Hidden Island Chapter 27, part 3 of 3

Hidden Island
Chapter 27, part 3 of 3

"I like it! Thank you, Mister Sterling," the Captain said. "After that?"

"Should be open waters for a few hours after that. I'll double-check," Will said.

"Mister Reeve, get me lookouts at the prow manning the lanterns! We're looking for an island to port and a reef to starboard in about an hour!" Captain Vex called.

"Aye, Captain!" Reeve boomed.

The Kestrel's side lanterns lit up one by one, and Mister North had the clamp lights brought up from below. They weren't used often, but for situations like this, they were invaluable. North and his men clamped the lights down to the railing of the prow and got them lit. Two sailors operated each. They were designs stolen from theatres, able to be moved and set as needed and pivot and change how much or little light they let out. The mirrored interior and variable aperture of the lamps allowed for the light they emitted to be tightly focused and cast quite far.

In the spray kicked up by the Kestrel's speed and the storm winds, the twin lights looked almost solid, like the feelers of some great glowing sea creature.

"Danica says you mentioned Grind Low?" Captain Vex said to Will before he headed downstairs.

"The situation fits the stories," Will said, sounding worried.

"So do ghost ships, Blood Tide raiders, or pirates with a gimmick," Captain Vex countered.

"Give me your reasoning."

"The first time I spotted them was during the day, so probably not a ghost ship," Will explained. "No Blood Tide nearby, so probably not Skin Sails.

There are too many Magistrate and other armed ships nearby for Pirates. Grind low is all that fits."

"Never thought I'd be wishing to face a ghost ship," Captain Vex said, grinning despite her obvious concern. Will wasn't sure how much of it was real and how much of it was part of the persona she projected when she was wearing her Captain hat, but he liked it. It reminded him of Jack, or at least the way Jack used to be.

"According to the stories, they only attack in open waters, so that's why I'm taking us toward the island instead of trying to go around," Will said.

Vex nodded. "Trying to scrape them off. Smart."

"Just follow the curve of the island. If you go straight, you'll hit the reef. A gap in the reef is on the island's far side. Should be marked with Akula fishing buoys," Will said.

"You've been through here before?" Vex asked.

"Nope," Will shook his head.

"You have damn good maps." The Captain was impressed.

"Not that either. It's the magic," he said, tapping his head. "I can picture the route. Just need to know where I am and where I'm trying to go."

"That's damn useful," Captain Vex smiled, thinking of the possibilities.

"No argument here. I'd love it if not for the downsides," Will shrugged.

"Right. The bad luck thing," Vex nodded.

"Speaking of, I'm going to see if Bella can do anything to keep the bad luck thing from happening tonight. We don't need that,' Will said.

"Any idea how much time we have before they're on us?" Vex asked.

"Not until we can see them more clearly," Will said.

"Damn," Vex muttered. "Go."

Will nodded and headed downstairs to the cabin.

Caine looked at Janie oddly. "What's she need me for?"

"Ask her. I have to go find Tonya," Janie said, then rushed off.

Caine sighed, closed his tankard, and got up off his stool. A few eyes in the room flicked towards him, suddenly paranoid. It was nearly closing time, and sometimes customers got stupid. He ignored them and pushed through the crowd to the witch's alcove. At least the music had stopped. He crossed the small room and stood in front of the mirror. On the other side, Bella was painting on her naked body, sitting at the edge of a large bed. "What?" he asked without preamble.

"Pirates are chasing us," Bella explained. "The captain wants some kind of fortune hex."

"What's that got to do with me?" Caine asked.

"Luck magic requires a lot of energy, so I'm going to try to draw off the mirror," Bella continued.

"Sounds like a good idea. Still not hearing what you need me for," Caine shrugged.

"Don't play dumb, Caine! You warded the whole damn bar! I know you know more about spell craft than you've ever let on. Inside the Ways, you glow like nothing I've ever seen. I'm not sure you're human, but I don't care. You're still you, and I need your help!" Bella snapped, staring fiercely at him through the mirror, no longer painting on herself while she waited for him to answer.

"You're stabbing in the dark," Caine said, understanding.

"Well, yeah," Bella said, throwing her hands wide like it was apparent.

Caine shook his head. "I don't know anything about witchcraft or any other kind of spell crafting."

"But you can create a damn near perfect spirit ward?" Bella said dubiously.

"It isn't what you think," Caine said in a tone that said he wouldn't explain further.

"I don't care what it is; I just need energy. I will be drawing power like crazy, and I don't have the time to build up a reservoir slowly. The mirror is all I have. If it's being replenished from that side, I can use it as a conduit."

"Should lead with that," Caine said. "You need a battery. Yeah, I can do that. I might need some help figuring out how to... I don't even know what it's called. How do I connect myself with the mirror?"

"Tonya knows how. We did a whole lesson about that not long ago." Bella went back to painting herself.

"Fine. I'm going to go close down the lounge. It's about that time anyway. I'll be back," Caine left, passing Janie as he pushed through the curtain.

Janie was a bit out of breath. She'd been running.

"What's a battery?" Bella asked Janie.

"Like a fortress? With big guns?" Janie said, confused, as she took a few deep breaths.

"No, that doesn't sound right," Bella shook her head.

"Then I don't know," Janie shook her head. "Why?"

"Something Caine said. Never mind," Bella shrugged.

"Tonya will be here soon," Janie said. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing that I can think of. Not unless you know how to draw a containment circle," Bella said.

"Is that different than a basic ward circle?" Janie asked.

"A circle is a circle. They can be used for different things or focused with different patterns inside them," Bella explained.

Janie nodded. "Well, I can draw a circle. I need things to do it with."

"There's a box on the shelf with chalk and string," Bella said. Janie disappeared from the mirror frame as Will entered through the cabin door.

"Can you think of any way we can counteract my bad luck?" he asked the naked witch.

Bella pursed her lips. "Yes, but you'll need to be here with me."

"That's not going to work. I need to be out there where I figure out our heading. This storm and the dark will make staying on a course nearly impossible, so I must keep reevaluating our position and triangulating with the charts. I'm going to be running back and forth a lot," Will said.

"That's not going to work," Bella said, her curls bouncing as she shook her head.

"What do you need to do your job, Will?" Janie's voice called from the mirror. She sounded distant. He guessed she was still in the alcove, but she was much more challenging to hear when she wasn't standing directly in front of the mirror.

"The charts and tools here on the desk and my eyes on the horizon," Will shouted, ensuring she heard him.

"Well, that's inefficient," Janie said, returning to the mirror's frame. "Your job needs you to be two places at once."

"Yeah," Will agreed. "Not much way around it, though."

"Bella, what do you need to do your job?" Janie asked.

"Just a circle on the ground and the mirror to draw energy from," Bella said.

"Will, can you move the desk?" Janie asked.

Will looked, thinking. "Maybe. It's not the whole thing, but the table is on a pivot here. I can unscrew these nuts and pull it off. Keep talking."

"I was just thinking about how we moved the mirror where it needed to be earlier," Janie explained. "We could do that. Just take the mirror and the desk out where you need them and have Bella draw her circle there."

Will and Bella looked at each other. She gave him a nod. "That would work for me."

"The rain is starting. Won't that wash away your circle?" Will asked.

"I have stuff that won't wash away," Bella said.

The pivot frame on the desk was held in place with butterfly screws, so it wasn't difficult for
Will to take it apart without tools. Whoever had built it was thinking ahead. Far too often, shipboard amenities were designed by carpenters who weren't sailors. On a ship, things needed to be permanently affixed or efficiently worked on using the fewest possible tools.

Sailors took many precautions to avoid tossing hammers and wrenches into the bilge or having them slide off the deck and into the ocean, but it still happened. The adage Will remembered best was that if something couldn't be repaired in a rainstorm with nothing but numb hands in wet gloves, it wasn't designed by a sailor.

"Rahat!" Bella cursed behind him. He looked over his shoulder. She was still drawing on herself but seemed to have made a mistake. She was wiping away a bit of paint on her arm with the corner of a handkerchief. "Why is the ship shaking now?"

"We are at full sail," Will explained.

"Feels like the ship is bouncing," the witch grumbled, trying to draw careful patterns between the swells.

"At this speed, in this kind of surf, we're skipping from wave to wave. When they are close together, it's fine. That's what those small shudders are. Those big hits and the feeling like you're about to fall is when they are bigger or far apart. We fall down the back of a wave and then have to climb back up and ram through the next one." Will strained as he talked, working a stuck screw free. Behind him, Bella continued slowly painting herself, occasionally cursing and having to redo something.

By the time Will had the desk surface free, Bella was waiting behind him, ready. "I can take that if you get the mirror," she said. She was still nude, with only a satchel over her shoulder and intricate patterns drawn in different paint colors all over her chest and arms.

"It's already starting to rain. You're going to be freezing," Will said as he looked her over.

"All my clothes with me would smear the patterns," Bella shrugged.

"I thought you said it was alright for the pattern to smear a little?" Will asked.

"For drawing energy with sex, yes. For fortune magic, no. This will require much more precise spell work," Bella explained.

"You're in for a miserable night," Will said, a bit worried.

"I think we all are," Bella said, taking the desktop from him. "Come on."

Will carefully lifted the heavy mirror free. Bella held the door open for him, and they walked out into the night. Thick drops were coming down haphazardly. The rain was slow and scattered but quickly covered the deck in wet splatters. It was building. Before long, it would be a downpour.

More than a few sets of eyes did a double take and watched Bella's swinging, bare butt climb the steps, but there wasn't a single catcall or whistle. The whole ship was dealing with the danger at hand, so as unexpected as a naked witch on deck was, it wasn't enough to cause a significant distraction.

The Kestrel cut through the waves at top speed. The deck rolled and occasionally lurched as the water battered the prow. Bella had to hold onto the railing tightly as she climbed the stairs.

The darkness, wind, and rain amplified the unsteadiness she'd been feeling in the cabin. The alternating feeling of being a little heavier and then a little lighter and the jostling back and forth as the waves pushed on the ship made her feel like she barely knew how to walk and like the boat was trying to buck her overboard.

Will seemed to have no problems with it, even with the giant mirror in his hands. He walked when it was easy and leaned or braced with the shudders and drops. He couldn't see where he was headed, but he still had an easier time than Bella.

Captain Vex gave Bella a curious look from the helm. "Ye Dinna want to stay dry?"

"Blame him," Bella said, jerking her head back in Will's direction. "He has to see the surroundings to do his work, and I need him in the circle to do mine."

"Tie off," Captain Vex said. "Ye don't want to get swept overboard."

"To what?" Bella asked.

"The mizzen, unless ye need to move around," Captain Vex said.

"No, but I can't have ropes dragging across my circle either," Bella said.

"Does the size of the circle matter?" Will asked. He crossed the deck and propped the mirror up against the back railing, steadying the mirror while he held on.

"Not really," Bella shook her head. She leaned the desktop against the mirror and let Will pin it in place with his leg. "There are some reasons for smaller or larger circles, but they don't apply to what I'm trying to do."

"How about we put the circle around the mizzen," Will suggested.

"I have no idea what a mizzen is," Bella admitted, looking exasperated and sheepish.

Will pointed to the mast protruding from the rear center of the quarterdeck where they stood.

"Mizzenmast."

"That works. I would suggest we tie the mirror to it anyway," Bella nodded. "First, I need a loose loop of rope around the mast to guide my circle."

"Big protractor. She got it. You hold Janie," Will said. Bella took over, steadying the mirror, and sat on the bench at the back of the aft castle. She held tight to the railing. Back here, the ship was reasonably steady, but the rolling up and down of the waves still made her feel nervous now that she was near the edge. Will grabbed a loop of rope off the mast and got to work. In short order, he had a loose line ready to trace a large circle. He handed Bella the rope's end and took over, steadying the mirror. Now, it was Bella's turn. She jammed the handle of her paintbrush through the rope and pulled it tight, then started her circle. It was a bit slow going.

She dipped her brush in a pot of white paint, then made a short arc with the rope pulled taut.

Then she positioned herself, ensured the rope hadn't snagged, and did it again. Each section was only a few feet long, but bit by bit, she traced out an arc of white paint on the quarterdeck just behind the helm.

As she worked, another sheet of lightning lit the sky. Will could make out two distant islands, and he noted their position for later.

As Bella finished her circle, she started making another pass, thickening and defining it. "How long do we have until the other ship is near us?" she asked.

"Oh, a while yet," Captain Vex shrugs. "Maybe hours."

"What?" Bella asked, surprised. She was already breathing hard from working at a fast pace.

Trying to quickly crawl on her hands and knees across the rolling deck to paint the circle was surprisingly tiring. "I thought we were in danger?"

"We are," Will said. "Most ship chases are endurance races."

"Aye," Captain Vex said over her shoulder. "Closing the distance can take long, especially when both ships are fairly even in speed. Once they get close, it'll stop being about speed and start being about maneuvering. It is about predicting what the other ship will try to do and seeing if you can trick them into doing something stupid. If we can get them to come about the wrong way or force them to throw around an obstacle, we Dinna have to avoid; we can get some distance. Then it's a chase again until they catch up. We win this by exhausting them, keeping ahead, or making it somewhere they won't follow."

"That sounds a lot less... I don't know... less exciting? Then I thought it would be," Bella said, relieved but slightly confused.

"The excitement comes if they catch us," Will said. "Excitement is bad."

"So, we might have hours to prepare for that?" Bella asked.

"From the looks of things so far, yes," Will nodded.

Bella started laughing. It started amusing but then became a bit sinister. "Oh, those poor bastards."

Will and Captain Vex looked at each other, unsure what to say. Bella pulled her brush out of the rope and repositioned it further back. "I'm going to draw another circle. Once I'm clear of the front arc, facing Belita, go ahead and tie the mirror to the mast."

"Sure," Will said. "Mind explaining the evil laugh?"

"I didn't know I had time," Bella grinned as she started the arc of her second circle. The gap between the two circles was about a foot wide. "My mother used to say that it's always efficient, powerful, or fast whenever you do spell work, and you can only pick two. I thought I needed to be fast and powerful, so I was ready to toss efficiency out the window. I planned on drawing a ton of energy and wasting most of it to get the job done. Now I have the time to use all that energy, right? I will hit that ship with the mother of all hexes."




To be continued