I felt better after soaking up the sun’s heat on deck. Obsidarian silently joined me after a few minutes, sitting on the warm boards at my side. He watched as Mají, Jumé, and Fame returned and retreated to Mají’s cabin. Mají’s eyes flicked to me, an unreadable emotion in his eyes.
“Jumé’s muttering about that prophesy again,” Obsidarian said softly. “He started obsessing about it this year. I’d love to know why.”
I looked toward the cabin door, sighing as I looked away again. “I’d settle for knowing what the dumb thing is about. I know it deals with the Griffon’s Child, but why is it such a bad thing? I hear things about avoiding the prophesy, but from what Mají told me, it’s about restoring the powers and reuniting the worlds.”
Obsidarian shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine Piratess. Only the captains know the true prophesy. They’ll do anything in their power to keep it that way too; it’s what all captains fear.”
I heard footsteps from across the deck, and sat up slightly to see who was coming up from below. Flint took a few steps on deck, his pink ninja band tails swinging as he walked. He froze when he saw me with Obsidarian, backpedalling until he reached the steps. He fled in the direction he came from, disappearing below deck as quickly as he had appeared.
“Talk to him,” Obsidarian urged gently. “He feels guilty about you getting hurt. Now I don’t know exactly what happened, but I haven’t heard that boy speak a word since you showed up with blood pouring from your arm. And the kid normally can’t shut up.”
I nodded slowly, realizing the truth in his words. I muttered my thanks under my breath as I climbed to my feet, following my student below. He was in my room, sitting in the corner and staring at the floor when I found him.
“We need to talk,” I said coldly, opening the chest at the foot of my bed.
He looked up bleakly, nodding half-heartedly before dropping his eyes back to the floor.
“Your moping has gone on long enough,” I lectured. “I know that you aren’t like the rest of us Flint, and maybe that means you have a conscience. That you feel guilty about hurting me in training or something. But you need to get over it, you didn’t really do anything wrong.”
Flint looked up at me again, puzzlement written over his features. I couldn’t help but smile slightly.
“Tell me what happened,” I said softly. “Exactly the way it was.”
“I stabbed you,” he muttered.
“I jumped into your blade,” I countered. “Try again, take it from the top. What were we doing?”
“You asked me to sneak up on you,” he answered. “You closed your eyes and sat in the middle of the clearing, and asked me to sneak up and tap you with the flat of my blade.”
I nodded, urging him to continue as I rummaged around in the chest, drawing out strips of crimson, black, and hot pink to rebind my hands.
“I know I’m not very stealthy, so I picked a few rocks up from the ground. Before I moved toward you, I threw one to the other side of the clearing. It hit the ground in front of you, and rolled against another rock. You threw a knife at it, thinking I had made the sound and warning me to choose a different route. I risked taking a few steps in your direction, but you were focused on where I had thrown the first rock. I tossed the second one to your right, it rolled through some leaves and you threw a dagger in that direction. Again thinking it was me. I moved toward you again, and was within striking distance. I pulled my blade out, debating whether or not to throw a third rock when Briamy startled you… and I stabbed you.”
“So according to your story,” I said, trying not to laugh. “I gave you a task, and you performed it flawlessly, and redirected my focus so well away from you that I was able to be surprised and literally jump into your knife… I’d call that a job well done Flint. You’re learning.”
Flint opened his mouth to protest, but stopped before he actually said anything, slowly understanding what I had said. I grinned as he tried to process, and when he realized I wasn’t mad at him, he grinned back.
“You ready for your next lesson?” I laughed. “I want to head over and see if the rogues have moved.”
“Really?” he exclaimed, bouncing to his feet. “You think I’m ready?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Picking our way through the forest near rogue territory, I couldn’t help but be a little proud of my student. He no longer sounded like a wounded buffalo, only the occasional noise betrayed his presence now. Not only that, but though he looked like he could burst with excitement, he hadn’t said a word on our trip. Granted, the rogues were the closest group to our camp, but it was still impressive for my overenthusiastic apprentice.
We saw a pair of rogues before we found their main camp. They were leaning against two trees, their gaze directed to where someone coming from the field would approach. I held my arm out to stop Flint from moving any farther ahead, and what little noise he was making stopped. I shifted my weight slightly, leaning to the side just enough to make out their faces, recognizing one as Shorg.
“Ye don’ giddit shipmate,” Shorg said. “It were a real’un this time. Weren’t glass or rock like ‘fore. Was a shiny, like what them Conclave girls got. And it was stoled.”
The other pirate sighed loudly. “We’ve been going over this for weeks,” he said, exasperation leaking into his voice. “If you did have anything of value, you’re never gettin’ it back now. Maybe Dikamir took it, playin’ at captain like he ‘as been. Best forget about it Shorg.”
“But ‘e didn’ know!” Shorg protested. “Never told ‘im n ‘e never asked. I’s a rogue ‘nyway. Don’ need ‘is permittedness.”
“Fine,” the other rogue agreed. “Do you remember the last time you had it then? Was there anyone who did know?”
Shorg was silent for a minute. His friend shook his head and rolled his eyes. I took it as our cue to continue on, but he spoke before I could make it three steps.
“Spilled ‘em, when ‘is ‘igh n mightfulness showed up, but he helped me n picked ‘em up n all.”
“Hold on a minute,” the other guy said. “Are you talking about the King of Pirates? You were here when he saw Dikamir after the second conclave? Do you know what they talked about? He wouldn’t tell the rest of us. Shorg this is important. I need you to remember what they discussed. Did they talk near you? Did they ever leave, or go up a tree or some crap like that? Did the king have a ring that he gave to Dikamir? Did Dikamir say anything about banding us into a real crew so he could get a cut? Did they trade objects? Anything Shorg, tell me everything.”
I froze, looking at Flint, who was frowning at the rogues in confusion. Mají hadn’t told me anything about him seeing the rogues.
“I… er ‘e….” Shorg stammered out, his usual poor speech made worse by the sudden intensity his mate was displaying. “They was talkin’ ‘bout that new rogue, ‘fore ‘e were a rogue n all. King didn’ want ‘im wit us, said ‘e knew it was comin’ n all. Said ‘e didn’ even zerve us ‘e did. Said ‘ed call de girl off, de prettiful one, keepin ‘er outta ‘ere ‘n far way. It’d keep the stuffs safe n all ‘e said. But Dikamir, ‘e said we was all rogues fer reasons. Don’ listen to nobody, not even ‘im. N ‘e smiled, smiled at me too, n left wit no more words.”
“Strange,” the other pirate said slowly. “It’s not like Dikamir to keep something like that from us. We’re supposed to vote on that stuff, he doesn’t make decisions for us. Though that would explain why we moved, and why we’ve got guard duty all the time now. Maybe I can talk with him later, see if he’ll answer straight.”
I had heard enough. I turned and started to head back to camp, scowling and watching my feet so I didn’t step on something with a careless backward movement. I had questions for Mají, whatever else the rogues were doing was no longer important. I wanted the full story. If he had used me, I wanted to know why. I wasn’t here to be used, not after all his talk about trust. I wanted the truth.
Flint was excited by the whole idea, unable to contain himself any longer once we were well out of the rogues’ earshot.
“Is the king in trouble now Flame? What did he do?”
“I don’t know what he did,” I admitted. “And that’s the problem.”
“So he’s in trouble?” Flint said gleefully. “Can I watch you yell at him? I’ll take notes if you want! Or we could rob him! Take some of the rum in that cabinet; he’d never know what hit him!”
I laughed despite the serious expression I was trying to maintain.
“You would be the only one naïve enough to think of robbing the King of Pirates.”
He shrugged, “that’s why it’s brilliant.”
“No,” I sighed. “I just need answers. I don’t like thinking that he’s been using me without my knowledge. And it’s probably me being paranoid, but I need to check.”
“Oh,” he said, his excitement deflating instantly.
I smiled at his mood swing, thinking of something to make him feel better.
“I could let you rob someone else,” I offered.
My student’s eyes lit up, the immediate spring in his step making the tails of his pink ninja band swing from side to side.
“Who?” he asked eagerly. “Who? Tell me! Tell me tell me tell me!”
“Karius,” I said, grinning smugly. “We can go look for him tonight, see if he did join the rest of the rogues. But you have to let me get my answers first.”
“OK!” he agreed excitedly. “Take all the time you need!”