Ilona shrank back at the sound of her name being shouted by a very familiar and very angry voice. She turned and saw the owner of that voice glaring at her.
"Yes, Mother?"
"I would like to speak to you in the Captain's cabin," her mother said icily, "Now."
Ilona glanced around quickly at her men who were scattered over the decks watching her.
"Alright," she answered before turning to Thatch, "Once the men are on board weigh anchor and get us home."
"Aye Captain," he nodded before moving to begin giving orders to the other men.
Ilona waited a moment, watching the boats still rowing towards the ship. She didn't really need to watch them but she didn't want to jump to follow her mother's orders and make herself look weak. She was the Captain now, not Anja. She needed to remind her crew of that.
At last, she strode across the deck, stepping through the door past her mother and into the Captain's cabin. She knew already this wasn't going to be good.
-
Anja Maria Wolf was a short, pear-shaped woman with skin that was golden-tan like all her children. Also, like each of her seven children, she had dark chocolate eyes and lovely brown hair. The difference was her hair was now scattered with silver and there were two thick stripes coming from her temples. She wore her long hair always in a braid wrapped around the crown of her head so the grey pieces made it strangely striped.
Even at her age, she was still a beauty which explained how and why she had remained the Pirate King's mistress for so many years. That, and she was quite his opposite in most things so they made a good match.
What Anja lacked in stature she made up for with personality. Now, standing in the Captain's cabin with her oldest child, obviously angry, she seemed a looming figure. Hands on her hips and eyes sharp, Anja was working hard to bring her temper down a bit before she spoke to Ilona.
"What on earth were you thinking?" she demanded at last, "Attacking seaside estates is bad enough on its own but attacking them so close to home Ilona? Were you trying to bring your father's wrath down on yourself?"
Ilona crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, sitting in the high-back chair behind the desk. Until a year ago, this would have been her mother's cabin and her mother's desk. She and Ilona would have been on opposite sides while Anja scolded her.
"The hull is damaged, mother," Ilona said evenly, trying to keep her own quick temper under control, "I didn't want to take us out into deep waters and put more pressure on it. Besides we need to work to make up money after we earned nearly nothing on this trip."
Her mother looked exasperated, "And you thought you would manage that by raiding an estate that is practically next door to the one we live on?"
"Yes I did," Ilona defended herself, "And we could have. The men could have swept through that estate and taken plenty of treasure. They could've fought the guards and..."
"My god girl and what do you think would have happened tomorrow morning when those nobles sent word to the king that they had been attacked? The King knows exactly where your father is and what he is. What all of us are. What do you think would have happened to us?"
"They wouldn't have been able to prove it was us," the younger woman continued to argue, "I would have stored away anything we found and..."
"It doesn't matter if they couldn't prove it was us! Nobles hate pirates. They hate that the King lets us live here to please his brother and the King hates it too. All it takes is one slip up for them to chase us from our home and leave us adrift in the ocean trying to find a new one."
"Well it doesn't matter now anyway does it?" Ilona demanded, "We didn't take anything."
"Because Ian was there with those guards and they stopped you and your men. Thank god for that."
"I went to shore myself and had the men come back..."
"After you sent them there! Ilona... my beautiful daughter, when are you going to learn you can't just make quick decisions about things that are so important? You have to think about the consequences."
"I know mother!" Ilona threw her hands in the air in anger, "I thought it was going to be the right decision obviously. And you can't blame this all on me anyway. Where were you? You weren't here to stop me."
"I was trying to deal with the loss of my child," Anja hissed before growing loud, "And I am no longer the Captain of this ship! You are the Captain now so the blame does fall completely on you. That's part of the job. You're going to have to grow up and figure that out Ilona or you will never be a great Captain and earn the respect of your men, not to mention your father."
Her last words were like a slap to her daughter's face and she knew it. Ilona's eyes flashed as she glared at her mother.
"Get out of my cabin," Ilona commanded, "Get out!"
Anja was still for just a moment, proving she wasn't afraid to defy her daughter, Captain or not. But then she turned and swiftly left the room, slamming the door behind her.
As soon as her mother was gone, Ilona hurried around the wide desk to the door and slid the iron lock into place. Once she was sure no one would be able to get in, she walked to her small bed in the corner and sank down onto the mattress, feeling angry tears sting her eyes. She dashed them away, even angrier with herself that they were there at all. She hated feeling weak.
Ilona scooted back into the corner and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head against her knees.
She hated fighting with her mother. Anja had always been her only loyal supporter no matter how many times she made mistakes or bad calls. She hated fighting with her even more when Ilona knew deep down the other woman was right.
It had been a bad call. Sending the men to raid the estate had been a bad call and she had known it. She questioned herself though and let herself feel pressured by the men around her until she made a decision she knew was bad. Now she would have to deal with the consequences of that and she was sure they would not be pleasant.
Of course, this mistake would seem like nothing once her father learned about the even bigger mistake she had made, causing her to lose two of her siblings. That was the thing that would be the end of her. He would never forgive her and there would be no mercy.
Her mother or a member of the crew would tell her father and she knew he would lose his temper. Her father's temper was even worse than her own. That quick, decisive anger had made him a great Captain but somehow Ilona couldn't manage that herself. The punishment he chose for her would be terrible.
Maybe he wouldn't let her sail anymore? Even as she thought it she knew that was exactly what he would do. She had lost two of his children and that was a grave mistake. Her father would be so angry with her he would pull her from the ships and imprison her on land. He had also threatened her that her next big mistake would lead to him finding a husband for her and making her get married.
The idea of that made her feel sick. She couldn't imagine not ever being able to sail again and even worse, being married. She didn't want to be tied to a house like her father's wife, Jordana. She didn't want to have a pack of children and be stuck inside looking out at the ocean she used to be free to sail.
Ilona closed her eyes as her mind flipped through pages of worse-case scenarios until she felt herself beginning to doze off again. She had barely slept since what had happened to her brother and sister so now she found herself always exhausted and falling asleep randomly.
Right about the same time she pulled herself back awake, she felt the familiar bumping of her ship brushing up against a dock. She got to her feet, shaking away the bad thoughts and drowsiness from her head and going to look out at the world around her.
The first thing she noticed was the giant, shadowy structures bobbing up and down in the moonlight. Ilona smiled. The other pirate ships. Her father's wrath may be coming for her but for a moment she couldn't help but feel happy.
They were home.