Traveler (20 page)

He cocked his head to the side.  “You know that this...information...comes with a price?” he asked, looking her up and down slowly.  

Aislin nodded, a blush staining her cheeks, her head down.  “I understand the price,” she whispered.  “And I am willing to accept it, and gladly, to save this girl.”

The Harbormaster nodded, and pulled her inside, keeping the self-satisfied smile from showing too much on his features.  She stayed there, for nearly an hour with him.  Muffled sounds could be heard from within the house, some of them sounding like screams, though those could have been mistaken for monkey calls in this place.  

Finally, though, he released her, and Aislin walked out of the house, her eyes a little haunted.  She hadn’t thought it would go like...that.  He hadn’t been gentle, he had been actually quite rough.  There was a tear in one of the sleeves of her dress, and she could feel the tell-tale ache in her wrists from where he had bound them that there would be bruises there, and in other places, like on her neck.  She felt a pulsing ache deep in her belly.  
Thank god for birth control.
 She’d been on the depo shot for the past three years, and had never had a scare.  Yet.  Once back on his doorstep, Aislin stood tall and proud as if nothing had happened, though there was a slight wince in her posture as she stood up straight.  At least she knew where Brileia was...and knew that there would be only two guards on the building she was hiding in.

***

It had taken Alexander a bit of time to get everything together and head out to find his wayward student.  He had followed the faint trace from the gateway, ending up back within the cabin she had been assigned on the pirate ship.  But, to his dismay, she wasn’t there.  In fact, neither was the young girl he had seen the last time.  He walked to the door, but paused at the sound of voices

Luc, once Rahim had found his way down to Brileia’s cabin, was furious.  “How could you let her go, you idiot?” he bellowed.  “How could you, of all people, knowing exactly who she was and what she was to you, let her go?  Light, Captain!  I would have saved that girl from the bowels of Silvertongue’s hold, if I needed to, without a second thought but you, you couldn’t save her from selling her into slavery?  You sicken me, Captain.  Oh, I’m sorry.  Dragon.” He said it sarcastically, his voice dripping with venom.

“I thought that by telling you, it’d make it make more sense,” Rahim said, struggling to keep his voice calm.  “I sent the girl off-ship to get her back.  If anyone can bring her back, she can.  You need to have faith, Rogue.  We’ll get Bird back.”  

Luc’s hopeless sob came from the cabin.  “If you’re wrong...I will kill you myself, Captain,” he promised with a low growl before slamming open the door to Brileia’s cabin and stalking off to his own, slamming the door to her cabin closed again before he stalked off.

Alexander pressed his ear against the door, listening to see if the hallway was clear.  Now that he had an idea of where Aislin had wandered off to, he had a chance to actually find her.  Judging it time, he slipped out of the room, bending tendrils of magic around himself to keep hidden while traversing the massive ship.  Careful not to brush into any of the sailors, he swiftly moved up the stairs and onto the deck before climbing down the side to avoid the workers unloading the cargo hold.

Glancing around, he took note of the tropical air and the locals milling about.  Ah, the ship had docked at one of the islands in the chain.  Thankfully that meant that he had a better chance of finding Aislin here than in one of the big cities.  Silently listening to the islanders gossiping, it wasn’t difficult to hear mention of a red-haired woman wandering around in search of the Harbormaster.

Following the directions he overheard from one of the islanders, he silently made his way to the Harbormaster’s hut, just in time to see his student step out.  Concerned blue eyes swept over the girl, taking note of the tear in her dress and the way she was standing.  Stepping into the shadows near her, he reached out and swiftly pulled her to him, covering her mouth with a hand.  “Don’t scream...it’s just me.  Did he hurt you?”

Aislin nearly did scream when she felt the hand over her mouth and the pull into the shadows.  Instead, she trembled like a leaf, barely able to stand her ground.  Her eyes were guarded as she looked at him.  “No...it was nothing I wasn’t expecting,” she whispered.  “We need to rescue Brileia.  Before it’s too late.  We don’t have time to waste.”  She moved to remove herself from his grasp, to go in the direction she knew the young girl to be.

He wanted to disagree with her and take her back home.  But there was no way that he could live with himself if he knowingly left that child in such a dangerous situation.  He grabbed Aislin’s arm, wrapping her in the same tendrils of magic that hid him from everyone else.  “Yes...we will rescue her...provided that you let me handle the dangerous parts.  Stay beside me and I’ll keep you hidden and safe.  Now...show me where she is.”

She bit down on her tongue when he grabbed her arm, feeling the bruises lurking beneath the skin, not yet surfacing, but she couldn’t let him know that.  He would be so angry with her...”I can handle myself,” she protested.  “I was doing fine before you got here.”  She led him through the huts, towards a cluster of six together.  There was one hut there, with a red vase and some kind of orchid in the window, with two guards at the door.  “It’s that one,” she whispered to him, her eyes locked on the building.

“I know you can handle yourself...but there is a reason I was chosen to be a guardian and a reason that I am known as Ghost.”  He gently touched her chin to make her look up at him.  “Please stay here and let me take care of this.  When I come back with her, we will return home, alright?”  He gave her a reassuring smile before disappearing completely from view.

With a predatory grace, the tall dark-haired man stalked towards the hut that Aislin had indicated.  Cold blue eyes swept over the two men standing guard.  He grabbed the first man, yanking him back into the shadows before the other guard noticed.  With a swift twist, he broke the man’s neck and left his body hidden in the shadows before repeating his actions with the other guard.  

Aislin watched, wrapped in the tendrils of magic that Alexander had woven, her eyes wide and stunned as she saw the two guards disappear into the shadows.  What happened in there was probably nothing good.  She knew he was a killer, but it was different for her to see something happen before her eyes.  She held back a shiver, instead rubbing her tender wrists and continued to watch what Alexander would do next.

When the guards were taken care of, he glanced around for observers other than Aislin before slipping inside the hut.  It wasn’t difficult to find the person his charge had been so adamant about saving.  Sitting on the pallet in the corner was the young girl he had seen talking with the Captain before, her eyes wide with surprise as she stared at him.  He crouched down in front of her, giving her a reassuring look.  “Hello there, little one.  Aislin asked me to help you get free from this place.”

Brileia blinked in surprise when the door to her new prison opened on its own.  When a tall man appeared out of the thin air, she gasped softly, staring up at him.  For a moment, she could have sworn it was her dragon standing before her.  But the lack of a scar across his cheek and his words quickly killed that fleeting wish.  That girl had asked him to help her?! Why?! Why help her at all when she had been abandoned by the captain in this Gods-forsaken place? She shook her head before giving him a faint smile.  “How kind of you both...but you shouldn’t have gone to any trouble for me.  It is my fate to be here.  But please...thank Aislin for thinking of me when you leave.”

Alexander stared at the girl for a moment before abruptly coming to a decision.  There was simply no way that he was going to leave this girl behind to become someone’s slave.  Such an innocent child would never survive a harsh life like that, especially when she didn’t have to suffer so.  “Sleep...”  He murmured, waving his fingers before her eyes.  Tendrils of magic immediately came to his aid, twisting around the petite girl until she suddenly slumped to the cot, seemingly unconscious.  Certain of his handiwork,  he slid his arms under the girl, letting her head fall onto his shoulder as he picked her up.  Keeping the girl hidden by his magic, he silently left the hut behind, returning to his waiting charge.  “Aislin...let’s go.”

Aislin’s eyes widened and a smile split her face as she recognized Bri.  “You saved her,” she whispered.  “I knew you would.”  She was more than ready to go.  She followed Alexander dutifully, knowing he would take them back towards the ship.

Easily carrying the unconscious Brileia, he led the way towards the Maiden’s Voyage, trying to decide where the best place to jump would be.  He glanced at his charge and gave her a reassuring smile before murmuring softly.  “I don’t think it is a good idea to leave this girl with those pirates.  I would hate to think that we saved her only for them to sell her into slavery again.”

Aislin shook her head vehemently.  “No, Alexander.  There is no safer place for her to be than here.  Who do you think asked me to rescue here in the first place?” she demanded.  “I don’t think the Captain or the Rogue will let anything happen to her now.  She means too much to both of them. It just took losing her for them to realize that.”

“If you think so, Aislin...but perhaps the Ghost should have a talk with the Captain before we go home.  Impress upon him the consequences of letting harm come to her.” He replied calmly, stopping near the ship.

She sighed and rolled her eyes.  “Fine, Alexander...if that’s even your real name.  Go speak to the Captain.  I’ll make sure she wakes up in her cabin ok.  All right?” she asked, walking stiffly onto the ship and belowdecks towards Bri’s cabin.

Chuckling lowly, he kept all three of them hidden with his magic, even as they boarded the ship.  He followed behind Aislin, trying to keep his eyes from following the way her hips moved in that dress.  When they reached the cabin, he gently laid a sleeping Bri onto her bed, softly brushing her tousled locks from her face before looking to his charge.  “She won’t wake until we leave, due to the magic I used.  Why don’t you come with me and make sure I don’t go overboard in warning the Captain?”

Lin looked at him warily, sitting down on the floor beside Bri.  “I should stay with her,” she said stubbornly.  “I’m the reason she was in this situation in the first place.  If I hadn’t pressed the Captain for more information about their connections in the past, then maybe he would have just ransomed her rather than selling her...I feel guilty.”  She had eyes only for the face of the girl, for a girl she really was, on the bed in the cabin.  She felt responsible.  

Alexander knelt down beside her, murmuring softly.  “Aislin...they are pirates.  Regardless of your questions, they would have sold or ransomed her...whichever brought them the most money the fastest.  The Captain specifically chose to kidnap her.  I watched him carry her away from her family.  His choice had nothing to do with you.”

“But he loves her, Alexander...even if he doesn’t want to admit it to himself yet.  That’s why he asked me to save her.”  Aislin looked at him, her lower lip trembling a little.  “I just want them to be happy, Alexander,” she whispered.  “Someone should at least have a fairytale ending here...”

He reached out to caress her cheek lightly, the compassion evident in his voice.  “I know you do...and Gods knows that I agree with you, but sometimes these things are not in our hands.  The only thing left for us to do...is let him know just what we will do to him if he messes up his last chance with her.”

Unable to help herself, Aislin found herself leaning into his touch, rubbing her cheek against his hand.  “All right,” she whispered.  “I’ll go with you to tell him.  And then...can we go home?”  Normally she loved this world...but what she had gone through earlier had shaken her more than she would like to admit, and she didn’t want to say a word of it to Alexander.

Obviously whatever had happened before he got to her had shaken his student more than she was willing to even tell him.  While he was concerned, he wasn’t going to push her to tell him...unless it was evident that it was causing her problems.  Rising to his feet, he helped her up, watching her carefully.  “Of course, munchkin.” He led her out of the cabin, pausing briefly to close the door behind them.  Then he gave her a mischievous smile.  “Now then...let’s scare our pirate Captain, hm?”

Aislin allowed him to help her up, being careful not to move too quickly or too far from center.  Her body was becoming more and more stiff as she went on.  A small smile crossed her face as he called her his nickname.  That name was bittersweet, now.  On the one hand, it reminded her of him, but on the other...the Harbormaster’s leering face in the throes of pleasure flashed before her eyes and she shuddered. “After you, O sneaky one,” she murmured, smiling a little.  

He chuckled.  “Are you sure that you don’t want to try and make a grown man cry first?” He teased lightly, trying to distract her from whatever it was that was bothering her.  He had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn’t like whatever it was that she was hiding.  Shaking his head, he winked playfully before opening the door to the Captain’s cabin and walking right in.  When the door had closed securely behind them, he allowed his magic to fall, their forms shimmering lightly before appearing fully before the Captain and his first mate.  “Captain and Rogue, I presume?”

Rahim and Luc had been poring over maps.  They needed to plan a swift getaway when Bri was back on the ship, and it needed to be foolproof.  They were in the middle of it when the door to his quarters opened and then closed.  Rahim’s eyes narrowed, and Luc looked up, staring at the door.  “Odd, that,” he muttered under his breath.  Rahim shrugged his shoulders and went back to his maps.  

Abruptly, though, two figures showed up in the middle of the room; The Traveler, and another figure he hadn’t seen in some time.  Luc had drawn his cutlass, but Rahim put a hand on his arm.  “Put it away, Rogue,” he murmured.  Rahim stood, straightening his black silk shirt as he did so.  “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Ghost.  Though usually when I see you it’s to kill someone...so please tell me your target isn’t aboard my vessel.”