The Pirate Queen

Chapter 10

It took two days, but Alastair had corrected their course after three of the Dauntless crew members had checked the charts, maps, and stars, all with various amounts of instruments. All work Eric had done with a blind eye. 

But as he stood on the deck in the wan light of the dawn, Eric wasn't smiling or feeling smug. He was frowning at the band of dark grey clouds growing on the horizon and looming ever closer to their ship. The seas around them so far had been calm, but Eric knew they weren't going to be that way for long. The Dauntless was sailing into a hurricane. 

"I had hoped we'd make it further before hitting the storms." 

Eric turned as Ariel walked up beside him, hands clasped behind her back. Her long black coat billowed in the breeze, no doubt concealing many weapons. Eric had his sword and dagger on his person as he always did, or at least within arm's reach.  His fight with Flounder had been expected and, dare he say it, fun. The tray was a useful weapon, but all the weapons in the world couldn't help a ship sail safely through a storm. 

"Has the Dauntless sailed through one before?" Eric asked, turning back to the horizon. He really didn't like the look of those clouds. 

Ariel gave him a cold side-eye. "Yes, a few. Most of the crew here has as well. Keep your wits about you and you'll be fine." 

"Worried about me, Captain?" Eric teased, holding up a brave front to hide his worry. He'd lived through many hurricanes, but all safely inside the castle in Romee. He knew how to handle hurricanes onshore, on his terms. Now he was on the ocean, a hurricane's domain. And he really couldn't be sure it was a hurricane they were sailing into, but it was still a nasty storm. He felt it appropriate to be worried but knew even if Ariel was concerned, she could never show it. 

To prove his point, Ariel scowled and chucked something at him. He caught it instinctively and opened his palm to reveal his mother's golden compass. He ran his thumb over the engravings on the cover, swirls and geraniums, one of his mother's favorite flowers. Her father had given it to her when she'd moved out of their family home to live in Romee, claiming it would always point her towards home. It was the last thing she'd given to Eric before she'd died. 

"Wh-why?" He clutched it tightly, worried she'd snatch it right back from him when she heard the emotion in his voice. 

She didn't, just shoved her hands in her pockets and continued scowling. "I was overruled by the crew. They wish to promote you to a part-time navigator. Seems your little star trick impressed more of my men." 

This helped balance out his building anxiety with hope and excitement. "So does this mean you're going to tell me where we're going?" 

"Schilbad Island, to restock. It's a trading outpost friendly to us pirates. It'll be a quick stop." He heard her aggravation more than he saw it. Almost two weeks on the ship with her, two weeks of delivering her dinners, but Eric still knew next to nothing about Ariel Nott. 

He knew she liked her steak medium-rare and her potatoes slathered in butter. He knew she was close with her entire 80-person crew and made a point to talk with and interact with all of them. He knew she was wicked with any weapon or anything that could be used as a weapon. He gathered that she liked to read, based on him always coming to her quarters and seeing a different book open on her desk each night. But he didn't know how she'd learned to shoot a pistol or why, when she thought no one was looking, she'd glance off towards the horizon with a pained look on her face. He wanted to know what Edward Nott had seen in baby Ariel to adopt her and who, as Eric mentioned, had broken her heart. 

It alarmed him how much he wanted to know about her. It alarmed him even more that he still wasn't scared of her.

"How old were you when you realized you were sailing with pirates?" he blurted, leaning his hip on the railing to face her fully.