To The City

Ilona hadn't spent so many hours upon a horse in many years. Her body protested at the strain. As they had ridden away from the Adair Estate, she had glanced back over her shoulder every few minutes until she could no longer see the sea behind her. Now she felt a sort of loneliness without it.

She didn't often travel far enough not to be able to smell the salty sea breeze, at least. Now though, all she could smell was sweaty men and the occasional faint scent of grass. The dust from the road blew up from the horses' hooves in front of her. She could feel the grit of it between her teeth. The air was cool, but there was no escaping the sun beating down directly on them.

At last, the road ran into a forest, and the trees grew high above, protecting them from some of the sun's rays. A few of the men had begun to complain about needing to stop, but Ian would hear none of it. Ilona permitted them to ride more towards the edges of the road to be a bit more in the shade. She knew they would be able to detect threats better from closer to the trees anyway.

Ilona, Nick, and Jamie rode along ahead of the carriage, but Ian was even farther ahead of them. Ilona stared at the broad, muscular back of her younger brother and let her mind turn as they traveled. He was obviously still angry with her, even more so than he had been the last time they'd talked before she'd set sail.

Her relationship with Ian, and all of her brothers, for that matter, had been better before they began to move up in the ranks on their father's ships over the last few years. Ian and Ilona had sailed under their mother, and Ilona had been above Ian, making things tense. Then they had sailed with Lucas and a few of their other brothers under their father, and things had gotten even tenser.

One trait all the Black children got directly from their father was their stubbornness. Couple that with their tendency to not like being told what to do, and things tended to go badly, the more of them were together in a tiny space.

And a pirate ship in the middle of the ocean was a tiny space.

Even so, Ilona didn't like being at odds with Ian, especially since he had been her best friend for the majority of her life. She sighed and told Jamie and Nick to stay put. Now was as good a time as any to try to set things right between them.

Tapping her heel against her horse, Ilona urged the mare forward to catch up with the honey-colored stallion her brother was riding. Coming up beside him, he looked her way and seemed surprised to see her. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure everything was as it should be.

"What's wrong?" he asked seriously.

"What? Nothing. I just... I just thought maybe you might like some company."

He frowned slightly and turned to look forward again, "I need to keep a good watch."

"Alright," she shrugged, "I'll help you."

"I don't need help."

"You never do."

Ian turned to glare at her again, and Ilona looked away, annoyed with herself for getting defensive. After a moment, he turned back to the road, and she did the same. She took a deep breath and tried again.

"So, how long will you be with the Duke and Duchess?"

"Until our father tells me to leave."

"And how long might that be?"

"I don't know... He thinks she's important."

"The Duchess?" Ilona asked in surprise, "How is the Duchess of Edgewood important to our father?"

Ian shrugged one shoulder, "The Duke is his business partner now. I suppose it has something to do with him. Father's witch spoke to him about it."

"Really?"

Ian nodded, and they both fell silent.

Witches weren't very common in these lands. It was actually against the King's laws to fraternize with them. That didn't keep wealthy people from using them to their advantage however, the King included.

The Pirate King had come from The Red Lands, where witches were welcome. When he had decided to settle here so long ago, he had brought a witch with him, intending to use her magic for his own gain.

No one could truly tame a witch however, so it wasn't long before she left. The Pirate King had thought he'd lost her forever until he decided to do business with the crown prince. Then one day, he found her living in the castle as the King's personal witch. He'd gone and visited her often ever since.

Witches had many uses, and each one's magic abilities were different from the next. The most valued skill and the rarest was the magic that let some witches see the future. The witch from The Red Lands had been a master of this, so the Pirate King had used that to his advantage.

Magic always came with a price however, and some were much steeper than others. Ilona had never asked a witch to look at her future, so she had no idea what the price would be, but she imagined it was something serious.

If a witch had said the duchess was important, then there was no doubt that she was. Ilona glanced back over her shoulder at the carriage and wondered how on earth this woman would prove valuable to their father.

She had wanted to suggest Ian leave the Duchess's side before he ended up in trouble with the Duke, but now she knew that wouldn't happen. Ian wouldn't leave her unless their father told him to. She could see he didn't want to leave her anyway.

Ilona was pulled from her thoughts by a sudden loud banging from the carriage. The drivers immediately pulled the team of horses to a halt, and all the pirates did the same. Ian and Ilona turned their horses to face the carriage.

"What's going on?" Ilona asked Ian with worry as the door to the carriage was thrown open.

"I don't know," he answered, shaking his head, "But something's wrong."