7. Lovelily

Karlos looked at Pi but did not see him. His glassy eyes dripped tears; his drooping mouth dripped spittle.

“You saved my life, man,” said Thorngold. He gave the black cat a friendly nudge, which nearly made Karlos topple over. “How … where … how did you …”

“I’d seen you’d be here. And that you would lose.” Even as he spoke, he watched past everyone’s faces.

“He can predict the future?” whispered Pi to Thorngold.

The rhino raised his paws in confusion. “Not the last time I be seeing him, aye.”

Pi leaned forward and forced Karlos to look at him. “Please clearly state your answers. Can you predict the future?”

Karlos closed his eyes and shook his head. “The water can predict the future. The curse.”

Several crew members were always looking down at the waves, always watching. But for the first time, their fear of the curse turned into a hint of desire.

“Don’t even think about it,” said Pi sternly. “You see what it does to you.”

“Aye,” said Arap, a bulky ape who was the captain’s first mate. “One of us jumps in the water and studies the future. Then they tell us exactly where the enemy is and how to defeat those scummelbags.”

Karlos shook his entire body this time. His fur slowly dried and shone again. “Most of the time, the water shows you nothing. Sometimes the past. I was lucky to see the future.”

“And live to tell the tale,” said Pi. His voice reeked of distrust. “Did you live under the water all that time?”

“The curse also creates air bubbles. Large ones. They helped me safely come ashore in the Caribean.”

What odd curse creates helpful air bubbles and predictions of the future? thought Pi. That doesn’t sound like a curse, aye, but like a gift.

Karlos had the same gaze as Elar, who went overboard at Smalljourn. What did he say again? The monster was coming, the monster ship was coming. That did not sound like a gift.

Their stolen ship hugged close to the shoreline. Lazyland had come and passed. Now the drifted passed Balkze, at a snail’s pace that frustrated Pi.

And then there was the matter of trust. An old friend of Thorngold and Widagai suddenly turns up? Trusting them, all those weeks ago, was a gamble, an act of kindness. Since then, they’d found more misfortune than at any other time in his career.

He beckoned for several apes to come to him.

“Treat Karlos well, but keep a close eye. A spy in our midst would mean the end. Once he feels better, we continue our questions.”

“Of course, captain,” said Arap with teeth clenched. “I’d forgotten that we’re a worthless lifeboat, an animal ambulance, instead of the strongest royal sea soldiers there ever were.”

Pi’s hand was already on his sword. “I hope I misheard you.”

Suddenly all the apes held their sword. Everyone stood behind Arap and formed a wall again. Pi had to face it alone.

Thorngold and Karlos stood awkwardly between the two groups.

“You’ll kill us all, Pi,” said Arap. “We lost our unsinkable ship. You deny us the pleasure of raiding all the villages on the shore. To steal the gold of our enemies. And the king of Casbrita just sends us all over the world to carry out his lust for war.”

Pi drew a second sword from an unknown origin.

“You swore an oath …”

“Who will stop us? The king? He’s half the world away, safe in his bed!”

“We are not filthy buccaneers and bandits!”

“We have no food. We have a damaged ship.” Arap stepped forward. Thorngold and Karlos, both animals of considerable size, stopped him. “Close your eyes and ears, then, if your pour soul can’t handle it. But let us steal and plunder what is rightfully ours!”

“We don’t fight for the king. We fight for what is right, aye, and that is peace in Casbrita.”

“You. Maybe. Not us. And if you don’t work with us, aye,” said Arap as he sharpened his sword against a barrel’s metal ring. “Then I propose a different captain.”

“We were sent to stop buccaneers,” said Pi, more disappointed than afraid. “And now you want to become them?”

“Aye, you know what happens then,” said Thorngold, who was still the only shield between the two furious apes. “There’s always a bigger boat. Pi took us in and cared for us—because that is right. If you do this, anyone who finds you and defeats you will not be as kind.”

Arap went silent. He lowered the sword, but never fully put it away.

“A compromise. Once we reach Lovelily, let us plunder. But everything we take, captain, we give to you. So that you can continue being being a foolish charity rescue boat. For believe me, Pi, as your best friend: once we’re home, the king will take everything we’ve done away from us.”

We have no food, no weapons, nothing, Pi had to agree with him. Part of the crew was severely wounded, but they had no medicine. He’d worked all his life to reach this position. Highest-ranking captain. Considered a hero, once he got home.

But how could you be a good captain if your choices didn’t let the entire crew get home? What would he do if the king indeed betrayed them and never actually rewarded them for the work?

It was the enemy they were fighting. If they didn’t want to be plundered, they shouldn’t have started a war with Casbrita.

Over a week later, they reached Lovelily just before dawn. The crew had repaired the ship’s hull as much as possible. On the inside, it was a broken mess that could barely be called a boat, with ladders that stopped halfway and captain’s quarters without doors or ceiling. From the outside, though, the Silver Dolphin looked as if it had never seen a battle in its life.

Their flag fluttered proudly—the enemy flag. No alarms were raised on their approach. The apes had tried to copy the flag’s logo and scratch it into their uniforms too. Just to be sure, they also hid the weapons.

The ship could dock at the harbor without anyone giving them a second glance. Arap looked at Pi and had to hide his grin.

Pi found it unbelievable. Such a simple trick, but, well, why would it not work?

He stepped off of the ship. His crew followed. Soon, his entire army stood in the sand—forty animals with double the weapons—and nothing happened.

A beaver walked up to them holding wooden blocks in his teeth, which were inscribed with arrows, dots and letters.

“Welcome to Lovelily! Are you traders? Oh my, oh my, what a large group. Maybe you want to buy a map of the city?”

“Erm, well.” Pi looked around, searching for a right answer. The crew shrugged. “No thanks, we know the place.”

That seemed a logical answer. Pretend you’ve lived here all your life.

They continued their trek into the city until they reached the first building: a tavern filled with cheerful music and laughing animals.

The harbor was built at the very end of the Lovewall, when it still existed, and was shaped like a water lily. It was entirely built on the water, like a gigantic wooden table with many legs.

In its center grew a small group of white and pink buildings. Thanks to the work of someone called Chef, they managed to grow thousands of plants on wooden soil. Visiting the place felt like walking through a blossoming forest where some giant just happened to clumsily drop a building every now and then.

What is this? Pi thought. It felt uncomfortable. Goosebumps traveled the skin of his arms and he wished for eyes in the back of his head.

How … how does this work? This is no attack. This is no fight. These creatures have no idea that an army walks with them. These creatures …

All around him, animals chatted, went on their daily business, or let their children play amongst the flowers. This was no trap too. This was a village that did nothing wrong, but just happened to be in the hands of the enemy. Barely so, the way it was located at what felt like a cliff at the end of the world.

A village that regularly hosted buccaneers, precisely because there was no strict policing. A village that also hosted slave traders, for they could do as they liked here.

And the king had ordered—commanded—that it be destroyed.

Don’t stand still in the middle of the harbor, that’s suspicious.

The group entered the tavern, as slowly as possible, as if this was their usual meeting place and they always came here.

At the same time, a parrot entered through an open window. No, it wasn’t Widagai.

“Smalljourn has fallen! Smalljourn has fallen!”

The tavern fell silent. Pi and his forty crew members rapidly took their seats in a dark corner.

They only heard about this now? That’s how long it took for messages to travel to distant places?

“A cruel attack. Barely any survivors, according to a dog attached to a wheelbarrow. The village is uninhabitable now.” The parrot swallowed before continuing the message. “They fear the attacker continues their path upwards. He might attack Mateshaven or Lovelily any day now.”

“Can’t they just leave us alone!?” a woman sighed behind the bar.

“Who’s the attacker?” a voice asked at the back. The parrot grabbed a second parchment. It contained a jumble of black scratches and a large monetary reward. Pi had seen this parchment before, when he first entered their stolen ship.

It had his face. The reward had grown. And thick letters screamed: “CRUEL BANDIT”.

All heads turned to study the parchment.

All heads turned to study Pi’s resemblance.

“Grab him!”

“Stop! I—”

Arap kicked Pi from his chair, sending the captain safely outside of the tavern before the fight started. His crew drew swords and dove deeper into the tavern like a swarm of hornets, buzzing and stabbing in all directions. Animal after animal hit the ground. The parrot left through the window and raised the alarm.

Pi stood outside as his crew destroyed and plundered the tavern. They found a chest of gold at the back of the building. Always filled when it comes to popular taverns.

A dozen barrels contained their food storage. They lacked enough hands to take more than three of them.

Arap and the others raced out of the tavern. Not to flee; to plunder the next building. All occupants yelled and scattered to find a hiding place. Those too slow would only find a sharp sword.

From a lighthouse, at the other side of Lovelily, erupted a squad of policemen. A pack of wolves and dogs who approached with terrifying speed.

“Stop! That’s an order! Stop fighting!”

But he’d promised to let them plunder. He’d prepared them for a fight for weeks, making sure they were ready to conquer the final cities on the king’s list. All that tension flowed out of his crew now.

Pi didn’t know if they’d win this battle against the city. He only knew that little would be left standing at the end.

No, Pi was not alone. Karlos stood behind him. Thorngold refused to leave the black cat alone. A pretty uninspiring crew if you still had to conquer the Council of Kame.

But everything was better than … this.

They ran away from the tavern, back to their ship. They were too late: several wolves had already found the foreign ship and tied it to the harbor with thick ropes.

Another ship then. A fishing boat. A lone fisherman was the occupant, sleeping in his hammock. He woke up instantly once Thorngold’s heavy paws plopped onto deck.

“Are you the owner of this ship? Pi asked.

“W-What? No, my brother.”

“Where is your brother?”

The owner took his time responding, as if he considered ignoring them entirely and falling back asleep.

Pi pushed him out of the hammock.

“Answer me!”

“My brother is looking for the real owner of this fishing boat to—”

“Whomever is the owner of this ship, we purchase it!”

“Aye? How? Why?”

“With violence,” Thorngold said with grin. “It be a simple calculation. A ship for us; a life for you.”

“I will compensate you,” Pi interrupted quickly, “once the king paid out our handsome rewards.”

Pi wasn’t sure anymore that the king would do that. He had a list of choices, and they were all bad.

Sail away and he’d drop his crew, risking their anger and revenge for the rest of his life.

Stay and they’d probably all be arrested or maybe die.

Return to the king without conquering the Council of Kame would mean he was forever considered a failure or maybe even jailed.

The Council was the only location on the king’s list with which he fully agreed. It was a hornet’s nest of buccaneers, enemies, terrible practices, and forbidden dark magic. It had to be attacked and cleansed at some point.

As the owner pushed his fishing boat off the shore, still surprised, Pi made this decision.

He’d conquer the Council, return home, demand his reward, and live the rest of his live in comfort on some remote island where nothing happened. Wife, children, a bit of land, and nothing to do with fighting, war or deadly danger.