The Runaway King (The Ascendance Series, Book 2)

We remained in the cell for several hours. I was going mad in the confined space and began pacing in circles like a caged animal. What could be taking so long?

At least I had a confirmation that Imogen was on my side. I wasn’t sure how she knew I’d be coming here, but I was furious she had inserted herself into my plans. Her presence here made everything more complicated.

“Calm down,” Fink said through a wide yawn. “Erick will take care of us.”

“I never trust anyone to take care of me,” I muttered.

“Well, you should. That’s why you came to us in the first place, right? You couldn’t do this alone.”

“Sit down,” the vigil said. “You’re making me nervous.”

I was in no mood to take orders from someone like him. “Why don’t you go find Agor and tell him I’m no good to the pirates locked up down here?”

“Tell me that yourself,” Agor said, walking down the stairs.

I stared at him a moment. “It’d only be repetitive now.”

“Erick and I had a long talk about you. He says you’re a thief.”

“I’m a lot of things.”

His eyes passed over me. “Can you fight? It was a fine sword you had.”

“It’s an excellent sword,” I agreed. “And I’m a very good thief.”

“Ah.” Agor took the keys from the vigil and unlocked my cell door. He shook his head for Fink to remain where he was but held the door open for me to leave.

“Walk with me,” Agor said.

I fell in beside him once we stepped outside. The sleepy morning had blossomed into a bustle of activity. It was hard to know how many pirates lived here, but Gregor had been right in one thing: If the pirates and Avenian armies combined, my Carthyan soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance.

As we walked, Agor pointed out the various areas of Tarblade Bay. Everything was exactly as Erick had described it, with the meeting area farther up the hill, living area surrounding me, and sleeping areas on the beach below me. So other than a few details, I already knew the layout.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Erick insists you know where Carthya stores its treasure. But if you have access to all this gold, why come to Tarblade? You know you’ll lose all of it to us.”

I smiled. “It got me here, didn’t it?”

“Do you think you can handle the life of a pirate?”

“I’d suggest you ask whether the pirates can handle me.”

Agor cocked an eyebrow, but still looked doubtful. “You claim to be a good thief. I want to see that for myself.” He pointed to the jail. “Go back there. Let’s see if you can steal the keys from the vigil and get your friend out without anyone stopping you.”

I shook my head. “Fink has this habit of getting on my nerves. I’m afraid I have no motivation to get him out.”

“Ah. And what is your motivation?”

“Hunger. Let me steal some food from the kitchen.”

“Too easy.”

“Maybe, but I’m going to steal the food anyway so it should count for something.”

Agor smiled. “There’s a meat cleaver in the kitchen. It’s well looked after since some of our other knives have gone missing recently. Take whatever food you want, but bring me that knife.”

I nodded and started to run off. Agor called behind me, “Be quick about it. I’m timing you.”

I slipped into the kitchen through a side window. The interior was sturdily built and amply stocked. The main room contained everything necessary to cook and prepare meals for an entire crew of pirates. Considering how well the exterior was concealed from view, it was actually quite impressive.

As I had hoped, Imogen was working there, kneading a large pile of dough. But she wasn’t alone. A dark-haired girl was washing dishes and another fair-haired one was tending a stew over an open fire. Imogen heard me enter and turned, momentarily, then went back to the dough. The dark-haired girl’s face lit up when I entered but the other girl barely paid me any attention at all.

“Agor asked me to gather some food for him,” I said to no one in particular.

Imogen stared at the other two girls, then threw up her hands. Whether she was actually irritated or pretending, I wasn’t sure. “Oh, all right, I’ll get it for you,” she said. “Come with me.”

I followed her down some stairs into a small room stocked with fruits and vegetables. As soon as she shut the door, I turned her toward me and hissed, “Tell me why you’re here.”

“I might ask you the same thing. Jaron, are you insane? They will find out who you are.”

“If they do, then you’ll be found out too. How did you even get here? Do you know what it took for me to get here?”

“It’s easier for a girl. I went to Isel and inquired about doing kitchen work. I asked around until someone said the pirates were always looking.”

“They’re always looking because no respectable girl would ever come here.”

“I’m perfectly respectable and don’t you dare suggest otherwise!” Imogen bit into her words with the same fierce anger as I felt. “Besides, they don’t touch us. Not as long as I do my work and stay out of their business.”

“But you’re not staying out of their business, and you’re not safe here. Why do you think I sent you away from Drylliad?”

“That’s obvious.” She folded her arms. “It’s because you’re arrogant, and can’t trust anyone but yourself, and because you’re a fool.”

A smile crept onto my face. “Well, I wouldn’t have worded it exactly like that.”

She was less amused. “I came because you can’t be alone here. You need help, even if you don’t understand that yet.”

“If that’s true, then I don’t want that help from you. You should have trusted my decision!”

Imogen’s face reddened. “You dare speak to me about trust? I appreciate your looking out for my safety back at the castle, but the way you did it is inexcusable. Why couldn’t you have trusted me with the truth?”

Unfortunately, there was a very good reason for that. I lowered my eyes and said, “It’s because I needed you to believe me too. I needed you to go and never look back.”

She fell silent and her lashes fluttered while she considered how to answer. Finally, she said, “I did believe you, until Amarinda and I began discussing the assassination attempt. Knowing you as well as I do, the rest of your plan became obvious then, as did your reasons for sending me away so cruelly.”

“Forgive me.” She probably couldn’t, and I wouldn’t blame her for that. “Everyone was supposed to think I was going into hiding.”

“But anyone who knows you would never believe it.” She paused and read the question in my expression. “You never run, Jaron. Not from Conner, not from a sword fight, and certainly not from your own castle. You wouldn’t run, so we knew you must be using it as an excuse to come here.”

That stoked my anger. “If you knew all that, then you knew I was trying to get you away from the danger. And yet here you are in the center of it! Aren’t you afraid?”

“Of course I am. But not for me.” She knitted her eyebrows together. “Amarinda thinks you’re going to try stopping the pirates on your own. Exactly how do you plan to do that?”

I stuck out my jaw but refused to answer, mostly because the details of that plan were still a little vague. Instead I said, “As your king, I order you to leave this place.”

“I’m already under orders. I’m not to leave here without you.”

“Amarinda’s orders?” That was infuriating.

“She asked me to do whatever I could to help you be safe. She said you wouldn’t listen to anyone else, but maybe I could get you to leave before it’s too late.” Imogen arched her neck. “If you force me to choose which order to obey, it’ll be hers. Because she’s right. You shouldn’t be here.”

No words could describe the anger I felt. I’d known Amarinda and Imogen had become friends, but this felt nearly as disloyal as Gregor asking for a steward.

Imogen reached out, but I turned away from her. Then it occurred to me that too much time had passed since I left Agor. “If you’re here to help me, then I need the meat cleaver from the kitchen. And if anyone asks, you’ve got to say that I stole it.”

Imogen rolled her eyes, then opened the door to leave. I grabbed her arm as she started to walk out and said, “This isn’t over between us.”

“No,” she said with equal ferocity. “It’s not.”

I returned to Agor a few minutes later and handed him the cleaver. In my other hand was a warm roll. He grinned. “Did you have any trouble?”

“The cleaver was easy. Getting past one of your girls was a little more work.”

“Leave them alone, or it’ll be the last thing you do here. Follow me.” Agor led me into a small, dark hut. I paused in the doorway, seeing several other pirates already crowded into the room. Erick was there too, but he barely looked at me. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Sit.” Agor pulled out a chair in front of a small table.

I sat. My hand brushed against my belt where I hoped my knife or sword would have magically appeared, but of course they weren’t there. I wished I’d kept the cleaver, but Agor had it and held it in a way that made me uncomfortable. Had Erick failed to convince them to accept me?

Agor pointed to a man sitting directly opposite me. He was of average height but built like a boulder. Numerous scars defined his years as a pirate and gave him authority over the other men. His brown hair was streaked in gold tones and wasn’t half as well trimmed as his beard. But it was his eyes I focused on. They were slits of blackness that made him appear completely devoid of any soul.

“Sage,” Agor said. “This is Devlin, our king.”

I stared at him while blood rushed through my veins. Remembering everything he’d done, venomous emotions rose inside me, and it was all I could do to keep an even expression on my face. The only way to save Carthya was to bring down the pirates, starting with Devlin. And in that moment, I was certain that I was capable of it.

Devlin offered me his hand to shake. I stretched mine out tentatively. Devlin took it, then slammed my arm down on the table. Instantly, Agor got behind me with one arm locked around my neck and his other hand holding the cleaver to my throat. I arched my head away from the blade, but that only gave him a reason to tighten his grip.

“Your name is Sage?” Devlin asked.

“Will there be a lot of questions?” I countered. “If so, you might give me space to breathe.”

Devlin nodded at Agor, who loosened his hold, but the cleaver was still closer to me than I liked.

“You have strong forearms, Sage.”

“I inherited them from my grandmother. She was a bulky woman.”

He smiled at the joke, then said, “That’s good to know. Because otherwise I’d think you spent a lot of time with that heavy sword you brought here.”

“That’s only for when I need to stab someone.”

This time, Devlin didn’t smile. He said, “I heard you were upset by my killing that priest years ago.”

“That’s true.” My eyes shifted from Devlin to Erick, who motioned with his hands that I should explain myself. “But not nearly as upset as I’d be if you killed me right now.”

That seemed to entertain Devlin. “Did you know that priest?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“He took me in for a while.”

“He also betrayed my trust.” Devlin looked around the room to be sure everyone was watching him. They were. “That’s why he had to die. Does that bother you?”

The blade was sharp against my skin. It was hard to concentrate on what Devlin was saying, but I mumbled, “Yes.”

A map of Carthya was spread across the table. I shifted to see it better, then winced as the blade nicked me. Maybe Agor hadn’t been paying close enough attention. Or maybe he wanted me to remember what was at stake.

“Show me where the cave is,” Devlin said.

I looked away from the map. “No.”

Devlin looked up at Agor. “Kill him.”

Agor raised the blade. I tried to squirm free, but with Agor’s hold on my neck and Devlin’s grip on my hand, it wasn’t that simple. With my free hand, I grabbed Agor’s arm, and quickly added, “You need me to find that cave. And I’ll get us there better if my head’s still attached.”

Devlin shook his head ever so slightly at Agor, then refreshed his grip on me and said, “Erick thinks that given the chance, you might try to kill me in revenge for what I did to that priest.”

My heart was still racing, but I kept my eyes locked on him as I answered, “Yeah, I might.” It was hard not to think about the priest when I looked at him.

Devlin reached over and patted my cheek. “Good answer, young thief. Had you answered any other way I’d have killed you just now for lying.” I pulled away from his touch, and he withdrew his hand. Then he said, “It’ll take us a few days to prepare to steal the Carthyan treasure. We’ll get our hands on it before Avenia takes it for themselves.”

“I didn’t know Avenia wanted it,” I said.

“Avenia intends to bleed Carthya out of existence. And I need enough pirates to get my piece of the country first. So welcome to my crew.”

I cocked an eyebrow, suspicious. “It’s that simple?”

The others around me laughed, including Devlin. “Becoming a pirate is simple. The trick is whether you can remain one. For now, all you must do is swear to me.”

I eyed Devlin. “Swear to what exactly? Swear to serve you or bow to you? I won’t do either.”

“Sage!” Erick’s scolding wasn’t a surprise, except that I had expected it to come much sooner. He shook his head in warning at me.

Devlin only raised a corner of his mouth. “You have the heart of a pirate, that’s clear. When the time comes, I want your promise to reveal the location of that cave. And you must swear loyalty to the pirate code. From now on, you will serve out your life as a pirate, which means you will never leave Tarblade without the permission of the pirate king. Swear that you will always obey the pirate king’s orders. If you fail to do so, you will face the cruelest method of death.”

I closed my eyes to work through everything he was asking of me. Refusing to swear loyalty would undoubtedly mean I’d face death now. But I had come here to destroy the pirates. Could I accept those terms?

“Give me your answer, Sage,” Devlin said.

“Be quiet and let me think.” A moment later, I opened my eyes and nodded. “I swear.”

Devlin gestured at someone behind me, but based on the charred smell that had entered the hut I already knew what was coming next. Agor lowered the knife but his arm remained around my neck. Devlin’s grip on my hand tightened, and two pirates grabbed my arms, pressing them onto the table. Sweat creased my brow. It was a good thing they held me so firmly because it was possible I would’ve tried to escape otherwise.

A fat pirate who reeked of smoke stood between Devlin and me. In his hands was a branding iron, red at the tip.

“Keep still,” he said. I started to object, but Agor shoved a piece of wood between my teeth and held it there as the man pressed the hot end onto my forearm.

I screamed as it seared my flesh and tried to pull away from it, but their hold was uncompromising. A second later he was finished and someone else immediately covered my arm with a cold rag.

They continued to hold me until I’d recovered enough strength not to pass out. I lifted the rag and stared at the imprint burned into my skin, an X constructed of a sea serpent angled to the northeast and a snake angled to the northwest. The symbol of a pirate’s ability to create terror on land or sea.

“Congratulations,” Devlin said, finally releasing my hand. “You belong to the pirates now.”