Pirate ship attacks!
Evasive maneuvers! (automatic success)
Pirate ship misses!
“Bring us back around!” Ethan yelled, clenching a fist in triumph. “I want us scraping his hull before we unleash hell! And Jean Baynard, tell me those carronades are ready.”
“Aye, Captain, they’re ready,” he shouted back.
“Perhaps make them double-shot,” Maii suggested.
Ethan hesitated, not sure what that was but realizing he didn’t have the luxury of time for any sort of explanation or question. “Double-shot, Mister Baynard!”
“Aye, double-shot it is,” he called back. “It’ll take a moment to load, however.”
“A moment is all you have!”
The other ship tried to turn away, but the Victory had both the speed and angle that any maneuvers it made would only be done in vain. Less than a minute later, the Victory drew within five yards of her prey.
Katryna shouted orders from the main deck, and both her living and undead marines began firing pistols and muskets into the enemy ranks. In the fighting tops, Zoey and several others began raining down fire of their own, picking off the pirates with deadly accuracy.
Grapples flew from the pirate ship, five altogether. Before the first one tangled itself on the Victory’s rails, Ethan gave what he hoped would be the order to end it all.
“Fire!” Ethan boomed.
Eight carronades erupted in flame and smoke, and the double loads—grapeshot packed on top of solid balls—cut through the enemy’s ship with devastating results. Men lay strewn about, bloodied, clinging to wounds and each other. Not a single one stood upright.
“Cut those hooks free!” Ethan shouted, not wanting to be tied down to what was now essentially a ghost ship.
His crew reacted immediately, hand axes from Katryna’s marines swiftly dealing with the grapples attached to their ship.
“Mister Potts, keep that ship between us and the other until we have time to reload,” he said, realizing they still had another foe to deal with.
The helmsman complied as Jean and the gun crews feverishly worked to reload the carronades. Three minutes later, the guns were ready to fire right as the Victory swept past her first target and caught sight of the other. To Ethan’s surprise, the remaining ship had given them her aft and was sailing fast away with a broad reach of the wind filling her sails.
Cheers from his crew erupted across the deck. Jean looked up at Ethan from his position near the bow and gave an enthusiastic salute, while Marcus, who happened to be next to him, simply gave an approving nod. Despite the celebrations and praise, Ethan felt sick to his stomach. He could feel the sweat dripping down the back of his neck, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t rid himself of the tremor in his fingers. The battle, though ultimately a victory, was not one that had been won due to anything he’d done.
“Mister Potts, put us back on our original course for New Port Royal,” Ethan said after sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “We’ve got a race to get to.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Hang on,” Katryna said, cutting in. “We’re not boarding?”
“No,” Ethan replied.
“I’m sure they’ll wave the white flag moment we grapple,” she said. “Think of all the coin we could have.”
“I don’t think it’s worth risking their friend coming back while we’re tied up,” Ethan said.
Katryna groaned as she set her jaw. She clearly wanted to argue but didn’t in the end.
“Is money that important to you?” Ethan asked.
“No, but living is,” she replied.
Ethan cocked his head and folded his arms over his chest. “I’d think us not taking risks, then, would be more to your liking.”
“I get why you’d rather not take a chance now with needing to be at the regatta,” she said, “but running away isn’t living.”
Chapter Fourteen
The Call
Maii casually knocked over a chair inside the captain’s quarters. Its heavy thud did nothing to slow down either Ethan or Zoey from ravishing each other. Their kisses found every exposed inch of skin on the other while fingers ran through hair or gripped shoulders. When Ethan started to slide Zoey’s shirt over her head, and she got stuck, she giggled, and Maii tried to put a stop to the two vamps once and for all.
“There are others in this cabin who can see you,” he huffed before knocking over the other chair for added effect.
All he got for his efforts was Zoey’s top hurled with uncanny accuracy. It struck him square in the face, wrapping around his eyes, so he had to spend a moment shaking it free. After it hit the ground, he’d wished it had stayed there. Ethan had Zoey pressed against the wall now, the two half-naked and rapidly approaching completely naked, which meant they were going to give him a show whether he liked it or not.
And Maii did not like it at all.
It wasn’t that he had any sort of hang-up about naked humans (or vamps, even). In fact, he quite preferred them without clothes. It made eating them much, much easier. Nothing ruined a good meal faster than accidentally biting down on a metal buckle or getting a leather strap stuck between some teeth.
Sadly, these naked humans weren’t ones he could bite (or naked vampires, as the case were). At least, not and get away with it. To his dismay, he still had to pretend to be under the ring’s command for a while at least, and he knew, ultimately, he still couldn’t pick and win a fight against the pair. Ethan, most likely—though as the fledgling vampire grew, he’d have a harder and harder time, even if Maii was growing himself.
But Zoey? Possibly. Maybe. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d only done as well as he had against her back in Lord Belmont’s throne room because the lich had cast a number of temporary spells on him right before the fight, which had greatly enhanced his strength and reflexes. Now that those had long expired, she’d be a much deadlier opponent.
Then, of course, he’d have to deal with Katryna. Even before he saw her fight, he knew the world would be hard-pressed to find her equal when it came to the blade. Hell, it was one of the things that attracted him to her so, but that fact also meant he had to be careful in all that he did. To cross paths with her would certainly be fatal.
Sure, Maii did genuinely find Ethan entertaining still, so he didn’t want to bite an ankle to get him to stop the romp he was enjoying with his girl, but at the same time, all the ahuizotl wanted to do was enjoy a quiet, peaceful rest inside the cabin and bask in the magical glow it provided. He could feel the subtle energies humming from every plank from bow to stern on the Victory, but the cabin was where they felt the strongest. Whenever he curled up there, it was like curling up near a lit hearth on a cold day.
Ethan picked Zoey up as she straddled his waist. Together, they flopped to the bed, and Maii let out a groan while rolling his head. Then, with a huff for good measure, Maii saw himself out of the room, using his clawed tail to work the door.
Warm, humid night air greeted his face while the clacking of bones danced in his ears, the only sounds made by the skeletal crew who tended to the ship at night. They tirelessly kept the Victory on course without comment or complaint so that those who still belonged to the living could enjoy a night’s rest.
Ahead, about halfway to the bow, Maii spied Katryna. The swashbuckler leaned over the railing, resting herself on her elbows, her gaze focused far beyond the horizon, where dreams played, and stars were born. He regarded her for a few moments, wondering what captivated her so, and his curiosity grew even more when she let out a long, content sigh and smiled pleasantly to herself.
He thought about asking, thinking that knowing more about the depths of her wants and the makeup of her mind could only serve him well in the end. After all, one didn’t need to be strong to move the powerful. One only needed to know where to put the right pressure—like how the smallest of rudders could move the mightiest of ships.
A split second before he opened his mouth, a new thought occurred to him. Perhaps he was overestimating her, or along the same lines, perhaps he was underestimating himself. A simple test, he thought, would do.
With that in mind, the ahuizotl crouched lower than a panther stalking its next meal and slinked across the deck so that he’d ultimately come up directly behind her. A whisper of a whisper escaped his lips, and his coat darkened, so he was nothing more than a shadow that moved more quietly than those that moved across the deck.
Ten feet to his goal, Maii froze as Katryna spoke. “And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?”
The woman didn’t turn whatsoever as she addressed him. In fact, she seemed to relax even more, if such a thing were possible, and fully let herself be swept into a sea of wanderlust.
“I know you’re there, Maii,” she said, laughing quietly.
The ahuizotl grunted and sat on his haunches. “I’m always here,” he said, trying not to sound annoyed that he’d been caught so easily. “It is a small ship, after all.”
“And what does that have to do with you trying to creep up on me?”
Maii let slip a tiny growl out of frustration. “Nothing. It was practice. Nothing more.”
Katryna turned about and casually leaned back on the rail. “Looking to see when you can test your mettle?”
“No,” he lied.
The corners of Katryna’s lips drew back. “Neither one of us believes that. But you know what? I don’t care. It’s in your nature, I know. Just behave whilst you’re on board, and I promise I won’t make a coat out of you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of behaving any other way,” he said.
Again, the lie was hardly a secret, but Katryna said nothing more on the matter. She turned back around with a short nod right as the most peculiar of aromas tantalized the ahuizotl’s nose. It smelled like the nerves of an anxious explorer descending into a newly found, gloomy cave. He lifted his head and sniffed the air, focusing all of his thoughts on the matter. Angst wasn’t the only thing he picked up. There were notes of wonderment and awe, along with hints of potential dread.
Maii went to follow the scent, but Katryna stopped him in his tracks. “Before you go,” she said. “Why are you here?”
For a brief second, Maii considered his answer. At the very least, Katryna suspected he was free of Ethan’s ring, but at the same time, she didn’t seem to care, either. Perhaps that attitude was a ruse to get to the truth. After all, that’s what he’d do. But then again, perhaps she really didn’t care. Either way, he didn’t want to flat out give away such a valuable secret if it weren’t already known, but at the same time, her ability to pick apart his lies and see through his deceit seemed to grow with every second he spent with her. And that, along with the fact that she was clearly one of the deadliest swashbucklers on the sea, intrigued Maii more and more.
“I’m here for the same reason you are,” the ahuizotl said.
“Which would be?”
“To see the world. Much harder to do without a ship and crew, wouldn’t you agree?”
Katryna glanced over her shoulder, studied him for a moment, and nodded once again.
She turned back around without a further word, and at that point, Maii moved on. The scent he’d noticed earlier still lingered, and as he slowly worked his way toward the bow, he realized that not only was it stronger, but it was coming from below deck. Quickly, he took to the stairs that led into the crew quarters. Sailors slept soundly in their hammocks, rocking gently with the sea as the Victory sailed on. Most did so quietly, though a couple let loose a snort here and there as they shifted in their beds. Not a one woke to Maii’s presence, but every last one stank of hard work, powder, and smoke.
Maii was hardly the type to complain about humans needing a wash, but he had a hunch that it wouldn’t be long before he’d make an exception to that rule. Perhaps it would rain in the near future, and they might all do with a wash.
He pushed such wishful thinking aside and continued following his nose. This took him through the gunroom, which Katryna had taken over as her own, but offered nothing of particular interest to the ahuizotl. She kept her bed neat and the one table clear of anything. He suspected her footlocker was empty, as he hadn’t seen her bring anything aboard when they’d first set sail. Whether that was because she traveled light or she’d simply lost it all when Lenada burned, he didn’t know. He didn’t care, either.
The hairs across his back bristled. The flow of magical energy around him suddenly became stronger. He could feel it moving through the floorboards, hear its quiet vibration in the walls. Something was happening, not just on the ship, but to it.
Instinctively, Maii dropped into a crouch and darted out of the gunroom and down one more flight of stairs so that he was in the very belly of the ship. Stores were packed all around, barely visible in the gloomy dark. Casks of fresh water and rum. Sacks of flour and bags of tack. Barrels of meat so salted that if they weren’t soaked in constantly refreshed water for hours on end before consuming, a single bite could lead to an aneurysm.
He slipped by piles of linen, whole cloth by the dozens of yards. Spare blocks in crates. Lines coiled together. Then he passed through heavy, wet curtains to where the gunpowder was stored in the magazine. There it sat below the waterline, in relative safety, until needed.
While this area should’ve been the darkest of all, as lanterns were not allowed anywhere near, let alone beyond, the wet curtains that separated this room from the others, at the far side, a sickly green light slipped beneath one last set of curtains that led to the aft stores.
Maii cocked his head at the sound of deep, gravelly words. They were words he didn’t know but certainly understood. Words of power. Words of calling to the dead. Words that, he realized in a heartbeat, belonged to Marcus.
The ahuizotl crept forward, not so much because he feared being caught, but because he wanted to see what the minotaur was up to. Something dark and fun, perhaps? Maii didn’t know, but he could dare to dream.
Something heavy crashed, sending a shockwave rippling through the hull, and the green light that had been only an instant before was no more.
“Bah!” Marcus cried. Another heartbeat passed, and some grumbling, and then the minotaur spoke again. “In Lor.”
Light, bright and white, cut through the darkness. Sensing that whatever was going on had also met an abrupt end, Maii pushed through the curtains. On the other side, Marcus sat hunched over a small, square table. In the middle sat a hefty, leather-bound tome splayed open to somewhere in the middle, its worn pages covered in crimson text and intricate symbols, while off to the side, several barrels lay knocked on their side.
“What?” Marcus growled, dropping his brow and leveling his gaze. “Can’t you see I’m working? I swear, to the Great Lord Charethes—may he always infuse my soul with his undying power—I’m going to lose my mind one of these days.”
For a fleeting moment, Maii thought about making a jab, as pissed-off minotaurs always made for good times, but he quickly decided against it. He did, after all, have a mystery to solve, and he knew Marcus was the key to unraveling it all. Work first. Play later.
“It’s your work that brings me down here,” Maii replied, casually taking a seat across from him.
“And how might that be?”
“There’s something odd ’bout this ship,” the ahuizotl went on. “Have you noticed?”
Marcus glanced at his tome before folding his hands in front of him and leaning forward. “Noticed what, exactly?”
“From the first day we set sail on the Victory, I could feel something stir inside of her,” Maii explained, his eyes growing a little vacant as he dove into the memories. “Subtle, but constant. Like the call of a lone cicada, miles away, whose song is lost to all but the most intently listening ears. But it’s not a sound—it’s an energy. Magic. A life…al
most.”
Marcus tilted his head slightly but didn’t say a word, and so Maii finished his thought. “And tonight, that presence grew in the most unexpected of ways. It was stronger, rose and fell to a tempo I didn’t follow, as if it were talking to someone, or perhaps, some thing.”
“Ha!” The minotaur yelled, jumping to his feet only to strike his horns against the low ceiling above. He snarled and shook his head, muttering a few curses, before settling back in his chair. “I knew it! I knew the very second I stepped aboard I heard the song of the netherworld carried on the softest of wind!” He paused and rubbed his chin as his gaze drifted to the side. “Then why did the séance fail, I wonder? Too much nightshade in the incense? Or should I have forgone the shade wards so I could hear the Victory’s call?”
“You did a séance?” Maii asked, straightening and unsure he heard right.
“Some time ago, yes,” Marcus said. “But no answer. Unless…” His voice trailed. “Did it take this long for her call to reach me, I wonder? Perhaps her voice is what broke my concentration tonight.”
A devilish grin spread across Maii’s face, and his tail swished back and forth with eager anticipation. He’d been speaking poetically, never once thinking any of it might be remotely true, merely trying to describe the sensation the ship gave him. At best, he’d figured it had been enchanted in some fashion or housed some long-lost artifact of some sort. Both would certainly not be unheard of, as the ship had once belonged to a lich. But a ship with a spirit? A life of its own? That opened up all sorts of possibilities for the ahuizotl. Still, he had to be sure he was hearing the necromancer correctly and wasn’t simply letting his imagination get the better of him. “You’re saying, then—”
“The Victory most certainly has a spirit, yes,” Marcus enthusiastically cut in. “Faint. Dormant, even, or perhaps so far gone into the netherworld, she doesn’t even remember the cord that attaches her to this plane. But there’s a spirit here nevertheless.”
The Crew (Captains & Cannons Book 2) Page 13
