Shouts of shock accompanied by cries of pain quickly cleared up Lee's confusion. His stepfather wasn't a member of the Royal Council for nothing, whatever that meant. The man noticed something was off with the people in the approaching boats, and made a quick plan to pretend to be a prisoner, although Lee wasn't sure how that was going to help against pirates. Was he really banking on them having a sense of pity?
Because the tiny crew was already dead tired, pirates probably laid them to rest without any resistance, and now were surely searching the ship. For a short while there was silence, but then Alan gave Tess a sign and she weakly shouted for help. Lee had to admit, the couple worked together well, although questioned the plan itself.
Following her call, almost immediately the family heard hurried footsteps, and few moments later several men barged in. One of them held a torch, at least that was what Lee guessed. Once again, he couldn't see much since Tess pressed him tightly to her ample chest.
"The God heard our prayers!" She shouted before anyone could say anything, "It's true! Alan! It's true! He sees everything!"
While the men seemed to be speechless, Lee heard Alan saying more down-to-earth words, "Thank God you're here! Did the Prophet send you to rescue us? The disturbance in Plaimont city was surely heard by the Hand of God!"
"What's going on?" Finally one of the men got few words in.
"I'll tell you what's going on!" Tess began to sob, but contrary to Lee's expectations didn't curse, "They found out about us ..."
Then her mumbling became impossible to understand and Alan helped out, "I'm Governor Satcher's former steward, and this is my wife. The dogs from the royal army found out about our family, and killed my son and daughter in law. We tried to escape with our only grandson and were captured, and they said they were going to bring us to the capital for a public execution …"
In the end he also managed to force out a sob that sounded convincing enough, and, needless to say, the simple act was followed by their release.
The two stepparents managed to surprise Lee again when the group got to the main deck. They barely got through the door, and took fake and deep breath of freedom, when, as if following a command, they rushed towards the bodies of the sailors that lie on the deck, and began to kick and curse them. Unexpectedly, the curses were not the profanities Tess usually threw left and right – this time they called upon the wrath of God coming down on the royal navy, wished for the king's manhood to wither, and for his army to die from plague.
At this point Lee realized that the people who took over the ship were not pirates, but some kind of religious group, but he was still stunned by the passionate performance of his stepparents. It even took some effort to calm the two down, but soon after that they sat in one of the cargo boats on the way to the pier.
The sky was already getting dark, and it was hard to discern what was going on at the docks, but Lee noticed clouds of smoke rising from different parts of the town. Obviously that was Alan's first clue earlier, but the sailors were most likely too tired to think something was wrong.
On the pier the family was greeted by a middle-aged man. Apparently he was the leader of the bunch that currently ransacked the docks and stacked valuables in neat piles.
After hearing the short version of Alan's and Tess's story from the guy who brought them to the pier, he said, "I'm Frank. Welcome to Maryport!"
"Thank you, master Frank, for saving us!" Alan said with a serious expression, and deeply bowed, "And our congratulations on taking over the town! If you continue to advance like this, the Prophet will soon replace King Sunwell and …"
"If it was that easy …" Frank shook his head, "Anyway, I don't have time to chat – we still have a lot of work to do. You should report to Milch – he's our leader. He'll be eager to hear some news from the south. Sally, bring them to the governor's residence! I think Milch is currently there."
From what it looked like, Sally was meant to become the personal guide for the family. Clearly they were not out of the woods yet, and Lee already prepared for the act number two, when after entering a darker alley between a couple of port warehouses, Alan unceremoniously knocked the guy out.
"Three crew members were still alive and I'm sure at least two of them will wake up pretty soon." He said while checking Sally's pockets, "I doubt we'll have a chance to get to the governor's mansion before the rebels will start looking for us. Two members of the Royal council is surely a catch of the year they won't intend to let slip by."
"What the fuck are we going to do?" Tess was obviously worried.
Lee, of course, had no way to impact any decisions. Thus him worrying was useless, and he was more curious about what was about to happen next, especially because of a newfound respect towards his stepfather. From the moment Isabella anchored down, the man showed part of his character that probably only a handful of people knew existed.
"No idea." Alan said, "We need to settle somewhere and think. We can't leave the town as we are. You obviously can't scale the town wall, but even if we manage to leave through the gates, they'll track us down before the sunrise. Waiting for the royal cavalry is also not an option – they'll need at least ten days to arrive, but my guess is that the rebels have been here only since the day before yesterday."
"Why do you think there's a wall?" Tess asked.
"We're in the south. Every town has one." Alan said, "Alright, let's move. Sally doesn't have anything useful on him."
Neither of Lee's stepparents was young and even though Alan turned out to be surprisingly fit, Tess wasn't. Thus running around the town at night was out of the question, but staying in the port was equally dangerous. Fortunately luck was on their side and slightly further down the street that lead to the docks, behind a larger house there was a garden with a wooden shed hidden in the back.
Alan settled his wife and Lee there, but didn't stay. Either he already had a plan or was going to explore, but Lee, of course, could be of no help by any means, thus soon passed out. During the night he woke up to Alan coming and going several times, but other than food and clean clothing for Tess, he didn't bring anything over.
With the sunrise he came back again, he and Tess put on something on their faces that could be considered a kind of a makeup, and the family boarded a small wagon, pulled by a mule. It was packed with random stuff, mostly clothing, but there were a couple of bags Alan handled with great care.
They drove to the central marketplace that despite the rebel invasion was full of people. From what it looked like the common folk was generally left alone, but the transactions were made by bartering and not using the regular currency. Clearly the fear of getting robbed was there despite the relatively peaceful atmosphere.
Alan rushed to check the situation at the gates, but soon returned, and a faint shake of his head told they were about to spend some time here. Meanwhile Tess pretended to sell pieces of clothing they had in the wagon, and, since there were many people like them, the family didn't stand out.
Every now and then Alan ran off again, but every time he returned with increasingly gloomy expression. Finally, in the afternoon, he mumbled something about needing a horse, and a short while later actually returned with one.
Then, after they exchanged few short sentences, Tess immediately packed their things, and they left. Alan rode the horse he just got from who knows where, and she drove after her husband, but keeping a healthy distance so that a casual onlooker couldn't guess they were together. As usual, Lee dangled in the sling on her chest, but this time was free to observe the surroundings.
The town was relatively large for the standards of this world, at least to his understanding, and it finally made sense how they managed to stay hidden in plain sight since the last evening.
Judging by how the rebel forces were equipped, it was unlikely there was an army garrison in or near the town. That meant they only needed to attack the local law enforcement – obviously the town guard, and then the port, and the governor's mansion. Clearly the rebel numbers were relatively thin, and they couldn't perform a thorough search while effectively pillaging even if the targets were as hot as Lee's stepparents. Thus the main hurdle for the trio's escape were the town gates.
"Now pay attention!" Tess's whisper disturbed Lee's train of though, "Watch your damn father carefully. He's a motherfucking artist when it comes to solving the impossible!"