A/N; Updating Tuesday's prompt early because I'm having a sleepover with nieces, and I don't have internet connection at my parent's place. My lappy gets too attached and refuses to admit that it's a bad connection when I'm at home.
Birthday Bash 2019 Prompt 2
12. Pirates
So… bored!
Haru had no trouble forcing herself to admit that the worst part about being bored at one of her father's parties was that she wasn't allowed to look like she could fall asleep standing up. As a member of the aristocracy, more to the point a woman of the aristocracy, it was her duty to be charming and vivacious no matter her personal opinion.
Not that it really seemed to matter. Haru had come of age three months ago, and the only suitors coming to call on her were just as boring as the quadrille she was forced to dance without complaint.
The one currently holding her hand was as boring as they came. He didn't really speak to her as they moved back and forth in a dance that was a lot more synchronized walking than what Haru ever considered dancing. She wistfully remembered the folk dances she had been able to glimpse both from her bedroom window and while traveling past in a carriage with her father ordering her to quit gawking.
Not one of the peasants she ever saw dancing looked bored. Exhausted, perhaps, but also happy.
Haru dismally wondered what it would be like to be happy.
Front, back, front, to the side, yawn. It was sad that Haru had perfected the art of yawning with her mouth closed.
At last the song ended, and Haru was allowed to let go of Hamish's hand so that she could clap politely for the musicians.
"Meet me in front of the gazebo in five minutes," he ordered, nodding shortly before leaving her side.
Haru did her best not to sigh, but she was grateful to be leaving the dance floor. Her corset was digging at her ribs underneath her pale blue dress, and there wouldn't be any relief from it until the party was over and she could bribe her maid into removing it again.
"Hors d'oeurve, my lady?" a handsome young waiter asked while holding up a platter of fruit slices on toothpicks.
Haru helped herself to a melon cut while giving him a polite nod. As trained, she couldn't let the food smear her lipstick, but she couldn't look awkward about eating, either.
It was all such a ridiculous balancing act. Coming to parties she didn't like, talking and dancing with people she liked even less, all for a future that she would have given just about anything to avoid.
Mostly for something to do, she walked over to the edge of the garden area that had been fenced off to keep anyone from accidentally falling off the steep cliff. She stared out to the sea beyond and tried to hear the distant call of seagulls over the endless chatter from the party behind her.
"Champagne, my lady?" a different server offered her with a smile, holding his platter carefully since it mostly had empty wine glasses on it.
She gave that young man a polite smile before turning back to the sea. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm a little afraid there will be no going back for me if I turn to alcohol."
He blinked but leaned against the fence in conversation. "That's very prudent of you. At least half of the guests will probably be tipsy within the hour."
Haru couldn't resist a smirk as she forced herself to give him a more careful look. He was handsome, taller than her with light golden hair that reached his chin. His blue eyes were an even paler shade than her dress, and his waiter's uniform made him look very professional.
"Why else do you think I don't drink? There isn't much real amusement in my life, and I have a nasty suspicion that I'll have even less before this party is over," she admitted in a low tone, sneaking a glance over one shoulder in hopes that no one overheard her.
The waiter cocked an eyebrow. "Then you know about young Lord Ascot's little surprise?"
Haru nodded miserably. "Father already informed me that I'll be disowned if I say no. Hamish has already been humiliated by Lady Alice Kingsleigh's elopement, and I…"
Don't have anyone to elope with.
She forced herself to face the sea again, angry with herself for not being brave enough to climb over the protective fence and be done with her boring existence. "I just wish I didn't have to go through with it," the young noblewoman mourned.
It was a few seconds before she heard the waiter give a low, amused chuckle. "Then your wish is my command."
Just as she was looking up at him in confusion, a bomb went off not that far from the dance floor. Haru jumped with a surprised scream. She swiftly turned around to see the other party-goers screaming and running as dirt and branches flew, but didn't have the opportunity to see much more than that.
The waiter dropped his platter, letting the expensive wine glasses shatter on the grass as he grabbed the young noblewoman by the waist and completely jumped over the fence and over the cliff!
Haru screamed in terror, even as she felt a peculiar sensation ripple through her body. Despite the logistics, her legs stayed underneath her, and she could see the waiter walking very calmly on thin air.
"It's all right," he told her with calm amusement. "Just start moving your feet, and you'll be fine."
At a loss for anything else to do, Haru walked, feeling nothing but air and reeling from the not-quite solid surface she was stepping over.
She and the waiter suddenly dropped about a foot lower, and onto something that creaked under their feet like floorboards.
Just as their feet made contact, wood sprouted into view, spreading out around them until Haru could see that she was standing on the deck of a flying ship. Her mouth was agape with horror at the only possible explanation for all this flashy magic, even as her body continued to shake at the terrible fright of having all that open air under her.
"Retreat, Calcifer!" Howl Pendragon called, gripping a rope ladder with one hand and holding onto Haru's waist with the other. His wide grin was alarmingly like a child's, as if he had just made off with the cookie jar and wasn't going to share it.
The flying ship lurched under their feet, and the sharp tang of the ocean slapped against her face from a strong air current as the ship began bearing the opposite direction of her father's estate.
This wasn't good! This was nothing good! Still trembling and gasping for breath, Haru tried to pull away from the magician pirate.
"Oh, don't do that," Howl laughed, using ropes and steady beams to make his way to the closest cabin door while dragging her along for the ride. "If it turns out I'm mistaken, I might just be returning you within ten minutes. Or not, depending on your preference."
The door suddenly flew open, revealing a tired-looking old granny. "Let the girl go, Howl," she growled at him while offering her own gnarled hands to the young noblewoman. "The poor thing's scared to death, and all this is only a lucky guess, anyway."
It was probably stupid, but something about the old woman's bossy attitude made Haru eagerly pitch herself forward into that dubious protection. Regardless of what Howl had planned for her, she felt at least a little safer in someone else's care.
The old woman wrapped her arms around the girl's waist and guided her to the side of the door so that Howl could come in and shut it behind him.
"Shh, shh. It's always a little frightening to walk on air the first time," the hag crooned in a tender tone as Haru did her best to control her shaking. The effect should have been comical since she was a head and a half shorter than the noblewoman, but there were no complaints about someone offering comfort.
The cabin she had been taken into looked surprisingly like a cozy living room. She couldn't even feel the pull of gravity as the ship fled the scene, and there were no signs of this room being anywhere but in a completely stationary house.
A young boy was eating on a sturdy table but looked up from his eggs at Haru. "So that's a princess, huh?" he asked after swallowing a mouthful.
Haru blinked and laughed a bit nervously. "No, not hardly. A marquis' daughter is all."
Howl beamed at her before walking over to an ornate little chest resting on top of a cabinet. "That is yet to be proven. Don't worry, we'll know soon enough if you're the one we need."
Haru gave a worried look to the old woman, who was still smiling gently at her as she relaxed their embrace.
"We want to see if you notice anything odd about what Howl is about to give you. I made Howl swear several times that you would be unharmed, and he knows I'll whack him with a broom if he tries anyway. Or worse," she growled while giving the captain a glare that meant trouble if he disobeyed.
Haru couldn't resist a nervous giggle as the famous pirate approached her with an expectant smile. Holding the chest with one arm, he undid the latch and opened the lid to present the contents to her.
It was a very ornate bracelet, made of gold vines that intersected each other in a flat but appealing band.
Haru liked it immediately. Hoping that she wasn't about to get in trouble, she reached her hand into the small chest and took it for a closer inspection. "It's pretty," she admitted, carefully looking it over. "And old. More than a few centuries for sure." She didn't think it was worth mentioning that the metal felt warm against her fingers since it was nice and toasty in the living room.
"Why don't you try it on?" Howl suggested eagerly. "If our research is correct, you might notice something."
Haru couldn't resist glaring at him before firmly setting the bracelet back into the chest. "I'm not that naïve."
The old woman laughed approvingly. "Good thing I'm here, Howl, or you wouldn't be given an inch! Lady Haru, the bracelet will not put an enchantment on you, and the magic on it is much older than any of us. Either it will do nothing, or you will have certain information put into your head. We only want that information."
Haru cocked her head, feeling a certain morbid curiosity. "What kind of information?" she asked suspiciously of the older woman, but only got a shake of the head for a response.
"The tighter the secret is, the better our chances of succeeding are. Only a moment or so will give us an answer."
Haru took in a deep breath and grabbed the bracelet to slip it on. "I must be stupid," she muttered under her breath as the gold wires slid into place.
She gasped as the vines tightened possessively around her wrist, making that arm fling out without her permission.
The old woman had sounded like Haru would instantaneously know what they wanted, but instead the comfortably humble room disappeared from her eyes, and it was like she was floating over open air again. The poor girl cried out in fright, but then the bracelet started dragging her, hurling her through the air like she was an arrow that had just been loosed. Open ocean rushed past her thankfully stationary feet, and seagulls flew by much faster than they would have if she hadn't been moving.
After a moment of this, she came to a sudden stop to a port city she had only visited once before.
"… Thurnim?" she asked under her breath, a little surprised that the bracelet was so insistent that she see it again.
But as soon as the city's name was off her lips, the image faded until she was once again standing in the strange cabin.
A wave of nausea overcame her, making her shudder and heavily lean on the old woman, who was thankfully strong enough to support her.
"Thurnim? Are you sure," Howl asked with more than a little confusion.
Haru took in several staggered breaths before nodding. "It's been a while, but I recognized some of the buildings. Was that all you needed?"
Howl was scowling as he helped himself to a chair next to the table where the little boy was staring at their guest instead of his meal. "That can't be right. Thurnim's too recent, and the geography is all wrong."
"Could an earthquake between back then and now account for the differences?" the old woman asked, easing the younger girl into a chair for her to rest.
"Sophie, it sunk into the sea. That would indicate a fair amount of distance from land. Why Thurnim?" Howl growled under his breath as he tried to think things over. He even sunk over his knees to hold his forehead between his hands.
Sunk into the sea. That was all the information Haru needed.
"You're going after the lost treasure of Radkaltis!" she exclaimed in surprise, looking down at the bracelet now so tightly against her arm, that there was no chance of her taking it off without a goldsmith's help. "Why did this thing show me Thurnim? Why didn't one of you put it on instead of kidnapping me?"
"Because you're a distant descendant of the royal house of Radkaltis," Howl informed her as he continued to try working out the puzzle. "It took me three years of false leads and distant hunches to find you. That bracelet is supposed to show us the way, but how could Thurnim be the place when it was just a cove for centuries after Radkaltis sunk?"
That was a good question. She studied the bracelet carefully before turning to look at the large map pinned on the wall behind her. "What if it's a bread crumb?" she asked curiously.
Howl looked up at her sharply enough to make the girl jump a bit. "What do you mean?" he asked in a low tone.
Sophie, on the other hand, was also looking at the map. "I see what you mean, Lady Haru. Howl, it could only be a marker, the place we need to visit in order to find out where to go next."
That made him break out in a large grin, almost jumping out of his seat in over to wrap one arm around the slightly overweight older woman. "Sophie, you're a genius!"
Haru felt a bit indignant since it was her idea, but the pirate magician turned and spoke too swiftly for her to argue the point.
"It's like this, my lady. I've burned a lot of bridges in my time, but if I can find that treasure, then I can take my little family anywhere that won't recognize us and we won't have to worry about where our next meal comes from. You, on the other hand, are completely miserable right where you are, and you heavily implied at the cliff that you would trade your current life for any other in a heartbeat."
Her heart pounded unsteadily at where he was leading this conversation. It pounded even harder as a new future began forming in her mind.
She would never have to obey her father again. She didn't have to marry Hamish or anyone like him! Even if Howl only let her walk away with as much as she could carry, that would set her up for life in a nice little villa wherever she chose. She could even not get married at all if she felt like it!
Even better; she would never have to have smoked eel and pretend to enjoy it for the rest of her life!
Some of her brown hair suddenly fell in her face as she tilted her head in thought. One experimental hand patted her tightly coiled hairstyle, and no shock could be mustered that half of the pins were missing from the strange fall or harsh ocean wind. Her hair must look like a disaster.
Instead of fussing about it, Haru started pulling out the other hairpins, grateful that none of the present company were that likely to scold her for the indecency. "What percentage were you going to offer for my compliance?" Haru asked conversationally, wanting to skip to the important bit as the rest of her hair came tumbling over her shoulders and back.
Howl grinned impishly before nodding at Sophie and the little boy that was watching everything without comment. "There's four of us, so one-quarter sounds fair. I don't see why even grandchildren are going to want for anything."
Haru nodded, keeping the image of a comfortable villa by the edge of the sea firmly in her mind as she set the pins in a neat pile in the discarded chest for now. But then she started at remembering her earlier terror at getting abducted by this particular pirate. "I have one condition before we shake hands. I don't think there's a polite way to talk about this, but you have a certain reputation with-"
Sophie reached forward from her place under Howl's arm and covered her mouth with a hand like worn leather. "I only agreed to this scheme if you are under my charge," she stated while keeping her eyes firm on the noblewoman. "He won't be making any unwanted advances if he doesn't want me to bang him on the head again."
Haru's lipstick smeared against that hand as her lips curled into a smile that was both relieved and heavily amused. 'I'm starting to have my doubts on who the captain is.'