Chapter 4

The king's daughter had snuck out again. She had feigned illness to skip her tedious mathematics lesson, so boring that it was tear-inducing. It was only slightly less boring than her needlework and "Manners and Etiquette" lessons, which she felt if she had to do one more curtsy or stab herself one more time with a needle, she would truly go crazy. She had put on her worn trousers, leather boots, and cotton shirt, carefully wrapping her chest and stuffing her pants with cotton rags. She had a good feeling about tonight; she knew that it would be an excellent night for pirating. Rani stuffed a couple extra clothes near her groin; she felt cocksure in every sense of the word. No man aboard The Trident had yet surmised that she was actually a woman.

Blind to what they're not looking for, thought Rani.

She didn't have much to hide. Although tall, Rani was slim in the hips and chest, with brown, curly hair that she kept short, despite her father's withering stares and snide remarks about keeping some sense of her femininity intact. However, these remarks were few and far between, so Rani ignored them. She had a heart-shaped face, high cheekbones, and lips that the ladies called "full" and the men aboard The Trident called whore's lips. During the early days, some of them had taunted Rani for having such a womanly feature.

Until she decked one across the face and he dropped like an anchor. She hoped that none of the other crew members could see how her knees shook, but she knew that she would never gain respect until she fought for herself on their terms. Now they kept their distance.

The crew of The Trident stole up silently behind the foreign vessel. A stout man by the name of Peter had heard that the Galliki had seized a load of cargo and were going to try to sail it back to the mainland.

Operative word being "try," thought Rani, as she grinned in anticipation. She fastened a knot the way Captain Jones had taught her. She hoisted herself up the main sail line and fastened knots as she went, breathing in the smell of salt air and fish. The night air blew cool and hummed with danger. A raid was always dangerous, but this crew was particularly adept at disarming enemy ships without bloodshed. Although most men onboard were not afraid of taking a life or two, Rani had pointed out that it would make all of their lives easier if they did not have so many bounties on their heads. Still, Rani always went into a raid knowing that she might have to spill blood.

"Fenris," called Rani to one of her crewmates below. "Toss me up that spyglass."

"Wrap those pretty lips around my cock," said Fenris, as he acquiesced to her request.

Rani smirked as she deftly caught the brass object. She gazed into it and saw that the sentries posted on the ship were facing south, the direction of the island. The crew of The Trident were attacking from the Northeast, from a tiny speck of land used by pirates for such an occasion.

The cargo in question was sugar, worth more than gold. The island of Ispania was famous for its sugar production, as its warm climate and heavy rainfall made the soil rich and fertile for such a difficult crop. Only the very rich could afford to have sugar in their kitchens; the rest of the world sweetened their food with honey or nothing. Taking back the sugar was not so much stealing it as stealing it back for the kingdom. Rani had discussed with Captain Jones distributing it to the poorer sections of the city, where they could either sell it or enjoy it themselves.

The crew of The Trident creeped aboard The Coral Lily and quickly incapacitated their rivals. Rani slipped behind a few men and knocked them unconscious with a muffled hit to the head or by squeezing their throats until they passed out. The latter was more difficult to execute because of her relative size but she could do it if she had the element of surprise. Once the enemy crew were tied up and gagged, the men of The Trident quickly raided their pockets for valuables and finer boots than they currently wore.

Rani noticed something was wrong when she walked down to the second level of the ship.

It was empty.

Usually, pirate ships would stuff as much cargo as possible on the two levels below deck, but so far, Rani did not see a single wooden crate that held the valuable crop.

"Rani," whispered Fenris from the third level. "Get down here."