Hearing what the queen said made Alaina's blood run cold. Not only did it seem like she didn't know if they would succeed, it sounded like she didn't particularly care either way. What had they just agreed to?

As they walked back down the plush red carpet to the end of the room, Alaina casually bumped into Cole. When he turned to look at her, she whispered, "Did you hear what the queen said?"

"About using us to eliminate her enemies?" he asked.

Alaina shook her head. She glanced at the scouts who were now escorting them out of the room. They were too close; they'd hear anything she said. The scouts might not have been suspicious yet, but if she explained what she was actually talking about, that was bound to change.

"I just don't think this is a good idea." she said instead.

"Trust me." Cole grinned, "I have a plan."

The scouts led them out of the castle gates and down a narrow path. They didn't stop until they were near the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The one who had been Jophiel's guard pointed out a large ship with square sails anchored out at sea.

"That's their base." he told them.

"And you can't get to them?" Cole asked.

Alaina had to admit, she'd been thinking something similar. If they knew where the humans were, why didn't they go capture them? It wasn't like elves couldn't swim. And she simply could not believe that they didn't have boats. So why did these people seem so incapable of taking care of their own problems?

"See that beach down there?" the scout asked, pointing. "If we get anywhere near it, the humans see us and sail out of sight."

"If we're lucky." one of the other scouts grumbled.

"So this is where we leave you." the first one said. "If they don't kill you, we'll meet you back here in two weeks."

"Great. Thanks." Cole mumbled.

He, Alaina, and Jophiel trudged down to the beach on their own. As they did, Cole decided to tell Alaina his brilliant idea. Essentially, he and Jophiel would present themselves as humans, and Alaina would be their captive. So while he did seem to have a plan, he didn't have a very good plan. 

Jophiel had some serious reservations about it, but Cole was supremely confident. Alaina didn't like it either, but she decided to trust Cole. He'd never steered her wrong so far, and with an angel and a demon by her side, she was pretty sure she'd be ok. Besides, if things went really bad, she could always use that wishing stone in her pocket.

They approached the beach. There was a small skiff that had been dragged ashore, and two men were packing supplies into it. Another was lounging on the sand, and a fourth was fishing further down, knee-deep in the water.

"You ready?" Cole asked.

No, Alaina thought. But she didn't say it. Instead, she nodded, trying to look as confident as Cole did.

Seeing that, Cole sauntered up to the men packing the skiff. Jophiel lightly grabbed Alaina's upper arm, trying to look like he was restraining her while putting absolutely no effort into it.

"Well, hello there." Cole said.

The two men immediately stopped loading their supplies. The man who'd been sitting in the sand stood up, hand going to a sword on his hip. Suddenly, Alaina was more concerned with what they'd do to Cole than to her.

A portly man Alaina hadn't seen before came out from the tree line, singing happily to himself. He had bushy white sideburns and a red stocking cap that he used to wipe his forehead as he approached. His eyes immediately fell on Alaina before sliding over to Cole.

"And who might you be?" the man asked.

"Just a friend." Cole said casually. "I'm interested in joining your crew. Well, my associate and I are."

"And why would we want a scrawny fellow such as yourself?" the man asked.

"Well, I'm more impressive than I look." Cole told him. "Besides, I brought you something."

Cole nodded his head back to where Alaina and Jophiel were standing. Jophiel grabbed her arm slightly harder.

"A druid?" The pirate rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we might be able to find a use for her. We've been having a little problem lately, and a bit of druid magic might be just the thing to cure it."

Cole nodded over to Jophiel. The angel made his way over, pulling Alaina along with him. The crew finished loading their supplies before ushering Alaina, Cole and Jophiel onboard and pushing off. It didn't take long before they were in the shadow of that ship under the cliffs. It was even bigger than Alaina had realized.

Alaina climbed onboard, looking out at the vast blue sea. She took in a deep breath, feeling the sun and smelling the salty air. Then, she was almost immediately taken down to the bowels of the ship and locked into a rusty cell. The hatch up above was shut, and Alaina was left alone, the only light coming through a few small windows near the top of the hull. 

"Well, isn't this just great?" she grumbled quietly to herself. She might have been pretending to be a prisoner, but did that really mean she had to languish in a dank cell in the semi-darkness? At least it wouldn't be long, she thought, sitting on a dented bucket that had placed upside down as a makeshift stool.

It seemed to take forever before the hatch finally opened. It was certainly much longer than she would have expected. Alaina stood up, trying to see which of her friends was clomping down the stairs. The man's hair was too dark for it to be the angel, so it must have been the demon.

"Cole—" she stared. But something was wrong. Whoever this was didn't seem quite as tall as Cole, and was he walking with a limp?

"Who's Cole?" the man growled, approaching the bars. He had an eyepatch over his right eye that Alaina couldn't quite seem to stop staring at. At least, not until she noticed he was holding something in his hand. It looked like a bowl with some kind of unappetizing gruel in it. He leaned down and shoved the bowl towards a small opening at the center of the bars meant for just such an occasion. Cautiously, Alaina took it.

"What's this?" she asked, stirring it with the spoon. It managed to be both lumpy and runny. Cautiously, she raised a bite to her mouth. The stuff tasted as bland as it looked.

"That? That's lunch." the man laughed. Alaina grimaced.

"You know, you could try putting some spices in it." she told him. "Cinnamon maybe? Or at least some honey."

"Spices? Well, sure we could! But then what would we put in the bread?" he laughed again, as if her naïvety was just hilarious. "Trust me, after a few days of the food here, you'll be thinking this is a delicacy."

Alaina groaned. She couldn't imagine being here long enough to ever think this was an acceptable meal. Still, she was hungry, and she wasn't sure when she'd get something else. Besides, as someone who was functionally a prisoner, she wasn't in a position to be making any demands at the moment. Wordlessly, she ate the disgusting mush.

She expected Cole and Jophiel to come down and rescue her, but it didn't happen. Instead, she was forced to sit in her cell until the man came back again to bring her dinner. It was only marginally better than the gruel.

Alaina had to admit, she was shocked. She was being treated like she'd done something wrong – like she was an actual villain. Well, this wasn't going to do at all. There was no way she was going to rot here in this cell, waiting for whatever fate these pirates decided to bestow on her. Besides, she didn't think it was all that likely that any of them would be granting her mercy any time soon. No, if she wanted out of this then she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She'd endear herself to these men, make them realize that she was much too valuable to be a mere prisoner. And she'd start with the man bringing her food.