Chapter 2

“Are ye ever goin’ ta get off this rock, Rihana? Ye’ve been complainin’ about it fer seasons,” Diraeus asked before he gulped the rest of his ale.

“Someday I will,” Rihana muttered, swirling the ale in her own cup. The day had ended with a storm sweeping in and drenching the city. She had tried to pull her wares into her wooden house as quickly as possible, but an entire crate of salted pork had been saturated and she was now attempting to dry it out by draping it throughout her single room. It was bound to smell like pork for weeks.

“Ye’ll be sayin’ that at the same table here seasons after yore teeth have fallen out,” Diraeus replied with a chuckle.

“I will leave. Ye just watch.”

“I hope ye do,” he said with a seriousness she thought he had drunk away. He was another pine marten, born on the hill to a wealthy trader who had a strong friendship with the Mayor. He dressed in a finely woven black tunic which complimented his dark brown fur, the envy and loathing of all the noble families—for his father’s power and prestige and for his own propensity to mingle with the commoners. He and Rihana had come to a cordial agreement: he would continue to put up with her complaints of Scylist and she would play along with his attempts to be rustic.

“Thank you. One of the few things ye’ve said that agrees with me.”

He grinned again and his green eyes seemed to sparkle at her from the flickering light of the wall sconces. “Always, Rihana.”

She tilted her head in puzzlement and scanned his eyes for his thoughts. As clear and bright as they were, she could see nothing beyond his usual good humor.

“Oy, you two stop wit the starin’. Ye look like dead fish in the market,” Gelise said with a snap of her claws.

Rihana flinched and sighed at the ratmaid’s shrill voice. If only she weren’t Bressler’s daughter, she thought glumly, having attempting more than once to subtly push the little Devil away, only to turn around and be met by the hulking form of her father, the barkeeper. The rat was a nice fellow, but they would soon be short of a decent tavern if Gelise said even a single word against them.

“Dead fish have stunning green eyes?” Diraeus asked in mock surprise. Rihana snorted, but she was grateful for the interruption. This was not the first time she had been caught in a staring match with him. Rinault still teased her about it.

Speak of the Devil. Rinault chuckled and said, “Wot have I told you two already? Quit wit’ the jabberin’ and say somethin’ to one another. Yer wasting precious time.”

“Not again, Rinault. Don’t. I will rot my time away on this island ‘afore I be with him,” Rihana said with a pointed glare at Diraeus

“I’m hurt,” the marten said, putting a paw over his heart in mock indignation. Finally he pointed and said, “Ye ever goin’ ta drink that?”

Rihana had been staring again, but into the depths of the cup this time and she looked up to glare at Diraeus. “I paid for it with me money. Don’t ye worry about me,” she replied.

“Pardon me,” he replied, the twang coloring his words disappeared in favor of his educated voice. “You’ve been even quieter than usual. Have a bad day?”

“When don’t I?”

“True. You certainly have a certain tendency to complain about one thing or another, but your complaints today have been particularly half-hearted. A lover die?”

She rolled her eyes. “How long have ye known me? Have I had a lover yet?”

“I don’t know. Have you?”

“The last Marten that tried to take things further than I liked left with his tail ‘twixt his legs and a bloody nose.”

“I believe it."

“Ye should,” Rihana said with a nasty grin at him.

“I always knew ye had fight, Ree,” said Elena, a cream-colored ferret with sooty paws who was dividing her time between their table and another. “But I didn’ know ye liked bein’ angry. I know ye ran into trouble wit’ some pirates. I saw it all. I thought ye were goin’ to gut the bloody oaf,” she said with a throaty chuckle, taking no heed of the daggers Rihana was glaring at her.

“Can no beast keep their gobs shut?!”

“O’ course not, Rihana. I’d already heard the same thing.” Diraeus replied.

Rinault sighed and raised his paw. “I told ‘im.” This elicited another eye roll from Rihana.

“Ye okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, “Nothin’ out o’ the ordinary. Ye know this happens with every port o’ the pirate ships.”

“Perhaps, but ‘tis still serious.” Diraeus suddenly grinned and said, “One version I heard said ye jumped over yore stall and scratched the fox’s face up real nice.”

Rihana grinned in return. “I almost did. The real version is tame. Nothin’ to get yore whiskers atwirl.”

“Aye? Then tell!”

“Well, I –“ Raucous laughter suddenly erupted outside and everyone turned to see the commotion. Rihana felt the blood drain from her face and her heart stuttered painfully in her chest as the fox from earlier, tailed by half a dozen other vermin, stumbled into The Sea Nymph’s Lagoon.

She suddenly found herself crouching by her chair, breathing raggedly as she continued to observe the band of pirates as they called for another round of drinks. Conversation had completely fallen by the wayside as the pirates walked further in, parting the crowd like sharks cruising through a school of fish.

“Where’d Rihana go?” Gelise suddenly asked and Rihana saw Diraeus’ tail twitch.

“Shh!” His wasn’t the only voice to silence her as they watched the crowd. She thought she heard the tap-tapping of someone nervously clicking their claws against the rough-hewn tables.

It wasn’t long before Rihana began to shift restlessly. Her fear had long worn off, and she began getting annoyed at the cramped position she’d squeezed herself between the table and the two sets of legs on either side of her. The air was becoming heated and stuffy as she continued to bide her time until she felt she might die without a breath of fresh air and soon started to crawl her way out from under the table.

Rihana slowly poked her head above the table to glance at the pirates.
All she could see were their backs at the bar as they were fully engaged in demanding drinks from the barkeeper, Bressler. Movement to the right caught her attention and she noticed a few more pirates had entered and scared up a table as well.

“Wot are ye doin’ Rihana?” Gelise asked again, not at all bothering to keep her voice down.

Diraeus slapped the table to get her attention, “Quiet, Gelise! We can’t let the pirates see her. Ree, you can make it out the door if you keep crouched own,” he said to the pine marten, al trace of an accent now vanished in the urgency of the situation.

She nodded and soon began crawling along the dirt floor, darting from table to table. Most of the beasts just stared when she’d briefly poke her head up to scope the pirates. She was just one table short of the exit when another fellow merchant noticed her next to him and asked in a slurred voice, “Wot ‘n Hellgates ya doin’?”

“Shh! Shut her trap, Peregrid—“

She gasped when suddenly her left arm was twisted back painfully and she found herself face to face with the fox. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s the wench from earlier. ‘Ar boys! Wot say we take ‘er aboard and ‘er what it means ta ‘ave proper manners.”

“Aye, Captain!”

Her blood roared in her veins at the words and she twisted her arm back from his grasp and pulled her paw back a swipe. At the connection the fox howled and clutched at his face, and then he glared murderously at her as he pulled his paw back to find blood on his paws. Four distinguished claw marks slowly filling with blood arced across his cheek and Rihana stared back in shock.

“That’s it my pretty. I swears to ye, I’ll slice your stomach open and hoist ye up the mast to be our new flag, tied their by yore own guts,” he pulled his sword out and advanced on her, raising it up to the ceiling in motion to carry out his thread.

Chunk!

The fox’s sword clattered to the floor with the fox next to it and several broken pieces of chair clutched in Diraeus’ paws. “Rihana!” She glanced up from the fox and was shocked to see the fire burning in her friend’s eyes. “Run!”

All feeling at once returned to her paws and she lunged for the door. At the same moment, a collective roar of anger erupted from the stunned pirates and they scrambled up with their swords out to avenge their captain’s assailant. Rihana stalled, glancing back at the wave of pirates and Diraeus who stood out in front, the target of them all, but he didn’t wait long. He ran past Rihana, grabbing her paw as he went to drag her out the door with him.

“C’mon, let’s go!”

They pelted down the cobblestone streets, paw-in-paw, rounding corners and cutting through alleyways to put as much distance between them and the pirates as they could manage. Finally they stopped at the lip of an alley to catch their breath and Diraeus glanced down the street but found all was quiet. Only a few beasts were out on the streets and guards toured the area in pairs.

“We’ve lost ‘em. With any luck the guard will have those pirates confined to the docks by morning,” he said as he leaned against a wooden wall and grinned.

“Music to me ears,” Rihana muttered. As she recovered her breath, she studied Diraeus in the moonlight. Just as in the tavern his eyes glittered in the dark and she could see that despite the run, his claws twitched and his tail swept the ground wildly as though he were itching for another fight. “Diraeus.” He turned abruptly to her. It took her a moment but she finally said, “Thankee fer yore help back there.”

He grinned. “Well, ‘o course. I shan’t gonna let any pirate harm a friend o’ mine if I have anything to say about it.”

She smiled and then chuckled, “I don’t suppose we’ll ever be let into the Sea Nymph’s Lagoon again.”

“Fantastic. No more Gelise!”

“I s’pose, but Bressler was an all right sort.”

“We’ll find somewhere else ta gather if’n he don’t want us there no more. C’mon, we best get ye home. Do the pirates know where ye live?”

“My shop shan’t far from my doorstep. Ye think it’s safe?”

He hesitated momentarily and then he nodded and said, “They won’t have gotten past the guards. Let’s go!” He didn’t reach for her hand again like he had at the bar, but now they walked down the streets side-by-side as they made their way to the Market’s Quarters.