Page 35 of Lightningborn

“Got the dragon, boss,” he heard the pirates saying, watching as they walked back to Jhaeros with a squirming burlap bag. Remy tried getting up, to stagger after them, but his limbs weren’t cooperating, and every time he moved his head he nearly vomited. Jhaeros smiled a slow, evil smile and took the bag, watching it writhe and hiss angrily.

“Excellent. Now we can finally leave this piss-pot island and get on with the real mission.” A high-pitched snarl came from the bag, followed by the sound of flapping wings, and Jhaeros chuckled. “You’re a bit feistier now,” he told the squirming dragon. “Not that it will help you for long. Still, I suspect you’re going to be difficult to handle on the ship.” His cruel eyes slid to Bart, sitting on the ground with two pirates standing over him, and his smile widened. “Well, Bart, congratulations,” he said. “Since the dragon obviously likes you, you get to come along and take care of the beast until I’m ready for it.” He snapped his fingers, and the two pirates behind Bart grabbed his arms and hauled him to his feet. Bart didn’t resist, standing there with his head bowed and his shoulders slumped, and Jhaeros gave a triumphant laugh.

“We got what we came for,” he announced. “Let’s go.”

The pirates turned away, walking toward the looming airship hovering overhead, Jhaeros carrying the squirming bag and two pirates following Bart with their swords drawn. Panicked, Remy tried surging to his feet to follow, but the darkness crawling along the edge of his vision finally rushed in, and the world went black.

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

“TheWindsharkis coming!”

The shout echoed over the decks. Gem peered over the railings to see the massive bulk of the warship rise into the air then swoop toward them on the wind. For a moment, panic stabbed through her. Was theWindsharkgoing to attack? She knew airships, and though theQueen’s Bladewas fast and agile and could probably fly circles around the larger ship, theWindsharkdefinitely had it outgunned. The captain had been right to be concerned. If they got into a firefight with the warship, it would blow them to pieces.

“Steady as she goes, Mr. Tuhga,” Captain Cutlass told the first mate. “No need to panic quite yet. But watch the cannon ports; if they open up, then we’re in trouble.”

“She’s coming in starboard,” called a sailor from the riggings.

Gem held her breath as the huge warship floated by, casting the smaller vessel in its shadow. Pirates from both ships stared at each other over the rails, but it seemed to Gem that theWindsharkcrew was meaner and even more dangerous-looking than the pirates of theQueen’s Blade. They leered or gave the crew mocking salutes as they went by; one of them even drew a thumb across his throat while grinning at Captain Cutlass. She ignored him, but Gem shrank back against the railings and pulled her hood up as far as it would go.

And then, as theWindsharkcontinued to pull alongside them, Gem saw a figure standing atop the aftcastle, much like Captain Cutlass was doing on theQueen’s Blade. A man in a tattered black coat, his pure white hair snapping behind him in the wind.

A chill went through her, and she gasped. “Is that the captain?” she asked Jack, who was still standing next to her at the railings.

The lanky man gave a solemn bob of his head. “Aye, that’s Jhaeros, captain of theWindshark.”

“I didn’t realize he was a mage.”

“Oh yes. That’s what makes him so dangerous. Well, that and the huge armored warship he got from who knows where. But yes, Jhaeros is a mage, and a pretty nasty one if all the stories about him are true.”

Gem watched Captain Jhaeros and theWindsharkpull away and continue across the Maelstrom. “I wonder whether there really was a dragon on Cutthroat Wedge,” she murmured.

“Well, we’ll be stopping by in a few minutes,” Jack said, peering at the approaching island. “I’m sure someone will tell you if you ask.”

I intend to, Gem thought.There are a lot of questions that need asking, actually.

A few minutes later, the ship docked at one of several sky piers near a row of rusty-looking old warehouses. As a sailor began securing the vessel to the posts, Captain Cutlass walked onto the deck and gazed around at the crew.

“I’m going landside with Miss Featherbottom,” she announced. “Jack, you’re with us. Mr. Tuhga, you’re in charge until we return.”

“Yes, Captain,” both answered at the same time.

“Oh, and someone get Lysander up here. I want him with us as well.” The captain pointed a finger at another sailor. “Fetch our mage. Tell him this is an order from the captain; I’m not giving him a choice.”

The sailor didn’t look happy at the command, as if he feared getting yelled at, or shot with lightning, but nodded. “Yes, Captain.”

A few minutes later, a trapdoor to the lower decks opened and the young man Gem had seen the other day stepped onto the deck, frowning. In the sunlight, he looked even younger than before, only a few years older than Gem. He was busy pulling his hair into a ponytail as he walked across the deck, but as he passed Gem, she spotted a few bright yellow strands mixed in with the silver. He glanced at her as he passed, but since she had pulled her hood all the way up to hide her hair, he didn’t seem to notice that there was another mage on board. And from his sour, bored expression, she doubted he would care if he did notice.

“Good of you to join us, Lysander,” Captain Cutlass said as the scowling young mage stopped in front of her. “It’s so nice to see your smiling, cheerful face above deck for once. Perhaps next time you could obey your captain’s order with a little more haste.” She turned and raised a hand toward the dock. “Now, if everyone is ready, let’s go. I don’t want to stay on Cutthroat Wedge any longer than I have to.”

“Captain, with all due respect, why do I have to go landside?” Lysander’s green gaze flickered to the hunk of rock that was Cutthroat Wedge, and his lip curled in blatant disgust. “I know nothing about this place, other than that it’s a smuggling haven for pirates. I’d be much more useful belowdecks in the crystal chamber. Why am I a part of this party?”

“Because it is an order from your captain,” Cutlass said in a tone that Gem had heard often from her father. Hisbecause I am the king, and I said sovoice. “And it is literally part of your job,” the captain went on, striding across the deck toward the gangplank. Gem and the others struggled to keep pace with her. “When captains go landside, they either have their first officer or ship mage with them. Or both. It’s not going to kill you to get out and actually talk to people now and again.”

“It might,” Lysander muttered as they reached the plank that led from the ship to the end of the dock.

“Well, you’re not allowed to die,” Captain Cutlass said in a cheerful, completely serious tone. “Because then I would have to find another storm mage that isn’t a college-bred imbecile, and that would just be a headache. So no dying. That’s an order.”

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