A Problem of Pirates by Emily Watson

Author:Emily Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emily Watson
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

28 Fishing for Merpeople

MAYBE I COULD SLIDE down and hide behind the rock?

“She doesn’t look happy to see you.”

So much for trying to hide. Tanya had spotted me and fixed her sharp gaze upon me like a cougar that had found its prey. Reluctantly, I forced myself up off the rock and followed Amy back towards Cap’n and Billy.

As Sawyer dropped his sack onto the sand beside Cap’n, it rattled with the sound of glass bottles clinking against each other. “Dis will have to do,” he said. He dumped the contents of the sack out onto the sand.

“Glass. You weren’t joking,” Gail turned some of the bottles over in his hand.

“An’ who is ta lovely lady?” Cap’n rose, lifting off his cap to Tanya.

“I am Tanya,” her deep resonant voice declared. She tossed two knives into the sand at our feet. “You left these behind.” Then, pointing her staff at me, she added, “I am here to speak with the Wild Child.”

Everyone else turned their eyes on me. Mine flitted in a near panic from Tanya to Sawyer, who merely raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. Dis is your problem, not mine.”

Motioning with her staff, Tanya walked further along the beach. With Amy nudging me, I had little choice but to follow.

Tanya walked quite a ways in the shallow surf before speaking again. Which only made it worse to walk in her imposing presence, bursting with impatience to hear what she might say but also terrified of what that might be.

As the fear of facing it alone pressed uncomfortably on my chest, I could only draw shallow breaths. I tried to imagine someone behind me, supporting me and taking my hand. And for some reason, it took the form of Aaron. He had always been there beside me before, protecting me, at times encouraging me, and at others holding me back from my impulsive schemes. Where was he now in this vast sea of thieves? Was he safe? My heart beat with a different fear.

“You have broken my house.”

I snapped my head up. My distractions had worked, but Tanya’s words brought me back to the present.

“And its peace.” She stopped and turned to look at me.

But I couldn’t quite look at her. “I didn’t mean to, but he touched my hand.”

“And that is grounds for beginning a brawl?”

“He is an evil pirate that stole Sawyer’s ship and is plotting to steal from my country! And you allow him into your tavern?”

“All are welcome to find peace at The Thirsty Eel, as long as they obey my rules and do not break the peace,” Tanya said sternly, brow furrowed. “There is a time and a place for justice and judgment, but I have been given a work to do. By the same one who gave you a gift and a work to do.”

I blinked as she gestured to the pouch of stardust hanging from my belt. How could she know what it was? Was she talking about Elroy? How had she come to know him?

“For breaking my house, its chairs and crockery, it is forgiven.

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