Dodger shrugged and gave her an impish smile, “It’s always worked before.”
“It’s a wonder, then, you’ve lived as long as you have,” she replied, and Dodger couldn’t tell if she sounded surprised or disgusted. “Besides, even if the Lady of Luck does show us her benevolent face, why should I get in a boat with you? How do I know you won’t try to ransom me, or worse?”
Dodger looked hurt that someone should think him capable of doing such a thing. He’d never do what Lord Flynn had tried to make his daughter do, nor do to anyone else what Lord Wraithbone had done to him.
“Because I won’t!” he swore vehemently. “No one should be held against their will or forced to live a life against their choosing! Now I may be no knight, but you have my sworn word I’d never do that!”
The dark-haired woman raised an eyebrow again as she noticed the change in his body language.
“Never?” she asked.
“Never!” he replied.
“You wouldn’t even ask for a reward?”
Dodger shook his head. “Well, a ‘thank you’ would be nice,” he said, turning back toward the door. “And maybe some new clothes,” he added, sniffing at his jerkin and shirt, before pressing his ear against the door. “I think these are getting a bit ripe.”
“A ‘thank you’ and some new clothes is all you’d want for saving me?” she asked incredulously as he listened at the door for any sounds of activity in the hallway. “You’d want nothing else?”
“Well, if your father could spare a horse, that’d be great, too. But only if he could spare one.”
The woman slowly walked toward him again, letting the top of the chemise fall off one of her shoulders.
“Nothing else?” she cooed, sidling up next to him and pressing her body against his.
Dodger was so engrossed in listening at the door, he barely noticed her presence beside him.
“No,” he whispered back to her distractedly as he strained his ears, trying to pick out every last sound from behind the door. “Now hush, M’lady, or we might miss our only chance to escape!”
The dark-haired woman exhaled sharply, momentarily annoyed that Dodger hadn’t noticed her obvious charms. She frowned and began to walk away from him when he suddenly grabbed her by the hand.
“Finally!” he whispered excitedly to her. “The coast is clear!”
He cracked the door opened and began to pull her through it with him.
“Wait!” she whispered back, stopping him.
Dodger turned and looked back at her, half in annoyance and half in alarm.
“You might need this,” she said, offering him a small, thin blade with a swept hilt and ringed guard. “You did say you were skilled in its use, did you not?”
Dodger took the weapon gratefully, never bothering to ask from where she’d suddenly procured it, nor why her captors had locked her in a room with such a fine weapon. Truth be told, the questions never occurred to him, and it was something which he’d soon rue not asking about. For now, he was just happy to be armed and have the favor of the Goddess of Luck.
For it did seem that the Lady of Luck was indeed smiling on them. Every time they should have been discovered by one of the crew, the dark-haired woman managed to find some obscure nook or cranny for them to hide in until the danger had passed. In short order, the duo found themselves peering out from behind a louvered door onto the main deck.
“What do you see?” the dark-haired woman whispered in Dodger’s ear.
The main deck was abuzz with activity. There were sailors everywhere, hauling on ropes or swabbing the deck or doing the dozens of other chores required of a ship at sea.
At the rails to either side of the main mast, Dodger could see the pulleys that held the dinghies he’d spotted from below deck. They were only a few yards away. If they could just make it over to one of them without being seen, he was sure they could slither over the side, drop into the boat, and hide under a tarp until nightfall. Then they could slowly lower the craft into the water and make good their escape.
The trick, of course, was making it across the deck unnoticed.
“How we supposed to do that?” whispered the dark-haired woman.
Dodger watched the crew work for a moment longer before answering. As incredulous as it may seem, he told her that it was quite possible to hide in plain sight. He had done so countless times in the city, blending into a crowd to avoid detection from the town guard or the mark he’d just robbed. The trick was to appear just like everyone else and not to draw attention to yourself.
The dark-haired woman seemed doubtful of this, but Dodger managed to convince her and they soon found themselves slowly walking across the open deck carrying some random boxes they’d come across.
They had just about made it all the way to the mainmast when the dark-haired women dropped the box she’d been carrying. It crashed to the deck with thunderous sound, and suddenly all eyes turned their direction.
“Uh oh,” she said.
Immediately Dodger tossed aside his box, drew his sword from his belt and pushed the woman protectively behind him.
“Don’t worry, M’lady!” he said as the pirates drew their own weapons and began encircling them. “I’ve had experience fighting ruffians of their kind. Now which one of you wants to be the first to die?” he yelled, summoning as much bravado as he could, while keeping his point dancing between them.
To his great surprise, the pirates didn’t attack. They just slowly continued closing ranks on them until their backs were practically up against the mast. Even then, the pirates didn’t attack.
At first, Dodger was relieved. While Lord Flynn had trained him how to fight a group of attackers, he’d never gone up against more than four opponents at once. They were surrounded now by at least twenty. It could have been more, but Dodger had stopped counting at twelve. Yet even though the pirates had them vastly outnumbered, they still held their attack.
“Odd,” Dodger said more to himself than to his companion. “I wonder why they don’t attack?”
“Perhaps, my little hero,” the woman said, “They have heard tales of your prowess with a blade and are afraid of you.”
Dodger thought about that for a second or two, completely missing the mocking tone of her voice.
“Naw,” he said, shaking his head. “That inn was too remote for word of that fight to make it all the way down here. Besides, that would mean they’d have to know who I was already. Gotta be something else.”
“Perhaps they are just awaiting word of their captain,” she suggested.
Dodger shot a glance back at her and nodded.
“Of course! That’s got to be it! Do you see her anywhere?” he asked.
The woman casually brushed back the hair on either side of her head, revealing two large pointed ears.
“Yes,” she replied.
Immediately Dodger’s eyes began scanning the crowd, looking for the infamous pirate captain.
“Where is she?” he asked.
The woman just cleared her throat.
Dodger cast another quick look back at her.
“What?” he asked sounding annoyed. “I’m trying to find the captain!”
Again his companion cleared her throat, and this time Dodger turned and gave her a long look. It took almost a full minute before comprehension slowly dawned on his face.
“You’re the Black Pearl?” he asked, flabbergasted.
“Actually, I’d prefer Mor’Findl,” she said, grinning at him. “It is my given name, after all.”
Dodger looked at her, even more confused now. “Wait, your name is Black-Hair?” he asked. “So why does everyone call you Black Pearl, then?”
“Humans,” she sighed. “They have no ear for our language. Now take him, boys!” she commanded, stepping away from Dodger and back toward her men.
Immediately, her sailors started to converge on the confused elf.
Backed against the mizzen mast, Dodger reached back and wrapped his
free hand around one of the ropes attached to it. He then raised his sword and smiled back at Mor’Findl.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Captain, but I don’t have time to play this game. Gotta fly!”
With that, Dodger slashed the rope free from its tie-down. An instant later, he was yanked up into the rigging as one of the mast’s spars came swinging down, forcing the Black Pearl and her men to jump backwards to avoid being hit by it.
The crew of the Spirit of the Sea recovered quickly and began swarming up the rigging after Dodger.
Mor’Findl watched from the deck as Dodger led her crew on a merry chase along the yardarm, sails, and ropes as he tried to avoid capture.
“Slippery eel, that one,” her first mate said to her as he stood beside her, watching the goings-on above.
Mor’Findl nodded appreciatively. “That one has potential, don’t you think?” she asked him. “Get my sword.”
The first mate rolled his eyes. He knew what she was planning on doing. “All due respect, Capt’n,” he said, “the crew will get ‘im soon enough.”
She silenced him with a look and he soon returned, carrying a black great coat adorned with silver trim and a short curved sword that had a cupped guard shaped like a skull and crossbones. She slipped on her coat, grabbed a hold of another line, took the sword, and with the flick of her wrist, shot herself up to the rigging. Soon she was standing on one side of the main mast’s highest yardarm, facing Dodger, who was balanced on the other side.
“Well done, my little hero!” she called over to him. “But it’s time to bring this little game to an end, don’t you think?”
“I can keep playing forever, Captain,” he called back.
“Oh, I doubt that. My men will eventually catch you, and I’d hate for them to have to kill you. So why don’t we end this in a civilized way?” she suggested. “A duel. Just you and me. You win, and I give you my word I’ll take you to the nearest port and let you go free. I win, and you’re mine.”
Dodger looked down into the rigging below him and across to the other masts and saw all the angry faces glaring at him, wanting his blood. The Black Pearl was right. It was only going to be a matter of time before they got him. This duel was his only chance at survival.
“You’re a pirate! How do I know you’ll keep your word?” he asked.
Mor’Findl smiled. “You don’t. But the way I see it, you really don’t have much of a choice, do you?”
Dodger considered that for a moment. She was right. So he just shrugged, then raised his sword in a salute the way Lord Flynn had taught him.
The Black Pearl smiled back at him, returning the salute with an elaborate sweep of her cutlass. Then like a dancer on her tip-toes, she gracefully closed the distance between them with a series of short leaps.
Once in striking distance of each other, they traded a series of faints and test cuts, probing each other for weaknesses.
“I ought to warn you, Captain, that I’ve been trained by the best blademaster in all the realms,” Dodger said as he continued to press his attack.
“Is that so?” she asked nonchalantly as she parried each thrust and cut. “Which one? Stealle?”
“No.”
“Kazari?” she asked, making a feint to his head, then at the last second turning it into a slashing attack to his flank.
Dodger turned aside her attack, then riposted with a cut of his own to her head. “Not even close.”
“Surely not Kirk of Blackwood?” she asked, easily evading his cut before thrusting at him again. “He’s a bit of a Troll, don’t ya think?”
“Never heard of him!” Dodger replied, stepping back so her point fell just shy of him. He beat the blade away, then made a cut for her wrist, which had become momentarily exposed. “I was trained by Lord Edward of Flynn!” he said triumphantly.
“Ah! Then that explains it!” she continued, sounding disappointed as she parried his blade at the last second, then went back on the offensive.
“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” Dodger asked, twisting his torso to avoid her attack before whirling back around with a low-line sweep in an attempt to take her legs out from under her.
Yet again the Black Pearl avoided his blade, following it up with a series of quick advancing thrusts aimed at driving him back off the yardarm they were on.
“You fight like such a man! Thrust, thrust, thrust! All you want to do is stick your point in! There’s no style, no finesse,” she said, taking his blade in a series of circular motions and forcing him to retreat. “A woman likes a little foreplay, you know!”
“And your point is?” Dodger asked, disentangling his blade from hers and made a renewed series of attacks, attempting to push her back and put more space between himself and the end of the yardarm he was now perilously close to being pushed over. “Or you think a little insult like that will take me off my guard?”
“I see witty ripostes aren’t your forte,” she added, ceding ground in an almost casual manner. “In fact, they are kind of lamé.”
“No offense, captain, but so was that one!” he said as they exchanged blows again.
“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve been told my repartée is usually a cut above the rest!” Mor’Findl said, beating hard on his blade, driving his point way off target, and brought the tip of her own weapon up under Dodger’s chin.
Dodger gulped and glanced down at the curved blade threatening his neck.
Well, I have to admit, your humor does seem to have an edge to it,” he shrugged. Then quick as a flash, he beat away the Black Pearl’s blade and went back on the offense.
“Yes, it does,” she agreed, “But you know what else you’ll learn about me?”
Dodger shook his head no as he attempted another series of moves to drive her back toward her end of the yardarm.
The Black Pearl flashed him one of her thousand-candle-smiles. “You’ll find that I can be very disarming!”
With that, the lovely pirate captain quickly stepped in, grabbed the back of his head with her left hand, pulled his face toward her and gave him a passionate kiss.
By the time Dodger had recovered from the surprise—not to mention his breath—Mor’Findl was holding both his sword and her own in a V about his neck.
“Wha… that’s… that’s… That’s cheating!” he sputtered.
The Black Pearl gave him another one of her sultry smiles and all his anger at her quickly evaporated.
“Pirate!” she giggled, then nodded to some of her crew, who’d been watching the fight from the surrounding rigging.
“Take ‘im, boys,” she commanded, and they did.
If Dodger had been expecting them to clap him back in irons and lock him in the bilge, then he couldn’t have been more surprised to find himself taken to the Black Pearl’s cabin and tied to a comfortable chair.
“You going to torture me?” he asked her when she finally entered her cabin. “Because I won’t tell you anything! Nor will I give you the pleasure of hearing me scream!”
Mor’Findl unbuckled her sword belt and placed it on a nearby table. Then she slowly removed her great coat and hung it on a peg jutting out from the wall.
“Oh?” she said raising a delicately arched eyebrow as she sauntered over to him. “We’ll just see about that. I have ways of loosening men’s tongues,” she added, sitting down in his lap. “As for making you scream… I think I can manage that, too.” Then she kissed him.
Dodger felt like his head was spinning, and he wasn’t sure how long her mouth had been pressed against his. It could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours. He didn’t care. He liked it, even though he knew he shouldn’t have, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize that she’d stopped kissing him.
“Well?” she asked, looking at him with that same sultry smile that was filled with smoldering desire. “Ready to talk yet?”
It took all of Dodger’s concentration to even form a coherent thought, let alone speak, but somehow he managed it.
; “It’s… um… going… to um… take a lot more that that to… um… get me to… um speak,” he said trying to sound brave. “Do your worst!”
The Black Pearl’s smile grew wider. Dodger’s head began to swim again and he felt like he was being submerged in a warm bath and drowned by the power of her spell, but he didn’t care.
“As you wish,” she said obligingly, then ripped his shirt open and slowly began massaging his chest while kissing him again.
Dodger could never recall how he’d gotten out of that chair and into the Black Pearl’s bed. Nor would he ever say exactly what happened when they got there, other than to quip that it was a life-changing experience and something he’d never forget.
Mor’Findl was quite the experienced courtesan and lover, and there is little doubt that Donatello owed much of his legendary prowess with the fairer sex to his experiences with her.
“See, I told you I would make you scream,” the Black Pearl told him when they’d finally sated their desire. She was lying on top of him, her fingers tracing a random pattern on his smooth, hairless chest.
Dodger was on his back, still trying to catch his breath from their extended bout of lovemaking, his hand running up and down the small of her back and below. Part of him knew it was wrong to have done what he’d done with this woman, when his true love was in the clutches of some evil priest-magi, but the spell the Black Pearl cast on him made it hard to care.
“Several times, in fact,” he said, unable to resist returning her smile.
Her grin grew wider. “Eight times, I believe,” she said. “But who’s counting?”
Dodger blushed, and the pirate captain’s giggle sounded like water rushing over some pebbles in a stream.
“So, my Little Hero, why so anxious to escape? And why did you not ask for more than some new clothes and a horse as reward for ‘rescuing’ me?”
“Because it’s not money that I desire,” he said, “it’s revenge.”
Mor’Findl propped herself up on her elbow so she could get a better look at him, her interest clearly piqued.
“And just who, pray tell, is this walking dead man?”
Tales From Thac Page 20