Prologue
Pieces in Play
Halloween: King Leonidas’s palace grounds, Portugal, at the close of the nineteenthcentury
Leonidas strode through the ruined palace doors. It was hard enough to see his kingdom in smoldering ruins but to also see his palace gutted and desecrated … it was almost too much for him. He could feel the mounting tension in his ten sons, who followed him into the palace, talking of vengeance and restitution for this grave insult. Leonidas focused on the women and children who had been left behind to stand up against thisplunder.
His first stop was the anteroom where his oldest grandchild was recovering from wounds sustained in the battle with the interlopers. “Grandpapa,” he called from the bed amidst his worried attendants, “I fought bravely against thepirates.”
“There’s my little warrior,” Leonidas said, his eyes filling as he gently stroked his ailing grandson’s dark locks of hair. “Never will I be worried to leave my kingdom in such small but capablehands.”
“He got away with Tia, though,” the boysaid.
“You don’t worry about Tia,” Leonidas assured, “we’ll see to her safety. You rest. Get your strength back,wolf.”
“Yes,Grandpapa.”
Leonidas rose from the bedside, more incensed thanever.
His sons clustered about him. “We must destroy this one, Papa,” one son seethed. “Say the word, we’ll amass our navy and chase him to the very gates ofSheol!”
“You stay with your son, mi hijo,” Leonidas ordered. “The pirate will not escapeus.”
“Papa, he has our women and he has our treasure, the treasure of Venga TuReinu!”
“I know what he has, son,” Leonidas returned vociferously. “He will notescape!”
Elsewhere, Sebastian Silverbeard tended to the wounds he had received in the battle with the young prince, the prince who had dared to stand in the way of his ultimate plan to make off with the Forever Kingdom treasure. Above him on the deck, the boys had begun the merriment and the carousing. He glanced at the treasure chest, carefully stowed away with his traveling wares. He hadn’t had second thoughts about what he aimed to do until just now; and while the mateys would indeed hate him for it, it had to be done, nonetheless. They weren’t his native crew anyway, he didn’t owe them a thing; and in the end, it was always every pirate forhimself.
“Take this to the boat,” he ordered his accomplice—the ship’s cook,Anderson.
“Cap’n!” a loud voice called from outside thecabin.
“Wot now?” Andersonasked.
“Just take that and go,” Silverbeard ordered. “Wait for mylead!”
Anderson disappeared with the bags that Silver
