by David Talon
Mr. Bierson’s expression became wary. “What sort of game, mistress?”
The mouth of the woman-golem clicked as it opened wide. “You’re going to stick your finger in my mouth. Then I’m going to ask you questions, and if you answer them truthfully then you keep the finger. If you don’t,” and the mouth snapped shut, “then I keep the finger.”
Mr. Bierson began to sweat as he shook his head. “Mistress, begging your pardon, but I saw blue flames inside your mouth, and I don’t want to be sticking my finger into something that’s going to burn.”
“It’s ghost-fire,” Shadow-viper said with an amused chuckle. “It can’t hurt you; it’s what we use to animate golems. But it also animates dead flesh, so if you lie to me and I take your finger, when I pull it back out of my mouth it’ll writhe like a worm for a little while. It’s funny what unnerves humans; I’ve seen brave men who’d never break, cry like babes when their dead, rotted, body parts we cut off came after them.”
Mr. Bierson stared at the golem in horror, as Sir Alberto said, “You don’t have to play her game. Dragon-ghosts will never hurt a man out of spite, only to protect her Dragon or on the Dragon’s orders. There’s no way she could’ve given this viper any instructions concerning you, so you don’t have to play.”
“He’s right,” Shadow-viper said. “But as I told him, Captain Cholula is in a very foul mood. So, when I tell her you wouldn’t play my little game, she will probably board your ship when we catch up to her, and liberate your cargo.”
Mr. Bierson’s hands balled into fists. “You’ll find us no easy meat, merchant or no.”
Shadow-viper chuckled. “Dogs pitting themselves against wolves is always amusing. But her mood is especially foul, and she’s just as likely to drop a ghost-shell on your deck and let your dead do the work for us.”
“What foul witchery are you speaking of?”
Sir Alberto answered him. “Ghost-shells are Artifact balls fired out of a mortar. They’re made of transmuted wood, so they’re light, and filled with scraps of metal and ghost-fire, with an outer layer of solid quickfire and a slightly strengthened dragon-ghost to make it all work. You activate it by speaking the dragon-ghost’s name inscribed on the ball, and when the mortar’s fired the dragon-ghost uses her strength to create an air-golem to guide the shell, which explodes when the solid quickfire inside the shell impacts something solid, like the deck of a ship. The metal pieces kill a number of men and the ghost-fire, directed by the now un-strengthened dragon-ghost, animates the dead.” He smiled at Mr. Bierson’s horrified expression. “That’s right: the dead rise up and fight the living.”
“Not very well,” one of the red wolf soldiers said. “The French used them against us at the siege of Amiens, but as long as you keep your head and don’t panic, you can either hack them apart or wait for the ghost-fire to burn itself out. And once it does, the dead stay dead.”
“The dragon-ghost animates these dead men?”
“We find animating corpses extremely distasteful,” Shadow-viper said. “But unlike an Artifact, a newly killed human only needs a push in the right direction, shall we say.”
Suddenly Mr. Bierson looked uncomfortable. “The captain recently installed a bronze mortar on the stern of the Queen Anne.”
“You’re first mate to a fool then,” Sir Alberto said. “Ghost-shells are devilishly tricky, unless you know what you’re doing. Which doesn’t stop merchants from spending good coin on them,” he added.
Shadow-viper opened the mouth of the woman-golem. “So, Mr. Bierson...care to play?”
Mr. Bierson looked back at the other sailors, who looked as close to terrified as I’d ever seen men look. “I’ll play, mistress,” he said as he turned back towards her, walking over to where the golem still had its hand around Sir Alberto’s throat. Mr. Bierson gingerly put the little finger of his left hand in the golem’s mouth.
Shadow-viper’s voice chuckled. “Smart move, Mr. Bierson. Have you seen the boy known as Tomas Rios?”
Mr. Bierson hesitated before answering. “I don’t know what the boy looks like, but no one claiming to be him has shown up on the dock looking for us. His passage aboard the Queen Anne was paid by the wife of the royal governor’s assistant.”
“Interesting...has anyone else asked for him?”
His gaze darted downward, towards the planks of the dock. “Just a native boy from the village your people shelled. He ran and hid under the dock when the galleon was sighted.”
“Remove your finger and see if the native boy is still there, and if anyone else has joined him.” Mr. Bierson took his finger out of the golem’s mouth and walked along the row of wooden shacks until he reached the one I was hiding behind. I moved to the deepest spot of shadow I could find as he passed, his boots crunching sea shells under his heels as he reached the narrow trail leading under the dock and started down.
Time seemed to crawl as I heard his footsteps walk down the path. A moment later my heart leapt in my chest as the voice of my friend Dancing Bear began cursing him in the Timucua language, and Mr. Bierson ran back up the trail. As he passed I resumed my former vantage point, in time to see him put his little finger back in the golem’s mouth. “The native boy is alone. If I may add something, which I didn’t have the opportunity to say to the gentleman you’re holding, the lady who paid Tomas Rios’s passage said his grandfather has been murdered and his mother is sick...so Tomas may still be with them.”
The golem suddenly cocked its head. Then Shadow-viper released Sir Alberto’s throat as her voice said, “Mr. Bierson, you’ve won the game. Keep your finger.” He snatched his finger from the golem’s mouth as she said to Sir Alberto, “Look to your ship, sir.”
Gazing across the water I saw a man on the high stern waving a red lantern back and forth. “That’s the recall,” Sir Alberto said to his men. The other two golems raised their weapons and the soldiers went with haste to their jolly boat, Sir Alberto stopping to speak with Shadow-viper. “When Sebastian is made the Abbott, he won’t forget what Captain Cholula did to him tonight.”
“Karl thinks the order will tear itself apart when Sebastian’s made the Abbott,” Shadow-viper replied. “Personally, I hope it does. Good hunting, Alberto.”
Sir Alberto opened his mouth, but then shut it and looked at Mr. Bierson, who’d rejoined the other sailors. “A word of advice: if your captain tries to launch a ghost-ball with blue fire playing on the outside, it means it’s cracked. Cracked ghost-balls often get sold to unsuspecting merchants by the order.”
“What if he insists on using it anyway?”
“Then find something to hide behind,” Sir Alberto replied, “and keep your wits about you when the dead begin to rise.” He joined his men in the jolly boat and they pushed it away from the dock with an oar.
As the jolly boat got itself turned around and the soldiers began pulling oars toward the galleon, I whispered, “Smoke, go warn Dancing Bear I’m coming, but do it quietly.”
She whispered back, “You can’t hide there!”
“It’ll be the last place they’ll look...go!”
I waited a five count, the golems and sailors all with their backs to me as they watched the galleon, and then quickly moved. My luck held as I darted to the trail and took it downward to the darkness underneath the dock. I ducked inside.
A calloused hand clapped itself over my mouth. I let the hand turn me around, and in the shadowed gloom saw the large outline of my friend. He put his finger to his lips and I nodded, Dancing Bear removing his hand from my mouth as he pointed at the waves lapping at the shore underneath the dock. My heart leapt for joy, for beached on the sand was a narrow canoe. I motioned towards it but he shook his head, motioning for me to be patient.
I nodded, and we waited together in silence. From our vantage point I saw the jolly boat come alongside the galleon, which threw down a rope ladder for the soldiers to climb up. As the last soldier started
up, an air-golem grabbed a rope attached to the boat’s bow, pulled it toward the stern of the galleon and attached it there as more air-golems filled the galleon’s sails. The snap of canvas and the muffled orders of men came over the water as the ship began to move, the jolly boat bouncing along behind in the galleon’s wake as she began picking up speed.
A few moments later the warship swept in. I heard the snap of her canvas as she slid into place beside the dock, her bulk blocking out my view of the reddish glow to the north as she came to rest. For a few moments I heard the sounds of sailors tying off the ship. Then I heard a wooden crash, the gangplank hitting the dock I realized, and multiple footsteps over head with the sounds of laughter and men talking. Suddenly the voice of Captain Cholula rose over the others. “Who’re they?”
Shadow-viper’s voice was soft and silky, as she said, “Smugglers. Their leader told me young Tomas is most likely still at the apothecary shoppe, since his mother has taken ill and the old man has been murdered.”
“Murdered? This has been a treacherous night indeed. Are you sure Tomas is not hidden among them?”
“Quite sure,” Shadow-viper purred. “Mr. Bierson still has all his fingers.”
“Then the lot of you cast off.” I heard the scramble of footsteps a moment before I saw the sailors getting into their jolly boat as fast as they could, while Captain Cholula’s voice continued overhead. “Too-Tall, get these golems stowed aboard then organize your men in a systematic sack once the gun crews open up on the fort. Now lads, what do you tell the townspeople when they ask why you’re taking their goods?”
A chorus of male voices answered, “Lord Sebastian’s orders.”
I heard satisfaction in Captain Cholula’s voice as she said, “That’s right. Sebastian’s got the election of Abbott already sewn up, and the order for my arrest will be posted the moment he’s taken the oath. So I’m going to make sure his initial days leave the taste of ashes in as many mouths as I can.”
As the jolly boat pulled away from the dock, my friend motioned towards his canoe, and we quietly got in as deep male voice spoke above us. “What happens then, Captain? Do we turn pirate?”
“No,” she replied as Dancing Bear pushed us off into the water. “We continue our hunt against the Shadowmen. They’ve treasure enough to keep us resupplied, and by the time we’ve wiped them out, you’ll all be rich as lords.” The men gave a cheer then quieted as Captain Cholula went on. “But first we’ve got to poison Sebastian’s wine before he gets to drink. Too-Tall, wait until I send Shadow-viper with the order to begin before you have the gun crews open up.”
As men marched across the pier above our heads, Dancing Bear began paddling, and as the sack of St. Augustine began we silently slid away into the darkness.
“Tomas, Johanna is dead.” We were sitting in the canoe near the merchant ship, a Dutch Flyte, built fat as a pregnant cow to hold as much cargo as possible, watching the sailors climb out of the jolly boat and up the rope ladders the crew above had thrown down. I’d sent Smoke back to warn the guard captain, tell Belle-M’ere I’d got off safely... and to let me know when she’d truly gone.
I was expecting her words, but they still came as a shock. “But...it’s only been a half-hour or so since we left the dock. I thought...she would live longer.”
“She didn’t want to,” Smoke’s voice replied from a spot in front of me. “Captain Cholula remained with her until the end.” I gaped at the spot Smoke’s voice was coming from as she continued. “Captain Cholula came upon Mistress Margaret cajoling the priest into giving Johanna confession, but he didn’t want to do it on account of you. So the captain drew her cutlass and laid it on the priest’s throat. He suddenly became quite eager.”
“What did she do to Belle-M’ere after the priest finished?” I asked in alarm.
“She sent the priest away, and told Shadow-viper to go re-animate the golem and fly it back to the shoppe. Then she sat beside the hearth with Johanna’s head in her lap. She...sang to Johanna, like Johanna used to do to you when you were a small child, and Johanna just drifted away. Cholula cried as she closed your mother’s eyes.” Then Smoke’s voice became harder edged. “The woman-golem and a few of Cholula’s men had shown up and were waiting respectfully until she wiped her eyes. Then she turned to Mistress Margaret and had her play Shadow-viper’s little game. Mistress Margaret answered all Cholula’s questions about you truthfully, but then Cholula started asking questions I didn’t understand, secrets about the royal governor, I think. Mistress Margaret claimed she had no knowledge of such matters...and lost her first finger.”
“Bloody bones! What happened then?”
“Cholula pulled it out of the golem’s mouth and set it on the table as Red-dog healed her hand. It was animated by the ghostfire, of course, and began crawling around like a worm. The men put Mistress Margaret’s other hand on the table and let her dead finger crawl around all over it. Mistress Margaret had become quite hysterical by this time and had passed out on the floor as a man who said he was her husband showed up.”
I grimaced as I pictured the scene. “Let me guess: Captain Cholula told him it was all on Sebastian’s orders.”
“Lord Sebastian’s orders, Cholula told him. She then told him she was going to search for you, and asked the man to tell the royal governor to meet her at the fort in a quarter-hour. She said she was going to bring her soldiers with her to the meeting.”
Dancing Bear, who wore a painted vest with pieces of shiny, black bone sewn into it, gave me a confused look. “But I heard her tell her man to open fire on the fort,” he said in his deep rumble.
“She’s going to,” I said as I realized what Captain Cholula intended. “By telling the governor she’s bringing soldiers, he will feel he needs to have his close by, just in case, and so keep as many as he can with him in the fort. Smoke,” I said urgently, “did you warn the guard captain?”
“I couldn’t. Sisters loyal to Cholula and her Dragons are chasing all the wild dragons away, and Shadow-viper said she was going to search for me when she shed the golem once more, since she knows I’ll never leave you.”
I felt a sudden stab of fear. “You don’t think she followed you back, did she?”
“They never saw me at the shoppe. Over the years I’ve built myself safe-holes in the walls, where I could hide and look out without easily being seen. When we take in strength from a Dragon it grounds our senses more in your world, so we can’t easily see through solid objects unless we concentrate. And all of my sisters in the room were focused on Cholula. I just waited until everyone left before I came back here, and before you ask, yes, I checked behind me as I flew.”
Dancing Bear spoke in an urgent voice. “We need to get you on that ship before they realize you’re no longer in your village.”
From the ship I heard a familiar voice call out, “I think that is an excellent idea.” Dancing Bear and I both jumped, and I turned in my seat to see Master Gomez standing on the side of the ship, Mr. Bierson and a portly man wearing a coat with shiny buttons winking in the moonlight standing beside him. All of the sailors were out of the boat, which to my surprise they were letting drift away. Master Gomez chuckled. “Voices carry over the water. I’ve spoken to Captain Voorhees about your situation, and in light of what has happened he is prepared to make you an offer.”
The portly man spoke in English. “You speak English, ya?”
“I do, sir,” I answered, “and French as well.”
“Gut; I can understand Spanish, but do not speak it as well as I wish. Herr Gomez says you can give me the wind all the way to Campeche?”
“I can, sir; an English Dragon taught me the trick to keeping the sails filled without tearing the canvas, and as long as I can keep my strength up, you’ll have the wind.”
“How long you can keep your strength up is the key, ya? But we will take the chance. Climb aboard.” He made a negating motion with his hand. “But n
ot your wild friend; there is no place for savages on my ship.”
I opened my mouth to argue but closed it again when Dancing Bear grabbed my shoulder. “I am not going with you,” he said, switching to his native language. “I brought you here to save you from the Spanish, but I need to return to my teacher, Kan Balam.”
I replied in the same language, “’Bear, you cannot be serious. What he did tonight was evil!”
Dancing Bear shook his head. “This is an old power long forgotten, that he is bringing back to the tribes once more. I am going to learn to become my totem animal, to become a bear in truth. My companion spirit Rain-sky and I have already permanently merged into one being, one shared consciousness, and when I find my totem animal in the wilderness, we shall become three in one person.”
I was trying to make sense of what my friend was saying. “If you have merged with,” and I switched to Spanish, “your dragon-ghost, you’ll burn out like a blazing fire with too little wood.”
He remained speaking in his native tongue. “Kan Balam has given me the dried fruit of the goblin-heart tree. It makes the fire blaze no less hot, but it lets much less of the wood be needed. He describes it as a thirsty man with a skin of water only needing a sip to quench his thirst.”
I switched to his language. “Dancing Bear, this shaman is deluding you; the goblin-heart is a myth, just like the goblins are.”
From the deck of the ship, Master Gomez called out, “Stop yammering at the savage and climb aboard. We need to be gone from this place.”
Dancing Bear began paddling towards the ship as he switched back to Spanish. “Your fat friend is right,” he said in a loud voice. “You need to leave before the evil ones begin firing upon your village as they fired upon mine.”
Master Gomez made a dismissive wave of his hand. “Nonsense, they would never...”
From behind us there was a flash, and I turned around as the roar of cannon fire echoed across the water. A moment later there were explosions and the sound of screams coming from the spot where I knew the fort was. A shocked moment later there was another explosion...followed by a strange, blue glow on the background of the larger, reddish one.