IMMORTAL WAR: Lost Chapter – Love and War

Bo Yin had rarely felt happier. It was as if every step in her life had been leading her to this point. Here she was sailing a Federation launch, under the command of the charming and devilishly handsome Moonshine Wrathe, on the way to Lantao Island. Catching up with her father was always a treat but she knew that this time she was returning home as a fully-fledged pirate. Master Yin had had mixed feelings about Bo’s choice of career but, in the end, he had realised that nothing should – or could – get between Bo and her destiny. He had allowed her to pursue her dream and now she would reward him by making him proud beyond measure.

 

“Here, catch!” Moonshine cried, throwing a coil of wet rope in her direction. Bo moved swiftly over and caught the rope, then, as instructed by Moonshine, wound it around one of the stays.

 

“Nice work, shortstop!” Moonshine called, grinning broadly at her.

 

“Who are you calling short?” she shot back.

 

“I didn’t say you were short,” he retorted. “I called you shortstop. It’s a position in baseball – one that is vital to the success of the team.”

 

“Ah.” She smiled back. “We are a good team, aren’t we?”

 

“Now look, don’t go falling in love with me or anything foolish along those lines,” Moonshine said. “I’m much older than you and highly unsuitable.” As he spoke, he adjusted the mainsail.

 

“Not that much older,” Bo Yin said, stepping closer. “Besides everyone knows that girls mature much faster than boys.”

 

Moonshine’s attention was distracted for a moment as he pulled hard against one of the lee-ropes. As he did so, his shirt rode up and Bo noticed his surprisingly well-toned abs but also how much he was still struggling to bring the rope under control.

 

“Here,” she said, “let me help!” Without hesitation, she reached out for the rope herself. Together, they brought it firmly back into line.

 

“You see?” Bo said, looking up at Moonshine’s forehead, which was slick with sweat and the salt-spray of the ocean. “We’re a very good team.”

 

Moonshine stared down at her, smiling not just with his mouth but with his bright eyes. “I could kiss you now, for coming to my rescue.”

 

Bo Yin didn’t miss a beat. “What’s stopping you?”

 

“Well, for one thing, we seem to be being rather closely observed by the officers on both escort vessels.”

 

Bo Yin shrugged, her head swivelling both fore and aft. “If they’re so intent on watching, perhaps we should give them something worth looking at?” Her eyes were twinkling as she held Moonshine’s. Her heart was racing away. He was a very handsome lad and there was no doubt in her mind that he liked her too.

 

Moonshine laughed lightly and shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you before. You’re so sure about yourself but in a nice way, not a cocky one. You don’t seem to have any doubts about what your role is or hang-ups about where you’re heading in life. How on oceans did you get to be such a solid citizen?

 

Bo shrugged. “A good upbringing, I guess. My poor mother died when I was very young but my father and I have always been close so I never felt I was deprived of one parent. Quite the opposite.”

 

“You must be looking forward to seeing your dad again,” Moonshine said, brushing past her as he went to tend to the ropes on the starboard side of the boat.

 

Bo Yin nodded, realising that he wasn’t going to kiss her – not yet. She didn’t take it to heart; it was simply a question of time. “Yes, I am looking forward to seeing him and to him meeting you. I know my father will like you very much.”

 

Moonshine turned towards her, shaking his head but grinning again. “I wouldn’t lay money on that, bubelah. As a rule, the parents hate me.”

 

Bo Yin shook her head in mock despair. He was all talk, this one.

 

* * *

 

The sailing was swift and they were making good time towards Lantao so Moonshine agreed swiftly when Bo Yin suggested they stop for lunch. He signalled to both escort vehicles to slow down, though there was no danger of the escorts leaving their side for even a moment.

 

“The Federation must be very concerned for our safety,” Bo Yin said, as she headed down into the galley to unpack their lunch.

 

“Hate to rain on your parade,” Moonshine said, “but it’s a safe bet that the escorts are here to protect the swords we’ll be bringing back from Lantao rather than our backsides, cute as they may be.”

 

“Here we are!” Bo said, arriving back from the galley with two boxes of noodle salad.”

 

“That smells so good!” Moonshine said, as she passed a box and a pair of chopsticks to him. “Wow! And it tastes even better. My compliments to the chef of the Tiger!”

 

Bo Yin blushed. “Actually I made this,” she said.

 

“You did?” Moonshine’s eyes were wide. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

 

“My father is, by nature, a workaholic,” Bo Yin said. “If it was up to him, he’d spend every last waking moment in his workshop. I had to be very creative in the kitchen to lure him out for mealtimes.”

 

“I thought you said you had a great relationship,” said Moonshine.

 

“We do,” said Bo, dipping her chopsticks into her own box of noodles. “But like any good relationship, it involves hard work.”

 

Moonshine gazed at her with genuine admiration, then dipped his chopsticks back into the delicious lunchbox.

 

For the most part, they ate their lunch in silence. Bo Yin was a little disappointed but she knew it was her own fault. She shouldn’t have made such delicious noodles.

 

* * *

 

“Tell me about Jacoby Blunt,” Moonshine asked her, as they continued on their journey to Lantao.

 

“What do you want to know?” Bo Yin asked, coming over to the port side of the vessel to join him.

 

“What’s his story? I hear he was kidnapped by the Vamps?”

 

“That’s right,” Bo Yin said. “They took him back to the Diablo, when it was under Vampirate control. And they gave him a choice – be killed outright or converted into being a Vampirate.”

 

“Those…” Moonshine searched for a suitable way to describe the enemy in Bo Yin’s presence but failed. “Continue, please.”

 

“He opted for conversion but he had the last laugh, in a way. They thought they were gaining a major asset by converting a pirate of Jacoby’s skill and knowledge to their side. But he was uncooperative in the extreme. He refused outright to help them and he also refused point blank to take blood.”

 

“Hence they locked him up in a cage at the bottom of the ship and left him to rot.”

 

Bo Yin nodded, her eyes full of sadness. “If we hadn’t have liberated him when we did, he’d have wasted away. When Jasmine and I found him, he was like a skeleton. It must have been so hard for her to see him that way. But we got him over to Sanctuary where he’s been through an intensive healing regime. Now he’s a fully-fledged Nocturnal and is taking blood in a measured way from his donor.”

 

Moonshine nodded away, but something Bo Yin had said had stuck in his mind. “What did you mean when you said that it must have been hard for Jasmine to see Jacoby that way. Are they an item? You seem to keep forgetting, Bo – I’m not yet part of the inner sanctum.”

Bo Yin smiled. “Jacoby and Jasmine were childhood sweethearts,” she told him. “They met at Pirate Academy and their relationship just grew and grew.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Moonshine said. “This story seems to have a happy ending but you’re not smiling. And you’re someone who, in the general scheme of things, smiles quite a lot.”

 

For once, Bo Yin was silent. She glanced around for something to occupy herself but found, to her frustration, that everything seemed to be under control.

 

“It’s okay, Bo. You don’t need to tell me. After all, we’re only comrades. Not even that, really. I have my crew and you’re on another. It served both our purposes to join up on this trip but, when we get back from Lantao, we’ll go our separate ways. Why, in the thick of this war, we’ll probably never see one another again. I’ll die a heroic death in a momentous battle and you’ll mourn for me but find solace in the arms of some other pirate with whom you’ll settle down and have a hundred pirate babies – all of whom will go to the Pirate Academy. And sometimes, just once in a while, you’ll think of me, Moonshine Wrathe, the one who got away…”

 

“All right!” Bo Yin said. “Be quiet and I’ll tell you!”

 

“Thank goodness for that,” he said, sitting down beside her. “I almost ran out of steam there.”

 

“There’s a bit of a situation on the Tiger, but it’s a secret so you have to promise not to tell a soul.”

 

Moonshine thought about it for a moment. “I promise I’ll keep the secret and, to sweeten the deal, I’ll tell you the true story behind my mother’s golden hand – but you’ll have to keep that secret. Do we have a deal?” He stretched out his own hand towards her.

 

Bo Yin squeezed it, enjoying the moment of contact. “Deal! Okay, well, Jacoby and Jasmine were like the golden couple but now Jasmine and Connor Tempest have gotten very close too. I think Jasmine is really in love with Connor but she still feels loyal to Jacoby because they have been close friends for so long. She doesn’t want to hurt him, especially after everything he’s been through.”

 

“Ah,” Moonshine said. “Yes, I can see how that would be awkward all round. But, in Jasmine and Connor’s defence, wasn’t it generally thought that Jacoby had been killed by the Vampirates? Look, I’m not accusing Connor of jumping into a dead man’s shoes but Jasmine’s a babe. I can see how, thinking that she was newly widowed, so to speak, he might have found it hard to resist.”

 

Bo Yin paused. “You think Jasmine is a babe?”

 

“Oh, it’s not a question of opinion,” he said. “It’s scientific fact. Jasmine is off the scale.” Seeing Bo Yin’s expression, he added. “But not my type, obviously.”

 

Her face brightening, Bo Yin continued. “It’s just a very complicated situation.”

 

“Why complicated?” Moonshine asked, then appeared to have a lightbulb moment and slapped his head. “I get it! Connor and Jasmine had got together before Jacoby went missing. We’re in proper love triangle territory here, aren’t we?”

 

Bo Yin nodded. “You promised to keep this secret, remember?”

 

“Oh, I will,” Moonshine said. “Mum’s the word. Man, that’s a bummer for Jacoby but, as they say, all’s fair in love and war.”

 

Bo Yin nodded. “I suppose so.”

 

“Hey,” Moonshine said, putting his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t get all sad now. You told me your secret so now I’m going to be true to my word and tell you the story of Trofie Wrathe’s legendary golden hand…”

 

* * *

 

“Isn’t that Lantao up ahead?”

 

Bo glanced up. “Yes!” she cried, jumping up from her seat.

 

“So!” Moonshine said, unfurling the sail. “This is where you grew up, eh? I can’t wait to ask your dad all kinds of embarrassing stuff about you.”

Bo Yin shook her head defiantly. “My father is the soul of discretion,” she said. “My secrets are safe with him.”

 

“Oh well.” Moonshine didn’t seem overly bothered. He gazed down at her once more. “I’ll just have to chip away at you, piece my piece, myself.” He winked at her, then turned and began making the final preparations for their arrival.

 

Moonshine and Bo Yin moored their small boat in the harbour and stepped onto the jetty.

 

“Should we invite the guards in for supper later?” Bo Yin inquired.

 

Moonshine shook his head. “Why spoil a family occasion?” He turned to address the guards. “We’re going up to talk to Master Yin. You can go and get yourselves some supper while you wait.”

 

“Try the restaurant with the red awning,” Bo Yin told them. “They do the best Banh Tom for miles around!”

 

“That’s crispy shrimp to you,” Moonshine said. “We’ll rendezvous with you back here at twenty-one hundred hours.”

 

“Yes Captain Wrathe!” exclaimed the leaders of both escort vessels.

 

Moonshine was still getting used to hearing the term “Captain Wrathe” and realising people were talking about him rather than his dad or his two late uncles. Turning to Bo Yin, he said. “Lead on!”

 

Bo needed little encouragement. As the two teams of armed guards headed off along the harbour in search of culinary delights, she led Moonshine in the opposite direction up towards the foot of her father’s home and workshop. As she began climbing the rickety old staircase, she could barely contain her excitement. She couldn’t wait to see her father again, to give him a hug and introduce him to her new friend.

 

“That’s strange,” she said, finding the door to their dwelling open.

 

Moonshine shrugged. “He knew you were coming. Perhaps he’s made supper for you this time?”

 

Bo Yin shook her head, and continued on into the kitchen. As she had expected, there were no pots bubbling away on the stove.

 

“Father!” she called. “It’s me, Father! Are you in the workshop?”

 

At her words, there were indeed sounds within the workshop.

 

Bo Yin turned to Moonshine. “Yes, he’s in there. What did I tell you? Total workaholic.”

 

Moonshine didn’t laugh at her joke. He frowned. Then he reached out and swiftly pulled her towards him. At first she didn’t understand. Then, she turned back towards the workshop.

 

A young man, a stranger, had emerged and was standing before them both with a menacing looking katana in each hand.

 

“You’re not my father!” Bo Yin cried angrily.

 

Drawing Bo Yin to temporary safety behind him, Moonshine stepped forward, his own sword now drawn and ready to employ.

 

“Who the hell are you?” he asked the stranger. “Where’s Master Yin?”