by Adam Bennett
“At first he refused to go along with it.” He raised his hand then smiled as he closed his fingers as if grasping a piece of gold. “He was a good sailor; but sometimes a young man has secrets that he wants to keep, well, secret.”
“I thought you a thief, and now it appears that you’re actually a blackmailer.”
“My dear captain I am a master thief. Pocketing a jewel can put coin in your purse, but steal a man’s secrets...” Elron’s eye widened. ”That, is far more lucrative.”
“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but Johnny does not appear to be aboard.”
“Oh he’s still on the Revenge captain.” Elron winked at Effie. “Trust me, he’ll show up.”
Elron paused. “I saw what you did to the captain of the Griffin, that was ruthless.”
“If you want ruthless, wait until it’s your turn.” Effie took a rapid step forward.
“Uh, uh, captain.” Elron placed a hand on his flintlock pistol. “Perhaps I will send you to Davy Jones.”
Effie halted her advance, fury seething in her eyes.
“Neither the Royal Navy nor the island governors can match what I can get for you.” Elron continued. “The reward for the Parrsboro Witch is beyond gold and jewels.”
“Then get off of my ship and go find her.” Effie snapped.
“Oh, but I have captain. We both know that the Parrsboro Witch is you.” Elron pointed his pistol at Effie.
“Ha! Me?” Effie stood up straight. “What makes you think I am this Parrsboro Witch?” She pointed to herself. “Witches are nothing but bad luck to me.”
“Oh please, captain. Just admit it. You are the Parrsboro Witch.” Elron grasped his medallion between his thumb and forefinger. “I can feel your power.”
“I am no such thing,” Effie spat the words out. “I am the captain of this ship.” Her fists clenched in anger. “The power that I hold is the power over your life or death!”
Elron paused. His eyes roving back and forth as he thought. “It is not possible.” He grasped the medallion. “I can feel your power. You are a witch.”
“I am no such thing.” Effie spun her back to him. She stood there staring into nothing as the memory of that fateful day tumbled through her mind. How much does he know about my past? Does he know about the coven?
Effie faced Elron again. “You say that I am a witch. How can you tell that I am the one that you seek?”
Elron fell silent as he contemplated whether Effie was attempting to get him to drop his guard. “Ten years ago, off of Parrsboro Head, there was a disturbance in the magical field. A new power was added to the world. I can sense that power in you.”
“I thought that you were a thief and not a...” Effie waved a dismissive hand in the air toward Elron.
“A wizard?” Elron finished for her. “My mother is a powerful witch. From her, I have rudimentary powers. My medallion helps me focus them.”
“So that’s how you got into my cabin. You used witchcraft.”
“I can distract people’s minds, make them look the other way when I pass.”
Effie thought of the flutter that drew her attention just before she felt the knife on her throat. “Pirates have no need for witchcraft. We take what we want; anguish follows in our wake.”
“Do not deny it. You are a witch.” Elron held the face of the medallion out toward Effie.
“That is nothing but a trinket.” She waved a hand toward a sea chest. “I have dozens of baubles just like it.” Effie fought not to look at the medallion, but she could feel it pulling gently on her mind.
“You say that there is a price on my head, beyond what the Royal Navy is offering. Who is seeking me and why?”
Elron eyes sparked. “So you are the Parrsboro Witch.”
Effie casually walked away, “I am not saying that,” she said over her shoulder. “But I find it prudent that I know who seeks me and why.” Effie crossed back to Elron. She could feel the tug of the medallion as she approached.
Elron stepped backward, pointing the flintlock at Effie. “Word has gone out from Demetrius Octavius Steele, High Wizard of the Shadow Alliance. He wants you alive.” Elron paused, “Or your head… cleaved from your body in no more than a month.” He gave an indifferent shrug. “Now, you are coming with me.”
“And what do you get out of this? Money? Fame? Power?”
“Immortality.” Elron eyes lit up. “I will be immortal; with that comes all of the rest.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I have no plans to leave with you.” The tug of the medallion was insistent now.
Elron extended his arm as he cocked the flintlock, pointing it at Effie’s heart. “I must insist. Move, or I will shoot you dead. I can travel far faster with just your head. From what I have heard it is best to meet Demetrius when you’re dead. I will be doing you a favour.”
“Shoot me and you will never get off this ship alive.”
Elron held out the medallion. “You forgot that I can get past any of your men. They won’t even know that I was ever here. All that they will find is your headless body.”
The medallion screamed in Effie’s head, she collapsed onto her knees, one hand out toward Elron.
“That’s right captain, get down on your knees and beg for my mercy.” Elron stepped closer, preparing for the coup de grâce. “Now, witch, prepare to—”
“Scoenis Ratucto!” The words came unbidden to Effie’s mind. Before Elron could fire, the medallion shot toward Effie’s outstretched hand. Elron could feel the chain biting into his neck as the medallion stopped midway between him and Effie. Elron’s trigger finger convulsed, firing the flintlock.
In dreadful slow-motion, Effie saw the pistol belch forth the deadly lead ball from the barrel. She closed her eyes hoping for a miss, but expecting to meet her fate.
“Reflectegra!”
She opened her eyes as she felt the shot narrowly passing by her ear. The medallion was still pulling toward her as Elron was attempting to back up. Effie looked at her hand as she slowly rotated it. The medallion followed suit. She moved her hand to the left, the medallion obeyed.
With a smile, Effie locked onto Elron’s eyes. She clenched her fist, then drew her arm to her chest. The medallion pulled him toward her. She saw panic erupting from his face; the smell of fear clogged her nostrils.
“Well, apparently you are right," Effie said in a low voice. "I might just be your Parrsboro Witch.”
She flung her hand up and outward. The medallion dragged Elron backward and onto the tips of his toes, throttling him.
Effie stood up. She watched Elron scrabble frantically at the chain around his neck. His struggles became more frantic as his breath was slowly choked off. She removed the dagger from his waist sash, and admired its edge and quality of steel, then drew it slowly across his neck, drawing out a line of blood. Elron flinched at the pain.
“I said that I was going to get the last blood,” Effie said with a sardonic smile.
“You… you got it.” Elron choked. “Please! Let me down.”
Effie held the point of the dagger under his chin. “As you wish.” She closed her fist and let him drop, straight onto the dagger’s point. For a moment she held him upright with the blade, watching the life leave his eyes. Then she let his lifeless body fall to the deck.
After a moment she took the medallion from his body and placed it around her own neck, settling it on her chest. It felt warm but was rapidly cooling. From within her mind, Effie could feel a loss that she could not identify, but she could also sense that she gained something far more powerful.
A subtle creak behind her alerted Effie that someone else was in the cabin. She closed her eyes then touched the medallion. Tobias echoed softly in her mind. She turned to see her first mate standing by the door. The expression on his face was neutral, but his eyes dragged down to her chest and onto the medallion.
“What did you see, Tobias?”
Tobias' eyes snapped up to Effie’s face. “Yo
u dispatched a scallywag who tried to murder you, Cap’n.”
“What else did you see?”
The first mate paused, nodding his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary that I can tell.” He looked around the cabin taking in Effie’s shirt soaked with blood, then down to Elron’s body where a bloody pool was slowly forming. “It was a fair fight, Cap’n.”
Effie looked down at the deck. “Have this mess cleaned up.”
She unbuttoned her shirt, stripped it off, then used it to wipe blood from her torso. Effie stopped, she covered her partial nakedness with the shirt. Tobias’ eyes were trying to be anywhere but looking at Effie.
She turned her back to him while she put on a clean shirt. “Set our heading for Ville de Saint Jean. We will make repairs there.”
“Aye, Cap’n. The crew can use the shore time.”
***
Effie collapsed on her bunk once more. Her brain barely registered the commotion made by the two crew members who removed Elron’s body.
When Effie opened her eyes again her cabin was dark. She sat bolt upright causing her head to spin. Effie massaged her temples as she fought with the flood of memories from the recent events. Could I really be a witch? The logic in her mind told her that it was just part of a sleep-deprived dream.
The lantern on her desk was set to a low burn; a plate of bread and cheese was set out beside it. She looked to the spot where she recalled dropping Elron’s body; it was clean. There was no trace that anything happened. Effie smiled; it was just a dream. She sighed with relief, putting her hand on her chest.
Unconsciously her fingers curled around the medallion. Effie could feel the warmth of the metal as its power reached out to her.
“Shit!”
Effie moved to the desk then grabbed a chunk of bread as she sat down. She examined the medallion as she bit off some bread. For the first time, Effie looked closely at her newly acquired prize. Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the complicated design of a heptagon, surrounding a heptagram, which encompassed a pentagram. Interspersed throughout were runic letters connecting all of the elements. Effie had seen this design before. She tilted her head as she searched her memory. An electric jolt of realization coursed through Effie…the design was on the spell book that Jennifer used to cast her into the past. Effie swallowed hard, almost choking as the wad of coarse bread scratched its way down her throat. She quickly helped it down with a long drink of wine straight from the bottle.
“Dammit, Elron! What have you done?” Effie idly picked at the bread, tearing it apart. She knew that something had changed within her, but she could not identify it exactly. “How did I know those words?” she mumbled.
Effie pushed back her chair, grabbed her hat and headed for the door. As expected a crewman was posted outside. He quickly stood as she exited the cabin.
“What’s the time?” she asked.
“It’s six bells,” he stammered.
“Where’s Mister Tobias?”
“He’s on deck, Cap’n.”
Effie crossed a short passageway, then through another set of doors that lead to the main deck. The cool night air was like a slap in the face, helping to clear her mind. Effie looked up and scanned the dark cloudless sky. There was hardly any wind and the ship was barely moving.
No lights were burning on the deck of the Fearful Revenge allowing the ship’s navigator and the few crew on watch to preserve their night vision. A lit emergency dark lantern hung by the main mast, its light safely obscured by heavy shutters. As Effie’s eyes adjusted to the darkness she could see Jean-Claude, her master navigator, standing by the ship’s wheel on the quarterdeck. The unmistakable looming mass behind him was Tobias. Effie climbed the stairs to the quarterdeck.
“Gentlemen,” Effie said as she approached. “Report.”
Tobias stepped forward. “We are making for Ville de Saint Jean, but if this wind doesn’t pick up we may want to consider a different port.”
Effie looked up at the mainsail as the fickle breeze caused it to luff. “What do you think Jean-Claude?”
“There is something wrong with the night, Cap’n,” Jean-Claude replied as he scanned the horizon. “There is wind out there, and it’s coming,” he paused, “But, Cap’n, it doesn’t feel right.”
Out of habit, the trio spoke in hushed tones so that their voices would not carry over the water. More than one ship had been set upon by surprise at night, its position given up by a careless crew talking too loud.
Effie knew her master navigator too well not to trust his instincts. “Maintain our course, but keep a wary eye out. We’ll see what the morning watch brings.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.” Jean-Claude nodded his head.
Tobias leaned close to Effie, “Cap’n, if I may have a word?” he whispered.
They strode over to the railing. Tobias looked out over the water. A deep red moon was rising, casting its reflection on the almost still water. “They call that a Witch’s Moon.” He spat into the water. “By itself, it is an ill omen.” Tobias pointed toward the reflection. “That makes it a double Witch’s Moon.” He took a deep breath, shaking his head. “Jean-Claude is right, Cap’n, something is coming.”
“And?” Effie prompted.
Tobias paused as the muffled ship’s bell rang ding-ding, ding-ding, ding-ding, ding.
“Cap’n, we’ve been crewmates for nigh on to eight years. When you were first dragged aboard in chains as the captain’s wench, I considered you then nothing more than a bed-warmer.”
“Trust me, that bunk was not very warm when he…” Effie grasped the hilt of the ever-present dagger that was tucked into her waist sash. The anger and humiliation of that time rose in her mind. “I was not some dockside jezzie looking to be boarded.”
Tobias continued, “I could tell by the way that Captain Barrett ill-treated the crew that you weren’t obliging to be laying with him.”
“It probably didn’t help the crew that I crushed his knackers as soon as he untied my hands.” Effie starred out across the water. “Is there a point to this?”
“Aye, there is. I trust you, Cap’n Roberts. I stood beside you when you lead the mutiny. You’ve done right by the ship and the crew. But I need to know what you are? Are you a captain? Or are you a —” Tobias nodded his head toward the moon.
Effie shook her head. “I don’t know what I am. I want to say that foremost I am Captain Effie Roberts of the pirate ship Fearful Revenge.” She turned to Tobias. Holding the medallion in her palm she studied it, moving it about to catch the moonlight. “This…this is all new to me.” She sighed. “Has there ever been a pirate captain witch?” Effie furrowed her brow. “Or a witch pirate captain?” She let the medallion drop to her chest. “What would I be?”
“You would be a force to be reckoned with.” Tobias moved in closer, lowering his voice. “But don’t be talking about witches. The crew is behind you, but the superstition of the sea can be stronger than loyalty.”
The pair stood at the rail, deep in their own thoughts. The reflection of the moon on the water seemingly extending its reach toward the ship.
“Cap’n,” Tobias whispered. “Your bauble is...”
Effie looked down at the medallion, the outer heptagon glowed a copper orange, the inner heptagram had the beginning tinge of colour.
“You best go below and douse that,” Tobias said with concern in his voice.
Effie placed the medallion inside of her shirt. When it touched her skin she could feel a warmth radiating from the metal. The glow from the medallion increased.
“Now, Cap’n!” Tobias urged.
Effie removed her hat and placed it over her chest to conceal the light. With deliberate strides, she crossed to the aft of the quarterdeck where a concealed panel revealed a bolthole that lead directly to her cabin. With practiced skill, Effie arrived through the upper deck and quietly touched down on top of her desk.
The medallion was now glowing stronger with the innermost pentagram luminous. She fear
ed that the emanating heat would burn her skin. She pulled the medallion back out from under her shirt and placed her other hand on her chest. The skin was warm but unharmed.
Something tugged on her mind.
“Witch.”
It was barely a whisper. Effie spun around looking for another intruder. She was relieved to find herself alone.
“Witch.”
Effie could feel the presence of someone else. She leapt from the desk to beside her bunk where her weapons were hung. Armed with a pistol and a short sword, she took a fighting stance and slowly circled the cabin.
“Witch.”
“Reveal yourself,” Effie demanded as she made her way back to her bunk where she quickly slipped another pistol into her sash and a brace of daggers over her shoulder.
“Witch. Acknowledge your true nature.”
The light from the medallion cast back the shadows in the cabin. Effie spun a slow circle. There was no one else in the cabin. Pressure was building inside of her head. She took a deep breath to centre herself, she mentally reached out to the medallion.
“Witch.” A man’s voice spoke in her head. “I see you now.”
Effie closed her eyes. “How is this possible?”
“The amulet you currently possess, it is the Harbinger of Ferro. It is a plaything that allows us to communicate.”
“Harbinger does not sound like the name of a plaything. Your would be assassin said that it helped him evade notice. Is that also another child’s game?” Effie could feel a presence gently probing at the edges of her mind.
“The amulet is of no importance. I am High Wizard Demetrius Octavius Steele of the Shadow Alliance. But you will call me Master.”
Effie paused and concentrated on the name Harbinger of Ferro. She could feel the warmth of the metal increase. She opened her eyes, some of the runic letters on the amulet were now glowing.
She studied the letters in an attempt to make sense of the pattern. Restorim Horrifa flared in her mind. A flash of light flooded her brain, physically pushing Effie backward. She closed her eyes against the pain. When it subsided, Effie kept her eyes closed, focusing her inner thoughts on the amulet. She could feel its power. More importantly, she sensed its knowledge. Like a vast library.
