“Delik,” whispered Elrin. “I’ve heard that voice before. I think I know who it is.” Elrin raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to show he had the situation under control.
Delik took his arm. “Be careful what you say boy. That voice sounds like trouble. Honey’s sweet, but sticky.”
“Oh, lay it on thick, Delik,” said the woman.
“What?” Delik was taken aback.
“Is that you Minni?” Elrin was sure it was.
“Who in the hells?” Delik hollered into the darkness. “How do you know my name?”
“Delik. You don’t have to pretend you don’t know me. Elrin’s harmless in all respects. I’m sure he won’t attack you if you tell him the bits you missed from your sentimental recruitment spiel.”
“Shut it, Minni.” Delik burst out.
“He’s very paranoid, Elrin,” said Minni still half hidden by shadow. “Not so trusting, though I’m sure it’s not personal.”
“Minni, enough!” Delik was on his feet pressing his body against the bars.
“How does she know you?” Elrin began to question everything Delik had said, each doubt fanned a rising flame of resentment; he had been far too quick to believe this stranger’s tragic tale.
“Yes, a fine question to start,” said Minni. Her voice dripped with dark pleasure.
“She is a ...” Delik repositioned his shoulders and lifted his chin. “She’s a friend of my father’s.”
“Come now, Delik. The boy isn’t an agent. You heard my report this morning; he’s been watched since Calimska.”
“So you say. So why did he follow you to the docks? Why didn’t he mention his dead letter to me?”
“He’s on the run, of course he’s going to head for the nearest ship,” Minni laughed. “Look at him. He’ll fit right in, so why keep him in the dark?”
“He knows enough. He knows what Jando has done to us. He knows about Pelegrin. He heard it spill from the coward’s own lips.”
“Yes, it was a lovely performance; much better than the fireworks we planned. Bravo for your improvised contingency. Are you happy now that you’ve got that off your chest?”
“I wouldn’t have needed a contingency if you’d kept your shiner off the damn docks!”
“I’m right here. Don’t speak of me as though I’m some game piece!” Elrin rose to his feet, frustrated and confused. He must have lost something in the translation, none of this made sense. “Did you say I’ve been watched? You knew about me? But, how?”
“Oh, you play the innocent so well. I bet you had our man marked from the start. Calling his bluff at the docks so he’d pull you out of harm’s way; you don’t fool me. What gave him up then? Did you pick out our signals?”
“Signals? I don’t understand. What are you up to?”
“Just shut it would you. You’ll get us all killed if you don’t come clean.” Delik kept his voice low, but his frustration was clear.
Elrin edged closer to Delik and with immense control considering his rising fury, bottled his anger behind clenched teeth. “Why should I shut it? Either you tell me what is going on, or I’ll tell Pelegrin about you and Minni. I don’t know what you have planned, but I’ll make sure I’m just as creative as you two.”
“Are you an agent?” Delik eased his tone, studying Elrin’s face.
“He’d have squawked already, Delik. Don’t be a fool,” said Minni. “Save the drama for me.”
“I’m nobody’s agent.”
The boards above them creaked and groaned with heavy footfalls.
“Swear it,” said Delik.
“On my father’s name, Arbajkha.”
“By all the gods lad, if we get through this I’ll tell you more. For now, just hold your tongue. Pretend you don’t know anything.”
“That’s not going to be difficult,” said Elrin.
CHAPTER NINE
Interrogation
Elrin’s throat tightened as the monstrous footfalls stopped outside the door to the prison hold. The lock rattled and the door opened, revealing the ogre at the threshold. With an awkward contraction and twist, he squeezed through the doorframe, scraping fresh lash wounds against the timber. A low whimper escaped his lips. With such a mighty body, rippling with muscle, he had the power to tear a man apart; yet here, under the lash and clamped in irons, his spirit was broken.
Behind the ogre was the officer with the whip and following him were two guards who took positions by the door. Pelegrin came in last; his nose was a mess, crooked and swollen and a cruel grin pressed across his face. He gingerly stepped down into the chamber with his sword arm strapped to a splint, hanging lame by his side. His eyes were crazed, pupils full like a blaze addict hitting sky before the slump.
Minni had returned to the shadows, leaving Elrin without a clue of what they had planned or what he should do about it. Delik was calm; his chin held high, a defiant cockerel stuck in a coop. Elrin admired his confidence. Such a diminutive man, bound and restricted, yet still aloof from his captor.
Delik strutted to the locked cell door, pressing his face through the bars, tempting the Jandans closer. “Ha! You’re a sorry sight. Thought you’d be all patched up. Did you leave your bone-sucking priests at home? Oh, poor dear has no one to pray for your sorry soul.”
The officer with the whip cracked it forward, lashing the bars where Delik’s head had been. The whip was fast, but Delik knew it was coming. “Away from the door, maggot!” The whip cracked again.
The ogre flinched with each crack of the whip. He shuffled nervously and moaned as if he were struck.
“Get in your cage, beast.” The officer with the whip gave the ogre a shove. The ogre hurried toward the cage opposite the shadowed one, which Minni had occupied. He sniffed the air and turned about, searching the dim corners, groaning.
“In!” The officer cracked the whip across the creature’s raw back. The ogre opened the cell and moved in. The Jandan rolled up the whip and closed the door, locking it with a key hooked to his belt.
Delik moved to the cell door again, as close as he could to Pelegrin. “Are you fresh out of sinners to feed your hungry Lord? You can have me if you come and take me yourself.”
The officer turned quick on his heels and cast the whip between the cell bars, thrashing Delik across the chest. “Away from the door, grub.”
Delik sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. “Coward!”
Pelegrin fumed, having no adequate retort against Delik's belligerent goading.
“I imagine you came here to hurt me, Commodore, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how you’ll beat me well enough without a decent arm to swing. Or do you plan to keep glaring at me with that mess of a face, hoping I’ll swoon?”
“Shut it!” Pelegrin spat at Delik, keeping out of his reach. “I should have put you in shackles.”
“I was worried about that big boy you had stomping about, then you went and locked him up. He’d have given me a decent fight. So, how do you plan to question me? You won’t like it in here I suppose; these accommodations lack the comforts you might expect. Shall we pop up to your cabin for a spot of tea?”
“Silence!” Pelegrin gave his officer a nod.
The whip swung forward. Delik stepped to the side, the whip cracked and missed. The ogre keened a low moan from his cell.
“Why let your underlings have all the fun, come and get me yourself. Or are you too smacked out?”
Pelegrin would not be lured into another fight with Delik. He stewed from a safe distance with eyes for revenge and a body incapable of dealing the brutality he hungered for.
“You two, take the shiner.” Pelegrin motioned for the marines guarding the door.
“The lad’s got nothing to do with this, he’s just a stupid adventure-hungry boy,” said Delik.
“If he isn’t especially important, you won’t mind if I ask what he knows. Nothing like a keelhauling in the morning to freshen the Lord’s spirit. Brightens the day for sailing.” Pelegrin st
raightened with confidence; he was in control now.
Elrin wasn’t sure what a keelhauling was, but it didn’t sound all that pleasant.
“Fine, take him,” Delik shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know him. What do I care?”
“You don’t fool me, Scrambletoe,” Pelegrin smiled then waved his good hand at the guards. “Come on then, make it happen! Grab the lad. Just watch the grub doesn’t bite.”
Elrin backed into the corner of the cell while the Jandan with the whip unlocked the door. The two marines marched into the cell. Delik rushed the door, but the officer had it shut before he could escape.
The marines skirted Delik and advanced on Elrin.
Minni stalked out of the shadows behind Pelegrin and grabbed his good arm by the wrist, twisting it high behind his back. Her knee arced up and slammed into his kidneys, doubling the Jandan over.
She shoved forward, using Pelegrin’s body to wedge the officer with the whip against the cell door. Her dagger struck out and blood coursed from the wretched officer's neck, spurting onto Pelegrin's blue jacket. The whip dropped from the officer's dead hands and the ogre wailed, thumping his fist on the deck.
Delik backed up to the bars so Minni could cut his bonds.
The two marines inside the cage were panicked by the speed at which things were going against them. One grabbed Elrin while Delik took Minnie’s blade and advanced.
Minni had another dagger on Pelegrin and spoke to the two Jandans stuck in the cell with Elrin and Delik. “Hand over your steel, boys, or the Commodore’s dead. And if you don’t like him all that much, you can take your chances with us.”
Neither man surrendered their weapons.
Delik kept edging forward, closing the distance between him and the guards. “Elrin, walk to me.”
Elrin didn’t want a blade in his back from a desperate guard. Instead of following Delik’s instruction, he shoved all his weight to the right, knocking over one of the men. Delik charged forward and pierced the remaining guard in the gut, grabbing the man’s short sword as he slumped forward holding his abdomen. Elrin rolled away from the marine he knocked aside and Delik moved in, slashing at the marine's legs with dagger and short sword. The marine screamed in agony and crumpled back to the deck, grasping at his wounds to try and stem the flow of blood.
Delik cut Elrin’s bindings and together they stripped the guards of their weapons and locked them in the cell. Pelegrin withered on the floor in limp defeat while Minni tied his wrists. He watched the prison hold door; his last hope, but no reinforcements came to the rescue.
“Always keep your guards at the door,” Minni chided. “What were you thinking, Commodore?”
Elrin rubbed his wrists, encouraging the circulation. “Can either of you explain what is going on?” This mess was spiralling out of control.
“We are going to commandeer dear Pelegrin’s ship,” said Delik. “What do you think Minni? Better we have Juniper for ourselves than leave her to the fish. Can we have it so and still make the original plan work?”
“It only serves in our favour. As long as we get the codes, we can still free all the slaves,” Minni flashed Elrin a wicked grin. “Want to go sailing?”
Which hell had this woman come from? He hadn’t got Minni mixed up in his troubles; she was trouble enough on her own.
“What slaves?” Elrin flung his arms around in exasperation. “The hold is empty save the Jandans and the ogre.”
“They’re not on this ship, that’s why I was trying to blow a hole in it before you came along with your hero pants on,” Minni pouted. “Would have been a lot easier.”
Elrin shook his head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Delik grabbed his arm. “This is serious, boy. We are going to pilfer the pride of the Jandan armada and cripple their slave trade. If you’re in, we’ve got room. If you’re out, then the safest place is back in that cell.”
“How can we take over the ship alone?”
“We’re not alone, lad.” Delik clapped him on the back. “We’re never alone.”
“You’ll not free a single soul without my authority,” snarled Pelegrin.
“That’s why I treated you so nicely on the docks,” Delik grabbed Pelegrin’s injured elbow, making the commodore wince. “I figured if I was polite, you’d help us out. I know how much you deplore slavery, and I assumed you wouldn’t mind if I gave all of your crew a free pass too. You don’t mind do you?”
“You’ll never get a re–“ Pelegrin’s arm was twisted and he cried out in agony. “Argh! I’ll do it; I’ll sign a release. Damn vermin!”
“Right then, let’s begin.” Delik handed Minni’s dagger back. “Minni, give the order.”
Delik gagged Pelegrin and hauled him into the cell opposite the ogre.
Minni handed Elrin a short sword taken from one of the marines. “You got my back?”
“Of course.”
“Then get ready for the five hells to break loose.”
CHAPTER TEN
Mutiny
Minni eased open the door from the prison hold and snuck up the stairs to the gun deck. A pair of marines passed by on patrol, their backs to her position. The deck was busy with indentured crew cleaning cannons and stockpiling ammunition.
Pulling her mind inwards, she imagined herself as a cat, sure-footed and quiet. She was lithe; sharp death cloaked in silence. The meagre sweepings of daylight from the half-cocked gun ports left rich pickings for stealth. Crouching low, she slunk down into the shadowed belly of the frigate.
She pressed close against the starboard bulkhead, sneaking past industrious men working no more than strides away. They were hard at their chores, looking out for the marines on patrol and none would be concerned by the flick of a shadow in the corner of their eye.
Minni tucked in behind the first cannon she came to and the crewman tending it tripped over her in the darkness. With an awkward fumble and a push, she helped him back onto his feet.
“Gods!” The crewman rubbed the back of his neck, eye’s wide at the fright. “Where did you come from?“
“Never you mind. Are you ready?“
“Aye, we’re ready.“ He squinted down the line of cannon looking for the patrol. “Still no signal though, what's happened?“
“You’re our new signal. Get a powder boy and ready this cannon. Make some noise, I’ll keep the uniforms busy.“
“Aye, Miss.“
Minni moved further along in the shadows making room for the crewmen to prepare the weapon. She counted six marines guarding the gun deck, enforcing their authority in pairs, marching up and down. Their swords and uniform were enough to assure dominance over a crew that outnumbered them.
Sliding two stilettos from her vest, she crept up behind the closest patrol and pounced, driving a needlepoint into each guard’s neck. The poison coating the blades travelled to their brains and they went limp. Before they even hit the deck, Minni was close behind the next patrol. She focused her will on speed, pushing her legs to close the distance as fast as possible.
By the time the first two guards clattered to the deck and alerted their comrades, Minni attacked. They had no time to draw their weapons before she jabbed up with her poisoned stilettos, piercing each guard under the chin. If the poison didn’t kill them, the hole in the brain did.
Minni spent no time inspecting her kills. She moved to the last pair of guards. They had witnessed her attack and had their swords already drawn. One edged forward while his partner charged at Minni. She relaxed her body and waited for him to close in. The marine slashed his blade forward in a downward arc and Minni easily stepped to the side, letting the marine’s momentum carry him off balance, his sword arm over extended. Minni lunged, piercing through his vulnerable axilla, across into his chest. Her other stiletto struck down between his spine and scapula, piercing through to his heart. His death laden body dropped, pulling the stilettos from her grip.
With practiced ease she slipped her twin daggers from their
sheaths and advanced on the remaining marine. He slashed out and she jumped back, just out of range. He slashed again, moving closer to connect. Minni stepped into his swing, her left dagger parried the sword and her body penetrated his attack. Her right dagger moved in, slicing up his arm, across his throat and then ripping back across and down. Blood poured out across his blue uniform while he grasped at her. Minni slid her foot behind and dropped him on his back. He lay there bleeding out, eyes wide in shock.
A gun crew assembled to fire the cannon. The great cast iron weapon was run out, its barrel bursting through the gun port. Minni’s contact stood back, lit the linstock and put it to the touchhole.
“Mutiny!“ he cried.
The cannon exploded and kicked back against its thick tethers, shaking Juniper’s bones like a whip from the hells. A roar of voices rose up in unison; like a wave crashing upon the shore after a long journey across the sea, it broke with an irrepressible force.
The crewmen on all decks were ready; they would fight for their freedom, each knew what needed to be done. The uniformed sailors were taken by surprise with a barrage of fists and mop handles. The crew grabbed what they could to overcome their masters, the pent up aggression of being beaten down and ordered about, poured forth like a storm surge battering the shore.
Some of the crew were criminals and some were captured pirates, but others were innocent men, whose only crime was stupidity. Vagrants, drunks and addicts were often taken from the streets of Jando and pressed into labouring on the Jandan fleet. They were rounded up in the early hours of the morning to top up the crew after a skirmish at sea. Minni smiled at how easy it was to get her rebel sleeper agents on board to foment and organise.
The crewmen on the gun deck pushed through to the upper deck, knocking over and trampling the marines blocking the exit. Minni rushed back to meet Elrin and Delik as they came out of the prison hold.
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