The Runaway King (The Ascendance Series, Book 2)

Erick was the first to reach me after I’d left the hut. He clapped me on the back and grinned. “You are the most reckless young man I’ve ever met. A couple of times I was certain he was going to let Agor have you.”

“I thought so too.” The rag had become too warm to be useful for the pain in my arm, but I kept it pressed there anyway. “I didn’t know about the branding iron.”

“Better the iron than the cleaver. You swore to me that you’d reveal the location of the cave.”

“But on my timing, not theirs.”

Erick glared at me, but there was nothing more he could say. We both knew that if I’d told them where the cave was, I wouldn’t have left that hut alive.

Agor was next at my side. “No one’s ever spoken to Devlin like that before. But the crazy thing is I think he admired it.”

“What now?” I asked.

Agor began leading me down a path. “We eat first. Then Devlin will want to test some of your skills.”

“Fink’s still locked up. Is he going to that hut now?” I’d put up any fight necessary to keep him from getting branded.

Erick shook his head. “Fink’s too young. Maybe in a few years.”

“We let him out,” Agor added. “He’ll join us at the meal.”

Minutes later we arrived near the kitchen, where several long tables were set up for meals. Fink was already waiting at one and motioned for us to join him. Apparently, he’d already heard what had happened inside the hut because as soon as he saw me he leapt to his feet and grabbed my arm. “Congratulations!”

I yanked it away with a gasp as his fingers inadvertently pressed near the burn. Fink’s eyes widened when he saw the branding, maybe with a new appreciation for what it meant to become a pirate.

“Yes, congratulations.” I turned to see Imogen standing behind us. She held a large pot with a ladle inside and must have been dishing up stew for the other men. “You got what you wanted, then?”

I barely looked at her. “You know what I want.”

“And you know how to get it.” Imogen frowned at me and moved on without putting any stew into my bowl.

Fink had a full bowl and grinned at me as he sat back on the bench. “It would help if you used words like please and thank you.”

“Then I’ll thank you to please stay out of my business,” I said, squeezing my way onto the bench.

The dark-haired girl I’d seen earlier came by a minute later with another pot of stew. “You’re new here?” she asked, ladling a large scoop into my bowl. “I’m Serena.”

“Stay away from him.” Imogen instantly appeared beside Serena.

“I was just saying hello.”

“He’s the one I told you about, when he came to the kitchen.”

Serena raised her eyebrows. “Yes, I know.” Imogen’s warning only seemed to improve her opinion of me.

I tilted my head, not sure exactly what Imogen had accused me of, but it had obviously worked to divert any suspicion away from us.

“He did that before he had to obey the code, so it’s forgivable,” Serena said, letting Imogen lead her away. I thought I caught her whisper afterward, “He’s handsome. I wouldn’t have complained if he’d tried that with me.” That made me smile a little.

Beside me, Fink snickered. “What’d you do?”

“I wish I knew.” Then to avoid any more questions, I began eating.

The pirates around us talked, ate, and laughed voraciously. Erick and I were included in the conversation like we were old friends, although Erick was far more engaged in talking with them than I cared to be. For once, it was nice to have Fink nearby so that his incessant chatter could fill the void.

I kept an eye on Imogen as she served the pirates their various requests, although I also made an effort not to appear too obvious about it. Both of us were newcomers and I’d already been too indiscreet when she came to the jail. As it was, she was probably all right as long as everyone believed her displeasure with me was due to some misbehavior on my part.

As soon as lunch was over, Agor escorted me to an area that had been cleared of grass and where the ground had become nearly as hard as stone. Long nails had been pounded into the trees, and hanging from them were a variety of wooden swords.

I backed away from the swords. “I came here as a thief, Agor, not a fighter.”

Agor picked out a sword for himself. “A pirate is both. Devlin wants to test your skills.”

“Did he test Erick?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Erick said, walking up to join us. Several other pirates had come with him. I couldn’t see the area where we’d eaten, but I assumed Imogen had remained there to clean up. That was probably a good thing. She wouldn’t want to watch this.

“Choose a sword,” Agor said.

I walked to the trees and looked the swords over as if it were the first time I’d seen any. It was probably too generous to refer to them as swords. Really they were little more than thick sticks with handles on them.

After a moment, Agor became impatient and grabbed one off the tree nearest to me. He thrust it into my hands. “Here.”

Agor raised his sword and I raised mine. My feet were braced beneath me but it had to be Agor who made the first strike. When he did, he struck hard against my shoulder and threw me off balance.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Fight!”

“My mistake.” I rubbed my shoulder, certain a bruise was already forming there. “I didn’t know we’d started.”

I swung back at him but missed entirely. He feinted left, which was ridiculous since I wasn’t being aggressive enough to need to be tricked, then came at me from the right. I blocked most of it, but took a blow to my arm.

Around us, what began as a largely indifferent audience quickly turned into laughter and hollers for me to be taught a lesson. They further encouraged Agor, who seemed to like the idea of using my poor performance to showcase his abilities. He got in three or four hits at me for every one I attempted at him. Occasionally I’d find a mark, but frankly, he hit hard and I was quickly losing enthusiasm for this charade.

Finally, he struck me in the back hard enough to force the air from my lungs. I dropped my sword. “Enough.”

“You’re not very good,” Agor said.

“I never told you I was.”

Agor surveyed me a moment. “I guess we expected more. The last boy to join the pirates was about your age and he’s amazing.”

That would be Roden, who was probably nearing the end of his time at sea. I replaced my sword on the tree, then said, “What now?”

“If you’re smart, you’ll stick around here and get in some sword practice.”

“And what if I’m not?”

Agor shrugged, clearly disappointed. “I admit that I’m relieved you’re this bad at swords. The way you threatened Devlin earlier, I thought maybe you meant what you said.”

I had meant it. Every word.

Agor stepped closer to me and continued, “You should know that I watch Devlin’s back. And someone’s watching mine. And so on down the line. But nobody’s watching your back here, so if you try to carry out that threat, it’ll be the last thing you do aboveground. You understand me?”

I understood perfectly. If I went after Devlin, I would follow him to my grave.

Agor left me there, taking most of the pirates with him. As they strode away, I saw Imogen carrying some flowers toward a tree. She shook her head at me and I turned my back on her. I refused to allow her to think I needed her help. When I looked a moment later she was gone.

Erick and Fink had also stayed behind with me.

“You were terrible out there,” Fink said.

“Thanks.” It was too bad I’d been rewarded with so many bruises, because otherwise my performance would have made a funny story one day.

“What about my thieves in Carthya that night?” Erick asked. “You fought them.”

I grinned. “Clearly, they’re worse than I am.”

“You must’ve caught them off guard. Because a person would almost have to try in order to be as bad as you were just now.”

Not almost. “How’d you do against Agor?” I asked.

Erick shrugged. “He’s good with a sword, but he’s not great. I held my own.”

“You should teach me some of your tricks.”

Erick laughed at that. “There’s no trick, Sage. You just need more discipline. And a great deal of practice.”

“The practice I can do, but nobody’s ever been much good at disciplining me.”

Erick began to explain himself, then gave up. He pulled out Harlowe’s pocket watch to check the time and thrust it back into his pocket.

“You should be more careful with that,” I said.

“It’s not as valuable as I thought before,” Erick said. “Too many scratches and dings on it. Next time I’m in town I’ll have them melt it down and sell it for the gold.”

Not if I could help it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the camp. Near the cooking areas, a hearty freshwater stream fell over the cliff down to the beach. Erick pointed out that I was beginning to smell and suggested I consider washing up there. I told him it had taken a lot of work to smell as badly as I did and I wasn’t about to ruin it with a bath. I didn’t get around to mentioning that the scars on my back would be visible if I bathed, which at the least would invite questions about my past, and at the worst would reveal who I was.

Once down on the beach, I found a comfortable spot facing the sea and stopped exploring. After a while, Erick and even Fink gave up on me and left to find something better to do, but I was content to sit there and stare. It was calming in a way I very much needed, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to fight the feeling that something was going to happen soon. Something I wouldn’t be able to control.