Free Rising In The East by Rob Kidd

surface of the stone tucked inside his vest. The temptation of all that power was very strong…but the memory of the shadows trying to drown him was stronger. Resigned, he pulled out the opal and plopped it into Sao Feng’s hand.
    “Beautiful,” Sao Feng whispered, holding up the opal to watch it sparkle in the sunlight. “Just as I dreamed.” He formed a thin-lipped smile. “Liang Dao will be so pleased.”
    T he busy, dilapidated streets and stinking markets of Singapore were infested with agents of the East India Trading Company, but Sao Feng sailed right past the official docks and brought the Empress to anchor in a secluded harbor just north of the city. It had been a long trip, but Jack thought it wasn’t so horrible, what with Lian and Park around.
    From the quarterdeck of the Black Pearl , Jack watched his crew tie up alongside the junk and surveyed the welcoming party waiting for them.
    The pirates at the end of the dock were as menacing and stone-faced as the ones on Sao Feng’s ship. But instead of the dragon symbol that all Sao Feng’s pirates wore, these pirates wore blue robes with Lions emblazoned in silver thread. Jack wondered when the brothers had chosen their animals. He thought he’d feel rather threatened, too, by a brother who chose something like a dragon to represent him. Now, a nice dragonfly , that’d be different. Much friendlier.
    Sao Feng descended from his ship like an emperor returning to his palace. Although the pirates in the lion robes were clearly meant to be guards, he treated them like a royal audience, smiling at them majestically and sweeping past them as if unconcerned by their threatening stances.
    Jack wished he felt that confident. He couldn’t help but notice the very long, very sharp swords they were all carrying. He also noticed that they looked even less pleased to see Jack than most people who knew him, which was saying something.
    But he squared his shoulders and sallied bravely down the gangplank with Barbossa, Carolina, Diego, Billy, and Jean. Marcella had wanted to come and pitched a fit when Jack said no, but he was sure that if anyone could ruin the deal he was about to make, it was her. He tipped his hat at the guards as they sauntered by. The pirates closed rank behind his crewmates and stayed on their heels as they marched off the dock, through an immaculately tended garden, and up to an opulent pagoda dripping with silver and jewels. Two large jade lions roared on either side of the entrance alongside large china pots planted with tall green shoots of bamboo.
    Sao Feng and his men slipped off their shoes in one practiced movement as they stepped onto the cool marble floor of the palace. Sao Feng cast a meaningful glance at Jack’s feet.
    “Really?” Jack said. “You think that’s wise, mate? Do you know how long it’s been since some of these blokes took their boots off?” He leaned forward and whispered. “Especially Barbossa. Don’t tell ’im I said so, but hold your noses now, boys.”
    His first mate had clearly overheard, as he was now glaring furiously at Jack.
    “It is custom,” Sao Feng said courteously.
    “Oh, all right,” Jack said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    There was a long pause while Jack and his pirates wrestled with their shoes, but finally a line of pirate boots stood against the wall. (And to be fair to Jack, he was quite right about the smell.) Sao Feng wrinkled his nose, but turned in a whirl of robes and strode on down the long hallway.
    “Nice place your brother’s got here, Sao,” Jack commented, marveling at the silk tapestries and red lanterns lining the walls.
    Sao Feng snorted. “It is all so obvious,” he said. “The East India Trading Company could find him at any moment. And then how would he escape? How would he defend this place? Much better to have a secluded lair with ample underground tunnels, close to the heart of the city. Out here everything goes by, and he does not know. There is no