Quintspinner (37 page)

A ring! He’s wearing a new ring!
Her thoughts were whirling inside her head, coming together almost faster than she could recognize the details within them.
Where did he get it? Is that what was in the box from–what was the wretched woman’s name? Eveline? No … Evangelina. That’s it! His sister.

And without needing to ask, Tess suddenly knew that the ring was what the sealed brass box had contained. And she knew with certainty why Edward wore it, knew what the ring must be. Another spinner.

What is its power?

She glanced at the band encircling his little finger, surprised to see that it had fit. Edward continued to whisper words into her ear but Tess was no longer listening. The presence of the new spinner made her acutely aware of the high pitched hum starting in her ear, drowning out Edward’s instructions or further threats. Tess did not know what he was saying nor did she care. She was only aware that she felt compelled to set her own rings into motion.

“Why have you done this to us? To me?” she pleaded. “Is this wretched ring you’re wearing worth it?”

Edward glared at her. “It was my mother’s.”

Your mother’s!
Tess felt as though she had been punched.
My blood grandmother! The gypsy who bewitched your father!

She swallowed hard and then met Edward’s stare with her own. “I shall return to sick bay. There are many there needing help, and therefore I must have Cassie and my gran-my housekeeper–there with me.”

“That may not be possible,” Edward hesitated.

“Why not?”

“Carlos will likely have disposed of them in one way or another by now.”

A bolt of red-hot anger shot through her, shattering the wall of numbness she had sought refuge behind. Rising up on her tiptoes, until Edward’s eyes were level with her own, Tess leaned in against him, her lips only an inch away from his. His eyes momentarily widened with surprise at her boldness and she saw a flicker of uncertainty sweep across them.

She locked him in her gaze and spoke, slowly and deliberately projecting her words at him as though each were a poisonous dart. “If he has harmed them … then he too will die. I will see to that even if it is to be my last act upon this earth. The fever and pus from his wound will enter his head, tunneling deeper, festering inside and I will gladly stand by and do nothing to relieve it. I can assure you that it will be a slow and
very
painful death for him.”

For a moment Edward did nothing, continuing to stare back at her. Then as suddenly as a serpent’s strike, he lashed out with both hands, squeezing Tess’s face between his hands. With one hand, he grasped a thick handful of her hair, savagely jerking her head back, exposing her throat to him. With the backside of his other fist, he slammed his ruby ring into the centre of her forehead. Tess cried out with the slash of pain as the gemstone cracked into her forehead. She was barely aware of Edward’s next words to her.

“You
will
do as I bid!
This
is the ring of persuasion!
A posse ad esse! Ave! Adsum! You will!
” he chanted in a commanding low voice, his words rising and falling in a strange rhythm. Although she struggled uselessly against his painful grip, he continued undaunted, focusing on the ring as he ground it harder into her forehead, further splitting her skin.
“Fiat! Fiat! You will carry
out my commands!
Factum est! You will do
…
as … I … bid!” he
finished in a dangerous snarl, his chest heaving with the exertion of holding her prisoner to him.

“I will not!”
she screamed at him, the pulse in her extended throat bounding furiously.

Edward froze, looking completely frustrated at what he was hearing. Tess felt a rush of momentary exhilaration. She was denying his bidding. Denying his ruby spinner’s power of complete persuasion. He had even used some sort of ancient commands.

She felt his hold on her falter. Pushing with all of her strength, she broke free of his grip. The unleashed force of her struggles sent her flying back and she crashed into the wall behind her. Dazed, she slid down the wall and her hand brushed against her leg. She gasped; the outline of her forgotten dirk still strapped to her calf was plain to her touch. Its sheath was firmly held in place, tied to her leg just below her knee by her grandmother’s gift of the red strands of silken ribbons. She fumbled at the ragged hem of the sailor’s dungarees that she still wore, frantically grasping along and up the outside edge of the frayed trouser leg for her knife’s familiar handle.

Recovering, Edward lunged towards her, his hands outstretched as though he meant to strangle her. The blood from his ring’s laceration of her forehead had already begun to dry in a crimson rivulet down the backside of his hand. To Tess, it served as evidence of his foiled attempt to harness the ruby ring’s power. Edward gave a howl of disillusioned rage, and launched himself towards her, springing like a lion coming in for its kill.

The cold blade drove deep into the bottom tip of his lung, stopping only when its hilt lodged between two ribs. Gripping it steadfastly with both hands in front of her, Tess had hardly felt the jerk on the handle, as the razor sharp blade had sliced through the layers of his chest wall: gristle, muscle, and finally soft frothy lung.

As he collapsed on top of her, Tess saw the look of rage upon Edward’s face turn to shock. He had choreographed his own impalement upon the tiny but deadly blade. Kicking and squirming to get out from under his weight, Tess pushed him off of her, panicking that he would continue his attack at any moment. Still grasping her knife, she withdrew its blade from his body. Her legs shook as she pulled herself up into standing and looked down at his crumpled form. Each intake of his breath rasped harshly in her ears.

Dear God!
The implication of what she had just done washed over her.
How will I ever convince Carlos to keep Cassie and Grandmother unharmed, without Edward’s obvious influence on him?
And dimly she also realized that Edward’s protection of
her,
his shielding of her, from the spontaneous violence of the mad pirate captain, was also now just as surely lost.

Closing her eyes, and slowing her own stricken breathing, she searched her mind for possible solutions.

“
The blue of the tourmalines will produce strong intuition–clarity to see possible outcomes
…
do not question, do not think–just believe!
” Tess jumped as a voice rang in her ears. She stared down at Edward, her chest full of fear, her concentration broken. Edward remained unmoving, sliding into unconsciousness. Each of his raspy breaths was filling with wet gurgles.

Intuition. Prophesy.
These were the supposed powers of her beautiful blue ring.
What had Edward called its gems? Tourmaline. Blue tourmaline.
Tess spun the ring, its silver band gliding smoothly and soundlessly around her finger in its golden track. Closing her eyes once more, she listened intently, trying to get past the familiar high pitched hum in her ears.

How can we be spared? What will convince these pirates?

As she filled her head with these two thoughts, a warmth and brightness splayed across her closed eyelids. Surprised, Tess opened her eyes. A beam of sunshine shone through the window of Edward’s cabin wall, announcing the arrival of the day’s sunlight. The narrow sunbeam splashed across the floor, across Edward, and climbed up the front of Tess, teasing her with its sudden brilliance. From the corner of her eye, she saw a radiant flush of scarlet on the floor, sparkling in the sunbeam’s path.

The ruby spinner.

Feeling like a common thief, Tess suddenly bent down and removed the ring from Edward’s little finger, sliding it onto her own index finger.

It was a perfect fit. The thin gold band was adorned by two sets of four vanes, shaped like those on a windmill. One set of four sat directly over top of the other, and both were centered on the band by a ruby the size of Tess’s little fingernail. Eight miniature arms in total. Each vane was outlined with scarlet shards of rubies, and each set of four spun around the central gem, one set spinning to the left, the other to the right. One could not be spun without the other joining in the movement.

I might be able to use these rings as payment to Carlos in return for sparing us.
She opened the cabin door, forcing herself to step over its threshold. With a final glance back at Edward’s body still lying motionless on the cabin’s floor behind her, she hurried out onto the main deck beyond.

Although she had been gone only a short time with Edward, a roll call of sorts was already in progression. As was often done, captured crew men were being given the chance –the
grand offer–to join
the pirate’s crew. Those refusing to ‘join the company’ of their own free will were sorted into a small group to one side; Captain Crowell was among them, as were several of his surviving lieutenants. Those signing on with their new crew had been grouped to the other side of the pirate captain.

These newest recruits had seen the logic in Carlos’s offer. To refuse to join would result in them being thrown overboard to briefly endure a death by drowning or more gruesomely, to be torn apart by the frenzy of sharks already attracted to the boats’ perimeters by the bodies of the grievously injured or battle dead. If their sea skills were deemed useful, however, those refusing would become enslaved aboard either the
Bloodhorn
or the
Mary Jane.

It was already apparent that the pirates intended to repair the broken merchant ship and claim her as their newest prize. Mr. Lancaster, as the knowledgeable and experienced carpenter on board the
Mary Jane,
had already been deemed worthy enough to be kept alive for the time being. The carpenter had claimed that, himself having only one foot, he had effectively and necessarily been aided by a young sailor by the name of William Taylor, and who, he assured the pirates–if he could be found and still lived–had shown himself to be a worthy apprentice and would no doubt be of excellent service to them.

John Robert’s immense size and strength had also impressed the pirates, and his physical attributes had secured him a probationary trial of time. With the masts being as damaged as they had been, all knew that there was much back-breaking lifting ahead of them, and a man of his build would certainly be put to good use.

In spite of there being a duplication of their positions, Carlos, with the approval of his men, announced loudly that he had decided to keep Captain Crowell alive, reasoning that if the
Bloodhorn
should become engaged in a future encounter with a British naval war ship, the blond captain could be used as an effective hostage to be ransomed off in exchange for a get-away for the
Bloodhorn
and her crew, should things go badly. It was assumed that there would eventually be another ship dispatched from England when the
Argus
and the
Mary Jane
with her precious cargo failed to show up at Port Royal as expected. Furthermore, when the
Mary Jane’s
cargo of gold and silver currency, spices, ammunition, stained glass, and fine timbers was sold or traded ashore by the pirates and became recognized, the hunt for the pirates would intensify.

Yes, it was agreed, a high profile hostage could be useful.

The fate of the Mary Jane’s lieutenants refusing to join the pirates’ roster was given no further discussion; as Tess watched from the edge of the companionway, the men were systematically run through with a cutlass and their still writhing bodies were tossed overboard.

Her silent appearance behind them went unnoticed as the men’s attention was focused on the prisoners. Tess scanned the backs of the men in front of her, desperate to find Cassie and her grandmother. It took only a second to discover them. Tess’s stomach lurched; both women stood side by side, their hands tied behind their backs and their tunics ripped open to their waists. Cassie’s shoulders heaved uncontrollably as she sobbed but Tess’s grandmother stood absolutely still, her face betraying no emotion.

“And of those wishing to join of their own free will, only fair and just treatment, as well as a portion of the spoils gained here, awaits them, provided they live by the following.” Carlos began to read the pirate’s charter of rules to his newest recruits. The abrasive tone of the words from his injured throat made it hard to hear him and all listened attentively. “Above all, Brethren shall vow not to conceal any plunder, nor steal from any other aboard. If any man do so rob another, he shall be shown no quarter, but shall have his nose and ears slit from his person and shall be cast ashore to live or die as he pleases.