by David Talon
“Not quite,” Pepper giving me a strange look. “When Captain Cholula’s men searched the hold, one Shadowman was found hiding. Someone I believe you know.”
“Is it Seth?” Pepper nodded and I gave her a sour look. “Why am I not surprised?”
Pepper giggled. “Arabella brought him aboard the Davy after questioning him in front of Cholula, and since he got here he’s been trying to say that everything that happened to him was your fault...except he knows it isn’t, and he has to keep taking back his words. The crew’s been having sport baiting him, especially the Mulatto’s men.”
“How is the Mulatto?”
Pepper gave me a sardonic smile. “The Mulatto’s too mean to kill. Alright, that’s not true, but he is tough. We did lose some men, though a lot less than anyone thought we would, and Master Walters will be especially missed.” Her voice grew sad as she added, “Curly’s dying. He survived being stabbed but by the time Samuel could get to him he’d lost a lot of blood, and the foul humors on the Shadowman’s weapon got into his guts. Now we’re just waiting for the end.”
I tried to sit up and failed. “But it might not be too late. Fire-Rose is excellent at healing, and I doubt she’d take very much...”
Pepper clamped her hand over my mouth. “Not one more word. You almost gave up your life saving our arses, and don’t think the crew doesn’t know it. The only reason you’re as well off as you are now is because Captain Cholula gave her own strength to Fire-Rose so she could keep the foul humors at bay until you woke up, as well as healing your wrist and,” touching the side of my face with her fingertips, “the marks Victoria gave you.”
I touched the spot in front of my ear where the harpy had raked me. It was smooth except for one long furrow running down almost to my chin. “It looks like Fire-Rose missed one of them.”
Pepper gave me a wry smile. “Captain Cholula arbitrarily decided you need a scar.”
“I was not consulted,” Jade’s voice said from above my head. “Had I been, I would not have agreed to the foolish human practice of leaving marks on one’s skin as a sign of prowess.”
She sounded so aggrieved I had to smile. “It’s good to hear your voice, Jade,” the smile leaving my face as I asked, “Is there really no hope for Curly?”
“He will be dead within the hour. Khan is giving him tincture of Goblinsbane, which is keeping the pain at bay but is also killing him faster. If you wish to speak with him you must do it soon.”
“Then I need to get up,” I said as I sat up in the hammock.
My head swam and Pepper gave me a knowing look. “Use Khan’s privy and put on some trousers,” Pepper sliding out of the hammock gracefully and slipping on a grey robe sitting on the edge of the worktable. “I’ll get you some Sweetwater and a bowl of porridge before we go see him.”
Pepper padded out the door and I did as she’d said, feeling as insubstantial as a ghost as I finally got the trousers on and sat on the edge of the worktable. “Jade, where’s everyone else?”
“Those not on watch or keeping the ship on course towards Tortuga are sleeping. It has been a very busy pair of days.”
“What about your golem?”
Jade’s voice became amused. “Captain Hawkins has it holding down the main hatch. Both sides took a lot of gold off the galleon, so he decided to take steps to keep everyone honest. I am as hollow as you must feel at the moment, but I am getting accustomed to the feeling, since the dragon-golem is the most effective weapon we have right now in the war to come.”
I shivered, drawing my knees to my chest. “Jade, I’m not ready for a war.”
“You will be. Right now, you are a well my sisters and I can draw from, and the well is already deeper than it was before. You have much to learn of the art of sword-craft, but Mr. Smith is an excellent teacher, as is Captain Hawkins in the art of tactics...if he remains with us, of course.”
“But can we even win a war? Olde Roger didn’t seem too concerned whether or not I got stronger or more skilled, only that I offer him a challenge.”
Master Khan’s voice from the doorway made me look up. “Olde Roger also thought we would never destroy one of his galleons, yes? We had luck on our side but also skill as well.” He’d smoothed out his face so most of his wrinkles were gone, making him look much younger, if still hairless. “I too have much to teach you, of fighting without weapons and the art of tactics, different from the art Captain Hawkins may or may not teach.”
I began to thank him, my words tumbling over themselves like small children running, but he merely smiled and held up his hand. “Tomas Rios, it may be we cannot win this war because we are only human...more or less, but it never means we should give up. We will fight, even if there are only a few of us, and who knows? It may be we shall surprise Olde Roger again, yes?”
We spoke of the battle until Pepper returned with a wooden bowl and a blackjack full of Sweetwater, which I drank down before devouring every last speck of porridge until the bowl was clean. I suppressed a burp, which made Pepper suppress a giggle as she looked at me, but our moods sobered as Master Khan led us out of the workroom, through his own berth, and out into the hold.
Along the wall separating the crew’s hold from the main hold was an area set up with several stained, canvas pallets, arranged in a row near Samuel’s berth. The pallets were empty save one, Curly stretched out on the pallet with his hands at his sides. We walked up beside him and I knelt down, the straw inside crackling as Curly turned his head. His eyes were like twin pools of ink as he whispered, “Who’s there?”
I took a deep breath then regretted I had, for the reek of his foul humor stunk like rotten cheese only somewhat masked by the Artifact cinnamon ball sitting beside him on the floor. “It’s the Prince-O-the-Pirates,” I replied. Curly chuckled and held up his hand, which I clasped with my own. “I’d give my strength to Fire-Rose and have her heal you, if I could.”
Curly began to cough and Master Khan had him sit up long enough to bring up a mass of phlegm black as tar into the leather slops bucket beside the pallet, before he laid back down. “Wouldn’t do any good,” he whispered, his voice growing a bit stronger as anger touched it. “That sea-bitch Cholula refused to help any of us except you, so she can make you dance to her tune when you’re better.” His hand gripped mine as tight as a sea-knot. “You promise me you won’t let her have you, not without a fight. You promise me that.”
It was an easy promise to make. “I give you my word I won’t let her take me without a fight.” He nodded, letting me go and I asked, “Do you need anything?”
“Any more of that potion left?”
“Only the dregs,” Master Khan said, wiping beads of black sweat off Curly’s forehead with a black stained rag next to the slops bucket. “But it will take away all of your pain in this life.”
“There’s one thing I gotta do first...Pepper?”
Pepper knelt down on his other side. “I’m here, Curly.”
He let go of my hand and Pepper clasped his as he spoke. “I know you ain’t any kinda priest, but there’s things I gotta say to someone before I die, and maybe you could say a few words in Latin like my Da did when I was a child. He was a parish priest, and it’s funny how he used to preach against sin on Sunday mornings then practice it with me mam on Sunday nights. Lord-O-Mercy, I haven’t thought about him in years.”
“Whatever you need, I’m here.” Pepper listened to him whisper in her ear for a time, and when he finished, bowed her head gravely. “In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi: Obsecro te, Deum remissionem peccatorum vestrorum tribuat... Amen.”
A look of peace came to Curly’s face as he let go of Pepper’s hand. “I’ll take the rest of that potion now.” Master Khan helped him drink it then took the empty cup from Curly’s hand. “Khan, you tell the captain to give my share of the gold to Pepper for her dowry, and tell him to bury me at sea. Wrap me up in sail cloth and Pepper? When you stitch
me up, make sure the last one’s through my nose, just to make sure I’m dead.”
Pepper wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I promise.”
Curly closed his eyes as Master Khan took the stained wooden cup and rag and placed them in the leather slops bucket, and the three of us rose and moved away as his breathing gradually began to slow. Then a woman’s voice called my name and I looked farther down towards the table Samuel used for operations. Arabella was standing beside it, dressed in dark, leather clothing and a Shadowman’s wide brimmed hat, and as the three of us started towards her I noticed Seth was kneeling at her feet with his arms bound behind him and his feet shackled together, so he couldn’t walk normally but could only hobble. I was out of breath as we reached them, and Arabella said in a sardonic voice, “I pray Tomas will be up to the task at hand on his betrothal night.”
Master Khan gave her a disapproving look. “We are relying upon the sea to give us her breath, yes? So it will take several days for us to reach Tortuga, more than enough time for Tomas to regain his strength.”
“I am pleased to hear it,” Arabella turning to me with an evil smile. “I have your old enemy here if you wish to make him grovel at your feet, or take out your anger upon him as your friend Jeremiah did.”
I looked down upon Seth, who looked up at me with eyes red as blood. His face was bruised and cut, wounds that would never heal again, and his dark clothes were so torn that much of his now dead white chest was exposed. He reminded me of nothing more than a corpse pulled from the ocean, and as I stared down at Seth I realized for the first time in my life I wasn’t afraid of him. “There was a time in St. Augustine when I would’ve given anything to do that, to pay him back for all the things he did to me.”
“Go ahead,” Seth jeered at me as he struggled to be free of his bonds. “I ain’t scared of you. Hit me all you want.”
“What’s the point?” I replied, looking into his red-eyed gaze. “Will it bring back Belle-M’ere or Gran-Pere?”
“You hate me ‘cause I killed them,” he snarled, “like you killed my pet ‘cause you wouldn’t help her.”
“You’re right, in a sense,” I said as several things suddenly became clear. Seth stopped struggling and looked up at me in puzzlement as I went on. “It was a bad time when the swamp-water fever swept over St. Augustine, and I gave everything I had so Jeremiah’s sister would survive, when I could’ve used it to help other people.” I shook my head. “But your woman wouldn’t have been one of them. Not because I hated her,” I said quickly as Seth’s eyes narrowed, “but because there were other people Gran-Pere would’ve had me heal first.” Belle-M’ere would’ve never allowed me to help her, I also realized, but I decided to say nothing of that as I said, “But in your mind I should’ve given my strength to heal her, and because I didn’t help her, you hate me...because you loved Elisha.”
“I don’t care ‘bout her no more, I only want to hurt you, make you suffer.”
“But you did care about her once,” I said as I looked up at Arabella. “I never understood why Seth hated me but I do, now. I can’t think of anything worse than having Pepper die in my arms and not be able to do a thing to save her, and it must’ve been the same for Seth.” Remembering BelleM’ere’s face as she lay dying, my expression grew stern as the captain’s as I stared at him. “But it doesn’t excuse what he did. I don’t want to hit him, only see that justice is done.”
Seth’s face became his familiar look of hatred. “I gonna make you suffer for what you did, and when I get through with you...”
“Quill, Seth,” Arabella said. At once he clamped his mouth shut, and Arabella gave him an evil smile as he stopped struggling and looked down at the grey-wood planks beneath our feet. “I told Seth if he didn’t behave I would return his humanity and turn him over to the crew’s...tender mercy, before coming up with a suitably agonizing way to die.” Her expression turned more normal as she looked at me. “I will have him brought to Captain Black for execution, or see the deed done myself. You have my word.” I nodded, and she motioned towards my hand. “Pepper told me about your ring after I heard the tale from one of the crew.”
“I had to explain why you could move so fast,” Pepper said, “so they wouldn’t start this nonsense about you being an unnatural creature again. Khan thinks it’s why Captain Thorne became so obsessed: he thought you were secretly a pureblood, because only they have the ability to alter time.”
I nodded in understanding. “But because only I share half of LongMu’s nature, I can’t alter it without help, and thus Hob gave me her ring so I could.”
“I have never heard of a white bone Artifact before,” Arabella said, gazing at the ring intently. “I would like to watch it in action, and maybe see if I can give it strength as well.” Pepper crossed her arms and Arabella smiled. “I am content to wait until after the betrothal, when Tomas has rested...if you shall allow him any, that is.” She looked down at Seth with the expression of a governor’s wife coming upon a sailor covered in his own spew. “Up, Seth, and we will see if anyone else wishes to have sport with you.” Seth gave Arabella a dark look but rose to his feet and hobbled after her, his chains rattling as they walked towards the galley.
But they stopped as I called out, “What about you and Captain Hawkins?”
Arabella remained facing forward, only turning her head to the side. “Olde Roger will not give up his desire to make him into a true monster. Take a lesson from me and pray do not get too attached to him.” Arabella resumed walking, moving past the galley towards the stairs leading up.
I shivered, and Pepper put her arms around my waist. “You aren’t out of dangerous waters yet,” she said as she turned me around, “so back to bed.”
“Yes, milady,” I said as she steered me back towards the workroom, Master Khan smiling at us before kneeling back down next to Curly. We passed Samuel’s berth, from where prodigious snores were coming, and went through Master Khan’s berth into his workroom. I undressed and Pepper kept the hammock steady as I got back in then made sure I was covered by the blanket before sharing a long kiss with me. When she finally pulled back I stroked her freckled cheek. “I wish I wasn’t so tired.”
“Me too, Swamp-rat. But I told Captain Hawkins the betrothal ceremony’s going to be the first night we’re on Tortuga and no later.”
I smiled at her. “Someone’s bold as a March hare.”
Pepper’s expression became serious. “It’s strange how Fate arranges our life. I made myself be bold to fit in, but after you came aboard I began to be more myself...and now being bold has become part of my nature.”
“It suits you.” Pepper gave me a skeptical look and I said, “I’m telling the truth or else I’d be taking it back.” Pepper smiled and I reached up to stroke her cheek again. “Alfonzo always warned me to be careful of wishing for a bold girl, for I might just get her...and I’m glad I have.” Thinking about Alfonzo I grew a little sad. “I finally understand why he had to be with BelleM’ere, and she with him, but I’ll never be able to tell him.”
“He knows.” I gave Pepper a puzzled look and she said, “Love endures. He never left you in all the time since you came aboard the Davy. Love endures, Tomas, even beyond the grave.” Suddenly she looked at an empty spot in a corner of the workroom and drew a deep breath. “Speaking of beyond the grave...” Master Khan appeared in the doorway and Pepper turned towards him. “I know. We’ll need sail cloth and sinew out of the ship’s stores, along with one of the heavy needles.”
He nodded, and I realized there were things about Pepper I’d never understand. But I also realized that wasn’t a bad thing either as I said, “Take care of him; I’ll be here when you get back.” A thought struck me and I grinned. “If I tried going anywhere I’d probably fall out of this hammock and break my arse.”
Pepper shook her head as she kissed the top of mine. “Jeremiah has the right of it: you are a sweet fool. I pray you remain
that way, at least a little.” She walked to the doorway and followed Master Khan out into the crew’s hold. After they’d left I looked around the empty workroom, realizing why Alfonzo’s advice had always seemed so clear. I knew that he knew at last I finally understood him.
But in the quiet of the room I told him anyway.
The sun was barely peeking over the mountains of Tortuga when we reached the Pillars of Damocles. Tortuga was a rocky island with no safe place to anchor save Tortuga bay itself, a natural harbor formed by a half-circle of rock that narrowed to a small passage in or out, protected by two stone fortresses, each built upon one end of the half-circle. They were known as the Pillars of Damocles, and as I stood at the bow with Pepper, Jeremiah, and Redbeard, I saw why Tortuga had never been taken.
Each fortress had been built upon a natural outcropping of rock, so cunningly designed it was hard to tell where the rock ended and the fortress began. Each one had a small pier with a jolly boat tied up to it, with a set of stairs carved into the stone leading off the pier, and into the fortress. According to Redbeard, the passage inside went past several portcullis which could be lowered at a moment’s notice, before reaching the fort itself. Long, bronze cannons, looking out from gaps in the wall, winked at us in the rising sun as Jade’s voice spoke just off the starboard bow. “The Blackjack Davy has been granted safe passage by the watch-captain, under the authority of Captain Black, and the Sea-Witch as well.” I glanced off our port side where a large, black ship kept pace with us like an enormous shadow, as Jade went on. “I have informed the captain, and he would like the four of you to join him for a private meeting.”
I exchanged a speculative glance with Jeremiah before Pepper stepped between us and took my hand. Redbeard enjoyed a brief chuckle for some reason unknown to me as the four of us started aft, carefully stepping around the dragon-golem resting on the main hatch like a dog waiting for its master, blue ghost-fire flickering deep within its hollow eyes from the strength Jade had left inside it.
