Dark Tides (Kingdom of Bones #2)

Original Edition: ◇ Chapter 1 ◇ Death's Cove ◇

KANE

Death's Cove

Late Frostfall

Death's Cove takes no prisoners.

Words Kane Blackwater heard his father say many times when the Iron Jewel would sail too close to the ship trap. It was a treacherous place he'd never been, but one that had haunted him as a child, and even though the thought made his spine go rigid, the Iron Jewel sailed straight toward the dark waters.

Kane stood at the helm of his ship, one hand gripping the smooth blackened-oak handle of the wheel, the other holding a spyglass to his eye, searching for a safe spot to enter. The clouds above were as gloomy as his mood, growing darker by the moment. Death's Cove was a splotch on the map of anyone who sailed. It waited on the tail of the Silver Sea like a silent predator waiting for its prey.

Jagged obsidian sea-stacks sprouted up from the waves like daggers, sharp enough to rip straight through any ship that dared to tread close. Kane was used to sailing through the deep turquoise waves of the Sister Seas. From Crossbones, all the way to Sarva, the waters were the clearest and most beautiful of any others he'd sailed. The sea surrounding Death's Cove was nearly the black of kraken's ink. It's only because of the weather, he lied to himself.

"Death's Cove takes no prisoners," said a voice much different than the slurred rasp of Kane's father. Kane pulled his gaze away from the lens of his spyglass and glanced to his right. Flynn Gunnison leaned against a railing, the wild seawind blowing stray pieces of his dark blonde hair across his face and out of its tie. Two seasons ago, Kane would've decked Flynn for standing too close, but today, he was glad to not be alone. Today, he was glad to have a friend.

"We won't be anyone's prisoners," Kane replied, collapsing the barrels of the spyglass with a clap. "Not today or any other day."

Flynn slapped Kane on the back and chuckled. "Those sound like famous last words, Blackwater." The crooked smile slipped from his face for a moment. "I would rather not die today though. No offense mate, but I'd much rather have Csilla's face be the last thing I see, not your ugly mug." Flynn's love and newly crowned Queen of Bones, Csilla Abado, was back in Baltessa, the capital of the island kingdom of Cerulia, along with the Maidens and Lorelei Storm—a face that Kane found himself missing as the days and nights at sea blurred together.

"Remind me again why I brought you here?" Kane asked, pocketing the spyglass in his coat and grabbing the wheel with both hands. "It's become apparent that it wasn't to help man the ship as you're up here and not with the rest of the lot."

"You brought me to help search for Rove because there's a chance you might need my impeccable shot." As a reminder, Flynn drew one of his pistols from his belt and spun it over his fingers. The barrel came to a stop in front of his pursed lips and he puffed once like he was blowing out the wick of a candle. "Besides, is there really a need to for me to break my back over some sails? Your crew has beefed up pretty nicely over the past few moons. Plus, Arius and Borne are down there, so I'd say we're faring well."

"You say faring well, I say barely cutting it."

"You have always been the flask-half-empty type."

Kane was about to attempt a comeback against the captain of the Anaphine when something white caught the corner of his gaze. He turned to his left just as the shouts of the men on the deck reached his ears. From behind one of the largest sea-stacks, emerged the white sails of a fully-stocked brig. It slid out from behind its hiding place like it had been waiting there for them all along. Kane didn't have to pull out his spyglass to see the flag waving in the wind atop the brig's highest mast, and the emblem of flame and sword imprinted on the fabric.