Treasure by Megan Derr Page B

with a small jewel bead of esmeralda. "Breathtaking. I thank you, Highness."
    Kyo shrugged the words aside. "Tell me if you have any trouble securing supplies."
    "I shouldn't have any trouble, but I will let you know, Highness. We should be able to slip away with little fuss, and the crew knows better than to speak to anyone of ship business. They are the finest me in my employ. I do feel I should warn you, however, of the dangers involved in such a journey. Kindan can handle it, he always does, but there will be trouble and probably frequent, at that."
    "Are you warning me of the usual dangers of foul weather and mermaids, or warning me specifically of the additional trouble with mermaids that your captain will bring? In any case, you must know that I likely present a danger, as well. Neither the captain nor I am loved much by the sea or its inhabitants."
    "I can handle the mermaids," Kindan said. "But extraneous passengers are a problem I typically prefer to avoid.  When I tell you to go or stay somewhere, Highness, it's important that you listen to me."
    Kyo smirked, and Taka wanted to roll his eyes and warn Kindan that saying things like that only ever provoked Kyo. "I know I look as if all I do all day is sit around and look pretty, Captain, but I promise I can handle myself. I also know the fine art of staying out of the way."
    Sneering, Kindan replied, "I doubt you know what it's like to have someone come at you with claws and teeth bared, mad with a desire to not simply kill you, but devour you while you are still breathing. They attack in the dark and with you aboard, my men are in thrice the danger they were before. If the mermaids manage to kill you, there will be nothing to stop them from making a try at the islands themselves once and for all."
    "I told you, I can handle myself," Kyo replied. "I have not learned to swim with sharks by sitting around in court simpering all day." He smiled sweetly, in a way anyone in court knew meant Kindan had just made himself an enemy.
    Kindan did not seem impressed. "We shall see, Highness."
    "Then by all means, let us sign the papers and be done," Kyo said, and Taka handed Raiden a pen. Taking it, Raiden briskly signed his name to the secretary contract and the papers of authenticity and ownership for the jewels. When he finished, he handed all of it to Kyo, who quickly signed his own name, and then added his royal seal. Finished, he handed everything off to Taka. "See that is filed discreetly and then lost in the shuffle, Taka."
    Taka bowed his head and set the papers aside, then sipped at the broth that was all he preferred to have for breakfast. All around them was the palace, the temple, and the sea. What would it be like not to see any of it, to see nothing, but the ocean for days and days, for weeks that stretched into months. He would not see Kundou again for six months, and he wondered if anything would seem the same after he returned.
    He had the sense it would not, no matter how much he wished, and the thought made him sad. Dragons! What was Kyo up to? Taka could not fathom it, and the only reason he was more amenable to it was that the only other option was for Kyo to leave him on his father's orders and travel alone under the care of guards the king had chosen himself.
    It was only moderately reassuring one of those men was Captain Midori, who had always been slightly moonstruck for Kyo. Taka wondered morosely what would happen when they realized Kyo was gone, and there was no clue as to where he had gone or where he would be going.
    He did not doubt for a moment that Kyo was positively delighted by the idea of the chaos he would be leaving behind. Taka wanted to throttle him.  More than that, he just wanted Kyo to confide in him—but he may as well wish for the gods to return, for that was far more likely to happen.
    "You have finalized our course?" Kyo asked.
    It was Kindan who nodded and set a map upon the table. "We could do the journey straight through in