The others around me laughed, including Devlin. “Becoming a pirate is simple. The trick is whether you can remain one. For now, all you must do is swear to me.”
I eyed Devlin. “Swear to what exactly? Swear to serve you or bow to you? I won’t do either.”
“Sage!” Erick’s scolding wasn’t a surprise, except that I had expected it to come much sooner. He shook his head in warning at me.
Devlin only raised a corner of his mouth. “You have the heart of a pirate, that’s clear. When the time comes, I want your promise to reveal the location of that cave. And you must swear loyalty to the pirate code. From now on, you will serve out your life as a pirate, which means you will never leave Tarblade without the permission of the pirate king. Swear that you will always obey the pirate king’s orders. If you fail to do so, you will face the cruelest method of death.”
I closed my eyes to work through everything he was asking of me. Refusing to swear loyalty would undoubtedly mean I’d face death now. But I had come here to destroy the pirates. Could I accept those terms?
“Give me your answer, Sage,” Devlin said.
“Be quiet and let me think.” A moment later, I opened my eyes and nodded. “I swear.”
Devlin gestured at someone behind me, but based on the charred smell that had entered the hut I already knew what was coming next. Agor lowered the knife but his arm remained around my neck. Devlin’s grip on my hand tightened, and two pirates grabbed my arms, pressing them onto the table. Sweat creased my brow. It was a good thing they held me so firmly because it was possible I would’ve tried to escape otherwise.
A fat pirate who reeked of smoke stood between Devlin and me. In his hands was a branding iron, red at the tip.
“Keep still,” he said. I started to object, but Agor shoved a piece of wood between my teeth and held it there as the man pressed the hot end onto my forearm.
I screamed as it seared my flesh and tried to pull away from it, but their hold was uncompromising. A second later he was finished and someone else immediately covered my arm with a cold rag.
They continued to hold me until I’d recovered enough strength not to pass out. I lifted the rag and stared at the imprint burned into my skin, an X constructed of a sea serpent angled to the northeast and a snake angled to the northwest. The symbol of a pirate’s ability to create terror on land or sea.
“Congratulations,” Devlin said, finally releasing my hand. “You belong to the pirates now.”
Erick was the first to reach me after I’d left the hut. He clapped me on the back and grinned. “You are the most reckless young man I’ve ever met. A couple of times I was certain he was going to let Agor have you.”
“I thought so too.” The rag had become too warm to be useful for the pain in my arm, but I kept it pressed there anyway. “I didn’t know about the branding iron.”
“Better the iron than the cleaver. You swore to me that you’d reveal the location of the cave.”
“But on my timing, not theirs.”
Erick glared at me, but there was nothing more he could say. We both knew that if I’d told them where the cave was, I wouldn’t have left that hut alive.
Agor was next at my side. “No one’s ever spoken to Devlin like that before. But the crazy thing is I think he admired it.”
“What now?” I asked.
Agor began leading me down a path. “We eat first. Then Devlin will want to test some of your skills.”
“Fink’s still locked up. Is he going to that hut now?” I’d put up any fight necessary to keep him from getting branded.
Erick shook his head. “Fink’s too young. Maybe in a few years.”
“We let him out,” Agor added. “He’ll join us at the meal.”
Minutes later we arrived near the kitchen, where several long tables were set up for meals. Fink was already waiting at one and motioned for us to join him. Apparently, he’d already heard what had happened inside the hut because as soon as he saw me he leapt to his feet and grabbed my arm. “Congratulations!”
I yanked it away with a gasp as his fingers inadvertently pressed near the burn. Fink’s eyes widened when he saw the branding, maybe with a new appreciation for what it meant to become a pirate.
“Yes, congratulations.” I turned to see Imogen standing behind us. She held a large pot with a ladle inside and must have been dishing up stew for the other men. “You got what you wanted, then?”
I barely looked at her. “You know what I want.”
“And you know how to get it.” Imogen frowned at me and moved on without putting any stew into my bowl.
Fink had a full bowl and grinned at me as he sat back on the bench. “It would help if you used words like please and thank you.”