Chapter 1
The Meeting of the Minds

“Sire! Sire, Cap’n DeBrusky’s at the gate.” Setting down the reports of last week’s raids and captures I rubbed my eyes, my annoyance at being disturbed for such a trifling thing no doubt noticed by my first mate. Sighing, I looked up to find Mycroft looking not at me but somewhere past my shoulder. My temper was well noted through out the crew and Mycroft was no exception. More often than not the stern yet sometimes absent minded man, bore the brunt of my anger. He fidgeted, playing with the hem of his dirty shirt or tapping his foot. He was waiting and that fact for some odd reason annoyed me to no end.

“Well? What are you waiting for? And invitation from the Goddess herself?” I growled. “Let the damn man in!”

Jumping a bit at my sudden outburst, Mycroft quickly scuttled out of the room and went to dash down the stairs. He would have made it down in recorded time if he hadn’t slipped on the third stair, for the tenth time that week I might add. Though I couldn’t in good conscious blame the poor man, it had been a long two weeks, one raid right after the other. It seemed The Clock Man had come to a conclusion. If he couldn’t stop me from raiding his ship, why not send them all out at once? That way I’d only be able to nab a few. I smirked, eyes roaming over the tall stack of papers that told of the total count of the loot. Too bad he hadn’t counted on my development of a new strategy. If he was sending everyone out at once, why couldn’t I do the same? He may have had a fleet of ships loaded with Dream Catchers, but I had connections to some of the top (not counting myself) Dream Stealers in this world. Not only had we stolen millions of daydreams, we’d even managed to snag a few nightmares as well, what a nice little surprise that ship had been. Sure, I’d lost fifteen men, but the profit was well worth it. After all, my men knew the risks. And if some were careless enough to be swallowed by a nightmare, well that was their ignorant mistake.

Standing, I walked to the side of the desk and stretched. I would be expected to meet Captain DeBrusky in the main hall. It was a custom that we Dream Folk, mainly the higher class, had developed from the human world. After all, whoever had said there was no honor amongst thieves had been correct. But there was most certainly an honor and respect code that every Dream Stealer was expected to fallow, no matter how loathlingly.

Leisurely walking to where a gold gilded cherry wood mirror stood, I checked myself. My shoulder length hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, much to my amazement as I hadn’t bothered with it in days, my black breeches were not of extremely high quality but still they were clean. My long sleeved, white collared shirt was not tucked in, very improper of me, and my black leather belt hung at an angle. Thankfully though, sword, dagger, and pistol were there so I wouldn’t have to go looking for them. The emerald green captain’s jacket with gold stitching that I favored was clean, and as I could see it had nothing in need of mending, and my knee high black boots while, not shining and impeccable had no scratches or holes.

Picking up another two pistols from the side table I slipped them into the holsters hidden under my coat at the back. Six throwing knives went into the hidden holding areas of my boots, and a dirk went secured up my left sleeve. It’s not that I didn’t trust the man I was to be doing business with well, now, that I thought on it, that was the precise reason I wasn’t taking any chances. Like anyone else, I’d heard the rumors about Mikeal DeBrusky, and I would be a fool to think that he would not try to double cross me, or worse, kill me. Taking one last look in the mirror I shrugged. Not my best look, but it was a business meeting, not a beauty pageant, and even if it wasn’t, I wasn’t going to put on a dress for even the Goddess, much less Captain Mikeal DeBrusky.

Walking down the stairs to the main hallway I looked about me in a silent satisfaction. It’d been years of hard work, double crossing, deal making, and murdering, but I finally had achieved all that a Pirate King should. Thinking of my brother’s reaction to the news a few months ago I snorted in amusement. My brother and I couldn’t be anymore different. Erik L’Mer captain of The Clock Man’s leading ship, Le Rêve à Ailes, which translated into its more well known name ‘The Winged Dream’, was moral, good, well mannered, kind, and followed every rule known to the ‘civilized’ world. I, on the other hand was King of a region commonly referred to as ‘The Devil’s Snare’, kicked every rule(except for the Dream Stealer’s laws) out the societal window, was harsh, back stabbing, rude, and on occasion cruel.

It was because of my brother that my social status as a Pirate King became so well cemented. My main crew and I had heard of a shipment of nightmares that my brother’s ship was taking to the human world to be deposited and had jumped at the chance. It hadn’t taken long to find them; my brother had even invited us on board, so sure he was that his sister would do him no harm. Fool, is the only word that I think describes him. Right on deck, in front of all his crew and my own, I murdered him in cold blood. After I drove my dagger into his heart, twisting it for good measure of course, my words to him were, “You can only trust a sister some of the time. You can never trust a pirate; you should remember that in the next world.” Thanks to that little scene, not only did The Clock Man put a thousand-nightmare price on my head, but the Dream Stealers treated me as what I was, a cold, ruthless, determined woman, in simple terms, a Pirate King.

Now I not only had a manor -well technically it was a castle- I also had an island and a flourishing business I very much considered Dream Stealing a business. Sure my home may not have been as large as those of the other eight Pirate Kings, but I liked to think it was in better taste than most. Despite having been raised in the very common medieval style, my home was decorated in a mixture of the styles of the human Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Middle East. Keeping with the Egyptian taste of showing my wealth but not obnoxiously so, the interior was of Greco-Roman design with Egyptian accents, and of course I’d always had a soft spot of the Middle Eastern color scheme, the colors were rich reds, dark greens, brilliant purples, deep blues, and of course gold. Surrounded by a towering stone wall with four corner towers and a gate, my home was strategically placed on a cliff, so all I had to worry about for the most part was the front. It would take a miracle to scale the crags that surround the backend of the island.

Many of my associates were not in the habit of giving anything of monetary value as a gift, I myself included. So when someone’s birthday came around, you’d be more likely to find an animal or even a person being given, than anything worth much daydream value. Don’t misunderstand me, an animal or a person could be worth a rather large sum of daydreams, but we found it easier to part with them than we did to part with even the most worthless daydream. That being said, my island is not only surrounded by crags but is also crawling with rare, and somewhat dangerous, animals. Nothing too outlandish, just the normal dragons, snakes, tigers (a gift from a Chinese man from the human realm whom I traded with a few years back), sea serpents, nymphs, sphinxes, a few hydras, and the one or two odd nightmare; running around.

Coming down the stairs, I saw Mycroft just beginning to greet a tall dark haired man. Mycroft was still nervous and fidgeting, and I could see the man smirking at this. Shaking my head, I enter the hall just when the man says, “ Pleasure to make your acquaintances, I am Mikeal DeBrusky. Captain Alex L’Mer, I presume?” Stepping out, I take his hand before Mycroft, and giving him a smirk of my own, state clearly,

“Never presume Captain, it makes situations like this very embarrassing.” He looks mildly surprised but does nothing more then smile politely and nod to Mycroft. “Come, I believe there’s a good banquet waiting for us in the dinning hall. If you’ll follow me.” I wasn’t lying. Jerrod, my galley cook, had a habit of going overboard in the kitchen once we got back home, but for once, his zealousness was much appreciated. Leading my guest into the main dinning hall, I was pleased to seat him at a table brimming with chicken, potatoes, vegetables, many rare fruits, and good bread. I was be very interested to see what Jarrod would come out with for dessert.

Captain DeBrusky was quick to discuss our arrangements for the latest raids of the Clock Man’s ships. This time, however, it is gold we’re going after, instead of dreams or nightmares. Not my normal choice, but most in Other World would pay a very nice dream or even a nightmare for the yellow trinkets. Why, I’ll never know. In fact I never understood even the humans’ obsession with the metal; after all, I’d much prefer daydreams for payment, as they’re light, small, and easy to slip into your pocket.

“Well Miss L’Mer“

I sent my guest a cool glare “Captain,” I stated. “If you don’t mind.” I’d never much enjoyed being reminded of my female status. He nods and continues.

“Would you mind telling me of your vaults? They’re much a legend in this part of the world.” I smiled slightly. Did this man really think me so boastful that I would just hand him important information like that?

“Well, as you know, I cannot in good sense tell you the exact details but I do think a little description wouldn’t hurt.” His smiled stayed intact but I could see the flash of anger and disappointment, ah! So he did think me so fool hearty! “My vaults are in a very secure area, of course, I shall not say where, spells, traps, and nightmares guard it. After all I have one of the largest collections of dreams and daydreams in the human and Other World realm, I should hate for any of them to go missing. Not to mention I have some of my most trusted men switching out on guard duty. One can never be too careful when it comes to the Dreams of Errigal or the Nightmares of Shadhae.” His eyes dilated, and I had to smirk in satisfaction. There are only four things a Pirate King craves, the Dreams of Errigal, the Nightmares of Shadhae, the Daydreams of Merial, and the Gift of the Goddess. To say that I have two of those four is boastful, but I did not tell him where they were kept or particularly how, so I had little to worry.

“Well,” he murmured. “I see I have made a wise decision in going into business with you, Captain.” He lifts his wine glass and nods his head. “I look forward to future fortunes made.”


“I don’t trust ‘um. I don’t trust ‘um one bit Cap’n.” Mycroft muttered as he accompanied me back to my office. His muttering sometimes had a tendency to annoy me as I could never tell wither he was talking to someone or to himself. He had moved on from fidgeting to ringing his hands and humming a small tune he’d taken a liking to. Besides his constant murmurs and mutters on how much he disapproved and disliked Captain DeBrusky, the trip down to my office was a silent one. We both knew I would not indulge his displeasure at my business partner, as I never did. Just as we both knew that it mattered very little wither or not we liked the man, we needed him less we loss any profit that could be made from this little venture that was fast approaching. And Mycroft knew that if it was a toss up between pleasure of my partner, or pleasure of my monetary gain, the money would win out every time no questions asked.

Reaching the dark oak door of my office I looked over at my friend. “I know you don’t particularly enjoy him company or way of acting, I can’t say that I disagree, but,” I looked him dead in the eye, my voice making it very clear that this would be the last of this conversation. “, we need his business. And as much as I’d prefer Dreams or Nightmares, gold makes a decent profit and as such we’re not letting this opportunity slip.” With that last remark and a quick glare to get my point fully across I slip into my office, door slamming behind me.

Author's Note: I'm sure this isn't very intresting but I'm laying the ground work. It get's better I swear. Five comments and I'll post, less and I'll know no one has much intrest in it.