Chapter 2

Prince Gaius Faulkner, the second prince of the kingdom of Delmaron, arrived aboard his resplendent flagship, the Chenodia. A lion with a knack for geography, Gaius has lived comfortably in Pyril as a trader of spices and exotic goods like durians and chili peppers for the past five years. He has come to the archipelagic nation which is perhaps the most distant island-country from Delmaron in the hopes of escaping his family’s constant politicking.

Even now, as he disembarked from his ship and began to walk through the bustling harbor with his staff in tow, he remembered the mountainous pile of letters in his quarters that he had received from both his brothers Cassius and Decius, respectively. He had little doubt that Cassius letters would be about his suspicions that his youngest brother is plotting against him and that Gaius must help him take action against Decius before the latter has the rightful prince dishonored to render him unfit to take the throne. As for Decius himself, he probably wants Gaius to help him look for dirt on their eldest brother so he can be disgraced so Decius can be made into the next heir of the throne instead of Cassius. Gaius knew this well as his brothers had begun plotting against one another since they were only children with the middle brother being used as a pawn in both their schemes. Time and time again, his parents learned of what was actually going on and Gaius often found himself being blamed for the troubles that his brothers had brought about.

He decided then that it was time for him to live the life he wanted to, away from the constant bickering of his brothers. All in all, he was quite pleased with himself although he was often afraid that his brothers might barge in on his life sometime soon. He dreaded that above all else.

As he and his staff traveled deeper into the city, he noticed that there were so many people gathered there. While he recognized some of them to be locals, other Pyrilians, there were a lot more that he did not. There he saw two polar bears who, based on their thick fur caps, were probably from Waldoria. Not far from them was a mongoose whose attire identified him as Videani. Further on from them was a monkey monk who was either from Jonwei or Kithiya. There were a trio of squirrels and a cobra who were probably from the Affiliated Provinces of Ormland. There were also countless others whom Gaius couldn’t even identify.

“So, where should we go tonight?” the prince turned to his staff.

“I’m planning to go to the Intoxicated Whaler,” said Jack, a sparrow and the captain he had hired to take command of the Chenodia. “The same place we went to last time.”

“Good place as any,” said Zane, the cobra alchemist and a long-time friend of Gaius. “I’m willing to bet that everywhere else will be crowded anyway.”

And so they went and immediately saw that one of the front windows of the Intoxicated Whaler was broken and that there had been quite a ruckus inside. When they entered, they were immediately greeted by two tavern wenches, a mouse and a secretary bird who helped get them to tables while sweeping up broken glass and splintered wood. It was apparent that some sort of struggle or brawl had occurred inside.

“So what happened here?” Jack asked the bartender, an old pig. “Someone had a fight?”

“Yep,” the bartender replied. “A group of rascals and a bunch of lemmings who were from out of town apparently.”

“Who won?” Jack grinned, eyeing the amount of damage the fight must’ve caused.

“Edgar’s girl did,” the bartender replied with a proud smile. “The tigress, I mean. ‘Zenaida’, I think her name is. She beat them brawlers good.”

“Sorry we missed that,” Gaius laughed. “So what’s going on out there? Why’s there so many people, huh? Governor Duarte’s daughter getting married?”

“Nah, nothing of the sort,” the bartender flapped a hand at him. “As if anyone will actually want to marry Mara Duarte anyway.”

This elicited a laugh from just about everyone inside the tavern.

Then the door opened again and a female cobra followed by three female leopards (who looked almost identical to one another) entered the establishment.

“Ah, Ms. Zeta,” the bartender greeted. “I’m surprised to see you here of all people.”

“Hey, don’t forget to greet my companions Kerry, Sally and Carly,” the cobra said, as she and her companions were helped to their seats by the tavern wenches. “Looks like someone trashed your place.”

“Well if it ain’t Ms. Bethany Zeta herself in my bar today,” Edgar Saint, the tavern owner said as he stepped into view. “And the prince of Delmaron is here too!”

“Hello Mr. Saint,” Gaius said, feeling a bit awkward. “Good to see you on your feet.”

Edgar just laughed.

“About a while back your highness, I actually wasn’t,” he said and smiled and nodded at Zeta’s three companions then turned back to the prince. “So what can I get you fellas?”

“Please, stop calling me that Mr. Saint,” Gaius smiled awkwardly. “I’m just Mr. Faulkner or just plain ‘Guy’ to everyone else. We’re just going to have the usual stuff, you know. Some ale and some of your infamous barbecue. Maybe some of your rum too to go with that. What I would like to ask though is what the heck just happened?”

“That’s what I wanted to know too,” Zeta said. “Looks like they had a big fight.”

“Not too big,” Edgar said proudly. “At least nothing Zenaida couldn’t handle.”

“Oh, the tiger girl,” Zeta said. “So where is she?”

“I don’t know really,” Edgar shrugged. “Said something about going to church. She’s a strong one but she can be really weird sometimes. Anyway, what about you Ms. Zeta, what would you like?”

“Rum and maybe some ceratopsian steak,” Zeta said. “Maybe some chocolate for my girls here, if you have any.”

“Of course,” Edgar said, before walking off. “And we do have some chocolate that came in just yesterday.”

And then Edgar was gone.

“Too many strangers in town,” said Zane, looking out the broken window. “Not really surprised that a fight broke out.”

“Yeah,” Gaius agreed. “I’m still wondering what’s actually going on out there.”

“Haven’t you heard your highness?” Zeta said. “They’ve caught Admiral Sebastian and they’re bringing him here to be executed.”

“You mean the Admiral Sebastian?” Jack nearly rose out of his seat. “The lich? The actual leader of the Grim Sails pirates? They’ve actually caught Admiral Sebastian?”

“Uh-huh,” Zeta nodded. “They’ll arrive here either later or tonight and priests from Ephelron City are on the way to enact rites that will assure his destruction.”

“I strongly doubt they got him without a fight,” Gaius said. “I’ve never met the guy and I never want to meet him but I’m willing to guess that the man’s got some access to some serious magic if the stuff they say about him is true.”

“Of course he does,” Zeta said. “He managed to sink a privateer even while he was fighting a fleet of Confederal Navy ships. Even now, the ship he’s in is escorted by no less than three fleets. One from Ormland, another from Waldoria and another from Delmaron. People from all over have come to watch his execution.”

“All I’m wondering is where’s the rest of the Grim Sails?” Jack said. “He’s the one that brought them together and all, why aren’t they trying to get their boss back?

“You know how pirates are,” Zeta smiled. “It’s either they don’t care or they’re making plans now as we speak.”

Gaius had a bad feeling about what the cobra had just said.