Caleb woke with a start. He blinked, rubbed the grains of sleep sand from his eyes, and sat up. Gray light filtered in through the cabin’s stern windows. The air felt heavy, humid. And liberally laced with the smell of salted fish.

Breena lay on the pillow next to him, fast asleep and with her calico tail curled up around her. She let out a light snore. Each breath had the scent of freshly stolen brislings.

“Ah, you’re up,” Tavia said, from her corner of the cabin. She stood up and stretched each one of her legs in turn. “That’s good. I was considering waking you up, as you appeared to be having a troubled dream.”

“Not sure if it was a dream,” Caleb said, as he swung his legs off bed. Breena let out low-pitched mrrow and curled up into a tighter ball as he stood up. “Memories. Not particularly pleasant ones, either. About how I dealt with a betrayal.”

“Knowing you, I’d guess you dealt with it rather…directly.”

Caleb considered that for a bit. He still wasn’t sure how an honorable paladin would take to his booby-trapping and maiming a former friend. Probably poorly.

“Directly, yeah. That’s the best way to put it.”

Tavia gave him a look. “I know that my people’s ways and yours are quite different. I sense the walls you place between yourself and others when these memories come up. Perhaps someday you will let them down around me?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure what to say to that. So he played off the unicorn’s question lightly as he selected a new set of pants and shirt.

“Perhaps, Tavia. Maybe over a couple bottles of rum? I’ll do all the drinking. You get to stay sober and listen to me pour out my life story.”

She nickered at that. “If the price is to watch you get drunk while I watch, it’s a fare that I shall gladly pay. I find that humans are always more amusing when inebriated.”

Caleb gestured towards the empty half of the room. “Where’s Shaw?”

“He left at dawn. Sienna’s got lookouts aloft, forward, and at the stern. But we’re still sailing through heavy fog, so they’re not much good. Our favorite drake felt he could get a better view if he flew above the local weather.”

“I have to hand it to him,” Caleb said. “Griffins really do come in handy sometimes.”

The mare let out a feminine snort. She jabbed her horn towards the crystal panel they’d brought aboard last evening.

“I wish we unicorns were as handy. I’m still trying to figure out the magical workings of this device.”

“Keep at it,” he encouraged her. He slipped on a pair of boots and went to the door. “I’m going to see what’s happening on deck. And get some breakfast, while I’m at it.”

She bobbed her horn in assent as he walked out onto the quarterdeck. Sure enough, the entire ship was wrapped in mist so thick that he could barely make out the bowsprit. The morning’s sunlight had been turned into a diffuse gray glow.

Sienna and Donal were deep in conversation by the helm. They looked up as he joined them.

“Good morning, Captain,” Donal greeted him. “How has Lir and Danu treated you this past night?”

“Fair enough. It’s the waking that’s the tough part,” Caleb covered his mouth as he let out a yawn. “Honestly, I wish Jaladri had something called coffee.”

“Cough-fee?” Sienna tried to wrap her mouth around the strange word. “Lir and Danu as my witness, Captain, I’ve never heard of anything like that. What is it, exactly?”

“It’s a drink made out of roasted, ground up beans.”

Donal let out a laugh of disbelief.

“It’s roasted bean juice?” he exclaimed. “I’m sure that Evie O’Breen could figure out a way to make that for you. Doubt it would taste like much beyond dirt, but there you are.”

“Oh, it’s something much beyond bean juice,” Caleb assured him. “It’s from a special kind of plant. As for the drink…I once heard it described as ‘black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.’”

Sienna and Donal traded a look at that.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Sienna finally said, “I’ll stick with rum.”

Caleb smiled. “You’d be missing out. Should we ever come across some in this world, I’ll make a believer out of you.”

“In case Miss Morningstar hadn’t told you,” Donal put in, “Shaw’s gone aloft to get above this fog. The wind’s been constant since last night, so we should be drawing nigh to the Maulding Shoals soon enough.”

“Let me check on that,” Caleb said. “Bide a moment.”

He closed his eyes and called up two of his Corsair talents.

Dead Reckoning Depth Sense

Caleb watched as a mass of ocean blue spread out before him. At the same time, the surface melted away, displaying a flat plain that slowly moved under the sloop’s keel. He started with a quick glance below and ahead of the Spitfire.

Plenty of water separated them from the ocean’s bottom at the moment. A glance far ahead showed a sharp rise in the sea floor. He raised his vision above the surface and spotted a network of islands in the middle distance. Most were low, little more than sandy banks or a single mounded hill, surrounded by treacherous looking banks of sand or jagged undersea peaks of rock.

A network of blue, deep paths ran through these low islands, allowing safe passage.

He opened his eyes and let out a breath. The sail bellied out before them, but it wasn’t stretched taut. The fog simply swirled more thickly with any breeze, refusing to break.

Caleb studied the mist for a moment. He rubbed his chin and considered.

“Whoever named the place ahead the Maulding Shoals knew their business,” he finally said. “If this fog doesn’t let up, I’ll definitely be assisting at the helm. Some shallows out there that can easily ground us, but there’s plenty of passages for easy sailing.”

“How soon until we reach the shoals, Captain?” Donal asked.

“Another two hour’s sailing, at least. Until then, keep our course steady.” He motioned for Sienna to join him. “Once I get some food in my stomach, I want to run an idea by you. In case we run into a vessel worth pirating amidst the Shoals.”

“Yezzir,” Sienna agreed. “My ears are burning with curiosity.”

She followed at his side as he made his way down the steps and then towards the forecastle. The mess was moderately busy, with about half of the seats or benches filled. A pair of servers brought out food on plates or collected emptied platters and mugs.

They took a seat at a recently cleaned table. In no time, two servers brought over food and drink. Their two plates had been filled out with diced pan-fried potatoes and a wide, flat biscuit topped with a scrambled egg. A two-tined fork and a mug filled with lime-and-rum flavored grog accompanied the food.

“That’s the very last of the eggs we got off the ketch we sacked a few days ago,” the server explained. “If there’s anything else you need, let me know, Captain.”

“I’ll do that, thanks,” Caleb acknowledged, before digging into the breakfast.

Like just about everything he’d eaten so far in Jaladri, the food was a tad bland. But it filled the empty space in his stomach very nicely. He’d just polished off the last of the egg and was closing in fast on the biscuit and potatoes when he heard a raised voice from the next table over.

“Na’ae, I haven’t been hitting the pipeweed, you ripe cabbage!” came the voice, which Caleb recognized as belonging to the eldest of the Murray triplets. “Where would I even find the pipe or the weed on board ship?”

“Easy now,” replied another man’s voice. “I’m just saying that what you heard is odd, that’s all. It’s a hard one to believe, even you must admit that.”

Sienna looked puzzled as she listened in. Caleb half-stood and waved to the two men.

“This sounds interesting,” he remarked. “Come join us.”

In a moment, Rory took a seat next to Caleb. Across the table, next to Sienna, sat a dark-haired man with a sturdy build and boyish face. Rory cleared his throat and made introductions.

“Captain, I apologize if we disturbed your meal,” he said. “This is Ferris Pender, we’ve been friends since we were knee-high to a heifer.”

Ferris touched his fingers to his forehead and bowed as best he could while sitting down. His name sounded familiar to Caleb. It took him a moment to place it.

“Would you be related to Shaye Pender?” he asked.

“I am,” the young man said quietly. “He was lost in the attack on the Taipan.”

Caleb grimaced. “I’m sorry, Ferris.”

He got a shake of the head in return. “Na’ae, there’s no sorry in it, Captain. He died a free man, thanks to you. And I also thank you for ending the life of the man who shot him. Komtur Ozul.”

“No Komtur was more deserving of death,” Caleb said, and Sienna nodded firmly in agreement. He turned back to Rory. “You didn’t interrupt my meal, but you did get my attention. What did you hear that was so odd? Was it here aboard ship, or when we were docked at Gilarska?”

“Last night, aboard ship,” Rory replied. “Ferris and I were on guard duty, at the stern storerooms. On the berthing deck.”

Caleb looked to Sienna with a raised brow.

“That’s our temporary treasury,” she explained. “Any of the booty we capture off ships is to be stored in a pair of locked chests. Those chests are in turn locked in a heavy oak closet. Since the treasure’s to be split up amongst the crew only when we put into a trading port, I’m the only one with the keys. I decided to also set a guard on the treasury ever since we got a fair amount of silver coin off the Taipan.”

“That’s a fair precaution,” Caleb agreed. “So, what did you two hear, exactly?”

“I didn’t hear anything, Captain!” Ferris said quickly. “I needed to siphon the python, so I was up at the head, making water.”

Siphon the python? I’ll have to remember that one. Sure beats ‘taking a whiz’ or ‘draining the lizard’.

“Aye, and that’s why he doesn’t believe me,” Rory sighed. “It was dead quiet, save for the creakin’ of the ship’s timbers. And then I hear…”

“Yes?” Caleb asked. “What was it?”

Rory worked his jaw before answering. “Chewing. As Lir is my witness, Captain, it was just like someone scoffing down a handful of hard nuts. Or maybe biting twigs!”

“I think I better double the guard on the rum barrel,” Sienna remarked. “That’s just daft.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Caleb said, as he gave the man a hard look. Rory blushed a shade that nearly matched the light red of his hair. “Our friend here is actually embarrassed to admit what he heard. That’s not how a liar would act. Rory heard what he heard. Only, where was it? Outside the storeroom? Or maybe on deck? You’re only one deck below, maybe sound reflected down the open passageway.”

“Nay, Captain!” Rory shook his head vehemently. “It sounded like…well, like it came from the inside of the closet! The one with the chests full of silver!”

“I think you’re hearing ghosts,” Ferris scoffed.

Caleb blinked at those words. That might be something I can use in my idea…

“Hold on,” he said. “You both grew up here, I didn’t. What do ghosts in this world sound like?”

“Well…” Rory considered a moment. “If they’re anything like the pirates of the Burning Star, they’d be putting up an earsplitting racket. Not chewing.”

“Okay, let’s set aside the chewing thing for a moment,” Caleb said dismissively. “What’s this about a Burning Star? Is this a well-known ghost story?”

“Prayer’s up, it’s well known!” Sienna enthused. “Every boy and girl over the age of six knows the story by heart! The Star’s frigate captained and driven, they say, by the black heart of the most evil pirate captain that ever lived, Halton Vayne.”

“Or as I learned it from my gaffer, ‘Nine Fingers’ Vayne,” Ferris put in. “After years spent raiding ships and burning towns, he lopped off his pinkie finger to do a deal with Myr. To give everlasting life to him and his squadron of pirate ships.”

“Myr’s a twisted god,” Rory continued. “Once summoned, he blasted Vayne’s squadron to bits, then sent him and his crew to sail the oceans for eternity aboard the Star.”

“Doesn’t sound like Myr gave him a great deal,” Caleb remarked.

“Maybe not,” Sienna said. “But Myr did hold up his end of the bargain, in a sense. Since that day, Vayne’s fleet, his crew, and the Captain himself achieved immortality. For everyone knows what happens if you see them on the water. When you see that the Star’s been turned into a burning wreck that still floats, and you hear the soul-blasted crew screaming in agony…that means your life is forfeit. That your soul will be claimed and dragged down to be eaten by Myr himself!”

A loud thump sounded from outside. Both Rory and Ferris jumped halfway out of their seats. Caleb looked on, fascinated. Apparently, the story did have a hold on the popular imagination in Jaladri.

One of the deckhands came in from outside and ran over to Caleb’s table. She made the Jaladrian salute before speaking.

“Pardon, Captain. Grimshaw’s returned from scouting. He says that there’s a merchant schooner up ahead in the fog. It’s flying a purple and gold banner.”

Caleb nodded. “Tell him we’ll be right out.”

“That’s a Gilarskan ship,” Sienna said enthusiastically. “One with goods bound for their main port, no doubt. A prime target, I’d say!”

“Oh, I’d say so. Now’s the time I need to discuss my new plan to attack our next prize. And it’ll be the sweetest kind of victory you can get.”

“One with an easy fight?”

“Actually, if my guess is correct,” Caleb said, “we won’t have to fight at all.”

“I’m game,” Rory said. “Even if does sound less than exciting.”

Sienna gave the Murray brother a sour look. “You’ve been spending too much time talking with our griffin, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I guarantee it’ll be exciting,” Caleb assured him. He looked from Rory over to Ferris before adding, “How would you both like to serve on Captain Vayne’s Burning Star?”