Cousin knocked on Kraken’s door.  Her hair was wet with sea spray.  Her leathers dripped puddles in the hall.  She shifted her weight with the roll of the ship.  The storm was yielding, and Haven had come through undamaged.  She raised her hand to knock again.

“Come.”

Cousin stepped into the room, and closed the door behind.

Kraken burned every lantern in his cabin.  Sea charts littered the desk and floor.  The dark of the storm made the windows behind him black.  He looked between the charts and made notes.  He didn’t looked up.  “Report.”

“The storm is abating.  Haven is sound.  We await further orders, Captain.”

“How far off course?”

“Not far.  The speeder spell kept us near heading, even if it didn’t push us as fast as it would have in calm waters.”

“Is it used?”

“Not yet.”

Kraken turned to look out of the windows.  Lightning flashed, highlighting massive cloud formations, then the view was black again.  “Use it out.  Then we’ll reassess.”

“Aye, Captain.”  She turned, opened the door, and gave Ghost the orders.  She shut the door, and turned back to Kraken.  He looked frazzled.  His hand toyed with the hilt of his sword.  He chewed his lips.  She remembered his guarded smile and bright eyes the first day they met.

Cousin dropped her leathers were she stood.  She walked to stand in front of Kraken.  The windows were chill against her back.  Reaching up she brushed the hair from Kraken’s eyes.  He leaned into her hand, his face sad.  “I am going no where,” she said.  “If anything, I’m more stable.  I don’t know how I can know the truth of it.”  Cousin shrugged.  “I only know that now I feel easier in my skin.”

Kraken leaned in and brushed his check against hers.  He stood forehead to forehead with his eyes closed and breathing deep.

Cousin pressed her lips to his, and she was plunged into her core.  A vibration of yearning consumed her.  Their kiss deepened.  Cousin started at the first touch of Kraken’s tongue.  Then she met his with hers.  The chill of the window was lost to the heat of new fires.

Cousin titled her head back.  Her breath came quick.  She could feel the sear of Kraken’s hands on her body through her soggy clothes.  The desire to touch his skin became a living thing, and she tore at his shirt.

Kraken ripped his shirt off.  He ran his hands under the hem of Cousin’s shirt, the feel of her skin a molten ecstasy.  A jolt of power drove into him, and he answered with power of his own.  He scooped her up and took her to his bunk.  He knelt in front of her.  He gripped her to him, her braid looped around his fist.  His kiss was fierce.

Then he was across the room, breathing hard.  “I swore I would never force a woman,” he said, his eyes begged understanding.

“No one can force me.”  Cousin held Kraken’s eyes.  “No one ever has.  No one ever will.  Not the way you mean.”

“Never?”  Kraken’s whisper was lost to the crashing thunder outside.

“Never.”

Kraken’s shoulders sagged.  He ran a hand through his hair.

Cousin stood, and moved toward him.  Her clothes vanished.

Kraken had always thought her too thin.  He was wrong.  Cousin was sinew and toned muscle.  Her hips and breasts were soft curves.  Kraken held his breath, drinking in the luminescence of her skin.

Cousin walked toward him.  She smiled mischief, and Kraken’s clothes fell from him.

The sudden chill on his skin did nothing to damped his desire.  He met Cousin, lifted her over his shoulder and took her to bed.  He laid her down, and stretched out beside her.  “You can . . .”

Cousin put a thumb over his lips. “Shut.  Up.”  The soft words were a steely command.

Kraken kissed her with a devouring passion.  He ran his hands over her body, cupping her breast, caressing her hips and legs.  Cousin’s skin responded with trails of subtle shimmering glow where his hands had been.

Cousin opened her perception.  Every particle of her body responded.  She met Kraken’s kisses with an equal ferocity.  She arched under his exploring hands, and explored him as thoroughly.  His muscular form was all strength beneath her fingers.  She longed to be within that strength.

Kraken suckled Cousin’s nipple.  She gasped and clasped his head to her.  His erection, rubbing against the silken fire of her thigh, drove all sanity from his mind.  He longed to pull that fire into his core.  Kraken pulled Cousin beneath him.  He held himself up looking down at her.

Cousin looked up at Kraken.  She wrapped her legs around him, and pulled him to her.  She lost herself in ocean green eyes, tumbling outward.  The Ether expanded around her.

Kraken resisted the pull.  He met her gaze.  Serpent Shadows danced in bottomless eyes.  Kraken moved, answering her pull.  Their bodies joined, and all else ceased to be.  Primal, primordial need drove him, and he released the last of his controls.

Creation exploded around Kraken.  He could feel Cousin near him, floating in the Ether.  Kraken reached with a desperate urgency not to loose her in the vastness.

Cousin cried in ecstasy.  Her body reveled in carnal joy, and her Depth opened.  She reached for Kraken, and found him in the Ether beside her.  She opened herself to the only man she would ever accept.  And then she was everywhere.

All creation, all destruction was Cousin’s awareness.  She could feel her body, feel Kraken’s body.  They were her tether to the world of matter.  In the Ether, when she looked outward, she saw no end.

Kraken saw as Cousin saw.  His mind only knew her presence.  Cared only about being with her.

Their bodies responded.  Their love making became more demanding.

The Ether overwhelmed Kraken, pulling, pushing, stretching, crushing him.  His mind could take no more, and he cried out, clinging to Cousin.

Cousin turned to Kraken.  She found the strength of his power, of his spirit, and let it flow into herself.  She sheltered his mind, and poured herself into his body.

Kraken’s body bucked with a stream of power beyond any he had known.  His own power roared in response.

The Ether pulled at Cousin.  She saw immense figures of power.  The Ancient Gods beckoned her with openness.  She felt safe, at home, calm.  Their power was her power.  She could stay and be apart of them.  They opened to her the all and nothing that was.  She felt limitless.

Cousin also felt the thrill of Kraken’s touch on her body.  She chose.

Kraken moved faster.  Cousin answered his pace.  Together they found climax and clasped, breathing hard.  Their bodies were wet with sweat.

Kraken trembled.  Lightning fire burned him from the inside out.  His body fought not to dissolve in the current.  Cousin ran her fingers through his hair.

Cousin’s body throbbed and tingled and hummed with all that was.  Her awareness wiggled into every ounce of her body.  The warmth and contentment of Kraken’s form drew her deeper into the moment.  She could feel him struggling.  She knew he had to find his own way.  Cousin could only hold him.

Vermit and Kor stood watch while the captains and the first mates met behind closed doors on Slaughter Fish.  Vermit picked at stitches from a healing wound.  Kor let his senses reach out to inspect the surroundings.

“I know you,” Vermit said.  “You were a slave for Ke’less on Le’An.”

Kor snorted.

“Before that you were a warrior in his army.  A trainer.  A strategist.  A general.”

Kor didn’t answer.

“I know because I was a slave there too.  Before Butcher.  I saw the things you did in Ke’less’ name.”  Vermit shuffled his feet.  “And what you refused to do.”

Kor looked at Vermit from the corner of his eye.  “So?”

“Just saying.  I know you.”

“Won’t help.”

“No, but . . .”

“No buts.  Won’t help”

Vermit leaned against the wall at his back.  “I tried to tell the Cap.  Told him stories.  Told him it would take all of us to end you.  Just you.  Told him we would never survive the attempt.  Not that I wouldn’t have done my bit, but . . .”

Kor snorted.  “No buts.”

Vermit nodded.  “No buts.”

Only the ship spoke for some time.  Distant voices came to the two sentries.  Bits of grumbling.  Parts of plots.  The ship shared a few secrets, and kept many.

“Is it true, you think?” Vermit asked.

Kor, knowing they were listened to, gave a rueful smile.  “I know one thing about the little miss that is truer than all other things.”  Kor took a few deep breaths.  He could feel the unseen hanging on his next words.  “Our Cousin is a Kraken Pirate to her core before she is anything else.  You can bet the world on that.”

The door between them opened and the conclave came out.

“And that is what we are doing,” Butcher said.

Slaughter Fish met Haven on the opposite side of the island at mid-day.  Haven was dwarfed in Slaughter Fish’s shadow.  All of Slaughter Fish’s guns were aimed.  Butcher’s crew leaned against the leash their Captain had put on them.  Butcher stood looking down at Kraken.  “Parley?”

“Sure,” Kraken said with a shrug.  “Come on over.”

With a laugh Butcher jumped, caught a rope, and slid to Haven’s deck.  “Glad you see it my way,” he said.  Then he looked into Cousins shifting eyes.  His breath caught, and he stumbled back.  He righted himself quickly clearing his throat.

Kraken put a hand on Cousin’s shoulder.  His fingers caressed her neck, a neck longer than last he touched it.

Cousin didn’t move.  “He means to cease us.”

“Aye,” Kraken said.  “I wanted a witness outside our own crew when I told you what Blake found.  He and his will do.  Then you can decide.”

Cousin glanced at Kraken.  All her crew charms sang.

“It seems there is a misunderstanding,” Butcher said.  “I am here to parley.”

“Then parley,” Kor said.

Butcher smiled at the grizzled warrior.  “The bounties have gone up.  Crew of Haven wanted dead.  Every man on Slaughter Fish could buy their own island for sixteen lives.  I think sixteen men for a life of ease is a good trade.  What do you think Captain Kraken?”

“May I?” Cousin asked.

“No, you may not,” Kraken said.  He turned to Butcher.  “I think an island a man for – how many are you?”

“Eighty.  Give or take,” Butcher said with a shrug.

Kraken nodded.  “An island each for eighty, give or take, is damned cheap – a real steal – for the next Des’Tras.”

Silence.

The ocean waves held their breath.  No birds or bugs or breeze spoke.  The ships did not creak.

Silence.

Cousin heard every sound not made, and they all spoke the same: Des’Tras.  She?  Weren’t they only myth?  A legend?  Des’Tras, a wielder of immeasurable Depth.  A conduit to all creation.  One touched by the Ancient Gods.  Keeper of all.  Destroyer of all.  “But?”

Butcher blinked at the whisper of her voice.  He grabbed her and stared into eyes of deep shifting Serpent Shadows, eyes of no color.  And he believed.

Butcher let her go and backed up, hands held up.  “Legend says that the power of a Des’Tras can not be felt, even in use, because it is the very source of all power.  Of all life.”  Butcher held his hands higher and shouted,  “Truce!”

Kraken nodded.  “Truce.  I’ve killed too many in the last few days.  Truce.”

Cousin blinked.  She turned to Kraken.  “Lie?”

“Don’t know.  The Masters believe it.  That’s why they want you.”

Cousin turned to Butcher.  “Any harm, and you and yours will never exist.”  She turned and walked away.  When she shut her cabin door behind herself, she slid down the smooth wood and time fled.

The morning sun painted the sky a startling pink above a burning white-yellow sun.  Cousin stood at the bottom of the gangplank baring the city magistrate.  “Don’t care,” she said.  “Captain said no one save crew on ship.  You can wait here, or you can leave.  You will not step foot on Haven.”

The magistrate leaned in and lorded his height over her.  His men gathered closer.  “Step aside, girl.  I’ll not be stopped by a slip of skirt.”

Cousin raised her hand to touch the man.

“Cousin!”

She stopped at Kraken’s voice.  “Aye, Captain.”

Kraken joined her on the dock.

The men backed away a few paces.  “Captain Kraken.”  The magistrate nodded.  “Surprised to see you up and about.”

“Really?  Odd.”  Kraken tapped the black staff on his leg.

The magistrate cleared his throat.  “Well, yes.  We’re here to ask after your where-a-bouts last night.”

Kraken smiled, and stretched.  “I drank my fill, sang songs, slept well.  How did you sleep magistrate?”

The man shifted.  “It has come to my attention that an alley not far from here has eleven dead men in it.  Know anything about that?”

“Of course.  They tried to kill me.  I killed them instead.”

“Any proof of self defense?”

Kraken shrugged.

“I’m going to ask you to stay in port while we investigate.  Try to leave and I’ll arrest the whole crew and seize the ship.  There aren’t that many of you.”

Cousin took a step forward.

Kraken blocked her with the black staff.  He shook his head.  “Be thankful, magistrate.  Be thankful Cousin isn’t the one to decide.  She would unmake you.  Turn you to mist or ash or just nothing.  She is vibrating with the desire to end you.  Be thankful I am Captain.”

“Aye, Captain,” Cousin said.  Her stare was unwavering on the man before her.

“No,” Kraken said,” I’ll not stay.  Haven sets sail within the hour.”  He looked the magistrate in the eye.  “I got everything I came for.”

“I won’t allow . . .”

The staff dropped and Cousin leapt forward.  She gripped the man’s arm and shattered the bones.

The magistrate fell to his knees.  His men stood rooted in place, unable to move.

“May I?” Cousin asked.

Kraken shook his head.  “No.  Leave him able to speak.”

Blake woke with a sword at his throat.  A quick glance around the lavish bedroom showed his men subdued and bound.  Starlight glinted from the narrow sword held by Kor.  Blake could only glare venom.

“This fine man was good enough to show us the way,” Kraken said, tossing the man from the alley beside the bed.  “It was the least he could do seeing as how we spared his life.”

Blake moved to sit up.  He didn’t take his eyes from Kor’s blade.

“Let’s parley,” Kraken said, and pulled a chair to sit across from Blake.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Blake said, his voice calm and genial.

“Shame.”  Kraken leaned back looking at the dark ceiling.  “We just don’t have much time.  No time for torture.  No time for burrowing into your mind.  What would you do in my place?”

Blake barked a derisive laugh.  “Me.  I would take you onto my ship.  Whip and starve you.  Let my men rape you.  Keep you alive by a thread, and in a few weeks, I would ask what I wanted to know.  If I still had a ship.”  Blake gripped and twisted the heavy coverlet though his voice was soft.  Even in the low light dark smudges could be seen where his dirty hands were grinding into the fabric.

Kraken nodded.  “Shame.  Still, I’ll ask.  Reaper dead?”

Blake stared at the window.

“Yes,” Kraken said.

Blake’s breathing slowed.

“These all your men that you know of?”

Blake blinked.

“Yes.  Though you hope there are more.”

Blake furrowed his brow.

“Or recruit more.  Any of Reaper’s?”

Blake attempted a blank face.

“Not that you have seen or heard.  That’s good,” Kraken said.  “Now to the Al’Ri.  How long have you been a slave?”

Blake swung his head to glare at Kraken.  His nostrils flared.  His breath came short.

“Don’t deny it,” Kraken said.  “Only you believe that lie.”

“I am not a slave.”

“You really think they want you for an ally?  Think they will tolerate any pirate as their power grows?  You never struck me as stupid before.  Evil, yes.  Not stupid.”

Blake started to rise and hit the point of Kor’s blade.  He sat back hard.

Kraken crossed his legs.  “So?  The Al’Ri?”

Blake sneered a one sided smile.  “I’ll take great pleasure in what they will do to your little pet.  I only wish they’d keep you alive to see it.”

Kraken shrugged.  “Why are they after her so hard?  I don’t believe for a moment it has anything to do with this war.”

Blake smiled.  “Don’t know.  The Hunter didn’t say.”

“I believe you.  I also believe that you wouldn’t be satisfied with that.  I know your spies found something.”

Blake pressed his lips together and tried not to laugh.

“Well, I guess I can wait a couple of days and just ask one of the Masters when he or she gets here.”
Blake lost all color in his skin.  His eyes were wide.  His breath held.  “We need to leave now.”
Kraken shook his head.  “No.  I think I’ll leave you for them to find.  Since you have nothing for me, I’ll have to go to the source.”

“You’re a fool.  An idealistic fool.  Leave now and you may get a few extra days of life.”

“No.”

Blake swore.  All the sand was falling from beneath his feet.  He could feel his life fleeing.  “Then kill me now.”

“No.”

Blake lowered his head.  It wouldn’t be as simple as throwing himself on the blade.  “They think your girl is the next Des’Tras,” Blake whispered.

Kraken stood.

Kor back away, dropping the tip of the blade.

“Des’Tras?  You sure?” Kraken asked.

“Now who’s lying to himself?” Blake asked, the sarcasm molasses thick.

Kraken paced to the window, he could see Haven in the distance.  “Truce?”

Blake laughed.  “Never.  I’ll bend you over yet.  You’ll -”

“No.” Kraken said.

Blake didn’t see the move that ended his life.  Kor flicked his wrist and Blake’s head rolled, the sound of his next word lost to nothing.

Blake’s men started calling for mercy and begging freedom.

Kraken heard nothing.  He stared down at Haven.  “Kor, I leave it to you.  I need a minute.”

Kraken walked out.  He passed Gabb and the others, and walked out into the star lit garden.  He looked up into the sky and cried.

Cousin’s charms sang.   Kraken and Gabb were in mortal peril.  It was all she could do to stay still.  Most of the crew were back.  The watch was relieved.  Cousin stayed on deck.  Something was coming.  She could feel it in the waves that touched Haven.

The charms went silent.  Whatever the danger, it was over.  They survived.  Cousin gripped the stones until impressions dented the palms of her hands.  Her breath came in short bursts.

“They’re fine,” Ghost said coming up beside her.  Ghost had only spoken to Cousin twice before in the time she had been on the ship.  The first was after her first battle when she ended up fighting back to back with him.  He had said, “Thanks.”  The second was after her memory came back, and she told the crew.  He had come up to her later and said, “Don’t care.”

Cousin looked at the man made of shadow and sinew.

Ghost looked into the shifting depths of Cousin’s eyes.  He felt at home in her gaze.  “They set a trap.  They knew about the men following.  The Captain is good at this.

Cousin blinked tears.  “I know.”

“You’re still not sure what losing him would mean.”

“No,” she said.  “No, I know what it would mean.  That’s what scares me most.”

Ghost looked out at the ocean.  “I can swim shadows like most swim through water.  I’m not a wielder.  I’m not sure what I am.”  He looked back at Cousin.  “This crew saved me.  I don’t talk much, drink much, game much, but without this crew, I am only an animal.  That is what I am without him, without them.  What are you?”

Cousin looked at the docks knowing no one would be there. “I.  I am not sure I have a word for it.”

Ghost shifted, a flowing motion like silk in a breeze.  “We are here.  We will be here.  You only need to stay.”

Kraken and Gabb made a big show of entering the inn.  They stomped their feet and brushed invisible things from their clothes with flapping hands.  Gabb called for drinks, while Kraken challenged a group of men in Al’Ri dress for their table.  They glared as they left.

Gabb sat, and they toasted wealth and success loud enough to be heard by most of the room.

Then the bragging began.

Kraken stood on his chair, and put a boot on the table.  “One shot each!” he shouted.  “A toast to one shot each!”  He raised his tankard, and downed the contents in several long gulps.

Gabb shouted and banged the table.  He imitated an explosion, and threw his arms wide.  “That’s what happens when someone threatens the Kraken Pirates!”

Kraken hopped down from the furniture and called for more ale.  He and Gabb spent long hours insulting Blake, Reaper, the Al’Ri and everyone else who thought them targets.  They boasted their superior strength, and drank.  Their hand gestures became more frequent and exaggerated.  Only a Kraken Pirate would recognize the sign language they used.

At closing they staggered out of the inn singing a crude song of blood and death.  They stumbled and laughed.  The hand gestures continued, as they started toward the docks: Three starboard.  Two port.  The streets became more narrow the farther they went.  The sound of lazy ocean waves came from their right.  The light of the docks became a distant glow.

Gabb was bumped by the street boy at the head of a dark alley.  The boy lifted Gabb’s money bag and fled.  Kraken and Gabb turned down the alley the boy had been in.

Kraken tripped on a loose brick in the dead end alley.  He laughed and called for more ale.

Gabb hauled him up, saying they weren’t at the inn.  Then he looked around with bleary eyes.  “Where are we?”

Kraken snickered.  “Get me a wench to . . .”

The sound of breaking glass drew their attention.  A dozen men blocked the alley entrance.  Some were Al’Ri, some were mercenaries, and two belonged to Blake.

“Braggarts often miss their own fall,” said an Al’Ri man holding a glowing blade.

Kraken guffawed.   “Only twelve!  Ha!  One shot killed Reaper!  One shot Blake! One shot the Hunter!  Twelve?”  Kraken’s words slurred and ran together.  He stumbled into Gabb and blew a raspberry.

Gabb grabbed at Kraken, and they both went down in a heap.  “We can take ‘em,” Gabb said getting to his feet.  “All the rest are dead.  They can be too.”

“Blake and Reaper ain’t dead!” shouted a man wearing Blake’s colors.  The Al’Ri glared at him and he glared back.  “Well, Blake ain’t dead.  It’ll take more than those pussies to kill him.”

“And they won’t be telling anyone,” said another Al’Ri.  “What does it matter?  The Masters will be here in two days to claim the girl.  With these two dead what does it matter?  The rest are going no where.  So what if Reaper is dead?  Better him than us.”

Kraken and Gabb both snickered and danced in unsteady stances.  “Masters.  We don’t have no Masters,” Gabb said.

The man with the blade advanced slowly.  The rest followed in a crowd.  He stopped just out of reach.  “The Masters will crush Protector, but they’ll take the one you call Cousin first.”

Kraken and Gabb stood steady.  “Two day?  Plenty of time,” Kraken said.

“Blake’s alive,” Gabb said.  “We need to save one of his.”

“Aye,” Kraken said as shadows shifted at the mouth of the alley.

The Al’Ri in the lead sneered and charged.  His glowing blade shattered on the black staff while Kraken’s charm hummed.  The clash was quick and decisive.  Those in the front were put down one after the other.  The narrow alley gave no room to flank, and the charge broke against the two.  Those in the rear who saw the change in the targets attempted to retreat only to find their way blocked by some of Kraken’s crew.

Kraken stepped over the men he had slain, and walked to the mouth of the alley.  Gabb followed checking the fallen to make sure they were dead.

The boy walked up, and tossed the money bag back to Gabb.  Gabb hefted it.  “You didn’t take anything.”

The boy shrugged.

“Ever think about being a pirate?”

“Can’t.  Have to take care of my brother.”

Gabb nodded and tossed the bag back.  The boy looked at it a beat, then ran off into the dark.

Kor held the pirate from Blake’s crew against the wall, a blade at his neck.

“So,” Kraken said, “where is Blake?”

Kraken watched the sky.  The ocean waves lapped at his ankles and pulled sand from beneath his boots.  He adjusted his stance without thinking.  The stars were bright in the near moonless sky.

Behind him his crew slowly gathered.  The little beach out of sight of the town had been used by his crew before for private meetings.  He listened to the star sparkled darkness beyond the beach.  Kraken waited until he was sure no one was near enough to hear.  Sure none of the men had been followed.

“Report.”

Kor cleared his throat.  “Butcher is the man’s given name.  He was the son of a town butcher until some war spilled into his country and killed most everyone.  He was a kid, between ten and fifteen.  His country arrested him for taking revenge on those who killed his family.  Branded him a murderer.”  Kor spat.  “He’s a hard one.”

Kraken nodded.  “Next.”

“The bait is out,” Gabb said.  “It didn’t take long once the merchant had the goods.  And I had a little help from an urchin, real smart kid.  If Blake or Reaper made it, we’ll know by tomorrow night at the latest.”

Kraken glowered.  “How long should we stay in port?  Ideas?”

“May look like we’re waiting for something . . . unusual if we stay longer than one or two days,” Kor said.

Kraken snorted.  “Next.”

“We tracked down about thirty Al’Ri survivors,” Tuggy said.  “Some came up to us, and warned us about the bounties.  Said they only wanted to get back home.  Didn’t want to fight.”

“And,” Kraken said.

“And I don’t believe them,” Tuggy said gripping and un-gripping his whip.

Ollie and Frick nodded agreement.  “It all felt,” Ollie started.  “Rehearsed,” Frick finished.  Their tawny eyes glowed in the low light.

“I find it strange that no one is talking about the ships we destroyed.  Stranger still that the magistrate hasn’t said something,” Matty said looking over his shoulder toward Cape Simling.

“I agree,” Raymond said.  “A battle between pirates sure.  Nothing weird about that.  The Hunter’s ship was from the Al’Ri government.  It’s like declaring war, and no one says anything?”  He shook his head sending his braids dancing, the ornaments bobbing points of muted luminance.

Gabb knelt down and put his hand in the water.  A tingle grazed his finger tips.  “I think people are starting to understand what an Al’Ri civil war means to the world.  Even the oceans are talking about it.”

“But Cape Simling isn’t?” Ghost asked as he melted forward from the night.  “I’ve been over the town, and I’ve heard very little.  Not counting the docks.”

“The Cape has always been neutral territory.  A trader’s hub,” said Lancer.  “It doesn’t feel neutral now.”

A murmur of agreement ran through the men.

“Think the Al’Ri have claimed this place?” Kraken asked.

“They will if they haven’t,” Kor said.  “It is a central supply line for everyone from countries to outlaws.  It would be ideal to keep an eye and an ear on world events.”

“And influence them,” Harper said.  The brand on his face was darker for the shadows he stood in.

Kraken closed his eyes and thought of Cousin, about her worry.  About what they were missing.  “Ideas?”

“No matter what we do, this Al’Ri war will turn the world inside out,” Nickel said.  “That’s a sure bet.”

“Both sides want the little miss,” Kor said.  “She’s scared for us.”

Kraken nodded.  “Same plan as before.”

“Aye.”  The quiet chorus of agreement didn’t raise above the waves.

“Anything else?  Blake? Reaper?”

Everyone looked at Ghost.

“Reaper, no.  Blake was in town when his ship went down.  I’ve seen a few of his men.  Not him,” Ghost said.  He took a short breath.  “There is one more thing.  The empty buildings.”

“Empty buildings?” Gabb asked.

“Aye, businesses closer to the docks are mostly the same.  Get away from shore and up into the hills, a lot of buildings are empty.  Boarded up shops, houses, even manors.  Some look to be long empty.”

Kraken nodded.  “Continue.  Just be careful.”

“Aye,” Ghost said, and faded in the shadows.

Cousin sat on the deck, her back against the mainmast.  She listened.  The dock was quiet.  The creak and groan of the wood sounded in rhythm to the waves in the bay.  The ruckus laughter of prostitutes and sailors carried over the empty spaces.  No unfamiliar voices sounded near.

Haven spoke loud.  The remaining crew was subdued.  Bry stood the crow.  Stephen stood starboard, away from the dock.  Monk stood the bow.  The rest of the crew was gone on shore leave.  Most were on some mission or another.  Cousin sat, listened and worried.

News of the bounties gnawed at her.  The crew had cheered at the news.  Bigger bounties meant bigger reputations, and the crew of Haven enjoyed their reputations.  Nothing Cousin said would change Kraken’s or any of their minds.

Cousin played with the new charms she had made.  The small stones tumbled around in their leather pouch.   One stone for each of the crew.  The charms would let her know if anyone was in mortal danger.  None of them spoke.

“We’ve taken care of ourselves for long years before you,” Kraken had said.

Cousin remembered the feel of his lips on her forehead, soft and warm and comfort.  Safety was an illusion.  She knew that.  It was the one lesson Protector hadn’t meant to teach her.  Now it was a part of her soul.

“I love them,” Cousin said to Haven.  “I love you, beautiful ship.”  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the mast.  “They would be safer if I had not come here.”

A tingle of a whisper came through the wood.  It crawled over her skin and into her core.  One word came: “Faith.”

Cape Simling changed with the setting sun.  The gaggle of commerce gave way to stalking shadows.  Each dark corner lent its self to secrets and conspiracy.

Blake watched Haven through his spyglass from a dark window in an abandoned hillside manor.  Not a single man from his ship had survived.  If he hadn’t been on shore, he wouldn’t have either.  The six men he had with him had returned to report little of use.  He could only watch and wait.

Rumor about the Al’Ri wielders from the Hunter’s ship were outlandish.  Blake didn’t believe the damaged child on Kraken’s ship was powerful enough to kill a Hunter, let alone a whole ship of trained wielders.  And especially, not in the way the rumors said.  His men would find the Al’Ri survivors, and then he would know the truth.  Until then, the bounties would do his work for him.