Men have killed over a handful of coppers. That’s why I don’t gamble. Too much at stake just for a little entertainment.

  -Excerpt from ‘Pirates and Perils: How to turn a profit at Sea’ by Edgar Stett

  The prince seemed frustrated at the new arrival’s demand. Rose noted his reaction with interest while nudging her doori a little closer.

  “Thank you for letting me know, Advisor Arnault. You may tell my father that I will be in the throne room shortly,” Everyn replied curtly, not sparing the man another glance as he continued forwards.

  The man—Advisor Arnault—took the prince’s disregard in stride, completely ignoring it as he hurriedly power walked after the beast and its passenger. “Your Highness, I really must insist that you follow me at once,” he said, the pitch of his voice half an octave higher than before. “The king was quite… insistent on your presence.”

  Prince Everyn didn’t stop his doori, continuing to advance with all his soldiers following, though a few threw nervous glances towards the advisor. Rose couldn’t figure out all the quirks, but she knew some complex politicking was going on right now.

  Or perhaps, like all other spoilt kids, the prince was simply letting off steam by choosing to rile up his father. Frankly, whatever the outcome of this visit was, it didn't matter to Rose.

  Her original goal had simply been to return home, spend some time with her parents, and then go on a little solo adventure to try and complete her occupation and improve her skills before returning to the seas to achieve her ambition. Yet before she’d even made it back to Fairwater Bay, Commodore Foulter had stolen her mother’s life.

  Which meant that before she could take some leisure time to improve her reading, writing, and drawing, Rose had a bunch of imperious invaders to kill. If the prince or the king or whoever else wanted to help her out, she wouldn’t refuse.

  While Everyn was a little pompous, he’d been a fairly capable fighter and seemed to care for his soldiers and the citizens of the Emerlan Isle. Rose respected that.

  If they ended up joining forces to kill some more… Can’t say that. Already over the limit, Rose caught herself. She couldn’t help it when it came to the leadership of Minenblum. Or anyone else involved in this awful invasion. Especially the old man Saff… Rose was reconsidering her decision to temporarily retire; a visit to Minenblum would help her vent a lot of her frustration on the right targets.

  No, I’m far too weak for that. All I can do right now is make sure they don’t kill more innocent citizens. One day I will make them pay, but that day is a long way away.

  They kept moving towards their destination at a steady pace, the doori actually speeding up the closer they got. Whether that was because they were in on the prince’s machinations or they were just excited to eat, Rose wasn’t sure.

  It’s probably the food…

  After a certain point the man had begun sprinting to keep up with the prince, an impressive feat considering the robes he wore trailed along the ground and he somehow avoided tripping. His voice went up half an octave every time he repeated himself as well.

  It didn’t last forever. Eventually he stumbled on a pebble and slammed face first into the ground. The prince suppressed a chuckle but kept moving. Rose watched a few servants rush from the nearby shadows to help the advisor to his feet.

  He didn’t follow them after that, only throwing a scowl towards Prince Everyn which vanished from his face when he noticed Rose staring. What a funny man, I hope we see him again, she thought.

  As it turned out, it was the food all along. They reached the royal doori stables, where a gigantic man who looked a little like a doori himself greeted them with infectious enthusiasm.

  “Everyn, you’re back so soon! I half expected to hear you’d been killed by those Minenbastards,” he rumbled, before bursting into raucous laughter that shook the air.

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  “Warmaster Varion, do you truly think so little of me?” the prince replied with a wounded expression, clutching his hand to his heart. “That prick Foulter never knew what hit him!”

  Okay, now you’ve taken it too far, prince…

  Rose hadn’t cared when it was strangers praising the prince, given that they didn’t know the truth of the battle. Now that he was trying to claim her merit for himself? Rose was a pirate; pirates don’t share the spoils of victory.

  She gracefully leapt from the back of her doori, Athletics doing some heavy lifting as she pirouetted to keep her balance. It was the kind of daring feat she would often attempt as a child while helping her mother with the doori, but end up falling flat on her face.

  Rose marched up to the beaming prince and the gigantic warmaster, before tapping Everyn on the shoulder and coughing.

  “Who- Oh, it’s you! How are you doing? Did you need something?” the prince asked when he turned and saw Rose.

  “No, I’m fine,” she replied icily.

  The prince’s expression contorted into one of confusion while the warmaster looked on impassively.

  “You, however? I think you need a reality check. The way I remember that fight was me doing most of the work, you arriving and getting your ass handed to you and then me once again taking up the mantle and finishing off the commodore.”

  Prince Everyn’s mouth puckered up like he’d bitten a lemon and he coughed as his cheeks went red. “You! How dare-”

  He never got to finish speaking. The giant doori-looking man clapped a hand on the prince’s back, making him splutter and stumble forwards while the warmaster himself burst into booming laughter once more.

  “Ha! I like you, girl,” he chortled, inspecting her like she was a tasty morsel of meat. “What’s your name? You should give her a promotion, Everyn.”

  “Rose.”

  “Not a soldier.”

  They answered at the same time, but neither got an answer from the burly man. Instead he had rushed over to the prince’s war-doori, cooing softly at it like it was a kitten and not a vicious, scaled, monstrosity that weighed almost a tonne.

  Rose raised an eyebrow, but after all the unusual sights she’d seen in the past few months, it wasn’t that odd. What did shock her enough to make her almost fall on her backside was what happened next.

  Warmaster Varion wrapped his beefy arms around the doori’s midsection and before it could even bleat, he’d hoisted it into the air in a bearhug. “Who’s a good girl? You are,” he said in a ridiculously loud baby voice while rubbing his cheeks against her chin.

  Rose was speechless.

  “Well, at least I don’t need to think of a way to get him back for that slap,” muttered the prince. “He’s plenty talented at embarrassing himself…”

  Despite being fully engaged with the doori, who actually seemed to be enjoying herself, Varion’s head flicked towards them. “I heard that. Don’t forget you owe me three hundred gold now,” he shouted at the prince.

  “What!? You bet that I wouldn’t be able to defeat Foulter! He’s dead, for Thoramir’s sake,” Everyn exclaimed.

  “True as that may be, if this young lady is to be believed, you had little hand in his current state of existence,” Varion replied, putting the enormous doori back onto the ground with more care than one might give a piece of fine art. “Hence, I win the bet. You can leave the money by the gate when you leave.”

  Prince Everyn’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the cunning warmaster. “Considering that neither of our win conditions were met, wouldn’t it be fairer to consider the bet nullified?”

  “Nullified? Don’t be ridiculous, brat. I bet three hundred gold that you wouldn’t be able to defeat Commodore Foulter. You weren’t able to defeat him. How is that not meeting my win condition?”

  “Bah! Devious old man, there’s no way that’s what you meant when we made the bet. You thought I’d lose the battle, not win with a little assistance,” the prince cried, exasperated.

  Rose coughed.

  “A generous helping of assistance,” he hastily corrected. “Regardless, my point stands.”

  “What I was thinking at the time of the bet is irrelevant to the terms of the bet. I said you wouldn’t defeat him. You didn’t. This young lady did, if she is to be believed,” Varion replied without missing a beat. “And I am rather inclined to believe her.”

  “Rose,” she said.

  “Indeed, Rose,” said Varion with a nod.

  “If you think I’m going to give you three hundred gold out of my pocket while we are in the middle of the most dangerous war our nation has ever experienced, simply to satisfy your personal pride, you are an utterly delusional old man!” the prince shouted, his calm confidence shattered in an instant.

  The warmaster was about to retort when an old man wearing an oversized fur cloak appeared between them and placed a hand on both men’s shoulders.

  “Given that our magnificent nation is in the midst of such a war, I might inquire as to why my Crown Prince and my remaining Warmaster have chosen to ignore my summons in order to argue over the outcome of a bet,” the new arrival said, silencing everyone present. “Perhaps I should take three hundred gold from both of you to add to the war chest instead?”