and watchful. He gave Jost a nod, acknowledging the order.

Jost stepped back, his hands clasped behind him as the men prepared the ship for anchor. Since this wasn’t their standard port with a dock, they would have to anchor in the inlet they’d found and then row the long boats to shore while a small crew stayed aboard.

Jost had decided the landing party would make camp a few miles inland. It would protect them from the freezing wind blowing off the water and give them a chance to look around the area. See if there was anyone else up here hunting.

It was unlikely there would be snow cats this close to the ocean. They tended to prefer the interior where hunting was plentiful and the wind wasn’t as rough.

He wanted to find an easily defensible spot by nightfall. Hunting snow cats was dangerous business. It was best to be careful or they’d turn the tables on you pretty quick. They were canny hunters and had been known to track those who hunted them back to camp before attacking.

The beasts were as big as horses, with paws the size of dinner plates. Jost’s head would only come up to a snow cat’s shoulders. They had two oversize fangs and a bite that could create enough pressure to crush a man’s skull. White as the snow, they blended into the landscape. Few saw one coming until it struck.

“Anything I should know?” Darren asked.

“Just keep your eye out for anything that doesn’t belong.”

Darren’s eyes sharpened. “You think our friends might be here.”

“If you were operating out of this area, wouldn’t you want a solid base to work from?” Jost asked.

Darren’s face turned thoughtful. He stared at the men lowering the long boats and preparing for their departure.

“I sure wish I was going with you. There’s a strange feeling in the air.”

“I need someone loyal to remain with the ship.”

Darren’s sigh was heavy.

“You know what to do?” Jost asked.

“Yes, I’ve already got the contingencies in place if it comes down to it.”

“Good.” Jost didn’t say anything else.

“Since I’m staying here, do me a favor and keep Danny close to you. I don’t like the idea of you going out there with no one you trust at your back.”

“Aren’t you turning into the mother hen?” Jost murmured.

Darren’s smile was a brief flash of teeth. There and gone between one blink and the next. It was a rare sight. Jost’s first mate was a taciturn fellow, not given to large displays of emotions.

Jost clapped Darren on the back. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“I’m counting on it. No way do I want to be left on my own with these slatterns for the duration of the voyage home.”

Jost snorted. They both knew Darren was perfectly capable of captaining this ship and the crew should Jost not return. Darren had been a ship captain once upon a time. He could step in when Jost’s second job for the empire called him away from his duties on the ship for long periods of time. It’s why Jost trusted him. It’s why Jost chose him for first mate.

Jost climbed down the rope ladder on the side of the ship to the boat bobbing in the waves. Danny, Riply, Trent and two others waited on him. In addition to the men, the boat was filled with supplies for their brief stay on land.

“Captain,” one of the men said in greeting.

“Carry on.”

The man gave a sharp nod before giving the ship a firm push to get the long boat to drift free. The others took his lead and picked up their oars, dipping them into the water as they rowed toward shore. The waves buffeted the small vessel, making it a bumpy ride. The spray was like chips of ice against his skin, sapping any heat.

The boat bumped against the rocky shore and the men, including Jost, hopped out to help drag it up onto the beach. Every time a wave hit a new part of him got soaked, chilling him further.

Since Jost had been in the last boat heading for shore, they didn’t have to wait for the rest to arrive after they beached the vessel. It didn’t take them long to get the boat settled out of the water where it wasn’t in danger of floating away.

Jost grabbed his bag and gear for the trek inland. It was a good thing they weren’t camping on the beach. Beyond the fact that the wind from the ocean bit through their clothes as if they were wearing the thinnest of materials, a fire from here would be seen for miles out to sea. If by some chance his original quarry was lurking anywhere in the vicinity, he didn’t want to scare them off or alert them to their presence. It was a long shot, but he’d gotten lucky on worse odds before.

“The men should be ready soon, Captain,” Danny reported.

In Darren’s absence, Danny was second-in-command, though he acted as quartermaster in his normal duties. Jost’s ship wasn’t known for following the normal hierarchy. That created jealousies when some of the crew thought they should be closer to the top of the chain in command.

For Jost, he trusted Danny which was why he was third-in-command. Simple as that. Any malcontents could shut their trap or be thrown overboard. 

“Good. I want to be off this beach in the next hour.”

Danny turned to the men. “You heard him. Fall in. Form two lines. No one wanders off. Anybody who falls behind has latrine duty when we stop.”

There was a chorus of groans. No one wanted to dig the latrine in frozen ground like this. It would be back-breaking work that would probably take a good bit of time.

Jost took his place at the front of the line. He would lead and it would be on his say so that they stopped for the night.

Finding a way off the beach was going to be tough as it backed into a series of cliffs and rocky inclines. Jost studied the terrain, not liking what he saw.

They could climb the cliffs, but they’d have to come back down the same way. He’d like to avoid that if possible. Lugging a snow cat or being chased by enemies was no way to navigate such dangerous terrain. The last thing he wanted to do was lose half the crew on the descent to the beach.

A flutter on one of the cliffs caught his eye. It was a small movement. Easily missed unless one was staring right at the spot where it occurred.

He stared at the spot for a long moment, waiting for whatever was up there to move again. It could be a bird or a nest. There wasn’t much living up here to attribute the movement to. No vegetation and few animals. He didn’t think the spot was big enough for a snow cat but he wasn’t willing to rule anything out.

His wait was in vain. Nothing moved while he watched.

“Captain, the men are ready,” Danny said.

Jost stared up at the spot for another long moment. Nothing. It could have been a figment of his imagination. Either way, they needed to be off this beach come night fall and he couldn’t afford to waste time.

“Understood. Let’s get moving then.”

Jost set out for the opposite end of the beach from where he saw the movement. One of his men had said he thought he saw a small path up into the cliffs from there. It was as good a direction as any.

*     *     *

It took several hours to make it far enough inland for Jost to be satisfied with their progress. Accustomed to ship life, the men didn’t move fast on land. They were strong, but not used to walking the long distances up hills and down into ravines. They were showing their exhaustion.

He was tempted to push on. Exhausted men didn’t usually try to mutiny. Then again, exhausted men made stupid mistakes and got themselves killed.

There were times when Jost missed not having to take into consideration every permutation of any given situation. There had been less worry and less excitement. They were simpler days. All but forgotten.

“We’ll stop here for the night,” Jost told Danny. He didn’t really care about the men. With the exception of those he trusted, they were disposable. He was more interested in the fact that the hills and cliffs would shield the light from any fire.

Danny was quick to call the men to a halt, splitting them up into work teams to prepare camp. They moved with the coordination of a group who had worked together many times for the same purpose. Camp would be up and running within an hour or two. Plenty of time to prepare for the coming night.

Jost observed the hills around them. All day he’d felt like he was being watched. Like something or someone was following them. It was an itch on the back of his neck that wouldn’t go away.

He’d learned the hard way to pay attention to his instinct. It had warned him of many a dangerous situation, and right now it was saying that there was something out there. Whether that something was dangerous or simply curious was a question that remained to be answered.

The men felt it too. They’d gotten quiet and watchful as the afternoon deepened. The idle chit chat had fallen off and more than one man had kept a hand in easy reach of a weapon as they walked, eyeing the land around them with a deepening suspicion.

He’d bet anything that feeling wasn’t just a superstition derived from being in the Northern Reaches, a place said to be haunted by the battles of their ancestors. It was an old land, one not settled by any of the three peoples of this world.

Many said that the Northern Reaches was where the war between the Creators, a race who had created many of the peoples in this world and used them as slaves, and the Saviors, those who had fought against them to free the three peoples, began and ended.

It was said that some of the Creators’ monsters still resided here, protecting their masters’ interests. It was why only traders looking to make their name by killing or trapping a great snow cat came up here. Every once in a while a scholar from one of the Academies ventured near, looking to uncover the secrets of those long dead. Most of the scholars never came home and those that did told wild stories that defied belief.

There was an eerie feeling to the Northern Reaches—as if it was waiting for something. Jost could see how the stories of this place began. It didn’t welcome strangers.

Danny came to stand beside him. “We’re being watched.”

Jost grunted. Yes, they were. He just had to decide how they would respond.

“I’ll have the men set up watches through the night. You think we’re in danger?”

“When aren’t we in danger?” Jost asked, turning away from their surroundings. He watched the men as they prepared a fire pit.

“You think it’s our friends or maybe one of the snow cats? They’ve been known to stalk their prey for days before attacking.”

Jost frowned, his forehead wrinkling in thought. “I doubt it’s either. Our friends aren’t this good at hiding their tracks and it doesn’t look like a snow cat.”

Danny cocked his head at Jost, his face questioning. “You’ve seen it?”

Jost nodded. “Briefly. A shadow more than anything. It’s hard to tell, but I’m willing to bet it has a human form.”

“A monster?”

They’d both had encounters with the Creators’ monsters in the past. None had been pleasant and all had resulted in the monsters’ death.

“Only one way to tell.”

Danny’s grin had an edge of anticipation to it. “A trap.”

Jost grunted in assent.

“Tomorrow?”

Jost looked up at the darkening sky. They were fast losing the sun.

“It’ll have to be. There’s not enough light left to set a good trap.”

Danny nodded in agreement. “I’ll pull a couple of men together for tomorrow. I’d better make it only the old guard.”

The old guard referred to those of Jost’s crew who weren’t replaced every few years. Most of the old guard knew Jost’s real identity and purpose as a privateer for the Aurelian Empire. They knew he got many of his missions directly from the emperor or his closest advisors.

For Danny to decide only on their use meant there were more mutterings in the crew than Jost had suspected.

“Make it so. Have the ones not part of the trap start planning their hunt.” Jost went back to watching their surroundings. Danny, sensing the dismissal, returned to the others to give out the new orders.

Giving up on seeing anything out there, Jost turned back to camp, taking note of who was preparing for the night and who was standing around talking.

Roger stood apart from the rest, watching Jost. He was a tall man, though not as tall as Danny, and had a sour looking face. His hair line was receding, though the hair at the back of his head was long and bound into a greasy ponytail.

Jost gave Roger a friendly nod before heading to his pack. Roger returned the nod and lifted one hand in acknowledgment. Jost felt a modicum of respect for the man’s acting skills. If he hadn’t been at this for so long he might have fallen for the other man’s seeming good will.

Jost picked through his belongings, readying his spot for sleep. They were traveling light on this trip. There would be no tents or shelter built to shield them from the elements. He wanted to be able to pick up and move at a moment’s notice.

The air snapped at the skin on his face and hands. The temperature would drop by as much as twenty degrees once the sun went down. He’d faced worse conditions but some in his crew had not. Maybe the temperature would keep them from getting up to something during the night. One could only hope.

Chapter Four

Jost blew into his cupped hands, hoping his breath would displace the chill setting into them. A cold night had turned into an even colder morning. The four men next to him stamped their feet to try to get some of the feeling to return to their extremities or tucked their hands into their arm pits to conserve heat.

Jost had been up since before dawn when he and his men had slipped away in groups of two from the camp. He was about ready to snap their watcher’s neck if he didn’t get his ass out here.

The four men he’d chosen for this mission were among some of his most trusted. Every one of them skilled and efficient in setting traps. The only problem was that their quarry had yet to take the bait. Whoever it was wasn’t impulsive.

Jost would be impressed if he wasn’t so damned irritated. He didn’t have the time or patience to hunt their watcher. He needed to concentrate on some of his other problems—like a malcontent inciting his crew to mutiny or tracking down the men he’d come up here to find. 

The trap they’d chosen was simple. Lure their watcher into an enclosed area where they’d set a couple of snares designed to contain their prey until they could question it. If by some chance the prey managed to elude the snares, Jost’s men could still rush it from all sides. In the close quarters of the ravine, there would be no place for their prey to escape.

That’s how he came to be walking around a ravine of rock and ice with Danny as they tried to look harmless and unassuming while the rest waited out of sight.

His men were too well trained to express their frustration, but Jost knew it was there. None of them were happy to have to split their focus from their other problems.

He’d give it another hour and then he was calling it.

There was a low whistle. Jost tensed but didn’t give away his sudden alertness. He turned his head slowly to Danny. The man shifted his eyes to his left, indicating without moving that he’d detected something.

Jost frowned and nodded as if Danny had just told him something of utmost importance. He scanned the rock above them without being too obvious about it. For a moment, all he saw was grey and the dingy white of ice that had been mixed with dirt. Then he saw it. A slight shift in some of the rocks above them.

There you are, Jost thought with satisfaction. He gave the other men the signal as he and Danny pretended to converse before setting off for the other side of the ravine.

“How’d he get so close without anyone seeing?” Danny asked in a soft voice.

Jost grunted. That was a good question. He and his men were good at spotting watchers. It should have been easy out here where there weren’t any people for hundreds of miles.

For their prey to slip in until he was right on top of them, without alerting anyone to his presence, it meant he was quite talented.

“He’s not biting,” Danny said in a soft voice.

“I know.” Their prey was smart. Smart enough not to fall for their ploy it seemed.

“Think he knows what we’re planning?”

Jost grunted. “It wouldn’t surprise me. We have no idea how long he’s been watching us. He could very well have been there from the beginning.”

“Shit.”

Jost silently echoed the sentiment. It seemed their watcher might be a little more difficult to capture than they had first assumed.

Jost held a hand out in front of Danny as his other hand dropped to the knife at his waist. Danny stopped, his body alert as he scanned the area around them. He didn’t ask useless questions or make a sound, knowing that Jost wouldn’t have signaled for a stop unless it was necessary.

“I hear something,” Jost said as he stared in the direction they had been walking. They were heading away from their men, hoping the watcher would follow, allowing the others to slip in behind him.

Danny listened. After a moment he nodded, letting Jost know he heard it to.

Voices echoed against the walls of the ravines. There were furtive movements as whoever it was tried to keep from announcing their presence. They hadn’t counted on how these spaces echoed.

Jost signaled the rest of his men to stay put until he called for them.

“Get ready,” he told Danny.

Danny nodded and pulled a throwing dagger out of his boot, hiding it in the cloth of his pants. He turned his body sideways to present a smaller target to whoever was heading their way. The dagger was a good decision. Danny had a few skills that most didn’t know about. Skills that made him and his weapons much more dangerous than they appeared.

Jost took three steps away from Danny so that if they were attacked, their attacker wouldn’t catch them in one spot. He folded his arms across his chest knowing the position intimidated the hell out of most men.

“Are you sure they’re this way?” a voice Jost didn’t recognize asked.

“Yes, yes. Roger says he saw him and the quarter master sneak out of camp early this morning. He said it’s the perfect chance for you to deal with the captain without having to worry about the rest of the crew.”

Jost knew the second voice. The man was in his crew, though he couldn’t recall the name right at the moment. He didn’t always stir himself to learn the names of men who would be gone after a few short months. He might have to change that policy if he made it out of this one alive.

“You’d better not be lying,” another voice threatened. One that had haunted the deepest parts of Jost’s nightmares. The owner of which Jost had been hunting since his world burned to the ground leaving everything he loved covered in ash.

He felt the hot rush of the hunt. His quarry was here and his crew, his traitorous crew, had brought his enemy right to him. He’d feel grateful if it wasn’t for that whole treason part.

A group of men came into view. They stopped upon seeing Danny and Jost waiting for them. There were six of them, including the man from Jost’s crew.

“You said they didn’t know we were coming for them,” the third voice told Jost’s crewmember. The owner of the voice was a man of average height and looks. He had the type of bland features that said he was trustworthy. It was part of the reason Jost’s family hadn’t seen him coming until it was far too late. Life had been hard on him, his face had aged much more than it should have in the years that had passed.

“They didn’t. I mean they don’t know.” The man seemed less certain than his words suggested. The other speaker, hearing that uncertainty, gave him a look of disgust.

Jost’s former crewmember, he had no use for traitors, flinched before squaring his shoulders and finding his courage from somewhere deep. “What does it matter if he knows? You outnumber them three to one.”

Jost and Danny had yet to speak, observing the strangers with a lack of expression. Jost calculated the odds of him and Danny taking the six of them with just the two of them. He could call the other three from their hiding spots, but it would mean giving up the advantage of surprise with their watcher.

He mentally dismissed the watcher. Now that he had victory in sight, they could be off this gods’ forsaken stretch of land before the watcher became anything but a nuisance.

“I hear you’ve been looking for us,” the man whose voice Jost recognized said. He didn’t know his name, but he’d have recognized that voice anywhere. “It’s been a right pain in the ass if I’m telling you the truth, having you stuck to our ass and making life difficult over the past few months.”

He sounded affable, friendly even. Like he was just having a conversation. Jost didn’t respond, just observed him with a slightly humorous expression. As if he was about to start chuckling at any moment. He might too.

He’d dreamed of this moment for so long. Who would have thought it would be delivered to his feet just like that? It was a laughable ending to a grimly macabre tale.

The man’s friendly smile didn’t wane despite the non-response. “My employer wanted to make an offer that would be mutually beneficial to both parties. You no longer have to lurk up here freezing your balls off, and we’re free to conduct business without having to look over our shoulders in fear of the great pirate captain of the Marauder.”

Jost studied the man, the brief flash of humor fading from his expression.

“You don’t recognize me,” Jost said. It wasn’t a question so much as a statement of fact.

The friendly expression didn’t quite drain from the other man’s face. It was more like it froze in place.

“Should I? I’m afraid your esteemed self isn’t ringing a bell. I don’t keep track of all the two bit pirates running around the seas.”

Jost snorted. First his enemy tried flattery and now he was insulting him. What was next? Would he try to woo him with flowers and sweets before sticking a dagger in his back? On the other hand wasn’t that how this man and his boss operated? Distract with pretty words while destroying all that was dear.

Danny was a silent presence at Jost’s back.

Jost studied the men in front of him. How should he play this? The safer option would be to pretend he believed them until he had the advantage. It’s what he would have done under most circumstances. Gone along until the absolute perfect moment presented itself to disrupt his adversary’s plans.

The other man’s gaze shifted. Just a bit towards one side of the ravine. It could have been nothing. Then again, this was his enemy he was talking about. Jost was willing to bet he had someone up there. Someone that probably had a long range weapon they were ready and willing to use in case Jost and Danny proved stubborn.

Jost gave the men in front of him a charming smile that held an edge of darkness, hinting at the blood lust inside. His former crewmember flinched and took a small step back. Seemed the man wasn’t as dumb as he appeared. Too bad he hadn’t applied his brains to the situation before getting mixed up in this. There was no mercy left in Jost.

Patience was for business. This was personal, even if it was wrapped up in a thin veneer of business to make it all appear legit.

“I guess that makes sense,” Jost said. He put one hand behind his back, making a fist and then opening it flat. “You and your employer have probably destroyed so many families at this point. Keeping track of all your former victims must be near impossible. Don’t worry. I’ll be happy to jog your memory before the day is through.”

The other man stared at Jost, thoughts turning over behind those eyes. Click, click, click, as the thoughts moved right along.

Jost was content to wait. He wanted the bastard to remember before he killed him. It would be more satisfying that way. He also needed to give his men time to understand the message he’d just given them.

Jost saw when the man got it. There was a spark, a light that said the other man understood. He remembered.

“You’re the boy. The one we never could find. We thought you were dead.”

Jost’s smile was cruel and filled with dark things. “Surprise.”

The other man answered him with a smile that was just as nasty, his chuckle one of satisfaction. “You should have had the brains to stay dead.”

“And miss this?”

Jost’s movements were a blur as he tossed the small marble he held in his hand. He turned his head away and closed his eyes. Even still, he saw the bright flash behind his eyelids, almost blinding him. Almost being the operative word.

There was a scuffle to the right where Jost thought their sniper was. He didn’t let himself think about it as he rushed one of the men on the right. He thrust his dagger into the man’s chest, his first opponent still blinded from the flash.

He moved swiftly to the next, dodging one arm to slash the dagger across the man’s throat.

There was a choked gurgle as Danny did the same with another man. Danny’s dagger had a small black glow, as if it was sucking all the light from its immediate surroundings. One small nick from that thing and it was a dirt grave.

That left Jost’s former crewmember and his enemy. Panic coated the crewmember’s face. It finally dawned on him that he would be better off far, far away from his former captain. He tried to run; Danny hurled his dagger. It landed in the man’s back. He made it two steps before he sank to his knees and collapsed face first into the dirt.

“And then there was one.” Jost cleaned his dagger on the shirt of the last man he’d killed. He looked up at his enemy and smiled. The smile lit up his face and crinkled the skin around his eyes. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

The man didn’t seem so self-assured now. He eyed the men on the ground and then Jost and Danny before looking around. Jost’s men made themselves known, staring at the man with cold eyes.

They wouldn’t know the reason Jost hated this man. They didn’t need to. They knew Jost and that was enough. They were loyal to the bone. His history didn’t matter to them.

“Don’t suppose I could pay you to let me go?”

Jost chuckled and shook his head. “No, but I won’t take too long with you if you tell me where your base is.”

“I take it from that, you’re planning to make it painful.”

“Oh yes.”

The man nodded slightly, his focus turning inward.

“What will it be? Tell me and I’ll keep the torture relatively short or don’t tell me and I’ll torture you until you tell me anyways. That will take longer and be quite painful. I’ve had a long time to think of all the things I want to do to you and your boss so I wouldn’t wait too long to choose.”

“I hope he picks option two,” Danny said, giving the man an assessing look. “We haven’t gotten to test our skills in a bit. I have some things I’ve been thinking might work.”

The men laughed.

Jost didn’t let any of it distract him. He stared at the nameless man as he waited. Now that his vengeance was at hand, he wanted to rend and tear until the world was bathed in the same red he saw every night in his nightmares.

“This is taking too long.” Jost was at the man’s side in an instant, Danny beside him in the next moment, grabbing the dagger the man held and jerking it out of his grip.

“Careful, Captain. There’ll be no vengeance if you go getting yourself killed early.”

Jost didn’t respond, grabbing the dagger from Danny and plunging it into the meaty part of the man’s thigh before yanking it out.

There was a choked sound of pain as the man glared at Jost.

“Still not talking?”

Jost left the man in Danny’s hold and paced away. He needed space before he did something he would regret later. He wasn’t used to this loss of control. It wasn’t befitting of a captain, even if he was a pirate.

Jost took a deep breath and let it out.

“Want us to spend some time with him?” Danny asked.

The man’s laugh was husky and filled with pain. His face twisted in a rictus of hatred. “We killed your brother first and then made your father watch as we took our time with his wife and daughter. By the time we were done your whore mother begged us to kill them.”

One of the men cursed. Danny sunk his fist into the man’s kidney. The man swayed as a pained groan slipped free.

His words had the opposite effect than he intended. Jost felt his rage drain away, replaced by an all-consuming calm. The kind of calm that he wrapped around himself to commit unspeakable acts.

He gave the man a polite smile before answering Danny’s question. “Yes. Have some men take him back to the ship. It’ll be the best place to question him.”

It also had the benefit of having the proper tools for the job and a person who was all too willing to use them.

“Understood.”

Danny handed the man off to three others. He ran a hand over the top of his head, slicking back a few of the pieces of hair that had come loose from his pony tail as he approached Jost. He scratched his beard and looked up at the hills of the ravine.

“I’ve known you a long time, and I’ve never seen you come anywhere close to losing control like that.”

“Is there a question in there?”

Danny shook his head. “No question. Just an observation.”

Jost grunted.

“I’m assuming you have a plan, Captain.”

Jost looked at Danny out of the side of his eye. The other man looked back with a passive expression, no challenge in his face.

“Of course I have a plan.”

“You planning to share?”

“In due time.”

Danny’s grin was slow in coming. It was wicked and it spoke of anticipation. “I can hardly wait for the havoc you will wreak.”

Chapter Five

“What should we do with the bodies, Captain?” Lock asked. He was a short man and older, his beard turning gray. His years at sea showed in his weathered skin and swollen knuckles.

Danny and Jost stared at the five bodies on the ground. It was tempting to give the order to leave them be—to let the elements and scavengers that wandered this rocky outpost have them.

That would be folly. Too many predators would be attracted to their deaths and could track Jost and his men back to their camp. He had no wish to fend off an attack from the type of creature drawn to blood.

Danny’s face reflected the same conclusion.

“We’ll have to bury or burn them,” Danny said, looking at Jost. He didn’t sound thrilled at his own suggestion.

“We can’t burn them; the smoke would announce our position for miles. I’m not ready for our quarry to know that we killed their men.”

The crew gave the ground a skeptical glance. Digging a grave in this place would take hours. The ground in this part of the world never fully defrosted. The permafrost would make the work nearly as difficult as digging through rock. They also lacked the required equipment, such as shovels, to dig with.

Rocks skated down one side of the ravine. Jost twisted in time to see a small face framed by wild hair the color of fire right before its owner disappeared.

“We’re not alone,” Jost said, his gaze locked to where the hair had shown so brightly moments before.

“Our watcher is a woman,” Danny murmured, sounding dumbstruck.

Lock spit on the ground. “Could be a trap. A Creator’s spawn attempting to lure us into its lair.”

Rick nodded. “There’ve been stories of creatures wearing the face of a beautiful woman with the body of a hideous monster that have enticed men to their deaths.”

Jost kept his thoughts on the watcher to himself. He didn’t think the woman was hiding a monster’s body under that tangle of hair, but he’d seen stranger things up here in the North.

A coughing roar built in the air, echoing off the boulders. It was a sound meant to remind man that once upon a time he had feared the dark and the things that waited there.

Lock stood from where he’d been examining the bodies and looked up.

Danny looked at Jost. “Snow cat.”

“Get away from the bodies,” Jost shouted.

The men scattered, moving in a hurry. Jost looked up as a snow cat landed on an outcropping above them.

A curse tore out of him. Its size alone was enough to strike fear into a man. That didn’t even take into account the teeth it bared or the roar it made. A scream sounded from behind them.

Jost spun. A smaller animal crept toward them. Its fur was gray and slightly longer around its neck. Its nose was long and its eyes black. Its lips were wrinkled and pulled back to expose a set of sharp fangs.

Jost didn’t know what it was, but its eyes moved between Jost’s men and the snow cat above them.

A throaty growl threatened the new comer. It hissed back, darting for the leg of a dead man. It ripped at it, trying to drag the body with it.

The snow cat sailed over Jost and his men, landing in a crouch before the new creature. It swiped at it.

Jost didn’t wait around to see the outcome of the fight. “Let’s go.”

He and his men weren’t adequately armed to fight a snow cat. That creature was best trapped and then dealt with. In the open, with no preparation and few weapons, facing one would be suicide.

There was a low whistle from his left. A pair of bright eyes peered out from a hole in the rock. A hand beckoned.

Jost made a snap decision.

“In there.” He gestured the rest of his men forward. The snow cat finally took note of its escaping prey and bounded after them in great leaps. Its adversary took advantage, snatching the body it had grabbed before and taking off in the opposite direction. The body’s limbs bounced and flopped as the creature made its escape.

The last of Jost’s men made it into the opening. He followed, the snow cat’s breath practically on the back of his neck. He slid into the crevasse, the snow cat’s paw following and swiping at air. He edged back, trying to avoid the reaching paw and the claws attached to it.

The paw drew back and there was a chuff of frustration before the cat tried to reach back in. Jost easily dodged, moving further into the cave.

His men watched the entrance with hard expressions, trying to gauge whether the snow cat could squeeze inside. Jost didn’t feel the same fear. That hole was too small and was lined with a hard rock on either side. The animal wouldn’t be able to dig its way inside.

There was a snarl and then the sound of the snow cat ambling away toward the dead bodies.

“Captain,” Danny said in a soft voice.

Jost turned. Danny was staring at the middle of the cave wall. The woman sat several feet above the ground on the edge of a tunnel. To Jost, the tunnel looked similar to the craftsmanship found in the tunnels under Aurelia, the capital city of the Aurelian Empire.

Jost couldn’t tell how tall the woman was from her seated position. Her hair was a mass of snarled copper and her eyes green. She was pale and the bones of her face gaunt like she had skipped more than a couple of meals. Her clothes seemed to be made of a snow cat’s fur and she smelled worse than one too.

Danny didn’t wait for Jost.

“Hey there, little one. What’s your name?” he asked in soft voice.

She cocked her head but didn’t respond.

“I’m Danny. This is my friend Jost. Thank you for helping us.”

Still no response other than an intense stare. She seemed curious but cautious.

Smart girl. Most of the men likely to visit this isolated edge of the world weren’t the type to be kind to a girl they found wandering around, even if she had very well saved their lives.

Jost took a small step forward.

Her gaze snapped to him. A low growl came from her. Tension coiled in her muscles as she prepared to spring away.

He halted where he was and held up his hands as if to say he was harmless.

“It’s alright,” Danny said in a soothing voice. “We’re not here to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

Her eyes narrowed—the green in them chips of ice as she frowned. It was clear she didn’t understand a word they were saying.

“Captain, let’s not make her feel threatened.” There was the slightest hint of steel in Danny’s voice.

Jost looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. The expression asking without words who did Danny think he was to be giving his captain orders?

Danny’s face was implacable as he shot Jost a glance that warned him away.

Jost had forgotten Danny’s biggest weakness. Women. Specifically women who reminded him of the sister he had lost when he was just beginning to be a man. Anytime he came across one in need of rescuing he tried to save them even if the cost to himself was incredibly steep.

Jost thought about pushing the issue. He might be able to move fast enough to grab the girl before she disappeared into that tunnel. It would be a stretch of his abilities. The girl had the look of a feral animal willing to do whatever necessary to ensure its survival. Her reflexes would send her fleeing as soon as she felt the slightest hint of a threat.

He relaxed and took a step back.

Danny coaxing her down would mean they could avoid the possibility of chasing her through tunnels that might be nearly as endless as the ones under Aurelia. That would suck time he didn’t have away from his other focuses. He’d do it Danny’s way for now.

“How long have you been here?” Danny asked with the soothing cadence of someone trying to put a wild animal at ease. It wasn’t so much about what he said rather than the tone he said it in.

It appeared to be working too. The girl lowered herself back to a seated position and some of the tension eased out of her.

Danny took a chance and stepped forward, his hands held up in front of him to make him seem less threatening. Given that Danny was the size of a mountain, Jost wasn’t sure how convincing that was.

The girl tensed but didn’t react otherwise.

“How did a girl survive up here?” one of the men asked in a whisper. The girl’s eyes flicked to him and then back to Danny. “Has to be a Creator’s spawn.”

The girl’s head tilted and she leaned forward. One slim arm lifted, her sleeve falling back as she swiped a piece of hair back from her face. Jost jolted forward at the sight of color on her arm.

She was on her feet in a flash, a snarl escaping her.

“Captain,” Danny hissed.

“I know.” Jost forced himself to take a step backward despite every instinct in him fighting to tackle the girl so he could get a better look at what was on her arm. That would be a mistake. If what he suspected was true, this girl could end up being the most dangerous thing in the Northern Reaches.

In a low voice, Jost asked, “Can you get a better look at her forearm?”

Jost couldn’t from where he stood. What he could see was the piece of bone clutched in her hand that was curved and sharpened to a razor edge. It tapered into a blunt knob that she could clutch in the palm of her hand. It looked like an oversized claw. If his suspicions were correct, a claw would probably appeal to her if the feral light in her eyes was any indication.

“I see it.” Danny sounded grim. “Shit.”

There was a loud bang at the cave’s entrance, distracting them for just a moment. The girl slipped away, sliding into the dark tunnel behind her before they could stop her.

Jost and Danny rushed forward at the same time. Jost reached the cave wall seconds before Danny. He leapt and grasped the ledge, hoisting himself up and peering down the long dark tunnel.

A shadowy passage greeted him; the girl long gone.

He stood and peered into the darkness. Danny joined him.

“Damn it,” Jost swore. He ran a hand through his hair, fighting the urge to punch something.

Just what he needed.

“So the girl got away,” Lock said. “What’s the big deal? We’ve got more important things to deal with right now. Starting with our guest heading to the ship.”

He was wrong. That girl had just changed the entire purpose of their mission up here.

“She had a dragon tattoo on her arm,” Danny said into the silence.

His men stared at one another, shock on their faces. None seemed to know what to do with that information.

“Are you sure?” Rick asked.

Danny didn’t bother answering. He wouldn’t have said anything if he wasn’t sure.

“It could just be a tattoo,” Lock said, his face serious. “There hasn’t been a dragon in over a hundred years and never one that bonded with a girl.”

“Only one way to be sure,” Jost said. “We’ll have to capture her and take her back with us.”

“Capture a dragon-ridden?” Lock’s question made it clear he questioned Jost’s sanity. The dragon-ridden were extremely dangerous, capable of becoming the dragon they were bound to and possessing all of the dragon’s strengths.

“What about our guest and the other mission?”

There was a long pause.

“This takes priority.” The words burned Jost’s throat. His vengeance would have to wait until he sorted out the mess with the girl. Her existence could light a wildfire that consumed the world.

Even though everything in him screamed for the vengeance that was rightfully his, Jost couldn’t ignore this. His parents hadn’t raised him to be that kind of man. Even though he had left the person they’d raised behind, there were just some things that he couldn’t justify doing. Breaking his commitments was one of them.

Sometimes being in service to the empire took all the pleasure out of life.

Chapter Six

“Why do you think she helped us?” Lock asked, scratching his chin.

That was something that had been bothering Jost. What was her agenda? It couldn’t be because she thought they were harmless. She’d helped them after watching them kill several men.

It occurred to him that she might have been working with the other men. He dismissed that assertion. If that had been the case, she could have let the snow cat kill them and accomplished his enemy’s objective. There was no doubt some of them, if not all, would have fallen to the snow cat’s claws.

He’d messed up not taking the possibility of its presence into account, especially given they were the reason he gave for coming to this land. His excuse had just become reality.

“Could be she’s curious about other humans,” one of his men said. “Maybe she just wanted a closer look.”

“She has been following us since shortly after we landed,” Danny said, looking at Jost.

Jost grunted. It was an explanation, but he wasn’t willing to believe it just yet. He needed to get hold of the girl and study her. Find out her secrets then report her to the higher ups.

He dragged one hand down his face. “This just gets worse and worse.”

Lock blinked at him. None of the men looked like they knew what he was talking about. “How so?”

Danny’s eyes narrowed in thought. They widened and then he laughed, the sound a warm rumble in the cave. “You’re going to have to tell him.”

Jost grimaced. That was the last thing he wanted to do. That man was a pain in the ass. This girl was becoming more of a problem the longer he knew of her existence. He almost wished she had just let nature take its course.

“Let’s head back for camp. I have a feeling we’re going to need more men.”

Jost headed for the entrance to the cave. He hadn’t heard the snow cat in a while. If they were in luck it had dragged the bodies back to its den and they could leave this place.

“What about the malcontents?”

“They’ve already proven they picked the wrong side when they sent our enemy to ambush us. No mercy. We take care of them then focus on what’s important.”

There was a murmur of assent.

Good. Jost’s patience had run out. Any suspected of being on Roger’s side would be dealt with so he could put his attention on more important things. The malcontents weren’t going to like what happened to them when he got back to camp.

*     *     *

There was a group of ten waiting just outside camp when they arrived.

Guess Jost wasn’t the only one eager to have this finished. He couldn’t even find it within himself to be impressed with their gumption. The idiots would have been better served cutting their losses and slinking out of camp before he came back. By now they must have figured out their plot had failed.

“I’m challenging you for the right to Captain the Marauder,” Roger declared as he stepped forward.

“Oh?” Jost lifted one eyebrow, finding himself grimly amused. Perhaps he had overestimated Roger’s intelligence.

Roger hesitated, not expecting that response. He looked suspicious as he gazed at Jost.

“Yes. It’s time for some fresh blood. Your plans have not brought us any spoils on this trip. With someone new at the helm, we can start on more profitable endeavors.”

“And by someone new, you mean you, correct?”

Roger puffed up. “Might as well be me as anyone else.”

Jost looked at the others. “And you all agree with this?”

There was a pause as the men at Roger’s back exchanged glances. Some uneasy and others full of confidence. Jost wasn’t entirely surprised at the faces of the men who’d thrown their support in with Roger. Most were men who’d had trouble adjusting to the style of leadership Jost and his men employed. Others were men new to the life who were just learning that it wasn’t all fun and games.

This life was difficult and took backbreaking work. It was violent and the rewards didn’t always justify the sacrifices made. A man didn’t generally have a long life expectancy as a pirate, often dying from battle or disease. Since Jost ran his ship with a tight fist that promoted discipline and work over the carefree life other pirates enjoyed, those that joined his crew were in for a hard reckoning.

Even still, Jost never had trouble getting men to join him. For all the drawbacks, his ship was famous and the life expectancy was longer than most crews. He also enjoyed the distinction of never having been caught by the law in over a decade of piracy. Where most crews were caught within months of becoming pirates that made for a pretty good incentive.

Jost saw two of the men they’d picked up recently were among those willing to throw their support behind Roger.

A sandy haired man winked at Jost from the back of the group. Jost kept his amusement inside. Looks like Roger hadn’t done as thorough a job of vetting his fellow dissenters as he should have. Eric was often overlooked in his crew. He liked finding trouble and avoided hanging with the higher ups, so many in the crew didn’t realize he was one of Jost’s most trusted men. He was Jost’s eyes and ears below deck when it suited him.

Jost sighed. Eric had probably been the one to push Roger to this course of action. He’d probably convinced them that confronting Jost outside camp was good idea. Jost wondered how long he’d been manipulating the malcontents.

Guess this solved the question of whether he should keep Roger or one of his men alive so he could interrogate them about the whereabouts of his enemy. Knowing Eric, he would have made sure to get invited to any scheming opportunities and would know everything Jost needed.

“If this is what you want, I suppose it would be bad form for me to deny you.” Jost gave them an amused grin. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? I’ve more important matters to take care of.”

“You’re outnumbered. I’d think you would want to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.”

Jost’s grin got wider. “You really shouldn’t believe everything your eyes tell you.”

Two men slumped to the ground behind Roger, red blotches on their backs spreading.

All eyes turned to the man standing over the bodies with a bloody dagger in his hand. Eric shrugged. “Sorry. I thought we were at the good part. I was getting bored.”

Jost’s men took advantage of the stunned shock and surged forward. Roger gave a shout and threw himself at Jost, a short sword in each hand.

Jost dodged out of the way of the first thrust, and parried the second one with the dagger he held. Roger’s other sword opened a cut on his forearm. Jost ignored it and twisted his arm, sidestepping Roger’s next lunge.

There wasn’t anything he could do about the greater reach of the swords. Wielding duel swords was incredibly difficult and took years of training. The fact that Roger could parry and block without cutting himself to pieces made avoiding death difficult for Jost.

Lucky for Jost, he’d learned how to fight from some of the most underhanded and dirty fighters in the capital.

He flung a dagger at Roger’s face. In the split second of distraction, he closed, kicking Roger just behind the knee. Roger roared as his leg collapsed under him. Jost sank his other dagger in his neck, angling it up under the ear and into the brain.

The fight went out of Roger’s body. He slipped sideways, collapsing face down into the dirt.

The others who had joined with Roger were already dead, their blood turning the snow red.

“Is that everyone?” Jost asked Eric.

“Everyone that I heard plotting with him. There may be a few who decided not to throw in.”

“Good enough.” Jost looked around. The loss of ten men shouldn’t affect the ship too much. They had more than enough to get to the southern seas where they could pick up additional crew.

“How did you get them to gather all in one place to challenge me?” Jost asked.

Eric gave Jost a wicked smile. “I told them even if their plot had failed that you were likely to have been wounded, making you easy pickings for a challenge. I may have insinuated the rest of the crew were less likely to give them trouble if he defeated you in a fair fight.”

“And you couldn’t have just told us about the plot in the first place,” Danny said, glaring at Eric.

There was no love lost between the two. Danny would be hard pressed to offer Eric a single word of acknowledgement under any circumstances. They didn’t see the world in the same way and had opposing thoughts on how to solve problems. Danny was direct where Eric was as slippery as an eel.

Eric shrugged. “I figured you could use some excitement seeing as you’ve been rather restrained of late.”

Danny narrowed his eyes at Eric and curled his lip. “I’ll show you restrained.”

Eric looked over at him with a pleased look. “Oh ho. I can’t wait to see this.”

Danny started forward.

“Enough,” Jost said. “You two can settle this later. We have more important matters to attend to.”

Eric threw Danny a cocky grin.

“Boyo, you’re going to get yourself into a spot of trouble your captain won’t save you from one of these days,” Lock told Eric.

Eric’s grin turned into a full-fledged smile.

“You know where the base is?” Jost asked, his tone letting everyone know he was done with the games.

Eric’s expression turned serious, the charm and playfulness draining away. “I do. They’re actually not too far from here. He never revealed where he met them or how he got involved, but he did bring me along on one of their meets. I can show you where they are.”

“Good.” At least this trip hadn’t been a total disaster. “First we need to trap the girl.”

Eric blinked and looked around at the rest of them as if he suspected this was a joke they were playing on him.

“Excuse me. I think I must have misunderstood.”

“You didn’t misunderstand,” Lock groused. “You heard exactly what you thought you heard.”

Eric face said he still wasn’t getting it. He said slowly, “You want to set a trap for a girl rather than go after our target.”

Danny crossed his arms and said in a smug voice. “Yup.”

“A girl. Up here.”

“Yup. She’s dragon-ridden too.”

“Bullshit.”

Jost snorted. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Sweet Saviors, you’re not joking are you?” he asked.

Jost shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”

Eric looked intrigued. “This I’ve got to see.”

Danny looked over at Jost. “What about the man we captured? I thought you planned to interrogate him.”

Jost looked at the mountains in the distance. “He’s not going anywhere and since Eric knows where the base is there’s no point wasting time by heading to the ship.”

This meant that when it came time to exact his revenge he wouldn’t have to waste time or energy trying to extract information from him. He could take his time and make his vengeance last.

*     *     *

Jost leaned over the map, looking for the best spot to lay his trap. The girl was better at hiding and slipping away than he’d given her credit for.

It’d been three days since she’d helped save him and his men from the snow cat. They’d been back to the cave twice with no luck. He’d briefly considered sending a group into the tunnels but discounted it. If they were structured like the ones under Aurelia, there could be a warren of passages from which his men might not return.

No, he needed to lure her above ground, not chase her down an endless number of passages that she probably knew better than his men.

How to do that stumped him. So far she’d proven resourceful and not allowed herself to get caught or even seen. As far as he could tell she hadn’t gotten close to them again after their first encounter.

She was like a ghost.

Frustration ate at him. He was tempted to take care of his other agenda before focusing back on the girl.

“No luck I take it with the way you’re frowning at that map like you intend to murder it,” Danny said in a dry voice as he set a cup down next to Jost.

He didn’t flinch at the glare Jost shot his way, used to his captain’s moods and expressions.

“The men haven’t reported any further sightings and if she’s watching us she’s being smart about it.”

“That’s what worries me,” Jost said. “If she disappears into those tunnels, I’m not sure we’ll ever get her out.”

“What do you want to do then?”

Eric crouched next to Jost, looking over the map. Jost didn’t flinch, used as he was to Eric appearing and disappearing without any warning.

“We could always pretend to leave. See if it draws this dragon girl out,” he offered,

“I considered that,” Jost said. “I’d like to keep that as a last resort. Once we pull that trick, we won’t be able to pull it again, and if we come back it might make her more on guard than she already is.”

“So you want to wait,” Danny said.

Jost nodded. “We do what we said we were going to do anyways. Hunt snow cats and hope the girl becomes curious.”

“This might be the perfect opportunity to slip over to the enemy’s compound for a little visit. We don’t have long before they start getting suspicious about their men not returning,” Eric said.

Jost was quiet as he turned over the scenarios in his head. He didn’t see any problem with taking care of his original mission as they tried to lure the girl into a false sense of security. It might even make her think they had given up on her.

“How far is it from here?”

Eric frowned in thought. “We took a pretty circuitous route last time to ensure we weren’t followed. If we head straight for them, it should only take us a few hours.”

“Did they have men posted as watch?”

“Only close to the base.”

Hm. They could have changed that when it became clear their men had been held up. It was a risk, but one Jost was willing to take.

“Did you get a good idea of how many men they had?”

“I saw at least twenty, and I’d be willing to bet they had almost that much waiting behind the scenes. They did say something about a ship leaving yesterday so some of their men might have left.”

“With the malcontents dealt with, we should have the men launch an assault,” Danny said, considering the map. “If we call some of the crew from the ship, it should add to our manpower.”

Jost nodded. That worked for him. Beyond his revenge, he needed to get an idea of what these men were planning. If they were vulnerable due to a ship leaving, it was the perfect opportunity. He could report back and call in reinforcements to deal with the clean-up.

“We can head out tomorrow afternoon then attack in the early morning hours,” he said. “Gather the men. Leave only a small group here to watch camp. Everyone else will be part of the attack team. Eric, you will lead myself, Danny and a few others in an advance party so that we can do a little recon before tomorrow.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

“We’ll leave in a few hours,” Jost said in dismissal.

The men nodded and left to take care of their tasks before departure, leaving Jost to his own thoughts. Anticipation rose at the thought of the conclusion of a decade and a half of plans. Soon everything would be over, and he could start living for himself again.

Chapter Seven

“It’s abandoned.”

Jost studied the empty camp with an expressionless face. The advance team had arrived during the night. Seeing no movement in the campsite nestled between two hills, Jost had ordered his men to take a closer look.

Dawn was just starting to touch the night sky. The stars and two moons were still out, illuminating the abandoned camp with enough light to make out the details.

“Could it be a trap?” Rick asked.

“Odd trap, what with no one being here and all,” Lock responded.

“They took their time and packed up their gear only leaving the non-essentials,” Danny said, crouching next to an empty crate.

It looked like they had the beginnings of a fort here. He could see where they’d laid the foundation for a temporary structure. Danny was right; all of the important stuff had been packed up and taken.

“You think they knew we were coming?” Danny asked.

Eric shook his head. “I doubt it. This looks like they packed up and left right after Roger’s meeting with them. They had too much to do it all in one day. Maybe they got called away.”

“We’ll withdraw and wipe our tracks. If they did just abandoned it temporarily, they may come back,” Jost said, coming to a decision. “Our purpose was to see what the enemy was up to. We’ve verified that they’re looking to create a staging post. I can pass this to the higher ups, and they can send a team to keep an eye on things.”

For now, this mission was over. It was unlikely his enemy would come back here anytime soon. Despite what he said about the higher ups sending a team to keep an eye on this outpost, he doubted it would come to anything. His enemy was slippery. If he’d been spooked, this entire site would have been declared dead. He probably wouldn’t return here or anywhere within a hundred miles.

Jost’s vengeance would have to wait. One silver lining in all this was he’d managed to capture one of the men responsible for his family’s deaths. That would have to satisfy for now. The man could be a valuable resource in learning more about his enemy’s habits and weaknesses.

“Let’s head back. Eric and Danny, make sure we don’t leave any trace behind.”

“Understood.”

*     *     *

“Do you hear that?” Eric asked.

The rest of the men stilled, straining to listen. The faint sound of an angry voice shouting in an unfamiliar language reached Jost.

Jost held up two fingers and pointed in one direction then the next. The men nodded and split, several following Eric as he circled around to the left. The rest followed Jost as he crept to the right.

Danny ghosted along silently at Jost’s side as they moved towards the voice.

The speaker wasn’t trying to be quiet. Something rattled. The speaker broke into a string of curses. Jost recognized the sentiment even if he couldn’t understand the language. There was a scream of frustration and then silence.

Jost peeked over the hill. Seeing what waited for them below, he straightened from his crouch and ventured near.

“I’ll be damned,” Danny said in surprise.

The girl’s leg was caught in a loop, and she was suspended upside down several feet above the ground. By some miracle she’d managed to avoid breaking her neck, which was the result this trap had been designed to create.

“Is that one of our traps?” Rick asked.

Hearing their voices, the girl whipped her head around. Her green eyes spit fire at them from her upside down position.

“It is.” Jost didn’t think he’d been this surprised in a long time.

“This is the girl?” Eric asked, tilting his head and studying her. “She doesn’t look like much.”

The girl craned her neck, matching Eric’s movements, her eyes narrowing. She’d quieted at their arrival and was watching them with suspicion.

Eric stepped up to her and grabbed for one arm. She dodged his hands, curling up and grabbing the back of her knees to stay out of reach.

“Should we let her down?” Lock asked.

Danny started for the release rope.

“No, not yet,” Jost said.

Danny shot him a look, saying without words what he thought of that order.

“We can’t let her go,” Jost told him. “We need to find out if she’s one of the dragon-ridden first.”

“And if she is?” Danny asked. His eyes held a warning. He had the kind of look that made Jost think that if he didn’t give him the answer he wanted, Jost might be going home with one less crew member. 

“We’ll see if it comes to that.”

Jost didn’t have a better answer for Danny. If this girl was what they suspected, she could upset the power structure of Aurelia. Not to mention, there was a good chance that bonding with the dragon unsupervised and without guidance might have driven her mad. A mad dragon wasn’t something anybody wanted running loose in the world. If that was the case, they would have no choice but to put her down.

They might do that anyway.

Jost didn’t like it, but sometimes it was better to take care of a potential threat before it had the chance to become a major problem. This girl had trouble written all over her. Might be easier on everyone if they took care of this before anybody else got involved.

Jost studied the girl, noting the way she cataloged everything around her. She seemed slightly feral but that could be attributed to too much time up here alone.

“If she’s a dragon, why doesn’t she just change into one of them and escape?” Eric asked, poking at the girl.

She lashed out with her bone knife, the blade slicing empty air as Eric dodged, tripped and landed on his ass.

“Creators’ curse it.”

“Looks like she’s not a fan, Eric.” Lock laughed.

“Feral thing, isn’t she?” he said, standing and wiping dirt from his pants.

“She’s scared, wouldn’t you be if you were dangling in the air with a bunch of pirates closing in on you?” Danny rumbled. His face had darkened with anger, and he looked ready to curse this entire situation to the abyss and back again.

“The dragon-ridden can’t always assume the form of a dragon after first accepting the bond. It can sometimes take a few years,” Jost said, looking up at her.

The girl looked from man to man as they spoke, almost as if she was trying to follow the conversation, though it was clear she had no better understanding than she had in the cave.

“You think she’s a new one?” Eric asked.

Jost didn’t know what he thought. She should have been impossible. In all of Aurelia’s history, there had never been a woman who had successfully completed the bonding. They always died.

“How is that even possible?” Danny asked. “I thought the emperor and his dragon-ridden monitored any bonding attempts.”

Jost didn’t have an answer for him.

“How did she even get up here?” Eric asked. “This region isn’t readily accessible except by ship. Think she might have been with that camp that cleared out?”

Jost frowned in thought. It was possible and would explain a lot. He just couldn’t see it though. First, they never would have left her behind if that had been the case. An unaffiliated dragon? Even if the entire emperor’s navy was breathing down their neck, they would have hunted this woman until they were dead or she was captured.

“Grab her arms. We need to see.”

Eric exhaled and eyed the woman askance, paying particular attention to the blade she still clutched. She eyed him back and snarled. It would have been more threatening if she hadn’t been upside down and had had the proper dental promise to go with that sound. As it was she seemed more like a pissed off kitten than a deadly dragon.

“You never ask for anything easy, do you?” Eric told Jost without expecting an answer.

Eric nodded at one of the other men who jumped at the woman, drawing her attention. She swiped at him, the rope causing her to sway. Eric leapt before she could recover, grabbing the arm with the blade and twisting it hard.

She struggled but it was useless. She was unable to break his grip. He twisted harder.

“Stubborn,” Eric grunted. He looked as unhappy as Danny had a few minutes ago.

A high pitched sound of pain escaped her throat.

“Come on. Don’t make me break the arm, aviela.”

The bone knife clattered to the ground. Eric relaxed his hold enough that he wasn’t in danger of breaking her arm. He grabbed her sleeve and pushed it up. Nothing.

“She’s not dragon-ridden,” Danny said. He seemed relieved.

“The tattoos can move. Check the other arm,” Jost ordered.

She flailed when Eric tried to grab it. He caught it after several tries and yanked that sleeve up.

A string of curses escaped her and she tried to jack knife up to escape his grip with no success.

A small dragon tattoo snuggled into the crook of her arm, its head buried under its wing and its tail wrapped tight around its body.

Jost stepped forward, touching the body of the dragon with a light stroke, almost imagining he could feel the faint movement of its sides as it breathed. This was proof. She was dragon-ridden.

He looked up into eyes of brilliant green, a fierce intelligence the perfect counterpoint to the force of personality behind them.

“You’re not crazy, are you, sweetheart?” he crooned.

She cocked her head, those intelligent eyes narrowing as she studied him. She said something that he didn’t understand, then repeated it. She tugged on the arm he held. One he just now realized was still in his grip as he ran his thumb back and forth over the tattoo.

He released her and stepped back, clasping his hands behind his back.

She said something in her strange language and pointed to herself. This time she said one word. “Tate.”

She repeated it.

Then she pointed at Jost and lifted one eyebrow in an unmistakable question.

“Captain, I think she’s asking for your name.”

No, not crazy at all.

Jost bent his head and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath then released it with a sigh before looking back at the girl and her questioning expression.

She patted her chest. “Tate.”

She pointed at him again.

“Jost. I’m Jost.”

Discover More by T.A. White

Chronicles of the Dragon-Ridden

Dragon-Ridden – Book One

Of Bone and Ruin – Book Two

The Broken Lands Series

Pathfinder’s Way – Book One

The Aileen Travers Series

Shadow’s Messenger – Book One

Midnight’s Emissary – Book Two

Connect with Me

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Blog: http://dragon-ridden.blogspot.com/

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About the Author

Writing is my first love. Even before I could read or put coherent sentences down on paper, I would beg the older kids to team up with me for the purpose of crafting ghost stories to share with our friends. This first writing partnership came to a tragic end when my coauthor decided to quit a day later, and I threw my cookies at her head. Today, I stick with solo writing, telling the stories that would otherwise keep me up at night.

Most days (and nights) are spent feeding my tea addiction while defending the computer keyboard from my feline companion, Loki.