21. Siren’s Call

21. Siren's Call

"Something's going on in that cove." Hakan's voice was distorted by the spyglass pressed into his cheek as he looked in the direction he expected Ramorran to appear from.

"Loverboy on his way?" Loula's tone was teasing; it was clearly going to take a while for her to get used to the idea that her captain had fallen in love and planned to stay there.

They were too far distant to make out details, but still, "I don't think so," Hakan replied slowly. "There are several figures, not just one."

"Are they heading out to fish?" Ozzo asked. "How do Ramorran's people make a living, anyway? Fishing?"

Hakan's heartbeat sped up. Loula and Ozzo didn't seem to be aware of Ramorran's difference, and he didn't plan to tell them anything. It was Ramorran's secret to reveal if he wanted. "Could be fishing, yes," he murmured.

"Lucky if they know a way through the rocks," Loula said, scanning the cliffs and the caves with a hand shading her eyes. "The area is notorious."

"Hmm." Hakan didn't attempt a more detailed reply. He suspected the presence of the rocks ensured the privacy Ramorran's people needed to be safe. And having seen Ramorran in action against Sixblades, he was also starting to suspect why the area had so many shipwrecks, and it wasn't simply due to the restless waves churning around the cliffs. More secrets that weren't his to confide.

He set down the spyglass. "It seems to have quietened down. I'd like us to get a bit closer." He paused, wondering if Loula or Ozzo would argue. They were in a strange limbo since he was used to being captain, but it was their boat, not his. Fortunately, they'd always worked as a team.

Loula lifted a shoulder. "It's a fine day and we're a small craft. We should be able to avoid the rocks."

Ozzo and Hakan were pulling up the anchor between them, Loula setting the sail, when sound drifted across the waves. The hair on the back of Hakan's neck lifted. He couldn't make out any words, but the melody raised an intense yearning in his breast. He needed to reach the singer. He met Ozzo's gaze and read the same urgency in his expression. They redoubled their efforts, the anchor lifting from the clear water moments later. It had barely landed on deck before Loula set them in motion, skimming the waves towards the cove.

Halfway there, a fuzzy part of Hakan's brain woke up enough to tell him what was happening. "Slow down," he instructed Loula.

She frowned, gesturing to their destination. "We need to get there. He's waiting."

"I know." Everything in his body pulled towards the cove. Ramorran was there, waiting for him, he had to be! The idea of danger was a small, dream-like thing that barely mattered. He shook his head, crouching and covering his ears so the fog clouding his brain lifted slightly. He rooted through their supplies to find a jar of putty used to caulk small holes in the boat's hull.

He stopped up one ear, so he could still hear the song but it didn't consume his being the way it had a moment before. He strode to Loula at the tiller. "Stop up your ears," he told her, holding out two tiny balls of putty.

She looked at them in his palm, then up to his face. Her expression was glazed. He would have diagnosed too much rum under ordinary circumstances. But these were far from ordinary circumstances. "I don't need that." She gestured at the shoreline once more. "We need to hurry. Don't you want to hurry?"

That rather depended: were they hurrying towards Ramorran, or towards a doom planned by his people? Ramorran himself had been unsure of his welcome. Hakan didn't expect them to greet his pirate friends with cheers and garlands. "I want us to arrive safely," he replied. "Please, Loula, for my sake."

She chuckled as though the request was silly but cute – that was a new expression for Loula! – and took the putty, pushing it into her ears. Hakan saw the moment the song was muted. Her expression cleared, she frowned and adjusted the sail so they slowed immediately.

"Hey!" Ozzo was at the prow, leaning over as though he couldn't get close enough. "Hurry up!" He called. "We aren't far now."

Hakan repeated his request, and once Ozzo's ears were also stopped-up, he relaxed. The song was an insistent pull, but one he could control. He got Ozzo's attention, pointed to his eyes, then jabbed a finger to the waves beneath them. Using both hands he mimed a collision. Ozzo nodded understanding, craning over the prow once more, but with his attention focused on the waves and the rocks beneath them instead of the call of temptation. Ozzo swung an arm back, thumb lifted to indicate there were no problems with their current course.

Hakan stood on the deck between Ozzo and Loula, arms folded, his attention centred on the cove as they drew nearer and nearer. He fought the urge to simply dive over the side and swim, the need to get closer by any means possible. He wanted it to be Ramorran; needed it to be his beloved.

But the sense he clung to urged caution. If it was Ramorran, why hadn't he swum out to meet them? He'd told them to wait in the bay, not to come to the cove. A premonition of danger crawled up Hakan's spine, keeping him alert even as the song urged him to throw caution to the winds.

They drew closer to the cove and Hakan lifted the spyglass once more. The scene inside the cove sharpened and his breath caught. Ramorran stood inside, mouth wide open in song, his bound hands making it clear why he hadn't swum out to meet them.

He turned, gesturing to Loula to hurry. She rolled her eyes at his sudden change of instructions, and waved a hand to indicate the waiting cove. "I can't get inside," she pointed out, her voice overloud, "The entrance is too narrow. If we get in we'll never get out again."

Hakan turned back, registering the sense of her words. He scanned the scene and pointed to a spot on their port side. Loula nodded and guided the boat towards the cliffs, Ozzo giving an occasional jab left or right to steer them between the rocks. By the time they butted against the cove's entrance, Hakan had stripped down to his shorts. When Ozzo and Loula gave him the nod, he tucked a knife into his waistband and slipped over the side.

The water inside the cove was choppy, waves rushing in only to find themselves constricted by rocks on three sides and churning crazily as they forced their way back out. Hakan was buffeted from side to side. More than once he was thrown against the rocks as he moved slowly forward. Fortunately, centuries of tides had rounded their edges. He knew he'd be bruised, but not ripped apart by them.

"Hakan!" Ramorran's song ended with the call of his name. Hakan's strokes sped up, fighting the waves. Ramorran sang again and determination swept through him. A minute of effort and he was close enough to grab Ramorran's shirt as the waves tried to sweep him past.

"You came!"

Ramorran's skin was chill beneath his fingers, the water up to his waist, but his smile sent warmth flowing through Hakan. "Of course I came. I promised. I'd have come earlier if I'd known you needed me." He couldn't resist, pressing a brief, firm kiss to Ramorran's cool, salty lips as he found his footing on the rocks. "Now, let's get you free."

Cutting the rope that held his wrists was easy. Ramorran's ankles were harder with the restless waves trying to drag Hakan away when he ducked beneath the surface. He cut the long rope first, and surfaced with a gasp. Ramorran boosted onto the rock to get his feet out of the water and Hakan hacked through the bindings and threw them into the sea. When that was done, he set his hands on Ramorran's chilly thighs and looked straight at him. "I have an order from your captain."

Ramorran's throat bobbed, his expression clouded with nerves. "Yes?"

"You're never to leave my sight again."

Ramorran chuckled wetly. "I should never have come. I should have known I wouldn't be welcome back home."

Hakan wanted to kill the man's entire, worthless family. His own kin had tied him here and left him to die? And no doubt they'd condemn pirates as bloodthirsty and merciless! But if he said so he wouldn't be telling Ramorran anything he didn't know. He wrapped his arms around Ramorran instead, chests pressed together so his warmth could ease the chill of his love's skin. "I'm sorry. Your family should have treasured you, like I do."

Ramorran nodded, tucking his face into the crook of Hakan's shoulder, arms tight on his back as though reassuring himself the other man was really there. "I'll stay with you," he murmured. "As long as you want me."

Hakan's heart sang. "Like I said, I'm never letting you out of my sight." Not now; maybe not ever.

Ramorran nodded. "Come on, let's go." He guided him confidently over the slippery rocks to the cove's entrance so they only needed to slip into the water at its mouth to reach the dhow. When they set hands on the hull, Ramorran gave him a sheepish smile. "I wish my song had been precise enough to guide you right inside."

Hakan shrugged and boosted onto the deck. "It doesn't matter. I have a few bruises, but I'd bear worse for you."

Ramorran accepted the hand he extended, squeezing his fingers. "I'm sorry. I don't want any harm to come to you. Especially not because of me."

Hakan smiled, ducking to press a kiss against Ramorran's lips simply because he could. "If you want to make it up, you can kiss each one better when we're alone."

Ramorran grinned, "I'd like that."

Hakan just knew everything was going to be all right. How could it be anything else when the two of them were together?

"Have you got those earplugs, Lou?" Ozzo's voice made him turn to find his crewmates regarding them. Loula's arms were folded across her chest while Ozzo's hand was held palm-up in expectation of putty. Ozzo met his gaze and grinned. "I have a feeling we're going to need to plug our ears tonight."