When Ilona asked where she had been, Alex boasted of the street for the wealthy, not far from the market square. 

"I marked the houses," she told her Captain, "then followed another potential client, a rich-looking man. He ended up heading towards the Lord's manor up on the hill. I returned—he has two large dogs. We'd never get in, undetected."

"Regardless, we're not going to attack Burnfirth's Lord," Pan shouted from the back of the room. He had returned from the spice stall, all sold out.

"We're not," Ilona agreed with her son. "You did well, Alex. I have to admit I wasn't sure I was going to let you come tonight—too Greenie to do the hunt. Perhaps I should give you a chance, after all. Pan's well enough to stand watch by himself."

"I'm well enough to fight too," he protested.

"Can you fire an arrow without turning pale, your knees trembling?" Ilona asked.

"No, but I'd still hit the target."

She sighed. "Pan, it's no."

"Are you telling me this as my mother or as my captain?"

"Both!"

"That's too bad." Pan sniffed. "Mums can be ignored, Captains... not so much."

"Mothers always know best too," Alex said. "I learnt that the hard way."

"How so, Greenie?"

"They teach you which fights to pick, and which ones to leave to others."

"That makes sense." Pan grinned. "I fought for you at the Cove, Greenie. Now you fight for me."

She returned his smile. "Fine, I've always been a better huntress than a fighter."

"Make the spoils count."

In preparation for the Silent Hunt—the nickname of the raid—Captain Ilona called her crew into her quarters in groups of five or six. Alex stayed, on the Captain's orders, to hear the plan enough times her Greenie brain would be able to recite the steps in her sleep. Not that it was needed. There was nothing difficult about going to your assigned part of Burnfirth, silently break into the marked house, steal whatever seems valuable, then return to the Kraken's Kiss. 

Alex said nothing and listened. A few moons ago, she would have been offended. She had grown used to the prejudice, part jest and part reality. They would soon think of her as one of them. She was sure.

As though Captain Ilona was testing her, she assigned Alex to Ted's house by the shipyard. Nagi and Liene would assist her, or rather, she would assist them. The easiest robbery of them all, close to the ship, with the least potential loot. All they would find in the old man's home were the silver bracelet, his clothes, and the few coins he hadn't yet spent.

Should she have warned King Thomas about Ted? For a split second the thought crossed her mind, then she decided she didn't care what happened to those creatures that caused death and destruction. Even, naïve little Fox was better off freezing in an Ician mine where his magical flames could be of use than returning to The Greenlands; he wasn't welcome here.

She shuddered upon remembering the Jade Islandic man who had taken Fox from her. His dark eyes and bushy eyebrows etched into a permanent scowl. The rotten stench of his breath.

Oh, how she wished it would be her hands that killed him. The perfect revenge for Laneby?

Eager and thirsty for action, Alex and the rest of the crew waited below deck for Captain Ilona to signal the start of The Silent Hunt. Gone were the clean and trustworthy-looking merchants; they were pirates once more, belts, hooks, daggers, and all. Only the palm tears remained untouched, for the most part at least.

It was a long, aggravating wait. The setting sun didn't drive the Burnfirthers to their homes. Torches were lit and repeatedly replaced. More wine and ale was consumed than on the Day of the Death in Sundale. The God of Greed was feasting tonight.

"Regardless of what happens," Liene told Lasse, "we ought to spread the word that Burnfirth-By-Sea was a good haul. Let some other Captains fight for this place. In a year, when those ships are finished, this place will be but a military base."

"We should send the Driftwood Dogs here," Lasse beamed with an enthusiasm that reminded Alex of Nick blabbing about new stories he had read. "No, the Silent Sharks, or the Bloody Eels."

"Or we make them fight over it. Make one sink the other two, the Greenlanders will do the rest." Liene winked.

Alex doubted Learta would fall for the bait. News about Burnfirth becoming a place of deportation would reach the helmsman of the Bloody Eels long before the crews would be reunited at the Cove.

Captain Ilona's signal came deep into the night. Some people had to be shaken out of their hammocks, others picked up from the floor where they had been taking a short nap. They were slow at first, but quickened their pace as they marched over the boarding plank where Pan was handing out burlap sacks.

Burnfirth was as quiet as it could be. Waves slammed ashore, bringing with them a powerful sea breeze that muffled the footsteps coming from the Kraken's Kiss. Critters scurried the market square in search for food. Owls hooted; they had already spotted their dinner.

A red light burnt in the unmanned lighthouse, a colour visible from afar, for those ships lost or in need of a harbour, but only casting a red hue over the surrounding area. Thick clouds made for a starless, moonless night.

By the alehouse, Nagi picked up one of the nearly extinguished torches. Its real owner wouldn't notice, inside the house all was dark, not a candle burning.

He pushed the torch into Alex's hands, speaking in a low voice. "Guard this. Keep the fire going."

"It might not be that easy," she replied.

"Then it is difficult," Nagi snapped.

Since Alex had both light and knew the way to beach, she walked ahead of the other two, protecting the fire from the gusts of wind. The flame kissed the skin on her hand, scorching her. She gritted her teeth.

Passing the shipyard, she lost her companions. Nagi and Lien were staring at the shipyard in awe, seemingly not noticing their light was continuing without them. Alex contemplated telling them to move, to admire the woodwork another time, when their torch wasn't dying. Despite being the Pirate's Boyar, she had but one belt around her waist and wasn't in the position to command a helmsman and a three-belter.

"Shame these ships will mean the end of Burnfirth as we know it," Nagi said to Liene. "I've grown to love this little town."

Liene grinned audibly. "You've been here one day."

"And I already love the view, and the people... One crazy mage, and Burnfirth will turn into a sinkhole, or ravaged by a man-made storm, or—"

"Burned to ashes," Alex said.

"Fire Mages are rare, though," Nagi remarked.

Alex shone the torch towards the planks, warning her company to tread carefully. "Not rare enough."

"You sound as though you have suffered at their hand."

"I did. Now hush," she said, glad they were quickly approaching Ted's beach house.

Entering the house was even easier than expected. Ted with the silver bracelet, frilly robes, and unnecessary shawl slept with the door unlocked. While it was a common practice in farm villages such as Laneby and Doehill, the bigger towns tended to follow Sundale's example in keeping visitors, welcome and unwelcome, outside one's homes. Old Ted was a countryman at heart.

Nagi and Liene snuck in, tiptoeing quietly, their movement fast yet careful. While the helmsman studied the walls stuffed with shells and dried sea creatures, Liene picked a bottle uncorked it, sniffed, then drank. Shuddering, she placed the bottle back.

The rotten salty smell that had come with opening the door nailed Alex to the ground. She could practically taste it at the back of her throat. The wind cried, a human voice calling out to her, to not do this. 

It was her imagination. When she cast a glance over her shoulder, there was nobody there.

Facing the room, Nagi appeared in front of her like a shadow. He leant towards her, the whiteness of his teeth and eyes translucent in the night. "Don't just stand there like in a dune in the Imatran desert, find the bracelet."

She stepped into Ted's house and moved around on her tiptoes, slowly, aware of every creak and groan of the wood beneath her feet. Her heart pulsed in her ears, her breathing enormously loud in the stillness of their sin. 

Then she saw the silver shimmering. Ted's arm dangling from beneath his blanket.

Her instincts kicked in.

"Hold this," she mouthed to Liene, handing her the torch.

One agonising, breath-holding step at a time, she slipped past Nagi, who was soundlessly filling his sack with shells and shark's teeth. She leant onto a chair, holding her breath, her lungs aching,  practically crept towards the bed, her knees barely scraping the old dirty carpet.

 She positioned her fingers so that they only had to pinch, less than an inch between her and the treasure. All she needed was one squeeze to open the clasp, to make the bracelet fall from the man's wrist and into her hand. 

So close yet so far away.

Ted stirred in his sleep, his skin against hers, startling her. A soft gasp escaped her lips, her fingers moving by themselves.

The bracelet fell with a thud.

She reached for it, groped at it, terror soaring through her veins. As the minuscule diamonds poked her already burnt skin, a hand closed around her throat.

Ted's eyes widened. He shot up, taking her with her, his grip surprisingly strong for a man his age. "What in the Seven Hells?"

She was at his mercy, unable to speak, to breathe, to feel the ground. 

A thousand images flickered before her eyes. Word of her would reach Sundale, and it would be old news. Seb and Nick cheering, but she would be dead anyway. The same fate as Father, Mother, Ben, Charlie, Billy, Boy, Cici, Jorn, Stellan, Fellan, Captain Ivar, and Len. Len who had used his magic to save her. Len who—

"What were you doing? Stealing from an honest man in the middle of the night?" Ted roared. "I shouldn't have trust any of you Jade Islanders, least of all that Scorian."

"Let go of her!"

Nagi leapt at him, slamming Alex out of Ted's grasp, and threw him to the ground, then dragged him out by his feet. As Alex coughed and breathed for lost breaths, Ted pleaded for his life, offered all his belongings including the bottle of brandy Liene had refused to steal.

"We can't kill him," Liene told Nagi.

Alex didn't agree. She stuffed the silver bracelet into her pocket. King Thomas may curse that his contact person in Burnfirth-By-Sea was dead, but he would find another muttonhead to complete his plans.

"We don't have a choice," she said.

"You do... you do," Ted stammered. "I'll... I... I won't tell anyone you were here. I never saw any of you. If Lord recalls the Jade Islandic spice and jewellery merchants, I'll point him in another direction. We understand each other, don't we? Don't we? Don't we?"

"Hold your tongue!" Nagi pounded his fist in Ted's face. 

Cracking bone, splinters poking through his skin. 

If Ted had survived that, he was silent for sure.

"Nagi!" Liene shouted, panicking. "Captain Ilona said we should avoid killing at all costs."

"We tried. We failed," Nagi said coldheartedly. "I'll blame the Greenie."

He smashed his dagger into Ted's heart and kept it there. A dark stain appeared on the man's nightshirt. No blood on the sand, nor on Nagi's hands.

"You can blame the Greenie, but only if you tell Ilona the rest." Alex walked up to Liene and took the torch from her hands. "Take Ted to the shipyard. The Burnfirthers may lose some precious items tonight, but they'll be grateful for what we're about to do."

Liene grabbed her by the shoulder. "Which is what?"

"You'll see."

She guided Nagi to the shipyard, where she told him to place Ted's body in the middle of the skeleton of the largest ship. Nagi obeyed, as though he already knew what she had in mind. He moved a couple of planks, connecting the seven ships. Liene followed with the filled burlap sacks, yet remained at a safe distance. Suspicious enough to not partake, but too curious to just leave.

Blowing softly, Alex ignited the struggling flame. The fire grew, if only momentarily. She took the opportunity to throw the torch towards Ted, his nightshirt ablaze within seconds, then threw the silver bracelet by his feet.

"He wasted King Thomas' money for his own sake," Alex said, staring at the rapidly expanding fire. "One minute, they'll mourn him, until they realise what he has done. Then they'll be glad the magicians won't come to their town, not right away at least. If it pleases the Gods and His Majesty, the honour goes to another town."

"Burnfirth remains Burnfirth," Nagi said.

"And they won't even remember us."

Sheltered by a cloud of smoke veiling the town in ashes and dust, the Kraken's Kiss straightened the sails and set course north, as though they were but an ordinary merchant ship leaving before the crack of dawn to travel to the next town.

From the quarterdeck, a few items likely to survive a fire were dropped into the water. Some knives, a silver plate, even a diamond necklace. Minutes or hours, they would eventually wash ashore. The only person missing, Ted. Lieutenant Mack would put two and two together.

High above, the Kraken flag fluttered in the wind.

And Captain Ilona smiled.