“Can ya save him?” Tanner asked the doctor.
The man grumbled something and nodded without looking up from Stillwater’s motionless body.
“Then do it,” Tanner snapped.
“You need any help?” Drake said quickly, desperate to regain authority.
The doctor barked out a laugh and shook his head.
“Then the rest of you get outside and let the man do his work,” Drake said. “We got plenty of other wounded to tend to, and even more dead to mourn.”
Drake followed them all outside; he would be better served being seen about the town in charge of the situation than locked away in the tavern worrying about one man. The night was cooling off even though there was barely a breath of breeze, and New Sev’relain was a blur of activity. Some people were tending to the wounded while others stripped the dead before carting them down to the beach. The soldiers of the Five Kingdoms were well equipped, and not a shield, sword, or breastplate would go to waste. Even the shoes were being taken from the dead to be handed out to those townsfolk in need.
Plenty of pirates were still standing guard by the half-finished wall, watching the jungle should some of the soldiers come back for a second attempt. Drake doubted they would be so foolish, but it was better to be prepared in case of fools. Drake looked down at the beach and saw a bald-headed man limping towards him. Kebble looked to be in bad shape, but far worse was the body in his arms. Beck’s long blond hair hung down from her head, singed and clumped, and she had more than a few patches of dried blood on her face, jerkin, and trousers.
Drake rushed forwards, and Kebble almost collapsed as he handed the Arbiter’s body over.
“Is she…” Drake started, struggling with Beck’s dead weight.
“Alive,” Kebble said, dropping to his knees.
Drake searched Beck’s face, and saw no signs of her breathing. He tried to think what to do, but his mind came up blank.
“She needs tending to,” Kebble continued.
Drake glanced at the tavern. He could storm back in and demand Tanner’s doctor tend to Beck, but that could mean Stillwater’s death, and he needed the man.
“Captain Morrass,” someone called, and Drake turned his head to see a bedraggled woman with deep brown hair and deeper lines on her face. “This way, Captain. I can see to her.”
He recognised her as the woman who ran the brothel, and hesitated. “You know what you’re doing?”
The woman fixed Drake with a stony glare. “Captain, I have dealt with more banged up women than any of your doctors. I can set bones, clean wounds, and sew better than anyone in this shit hole of a town, and I’ll wager my supplies are better too. If you want her to live, then heel.”
The woman turned and marched away. Drake ground his teeth together, but hesitated for only a moment before hurrying after her.
Chapter 17 - The Phoenix
Keelin opened his eyes to see a familiar wooden roof. He heard the creak and moan of a ship, and footsteps on the decking. He could smell the sea, the familiar salty tang that permeated every aspect of life on the oceans. He had no idea how it had happened, but Keelin was back on board The Phoenix and lying in his own bed. And if he lay really still, he could even pretend he didn’t hurt all over.
It was daytime; he could tell by how well his cabin was lit. Turning his head to see the window would have required a lot of effort, and all Keelin really wanted to do was drift back off to sleep. Unfortunately, his stomach wasn’t so easily appeased, and it chose that moment to let out a growl that would have sent a wolf fleeing with its tail tucked firmly between its legs.
“You’re awake.” Aimi’s voice drifted over, and Keelin lethargically rolled his head to the side. His right shoulder blazed in agony. He ignored it with only a wince to show his discomfort.
“It’s not entirely by choice,” he croaked, realising then how thirsty he was.
Aimi was sitting in the chair behind Keelin’s desk, looking over some papers. She sprang up and grabbed a mug and a clay pitcher. She looked different somehow. Gone were her normal stitched trousers and blouse, and in their place she wore a dark red jacket, a ruffled white shirt, black leggings, and boots that reached halfway up her calf, shiny with polish.
“New clothes?” Keelin said.
Aimi stopped by the bed and poured a mug of water, holding it carefully up to Keelin’s mouth for him to sip. It felt like life running down his throat, giving him new energy.
“I’ve had a bit of time to kill while looking after you. I bought these a while back and spent yesterday altering them to fit better. What do you think?” Aimi took the cup away and gave a twirl. The clothes suited her, and though they wouldn’t be practical for ship-board use, they would certainly catch a few stares around town.
“Beautiful,” Keelin said.
“I bet you say that to all your crew,” Aimi said with a grin.
“How long have I been…”
“Two days.” Aimi refilled the mug and held it to Keelin’s lips again. “Captain Black’s doctor said you would live, so we brought you here. I volunteered to look after you.”
“We won?”
Aimi smiled and nodded. “The town is still standing. We lost a lot of people though.”
“My brother?”
The smile slipped from Aimi’s face. “So it’s true. You’re Five Kingdoms nobility.”
Keelin froze. He had no idea how to answer. He’d kept the secret for so long he thought it was lost. Ever since leaving the Five Kingdoms he’d been pretending to be just another pirate. If his secret was now common knowledge, he could only guess how long it would be before a mutiny removed him from his ship and probably his life. The crew would never follow if they knew where he came from.
“Apparently some folk wanted to kill you. They were blaming you for all of this,” Aimi said. “Drake didn’t let them. He convinced them you were one of us.”
“So Drake survived.” Keelin was more than a little relieved.
Aimi nodded and started towards the cabin door. Keelin tried to push himself up onto his elbows and promptly collapsed. Aimi opened the door.
“He’s awake,” she said. “Go get Morley.” Aimi returned to the bed. “He wanted to know the moment you woke up. I’ll help you up.”
With gentle care, Aimi helped Keelin to sit up and swing his legs over the bed. She then fetched a jacket from his wardrobe and draped it over his shoulders before pouring him another mug of water and leaving it in his left hand. She went back to the desk and back to studying the papers arrayed upon it.
“What are you looking at?” Keelin said.
“Letters from the ship My Salty Wife. After all the soldiers were killed, the ship was taken. Drake found these in a chest, but he doesn’t have time to look them over at the moment. I volunteered for that job too, as I was going to be sitting in here waiting for you to wake up.
“There’s a lot of nothing. It looks like the ship was a passenger vessel used to ferry people of importance from Sarth to the Five Kingdoms. They took her from her captain, filled her with men and pointy objects, and sent her here. There’s a letter signed with King Jackt Veritean’s signet.”
“The king of the Five Kingdoms?” Keelin said, incredulous.
Aimi nodded. “It’s a letter offering a full pardon to any pirate captain willing to turn on their brethren.”
“Bastard!”
A knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Aimi shouted before Keelin could answer. He kept his face carefully blank, but it irritated him that she assumed such authority in his cabin.
The door opened and Morley walked in, treating Keelin to a smile. “Thought we might have lost you, Captan. I wouldn’t mind a cabin this big.”
Keelin wheezed out a laugh, and regretted it a moment later as it set both his shoulder and his leg to hurting. Morley had been part of his crew for almost as long as Keelin had had a crew, and the man had been both an excellent quartermaster and a competent first mate as well as a loyal friend.