by David Talon
Master Le’Vass inclined his head towards Master Walters as the crew quieted. “What is this proposal William wishes to present to us?”
“Tommy will not say. But he did tell me that every member of the crew who attends the parley will leave with a bag of gold Reales, which is not to go into the common pot but is designated for each person alone” Speculative muttering swept the crew as Jade added, “He also said any woman you bring will be draped in gold as well.”
Men were already asking to be included as the captain folded his arms over his chest. “Is that all?”
“Tommy has a personal request: he wishes to see Pepper again.”
Pepper’s eyes had gone wide. “Jade, does this Tommy have a blue star tattooed on his left hand?”
“He made it a point to make sure I saw it.”
“Kyrie eleyson,” Pepper gasped, “I know who he is.” She turned towards the captain. “Tommy was the ship’s carpenter aboard the Black Rose. I thought he died when Captain Cholula and her men stormed her.” She turned pale as a fearful expression stole across her face.
Redbeard came up behind her and covered her shoulder with his hand. “Lass, you nae have to see him again.”
Pepper closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. “Cholula always told me I had to face my fears if I wanted to conqueror them. But...I don’t know if I can.”
I clasped her hand and she reopened her eyes as I spoke. “I’ll stay right beside you the whole time...if the captain lets me,” I added as he looked my direction.
“There nae be any power on earth stopping me from being beside you as well,” Redbeard growled.
Pepper took another deep breath as she nodded. “Then I’ll meet with him.”
“Harry,” Mr. Smith said quietly in his deep rumble, “you do realize this is a trap. Bill’s trying to separate you from the ship for some reason.”
“William has no reason to,” Captain Hawkins said, equally quiet. “Maccabee, these are renegades, not Olde Roger’s creatures, and besides, William’s no ordinary Shadowman.” Muttering had begun again among the crew, but it ceased as the captain raised his voice. “I mean to question this Tommy before I decide whether to go or stay, and any proposal William makes will have to be voted on by the crew. But I’m sure William understands that. Now, if I decide to go I want to leave straightaway, so I need to decide who will accompany me.” He gave a sly smile as he looked at me. “Tomas will come with me so we have use of his dragon-ghosts, but as my apprentice doesn’t count towards the total of six crew members I can bring. Dava will come with me,” he looked at Master Le’Vass, “ and Jean, I would ask you to come with me as well.”
Standing among the French sharpshooters, Claude said, “We cannot have both captain and quartermaster leave ze ship. I will take his place.”
“Neither of us should go,” Master Le’Vass replied, turning towards the captain as he added, “although I am...honored, monsieur, that you have asked me.”
“Claude,” Captain Hawkins said, “I’d be honored if you came along. I’m not blind to the dangers, and I don’t plan to go in unarmed, relying on a Shadowman’s goodwill, no matter how dear a friend he once was to me. You’re the best shot on the Davy, and I’ll feel a lot better if you’re with us.”
Claude gave the captain a courteous half-bow. “Then I shall come along. I will also bring Panther, who is already a fair shot herself, so we will have another fighter.”
“And I’ll bring Maria,” Jeremiah said. “She’s got a good eye with a pistol and she’s not afraid of anything; I’ll swear to that.”
The captain asked, “Did I say you were coming?”
Jeremiah stared defiantly back. “If Tomas goes then I go as well,” Jeremiah glancing at me as he added, “Someone’s got to keep him from jumping head-first into a golem’s mouth.”
Captain Hawkins made a concessionary wave of his hand as Pepper said, “I suppose the gold’s incidental.”
“Gilt on the gingerbread,” Jeremiah shot back.
The Mulatto stepped out from his men. “Gold’s the only incentive I need. If trouble comes calling, you’ll need the best fighter aboard the Davy at your side.”
Master Le’Vass hooked his thumbs on the sash around his waist. “I would contest ze title of best fighter, monsieur.”
“Any time you wish to contest it,” the Mulatto said with a hungry smile, “I’m prepared.”
“Enough,” Captain Hawkins growled. “We need one more.”
“Whistling John will accompany me,” the Mulatto said with a crafty look on his face. “His punishment for his sins against me will be to use his bag of gold Reales to buy drinks for the crew until the money runs out.”
Master Le’Vass began, “If you think bribing ze crew will let you get away with whatever you have planned for John, I...”
“I’ll do it,” Whistling John called out, his fearful look turning into a fierce mask. “Let the red-eyed bastards try anything and they’ll get a taste of my Artifact blade.” His fierce mask slipped as he turned to the captain. “We’re going in with Artifacts, ain’t we?”
“Blades and pistols both,” the captain replied.
“Then the Mulatto spoke true: I’ll throw a party with Shadowman gold that’ll last until the Reales run out.”
The crew gave a cheer and Whistling John seemed delighted at the good-natured catcalls he began receiving as Jeremiah hissed, “Captain, why do you trust the Mulatto over Mr. Smith?”
Captain Hawkins put his head near ours. “Because I want the Davy here when we get back.” Jeremiah and I both glanced at Mr. Smith, who nodded as the captain turned towards the crew and raised his voice. “All those going ashore with me: clean yourselves up and wear the best clothes you own or can find in the ship’s stores. Mr. Smith will issue you the best fighting kit we have.” He gave the crew a sardonic smile. “If William wants to pay us gold to listen to him, the least we can do is pay heed to his messenger.”
The sun was hanging low in the sky when we got off the dugout canoes Haven had lent us and stepped onto the beach. All the men except Redbeard were wearing ruffled shirts and gentlemen’s trousers, though most of us were still barefoot, the captain in his blue coat and wearing boots. Redbeard had on a pair of dark blue plaid trousers of a material he called tartan, and no shirt, saying the bushy hair upon his chest served as shirt enough. He did wear pair of leather baldrics in an X, with an Artifact great-axe slung across his back, double-headed with the end of each blade carved to a wicked looking point. The Mulatto and Whistling John had Artifact cutlasses as did Claude and Jeremiah, though they both carried several Artifact pistols tucked into the sashes around their waists. Maria, walking arm in arm with Jeremiah, had several more Artifact pistols tucked into my old leather travel bag, along with the little manikin, inhabited by Star, while Panther openly carried a pair of Artifact pistols as well. Despite my protests, all I was allowed was an Artifact knife.
Pepper had cryptically told the women the more flesh they showed the better, so Maria had dressed in a French dress a noblewoman would wear, with her shoulders bare and bosom pushed up. Panther had bound her breasts in green cloth and wore a short skirt that flapped in the cool breeze blowing at our backs as we walked across the beach towards the stand of trees the Shadowman had found shade under, the sand giving way to hard packed earth and grass as we approached. The Shadowman stepped out with his wide brimmed hat pulled low over his face. “Captain Hawkins,” he said as he touched two fingers to the brim in a gesture of respect, “the elegance you’re showing will be appreciated as much by my brothers as it is by me.” His gaze travelled to the Artifact weapons we carried. “However, it truly wasn’t necessary to bring along every Artifact weapon you own.”
“We’re actually on the way to arming the entire crew with these,” Captain Hawkins replied, “and while I trust your assurances of our safety, the times are dangerous.” He gave the Shadowman a hard smi
le. “I hear there are pirates about.”
Tommy appeared to be in his mid-twenties, his face boyish and clean shaven. “Yes,” he said with a chuckle, “I’ve heard the same. But be as you wish: Bill has pulled all of our brothers back to the ship, so there will be no misunderstandings, and had every one of us, including me, give our sworn word not to offer any of your crew members violence while their feet stand upon the island of Big Bluff.”
Pepper stepped out from behind Redbeard, dressed in the same ruffled shirt and gentleman’s trousers I was. “Does that include me? Because if you try taking me back, Redbeard’s going to cleave you from the top of your skull to your breastbone.”
The Shadowman’s pale face lit up in delight. “Pepper, you look well. I promise you I’m not here to take you back, only to see my favorite pet once again.”
I blurted out, “Pet?”
Captain Hawkins gave me a look ordering my tongue to be still as the Shadowman turned his red-eyed gaze on me and smiled. “Tomas, well met again. I doubt you remember me, but before my transformation you used to sell me hangover cures in St. Augustine. Now, of course, I have no need for them, since the wine flowing in the veins of men gives us no ill effects. As for Pepper,” he went on as he looked at her, “she was my favorite above all the pets Captain Scab kept when I served Olde Roger aboard the Black Rose. I know at times it was difficult for you,” he said to her, “but you’ve got to admit not only did I treat you with courtesy, but I kept you from the worst of Scab’s temper.”
“Not out of the kindness of your heart,” Pepper shot back, “if any of you even have one. Anyway, why aren’t you dead? I thought all of Scab’s crew went with him to hell when the crew of the Sea Witch stormed your ship.”
He motioned towards the forest behind him. “Come with us and I’ll tell you.”
Captain Hawkins growled, “I’ve yet to decide if we’re going or not.”
“Of course,” the Shadowman replied, reaching into a leather pouch at his belt. He pulled out several Spanish gold coins, shiny as if they’d been polished, and began tossing one to each of the men. “Perhaps this will whet your appetite for the gold waiting for each of you.” He went to toss me a gold coin as well, but then stopped. “The captain’s apprentice isn’t a member of the crew, so your share goes to the captain instead.” He tossed the last two gold coins to the captain then pulled out three thick gold chains. “These are for the ladies, if their men wouldn’t mind fastening them in place.”
Jeremiah and Claude warily took the gold chains from the Shadowman’s pale hand, Jeremiah holding up his for me to see. The links of the chain were as shiny as the coins had been and looked as solid, as Jeremiah fastened it around Maria’s neck. She seemed delighted with the gift as did Panther, though I noticed the African woman was still giving the Shadowman wary looks as he held out the last gold chain to me. “As her soon to be betrothed, it’s only fitting you be the one to place it on her neck.”
Redbeard put out an arm as stout as a small tree trunk in front of me. “Pepper be nae going with us, so put your pretty bauble away.”
Pepper put her hand on his wrist. “Dava, I’m going too.”
“Lass, I nae think it’s a good idea.”
“I know,” she said before he could continue, “but I’ve got to do this. Cholula was right: if I don’t do this my fears will own my soul, and I don’t want to be afraid anymore. Besides,” she added with a smile, “I don’t have any kind of dowry to speak of, and I’ve got to do something.”
“Lass,” he said with an exasperated grunt, “your dowry may be the death of you.” Redbeard glared at me. “She be your betrothed: talk some sense into her.”
Before I could just that, Pepper put her hand over my mouth. “Remember what you said on the aqueduct? If we fall, we fall together.” I made the same exasperated grunt Redbeard had and Pepper giggled as she took her hand away. “I told you I get my way most of the time.”
Tommy extended his hand and I took the chain as Redbeard put his hand on the haft of his double-bladed axe still strapped to his back. “I be knowing a Shadowman can’t lie, but you be tricksy none the less. If aught happens to Pepper...”
“None of us will try to make her a pet again,” he said as Pepper undid the top three buttons of her ruffled shirt so the gold touched bare skin as I fastened the chain around her neck, “nor will the Dark Sisters attempt to claim her. You have my solemn word of honor.”
Jeremiah had a look on his face as if he smelled something rotten. “How did you know Tomas and Pepper were to be betrothed?”
The Shadowman motioned towards the forest again. “Once we’re on the grey road, anything you ask will be answered, save one thing: the proposal Bill wants to lay out on the table. So Captain Hawkins, what say you?”
“The sooner there the sooner back,” Captain Hawkins replied. “I have questions I need William to answer, so lead on.”
The Shadowman touched the brim of his hat then turned and led us towards the trees. We fell into line, the captain motioning for me to walk beside him as Redbeard waited for the rest of us to pass so he could cover the rear. I looked back. All of the crew seemed to be on deck watching us leave, Mr. Smith standing at the bow with his massive arms folded and Master Khan in his grey robes beside him like a shadow, while the rest were fanned out along the deck rail or up in the ratlines.
Pepper motioned for me to turn around in time to keep me from stumbling over a fallen log, and I kept my eyes looking forward as we reached the forest and plunged inside. The air became cooler as our eyes adjusted to the gathering darkness beneath the trees, but at once we became the targets of stinging insects, all of us slapping at our arms and necks except for the Shadowman, who seemed unaffected. Ahead of us I could see the beginnings of a road, made up of grey pavers leading away into the approaching dusk. My bare feet went from feeling earth and crackling twigs to stone...and the whining in my ear went away as we left the insects behind.
At the captain’s request I had Star create two strands of bright-fire, which she wrapped around a pair of fallen tree branches Panther had found, the African woman holding one while Whistling John took the other. Captain Hawkins then said to the Shadowman, “You said once we were on the road you’d start answering questions. Begin with this: how did you discover the knowledge of Tomas’s betrothal to Pepper?”
The bright-fire torches threw strange shadows across the pale man’s face. “You have a spy in Haven.” Several voices snarled in anger and Tommy gave an apologetic shrug. “I don’t recall her name, but I can tell you she’s a skinny thing with a broken nose...which was neither my doing nor my brother’s, I assure you. Bill gave her a choice to either spy upon you or have her younger brother made into one of my brothers, so she chose to put her life in danger over his. Bill can give you her name, if you wish.”
The Mulatto growled, “How do we know we can trust your word? For all I know, it could be their shaman, or someone else.”
“The shaman is a spy, but not for us...or how do you think the Black Goat learned you were transmuting Artifact cannons?” At the incredulous looks we gave him the Shadowman shrugged again. “Olde Roger bred us to be gentlemen, which means we are incapable of neither telling a lie nor doing violence to another one of our brothers.” He gave us a sly smile. “That’s why there’s a colony of renegades here and not a smoking pile of corpses. Do you want to know how the transformation from human to one of my brothers occurs? I’ll tell you, if you wish.”
“Captain, this has to be a trick,” Pepper said, giving the Shadowman a suspicious look. “Scab and the other captains kept it secret from the mortals aboard ship. They would take a mortal man into the captain’s cabin, and when he came out he’d be on his way to becoming one of them.”
“We kept it secret because Olde Roger wanted the knowledge kept secret...but we no longer care what Olde Roger wants. The captain takes a very small measure of his blood, mixes it with an equ
al part of alcohol, usually rum since it’s handy, and then coats a slender, pointed object with it and stabs the mortal deep in the chest while the mixture’s still fresh. Most of the captain’s carry a pointed wand of transmuted human bone to carry out the transformation, but any pointed object would do.” He smiled. “I suppose you could coat a dagger and stab someone with it, but that lacks a certain amount of elegance.”
Captain Hawkins asked, “Why the captain? Is it because it’s his responsibility?”
“Actually, he does it to have control over the brothers he creates. When Scab transformed me, his blood made me eager to do his will. Olde Roger, in turn, uses his blood to further transform the captains, making them tougher, harder to kill, as well as eager to please him.”
“But Scab was never transformed,” Pepper said. “He used to complain about it right before he went into battle”
The Shadowman chuckled as if Pepper had made a jest. “Dear Olde Scab; was there ever a brother of ours more bitter? The truth is Olde Roger would’ve done it when the captains had their great gathering, which Olde Roger does every few years, but Captain Cholula put an end to him before Scab could be transformed. A lucky thing for me, because the moment Captain Cholula had her mercenary chop off his head, my loyalty to the cause vanished and I was able to escape.” He chuckled again. “I wasn’t the only one, of course, but Captain Cholula didn’t realize we were clinging to the Black Rose below the waterline. When she set the ship on fire and left, we put it out and made our way here.”
“So kill ze captain,” Claude remarked, “and ze rest of his men desert?”
“You’ve got to kill him first. We were loyal to Scab, but had Olde Roger transformed him, we’d have been fanatically loyal and would’ve fought to the last man to save him.”
“As Shadowmen normally do,” Captain Hawkins said, looking at the Shadowman as if he was a puzzle to be solved. “I assume you’re giving me this knowledge to show your good faith?”