“I’m interrupting your housework,” he said, licking his lips and giving me a leer that would have made a whore blush.And it did.Perhaps I wasn’t a whore, but I had many of the same interests and abilities.
“For what reason?”I asked, and then squeaked when he grabbed me around the waist and slid his hand down my trousers.
We left the dusting for another day.
Captain Martin’s frigate, a former navy vessel called theArrow,was a welcomed utopia for me and for many others aboard.Our small society was equitable—or as much as possible, in terms of race and religion—and nobody batted an eye at the ‘most unnatural and detestable sin’ of loving a member of your same sex.The men of this crew had been privy to acts of horrible cruelty and injustice in their previous lives.In contrast, what two (or more) men did with their bodies was less of an issue.A life at sea was treacherous and a man could perish at any moment, so any attachments were considered precious and valid.The crew knew about Captain Martin’s preference for other men in his bed—in fact, several had indulged him in the past—and nobody judged him for the practice.He and I were treated as though we were married, and we might as well have been.
***
“SimonBartholomewWhite.”
A faint whisper of my name.
“Simon White, Sorcerer of the Black Depths, Summoner of Storms and Lightning.”
The creature had soulless eyes and sea-green hair.It swirled in currents deep beneath the waves, drifting in and out of focus.An eerie, melodic voice rose like a surge of desire, and caught me up in a net of seduction, resonant and enchanting.
The thing beckoned me with an inky tentacle and a ghastly smile, then opened its eel-like mouth impossibly wide.A slick indigo gullet ringed with pointed white teeth, the void of its maw expanded until the wide mouth covered first the creature’s entire face, and then its head.The inviting song became one piercing note, paralyzing me so I couldn’t move as the monster lunged.
I surged to a sitting position, blinking in the moonlight, sweating and shaking.
“Holy hell and brimstone,” I panted, breathless with the fright of the dream creature, my eyes wide, my fingers clutching the sheet.
The strangely compelling song echoed in my head.
TheArrowrocked peacefully.The captain snored next to me.The man could sleep through a barrage of cannon fire, once he’d gone down for the night.Perhaps why there was always someone on duty outside his door.His quarters were mine now, the bed too.The entire ragtag crew knew we belonged to each other.
Since our new destination had been decided upon, I’d struggled with bizarre and unsettling dreams.Dinesh thought they were the result of the conflicting feelings I’d been experiencing about the times I’d used my magic to save him and the crew, whilst destroying our enemies.Particularly because, in facilitating our early morning escape from Tortuga, I’d decimated the town.So my magic hadn’t merely affected the men trying to destroy us, but scores of innocents as well.
He was likely correct, but the creature in my dreams loomed so vivid and real and disturbing, I couldn’t help but wonder if the frightening figment had some connection to the magical realm.
I knew this ability came to me from my mother, but she had died—been killed—before she could explain the bewitchment to me.The first time the conjuring had passed through me in an uncontrolled way had been after her death, when I’d dispatched my father—her murderer—in a fiery blaze that had burned me down one side and left a terrible scar.My mother’s friend, Carago, had taken me in, protected me, and parented me until his death two years ago, when I’d struck out for Port Royal in the hopes of gaining employment.I’d been lucky enough to stumble upon Captain Martin and his crew in a tavern when I was at my lowest point and barely had anything left to live for.He’d taken pity on me, and I’d been brought aboard theArrow, where I’d found lust and love and a bizarre sort of family.
My scar had faded and disappeared in a matter of hours following one of my spell castings, or whatever it was that I did to summon the powers of wind and lightning to my bidding.Neither the captain nor I understood how, or why.
Guilt was a strange thing.At times I felt fine, and then something would remind me of what I’d done and a sort of grey shroud would descend over me for a few hours or occasionally a number of days.But the captain’s care and interest would normally bring me out of my melancholy and if not that, my friends Domingo and Squid would cheer me.Or sometimes, I only needed to sit by myself for a while, staring out to sea and remembering that the entire crew, and Captain Martin himself, had blood on their hands.I wasn’t the only murderer on this ship.
However, because Captain Martin had a preference for diplomacy over bloodshed, I hadn’t actually seen a violent skirmish and dreaded when I might be witness to such an event.I also wondered how my magic might be able to intervene without destroying us all.I still wasn’t convinced theArrow’screw would be spared the violence of my powers.
What was the criteria for any particular man to escape the wrath of my magic?So far, the entire crew had been spared each time.The issue was that I didn’t know how much power I wielded, or how I wielded it.
There were members of theArrow’screw with whom I now had a somewhat strained relationship, as probably occurred with any group of people confined for weeks in close quarters.One such was Robert Hanes.
The man insisted on teasing me and threatening me with castration as a punishment for my sometimes ridiculous and peevish behaviour.Would he be vulnerable because I didn’t particularly like him?Even so, my disfavour didn’t mean I wanted him dead.
There had also been occasions when I’d wished harm on Domingo’s mouthy mynah, Esmaralda, but I would hate for anything to happen to her as Domingo cared for her a great deal.
The powers I had were mysterious, and I was only beginning to get a grasp on controlling them in the most rudimentary way.So my horrible nightmares may well have been caused by the anxiety that plagued me.
I carefully extricated myself from the bed without waking Dinesh.The white shirt I slept in, normally billowy and soft, clung to me with moisture from my own sweat.I shivered even though the night was still and warm, and wrapped myself in a knitted blanket whilst I moved to stand at the windows that looked out from the ship’s stern.
Moonlight glanced off the dark waves as theArrowmoved silently through the swells, her night crew on duty now that the day had gone, and no other ships in sight, at least from this angle.The sentry would spot any other vessels in this kind of light and would let us know if we needed to prepare for a skirmish.
We’d been lucky, and the crew of the two merchantmen we’d encountered since escaping Cayonne had bowed to the excellent diplomacy of Captain Martin and the quartermaster, Hillier, and allowed us to take an amount of plunder in exchange for escaping with their lives.
This was the way in which Dinesh approached a life of piracy.I believed he was in the business less for the booty than for the opportunity for him and his men to live lives of their own choosing, rather than bowing to society’s strict demands and class systems.
The crew had great respect for Captain Martin, and an appreciation for a life outside of the bounds of politeness and conformity.Some of them even shared our fondness for love between men, and others partook of the activity as a temporary measure when they couldn’t access members of the opposite sex.
