Page 39 of Lightningborn

“Excuse me?” The girl frowned at him. “I don’t think so.”

“It’s my dragon,” Remy shot back. “We’re going to need to move fast, and I’ll be able to find him a lot quicker on a big ship. I know how to move silently and keep out of sight. Besides, what if they’re in the brig or locked up somewhere? Do you know how to pick a lock?”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose having a professional thief around when we’re trying to steal something would make sense,” she muttered.

The captain sighed again, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m already regretting this,” she muttered. Dropping her arm, she gave Remy a dubious look. “What’s your name again, boy?”

“It’s Remy.”

“We’ll be getting ready to cast off in a few minutes,” Captain Cutlass told him. “If you have anything you need, I would fetch it now. We’re likely not coming back to Cutthroat Wedge for a while. If ever.”

Quickly, Remy thought back to his tiny shack on Beggar’s Row, wondering if there was anything he wanted to save. He had no mementos of his mom, nothing to remember her by. There was no one he needed to say good-bye to. Brutus the rat would be fine without him. In fact, no one in Cutthroat Wedge would notice, or care, if Remy vanished off the face of the island and was never seen again.

“I’m fine,” he told the captain with a shrug. “I don’t have anything. Storm and Bart are the only ones I care about.”

Captain Cutlass nodded, but the girl gave him a strange look. As if she didn’t understand the concept of having nothing. Remy bit back a snort. She probably didn’t. She was a rich, pampered noble, he could tell. She had probably never been hungry, cold, or filthy in her entire life.

“All right, then.” The captain looked to the skies, narrowing her eyes as if tracking their quarry through the clouds. “I guess there’s nothing left to do here. Let’s go. I’ll explain to the crew what’s happening, and then I suppose we’re all going after theWindshark.” She shook her head and looked at them both. “Chasing down Jhaeros because a pair of kids want me to,” she muttered, before striding back toward the tavern. “To rescue a dragon hatchling and an old man. This had better be worth it.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY

“You can’t be serious, Captain.”

Gem’s lips tightened, but she kept her opinion to herself, watching the pirate mage, Lysander, give Captain Cutlass an incredulous look. They were in the captain’s private quarters, standing around a beat-up table with Lysander, Jack, First Mate Tuhga, and the new boy, Remy. A map and a pair of tiny model ships sat on the table—or rather, the ships hovered over the table, held up by the crystal chips embedded in the bottoms of their hulls.

Irritation prickled at Gem. They were supposed to be formulating some sort of plan for what to do once they caught up to theWindshark, but the mage obviously did not approve of the rescue mission and let them know it, loudly and persistently.

“Go after Jhaeros? Confront theWindshark? The ship that’s destroyed more vessels than any other ship in the Fringe?” Lysander shook his head, gesturing wildly with one hand. “That’s foolish. Do you know how many cannons theWindsharkcan bring to bear? Even if I pour everything I have into the crystal, I won’t be able to keep Jhaeros from blowing us out of the sky.”

“Then it’s a good thing we aren’t planning on fighting theWindshark.” The captain’s voice was calm, as if she was used to dealing with the mage’s emotional behavior. “Which you would have known had you been quiet for two seconds longer.”

“But—”

“I said we were chasing down theWindshark,” Captain Cutlass went on. “I didn’t say we were going to engage it in battle. I know we are outgunned, and attacking Jhaeros’s ship head-on is a fool’s mission. Hopefully, if all goes to plan, theQueen’s Bladewill keep well out of any danger.

“This is a rescue mission,” she went on, gazing around the table. “We are going to rescue a man named Sir Bartello, whom Jhaeros kidnapped from Cutthroat Wedge. Also, a baby dragon that apparently belongs to this boy here.” She nodded at Remy. “We are going to fly in under cover of darkness, and when we are close enough, the boy and Miss Featherbottom will take her dragon the rest of the way to theWindshark.”

“Just the two kids?” Jack asked. “Aboard an entire ship filled with pirates? Not that I’m volunteering, but shouldn’t someone go with them?”

Gem immediately shook her head. “Cloud can’t carry that many people,” she said. “He’s strong, but we’ll be pushing the limits of what he can handle once we have Sir Bartello and the hatchling. Another person will be too heavy. We’re just going to sneak in, free Sir Bartello and Remy’s dragon, and leave. No one will know we’re there.”

Lysander blew out a loud breath. “That’s a terrible plan,” he stated. “Ship quarters are tight and crowded, and neither of you knows how to fight. What if you’re discovered? We’d just end up having to rescue you as well.”

“Hopefully, they won’t be discovered,” Captain Cutlass broke in before Gem could say anything. “Because if they are captured, I am not going in after them.”

Gem blinked at the captain, who gave her an unapologetic smile. “There is no way we can rescue you from Jhaeros should you fail,” she said matter-of-factly. “We don’t have a dragon, nor do we have the firepower to charge in after you. I’m afraid you will be on your own. So you will need to get this right the first time.”

“Oh,” Gem said, feeling suddenly breathless.

“Luckily,” added the captain, “we can help make that more likely. We might not be able to take theWindsharkin a one-on-one fight, but we can harry and harass so all their attention is on us and not the two stowaways creeping through the ship. TheQueen’s Bladeis faster and more agile than theWindshark, so with the element of surprise, we should be able to pelt them with a few cannonballs, drop some fire barrels on them from above, and get to safety before they can launch a full attack.”

“So weareplanning on assaulting theWindshark,” Lysander burst out. “Which brings me back to my original argument, in which I think this is a horrible idea.”

“The rescue team needs a distraction,” Captain Cutlass said firmly. “We will provide that distraction, but that does not mean we’re going to play fair. At no point in this conversation did I say we were going to battle theWindsharkhead-to-head. We’ll do what theQueen’s Bladedoes best: use our speed to keep out of reach and pelt them with cannon fire when we can.”

“Oh,” muttered Lysander. “More storm crystal acrobatics for me, then. Fabulous.”

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