“I already conceded on your earlier point about not all of the crew having a choice,” Morgan spat at Sirius.

  “I know.”

  The pair of them were alone in Morgan’s cabin. After the prisoners had been set to work under the watchful eyes of the crew, Morgan had called Sirius, and Sirius alone to a quick meeting. He hadn’t expected it to be a nice one and on that assumption he was right. But there was a part of him that was relieved and maybe even a little happy with how things had turned out. He hadn’t been certain of beating Morgan. She was a quick fighter, but it had been some time since he had last fought her. He was far stronger now and much more experienced.

  “And then your little bitch goes and challenges me in front of my crew. Lures you into a battle you have no business fighting.”

  “I beat you fair and square, Morgan.”

  “I’m aware of that and on that point I’ll concede, this time, but if she ever does anything like that again, it will be her chest I am plunging a sword into, understand?”

  “Understood.” Sirius had no doubt that she meant it. Morgan could have argued harder with his request to fight but she couldn’t do it now that she’d accepted the challenge. Evidently, she’d thought she would win. That and her known lust for his coat had been what he’d bet on. Quite possibly the riskiest bet of his life. He needed to talk to Amanda. Needed to figure out a way to make her understand that things could have ended up a lot worse than they had. That next time she decided to be so obstinately stubborn she might not win. He was also a little annoyed. It might have been his choice to step in when he had but he did wonder if that hadn’t been Amanda’s intent all along and if so, what did that make him?

  “Good, now go!”

  “That was manipulative,” Sirius told a fully healed Amanda once he returned to their cabin.

  She hesitated. She seemed surprised, maybe even a little hurt.

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t you I was trying to manipulate,” she told him finally and he suspected truthfully. “I didn’t think you could actually beat her. You told me the last time you fought that she beat you.” She looked a little worried.

  He studied her with a frown. “Morgan? You were trying to manipulate Morgan?!” He shook his head. “That was awhile ago that we last fought.”

  “I thought if I kept trying and losing, she’d eventually feel bad for me and let them live out of pity and empathy.” She shrugged.

  Sirius snorted. “Morgan doesn’t have empathy and her pitying you is more likely to get you killed.”

  “Well, I meant more pity for them and admiration for my determination.” Amanda shrunk in on herself a little as if she knew was reaching but thought it had been a long shot worth taking.

  Still Sirius shook his head and gave her a concerned look. “She wouldn’t have let up. She more than likely would have killed you if I hadn’t stepped in. You don’t understand Morgan.” How did he make her understand?

  “She didn’t slaughter the rest of the crew and I think that was because of what you said, so that proves she can be reasoned with,” Amanda argued.

  He was surprised she’d noticed that, but then she was very perceptive. It wasn’t helpful though. She still didn’t know Morgan well enough to understand the nuances of her limits and her good perception of a singular event weakened what he knew was an otherwise good argument.

  Sirius pressed his lips into a thin line. He looked Amanda dead in the eyes. “Please, don’t ever do that again,” he begged.

  At least she was also perceptive enough to realise just how serious he was. Instead of making anymore arguments she just nodded.

  Nothing much exciting happened during lunch. Afterward they met with Pinto on the deck to plan for the dive. The pursuit of the pirate ship and subsequent events had delayed their journey by some time and they were still a couple hours away but in theory they should get there before nightfall which might leave them enough time for a dive.

  They were checking equipment when the call of ‘ship ahoy,’ went up once more. This time it was followed by the shout, “Approaching vessel.”

  “They’re sailing toward us?” Amanda gave Sirius a concerned look.

  He nodded but didn’t reply. Instead he watched for Morgan to appear.

  Morgan walked up to the bow of the boat as he knew she would. He joined her as she was looking through a telescope.

  “It’s a small vessel,” she mumbled. “No flags. Just a tiny little sloop. What’s that thing doing all the way out here?”

  “Disguised?” Sirius asked.

  “I don’t think so. If you’re going to attack under an illusion, why look like a ship at all?”

  Sirius scanned the other horizon’s. “Distraction?” he suggested, but he could see no sign of any other wave breaks that would suggest a second ship.

  Morgan did the same and came to the same conclusion with a shake of her head. “Let’s just be on guard.”

  It wasn’t long before the small ship hoisted a white flag.

  “Looks like they want to talk,” Morgan remarked. She called for more of her crew to join her on deck with arms at the ready.

  Sirius could feel Amanda standing beside him, watching the approaching ship silently. He didn’t bother telling her to go beneath deck. She wouldn’t have listened. Regardless, he didn’t think there was much danger here. And as the smaller ship approached he could see it looked to be sailed by one man. It was strange though. A single sailor is such a small vessel sailing out this far at sea. He wondered if the man had powerful magic to compensate or if he was just crazy. His clothes looked to be that of a sailor rather than a sorcerer. His face was weathered and his hair was greying but his body still looked spry.

  “I thought a white flag meant surrender?” Amanda asked Sirius as the ship drew in alongside them and sailors scrambled for ropes to bring them together.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Sometimes,” Sirius replied. “But more often it’s a request to communicate. It kind of functions as a generic peace symbol.”

  The man on the ship carried a sword and gun. His sword was shorter than most and curved. As his ship was pulled in against theirs he raised a hand and shouted, “Ahoy there!”

  Morgan gave commands to let him aboard.

  The man boarded with a smile upon his face and wrinkles at the edges of his eyes that suggested smiling was a frequent habit of his. It was a stark contrast to the look Morgan was giving him in return.

  “State your business, sailor,” she commanded.

  “Johnathan Jackal, Mam.” He gave a slight bow.

  Morgan gave no reaction, not even the twitch of her lips.

  Johnathan continued. “I’m a professional tracker by trade and seems you have on your ship someone who I have been tasked to find, a miss Amanda Byrns.”

  Sirius could sense Amanda start to move forward beside him and for a second he wanted to grab her and stop her but he held off.

  “Tasked by who?” Morgan asked.

  “By Jake Byrns.”

  “That’s my father,” Amanda said walking towards the man.

  Johnathan turned to face her and gave her another of his small bows followed by a reintroduction of himself. “ Johnathan Jackal at your service. I’m here to take you home.”

  That was what Sirius had been afraid of the moment the man had mentioned that he was a tracker. But it wasn’t like he could stop Amanda from going. Home was where he was supposed to be taking her eventually. This was just a little sooner than expected. Maybe that was for the best. They would have had to say goodbye eventually right? But now he was here faced with the actual event, he very very much did not want it to happen. What could he do though?

  “You come here and assume you can just take her?” Morgan demanded crossly.

  “Morgan,” Sirius warned. As much as he didn’t want Amanda to go, he had no right to keep her.

  “Is she a captive then?” asked Johnathan, who seemed hardly perturbed by the idea at all and maintained his jovial business-like tone.

  “I’m no one’s captive,” Amanda answered giving Morgan a narrowed look.

  Sirius felt himself tense up. These two could be as stubborn as each other and he feared a clash between them. A part of him longed for Morgan to force Amanda to stay. Another part knew that would be wrong and he would defend her freedom to leave if he had to, no matter how much of it he did not want that to occur. Inside, emotions stormed. His external walls had been built strong but the swirling fear did its best to wage war. It chipped away at the stone in him but he fought back in a silent battle that none on deck but he were privy to. To all observers he remained as stoic and calm as ever.

  “This is my ship,” Morgan retorted. “I say who boards it and who leaves it.”

  “Well, there is a reward for her return of course,” replied Johnathan without missing a beat. “Half up front and the rest upon the girl’s safe arrival back home.”

  Now Morgan’s lips twitched upward slightly. It was probably what she’d been vying for with all that push back.

  Amanda, on the other hand looked confused. She turned to Johnathan with a frown. “How much?”

  “10 gold now. 10 gold to a bank account of the captor’s choosing.” He directed the last of his reply toward Morgan.

  Amanda scowled. “And how much is he paying you?”

  “Uh…” At this Johnathan faltered.

  “How much?” Amanda pressed.

  “20 gold.”

  “My father doesn’t have that kind of money.”

  “Well, he already paid me. And it’s not on my person, in case you were wondering,” he added once more in Morgan’s direction.

  “You won’t be paying her anything,” Amanda told him.

  At this statement Morgan bristled slightly. She may have been about to move but Amanda turned and gave her a hard stare. After a glance at Sirius, Morgan decided to hold her ground, for now. Evidently she was wary about crossing the both of them together.

  Amanda turned back to Johnathan. “Anyway, I’m not going with you. But can you take a message back to my father?”

  “Of course.” Johnathan’s eyebrows briefly shot up but then he gave yet another little bow.

  “Tell him I’m safe and I’ll be back home soon, sometime, I don’t know when.”

  Johnathan nodded, then made to leave.

  As he turned back toward his ship, Morgan called out firmly, “There is a docking fee.”

  Johnathan spun on his heels and raised his eyebrows. He looked from Morgan to the men at her left and then the men on her right.

  Morgan gave him a smirk. “Of two gold.”

  The deck was silent for a moment.

  Amanda glared at Morgan but she didn’t object. Johnathan looked to be considering it. Sirius watched Amanda in particular. Johnathan had seemed aware enough of what he might be walking in to and Morgan had picked a price just low enough to not be worth fighting over. It was still a steep price but not unreasonable given the circumstances. Sirius wasn’t sure how Amanda would react to this since it was effectively her father’s money Johnathan would be paying with. Although, he supposed that was already paid. It seemed like things might work out after all.

  It turned out Johnathan had some balls. “Two gold’s a little steep for such a brief visit,” he remarked as he scratched his chin. “Perhaps the Captain would accept one gold instead?”

  He was right to bargain for Morgan smiled in reply and made a counter offer with a purr in her throat. “One gold and nine silver.”

  Amanda watched them quietly as she placed her hands on her hips, which Sirius had to admit was a little distracting. She had very nice hips.

  Johnathan gave a friendly laugh. “Seven.”

  “Eight. One gold eight silver.” Morgan held out her hand signaling an end to the negotiation.

  With a sigh, Johnathan paid her... in coppers, 240 of them which he counted out one by one from a bag he pulled from a pocket just inside the lining of his light brown canvas coat. Sirius considered that to be his bravest act yet.

  Morgan’s lips twitched, whether in amusement or annoyance it was hard to tell. For a first offense it was quite possible she simply found it amusing but the man would certainly have been a fool to try it a second time if they ever met again.

  “Apologies,” remarked Johnathan with a smile. “Carrying coppers makes it harder for one to rob a man.”

  Morgan let him go without another word. She briefly met Sirius’s gaze and he did all he could not smirk too much least it annoy her and she take it out on Johnathan’s ship as he sailed away. But she simply handed the last of the coppers off to Larska who took them somewhere below deck.

  Sirius rested against the railing of the ship and for a little while he watched Johnathan’s tiny little ship sail off in the direction of Little Rock. The man was definitely mad he decided.

  Amanda stood by him watching as well. He wondered what she was thinking now she’d turned down a ride home. Given the size of that ship, perhaps it was the smart choice. Still, he wondered what exactly it was that kept her. Could he be confident of her answer if he asked?

  “So,” he started, watching her carefully. “You turned down a ride home? Was that because you still plan to get that pegasus or because you’re enjoying the sailing?”

  She turned to looked up at him with those rounded lips and doe eyes. For awhile he had trouble reading her at all and it felt more like it was her reading him.

  Eventually she smiled. “Both,” she replied. With a smirk she added, “The company’s not too bad either.” Then more seriously with a measure of fire in her tone, “And I wanted to see you get your ship back.”

  He read truth in those words, all of them. The first few pleased him. The last few worried him a little. When he finally got her free from reach of Morgan’s clutches would he also need to keep her and Shiv from killing one another?

  Pinto appeared on the deck then. Within their earshot but to Morgan he remarked, “I think it’s best we dive tomorrow. By the time we get there it will almost be dark.”

  “You can’t dive in the dark?” Morgan asked. “It’ll be dark under the water anyway.”

  “Not that dark and it’s easier in the light for surface level stuff anyway,” Pinto replied.

  “What’s our location?” Sirius asked as he pushed off the railing and walked over to Morgan. He’d had rough idea before Johnathan’s visit but despite how quick the conversation had been, it had still taken some time for the attaching and releasing of the other ship.

  Morgan gave him an update and he did a rough mental calculation of how long it would take them to get there. “It’ll be hard navigation in those waters in twilight anyway,” he said once he’d done the math.

  “Maybe for poor sailor,” Morgan scoffed.

  “For anyone,” Sirius said. He knew Morgan could be reckless sometimes, especially when it came to treasure hunting.

  He expected an argument but instead she looked from him to Pinto and back again. With a sigh she said, “Fine, we dive tomorrow.”