The Fifth Empire of Man (Best Laid Plans Book 2) Read online

  The Fifth Empire of Man

  (Book 2 of Best Laid Plans)

  by

  Rob J. Hayes

  Copyright ©2017 by Rob J. Hayes

  (http://www.robjhayes.co.uk)

  Cover image ©2016 by Alex Raspad

  Cover design by Shawn King

  Edited by Toby Selwyn

  All rights reserved.

  For everyone who waited.

  And for rum!

  Part 1 – Batten Down the Hatches

  They will come at you again and again said the Oracle

  We'll be ready said Drake

  You will lose people said the Oracle

  Chapter 1 - Starry Dawn

  “What about the decorations?” Elaina said, thumbing towards the stocks.

  Three men and one woman were locked into the wood-and-metal contraptions, where they faced both the heat of the day and the cold of the night without food or water, nor clothing on their backs. All four of them looked to be in a truly sorry state, and it seemed one of the men was already long past dead. There’s a certain smell that only corpses can produce, and it was strong in the air.

  The little woman in the big cavalier hat snorted, and Elaina caught a glimpse of a sneer underneath the broad brim. “Ambassadors from the blooded, those of the bastards that still breathe anyway. They said something ’bout Thorn’s direct manner an’ Rose took exception to it. Don’t reckon we’ll be gettin’ no more ambassadors any time soon.”

  Elaina grimaced. She was no stranger to pain or brutality and had caused more than her fair share of death, but a slow one was very different to a quick one.

  “Say.” The little woman tilted her head so that her eyes were visible underneath her hat, and Elaina found a pair of shit-coloured browns twinkling at her. “You’re pretty much an ambassador, ain’t ya?”

  Elaina fixed the smaller woman with a hard stare, but her tormentor simply cackled and started up the steps to the yellow-stone building.

  Feeling at the mercy of others was something Elaina hated. Back home in Fango she was one of those in charge, respected and feared in equal measure for her skill and savagery as a pirate as much as for being the daughter of Tanner Black. Everywhere and anywhere you could sail in the Pirate Isles, Elaina Black was a name known and known well. Here in Chade she was just another person, a captain of her own ship but no one important. A large part of her wanted to run back to Starry Dawn and sail away, but her father had given her a job to do and it would be a long time before it brought her back to the Pirate Isles.

  She wandered behind the little woman in a sort of daze, staring at the pillars to either side of the steps leading up to the doorway. The pillars held up an awning a good ten feet above them that provided welcome shade from the sun. Two guards stood either side of the waiting doorway, and both looked at Elaina with cold eyes behind metal helmets.

  “Henry,” one of the guards said, with a nod to the little woman. “This the pirate?”

  The cavalier hat bobbed. “She even came alone.”

  Elaina had the feeling she was being mocked. She swallowed her pride and followed the woman past the two guards and through the door into the mansion.

  “You’re Henry the Red, ain’t you?” she said.

  “Aye.”

  “Heard lots about the Black Thorn,” Elaina continued, hoping to get a rise out of her. “Heard you were with him for much of it. That’s about all they say of you.”

  Henry the Red laughed, a harsh sound that echoed around the largely empty hallway. “Sounds like most of what ya heard is shit, girl.” She stopped in front of a door and turned to face Elaina. “They’re in there. See yaself in.”

  Elaina started towards the door, but stopped when she realised her sword was still buckled to her belt. “Should I be leaving this with you?”

  Again Henry the Red laughed. “Keep it. You’re walkin’ into a room with the Black Thorn an’ his Rose. Ya’d have ta be some special kind of dumb cunt ta draw steel in there.” With that last laugh, she turned and walked away, leaving Elaina standing alone inside the Lord and Lady of Chade’s home.

  Elaina realised she had no idea whether she should knock or not. She imagined how she would feel if someone entered her cabin without knocking, and knew it would put her in very much a murderous state of mind. Of course, she also had to admit it would make for a much stronger and more confident entrance. Elaina shook her head with a growl and stopped procrastinating. She put her hand to the door and threw it open, stepping into the room beyond without pausing to take it in.

  Perhaps it was the size of the room, or the grandeur of the furnishings – the rugs, bookshelves, and tapestries. Maybe it was the smell, clean but lived-in with just a hint of something flowery. Whatever it was, something made Elaina falter, and she stopped short of a loud announcement of her presence, instead standing motionless as her eyes swept across the room.

  “Oh, the manners of pirates,” said a woman standing at the window. She was stunning, with perfect white skin, hair even darker than Elaina’s, and a sleek black dress that hugged her curves – including the fairly obvious bump of pregnancy. The woman turned fiercely intelligent eyes on Elaina. “It’s polite to introduce yourself upon entry, Captain Black.”

  Elaina glanced around the room; it appeared they were alone. “Ya already know who I am. Seems a bit pointless to introduce myself.”

  “We’re trying to civilise the Wilds,” the woman countered. “Manners are important.”

  “You’re Rose?” Elaina said, taking a couple of steps forward.

  The door slammed behind her and Elaina startled, hating herself for it. Looking back, she saw a big man, one of the ugliest she’d ever seen, lying on a padded sofa next to the door. A big-booted foot dangled off the edge of the sofa and a large axe lay on the floor nearby.

  “Must you kick the door, Betrim?” Rose said.

  He pushed himself into a sitting position and yawned through his patchy beard. The horrific scars on the left side of his face tugged his visage into a ghastly picture that made Elaina want to look away.

  “Door gets closed no matter which way I close it,” he complained.

  “Scuff marks.” Rose let the accusation hang.

  The man leaned closer and looked at the door with his one eye. “Gives it a lived-in feel, I reckon.”

  “You’re the Black Thorn?” Elaina said, trying to pull the attention back to herself before the two of them got into an argument over the décor.

  “Aye,” Thorn said, standing and picking up his big axe. He walked past Elaina towards the desk at the far end of the room. He glanced at Rose. “She’s definitely a Black. Got her da’s eyes.”

  “You’ve met my father?” Elaina said.

  The Black Thorn nodded as he reached the far side of the room and leaned against the wall. “Unfortunately. Never liked the bastard though. Always had this… feel about him. Big man who thought he was bigger. Met another like him once, Never Never Jago. Dumb shit used to say ‘never’ all the time. Never killed a goat, never eaten horse, never fucked a woman at the same time as her sister.

  “One day old Never Never decided to break one of his nevers and attack me. Came at me with a spear.” The Black Thorn paused and Elaina glanced towards Rose, but the woman was staring out of the window again. “Wanted to make a bigger name fer himself, I reckon. Fuckin’ fool. Sure knew how to bleed though.”

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard that one, dear,” Rose said sweetly.

  “Aye,” the Black Thorn said with a laugh. “Well, the list of folk tried or tryin’ ta kill me seems ta be growin’ daily. If I told ya every single one we’d neve
r never get the bloody Wilds under control.” He turned his one-eyed gaze back to Elaina. “So, why are you here?”

  Elaina took a step forward and glanced once more at Rose before addressing the Black Thorn. “My da wants an alliance with Chade.”

  The Black Thorn let out a groan, rolled his eye, and scratched at the burnt side of his face all at the same time.

  “You’ll have to forgive my husband,” Rose said. She made her way from the window to the desk, cradling the bulge in her midsection. “I’m afraid he detests peace talks. Much more suited to putting axes in things, really.”

  Elaina eyed the man’s axe and wagered it had been put into a great many things. “Which one of you’s in charge?”

  “I am.”

  “She is.”

  Elaina focused on Rose as the woman perched on the desk, and darkened the room with a radiant smile. “Tanner’s willing to let your ships pass through the isles untouched. Any of them bearing your endorsement. It’s the same deal as the Guild gets.”

  “So it is, and an excellent deal at that. There’s a reason those Acanthian merchants are so fat, and at least part of it is their permission to sail through the isles unmolested.” Rose fell silent, looking Elaina up and down.

  Elaina was starting to feel impatient. She wasn’t built for negotiations and treating with folk. She was built for action, for piracy. She hated to admit it, but her father would have been better off sending Blu.

  “Do you want to know the terms?” she said.

  “His terms?” Rose said.

  “Aye.”

  “Not particularly.” There was something in the woman’s eyes that gave Elaina the impression Chade had been a safer place when it was ruled by thieves and corrupt politicians. “But I’ll take a guess at ships, crew, and weapons. The same things Drake Morrass recently asked from us.”

  The Black Thorn snorted. “That man is a fucking demon, and I should know. I fought a bloody army of them.”

  “A very handsome demon.” Rose grinned at her husband.

  “Don’t matter what Morrass offered,” Elaina spat. “Bastard is dead.”

  That made both Rose and her Thorn pause, and Elaina felt the weight of all three of their eyes pressing down on her. It seemed both of them could give a glare when they wanted to. Elaina shifted her footing, but under such scrutiny she couldn’t find a comfortable spot.

  “Did ya see his body?” the Black Thorn said.

  “No,” Elaina's voice broke a little. She realised her mouth was as dry as a desert.

  The Black Thorn snorted. “Then he ain’t dead. Fucker is harder ta kill than… uh, me.”

  Rose picked up a bottle from a silver drinks tray and poured dark red liquid into a cup before sliding off the desk – gracefully, given her swollen belly – and approaching Elaina.

  “We’ve been horribly rude, haven’t we?” Rose handed the cup to Elaina. “Come, sit down.” She took Elaina’s spare hand and guided her to one of the sofas lining the walls. She sat without a hint of effort and pulled Elaina down next to her.

  “It’s ice wine, Captain Black,” she said. “You sounded thirsty.”

  Elaina sniffed the cup and wrinkled her nose at the acrid smell, but she supposed that if they wanted her dead then poison would be the last method they would use. With that thought in mind, she raised the cup to her lips and took a deep swallow. It was a pleasant taste, some sort of fruit she couldn’t name, cool and refreshing on her tongue and throat.

  “Thank you,” she said. It dawned on her that she was more than a little out of her depth. “Morrass is dead. I set it up myself.”

  Rose’s dark eyes bored into her own blues. “Do explain.”

  “I set up a meet between Morrass and my da,” Elaina continued, ignoring the worry in her gut over the fate of Keelin Stillwater, whom she’d also sent to the meeting. “My da ain't about to let Morrass walk out of that one. He’s been wanting the bastard dead for somewhere close to forever.”

  “A very bold statement, given you have no idea of our affiliation with Captain Morrass.” Rose's voice was so sweet it was almost a purr. “Are you aware my husband has worked for him in the past?”

  “Hey,” the Black Thorn said, wearing a look that might have been affront. It was hard to tell underneath all the scarring. “I didn’t know I was workin’ fer him. You knew it was him when you were fuckin’ him.”

  Boldness had always been one of Elaina’s strengths, and she decided to stick to it. “Doesn’t matter a drop what happened in the past. Right now Tanner Black is offering an alliance, and that’s all that matters.”

  “I will not ally Chade, nor the Wilds, to Tanner Black,” Rose said.

  Elaina snorted out a laugh. “Siding with Drake then? Seems a poor choice to ally with a dead man.”

  “Let her finish,” the Black Thorn said. “She gets this look in her eyes when she’s got more to say.”

  Elaina looked back at Rose to find her smiling. “I will not ally ourselves with Tanner Black or with Drake Morrass. I will, however, form an alliance with Elaina Black.”

  “What?” Elaina said, more than a little shocked.

  The Black Thorn let out a rasping laugh.

  “I have no intention of allying myself with Tanner or with Drake,” Rose continued. “One is evil and the other… well, we all know what sort of a man Drake Morrass truly is, alive or dead. The Pirate Isles will have what ships and soldiers I can spare them as long as you are part of it, Captain Black. They will sail for you and fight for you, but not for your father. Do you understand?”

  Elaina barked out a laugh. “No.”

  Rose sighed. “Men have no idea how to rule, dear.”

  Elaina glanced at the Black Thorn to find him nodding.

  “Whoever moulds your Pirate Isles into a throne will need either a queen or an heir, and you can be both.”

  Elaina had a vision of being Drake Morrass’ queen, and it was not a pleasant one. “Morrass is dead and Blu is Tanner’s heir, not me.”

  Rose shrugged. “Accidents happen.”

  “I…” Elaina started, but realised she had no idea what she was going to say. “Uh…”

  Again Rose laughed, and the sound echoed around the large room. “You need some time to come to terms with the idea. I understand. It will take time for me to assemble the ships and crew.” Rose stood and pulled Elaina to her feet, guiding her towards the door.

  “Take a few days to think about it, and when you come to terms with the offer and realise how much you truly want it, return and we will make it official.”

  Rose opened the door. The little woman in the cavalier hat was standing outside again, a sneer plastered to her face.

  Elaina turned to find Rose smiling at her. “I do hope ours will be a long and fruitful relationship, Captain Black.” The woman stepped close and kissed Elaina before ushering her out through the door and shutting it behind her.

  Elaina stood in the corridor like a mute fool, wondering at the offer that had just been laid before her.

  “She has that effect on most folk,” said Henry the Red. “Ya should see her negotiate with men.” An ugly laugh escaped the woman’s lips. “Come on. Fancy a drink?”

  Elaina followed her down the corridor, paying no attention to where she was being led. Her mind was awhirl with the possibilities.

  “She offer you the world?” said Henry.

  Elaina shook her head. “Just a part of it.”

  Chapter 2 - North Gale

  T’ruck marched along the corridor with two soldiers in front of him and three behind. He towered over all five men, but he was under no illusions; should he so much as step out of line he would be skewered, and there was only so much even he could take.

  His wounds had been patched up by a competent priest of the Five Kingdoms. Priests were good for tending wounds and making folk feel guilty, and little else. T’ruck had killed a few of them in his time; they infested the Five Kingdoms like ticks on a mange-ridden dog. Eight gods the Five
Kingdomers worshipped, and each one needed more priests than the last.

  For two days now he’d languished in a cell, alone. The brig on board Storm Herald was large, and T’ruck had heard other voices, other members of his crew, but they were kept away from him, and any attempt to raise his voice was met with the threat of beatings. T’ruck wasn’t afraid of beatings, but if he was to escape – and he intended to – he would need to be as whole as possible.

  His escorts stopped and opened a heavy wooden door, standing aside and motioning him in. T’ruck ducked under the frame and walked into the room. The door shut behind him. He’d been wondering how long it would take for the cowards to start the torture.

  It was a large cabin, spacious enough for a good number of folk, with two chairs and a single table. T’ruck eyed it and decided it was likely to be where the torturer would put his devices, lay them out for all to see. The anticipation of torture was said to be even worse than the ordeal itself. T’ruck plucked the table from the floor, unhindered by his manacled hands, and turned it to kindling against the far wall, grinning at the petty destruction. Whoever came for him would have to put their precious knives and clamps on the floor. He paced the room, searching for a way out. There was nothing. The cabin had no windows, and while shattering the small storm lantern would allow him to start a fire, he would no doubt be the first to die from it. It did seem strange that they would leave a lantern unguarded with him. At the very least he could use it as a weapon and bludgeon the first man through the door when they came for him.

  When the door did finally open, a chill ran down T’ruck’s spine and all thoughts of assault by lantern fled. The man who entered was tall and muscular, with long brown hair and cold grey eyes. He wore bleached-bone trousers, a shirt to match, and a yellow tabard over the top, cinched at the waist with a red sash. The man wore no armour, and his only visible weapon was a longsword buckled to a belt underneath the tabard. T’ruck swallowed and backed up further into the cabin.