by David Talon
“I’ll take that chance,” I said, looking across the aft deck. It was covered in debris, but except for Captain Voorhees on the stern, empty of dead men. “Smoke, get Pepper across then help Mr. Bierson.”
I lifted Pepper in my arms, her body frailer than it should’ve been as Smoke said, “I’ll do it, but I’m keeping a small part of me with you. If you get into trouble, I need to know so I can come rescue you, Swamp-rat.”
“I don’t need rescuing,” I grumbled under my breath.
Pepper must’ve heard, for she giggled then grimaced again. “Will you two stop making me laugh? Oh, that’s cold,” she added as I settled her in Smoke’s arms. “I’ll convince the captain to let Master Khan give Jade strength, and she’ll make a mermaid the size of a jolly boat, you’ll see.” Smoke lifted up off the deck and began swimming through the air with Pepper in her arms. Pepper looked back and called out, “It’s love for you too...Swamp-rat. You’ll see.”
I shook my head at the girl’s strangeness then called out to Mr. Bierson. “I need to find Selene’s aunt. Smoke’s coming back to help you, and as soon as I get back, we’ll take the captain up on his offer.”
Mr. Bierson wiped sweat off his brow, letting a man take his place as a dead man with a half severed head tried to climb up. “We may not have any choice but take his mercy. I tell you true, though, I won’t turn pirate.”
“Nor I,” I answered him, climbing up on Star’s cold back, the long pike still in her hands. “But we’ll have to trust Pepper’s telling the truth.”
“She is,” Jade’s voice answered. “I must return to the ship, in case the captain relents.”
Mr. Bierson gave me a thoughtful look as I put my arms around the mermaid’s neck. “I regret we almost came to blows just now. Watch your back while you’re below.” Star floated upward and took off as Mr. Bierson called out, “You’re a brave lad.”
“I’m a daft one,” I muttered to myself as the air-golem sailed over the main deck, over the heads of the dead men, and towards the hatch on the aft deck. I shivered as we flew, but I knew from experience an air-golem’s hard to hold onto. Looking beyond the Dutch ship, I noticed a bank of sea-fog was moving towards us, with the outline of a ghostly sail seemingly just inside the mist, but I decided my mind was playing tricks and forgot about it as we swooped down.
We reached the hatch quickly, Star using the end of the pike to push away a piece of wood half-covering the opening as I slid off, absently looking back the way we’d come. Dead men were climbing up the stairs to the aft deck, the leading one with his neck twisted at an unnatural angle and a steel spike in his hand as he lurched towards me.
Suddenly the ship itself lurched, and I grabbed the wooden middle of Star’s pike to keep from falling head-first down into the hold below. Looking towards the stern, I saw the body of Captain Voorhees leaning against what remained of the ship’s tiller, making the Queen Anne’s bow slowly spin towards the pirate’s. Star moved her mermaid between me and the now half-dozen slowly approaching dead men. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
“Let me know when your air-golem’s gone,” I replied, grabbing the edge of the hatch and swinging myself down until my bare feet touched the last stair. Most of the lights had been put out below, I realized as I let go, stepping down onto the deck of the passenger hold as I turned around.
I reared back as a gunpowder pistol was shoved into my face. The merchant with a beard shouted, “What in the name of Providence are you doing here? You’ll bring the dead men down on our heads!”
Several other passengers were standing nearby, all of them looking a little wild-eyed as I cautiously pushed the muzzle away from my face. “The dead would’ve come down here eventually, anyway. I’m here to rescue Selene’s aunt then I’ll be on my way.” Suddenly a thought struck me. “Has anyone seen Master Gomez?”
The merchant waved it towards a large humped shape off in the corner. “The man’s servant struck him down and robbed him, and then ran off to hide somewhere.”
“Which is what we should be doing,” another man wearing the clothes of a gentleman hissed. “The merchant lives for now, but none of us will if the dead start coming down here.”
“Then stand together and fight,” I urged them. “That’s what Mr. Bierson and the sailors have done, and we’re making a go of keeping them at bay.”
Above us, I heard the sound of the mermaid’s pike smack against flesh and the sound of a body falling. The others heard it too. “Bugger that,” the merchant said, backing away from me as the others, looking upward with frightened eyes, did the same. He turned and ran, the others doing the same, and I ran for Selene’s aunt’s cabin.
Reaching the warped, wooden door, the light making it almost too dim to see, I rapped hard with my knuckles. “Mistress, are you there? It’s Tomas.” I heard a weak sound come from inside and I pulled the door open. In the light of a dragon-globe swinging from its rope basket, I saw the old woman sprawled on the floor, a trickle of blood coming from her mouth. I knelt down beside her. “Mistress, I’m here to rescue you.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “You come too late,” she whispered, her age-spotted, wrinkled hand motioning towards the corner. “My attendants are waiting.” I looked over to where three tongues of blue ghostfire were standing in a row, like snakes ready to strike. Her hand then moved towards the open desk. “My rosary...locket.”
I got to my feet. The desk was of simple design, a thick piece of wood that could be folded into a space built into the wall, nestled beside the thin bed taking up the whole back wall, with its grate letting in fresh air from the outside built in above it. A wooden chair lay on its side, with papers scattered all about, but as I stepped over her to the desk I saw the rosary and gold locket still rested on its scarred surface. The rosary was a bone white cross with silver beads, and the locket was open, revealing the face of a young, dark haired girl, both of which I scooped up in my hand and knelt back down beside the old woman. I placed both of them in her hands. “Mistress, I can carry you out of here, and then Smoke...”
“I will die as I lived,” she whispered, “on my own terms.” Selene’s aunt wrapped the rosary around her hand, but to my surprise, placed the locket back into mine. “Find news of my daughter, whether she lives or dies, and if she lives, tell her how disappointed...” The old woman stopped as her eyes opened wide. “No, say naught of my regret. Tell her I thought of her every day, tell her I love...I love...” The old woman’s eyes remained open wide as her words faded in a mumble before ceasing altogether. The tongues of ghostfire dropped to the deck and began to slither towards her.
I reached out to close her eyes. Then I snapped the locket shut, placed it around my neck and sprang to my feet as the cabin door swung shut on its own and latched. “I fought as long as I could,” Star said in my ear as the blue flames entered the old woman’s mouth, one by one, “but it wasn’t enough to hold them off. The dead are right behind me.”
An axe blade bit deep into the door. It splintered part of the wood, gleaming with a wicked sheen as a dead man pulled it out and peered into the crack. He grinned like a fiend from hell and swung again as the old lady at my feet began to stir.
“Smoke,” I said to the empty air as I backed away from the door and grabbed the chair off the floor, “remember what I said about not needing rescue? I’ll let you hold it over my head for as long as you want if you’ll come get me right now.” The axe bit another chunk out of the door as the old woman slowly got to her feet. She turned to glare at me with dead eyes, my heart hammering in my chest as the axe smashed the door into pieces and dead hands pulled it away. The old woman stretched out her hands, the rosary wildly swinging in her grip as she took a step forward.
Suddenly, from outside of the cabin I heard a surprised shriek filled with pain, and the look of hatred left the eyes of Selene’s aunt. She walked past me to the bed and sat down hard, cracking her head against the back wall b
ut not seeming to care as her fingers began going through the rosary beads as, just outside the door, the man with the axe continued smashing it to pieces. But then, to my astonishment, he dropped the axe to gather up the pieces and carried them off as if they were firewood, while beyond him in the hold the dead shuffled off with meaningless purpose. I lowered the chair to the floor. “Star, what just happened?”
I heard excitement in her voice as she said, “The sister of the ghost-shell’s in a fight for her life!”
“Who’s attacking her?” I asked as I cautiously left the cabin and stepped into the hold, the stench of dead flesh almost gagging me as I slid between dead men now shambling around without the least interest in me.
“I don’t know,” Star answered. “But if it’s Jade, she doesn’t stand a chance.” I held my breath as a dead man bumped into me, his dead eyes turning to look into mine. But he took no interest in me and I moved past him towards the stair leading up.
Then a different voice spoke in my ear. “Tomas,” Tiger said urgently, “you’ve got to get off this ship now!”
I reached the stairs and started up. “What’s wrong?”
“One of the Dark Sisters is attacking the sister of the ghost-shell.” Fear rose up to choke me and I pelted up the stairs as she went on. “They don’t have any bit of a Dragon’s strength so they can’t attack us, but their ship’s coming up fast.”
I reached the aft deck and looked around me. The deck was covered in debris but clear of men, alive or dead, and looking towards the bow I saw the foredeck was clear of men as well. Beyond I saw the pirate ship was now facing bow to bow with the Queen Anne’s Regret, her sails furled and her foredeck filled with men armed to the teeth. No catcalls came from the pirates now, but only an ominous silence.
An unknown female voice suddenly spoke from a spot several feet away. “Greetings to thee, young Dragon: I am thy new spirit-friend. Give thyself to my loving care and I shalt treat thee with the utmost kindness.” Her voice became an icy purr. “Resist and thou shalt find me not so merciful.”
I bolted for the pirate ship. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a Spanish galleon coming out of the sea-fog, bearing down on the Dutch ship, but obviously a galleon taken as someone’s prize. She was weather-beaten, with most of her red and gold paint flaked off and all of her sails were tattered. But strangest of all was the long cannon on her stern. It was white as old bone and twice the length of a jolly boat, taking up much of the ship’s aft deck. Around it were men in dark, tattered clothes, pale men who bore weapons in their hands.
Mr. Bierson and the handful of sailors remaining were climbing up to the aft deck as I reached the edge. “Tomas,” he called out to me, “why are you running away? We’re saved!”
“The galleon’s a ship of the Shadowmen,” I said as an air-golem mermaid swam through the air towards me like a bolt from a crossbow. “We need to reach the pirate ship before she reaches us.”
Several cutlasses were brandished as all the sailors gained the aft deck. “He’s sold his honor to the pirate scum,” a blond haired man with a snaggle tooth snarled. “We should take him and let the Spaniard’s make him dance the hempen jig.”
The mermaid reached me as Mr. Bierson stepped in front of his men, the long axe still in his hands. “Let the lad go,” he yelled at them. “He saved our lives, or have you forgotten?”
Then the voice of the Dark Sister spoke from a spot beside the men. “My captain offers thee gold for the young Dragon brought to him alive.”
“Grab my hands,” Smoke said, and I locked arms with her as the sailors knocked Mr. Bierson down to get to me. Smoke took off across the gap between the aft and foredeck as two sailors leapt to grab me but missed, their cries abruptly cut off as they smashed into the main deck below. We quickly reached the foredeck, my hands and arms growing cold from the air-golem’s touch as we sailed across towards the grey ship waiting for us.
Suddenly we were slammed to the deck. I yelped as I banged my knee against the wood planks, Smoke letting go of me as she bounced across the deck before righting herself. I looked up to see what had hit us. A bird-like figure banked as it flew around the mast, and as I watched it return a cold chill ran up my spine. This was no golem, no Artifact of man, but a creature out of myth. She had the face and upper body of a woman but her arms were wings, and her lower torso resembled a vulture’s, her feet ending in long, wicked looking claws. The eyes of the harpy met mine and she laughed in a high pitched, insane giggle.
The mermaid came up beside me. “Run for the ship,” Smoke said urgently. “I can slow it down, but I can’t stop it.”
I leaped to my feet as Smoke took off, swimming through the air straight at the harpy, who screamed as she tried to evade the air-golem coming at her like a dolphin after a shark. I ran for the bowsprit, the crew on the pirate ship cheering me on as the enormous red-bearded man bellowed, “Hurry; the demon be right behind you!”
I put on a fresh burst of speed as I reached the bow’s deck rail and leaped over the figurehead of the queen. The harpy slammed into the wooden statue. She screeched as I was knocked off my feet and fell towards the waves below, my arms and legs flailing as I screeched myself.
Smoke swooped down, grabbing me by the waist with cold hands then threw me towards the bow. I saw the figurehead of the mermaid taking a drink and desperately scrambled to grab a handhold, my fingers clawing at her arms as the smooth wood slipped away under my hands.
But then my fingers found a purchase and I pulled myself up, looking back to see the mermaid turn and slam into the harpy once again. The harpy screamed as she fell towards the water, caught herself, and then banked as she gained speed for another try. Meanwhile, an African pirate climbed over the deck rail and, leaning around the mermaid figurehead, extended his hand. “Tomas,” he said in a strangely familiar voice, “get your skinny arse up here.”
I grasped his forearm as the face and voice suddenly registered, and I almost let go in shock. “Jeremiah?”
My oldest and best friend in St. Augustine gave me the grin I remembered. “Who else do you think would climb out on the bowsprit to rescue you?” He held onto me as I carefully stepped around the figurehead and a moment later we were both over the deck rail and among the crew. Six of them were dressed in fancy clothes, bearing Artifact muskets, and the moment we were among them the six raised their muskets and aimed them at the approaching harpy.
She screeched once more and turned away. I joined Jeremiah and the rest of the crew as they catcalled after the retreating harpy, and then I embraced my friend. He laughed as he returned it. “You look better than well,” I said to him as we stepped apart. Jeremiah had always had skin like an ebony carving, but it was blacker than before, no doubt from the sun, and he looked far stronger than he ever had back in St. Augustine. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Would you believe Master Gomez did the greatest favor he could’ve done by selling me? We were at sea three days when the Davy boarded the merchant ship, and Mr. Smith,” Jeremiah pointing at a bald headed African with broad shoulders, who towered over everyone else, “asked the slaves if any of us wanted our freedom. I said yes and here I am.” He frowned at me. “You, on the other hand, look ill-used.”
“I’m alright,” I said with a shrug.
His hand brushed aside my tattered shirt. “Tomas, I can count your ribs. Did Johanna forget to feed you?” Before I could tell him about the recent sickness in St. Augustine, his eyes narrowed. “For that matter, where is Johanna? I know she can’t be on that tub, or you would’ve never left.”
I shook my head, the relief at my narrow escape mingling with grief making my voice catch. “Belle-M’ere’s dead in St. Augustine, Gran-Pere and Alfonzo, too.”
Jeremiah’s mouth opened in shock. “But how...wait, my sister; tell me about Rebekah?” his calloused hands gripped my arms. “I know Master Gomez was going to sell her to your mother after I was gone.”
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“Your sister’s well,” I said, happy I could bring him joyous news. “Do you remember Master Valencia of Campeche?”
“The Apothecary? You’re saying he bought her from Johanna?”
I shook my head. “The first time he saw ‘Bekah he wanted to, but you know how Belle-M’ere was. She told him if he wanted Rebekah he could free her and then court her like a good Christian woman, because he wasn’t having her any other way. So he did.” Jeremiah’s mouth opened in shock, and I dearly hoped Belle-M’ere was looking down from Paradise to see it, as I went on. “It was a nine-day scandal in St. Augustine, but Master Valencia didn’t care. ‘Bekah wrapped him around her fingers like he was bread dough, and they were wed this past summer in Campeche.”
“Your sister’s carrying a boy,” Smoke said from a spot beside us. “Tomas, I tried to keep the air-golem together, but it just wouldn’t hold.”
“Smoke,” Jeremiah said, “I figured you’d never leave him. Now, both of you tell me what happened to your family.”
“Later,” a deep voice said beside us. I turned to see the captain of the pirate ship standing several paces away. “We’re on the edge of trouble and I mean to steer clear of it, so I need you to give some of your strength to the dragon-ghost, Jade.”
Smoke whispered in my ear, “It’s alright, Swamp-rat. Me and Jade are working things out.”
I wasn’t sure at all what she meant by that, but I nodded as I met the captain’s gaze. “If it’s to keep the Shadowmen from attacking, I’ll do so gladly, sir.”
He raised his eyebrows as if surprised, but only said, “Then call her to you.”
“Jade,” I said, holding out my arm, “take what you need.”
Jade’s older, cultured voice spoke next to my ear. “I fear I am larger than you are used to.” A moment later her fangs pierced my back. They were the size of longswords, and although as always I felt no pain, I gasped as they slid down deep into my chest, my insides growing cold as she drew forth my strength into herself. After a few moments she withdrew them. “Much becomes clear,” she said cryptically, her tone becoming matter-of-fact. “So, Tomas, what is your will?”
