“He was buying Mommy a hat.” Her lower lip trembled. “I seen a man with parrots and followed him. Now he’s lost!”
The sheer terror of her situation was obviously coming home. He needed to stop her from growing more scared.
“I remember where the hat vendors are. I’ll take you there, but would you mind riding on my shoulders? Maybe you’ll see your daddy from up there. I won’t let you fall, I promise.”
She slowly nodded and he easily lifter her up to his right shoulder. She giggled a bit, but settled down, one little hand fiercely gripping his hair. He carefully turned toward the hat vendors, chattering with Stella as he went.
“What is your daddy wearing, Princess?”
“He’s a pirate, like you! Though not as tall. But he’s the meanest one here! Has a ship and a crew and everything!” She babbled on while he scanned the crowd. “You’re a tall man. Where is your wife?”
“Not all men have a wife,” he answered, a small smile growing at her assumption.
“But you’re old; old pirates need a wife to cook for them.”
She certainly carried conviction in her voice!
“I actually cook for myself. But I am looking for a woman. She’s lost, like your daddy.”
She sniffed and he realized he shouldn’t have mentioned that. Now the little girl was worried again. “Maybe you can help me find her?” That might work to distract her.
“Are you gonna ask her to marry you? I won’t help unless you make an honest woman out of her!” She nodded vigorously. “That’s what my granny always says.” Her little face scrunched with a frown and she stated, “Why buy the cow if the milk is free?”
He didn’t know what the last bit meant. He bet she didn’t either, but it was obviously important to her granny. She’d repeated it enough for little Stella to remember it word for word. But he was impressed with Stella. Why, the little Puritan! He chuckled. “If you insist, I promise to ask for her hand in marriage when I find her.” He’d actually thought about it. Wondered if it was something Emily would want. She’d been married already. He’d never married. But the idea of her wearing his ring held a delightful appeal. Tortuga was mostly tame, but being his wife would afford her more protection than being his lover.
Tink told him the vampire king admired Emily’s dancing. They weren’t allowed to hunt married couples. Another good reason to marry. Not that Emily showed any attraction to living as a vampire.
“So, what does she look like?” Stella asked him.
“Well, she’s short, with brown and silver hair, also short.”
Stella sighed. “What’s she wearing? Does she love pink, like me?”
“I’ve never seen her wear pink but I’m sure she’d look very nice in the color. But not as wonderful as you. Was your daddy wearing a hat?” Time to find this child’s parents and return to searching for Emily.
“I don’t remember. He wanted to buy a red hat for Mama.” She took a deep breath. He feared she was preparing to cry again.
Her description wasn’t helping him find her errant father. And it was uncertain whether the hat was purchased at all, once they’d discovered their daughter missing. He kept an out for a distressed looking couple, searching for someone small.
When he approached a booth with a banner of Lost and Found, he turned in.
“He’s not here!” Stella exclaimed.
“I know, but he may have been here, looking for you!” Alan smiled at the man behind the table. “I have found this little girl, Princess Stella. And she has lost her parents. Perhaps they have come looking for her?”
The man let out a huge sigh. “Stella Montgomery! Your daddy was here looking for you! I know he hasn’t gone far.” The man reached behind the table, pulled out a ball on a stick and cleared his throat.
Alan jumped a bit when the sound was amplified tenfold.
“Will Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery please return to the lost and found? We have Stella waiting for you.”
He repeated the announcement twice before a shout rang out. Alan turned to see a short, round man, wearing a sash, long pants and a scarf come running toward them.
“Daddy, I presume?” He lifted Stella from his shoulders. She was shrieking and nearly threw herself into the round man’s arms. He swung her around in the air, laughing.
Stella chattered, “I saw parrots!”
“Yeah, I talked to the parrot man. He said you’d been there!” Stella tucked at his waist, the man turned to Alan. “You found her?”
“She found me, actually. I believe I was the tallest adult around, so she thought to use me as a crow’s nest.” Alan shook the man’s hand, declined a reward and backed out of the booth, watching a woman come running up. She looked to be a bit of scold.
Stella waved at him, and he made an extravagant bow to her before fading into the crowds.
A good deed like that deserved a reward. He strolled back to the ale booth and bought himself another.
Only when the day grew chilly, showing signs of darkness approaching, did he begin to worry.
Several times during the day, he’d heard large musical groups on the elevated stage at the top of the slope. In a natural amphitheater, they would sing merry songs of pirates and sailors. He’d stopped to listen a few times. The day lengthened, and he surmised the group preparing to play must be quite popular. He noted how large the crowd grew, heading for the stage, laying out blankets and settling down to listen. He leaned against one of the great bridge pilings and surveyed the festival.
The amplifying tool was used again, to announce their name. Captain Boggs and Salty! The crowd shouted. He was bemused to see the children jump to their feet and race to the stage. But once he discerned lyrics, he understood. Songs for pirate children.
He smiled and turned away. And finally there she stood, shoulders bowed, turning away from the stage. His heart soared. Found! He’d found her! Now, to entice her to listen, to return, and to stay with him forever.
He stepped around the blankets, trying to hurry and keep her in his sights. She disappeared behind a group of standing adults and he moved faster.
She took a step away from that group, weaving her way through the watching crowds. When she reached the last of them, she came within reach. She shivered, and he draped his coat over her shoulders. “Found you. Thank God, I found you.”
She whirled, threw herself into his arms and held on tightly.
He considered the joy Stella’s daddy exhibited and copied it, lifting her into the air and twirling her about, laughing.
Chapter Twenty-Five
She drove through the night, a driving rainstorm hindering her. But the closer she came to Portland, the lighter her heart grew.
This is insane.
This is perfect.
Her mind spun with what she wanted to take with her. As she drove, she mentally packed a duffle bag. She’d bought a new pair of Tevas and a good pair of leather boots. They laced instead of pulling up, but she found that more practical. She’d take several pairs of socks, the kind that wicked moisture away. Oh, and face cream, every bit she owned.
She’d found, after returning to the real world, that she grew keen on how certain products were produced. She had purchased several slender books on soap, herbal creams, and dyes. Even how to make paper. They’d go with her. And her book of Whitman poetry. What would Alan like?
She included the book of macramé and the erotic poetry. The solar shower she’d bought to supplement her camper while she was out in the desert. A few towels! The great big bag of M&Ms—they wouldn’t last long, but maybe someone else would pass through with more someday.
By the time she crossed the Columbia, she was humming and bouncing in her seat. Damn it, she wanted this!
She didn’t give a rat’s ass about the camper; the closest place she could find to park was a tow away zone. Fine, it would be towed. It was nearly dusk, and she knew she only had an hour, maybe a bit more, before the night concerts started, when they’d chase everyone of
f the grounds until the next day. She left the keys in the refrigerator, tossed everything she could think of in the duffle bag. She took a moment to hook up her electronic reader to the internet and filled it entirely with reference books, craft books, the classics, and a few favorites. She didn’t know how long its battery would last, but she also packed a small, solar powered battery charger. She tossed that in also, forgetting that something must be powering the iPods she’d first seen when walking the Quill.
Damn, the sucker weighed a ton! She hoped they’d have somewhere she could check it in.
She tied her mirror to her belt, put the Kraken pendant on and took a moment to breathe. Glancing around the camper she considered her life here for a moment. Ordinary, little to look forward to. She’d miss pizza. And donuts. Ice cream—but she bet with some entrepreneurial spirit she could find some cooks on Tortuga willing to try new dishes. Maybe she’d be the Pizza Queen of Tortuga! She touched a small picture of Tom and herself playing pirate, from more than twenty years ago. And she tucked it into her bag.
With a laugh, she gladly turned her back on the rest of it.
After leaving her duffle at the check-in tent, she ran through the festival. In her dreams, he’d been standing at one of the great bridge stanchions, wearing a brown coat and scanning the crowd.
She circled the stanchions first, but he wasn’t there. She quickly strolled up and down the rows of vendors, always looking. She wandered to the children’s areas, though he’d never shown much interest in children. The greater fair was due to close down soon. She paused and bought herself a glass of wine, beginning to feel the fear of having missed him. Of his never having been real. His never being here or looking for her….
She chugged the wine, fighting not to cry. A band started up on stage. A silly song of pirates and the peg-leg tango.
She cried and wandered. Fog was coming in, and she wasn’t dressed for it, of course. Never brought a coat when she needed one.
She found a place to stand at the outskirts of the crowd, in front of the stage. Children dressed like pirates danced to the forefront, blankets were spread about the lawn and people huddled close, looking forward to an hour or more of innocent pirate music.
Emily sagged. He wasn’t here.
A coat suddenly draped over her shoulders, and an arm swept around her. “Found you.”
She whirled to throw her arms around him. He held her close, clinging to her. The crowd around them chuckled as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around.
Finally, he set her down. She looked up into his eyes. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“I thought you didn’t want to see me again,” he answered, brushing the tears from her face. “I have much to explain.”
“I want to say it doesn’t matter, but it does. But what matters most is this.” She took a breath and swallowed. “Alan Silvestri, I love you. I want to be with you. I don’t know anything else and I may be insane. But it’s a wonderful sort of insanity.”
“Emily, dear Emily. I love you and want to be with you! I am no longer cursed. The Immortal sails without me. Mama Lu gave me limited time, my love. Where can we go for privacy?”
“Well, I had a camper, but it’s probably gone by now. Let’s get my duffle, and we’ll find someplace on the edge of things.”
The music provided a pleasant background where they sat, down by the river. The children’s band finished up, and a more mainstream band took its place. She leaned against her duffle, looking at him in the light from nearby streetlamps. He’d insisted she keep the coat on.
“I seldom feel the cold, love. After the days spent at the ice palace, I doubt cold will ever hold much power over me.”
“And I find I get cold too easily.” She took his hand, stroked it. “My cuts healed, but not this?”
“I took this on willingly the day you tried to shoot me. None of your wounds were done with deliberation. The Kraken likes you!” He grinned. From the corner of his eye, he saw a stark white tentacle rise from the river, then sink away as quickly.
“The Kraken. There was more than one, right? I’m a bit hazy on it. And why did it help?” She wanted to know everything, but Alan said they had until three a.m., giving her time to ask regular questions, and she wanted to approach the serious stuff slowly.
“I have no idea how many invaded the palace. Glacious offended the Old Monster centuries ago, when she established her ice palace. The deep cold of the ocean belongs to the Kraken. They acknowledge ice, but for her to make a home of it, to rise above it, so to speak…they have feuded forever. Probably related to each other. Families fights do linger.” He turned his hand in hers and drew her closer.
She let her hand rest at his chest. “Why you? Why Mick? Or me?”
“Why were we able to help the Old Monster win?” He chuckled. “Glacious hid her palace, and though the Kraken searched high and low, they couldn’t find it. I was summoned once a year. When I held her curse from Mick, it left her slightly weaker. My holding it challenged her. With you—twice I held you from her. When you shot me, and when you kicked me. Three cracks in her façade.” He sighed as she lifted her hand and stroked his face. “Mick and I once pledged to help Kraken wherever we found them. Sailors would catch small ones and eat them, or simply kill them. We freed them. I believe we must have kept dozens from death over the years.”
“But why me? Why did I end up there? With you?”
“My luck,” he whispered, and kissed her fingertips. “Honestly, Emily. I don’t know for certain. The Old Monster must have sent out that mirror, looking for someone to help. You found the mirror. And my life changed.”
“Damn, no fuck.” She shivered, pulled away slightly. “Alan, the things Mick said….”
“All lies. He’d accepted that we were brothers, but he still wanted to poke at me. And he knew to keep her attention from focusing on you. Return with me and hear it from his lips. I swear I never vied with him for Jezebel’s favors.” He recaptured her, closing the distance between them. “I did use you, desperate to escape from her curse. But I would not have sacrificed you, and I did not intend for you to even see her ice palace.”
“She possessed me?” Her voice trembled and she scooted closer to him. He took advantage and swept her up against his chest, inhaled the scent of her hair and set his right hand at her hip.
“I believe she cast a spell on you. I planned on Mick coming to me. To join forces. She must have used the crew of the Immortal to spy and played a trick on me. Used me to catch you. I am sorry.” He trembled as her lips touched his throat, a light kiss. Did he hear a soft I know?
“The crew is free of her cold influence now. She kept them content and uninvolved these many years. I suspected they were Glacious’ agents, but I didn’t know they were spelled.”
“How long until you’re drawn away?” She raised her head from the shelter of his chest.
“Mama Lu said three hours after midnight.”
“Will I return with you?”
“She said that was up to you. You still have your mirror?”
“Yes, and I know how to use it now. I dreamed of you, here. And came. I spent months wandering and missing you. I don’t care if I’m insane, Alan. I’d rather be deranged with you than sentenced to a sane, ordinary life here.”
He chuckled. “What I experienced today was certainly not ordinary. I rescued a little princess named Stella who lost her parents. Stared at a fake Kraken full of children, witnessed a battle where cannon fired without ammunition, and heard some interesting music.”
She laughed. “The play structures for the children! A much less fierce Kraken. Rescued a princess? Well, you did have an adventure!”
“Yes, and Princess Stella scolded me regarding my intentions toward you.”
“What?” She sat up, staring at him. “She what?”
“I was instructed by her royal highness to make an honest woman out of you.” He pushed himself upward, took her hand in his. “Emily Pawes, will
you marry me?”
“Oh. Shit. Really?” She grinned. “An honest woman? If I marry a pirate, live in Tortuga, and sail with the Quill occasionally, will I be an honest woman because I wear your ring?”
“No. But you will honor me. Answer me, Mrs. Pawes.”
“I sorta like the name Mrs. Pawes. I’ll be Mrs. Silvestri?” She teased him, having no intention of saying no to his proposal. “Or Mrs. Captain Silvestri?”
“You can be anything you like.” He frowned at her.
“You will get me a ring?” She smiled into his gloomy face.
“Only if you say yes,” he answered dryly.
“Well, I don’t know. There may be other captains who still have ships that might be interested in me.”
He released her hands and sat back, glaring at her.
With a laugh, she sprang to her feet and dashed away. Calling over her shoulder, “Yes, you fool! Of course, yes!”
He leaped to follow her, caught her down by the water and kissed her soundly. A splash further downstream drew the attention of the remaining festival-goers. And a loud pop came from the children’s play area. The Kraken didn’t care for its doppelganger.
Emily and Alan ignored it, kissing.
They hid when security cleared the area some hours later and when three a.m. chimed from a local clock tower, and Captain Alan Silvestri felt the draw of home, that home included the woman in his arms. And her duffle bag of interesting anachronisms. Tortuga tucked itself around them, adjusting to the new toys.
Three days later, the camper was towed to the impound lot.
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Maureen lives along the lovely Monterey Bay and finds great inspiration in being so near the Pacific Ocean. She shares her home with Stephen, her high school sweetheart, married for over 30 years; a cat named Isabeau and a dog named Bonnie. She travels miles and miles to attend pirate festivals, renaissance fairs, scifi/fantasy conventions and writing conferences.
Visit Maureen at:
http://www.maureenobetita.com
The Kraken's Mirror Page 23