Boyett-Compo Charlotte - Wind Tales 01 (52 page)

annoy Brownie.

“You really shouldn't have done it,” D'Lyn said.

“I know, but I just got so angry."

“Um hum,” D'Lyn acknowledged. That was an understatement. She turned her head and looked at her

new friend. “Have you any conception of how it was taken?"

Gilly shook her head and swiveled around to look at D'Lyn. “Bad, was it?"

“Oh, yes,” D'Lyn agree. “Very bad, indeed."

Gilly winced. “Well, there's nothing I can do about it now."

D'Lyn shrugged. “I suppose not, although I think he will not be pleased."

“I know he won't,” Gilly admitted.

Brownie shuffed. She wished the Hers would be quiet so she could rest. Why did human Hers feel the

need to yap so much? The Him never did. There were hours at a stretch when the Him never said a

word. Brownie liked it that way.

“You scared me, you know,” Gilly sighed.

“You needed to be stopped before you did more damage,” D'Lyn countered.

“They deserved it!'

“Aye, I agree, but enough was enough."

I agree, Brownie thought, shuffing again. Do be quiet Hers!

Gilly put her chin in her hand and her elbow on her knee and stared out at the cresting waves. Soon, the

Vengeance would dock alongside the Revenant and both her husband and D'Lyn's betrothed would be

home.

She couldn't help but wonder just how angry Kaelan was going to be at her and that, to a small degree,

damped the excitement of seeing her beloved again after six months.

“He will not be too angry once he sees what else you've gone and done, Gilly,” D'Lyn commented,

smiling. She patted her new friend on the shoulder, then stood. “Don't stay in the sun too long,” she

advised before leaving.

“D'Lyn?"

“Aye?"

“Don't let him see that little jar you have."

D'Lyn nodded. “I won't.” She chuckled to herself and started down the bluff.

At last, Brownie thought as the Her left. She lifted her head, looked long and hard at the other Her, then

laid her head on her paws again and closed her eyes. She was almost asleep when Her whooped and

jumped up. Brownie leapt to her feet, barking: “What? What?"

“HE'S HOME!” Her shouted and started down the cliff.

Nick frowned as he saw his sister coming off the promontory a bit faster than he thought either prudent

or safe, but he knew better than to scold her. He shivered, thinking of the revenge she had exacted on the

defenseless folks of Wixenstead Harbor. He'd not like to have Gilly that angry with him. At least she had

forgiven him for having her jailed in Ciona.

“If I had not been there, I would not have stowed away on the Serenian Star. Had I not stowed away,

I'd not have met Quinn,” she had reminded. “So count yourself lucky, Nicholas Cree, that the gods put

me where they wanted me so I wouldn't kill you for what you did to me!"

Nick shivered again. He knew Gilly was going to put a hex on the village at Wixenstead. He'd know that

the moment she'd heard Kaelan's tale; he'd even asked her if that wasn't going to be her intent:

“And what do you plan on doing about it?” he'd asked.

“You know gods-be-damned well what I plan to do, Nicholas,” she'd replied.

“Aye, lass; I do, indeed. But can you wait until we leave this place before you start in on it?"

Well, she'd waited all right and Nick had forgotten all about that conversation until he had sailed the

Revenant as close to Wixenstead Harbor as Gilly's curse would allow. Thinking back on it, now, he

chuckled. At the time, it hadn't been so funny.

“What the hell is this?” Raine Jale had queried as he stood at the rail, gawking.

“Sweet Merciful Alel,” Nick had sighed. “My sister did this!"

There was no way the Revenant could dock at Wixenstead Harbor; no other ship, either. A mile deep

floe of ice covered the waters leading into the harbor and two ships were stuck fast in the frozen muck.

“DON'T TRY IT!” the captain of one had shouted to Nick. “WE'RE BOTH STUCK AND IF YOU

TRY TO WALK ACROSS, YOU'LL FALL THROUGH!"

Gilly's own brand of revenge, Nick thought as he watched his sister hurrying down to the water to meet

Kaelan's ship. He'd asked her about it when he came home to the Cay and her answer had been right to

the point.

“Those cold-hearted bastards had cut my Kaelan off from everything, so I cut them off to show them

how it felt!"

And show them she had. There was no way for any ship to dock in Wixenstead Harbor and Nick was

to learn that the town had been cut off completely from the outside world by forty-foot high snowdrifts

that had blocked every road into the village.

Nor had she forgotten about the salting of Kaelan's well, either, for the town's water supply had a very

distinct taste of saltwater.

“I wanted them to know how lonely he was out there at Holy Dale."

Had it not been for D'Lyn's intervention, Nick wouldn't have been able to dock and bring her, Ned and

Kymmie, Brownie and Revenge home to the Cay.

“I merely visited her and reminded her there were those of us who needed to get out of the village,”

D'Lyn explained to him the night the ice floes simply disappeared into the fog.

Thank the gods for the witch, Nick thought. He had no intention of asking the girl just how she had

visited his sister who was a thousand or so miles away. It didn't do to get involved with the business of

the Multitude.

“NICKY!” he heard Gillian calling out to him.

Nick shook himself, so as to alleviate the memory of the stark, terrified faces of the townsfolk who had

greeted him upon his arrival.

“Tell His Grace we are sorry!” the mayor had cried as he stood on the dock, wringing his bejeweled

hands. “Ask him to please not place any more curses on us! We'll not venture to Un ... to Holy Dale and

we will not give him any more reasons to be angry at us!"

Upon asking questions of the proprietor of the tavern, Mr. Titus Neils, Nick learned that all charges

against Kaelan Hesar had been dropped by the Tribunal. How Occultus had managed that, Nick didn't

want to know. He had dropped off Raine, who had sold his stable to one of Lum Tarnes’ sons, picked

up the passengers who would be making the Cay their new home, then sailed away from Wixenstead

Harbor with never a look back. Tacking straight to Ciona, he'd dropped off Traer, picked up a few of

Tyler and Taylor's family and friends, Jess Patrick's wife, Vee, and their son Nolan, then headed back to

Montyne Cay.

“NICKY!"

Nick smiled as he started down to the water where Gilly, D'Lyn and Brownie were waiting for their

menfolk. He wondered what Kaelan was going to say to Gilly about the Curse she'd laid and the other

little thing she'd managed to accomplish while he was away.

Kaelan was at the rail, waving. He'd already spied Brownie running along the waterline, yipping at the

breaking waves, and felt a great contentment welling up in his heart. Revenge was here, as well, for he

could make out that magnificent black steed pawing at the sand over by the dock.

There was Nick, standing with his arm around a fat woman....

Hesar's eyes grew wide. Fat woman? Hell, no! That was his Gilly!

“I believe congratulations are in order, Kaelan,” Thècion quipped.

“She'll lose that gods-be-damned weight very quickly now that I'm home!” Kaelan snapped.

“Oh, I'd say it'll take a month or two more before she'll do so, though,” Diarmuid chuckled.

“I'd say three,” his Serenian friend injected.

“She will start exercising. I'll have her running...” Kaelan began only to have Lumley interrupt.

“After that brat of your'n she's carrying,” the old salt laughed.

“And she'll stop stuffing her mouth with...” Kaelan stopped, slowly turned his head toward Lumley. “B

... brat?” he stammered.

“Aye, son,” Lum nodded. “She ain't fat, Your Grace. She's with child."

“C ... child?” Kaelan questioned, his face chalk-white. “H ... how?"

Thècion chortled. “Well, if you don't know, Stormy, I believe we need to sit you down and explain

about the birds and bees."

Kaelan ignored the nickname Quinn had given him and the others had taken to calling him to annoy him.

“You can't get with child from a bee sting!” he said stupidly.

“Nor from bird droppings, either, I'm thinking,” Diarmuid put in only to make a ‘whoof’ sound as

Thècion's elbow dug into ribs.

Kaelan shoved past the two young noblemen and swung down the ladder into the rowboat. Not even

waiting for the others to join him, he barked at the lone rower to ‘get the hell over there!'

“He don't look happy,” Nick observed.

“He looks dumbfounded to me,” D'Lyn put in. She cast a look at a very pregnant Gillian who was

smiling broadly.

“He's happy,” Gilly stated, nodding emphatically. She walked a bit further on the beach until the waves

were lapping at her feet. She could see her husband's face plainly and the high color that infused his

complexion made him even more handsome to her way of thinking.

Thècion braced his elbows on the railing and watched as Kaelan Hesar bounded from the rowboat even

before it had struck land. He smiled as the Viragonian ran to his wife and swooped her up his arms. Even

from where he stood on the deck of the Vengeance, he could hear the mighty whoop of joy and the

answering giggle of pleasure.

“I've got to get me one of those,” Diarmuid sighed, feeling the tugging of generations of Chalean

ancestors toward fatherhood.

The Serenian prince threw an arm over his friend's shoulder. “Well, Dear Mutt, I don't think Marid will

be able to give you..."

Nick looked toward the ship from which a mighty splash had come. He saw men standing at the rail,

looking down, pointing. “I wonder what happened?” he questioned.

“My beloved Lord Raven opened his mouth one time too many,” D'Lyn sighed.

[Back to Table of Contents]

AFTERWARD

Ten years ago, I sat down at my old Western Auto manual typewriter and began writing
The Keeper of

the Wind
. Luckily for me, I discovered computers by the time I finished the first draft of Keeper, but by

then the manuscript was over three feet tall! Realizing that not too many people would like to drag around

a forty-pound book, I began whittling the manuscript into a more manageble size. What I eventually

wound up with was six novels: Keeper and five sequels. In 1991, I wrote the seventh book in the series

and in 1992, I wrote the eighth. I'm still tweaking number nine. The series is called The WindLegends

Saga and if you haven't read
The Keeper of the Wind
, you came into the movie in the middle! :o)

WindFall
is a prequel to
The Keeper of the Wind
and it is the first book in The WindTales Trilogy. In

WindFall
, you were introduced to Occultus Noire, who will play a major part in Book Four of the

WindLegends Saga and shows up again in Book Six, Eight and Nine. Most all of the characters in

WindFall
have ancesters in both series.

So get out your score sheets and start taking notes. You never know whom you might encounter in

WindChance
, the next novel in The WindTales Trilogy available now from Twilight Times Books!

[Back to Table of Contents]

Excerpt from

WindChance

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

[Back to Table of Contents]

“Sail ho!"

The strident cry broke the morning air like a blast of the arctic air that had been at their heels since

dawn.

“Where away?” The Captain raised his spyglass and swept the rolling vista before him.

“To the starboard, Cap'n. Thirty yards off the bow. She's lying dead in the water."

“Making repairs?” the First Mate asked as he joined his captain at the rail.

Catching sight of the unknown vessel lying off their weather beam, the captain shook his head. “Don't

see anyone on her decks.” He raised his eyes to the crow's nest. “What do you see, Haggerty?"

“Nary a soul moving on her, Sir. Looks deserted,” was the boyish reply.

“Ghost ship,” the First Mate mumbled, crossing himself.

“Stow that talk, Mister!” the captain snarled, shoving his First Mate aside as he strode away. “Mister

Tarnes!” he called out to the Second Mate, who was at the helm, “bring her about. Let's see what we've

got over there!"

“Aye, aye, Cap'n!” the sailor replied and swung the brass-rimmed teak wheel in a lazy arc to starboard.

Genevieve Saur pushed away from the taffrail of her brother's brigantine, The Wind Lass, and strolled

on legs well accustomed to the rolling dip of the seas, to the quarterdeck where her brother and his First

Mate were arguing. A smile dimpled her small face and she thrust her hands into the pockets of the cords

she wore when on board her brother's ship.

“You going to board her, ain't you?” Mr. Neevens, the First Mate, was growling.

“Aye, we're going to board her!” Genevieve's brother growled back.

Neevens shook his shaggy gray head. “Not this old tar! I ain't going aboard no ghost ship.” He screwed

up his weathered face and stuck out a pugnacious jaw to emphasize his point. “I ain't boarding no ghost

ship!"

Genevieve grinned when her brother cast her a furious glance. She shrugged in answer to his silent plea

for help. She watched his gray eyes hardened with pique.

“We're going aboard her, Neevens, and that's the end of that!” Weir Saur shouted at his First Mate. He

fixed his winter gray eyes on his sister. “You coming?"