by David Talon
Fear wrapped its noose around my bowels as the gap-toothed man strode towards me, but I kept it off my face as he stopped an arms-length away. Samuel, I noticed, had begun cautiously backing away as the other man, thick with solid shoulders and arms like cords of wood went to join him. But the Mulatto held out an arm to keep him where he was as the gap-toothed man poked me in the chest. “You’ve a sharp tongue for such a skinny lad,” he said as he tapped the side of his chin. “Right, let’s see you give me your best blow.”
“So you can run to the captain and tell him I started the fight?” I shook my head. “Seth played that game in St. Augustine, goading me until I hit him then telling the guard-captain I’d started it.”
He poked me in the chest again. “Are you calling me a coward?”
“I’m saying I have no quarrel with you,” I said, making myself look into his eyes despite the fear. “I don’t want a fight but I won’t back down if you swing at me first.”
His expression turned ugly again as he put a hand to the dagger most of the crew wore at their waist. “Maybe I’ll just cut your throat and be done with it.”
“First I will cripple you,” Jade’s voice said softly from a spot beside him, making him jump. “All I need to do is form enough of an air-golem to drive several of Samuel’s surgical blades into your joints, and then let Tomas take your life. Every man he kills makes him stronger.”
I realized we were, in a sense, getting close to a cliff as the Mulatto’s voice turned eerily quiet. “My men and I are honor-bound to defend each other in a fight. Will Tomas be able to kill all three of us?”
“If you will rein in your man,” Jade said tartly, “we will not need to find out. I will look upon any fight with fists or grey-wood weapons as training, but Tomas is too valuable to me to allow anyone to kill him out of spite. As for Pepper, luck changes like the weather outside; you, Mulatto, should know this better than anyone.”
The Mulatto made a gesture conceding the point as he stared at me. “If the three of us decide to have a...training bout, all of us against you, will you fight?”
“I will,” I said before Jade could speak. “Alone or three together, it doesn’t matter.”
The bearded man next to the Mulatto chuckled. “If you fight all three of us you’ll lose.”
“I know” I replied, my eyes still on the Mulatto, “but I’ll fight you anyway.”
To my surprise the Mulatto said, “Whistling John, stand down.”
“You can’t be serious,” Whistling John said as he whirled around. “The lad’s taking our luck...”
Faster than thought the Mulatto closed the distance between the two of them, grabbed the man by the front of his striped shirt and swept his feet out from under him, so he fell in a heap on the deck. “Defy me again and I’ll ask the captain to let Jade do exactly what she said a moment ago.” He looked at me and grinned, though his eyes remained hard as black chips of stone. “The dragon-ghost’s right: luck changes, but I also know a man can change his own.” He stepped over Whistling John and took me by the arm, moving me backwards until we were several yards away from anyone. “I’ve heard it said that Shadowmen don’t lie” he said in a quiet voice, his head bent down next to my ear, “and the galleon’s captain said they use gold for ballast. Imagine, a galleon using gold to keep it balanced.”
“Shadowmen cannot lie any more than Tomas or I can,” Jade’s voice said, equally quiet, “and what Captain Thorne said does not take into account the jewelry and precious objects acquired by them over the years.”
The Mulatto nodded as his gaze returned to me. “You’re going to help us take that galleon someday, and more just like it, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Captain Hawkins said first we need Artifact weapons and men ready to wield them.”
The Mulatto gave me a smile filled with a dark hunger. “I want enough gold to return to London and buy a house larger than my former master owned. I’ll wear clothes fit for a lord, and take that Venetian strumpet out on the streets with me along with a gang of bully-boys, to keep the light-fingers and riff-raff away from us. Everyone will know what we truly are...but no one will dare say a word. You give us the weapons, Tomas Rios, and I will find the men in Tortuga to wield them.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I want enough gold to make me forget I was ever a slave.”
I nodded to show I understood and he stood up straight, moving back to his men as he said, “Give the knowledge I just gave you to the captain when the two of you are alone, and make Pepper scream your name on your betrothal night.”
I gave him a wary look. “Why would she do that?”
Both the Mulatto and the bearded man laughed. “Ask the Venetian whore sharing the captain’s cabin,” the Mulatto said as Whistling John got to his feet and slunk back to the Mulatto’s side as he added, “She might even let you practice on her.”
“Tomas will do all his practicing on me,” Pepper’s voice said from behind me. I turned around. Except for Jeremiah and Mr. Smith, most of the crew seemed to be back, seeming half asleep or just badly hung-over, yet oddly quiet as the Buccan came forward escorting a thin, blond young man only a couple years older than I was, in rough-hide clothes so badly rotted they seemed ready to fall off his body. Behind them waddled a fat man in brown monk robes, but my gaze went back to Pepper as she asked, “Pray tell what’s going on?”
The Mulatto motioned towards me with a casual wave of his hand. “The lad and I were becoming acquainted. Whistling John’s offered to help train Tomas in the arts of fighting.”
I glanced at Whistling John, who looked as if he wished he’d left well enough alone, and then back as Redbeard strode up beside Pepper. “Be that the truth, lad?”
“More or less,” I replied, motioning towards the thin Buccan as a way to distract attention away from me. “What happened to him?”
The Mulatto slipped away with his men as Pepper came up beside me, Redbeard an enormous presence behind her as she said in a soft voice, “His name is Andre. He was guiding the monk, Brother Tristan of the Franciscan order, in his searching for herbs when Andre stumbled upon a nest of Black Strangler vines. Brother Tristan went back to Haven and the villagers got Andre out, but now he’s got a piece of Black Strangler lodged in his belly.” She shivered. “It’s feeding off his blood as we speak.”
“We need that vine as part of your mixture, don’t we?”
Pepper nodded, putting her lips next to my ear as her voice fell to a whisper. “Dava suggested Samuel cut it out of him, but the other Buccan are afraid the operation might kill Andre, so I suggested they bring him back to the ship to see if Master Khan has a solution.”
I nodded as Belle-M’ere’s words from the dream came back to me. “The shaman of the Timucua taught me some of his lore, including herbs my foster-mother swore didn’t exist. He said there was a way to drive the Black Strangler vine out of a person...” Suddenly, I remembered, and in my excitement rushed towards the Buccan. “I know how to make the vine leave of its own accord.” Lucky Luc pulled out a knife as long as my forearm; I slid to a stop and back-stepped away as fast as I could. “But if you’d rather I didn’t interfere, I’ll keep away.”
Andre broke away from the other Buccan. “Tell me,” he said as he gripped my shoulders with bony thin hands, stinking of rotten leather. “I want this thing out of me, even if it means having it cut out with an axe.”
Andre was not only pale as death but thin as a reed, and glancing down at his belly I saw it was unnaturally distended. “We won’t have to use an axe,” I said as I met his gaze again, “but it’s almost as dangerous. We need to make a tincture of goblinsbane seed,” which I couldn’t believe I was suggesting. “The Black Strangler cannot abide its taste, and with help will crawl out of its own accord.”
“I already have goblinsbane tincture,” Samuel said as he came up beside us. “I use it when I need to do something painful, like amputate a limb, but only two d
rops under the tongue.”
“We’ve got to use more,” I said to him. “The shaman said it takes at least three drops and a fourth if the vine resists leaving.”
Samuel glared at me. “We are not giving this man four drops of goblinsbane.”
“No,” Master Khan said from the dimness of the sleeping area, “we are giving him seven.” He was dressed exactly as he’d been before in his grey robe with its deep cowl covering all of his face but his mouth, a small glass bottle in one hand and a wooden cup of a steaming liquid in the other as he walked up to us. “We will also give him six drops of Bright-eye tincture, which I made into a tea for him to drink, yes?”
“Six drops of Bright-eye that concentrated will explode his heart,” Samuel argued.
“No it won’t,” I said as understanding flared in my head like a dragon-globe someone threw the cover off of. “The Bright-eye tincture will keep the goblinsbane from stopping his heart, and of course you need less, for Bright-eye stimulates the fiery humors, and Galen wrote the fiery humors are always stronger than the cold ones.” I looked at Master Khan in admiration. “That’s brilliant.”
Under his cowl, I saw the tufted chin wag as he smiled. “Stimulating the fiery humors will also agitate the vine, helping it leave much faster, yes?”
Lucky Luc came up behind Andre and pulled him back. “I’m not about to let you poison him. Get one of ze dragon-ghosts to pull it out.”
Jade’s voice coming from beside them made the Buccan jump. “Would you like for me to pull out his insides with it? The head of the Black Strangler has sharp tendrils designed to pierce the skin and cling in place with hooked barbs while other tendrils drink the victim’s blood. If I pull it out I might well kill him.”
“Then transmute it,” Lucky Luc snapped.
“It doesn’t work that way,” I almost yelled at him. “Jade can’t transmute living flesh, whether its animal or vegetable, which is why wood always has to be dried first. The most she can do is heal torn flesh, or strengthen one of the humors when it’s out of balance.”
Jade’s voice sounded amused again. “What I do is far more complex than that, but you describe it well enough. Know this, Luc of the Buccan: the Black Strangler must be forced to leave, and the only method I know of is using goblinsbane.”
Redbeard remarked, “The lot of you be speaking of the vine like it be a beast and not a plant.”
“It is a beast,” Andre said with some heat, pulling his arm away from Lucky Luc. “I fell into ze bog like some sort of lack-wit, and as I struggled to get out ze Black Strangler wrapped itself around my limbs and my throat... and then forced my jaws open.” Andre shuddered, looking as if he’d break down and cry at any moment. “Nothing I did helped me escape and then ze flower...” He looked down at his distended belly and shuddered again.
Pepper took him by the hands. “Shush, it’s going to be alright. Master Khan will get it out of your belly and Jade will heal the damage, just like I promised.”
Andre nodded as Master Khan handed him the wooden cup. “Drink this first so the Bright-eye will have time to work, yes?” Andre let go of Pepper’s hands and took the cup, almost gagging as he took the first sip. “Bright-eye is very strong in a tincture.” Andre nodded but drained the cup, almost gagging again as his distended belly began to writhe. Master Khan motioned towards the table. “Stretch out upon the table so I may feel your heart’s beating more easily, and so the vine will have an easier time leaving, yes?”
Andre’s writhing belly made him walk hunched over as Pepper and I helped him to the table and got him lying prone. Samuel motioned for the other Buccan to join us. “He’s your friend, so help us hold him down.”
To his credit, Lucky Luc sheathed his knife and gestured for the other Buccan to join him around the table, Andre’s features harshly lit by the bright dragon-globe above us as Luc took a position behind Andre’s head. Andre held up a hand and Luc took it with one of his own as Master Khan took the other, placing two fingers on Andre’s wrist. “We have some time yet, yes?” Master Khan turned his hooded face towards mine. “I will need you to grasp the end of the vine when it begins to emerge. Holding onto it will be unpleasant, but the only part of the Black Strangler that can hurt you is its head. If it gets its hooks into your flesh then Samuel will have to cut it away.”
“Can’t you just dose me like Andre?”
Under his deep cowl, Master Khan shook his head. “You are too unusual; I would not know what dose to use, yes?” I traded a look with Pepper as Master Khan said to Samuel, “Tomas will need to keep moving back as more of the vine comes out, so you must grab it at the base of the head when it begins to emerge, and then chop it off.” Samuel gave him an uneasy look and Master Khan’s voice became sharp. “Can you do this, or need I ask someone else?”
“No, I can do it,” Samuel said quickly. “Let me go get my cleaver.”
Samuel walked towards the dim sleeping area, now becoming better lit as more of the crew moved into their living quarters, although most remained in a semi-circle around us, though they gave the table plenty of room. From deep inside the crew’s quarters I heard a man yell, “Will the lot of you shut your pie-holes and let a man rest?”
“Aye,” Redbeard called out, “stay a-bed, sluggard, and be missing the show.”
Jests and cat-calls went back and forth as Pepper asked Andre quietly, “In all the squalling getting you over here I never asked how you ended up on Big Bluff in the first place?”
The monk had been hovering anxiously nearby, and now waddled closer. “It’s all my fault, to be sure.” His well-fleshed face was brown from the sun, with flakes of skin peeling from the top of his tonsured head. A sour smell wafted off of him. “I sell herbs to the apothecaries in many places, including Tortuga, for the benefit of my order to be sure, and Black Strangler is a very valuable vine. It strengthens apothecary mixtures so they are far more potent than they otherwise would be.”
The Buccan around us were staring at the monk with dark looks as Lucky Luc snarled, “Perhaps we should find ze bog Andre fell into and feed you to ze rest of ze Black Stranglers.”
“Luc, leave be,” Andre said, and I saw him squeeze Lucky Luc’s hand. “I was overconfident...and greedy.” He gave a faltering smile. “You always warned me God would punish me for that sin if I didn’t mend my ways.”
“God always grants mercy to those who return to the path of redemption,” the monk said, giving the Buccan around him a sharp look. “Even those who’ve strayed from the true path, to be sure.”
Feeling the growing tension in the air, I said quickly, “Andre, how did you know where to find the vine in the first place? We’ve got bogs close to St. Augustine, but I know for certain there’s no Black Strangler in any of them.” I gave Pepper a wry grin, adding, “Leeches, mud, and mosquitos, though.”
Pepper grinned back as Andre said, “That’s because Big Bluff island once belonged to ze Ancient Dragons. It only grows in places where they once lived.”
A number of the crew made scoffing comments, including Redbeard. “That be a legend, lad.”
Andre shook his head as he looked at me. “I’m telling ze truth. Tomas, have you seen ze island yet?” I shook my head. “Big Bluff is an enormous hill on this side of ze island, but ze other side is totally flat. Ze native tribe whose village is atop ze hill says it was once a great fort.” There was more scoffing and his voice became defensive. “I’ve been to the top where their village is, and I’ve seen some of ze things they’ve dug out of ze hill.”
“That was foolish,” Lucky Luc growled.
“They aren’t savage once you begin to understand them,” Andre argued. “Their tribe once owned ze entire island, but when escaped slaves and seamen began fleeing here because ze island has good water flowing that never fails, ze natives took control of ze hill so outsiders cannot. Ze tribe says that, long ago, ze Ancient Dragons made their ancestors guardians of ze fort,
and they refuse to give up what they believe to be a sacred trust.” He turned his gaze on the monk. “They refuse to bow down to outsiders.”
“Mother church will triumph in the end,” the monk said primly, “over heathen and heretic alike, as you Huguenot rebels truly are, to be sure.”
“We will die on our feet rather than kneel to you Papists,” Lucky Luc snarled at him before giving Andre a sharp look. “Why did you ever agree to guide this one?”
Andre sighed. “Because he gave me gold. Luc,” Andre switching to French. “Forgive me for bringing you into this, and...pray forgive me for driving you away by being unfaithful to you. Take me back and I swear to God I will repent my sins.”
Lucky Luc responded in English. “Ze rule aboard ze Blackjack Davy is to always speak in English so there will be no distrust.” Andre opened his mouth but Lucky Luc raised a hand to silence him. “We will speak later, after you’re through this. Master Khan, how long before you begin?”
“I will administer the first drop now,” Master Khan said as he leaned over Andre with the small glass bottle in his hand. Andre opened his mouth while Master Khan took the stopper from the bottle. The stopper had a small tube of clear glass attached, to which clung a single drop of black fluid, and Master Khan touched it to the base of Andre’s tongue.
As Master Khan recapped the bottle, Andre grimaced. “It’s bitter.”
“Better a bad taste than a slow death, yes?” Master Khan took Andre’s wrist again. “Good, his heart’s beating is beginning to slow. When it increases again I shall give him the next drop.”
We only waited a short time before the process was repeated, the Black Strangler in Andre’s belly growing more and more agitated as Master Khan continued administering drops of the goblinsbane. Andre began gasping like a fish, and one of the Buccan took his other hand as two more took hold of his legs at Master Khan’s request, who gave him a sixth drop. Suddenly the Buccan were holding him down as Andre began to thrash about. “Tomas,” Master Khan said in a voice radiating calm, “kneel on the table beside him and grasp the vine the moment it begins to emerge.” I nodded and got on the table, kneeling next to Andre’s chest as Master Khan added, “The vine will be at least four feet long, yes? So, as it emerges, climb off the table and keep tension on it, like a sailor holding a rope, so we may persuade it to leave as fast as possible.” I nodded and Master Khan administered the last drop.