Chapter 27

Putting Together a Plan

 Justin took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the Brentlyn estate. It was a while before the door finally opened to reveal a haggard looking Aradon.

His face lit up slightly when he saw Justin. “Sir. It is good to see you.”

“Hello, Aradon. May we come in?” Justin asked, indicating Maath and Namid, who stood behind him.

“Of course. The Lady Jada is in the parlor with Lady Emalia. The will both be glad to see you.” He turned and immediately led the way into the parlor.

“My Ladies, may I present Captain Justin and Sirs Maath and Namid.”

“Justin?” A rather weak looking Jada asked, looking up.

“Hello, Aunt Jada.”

“Justin!” Aunt Jada launched herself off the coach and at Justin, moving as fast as she could, which for a lady her age was pretty good. As soon as his arms closed around her, the woman began to cry.

Justin’s eyes grew wide and he looked at Emalia, who still sat on the couch, a sleeping Rosalyse laying next to her. She only gave him a sad smile.

“We have been so worried, Justin, and it has been so hard,” she whispered.

“Justin!” Aunt Jada wailed, “You have to find them! You have to bring my family back to me!”

“I will, Aunt Jada. They are my family too. We are going after them.”

Aunt Jada calmed down and stepped away, but kept her hands on his arms. “I knew you would. Leon found you? That is why you are here?”

“He found us. But it would help if you could tell us what happened again. Are you able to do that?” Justin was scared the elderly woman would fall apart on him again.

“Of course! Anything that will help!” She took his hand and led him over to the couch forcing him to sit beside her. “Now, let’s see. Kiliki, Emilia, and I had gone shopping and the girls went out horse riding with Tadi. It had rained later, and the children came in soaked. We all ended up going to sleep early after the long day. I was exhausted and I slept completely through the night. I guess I woke up late that day, but not by very much. When I got downstairs, Alicia and Aradon said the others weren’t up yet, it was unusual, but not unheard of. It was a couple hours later that I sent Alicia to check on them.” Aunt Jada had to pause as she choked up. Justin took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She clung to it as she continued her story. “They were gone. All of them. Their beds had been slept in, but they were gone. Some of the things in here had been disturbed, so Evyn thinks they were held here for a time. They must have threatened Adem or Dabria for Tommy to leave without fighting.”

“Did they leave anything behind? Did anyone hear anything else?” Justin questioned.

Aunt Jada shook her head. “No. The servants had all left and we searched everywhere, but can’t find anything.”

“Okay. Well, we are pretty sure we know who did it. So, we will see if we can get the direction he took and then we will bring them back,” Justin assured her.

“Wait, how do you know?” Emalia asked.

“There is a pirate with a ship called The Dandy. He has been a real problem for me. We believe he was after me only until he realized I wasn’t the Black Panther. Then he turned his attention to figuring out who Tommy was and where he was. He’s been at it for years, so he is dedicated and probably out for revenge,” Justin described.

“Oh!” Aunt Jada gasped. “He will stop at nothing then! They are in such danger!”

“Not for long, Aunt Jada. We will rescue them.”

“You better, young man!” Aunt Jada exclaimed. “You rescue them and then you give that pirate a good taste of his own medicine!”

Justin laughed. “We will.”

“Thank you, Justin. It is good to know you are going after them. Evyn is so torn having to stay here and yet desperately wanting to go,” Emalia said.

“I can understand that. Let him know we are going after them and we won’t be alone. I’m going to get a message to Tristen and I have another captain friend, Conlan, who will be joining us as well.”

“Oh, thank God,” Emalia whispered gratefully.

“We will pray you are surrounded by protection and are successful.” Aunt Jada looked up to Maath and Namid to include them as well.

The two men nodded their thanks.

“Thank you, Aunt Jada,” Justin replied. “Where is Salena?”

“She has been having a very hard time. I believe Tadi took her down to the lake. He has been wonderful to her through all of this,” Emalia responded.

“I will head down to see her before I leave. I want her to know I’m going.” Justin rose from his seat.

“Thank you. She would be grateful.” Aunt Jada smiled.

Justin glanced at Namid and Maath. “Stay here, maybe search around a bit. I’ll be back soon and we will head out.”

The men nodded and Justin left as the two sat down and began to speak with the women. Justin was quick to find a horse and saddle him for the short trip to the lake. It wasn’t long before he saw it come into view. Salena and Tadi’s horses were grazing by the tree, although he didn’t see the two youths.

“Salena!” He called out as he got closer.

A head quickly appeared down by the lake and a second followed. Justin called again and waved. Salena quickly waved back and began to move towards him, Tadi following.

“Captain Justin! You are here!” She exclaimed as he pulled his horse to a stop and jumped down.

“Salena, are you okay?” He asked moving to stand in front of her.

“No, not really. I am so worried. I don’t know what to do and I can’t help!” Salena sounded close to tears. Tadi put a hand on her shoulder, but Justin did more, pulling her into a hug.

“I know, but I wanted to come to tell you that I’m leaving to go get them.”

“Get them?” She asked, looking up at him. “Do you know where they are?”

“Not yet, but I know who took them. And I think I can get some leads at the docks. All I really need is a direction to start in. I will find them.”

“Who is it?” Salena asked, stepping out of his arms and wiping her face with her hand.

“Do you remember the ship that was following us? The one that I was so concerned about?” Justin asked.

“Of course.” Salena nodded.

“He took them and he is going to regret it,” Justin avowed.

“Do you think… I mean, are they still….?” She didn’t look like she was going to be able to finish the sentence.

“I don’t think he has killed them, Salena. He’s worked too hard to get them. You have to believe that we are going to get them and they will be fine.”

“But Bree can get so sick,” she whispered.

“Then you should be ready to help her as soon as I bring her back. Have everything ready. I’ll bring her home,” Justin’s voice was full of the conviction he felt. He would not allow anything happen to the girl he now knew he loved.

“Thank you, Justin. Please, be careful,” Salena pleaded, her eyes showed hope for the first time.

He smiled at her. “I always am. We will be back soon.”

Salena smiled then gave him a hug. “We will be ready and waiting.”

He hugged her back then turned to jump on the horse. He glanced at Tadi once he was seated. “You take good care of Salena while I’m gone. If anything happens to her, I’m holding you responsible. Help her.”

Tadi nodded solemnly, but grinned. “Yes, sir!”

Justin nodded. “I won’t be coming back till I have her, but I’ll see you both when I do.”

With that, he rode off. He had needed to see for himself that Salena was okay, but now that he knew for sure she was in good hands, he was anxious to head to the dock and gather the information he needed. It was time to go get his girl.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

“Are you sure?” Justin asked the small boy yet again. “It was a long time ago.”

The boy, who couldn’t have been more than nine, nodded his head vigorously. “Yes, sir. It wasn’t that long, I don’t think, and he was real mean. Wouldn’t give me ‘nuthin. I hadn’t eaten at all. But he got in that really big ship and he took them with him. And they went that-away.” He waved his hand in the general direction of southeast.

“But it was dark. How did you see them?” Maath questioned, more gently then Justin.

The boy looked highly indignant. “There was a big moon!”

Maath chuckled and Justin nodded. “Okay, then. He’s headed southeast. I need a map. Maath, give the boy a reward.”

“Anything particular?” Maath asked.

“Whatever the kid wants,” Justin replied, taking time to smile down at him. “Thank you.”

The boy grinned. “Yes sir! Are you a real captain?”

“I am,” Justin replied, before starting to walk away.

Maath knelt before the boy and said, “Come on, we will grab you some food and I will tell you a story of the great Falconer.”

“The Falconer? Whoa!” Justin heard the boy explain and it made him smile briefly for a moment. It was nice to have a recognized name. He had worked hard for it and finally people knew him well and respected him.

He made his way quickly back to the ship and motioned Namid to join him as soon as his feet landed on the deck. Immediately, Namid called over a sailor to take his place as guard and followed his captain into the Great Cabin. Justin pulled out his map of Zerlinda.

“He went southeast. He wouldn’t believe anyone is tracking him yet. I think he headed straight for his destination,” Justin informed Namid while finding Triger.

“I agree. He has waited all this time. I think he would be anxious to start his plans for them,” Namid replied, studying the map as well.

Justin traced a finger straight from Trigger southeast. The closest large city was the capital Poole, but he wouldn’t be somewhere with too many officials. Instead, he followed around the land and traced down past a large island into an area of several smaller islands.

“There,” he said.

“You sure?” Namid asked.

Justin nodded. “Out of the way, off the trade routes, on the other side of Burna, and too far removed for the government to really care. They’d rather forget that area even exists. No one is going there unless by mistake, so no one to disturb you. He’s there.”

Namid looked at the map a little longer. “I’ll plot the course.”

“Good. We leave as soon as Maath arrives back.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“Send Inu to leave word for Conlan. I want to get a message out to Tristen as well. He should know about Tommy and we can use all the help we can get.”

“I’ll see to it. Last I heard he was over at Shaphan. We should be able to get word to him easily enough across land.”

“Fine. I’ll join you on deck soon.”

“Aye, Cap,” Namid replied before leaving the room and yelling Inu’s name.

“We are coming, Pixie. Hang on. I’m coming,” Justin whispered to the air.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

“Visitor aboard!” The call came from the deck and Justin frowned in his cabin. They were supposed to be setting sail, not accepting visitors. Who had let anyone on his ship?

He moved quickly to the door and up the steps, all the while contemplating whether or not to throw the crew member overboard. The thought flew from his head at the sight of his visitor.

“What are you doing?” Justin asked incredulously. “You are not supposed to be here.”

“You said you knew who they were! They want revenge and they are not coming back! I’m going. End of argument!” Evyn spouted, from his rather firm stance on the deck of The Guardian Star.

“Did Emalia approve of this?” Justin asked, still very suspicion. He didn’t need Emalia taking his head off when they got back because he had allowed her husband to come along. On the other hand, that was something Kiliki would do and not Emalia.

“She knows, Justin. It’s killing me to be at home. Tommy gave everything for me. It’s only because of him that I got Kiliki back. I will not lose her again or him to some stupid idiotic pirate out for pathetic need for revenge.” Evyn crossed his arms and didn’t move.

Justin shrugged. “Hey, I’m not shoving away free help. Welcome back aboard The Guardian Star.”

Immediately, Evyn relaxed. “Thank you.”

Justin put out his hand and the two shook. “Let’s go get our family.”

“Right!”

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

“That’s it! Both of you down below now!” Maath ordered loudly.

Both Justin and Evyn turned to look at him, as did all the crew in hearing range. Justin moved from the port side and Evyn from the starboard side to stand in front of Maath.

“What are you talking about?” Justin asked, indignantly.

“You have both been pacing the decks for hours! You’re spooking the crew,” Maath exclaimed exasperated, although he did lower his voice a little.

“We should have been there by now!” Evyn protested.

“We aren’t even positive where ‘there’ is! And it is not the crew’s fault we were hit by that massive storm,” Maath replied.

“We lost days!” Justin protested this time.

“Look, we are doing the best we can. Your pacing and frantic attitudes are not helping any.”

“We’re not frantic,” Justin muttered.

Maath snorted. “Get your butts off this deck and into the Great Cabin. You can be not frantic in there. When we get close, we will let you know.”

“That could be another couple of days!” Evyn exclaimed.

“That is highly probable,” Namid spoke up from the wheel, where he had obviously been enjoying the conversation. “But at least the rest of us will have some peace while we get us there as fast as we can.”

“I can’t believe I’m being kicked off my own deck!” Justin shook his head in amazement.

“Believe it and move,” Maath replied, not backing down.

“Fine, we have plans we need to make any way!” Justin shot back. “Come on, Evyn.”

Evyn practically pouted the whole way to the Great Cabin, but he followed Justin anyway. Justin let them in and promptly headed to the wall, where he pulled off the large chart of the area and spread it over his desk.

“Come on. We’ll go other this again.”

Evyn groaned. “We’ve been over it! I just want to get there!”

“You and me both,” Justin replied, as he smoothed the map down. “The area has one larger island and six smaller ones. I don’t think he’s on the larger of them. It’s too close to Burna and any route to get to it. The smaller ones are more likely.”

“Six is a lot to search through and they aren’t all that close together,” Evyn pointed out.

“Right, not only that, but we sail right up to the wrong one and we lose any surprise element we have. This captain is ruthless to have planned this far. He’ll kill them if he thinks he has too.”

“Which means only a surprise attack is going to work. We’ll have to search the islands under cover of night and with small crews.”

“We have four long boats we can spare. If we sent each to an island with a crew of six, we’d still have to wait for two crews to finish in order to search the other two.”

“That’s going to take a lot longer than we want,” Evyn said, discouragement in his voice.

“I know, but we’ve no choice. We are racing against time, but if we lose that surprise, we’ll lose them for sure,” Justin’s replied logically, thought he felt is stomach tighten at the words he spoke.

“We can’t let that happen,” Evyn muttered.

“We won’t,” Justin assured him.

“When are the others getting here?” Evyn questioned.

Justin shrugged, sitting in his chair. “Tristen was at Shaphan. If we got word to him before he let the port, he is likely to make faster time then Conlan who was following us. But even so, they could be days or a week away. And that storm could have hit them too.”

“I hate being patient. It’s the one virtue I can’t stand!” Evyn dropped himself into the green chair.

A knock on the door paused the conversation and a crew member came in with some hot tea. “Namid said you requested this, Captain.”

Justin nodded and motioned to the table. He had done no such thing, but apparently Namid thought it would help. Evyn let out a loud laugh as soon as the crew member had gone.

“Same old Maath and Namid I see.”

Justin heaved a snort, but took one of the cups. “Oh no. They are much worse.”

Evyn shrugged and got up to get his own cup. “They care.”

“They meddle. It’s worse than having two mothers on board.”

Evyn laughed so hard, that his tea spilt and he let out a yelp when the hot liquid burned his hand. Quickly, he moved the cup to his other hand and vigorously shook the burnt one. “Ow!”

Justin put his cup back on the table. “Maybe I’ll let it cool for a bit first. Let’s talk strategy for breaching the island.”

“That’s going to depend on what island it is.”

“Yes, but meanwhile it will give us some options and keep my mind busy.”

“Good point,” Evyn responded as the two got back to work.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

“Ship off the port bow,” the call came from the crow’s nest.

“Finally!” Evyn exclaimed as he leapt to the port side of the ship and leaned over the rail, straining to see.

“We don’t even know who it is,” Justin cautioned as he moved towards his friend and pulled out his spyglass.

“Either it’s a friend and we are in good shape or we run out the cannons and start firing.” Evyn submitted his plan.

“Why are we firing?” Justin asked, putting the spyglass up to his eye.

“They aren’t friends,” was the quick reply.

Justin laughed, even as he silently agreed. Not that the ship deserved to be hit, put it would release some of the heightened tension of waiting. He looked through the glass and waited for the ship to turn. He saw it dip its colors, but he had to wait longer for the name on the side to come into view. “The Dragon,” he breathed with relief.

“Tristen.” Evyn grinned.

“They must have been able to get a message to him at Shaphan,” Justin responded, before turning around. “Maath! Dip colors!”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Maath replied, before loudly repeating the command to the deck below.

The colors of The Guardian Star dipped and The Dragon altered course slightly to intercept their path. Moments later, Tristen stood before them.

“It is good to see you again, Justin, Evyn.” Tristen smiled.

“You too. How have you been?” Justin asked, as Evyn nodded his own greeting.

“I was doing great until I got your message. Business is booming. I hear your half to thank for that, hitting ships like mad.”

Justin casually shrugged his shoulders. “It’s what I do.”

“So, what is really going on? Your message was cryptic, but I got the ‘get here now’ part,” Tristen spoke in a half-amused voice.

“Tommy’s family was taken, Tommy, Kiliki, their son, and Kiliki’s sister, Dabria. The man is captain of The Dandy. He’s been following me, but his real target was the Black Panther. He’s out for revenge,” Justin filled him in.

“Short version. Good. So, what’s the plan?” Tristen asked, looking focused rather than amused now.

“We go in and get them out,” Evyn replied firmly.

Tristen shook his head.”That sounds awful familiar. Haven’t we done this before?”

Justin smiled, but it was grim. “You’ve tried rescuing a whole family from a vengeful pirate before?”

“Whole family, no. That will make it trickier.”

“It will be worse if they’ve been split up or Dabria is sick,” Justin replied.

“Let’s figure they are both going to happen,” Tristen decided.

Justin sighed. “Not good, but your right, we’ve tried to plan for everything.”

“All right, walk me through it.”

“Let’s head to the Great Cabin,” Justin replied, leading the way. “Now that you’re here we can send more people to cover the islands when we get there. Hopefully, Conlan arrives soon. Once he’s here, and we know where to go, we’ll launch.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tristen approved.

“Let’s hope it is really that smooth,” Evyn muttered darkly as the three entered the Great Cabin and closed the door behind them.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

It had been two days since the long boats had gone out and so far, only one had returned with a negative report. The news was discouraging, but not unexpected. Justin had figured their target would have picked one of the further islands to store his hostages. Still, it meant more waiting and Justin’s patience was as thin as Evyn’s.

“Ship off port bow!” The call came from the crow’s nest.

Either this was Conlan or it was trouble. Justin went to the port side and pulled out his spyglass. The ship in question was hugging the side of the coast and disappearing in and out of the fog of the area. Discovering the area was in a semi permanent type of fog had been a blessing. The only reason The Guardian Star and The Dragon hadn’t been spotted was because they had pulled into a tree shielded cove, just the right size for two hulking ships or three slightly smaller ships. The ship flew no flag to identify itself.

“Sir?” Maath asked, coming to his side.

“I’m thinking it is Conlan. I don’t think the captain of The Dandy would lower his pride enough to lower his flag even if he is in hiding,” Justin surmised.

“Fair enough, Captain.”

The two waited and watched the ship. It was almost on top of them before they were able to make out the name of Hero’s Choice.

“Conlan,” Maath said.

“Hail him and guide him into the cove,” Justin commanded.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Maath replied, before turning and giving out commands to the crew. It was only a matter of time before Conlan stood before Justin. The two friends gripped hands.

“Any news?” Conlan asked, getting straight to business.

“We sent out scout ships, but so far nothing. I’m thinking he is on one of the further islands. We’ve been planning out our strategy with Tristen. I can bring you up to speed and then we do the worst part,” Justin allowed his voice to trail off.

“We wait,” Conlan supplied.

“Yeah, as if we haven’t done way too much of that already,” Justin muttered.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<

Justin walked up to the railing where Evyn was leaning over on it, looking as if he was pondering jumping overboard. He took up a position beside his friend and the two were silent for a moment, each in their own thoughts.

“Two ships left out there. He has to be on one of those islands,” Evyn finally muttered.

“And if he’s not, then we’ve been waiting precious time they don’t have,” Justin replied, sullenly.

“True. That’s why I can’t stop praying. I get this feeling that if we don’t find and stop this here, we will reap the consequences for the rest of our lives.”

“What do you mean?” Justin asked, speculatively. “You think he will come after them again?”

“I don’t know. But whatever is about to happen on those islands is going to change us forever. So much could go wrong,” Evyn muttered, shaking his head. “We are going into this blind. Only God knows what is really going on. If we don’t give Him control of all this, we are going to lose.”

Justin felt the familiar ball of lead in his stomach at the over talked about topic. “God got them into this mess,” he muttered darkly.

Evyn’s breathing slowed for a moment, before he finally asked without looking at Justin, “How so?”

“They trust Him for everything! They trusted him to protect them. He let them down.”

Evyn nodded. “I can see how that is one way to look at it. I did for many weeks. I was so angry that God would allow this to happen to us when we have given so much to live for Him.”

“Was?” Justin questioned.

“Yeah. I’m not pretending I know God’s plan, but I know He guides us and is in control. Why ever this happened, God needed it too. He needed my family to be here for some reason. I don’t like it and I don’t understand it, but there is one thing I’ve learned about my life with God.”

“What is that?” Justin asked when Evyn paused.

“His plans are never for the single life, but for the good life of many. He wants us to be a part of those plans,” Evyn turned to face Justin. “But when we refuse, His plans will still be accomplished. We will just not have the blessing of being a part of what He wanted for us.”

“His plans are causing you pain! You gave Him control and He had your family kidnapped! How is that a blessing?” Justin spouted.

“Justin, you are looking at this from your own point of view only. Yes, my family is the catalyst here, but they are not the only ones involved. God sees the bigger picture that we cannot. Sometimes we go through pain as part of God’s plan, not because He doesn’t love us, but because it is the only way we are willing to learn the lesson He has for us. Lessons for my family and those around us.”

“What lesson could all of you possibly learn through this, besides that God’s control stinks?” Justin demanded.

“Not just us, Justin. You too. You’re involved as well. Maybe God is also trying to tell you something.”

“What does he want with me?” Justin asked, confused and taken back. He had figured this from the family’s point of view, but how was he involved in the spiritual stuff? He didn’t care about that.

“I don’t know. I’m not you. Maybe He wants you to listen and see a truth you keep denying.” Evyn spoke, but his voice was very different from normal.

“That sounded too idealistic for you,” Justin muttered.

Evyn chuckled. “Yeah, it does. Doesn’t make it less true though. You keep mentioning control. Maybe you should think about that before you set foot onto that island. I don’t know why my family is involved, what lessons we need to learn, or who we can better help from going through this. But God allowed it to happen, because He wants us to be a part of His plan. True, that causes pain now, but if we follow Him, the reward will be much greater. He has promised that as well. The same goes for you. You always have the choice to follow God or not, Justin. You can be a part of His plan and give him control of yourself and the outcome, or you can go it alone. The cost will be great, but it is your choice.”

A large wave hit the side of the ship and caused the two companions to look up. Coming towards, but still at a distance were two long boats. One of the longboats was waving a green flag.

“They found him,” Justin whispered.

Evyn nodded and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s always been your choice, Justin. God will not force your hand. But choice wisely. You may only have one chance.”

Justin stayed silent as Evyn squeezed his shoulder slightly then walked away to give the others the news. However, the young captain didn’t move. God’s plan, but his choice. Could he really give it all up for a God he barely knew, but seemed to control so much around him? Evyn was right about one thing, Justin thought. The time to make the choice was upon him. It was time to go ashore and save his family.

>~>~>~><~<~<~<