A Captain's Speech

"Why do we have to go?" one man called out, "We just got home!"

"This was your doing, not ours!"

"You made the mess, Ilona! You clean it up!"

Yells and shouts like those echoed from other men in the crowd, mixing with general sounds of displeasure. Ilona's stomach twisted in knots, and she felt her cheeks warming as her heart pounded in her chest. Instinctively, her brothers all stepped in closer to her, both wanting to protect her and wanting more protection for themselves.

As she looked out on the crowd of angry pirates, Ilona's eyes found the few men she knew were loyal to her standing quiet, looking around them uncomfortably.

Sam Thatch had always been a good friend to her and might soon be her brother-in-law, but even he was silent and looked up at her with apologetic eyes.

Not far from him stood her ship's quartermaster, Pierce Vane. He may have been an awful person but he wasn't stupid. He was standing quietly with his arms crossed over his chest but a pleased smirk shaped his lips. Ilona felt her anger rise when she saw it and she wanted nothing more than to slap it from his face.

Instead, she used energy elsewhere.

"Quiet!" she yelled so loudly it echoed.

The crowd fell silent, more from surprise at her sudden outburst than because they were doing as she'd said.

"I know I made the wrong call, choosing to trust the King of The Red Lands. I know it's because of that decision that Isaac and Willow were taken."

"Ilona," Lucas hissed from beside her, grabbing her arm in an attempt to signal her to stop.

"I wish I could save them on my own," she continued anyway, "I wish you could all stay here with your families and not have to be involved. But I can't do it on my own. I need your help. Isaac and Willow need your help. And besides... they're pirates just like all of us. That makes them your family too. Are any of you truly alright with leaving your family trapped in prison in The Red Lands?"

The men were quiet, glancing at each other or keeping their eyes cast to the ground.

She knew her words had struck a nerve in them. Most of these men had been pirates for her father since she was a little girl. They had watched Isaac and Willow grow up. They had seen both of them learn to walk, talk, and sail. She knew the men thought of the Black children as their family. You can't spend so much time together and not feel that way.

Ilona took a deep breath.

"I'm your Captain," she spoke, "But I'm not going to order you to come with me. We're not on the ship. I'll leave it up to each of you to decide what you want to do. If you decide to stay home with your families, I will understand... But if you decide to go with us to help try to save Willow and Isaac, then have a horse saddled and meet us in front of the house in the morning."

Ilona turned, stepping down and walking towards the side of the house. Her brothers all stood watching her in shock for a moment before hurrying to follow her.

Just before she turned the corner, Ilona glanced back at the crowd of men and found all eyes on her. Her gaze found Pierce and she saw the smirk was gone from his face, replaced with a look of anger and annoyance. She quickly turned away and continued before anyone could see the pleased grin that tugged at her lips.

-

"Well, that was stupid," Ilona's brother Roman spoke once they were all safely locked inside their father's office. Roman was Lucas's second mate and the sibling he was closest to. Lucas had realized his half-siblings weren't his enemies, but Ilona sometimes thought Roman must have missed that update.

"It wasn't stupid," Nick frowned at his older brother from where he had taken a seat on a leather couch between Jamie and Lucas.

"Yes, it was," Roman argued, sitting on another couch on the opposite side of the room, "What if none of them show up in the morning? She already made a deal with the Duke!"

"They'll show up," Lucas said calmly, rubbing his temple with one hand, "Maybe not all of them but the majority will."

"How on earth can you think that?" Roman demanded, "You heard them before."

"That was before her little speech," Lucas said, turning to look at Ilona with a faint smile, "It was a good speech. It was a Captain's speech."

Ilona was sitting on top of their father's desk with her legs crossed, facing her brothers. She dropped her gaze when she heard Lucas's words, but she couldn't keep a tiny smile from forming on her lips.

"You honestly think what she said is going to be enough to change their minds?" their brother Samuel asked from his place on the couch beside Roman. He was Ian's quartermaster and looked most like Jordana, tall, thin, sort of boney. He had the same chocolate eyes and brown curls though.

"I do," Lucas nodded, "She was right. We've always cared for each other like family. They know that's true. Maybe some of the newer men won't care and won't show up, but the loyal ones will be here in the morning."

"Those are the ones I'd rather have along with us anyway," Ilona spoke up now, "If anything bad does happen, I'd prefer to have experienced pirates along instead of new pirates who are still learning the right way to hold a sword."

Her younger half-brothers all chuckled at this but nodded in agreement.

"It'll be fine," Lucas said, "I'm sure even members of my crew will be there tomorrow to go with you. And even if many don't show up, she'll still have all of us with her."

"No," Ilona said quickly, looking up at him now, "No, I can't have you with me. I'm going to take Jamie and Nick and whatever men show up, but all of you need to stay here."

"What?" Roman demanded, "Why wouldn't we go with you?"

"Because," she answered, "If anything happens to us, then the rest of you will be here to Captain the ships and go to save Isaac and Willow. Attack The Red Lands if you have to but get them back. Besides, if Father returns while we're gone, I would prefer one of you telling him what's happened. Both your mother and mine will make the whole mission seem hopeless since they're both so worried."

"I'm going with you," Lucas argued, getting to his feet, "Jamie and Nick can stay."

"You can't," Ilona slipped down from the desk, standing to face him, "Ian is going to be with us no matter what. If anything happens, he and I would both be gone. You're the next oldest, Lucas. You can't let anything happen to yourself. The others will need you."

Lucas was quiet for a moment, frowning at her.

"Then at least take Roman and Samuel," he tried, "They're older and bigger than Nick and Jamie. They'll be better for you."

"No," Ilona shook her head, "With Ian gone, Sam would be left to lead his men. And Roman would be my next choice to Captain my ship so he can't go either and be at risk."

Beside Lucas, Roman dropped his gaze, surprise on his face. Ilona had known her saying she was leaving him to captain her ship if need be would make him happy. She had hoped it might make him warm to her a bit more, knowing she thought so much of him.

If she was honest, she mostly didn't want to be stuck taking him with her. He always had to argue over everything. She prayed nothing ever happened that would leave him in charge of captaining her ship, but she knew saying that would be a good enough excuse for him to stay behind. In reality, she would rather The Black Tide be captained by almost any one of her other siblings.

Lucas sighed and pressed fingers to his temples, rubbing in circles. He closed his eyes was quiet as he thought over her words.

"Fine," he gave in at last, "But only because my mother would absolutely go mad if we were to all leave with you on a dangerous trip. As it is, you're probably going to have to sneak out Jamie and Nick. She won't want them to go."

"She can't stop us," Jamie said defensively, a frown on his face.

"Maybe not," Ilona smiled at him, "But she can make it miserable for you. Lucas is right. The two of you should probably sneak out when she won't notice."

Jamie rolled his eyes and dropped back into the couch, arms crossed on his chest. Nick shrugged and sat back as well, knowing they were right.

Lucas sent them off to their rooms to pack then, and Ilona went too. She got to her bedroom to find one of the maids had collected her dirty clothes and washed them. They were all stacked neatly in her dresser, waiting for her. Ilona packed her bag and set it aside before collapsing on her bed.

She was so tired from her lack of sleep the night before and the busy day she'd already had that it wasn't long before she was fast asleep.