The Ether Witch Volume 2

Tam joined the line of sailors that had gathered at the starboard side of the ship as orders were shouted from Captain Sun and his first mate.

Not wanting to disturb the men as they navigated whatever trouble was afoot, Tam squinted at the boat that seemed to be causing a commotion.

Was it the Zinferan emperor?

Had he sent a ship to catch them?

But the longer Tam stared at the boat, the more he realized that it didn't look like a Zinferan or a Daxarian boat at all.

It had a long bow that curved upward; even more so than Troivackian boats. It was also longer than most boats, and more narrow, with only two large, white sails attached.

Tam tilted his head, puzzled, until he noticed the third boat on the other side of the strange one.

The third boat he recognized as Zinferan and… The flag told him that it happened to be a pirate ship.

"I really should never get on another boat… It's a safety risk for everyone at this point with my luck…" he muttered while turning to find the captain to see what he would be planning.

Captain Sun got to him first. "Lord Tamlin, I'm afraid we have come across a Lobahlan ship in distress."

"Lobahlan!" Tam looked back over his shoulder in surprise at the vessel.

No wonder it was a design he'd never seen before!

"Yes. They are being assaulted by some pirates, and we thought this might be a good time to show you what the weapons Lord Jiho Ryu has funded and helped design. The only issue being that we will need to get closer to the pirate ship, and come up and around them. So we will most likely lose half a day of travel."

Tam's interested expression hardened. "Is there a more expedient way of helping the Lobahlans? It really is important that we get back to Daxaria as quickly as possible."

Captain Sun paused. "Unless we leave them to fend for themselves, this is the safest means of intervention."

Tam's lips pressed together as he let out a breath.

As much as the delay would cost, he couldn't just turn away from an entire vessel worth of people.

"Alright. Where is Eli?"

Captain Sun nodded up toward the ratlines. "Lady Elisara insisted on climbing upward. She said if she can transform and take to the air she can get a better idea of what is happening from above."

Tam nodded, then headed over to start climbing up, only he was too late.

He watched, his heart stopping in an instant, as Eli took a flying leap off the crows nest toward the water.

She transformed midair, flapped her wings once, and still continued to plummet toward the water. Tam flushed with numbing panic, when at the last moment, she held her wings out, and caught an air current that helped her glide right over the surface of the Alcide Sea, her front paw scraping over the waves.

She's trying to kill me. Tam sputtered in his mind as he watched Kasha rise in the air overhead.

He continued to stand with his hand on the rope of the rat line, and waited as Kasha circled the two ships overhead, then dared to drop a little lower.

Tam's grip on the rope tightened. "Not so close," he whispered.

Sure enough, his heart seized as he saw the streak of an arrow fly into the sky.

Tam turned away briefly, his hands flying through his hair as he struggled to watch Eli flirt with death. Gods… And she might be pregnant. Holy… Hell…

Luckily, Eli only did two more swoops before turning and rounding back toward their own ship—though Tam had been a moment away from disappearing into the void and attempting to reappear on one of the ships. He had never traveled that far to somewhere he hadn't seen before, but right then he didn't give a damn.

By the time her wings flared out, pulling her to a stop over the ship's deck, Tam was almost ready to lock her in a cabin for the rest of the trip.

Then she lowered, and shifted back into her human form, prompting her to drop down on a hand and knee to catch herself on the deck.

Two sailors moved forward as though to help her, but Tam beat them to it.

He offered her his hand, and upon helping her stand up was about to go on to share with her the wide array of anxiety induced speculations he'd just endured, but Captain Sun was already there.

"Lady Elisara, what is the situation?"

"It doesn't look as though the Lobahlans are sailing with a full crew for the size of the ship they are on, so they are at a severe disadvantage. The pirates haven't boarded yet, but they will soon unless they decide to wait and see what we will do."

"A large flying cat would make a lot of people change plans," Tam pointed out a little dryly.

Eli shot him a quick frown before turning back to the captain.

Captain Sun nodded. "They most likely will prepare for a fight. Hopefully this provides the Lobahlans some time to escape."

Tam moved his hands to his pockets as he fought against the blind panic he was wading out of. "Were you able to see how many pirates were on deck?"

Eli raised an eyebrow and considered the question. "At least fifteen."

"A smaller boat then." Captain Sun's shoulders relaxed fractionally at this discovery.

"Do you think I could dispatch them?" Tam asked lightly.

Both the captain and Eli stared at him dumbfounded for a moment.

"Tam, just because there were fifteen on deck doesn't mean there aren't more below deck."

"It'd put a dent in their plans and they may retreat," he argued.

"That's dangerous," Eli countered evenly.

"Oh, and I suppose what you went and did was just a fun stretch of the wings?" Tam stared at Eli whose eyes narrowed up at him as she slowly turned to square her body to him, her arms crossing.

Evidently sensing the tension between the couple, Captain Sun hesitated before clearing his throat and continuing the conversation. "Lord Tamlin, it is not necessary to risk yourself. The weapons that Lord Jiho Ryu has armed us with really will not leave the pirates much choice but to flee."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"If you are talking about the weapon called the 'cannon', I reviewed its design in my cabin," Tam's attention swung back to the Zinferan. "From what I was reading, it is entirely possible that the Lobahlan ship could receive damage from a missed shot."

The captain gave a slight grimace and tilt of his head. "I'm thinking the Lobahlan ship will have been able to pull far enough away by that time."

"Then why bother attacking?" Tam persisted.

He was beginning to get the impression that the Zinferan captain was maybe just a little too excited to showcase this new 'cannon' invention.

However, as they'd been talking, their ship had still been making its way closer to the pirate and Lobahlan ships bobbing in the water.

When Tam eventually realized this, He fixed the captain with a flat look, then turned to make his way back to the railing to see if the pirates had started boarding the Lobahlan ship. He was starting to squint again when the captain appeared at his side and handed him a spyglass. Taking the brass instrument without a word, Tam lifted it to his eye and saw…

"They're launching arrows that are on fire at the Lobahlan vessel. It doesn't look like they've boarded, and… They are already starting to pull away… Oh."

"What?" Eli asked from his other side.

Tam lowered the spyglass. "I think… What is happening… is the pirates saw you, and decided that to avoid getting eaten, they'd cripple the other boat."

Tam cast a sidelong glance at Eli and watched her cheeks pinken.

"They do seem to be pulling farther starboard to loop around and escape," the captain agreed, sounding a little too glum as he took his turn peering through the spyglass.

A particularly large flare of flames drew everyone's attention as the Lobahlan sails were swiftly swallowed in a cloud of smoke.

Sighing, but also feeling relieved that they would not be entering into combat, Tam turned his back on the Lobahlan ship and rested against the railing.

Eli, still facing the blazing vessel, eventually noticed he was watching her.

"What?"

Tam tilted his head and continued staring at her firmly. "Why didn't you talk to me before you ran off to check over there."

"Why would I need to? They needed help, we needed more information to offer any."

"Because it was dangerous?"

"We're always in danger." Eli pushed away from the railing, her right hand still resting on the wood. The way she stared back up at Tam told him that she was damn well ready to fight him on this.

"You could've been shot." Tam lowered his voice, as more members of the crew passed by them and Captain Sun left—most likely to talk to their purser to check about room and provisions for the Lobahlan survivors.

"I was high enough in the air that they would've missed."

"You dipped closer though—and for all you know one of them could have been a witch."

"Tam?"

"What?"

"You're smothering me."

Straightening Tam gazed down at Eli as she moved her hands to her hips.

"And what if I just vanished on over there? What if I appeared on the pirate ship and said 'oh hello, don't mind me, just taking a headcount'?"

"Again, I was higher up in the air! There was a lot less risk. I could see what they were doing—why are you not trusting my judgment?"

Tam made an aggravated noise and turned away, his own hands moving to his hips as he took a beat to calm himself.

When he looked back at Eli she was quite obviously gnawing on her tongue as she practically steamed with anger.

Letting out a long breath Tam then said, "I trust your judgment, but sometimes being given a heads up is nice."

"Oh, like you gave me a heads up when you went to break into a nobleman's house?" Eli shot back.

Tam blinked in surprise, but collected himself again quickly. "We weren't a couple then."

This managed to make Eli even more incensed. "So my opinion and judgment has never been valued. Perfectl. It isn't just because I'm sleeping with you."

Tam felt a ball of prickly anger in his own chest churn. "It always has mattered to me. But back then when I was only your employer it was well within my rights to be making decisions for everyone."

"Oh, yes, and that never had a bad repercussion for others! It's not like you'd disappear for days or anything!"

"I came back and saw everything through! Eli, just what the… Do you really disagree with me that before you went charging off toward a pirate ship, you maybe should've checked in with me?"

"If someone was in a life or death situation, I could have saved them! Time was important and I didn't want to waste any!"

Tam fell silent for a moment. "You don't see a life or death situation as dangerous to you? And, again I'll ask to be sure I'm clear, that I shouldn't be told about them at all?"

It was Eli's turn to go quiet. "We're going to argue in circles."

Just as Tam was opening his mouth to make another scathing remark, Luca and Penelope bolted up to them.

"Dad, are we fighting more pirates?" Luca asked excitedly.

After giving a final lingering stare at Eli, Tam slowly lowered his attention to his son. "No, they are already leaving."

"Awe!" Luca's shoulders slouched dramatically as he let his arms dangle.

Tam looked at the sky. He needed to try to teach Luca that violence and conflict was wrong. His plans on how to make that happen, however, were interrupted when Penelope chimed in to address Luca.

"That would have been a bad thing, dummy." She then gave a very grown up sigh, folded her arms, and stared up at Tam. "So what's happening now?"

Unable to help himself, Tam glanced back at Eli, then back down at the little girl staring up at him impatiently. "I'm starting to have a vague inkling of what my future home life is going to be, and I'm not sure I'm okay with it…"

Ignoring Tam's comment, Eli answered Penelope. "The pirates set fire to a ship belonging to some Lobahlans, so we are going to see about helping them."

"Oh! I've never met any Lobahlans!" Penelope perked up.

"I've met one or two… they're nice. They don't like talking about Lobahl much. But Dad's met and talked a lot with one! Remember? He talked about Mr. Kasim Jelani!" Luca burst out eagerly.

Unable to remain unaffected by the exuberant reactions of the children, Tam smiled. "Well, we're going to talk to a few of them today. But they're probably a little stressed after the pirates set fire to their boat, so I think the adults will meet them first and introduce you kids later to be safe."

"Awe!" This time the lament was made in unison by both children.

Reaching up to rub the back of his neck with a long sigh, Tam couldn't help but think to himself, I can't seem to say the right thing at all today…