by C. Greenwood
As I passed a storage alcove on the way out, I was startled to catch a fleeting glimpse of a familiar pair of eyes behind wire-rimmed spectacles. The white-haired mapmaker was kneeling, concealed behind a barrel. His arms were filled with rolls of parchment and many stoppered green bottles containing the precious ingredients of his trade. As our gazes met, I saw his eyes were bright with unshed tears. The maps were his children, he had said. And now much of his life’s work lay in tatters.
The little man moved as if to come out of his hiding place but I gave a slight shake of my head to discourage him. There was nothing the skinny, harmless mapmaker could do to help us. Best if he stayed where he was and escaped notice.
In another instant the mapmaker was lost from my view as my captors marched me out the door and into the night. Overhead, a crescent moon shrouded in dark clouds glowed down on us.
CHAPTER FIVE
The pirates hadn’t arrived at this location by boat like Basil and me but had apparently traveled overland. Our party waded through the marshland now, following a barely existent trail that must have been the same one that had brought them this way.
As we trudged through the mud and the moss-draped trees, our captors debated among themselves about the most direct route to get back to the beach. I overheard enough of their conversation to realize they had found us at the mapmaker’s home by obtaining information from the same villagers we had met earlier. The locals had recognized their description and told them which direction we took. What remained unclear was how they had tracked us to these shores in the first place and what they wanted.
It was dark in the deep shadows beneath the trees, and even when we eventually broke free of the most overgrown areas, clouds obscured the moon and stars. Someone produced a torch and lit it. All of us followed the single blaze flickering at the head of our line.
We walked single file for a long time. Basil was immediately ahead of me, and I could see our enemies still hadn’t bound his hands. Mine were free as well—not that it mattered. With my spear left behind and the magic-blocking shackle on my wrist, I was hardly a threat. All the same, I was grateful for the opportunity to slip my small pouch surreptitiously off my belt when no one was looking and tuck it into an inner pocket of my vest. With any luck it wouldn’t be discovered by our enemies.
It took much longer to travel overland than it had to cover the distance by boat. In places, the marshland was almost impassable. But at length I began to recognize the ground we had traversed before with our reluctant guide from the village.
Not much later, we crossed close by the same settlement where we had acquired our guide and rowboat. The little huts stood dark and silent now. If anyone was aware of our company’s passing, they wisely ignored it and stayed indoors. I couldn’t blame them for having informed our enemies of our whereabouts. From what I had seen, there were no weapons or warriors in this village. The locals would have been no match for the rough pirates had they provoked them by refusing to cooperate.
We left the village and its clearing behind us and pressed on through the trees. At one point, I grew hopeful that we might encounter Skybreaker where we had left him earlier in the day. Perhaps the dragon would come to our rescue. But then I realized our captors were taking the long way around the area where the dragon was waiting. Perhaps they had glimpsed him before on their journey inland. Having managed to avoid the fierce beast once, they would not be eager to stumble into him now, in the dark. The discovery that they were aware of Skybreaker and preferred to steer clear of him only added to the mystery. How did they know we had a dragon, and how had they followed us from the port? More importantly, what did they want?
One thing was certain, I had a good suspicion our capture had something to do with my magic. I couldn’t forget how interested the pirate captain had been in my glowing hand when he had first spotted me back in Port Unity.
By the time the trees began to thin and I heard the first crashing sounds of waves on a distant beach, it seemed like we had been walking half the night. We came out on a rocky shore leading down to where the ocean met the sand. In the darkness, I could vaguely make out the shape of a large ship anchored a little distance out. This was the first time I had seen the pirate’s ship, but I remembered its name: the Sea-Vulture.
A dinghy waited at the edge of the beach. Our captors pushed this out into the surf and clambered on board. Basil and I were forced to join them. As the pirates took up the oars and began rowing us toward the waiting ship, I cast one final look over my shoulder at the skull-shaped cove we left behind. Skybreaker was back there somewhere, hidden among the trees a few miles inland. He would have no idea what had become of Basil and me. When we didn’t return for him in the morning, would he think we had abandoned him?
I was surprised by the pang I felt at the thought. Certainly we were in more danger than the mad dragon. And Skybreaker was powerful enough to take care of himself. Yet the beast was used to being cared for by people. Even during the years he was kept in chains, he was looked after and brought food daily. And after the sinking of the island, he’d still had me as a companion. This would be the first time in decades, maybe the first time in his life, that he would be completely separated from the dragonkind. Alone in the world, he would be free. But would he know what to do with his home island sunk, his fellow dragons extinct, and the dragonkind gone?
I tried to shove the concern aside. Skybreaker would have to make it without me now. I had troubles of my own to consider.
The Sea-Vulture loomed over us, a mountain of sturdy timbers riding atop the waves, as our dinghy drew up alongside her. I didn’t have much experience with ships except for the occasional ones that used to carry off-island traders to Corthium. But I could see this vessel was bigger than most, built for carrying large amounts of cargo long distances and withstanding the rough weather of the open seas. With a sinking feeling, I imagined it would take a sizable crew to man such a craft. That meant more pirates on board and lower chances of escape for Basil and me.
A rope ladder was tossed down from the deck above. The pirate captain was the first to ascend, and Basil and I were forced to follow after him, with the rest of our enemies bringing up the rear. I had never climbed a ladder onto a ship that was rolling atop the waves, and it took me some time to make my way up. Our captors below tried to hurry me with taunts and slaps. When I neared the top, unfamiliar faces appeared above me and filthy hands reached down to drag me up.
I was hauled onto the deck, where I found Basil being searched for weapons and valuables while his hands were being bound behind him. One foul-smelling pirate twisted my arms behind my back so I could be similarly bound. The coarse rope was drawn so tight it cut into my wrists. I held my breath as rough hands were passed over my body, but the small pouch I had concealed within my vest remained undiscovered.
There was little opportunity to take in my surroundings. I had only a brief impression of the moonlit deck, the tall masts, and the canvas sails snapping overhead in the wind. Then Basil and I were dragged down into the ship’s cargo hold, a dark, damp world of creaking timbers and foul smells. The pirate captain seemed to have disappeared from the bunch. But someone else illuminated the way with a lantern, as our rowdy escorts led us to an enclosure with bars that looked more like a place to keep animals than humans. They shoved us inside and slammed the door closed. I heard a metallic click as one pirate turned a key in the lock.
“Wait,” I called as the men prepared to abandon us alone to the deep shadows. “How long is this imprisonment to last? Was it is you want from us?”
But I spoke to their backs for they were already leaving. Only one man, a balding fellow with a gaping socket where his right eye was missing, looked back. “What the captain wants with ye, be anybody’s guess. But it’s no secret we got a bone to pick with Seastrider.”
When he said “Seastrider,” he was looking at my cousin, not me. “What’d we tell ye, boy? Ye don’t break a bargain with the captain and crew of the Sea-
Vulture and live to tell about it. But don’t worry. Ye won’t have to stay in the brig for long. We’ll come up with a much better place for ye.”
And he walked away chuckling, as if already imagining some entertaining fate for Basil.
“What was he talking about?” I asked Basil when we were alone. “What deal did you break with these people?”
Basil hardly waited until our enemies were gone before he began pacing around the small space, kicking at the moldy straw scattered on the floor. I didn’t know whether he was looking for something or just too anxious to sit down.
“This is no time to worry about the past,” he answered vaguely. “If either of us is going to survive, we’ve got to find a way out of here.”
I frowned. “Have you got one in mind?”
He didn’t answer, instead pausing in a corner to scrape his boot against a lump under the straw. There was a rough grating sound as the item slid across the floor.
“What is it?” I asked.
I couldn’t imagine our enemies would leave any sort of weapons in here. From what I could make out in the gloom, the circular metal object looked like a shallow feeding pan for some kind of animal.
“The edge is jagged,” Basil muttered, dropping to his knees and turning around to nudge his hands, still tied behind him, against the pan. I realized he was hoping to saw the binding rope across the sharp metal edge to cut through the cord. It wasn’t a bad idea. Certainly I had nothing better to suggest. I found a place to sit on the floor and watch.
There were a few minutes of silence except for the soft noises of Basil’s efforts to free himself. Unfortunately, he wasn’t getting anywhere soon.
I saw no reason he couldn’t talk while he worked.
“You never explained to me why these people were after you back at Port Unity,” I said, returning to the subject he seemed so eager to avoid. “At the time, I thought they were just angry sailors. You didn’t tell me they were pirates.”
“After they set my house on fire, the difference hardly seemed to matter.” He grunted, continuing to scrape the rope over the jagged metal.
I wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily. “Just what did you do to make the whole shipload of them hate you? Considering we might both be paying for it soon, I think I have a right to know. Didn’t you say before the grudge was over a game of chance?”
He sighed at my persistence. “I lost a lot of coin to the captain and a few of his crew. Afterward, they were none too happy to find out my money was more of what you might call the imaginary variety.”
“You mean you bet what you didn’t have.”
“Exactly. It was decided that in lieu of coin, I would provide something else they needed: able-bodied crewmen. They had lost some of their men—I didn’t ask how—and were short a few bodies. It requires a lot of sailors to man a ship of this size. They hoped to hire them in port but weren’t finding willing volunteers. So they decided to grow their numbers by less agreeable means. I was to deliver them three big healthy fellows, luring them into a lonely area where they could be snatched up, hustled aboard the Sea-Vulture, and pressed into service. It’s not an unheard-of method of gaining extra sailors. Once the unfortunate prisoners are out at sea, what can they do? Nothing.”
As his story unfolded, my annoyance with this cousin of mine turned to disgust. I had known he wasn’t particularly reliable but hadn’t realized exactly what sort of person I was involving myself with.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” I asked. “I would never have risked my life to protect you in Port Unity if I’d known you would stoop so low as to sell people to pirates.”
Basil snorted. “I don’t remember your being so particular about my character when you decided you needed me for your little quest. Anyway, I only agreed because if I didn’t they were going to force me into working aboard ship. I live by my wits—anybody can see I’m not made for hard labor.”
Before I could say exactly what I thought of his “wits,” he continued. “I wasn’t actually going to follow through on my end of the deal. I made the agreement to save myself, but I had no intention of keeping it. I’m not a monster.”
I was only slightly appeased. “And it didn’t occur to you that bad things might come of cheating pirates?”
“It was a mistake,” he admitted. “But I really don’t think they came all this way for me. It’s my impression you’re the one they’ve been following and I’m just a lucky bonus. Why is that? What have you done to capture their attention enough that they’d follow us all the way from the port town?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” I confessed. Now it was my turn to be uncomfortable. “I think it has something to do with my magic. I met a pirate in a tavern back in Port Unity. He introduced himself as the captain of the Sea-Vulture.”
“Captain Ulysses,” Basil filled in. “He was with them when they took us tonight.”
“Yes, Ulysses.” I remembered. “He tried to persuade me to board his ship on a thin excuse, but I sensed there was something wrong all the while we spoke, that his interest in “hiring” me wasn’t what it seemed. He couldn’t take his eyes off my glowing hand, as if he recognized it or had some prior experience with magic like mine.”
“And you think he’s come all this way because he wants to take your magic?”
“Maybe not to take it,” I said. “But I suspect he wants to use it in some way. What it could possibly accomplish that would be of interest to a lot of pirates, I don’t know. All I’ve managed to do with my magic is create a force shield that repels incoming weapons. And I can’t even do that now.”
I shook the magic hand still bound behind my back, making the heavy shackle on that wrist clink. The glow of the magic was like a bright flame that kept us from being in total darkness.
“They clapped this metal band on my wrist,” I told Basil. “I don’t know what this “nathamite” is, but it seems to have a strange power to block my magic. I haven’t been able to cast a shield since they put this thing on me.”
“Well, that makes us equally hopeless,” said Basil. “Because my plan isn’t working either. I don’t think this jagged edge is sharp enough.”
He gave up sawing the rope back and forth and slumped wearily against the wall.
Before we could come up with another idea for freeing ourselves, a sudden noise cut into the stillness. There was the thud of a distant door being opened, followed by the sound of footsteps.
“They’re coming back,” I whispered.
CHAPTER SIX
The one-eyed pirate had returned, and with him was another equally ugly man who wore his hair in two dark braids. The one-eyed man carried a lantern, which cast an eerie light across his scarred face.
Basil and I both climbed clumsily to our feet at their approach.
The man with the braids unlocked the door, using a key that dangled from a large ring. When he threw the door open, its hinges gave a ghostly squealing sound. Basil made sure he was first in line as the door swung inward. For an instant I thought it was an uncharacteristic show of courage, an attempt to put himself between the enemy and me.
Then he said to our captors, “Now listen, fellows. Maybe we can come to some kind of arrangement. I know you’re reasonable people and you can see I’ll have a better chance to pay you back if I’m free, rather than rotting in a cell. Why not keep the girl and let me go?”
So much for self-sacrifice.
The pirates ignored him, shoving past to get to me. “It’s this ’un the captain wants,” the one with the empty eye socket told his companion. “Bring her along. Just be sure she’s still wearing the bracelet. Seems she has some manner of witchy powers without it.”
The pirate with the dark braids checked the metal “bracelet” on my wrist and seemed satisfied that it still held fast. How could it not? I hadn’t the strength to bend or break metal, and I didn’t even know where the key was.
The pair grabbed me by either arm and dragged me out of the cell,
slamming the door behind them.
“Wait! What about me?” Basil complained as we left him behind.
“Don’t worry, Seastrider. Yer turn will come soon enough,” said the one-eyed man with the lantern. “If I was ye, I wouldn’t be in any great hurry to leave yer little cell.”
Basil fell silent, as if suitably frightened by the remark.
But as I caught a last glimpse of his face before I was pushed away down the corridor, I was surprised to see him offer a reassuring nod, as if to lend me courage. It seemed a strange gesture from a man who was undoubtedly one of the biggest cowards I had ever known. Maybe I had misread the look. What did either of us have to feel brave about? There was no possibility of escape from this place. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but I couldn’t imagine it would be anything good. Maybe Basil just wanted the last familiar face I ever saw to be a comforting one. If that was his intention, I was grateful for it, because my own fears were getting the better of me.
My heart beat hard against my ribs as my captors pushed me along through the creaking belly of the ship. The lantern swinging in the hand of the one-eyed man made shadows jump wildly along the walls. I was more aware than ever of the smell of damp and mold and the unfamiliar rolling sensation of being aboard ship.
We climbed the same rotting stairs we had descended a short while ago. Overhead, a hatch was opened, and natural light appeared. It was only the faint silvery illumination of stars looking down on us from the night sky. But it was a relief to see those stars again. Back in my cell, I had begun envisioning a future in which I never saw the light of day—or night—again. I might be headed to some terrible doom, but at least I was out in the open again.
Climbing up onto the deck, I felt the caress of the night breeze on my skin. The salty scent of the sea reminded me of home, but everything else about my surroundings was foreign. White sails flapped on the masts above, and the deck was unsteady beneath my feet. From what I could see over the sides, it looked like the craft was slicing through the water. The pirates must have taken up anchor. Why? Where were they taking us?