[Episode 11 & 12] Spire and the Dragonwood Affair

[Novelette] Tales of Stonehaven [1,785 words]

Spire and the Dragonwood Affair is the first of five novelettes in The 5th Compass series. Captain Silverblade, the most feared and hated pirate in all of Stonehaven, has put her life in the hands of four of her most trusted pirates. Their mission is to each take possession of an enchanted compass and hide them where no one can ever find them. This is the story of Spire and how he got on with hiding the compass given to him.

[Episode 11]

Wendynn reached into his pocket and produced the object that brought him to Dragonwood. The compass didn’t weigh much and just barely filled the palm of his hand when he held it out for Adelaide to take. They had just finished tucking Traix into bed and Wendynn was about to leave, but there was something about this child that stopped him. He knew she was gifted. Perhaps it was a thing of legend his father had told him once long about, about a female dragon of magic mating with a human and starting a line of gifted people. But here stood someone who clearly possessed a power far beyond her ability to harness or control it and perhaps this was the perfect place to leave an item he knew needed protecting.

“What is it?” she asked, eyeing it carefully when she took it from him.

“This is a very special compass,” he answered, pushing the small clasp on its side so it would pop open. She jumped, not expecting that to happen. A compass was something she had never seen before, only heard stories about them.

“Why is it so special?” She inspected the dial on the inside, noticing the letters at four points and the needle that spun sporadically.

Wendynn wondered just how much he should tell this child. Would she understand the importance of keeping this compass out of the wrong hands? Would she know who the wrong hands were if someone were ever looking for it? Perhaps leaving it with her would only put her in grave danger. And yet…

“This compass carries within in it the soul of a very important person.”

Adelaide’s eyes opened wider as she listened closely to him. He told her about a woman who was misunderstood because she wanted to do good for those who needed it most and the rich just couldn’t understand that. He never mentioned Silverblade’s name as he was aware an entire generation was being raised to hate her without ever having met her. He didn’t want to risk that Adelaide had heard of the female pirate nor did he want to know what her views might be.

He ended his visit with her solemn oath to protect the compass and let no one take it from her, not even Traix. Wendynn could tell she meant it and felt he was right in leaving it with her.

Once back on the street he noticed the sun was shining brighter as it began to set. He hoped the two men who traveled with him were already on the ship awaiting his arrival as he prepared to leave this kingdom.

Across the street, walking towards him with a quickened pace, was a face he had not expected to see, Spire. He could hardly find the words to speak when Spire walked up to him, shook his hand, and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry to have to do this to you,” Spire said, letting go of Wendynn’s hand and stepping aside.

Before Wendynn could ask how Spire came to be off the ship and walking freely the four brother’s he had seen earlier that morning were approaching him and they did not look like they wanted a friendly chat. Wendynn turned to his left but was blocked by Spire who was working with the four brothers. Turning to his right he saw a man wearing a long black cape with a hood raised, talking to a group of at least a dozen men, each brandishing a weapon of different shapes and sizes. The man was shouting orders at them but Wendynn couldn’t hear them over the beating of his quickened heart as he knew he had no means of escape.

One of the four brothers grabbed him by the collar and squeezed his throat but not too tightly. “Are you Wendynn, second in command to the female pirate?”

Wendynn looked at Spire who had a grin of guilt on his face then over the shoulder of the man choking him to see the two pirates who traveled with him. “I am,” he spat out. The brother let go his grip.

“Okay brothers, let’s take him to the king right now.”

“Not so fast.” The man in the hood was behind the dozen men who had surrounded them. “I’ll take him now, if you don’t mind.”

The four brothers turned their backs to Spire and Wendynn to see they were outnumbered but they were never good at fighting. They looked at each other and nodded then each lifted a leg high in the air and kicked hard, the thug who was closest to them. Suddenly, a fight broke out.

Wendynn ducked past a man who was thrown near him by one brother and grabbed Spire by the arm. “How did you get off that ship?”

“I have my ways,” Spire said with a smile and a wink. “I am sorry about this, but it was you or me. By any chance, what did you do with the compass? I suggest you give it to me so I can complete the mission.”

“Give it to you? I wouldn’t trust it with you, and neither would she. Why do you think I’m here?”

Without warning, Spire balled his hand into a fist and delivered a blow to Wendynn’s jaw that sent him stumbling backwards and to the floor. He felt his lip and pulled his hand away to see blood there. He spit out the rest of the blood and made to stand but was grabbed around the neck by a strong arm and pulled backwards. Unable to find his footing, they forced him to endure being dragged away from the scene of the fighting happening around him and Spire’s back as he fled.

The arm finally let Wendynn drop to the floor. He looked up to see the hooded man standing over him and two other men from the gang he brought with him.

“Can you stand?” The hooded man offered Wendynn his arm to help him up. He lowered his hood and looked around the corner to see how the fight was progressing. His men were winning as two of the four brothers were laid out, unmoving.

“Who are you?”

“I guess you can look on me as the man who just saved your life. Do you know what they were planning to do with you? Take you to the king! And what would the king have done with you? Torture? Of course. But what would that have gotten him? And how much would you have told him, honestly? Not enough to harm her, I’m sure. No, he wouldn’t have the first clue of what to do with a man like you.”

“And you do?”

“My good man, I am Lord Baylish. There is no man alive in Stonehaven more cunning and cutthroat.”

“How do I fit in? Once she knows I’m missing she’ll stop at nothing to get me back.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it. Imagine me, Lord Baylish, slayer of the female pirate captain.” He laughed a maniacal laugh that even his cohorts found over the top though they tried not to show it.

[Episode 12]

“What… what happened?”

Adelaide stood by the window and looked down at the fighting that was happening down on the street. She had hoped Traix would sleep through it as she knew how he would react once he saw it. But she was still too young to have full control of her powers, they only seemed to work whenever she was extremely anxious or angry and she was neither though she hoped Wendynn wasn’t hurt.

“I hurt you again,” Adelaide said, not turning around to face him. She couldn’t face him. Why he would care for her after what she had done to him, she couldn’t understand. It scared her what she could do and yet he showed no sign of fear whenever he looked at her. Wendynn was the same way. Perhaps, that’s why she agreed to protect the compass for him.

She heard him get up from the bed, moaning as he walked up behind her. “What’s going on down there?” He put his hand on her shoulder and looked down with her to see the end of the fighting. With one brother left standing, he woke up the other three who were knocked out on the ground and helped them, limping away. She felt Traix’s grip tighten on her shoulder and knew what was coming. “We must get out of here. It isn’t safe. Damn it!” He punched the wall beside the window and then cradled his hand immediately. The walls were made of stone, something he hadn’t considered when letting out his frustration on it.

He threw himself down on a chair beside the bed and looked at Adelaide with tears in his eyes. She had never seen him cry before and her heart broke. “We’ll be all right. That fighting down there wasn’t about us. They don’t even know we’re here.”

Traix wiped the tears from his eyes with his one good hand and chuckled half-heartedly. “Don’t be fooled—wait… where is that pirate? How did I get here?”

He suddenly remembered the last thing that happened before it was lights out. He reached for his waist looking for the dagger he kept there and discovered it missing. Adelaide retrieved it from the wooden table in their room and handed it to him. He took it from her slowly. “You let him go?” he asked her.

“Yes, he was harmless. The fighting downstairs was about him. They were after him.” She rushed back to the window. “I hope he’s all right.”

“You hope he’s all right? What about me? We must leave here tonight. But where will we go? I’m running out of money.”

“Maybe we should return to Ebonthorn? You could work and I can help. I promise I won’t cause any trouble, and no one will find us there. She promised.”

“You expect me to trust a witch?”

“What other choice do we have?”

Traix weighed the options, which didn’t take long as Adelaide was right; they had none. Either stay there and starve to death or return to Ebonthorn and live out a life that witch set up for them. He returned to the window and looked down to make sure the streets were cleared. The fighting ended and all who remained as the sun nearly set, was a hooded man who walked beside the man they bumped into earlier.

Wendynn looked back and up towards Adelaide and Traix’s window. It was a brief look, but that was all Traix needed to make his decision.

“We leave for Ebonthorn. Tonight.”