by David Talon
“Because you’ll care once it’s gone,” I shot back, my eyes meeting Thomas Tew’s. “The mummer’s fairs you once enjoyed will be gone, swept away by legions of Shadowmen. You’ll never dance the Courante again,” my gaze meeting the eyes of Master Le’Vass, “because there’ll be no one left who knows it. Anjou will be gone, Paris will burn, London,” my gaze finding the Mulatto’s, “will be a ruin, the kingdom of rats and shadows. You’ll never have revenge on those who wronged you, never force them to see you as a man and not an escaped slave, an animal...because Olde Roger will have made you one.”
“Tomas is right,” Jeremiah said, adding with a grin, “even if he’s acting according to his true nature...again.” I gave my friend an embarrassed shrug and he nodded, anger returning to Jeremiah’s face as he spoke to the crew. “Yet still Tomas has the right of it. I refuse to let Olde Roger’s creatures hunt me down like a beast and I refuse to become one as he wants.” Jeremiah held up both fists with his wrists together. “My brothers, do you remember when they shackled us like this, treating us like animals?” I saw many of the Africans nodding as Jeremiah pulled his hands away and let them fall to his sides. “We broke those chains and swore we’d rather live one day as a free man than a hundred years as a slave. So if I am to die this day, I’ll do it on my feet with a cutlass in my hand.” He thrust his fist into the air. “Hoist the Jollie Rouge!”
“Hoist the Jollie Rouge,” Mr. Smith’s rumbling voice called out. Everyone looked at him with a shocked expression, especially Captain Hawkins, and the large African smiled. “If we live beyond this day, Tomas, I shall tell you the story of how Sir Francis Drake rescued a young boy off a Shadowman’s ship and made him a free man.” Then his voice became sly. “Tell me something, those of you thinking of taking Olde Roger’s offer, in all the talk of reaving did he ever once mention the word gold?” I heard angry muttering and catcalls about Olde Roger as Mr. Smith nodded. “When you deal with Shadowmen, you have to consider what they don’t say as well as what they do. Why do you think he didn’t mention it?”
Master Walters bellowed, “Because the poxy bastard’s going to give it all to his Shadowmen. Well I say bugger that: hoist the Jollie Rouge!”
“Have you all lost your bloody wits?” Black-leg Bart called out. “We don’t stand a chance against Thorne and besides, who cares if we don’t ever see bloody mummer shows again or dance the absurd way they do in France?”
“I do,” Claude called out, “and I say: hoist ze Jollie Rouge!”
Bart shot back, “You haven’t enough Artifact weapons.”
“Perhaps not,” Jade’s voice said from above me, “but you do have Artifact golems. I cannot risk drawing more from Tomas, but I can use the dragon-golem for a time.”
A strange woman’s voice spoke from beside me. “I have strength enough to fight until my golem’s destroyed. Cholula said to keep Tomas alive, and as long as he’s in the thick of the fighting I’ll be fighting alongside him.” The little ones chimed in their support as well, making me smile.
Black-leg Bart turned towards Redbeard, exasperation clear in his voice as he said, “How about talking some sense into these fools?”
Redbeard slowly nodded. “Aye, the very idea of taking on Olde Roger be daft, for even if we be winning this battle he will nae stop until either we be dead or he is.” Suddenly, he grinned. “The very idea of taking on a galleon full of Shadowmen be daft...but the times be daft as well. So there be only one good response.” Redbeard raised his double-bladed axe over his head and roared, “I be saying we shove the Jollie Rouge so far down Olde Roger’s throat it be coming out his arse. Hoist the Jollie Rouge!”
Most of the crew roared it back at him before Pepper’s voice shouted, “Hoist the Jollie Rouge!” Those in front of her quickly got out of her way as she and Master Khan came striding up. I thought it odd Master Khan was walking so well, but it was an idle thought for I only had eyes for Pepper. She was clearly naked under the grey-bone armor, which covered her ankle to wrist, the plates protecting her like a coat of plates with a chainmail coif with only her face exposed. She moved to a spot where everyone could see her. “Master Khan told me if I do this, no one will ever look at me the same way again. Well, I don’t care,” her gaze turning towards me, “so long as Tomas sees me the way I am.”
“I always will,” I said as I knelt down, my finger gripping the edge of the table. “If we fall...”
“We fall together,” she finished with me. Then Pepper closed her eyes. “Smoke...Secundus!”
The skin under Pepper’s armor began to ripple as her flesh flowed like water, her mouth open in a silent scream as the grey-bone armor settled on her like a second skin, the crew gaping and shouting comments until Master Walters bellowed at them to be quiet. Then Pepper closed her mouth as she opened her eyes. Her skin had an odd, plate-like appearance while her red hair was gone, replaced by the rings now covering her head, but Pepper’s face was unchanged as she strode up to me with a grin on her face. “You look like a warrior queen,” I blurted out.
Pepper laughed as she stopped in front of me. “Your warrior queen, swamp-rat,” she said as she gripped me by the shoulders and we fiercely kissed, her own shoulders hard as stone as our tongues lashed together a moment before she broke away.
“I think the armor’s going to be a bit of a problem on your betrothal night,” Jeremiah remarked. Pepper laughed again and, to Jeremiah’s obvious surprise, hugged him. “Bloody bones, this is like getting embraced by a tree. What’s gotten into you?”
“Smoke,” Pepper answered as I sat on the edge of the table with my legs dangling off the edge. She moved until her back was pressed against my chest, taking my hands and wrapping them firmly around her waist as she raised her voice. “Khan, it’s your turn.”
Master Khan had been watching us with the rest of the crew, the smile upon his mouth the only part of his ruined face visible under the cowl. But now he moved to a place where the crew could watch him, put both hands to the edges of the hood and yanked it off. I gasped as the crew reacted as they had with Pepper, who giggled at our reactions, for Master Khan had changed. The scar tissue on his head was gone, his skull hairless but normal looking, yet strangest of all were his eyes. Master Khan had somehow grown them back. “Long ago, before most of you were born, I was to serve as a Son of Tengri to Long-Mu, as our people have done for many hundreds of years, serving those of the Chinese dynasty. But I fled from my charge, taking ship with Francis Drake when he came through Chinese waters, and Long-Mu let me go. It was within her power to have me hunted down and killed, but for some reason she did not. Long has this disgrace haunted me, but now I finally understand.”
Master Khan let his grey robes fall. He had the body of a young man now, wearing only leather trousers and the painted vest I’d seen back in his travel chest, his strong arms and chest bare as the skin on his head. The crew’s shock was now total, including the captain, who shook his head as he stared. “Khan...I don’t know what to say.”
Master Khan folded his arms over his chest in the same manner the captain did. “Say you will join us, yes? I have not heard that from you yet.”
“Not until I’ve heard the thoughts of the crew,” Captain Hawkins turning towards Master Le’Vass. “Jean, will you fight with us?”
“I will fight for Tomas,” Master Le’Vass emphasizing my name, “as far as Tortuga. I cannot take my rightful place in ze court of Anjou if it does not exist, but I will do it my own way.”
“France and all ze rest of the world can be swept away,” Lucas said, the other Buccan agreeing with him as he stared at me, “but we will fight to hold Hispaniola and our way of life. Tortuga and no farther.”
The Mulatto stepped out from his men. “Captain Hawkins, Olde Roger had the right of it, but only in part. I wish to see blood...Shadowman blood. I want to see buckets of it, rivers of black running down the deck of my ship, and enough gold for all of us to give me the re
venge Tomas spoke of. I will reave Shadowman ships and rape their whores until the day we make Olde Roger choke on his own blood.” He looked at me. “I will fight with you until Tortuga, and then we’ll see where things stand.”
Black-leg Bart yelled, “Just what are you going to reave them with? Steel? You might as well use those grey-wood play weapons for all the good it’ll do you.” He looked around. “Any of you lads who think this is a Fool’s folly join up with me right now, and we’ll head back to Big Bluff.” Some of the men slunk away to join Bart as the rest of the crew catcalled them cowards, Black-leg Bart turning towards Thomas Tew. “Don’t tell me you’re staying.”
Thomas merely shrugged. “I told you we wouldn’t hang.”
Black-leg Bart made a disgusted sound as he turned and walked towards the stairs, followed by the few who’d decided to join him. “I thought you had better sense,” he snarled over his shoulder. “Mark my words: you’ll regret you ever joined up with this mummer’s farce.”
“A world without mummers is a world without magic,” Thomas called back as Bart and the men with him reached the stairs and climbed up, “and you’ll regret you ever gave it up when the magic’s gone.”
“I keep saying there’s no such thing as magic,” Hob’s thin, reedy voice said from behind me, “but no one ever listens.”
I let go of Pepper as all of us turned around to look. Hob was sitting on a wooden chest dripping black water, and as the stench hit us Pepper wrinkled her nose. “Hob, what did you do, bring that up from the bilge?”
Hob gave her a grin of pointed teeth. “Yes I did, as a matter of fact. Something I’ve been saving for a rainy day.”
Those of us closest to the chest crowded around it as those behind us called out to ask what was in the chest as Hob flipped open the lid. Inside were cutlasses, boarding axes and long knives, once made of wood but now fastened into weapons that gleamed with a grey, metallic shine. My eyes went wide as portholes. “Are these Artifacts?”
“Better,” Hob replied in a satisfied voice, “because they won’t shatter like dragon-ghost Artifacts do. It took me months of labor to create each one, but I’ve had a lot of time on my hands these last sixteen or so years.”
Captain Hawkins gave him a hard stare. “Hob, you’ve been able to make weapons like these and you never thought to tell me?”
“These are not for you,” Hob replied, his eyes hard and cold as black diamonds as he stared up at the captain. “You don’t understand, do you? Long-Mu isn’t just the ghost of the Blackjack Davy; Long-Mu is the Blackjack Davy, and you’ve been acting as caretaker until the day her son takes command.”
“What!” I stared at the goblin in horror. “Hob, I know you’re having another one of your jests, so stop it right now.”
“No jest,” Hob replied, grinning at me in wicked delight. “The will of your true-mother is clear. Oh, I agree you don’t have the experience you need, but don’t worry...you’ll figure it out.”
“I have a better suggestion,” Jade’s voice said from beside me. “Captain Hawkins has resigned as ship’s captain, but were the crew to vote him as acting captain until the ship reaches Tortuga, which the captain shall Dragon-swear to be the next port of call, all of us would have a far greater chance of winning the battle to come.”
Captain Hawkins asked, “What happens when we reach Tortuga?”
“What will be...will be. But I can tell you this, Harry Hawkins: if it is your true desire, Long-Mu will finally let you go.”
The captain seemed to sag for a moment as Mr. Smith called out, “I vote for Harry Hawkins to be our captain until the ship reaches Tortuga.”
“I second ze motion,” Master Le’Vass said. Captain Hawkins drew himself together, looking in surprise at the Frenchman who merely nodded. “I will see you punished one day for ze things you have done, Mon captain, but you are still ze best battle commander among us.”
“I third it,” I called out.
Pepper giggled, which I decided was strange coming from someone who resembled a statue come to life. “You don’t third motions, you call for a vote.”
“Oh,” I said as my face turned red while the men around me chuckled. “Then all in favor of Harry Hawkins to act as captain until we reach Tortuga raise your hands.” The hands of the entire crew went up along with mine.
Captain Hawkins looked around as he slowly nodded. “This is going to be a hard fight no matter what, and if we lose the element of surprise we’ll lose the battle. Am I clear?” Everyone said aye and stepping over to the chest pulled out a cutlass and a long knife, which he set down on the deck where the crew could see it. “Alright, the galleon and the Davy...and it should be obvious which is which.” A chuckle swept through the crew as he continued. “So, this is what we shall do...”
The galleon of the Shadowmen waited for us on the edge of the storm. As Jade, inhabiting the dragon-golem, had pushed us off the sand into deeper water and slipped into the water herself, storm clouds had begun moving in from the west. The wind was against us, so the tails of the mermaid airgolems were pumping hard as they moved the Davy at an angle towards the other ship. I glanced up at them as I fretted over how long they’d last. Then Redbeard put a hand as enormous as a bear’s paw on my shoulder. “I be knowing that look, seeing it on Harry’s face a time or two.”
We were standing in the bow with Jeremiah and Pepper, Master Le’Vass standing at the very tip of the bow next to Mr. Smith, who carried a long, Artifact axe in his hands, with a sharp blade on one side and the handle intricately carved before it had been transmuted. “The air-golems won’t last much longer,” I said as the galleon steadily drew closer. “My little ones will make more, but they’re going to be small. Besides, they had so much fun exploding grenadoes they’ll probably search for more rather than help us on deck, where we’ll need them. I should’ve thought of that when I gave them their orders.”
From beside me, Pepper said, “Swamp-rat, you can’t think of everything.”
“Grenadoes will only be a problem for us when we board,” Mr. Smith said in his rumbling voice. “Shadowmen normally use only two or three to break up an attack so they can board themselves. These are proper gentlemen monsters and they’ll want to kill us hand to hand, if possible.”
“I can’t wait to go at them claw to hand,” Pepper said.
“Lass,” Redbeard exclaimed in exasperation, “you nae be taking this serious enough.”
“And you’re worrying as much as Tomas. Khan told me torn flesh cannot be shape-changed, only shape-changed around, but they’ll have to get through the armor first.” Redbeard glared at her and she added, “Relax, Da, I’ll be fine.”
“Da?”
“Well you might as well be, the way you carry on.” Jeremiah and I shared a look and chuckled, stilling our laughter the moment Redbeard turned his glare on us.
The Mr. Smith said, “Tomas, the captain’s signaling it’s time.”
My heart began pounding in my chest as I said, “Jade, disable their ship.” She’d left a small piece of herself with me so she could hear, and as the Davy made a hard turn to starboard, the wind beginning to fill her sails as we changed direction, a loud thump came from the galleon. The Black Narwhale had been turning to match us as Captain Thorne waited for just the right moment to fire his cannons, but now she stopped and began to drift. “That’s done it,” I called out as from across the water I heard Captain Thorne yell for his engineers to go below. “Jade, we’re going in.”
Suddenly Mr. Smith yelled, “We’re in range of her guns: all hands down!”
I dropped to the deck with everyone else as Captain Thorne yelled for his gunners to fire at will. Lightning streaked across the sky as thunder rumbled a moment later, and the Narwhale’s bronze cannons roared in answer. Most of the rounds screamed behind us as they passed, but the Davy shuddered as a cannonball struck the starboard side of the stern. One of the Buccan still standing sudd
enly disintegrated in a gout of blood, Redbeard, who was also looking back, remarking, “Chainshot be a nasty business, lad.”
The ship made another hard turn then straightened out so we were sailing right at them, bow to bow, everyone rising to their feet as from the captain’s deck Captain Hawkins made a gesture at Mr. Smith, who said quietly, “Gun crews forward.”
The gun carriages made a rumbling sound of their own as Claude led his crews forward. More of the men lined the deck rails of the Davy, both in anticipation of the fight and to hide what we were doing from Captain Thorne, or so we hoped. Claude got the five small Artifact cannons lined up, adjusting the elevation as the crew catcalled the rapidly approaching galleon. “We will only get one shot,” Claude remarked to his crews as he adjusted the last one, “so make it count.”
Suddenly Master Le’Vass yelled, “Ze harpy is in ze air!”
“Victoria’s mine,” Pepper yelled, kissing me fast then running towards the port side of the ship. I knew what she was about to do but took a step as if to follow, Redbeard holding out an arm thick as a tree branch to stop me. But the worry on his face was an echo of my own.
Several Buccan armed with Artifact muskets were among the crew lining the deck rail, and they took aim at the winged figure approaching us. Two of them fired and missed, the harpy screaming in rage as she began twisting in a crazy, looping flight to avoid being shot. Pepper screamed herself as she leaped over the side. More of the Buccan fired as the first two knelt down to reload, while Pepper’s long wail suddenly changed.
A moment later a large grey eagle rose into the air over the bowsprit. Claude yelled at the Buccan to cease fire as the eagle headed for the harpy, who screamed again as she swooped towards the eagle, raking her with sharp claws as she passed. It was clear the harpy had the advantage of speed as the eagle led her back towards the galleon, the eagle flapping her wings hard to gain altitude as the harpy closed in on her again.