Northward

After sending Coral to secretly protect Jaina, Liam looked at the pirate frozen stiff in place but otherwise barely hurt and could only lament the failure of his teaching methods.

Then he casually pulled out a dagger. Without worrying about whether he'd scare the underage children, Liam slit the ice statue's throat in one swift motion, sending the scum who'd preyed on kids to meet... well, some deity or other. It wasn't God, anyway.

Liam had gone to considerable trouble dealing with Flynn Fairwind. He'd tried persuasion before force, and used both gold and knives. The kid was smart; Liam trusted him to know which way the wind was blowing.

"Find somewhere to deal with this guy yourselves. No matter how the information hunt goes, come see me tomorrow morning. You're coming north with me to take care of something."

Liam tossed a purse to Flynn, who was standing nearby, then turned and left after saying his piece.

"Big brother, are you really going with that man?"

"Yeah, big brother, what are we supposed to do if you leave?"

A group of children surrounded Flynn. They'd obviously heard what Liam had just said, and now they gathered anxiously around their big brother, eager to find out what was going on.

"Don't worry. Big brother's going to earn some gold and bring it back. You can use this money for now. Stay home and wait for me, and don't do any more business with the booze."

Flynn smiled as he reassured his "younger brothers and sisters." The latter half was clearly directed at Wenrick and Harlan, who were standing to the side. If Flynn left, the burden of looking after the little ones would fall on the two of them.

The children were all delighted, and Wenrick seemed relieved, but Harlan and Flynn were both filled with worry. They'd grown up in Freehold, and when someone was that generous, it was never a good sign. Besides, after saving their lives and giving them so much gold, Liam would only expect even more in return—never less.

If Liam had known that his casual toss of a few coins had made the two older boys think he was a scheming villain, he would surely have protested his innocence.

As a prince, Liam had barely ever spent any money. Years of living cut off from the world had left him with almost no sense of its value. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tossed out a handful of copper coins to buy two apples back in Lordaeron.

At current prices in Lordaeron, an apple cost two copper coins. Even apples imported from Northshire Valley in the Kingdom of Stormwind cost no more than ten copper coins each.

He'd given them nearly ten gold coins in all, enough for an ordinary family to live on for years—or to buy a sizable plot of fertile farmland and support a whole household.

But even though he spent money freely, he'd barely touched the thousand or so gold coins he'd brought with him. More than half were still untouched. Ravenholdt provided food and lodging, and he could occasionally make some extra money by taking on the Syndicate. He simply had nowhere to spend it.

By the time he got back to the inn, it was already late. Jaina's door was firmly shut, clearly signaling that she didn't want to discuss any more serious matters with Liam. So Liam put the awkwardness behind him, went to his room, and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Liam slept until broad daylight.

Poor Jaina seemed to have worked through something after agonizing all night—or perhaps she hadn't figured anything out and had simply chosen to forget the "cruel" memory. Either way, she acted as if nothing had happened the night before. Her carefree attitude was just like Liam's, and her "teacher" couldn't help lamenting that the good habits never rubbed off, but the bad ones did.

Flynn Fairwind had been waiting outside since early morning. When Liam came downstairs, Flynn hurried over and smiled respectfully.

"Esteemed sir, just tell me what you need. Now that I've taken your money, I'll make sure the job gets done."

Flynn's obsequious manner seemed oddly familiar to Liam, as if he'd seen something like it somewhere in his memories. He thought it over and suddenly understood. Wasn't that exactly how Wilton had acted when he'd met him on Atonement Island?

Flynn's deferential nodding and bowing were almost identical to Wilton's back then. What had Wilton said at the time? That he wanted to be Liam's attendant. And what had happened since? The attendant had become a friend, and after Liam revealed his identity, Wilton hadn't become any more restrained—in fact, he'd grown even more pleased with himself. Now he practically considered himself the future king of Gilneas's right-hand man.

There was nothing to be done about it. Liam wasn't the sort who could keep up a formal front. At first, he could keep these slick characters in line, but once they'd spent enough time together and seen through him, he stopped caring about the details. In fact, they became closer.

With Liam's personality, a truly crafty person could easily take advantage of him. Fortunately, he had memories of the next twenty years, so he knew all the important people inside and out. Besides, everyone who joined his Bloodsail Buccaneers had their loyalty assessed, so he didn't need to worry about his subordinates turning against him.

That thing called a loyalty rating had practically saved Liam's life. Without it, his tendency to get friendly with people so easily might have made him a decent general, but he was no king. Even if he didn't die when the Forsaken invaded Gilneas, the political old hands would have destroyed him after he inherited the throne.

"I've prepared a list. Get everything ready before noon, and we'll set out for Stormsong Valley this afternoon." Liam tossed Flynn a large sack of gold. A list of tools Liam had written down was tied to the sack.

"Yes, sir. I'll be back before lunch." Flynn didn't even look at Liam's list before thumping his chest and confidently promising to get everything done.

But Liam could tell that Flynn was working so hard and had even picked a time to return because he wanted to mooch a free lunch.

Sure enough, long before lunchtime, Flynn appeared at the little inn leading three packhorses loaded with several enormous bundles.

"The three horses cost 200 gold. The other tools, food, and water came to 35 gold and 42 silver. Here's your change." Flynn respectfully handed Liam the purse, which was noticeably lighter.

It was the first time he'd ever met someone who waited until he arrived at his destination to remember he needed to buy a horse...

Fortunately, Kul Tiras had plenty of seafarers, so horses weren't very expensive. Packhorses that couldn't be used as warhorses were especially cheap. Of course, Flynn had no idea that Liam was completely clueless about prices. Otherwise, he would've fleeced him mercilessly!

Liam was very satisfied with Flynn's efficiency. The three of them had a huge meal at the little inn, then mounted their respective horses and rode north out of Freehold, heading for Stormsong Valley.

What they didn't know was that, that very afternoon, the First Fleet under Daelin Proudmoore sailed into the small strait outside Freehold and completely blockaded the town.