Captain Vex’s hands knotted in the witch’s dark curls. Bella was a profoundly skilled lover. The Captain had a taste of what Bella could do on top of the lighthouse, but being the sole focus of-of a sex witch’s ministrations when there were no other distractions (and Bella was feeling particularly thankful) was to be given the best possible seat in a masterclass in how to pleasure a woman.

Belita had already been turned on fiercely by helping Bella with her recharge ritual. The witch was so willing and dynamic. Belita did not frequently take women as lovers. She preferred the rough and forceful touch of a strong man. Sometimes though, with the right person, she enjoyed taking the opposite role. The witch definitely sparked that. It was her wantonness. Her sassy, taunting personality, coupled with her pliable and willing sexuality made Belita want to take charge. It occurred to her that it was what Bella wanted. The control was still firmly hers even though she’d been so willing to submit. That sudden revelation cured Belita of the faint guilt she’d felt over being so domineering. Bella was a master seductress. She’d known exactly what she was doing. She was still doing it.

“Tell me about your most memorable sexual experience,” Bella said in a throaty coo. Her hands were already busily at work spreading Belita’s wetness around with soft strokes that dipped back to her center and then spiralled out again. At the outside of each spiral before heading back in again, she flicked her fingernail against every one of the eight gold rings that pierced the Captain’s outer labia.  Two rows of four, spread in a slight oval by Belita’s arousal and by how far her legs were spread, nestled in among the golden curls of her hair.

Bella found them fascinating. The idea of piercing her own most intimate places made her uncomfortable. Bella was not someone who handled pain well. Her particular kind of endurance swung the opposite direction. Even if she thought she could stomach the process, it wasn’t something she could really consider anyway. There were too many ways piercings like that could get in the way of her magic. There were a few kinds of rituals that might be strengthened by something like that. She’d have to work out the details, but it would work in theory.

Unfortunately there were quite a few other kinds of rituals that would not be compatible at all. She’d lose a lot of versatility in what she was capable of. She supposed she could take them out and put them back in. Were they even removable? They must be. In the dim light it was hard to tell.

On Belita though, the rings made perfect sense. They were signs of her daring nature and bold willingness to face pain and put her body on the line for what she wanted. They were also trophies of accomplishments.

“Well, the tryst on top of Will’s lighthouse was the one that springs tae mind. That was wild,” Belita smiled, her gold teeth catching the dim light from the wall lamps.

“What made it so powerful for you?” Bella asked. Her fingertip dipped into the Captain’s wet opening, just barely threatening to penetrate. A squeeze rippled along Belita’s tanned thighs.

“The danger of it. Knowing we might be caught, that our lives depended on me sucking and fucking without being noticed,” Belita explained. The memory sent a new wave of arousal through her. She was already quite turned on, but suddenly she was flooded. Her nipples puckered around their rings.

“Wanting to go faster and do more, but having to go slow and be careful?” Bella prompted.

“Aye,” the Captain grinned. “My heart was pounding the whole time.”

“Mine too,” Bella admitted. “I was terrified.” She was smiling too as she continued her slow, firm stroking. Now, she could look back on the situation and appreciate the excitement of it. At the time she had other things on her mind.

“It was such a rush,” Belita’s eyes flashed with lust. Her butt and thighs clenched again. Bella had been waiting for a signal like that. She quickly moved her fingertip to Belita’s clit and started making circles. Her other hand busied itself with just barely probing the Captain’s slick opening. Belita squirmed and groaned, her hands reaching for her own breasts, squeezing and pulling.

“Tell me the very best part,” Bella said.

“The first push. Will’s cock sliding intae me for the first time. It was so slo-aaah!” Belita came, hard, unexpectedly, with a buck of her hips as Bella slid a hard wet phallus into her.

“Like that?” Bella smirked.

“Oh, you sly wench…” the Captain laughed, her breathing starting to even out again. “Aye, like that.”

Bella began to slowly slide the stone phallus in and out of her Captain’s wet womanhood.

“Is that the thing your apprentice was using back at Mary’s?” Belita asked.

“Yep. Rocky, meet Belita. Belita, this is Rocky,” Bella winked.

“A mighty fine meeting, indeee-aaahfuckme!” the Captain howled as Rocky abruptly started to buzz inside her. She’d never felt anything like it before in her life. Bella had whispered something to it, and suddenly she did it again. The buzzing ramped up, sending her entire lower body into spasms of pleasure. Her legs were shaking and kicking uncontrollably. Her eyes were wide and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had already cum hard, and the unexpected sensations were amplifying the small aftershocks into more full-blown orgasms that hit her one after another.

“Dangerous things happen all the time on the ocean, right?” Bella said, pulsing rocky quickly into the Captain’s depths. “Next time something happens that gets your heart racing, I’m going to have you kneel over my face so I can lick you while Will takes you from behind.”

Belita bucked again, her hips actually coming off the bed for a moment before her feet slid out from under her. The incredible vibrations were taking away all her muscle control. She tried to respond but couldn’t. All that came out was a long, happy moan.

“Maybe I’ll have Rocky help,” Bella continued. Suddenly she slid the buzzing phallus all the way out, and replaced it with the fingers of her other hand. She hooked them upward and pulled firmly against something inside the Captain. It was that same spot that Bella had helped Will find on top of the lighthouse.

Bella didn’t need help. She seemed to know exactly where it was by instinct. She put her fingers on it and began to quickly pulse and pull, hard and fast. It was like she had primed a bomb. The ramp up was fast, uncontrollable, unexpected, unstoppable. All four of Captain Vex’s limbs slammed down on the bed and pushed, her hips lifting. Her whole body tensed and then shook as the power of the strongest orgasm of her life ripped through her. Her breath came in staccato gasps. It didn’t let up. Bella just kept pulsing her fingers into that magical spot and keeping the sensations rolling. Every time she thought it was going to subside, another one hit her.

Then Bella added Rocky’s buzz right onto Belita’s clit.

Belita was lost. She stopped being able to think. Even the feelings of surprise, the small moments of revelation and reflection at how amazing it all felt were gone. All she could do was feel it. There was no room left to think about those feelings. All that remained of her conscious mind was the explosive heat and electric jolts of incredible pleasure. She had no idea how long it went on. It was like being caught in a storm. All she could do was hold on and ride it out.

Eventually, the intense pleasure began to subside. Or rather, Belita began to realize that it had subsided. It took awhile for her mind to catch up. Bella had slid Rocky back inside her and reduced the strength of the buzzing. It was a slow, warm way to come down. Belita realized she was looking at Bella’s beautiful, self-satisfied face. She had no idea how long she’d been staring like that, open-mouthed and dumbfounded.

“How did ye do that?” Belita asked in quiet amazement.

Belita shrugged. “Years of practice.”

“I thought Janie was exaggerating about how good it was, and then Will did that... thing with his fingers… I thought that was as good as it could get,” Belita shook her head. She was holding herself up on her elbows. She didn’t remember getting into that position. “Ye… That was even better.”

“You helped me. I wanted to show you my appreciation.” Bella tucked her hair behind one of her ears and smiled. She slowly withdrew Rocky and killed the buzzing. Belita finally completely relaxed. She felt boneless. Never in her life had she been more relaxed.

“Best cabin girl ever,” the Captain laughed. Bella crawled forward and lay down at the Captain’s side, resting her head on the blond woman’s shoulder. Belita hugged the witch to her, wrapping her arm around Bella’s shoulders.

“Don’t sailors earn medals for being good at their jobs?” Bella smirked.

“On civilian ships it’s more about earning marks, like rings or tattoos,” Captain Vex said, tapping the ring on her left nipple.

“What’s the mark for best cabin girl?” Bella grinned, tracing her fingertip around the nipple next to her face.

“Don’t know. I’ll have tae come up with something,” Belita laughed.

_______________

Daytime at Merry Mary’s wasn’t very exciting. Mostly it consisted of people pitching in with the cleaning, dishes being washed or meals being prepped, sleepy-eyed working girls and boys sitting at the gambling tables in gauzy robes with their hair in curlers and slippers on their feet while they nursed tea or water, recovering from the previous night’s work. During the day, the gaming room was more of a communal living space. It felt more like a boarding house than a cat house.

Caine came into a handful of nods and waves, trailing a wide-eyed young woman behind him. She scanned everything with an expression of anxious interest. She slowly realized all the eyes in the room were on her. She stopped in her tracks, not following Caine anymore. Her eyes scanned the room, taking in the host of expressions. Curiosity. Amusement Worry. Some disgust. She remembered what she looked like and suddenly felt like leaving. Caine noticed and sighed.

“Ain’t none of you have any manners,” He said to the room. A few of them smiled.

“Nope,” one amused looking woman with breasts nearly as large as Bella’s said saucily.

“You don’t usually bring in new girls,” a fellow with the body of a carnival strongman and the face of an attractive woman said.

“She ain’t a new girl,” Caine said. “I’m just looking after her for a while.”

“Isn’t that what you said about Tonya?” the saucy woman with the large breasts asked. “And look at her now.” The room chuckled.

Caine sighed. “Janie, these are Mary’s Merries.”

“H-hello,” Janie said with a small wave.

“Room full of ill-mannered harlots, this is Janie,” Caine said. The room echoed the greeting.

“She’ll be around for a while. Not sure how long. I’m going to put her up in Bella’s room.”

“Tonya’s already claimed it,” a slender redhead said.

“There’s room for two,” Tonya said with a shrug.

“Good,” Caine nodded.

“Hey, wasn’t she the girl who got-” one of the gigolos asked.

“Yes,” Caine said tersely. “She was. Since you’re a hopeless gossip I’m sure you’ll tell everyone all about it as soon as we’re gone, so there’s no use in trying to keep it quiet. Yes, she’s the one from the docks. That’s why she’s here. The Kidds want her dead. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Any questions?”

The room was quiet. A few faces nodded silently. The saucy woman with the large chest pushed her chair back and stood up, walking over to where Janie still stood riveted in place.

“I’m Sasha,” she said. “You hungry?” Janie nodded. “I’ll go see what the cooks have going.” Sasha walked out of the room.

“I’ll show you where the room is,” Tonya said standing up. “C’mon.”

Caine nodded. “I’m going to go talk to Chance. If you need me, holler.”

Janie nodded and started following Tonya. The eyes in the room followed her until she left, then all turned to the gigolo who seemed to know who she was. “I was on the docks yesterday when there was a big standoff between some rich guy and Jakob Kidd. That Janie girl got held hostage...” The voice trailed off as she followed Tonya down a hallway.

“Don’t pay them any mind. They won’t judge you badly, they just all love gossip,” Tonya said.

“They aren’t what I expected,” Janie admitted.

“They’re just people, same as everyone,” the smaller girl shrugged. “I’m Tonya.”

“I suppose you know who I am,” Janie said wearily.

“Well, no. Not really. I probably know more than most of the people here though. You know Belladonna, right?” Tonya asked. “You were part of whatever she got swept up into before she took off on that boat?” They went down a flight of stairs. The walls went from wood to stone.

“Yes,” Janie said. “I’m not sure how much about I should talk about it.”

“I’m not a gossip,” Tonya said. “I won’t pry though. Your business is your own. Caine says to help you out, I’ll help you out.”

“He seems to have a lot of respect here,” Jaine said.

Tonya opened a door and they were suddenly hit by a wave of steam and a faint, rank odor. “He does. More than just about anyone. Most of us have a debt to him in some way or another. Some of us owe him a lot. I know I do.”

“What’s that smell?” Janie asked, her face wrinkling.

“Sulfur. Welcome to the baths,” Tonya smiled.

Mary’s hidden gem was a hot spring. It had been discovered by the original owners of the property, who built an impressive imperial-style bathhouse. Unfortunately, at the time Bastard’s Bay just didn’t have enough people to make the expense of the project pay off in the long run. It was sold to the previous owner, who decided to build an inn on top of it. That didn’t work out so well either, so it was sold to Mary, who turned it into a brothel and gambling house. They didn’t even offer access to the baths to the public. They were strictly for the people who worked there.

The heat and humidity were intense. The room was huge, with stone pillars providing support. All along one wall were shelves cut right into the stone. A stack of towels sat on a bench. In the center was a rectangular pool of clear, steaming water. A man and two women were in it, sitting in one corner talking quietly. They’d looked up when Janie and Tonya came in, but it was hard to see thought he steam and they seemed more interested in their conversation than the new arrivals.

“Put your clothes there,” Tonya said gesturing to the shelves in the wall. A week ago, the idea of bathing in public would have horrified her. Now, it didn’t. It occurred to her that more people had seen her naked in the last week than her entire life before that put together. Even if that hadn’t been the case, she was too tired to care about modesty. She pulled off her clothes unceremoniously. When her bustier was revealed, Tonya’s brows rose.

“Wow, what is that? Where did you get it?” the smaller girl asked.

“The mainland. They’re in fashion there right now. I’m not sure how long it will take for them to reach the islands,” Janie said, peeling herself out of it.

“Soon, I hope. I want one,” Tonya grinned. Janie gave her a faint smile in return, but her heart wasn’t in it. She folded her clothing and tucked it away. Tonya gave her a pained, sympathetic look. She probably thought Janie hadn’t noticed, but she did.

Tonya peeled her own clothes off as well. All she was wearing was a robe and a pair of slippers, so it was quick. By the time Jaine had finished trudging to the water’s edge, Tonya was naked and collecting a basket from another nearby bench.

As soon as Janie’s foot dipped into the water her eyes went wide. It was hot. She stepped in and sunk down and let the glorious heat wash over her. An involuntary groan escaped her lips and suddenly she was aware of every ache that had built up over the last few days of stress and sleeplessness. The heat seem to reach into her body and start leaching out her pain almost instantly.

Time seemed to cease flowing. She had no idea how long she sat there just breathing and letting the weightlessness and warmth soothe her. Suddenly the tears came. There were no sobs or sounds. Just rivulets from her eyes as the tension she’d been carrying was finally released. Tonya watched, saying nothing. Janie sat there, crying quietly and staring into space for a long time. Her eyes finally drifted shut and Tonya began to worry she was going to drift off to sleep.

“Here,” Tonya said, passing her a small bottle. “It’s special soap for your hair. Makes it really soft. Our alchemist makes it.”

“You- have an alchemist?” Jaine said, her eyes fluttering open. She sniffed, her nose a bit stuffy from the tears.

“Yeah, she’s a bit on the crazy side, but knows her stuff. I’ll introduce you later,” Tonya smiled.

Janie unstoppered the bottle and sniffed it. The scent of rose petals and vanilla briefly overpowered the smell of sulfur from the water. Her eyes went wide and she began undoing the braid in her hair.

“Let me,” Tonya said moving in next to her. “Just turn a bit.”

Janie did, letting the smaller girl pull the braid out and fluff out her hair. It was in desperate need of a wash. Tonya gently tugged on it. “Head back. This is going to feel amazing.”

Janie tilted her head back and Tonya used a cup to pour water over her hair. Over and over the warmth cascaded through her hair until it was sopping. Then Tonya began working the special soap from the bottle into Janie’s scalp. Her fingers felt wonderful.

“So how do you know Bella?” Tonya asked.

“I… She’s..." Janie had no idea how to answer that. What was Bella to her? They barely knew each other really, but they were lovers, and Janie’s feelings were strong. “She’s my friend.”

“Do you know what happened with that ship? She told me she would be going with Mister Sterling from the lighthouse on some kind of adventure, and then the Kidd gang got involved and she left early,” Tonya sounded mostly curious, but there were undercurrents of worry and bitterness that Janie picked out.

“There was a fight here,” Janie said.

“Yeah, I missed that. I was down here. Saw the aftermath though. Lots of blood,” Tonya said, still working her fingers into Janie’s scalp.

“The Kidd gang came for us. We managed to elude them and almost got away, but they found us on the docks. They took me hostage and traded me for the brother of the man who was stabbed here,” Janie said. “Everyone else made it to the ship, but I had to stay.”

“That’s awful,” Tonya said.

“It was,” Janie nodded.

“Close your eyes.” Tonya began pouring water over her head, rinsing the special soap. “They’re alright though? Bella is alright?”

“So far as I know, yes,” Janie said. “How do you know Bella?”

“I’m her apprentice,” Tonya said proudly.

“Oh, so you’re a witch also,” Janie said, more commenting than questioning.

“I suppose so. I don’t know how to do much yet, but I’m learning,” Tonya shrugged. “Here, this next,” she said, handing Janie another bottle and a cloth. “It’s the regular soap.”

It smelled strongly of honey. Janie poured a generous amount onto the cloth and began to lather herself up. “Oh, this is wonderful,” Janie sighed. “I missed good soap.”

“Other than the smell, isn’t this just regular soap?” Tonya asked.

“I’ve been using Will’s soap. He uses something that is like a coarse powder. It’s like washing yourself with sand,” Janie said wrinkling her nose again.

“Well that sounds unpleasant,” Tonya chuckled. “You starting to feel a bit better?”

“Much. It’s amazing how good simply feeling clean can be,” Janie nodded. She was still tired, but her mood had lifted considerably.

“Don’t I know it. The first time I was brought down here I’d been living on the streets for half a year. Best bath of my life,” Tonya nodded earnestly.

“Oh you poor thing!” Janie said, a bit shocked at how casually Tonya had mentioned such a terrible ordeal.

The small girl shrugged. “It was just the way life was then. It’s over now. There’s a lot of us here with stories like that.”

Janie was quiet at that. Thoughtful. She continued to wash herself then dipped into the water to rinse. The silence became a bit awkward after a while.

“Did I say something wrong?” Tonya asked.

“No, not at all,” Janie assured her. “This place isn’t anything like I thought it would be.”

“Just wait until it gets dark,” Tonya smirked. “It might match your expectations a bit better then.”

“I admit, I am curious,” Janie smiled. Her stomach rumbled loudly. Tonya looked down at it through the water.

“You ready to get out? I bet Sasha has something to eat for you by now,” Tonya said, standing up.

Janie nodded and followed, leaving the soothing heat behind. Her body was so warm now that the cool air felt soothing rather than chilled. She dried herself with one of the towels from the bench and reached for her clothes.

“Just take them with you. We’ll find you something else until we get them washed. You just got clean. No sense in putting dirty clothes back on,” Tonya suggested.

“Well I can’t very well walk out like this,” Jaine said, looking down at herself.

Tonya laughed. “Sure you can. If you’re feeling modest just wrap the towel around yourself. Around here, that’s more than most people do.”

Jaine’s brows furrowed for a moment, then she wrapped herself in the towel and picked up her clothes. “This all feels like a strange dream,” she said with a small shake of her head.

“I felt that way for the first few months of being here too,” Tonya grinned.

They left the baths behind and headed back upstairs.

________________

Belita’s gold rings caught the faint light of the wall lamps as Bella flicked them gently with her fingertips. “These are so much fun,” she said between kisses. “Where did you come up with the idea?”

“It’s a Nivalese tradition,” Belita said.

“You are definitely not Nivalese.” Bella giggled. Nival was a continent populated largely by very dark skinned people. No one would ever mistake the blond captain for one of them.

“No, but at the time of my eleventh trip around the Horn, I had a Nivalese first mate. He had his pierced with ivory crescents. When I joked about running outta ear space, he reminded me that I had a lot of other options. He did this one right as we passed around the tip of the horn,” she said tapping her left breast, “and the other one on the way back, right out on the sterncastle.”

“Isn’t that the most dangerous part of that trip? I hear that’s a very narrow strait, full of ice and monsters,” Bella said. Her dark eyebrows were as high as they would go.

“The sirens aren’t really monsters. Their mating calls just have a strange effect on men,” Belita shrugged, enjoying the sensations as Bella continued to play with her nipple rings.

“Driving them mad enough to try to swim through freezing waters is a little worse than strange,” Bella snorted. “How do you deal with that?”

“There’s a few tricks. Stopping up the ears is a good one. Having a musician play to interrupt the power of their song is another. Crewing a ship only with women and deaf men is the most reliable way. There’s a few ships that make their living that way. The Kestrel was one of them for a while, until the Blood Tide closed off the passage,” Belita smiled.

“What if a woman is attracted to women too? Does the song still draw them?” Bella asked.

“A bit, but not to the same extent. I’ve never seen a woman ever want tae jump overboard. They just get really horny,” Belita snickered.

“Sounds kinda fun,” the N’madi witch grinned, bringing her lips down to nip at the Captain’s rings.

“It is. That’s why my crew is so comfortable with each other,” Belita twitched her shoulders inward at the little spike of pleasure, squeezing her breasts together for a moment. “After the first orgy breaks out on the deck, there aren’t many taboos left.”

Bella’s eyes widened. “That doesn’t sound so bad at all. I’ve only ever heard that the Devil’s Horn was the most dangerous place on the seas, and that Sirens were like Succubi, luring men to their deaths.”

“I bet ye heard that from men,” Belita snorted. “I can think of a dozen places more dangerous than the horn. We’re headed tae one of them now.”

“What are the Drifts like?” Bella asked, continuing her nibbling and teasing.

The Captain put her hands behind her head and relaxed into the pillows, smiling and stretching with a throaty purr. “Unpredictable. They are constantly changing. I’ve only ever seen them from the outside. It’s a daunting sight. Awesome and humbling.”

“You think we can make it through?”

“No idea. That’s what Will and ye are here for,” Belita shrugged.

It dawned on Bella how much trust the Captain was putting in Will’s abilities. “Why would you take that risk? You barely know us.”

“Will looked me in the eye and said he could do it. I know boasts when I see them. He’s either delusional, or completely confident. Ye seem wary and sensible enough not tae hang around with a delusional person. I think Will really believes he can do it. I’ve been waiting for someone like that tae come around for years,” Belita idly stroked Bella’s hair, staring at the ceiling while she talked. “I was afraid it might never happen, or that if it did, it wouldn’t be me tae recruit them.”

“You aren’t worried that we might all die?” Bella asked.

“I’ve run the Horn twenty times. I’m nae afraid of dying at sea. If I’m going tae die somewhere, I want it tae be doing something no one has ever done before,” Belita smiled.

There was a knock at the door. Belita sighed and rolled herself off the bed, shrugging into her coat and holding it tight around her naked body. She opened the door and squinted. “What is it?”

“Ship sighted. Looks like a Magistrate frigate. They’re headed our way,” Danica said.

“I’ll be out in five minutes,” the Captain said, shutting the door.

“I guess that means I don’t get to return the favor for helping me with my ritual,” Bella said.

“Nae, not right now. I think we caught the attention of a Magistrate patrol ship. They’re going tae stop us and want to snoop around,” Beita said. She started picking up her clothing from the mixed up trail on the floor.

“Does that happen a lot?” Bella asked.

“In areas where the Magistrate is trying tae establish more control, yes,” Belita said. “We don’t have anything tae worry about. We aren’t pirates or smugglers. We’ll let Lord Morant handle it.”

Bella sat up in the bed and looked around. “Can we not mention the whole ‘witch’ thing to them?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure the crew knows tae keep that under wraps,” Belita said, tugging herself into her breeches with a few eye-catching bounces.

“Oh, and can I… uh, well, do you have a mirror I can have?” Bella asked.

“Ye can use the one on the wall, right there,” the Captain said with a gesture toward a large oval mirror with a wooden frame carved into the shape of waves.

“No, it’s for another ritual. The mirror has to be mine. It can’t be borrowed,” Bella said with a shake of her head.

“Is it going tae be broken?” Belita asked.

“No,” Bella shook her head.

“Can it stay there on the wall?” Belita asked.

“Well, I could put it back after I’m done, yes. I just couldn’t give it back to you. Ownership is important to the spell,” Bella said.

“It’s yours then. Ye can have it. I’ll just borrow it when I need tae,” Belita said, finishing the buttons on her shirt.

“I feel a bit like you just found a loophole in how this is supposed to work,” Bella snickered.

“I have a knack for that,” the Captain shrugged. She pulled on one of her boots and set her foot on the edge of the bed. “Oh cabin girl,” she smirked. Bella laughed and started pulling the laces tight and fastening the polished buckles.

“Whatever ye have planned with the mirror, ye should wait until we’re clear of this patrol ship. They’re going tae want tae look everywhere,” Belita said.

“Of course. I don’t want the Magistrate anywhere near me while I’m doing witch stuff,” Bella agreed.

The Captain put her other boot on the bed for Bella to work on. “What kind of spell are you going tae cast on the mirror?”

“Do you remember my apprentice, Tonya?” Bella asked.

“Dinnae think I met her.” Belita shrugged back into her coat and picked up her hat.

“Well, not officially. She was the one who was with Will and I at Mary’s,” Bella said.

“Oh, aye! The wee lass that came so hard she fell outtae her chair,” Belita giggled.

“That would be her. I’m going to see if I can communicate with her,” Bella smiled.

“Interesting. Having a way tae talk with folks in port could be useful,” Belita said, starting to head for the door.

“I’ll let you know how it goes,” Bella shrugged.

The Captain stepped out into the sun and shut the door behind her. Bella flopped down onto the bed again and looked over at the mirror. She didn’t like having to wait.

__________________

“Permission to come aboard!” The crisp, authoritarian voice called out from high above on the other ship.

The Magistrate Frigate rode nearly fifteen feet higher out of the water than the Kestrel and was over twice her length. Will was looking right at an open cannon port. The guns weren’t deployed, but he could see them sitting securely inside the larger ship’s middle hold. He raised his hand and gave a small wave to the Magistrate cannoneer who was looking at the Kestrel from out the porthole. The cannoneer did not wave back.

“Granted!” Danica North called back. “Do you have a ramp that can reach our deck?”

“Aye, lowering it now!” came the voice from above.

It took a few minutes. Because of the difference in deck height, the boarding ramp had to be lowered down and secured on the Kestrel, and then the two ships had to be pushed away from each other until the ramp was at a safe slope.

Four Magistrate Legionnaires trotted down the plank in fully armed regalia. They carried concave, rectangular shields that covered them from shin to shoulder. Each shield had a notch cut out of the upper right corner. Rifles rested on their shoulders, each one sporting a long bayonet. Their crimson surcoats and intimidating crested helms projected a well-earned reputation of professional menace. They formed up on the deck, scanning the crew and assessing for danger. “Clear!” one of them barked.

Down the plank came a Magistrate naval officer and his scribe. He scanned the Kestrel’s deck, taking note of the ropes strewn across the deck, the too-large rigging ladders running to the many smaller boats, and the ragtag looking crew and immediately took a disapproving caste to his face.

“I am Lieutenant Vanderby of the Order of the Anchor, who is the captain of this vessel?” the Magistrate officer asked. He wore a red Bicorn hat and a matching frock coat. The lapel of his coat had a line of pins denoting his rank and achievements in the Magistrate military. There weren’t many of them.

“I am,” Captain Vex said stepping forward. “Captain Belita Vex of the Kestrel. What can I do for ye, Lieutenant?”

We spotted your ship and saw that she’d loaded down and configured oddly. Seemed worth looking into,” the Lieutenant said with cordial formality.

“Oh, aye. My rigging master is experimenting with a new configuration tae accommodate all the rescue vessels we’re carrying,” the Captain said, gesturing to the many smaller hips hanging off the deck.

“That seemed strange to us as well,” the lieutenant said. It was clear he was curious, but maintaining a professional aloofness.

“We’re an expedition ship. Where we’re headed, the Kestrel can’t fit,” Captain Vex explained.

“I would like to see your charter and your crew manifest,” Lieutenant Vanderby stated.

“Of course. Lord Morant, if you don’t mind,” the Captain said over her shoulder.

Morant and Mister Lynch stepped forward from the crowd on the deck. Lynch opened a scroll case and handed the contents to his master.

“Lieutenant Vanderby, this is Lord Halister Morant, Viscount of Armondet, the Kestrel’s patron,” Captain Vex said, stepping aside to allow Morant to take position directly in front of the Magistrate officer. Morant inclined his head slightly.

Vanderby looked surprised and returned the nod, suddenly reassessing his opinion of the Kestrel. “My lord. Your presence will make my job here much easier, I’m sure.”

Morant passed Vanderby the paperwork. “I appreciate your presence, Lieutenant,” Morant said politely. “The waters are dangerous, and the Kestrel is not in the best shape to be outrunning pirates.”

“I would say that is an understatement, my lord.” Vanderby looked over the paperwork, then passed it to his scribe. “I’d like to inspect your holds if you don’t mind.”

Morant nodded. “I see no issue with that. Captain?”

“Nor I,” Captain Vex agreed. “Missus North, take the Lieutenant's men below decks. Have your husband unlock everything. Provide them whatever they need.”

“Aye, Captain,” Danica said. “This way, gentlemen.” Two of the Legionaries followed Danica down into the hold.

“You sail with an Asura? How exotic,” Vanderby remarked as the scribe pointed out a note in the paperwork.

“My expedition leader’s bodyguard,” Morant said. “I can have him summoned if you would like to meet him.”

“No need. Having an Asura aboard is uncommon, but not my concern,” Vanderby said.

The scribe caught the Lieutenant's attention again and passed him one of the papers, pointing out a seal at the bottom and whispering something in the officer’s ear. Vanderby nodded. “This is quite an irregular ship,” he said. “It says you are working under the authority of the Order of the Vault.”

“Quite correct,” Morant said. “I encourage you to verify the authenticity of the seal” Vanderby passed the paper back to his scribe and gave him a nod. The scribe turned and went back up the plank to the Frigate.

The captain, the noble and the Magistrate officer walked across the deck, stepping over the many ropes that had been tacked down all over it. “I would love to hear about your expedition, Lord Morant. It sounds like quite an adventure.”

The door to the captain’s cabin shut behind them.

Will let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He’d had plenty of run-ins with the Magistrate out in open waters before. They had imposing down to an art. It was never a pleasant experience. Next to him, Bella held onto his arm. She was clearly nervous. He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. Around them, the sailors began milling about, breaking up into small groups and passing the time with banter until they could get underway again.

“Jack came to talk to me,” Bella said quietly.

“I saw that,” Will said. “I hope it went alright.”

“I’m… not sure,” Bella said. “She’s very upset. Not angry. She seems more sad and overwhelmed.”

“That isn’t normal for her at all,” Will said, surprised.

“No. She also said something that… well, brace yourself, alright.” Bella took a breath. Will waited. “She said she knows what your curse is.”

Will was quiet, he stood still and simply thought. His first reaction was to get angry. He wanted to go find her and wring answers out of her. He took a deep breath. “So what is it?’

“That’s the thing, she said she couldn’t tell me. She seemed really upset about it, but no matter what she wouldn’t explain. She said she was sorry though,” Bella said.

“Well that’s progress, I suppose,” Will said bitterly. “Not really helpful though.”

“No. It isn’t.” Bella seemed sad and concerned. “I think she’s really hurt, Will. Whatever happened, it’s put her through hell too.”

“Good,” Will scoffed.

“Will, does any of this seem like her? The her you used to know?” Bella asked.

“No. Not at all,” Will admitted angrily.

“What if she’s cursed too?” Bella asked.

“Well why wouldn’t she say so? I can talk about mine,” Will shrugged.

“What if it’s different for her?” Bella asked. “There’s a lot of kinds of curses.”

“I don’t know. Seems far fetched and too convenient of an answer,” Will said. “She might just be trying to get off the hook.”

“Does that sound like her?” Bella asked a bit more sternly. “She does a lot of things I don’t agree with, but she never tries to make excuses for them. I’ve never seen her try to blame anything or anyone for her choices.”

Will sighed. “That’s true.”

“I’m not sure what to do,” Bella shook her head sadly.

“What can we do? It’s not like we can pry the information out of her,” Will shrugged. “She’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“That’s the thing, I think we probably could. It seems like she really wants to tell us, but for whatever reason, she just can’t. It’s tearing her up. If we pushed her about it she might actually give in. She broke down in tears, Will. I’ve never seen her do that. She’s desperate to get whatever it is off her chest. I think she feels guilty.” Bella walked over to the railing and stared out at the water.

Will followed. “I’m glad. That’s a good sign. If she’d just explain what she knows maybe we could figure out a way past all this.”

“I’m not sure. Where I’m torn is that I don’t think we should pry. Whatever this is, it’s clearly an important enough thing that she’s decided it’s worth being estranged from both of us. I can’t even imagine something that would make her choose that, which is why I thought maybe she was cursed too.”

“You want to give her the benefit of the doubt,” Will said thoughtfully. He could see why. Part of him wanted to also. He just wasn’t sure she deserved it. Jack’s choices had nearly gotten him killed and he’d been carrying a grudge for a long time. Beneath the grudge was a desire to know why, and to try to believe it had all been some terrible misunderstanding. Bella was offering him both of those things, and he wanted to believe it. He just couldn’t. He was a sceptic at heart. When things seemed too good to be true, they always were.

“I’m not sure I want to. It’s easier to be angry. I just don’t have it in me,” Bella shrugged.

“You’re kinder than I am. I won’t pry at whatever she knows, but until she decides to tell me herself I don’t think my feelings about any of this are going to change.” Will was feeling conflicted and mentally tired. The last few days had been a lot to deal with. He was trying to enjoy the start of the journey, roll with the waves and look to the horizon, but leaving Janie behind had taken a lot of the wind out of his sails. He felt like he was dragging his anchor. It nagged at him, beneath the surface of everything. He was worried about her and upset with himself that he hadn’t been able to figure out a way to save her. He’d run the scenario around in his head dozens of times since he’d woken up. He’d come to the conclusion that the mistake was when Cal Kidd was off the fishing boat before Jakob had let Janie go. If they had held onto Cal, they’d still have had leverage to get Jakob to release Janie.

Such a small mistake. Was it his curse? Or was it just a lapse in judgment during a crisis? Or was it part of Morant’s improvised plan? It hadn’t felt like his curse, but luck was a subtle thing. He hadn’t felt that feeling of slipping sideways, but he’d been on a boat. It always felt a bit like that with the waves under you. Could he have just missed it?

Now this. Jack and the curse. Confusion and lies. So many old feelings he’d tried to bury had become mixed with so many new ones he hadn’t had time to think on. He felt adrift. Rudderless.

He and Bella stood next to each other, each lost in thought, watching the water.

________________

The Magistrate patrol ship disappeared into the distance. That stop had wasted over an hour of daylight. Will was impressed with the speed of it. Usually, a Magistrate inspection took longer. Lieutenant Vanderby had deferred to Lord Morant. Between being titled nobility and bearing a writ of authority from one of the Magistrate’s own orders had swayed Vanderby to overlook things like opening every crate and doing a full headcount by name on the manifest and looking for stowaways.

“The helm needs a course check,” Danica said to Will as she passed by. Will nodded and scanned the skyline in every direction. He called up to the Lookout. “Land check!”

“Land ho, five of the clock, and six of the clock!” the lookout called down. Will walked up the stairs to the Sterncastle and looked out the back, scanning. After a while, he could make out the land shadow in the distance, and a smaller one to it’s right. That gave him a reference. He checked his compass and headed to the Captain’s cabin.

He opened up the fold-out desk, pulled the chair off the wall and got to work. Navigation on the open sea was all about inference. Landmarks helped a lot, and already having a rough idea of where they were, took a lot of the work out of it. This wouldn't take long. They were less than a day out from Bastard’s Bay. The Kestrel was a decently fast ship, but the wind was low and they were burdened, so their average cruising speed didn’t vary much. He slipped the map beneath a sheet of glass and made a few measurements. Then he marked out an area with a grease pencil and a protractor.

From there it was easy to find the two islands he’d seen on the horizon and triangulate the Kestrel’s approximate position. From that point, he laid down a ruler to their first course marker and took a bearing. They wanted to head east-by-northeast until they reached the island of Barcola. It would take roughly two days if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

He closed up the desk and headed back to the Sterncastle. “East-by-northeast, Helmsman,” he said to the stocky man at the wheel. “We’ll be maintaining that for about two days.”

“Aye,” the helmsman said adjusting his course slightly. Behind him on the bench, Colin Strong was stretched out, asleep. WIll chuckled to himself. “Helm, if you need a break, let me know. Mister Strong needs his rest.”

“Aye, sir,” the young helmsman said, obviously agreeing. “I could actually use a break now to use the head, if you don’t mind.”

Will nodded and took the wheel. The current was tugging the rudder to port, but not strongly. He watched the swabs and riggers working on Lace’s new custom rigging ladders. The vertical ropes were laid out in the flat-bottomed teardrop shape Will had imagined. The horizontal ropes were straight. The crew was sitting on the deck in pairs, working to splice and reinforce the ropes together where they crossed.

“Ship, ho! No colors! Three of the clock!” came the call from the lookout. Will squinted but couldn’t see it. This was a fairly well traveled area. There were plenty of ships around. The lookout hadn’t been calling them much, but a ship flying no colors was worth looking at. Right on cue, Danica climbed the stairs from the main deck and expanded her spyglass. Thirty seconds later she closed it.

“She’s not moving, and not flying anything,” Danica said.

“Any distress flags? Fire?” Will asked.

“No.” Danica passed Will her spyglass. “Take a look for yourself if you want.”

Will expanded the glass and scanned until the distant silhouette came into focus. Two masts. Long prow. Flat back. Sails up. Riding high. No colors. Not moving. “Looks like another Caravel, but she’s just parked. She’s not even rolling with the waves. She’s caught. Is there a reef or shallow island there?” Will asked.

“You’re the navigator, you tell me?” Danica shrugged.

Will shook his head. “There’s a few disappearing islands around here, and two reefs. Our course shouldn’t take us near any of them.”

“Might just be a wreck,” Danica said.

“If she is, she’s a pretty one. Someone’s going to make good money on the salvage if they can get her unstuck. I don’t see any signs of distress or damage. She might have beached herself of purpose for repairs or something,” Will handed the spyglass back to Danica.

“Well, we’ll be going right past her. We’ll keep an eye out,” Danica shrugged.

____________________

Bella went down her mental checklist of everything she needed to do to prepare for this. Her foci and paints were laid out on the bed. She finished putting the last marks of the sigil she was drawing on the mirror. She was ready.

She was thankful that Captain Vex had worked so hard to help refill her internal energy reservoirs. That would help. She stuck her head into the wash room to look out the rear portholes. It was nearing dusk. Almost time.

Then she looked at the floor. “Damn it,” she muttered. She hadn't thought of that. The floor was wood. The beams laid next to each other created small gaps. There was no way to draw a proper protection circle on a floor like this. She looked up at the ceiling. Same thing. She looked around the room, spying the bed, but shook her head. She did not want to ruin the Captain’s sheets. Time was an issue.

She ran out of the cabin and carefully stepped over the ropes on the deck until she got to where Will and Danica were looking out at something on the horizon.

“I need a sail,” she said to Will.

Danica turned around to look at Bella, then looked up at the massive billowing cloths overhead and laughed. “We’re kinda using them.”

“No, a smaller one. Maybe six or eight feet square?” Bella explained.

“You need a patch,” Will said.

“I… guess so?” Bella shrugged. “If that’s what a small sail is, sure.”

“Go down to the hold and find my husband. Tell him Danica said you need a sail patch,” she smiled. Bella nodded and ran off.

“So that’s your witch? I can see why you like her, ” Danica said with an exaggerated leer. “Any idea what that was about.”

“Witch stuff. I’ve learned not to ask questions,” Will shrugged.

Below decks was cramped. She turned into the narrow center hall. Next to her the stairs continued to go down to the lower deck. Behind her was a door with a brass placard that read ‘Galley.’ Ahead was a hall dotted with doors on each side that eventually opened into the large, dimly lit middle hold. There were very few lights below deck. Even though it was getting later in the day the tropical sun was still bright up top, so plunging into the hold left her briefly blind. She blinked and squinted, her eyes slowly adjusting. “Make way,” two crewman said, squeezing past her hauling a barrel between them. She pressed against the wall in a shallow doorway. “I’m looking for Mister North,” she said. One of the crewmen jerked his head down the hall.

“Quartermaster’s hold,” he said. She headed down the hall feeling a bit scrunched by the low ceiling.

The mid hold was a wide storage space stacked with crates and barrels along the walls and against the two support pillars that stood in the center on each end of the hold. It occurred to her that those must be the masts. The center area was mostly clear save for the ropes and mechanisms that controlled the large hatch above that went to the top deck. She made her way through, avoiding the crew that was rearranging and resecuring the way things were stored.

Then she was back in narrow passages again. At the far end was an open doorway with a brass placard that read “Quartermaster.”

The room looked like a prison or a bank. Floor to ceiling metal bars blocked off access. Many smaller crates were stacked against the walls, as well as a number of shelves, tall cabinets, and a dozen footlockers. Nearly everything was roped or chained down. Mister North sat at a table on the other side, scowling at a stack of papers. He noticed the movement in the doorway and glanced up.

“Well now, you’re a welcome change from my usual customers,” North smiled. “You’re Miss Fortuna, right?”

“Yes,” Bella said. “And you are mister North?”

“That’s what they tell me,” North shrugged. “What can I do for our new ship’s witch?”

Even though she was used to Bastard’s Bay mostly knowing what she was, she’d had years to develop her good reputation there, and she had a Magistrate registration to keep people from acting on their worst superstitions. This was a new place, with new people and the fact that everyone knew what she was already made her extremely uncomfortable. Still, the crew of the Kestrel really did seem nice. She shook off the discomfort and focused on the job at hand. “Danica told me to tell you that I need a sail patch,” Bella said.

North stood up and came to the bars. He opened the prison-style door and then shut and locked it behind him. “How big’s the tear?”

“Tear?” Bella asked. Then she realized what he was thinking. “Oh, no. There’s no tear. I just need to draw on it.”

North looked amused. “Alright. Follow me.”

They made their way back to the mid hold and over to a stack of crates. North looked at the numbers written on them until he found the one he wanted, then opened it up with a pry bar. He gestured to the stacks of folded cloth inside. “All yours. Find the one you want, put the rest back.”

“Oh, and a hammer and nails?” she asked. North pointed to the mast. On it hung six hammers from pegs. A half full bucket of nails was roped to the base of it.

“Thank you!” Bella said, staring to pull cloth out of the crate. North gave her a smile and a nod and headed back to his office.

It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. Her bundled up prizes in hand, she ran back up to the top deck and squinted through the glare. The sun was beginning to dip low on the horizon. Now she was in a race against nightfall.

Inside the Captain’s cabin, she stretched out the sail cloth on the floor and started hammering down the corners, trying to keep the cloth as taut as possible. Then she began to draw a protection circle. This needed to be precise. She used a needle and thread from her bag to sew a thread right into the cloth as an anchor point, then pulled out a little more than three feet of thread before tying the end of it to a paintbrush. Then she painstakingly drew out a circle by keeping the threat taut and dipping the brush into a small ink pot and using it to mark the arc of the thread until she had a full circle.

She looked out the portholes. The sky was beginning to turn darker colors. This was going to be close.

Around the perimeter of the circle, she painted out symbols to draw and guide and repel various kinds of energy. Within two of the symbols, she placed two lit candles, one black, and one white. Right below where the mirror hung. Then she stepped into the circle, stood up and looked into the mirror. Piece by piece she tossed her clothes behind her onto the bed.

Naked, she began to draw on her own face, the markings perfectly matching the ones already drawn on the mirror.

Adjusting her position slightly, she matched up the marks on her face with the ones on the mirror so that they overlapped, matching them in her field of vision. The lanterns on the walls had been turned down dim. The candles lit at the edge of the circle gave her face a strange, severe cast.

Now came the hard part.

“At your hour, by your power, in the shadows and alone,

by circle bound, the lost will be found, what is mine I will be shown.

In my own name and by my own will, I invoke the Traveler…”