“Yes, we’re all aware of the prime location your people currently occupy, Captain,” said Somolus Tain.
“Aye? Well, you drive us out and we just come on back once ya gone. Because there’s no better place to pirate from in all of the known world. All a purge ever accomplishes is a few years of less pirates and less pirating.”
“Captain Black makes a good point,” Blunt said loudly, a wide grin on his smug, bearded face. “Perhaps occupation of the isles by a military force would secure the trade routes.”
Elaina laughed to give herself a moment to think, but it came out as a nervous giggle.
“That’s uh… that’s exactly what I’m proposing, guild master Blunt. Thanks for bringing the subject up. Ya could send in your own military, sure, or maybe Sarth could, or the Five Kingdoms. Or maybe a combination of all three. I certainly can’t see that turning violent.” A couple of the Council chuckled at the notion.
“You’d have to support ’em,” she continued, feeling a little emboldened. “With food, with pay, with booze. Trust me, guild master Blunt, ain’t no military force sitting anywhere without a healthy supply of booze.
“They would need constant support to keep the isles free of us pirates, and the moment their discipline dropped – and it would – we’d be back. Not only that, but we displaced pirates would go elsewhere in the meantime. Pirate Isles is the best shipping route. It ain’t the only one. Might be we move on over to the Passage.
“You’re on the right course, guild master Blunt, but the way you suggest it is costly and dangerous. What happens if you let Sarth take control of the isles and they decide only Sarth merchants are allowed through?” Elaina shook her head solemnly. Blunt sat back down and steepled his hands.
Elaina smiled and glanced around at the rest of the Council. “There’s already a military presence in the isles. We’re already set up and ready, just without the incentive to protect rather than steal. All we need is a little help through a rough, uh, beginning.”
Elaina swallowed and found her mouth as dry as sand. With a rough cough to clear her throat, she continued.
“If you help us protect what’s ours and fight off Sarth and the Five Kingdoms, then you’ll get to sail your merchants through our waters without the threat of piracy. I ain’t saying it’ll be free, but anyone who helps us is gonna get to use the trade routes for a lot less than those that fight us.”
A number of the Council were now talking to their neighbours. Only the Scarred Man remained silent among it all.
“You’re proposing you tax us for use of the shipping lanes even after we help you protect the isles from invasion?” said Conney Markmarter of the Dragon Slayers.
“Aye,” Elaina said a little too enthusiastically. “Aye. Discount rate, of course, on account of your help, but everyone gets taxed. No exceptions. You’ll lose far less by a bit of tax than the loss of entire ships.”
Again the Council members began to talk among themselves, and Elaina stood in the middle and watched them all. She caught a reassuring nod from the Queen of Blades, but it was fleeting; the Drurr was deep in conversation with Terk Ferrywold of the Red Hands. Elaina’s legs were wobbling, and she locked her knees to stop the weakness showing.
When the Scarred Man finally spoke, his voice came out as a dry rasp and all other sound in the hall stopped. “You ask a lot of us, Captain Black.” Elaina looked at the guild master of the Scarred Men, but it was impossible to see his face beneath his mask. “To whom should we entrust our ships and their crews? Many of us have had dealings with Drake Morrass before, and he is not always to be trusted.”
Elaina sniffed and straightened her back. Her speech had meandered and she’d lost her place, but this was an expected question with a prepared answer.
“I ain’t asking you to entrust your support to Drake. I’m telling you to entrust it to me. He’s got the support of the people and of the captains, it’s true. What he don’t have is the backing to make the Pirate Isles a true kingdom. With your help, I will have that backing. I’ll be sat there right beside Morrass on that throne, and you can trust me.”
“Can we?” rasped the Scarred Man.
Elaina swallowed. “Aye.”
The silence that greeted her statement said more than a thousands words.
“You’ve, uh, you’ve all heard of my father.” It wasn’t a question. “Many things can be said of Tanner Black, but none of them slate him as a liar. Well, he brought his children up the same way. I ain’t a liar, and I’m telling you now you can trust me to do what’s right by you. I don't forget my allies. Nor my enemies.”
As the chatter began again, the Queen of Blades stood. “If there are no more questions for the captain at this time, may I suggest we move on to the vote?”
Elaina waited to hear an objection, or another question she would have to answer, but neither came. It appeared all had already decided one way or the other. Her heart was beating too fast, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse into a chair with a strong drink. Public speaking in front of a hostile crowd was not something Elaina ever wished to repeat.
“As I brought the captain to us, I believe I shall start with myself,” the Queen of Blades continued. She’d told Elaina this was how it worked; the guild master in charge of the central district determined which order the other guild masters voted in. The opinions of others weren’t meant to sway a vote, but with guilds as powerful as the Blades, the Scarred Men, and the slavers, it was impossible for their votes not to impact upon others.
“The Blades vote to support Captain Black and the residents of the Pirate Isles,” the Queen announced. “How do the Scarred Men vote?”
Elaina turned to look at the Scarred Man, but it was pointless. With his hood up and his mask in place, Elaina couldn’t even see the man’s eyes, only the deep rents in the white mask that depicted the marks of the original Scarred Man.
“The Scarred Men vote in favour of the captain,” he rasped. Elaina felt her heart quicken.
“How does the slaving guild vote?” said the Queen of Blades.
“We vote against the pirates,” said Somolus Tain.
Elaina saw the surprise on the Queen of Blades’ face, and turned to see Somolus Tain sneering at her. Considering the slavers guild had tried to curry her favour themselves, Elaina had assumed their support was without question. She wondered how much of the denial was an attempt at petty vengeance for the offence Keelin had given when he ordered a knife held to Somolus’ neck.
With two of the three most powerful guilds in her favour and one against, the vote could still go either way. Elaina wagered she saw concern on the face of the Queen of Blades also.
“How do the Silken Soldiers vote?” said the Drurr.
Lady Tienna Ro’lare sat in her cocoon of silk wraps, old and shrivelled. “I vote against the captain’s proposal,” she said, and Elaina’s heart beat faster still.
Even dressed in her finest clothes and with her face daubed with white powder, Elaina felt her cheeks reddening. To be in the middle of all these fools and have them vote against her, despite how passionately she’d made her plea. Rage and embarrassment never mixed well with Elaina.
“How do the Nightborne vote?”
Red, the guild master of the Nightborne, sat in relative darkness compared to the other guild masters. The candles behind her had been snuffed out, yet even that didn’t account for the unnatural darkness around the sinewy, flame-haired woman.