Cassandra's Pirate (The Atlantis Series)

by Candace Smith

  The boy shrugged. “Buckets, Captain. I built myself a yoke and I’ve worked up to carrying four at a time.”

  There was pride in the boy’s voice, and Vincent smiled. “No, boy. I don’t see a door back here. Surely, you don’t carry them through the window.”

  “No, Captain.” Jimmy walked over to a wall and pulled back another curtain. Steps led down to an underground passage. “Mr. Mallory told me it was built a long time ago. It leads to the docks, and different captains bring us up liquor through it.”

  “Mallory’s skimming off the settlement?”

  “Just the rogues, Captain. The regular fishermen are in on it. They say the truce pirates don’t deserve the good stuff they fight for.”

  “Does that window over the table open?”

  “Yes, Captain. I dump the old water through it.” Jimmy looked at him. “Captain LeSeure, what’s going on?”

  “We’re taking the sea witch, Jimmy. We’re getting her and you out of here.”

  Jimmy slowly nodded. “You thought there was a door.” He walked to the window and opened it. Four pirates looked up at him. “Your Captain’s in here waiting on you.” He turned back to Vincent. “You really taking me too?”

  “I need someone who knows how to care for her.” The kid had a knock-about look to him, and Vincent did not want to leave him to suffer the barkeep’s wrath.

  “Is it true Mr. Dupree deserted you? Just so you know, I don’t believe it.”

  “He’s gone, Jimmy. Pascal sailed on a frigate back to Espedene with his Lady.”

  “I want to join your crew,” Jimmy blurted. “You’ve got a spot open now.”

  Vincent’s jaw dropped, and Harlan chuckled, “A pirate after me own heart.”

  “We weren’t much older when we set to sea,” Bison reminded him.

  With two of the pirates siding with him, Jimmy stood straighter. “I’m a little lean, but I’m twenty in three weeks.” He looked up at Vincent. “And I’m smart. I listen to the rogues.” He dashed to a spot on the floor and wedged up a plank of wood. Reaching to his armpit, he pulled out an old rusted cutlass with a broken tip. “I’ve been practicing almost every day.”

  Vincent laughed. “Well then, how could I turn down such an offer? What’s the best way to move her?”

  “The tank won’t fit down the passage, Captain.” Jimmy answered in a way that made Vincent feel he had considered it in the past.

  “We’ve got a tub on board, already filled with sea water.”

  “I’d wrap her legs in a wet blanket, then. It should only be a ten minute walk to the dock.” Jimmy tossed Bison a blanket. “Captain, why are you wanting my sea witch?”

  Vincent looked at the young man, and Johnny said, “Captain, he could be of use to us.”

  “It could also blow our whole plan wide open,” Vincent replied.

  “Nah, we’ve got his witch. I say we trust him.” Harlan nodded to make sure Bison agreed.

  Vincent put his hands on Jimmy’s shoulders. “You say you know the rogues. Do you know where to find them in private?”

  Jimmy gulped. “Yes, Captain. Harry Tilly is the one the rest listen to, and I always treated him good with my witch.”

  “Harry.” Vincent nodded. “Got caught slipping into a Lady’s chamber and exiled for it. When he first landed on Rogamis, he just turned his trawler into a pirating vessel and never fished.”

  “He fishes now,” Jimmy muttered. “And he’s damn pissed off about it, too. Works his ass off, and the settlers treat the pirates like shit.”

  “He’s told you this?”

  “Heck, Captain. He’s paid me to unload scavenged goods in the pirate’s private hidey-hole on the other side of the island.”

  “Jimmy, can you talk him into meeting me for a truce? Say, have him sailing with his colors covered at dawn?”

  “I’ll have to be leaving with you now and sneak onto his boat when we reach the dock. Once Mallory sees the sea witch gone, he’s going to whip me for sure.”

  “We’ll keep the sea witch safe, and you can join us when Harry meets up with us,” Vincent assured him.

  “Captain, what if Harry Tilly doesn’t believe me?”

  Vincent took his gold hoop out of his ear. “You show him this. He’ll know you couldn’t have gotten it unless I handed it to you.”

  Jimmy’s eyes were wide. “You don’t know how long I been wishing to be at sea. Mallory wouldn’t let any of the trawlers sign me on, and I couldn’t leave my witch.” He handed Vincent his cutlass. “You’ll keep it safe for me?”

  “I’ll do that. Come on. We best be going before Mallory sees my time is up.”

  Bison and Harlan carried the sea witch swinging between them. In the dimly lit cavern passage, Vincent thought he saw her wide eyes searching until they rested on Jimmy. He thumbed his forehead.

  At the dock, Jimmy dashed down four berths and climbed onto a trawler. He peeked over the railing and watched them carrying his sea witch to the vessel at the end. There was the light sound of a splash, and he smiled. He curled up by the helm and waited for Harry Tilly and his crew to return.

  The drunk on Schindler’s boat sat up at the sound of boots splashing down the end of the dock. It was dark moons, so he could not be sure, but he thought he saw two men carrying something wrapped in a blanket. Pascal waited by the railing and the liquored up man shook his head, figuring it was the whiskey flooding his mind. He decided he had better not say anything to Captain Schindler or he would hold his pay for drinking on watch.

  Vincent called softly, “Oars in, men. We need to leave Rogamis in our wake.”

  Cass stood beside him on the bow, silently watching the treacherous passage out to sea. When they were passed the reef, she walked back to sit by the sea witch. “You thought I was like her?”

  “Figured you for the newer model,” Vincent admitted. “You have to realize, it’s been a while since we’ve seen real women.”

  The mermaid’s wide eyes stared at the night sky, and slowly turned to Cass. “Do they speak?”

  “I’ve never heard one make a sound.” Vincent watched the sea witch closely. He was certain she was somehow looking at Cass.

  “That explains why the mermaids in the ocean were so curious. They kept jumping up through the waves to watch us.”

  Vincent thumbed his forehead. “Cass-lass, sea witches can’t see. They got some scenting mechanism that steers them to Espedene, but that’s all.”

  The sea witch lifted her arm out of the water, and Cass took her hand. For a while, it was just a confusing sight for the pirates, and then Vincent looked down at the sea witch’s legs. “Her fin’s melting back.”

  Cass was trying to pull her hand away. “Vincent, my arm is asleep and it’s moving up to my shoulder. Ouch… Vincent, she’s hurting me.”

  It took most of Vincent’s strength to pull Cass free, and her arm was splotched with purple and blue welts. She collapsed against Vincent. “God, I’m exhausted. It’s like she sucked all my strength.” She stared at the sea witch, who returned to gazing blankly at the sky. Her fully finned tail curled on the bottom of the tub. “That’s it. The sorcerers need something from us that men don’t have to make the sea witches. They’re sucking it from the girl babies before they are born.”

  Cass had correctly guessed the basics. The Makers discovered on the slip-streamed western world of Quiseeria that the life-force within the women, when mixed with nelam crystal, enhanced the things they could build. The uneasy realization was that it only worked with women of Earth ancestry. They knew that ancients had escaped Atlantis before they destroyed it, and they came to the terrifying conclusion that the Earth women held a piece of Atlantian power.

  “I wish I knew more about them,” Vincent seethed. The color was returning to Cass’s arm. “I don’t think the Royals know this, or they would have fed the Fifth Realm women to them.”

  Cass stared at the sea witch. “Vincent, it’s not going to take Addie long to discover this.”

>   They lay down in Vincent’s cabin, and Cass fell into an exhausted sleep almost immediately. While they were rocking out in the waters of the far side of Rogamis, Schindler had a half-drunk sailor tied to the mast while he chanced the reef in the darkness to meet up with his contact from Espedene. He had no idea what the crewman’s crazy ranting meant, but the sea witch was missing along with Vincent and the boy, so at least part of his story was true. Schindler expected the Admiral would pay him well for this information.

  All Jimmy had to do was present Vincent’s earring, and Harry Tilly sent word for all the rogue pirates to meet at their hidey-hole. Ships slowly set off, and by morning only settlers’ trawlers remained docked. No one from Rogamis was going to voice suspicions the pirates were gathering. They did not want Espedene frigates showing up in their waters.

  Schindler missing was causing further talk. Several former crewmembers gossiped how he had been meeting in secret with the Admiral. They decided when he returned to Rogamis that they might detain him in a cell for a while.

  At dawn, nine pirate ships sailed out of the fog, colors covered, with Jimmy standing on the bow of the trawler out front. Harry approached first, and when there was no report of cannon fire, the other ships sailed closer. “You wanted to talk?” Harry tossed Vincent’s earring to him.

  Vincent smiled and pulled Cass in front of him, dressed in Pascal’s clothes that did not come close to hiding her beauty. “Talk hell, Harry. I want to rouse a coup.”

  Jimmy jumped onto the Floralinda Sunset and walked back to check on his sea witch. “By the seas, Captain. How did you get her to fin?”

  “Cass healed her.” Vincent did not say more than that. He wanted to make sure the pirates were interested in his plan. “It would mean losing your welcome on Romagis.”

  Harry spat into the ocean. “Romagis and all the shanker filth on her are sinking. Vincent, there isn’t a boat here that hasn’t been searching the seas for a fortress. Sandbars are sinking quicker than last year.” Harry scanned Vincent’s crew. “Is it true, then? What Schindler’s been spouting? Pascal’s gone?”

  “He’s back on Espedene, but still loyal to us.”

  “What about his Lady?”

  “She’s loyal only to herself. Luckily, her plans sort of work in our favor.”

  “And that one?”

  Vincent smiled and gave Cass a squeeze. “She’s loyal to me.”

  Cass stepped forward. “Captain Tilly? How would you feel about pulling the plug on some of this water? Not all of it; just enough to give you dry land for your fortresses.”

  “You’ve got a way to do this?”

  “I put a fin back on your sea witch,” Cass countered.

  Several pirate crews thumbed their foreheads. There were murmurs over the water, “By the seas, she’s a sorceress.”

  Harry turned to his crew. “Back to our hidey-hole and stow the fishing gear. Let’s get a proper pirate ship back in the water.”

  The day was spent with nets and fish tanks hidden in the caves, while supplies were loaded onto vessels. The entrances were camouflaged and Captains stood on deck while the Romagis flag was lowered and pirate colors were raised. By sunset, the line of rogue pirates sailed in a scattered caravan towards Vincent’s fortress.

  “We meet on the beach at dawn,” Vincent called out.

  * * * *

  On Espedene, a combination of Addie’s manipulative greed and Schindler’s information quickly led to her downfall. She met with the Makers, but rather than using her offer of her world as a bribe, they were terrified with the thought of going to a world where their power would be minimized with so much Atlantian ancestry blood.

  They saw the woman as the same sort of threat Kera had been on Quiseeria, and had the King throw both her and Pascal into prison. Lorena and Sandra managed to use their status to visit Pascal, and through Sandra’s husband, word would get back to Vincent. “Make sure he understands the Makers do not want to go to the other world. Let him know that Cass will be in danger if they find her.”

  “What about you, Pascal?” Sandra asked.

  “Addie is safest in a cell, right now. I think the Makers are afraid to harm her and risk retribution from Cass. I don’t know what kind of power the women have, and I’m not sure they know themselves. Leave us for now, until we know Vincent’s plan.”

  Chapter VI

  “You think this will work?” Vincent looked at the leather harness locked over the sea witch’s chest.

  Jimmy grinned and ran his fingers through her floating hair. “My witch does not want to get away from me, and I think she’s lost the scent to Espedene. She has not turned her head in that direction since we left Rogamis.”

  Vincent had not even noticed she had done that. “Why would she go back to Sea Witch Island?”

  Jimmy shrugged. “It’s the only other place she’s familiar with. She’ll swim back to her own kind.”

  “I’m guessing Jimmy’s right, Vincent.” Cass looked at the rogue ships following them. “I sure hope he is.”

  They tied a strong line to the sea witch and lowered her into the water. She swam in circles, rising up out of the waves with her wide eyes staring at Jimmy. Before they could stop him he pulled off his boots and dove in after her. He straddled her back and wound a fist in her hair. She looked at him once, and then she bolted towards the horizon.

  They dipped below the surface and rolled to the top so Jimmy could catch a breath. Between manning the rigging and helm to follow, pirates punched their foreheads with their thumbs. After several hours, Harry called over, “We’re getting near the end, Vincent. Do you think the witch is deceiving us?”

  “The end?” Cass asked.

  “The end of the world. The seas rush into the abyss and shatter the ships,” Vincent said. His uneasy stare followed the mermaid.

  Cass laughed out loud until she realized he was serious. “Who told you that bullshit?”

  “It’s known the sorcerers cursed the horizon.”

  Cass smiled. “It’s a better bet they didn’t want anyone going over there to see the other side.”

  The pirates spent more time looking towards the bow, waiting for a sign of the end. By sunset, they were miles beyond anyplace they had ever sailed. They were in uncharted waters, but there was no sign of the frightening abyss they believed since they were boys in Fivertown.

  “Land, Captain,” Mudeye called down. He smiled. “And it’s every bit the size of Espedene.”

  Not only that, it was fertile soil, with plants and grass instead of the sandy ground. There were fruits and small animals to feed them, and they could be independent of the other two settlements.

  The sea witch led them to a small cave, and Cass shivered at the water tumbling from the entrance. They watched a mermaid slide down the chute. She gulped water and swam to a pool. Six other androids were motionless, lying on the sand and staring up through the water.

  “This must start at Espedene, and the Makers are sending them here and having them swim back to the Realm.”

  Cass frowned. “Rather a dramatic effect to convince the Royals they have control over the seas. For creators, they aren’t very creative.”

  Harry walked up to them. “Vincent, we sailed a ways. There’s more land, every bit as big as this slice we’re on, and just as green.”

  “We still need to figure a way to get the folks out of Fivertown.”

  Cass paced the small beach, watching the mermaids, and then her eyes rose to Vincent’s ship. “I know how to do it.”

  “What?”

  “Harry, do you have any whiskey stored on Rogamis?”

  He gave her a mock shocked expression. “Pirates and liquor, missy?”

  “When will most of the Royals be tied up in a celebration?”

  “The two day merriment for the anniversary of the Makers’ arrival,” Vincent replied. “It begins in three weeks.”

  “We do it the same way you stole Lorena’s schooner. Get the guards on the dock drunk,”
Cass said.

  “They won’t all fit on our ships, even cutting back the crews,” Harry replied.

  “I’ve got a plan for that. Harry, you wouldn’t happen to have a handmaiden dress in your stockpile, would you?” She smiled up at Vincent. “Well, you said I was a Fiver, not Royalty.”

  Jimmy stayed with his sea witch. When the tenth new mermaid settled into the pool, they swam off. His lovely witch stayed behind, resting on his lap in the pool.

  “I keep telling him she don’t feel what he’s doing,” Vincent muttered.