Chapter 9 #2
I winced. “It was all I could think to do to protect you. But I get it now, and I won’t freeze you out again.”
“It’s actually pretty fun, too! All the intrigue and such.” She flashed all of her pearly teeth in a wide grin. “I feel so alive!”
I could only hope that she felt exactly the same way when this was over. More than feeling it, I hoped we were both actually alive.
Too bad I didn’t have her confidence. Now that we were up here, my gut twisted with nervousness and unease. Though she was a good listener, as she’d reminded me when she’d eavesdropped at the Harvest Feast back in Alabaster, she was also impulsive.
“Make sure you stick to the plan, Moll.”
She rolled her eyes, but the smile didn’t leave her face. “Worry about yourself first, ’Harmon’,” she replied, throwing up finger quotes as she said the name.
“Fair enough.” I stood up a little straighter as we stepped into the well-lit hallway.
The sound became almost deafening as we walked down the stairs, and I had to speak louder to even be heard.
A massive dining hall opened at the bottom of it, with enough seating for hundreds of people.
A group of pirates at the nearest table looked over as we entered, their eyes lingering on Moll for a moment before going back to their food.
“They’re really not doing much to break those stereotypes, huh?” Complete with peg legs, eyepatches, and all, it was like they were straight out of a story book.
Because they are, I reminded myself. The strangeness of that fact still hadn’t fully set in. Maybe it never would.
Bouts of laughter exploded from random sections of the room every few seconds, and the entire place smelled of rum and old tobacco. A lone pirate sat on a shell-crusted throne on the far end of the room, flanked by an enormous flag with a kraken in the center. I breathed out.
Not the flag from the amphitheater drawings, thank the gods. And the lone pirate didn’t look like the man from my dreams, either.
His black-and-gray beard flowed nearly to his waist and was woven with shimmering gold bits and charms. Hooped gold earrings hung off his stretched-out lobes.
He held out a hand, which had a ring on each finger with a spare for the thumb, and the young boy standing by his side passed him a bottle of dark liquid, which he brought right to his mouth.
Davis…or Davy? David, maybe…whatever his name, he was obviously the man Garth had referred to as the ‘Captain of Captains’, and the owner of the largest ship. And he wasn’t shy about showing it off. Even the nobles in Alabaster would’ve turned their noses up at such brazen displays of wealth.
Gaudy and ostentatious they would have muttered under their breath.
Moll nudged me lightly, gesturing to the right, where a pair of serving women had just emerged from a little side door at the room’s edge.
“Guess this is where we part ways.”
I took a final deep breath, then nodded. “See you on the other side?”
She flashed me a wink, then scurried off.
I stepped further into the room, moving toward a more crowded section. The tables seemed to be dedicated to individual crews, but different groups of men stood all around the room, drinking and merrymaking.
Members of different crews sharing info and mingling?
I inhaled deeply, trying to release some of the pent-up stress.
Still no sign of the man from my dreams, and I wasn’t quite sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
A chill ran through me as an image of his cold, dark eyes came back to me.
There was a depth to them that drew me in, one that went beyond simple lust—not that there hadn’t been plenty of that, too.
I pushed the thought aside as a line of young men came into view at the corner of the dining hall.
Their eyes flitted from table to table, and a wrinkled man with a thick gold chain dangling from his neck and a peg leg stood at their front, scribbling something down on a piece of parchment.
He waved the front boy aside, gesturing for the next to approach.
Signing up new recruits? Could I be so lucky?
He glanced over as I approached, waving me into line. “No meat on those bones…” He scowled, but seemed to shake it off, waving his paper toward the other recruits. “Back of the line, boy.”
I dipped my head and did as instructed, glancing over at the boy who’d just signed up.
He was already speaking to someone at the nearest table, which was a good sign.
I had no idea how these people worked, and I’d been too nervous to walk up to a random crew, but it seemed like this would give me an easy in.
I got to the front of the line within minutes, and the man there scowled a second time as he waved me up. “Name?”
“Harmon…Smith.”
“Age?”
“Twenty.”
“Height?”
I stood up a little straighter. “Five foot seven.”
He squinted one eye at that, then shrugged and scribbled it down. “And what crew are you most interested in?”
“Er—” I glanced around, muscles tensing at being put on the spot. “The Captain of Captains’ crew,” I answered, gesturing toward the front of the room.
He let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. “You should go tell him that yourself, shrimp. See what he says.”
I made a mental note to do the exact opposite of that.
“There’re so many people here,” I said dumbly, more to break the silence than anything else. “Crazy that he can keep so many pirates in line.”
“Davy Brone is an impressive man,” he agreed. “Can think of no other who could’ve united so many of us under one banner.”
“Heard he works with monster hunters, too. You know of anyone like that?” I asked.
He looked at me as if I’d sprouted another head, like Gretyl the hydra. “You want to join a crew of Seekers? Have a death wish then, do ya? Cuz there’s no shortage of men here willing to help ya with that.”
I cleared my throat and tried another tactic.
“My dear old Da always dreamed of going to The Weeping Fen to see the monsters with his own eyes. Then, he went blind and never got to go. I want to be able to go back home and tell him tales of all the creatures, so he’ll feel like he was there, you know? ”
“How?”
I blinked back at him. “Hmm?”
“Your Da.” The man gestured to his eyes with one filthy hand. “How did he go blind?”
“Oh, uh, he was attacked by a swarm of bees…”
The man pulled back in horror. “Fooking hells. In the eyes, you say?”
“Yup. He has this sort of light amber, honey colored irises and I’m thinking that’s why…” I trailed off, wondering how I’d managed to back myself into this corner and how to get back on track.
“Look, I know what it’s like to want to make your old man proud.
” He lowered the paper, his expression softening a bit as he locked eyes with me.
“‘Specially being such a runt like yourself. If you want to get picked up by a crew, you’ll have to really make yourself stand out.
Once the boss is done with his speech, go ‘round and introduce yourself.
Let ‘em know if you have any special skills or magic that might give you an edge.”
“What speech?”
He nodded, gesturing toward the front of the room.
“Captain Davy is gonna talk things over with the other captains in a few. Go sit with the other recruits while you wait for that to finish.” He gestured toward the table a few feet to our left.
“And pay attention. You seem like a bright lad, so maybe you’ll be able to pick up somethin’ from their conversation that you can use when you’re sellin’ yerself to the captains. ”
I nodded in thanks, then stepped away. It had been more like a party than a meeting so far, but it seemed that was about to change.
Serving girls drifted in, balancing broad trays of potatoes, ham and other roasted meats on their forearms and carrying foamy mugs of ale in their hands, doing their best not to let them slosh all over the deck.
I scanned the room, my eyes settling on Moll’s shoulder-length crimson locks within seconds.
Her eyes flitted nervously from side to side and her tray wobbled more with every step she took.
I shot her a sympathetic smile as she noticed me but made my way over to the table with the other recruits as instructed, keeping half an eye on her.
She lowered the tray to her table, breathing a sigh of relief as she set it down with a graceless plop. She turned to head back toward the kitchen, then stopped short, turning to scan the room. Her lips turned upward into a toothy smile as we locked eyes, and she shot me a quick thumbs up.
No disasters so far.
I pulled out my chair and took my seat, the nervous energy was almost palpable. The youngest couldn’t have been older than fifteen, and not one of them met my gaze as I scanned the table.
Poor kids. Not one of them looked ready for what lay ahead.
The journey from strapping, innocent lad to full on outlaw was often a quick one.
Their type had been all too common in The Hollow.
Joining up with thieves or worse as boys with nowhere to turn and no other way out of poverty being transformed into hardened criminals before they reached their eighteenth birthday.
When pushed far enough, hungry, hopeless people took any out they could to get by.
I just hoped they learned how dark this path could get before it chewed them up and spit them out, or swallowed them whole like it had with so many others.
“Oy, listen up you greasy buggers!”
I spun, letting out a breath as the low, rumbling voice split the air.
Adrenaline raced through me as Davy Brone walked toward the center of the room. The chatter died in a flash, to the point that I could make out the stomping of his rugged boots on the ship’s deck as he strode forward.