Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (7 page)

"Aro?"

She looked over at Kendric. "All done." She
turned slightly to Prince, but didn't look at him. "Try not to move it too
much. Let me know if feels wrong, or anything. Or if you start to feel
feverish." Not that she could do much if anything did go wrong.

"I will."

He sounded so very serious she couldn't help a faint
smile.

The ship lurched suddenly and Kendric caught her by
the back of her shirt before she sprawled into Prince's lap.

"We've just turned very suddenly," Prince
said quietly, a frown on his face.

They heard a lot of banging above, people running
about, and loud voices yelling words she couldn't decipher. She looked in alarm
to Kendric.

He was looking up, listening.

She looked at Prince. He did the same. She waited,
looking from one to the other for what seemed like forever, waiting for someone
to tell her something, anything.

"The Dressen Navy," Kendric said finally.

"Wither me," she muttered. "This is
really not my day." She looked up again with all the others at another
flurry of activity above.

The Dressen Navy. Sinkers of slave ships. How could
things get much worse than that? She was likely going to be fish food very,
very soon.

Chapter 4

The Men

She stayed with Prince when Kendric got up to stand at
the bars of the cell with a few of the others, listening in tense silence to
the commotion above.

Eventually she moved to put her back to the wall,
sitting beside Prince, but not touching him. She didn't want to jostle his
broken arm. She drew up her knees, wrapped her arms around her legs and rested
her forehead on them. She sat that way for a long time, just listening, swaying
as the ship rolled and occasionally lurched sharply.

Memories of her brothers came again and panic made her
breath catch. Tears burned her eyes and she blinked furiously, hoping to keep
them away. Trying to forget, to distract herself, she spoke, "So you're a
prince."

"Yes." Short answer.

She peeked over at him to see if he was angry because
of her question, but he didn't appear to be. His gaze remained raised to the
continued sounds up above.

"Do you have a crown?" Immediately she
regretted asking such a foolish question.

"Yes." He smiled slightly. "But I didn't
bring it with me."

She smiled before she could help herself. "Do you
have a white horse?"

He chuckled. She loved the sound of it. "Yes. I've
a number of horses at home. My favorite is the black though."

She found herself liking him. Even if he was a prince.
"Do you have a princess? I mean," she floundered, "are you
married?" Not a bad question, he looked old enough he could be. Though
really, she couldn't tell his age. His features seemed grown up, but at the
same time she'd noticed his face wasn't covered with days' worth of stubble
like the other men.

"No," he said more quietly than he'd
answered before.

"Were you looking for one? Is that why you've
been traveling?"

He looked down at her and though he smiled, it was a
tight smile. "No. Just traveling."

She looked down at her knees and picked at a worn spot
on her pants. From his tone he was done with her questions. "I always
wanted to travel," she said quietly. "But not like this."

"Yes, I know," he whispered.

She wasn't sure exactly what he meant, other than he
understood her. It was enough. She didn't ask any more questions. Sometimes
silence was better.

* * *

Somehow she managed to fall asleep. When she woke, the
sun had risen. The noise still continued loudly above.

"The Navy is still chasing us," Prince said,
before she could even wake up enough to think to ask. Happily, he didn't seem
to be angry with her for the questions she'd asked the day before.

"Great," she said, forcing a smile that didn't
last very long.

They sat in silence as the day wore on, tensing when
the ship would turn suddenly and shouts would echo from above.

Prince's voice suddenly startled her. "I think we've
outrun them."

She looked over at him where he leaned against the
ship's hull, his head tilted back slightly, eyes closed. "That's good
right?"

"Better than getting sunk," he said wryly.

True. Did Prince have a sense of humor? That would be
strange
. "Will they catch up
with us again?"

Prince shrugged.

"How long does it take to get to port?"

Prince pursed his lips slightly in thought. "Ten
to fifteen days I'd think, depending on the weather and the winds."

She nodded slightly, and frowned. She had no idea how
long they'd been at sea. Of course she had no idea how long she'd been
unconscious either. She looked up toward the hatch. It looked like it was
getting dark again. "How long have we been at sea?"

He glanced over at her. "This was the fourth day."

So it was almost night, and four days. She must have
been out a while. No wonder she felt like she hadn't eaten in a month. Her
stomach hurt. Water at least wasn't a problem, buckets hung by the cell door.
They were filled every once in a while. There was another bucket, too. She'd
embarrassingly had to use it a few times. At least the rolling sea had its
advantages; she wasn't the only one who sat to use it.

She ducked her head suddenly as a few of the slavers
came down the ladder with their lanterns and started peering into the cells,
checking on them all.

She held herself as still as she could, arms still
wrapped around her knees, trembling with both the effort to try to be invisible
and in fear of those who had chained her. Her heart began pounding in her chest
so hard she thought it might burst. Tears started to well in her eyes and run
down her cheeks. She fought the urge to sob hysterically.

Prince's hand suddenly rested gently on her shoulder.
He didn't say anything, but for some reason, after a moment, she wasn't quite
so scared. She was almost…calm. Everything would turn out just fine his hand
seemed to say. It allowed her to push the hysteria away, to think. She had to stay
calm and hidden. She had to survive this.

She sucked in a deep breath, and regretted it a moment
later. The hold wasn't smelling any nicer as the days passed. She choked on a
gag and worked on taking little breaths, trying to calm her frantic heart. She kept
her face hidden and eyes squeezed closed. She could hear them though as they
tromped down the center of the hold taunting their prisoners. They banged on
the cell bars, filled the water buckets and emptied the other less pleasant
ones. Men cussed and mumbled. Men and women both sobbed. She tried to drown
them all out, concentrating on her slowing heart beats, counting them.

Prince removed his hand slowly. "There. They are
gone now," he said quietly.

She took another small, steadying breath before
opening her eyes and peeking over her knees. It had grown darker. Hardly any
light remained causing everything to be thrown into shadows. "I hate them,"
she said without feeling.

"I, too," Prince replied gravely.

She leaned back and turned her head to look at him. "How's
your arm?"

"Well enough. How are you feeling?"

The question surprised her; that he would care. She
forced a small smile. "Good, I guess. Considering the situation."

He regarded her thoughtfully.

She scowled at him. "What?"

"I think you are very brave, Aro," he
answered, his voice very solemn and serious.

She stared at him for a long moment. He must have
gotten knocked in the head, too. "Brave? I'm not brave. I'm just
surviving...and trying not to get caught."

He shook his head slightly. "Listen."

She did. She heard the sounds of men and women crying,
pleading, and screaming, even after four days. She'd cried, but not like that.
Her tears had been silent and hidden in the shadows. She wasn't having
hysterics.
Maybe that was what he meant? But then, he was a prince, he was
used to noble ladies and tittering maids
.

"Thank you. I think," she said. She stumbled
over what else to say but looked up and saw Kendric trying to get her
attention.

"Aro, come over here," Kendric said quietly,
motioning to a position suddenly open beside him in his circle of men.

Her stomach clenched and she swallowed quickly, trying
to not look afraid or nervous. She wasn't ready to meet everyone else, not at
all. But she had to, if there were only a few days left to plan their escape,
she had to stop hiding and get ready. She crawled over and took the open space
he'd indicated and looked up at him, mostly because she didn't want to look
anywhere else.

He ruffled her hair with a little grin.

"Bastard." She scowled.

He chuckled and looked away from her. She forced
herself to look at the others, wondering if any of them suspected she wasn't
really a boy.

"Men, this is Aro Mason. I've known him a number
of years." He looked down at her again and she clenched her teeth,
fighting the urge to hit him.

Why he was smiling so much?
Her eyes narrowed. "What's happened?"

He chuckled again and grinned at the others, as if
making a point. Maybe that she wasn't a complete fool. "From what we've
been able to overhear from the slavers, the navy took out four of the slave
ships."

His news shocked her speechless for a moment. They'd
been lucky. "And that's good?"

He stared at her like she was a moron. "Four
ships worth of slavers are now at the bottom of the sea."

Well yes, that was good. But…
"I was thinking of the four ships worth of our
people down there, too."

His face sobered. "Ah, Aro…"

She shrugged and looked around the circle under
lowered lashes, quickly checking facial expressions. The smiles and grins were
gone. They looked at her with...was it pity? Yes, of course. They knew she hoped
her brothers might be on one of those ships. She stared at the floor in front
of her. "How many slave ships were there to start with?"

"Only six ships," one of the others said. "The
rest had still been loading when we left."

She looked up at the one who had spoken; the one with
the scar on his face. Though his face looked serious now, she still couldn't
bring herself to be afraid of him. She had good instincts with that sort of
thing. This man was kind.

Kendric tapped her shoulder. "Meet Bo. He was
with the Palace Guard."

Bo gave her a brief nod.

"Next to you there is Cain, Jonathan Cain. With
the third. Our youngsters here are Avery Brennan," The blond across from
her flashed a charming smile. Youngster indeed, he had to be under twenty she'd
bet. "And Kei. They were both with the fifth."

She looked at Kei, who was surprisingly even younger.
Not much older than she was from the little she could see of him. Even more
surprising was just how different he was from the others. The growing darkness
made it difficult to see, but his dress alone set him apart. Where she and the
others wore shirts of cotton or wool and leather pants in shades of browns and
blues, he wore all leather in a flat black, and his clothes were
tight
.
She had no idea how he could move in such clothing. He didn't even really have
on a shirt, but a vest cut so short it displayed half of his torso.

Kendric elbowed her. "Don't stare."

She ducked her head quickly as her cheeks flamed. She
hadn't even realized she'd been looking for so long.

"It's fine," Kei said kindly, and she peeked
through her hair at him. His voice was surprisingly soft and deep. "He's
never seen anyone like me before." He grinned at her, a flash of white
perfect teeth.

Gah, but she wished there was more light
. "The problem is I can't see anything at all,"
she muttered.

The men of course heard and their response to her
complaint ranged from a chuckle to a snort.

A new sound began, or perhaps it had started earlier
and she just hadn't noticed. She looked up as a strange pounding roar filled
the hold.

Bo swore. "Wonder if they headed into the storm
we were feeling earlier?"

"I certainly hope not," Kendric replied
tartly.

The clouds now covered whatever faint light the moon
and stars had given them.

"Well. Let us get some sleep then, before the
wind finds us."
That was Cain. Or did they say he was supposed to be
called Jonathon? John? She should have paid more attention
.

She crawled back a little to lie down in the dirty
straw and closed her eyes. She listened to the men settle and the pounding of
the rain. Her thoughts spun madly in her head.
Were here brothers dead or
not? What was she supposed to do now?
Eventually the thrum of the rain
lulled her into sleep.