Page 31

“H ave ye seen Payne since the wedding?”

Maude and Francis were standing in their encampment at the dawn of a new day.

There was food cooking on an open fire, a pot of beans and some woodland creature that had been alive the day before.

They were so used to eating fish that the smell of cooking meat was somewhat off-putting, but they were trying to warm to it.

For the hardscrabble pirates of Medusa’s Disciples, food was food.

They’d eat anything.

“Nay,” Maude said. “They went back tae Blackchurch after the mass and I’ve not seen them since.”

“How do ye think it went for them?” Francis asked. “They dinna seem too angry about the wedding. Payne dinna seem angry at all.”

“Why should he be?”

They both turned to see Declan walking up, a piece of bread in his hands as he chewed loudly. When he saw that he had their attention, he took another bite.

“I mean it,” he said, chewing. “Why should he be angry? He married the princess. He has the title and all of Da’s wealth. Why should he be angry?”

Francis frowned as he watched the man eat. “Where did ye get the bread?”

Declan deliberately took another big bite, looking his brother in the eye. “There was a woman in the village more than willing tae give me a loaf,” he said. “Ye simply have tae know who tae ask.”

Maude looked at him. “In this village?”

“Aye. Where else?”

“I told ye that we promised not tae steal from the villagers here,” she said.

“I dinna steal from her,” Declan insisted. “I asked nicely.”

It took Maude a moment to realize more of her men were eating loaves of bread, chatting and yawning as the day began to dawn. Her jaw began to twitch as she struggled against her rising anger.

“Did ye pay the women for the bread ye took?” she finally asked, turning to her middle son. “Well?”

He was being very casual about it. “Mayhap some of them, we paid,” he said. “But others, I dunna know. We may have simply taken what we wanted.”

Maude grabbed the bread out of his hand and threw it on the ground, stomping on it. “This is not a game, Declan,” she growled. “I swore that we wouldna raid this village or harass these villagers whilst we were here. If ye make me look like a liar, I’ll take it out on yer hide.”

Angry that his bread had been taken away and ruined, Declan flared. “Ye made the vow,” he pointed out hotly. “I dinna. I’m hungry for bread, so I went and found some. If that makes ye look like a liar, then that is yer misfortune. Not mine.”

Maude whipped out a dagger she always carried, wielding the weapon in front of her as Declan pulled out his own weapon.

Francis, unwilling to see his mother defeated in a knife fight, kicked the dagger out of Declan’s hand.

When Declan tried to come at him with a fist, Francis kicked him between the legs.

Declan went down like a stone.

“All of ye,” Maude shouted angrily, “take the bread back where ye found it and give the woman ye stole from a pence for her troubles. I’ll not have the sloppy lot of ye make me look like a liar, so do it now or face my wrath!”

She meant every word. Maude’s men knew well enough that if she was displeased, she went for the first thing a man held dear—that private body part between their legs.

She’d cut off more of those than the men could count and wasn’t beyond cutting them off her own men, so those with the loaves began to back away, hesitantly, but willing to return to the village.

They had no choice. As Maude stood there, glaring at them, a figure came through the trees behind the tavern.

Maude found herself looking at Payne.

Her eldest son was frowning at the men who were filtering past him, some carrying loaves of bread, but he frowned even more when he spied Declan on his knees.

“What is happening?” he asked. “Where are those men going? And why is Declan on the ground?”

“He’s on the ground because he threatened Maudie,” Francis said, going to stand with Payne. “I made it so he canna stand anytime soon.”

That brought Payne’s immediate condemnation. He glared at Declan before looking at his mother. “Are ye well?” he asked. “He dinna hurt ye?”

Maude shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “But he’d better learn tae obey my commands or the next time, his injuries might not heal so quickly.”

“What happened?”

Maude nodded in the direction of the village. “Did ye see the men heading toward the village?”

“I did.”

She returned her attention to Declan. “Evidently, they went on a foraging mission this morning and stole bread,” she said.

“Or mayhap they paid for it. Declan wouldna give me a straight answer, so I can only assume they stole things. I told him I gave my promise that my men wouldna steal from the village, and by stealing bread, he’s made me out tae be a liar.

I canna abide by that, so I sent the men tae return their ill-gotten gains. ”

Payne could figure the rest out. “And Declan doesna agree?”

Maude simply shrugged, but by this time, Declan was lurching to his feet. His face was red and sweaty. “Francis,” he growled, “ye better hope I never catch ye alone, because ye’ll pay for this.”

“If ye dinna disobey me, we wouldna be having this conversation,” Maude shot back. “This is yer fault, Declan. The sooner ye take responsibility for yer actions, the sooner we can let the matter lie.”

Declan wasn’t willing to forgive and forget. “This is the problem, Maudie,” she said. “Ye always defend Francis or Payne, but never me. I’m always the one ye take tae task and I’m tired of it.”

“How do I take ye tae task?” Maude asked. “If ye commit a wrong, I tell ye. If Francis commits a wrong, I tell him. I’m not persecuting ye over the others.”

Declan wouldn’t be placated. “No man should have tae be subject tae his mother’s punishment.”

“I only punish ye when ye deserve it.”

“That’s all the time!”

“Then that should be a lesson tae ye tae obey me!”

Declan threw out his arms in a gesture of rage. “All I do is obey ye!” he boomed. “I serve on yer ships, I do as ye ask, and I take a bit of bread because I’m hungry, and suddenly, I’m making ye out tae be a liar.”

“Ye did,” Payne said seriously. “If ye canna see her point, Declan, then ye’re hopeless.”

Declan didn’t take kindly to his eldest brother piling on. “And ye,” he snarled. “Ye have no say in all of this. Ye’ve shunned us for the past ten years, so ye have no rights at all.”

Payne snorted with mirth. “I’ve a position that doesna require me tae steal or kill from others,” he said.

“I’m the educated one, Declan. I’ve been trained, far more trained than ye’ll ever be.

All ye’re good enough for is tae stand on the deck of yer mammy’s ship and steal from those who have more than ye do.

Ye’re a thief and an outlaw and that’s all ye’ll ever be. ”

By the time he was finished, Declan was shaking with rage. “Ye bastard,” he growled. “I’ll not forgive ye for that.”

“I dunna care if ye do or not.”

Declan shook his head, slowly, his jaw tight.

“Da should have disowned ye,” he said. “Ye think ye’re too good for the family and he should have disowned ye.

Now ye marry a captive. A captive! A woman who says she’s a Portuguese princess, but how do we know?

For all we know, she was a whore for the men on her ship and now she’s a whore for ye! ”

Payne moved in his direction menacingly, but Maude and Francis stopped him from charging. “Nay, lad,” Maude said steadily. “He’s not worth yer talent nor yer time. Ye’ll not tear him apart in front of me.”

Payne was furious. He let his considerably smaller mother stop his forward progression as Francis moved toward Declan and picked up a fairly large branch off the ground as he did. Declan saw him coming, stepping back just as Francis swung the branch at his head.

“Get out of here,” Francis demanded. “Ye’re a shame tae the entire family, Declan. Go somewhere else before Maudie lets Payne rip yer head off.”

Declan was already backing away. “I’ll go,” he muttered. “I’ll go forever. I’ll not stay with the lot of ye, filthy whoremongers and cowards. I’m finished with ye.”

He stormed off, leaving his brothers and mother to watch him go.

Maude took her hands off Payne’s chest, taking a few steps after Declan, watching him as he headed back into the encampment.

There was concern in her expression for the son who was the most volatile, and the most unpredictable, out of them all.

“Francis,” she said in a low voice, “ye’d better go. He’ll try tae turn the men with his lies, so make sure he doesna.”

Francis nodded, following his brother’s footsteps into the encampment. They could already hear his voice in the distance as Declan began to shout his case.

“Should ye go, Maudie?” Payne asked. “Those are yer men, after all.”

Maude shook her head. “Nay,” she said. Then she took a deep breath and faced him.

“Payne, ye may as well know that I intend that Francis should succeed me. Declan… he thinks only of himself. He doesna think of his men. That was the one thing yer grandfather begged of me before he died— take care of my men, Maudie. He told me that, and I’ve done just that for ten years.

But Declan doesna think like that, and it’s going tae be a battle when I turn the family business over tae Francis. ”

Payne understood what she was saying. In fact, it occurred to him that Maude was where he got his weakness from.

That weakness that saw him show more empathy or emotion than he should.

Maude had it too. Both he and his mother had hearts that they couldn’t quite protect, which was strange, given their chosen vocations. But Declan didn’t have that problem.

As Payne had once described him, the man was dangerous.

Even to his family.

“Ye’re pitting yer sons against one another,” he said quietly. “But I suppose ye already know that.”

“I do,” Maude said. “Francis is strong, Payne. In his heart and mind, he is strong.”