The Search for Aveline

by Stephanie Rabig

  "Is that so?" Deborah began to smile.

  "I would just like to say," Harry announced as she and the others emerged from below-deck, a small chest in her arms. "That you've got a lovely hold, Captain..."

  "Fulsome," the man supplied, staring. It felt as if he hadn't blinked since the pirates had stepped aboard. How could he? If he did, no doubt he'd miss something unbelievable. The whole afternoon had become like something out of the strangest dream. There was Lady Cavendish, the most headstrong woman he had ever met, talking politely to a giant she had only moments before been hellbent on seeing shot dead. And now, she was smiling at the pirates she had so soundly denounced, and giving him a look of pure exasperation.

  "Captain Fulsome." Harry adjusted her hold on the chest to free up a hand and reached over to companionably slap his back. "Beautiful boat, this. Tidy. Well-organized. Very clean and nicely polished. You do a credit to yourselves and your country. Keep up the wonderful work. And don't worry: we left it all as nicely ordered as we found it. Just helped ourselves to some gunpowder and the spices, as I said. Oh—and that little bag of sapphires you had tucked in the back of your roll-top desk. You don't mind, do you?"

  "No, of course not," Captain Fulsome said weakly.

  "Good man." Another slap; this one sent his wig flying. "Then we'll just be on our way. C'mon, mates."

  "Uh, Cap?"

  "Yes, Katherine?"

  "Perhaps we should take Lady Cavendish as well?" Katherine suggested. "She's worth an earl's ransom, after all." The look she shot at Harry was a pointed one.

  The Captain decided to play dumb. "That so? Well, I don't know, Kath. Taking hostages is always risky—"

  "I'll fetch my trunks," Deborah said abruptly, turning and rushing for her cabin.

  "Lady Cavendish!" Captain Fulsome shouted, driven to act. "My lady, I must protest!"

  "Mr. Fulsome, I don't believe you have a leg to stand on," Deborah said haughtily from her doorway. "Think of this as the price you pay for not heeding my orders."

  "Oh, good God in Heaven," the captain said mournfully as The Sappho pulled away, a figure in blue satin waving back at them. "How on earth am I going to explain this to Lord Cavendish?"

  "The good news, sir," said a lieutenant helpfully, "is that we'll have three months to get our story straight."

  Returning the Favor

  A shape loomed out of the darkness. Franky looked up sharply, arms full of wood, then relaxed with a whistle, shoulder slumping. "Oh, Cap, you startled me."

  "Apologies, lad. Just wanted a word before we head out tomorrow on the supply run. I've had the Devil's own time getting you away from your lady."

  "Maddie's her own lady," Franky said, bending to pick up another fallen branch.

  "I've no issue with it," Harry said. "So long as you treat her right and don't get her in the family way, anyhow."

  "Hope's helping us with that," the boy said, utterly unruffled, as calm as if they were talking the price of silk. "What's on your mind, Cap?"

  "I wanted to let you know I've made a decision about your status on the crew. I know I said you'd get three months' probation, but I've made up my mind."

  Franky straightened and met her pale gaze. "And?"

  "You've a place on The Sappho as long as you want it, Franky. I've no lingering doubts about your abilities or loyalty. How could I, after you saved my life?"

  The boy smiled wanly and adjusted his hold on the firewood. "Thank you, Cap."

  "Don't thank me; I'm the one who owes you a life debt. I've been waiting for you to mention it to the others, to brag—it's well worth bragging about, and you earned the right to—but you haven't said a word. Besides Jo, I don't think anyone else even saw what you did..."

  *~*~*

  It had just begun to rain. The wind was picking up, promising a proper typhoon, but Maddie had sighted The Charon's distinctive black sails. Captain Drew was signaling for them and it would have gone against Harry's nature to ignore it. So, they had pulled up alongside the larger boat.

  "Talk fast, Wrath!" Harry had shouted across. "We'll both of us have to run hard if we want to outpace this storm!"

  "I have news, Harry," the pirate with the jewel-studded eyepatch said. "News of a certain mermaid tribe. The ones you've been lookin' for."

  Harry had hurried to the railing, Jo at her shoulder. They crowded Franky, who had been fastening a loose rope. "Where, Wrath?" Harry had demanded, face bright and sharp.

  "I've even talked with their leader. I told them your story. Asked them if they'd make a deal."

  "Was she there, Wrath? Did you see her?"

  "She's there," he'd shouted, and Harry sagged against the railing, overcome by some powerful emotion.

  "What are their terms?"

  "Rather good ones," the other pirate said. And then he'd pulled out a pistol.

  Franky moved out of pure instinct, reacting before his brain could even think. He'd grabbed Harry's arm and pulled her down just as the pistol fired with a blast of sparks and sulfuric smoke. The shot had roared overhead and Franky could've sworn he felt its passage past his shoulders.

  Jo screamed to Agnessa, Wrath Drew bellowed a command, and suddenly The Sappho bucked away like a frightened gelding as the boom of cannon-fire filled the torrential air. And they sailed straight into the storm.

  *~*~*

  "You don't owe me a thing, Cap," Franky said quietly. When he closed his eyes, he could still hear the crack of the gun. "You saved my life, so I returned the favor. Besides—I would've done the same for anyone."

  "Regardless," Harry said firmly. "I won't forget it."

  "Cap?"

  "Hmm?"

  "What was that bastard talking about? The mermaids, the woman you were looking for?"

  Harry paused, silhouetted by the flickering light of the campfire down the beach. "I'll tell you the whole story when we get back, Franky. You've earned the right to hear it."

  Strengthening Bonds

  "Do you ever do anything with your hair?" Kai asked, deep voice rumbling pleasantly in the broad chest her cheek rested upon.

  They were sprawled in the shallows, the water lapping up to their waists. Her shirt was plastered to her back and she was wearing her trousers, regardless of the briny soaking. "It's fine for you to lay naked in the sand," she'd told an amused Kai. "You've got scales to protect your sensitive bits. I'd rather not get rocks and grit in, well, you know."

  "I braid it sometimes," she said sleepily as he ran his fingers through the white strands. "Mmmh, that feels nice..."

  "My old matrons said grooming was a way to strengthen bonds," Kai said. "Some evenings, the pod would do nothing but comb and braid one another's hair."

  "So, when Maddie and the others were playing with yours that afternoon," Harry said, crossing her arms over his chest and resting her chin on them, "that was perfectly normal to you?"

  "Mm-hmm. Your hair is so soft and fine—may I?"

  "Alright," she agreed complacently, sitting up. He smiled and rummaged through his ever-present net bag, pulling out a highly-polished comb made of a strange fish bone and a corked bottle full of seaglass beads and pearls. "How on earth have you kept that hidden from Zora?" she asked, taking the bottle and tilting it up to the light.

  "Sit," Kai commanded, patting the sand next to him. "Look out at the waves."

  "Yessir." She saluted. "So, while all of this beauty work is going on, what are we supposed to talk about?"

  "Usually we sing, or teach the younglings the history chants. But my language is almost impossible for a human to learn," he said regretfully. "You simply do not have the right throat."

  Harry laid a hand on his tail. "I'm sorry—I keep bringing up painful subjects, don't I?"

  "You want only to learn my culture, as I want to learn yours. That does not cause me pain. Rather, it makes me happy that you are interested."

  "Of course I'm interested," Harry said. "I want to know everything about you, Kai."

  The movement of the
comb and his steady fingers through her hair was almost hypnotizing, the repetition extremely soothing. Her scalp tingled pleasantly as he started weaving strands together, slipping the occasional bead or pearl into the slim braids.

  "My pod," he began. "My matrons. They died. There was a conflict with another, more violent pod. I was the only one to escape. I was told to flee and hide, and I have always been good at doing what I am told. There was a moment—there was a strange matron, one of the attacking pod—who saw me, who came toward me, and I was sure that I would die. I did not have the will to fight back. I could hear the cries of the others, I could taste their blood in the water, and I knew they were all dying. I almost wanted to join them. But then the matron turned away. She let me go. I still do not know what made her show me mercy."

  Harry caught his hand and squeezed it, turning to face him. "I suspected, but... I'm so sorry, Kai. And ever since, you've been alone?"

  "Yes."

  How terribly lonely he must have been. Merfolk were, by nature, social beings. They required the support of a community. There was no such thing as a solitary mermaid, not that Harry had ever heard of. Bad enough he had lost his family to violence, but then he had to suffer that loss in silence for God only knew how many months or years...

  Small wonder he had been so happy to see them, so eager to join their odd little tribe.

  "It was difficult," he said, reading her expression and following the chain of her thoughts. "But it could have been worse."

  "How?"

  "They could have taken my voice, as well. If I had been pair-bonded, that loss would have been unbearable. Usually, my people bond for life."

  Harry blinked at him. "Usually?"

  "Yes."

  "And what about—I mean, I'm a human—does that mean..."

  "There are certain things we cannot do together, of course. Rituals that would be impossible. But I no longer live under the laws and dictates of my pod. I live under yours," he said, kissing her forehead. "And so I leave such things, such decisions, in your hands. So long as I am with you, Harry, I will be content."

  "This is a lot to take in," the captain said slowly.

  "You have plenty of time to think on it," he said complacently, "while I finish these braids."

  When he'd finished, she ran a curious hand through her hair, brushing over the small pearls and the complicated designs he'd woven with the blonde strands. Most of the hair fell straight down her back, but several braids had been gathered into a spiraling knot at her neck. "All this effort will be wasted the moment I step on deck and face a strong headwind," she said ruefully.

  "Then I will just fix it again."

  "Alright, you had your turn," she said, smiling. "Now it's mine."

  She plucked the comb from his unresisting hand and slid behind him, sparing a moment to slide her hands over his shoulders and press close to his warm back. "Course, I doubt I'll manage anything half so pretty."

  She was debating the merits of rope knots in connection with hair braiding when three cheerful voices approached. "Ah, there you are," Jo said. "Lounging with your fancy man while the rest of us have been hard at work."

  "Liar," Harry said pleasantly. "I distinctly remember telling everyone to take the afternoon off. Everyone includes you, madame."

  "I'm a fancy man?" Kai asked turning to look up at Franky and Maddie with a smile.

  "It's another term for a kept man," Maddie said meaningfully. "You know, a—"

  "He knows," Harry said, pinching his shoulder. "He knows a lot more than he pretends to, the cheeky blighter. And what, exactly, do you three want?"

  "Oh, we were just hoping to catch you inflagrante delicto," said Franky with a grin. "Katherine and Zora have a bet going."

  "Oh, do they?" Harry said, a hint of warning to her voice.

  "That may be their motivation," Jo said with a snort. "I was heading over to ask you about the future."

  "A serious topic for such a pleasant evening," remarked Kai.

  "Sit down, all of you, before I get a crick in my neck staring up at you," Harry said, shifting in the sand so her knees were more comfortably pressed against Kai's waist. "And speak your piece, Jo."

  "Construction's going well," the first mate said. "We'll be done with the lookout tower and storage hut in another day or two. Zora's begging for another, longer stop at Bogo, Wil's asking leave to stay here for a couple weeks in order to properly catalogue the lizard population, the others are itching for a long voyage and something definite to aim for—and we still haven't properly talked about what happened with Wrath."

  "You did promise me the full story, Cap," Franky said quietly.

  "Yes, I did," Harry said, setting aside the comb with a sigh. "I keep my word. It's time you heard the story, too, Kai," she said, leaning against him. "Maddie's already heard it, and Jo—well, of course. Years ago, when I was younger than Maddie, my sister Aveline was taken. Kidnapped by slavers. There were stories that they were working in tandem with a pod of mermaids who turned humans in order to keep them as slaves."

  "Unforgivable," Kai said with feeling. "To turn someone against their will, especially as the change does not always succeed. If it fails, it is pure murder."

  "Why did you suspect this happened to your sister?" Franky asked, solemn-faced.

  "Aveline isn't just physically beautiful—she has a wonderful singing voice, too. Father said it was like listening to an angel. We all know just how important beautiful voices are to merfolk."

  "Those with the purest voices are held in very high regard," Kai said. "Pods with accomplished singers are more respected. But to gain such standing through enslavement..."

  "It was a dark night when Aveline was kidnapped, and I didn't get more than a fleeting glance of the man or the craft that took her. I was injured in the process," Harry said flatly, extending her arm to display the dark scar marring her pale skin. "So, it was three days before I was recovered enough to do anything. Jo went out as my eyes and ears and asked around town, and at her father's pub. Finally, some sailors admitted they had seen a ship at anchor not far from the cliffs the day she disappeared. The Barracuda, captained by a Spaniard named Luis Angel. You could recognize the ship from a league away because its figurehead was a massive, toothy fish."

  Jo took up the thread. "It took us some time—more time than we liked—to follow the trail. But eventually, we won The Sappho off a mean old drunk—"

  "He was calling it Aphrodite's Virtue, which neither of us liked," Harry interjected. "So we promptly rechristened it."

  "So that story is true!" exclaimed Franky. "You really did win the ship in a card game!"

  "And then we took to sea. We found Katherine, Lizzie, Zora, Miss Euphemia, and Agnessa—"

  "Picked up a stray brat, and a few others," Harry said, smiling at Maddie.

  "And did everything we could to track down The Barracuda and Aveline," Jo said.

  "Have you found it yet?" Kai asked with concern, brow furrowed and dark eyes somber. Harry pressed her cheek to his.

  Jo shook her head. "We learned that Captain Luis was double-crossed by his first mate not long after he sailed from our coast and that most of the crew mutinied—those that didn't acknowledge the new captain were put to the sword and thrown overboard for the sharks. The ship was renamed—but to what, we didn't know. The trail went cold for years."

  "Then a few months ago, we heard stories of some especially bloodthirsty mermaids that were crossing the ocean and slaughtering everything they found: ships, sharks, even their own kind. One of the few survivors of one of their frenzies, a Portuguese sailor that Katherine dug up in a pub, said that there was a striking maid with them that looked nothing like the others: they all had black hair and gray bodies, but she was blonde and had a black tail. A black tail—meaning she had once been human." Harry sounded tired and looked resigned, but there was still a glint in her eyes. So long as there was some hope that her sister was alive, regardless of her current state, she wouldn't stop until she
had found her.

  "And what will you do," Kai asked slowly; there was a strange, indefinable expression on his face, "if you find her and she is that matron? There is no way to reverse the change."

  "Even if she's a mermaid, she's still my sister," Harry said firmly. "I won't abandon her."

  "Nor I," Jo said quietly.

  Franky glanced at her with his bright, observant eyes, realized the unspoken truth, and kept his revelation to himself.

  "And Wrath Drew knew all of this?" he said instead. "You told him your story?"

  "A single ship alone can't canvass the entire bloody ocean," Harry said, grinding her teeth together. "There are a few other captains I trusted enough to tell, and they promised to keep an ear and eye open for me. I thought Wrath a friend: I saved the bastard's life—twice!—and there used to be a time when that counted for something. When a debt like that would ensure loyalty."

  "See, I was surprised when I heard you were on friendly terms," Franky continued. "Because I've heard horror stories about The Charon for years—how it was a black ship that fired upon anyone, regardless of what colors they sailed under or if they flew a flag of neutrality."

  "He's a pirate," Harry pointed out needlessly. "Pirates don't always have great reputations. He'd never done anything against me and mine—up until recently, anyhow. And when you're a pirate, you have to take your allies where you can find them. Most naval ships tend to fire on sight."

  "So," Maddie said. "What are we gonna do about Wrath? If word gets out that we've been double-crossed and didn't do a thing about it, what's that gonna do to our reputation?"

  "To hell with our reputation," Harry said, fire in her eyes. "The bastard tried to kill me, tried to sink my ship, and knows something about my sister. I'm putting his head on a spike with my own two hands." Kai was looking at her with some alarm, and she only smiled. "Or maybe I'll just shoot him, or stab him, or throw him overboard into a swarm of sharks. I won't be choosy—just so long as the Devil takes his own back."

  "Well, to that end, we'll need a plan," Jo said firmly. "Something well-thought-out and accommodating of a number of likely obstacles."