14. Great Minds Think Alike

14. Great Minds Think Alike

Ramorran's face was bruised and aching by the time he was finally free of the gag. But at least he was free of the gag. Shaking the fabric away, he worked enough moisture into his mouth to start up a low hum, directed at the keyhole of the door. He twisted and set his hand against the metal, feeling the mechanism inside, changing pitch until it shifted, the lock sliding back so he could tug the door open with his still-bound hands.

His hands didn't matter. So long as he had his voice, he could get out.

But first, he needed to find Hakan.

He turned to the left and caught sight of a guard further along the corridor. Her back was turned, but at the scuff of Ramorran's footsteps, she turned. Ramorran began to sing, but he'd barely uttered two notes before the door behind her swung open, a fist connected with the side of her head, and she dropped to the floor.

Hakan turned, grinning when he caught sight of Ramorran. "I was coming to free you, but I see you're capable of getting out yourself."

The tension vibrating through Ramorran bled away. "I was coming to free you," he replied.

Two steps brought Hakan to Ramorran's side. "Great minds think alike!" He reached for Ramorran's bindings, freeing his hands quickly.

A rowdy clatter sounded at the end of the corridor. Ramorran's heart thudded and he turned, braced for more guards. Instead, Loula and Ozzo strode into sight. "Cap!" Ozzo broke into a grin. "We were coming to find you!"

Hakan and Ramorran smiled: more great minds thinking alike. Then, the pirate turned to his crewmates. "You were taking too long," he chided.

"Apologies," Loula said, without a trace of apology in her tone. "Things got a little chaotic."

Hakan's attention sharpened. "Anything I need to be aware of?"

Loula shook her head. "Nah. Nothing we haven't faced before. Just turns out we aren't the only people with a grudge against Sixblades."

Hakan frowned. Discomfort slipped down Ramorran's spine: more great minds, all thinking alike at the same time as them? What were the chances of that?

Before he had time to articulate that thought, Loula nodded at him. "We'll go if you're ready?"

Hakan slung his arm around Loula's shoulder, heading towards the door. Ramorran hung back. "I'm not done yet."

"Of course." Hakan twisted back towards him. "We need to find your…" He glanced at Loula, "…thing."

"It's pretty hectic out there," Loula reminded them.

"You go," Ramorran said, waving Hakan away. "I'll be fine alone."

Hakan hesitated and a cold sensation twisted through Ramorran's guts. Loula was Hakan's family. Ramorran was just ... bedmate. A quick fuck. He wasn't going to make Thief choose between them. As though there were even a choice.

"Really. You go. Just make sure Sixblades is kept too busy to come after me."

"We'll do that," Hakan vowed.

Ramorran turned his back, striding away so he didn't have to see Hakan turn his back on him.

~

Hakan followed Loula and Ozzo, while his brain screamed at him to turn the other way.

"Do you need to go with him, Cap?" Loula's voice was odd. Softer than he was used to hearing from her.

"What? No." Loula's intense gaze settled on him long enough for discomfort to prickle down his spine. Ramorran was a grown man. He'd have asked for help if he needed it. He probably wanted privacy, given what Sixblades had stolen. "Come on, we've got work still to do. Where is Sixblades?"

Before today they might have been allies, but that was impossible now Sixblades had taken him prisoner, threatened to keep him in slavery and held Ramorran against his will. And Loula and Ozzo, well … it seemed like none of them were in a forgiving mood towards Sixblades right now.

They hurried up the stairs to the main floor of the building and stepped into chaos.

"What—?" Hakan ducked aside as a man strode past with his arms full of silks.

"I told you," Loula said, "We can get lost in the confusion, right?"

"I'm afraid we might," Hakan muttered.

Ozzo snickered into his collar.

Loula continued the tale. "Turns out we're not the only ones with grudges against Sixblades. His guards have mostly abandoned him and his slaves have grabbed their chance at freedom. Sixblades himself slipped away, but we can track him down if you want?"

The need for revenge burned through him. Hakan nodded. "We won't let him get far."

Loula grabbed the arm of someone running in the opposite direction and secured Sixblades' last known location with a snapped question and a glare. His first mate was a force of nature; it was like old times just having her close.

"Last seen heading to the olive grove," Loula reported.

They changed direction abruptly. Hakan would have bet all he owned (admittedly, not much right now) that the man was heading for the jetty and the open sea, but he no longer knew anything worth knowing about Sixblades.

Once they stepped out of the manor house, the noise faded rapidly. Outside, everything was shadowed by moonlight, the night's air a cool blanket over the island, while the waves provided a constant, restless background noise.

They'd taken half a dozen steps when Loula spoke out. "Why did you stick with us, Cap?"

"What? Why wouldn't I?"

"You and Ramorran seem pretty close."

Hakan turned to Ozzo. "Did she wait three minutes, or was that only two?"

Ozzo chuckled. "She could have quizzed you last night, remember."

Loula slapped his shoulder, then swung to Hakan. "Well?"

"Last time I checked, you were my first mate, not my mother."

She folded her arms, treating him to a glare that felt like it could cut straight through to his soul. God, he'd missed her! "Last time I checked, I wasn't your anything, because you got us caught and enslaved."

"Not on purpose!"

"You under-estimated the emir's men."

"How was I supposed to know they'd figured out how to use fire-powder in water?"

"You're supposed to be the brains of the crew," Loula complained.

"I slipped up, okay? It could happen to the best of us." He straightened. "It did happen to the best of us."

She snapped her tongue against her teeth dismissively.

Hakan turned to Ozzo and rolled his eyes. Ozzo offered a wry grin in exchange. "Are you going to hold it against me for the rest of my life, or only until I'm old and grey?" he asked Loula.

She lifted a shoulder and her stern expression slackened into a grin that vanished as soon as it arrived. "I haven't decided yet. And don't think I've forgotten that you haven't answered my question."

Hakan scoffed. "I'm not Ramorran's mother. He can manage on his own."

Loula's silence spoke louder than most men could shout.

"What?"

"So we're going to sail away and leave him here?"

Hakan bit down the protest that sprang to his lips. He and Ramorran … they weren't anything. Bedmates. Time on board passed pleasantly. The need he felt to hurry after the other man was … odd. He wasn't going to make matters worse by acting on it. "We'll check he's safe, and then yes, we can leave him to it," he said, while protest tugged at his heart. "It was pure practicality that brought us together in the first place. We had to share the boat to get here. He'll secure his property and then we'll go our separate ways."

More hard silence. He turned to find Loula's brows halfway up her forehead.

"What?"

"‘We'll check he's safe' but he doesn't mean anything to you?"

He cleared his throat. "I owe him that much."

"I thought you said you weren't his mother."

"I'm not!"

Loula sniffed, watching him as though she could see into his soul. "You're in love."

Hakan blurted a laugh. Had she really said… "I'm not in love." He looked at Ozzo, only to find the navigator staring calmly back at him. "Has she run mad?" he asked, trying to recruit Ozzo to his side; trying not to examine why he suddenly felt he needed someone on his side.

"Has she?" Ozzo turned the question back on him.

Hakan ignored the question and strode on. He could see the olive grove looming out of the darkness ahead. "We had some fun while we were stuck on a boat together. It doesn't mean anything."

Loula narrowed her eyes. "I hope you're not trying to lie to me."

Hakan laughed, while discomfort wriggled in his guts. "I'm not lying. He's a good-looking man, and his –" He coughed. "Well, that's it. That's all there is to it. It was just sex. You know I don't take that seriously."

"Mmm-hmm." Loula didn't hide her disbelief. Hakan felt hot and cold all over. "If you don't care, and it's just sex, why didn't you walk away as soon as you knew Ozzo and I were free?"

"I – I – I could get him safely onto the island." He pushed away the thought that Ramorran had repeatedly told him he didn't need or want help. Hakan was the one who'd insisted.

Because he was used to being the lynchpin of their plans, he told himself. That was all. "I owed him that much."

"You owed him? He must be something in the sack."

"It's not your business," Hakan snapped, belatedly realising he didn't need to explain himself to his crew.

"It sounds like an unholy mess," Ozzo contributed, unhelpfully.

Loula shook her head. "No. You know what it sounds like? It sounds like Cap found a piece of treasure too precious to be sold on."

Ozzo whistled, long and low.

Hair rose on the back of Hakan's neck. "You take that back!" he tried to joke, but he missed the mark and he knew it. His stomach felt too heavy for teasing, his chest tight.

"Do you think we're getting a new crew member?" Ozzo asked Loula, folding his arms.

"He's not crew! How many times do I need to tell you, we're together for this job and that's all."

"You won't be able to walk away," Loula opined.

"Yes, I will!" Hakan shoved her. She just watched him. "When have I ever been unable to walk away the night after?"

"When it was Ramorran, apparently."

"That's not – I couldn't walk away when we were stuck on the boat, could I? It helped the journey pass."

"If you say so, Cap."

Silence fell. Hakan should be glad his crewmates had given up arguing with him, but the lump of disquiet in his gut twisted and grew with each step. He could walk away from Ramorran. Of course he could. That was always the plan. It was only a temporary thing and his heart definitely wasn't engaged.

He opened his mouth to make exactly that point, to ensure Ozzo and Loula understood. Before he could speak, Loula put a finger to her lips, pointing to a broad-trunked olive tree a few steps ahead. A streak of silk wound from the roots back to the path, gleaming darkly in the moonlight.

Hakan held up a fist. Ozzo and Loula halted. A part of him relaxed when they accepted his direction. Time had passed, but they'd slipped back to their old roles now they were reunited. This was how it should be.

Silently, Hakan crept up to the olive tree, out of sight behind its broad trunk. His ears were pricked for sounds from Sixblades. Silence but for the waves. Hakan freed his dagger and sprang forward to face Ramorran's tormentor.

Anticipation became disappointment.

The pirate was slumped against the trunk of the tree, eyes wide and staring. A wet stain darkened the silk over his heart, the blade of a dagger gleaming in the moonlight.

Nothing was going to surprise Sixblades ever again.

"Damnation."

Ozzo and Loula stood either side, the three of them staring down at the dead man. His robe had been left – presumably because of the blood and the dagger holes – but all his jewels had gone. Ozzo blew out a philosophical breath. "Someone took a major dislike to the pirate king."

Hakan prodded Sixblades' shoulder, although he didn't truly expect an elaborate feint. The corpse slid slowly to one side, slumping to the ground. He was very, very dead. Hakan wasn't sure whether to be pleased the matter was over and done with, or angry that he was deprived of his revenge.

"That's a nice piece of work." Ozzo seized the dagger's hilt and tugged it from Sixblades' ribcage. He bent and wiped the blade on the corpse's clothes, then held it up to the moonlight.

The blade was clearly sharp and strong, while the hilt was covered in finely-tooled leather. "Worth a handful silver," Loula murmured.

"Think I'll keep it," Ozzo said.

"Nice to have a souvenir of happy times," Loula agreed.

Ozzo elbowed her as he slotted the dagger between the others in his belt. He nudged at the corpse with a toe. "Don't suppose they left its sheath behind," he murmured, examining the ground.

"That's too much to expect," Loula chided.

"Wait." Hakan threw out a hand and Ozzo froze. Beneath the silk was a gleam of grey-white fur. His heart beat hard in his throat. Here was the skin Ramorran had gone searching for. He crouched, tugging the fur from under the body.

He pulled a face when stood up, the fur dangling from his hands. Even in the moonlight he could see the damage – blood stained a large patch, while a gash from the dagger made a hole big enough to fit his hand through. He hoped it could be cleaned – could it be mended? Would it heal? He rolled it up carefully and turned to his crew.

Loula ripped the stained part of the silk away and bundled up the remains, tucking it under her arm.

"Now we've all got something," Ozzo said with a grin. "That's fair."

"Back to the house," Hakan announced. "I need to give this to Ramorran."

The three of them fell into step. Loula gave him a minute before she leaned close and said, slyly, "I bet lover boy is missing you already, too."

Hakan's jaw tightened. He chose to pretend he hadn't heard because – for once – he had no smart reply to make.