by David Wood
“Suppose I believe you. How did you come to be here?”
“I was searching for the Fountain of Youth. I found my way to the Mermaid Hole on Cat Island. There was an old woman I hoped to meet there, but she would not reveal herself to me. But I met someone else, a girl of unsurpassed beauty. She said she could show me the Fountain of Youth. And she did.” He laughed again.
“Is all this treasure yours?”
He nodded. “For years I continued to ply the seas around these islands. Never too far away, and I always kept some of the water with me. I could stay away for five days at a time, much longer than anyone else.” He gazed with sadness at the closest treasure pile. “It’s strange. The first time you take a prize it is an absolute thrill. You feel like a god. The next one is good too, and the next, and the next. Finally you realize that you are only making more and larger piles of the same old thing. It no longer brings you joy but you feel compelled to continue hoarding it. Now I despise my riches but cannot bear to lose a single coin. It’s the same with drinking and wenching. It’s all like a game of noughts and crosses. Not challenging or even entertaining, but you just keep playing.”
Maddock knew that noughts and crosses was a very old name for what Americans called tic-tac-toe.
“Let me get this straight. You feel sorry for yourself because you’ve spent three hundred years partying with beautiful women in the middle of more treasure than I’ve ever seen?”
“I’d kill myself if I could, but someone always dumps me back into the fountain. If someone would cut my head off, that would do it, but they won’t agree. My seed has produced three true Finfolk, more than anyone else. That’s why they keep me around where they dispose of other men fairly quickly.”
“What do you mean by true Finfolk?”
“The Fin have gifts humans do not. Most of their couplings with humans produce human offspring. Those are taken to the surface and given to the church. At least, that is what they tell me.”
“Is that what they have planned for my friends? To use them for breeding stock?”
“Those are your friends? Yes, I believe that is the plan. They are especially excited about the red Indian. None of them have seen one before.”
“What about Raeána?”
“Is that the girl’s name? She is to be a special treat for me. I get those from time to time. After that it’s up to me to decide how long she lives.”
Maddock took a step toward the man, who smiled and drew his sword in a deft, practiced motion. Maddock froze.
“Do you know what I miss the most about my life as a pirate? A good fight! It’s better than rum, better than a woman. And they won’t let me fight. I’m too valuable.”
“Good for you. Now, tell me where to find my friends.”
Blackwood reached into the closest treasure pile and withdrew a cutlass.
“Fight me,” Blackwood said. “I’ll even tell you where your friends are. Down that passageway,” he pointed to his left, “take the first and second right turns.” He tossed the cutlass to Maddock, then moved to bar the way. “And I’m not letting you pass.”
“Doesn’t seem like a fair fight,” Maddock said.
Blackwood shrugged. “What do you expect? I’m a pirate.”
Maddock examined the cutlass. The sheath was gem-encrusted, but when Maddock drew the sword, he found it was plain and serviceable, though the wrappings around the hilt were crumbling. He’d done a bit of fencing, studied kendo, but a duel to the death?
“Why do you care?” Maddock asked. “You’ve clearly lost interest in life.”
“Because fighting is when I feel most alive. We should probably begin. You never know when one of the Fin males will take a fancy to your young girl and try to bypass me in line.” Blackwood smiled pityingly. “Don’t make me chase you.”
If Maddock still had his pistol, he’d have simply shot the man, Indiana Jones style, but that was not an option. He moved into an en garde position.
Blackwood smiled. “Excellent!” He advanced, sword extended. Maddock held his own sword out before him, not gripping too tightly, and they began to circle.
Blackwood made a probing thrust which Maddock easily parried. Blackwood’s smile grew bigger.
They continued this cycle of thrust and parry. Each time, Blackwood was quicker, his blade coming closer and closer to Maddock.
Maddock was falling into a pattern. Time to change things up.
He feinted, then slashed at Blackwood’s thigh. It was an unexpected move and the pirate barely managed to avoid it.
“Very good!” Blackwood said. “You almost drew first blood. I’ll have to focus.”
Blackwood attacked with a fury. Thrust, slash thrust, feint low. Then he raised his sword and whipped it around in a circle.
Maddock felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and he moved away. When he touched the spot, he was relieved to see there was no blood.
“You like that little trick?” Blackwood said. “The back of the sword is flat. It makes for a good club. Come now. Let us continue.”
Blackwood danced in again with a spirited attack. Maddock mostly fended it off, but came away with a nick on his shoulder. Blood soaked his shirt sleeve. The fight was not going well.
Maddock snatched a handful of coins from a nearby treasure pile and flung them in Blackwood’s face. The pirate flinched and Maddock attacked again. Blackwood fended off the attack and backed away from the treasure piles.
“That was not sportsmanlike.”
“I thought you were a pirate.” Maddock said.
Baring his teeth, Blackwood resumed the attack. Once again, Maddock came away with minor wounds. But hope was not lost. Although Blackwood was far more skilled with the sword, he was badly out of shape. Sweat streamed down his face. His shoulders heaved.
“Sitting on your ass drinking rum is bad for the lungs, isn’t it?”
Blackwood nodded. “I used to practice regularly, but I grew bored with that. They weren’t real fights. This one is.”
As Maddock expected, Blackwood’s onslaught was furious. The pirate needed to end this while he still had the strength to fight. He danced back, made Blackwood chase him. Blackwood’s attack grew more reckless. Time and again the tip of Blackwood’s sword missed his throat by inches. But the pirate was slowing down, and as he grew more tired, his movements became easier to anticipate.
“Have you always been that thick around the middle?” Maddock taunted.
Like most vain men, Blackwood didn’t deal well with outright mockery. He took a wild swing meant to remove Maddock’s head from his body.
Maddock saw it coming. He ducked beneath the strike, sprang forward, and drove his shoulder into Blackwood’s gut. His sword clattered to the ground as he scooped Blackwood up in a double-leg takedown, forced him back to the edge of the water, and slammed him to the floor. He quickly moved into a mount position and began to pummel Blackwood, who tried to put up a spirited defense, but he was exhausted. Blackwood covered his head and tried to turn away from the rain of fists and elbows. Maddock let him turn over, then snaked an arm around his neck and sank in a chokehold.
Blackwood didn’t give up. He kicked, clawed, even tried to gouge Maddock’s eyes, but in the end, his body went limp. Maddock stood, retrieved his sword, and looked down at the man who, moments before, had tried to kill him for sport.
“Now, what the hell do I do with you?” he said to the unconscious form. He wasn’t about to saw the man’s head off. He wasn’t a Jihadist. But to leave Blackwood alive?
Before he could make up his mind, he heard the sound of running feet. And then Bones, Willis, Rae, and Kyle burst into the treasure chamber, followed by a host of Finfolk.
“Maddock!” Bones said. “About time you showed up.”
41
There was no time to think. The only thing that mattered was survival. They dashed behind a pile of gold as arrows zipped through the air and clattered off the stone walls.
“Nice sword,” Bone
s said.
“Thanks. Riddick Blackwood gave it to me. Where’d you get the spear?”
“Stole it from Thel’s daughter. It’s a long story.” Bones froze, then looked around. “Thel! Where did she go?”
“How about y’all shut up and help me fight?” Willis was grabbing anything heavy and easy to throw and hurling it at the Finfolk. A goblet caught the nearest warrior on the bridge of the nose. She let out a curse, dropped her bow, and pressed her hands to her face.
“I think it’s been a long time since they’ve been in a real battle,” Bones said. “They should have flanked us by now, but they’re hanging back.”
“We’re still the 7th Cavalry and they’re the Sioux.”
Bones frowned. “You do not really expect me to spend the last moments of my life pretending I’m General Custer?”
“Of course not. I’m Custer. You’re just some random soldier.”
“Screw you, Maddock. You got a plan?”
Maddock climbed up onto the treasure heap for a better look. Bones was right. The Finfolk were hanging back, content to keep Maddock and the others pinned down by their archers. With that thought, he ducked as someone took a shot at him.
“It’s like they’re waiting on something, or someone.”
“Then you should do something before that happens,” Bones said.
And then Maddock had an idea. A stupid, crazy, reckless idea. But if it worked...
“Can you two cover me?”
“We can’t exactly lay down suppressing fire,” Bones said. “But we’ll give it a shot.” He hefted his spear.
Maddock took a deep breath. “On three. One... two... three!”
Bones let out a war whoop, clambered to the top of the treasure heap, and hurled his spear at the ranks of Finfolk. The others threw everything they could get their hands on.
With the enemy momentarily distracted by flying gold, Maddock made a mad dash across the treasure room. He was tired from his fight with Blackwood and weakened by blood loss. One of the Finfolk, a blonde woman in leather armor, spotted him and moved to intercept him. Before Maddock could react, another group of Finfolk burst into the chamber. They were led by a red-haired woman. Maddock knew from the old newspaper photograph that this was Thel.
Thel charged directly at the blonde woman, who bared her teeth and snarled.
“Traitor!” the woman said. “I knew you weren’t one of us.”
“You’ve forgotten what it means to be human, Gwyneth!”
“And you don’t seem to realize that you are no longer one of them.” Gwyneth pointed straight up.
Maddock kept running. Even with the support of Thel and her contingent, they were still badly outnumbered. His plan needed to work.
As he ran, he slid the Lusca ring onto his finger and slipped the amulet around his neck. Each was hot against his flesh and burned with brilliant blue light.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Willis and Bones, armed with short swords and Templar shields, join the fight in support of Thel and her allies.
Thel and Gwyneth were engaged in a furious duel. He saw Gwyneth thrust and Thel dance away. And then he was flying through the air. The world seemed to slow down around him. The world reduced to a series of snapshots. Arrows flying. Bones slamming his shield into the face of a Finfolk warrior. Kyle had jumped onto a man’s back and was pounding his head with a fist-sized rock. As each blow struck, he shouted, “Smash!”
And then Maddock hit the water. This far below the surface, he’d expected it to be frigid, but it was as warm as bathwater. Blue light swirled around him. A low rumbling filled his ears, rising to a crescendo. Alien thoughts filled his mind. He felt a ravenous hunger, a boiling rage. He thrashed around, fought to swim to the surface. What was happening to him?
And then the Lusca was there. A monstrous, dark behemoth that seemed to suck in the light. Maddock’s vision began to flicker as if he were rapidly changing television channels.
He saw the Lusca bearing down on him.
He saw himself floating in the water.
Again and again the images changed until he finally realized what was happening. He was seeing through his own eyes and through the eyes of the Lusca. As unbelievable as it was, the legend had proved to be true. The amulet did control the Lusca.
Control! That had been the entire point of this. He focused all his thoughts on the creature, concentrated on seeing only through its eyes. Once again he saw himself in the water, but this time the image didn’t flicker.
Surface, he ordered the Lusca.
The Lusca rebelled. Maddock tried again to bend it to his will, but it was like trying to wrap your arms around a tornado. His ears rang and sharp pain stabbed his eyes. Now he wanted nothing more than to break the connection before it drove him mad. He pressed his hands to his temples and tried to scream. Water poured into his mouth and he began to choke.
Once again his vision flashed between two consciousnesses. Through the eyes of the Lusca, he saw the havoc it wrought in its rage. Its grasping tentacles caught up the Finfolk, crushed the life out of them. Sections of ceiling crashed down onto the combatants. Thel now dueled with a woman who looked like her doppelganger. The daughter Bones had mentioned?
And then he saw through his own eyes. He was sinking. He knew he ought to try to swim, but he lacked the will.
A shape appeared in the water, small, but growing larger.
It was a woman. She was tiny, not even five feet tall. Her skin was a rich brown, her eyes sparkling green. Her long, silver hair spread out around her like a halo, and her scales shimmered like mother of pearl.
Scales?
She seized Maddock by the front of his shirt, pulled him to her, and kissed him full on the lips.
He could breathe again!
Lips still pressed together, they swam to the surface.
“Silly boy,” the woman said, holding him at arm’s length. A human cannot control the great beast. Give me my ring and my amulet.”
She didn’t wait for him to comply. Instead, she tore the jewelry from him and slipped them on.
She closed her eyes.
The effect was instantaneous. The Lusca knew its master. It ceased its thrashing about, even released Kyle, whom it had just seized. The young man stared in disbelief as the coil slid back into the water and the great beast sank out of sight.
Silence reigned. The survivors had stopped fighting and taken shelter from the mad monster. Many lay dead on the ground.
Maddock swam to the shore and looked around for his friends. Bones and Willis appeared from the shadows. The big men looked like something out of a horror film. They were spattered with blood from head to toe. He didn’t see Rae.
He had only a moment to wonder where she was before someone let out a roar of anger.
He turned to see the blonde warrior standing in the fountain. She was naked, and all over her body, cuts and gashes were turning to angry red scars, which faded to pink and then vanished. All this happened in the time it took for her to clamber out of the fountain and grab a fallen sword. She advanced on Maddock.
“I’ll kill every one of you...”
She didn’t get to finish the sentence because, as with every other human, it was impossible to form words once the head was removed from the body. She still managed a step and a half before her headless form collapsed at Maddock’s feet. Standing behind her was Riddick Blackwood.
“You beat me,” he said. “But now you owe me your life, so I’d say I’m ahead.” He winked.
In that moment, Maddock understood the legend of Blackwood’s irresistible charm, how despite his depredations, he could make people love him. He laughed.
“I could have killed you but I left you alive.”
“Call it even?” Blackwood held out his hand to shake.
“We can call it even, but I don’t trust you enough to shake your hand.”
Blackwood sheathed his sword. “Wise decision.”
“Maddock?”
�
�Rae!” Maddock whirled about to see Raeána staggering toward him, an arrow protruding from her stomach. He ran to her and caught her before she fell.
“I got shot,” she said. Her voice was weak.
“It’s going to be all right.” His hoarse voice turned the lie into a barely audible gasp.
“We can put her in the fountain,” Thel said.
“I’ll help. Give her to me.” Kyle rushed to Maddock’s side and scooped his sister up in his arms.
“What’s going to happen?” Maddock said.
Thel bit her lip. “The Water will heal her, just like it did for Gwyneth. For all the good it did her.” She kicked the blonde woman’s head into the water. “But she will never be able to leave again. Not for more than a few days.”
So Blackwood had been telling the truth! He still wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen Gwyneth healed before his eyes.
“I don’t know if I want this,” Rae said as Kyle carried her to the fountain.
“I won’t let you die. You’ve saved my ass a dozen times and this is the first chance I’ve had to return the favor.”
Tears flooded Rae’s eyes. “I don’t want you to be alone.”
“I won’t be.” And then, still holding his sister in his arms, he plunged into the fountain.
Rae cried out in pain and began to thrash. Maddock made a move to go to her aid but Thel grabbed him by the arm.
“She will be all right, but he should have taken the arrow out first. It’s more painful when the body forces it out on its own.”
Rae’s cries of pain lasted only a few seconds. Then she sprang to her feet, hands on hips, and began scolding her brother.
“Don’t you know what you’ve done? Now you’re stuck down here forever.”
Kyle splashed water in her face.
“Are you kidding? This place is awesome. I mean, all I ever wanted was to chill and have a good time. It’s not like I’m planning a career on Wall Street. And I can still go up top and surf can’t I?” He looked at Thel, who smiled.
