The flag went up. While most of the crew set about preparing to be boarded, Amanda watched the ship approach. Despite being slightly larger than Morgan’s ship, it was much sleeker with a very narrow belly. The wood was almost red in colour and the sails were rigged more like Sirius’s ship. They no longer appeared to be using elemental magic to move it along as they had the day before. Despite that, it didn’t seem like it needed it. It caught them quickly and Amanda suspected even without the added push from magic it would have easily been able to outrun them.

  “What sort of ship is that?” she asked without knowing who it was that was standing behind her.

  It was Larska who answered. “That’s a clipper, fastest devil on all the seas.”

  Amanda glanced around to see if Sirius agreed but found him nowhere to be seen. Neither were Morgan, Stinger, or Randy this time. Only Ferret and Larska remained watching the approaching vessel.

  “Not a cutter?” she joked, thinking of the ship and the captain’s names, the Slicer and the Butcher.

  Completely serious, Larska replied, “No, a cutter is much smaller.”

  She frowned and tried to figure out if he was messing with her.

  She’d managed to earn a small smile from Ferret though, who added also completely seriously, “A cutter has one mast, that has three.” Suddenly Ferret’s eyes lit up and he grabbed Larska’s arm. “I’ve got an idea,” he announced, and then he quickly walked off.

  Larska gave a sigh. “He’s always got an idea.” With that, he too, turned and walked away, leaving Amanda alone and unsure of where she should go now.

  The ships were pulling up alongside one another. Whatever she was going to do, she should decide it fast.

  It didn’t seem like there was any better place to be than where she was though. She was up on the rear deck and out of the way of the main deck. It was a good view from up here and there was no way she was going somewhere that she couldn’t see what was happening.

  Sirius reappeared on the main deck, along with Morgan. Stinger stood not far behind them. Crew gathered around as planks of wood were laid down between the two ships. Not long after, all three of Morgan’s lovers joined her, this time in wolf form.

  Morgan stepped forward, ready to greet whomever came across from the other ship. Three wolves, much larger than normal wolves, followed closely behind her. One white, one red, and one black. They were intimidating to look at and Amanda figured that was the point. What she wasn’t sure about was whether or not werewolf shifting counted as magic. And moving a ship with elemental magic surely counted? She wasn’t familiar enough with this world and the rules felt arbitrary and even contradictory at times. She was pretty sure they didn’t even follow their own rules. They seemed more like guidelines.

  Once the planks were down, crew from the other ship poured over them and gathered around like they were waiting for something or someone. Some stood not far from the crew of The Wolverine. Others perched along the railing. They looked scruffier dressed even then Morgan’s crew. Some looked like they hadn’t washed in days. Amanda noticed one of them looking at her, and when she met his eyes, he licked his lips in a way that made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

  Then a man arrived whom Amanda could only assume was their captain, The Butcher. He was the quintessential depiction of a traditional pirate, from his eye patch to the parrots that perched on his shoulders, one white one red. The comparison fell short at his feet however, for he had two solid legs slotted deep into knee high boots that were heavy enough that they made a loud thunk with every step he took.

  Morgan was tall for a woman but the top of her head barely reached the bottom of his neck. He made Morgan look probably very similar to the way Amanda looked when she stood next to Sirius. Even Sirius was small compared to this man. The Butcher’s waist was thick and a little portly. It was strapped with a loose belt that carried two long curved blades and one pistol, at least as far as she could see but who knew what else was hidden beneath his long, dark, burgundy coat.

  He stopped part way across the deck, not far away from Morgan. When he spoke his voice boomed. But there was also a jovial sort of nature to his speech, as if he were simply greeting an old friend. Beneath that though Amanda could pick up something else. The first thrust in a deadly game of words, and he was enjoying every minute of it.

  “Morgan! You attacked our friends.”

  “The Piper was easy pickings,” Morgan retorted with a similar layered tone. “I took them fair and square.”

  “That’s not fair.” He pointed at the wolves behind her.

  Morgan snorted. “They are in their true form. Would you deny a werewolf that?”

  He smirked and was silent a moment. It seemed Morgan had won that jab. Then he cocked his head so he could peer behind Morgan. “Sirius James,” he remarked, then his eyes surveyed the deck as if looking for someone else.

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  For a moment Amanda thought she saw a flicker of fear in the great man’s face, but it was gone before she could be sure of it.

  “No Shiv?” he asked with a slight smile. “What are you doing so far from your own ship?”

  “Sirius and I have business,” Morgan answered for him.

  “What business would that be?”

  “Mine.” Morgan replied simply and with a smug smile.

  The Butcher’s belly shook as he chuckled, but his laugh was cut short when his expression grew serious again.

  Amanda found the sudden switch in emotion deeply unsettling. He reminded her of a cat playing with its food. A very large cat.

  “So, you wish to negotiate?” he ventured. All the while, his gaze swept the deck, sizing up every person within eyesight. When his gaze found Amanda he paused momentarily and she fought the urge to hide behind something. “Or are we to fight?”

  Morgan stepped to the side and gestured. “My cabin is this way.”

  But the Butcher scoffed and shook his head. “I prefer an open negotiation, where all can hear the terms, and I already know what I want.”

  Morgan adjusted her posture so she was facing him square on again, feet shoulder width apart. She gave him an expectant look.

  “You killed four men on The Piper. I want the sa-”

  “We kept three alive,” Morgan interrupted swiftly.

  The Butcher looked surprised but he didn’t miss a beat. “Where are they then?”

  “Two died by their own folly. Brutus will fetch the other.”

  Morgan gave a nod to Brutus and immediately he departed to do her bidding.

  A tense silence filled the deck and remained for several minutes. No one said a word until Brutus returned, empty handed.

  Morgan gave him a confused and worried look.

  He whispered something in her ear.

  When she turned to look at The Butcher again, Amanda could see a glimpse of fear in her eyes.

  “So?” asked The Butcher.

  Morgan cleared her throat. “He seems to have vanished.”

  The look of triumph on The Butcher’s face in contrast to the terrified look on Morgan’s was worrying.

  “I will have your head then,” The Butcher stated matter-of-fact as if he were simply ordering a meal.

  Morgan’s expression hardened but she seemed to have lost any playful glimmer that had been there previously. “You can’t have it.” Her reply was without emotion.

  He cocked his head. “You deny me twice? If you can’t give me what I want we shall take this ship and every person on it.”

  “You shall have four men to do with as you wish,” Morgan offered.

  The Butcher inclined his head. Then he pointed directly at Amanda. “I will have her.”

  All eyes turned toward Amanda. Given the way some of The Butcher’s crew were looking at her, she had little doubt as to what some of them had in mind.”

  “She is not Morgan’s to give.” Sirius’s voice travelled clear across the deck, not as loud as The Butcher’s, nor as jarring, but firm all the same.

  “You forget whose ship you are on,” The Butcher told him.

  “It may be Morgan’s ship but the girl is not Morgan’s to give,” Sirius replied.

  The Butcher turned to Morgan. “Is he your prisoner or your guest? You lose my man. Your guests speak for you. Do you control your crew? Perhaps, the only one I need to kill is you?” He held out his sword and pointed right at her.

  There was an itching unsettling shift that flowed through the crew from The Splicer then, as if they might attack at any moment.

  Morgen scowled at Sirius.

  Sirius looked at Morgan and then he inclined his head and took a step back.

  To The Butcher, Morgan replied, “Sirius speaks out of turn but he is not wrong. The girl is cargo, under contract to be delivered unharmed to Shiv.”

  “To Shiv?” The Butcher repeated.

  Morgan gave a single nod.

  “Very well. You make this hard though Morgan. I will take 10 men, some of them women. Your fittest and best looking. You will line them up and the men will choose.” He waved a hand.

  Amanda bristled at Morgan’s ‘cargo’ statement. Evidently whatever play she’d made there had worked but Amanda didn’t understand why she’d had to be cargo for it. All the more concerning was the ease at which Morgan accepted his next terms. A simple nod was all she gave.

  The Butcher continued. “I will take the entirety of your last cargo haul and all that you took from the Piper as well, plus what I see fit from below. We will leave you enough food and water for most of your crew to make it to the nearest port and when you finally do and someone asks you what happened, you will tell them and you will tell them why.”

  Amanda’s heart sank as she realised Morgan wasn’t going to argue. Another cold hard nod sealed their fates.

  The Butcher took a few steps forward until he was even with Morgan but facing the other way. His gaze swept over the crew of The Wolverine.

  He swung his sword out to the side.

  He missed the top of Morgan’s head by the width of a hair.

  She’d ducked out of the way just as fast as he had made his thrust. Amanda hadn’t even seen her draw her sword. But she had it out.

  Morgan lunged at the Butcher.

  He parried.

  Back and forth they went, naught but the sounds of their sword clanging against one another. So fast, their weapons were a blur.

  Blood flew through the air and Amanda wasn’t even sure where or who it had come from.

  No one stopped them, but Amanda could see Sirius standing with his hand on the pommel of his own sword, as if waiting for the call. Others too.

  Finally the Butcher got a strike across Morgan’s eye.

  She darted back, half-blinded, and gave the cry, “Get em!” Then she was surrounded.

  The entire deck fell into chaos as crew members on both sides rushed to join the fray.

  Amanda found she could no longer even see where Morgan and The Butcher had gone. They darted about too fast and there were too many people moving. Swords swung in every direction. Blood soaked the deck.

  Then one man climbed up to where she stood. It was the one from The Slicer who had licked his lips at her earlier.

  She backed away.

  He licked his lips again and he stalked toward her, weapon out. “I’m sure Shiv won’t mind if I have a little play. Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you, not in any way that’s permanent anyway.”

  Amanda drew her knife, the one Sirius had gifted her.

  The approaching man laughed and kept on coming.

  He was faster and bigger than she but she dare not burn him, not after last time. She tried to look about for the borrower. He would know if she used her powers, even just a little, but if he was far enough away...

  The man reached her quickly though. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt. Then suddenly he froze and he looked down.

  The tip of a sword was sticking out the front of his chest.

  The sword disappeared back into him and then the man fell.

  Behind him stood Sirius. “Are you alright?” he asked.

  Amanda nodded.

  “Good. Stay here.” Then he was gone again, black cloak and all, disappearing back into the fray.