The Life of A Privateer
To the Honorable Captain Aariz,
As the newly returned Queen of Beshumaar, I hereby declare you and your ship Samudra Sarpa, Privateers under my command. Your first assignment is a search for an ancient relic.
The Dragon Pearl.
To assist you my sister Zara and her new husband Nasir of Zinambra. Enclosed, you will find a map of the former sightings of the Dragon Pearl, over the last thirty decades.
I wish you well in your journey.
And hope to hear from you soon.
Queen Zaya
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There was a tick pulsing in Aariz’s jaw. “Why is it, whenever you appear I end up in some kind of peril?” Aariz asked, unrolling the map with an aggrieved look on his face. He didn’t need to look at Nasir to know that he had an unbearable smile on his face. “And since when are the two of you married?” he scowled looking up to Zara who smirked at him.
“Well as you know, Nasir can be quite charming when he wants to be.” Zara replied.
“As for the peril, you always did seem to be a lucky sod, haven’t you?” Nasir stated with a wide grin on his face. Zara hid her smile glancing behind her, her eyes drifting above them to where a silvery dragon circled above, before disappearing in a violet haze.
“Would you really call being given an official title as you in peril?” Zara asked drolly as she turned to look at Aariz who raised his hands in the air, in exasperation.
“A Pirate’s life is one of freedom. Not to be dictated by the Queen.”
Zara crossed her arms. “She only wants the Dragon Pearl. And it’s not even for herself, she wants it for.”
“The Kingdom then.” Aariz assumed.
“No. What use is the Dragon Pearl to a human, but one of status. Zaya has spent most of her Queendom a prisoner, and that gave her the chance to be saved was a Dragon. And this was her only ask.”
“She’s asking my crew and I to search for the Dragon Pearl at the bequest of a Dragon?” Aariz raised his eyebrows in shock. “Me?”
“We trusted you to take us to the Isle of the Enchantress, with nothing to give you and you did anyways.” Zara pointed out.
“The things I do for old friends.” Aariz sighed.
“All joking aside, I do value our friendship. My wife and I need your help, because regardless of your choice we have to go after the Dragon Pearl. The Queen could’ve treated as ruthlessly, as our quest was to get a ring for her engagement to me. Instead that ring is now on Zara’s finger. Anything the Queen asks is nothing compared to what I received in return.” Nasir stated.
Zara smiled at her husband. “You say the sweetest things.”
“For the love of Triton, you’re both going to be unbearable during this journey.”
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“We trust you, so the Queen trusts you, furthermore, I know you’ve been a privateer before. The Queen only wants the Dragon Pearl, any other plunder you find, is yours to keep. You know this is a good deal.”
Aariz sighed deeply. “Where do we even begin to look.”
Nasir plucked the scroll included. “This is the map the Queen provided you, within it is marked the rumored locations where the Dragon Pearl was said to be over thirty decades. Although I would suggest we make a trip to Tortuga.”
“The Pirate Stronghold?” Zara asked as she watched Aariz take the map back.
He frowned. “Wait,” Aariz glared at Nasir, “You plan on asking her, don’t you?”
“Who is her?”
“Her is a woman sorcerer, to rival the powers of the Enchantress.” Aariz replied.
“I think that might be an overexaggeration. She’s just a bruja after all.” Nasir commented.
“A witch.” Zara’s eyes widened. “Like an actual Witch?”
Nasir smirked. “The Hexing kind.”
Zara smiled, highly amused. “Know this from experience, do you?”
Nasir scowled, “I would rather not say.”
Behind him Aariz nodded vehemently. Making Zara turn her head and clasp her mouth before she burst into laughter. Nasir rolled his eyes at her, before looking at Aariz once more. “We’ll be accompanying you.”
Aariz crossed his arms, a smile on his face. “Is that so?”
Zara rolled her eyes. “More for your benefit than ours,”
“The Dragon in question, has a habit of just appearing at will, and she is the type to check in on our progress.” Nasir added.
“We are here to provide interference in the case of her darker moods.” Aariz raised his eyebrows, “Well then we’re glad to have you,” he remarked before turning to a brass bell hanging just before the helm and pulled the cord hard. A loud clanging was heard throughout the ship. The crew suddenly appearing from all directions as they were alerted to the call.
“MEN! LADIES. ALL HANDS-ON DECK! GET THIS SHIP READY FOR A VOYAGE!”
“Captain? What’s our heading?” The first mate, Georgio asked as he headed to the wheel.
“Tortuga.”
The first mate raised his eyebrows before he began shouting orders, on his way to the wheel. Zara watched amused as men swung from the higher reaches of the ship, resetting rigging and even lowering themselves upside down to undo the ropes tying the ship to the dock. Zara joined the female pirates in their tasks, like pulling the anchors up feeling the ship sway as it became unmoored from the land. Aariz made his way to the navigation closet moving the former map, so he could unfurl and tack the new map that the Queen had kindly provided. The Navigator of his ship a lanky kid of about sixteen who had quite the head for constellations and star charts, Dax walked in watching as he tacked the map. He marked where the location was and started to pull specific maps towards him bending down to note down coordinates.
“Those are a lot of markers.” Dax observed.
“The Queen, had the Dragon Seraphina mark the last places the Dragon Pearl, was rumored to be.” Nasir murmured as he walked in.
“We chase myths now?” Dax asked, as he turned slightly to Nasir.
“Among other things,” Aariz murmured. “We’re headed to Tortuga first to confer with the Bruja.”
“I’ll mark the different possible paths we can take between the markers, from Tortuga.” Dax looked up his blonde hair drifting towards his ice-blue eyes. “Good luck with the Bruja.”