By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
“All hands on deck, gentlemen and gentlelady!” Heilyn yelled out. “We’re set for sailing in 1 hour, so get your landlubbin’ arses back on board by then, or get left behind! Domin’s saying there’s been some kinda disturbance in Athens, and I don’t wanna be here if the law starts snooping about the place.”
Heilyn walked across the entirety of the ship’s deck as he spoke, making sure everyone, above deck or below deck, could hear him. The one captaining skill he’d long ago mastered was the shouting, something he’d had to do more often than Vexx had actually done. While the older man wasn’t necessarily soft-spoken, he did try to keep a calmness to him, especially in his later years.
The town was bustling with activity today, and the cave leading out was filled with goers trying to leave the Den, most of them toting along the flag of the jolly roger. Heilyn didn’t feel the need to exchange their flag since their goal wasn’t the same as most pirates, and their flag was known to a good few others on the sea, as well, so the fear factor was still there either way.
The waters were rife with activity due to the ships, making the normally crystal clear depths murky with ripples. Cassandra had voiced a complaint to him earlier that day about not getting to see the sights in the water one last time, but Heilyn had essentially told her to suck it up, and that they’d be there again someday… though, if you asked anyone else who may have overheard, he was actually much kinder in his phrasing.
“Captain, may I borrow you for a moment?” Cassandra asked hesitantly, dangling from the roping by one foot. “I seem to be in a precarious situation.”
Heilyn rolled his eyes and dodged around the rest of his busy crew to meet Cassandra on the other side of the ship. She’d somehow gotten one of the mast’s ropes stuck under a loop in one of her new pairs of pants. The loop was metal and had a small opening that shouldn’t have been wide enough to fit the rope, but here she was anyway. Heilyn sighed.
“You’re gonna have t’learn faster than this, Cassandra. We can’t always be here to help you down, y’know.”
“Yes, sir,” Cassandra replied, cheeks flushed red. Whether the color was from embarrassment or her upside down position, Heilyn couldn’t tell.
Heilyn climbed up to her level and latched one arm around a loop in the ropes, using the other hand to quickly undo the rope stuck in Cassandra’s buckle, then catching her by the leg with that same arm before she could fall. He climbed back down and gently set her on the ground, checking to see if she had suffered any rope burns. She hadn’t gotten away completely unscathed, but the majority of them were small, and the largest wasn’t bad in actuality. It was just big and red, but would heal within a day.
“Head on down below deck, Cassandra,” Heilyn said as he fully set her down. “Saltyboots was asking for help with moving around the storage. I’d guess you could help with that easy enough, right?”
“Yes, uh… aye, Captain,” she said, awkwardly saluting him before scurrying off.
Heilyn chuckled to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose but smiling all the same. He watched the ships for a moment, knowing he needed to get back to work, but also knowing no one on the ship would question him if he took a small break. He’d been up earlier than everyone, working from three in the morning until now to ensure they were ready. He’d even neglected to give the morning call for the ship, though most were woken up on time by the noises of his work.
In his rush to leave, he’d forgotten to send a team out to get other essentials aside from food and shipbuilding materials, which wound up costing them an entire extra day. Many of the men’s clothes were sullied so terribly by the salt of the sea that they couldn’t be washed effectively, and some were basically in rags at that point. Aside from the clothes, he’d forgotten what most of the crew considered the most essential equipment: entertainment. Cards, instruments, and all sorts of other games were bought by a team of three younger crew members, led by Bandy. Vexx had always been the one to organize that group, though they didn’t buy new items in bulk like that often. Usually only once or twice a year depending on their current equipment’s wear and tear.
One thing he didn’t forget—really the reason he’d stayed up so late to work—was to buy plenty of materials for chasers and hangover remedies. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t drink anymore, and while he trusted his own willpower enough, he was also careful. Besides, he hadn’t sworn the entire crew off from alcohol, and the remedies specifically would be helpful for them if they went too far.
Thoughts continued to crowd Heilyn’s mind, but were suddenly interrupted by a new ripple in the cove’s waters, one moving opposite to the mass of fleeing ships.
Sharks don’t usually come into the Den… wait, are those people?
Heilyn leaned over the edge of the ship, trying to get a better look. In a rush, he jumped back and hurriedly climbed the mast up to the crow’s nest. Deighly hadn’t taken his station yet, leaving Heilyn the full space, as well as Deighly’s equipment. Heilyn picked out a spyglass and extended it to its full length, put the end to his eye, and pointed the instrument down at the water.
Sure enough, three people were riding on the back of the shark. The lens was blurry with smudging, so Heilyn quickly cleaned it off with his shirt and pointed it back. One individual was wearing some sort of mask over his face, but the other two–
“What is Davy Jones’s name– Jacob?!”
The entire crew suddenly went silent and stared up at Heilyn, gazes then moving to the water where he was looking. Everyone crowded the side of the ship, Soos and Cassandra bringing up the rear after heading up from below deck.
The crew began yelling all at once, first muttering among themselves before quickly moving to a pompous roar as they clearly saw who was riding the shark.
“I’ll be damned… How is that brat alive?” Deighly shouted up at Heilyn without actually looking at him. The whole crew seemed unable to break their gaze from the water.
Jacob attempted to shout up at them, but the words were lost in the space between them.
“What!” Heilyn yelled down. He slung out his bolo rope and swiftly unscrewed one of the bolos, reattaching a grapple hook to the end instead. He then flung it out and caught in on the mast, checked to make sure it was stuck well, and then jumped off, trapezing through the air and sliding down the rope to land his feet against the side of the ship. Jacob jumped off the back of the shark before it was within distance, using his tentacles to pull himself up next to Heilyn. For a moment, both men just stared at each other, the crew having gone silent in anticipation.
Heilyn locked eyes with Jacob, and the boy locked his eyes back. Neither moved for what seemed like hours, though in actuality it was closer to an entire three minutes of nothing but staring. Inky black peered into the soul of rope twine brown, unfamiliarity slowly melting away with every passing second.
Finally, Heilyn reached out with one arm and pulled Jacob close to him, only breaking eye contact when neither man’s eyes could physically find each others’. Jacob wrapped his arms around Heilyn, holding him tight enough to break a ship’s mast. They stayed like that for only a few seconds, both uncomfortable with that kind of contact, but each grateful just to see each other.
“What… how… why… are you okay?” Heilyn stammered, for once at a loss at what to say to one of his crewmates.
“I don’t… I just… I’m sorry.” Jacob was smiling, but tears began streaming involuntarily at first, then, as Heilyn grabbed him again, he let them flow freely.
“I thought you were dead, knucklehead,” Heilyn choked out, just barely managing to keep back his own emotions.
Stay strong in front of the crew.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Jacob said. “I knew you had to escape. I searched for the wreckage of our ship for hours, but I couldn’t find it, so I knew you all escaped. I just knew it!”
Heilyn gingerly pushed Jacob back a little, keeping him at an arm’s length. “Well… not all of us. Captain Vexx, he…”
Jacob’s eyes fell. “Yeah, I was afraid of that. I got to see him before he died. He wasn’t looking good; there wasn’t anything I could do. He just told me to run and help Georgie find her dad.”
“Georgie… Georgiana is alive, too?” Heilyn asked.
“I’m down here, sir!” a voice yelled up.
Heilyn looked down and, sure enough, Georgiana was right there, still sitting aboard the back of the shark alongside the masked man.
“Wait, you brought her with you. How did you even get here?” Heilyn asked, readjusting his grip on the bolo rope.
“Good question,” Jacob laughed, “but we don’t really have the time right now. We may have some people tracking us, and we need to get going.” Jacob’s gaze hardened. “Heilyn, I can’t involve you or the crew in this–”
“Shut your fish trap, Jakie,” Heilyn said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re still in this crew, which means I’m your captain now, and you’ll do as I say. Now, get yerself and Georgiana, and I guess that fellow there next to her as well up in my ship and explain what’s going on.”
Without waiting for a response, Heilyn began climbing back up his rope, taking only a few tugs and leaps up the side of the ship to land on its railing.
The crew was celebrating when he reached the top, Soos having already brought out drinks for anyone who wanted one. Cassandra was standing off to the side, a confused but respectful smile on her face as the rest of the crew celebrated. Heilyn caught her smile and returned it, grinning like a madman, as if he wasn’t the same man as he had been only a few minutes before.
Jacob was beaming when he dropped back down onto Crimson’s back.
“I can’t believe we found your crew, Jakie!” Georgiana said, wrapping him in a hug. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, the amber color wrought with worry. “What are you going to do?”
“We’re all going on board,” Jacob said, placing a quick kiss on her cheek which caused color to flush both of their faces. It had been a spur-of-the-moment impulse. “Captain’s orders, and you don’t defy your ship’s captain.”
“Oh, Rivers no,” Crimson complained, still in full shark form. Despite her complaints, she did begin heading for the dock. “I’m not placing a single foot on that ragged old piece of sh–”
“Be reasonable, Crimson,” Jacob sighed. “I’ll admit, you’ve been a good captain to us so far, but we really need help right now, and not even you can deny that. We’ve got an entire city’s militia looking for us, and I’m not willing to risk Heilyn’s help on your ego.”
Crimson didn’t offer a retort. Instead, she swam faster, diving a little into the water before then jumping up on deck, shifting in midair to her normal human form. Her face didn’t reveal any emotion, but she at least nodded and solemnly followed Jacob and company up onto the deck of the Forsaken.
Heilyn met them all by the gangplank, smiling at them until his eyes landed on Crimson.
Jacob hurried with an explanation. “Now Heilyn, I know you don’t like her, but–”
“I heard your crew betrayed you, captain,” Heilyn interrupted. “Quite the shock to hear. They seemed loyal during our fight the other week.”
Crimson sneered. “I went and found a better crew than any of them could ever have been. These three are a part of my command now, Bush, so don’t go getting any ideas.”
Heilyn frowned. “Jacob was, and still is, Forsaken. The others are not under my command, but he is one of my crew, and if you think–”
“Shut up, both of you!” Jacob yelled.
Heilyn and Crimson both snapped their heads towards him. They both looked shocked, as did much of the crew who had gathered behind Heilyn.
“I don’t mean either of you any diss-re-spects, but c’mon you two. Crimson, I already explained I’m part of this crew before a part of yours, but I also know that all four of us need help right now, so I can’t have either of you at each others’ necks. Can’t you both just get along for a bit?”
They both continued to stare at him, before slowly turning to glare at each other. Neither one looked happy about it at all, but they both gave a single curt nod and shook hands.
“Truce,” they said in unison.
“With that out of the way,” Heilyn said, “I’ll be needing some explanations now.” He turned to the crew. “All of you back to work. We can celebrate more later when we’re out of here!” Then, back to Jacob, “Follow me, you four.”
Heilyn led the way to the captain’s quarters, weaving in and out of the crew as they returned to their duties. Jacob caught a glance at a new crewmate—a woman with dark hair and olive skin—following Soos down into the belly of the ship. They were making casual conversation as they went, and just before they disappeared into the ship, Jacob could swear he saw the woman glance at Heilyn, cheeks flushing red in the process.
Interesting… Ren remarked. I didn’t take Heilyn to be the type to have a paramour of any kind.
“You’re crazy,” Jacob muttered, though he wasn’t even sure of his own thoughts.
Heilyn opened the door for the four of them and began pulling up different things for them to sit on. Two empty chests, a crate, and a real chair which Jacob ensured Georgiana got. Heilyn sat opposite to them all in the chair Jacob knew had previously belonged to Captain Vexx. Rivers, everything in that room had belonged to his old Captain.
“Alright, now that everyone’s comfortable, how ‘bout we start with the obvious.” Heilyn gestured to Quirin. “Who’s your new friend?”
“Allow me to introduce myself,” Quirin said. He stood and gave a deep, theatrical bow and flourished his black cloak. “My name is Seraph, master of sigilurgy, entertainer to the downtrodden, and protector of this group. And you are…?”
“Hmph,” Heilyn grunted. “I’m Captain Payday, and I am the captain of this here ship known as the Forsaken. You’ve been traveling with one of my crew,” he finished, gesturing at Jacob.
Captain Payday? Jacob thought.
Captain Paday, Ren mimicked. Such a name does have a sort of ring to it, I think. I approve.
“Ah yes, I believe he may have mentioned that,” Quirin replied. “Also, since you are in the process of protecting us and taking us on board your quality ship, I shall do you the honor of allowing you the knowledge of my real name. I am Quirin Ishmael Cleary, born and raised in Athens under the mystic direction of the Clear Academy, though my ties with them have been… recently severed.”
“Uh huh,” Heilyn said. “Anyhow, I’m going to need an explanation of where you’ve been, Jakie. I’m glad to have you back, but coming aboard with the threat of a city’s militia on your back is not exactly how I would ever imagine meeting up with anyone.”
Jacob nodded. “Trust me, we weren’t expecting it, either. I’ll preface by saying that we didn’t actually do anything to break their laws, though I know you probably don’t care much about that. The rest of the story is rather long.”
“Well, we’re leaving port in thirty minutes,” Heilyn said, “so how about you fit it in that block?”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Jacob said with a smile.
He began telling Heilyn about what happened at the dinner back on Brokenbeaux, moving onto Georgiana’s dad, how she’d gained a Stoneheart gift, lost the election to mayor, and their departure after fighting off Captain Leafy and his band of pirates. He proceeded on to explain their journey to Wisdom cove, how they’d fended off the tiamat with Quirin’s help, and their subsequent stay at the inn there. Finally, he explained their journey to Athens, how he and Georgiana had been kidnapped briefly, their encounters in the city, and finally how they escaped and why the city was after them.
Jacob also explained how he and Georgiana had the voices of two great monsters—Jacob continued to use the word “monster” despite now knowing Ren was a god; he thought it would just confuse anyone who didn’t know what he only barely knew—Kraken and Apophis, in their heads, and how their gifts were in some way different from normal gifts. Heilyn took it all in stride, though he seemed skeptical about the voices, but set aside his disbelief for the moment.
“So, what about you all, Heilyn?” Jacob asked. “I noticed we have a new crewmate. What’s her deal?”
Heilyn sighed and went into his much shorter explanation. Jacob had kept his story just short enough for them to both get their turns. Heilyn explained how Captain Jasper had asked them on an expedition, how they’d captured Riot, rescued Cassandra, and left the Privateer’s Company behind in order to protect her, finally ending with their arrival at the Owl Den.
With both stories done, the room rang with silence. Heilyn looked around at each person in his quarters, staring them all down to ensure none of them had any looks of dishonesty. Finding none, he looked back to Jacob.
“I don’t even know what to say now. I guess… let’s get going. The Forsaken’s pirate cove won’t find and build itself. I think if we’re to build a true home for ourselves, then–”
Bang bang bang!
The door shook with each blow, as if the entire crew was trying to knock it down at the same time.
“Captain!” Deighly’s speech was rushed. “Captain, Cassandra is asking for your attention. She seems serious about it, keeps rambling on about having no time and all ‘at.”
Heilyn cursed under his breath and quickly opened the door for them. There stood Deighly looking serious and confused. From behind Deighly, the woman Jacob had seen earlier shoved her way inside and grabbed Heilyn by the shoulders.
“Captain, I’ve got a bad feeling something is about to happen,” she rambled. “Something really bad. I don’t know what, I’ve not tried to see it or anything like that, because I figured I should ask you first, but I really think I should try. I can feel it, something bad, I can feel it.”
“Alright, Cassandra, alright,” Heilyn sighed. “You don’t need my permission to use your… abilities. Go on and do it if you think it will help.”
The woman—Cassandra—nodded and removed her hands from Heilyn’s shoulders. Her eyes began to glow white, brighter and more violent than fire, and every time she opened her mouth, smoke began to pour out in droves of white clouds. It pooled at her feet and dispersed quickly, fading into nothing within seconds of touching the ground.
“Okay, I was right. There’s a group attacking right now, or getting ready to within the next few minutes. The timing is hard to know for sure. They’ve already set up a blockade of the cave entrance and are checking each boat that passes through. They’re completely ignoring the actual pirates, and there’s a woman there who keeps asking where a man with an angel mask is.”
“Ballena,” Quirin said with a frown.
“Has anyone given them any information yet?” Heilyn asked.
“Not as of this moment in time, but it’s possible they could. What do we do?” she asked, the smoke and glow dispersing.
“What happens if we go through ourselves?” Heilyn asked. “Did you see that? They shouldn’t know we have Jacob and the others yet. They just got here. If we stash them away, we should be fine.”
“We’re not safe anywhere she could recognize,” Quirin said suddenly.
Everyone turned to look at him. He was staring at a picture in his book, another sigil Jacob had never seen before. This one was an eye, with eight different eyes surrounding it. The main eye was designed to have a normal iris, but each of the others had a slightly different look to it.
“I don’t know if she’s ever been here,” Quirin said, “but Ballena has three sigils: Duplicate, Paradigm, and Bond. Duplicate is the one the four of us already went up against, and on the sea, it shouldn’t be terribly useful. The other two, however, are what make her especially dangerous. Bond allows her to put her own consciousness into that of an animal or monster for a brief period. It leaves her own body completely defenseless, but allows for total control over whatever she takes over. Paradigm is the really dangerous one for us, though. It allows her to briefly see from the eyes of anyone she’s met in the past, which would include the four of us. I have no idea if she’s done that yet, but there’s a non-zero chance she’s already done it, perhaps even during this conversation.”
Heilyn cursed again. “Alright, that limits our options on hiding to virtually nowhere civilized. We have to find a cove of our own, but first we have to escape. Any ideas?”
The room went silent for several uncomfortable seconds. Then, Crimson spoke up, sighing heavily.
“Yeah, I might have one. I hope y’all are in for some danger, though. Angeldust, make sure you can use at least one of your sigils, the explosive ones. You might need it.”