Chapter 1: Pirate's Vengeance

Welcome to the first week of sneak peeks into the new series The Djinn Kingdom. Book one is titled Pirate's Vengeance. A little about why I wrote this series; I love pirates, I always have. My husband thought of the idea of having them be sky pirates, and from there the story developed. I wanted to have some kind of alternate culture involved in the story as well...that is to come as the series develops, but since it is called Djinn Kingdom you can imagine some crazy myths are going to come about.

I hope you enjoy the prologue and Chapter 1, next Monday I will be showing Chapter 2, and then on March 20th the book will be available! I can't wait. Enjoy:

Prologue

Pigmy darts whistled past his ear, one nicking his cheek and drawing blood. The pearl white temple glittered in the setting sun as Captain Phoenix darted through thick darkness blanketing the cursed jungle. Swinging his ruby hilted sword, he batted the small darts back toward the miniature temple guardians.

The stolen treasure weighed heavy in his breast pocket, but the rush of the plunder filled his feet with agility and speed as he ran toward his ship. Leaping over the final ancient stone wall, Phoenix found himself on the coast with the Scarlet Moon just beyond the clouds. But all along the white beach were the dark knights of the temple pointing burning arrows at his heart, ready to set him aflame. Without hesitation Captain Phoenix lifted his sword, signaling from the beach for the Scarlet Moon to set aim. And with a blast heard through the skies, his forty guns swallowed the beach in a storm of fire…

“Then what happened, Uncle Briggs?” Nova whispered as she listened to the exciting tale. She hugged her thin legs against her chest and licked an apple-mango sweet stick. Her curly pig-tails bounced over the peach dress her mother had forced her to wear. Briggs tugged on one of the corn-silk curls and chuckled, plopping into a creaky wooden chair next to her.

“Well, just as the cap’n was about to meet his maker, his loyal first mate sailed the Scarlet Moon—while she was still shootin’, mind you—and the cap’n jumped, see. He jumped clean over them magic guardians and caught hold of the rigging hanging from off the hull; then they sailed away into the clouds, sacred temple treasure and all. And Cap’n Phoenix went on to become the sneakiest pirate ye ever seen, always takin’ what he wanted without killin’ a soul. See, the guns are aimed perfectly, never hittin’ a being, just puttin’ some fire in their feet. Makin’ ‘em jump around like patsies waltzin’ a ballroom,” Briggs said, spinning around as if dancing.

Nova sighed when he’d finished and stared dreamily out his dirty window. She saw the distant islands floating peacefully amongst the pillow-like clouds. “Captain Phoenix,” she whispered. “Now that was a man who knew how to have an adventure. Is it true, Uncle Briggs? Did you really see Captain Phoenix when you were a sailor?”

Briggs shuffled his feet across the grimy floor and added more leaves to his pipe. Taking in a heavy breath, he blew out a thick cloud of smoke and joined her by the window. “I did, lass. I seen him in the flesh, flying that magnificent ship, gatherin’ any treasure he wanted. No one could stop him.”

“Uncle Briggs, tell me the stories again.” She ignored his comment and pouted her lips.

“Now, ye know I’m not yer uncle, kid,” he said, with a twinkle in his cloudy eyes as he rubbed his thick gray mustache.

“Father said I could call you that.” Nova crossed her legs and folded her arms over her chest, never dropping her eye from him.

Briggs took in a big puff of his pipe and coughed when she narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her small hips. “Yer somethin’, girl, and stubborn to boot. Why ye so interested in the Phoenix stories? Yer pap don’t like me fillin’ yer head with such tales. And what ye wearin’ that dress fur?” he asked. “People are gonna think ye some kinda girl.”

Nova sighed again, ignoring his blabber. “I’d love to meet Captain Phoenix. I can’t believe he really did all that you say.”

“Well if ye don’t believe me, then I’m done tellin’ such tales,” Briggs glanced at her playfully. “But yes, lass, nothin’ could stop that cap’n and his crew.”

“Except the temple treasure, right, Briggs?” a deep voice came from the front doorway.

Nova spun around and smiled at her father. He winked, but kept his lips turned down in a disappointed smile. Her father’s shoulders spanned the entire width of the doorway and he had to turn slightly to enter the house. “Come on, man. Is it necessary to fill my nine-year-old daughter’s head with such wild stories?”

“Oh, Papa, I love hearing about them. And I believe they’re true. Uncle Briggs wrote them down, so they can’t be made up.”

Her father laughed and pulled her against his hip with one of his muscular arms. “I assure you little miss, Captain Phoenix is a legend. You really believe, with that logical brain of yours, that there was an invincible captain who scuttled his magical ship to keep his mutinous crew from taking it?”

Nova nodded furiously, making her pigtails whip her face over and over.

“Now it’s not my fault, Varick, what the young lassy hears when ye drop ‘er off. Besides I only get to see ‘er a little longer before ye take her away to Mollem,” Briggs said. His shoulders slumped and a bit of twinkle left his eye.

Varick smiled and shook Briggs’s hand. “We’ll be back to visit, Briggsy. But I have to go where the jobs are. Tough times, you know that.”

Briggs nodded, and then looked down at Nova’s bright eyes. “Now ye listen, lass, take good care of yer mother, and never stop fightin’ swords with yer pap, hear?”

Nova wrapped her small arms around Briggs’s thick waist and fought back the tears in her eyes. Slowly, she turned out the doorway, followed closely by her father.

“Oh, and Varick,” Briggs shouted from his broken doorway. “Tell Kamali to keep that girl out of them dresses.”

Chapter One

The Ship

            Mollem Island- seven years later

Warm water splashed across Nova’s cheeks and the slow rush of gravity pulling her downward filled her with a sense of exhilaration. As she plummeted, she saw the edge of her island bobbing amongst the peachy clouds. The floating island was surrounded with waterfalls spilling over its coasts into the vast sky, and as she flowed over the edge with the rest of the water, she imagined she actually had wings.

As she fell through the open sky, the neighboring rocky land of Felsig came into view behind the hazy clouds. The underbelly of Felsig Island reminded her of a beet pulled from the soil, with muddy roots dangling freely in the sky.

The setting sun glimmered through the waterfalls and cast a glare across the shimmering, silver manu carving long scars beneath Mollem and Felsig. The buoyant mineral shone brightest at sunset, creating a mystical glow across the skies and forming a rainbow of beautiful silver which connected the islands of Launi.

Through the waves of clouds, ships floated amongst the world with bright manu nailed to their keels keeping them afloat; some were big, some only small skiffs. Nova smiled at her world, closed her eyes, and breathed in the humid, comforting air.

As she fell faster, her blonde curls billowed furiously behind her like a golden cape in the wind, and the water droplets from the surrounding waterfalls whipped her smooth face. The faint darkness of the stormy cloud line at the horizon came into view. The barrier separating Launi Kingdom from the unknown darkness of the Below sent a thrilling shiver down her spine.

“Nova, swing around quick!” Dria laughed above.

Smiling, Nova braced her shoulders, getting ready to end the free fall through the sky. The ropes dangled off the sides of Mollem Island, placed there strategically by brave climbers. If she missed the mark, the dark clouds of the Below would swallow her up and she’d be lost forever, but the risk was part of the excitement.

She reached out through the current of the falling water until she grabbed the thick, scratchy rope. The rope gave a little against her weight before ripping her backward and swinging her up over the edge of the island like a bungee.

Nova landed in the fresh pool of sapphire water and let her body float weightlessly as she reveled in the adrenaline filtering through her veins.

“That was amazing,” Dria said once she surfaced. Dria’s long brown hair was suctioned with water against her heart-shaped face, but she didn’t seem to mind. Dria’s green eyes sparkled as she bobbed up and down in the warm pool. “I’ve never seen you go so fast. It was almost as if you were flying. She’s beaten your record I’d wager, Jovany.”

Jovany brushed his black hair from his dark eyes and shrugged. Jovany was lanky and the pool of water only reached his mid-chest, while it splashed around Nova’s neck.

“I wouldn’t go that far, Dria, but I did think you were going to fall right into the Below for a bit. Didn’t you get the announcement of no more island jumping ever since that kid from Rand Island missed the mark? Poor sap just fell right through the barrier into the Below,” he said, spraying a stream of water at Nova. “I’m curious, though—how did you soar so…flawlessly? It was like you weren’t even falling.”

“As I said, like she was flying,” Dria insisted.

Nova wrung the cold water from her hair and batted the droplets off her thick eyelashes. “Oh, the way you two go on, you’d think we’ve never island jumped before. I feel for the kid on Rand, but who’s to say he died? Maybe there’s some invisible net under the barrier we can’t see.”

Dria and Jovany laughed. “Right. That’s why no one has ever returned after falling into the Below,” Dria scoffed, peering into the distance of the gray line of clouds cutting along the bright, happy sky.

“Yes, just take our praise, Nova. Your smooth jump today was probably just a fluke, I doubt you’ll beat me next time.” Jovany narrowed his eyes as if to show his seriousness, though the corners of his mouth quickly pulled up into a smile no matter how hard he resisted.  

“If we can get away to have a next time. When your father finds out you came out here again, he’s going to lose his head,” Dria said nonchalantly.

Nova rolled her eyes. “He will not. He might behave as if he doesn’t want me doing such things, but the man instilled adventure in me since I could walk. I think his reprimands are more for show than in earnest.”

Dria raised an eyebrow and a playful twinkle passed across her green eyes. “If believing that helps you justify disobeying, then good for you.”

Nova laughed and dunked Dria’s head under the pool.

“Hey, look, you two,” Jovany said quietly as if his mind had drifted away. “Have you ever seen such a ship before?”

Nova peered curiously through the cloud cover to where Jovany pointed his bony finger. Just off their island, maybe two miles away, a dark ship bobbed between two swirling clouds. The wood was a dreary gray with a chipped figurehead of a woman with chains from her wrists to her neck on the bow. The ship’s sails were ashen gray and stood out against the bright sky.

Jovany and Dria talked hurriedly to one another about the vastness of the vessel, the enormity of its hull, and expansive sails. But Nova’s eyes drifted upward toward the large crow’s nest. A black flag fluttered in the wind as the ship bounced eerily between Mollem and Felsig Islands.

Her heart beat against her chest like a taut drum. She didn’t see the definitive marking of the skull, but the flag was black, the ship brought a strange anxiety to her soul, and the way it sailed the sky seemed different. Her father had taught her about such things, such dangers in their skies. She knew what kind of ship it was, and its crew. Pirates.

“I…uh…I think we should be getting back,” she said, backing to the edge of the pool nervously.

Jovany and Dria stopped their chattering and looked at her curiously.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Dria narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow as she followed Nova to the side.

“Nothing.” Nova laughed nervously, trying to distract them from her flushed cheeks and frightened expression. “I should get back home before my father is done with his shift is all.”

Jovany glanced at the hazy sun above them that cast the bright orange throughout their sky. “It’s barely late afternoon, Nova. The shipyards don’t close until evening.”

“I know, but he mentioned he may be home early tonight, seeing how it’s my birthday tomorrow. He wanted to help Mother…prepare…things,” she lied.

Dria and Jovany looked at each other with skepticism, but to Nova’s relief chose not to question her further.

Nova pulled herself from the clear pool and wrung out her long blue tunic before strapping her leather belt around her waist again. The brown pants that garnered many disapproving looks from the respectable ladies in town clung to her thin legs.

Dria frowned as she slipped her periwinkle dress over her underclothes. “I wish my mother would see things as yours does. I see no problem with a woman wearing trousers.”

Nova laughed and adjusted the small steel sword on her hip. Her father had given her the harmless weapon for her twelfth birthday, although her mother disapproved. Nova wore it everywhere she went, though compared to the real swords of the naval officers, it was nothing but a toy.

“Dria, if my mother had her way, I would go around wearing corsets and gowns, staying silent beneath a parasol until a young, handsome man came and asked for my hand. A nice, quiet life, as she says.” Nova batted her long eyelashes and rested her chin in her hands as she looked away dreamily. She laughed when Dria nudged her out of her mocking position, but Dria didn’t seem appeased.

She stuck out her lip and pouted as she scrunched her hair into long brown curls. “Still, you’re allowed to wear them.”

“Come off it, Dria,” Jovany interjected. “Nova isn’t a regular girl. She’s more…well…like a…never mind,” he said, clearing his throat.

Nova didn’t hear Jovany bumbling over his words. Her attention had returned to the eerie ship beyond the peaceful cloud cover. The black flag was barely visible as it sailed closer to Felsig. Nova felt a wave of relief pass over her as the frightening ship left their humble island’s coast. Something quickened her heartbeat as if some part of her knew the ship meant danger.

Jovany leapt off the tall curb back in town and waved goodbye as he ran to his father’s blacksmith shop.

“I don’t think he’ll ever notice me as a woman. I’ll always just be a friend,” Dria confided after he was well inside the shop.

“Have you ever thought of telling him the truth?” Nova asked.

Dria shook her head furiously, causing her wild curls to wrap around her head like a mane. “No, and you promised you wouldn’t say anything.”

Nova threw her hands in the air in mock offense. “I have kept that promise, have I not?”

“Yes, well, be sure to keep it. I don’t want anything to ever come between our friendship,” she admitted. “Nothing is worth losing that.”

“Well, you may just be surprised if you actually told him,” Nova said rolling her eyes.

The bright sky was dimming and Nova saw the crown of the enormous light blue moon lifting from the dark Below, pushing the white sun out of its hemisphere.

“What brings you lovely ladies to the center of town this late in the evening?” a deep voice asked behind them.

Nova smiled, meeting her father’s bright blue eyes. He stood tall, and his handsome face was smudged from a hard day’s work. The sweat and grime concealed the long scar along his cheek. Every time she asked how he’d gotten it, he would ramble on with terrific tales of swashbuckling battles with sky pirates and forbidden temple guardians; the tales changed every time she asked. Now he had stubble covering his chin from several days without shaving, and his thick brown hair was falling out of the thin leather strap tying most of it in a ponytail behind his neck.

“Hello, Mr. Willock, wonderful to see you so early,” Dria said, curtsying slightly.

“Dria, I’ve told you before you’re allowed to call me Varick. And yes my slave-driver foremen let me off early today. Have you two been behaving?”

Dria smiled. “Yes, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow, Nova,” she said, waving and turning down the lane leading to her parents’ large manor.

Varick faced Nova and raised an eyebrow. Nova felt herself shrink beneath his gaze. Her father’s face was youthful, with only a few lines of age, but his eyes were those of an old soul. He had a way of peering into her as if he could see inside her inner thoughts.

“Nova, have you had a nice afternoon?” he asked knowingly.

She nodded. “Very pleasant. Nothing of note to talk about.”

For a fleeting moment, she wondered if she should mention the mysterious ship, but then she’d be admitting to island jumping against his wishes.

“Ah, of course not,” Varick said and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I’m certain your mother will love knowing you’re running around with a sword on your hip and men’s trousers again.”

“I can’t help it if I have a father who taught me the joy of sword play,” she teased.

Varick rolled his eyes. “I think it wise to teach a young woman to defend herself, but tomorrow your mother may become more insistent on your wardrobe. It’s a big birthday for you and she is right; you are a young woman now.”

“Father, please—turning sixteen does not justify the travesty of gowns and heels on my shoes.”

Varick laughed and hugged her more tightly against him. “Perhaps not, but maybe you can give your mother the satisfaction of wearing your birthday dress she’s commissioned for you.”

“Just for tomorrow—that’s as far as I can promise. And you must assure me we will still practice together, no matter how womanly I am supposed to become,” she said patting her sword on her hip.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Varick said. His eyes wandered to a small shop to the side of them. Nova followed his gaze.

Two men watched them curiously. One man had a silver front tooth that was visible as he picked at something in the back of his mouth. His hair was dirty and matted, and it hung past his shoulders. The man wore a greasy bandana around his head beneath a tattered leather hat whose brim shaded most of his upper face.

The second man wore a thick bluish-gray coat with brass buttons. Across his chest was a leather strap with two flintlock pistols strapped beneath his coat. He appeared more clean-cut than his counterpart, but his eyes were black with malice as he glared in their direction.

“Who are those men?” Nova asked, suddenly worried.

Varick met her eye and for a moment she imagined she saw a flicker of fear, but soon his bright eyes sparkled again.

He shrugged and pulled her closer to him once more. “I have no idea. Come on now, let’s hurry home. We have a day of celebrating to prepare for.”

Their home was modest and nestled among a patch of shady palm trees. The stones making up the outer walls were gray with pink and silver scars of minerals embedded within, creating almost mystical glimmers when the bright sun hit the stone just right.

“Kamali, look who I found wandering the streets. What an urchin,” Varick called out when they stepped into the small entryway. Nova shoved her father’s shoulder and chuckled.

Kamali stepped around the corner from the kitchen. Her diamond eyes sparkled with playfulness, though she tried to keep her face puckered in frustration.

Nova often wondered how her parents created someone like her. Her father had chestnut-colored hair that was thick and straight. Her mother’s hair was black with a natural blue tint, and her skin was a deep olive tone that sparkled with radiance. Varick was broad and tall, towering over her mother who had a perfectly shaped hourglass figure, which granted her numerous envious looks from other women. The only thing she shared, were her mother’s eyes. They were nearly translucent, they were so bright. Her mother’s eyes were the one trait Nova cherished about herself. Her hair was too big for her petite head, and her torso was long and lanky without a curve in sight. Her pale face made her appear five years younger than she was. But she had her mother’s eyes, her beautiful diamond eyes, and that was good enough for her.

“Nova, why must you wear those atrocious things?” Kamali said disapprovingly, taking in her daughter’s apparel.

“Mother, they are comfortable. You should try them sometime.”

Kamali clicked her tongue, but her lips tugged at the sides as if she wanted to smile.

“Varick, did you get what I asked for?”

Varick swooped on his wife and spun her around before planting a firm kiss on her lips. As Kamali pushed him away laughing, he pulled out a box wrapped in thick brown paper from his messenger bag.

“My wish, did you doubt me?” Varick said, feigning surprise.

Kamali laughed and pushed him against his chest, taking the box. “Of course not, love, but you have been known to let things slip your mind before.”

Kamali led Nova into the small dining room and signaled for her to sit and eat the plate of food she’d laid out. “Nova, why are your clothes wet?” she asked, inspecting Nova’s tunic.

“Uh, Dria pushed me into the creek by the orchards. All in good fun.”

Kamali raised an eyebrow as if she knew the truth, but instead of forcing a confession, she turned back to Varick before joining Nova at the table. “You were a little later than I thought you’d be. I thought Johnathan was dismissing you early today. Is all well at the shipyard?”

Varick nodded, wiping his hands on a soft towel before taking a large bite of his buttered roll. “Yes, the day ran smoothly,” he paused and glanced at Kamali until she met his eye. “The old clock stopped, which would account for my tardiness, I suppose.”

Nova’s forehead scrunched. Her father said the words dark and slow, never dropping his gaze from her mother. She watched Kamali’s expression. For a moment, her mother seemed frozen before scooping a bit of potato and eating as if nothing had changed.

“Well, I suppose they will have to fix it immediately or you’ll be eating cold suppers from now on.”

Nova watched her parents, but she saw the glance between them. Something was bothering them, and the tension grew throughout the night but she held her tongue from asking.

Later that night, Nova heard whispers in the dark from outside her bedroom.

“You know what to do if anything happens,” she heard her father say.

“We should go now,” Kamali answered.

“No, we have to keep you both safe and if we leave, they’ll only follow. If anything should happen, take the box and go to Briggs.”

Nova’s stomach curled in her soft bed as she tried to stay awake long enough to hear the rest of their conversation. Her eyes were growing heavy and fatigue overcame her. Soon, she drifted into a tumultuous sleep, dreaming of flintlock pistols and silver teeth.

Copyright © 2017 LJ Andrews/The Djinn Kingdom

All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion cannot be used without express or written permission by the publisher/author except for brief quotations in a book review