“And?” I prompt.
“Has he explained how he came to be cursed?”
“Angered a sea witch, yes.”
“How did he anger the sea witch?”
I smile. “Probably spent too much time hanging around her sea cave, talking nonsense.”
“Not quite.”
“Honey, please,” I say.
“Seriously,” Sasha breathes.
“He stole her magic scallop,” Honey announces, closing her dossier and sitting back in her seat.
Chapter 49
“He stole…her magic…scallop,” I repeat. “Is that a euphemism?”
“I hope so,” Amaritha says. “Sounds like it ought to be.”
“No,” Honey says.
Eight pairs of eyes turn to Bash, who sinks lower in his chair.
“Are you going to make Honey tell us, Bash? Or are you going to tell us yourself?” I say.Scallop. Magic scallop. He’s been cursed to fear the sea because of amagic scallop.
He makes an aggravated noise and shifts in his seat. “It was said to lead people to hidden riches,” he says, sounding embarrassed. “I’m a pirate. A magical scallop that could lead people to hidden riches is an easy route to a sweet life for anyone, pirate or otherwise. I didn’t know it was herpetscallop.”
“So youstoleamagical scallopfrom asea witch?” Sasha gasps.
“I don’t steal,” he says, grimly.
“You exchange,” we chorus.
“It has to be an exchange of equal value,” I say. “What could you possibly have had that was equal in value to a sea witch’s pet magical gold-seeking scallop, something that you could have hidden somewhere nearby when you took it?”
He flushes, and swallows, but doesn’t answer.
“His heart,” Honey says, evenly. “He left his heart in exchange for the scallop.”
“Oh,” several of the others say. I say nothing, because I can’t quite sort through the implications of Honey’s words.
“Like, he gave her his heart because he was in love with her?” Amaritha asks.
“No, I gather it was in the nature of a lien,” Honey says. Off Amaritha’s look, she explains. “When you give a person something to secure a debt you owe that person.”
“I wasn’t going tokeepthe bloody thing,” Bash says. “I only wanted to find abitof hidden treasure. One or two sunken ships, nothing big.”
“Exchanges of that nature: That’s deep magic,” Honey says. “Most civilized folks haven’t practiced that kind of magic in centuries. It lives on in some very old communities on the fringes of the eight kingdoms: pirate ships, vegetarian communes, that sort of thing.”
“It was only supposed to be for a little while,” Bash adds. “A week or two, depending on how fast the scallop moved.”
“From what I’ve been able to ascertain, she discovered the missing scallop and then found the heart; when our friend here returned, happily enriched, to retrieve his heart and give the scallop back: That’s when she cursed him.”
“I mean, that’s reasonable,” I say. Bash glances at me and I shrug at him. “You can be very aggravating.” He shrugs in return, as though agreeing.
