Even more disturbing was the enemy’s means of propulsion. Four ropes almost as thick as my body led into the sea in front of the ship, very near to us. While I hunted for somebody who could order the gunners to hold their fire I scooted over to the starboard rail to see what Sancho had been going on about. Taking care not to get knocked overboard again, for now there would be no miraculous rescue, I stared down into the churning water. Sure enough, they’d somehow managed to harness an enormous whale and make him pull them along like the world’s weirdest cart horse. Not just any old whale, either. This thing’s hide, full of old harpoons and gashed with the scars of many a battle, glowed whiter than all the snows of winter. It looked to be least seventy or eighty feet long. I couldn’t believe something so big could be alive and moving. His jaw, crooked and full of fearsome cone-shaped teeth, seemed tiny beneath the massive long square head. From my studies of nature at school I recognized it as a sperm whale, one of the most prized types that hunters used to seek in the heyday of the great oil fleets. How on earth had this crew managed to lasso one of these immense creatures and make it do their bidding? Surely they had serious magick at their command. But wouldn’t the sea disrupt whatever power had made that happen?
“Wow!” Jasper marveled in my head. “Wonder what kind of bait they used?”
Just as I started to turn away I looked into the whale’s eye. Big as the top of a barrel, it didn’t glare at me in anger and hate at what was being done to it. No, the Stone-sense that let me understand animals told me that this fearsome monster of the deep, terror of man and beast, servant of the soulless men who manned the Croatan, felt something quite different from what I’d have expected in this situation.
It was scared. And sad.
Almost as if I could read its mind, I understood the whale’s miserable existence. All its long life men had hunted it, drawn to its size and odd color, a magnificent trophy. No matter where it went, no matter how distant the waters, somebody followed it to hurl fearsome iron spikes into its flesh. For decades it had fought and killed, wishing only to be left alone. And now something worse than death had come for it. Slavery.
“I don’t know if you can hear me,” I thought to it, “but I’ll help you. You’ll swim free again today. I promise.”
The great whale…winked at me. I swear.
Romulus stood beside me and looked down. He jumped back at the sight. “Lordy!”
“You said it.” I spun around to resume searching for help. “Quick! Run up front and see if you can find anybody who can get Pitcairn to hold his fire. Roberta, DeLatte, anybody. I’m goin’ to the stern.”
The Marshal dashed off toward the bow. All the bodies that had kept getting in my way parted for him like he was King of Persia. Must be nice to be that big. On my first step rearward I almost squashed Ernie. My fat mousy friend scurried out of the way and gave me an indignant look.
“Mind your great feet, missy!” he said, hands on hips.
“Sorry.” I kneeled and held out a hand. He hopped onto it and I tossed him onto my left shoulder. Running as fast as the obstacles and the ship’s motion let me, I kept a keen eye out for help.
“What’s the big hurry?” Ernie wanted to know. “You’re actin’ like there’s a cheese festival someplace.”
I told him about my dream and the Croatan. He agreed that I was probably right about Ma being on the other ship. “Last I saw him, Pitcairn stood at the stern talkin’ to Roberta and the helmsman. They’re about to ruin the Croatan’s day.”
“We can’t let ‘em do that! Not till we find Ma.” Spurred on by the news that time was short, I began shoving adults out of my way. In no time we’d made it, a bit mussed and bruised, to where Pitcairn and his lady stood pointing at our pursuer, Gracchus sitting nearby waiting for orders.
“They seem to want to come alongside and board, rather than fire,” I heard the commander say.
“Don’t what they’d fire with,” Roberta said with a shrug. “No gun ports anyplace, far as this old bird can tell.”
“Must have a death wish, then. We’ll blow them out of the water before they can lay a grapple on us.”
Panting, I tugged at his sleeve. “No! You mustn’t! Don’t shoot!”
Pitcairn frowned at me. “Mister Nickleby would be right put out to hear you say that.”
“Sorry to ruin his sport, but we can’t destroy that ship.”
“And why not, shrimp?” asked Roberta.
Ernie spoke up before I could. “She says her sainted mama’s on it. Came to her in a dream, it did. Charmin’, what?”
The ship’s captain’s eye brows shot up. “Your mother just happens to be on that particular ship?”
“I know it sounds silly,” I said to him, staring out at the Croatan, “but Sha’ira’s been sendin’ me trance dreams about Ma and the word ‘Croatan’. She’s wearin’ a sailor suit. Ma left me that word as a clue when she disappeared the night this all started for me. Every other part of my dream has come true. We can’t take a chance. Don’t fire.”
True to his decisive reputation, Pitcairn wasted no time. Snapping his fingers at Gracchus, he barked, “Get down to Nickleby and tell him to hold his fire until he receives positive orders from me in person. Hurry!”
The rat commander gave him a crisp salute. “Wight away! Without deway!” In a split second he’d disappeared into the bowels of the ship.
“What now, sweetums?” Roberta asked. “Challenge ‘em to tiddlywinks instead?”
The pirate lord smiled. “Tempting. I was school champion as a lad. But I rather think we’ll be hospitable and let them board us.”
“Offer a parlay?”
“If that’s truly what they want. I anticipate some avarice for our charming cargo here.” He rubbed my head. I grit my teeth and took it. “But we can play for time and see what develops.”
An idea came to me. “Two can play that game.” I told them what I wanted to do, with as much detail as I’d thought of, which wasn’t much.
“You’d do that?” Pitcairn said with a shocked expression. “After all you went through to get here safely?”
“If it gets Ma back, sure.”
“No. Too dangerous by far.” Can’t argue with you there, Commander.
Roberta laughed at that. “You need to abandon that ship before it takes you down with it, dear. This little firecracker has made it through more scrapes in the past week than we’ve encountered in half a year.”
Which is how I ended up down below on my bunk a moment later, preparing myself for yet another crazy adventure. While I half-listened to Romulus, Ernie, and Sha’ira as they tried to talk me out of it, Jasper and I went over the plan in my head. I put on my fresh-washed shirt and overalls, since I felt more comfortable in that than in my borrowed sailor’s duds. The boots came off and I wiggled my toes. Now I’m ready for serious action! My friends kept saying over and over that my task was to overthrow the Honourable Merchantry, restore balance to the world, and not be dead. That last one had to be my priority, not racing off to find Ma.
“Look!” I snapped with an impatient wave of my hands. “Either help me do this or get out of the way. If it was your mother over there you’d be doin’ just the same.”
They each gave me a look that said ‘not necessarily.’ Controlling my shock at their being so able to place their assigned mission ahead of family, I brushed past them and stopped in the doorway. “Maybe someday I’ll be a true-blue soldier and live only to resist evil, but right now I’m just a kid who needs to help her ma. Are you gonna help me with that so we can get back to all of the savin’ civilization stuff?”
Sha’ira reached out her hand. For a second I thought she would rub my head. That would’ve made me scream. But she stroked my cheek with her knuckles instead, a gesture so unexpected from the former Shade that I gasped. “You are right, of course. We cannot save the world any way but one good person at a time. Let us begin with your mother.”
“Guess you’s the right one to carry the
Stone and that’s a fact,” Romulus rumbled, his voice sounding like a distant avalanche.
Ernie threw up his little paws from his perch on the big Marshal’s shoulder. “Why not? I haven’t cheated death in a couple of days. Be good for me constitution.” He patted his round tummy. “Keep me in fightin’ trim, it will.”
We all had a little group hug. After a minute Jasper whispered, “This is all so sweet that I’m gettin’ cavities in my teeth. Can we get goin’?”
“Don’t you ever stop?” I asked out loud. Tapping my noggin for the others’ benefit, I explained, “Mr. Warm and Sensitive.” I stepped away from everybody to raise my hand. The tin cup flared into Morphageus. “Well, that works. Wasn’t sure if it would. Probably won’t on the other ship, though, huh?”
“Unlikely,” Sha’ira said. “But your magick seems a bit different than most, so…”
“Will I be able to talk to Jasper over there? That’s more important than the sword workin’.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Jasper. “Internal magick should behave just fine, even on deep water. It’s the flashy external stuff that tends to go crazy.”
That relieved me a lot. Aloud I asked, “Stone-senses and all that?”
“Unaffected. Also internal.”
Sha’ira reached into her pouch. “Ah! Speaking of the Stone.” She pulled out a length of fine golden chain with a screw-clasp. “My people in Iberion are great metalsmiths. This will be proof against ravens and almost anything else that might try to cut the Stone from your neck again.”
I smiled and took it from her strong hand. Squinting at it, I saw that it seemed to be no ordinary chain. It sparkled with rainbow colors as I moved it in the light. “This ain’t everyday gold, is it?”
“No. It’s maillon, from Scandia. Star-stone, they call it there. From a meteor. Very rare. The mermaids harvest it, still smoking from its heaven journey, and quench it in their magick pools. Almost unbreakable. We use enchanted tools to work it by moonlight. There are swords and armor made of it, but few can afford them. My family presented me this to give to my husband, should I find one, as a token of our bond.” She let out a small laugh and unscrewed the clasp. “I chose another path.”
I pulled the Stone over my head, untied the silk ribbon, and slid it free. As I turned around so she could thread the chain through and lock it around my neck, I felt as if we used the maillon for its intended purpose, after all. Though not exactly a wedding, this felt like a similar sort of ceremony.
“With this chain, I thee wed---”, snickered Jasper.
I smiled at that. Out loud I said, “For better or for worse.”
“For richer or for poorer,” said Sha’ira, smiling.
Romulus caught on. “In sickness and in health.”
“For as long as we all shall live,” I finished.
“Hopefully longer than the next ten minutes,” Jasper added.
Ernie rubbed his paws together. “Brilliant! Where’s the reception? I’m famished.”
“Over on the Croatan,” I told him. “A hot one, too, most like.” I jammed Morphageus into my belt and turned to the door.
Nothing more to say. We had to get going. By now Pitcairn would’ve played his part. Creeping into his cabin, which looked like the drawing room of a lord of the Sceptr’d Isle, but put together by a fancy Gaulle designer who loved lace, leather and deadly weapons (Roberta’s doin’, I imagine), we opened the window. All of us stood in the extreme rear of the ship. Looking left, I could just make out the stern of the Croatan, bobbing on the small choppy waves. It’d been lashed alongside the Kiss. Perfect for what we wanted to do. I brought my head back in and waved Sha’ira to take my place. She’d notched a strange-looking arrow into her bow. Longer and thicker than a normal arrow, its narrow point held an odd arrangement of springs and teeth. The fletched end held another piece of maillon maybe a quarter-inch thick, coiled into about fifty feet of the world’s most expensive rope. Romulus stood ready to tie it to a cleat outside the window. After aiming the recurved bow for a long moment, taking the rise and fall of both ships into account, the scourge of the Shades let the string slip from her fingers. The funny arrow snapped across to the Croatan and punched through the vertical border of its captain’s windowsill. Yanking on the line, Sha’ira activated the springs, which snapped out into a sort of grappling hook. As soon as it did so Romulus used his great strength to pull the rope taut and knot it to the cleat.
“That’ll hold us all?” I asked, one eye brow raised.
“It would hold two Mughal elephants,” Sha’ira assured me. She stowed her bow onto her back, stuck her straight-bladed boot dagger between her teeth, and began crawling upside-down toward the Croatan. Ernie clung to her robe. His job was to sneak in first, figuring nobody’d pay a mouse any attention, and make sure the coast was clear.
They got across and in with no trouble at all. Romulus and I held our breath for a long time as our friends made sure it was safe for us to go. Finally Ernie hopped onto the windowsill and waved. Everybody must be up top, watchin’ Pitcairn’s show. So far, so good. I went next, worried about slipping off and having to swim for it. My Stone-strength and sheer terror kept me from letting go. When I made it to the other side Sha’ira hauled me in as if I weighed less than one of my old rag dolls.
“Whee!” Jasper sang out. “That was fun. Let’s do it some more!”
I ignored him and waved Romulus over. In no time he’d joined us in the master’s cabin. As Sha’ira led the way, Ernie on her shoulder, I glanced around to see what sort of folks we were dealing with. This had no Rococo charm like Pitcairn and Roberta’s love nest. In fact, I wouldn’t even have called it a bedroom-office, like most captains’ quarters. No, this was a lair. The place had an animal feel to it, like some great beast, the leader of its pack, hunkered down there to savor its kill. Dark and depressing, its lighting and furniture made me feel dirty, somehow. All the bones on the floor, from unknown animals or humans, just added to that. My witched nose picked up a scent that might’ve been blood, mixed with other smells better suited to a privy. If the rest of the ship’s like this you won’t be able to get me off it quick enough. And Ma’s here? By choice?
We planned to search the ship while Pitcairn and Roberta parleyed with the Croatan’s leaders on the deck of the Kiss. Since we expected most of the crew to be on the main deck observing the festivities, not too many of them ought to be in the bowels of the ship. If we met anybody we’d try to pretend we were supposed to be there, or overpower them. That’s why I’d been put in the middle. Sha’ira and Romulus would handle any surprises from front or rear. Ernie’s job was to scout ahead, sticking his snoot into every place where Ma might be kept. The trouble was, I didn’t know if she was disguised, a prisoner, stowing away in hiding, or just a paying passenger. After seeing the captain’s quarters, I couldn’t believe there were any pleasant accommodations to be had for the guests. If she had hid herself, the hold would be the best place to look. But the hard look of the crew didn’t give me much hope that she’d be able to hide for long. They gave the impression of having little patience for that sort of thing. Those men would search their ship for freeloaders as a matter of course. That meant she’d end up in the brig anyway, presuming she hadn’t met a worse fate. But if something bad had happened to Ma my dream would’ve said so. I felt sure of that. No matter what might’ve happened to her, this looked to be an awful big space to hunt through.
Lucky for us our friends had already thought of that. Tiny clawed feet skittered across the filthy planks behind us. Hand on sword, ready for anything, I whirled to see Gracchus and his Marines. The rats skidded to a stop and saluted.
“Wady Woberta sent us to assist you,” their leader said. “Which diwection should we go?”
Now we had over a dozen new pairs of eyes. Figuring that nobody’d give a rat a second glance in the hold, I sent Gracchus’ troops there. The rest of us continued to creep down the foul-smelling passageway that led from the master’s
cabin. Our luck held. Whatever show Pitcairn presented above kept the Croatan’ whole crew riveted. I just hoped we didn’t run into somebody on their way to answer a call of nature. No predicting that.
“Judgin’ from the smell of this place,” Jasper said, “I’d say their calls of nature occur wherever they happen to be standin’.”
“It is pretty disgustin’, huh?” I thought back. “Like Washington City at its worst, with the garbage from a slaughterhouse thrown in.”
“Hope we find your ma before we find the galley. I don’t want to think about what they eat on this tub.”
We passed the quarters where the mates slept, and some storage lockers of various sorts. Nothing so far. My magicked ears could make out a lot of feet moving around above us, but no shouting or shooting. Roberta’d told me they’d try to spin enough malarkey to buy us a reasonable amount of time to search, but she couldn’t promise that the Croatan’s people wouldn’t get impatient and start a ruckus. I wanted to hurry things up and get going before that happened. But I wasn’t about to leave till I found Ma. If that took slugging it out with whoever got in my way, so be it.
Sha’ira held up a hand, making us all stop dead. With a finger to her lips she jerked her head to the right and led the way into a large low area with tables, chests, and hammocks, dim-lit with two lanterns. Must be the berth deck, where the crew lives. “Yeah,” Jasper snorted, “if you call this livin’.” That awful stench assaulted my nostrils even worse here, almost making me gag. What could make people live like this? All of us looked around, expecting to be jumped with so many places for somebody to hide. But the place held nothing but sailors’ stuff.
Brimstone and Lily (Legacy Stone Adventures) Page 41