Enchanted Ch. 07

Just when John starts to feel like he's starting to gain some control of his life, that illusion is shattered. Unfortunately, this chapter isn't quite as spicy as the others have been, but worry not -- the heat level will rise again!

Little Red rowed the boat up right next to the Red Witch's hull. John was ready to reach out and help even though he wasn't sure what to do, but by the time the rowboat rubbed against the hull they were lined up next to a rope ladder and two iron cleats. The young woman tied the stern rope to one cleat and then shooed John out of the way so she could tie the bow rope.

"I can help, you know," John offered.

"Do you know knots?"

"I can make a knot!"

"But you don't know the knot Red wants, do you?"

John looked at the strange way she'd looped and tied the rope around the cleat. "Huh, I suppose not."

"Then just sit there and look pretty, John the Long."

He rolled his eyes.

She finished with the ropes and grabbed the rope ladder. "I'll go first so nobody puts a knife in your eye."

"I won't argue that," John said.

He watched her climb the rope ladder, noting how she made it look easy as she scampered up while it sways back and forth. Her cloak prevented him from enjoying the view, though not for lack of trying.

John went next and wondered how in the blazes of Phlegethos she made it look so easy. The ladder danced back and forth and he bumped into the hull constantly. His toes and feet were sore from the course rope rungs that scratched and burned his joints. He finally managed to pull himself over the gunwale of the Red Witch and only managed to stand on his cramping feet by leaning against the railing.

"Who's this then?" a sailor talking to Little Red asked. "You know Captain's not taking on no more hands."

"He's just visiting," Little Red said.

He snorted. "You'd best go see Captain, she's been looking for you for a while now."

"Doesn't that woman sleep?" Little Red muttered.

"She's your sister, you tell me."

Little Red sighed and turned. "Come on, then, let's get this over with."

John looked to the sailor. The man's shrewd look changed to a smirk. "Good luck with that."

John frowned and then hurried to catch up to Little Red. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," she mumbled.

John's eyes narrowed. It didn't sound like, "nothing."

Little Red rounded the quarterdeck and climbed up the stairs to the top of the quarterdeck. She walked across the deck, passing behind the lashed wheel, and opened the cabin door without knocking. John followed her in.

A candle set in an iron candleholder burned on a desk and lit up the woman in a chair holding a thick leather-bound book. She was looking up at Little Red and then noticed John. Her expression hardened.

"Who's this?" she asked as she sat up in her chair and tugged her sleep shirt so it covered her better.

"This is John," Little Red said.

John took in the rest of the dimly lit cabin and saw a table strewn with odds and ends as well as some maps. His eyes went to the bed next and he saw it was still occupied. A woman lay sleeping, the sheets pulled down to her belly and her breasts on display.

Red cursed and jumped to her feet. She hurried to the bed and pulled the sheets up to cover the sleeping woman. John wasn't sure, but he thought the sleeper was the other woman he'd seen with Red and her crew at the docks.

"Well, John, you'll live a lot longer if you keep your eyes and your tongue in your head," she warned. Before he could respond her eyes narrowed and she looked him up and down. "You were in the Sea Hall... Saints of the deep, you're the one Steff's been going on about!"

John bowed his head. "The Sea Hall? I didn't know it was called that. Yes, that was me. I can't speak for Steff, or rather what she's been saying about me. I came because—"

"I brought him," Little Red interrupted. "He's with me now. He's no fool noble or merchant neither, Red."

Red raised an eyebrow and then she glared at her sister. "You didn't... Saints, child, you did! You let him bed you? We'll need an apothecary. Does this town even have one?"

"I'm not with child!" Little Red protested. "We didn't... he didn't.... um, finish there."

Red stood still and glowered at her little sister. "Did he even get it in before he spilled all over your legs?"

John smirked.

"Oh, he did," Little Red said with a grin. "So far in..."

Red held up her hands. "You're sure you're not going to have a swollen belly in a few months?"

"My belly's full," she admitted with a wink at John, "but not because there's a babe growing in it."

"What am I missing?"

Little Red blushed again before saying, "I've never tasted anything like it! And the way he... well... I'm not sure I'll be walking right for days."

"John, I need you to step outside and wait a moment while I talk to my sister."

John shrugged. "Okay. Or... where's Steff? I'd like to see her before—"

Little Red spun on him. "Why do you want to see her?"

He leaned back a little from her fiery glare. "Just to say hi and see how she's doing," he stammered.

"She's doing fine," Little Red said. "Isn't she, Red?"

"Sleeping most like," Red agreed. "She wasn't worth a damn all day after she got back. Seems you wore her out."

"That's true enough," Little Red said. A smile slipped back onto her face before she said, "I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Red turned and glanced out a window above her bed. "Sun will be up soon, you missed your chance if you went out hunting him down last night."

Little Red nodded. "I said I could, didn't say I would."

"John?" Red asked again.

He winced. "Right, sorry, I'll be right outside."

"See that you don't wander," Red said, soothing the sudden tension in her sister's shoulders.

"Of course," John said. He slipped back out the door and pulled it shut behind him. He took a few steps away to not seem suspicious and then studied the small deck outside Red's cabin. There was little to it, just the helm next to the railing and stairs that led both up and down to the decks above and below.

John moved to the stairs going up and took the first two steps until he saw what lay on the aftcastle. A massive crossbow was bolted to the deck. The ballista had a barrel full of bolts nearby, though the bolts were nothing like John expected. Chains with spiked balls hung from the blades of each. They couldn't possibly shoot straight, but if they hit a man they'd surely tear him apart.

He turned and looked up at the three masts of the Red Witch. The sails were down but a sail made for a large target. Large enough that a bolt punching a whole through one wouldn't do much. A bolt with chains and spikes though, that might cause some serious tears.

John stepped back onto the quarter deck and moved to study the main desk of the ship below him. A few men were moving about on it. One was checking and stowing ropes and gear while another moved across the deck toward the forecastle and then disappeared through the door.

He could hear them talking. At times their voices rose high enough to make out words. John thought about trying to hear better but decided against it. He was a guest, after all. These weren't pirates either, just sailors trying to make a living. Decent people, he supposed, if a bit salty.

He grinned at his own joke and then jumped when the door opened. Red came out first. She was fully dressed in breeches, boots, corset, shirt, and her wrap. Oh, and the saber. Always the saber, he supposed.

Her sword... his spear! He'd left it on the long boat. John took a step and stopped, realizing he couldn't rush to get it. How could he possibly have forgotten it? He needed that spear. If something were to happen or...

"You look like you just realized you fucked the little sister of the captain of the ship you're standing on," Red accused him. "Which tells me you're about as smart as the next man... maybe a little smarter to realize he's at my mercy."

"No... I," John stopped and sighed. "I left my spear on the boat. It's... important to me."

"Can't be too important if you left it," she pointed out.

John grimaced. "I was... distracted. Your sister is quite the catch."

"There's no catching her," Red said while Little Red slipped through the door and moved to stand beside and behind her. "She's a free girl—"

"Woman," Little Red corrected her.

The lines at the corners of Red's eyes deepened. "Barely," she muttered. "You'd be—"

"I'd be nursing my third child by now if mum had her way!" Little Red argued. "If that's not enough than what John done to me is a dozen times over!"

"So this is the man," the woman that had been asleep in bed said as she slipped out and moved up on Red's other side. "The man, the myth, and the legend."

John blushed at her mocking words.

"Stop," Little Red mumbled. "You two don't know... you don't even know the touch of man. The way he makes me feel..."

John started to hold a hand up but they ignored him.

"Oh, I know all too well," the newcomer spat. "I know their wants and needs and how they take them without a thought for any but themselves!"

"Oh boy," John breathed. If they were— wait! Was that why Red had felt his magic and then pushed it away? She wasn't interested in men, only women.

"I tried them for a while too, Mare," Red said while giving her lover's hand a squeeze. "They're clumsy and awkward at best. Some like a puppy dog waiting for you to pet them nicely. Others...well, Sasha can tell you stories of the worst, but I'd rather she didn't relive that pain, even in words."

Sasha snarled and spat over the railing.

"Mare?" John mouthed the word to Little Red. She wasn't watching him.

"John's not like that," Little Red insisted. "He took care of me... twice, and that was nothing like no other man ever was. Better even than my fingers! He made sure I got mine before he gave thought to his own."

John's eyes widened and he glanced away, wishing he could go and get his spear just for an excuse to not be part of the conversation.

"He leave a dripping mess after, did he?" Sasha asked. "Give you a reminder of him in nine months you'll be burdened with the rest of your life?"

Little Red stiffened. "A child of John's would be no burden," she said. "But that doesn't matter. He didn't do that. He... he finished somewhere else."

Sasha snorted.

"I... should probably go," John said while they glared at each other. "I meant no disrespect and certainly not to cause strife."

"Oh sure, run off now and leave us to deal with her pining away for John the Long," Sasha patronized him.

"Saints," John groaned. "Don't call me that. And I'm not one to pine away for either. I live a dangerous life, I do what I can to share some joy with those I meet, but I've a quest of my own."

"A quest? You don't look like a knight," Red said.

"I'm not. I... I'm not a warrior at all," John admitted.

Sasha snorted.

"Then what are you?" Red demanded.

John held up a hand, palm facing up and his fingers open. He called the magic and let it swirl and dance in his palm faster and faster until it began to glow. A swirling globe of mist took shape for the sailors to see. Little Red gasped and clapped her hands together. John pulled the magic back in, ending the light.

Sasha took a step back.

"You're a wizard," Red accused.

"Not exactly," John admitted. "But I suppose that will do."

"Get rid of him," Sasha said. "Send him away... that or kill him and dump his body."

"You can't!" Little Red gasped. "Spill the blood of a... magic user and we'll be cursed!"

"Magic user?" John asked. As usual, they ignored him.

"What else can you do?" Red asked.

John raised an eyebrow. "Little tricks, mostly. I'm always learning though. I can create fires too, but I thought that might be bad on a ship."

"You may not be half the fool I thought you," Red allowed.

"I'm searching to expand my powers," he said. "Magical books and scrolls, or the non-magical sort that might help me sort things out better. It's... it's rather complicated."

"Oh! He can grab things too," Little Red said. "Magic that could push a pirate right off a boat!"

John winced. "Perhaps, but if they were holding on or—"

"I bet he can do lots more too," Little Red said. "You always wanted something special for the Red Witch. Wouldn't having a wizard on the crew be a boon? We'd never have to worry about pirates again!"

John held up his hands again. "Hold on now, I'm not looking for passage by sea or to join a crew. Truth is, there's not much for waves but if they start to rock us, I'm likely to get sick as a dog."

Little Red snapped her fingers. "Red, what about the Sunset Isles?"

Sasha growled. "Not that nonsense again. Children's stories, that's all!"

Red lifted her head and her eyes lost focus for a moment. She blinked them back to normal and frowned. "Sasha's right, Mare," the captain said. "There's a reason there's thirteen isles, bad luck to any who try to find it."

"Find what?" John asked before he realized he'd stepped in a trap of his own making.

"Treasure, of course," Little Red said. "The treasures of Billy the One Eyed. He brought a crew all the way around the world from the lands of the Kelgryn, it's said. Him and his crew raided the cities along the western coast and none could stand against them. They took what they wanted until, at last, the cities stopped fighting and offered him bounty instead. Soon as they done that Billy stopped sacking their villages and sinking their ships. They knew peace for a time, and he was the reason of it."

"Some peace," John muttered.

"You live in a city, you pay taxes for the Lord and guards. Them guards protect you from goblins, splisskin, and regular bandits," Red pointed out.

John conceded the point with a nod of his head.

She caught Sasha's glare and added, "Of course, this is far enough back it's just stories told. No one's alive to say if any of it was real."

"The stories tell that he had a camp somewhere in the Sunset Isles north of here. A camp where he stored all that he been paid. Legend tells sailing into those isles causes a fog that's not like no normal fog to swallow them whole. Some ships get turned about. Some get run up on rocks."

"Let me guess, no one survives to tell the tale?" John asked.

"Of course some survive," Little Red shot back. "How else would we hear about it?"

Sasha smirked in spite of the dislike she'd taken to him... or perhaps because of it.

"So why is his treasure still there, according to the legend?" John asked. "And what does this have to do with me? I'm no treasure seeker."

Little Red smiled. "Billy was a wizard, they say. And after years of the coastal cities thriving with his protection, others decided to come calling. Pirates and slavers and worse. So Billy fought them off until they teamed up and went after him. Drove him into the Isles and lost him in there. Legends holds his ship was taking on water and he never came back out."

"That's a lot of legends," John mused.

"And Red always wanted to find it," she said. "Whenever she'd come visit me she'd tell me stories and little bits and pieces she'd put together."

"You didn't!" Sasha gasped.

Red scowled. "I was telling my little sister stories. I never expected her to run away from home and stow away on my ship!"

"Stories? Pfft! You believe it too. You said we'd go looking one day!"

The captain rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, it was better than telling you I had to kick a man off my ship for getting too drunk to tie ropes or that I had to make another swab the decks for a week straight to pay back the men he'd been cheating at cards. Where's the excitement in that?"

"You could have told her stories about us," Sasha teased.

"Ugh, no thanks!" Little Red said.

"Yeah, you were still sure you were going to meet some highborn to spirit you away into a perfect life."

Sasha smirked. "That's why you hid me?"

Red nodded. "Times were hard enough for her and mum, I didn't want them worrying more."

Sasha stared at her lover and nodded. "I respect that. I think you don't give them enough credit though."

"Oh no, mum would remove be so distraught she'd cut off her own fingers instead of carrots for the dinner stew and not notice it," Little Red agreed. "I'm good though, but only because I know you love her."

John cleared his throat. "Ladies... this is wonderful and bonding, but I'm not sure you really mean to share it with me? Seems like a personal moment between sisters... and you, of course, Sasha."

"John, didn't you hear what I said?" Little Red asked.

"I heard a lot," John admitted. "I'm still taking it all in."

"About Billy... he was a wizard."

"So sayeth the legend," John quipped.

Sasha almost smirked again... Almost.

"You want magical books, there you go. He would have them."

John pursed his lips. She had a point. He could still quote magical theory until his listeners were sleeping soundly, but the specifics were lost to him. He suffered great gaping holes in his memory where there had once been patterns and formulae and understanding. Anyone could be a wizard, it just took study and dedication and introspection. In fact, he could be a wizard again if he put his mind to it and had the resources at hand...

"Red, look at him, he's in. Let's try for it! You haven't found any cargo yet. This would be amazing. You could outfit the Red Witch with the finest sails and do all the repairs you've been wanting. The crew would never leave you! And you'd never want for another job... just think, You'd be the captain that solved the Riddle of Billy the One Eyed and found his treasure!"

Red's eyes narrowed. She turned and looked at Sasha.

Sasha hesitated before saying, "It's your ship. I'll sail with you over the ends of the world."

"The world doesn't end, it's round," John said.

Sasha snorted.

"No, really—"

"Any sailor with half a mind knows that!" she told him. "It's just my way of saying I'll support her, high tide or low."

"Oh, sorry," John mumbled.

"Red..."

Red looked at her sister and groaned. "It's eight days sail to the Sunset Isles from here. Six days from there to search and then we find the nearest port and forget this nonsense and go back to work."

Little Red yelped and threw her arms around her sister. She hugged her and, after a grudging moment Big Red hugged her back. Little Red let her go and turned to John. She grinned and threw herself on him, hugging him and pressing herself against him far more aggressively than she had her sister.

Sasha cleared her throat when Little Red tried to push her kiss with the warlock from a peck to the next level. John managed to push her back and offered a smile to the two women. "So, um... I'm not sure—"

"You'll sleep with the crew," Red said. "And by that I mean sleep, not fuck."

John winced. "I can't just up and leave, I have an assistant I need to collect."

"An assistant?"

"Yes, she's...well... she helps me out with everything."

Little Red's eyes narrowed. "Everything?"

"Well, everything an assistant should help with," John fumbled.

She grunted and nodded. "I'll take you back in the boat to get her."

"There's no need for that."

All four of them turned at the disembodied voice. A moment later Zynga's head popped into view as she climbed the stairs up to the quarterdeck. She waved held John's spear up. "You forget something, Master?"

John winced and reached out a hand. He used his magic to pull the spear through the air to his hand and then lowered it, butt-first, to the ground.

All three women gasped— or hissed, in Sasha's case.

"Not forgotten," he assured her. "Captain, ladies, this is Zynga, my assistant."

Zynga bowed low and then let out a, "Oops," as her breasts jiggled and began to slip free of her loosely laced tunic. A wide belt held the tunic at the sides and below that she wore flamboyant breeches and short boots.