Chapter 10
H ook strode nonchalantly into the silent room, glancing from table to table.
I winced as he passed Moll, who had just re-emerged from the kitchen, and reached toward her with his good arm.
I pushed away from the table, hand shooting toward my pouch and the incapacitator there, but he just grabbed a mug of rum off her tray and continued on.
“No need to wait on my account, Davy,” he said gruffly. “What’re we up to?”
“The meeting is already underway.” Davy spoke even more slowly than before, and, this time, there was a hint of anger in his voice.
Hook shrugged. “I had business on shore. Figured I’d skip the eating and bullshitting.
” He took a swig of his drink as he arrived at his table, his ragtag crew trailing just behind him, each one of them looked more intimidating than the last. Closest on his heels was a wiry stalk of a man whose fiery red hair gave Moll’s a run for its money.
Hook turned, eyeing the shattered glass on the floor as he slid into his seat. “Ah, did I not come late enough to miss the whining session, then?”
There was clearly some history between these two because despite the way Hook was speaking to him, Davy retreated to his throne and sat back down. Seemed off after he’d threatened Crick’s life for the mild disrespect that had paled in comparison to what Hook was giving him now.
“We’re holding our meeting, same as always. Airing grievances is part of it,” Davy spat. The curtains by the nearest window billowed as a light wind began to swirl around the room.
My muscles clenched and resisted the urge to find something nailed to the floor to hold onto.
“Mind if I give my two cents?” Hook asked, swinging his feet up onto the table and leaning back in his chair. “Got an idea might interest you.”
Davy glared at him for a long moment, letting out a grunt of disapproval, then forced a nod. “Better be good.”
“Things are getting hot in our neck of the woods. Been seeing patrols all week. Random, uncoordinated attacks they can ignore, but they’re starting to see us as a threat to their authority. We’ve become too much like a united force.”
Davy glared at him for a long moment, letting out a grunt of disapproval.
“If they see us as a threat, it's because we are one. What would you have us do? Go back to the old times and gut each other on sight?” He shook his head in frustration, “How short a memory you have, Hook. Things are better now than they've ever been, and our way out of this mess is to push forward. They’re already stretched thin keeping the peace between Blackbriar and Brinepool, and the few warships they can afford to send after us in the meantime are far from enough to do lasting damage. On the other hand, our forces grow by the year as more crews join up, and young men enlist in droves. Just like I promised at the start of all this, I’m going to shape us into a force that not even the Shoalhounds can match. It’s only a matter of time. ”
“War has been averted, Davy,” Hook announced, setting his drink down to reach into his pocket.
“Averted?” Davy asked with an incredulous laugh. “Things have been escalating for six months.”
Hook pulled out a note and passed it to the red-haired man, who appeared to be Hook’s second in command.
“A letter from the Duke himself,” he explained, gesturing for the other man to carry it over to Davy. “Blackbriar and Brinepool have come to an agreement.”
Davy held out a hand as Hook's man arrived, and I nearly leapt out of my chair with shock as red-hair handed him the note and then, smooth as butter, but quick as a snake, slid what appeared to be some kind of needle directly into Davy’s wrist. His hand whipped back to his side with supernatural speed, and the older man’s expression never shifted as he stared down at the note.
Some kind of Tideblessing that let him move faster than any normal person could see. Was I able to see it because of my magic?
I could think of nothing else that would explain it. But there was something strange about it, too. I hadn't felt the magic, not like I had when Davy had used his. But what other explanation was there?
There had been a handful of performers back in Alabaster who made money with sleight of hand tricks, but none who had come close to matching his skill.
Hook locked eyes with his man as he strode back toward the table, and the redhead gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Poison? Was this Captain of Captains already a dead man?
I glanced toward the door considering whether to find Moll and make a run for it. If he figured out what had happened and had time to retaliate, that wind magic could take us all out, and Davy definitely didn’t strike me as someone who’d care much about civilian casualties.
Davy tossed the letter to the ground, lips curled in disgust. “Even if this was authentic, what choice do we have?” Davy continued, trying to regain control of the room. “Do we plan on just sitting on our laurels while we take attack after attack?”
“Not exactly…If we wanted to be ruled, we never would’ve become pirates in the first place.” Hook let his legs drop from the table, rising as his first mate returned. “The tides have shifted against you, Davy. Don’t you feel it?”
A hint of uncertainty crept into the older man’s expression for the first time, and he brought his hand up in front of him, as if preparing himself. “Tread lightly, mongrel, or you’ll be sleeping with the fishes before you know what hit you.”
Hook took another step closer, gesturing to the room around us. “You lost this fight a long time ago, Davy. You were just too far up your own ass to realize.” The rest of his crew rose as well, quickly lining up between their captain and the increasingly-agitated members of the other crews.
Davy’s arm shot out, anger flashing across his face. “This is the last time you’ll disrespect me, Hook. You’ll—What the fuck?” He stared at his hand in stunned silence as Hook closed the distance between them in two strides.
The other crews leapt to their feet as he whipped his saber from its sheath. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance, you stubborn old bastard. But it’s time for a change.”
My temples pulsed with pain, and I chewed at my lip as I felt the massive well of energy inside him. As if one powerful Tideblessed in the pirate alliance wasn’t enough…
Davy staggered back, holding his fingers out yet again, wiggling them frantically, but they didn’t cause so much as a light breeze. I focused my eyes on him harder, pushing my own magic to the surface to see if I could sense his again, but there was nothing.
The needle?
“What’ve you done to me?! Men, seize him!”
Hook let out a harsh laugh, stopping in his tracks as the cluster of guards charged up from behind their king. “A fool till the end.”
The first of the men stopped as he reached Davy, hesitating for only a moment before shoving him to the ground and pressing the tip of his sword against his captain’s throat. The room exploded with a dozen shouts at once, but Hook’s crew kept anyone from interfering.
The rest of Davy’s crew stood by, swords sheathed. “You mutinous bastards,” Davy spat. “What’d he pay you? I’ll double it. I’ll?—”
“You’d be surprised how little it took,” Hook answered, taking another step forward. “Betrayed by your own first mate…That Tideblessing of yours must’ve been the only thing stopping him. You can only beat a dog so many times before it bites, I suppose.”
“Y-you can have it,” Davy said, without a trace of the composure or confidence he’d shown just a few minutes earlier. “The alliance, it’s yours. You can send me into exile, and I’ll never return. I?—”
Hook’s hand shot forward in a blur, plunging his sword right into Davy’s chest. A wave of sick washed over me as blood spurted into the air like a gruesome fountain. He fought and spasmed, clawing wildly to reach his killer, but the struggle didn’t last long.
A loud clap pulled my attention back to Hook, who had turned to face the room.
“Now that that’s dealt with,” he started, sounding almost disinterested, “let’s get to brass tacks.
As your new Captain of Captains, I’ll be making some changes.
We need to get back to what we’re good at, which is being fucking pirates.
We aren’t some asshole’s private army, and we aren’t revolutionaries. ”
The tension seemed to shift as whispers of approval rolled through the room.
“We can still meet to trade information a few times a year, and call a meeting for major trouble, but no more leaders and no more groveling. I go my way, you go yours.”
His solution seemed popular among the pirates, but I couldn’t quite figure out whether that was a point in its favor or a mark against it.
“What’d you do to him?” Crick asked, speaking for the first time since his glass had been shattered. He looked Hook up and down apprehensively. “Is it true, what they say in whispers about your Tideblessing?”
“I’ll let you all come to your own conclusions,” Hook answered, flashing a half-smile. “Wouldn’t want to give away any trade secrets.”
Cunning. Better to leave the other crews in the dark about what he was capable of. His first mate had done the heavy lifting here, but there was no reason to share that.
I glanced around anxiously, wondering if anyone else had seen the same thing I had. Magic seemed more common in a world without Relyk around to stifle it, and I couldn’t help but wonder at how much power was in this room right now.
“One last order of business before I go,” Hook said with a grim look around the room. “You there, with the bird, step forward.”
I stood stock still, wondering if he’d really just said what I thought he’d said, or if my mind was playing tricks on me.
His eyes narrowed and his voice dropped to a low, menacing rumble. “Do not make me ask again.”
I wet my lips nervously and took a tentative step forward.
“Y-yes sir.”
He looked me up and down and cocked his head. Then he gestured toward the redheaded man.
“Xander. Chain him and then find his sister. They’re coming with us to the Jolly Roger .”