Page 42

Four years later

I t wasn’t raining, although the skies were threatening. On the surface of Lake Cocytus, something was about to happen.

A great sea battle was about to take place.

Sailing north on the lake, having just come from a small inlet where it had been moored, the vessel once known as the Mother Mary , now rechristened the Bloody Maude , was looking for a secondary ship hiding somewhere on the lake shore.

It was a cog belonging to the Blackchurch Guild, more specifically commanded by Kristian, and it had six recruits on it who were at the end of their seafaring module of training.

This was to be their boarding test.

Commanding the Bloody Maude was none other than Pope Francis, the great pirate that ruled the waters around Scotland with several ships.

Seventeen in total, including thirteen that had once belonged to the Titans of the Deep.

That faction was all but gone now, having merged with Medusa’s Disciples, but it made for a large and imposing group of high-seas brigands.

One Francis commanded most ably. As his mother had once said:

There’s nothing more fearsome than a pirate named Pope Francis .

She’d been right.

About once a year, however, Francis broke away from his pirating life and came down to Blackchurch, to the ship that he’d given the guild for the their training, and helped with the seafaring module.

It was all great fun and gave him a chance to see his brother, a man he loved dearly.

Even now, Payne was on board along with his three-year-old son, Bowie.

And what a son he was.

Bowie Matheson, heir to the Lismore earldom, had been born a fighter.

He’d come out of his mother feet-first, howling and grabbing at anything he could get his hands on.

Payne had held his infant son that first night, tears of joy running down his face, wishing his mother could see the flame-haired infant.

Perhaps she was seeing him now.

Payne held his son tightly as the boy stood on the railing of the bow, yelling in delight as the wind rushed in his face. Francis, standing next to his brother and nephew, was full of joy at the boy’s reaction to being on the water.

“He’s a natural, Payne,” Francis said. “Look at him—he’s thrilled with this.”

Payne had a good grip on his child because the boy tended to be squirrely. “I know,” he said with a sigh. “I’m not entirely sure how I’m going tae explain this tae his mother. She wants the lad tae be a proper knight and return tae the Portuguese royal court.”

“Pah,” Francis said. “She’s not seen how happy he is on the water. This is what he was born tae do.”

“Then ye can tell her. And run when ye do.”

Francis laughed, seeing the bow of the ship that they were meant to encounter up ahead.

These sea games could be great fun, but they could also be serious, especially with the recruits trying to prove their mettle.

There were only six this time, and about thirty men aboard the Bloody Maude , so that was why Payne had agreed to bring Bowie along for the experience.

Six men against thirty would be a short fight and Bowie would have the fun of a little jaunt on the lake.

Unless Astria found out.

Then they’d all be in trouble.

“Where does Astria think her son is?” Francis asked, reading his brother’s mind.

Payne was precluded from answering when Bowie threw up his arms in his excitement, clipping his father in the mouth. Payne had to rub his bruised lip before continuing.

“She thinks he’s with the nurse that tends the other children during the day,” he said.

“The best thing we ever did was bring on that nurse. She tends Tay and Fox and Sinclair’s children along with mine, and it gives the wives time they need tae do chores or other things.

The woman had the children over by the gatehouse, where they were playing on the grass, and I just took him. ”

“Let’s hope Astria doesna realize he’s missing.”

Payne shook his head. “After this, I’ll take him back tae the nurse and she’ll never know.”

“You hope.”

“She’s just given birth,” Payne reminded him. “She’ll be with our new lad, who looks exactly like me, I might add.”

“Aye, he does,” Francis agreed. “But his name? Maximilian? ’Tis a big name for a wee bairn, Payne.”

Payne grinned. “That was Astria’s choice,” he said. “She wanted tae name him Sancho, but no son of mine is going tae be named Sancho. Then she wanted Maximilian, a terribly grand name, and I couldna deny her. Max Matheson it is.”

Francis merely chuckled.

The water at the northern end of the lake always tended to be choppier because of the shape of the lake at that end, so the boat was doing great dips in the waves, splashing water as it moved.

Spray ended up on Bowie and Payne, and the little boy squealed in delight because his face was getting wet.

“Papa, faster!” he demanded. “Go faster!”

Payne grinned. “I canna make it go faster, lad,” he said. “Tell Uncle Francis. Mayhap he can.”

“Fanny!” the boy yelled. He couldn’t pronounce Francis, so it came out as “Fanny.” “Faster!”

Francis nodded quickly. “I will, lad,” he said. “I’ll go blow on the sails. Will ye blow with me?”

Bowie wanted to blow. Francis took him in his arms, rushing back along the deck as Payne followed to make sure Francis had a good hold on the boy.

Together, Francis and Bowie blew at the sails, which were already billowing from the strong breeze.

They blew and blew. Soon enough, the Blackchurch cog came closer and the time for boarding would soon be upon them.

Francis handed Bowie back to his father.

“Hang tight tae the lad,” he told Payne. “This shouldna take long. Ye should bring him up front so he can see his victorious uncle.”

Gripping his son, who still wanted to blow on the sails, Payne followed his brother to the bow, where Francis’ men were preparing to lash the ships together.

The Blackchurch cog came close and the ropes began to fly, pulling the ships against one another.

The men from both ships began shouting at each other, waving their swords threateningly, but the men on the Blackchurch cog suddenly grew terribly subdued.

That caused the men on the Bloody Maude to grow quiet purely out of confusion.

But Payne soon saw why.

Mounting the railing, with a rope in hand that was tethered to the sail above, was none other than Lady Lismore.

The Sea God had made an appearance.

The former Sea God, anyway, but no matter.

Payne knew what her appearance meant. God help him.

He was in so much trouble that he couldn’t even fathom it.

He would be in trouble for the rest of his life.

He watched, with apprehension, as his wife swung from her deck to his, releasing the rope and focusing on her husband and son.

Bowie screamed when he saw his mother, and Payne was forced to put down the boy, who ran gleefully to her.

Astria, looking like a goddess in a fitted tunic, hose, and boots, picked her child up.

But she didn’t have a word for her husband.

Only a glare.

“Francis?” she said.

Feeling as if he were somehow responsible for this situation, Francis jumped at the sound of her voice.

“My lady?”

Sword in hand, Astria pointed to the starboard rail midships. “Install the plank.”

Everyone knew that that meant. As Francis ordered his men to produce the plank that would extend from the railing over the water, usually used for boarding, Astria slowly made her way over to her husband.

“I took Max for some air and thought to join his brother on the grassy area for play,” she said.

“And what did I find? No Bowie. The nurse was quite happy to tell me that he was safe because he was with his father, but knowing where you would be today told me that he was, in fact, shipboard with his father.”

Payne sighed heavily, caught in a trap of his own making. “He was perfectly safe.”

Her eyes narrowed. That wasn’t the thing to say. Using her sword, she pointed to the starboard railing.

“Usually, I bind offenders and simply throw them overboard,” she said.

“In your case, I shall not bind you, but you will walk that plank and swim to shore. That is your punishment for taking a small child onto a boat that was to be used to train men with swords. Sharp swords. God’s Bones, Payne, what were you thinking? ”

He smiled at her, a disarming gesture. The past four years had seen their love grow in ways neither of them could have imagined, something so deep and fulfilling that it was part of them as much as blood or lungs or heart.

She was part of him and he was part of her, and even looking at her now, in as much trouble was he was in, all he could feel was deep, enduring adoration.

She took his breath away.

“I was thinking how much I love my wife,” he said softly. “How much I worship her. How much I love my children and my life. And how happy my mother would be if she could see us now. How proud she would be tae see Red Bowie Matheson on the bow of a ship, safe in his father’s arms.”

The statement was like throwing water on a fire. Astria rolled her eyes. “How dare you invoke your mother’s name.”

“’Tis true, my love.”

With an expression of pure exasperation, Astria handed Bowie off to Francis, who took the boy eagerly.

Perhaps even thinking about using him as a human shield against his mother if necessary.

But Astria didn’t go after Francis. She grabbed her husband by the arm and pulled him over to the railing where the boarding plank had been placed over the water.

“Get on that and walk until you fall into the lake,” she said. “Swim to shore and stay out of sight. My anger may be abated by tonight, but I cannot be sure. For your sake, I hope it is.”

He dutifully stepped up on the plank. He had the look of a man going to his execution. But then something changed.

He wasn’t going to go alone.

Fast as lightning, he snatched up his wife into his arms and ran across the plank, leaping into the water with her still in his embrace.

Astria lost her grip on her sword and it went flying.

The men of both ships ran to the sides of their respective vessels that gave them the best view of Payne and Astria, now surfacing, and listening to Astria threaten Payne with great bodily harm when she caught up to him.

The threats, however, were peppered with laughter, so they were far less effective that way.

But Payne swam for his life back to shore.

Days like that would be legendary at the Blackchurch Guild and something Bowie, who had witnessed the event, would tell his own children someday.

Tales of a pirate grandmother, a pirate mother who retired from the seas after she had children, and a Blackchurch trainer for a father who bound them together in ways they could have never anticipated.

Such stories were passed down through generations, becoming legend as the centuries went on.

As Astria had promised, Bloody Maude lived on, and so did the marriage she created.

Astria and Payne’s love did, indeed, outlast the stars.

And that was the way Maude would have wanted it.

* THE END *