Oberon's Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

his loyal crew, but he saw only frightened interest. They were not at all surprised. “All of you?” he asked, disappointment dragging at his tone. “Not one of you insisted on seeing the treasure before you betrayed me?” He met Blake’s eyes and shook his head slowly.
    “Three years you’ve searched,” Blake sneered. “Three years you’ve studied ancient tomes. You would not have led us here for nothing. But it will cost you everything. Pirates were never meant to be scholars.” He stared at the carved stone gates, then around at the walls of sand. “We weren’t meant to be explorers and nomads.”
    Corin sighed and shook his head. “It is no job for clever little lords. You are wrong on every other point. I’ve been studying more than old books. I study men, Blake, and this attempt is no surprise at all.”
    Blake’s grin was a twist of contempt. “So smooth of tongue, but you will not bluff your way through this. And this is not just an attempt. The men are all with me.”
    The loose circle around Corin shuffled uncertainly, but they did not withdraw. They avoided Corin’s gaze, but they did not back down. He sighed. “All of you? All of you will follow this foppish—”
    “Enough,” Blake said softly. Corin felt the cool edge of Blake’s cutlass burn against his collarbone. He never caught the motion, never heard a sound, but it was there. Fool or not, the man was deadly with that blade.
    Iryana cried out, but Corin silenced her with a gesture. Blake’s eyes began to drift in that direction, and Corin had no desire to let him drag her into this drama. Corin wanted Blake to forget the girl, so he rounded on his first mate, regardless of the nasty gash it left along his collar. With all the haughty disdain he could muster, he asked, “What can you offer them that I cannot?”
    “I am a pirate, where you are not. I will let them be pirates, where you have not.” He looked hungrily at the exposed wall. “We will enjoy this wealth you have led us to, but we will enjoy it on our terms. Your mad obsession has worn out every hand.”
    “And all that effort has—”
    “No!” The slightest pressure from Blake dug the sword’s tip against bone, and Corin had to suppress a groan.
    “Enough!” Blake snapped again. “Drop your sword.”
    Corin forced a cold smile. “I have not drawn my sword.”
    “Drop it now! Someone come and tie his hands.”
    Corin raised his eyebrows in a mask of bored surprise. “Yes? They are all with you, aren’t they?” Corin sniffed. “So who will come and take my sword?”
    No one moved. They had seen him kill from worse positions than this.
    Blake spat at them, “Will you really play the cowards now? Your cards are shown. The treasure is right here!”
    “Ah, but there is more to life than treasure,” Corin said. Blood ran hot and sticky down Corin’s breastbone, and every tiny twitch of Blake’s hand grated sharp steel against Corin’s nerves. He fought to keep his voice calm and level. “You never knew Old Grim, did you, Blake?”
    “Slave-son trash,” Blake spat. “The seas are better off without him. Even pirates need some honor.”
    Despite the pain, Corin had to suppress a grin at that. He saw the looks of surprise and doubt pass among the men. Most of them knew Old Grim, and those who didn’t still knew his name.
    Corin nodded to Charlie Claire. “There are rules, aren’t there, Charlie?” He met the nervous eyes of Sleepy Jim. Corin extended his empty arms. “You want to clap me in chains, Jimmy?”
    David Taker started forward, and even that was a surprise. But he was one of those vicious men who spoke Blake’s cruel language. Corin pretended he hadn’t noticed. He turned lazily to Blake. “You should have waited until the gold was in their hands. A little solid sparkle can overcome reason, but lacking that, these boys know right from wrong.”
    Blake slashed his cutlass wildly at nothing, venting his fury as he rounded on the watching