by David Talon
“But if it comes to that,” Captain Hawkins said, “which road would you choose?”
“Blood is thicker than claret,” Claude answered. “But until that day comes I will train your men in how to fire an Artifact cannon and train your apprentice in how to use a longsword with both hands.” At my surprised look he smiled. “Jean is ze master at using a weapon in either hand, but if you truly wish to use ze captain’s white sword someday then I must teach you.” He gave the captain a slight bow. “If you will excuse me, Mon captain, I will take stock of our weapons one last time.” Claude turned and walked back over to Edward, who was running a hand down one of the gun barrels and muttering.
“Were that he was in command,” Captain Hawkins said, “and not his cousin.”
“Things could be worse,” Mr. Smith replied. “Jean could be the Mulatto, in which case we would already have a rebellion on our hands.”
The Mulatto’s name triggered a memory, and I said, “Sir, the Mulatto asked me to tell you something in private, and I’m not sure if I should wait.”
“Say on, Tomas,” Captain Hawkins replied, looking at the others. “These are all trusted men, including Isaac.”
The headman looked as if he didn’t wish to be included. “Harry, I can leave if you want. I don’t...”
“Stay,” Captain Hawkins said, interrupting him, “so I will still know you to be a...trusted friend.” Isaac unhappily nodded and the captain looked at me.
I took a deep breath. “He took me aside, out of earshot of his men, and told me to make Artifact weapons so we can start taking on ships of the Shadowmen.” Captain Hawkins gave me a sharp look and I nodded. “He said when we reach Tortuga he will find us men desperate enough to go after them and enlist those men to your ship. The Mulatto wants gold, sir, enough gold to live out the rest of his life in the better parts of London with Selene on his arm, and no one daring to tell him no.”
“A curious notion,” Captain Hawkins replied, “considering he would’ve already raped her and cut her throat had he been the captain.” Captain Hawkins looked between Mr. Smith and Redbeard before turning his gaze on me. “Still, I understand him better than I did, and I have you to thank. I shall see you’re rewarded. So, gentlemen,” the captain turning towards the others, “it appears we are going to remain here for a few days. Jade, are you with us?”
“I am always close to Tomas,” Jade’s voice said from beside me.
“Then we will conserve your strength until the day prior to our departure, whereupon you shall transmute the weapons this woodworker creates into Artifacts, excepting the cannon you transmute for us today.”
“I will do so on Tomas’s command,” Jade said.
“It’s what I want you to do,” I said quickly.
Captain Hawkins gave me a sardonic smile. “Tomas, have Jade make me some cannons.”
I nodded, walking towards the ten wooden cannons resting on stone blocks in ordered rows. “Jade,” I whispered, “I’ve never had one of your sisters transmute anything larger than a breadbox.”
“The method remains the same,” Jade whispered back. “You direct me to the piece you want transmuted, tell me to prepare myself, and then tell me to execute the order...one, two, three.” Her voice became amused. “It sounds much more impressive if you count down in Latin.”
I stepped in front of the first cannon, the surf pounding the sand to my right as I spoke to the two men arguing over it. “Claude, are we ready?”
“We most certainly are not,” Edward said. “There’s an imperfection in the wood...”
“All wood has imperfections,” Claude said in obvious exasperation. “That is why we have ze gun crews hide behind Artifact shields when ze cannon goes, off...except for ze striker, of course.”
Edward would’ve continued arguing, but Claude made him march off to where the captain and the others stood as I looked down at the gun. The cannon was carved as one smooth piece with a seashell carved into the top next to the hole where the Artifact pin would be inserted, the opening large enough for my thumb to fit into easily. The cannon was only a yard and a half long, its width wide enough for a small cannonball, but it looked solid. “There is an imperfection,” Jade acknowledged, “but it will make little difference. All Artifact cannons burst eventually.”
I put my hands on the smooth wooden barrel of the cannon. “In that case, Jade...Primus.”
“Primus acknowledged.”
“Jade...Secundus, if you please.”
Transmutation was one of the rare times a Dragon got to see how big his dragon-ghost really was. You couldn’t see a dragon-ghost directly, of course, but as Jade began to prepare herself the air around her began to shimmer. I gasped. I knew she was large, but the shimmer hovered around a lizard-like body greater in size than any animal I’d ever heard of, in height and breadth three or four times the size of a man. Then she opened her wings. I gasped again as the shimmering air extended farther and farther still to either side, and I knew that, had she still been alive, her wings could have blocked out the sun from my sight. From the shimmering head with its curled horn, Jade’s voice said, “Secundus, Tomas.”
I had to swallow twice before I could speak. “Then Tertius, Jade,” and I removed my hands from the cannon.
Jade reared back and hurtled a ball of black fire that struck the wooden cannon at its mid-section, the shimmering air around her vanishing as the wood began making a crackling sound where the black fire struck it. The wood began to transmute, blackness spreading as black flames began moving down both sides of the cannon faster than normal fire would’ve spread, the crackling becoming a grinding sound as the black fire reached both ends of the cannon...and went out.
In place of a the wooden cannon like the ones around it, an Artifact cannon now rested, shiny black with a barrel that pealed like a bell when I rapped it with my knuckles. From the empty air in front of me, Jade’s voice said, “Tertius is completed. Shall we move on?”
By the time we’d finished the seven cannons we’d attracted an audience of the entire village and all of the crew who were ashore. We’d also attracted the attention of someone else. Captain Hawkins was standing with Mr. Smith, Jeremiah, and Claude, while Pepper was speaking to one of the native children, who’d run up to her out of breath. Whatever she said to Pepper made her kiss the child’s forehead then hurry over to the captain to speak to him in a low voice. I was waiting by the eighth cannon in case the deal changed again when Captain Hawkins made an urgent gesture for me to join him, so I pelted over at once, coming to a halt next to Jeremiah as the villagers frantically got out of someone’s way as their group reached the edge of the crowd.
There were six of them, all natives, five men in their early twenty’s wearing deerskin clothes much in the same style as the Buccan, with long knives at their belts but no other weapons. The sixth was an older man wearing black goat skins sewn together that covered him down to the fingers of his hands and the top of his feet, and upon his head a goat’s head the same color, with white horns curved like wicked hooks. “Don’t call him ‘Black Goat’,” Jeremiah whispered in my ear, “he hates that name. Call him ‘Shaper’ if you have to speak with him at all.”
I nodded, saying in a low voice, “He’s dressed exactly like Olde Bone Woman’s son and his shape-changers.”
The others gave me looks from surprised to speculative except the captain, who merely glanced at me then back to the native men, whose attention had turned to Isaac, walking towards them with a concerned look on his face. “Shaper, I wasn’t expecting you until tonight.”
The Black Goat spoke in a voice rough and raw. “I wished to see this for myself. So...friend Isaac...are you and your old friend planning to conquer our island?”
Captain Hawkins spoke before Isaac could answer. “Does the island have wealth? Gold, silver, precious gems?” The Black Goat stared at him impassively and the captain said, “No? Then why should I bother?
Most of these weapons are going to be loaded on the Blackjack Davy so that I may take prizes that will give me and my crew those things, and the few remaining will be left with Isaac, so Haven may defend themselves from evil men...like pirates,” he added with a smile.
“Shaper,” Isaac said carefully, “there are rumors about that you plan on conquering the island yourself. Or else why have you begun associating with Shadowmen?”
“For long years my ancestors kept faith with the ancient Dragons,” the Black Goat said after a moment, “but in time they forgot the old ways and became a simple folk. When your people and the white-skinned sailors pushed us back onto the hill, we rediscovered what our ancient ancestors once knew. Now the Shadowmen have come to help us bring back the ancient days once again.”
Isaac spoke to the Black Goat in a way one might speak to a person raving with a fever. “I’m not sure I understand you, Shaper. We’re not your enemies; indeed, we’ve gone out of our way to maintain good relations between our peoples.” He glanced over to where several African villagers were bringing a struggling Terence, who had a rag stuffed in his mouth the man was desperately trying to spit out, and back to the native shaman. “You asked us for a prisoner and we’ve provided you one.”
Black Goat beckoned, and Terence was dragged towards him, the shaman squeezing Terence’s muscles and looking at his teeth before nodding once to Isaac. “You have done well by us, and indeed, your words have merit. You took in the ones we made outcast and made them part of your village when you could have made them slaves, and you have been careful to stick by the agreements you made with us. Therefore I will give you my sworn word that neither I nor any member of my people will raise any manmade weapon against you or any of your people...ever.”
Isaac seemed truly taken aback. “Shaper, this is a most unexpected... and gratifying, of course, surprise. We do have young men on both sides, though...”
“Young men can fight using the gifts they were granted at birth: fists, nails and teeth, if they so wish to use them. No other weapon will be allowed them, and I will ask you try to hold your young men to the same, if you can.”
“Of course I will.”
“Then we are done here,” Black Goat said, speaking to the five in their tongue before turning and walking back towards the trees and the large hill beyond. The other five picked up a now wildly struggling Terence and carried him with them as they followed the shaman.
When they’d gone, most everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “That went well,” Pepper said.
“Too well,” the captain replied, a dark, calculating look on his face. “They gave away any advantage they had for what, a European prisoner? Something isn’t right.”
He broke off musing as Isaac strode over with his arms outstretched. “Harry Hawkins, you are the absolute prince of the pirates.”
“I thought that was you,” Pepper whispered in my ear.
I poked her in the ribs, making her suppress a giggle as the captain’s stern mask was replaced by one more cordial as Isaac said, “I am going to load your ship down with enough provisions to make the braces burst, I’m so happy! We have peace, peace for Haven!”
The villagers surrounding us gave a cheer as Pepper whispered sardonically in my ear, “Doubtless the crew will see how far the good cheer extends with the women of Haven, and doubtless the women will be accommodating. Sally’s going to become morose from the lack of company, so I’ll have to work on keeping her happy.”
I gave Pepper a quizzical look, since I had no idea how she planned to do that, but she merely smiled and patted my arm as the captain turned towards us. “Pepper, I’m of a mind to reward Tomas for all he’s done today...so the two of you are free to spend the day together until later this afternoon.”
Captain Hawkins gave us an amused look at the astonished expressions on several faces, including Redbeard’s. “Harry, that nae be a good idea, they being Dragons and all.”
Jade’s voice spoke from in between us. “I will accompany them to see they do not get into trouble,” her voice becoming amused, “carnal or otherwise.”
Pepper turned towards the captain with her hands on her hips. “Sir, I protest! We do not need Sister Stay-at-home watching over us like...”
Trusting my instincts I put my hand over Pepper’s mouth. “Sir, we accept.” A thought struck me and I added with seeming nonchalance, “If you want I’ll have Jade check in with you this afternoon, to let you know where we are.”
He returned a sardonic smile. “Valiant effort, but I’ll have Mr. Smith send one of the little ones when I want you back. Now go, before I change my mind.”
I let go of Pepper’s mouth and grabbed her hand, Jeremiah grinning while Redbeard gave me a dubious look as Pepper let me lead her away, the redheaded girl glancing back at the captain when we were out of earshot. “Nicely played.”
“Gran-Pere always said make the best deal you can, even if it’s not the deal you want.”
Pepper gave me a rueful smile. “Meaning I was letting my tongue run ahead of my wits. Actually, I was thinking of the captain: he still needs your loyalty, Dragon-sworn or not, and using me as your reward will help him keep it.”
I thought about what she was saying a moment then shrugged. “You have the right of it, but what choice do I have? Besides,” I added as I squeezed her hand, “I think you’ll be worth it.”
I expected a sardonic response back, but instead Pepper’s face grew troubled. “I hope so,” her smile returning as she took the lead. “C’mon, I’ll show you Haven.”
The village was a lot larger than I’d realized, though much of it was still swallowed by large vines and small trees. But it had a main street paved with white stones, which an old, white-haired African man was sweeping with a broom made of dried palm fronds, with shoppes along it made of the same white stone blocks. Pepper’s spirits had lifted the moment an African woman shoppe-keeper had hailed us, and an English copper penny bought me several strips of dried fish, which I devoured before we even walked back out.
In the center of Haven was a large cistern made of grey-stone, full to the top with clear water pouring in from the grey-stone aqueduct above it. African and native women in brightly colored clothes were drawing water with wooden buckets or standing around talking, and as Pepper became the center of their attention I drew closer to the aqueduct to inspect it. It seemed to be one solid piece, more than a yard wide and flat, the aqueduct covered over so the water wasn’t exposed to the outside until it flowed out. It was held up by supports of grey-stone and rose at a gentle angle upwards towards the enormous hill. “I wonder if it’s safe to walk upon,” I mused aloud.
“The entire populace of Haven could walk along it if they wished,” Jade’s voice answered. “If you desire to do so, there are hand and foot holds built into the first support. The aqueduct climbs above the tree line before it ends in the side of Big Bluff, and you can see much of the island if you walk a ways upon it.”
I glanced back. Pepper was still chatting amicably with the other women, so I walked over to the first support. Bars had been carved into the grey stone, like a ladder, and without a moment’s thought I started up it. The grey-stone felt strange, almost unnatural, but it was easy to hold onto and in a moment I was standing on top of the aqueduct.
A large African woman in a flowing blue dress happened to look up and let out a shriek. All of the women looked up and Pepper called out, “Tomas, what are you doing?”
“Jade said you can get a good view of the island once you get past the tree line,” I called back.
I couldn’t hear, but I saw her mouth, ‘Kristie eleyson’ a moment before she yelled, “Stay there: I’m coming too.” She climbed up the carved ladder like I had, taking the hand I held out to help her up, and a moment later we were standing together on the aqueduct, her face extremely serious. “Alright, we go just above the trees, look at the island, and then go back...deal?”
; “Don’t you want to follow the aqueduct all the way to Big Bluff?”
Pepper looked at me as if I’d lost my wits. “Tomas, once we’re above the trees there’s nothing to hold onto if a big wind comes up and tries to blow us off.”
I only shrugged. “Jade would catch us if it did.”
“Jade would...Tomas,” Pepper said in exasperation, “what am I going to do with you?”
I gave her a puzzled look as Jade’s voice spoke beside us. “Accept him as he is, the way he will accept you. Tomas, she does have a valid point, for an air-golem takes a few moments to form, and when I catch you I may not have time to catch her as well.”
“Yes you will,” I said, “because I’ll be holding onto her.” I looked into Pepper’s blue eyes. “If we fall, we fall together...deal?”
I must’ve said the right thing, for Pepper gave me a gentle smile. “Deal.” I smiled back at her and led us forward. The aqueduct rose as we followed it, rising above the houses and into the trees beyond. I held branches for Pepper as I pushed through them, the foliage thinning out until we walked through a thin blanket of leaves and out into the sunlight. The wind was blowing off the ocean, bringing with it the scent of salt as we walked a little farther up the aqueduct then stopped and turned around.
We were high enough so I could see the shoreline, the Blackjack Davy gently swaying to the rhythm set by the sea as slender canoes passed her by on their way to net more fish, the ocean a greenish blue which turned a darker shade as my gaze went farther out. Looking to the right of the ship, I saw white stone sticking out over the ocean as my gaze went to the small mountain itself. Its slopes rose at a steep angle, covered over with trees and bushes until they reached the top, where the overgrowth seemed to end. It seemed flat, from what I could see, with the top of some massive structure gleaming white in the sun.
Then Pepper tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and looked to where she was pointing, a place far to the left of Haven, further down the coast. Smoke was rising from a dark spot carved out of the trees, but I could see little else. “That’s the village of Freehold: mostly escaped slaves, but more and more they’ve got sailors who’ve no other place to go. It used to be alright, but the village women tell me now it’s getting rough, like Tortuga was before Captain Black took it over.” She lowered her voice although there was no one around who could hear. “There’s a sprawling place there called ‘The End of the World’, a combination tavern and bawdy house that’s a rabbit warren of passages where men and women enter, and once in a while, never come out of again.”