Captain Black Shadow

by Janina Franck

  “So you hate them because your dad–” said Griffin, but Ryo interrupted him.

  “I’m not finished, bud! Let me finish, then you can ask questions if you like. Anyway… It went well. I actually enjoyed my time on that ship. I mean, what boy wouldn’t? It meant adventure and righteousness! That’s what I thought anyway. My father was right. I became the youngest officer in history. They even promoted me to lieutenant commander. I was a bit younger than you by then.

  “But then… well. The ship I was assigned to was ordered to attack this island, Pilliev. They suspected pirate activity, see. But because no one could be certain who was a pirate and who wasn’t, the order was to kill everyone there, to be on the safe side. I refused. I even protested to the people in charge, but nobody would listen. They only called me on my disobedience and relieved me of my post and ranks.

  “I only found out afterward that my little sister had been there, on that island. I hadn’t seen her in so many years, but she was still my sister dammit! Of course, there hadn’t been any pirate activity on Pilliev. The Marine had acted upon a mere suspicion and killed a hundred innocent people because of it. That’s why I hate them.

  “After I realized that, I resigned my commission and went off by myself. I wanted to rebel against the wrong they were doing to their people. I wanted to do something about it. One day, I was drinking in this bar and told the whole story to a guy I had met there. He was a friendly one, quite a bit older than me, but who cares about that, right? So he told me that he was captain of a ship. And that if I was willing, he’d take me into his crew, so we could do something against those rotten politics together. That man was Selene’s father, Karim.”

  Griffin wasn’t sure what to say. Ryo sighed.

  “Karim was a great man,” he added.

  “Your sister… were you close?” Griffin asked after a couple of minutes.

  “Yeah. We were pretty close until I was sent away. But even then, we kept writing letters for a long time. She loved mice.”

  Ryo chuckled.

  “She even had a couple of ‘em as pets! Crazy girl…”

  “I’m sorry,” Griffin said.

  “Don’t be! There’s no reason for you to be sorry. But that bloody Marine better be! Because they’ll regret it!”

  Ryo laughed and after a moment Griffin joined in, even if it was only halfheartedly.

  After their next meal, Zero returned.

  He sneaked in and took human shape again.

  “I was able to find Maco and Balthasar,” he announced.

  According to him, both were in good health and Maco had calmed down. Griffin realized only now that he had heard less howling all throughout the day.

  “Alright,” Griffin thought out loud. “Maybe you should tell them to lie low and just do what those women want for now. And you could use that time to try to find everyone else. But make sure to stay safe, okay? Just let everyone know. That way we can stay in contact even if we can’t see each other. And we might even be able to work on a plan that’ll get us out.”

  Zero agreed and changed shape again to bring the news to the other two.

  Griffin realized that it might be quite a while until they got out of their prison… And if Zero got caught, well… Then their last chance would probably be gone.

  CHAPTER 11

  "Do you think one day they’ll just stop feeding us?” Ryo pondered after their first meal the next day.

  “Don’t even joke about that,” Griffin grumbled.

  “You know,” Ryo continued. “I heard stories about the Falicians, but they were totally different to this! I mean, I was told that Falician women only keep male slaves for a very specific reason, you know…”

  “Yeah, for farming. I saw them out there the other day,” Griffin mumbled.

  There was a silence.

  They had heard nothing else from Zero since he had left them. Maco’s howling had stopped completely. Griffin hoped that meant good news. He was getting restless. He couldn’t just continue to sit around in a hole doing nothing but sleep, talk and eat all day and night! Although he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.

  “We’re probably going to be sent there sooner or later, I guess,” Ryo said eventually, disturbing his thoughts.

  “Mmhmm.”

  “Your kitten must be giving them hell up there.”

  Griffin looked up. Darkness. Not a single ray of light, nor even the hint of a glow, got through the covering. He could imagine it well. Aestiva turned into Fury itself when she was forcibly separated from her Griffin. Ryo still had the scratch marks to prove it. He only hoped that the Falicians didn’t feel the need to dispose of her. There was nothing he could do to prevent it. But there was no way he would ever even find out.

  “I think I’ll take a nap,” he announced, and lay on his side. He only received an inarticulate grumble in response.

  Griffin tried to get some sleep, but it was no use. He tossed and turned, but he could not calm down enough for his mind to begin drifting. The straw tickled his nose and there were tiny pebbles stinging into his back; he ached for fresh air, to let the breeze blow around him, to smell the salty fragrance of the sea… When he closed his eyes and imagined it, it almost felt real. Almost. But reality always returned with a punch to the gut after a couple of relieving moments.

  What would happen to them? How were the others?

  Griffin had never expected to be in this situation. He had never even considered the possibility of meeting an actual Falician. But he hadn’t expected a lot of other things, either. He hadn’t believed he would ever be part of the most feared pirate crew in Jianlah. He would never have thought that they would be the best friends he’d ever had. He could not have imagined the Rock-vortex fields or watching the destruction of Garillya. So much had happened in so little time. And now here he was, not knowing whether he would ever see the light of day again.

  Ryo began to snore. Griffin could feel the vibration through the stone beneath him. He smiled to himself. It was comforting to hear such a familiar and peaceful sound in a place like this.

  It would be okay. Zero was contacting all of them. He was the one person who could move freely without being caught. It could work. It had to. They had come this far; they wouldn’t lose now.

  Griffin gave up on sleeping and leaned against one of the walls. Then he let his thoughts drift and found himself in a trance until the covering above was removed again. No food was thrown down this time. Instead, a ladder made of lianas and rope fell down. Griffin squinted up at the opening. A Falician gestured toward the ladder. Griffin grabbed it and began to climb up. It felt good to move again. When he was at the top, the woman pulled him out, grabbing his arm. He was dazzled by the brightness of daylight. Everything was white for a moment. He tried to open his eyes, but when he did, they burned like acid, and it took them several seconds to adjust to the brilliance.

  The sun on his skin caused him to be soaked in sweat almost instantly. He hadn’t even noticed how much cooler it had been in his hole in the ground. His head ached. The outside world was too hot, too bright, even too loud. The sounds of all the animals and shouts of Falicians as well as grunts of the working slaves all drowned his head in noise. It was next to unbearable. He almost wished he could get back in his hole.

  Before he was able to become accustomed to anything, he was pushed toward a row of shacks. He stumbled inside one of them after being given another shove. It was a little darker, but not much cooler. An old man in a sheepskin and white hair and beard sat on a wooden box, just watching him. He had dark rings and bags beneath his eyes, and he looked too thin to be alive. Griffin was certain that should the old man try to walk, his bones would snap under the strain. Even though he looked more dead than alive, his eyes were wide awake and rather vivid.

  The shack itself was divided into several stalls, originally designed for animals, but it seemed like they had found a new purpose in holding male prisoners. Every
stall was covered in straw and held a sheepskin, probably for use as a blanket or pillows, and even a bucket if one had to go.

  Griffin stumbled around a little, his body not used to moving anymore. The old man watched him quietly. A moment later, Ryo was thrown in as well. As he fell, his guard said something Griffin didn’t understand to the old man. He nodded as she closed the door, shutting them in.

  Griffin scrambled toward Ryo to help him stand up. Both of them were dazed. After a few seconds of watching them, the old man used a stick to bolster himself upright. His dark brown eyes moved between the two friends and he slowly stepped closer, though one of his legs appeared to be lame. It seemed as if the man was not able to move it at all beneath his hip, almost as if it were made of wood.

  “My name is Robert Ference,” the man said in a croaked voice. His accent showed signs of a cultured past. “It is nice to meet you, I suppose, though I am sure you wish it was under different circumstances.”

  The man coughed. Every cough jerked his body up and around. His bones jumbled around underneath his skin. Griffin feared he might begin to spit blood or fall apart. It was grotesque.

  Griffin was about to say something, but the man stopped the attempt with a flick of his wrist.

  “I don’t want to know why you came here. You should have known better. But what’s done is done. This island belongs to the Falicians. It is forbidden for all foreign men to ever set foot on it. Those who do so regardless are considered property, like cattle. This is what you will have to live with from now on,” Robert Ference explained dryly, without a trace of sympathy in his voice.

  Griffin and Ryo exchanged a confused glance. The man didn’t take any notice.

  “In any case, I better get on to the rules. Number one: You work, you eat, you sleep. Number two: You do not complain or attempt to incite rebellion. Number three: You never approach any of the women. They will approach you. If you so much as lay a finger on them or even look at them in a lustful manner, you die. Number four: You do not break any of the rules.”

  Ryo laughed. “I don’t think you get it,” he said. “We ain’t staying.”

  He would have said more, but he was shaken by a coughing fit. Griffin grabbed his arm to keep him upright. He feared his friend might have gotten sick. He wished he knew a little about medicine, like Joe.

  Robert Ference watched them coldly.

  “No,” he said slowly. “I don’t think you get it. There is no way out of this. You are better off complying.”

  Griffin stared at the man. How could he say things like that so calmly? How long had he been here that he was now so resigned to his fate? How had this man gotten into the hands of the Falicians and how was he not dead yet?

  “Mr. Ference…” he began, but the old man turned away and motioned toward the stalls.

  “This is where you will be sleeping. If you behave well, you get a stall to yourself. If you behave badly, you get to share it with a bunch of your friends. There are two meals a day. Morning and evening. The rest of the time you are going to be working or sleeping. Mornings start early, nights run late. There will be a two-hour break in the middle of the day when the sun beats down the most, during which you can rest. Both shifts of the day have a water break. Everything clear?”

  Griffin nodded uncertainly. He looked around the shed once more. Was this really what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life? The monotony in Ference’s words reminded him of the boring life he had led on Kyalta. He had only just found his freedom! It couldn’t just end like this. Besides, there was a plan, wasn’t there? Zero was looking for the others; surely, they were around somewhere. They had to be!

  “So when’s the fun part?” Ryo asked.

  Ference glared at the pirate.

  “You should pray you do not catch a Falician’s eye. All of you seem to have the same thing in mind, the whole lot of you!” he replied icily.

  “Just out of curiosity, why wouldn’t I want a pretty Falician to dig me?” Ryo pushed.

  “Think praying mantis.”

  Ryo gulped and turned pale. Griffin waited for one of his usual retorts, but none came. It was worrying. He hoped it wasn’t a serious illness Ryo had caught. But there were other matters of importance, too.

  “What do you mean by ‘the whole lot of you’? Did you see our friends?” Griffin enquired anxiously.

  Ference nodded.

  “There was this boy – long black hair, scar over the left side of his face, darker skin than you lot. He seemed to be after women as well. Then there were a couple of others, a dragon and a troll and…”

  He left a pregnant pause, looking from Ryo to Griffin.

  “The demon.”

  “The demon?” Griffin asked, befuddled. “What demon?”

  Ference shrugged.

  “I do not know. I heard the Falicians talk about it. They said that you have brought this abomination to their island.”

  “You wouldn’t happen to mean the Klabautermann, would ya?” Ryo chimed in. He motioned at his knee level. “About yea high, blue, sharp teeth, short temper? That little guy can seem like a demon when he’s angry alright!”

  The old man merely shot Ryo a disgusted look to silence him.

  “Red.”

  “Aestiva?” Griffin almost shouted. “Is she alright? They didn’t hurt her, did they?”

  Ference laughed bitterly.

  “Aestiva, huh, is that what you call the little devil? From what I have heard, she is the one doing the hurting. Apparently, she keeps attacking anyone who comes too close, so they had to lock her up somewhere. They’ve been ordered to let her starve, but a lot of them are superstitious and keep smuggling your ‘Aestiva’ some food. They think she has been sent to teach them a lesson and they are afraid that if they do not treat her well, they will be cursed – or worse.”

  Griffin sighed in relief.

  “How do you know their language so well?” Ryo asked, squinting his eyes.

  “I have been here long enough. Unlike others I try to make the best of every situation and always have. I doubt you are able to do the same. But I suppose you might at least make an attempt.”

  Griffin didn’t like him. The man was so… condescending.

  “In any case if you want to have something to eat today, I suggest you go out and start working. Since you do not know the farming drill yet, I will talk you through fixing the roof. There are leaks that need to be patched,” Ference instructed, a note of authority in his voice that suggested he was used to giving orders to be obeyed.

  “Uh, our Griffin here is a carpenter. I’m sure we can manage without instructions,” Ryo retorted.

  “I am sure he is, but now just go and do as you are told.”

  It had been almost a week now. They had worked on the shed the first day, trying to ignore Ference’s constant stream of instructions and corrections, which were more nagging than anything helpful. In return, they had received food. On the second day, they had been sent out with the other captive men onto the farm, where one of the supervisors, also a man, had told them what to do.

  For reasons unknown to Griffin, Ference wasn’t sent out to farm like everyone else. Perhaps he was spared due to his old age. He was one of the few men who knew the Falician language and was more useful than most as a result. Griffin was more than thankful for the break from him. He didn’t think he could take many more snide comments from the decrepit geezer.

  There had been a happy reunion out in the fields; Ryo and Griffin were met by most of the Bat’s crew. Only Ayalon, Selene, Aestiva and Zero were unaccounted for. Joe gave Ryo a quick check-up and assured him that with some fresh air, sleep and food he would be back to normal in no time at all.

  They were divided amongst three different shacks at night, but out on the fields they worked alongside one other. It was hard work.

  The field had to be ploughed by hand, and each of them was given a hoe when they entered the field, and had it taken
off them again when they left. They swung it forward to bury it into the ground, before lifting it again, loosening the earth. Griffin soon found blisters on his hands, which broke open quickly and then burned at every touch. He winced, but he bore it without complaint. He didn’t know what would happen to people who showed weakness, and he didn’t think he wanted to find out. It was monotonous work, and they moved along the fields slowly.

  Skip tried to mingle with some of the men who had been there longer than them. Most were reduced to heaps of misery. Many of them had lost all sense of time and couldn’t tell him how long they had lived there. Some had completely resigned themselves to their fate and were now not much more than empty shells, repeating motions. Barely anyone knew each other. They all had different stories and came from various backgrounds, with all ages and appearances present. The only thing they had in common was their fear of the Falicians.

  After this first week, Zero came by. He joined them in the fields in shape of a weasel, carrying a note in his mouth, which he passed on to Balthasar. Then he weaseled away as quickly as he could.

  The note said that he had located Ayalon and Aestiva and had a suspicion about where Selene might be. However, some Falicians had seen him in human shape and now knew that there was another strange man on the island. He had to be cautious. Skip used his newly-found connection with the other prisoners to find out more. Some of them told him that they had heard about the elusive man, and how vexed the Falicians were that they couldn’t get a hold of him. Some apparently suspected a curse laid upon them by the little red devil.

  The note awoke new hope in everyone. They began to make escape plans.

  Unfortunately, Ryo and Griffin couldn’t talk freely in their shack. Ference had taken an interest in them and had begun listening in on their conversations. Occasionally, he would comment on something they said, much to their alarm. They didn’t trust him. The less he knew, the better. So they decided only to speak when he wasn’t nearby – working out in the fields.