Page 43 of Scourge of the Shores
Robert didn’t trust the man, mainly since he chose to remain nameless and hid his face from the barkeep, but it was only ten Delphi, and he seemed to be a pirate through and through.
Helping the poor would be considered good work and might atone for some of his more ruthless deeds when Tophet called.
He glanced at Danna, who gave him a nod, likely swayed by the shanty’s weight.
With her agreement, he dug into his moneybag tied to his belt and pressed ten golden coins onto the table, one at a time.
“I agree to yer trade.”
The man swept the coins into his palm. “Mind ye well, Captain Jaymes—a treasure stolen from the gods rarely comes without a price. I’ve heard madness follows the man who holds it too long.”
“Higher the price, higher the reward,” Robert said, unimpressed, and leaned in. “But if ye be a trickster, I’ll have me crew drag ye off this island, skin ye alive, and let the salty sea rot yer flesh.”
“Expect nothin’ less from a Jaymes,” the man said, pulling his hood down farther over his eyes and chin. But it was no good, Robert’d seen him and Robert never forgot a face.
“I’ll be stayin’ at the Kyve Inn should ye find a need to carry out yer threat,” the man said.
Robert watched the stranger walk out of The Drunken Sailor as he sipped from his rum bottle.
He ran a finger along the map’s edge, his lips curving into a slow, satisfied smirk.
His gaze flicked to Danna, who approached amid the quiet chatter of the tavern.
She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and she stayed his. He was king, and she was his crown.
Two familiar voices echoed from the doorway. Danna held his heart, but their twins in the doorway could melt it. Robert watched them enter—bold, brash, beautiful. Two halves of his legacy, bound by salt and blood. If the gods still ruled, they would fear those two.
Juliette Chadwick Jaymes—sharp-eyed and fierce, her name already feared in the North Sea.
The DeepMother’s soul ran in her blood, skilled with gun, blade, and fist—a dream to sailors, a nightmare to fools.
But no man was to touch her. She was her mother’s pride and joy and her father’s most outstanding achievement.
Beside her, her twin—Robert “Bobby” Jaymes, named for his father, already known among pirate crews as “The Ruthless” for his cunning and steel, was poised to carry the Jaymes name into legend.
He and Juliette were equals. Raven hair and cold blue eyes—they had been born beneath the sea dragon spike bolted to Storm Rider ’s mast, at Danna’s command.
Both Robert and Danna knew the relic might be nothing more than bone—but the sea feared it.
The legend alone was shield enough. Let the world believe prophecy marked their children, and none would dare come close.
The twins were destined for greatness, born revered upon the waves.
And their greatness called that evening.
Robert waved them over, and they all huddled at the Jaymes table. Robert glanced between his children—his heirs. Grown, bold, reckless, full of fire, and ready for the world. Their legacy.
“What is it?” Bobby asked, rolling the scroll out wide.
A map of the South Sea lay before them, stitched together piece by piece, detailing every current and island, every home of the Krakenkind and the Gills, but a piece was missing.
Juliette stared at the bloodstains and the sea-worn paper.
Danna hummed, her finger tracing the detailed currents and islands. “Whether it leads to treasure or not, it’ll guide us well south next summer. Finer detail here than the great map we had at the island.”
Robert smirked. He tapped the map—slow, deliberate. “But it could lead to the greatest treasure in the world. Stolen from the gods. Hidden by kings. Sought by fools.”
"If the treasure is truly there," Juliette said with the silver words her father taught her. Sharp as a blade, her voice dropped into cold pirate slang. “I’ll be claimin’ it ‘fore Bobby knows it’s gone—dim as a dead lantern, that one.”
Bobby snorted and sent an elbow into her arm. “Over me rottin’ corpse, ye will—ye couldn’t steal a coin from a blind beggar.”
Danna chuckled at their loving banter but ran a finger along her bottom lip. “It don’t matter where it lies or who forged it. We’ll find it. We always do. Then we’ll decide its fate. What say ye, Captain?”
Juliette and Bobby’s gazes snapped at their father.
“Our greatest journey lies ahead,” Robert said. He recounted the enchantments he’d stolen over the years—each one potent, each one waiting. Whatever the seas demanded, he’d make sure his family endured.
“This treasure, if it’s real,” Robert said. “It’ll belong to a Jaymes, and if the warning rings true, that madness follows if held too long, we’ll each carry the load.”
The family shared a knowing glance.
“Commit this map to memory,” Robert ordered, afraid it could fall into other hands. “We’ll take it to Tophet.”
The map glinted in the candlelight—promises written in blood and salt—and by nightfall, burned by the table’s candle.
As the final corner of the scroll turned to ash, a whisper stirred in the shadows beyond the docks. Treachery stirred in the tides. Enemies spurred, and alliances shifted.
Legends whispered: When kings carve their crowns in blood, the sea demands a price in pain. For the DeepMother gave her love, and the world gave her chains.