Chapter 2

"Sir?" A guard from my father's personal is in the doorway of my chambers. Looking slightly nervous and disheveled from his night time patrol.

I sigh and turn to face him, "What Travis? Does father require my appearance today?" Secretly praying it was not the case at all. I dreaded seeing my father lately. He just drones on and on about finding a wife for me, and constantly training me how to be a proper king for our kingdom, or about our ongoing wars. Im not ready for anything but to fight in the wars. Fighting is what I do best, not marriage or assuming my position of King so soon, but desperate times means desperate measures.

Travis pauses before speaking and I'm immediately annoyed by his hesitation. "Spit it out already!" I bark out.

He flinches, "Yes sir! Right away sir. Well... erm, there's been a sighting." He stutters out.

"A sighing of what?" I ask moving closer to Travis. Ugh it's probably another shark or something.

"A ship. A pirate ship. Black and silver sails and a dark wooden body. In.. in Crab Cove." He stammers.

I shake my head in disbelief. In Crab Cove? He must be joking. Patrols always deter ships from our main grounds. "A ship..." I mutter in disbelief.

"Excuse me sir?"

"Did I hear you correctly or am I going mad!? A SHIP!? A PIRATE SHIP GOT THROUGH? What were you doing? Sleeping!? How in the seven seas did a pirate ship get through!" I roar. "Does my father know about this yet?" I angrily snarl. Flicking my emerald tail I make angry waves in the water.

I feel a little bad for being rough on Travis. He's a new guard around here but new or not, this is a serious matter. "I... I- I don't know sir. I was with the commander and the King. A scout from the co- cove came and told the commander quietly and sent me- me to tell you first..." he quietly added, "Telling you first, rather than the King."

I breathe in deeply and letting air bubbles out through my nose. Trying to calm myself, I say through clenched teeth, "He can't know about this. How many crewmen?"

"How many crew-what?" Travis asks.

I groan out loud and say again, "How. Many. Crewmen. On. The. Ship."

He stammers, "For- forty pirates."

"Gods! Okay, gather Auora and three others. Perhaps we can compel them to leave here. I will accompany to make sure no one loses control and kills them. Do you understand? Make sure you have Auora! If she's sleeping, wake her and tell her it is a direct order from her brother."

Travis nods and quickly darts away without saying another word. I must make sure my father doesn't hear of this. His patience with the petty pirates is waining thin. He has a desire to kill them like the old times. Back when his mother reigned the throne she was mad with killing. My father overthrew his own mother and banished her and her followers away. To never return and to end the merciless killing.

My father was the first to end the killing but if he loses his patience, there's no telling.

I grab my my spear with a sharpened rock as an arrow at the tip and quickly leave my chamber. It is still early morning as I silently pray to not run into any one in the castle. I can't risk anyone telling my father I'm leaving this early. I dart around the hallways undetected and speed towards Crab Cove.

"Brother!" A high pitched, extremely annoyed, and slightly tired voice calls out behind me. "How dare you tell someone from father's patrol guard to wake me up this early in the morning!? And saying it is your request!" My younger sister, Auora, heading towards me. Her young face pulled together in a scowl and her shoulder-length, dark brown hair is messily tied back with a bright red ribbon. Following closely behind is a girl I have not seen before and her beauty is breathtaking.

I flash her a smile and turn to look at my sister, "Ah sister. Glad you can join me." I say slightly smirking. Although this is no laughing matter, I always find a little joy in making my sister annoyed.

"Why?" she promptly asks.

"Travis hadn't told you?" I ask her puzzled.

"Obviously not, brother. Now, what is going on?" She whines.

"A pirate ship is at Crab Cove. We need to lull it away. And I didn't want father to find out." I turn serious. "We need them gone."

She nods in understanding. "Gails and Devon are coming with Travis and this," She pauses and flashes me a devilish smile, "is Radiance." Damn, she noticed the way I looked at her. Radiance is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Her hair is long and flowing; a fierce color of orange/red. Her tail matches her hair perfectly. A bright orange tail with the tips of her fins are a beautiful ruby red. She has big, round, emerald green eyes surrounded by thick eye lashes. She shyly smiles a small smile to me and then darts her eyes down. Clearly humbled to be in my presence.

"Thank you for assisting us today Radiance. I apologize for it being so early in the morning." I respectfully say looking straight into her uniquely green eyes.

"Oh, it is no problem your Majesty. Not at all! I am proud to help." she assures me. She daringly looks me in the eyes before looking quickly down again. She's so... perfect. Nice, respectful, and possibly... a wife for me. Perhaps...

"Shall we get on with it brother? Travis and the others are here already." Aurora says pouting swishing her lilac tail. "I want to go back to bed."

Angry that she isn't taking this seriously, I strongly grasp her wrist and pull her close to me. "This isn't a joke Aurora. I chose you to help me with this task because you are strong enough and you can keep this quiet from father. Do not take this lightly or you will be killed. Do you understand?"

She nods but I still feel as if she is still taking this too lightly. Potentially, we can all die but I will not allow that to happen. Silently the six of us head towards Crab Cove preparing for a fight. After an hour, we finally see the Bow of the ship and we all hide behind a boulder secretly watching.

"Gods. There are so many men." I pause and look back at our little group. "Okay so-" I suddenly stop and look at the ship again. Is... Is that a girl? A girl on a pirate ship?

"My prince?" Gails asks. "What is it?"

"Travis! You said this was a pirate ship. There is a girl on board." I say in disbelief.

"It is! I swear it!" he defends. "Look at the sails and the flag. I believe it reads 'Black Diamonds.' But I did not see a girl."

I frown trying to remember the name. I'm sure I have heard of the name before. "Sister, have you heard of this name? Of this ship?"

My sister's face is a pale and her face is hardened. "The Black Diamonds? You don't remember?"

"Surly it's not the same.." I trail off as my sister stiffly nods. We are in way over our heads. I try coming up with a plan when I hear a bell being rung off from the ship.

"They've seen us! They've seen us! Let's wait until they start moving then drive down deep!" I tell them. "We will split off. Aurora and Radiance will split off first and head back to the castle. Then Travis and Devon will follow and Travis, make sure they're safe." They all nod and start heading away from the pirate ship. I turn and look at Travis and see he's nervous. "You'll be okay. You're fast. I'm fast. We will be the last to split off. Just lure them out of the cove then we'll be okay. I promise."

He gulps and slowly nods. I give him a reassuring smile. "They're starting to move! Go!" Suddenly I hear a loud crack and something whips past my ear and hits the jagged rock behind me. "What was that!?"

"I don't know! But we best be leaving!" Travis nervously says.

"Agreed."