Chapter 31
Marc led me out of the cabin, where we were met with a sight. The crew stood on deck in a large group facing the cabin door. At Marc’s emergence, they stood at attention, with Fidel at their head. He stepped forward with his chin raised. “We won’t let you go, Captain. We’ll stay and fight.”
The captain stared at each of his men. “And you would die honorable deaths, but that would be the outcome. You would die before you earned your loot from the seas.”
“We won’t leave you, Captain!” one of them shouted.
“You’ll be my men for as long as you remain on the Tempest,” Marc assured them as he smiled at the crowd.
“And that’s why you have to remain here.
Someone has to watch this old girl, or she’s liable to fall apart, or worse.
I’m tasking you with watching over her so she doesn’t fall into the hands of the Admiralty, and I expect you to carry out my last order to your last breath. ”
Many of them bobbed their heads, and others bowed. A few sniffles came from the group.
Fidel gestured to a boat that had been swung over the side. “Then the gods give you speed, Captain. We’ll be waiting here for your return.”
Marc clapped a hand on his shoulder and laughed. “I’ve got enough in me to get us away. You handle the rest.”
Fidel nodded before his focus lay on me. “Goodbye, Miss Larkin, and thank you.”
I shrank beneath such praise and shook my head. “You can’t thank me. If I weren’t here, then none of this would be happening.”
“None of this is your doing, Miss Larkin,” Fidel countered as he nodded at the distant ship. “The Admiralty is the bane of all pirates, and one we knowingly and gladly face.”
“But I’m not a pirate,” I pointed out.
“You are this day, Miss Larkin,” he told me as a crooked smile slipped onto his lips.
“You can tell a man by his actions in adversity, Miss Larkin. Your actions have shown us who you are. Getting yourself off the ship and into the jaws of two monsters would make cowards of many a man, but you’re gladly doing it, and for that we thank you. ”
Marc tugged on my arm. “Let’s hurry on before that sea creature gets any closer.”
We hurried over to the away ship and climbed aboard. The men lowered us, and we splashed down in the rolicking, magical waves that surrounded the Tempest. The ropes were just being released when something dark scuttled down them and dropped into my lap.
“You’re not leaving with me!” Ramaro insisted as he plopped his butt down on me.
I smiled and wrapped him in a tight hug. A few whispered words escaped me. “Thank you.”
Ramaro wriggled in my grasp. “Don’t thank me by squeezing the life out of me!”
Marc stood in front of me and gave a lazy, two-fingered salute to the men above us. “Gods give speed to you, and may we meet on the Golden Shores!”
“On the Golden Shores!”
Marc sat down at the bow, and his magic swept us away from the ship. We had gone only fifty yards when the waves around the Tempest ceased. The crew didn’t need any help escaping the monster or the Hetzmann. Both our foes caught sight of our little dinghy and pursued us.
Ramaro sat tall in my lap, and his tail swished against my chest. ‘The Hetzmann is coming on fast and sharp. It might reach us before the monster.”
A loud noise came from the Hetzmann, and one of the infamous grimspall flew over our heads.
The ball struck the creature in the forehead and sent it tumbling backward into its own waves.
Its tendrils thrashed about, but it didn’t have time to recover before another volley struck its tendrils.
Neither of the balls exuded black smoke.
Fire seeped out of them and tumbled over the thing’s body.
The creature screeched and flailed before sinking into the waves.
Our boat kept zipping through the waves, but I noticed some of the steam was running out. The Tempest had sailed in the opposite direction from us and had vanished beyond the horizon, but the Hetzmann followed on our port side. I looked at Marc and my heart skipped a beat.
His face was ashen, and each breath was a labor. He clutched his chest and gave me a crooked smile. “I don’t think I have much left in me.”
“Let them take us alive!” Ramaro challenged the fast-approaching ship.
I tightened my arms around him. “We can’t do anything for ourselves if we’re dead.”
He whipped his tail to and fro. “That might be the only choice they’re offering.”
Marc’s strength gave out, and he slumped forward. I dumped my scaly load and slid onto the floor of the boat, where I caught Marc in my arms. He grinned up at me. “Don’t tell my men I ended up in a woman’s arms. I wouldn’t hear the end of it.”
I didn’t have time for a quip before the wakes from the Hetzmann washed over us.
The ship rocked hard, and I held tight to Marc.
Grappling hooks flew off the deck and dropped into the water around us.
They were attached to the ship by hard chains, and those links were pulled up.
The hooks caught the side of our vessel, and we were hauled out of the water.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ramaro. “Hold on-” My words caught in my throat when I saw he had vanished.
The ship was lifted over the railing and onto the deck, where rough men swarmed us. I was torn from Marc and yanked into a crowd of groping hands.
“You forget yourselves!”
The men snapped to attention, and one of the burliest grabbed hold of my arms. Marc was dragged from the boat and tossed onto the deck in front of the crowd. He had enough strength to sit up and stare into the cold face of Admiral Jaeger.
The man was above sixty with black hair speckled with white. His long locks were drawn back in a tail down his back. He wore the same perfect white uniform as I’d last seen him, and his hands were clasped tightly behind him.
Jaeger marched up to Marc and cast a long shadow over the defiant pirate. Marc smiled up at him. “It’s been a long time, Jaeger. I see time hasn’t been kind to you.”
Jaeger scoffed and spoke in a thick, guttural accent. “Time is of no matter to one who will be dead soon.”
“You shouldn’t say such things about yourself,” Marc scolded him as he looked the man over. “You look the pinnacle of health and-”
Jaeger’s eyes flickered up to the two men who flanked Marc. One of them knocked him on the side of the head. Marc stumbled, but caught himself.
The captain nodded at their captive. “Bring him into my cabin and tie this filth to a chair.”
“And the woman, Captain?” my captor spoke up.
“Bring her, as well. We will see why she is so important.”
I was only too eager to follow Marc into the captain’s quarters below the wheel deck.
The spacious room was filled with bird-clawed furniture and a luxurious king-sized bed.
Silken sheets covered the thick mattress.
Rugs covered the floors. There was even a large portrait of the captain that hung beside the door, painted in bright colors and with a lot fewer wrinkles than he actually had.
Marc was dragged over to a high-backed chair and tossed onto the luxurious seat. One sailor tied a rope around him while Jaeger strolled over to a nearby table. He pulled a small black box to him and opened the lid, revealing a black collar on velvet.
Jaeger lifted the collar out and turned to the other sailor. “Put this on him, Hans, otherwise he may cause us some difficulty.”
Hans accepted the gift and bowed his head. “Yes, Captain.”
The man slipped over to Marc and tied the leather collar around his neck. Marc twisted his neck and frowned. “I don’t think this look suits me, Captain.”
Jaeger strolled over to him and lifted his nose. “It suits all men who abuse their gifts.”
Marc cocked his head to one side and studied the captain’s throat. “Then why don’t I see one on your throat?”
Jaeger sneered down at him. “You speak very freely, but you will not speak so when we have taken you to the capital. Your trial will be swift and your death slow.”
Marc’s good humor faded as he nodded at me. “And the girl?”
“You need not concern yourself with her.”
A crooked smile slipped onto Marc’s lips. “Because you’ll have sent her to your client? I didn’t know the Admiralty were now playing the dogs for the mercenaries.”
Jaeger drew back his hand and slapped Marc hard enough to jerk his head to the side.
“I strangle dogs like you and the mercenaries,” Jaeger growled as he bared his long teeth at Marc. His attention fell on the patch, and curiosity replaced fury. “You will have no more need to hide whatever shame is beneath that patch.” He stepped back and nodded at one of his men. “Remove it.”
Marc cast a sharp look of warning at the sailor. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Hans paused, and his eyes darted up to Jaeger. The captain scoffed. “Why should we not?”
Marc turned his face toward our captor. “You’re fond of your ship, aren’t you?”
“Of course. What captain is not fond of his ship?”
“If you value your ship and the lives of your men, then don’t remove the patch.”
Jaeger puffed out his chest and scoffed. “You do not frighten me, pirate. The collar will manage whatever you have hidden under there. Remove the cover.”
Marc shut his eye tightly as the first-mate grabbed hold of the patch with one hand. He jerked his hand like he was ripping off a bandaid, but the cloth didn’t move. The man blinked at the patch before trying again, with the same result.
“What is the matter, Hans?” Jaeger questioned him.
“N-nothing, Captain,” Hans stuttered as he grabbed the patch with both hands and yanked it with all his might. The edges of the patch twitched, but did nothing more.
“Stand aside!” Jaeger roared as he pushed his man out of the way. His left hand faintly glowed as he grabbed the cloth and yanked the patch off.
And unleashed chaos.