Viper

by Bex Hogan

  ‘But then there came a time when he did not reappear, and the woman became afraid. Clutching the baby tighter she ran deeper into the forest, and perhaps sensing she had gone too far, turned round. Her husband was there, motionless, pinned in his hiding position by a knife penetrating his throat. His mouth was open as if he were about to call out a warning, his eyes still bright with fear, the blood dripping down his neck like red tears of sorrow.

  ‘She ran. But she knew she could not hide, knew whoever had killed her husband was hunting her too. So she did the only thing she could. She placed her child among a dense patch of grass, hoping to spare her from the same fate, leaving her with nothing but a kiss on the head and a solitary tear before she fled. She never came back.’

  ‘You think I’m that child?’ My voice is a whisper.

  ‘You are that child.’

  ‘What happened to the woman?’ I think I know, but I need to hear it. Have to be certain.

  ‘When the men came for her she fought. She killed one and plunged a dagger through the eye of another before they tore her down. All to protect the baby she loved.’

  ‘The man she stabbed in the eye? He didn’t die. Did he?’

  ‘No. I watched him carry you away.’

  And then he raised me as his own.

  Anger flares inside me. ‘You saw this? Why didn’t you help them?’

  She hangs her head. ‘It wasn’t that simple. But I knew one day you’d return, and now that you have I will help you.’

  I wipe away the tears spilling down my cheek, furious at everything: the loss of my parents, the betrayal of the man I thought was my father, the thought of the life I could have had.

  ‘It’s time you knew your true name, the one your parents gave you on your first trip to the sands, the one bound in meaning.’

  ‘My name?’ I’m struggling to understand why Adler would have changed it.

  ‘Yes. You are Mairin. Star of the Sea.’

  Something deep inside me stirs, an old familiarity that confuses rather than comforts me. My Western name recognises itself, and the power it contains.

  ‘Do all names in the West have a meaning?’ I ask, trying to understand.

  Esther shakes her head. ‘No, not all. It’s an ancient royal tradition. It was only fitting that my gift to you at your birth was to enchant your name. You, the true child of the islands. The last of the Vultura line.’ She sighs, lost to the memory. ‘Adler wouldn’t have wanted you to know it,’ she continues after a moment. ‘Wouldn’t have wanted you to know yourself.’

  ‘But why?’

  Esther presses her thumb to my forehead and my mind is thrown backwards to my earliest memory, to nearly drowning as a child. Only this time I see Adler push me in, and watch over me as I struggle and fight, before pulling me out and dumping me on the deck like a piece of old rag.

  I open my eyes and stare at Esther. ‘He wanted me to be afraid of the water. To keep me imprisoned on the ship.’ To control me as he always has, as if I were nothing but a doll for him to play with.

  She nods sadly. ‘Had he called you Mairin, you would never have been afraid of the ocean you were born to love. The name would have empowered you as your parents intended. To be at one with the water as surely as you are one with the land.’

  Just another thing Adler took from me.

  ‘There are always impossible decisions to make,’ Esther says quietly. ‘Once made we simply learn to live with them. Nothing more. But many are coming your way and you must confront them.’

  ‘What if I can’t do it? What if I can’t stop him?’ Desperation almost destroys me.

  ‘Why do you doubt yourself?’

  She draws the honesty from me like poison from a wound. ‘There is darkness inside me. I could become just like him, a cold-blooded killer, and it terrifies me. What if I lose myself to the cruelty I know I’m capable of?’

  ‘Your mother was like you, with peace in her heart. A gentle soul. But she fought for you. This is a violent world. Defending those you love, defending yourself, does not make you the same as those with murder in their hearts.’ She reaches forward to brush the brooch in my palm. ‘You alone can stop Adler. You know him better than anyone. Use what you know and you can end this.’

  ‘I thought he was my father. I don’t know him at all.’ My chest aches with the betrayal.

  She smiles sadly. ‘Yes you do.’ She hesitates. ‘As did I.’

  I wipe the tears from my cheeks, knowing I’m not going to like what she’s about to say one bit.

  ‘I was his lover.’

  I stare at her, disbelieving, the implication of what she’s said sinking in.

  Esther looks sadly back at me. ‘It was because of me that he discovered your parents. And you. The power of your true name. My friendship was their death sentence.’

  She pauses, but I say nothing, waiting for her to revisit a past that hurts her as it hurts me.

  ‘I was going to leave with him,’ she says with a rueful smile. ‘Start a new life on his ship as his wife. But then he came to me carrying you in his arms, blood seeping through the cloth he’d wrapped round his wounded eye. He told me a story of bandits, an ambush, but when I touched your cheek, I saw the horrors as clearly as if I’d been there, and my world fell apart. Knew I had shared too much with a man I should never have trusted, had allowed love to blind me to the truth. Knew my friends’ blood was on my hands as much as his. He wanted me to raise you with him. When I refused and tried to snatch you from him, he stabbed me and left me for dead.’

  She pulls back her top to reveal a faded scorch mark on the left of her chest. ‘My potions saved my life, even if they couldn’t heal my broken heart.’

  ‘You’re the maiden,’ I say, my voice nothing more than a whisper. I finally understand why she looks familiar – I’ve seen her likeness every day of my life at the front of our ship.

  ‘No doubt Adler felt my refusal was a betrayal. But I’d seen the monster he was and couldn’t join him, though perhaps it would have been kinder to you if I had. He wouldn’t recognise me now, I think.’

  ‘Why?’ Our eyes meet. ‘Why did he kill them?’

  ‘For the girl with the crescent moon. His greatest prize. For him to call you his own there could be no survivors.’

  I turn away from her and close my eyes. It all started here, in this place, and I know now this is where it must end. A strong sense of purpose grips hold of me.

  My parents were murdered. My life stolen.

  The next time Captain Adler and I meet, I’m going to kill him.

  And for the first time I really mean it.

  I want to leave immediately, but Esther persuades me to rest while she brews another potion. Her enchantment is slowly wearing off and, as it does, the urgency of Bronn’s and Grace’s plight returns to me. I’m anxious to resume my search for them, but I do as I’m told, knowing I’ll need all my strength if I’m to defeat Adler.

  Nothing is as I thought, my whole life based on a lie. The man I called Father stole me from my murdered parents. He knew who they were, who I was. Which means I’ve been nothing more than a powerful card for him to play at the right time. Did he mean to kill Torin once we were wed? Once he’d removed the King? A Western princess with the Eastern throne. A puppet whose strings he could pull. He isn’t just after control of the Eastern Isles – he wants the West too. Total domination.

  In time I will grieve for all that has been lost, but not today.

  When Esther finishes the potion she’s working on, she pours it into a flask and passes it to me along with a warning: ‘Whatever happens, do not drink this.’

  I take it, confused. ‘Then why give it to me?’

  ‘Because you’ll need it.’

  There’s no point doubting her, and so I simply thank her.

  For all her magic she can’t hide the tears in her eyes. ‘Stay alive, Mairin.’

  She makes to brush my cheek, but her hand stops before it reaches me, the saddest smile on her
face. She lost the right to comfort me years ago. ‘Now go.’

  I feel what remains of the enchantment lift instantly, the panic and urgency of my mission flooding back with such intensity it’s almost overwhelming. I hurry out of the hut, pausing only briefly to glance back at Esther. If I survive, I’m certain I will see her again.

  There is no wind now, the marram grasses silent as I hurry through them. I’m finally able to head north from where I landed, searching frantically for the cove that can’t be far away, desperate to find Bronn and Grace. I run fast, my body sustained by the grim medicine Esther gave me, and as I’m nearing the sea I hear my name being called. At first it’s just a distant murmur, barely audible on the wind, but as I chase after it the sound grows louder, as does my fear.

  My ‘father’ is calling me to him.

  My view is obstructed by the forest until I near its edge and then, hiding behind a thicket of stems, I take in the scene before me.

  The Maiden is anchored close off the coast, looking like she suffered substantial damage to her hull during the water raptors’ attack. On the beach is a large group of her crew, including the man who murdered my parents. And either side of him, restrained and gagged, are Bronn and Grace. I’m too late.

  ‘Marianne!’ Adler sings my name out as a taunt. ‘Come and join us.’

  Does he know I’m close by? Or does he just hope?

  ‘Show yourself, Marianne. You’re not a coward, are you?’ He’s clever, this man. None of this has gone according to his plan and his crew will be close to mutiny. Killing me is his last hope of regaining control, and what better way to entice me than with Bronn and Grace?

  ‘I’ll make a trade. You for them.’ He prods Grace’s temple with his pistol. ‘I think I get the better deal, but still.’

  I don’t know what to do, panic rising like bile as I cower in my hiding place. It’s a trap, of course it is, but what does that matter?

  ‘Marianne! I know you’re on this wretched island. Give yourself up or they die, starting with her.’ This time he presses the pistol hard against Grace’s head, so that even from this distance I can see her flinch. ‘I’ll even count to ten. One.’

  Everything I’d resolved on – to avenge the Eastern Isles, my friends, my family, to make Adler pay – disappears in a heartbeat. Grace is my family and I will not let her die.

  ‘Two.’

  I take a deep breath to steady myself. This is it. I walk out towards them. ‘Let her go, Adler.’

  I see it – the brief flicker of confusion on his face at my use of his name. But then it’s gone, and he smiles instead, as if he had known all along I’d come.

  And then he shoots Grace in the head.

  Her beautiful strong body crumples to the ground even before my scream echoes through the air.

  I collapse to the sand, stumbling, shocked, reaching out for her as if somehow I can bring her back from such a death. Then sorrow is eclipsed by rage and I struggle to my feet and race towards her. Adler’s men try to seize me but I roar as I make my own assault, burning with hatred, tearing and scratching, my nails like claws gouging the flesh from cheeks and arms. I lash out, holding nothing back, and I’m dimly aware of bones breaking beneath my blows. More hands grab at me as I writhe and kick, wanting to kill them for what they’ve done – all of it – but Adler’s voice cuts through the noise.

  ‘Enough!’ He sounds caught off guard. He didn’t know half what I was capable of. ‘Or I shoot him too.’

  I look up to see Adler holding the pistol to Bronn’s head and instantly I surrender. As my arms are bound with ropes I hold Bronn’s gaze, silently sending a thousand apologies for arriving too late, seeing only relief that I’m alive reflected back. Then I’m pushed in front of Adler whose face is spattered with Grace’s blood.

  ‘You know,’ he says, as if this isn’t the first time we’ve seen each other in months, ‘caring is your weakness. Always has been. Makes you vulnerable. Makes you bleed.’

  ‘I was handing myself over; you didn’t have to kill her.’ I choke on my own anger.

  Adler tilts his head in mock sympathy. ‘She betrayed me. So yes. I did. I just wanted you to see.’ He gestures to his men. ‘Gather our things. We’re taking them back to the Maiden.’

  Adler pulls the gag off Grace’s body and puts it on me. It tastes of her blood and it’s cloying and suffocating and I want to weep. With pistols at our heads, Bronn and I are roughly marched to the rowing boats and forced on board. As we travel to the Maiden I stare back at Grace, lying on the beach, left behind without even the dignity of burial. The sand around her is stained red as she soaks into the fabric of the island and part of me drains away at her loss.

  The jeering starts the moment the crew on board catch sight of us and doesn’t stop until we’re dragged on to deck, given a general beating and thrown at Adler’s feet.

  ‘Look who I’ve brought home,’ Adler says victoriously to his men, who cheer at his offering. ‘It’s good to have you back, Marianne.’

  I try to reply but the sound is muffled through the gag.

  Adler cups his ear with his hand. ‘What was that? Can’t hear you.’ And he leans forward and yanks the gag down.

  I spit a mouthful of blood on to his boots, having bitten my tongue when I was punched in the face, before raising my head to look at him. ‘I said, “I can’t say the feeling is mutual.” ’

  Two men pull me to my feet and hold me tightly while Adler squares up to me. ‘I must say, I was worried that you’d end up getting killed without me there to watch, but this has worked out perfectly.’

  ‘Do it then,’ I say. If I am to die, let it be over. But I will not show my fear. I will not give him that power. Never again.

  Adler laughs and his crew follow suit. But as I look around I realise it’s not everyone. In fact, unless I’m imagining it, some of the crew look distinctly uneasy. Maybe killing his own flesh and blood is a step too far from their captain? Or perhaps they’ve just lost their appetite for the fight since the water raptors.

  ‘Marianne, Marianne,’ Adler says with amusement. ‘You know how important you are to me. A quick death won’t do for a special guest like you.’

  I think of the gruesome display in his quarters: reminders of his special guests. I wonder what part of me he’ll put in a jar. ‘Lucky me.’

  ‘Milligan’s missed you, would you believe? I think perhaps you should pay her a visit to help you settle in. And as for this piece of scum,’ he says, kicking Bronn, ‘how about a keelhauling, lads?’

  The crew cheer, but I’m definitely not imagining the lack of fervour this time. None of them seem overly enthusiastic about torturing Bronn. He was well liked on this ship.

  We stare at each other, Bronn and I, as I’m roughly escorted away, neither of us speaking, just silently saying goodbye. We both know what awaits us will be painful and deadly. I watch Adler smile in sadistic pleasure as I’m pushed down into the lower decks. If he ever loved me, those days are long gone. But I also catch sight of Ren, who isn’t even bothering to hide his displeasure. I try to make eye contact, hoping to communicate something to get us out of this, but he’s staring firmly at his feet.

  Milligan is clearly expecting me, and I suspect the moment Adler had me in his grasp, word was sent down here to prepare for my arrival.

  My guards undo my restraints and push me hard against a wooden pillar, before landing a punch on to my already bruised ribs. As I choke for air they leave, wishing Milligan luck as they go.

  Before I have the chance to regain my breath Milligan ties my wrists roughly behind the beam, followed by my ankles, so I’m going nowhere. She lines up her tools of choice: a hammer, rusty nails, a gully knife, a cleaver. In the fire a poker flashes red ready for use, and I can’t help but notice the array of saws hanging on the wall, dried blood still encrusted in the teeth.

  I’ve heard the screams come from this room too many times, and know Milligan is immune to pity or pleas for mercy. I won’t give her the
satisfaction of that.

  ‘It’s a shame really,’ she says when she’s ready. ‘I always thought you had potential.’

  ‘What makes you think you were wrong?’ I try to keep her talking to delay the pain. Because I’m terrified. Utterly and completely terrified.

  ‘Cos you’re tied up here, and about to be missing a few vital parts. That’s what.’ She leans in close to nibble my ear, her hand running down my body until it reaches my belt where it lingers too long and too low before she removes my flask. When she steps back she leers at me. ‘Tasty.’

  I watch her take the flask and am willing to bet it’s not rum Esther put in there. She warned me not to drink it and so I silently urge Milligan to take a swig.

  Milligan places the flask on the bench and picks up a pair of pliers, examining them carefully. ‘It’s always good to remove the fingernails first. Remember me teaching you that?’

  ‘You taught me nothing of value,’ I say, desperate to stall, hoping any interruption will drive Milligan back to my flask.

  It doesn’t work. Instead her smile fades and she reaches for a blade. ‘You left before I had even begun.’ With a sudden rush of anger she moves quickly over to me, so her face is in mine. ‘What was the matter? Didn’t have the stomach for it?’ And she presses the dagger down my cheek, reopening the healed wound that Cleeve inflicted on me. I bite my lip hard to stop from crying out, and soon taste the warm blood that trickles into my mouth. ‘Well, the good news is you’re back, so I can resume your instruction. The bad news is, I’m going to demonstrate on you.’

  She steps away from me, and I’m shaking with fear. She’s not going to drink Esther’s potion. There’s no escape from this. I know exactly what’s about to happen to me and I’m helpless to stop it.

  ‘Now, now, you know you’re not to start without me.’ Adler is striding into the room, not looking too pleased to find me already bleeding without having had the pleasure of witnessing my pain.