by Adam Bennett
Effie glanced around her mind, she could see the conversation with Steele like a shiny silver thread. She could see tiny fibres coming off of the mainline. They were touching other parts of her mind—this was the gentle probing that she had been feeling.
Effie smiled at her new-found power. She continued the conversation. “I, apparently, am the person that you have been seeking. The one that you call the Witch of Parrsboro. But you will call me Captain Effie Roberts of the pirate ship Fearful Revenge.”
“Insolent girl. I am your master. You are nothing but a witch.” Effie could hear Steele screaming in her head.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want your head.”
“That’s what my husband used to say. I feel that I must inform you that I am currently using my head. At the present time, it is unavailable for separate engagements. Besides, there are others, such as the Royal Navy, who claim first dibs on my noggin.”
“The Royal Navy is just water borne gnats. They are of no concern to me. Make no mistake, I will have your head and the knowledge contained therein.”
She closed her eyes tightly. “Why my head? What makes me so important?” As she spoke she located the conversation thread again. It thrummed at each of their words. “Surely there are other more worthy heads that would give you much more knowledge.” Effie followed the thread upward as she spoke.
“You come from another time. It is that knowledge that I want. There has been only one other witch that could open time and travel through…Genevieve le Trompeur.”
Effie mentally stumbled. Jennifer?
“Well, I hate to tell you Steele, but I was not the one who opened the portal to this time. It was my supposed good friend Jennifer, the witch you know as Genevieve.” Effie continued her climb along the thread. “So, I’m sorry, but I have no idea as to how to open an interdimensional time rift.”
“It matters not that you cast the spell, just that you were there when the spell was created. I just need to pluck it from your memory.”
“If you are such a great wizard why not just go inside my head and take it. Why the need to behead me?”
“I can take it from your living mind, a rather painful experience. I would so delight in having you in such excruciating agony, but, alas, it takes far too long on a strong-willed subject and it is not as trustworthy. The spell needs to be perfect.”
Effie wobbled, coming in contact with a gossamer strand of the conversation.
“What are you doing?”
Effie ignored him as she followed the conversation further. She passed into a void.
“Stop it!”
The line snapped abruptly as Steele cut off the conversation. Effie quickly raced ahead as the strand deteriorated and began to disappear. She mentally broke into the night air as the last of the conversation line receded into a fast-moving storm cloud. Effie looked down and could sense her own presence far below. The Fearful Revenge was directly in the path of the storm.
Effie turned but there was no clear path back to herself. She willed her eyes to open, but to no avail. She calmed her breathing and thought, Harbinger of Ferro. Unlike the previous time, nothing extraordinary happened. Effie started to panic, the storm was coming and she was mentally cast adrift.
Restore, Effie sent out a mental command, but she was still floating about her ship. She tried to swim down, but there was nothing to move against. Retrieve, Recover. Effie could sense the command at the tip of her mind. She calmed and centred herself.
Restorictus Minisciseo!
Effie could feel her mind being pulled downward. As the speed of her descent increased, she became alarmed, fearful that she would collide with her physical self. Her eyes snapped open, and she took two stumbled steps forward as the mental inertia overcame her balance. She was back in her body.
Effie shook her head to regain focus. The amulet was still illuminating the cabin. “Illumietus Hiducio.” The light winked out. She tucked the now darkened Harbinger of Ferro under her shirt. She quickly put on her coat and hat as she exited her cabin.
“Cap’n!” the man at the door stood.
“All hands on deck,” she ordered as she passed him. “Batten down for a storm.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.” The crewman clanged an alarm as she passed through the doors of the main deck.
Tobias was already on the main deck rushing to her side. “Cap’n?”
“Storm approaching, we need to batten down.” She brushed past him.
Tobias extended an arm, grabbing her by the elbow, swinging her around to face him. A move that he had never attempted before.
Effie paused, looked down at his hand, then shook it off. “Did you not understand my orders, Mister Tobias? Will I be needing a new first mate?”
“I’m begging your apologies, Cap’n. But there is not a cloud in the sky. We are practically becalmed.” He paused, lips tight. “Is there perhaps something else that may be causing this?” He glanced to her neck, seeking the medallion, then back up to her face.
Effie spun away, “Jean-Claude! Where is the nearest safe harbour?”
The master navigator was thoughtful for a moment. “That would be Llyne Bay, Cap’n.”
“How far?”
“Fifteen, maybe twenty leagues, Cap’n.”
Effie scowled in frustration. “Anywhere closer?”
“Aye Cap’n, New Harmstead. But we would have to come about. We will need to be wary of the Todmorden Shoals.”
“Bring us about Mister Tobias.”
Tobias stood his ground, studying Effie. He let out a loud huff of air. “Aye, aye, Cap’n.” He turned to the crew. “Okay you dogs, you heard the Cap’n. Bring us about!”
With painful slowness, Fearful Revenge changed its course, until the worse happened. The wind died, clapping her in irons.
Tobias gave a smouldering look of disapproval. The crew mingled about the deck, quietly muttering their ridicule.
Tobias approached. “Cap’n, perhaps...”
Effie held up her hand, halting his words. She moved to the quarterdeck, then stood by the rail as she looked out over the water.
Tobias waited then followed Effie to the quarterdeck. “Cap’n, if I may,” he said over her shoulder.
“What is it, Tobias?” she said brusquely.
“Release the crew. Let them go back to their hammocks.”
Effie closed her eyes, centred herself, and tried to float her mind free of her body. She wanted to get a bird’s eye view of where Steele and his storm was located. The spell to do so refused to come to her. She sent her thoughts outward. She could feel where each crewmember was on board the ship, she could… Effie stopped. She cocked her head to one side. Something was wrong; her mind’s eye distinguished each person on board as a living spark, except for one. She probed further, it was down in the hold.
“What did you do with that body?”
“Cap’n?” Tobias was caught off guard.
“The body of the man that attacked me. What did you do with him?”
“We put two coins in his mouth for Davy and sent him overboard with a length of chain.”
Effie narrowed her eyes in thought. “Quickly, follow me.”
Tobias fell in line, signalling for two men to follow.
At the doors, Effie called back to the men. “You two stay here, if anything comes past, kill it.”
“Where are we going, Cap’n.” Tobias was half a pace behind.
“To the hold. There’s something down there.”
Two decks down they stood at the hatchway to the hold. The pitch black smelled of moisture, wood, and metal. A waft of rum floated past Effie’s nose. Effie drew her sword, Tobias followed suit. With a hand on the latch, she slowly opened the door. Her stealth was thwarted by the creak of the door.
Effie flung open the door. “Sulluce!” The amulet flared to life flooding the hold in light. The pair burst into the hold taking up a fighting stance. Bolts of sail cloth, rigging, halyards, barrels of prov
isions, and sea chests filled the area. Effie and Tobias stood back to back and circled in search of the stowaway.
Tobias stood up, his head craned to one side so as not to bump it on the bulkhead. “Cap’n there is no one here.”
Effie’s jaw was locked tight, a scowl on her face. She closed her eyes once more. She could see the life spark of Tobias. Slowly she scanned the room until she came upon a void. She opened her eyes, on the port side bulkhead a shape was covered by a length of tarred cloth. Effie held a finger to her lips then pointed to the shape. Silently they approached. Tobias held his sword at the ready as Effie grasped the cloth. She nodded her head and pulled hard.
With a whoosh the cloth came free; Tobias lunged, but stayed his blade before it could plunge into the chest of Johnny Merrick. A lifeless look of surprise was frozen on Johnny’s face. A garrotte wire was wound tightly around his neck cutting into his skin. The wooden handles attached to the wire hung down his chest.
Effie frowned. “Elron was staring into Johnny’s eyes. He must have killed him before he snuck into my cabin.”
“Elron?”
“The man who attacked me. He wanted my head.” Effie closed her eyes and concentrated. “There is someone or something else here.”
Tobias searched the hold further before returning to her side. “What madness is this, Effie?”
Effie snapped a look at him. Since becoming captain of Fearful Revenge Tobias had never called her by name.
“I tell you that something is here.” Her words were tight and clipped. She held out the Harbinger of Ferro. “This…bagatelle, has given me new powers, abilities, insight. I don’t know what it has given me, but I can see things.” She closed her eyes in frustration. “I can see everybody aboard. Here...” she held her hands outward. “Right here, there is a void. Someone is supposed to be here.” She stopped, then leaned closer to the bulkhead. She tilted her head to the left and then the right. “He’s on the other side.”
“Are you daft? No one can be on the other side. They’d drown.”
“Dead men don’t need air,” Effie said over her shoulder. She reached out her hand to the bulkhead. She could sense the void scurrying upward.
“He’s making his way to the deck.” Effie turned then ran out of the hold. Tobias followed.
They heard the commotion before they could make it to the deck. Effie broke through the doors with her cutlass drawn. She looked toward the forecastle where Elron, bloated and water-logged, was indiscriminately cutting a swath through surprised and unsuspecting crewmembers. Others of the crew had their swords drawn. One fired a pistol straight into Elron’s chest. The reanimated abomination absorbed the impact and kept moving.
Effie cocked one of her flintlocks and fired. The shot hit Elron in the face, shattering his jaw. The golem turned its attention to the captain.
“Stand aside!” Effie ordered her crew as she made her way to the middle of the deck. Elron leapt from the forecastle to the deck, the sharp crack of a leg bone did not deter his advance.
Elron swung his sword at Effie’s head. She easily ducked below it, swinging her own sword into his chest, then dove and rolled out of the way of his return stroke. With no finesse, Elron swung again. She parried the blow, then on the return swing, she brought the blade across his chest. These were blows that ought to have killed a man, but the corpse kept coming. Effie retreated toward the mainmast. She grabbed a belaying pin and used it to block the next attack. She swung her sword again, slashing across his midsection, opening him up. Elron’s guts spilled onto the deck. Effie spun away, coming around his back. With a satisfying crunch, she slammed the belaying pin against one of his kneecaps. but slipped on the gore spread across the deck. She landed hard against the deck, knocking the wind of out her lungs. Elron took advantage, driving his sword down toward her. She rolled, but his blade slashed her in the forearm, Elron’s blade stuck fast to the deck. Effie kicked upward, catching him in the chest. More of his innards spilled out, covering her in gore. She swung her legs around, entangling her feet with his, tumbling him down. Effie recovered, stood, then drove her sword clear through his chest, pinning him to the deck.
As Elron flailed on the deck, Effie bent low and spat on his face. She pulled her remaining pistol, cocked it, and held it under his chin. “Let’s try this again.” She pulled the trigger.
Click.
“Bollocks!” In frustration, Effie threw the misfired pistol to the side.
Effie jumped back as a large deck mallet smashed down crushing Elron’s skull. Effie looked up as she wiped the splatter of Elron from her face. Tobias was hefting the mallet for one more blow. Effie scurried out of the way as the mallet came down again.
Breathing heavily Effie stood. “Chop this thing up, send it overboard. Then swab the deck.”
Effie looked down at herself. She was a mess and stank of rotting meat. She wiped off what she could. I’m running out of clean clothes.
“Stand down the crew, Mister Tobias.”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
Effie made a weary path toward her cabin.
“Cap’n!”
Before she could answer, the sails filled with a sudden poof. The Revenge heeled heavily to starboard.
“All hands on deck!”
“Furl the main tops'l. Tighten those lines. Batten down.”
“Jean-Claude,” Effie called up the navigator. “Can we still make New Harmstead?”
“It will be tight Cap’n. We will have a beam reach until we pass the shoals and then a broad reach.” Jean-Claude shouted over the rising wind. “It would be best if we ran with this storm.”
“Where to?”
“Parrsboro Head. We should be able to duck into its lea side.”
Effie chuckled, looked up to the sky, then shook her head. Of course, Parrsboro Head.
“Mister Tobias! Prepare to run. Full sail, until it gets too heavy up top.” Effie looked down at the main deck. “And Mister Tobias, dump that body overboard. Let’s hope that Davy keeps him this time.”
“Aye Cap’n.” Tobias pointed to two crewmen. “You heard the Cap’n, send him back to Davy.”
Rain was starting to pound the deck as the wind increased substantially. Effie battled the gusts as she struggled to the quarterdeck where Jean-Claude fought to control the ship’s wheel. The captain made her way to the wheel, hooking a foot on a deck clamp to steady herself. She grabbed the opposite side of the wheel to help keep the Revenge on course.
“Witch.”
The Harbinger of Ferro was a dull blush beneath Effie’s drenched tunic.
“Witch.”
Effie closed her eyes. “I’m a little busy right now. At the tone please leave a message and I’ll call back later.” She opened her eyes, hoping that her 21st Century references would confuse Steele.
“Play whatever games you wish, but your ship and crew are doomed. Surrender yourself to me and they will be saved.”
“I’m sorry, Steele, but that is not going to happen. If we are to die, then it will be fighting.”
“Have it your way, captain.”
A rogue wave smashed into the side of the ship. “Man overboard!”
Effie closed her eyes, concentrating on the crew. A dwindling spark of life was in the water. The name, Jamieson, silently floated across her mind.
A wind gust grabbed the Revenge shaking it, pulling the rigging tight. A belaying pin snapped, releasing its halyard, entangling a hapless crewman. A scream was swallowed by the wind.
Williams drifted past Effie’s mind.
“Mister Tobias,” Effie shout into the wind. “Clear the deck of all non-essential crew. Send them below. All deck crew are to be secured by safety lines.”
“Aye, Cap’n.” Over the wind, Tobias’ voice boomed. “Strap yourselves in lads, or feel the embrace of Davy Jones.”
The Revenge heeled hard over on to her starboard beam, spinning the wheel of out of Effie’s and Jean-Claude’s hands. The ship spun taking her out of the wind. As the R
evenge came about the wind jibbed the mainsail. Crew in the rigging were thrown from the masts and spars.
Boucher. Lambert.
Jean-Claude leapt for the wheel, but it flung him across the deck. He hit the gunwale with a sickening, bone shattering thud.
“Locomoiato.” The wheel halted, Effie scrambled to take back control of the Revenge. “Mister Tobias! I can use a hand.”
“How many more of your crew are you willing to sacrifice?”
The ship’s bell rang wildly. “Breakers ahead,” yelled a crewman.
Effie struggled with the wheel. “Mister Tobias, now!”
Tobias’ form appeared along with another crewman. Hand-over-hand the trio fought to bring the ship around. The sails snapped full.
The maelstrom whipped the water into a frenzy making it difficult for Effie to discern water from rocks.
“Breakers to port!”
“Hard over men!” Effie commanded.
The Fearful Revenge rose high on a wave then crashed down on the other side. The ship shuddered as it smashed into something hard. She was pushed down again as a massive wave washed over the gunwales flooding the main deck. The Revenge’s bow popped up, throwing more water across the decks.
“Cap’n, we have to get out of this storm!” Tobias shouted over the roar of the wind.
Effie closed her eyes. “Stop it, Steele.”
“Surrender yourself to me, witch.”
“Cap’n! Cap’n Roberts.”
Effie became aware that she was being violently shaken. She opened her eyes. Tobias had one hand on the wheel the other on her shoulder.
“What is it, Tobias?”
“Cap’n, your bauble.”
Effie looked down, the amulet was glowing brighter than ever, illuminating every deck with a bright orange light. Despite the danger imposed by the storm, the crew were staring at Effie.
Effie released the wheel and stepped back, a hand to her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Fine, Steele. You win. If I surrender, I need your assurance that you will cease the storm and no harm will come to my crew.”