Lost at Sea Bk. 01 Ch. 12

"Fuck," Will swore. Will tried to turn, but his foot slipped on something. His bourbon from earlier. He ended up catching himself on the bar, but he was off balance. Inside him, he felt something seem to slide.

Caine stood up.

The whole room went quiet. To Will, everything seemed like slow motion. He knew this feeling. It felt like the world was sliding sideways, and he was a bystander in his own body. He tried to say something, but it was like he was moving through molasses. He only had time to start to stand back up and get his feet under him before the man Belita hit went and made the worst mistake of his whole life. He hit Belita back.

Suddenly things snapped back into full speed for Will. He was moving, but it was too late. Belita had already hit the man twice more and then Colin tackled him from behind. They went into a table. Drinks went flying. Angry men stood up. They were about to join in, but the impending arrival of Caine seemed to take the fight right out of them. They stepped aside and out of the way. Besides the fight, it was deathly quiet. The only people who didn't know the rules were the ones Will had brought with him, and he'd forgotten to tell them.

"Stop, now," Caine said loudly, jogging toward the fight like the spectre of death holding a dented tankard.

Colin was on top of the man who'd hit Belita hammering down on him with hands like mallets. He looked up at Caine for a moment, pausing, not sure who was talking to him but recognizing the voice of authority when he heard it. Suddenly a larger man with long hair and a lantern jaw burst into the Lounge from the doorway to the games room and hit Colin from behind with a heavy haymaker. Belita hauled the newcomer off Colin by his hair and socked him in the gut. The man beneath Colin threw a punch that clipped Colin's chin while the big man was reeling from being hit from behind He was stunned, but not really hurt badly. He had a neck like an ox that was saving him from a lot of the damage. He brought his fist down again with a meaty thwack. The Norths arrived, grabbing the newcomer who Belita had hauled off Colin. Caine and Will both swore.

"Someone didn't learn the rules well enough!" Caine barked right before he tackled Colin at full speed. They both rolled over, but when they came to a halt, Colin was face down and Caine was standing and holding Colin's arm in a painful looking arm lock. He was holding the lid of his tankard shut with his thumb. It didn't look like he'd spilled any.

"I keep tellin' all you assholes not to make me get up!" Caine yelled loud enough to be heard by the whole crowd. A lighting fast boot snapped into the back of Colin's head and cracked his face into the ground. Everyone in the room winced. Then Caine seemed to twist, his body dropping and pivoting on the floor without letting go of Colin's arm. The man who'd first hit Belita had started to rise now that Colin wasn't sitting on him. Caine's heel caught him right across the face, sending him down in a boneless heap again. Caine ended up on one knee and backhanded Colin across the face with his tankard just as the big man had started to try to get up as well. The metal clunk of the tankard echoed for a moment. Colin's vision swam and came to focus on Caine's finger right in his face.

"Don't fucking move," Caine snarled at Colin. Then Caine was moving again toward the other part of the fight. Will was still a few steps away with no idea what he was about to do. He thought that it was about to be over anyway, but then it was Colin's turn to be stupid. He didn't know who Caine was, and he had a very hard head. He reached out and grabbed Caine's ankle. Caine went down in a string of curses, but caught himself on his forearms, his knees never quite touching the ground. His tankard skidded away across the ground leaking a trail of fizzing brown liquid. Someone in the crowd muttered "Oh, fuck."

"Colin, no," Will called out, but it was too late. Caine snarled and twisted his hips, uncoiling in the same motion that had knocked out Belita's original attacker. His boot caught Colin in the head. It sounded like a pistol shot. The big man went down again. Caine rose with one fluid motion that continued the moment of his kick up into standing.

Colin had wasted too much of Caine's time though. Things were spiraling out of control. Will could feel the world still slipping.

Caine hit both the Norths from behind by hooking his arms around them under their arms and reaching up. He grabbed them both by the throat as he barged passed. He used his momentum to upend them, turning them and lifting so they pivoted and fell backwards at the same time, driven by the power of Caine's grip on their necks. They spun in opposite directions and then down as Caine knelt. They both hit the ground on their backs, hard, the wind completely knocked out of them and their heads ringing from the impact with the floor.

It was too late.

Suddenly finding himself facing Belita and both the Norths, the long haired man who'd joined the fight from the doorway had pulled a knife from somewhere and lunged at Belita.

She'd fed it to him.

The man was holding the brass crossguard of his knife against his lips. Fragments of shattered teeth fell across his hand. The tip of the knife was sticking out behind his right ear. His eyes crossed as he stared at the knife. He dropped to a knee. Blood began pouring from his mouth. Caine rose, taking a step forward, leaving the Norths groaning and curling into balls of pain on either side of him. Belita backed up, her fists raised and her eyes wild. She was enjoying this.

"Captain, no!" Will barked. She hesitated. Finally someone listened to him.

Caine stopped. "Done?" he asked grimly. The man with the knife in his face hit the floor.

"Aye," Belita said with a shrug.

Caine knelt and carefully rolled over the fallen man. "Fuck," he swore.

Will skidded to a halt and knelt next to Caine. "He alive?"

"Yeah, for now," Caine growled.

"Let me help-" Will said trying to maneuver to help lift the fallen man somewhere else.

"No." Caine said, stiff arming Will away. "His best chance is her," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Cerise, the apothecary was running up with a satchel in her hands.

"You know who he is?" Caine asked. Will looked at the downed man as Cerise began pulling his shirt open. Recognition dawned on him. "Fuck," he said, feeling like the air had gone out of him.

"Get your friends out of here, Will," Caine said. "Go now."

Will nodded and moved over to Colin. The big man was dazed, but somehow still conscious. He hauled on Colin's arm, helping him up. "Come on, big guy. Time to go."

Belita was helping Danica to her feet. The first mate looked sick. Her husband was on his hands and knees looking dazed and angry.

"We're leaving right now," Will said.

"We dinnae start none o'-" Belita snarled angrily, but Will cut her off.

"Doesn't matter. Time to go." He managed to get North to his feet without dropping Colin. Danica moved to help steady Colin as well. Belita helped North on the other side. The five of them moved out of the Lounge and into the game room. Chance was already running toward them.

"Every damn time, Sterling! What did you do?" The redheaded man screeched. He looked like he was about to keep going but seeing Colin staggering and punch drunk hauled him up short. "Is he alright?" It seemed a bit odd that Chance cared so much about the wellbeing of someone he'd just met, but Will wasn't going to question it now.

"It was Caine. He'll be fine. It was my fuck up. We're leaving," Will said quickly.

Chance was torn between wanting to chew Will out, and getting to the other room. The other room won. "That was the last time, Sterling," he said before running off.

They made their way out of Merry Mary's without further incident. Coat check got them their weapons efficiently and didn't ask questions about their sorry state. Danica was able to walk on her own by then so Belita shouldered all the weapon belts. By the time they were out to the street both the Norths were breathing properly, but still rubbing their heads. Colin's legs were still wobbly. They found a nearby bench and sat him down on it.

"What th' hell was that?" Belita snapped, pulling on her gunbelt. "That asshole treats me like a whore, an' then yer friend goes through my crew like godsdamn chainshot."

"You punched him, Captain," Will tried to explain. He buckled his sword belt on and checked his rapier.

"Aye, he 'ad it comin'!" she snarled. "I tried nice. Told 'im I wasn't one o' the whores, and he kept on!" She adjusted her saber.

"It's the rules at Mary's," Will said. "No violence."

"Fuck that!" Belita hissed. "I ain't gonna do nothin' when a drunk asshole calls me a whore!"

"He shouldn't have done that, but at Mary's all violence gets dealt with the same way. Doesn't matter who starts it. Caine finishes it," Will said.

"I'll say," Colin said, rubbing he jaw and cradling his aching arm. "I got kicked by a horse once and it didn't hurt this bad." His eyes wouldn't focus and his ears were ringing.

"How the hell was I supposed t' know that defending meself would mean feeding th' whole crew tae a walkin' meat grinder?!" Belita yelled.

"I was supposed to tell you. I forgot," Will said. "I really didn't anticipate any of you starting a fight tonight."

"We dinnae start it!" Vex snarled, pacing like an angry tiger.

"That's not right," Danica said. "If that's the policy, they should have told us themselves. Or posted it up somewhere." She was slowly, gingerly putting on her weapon belt.

"I don't disagree. Around here though, most folks can't read, so word of mouth and reputation have to do. It almost never escalates that far. I've never seen a stabbing at Mary's before, ever. When things start to get tense it's usually enough. Didn't you notice the room when you hit that guy?"

"Well, yeah," Belita shrugged. "Felt like I walked o'er everyone's grave."

"That's because everyone knows what happens when a fight breaks out. I'm honestly surprised that the idiot who was mouthing off to you was willing to swing back," Will said. "He definitely knew." Will's brow knitted. "I guess he thought his family would protect him from consequences."

"What's he, someone special?" Captain Vex scoffed.

"No, but he thinks he is, and he's got a big family. The guy you punched is Cal Kidd. The guy you stabbed in the face is his brother Jakob. Old Man Kidd was one of the original settlers on Prince's Cove. They got a colonial writ from the crown to come out here and establish a port. Of the original settlers, he's one of two who survived, and there's a lot of rumors about how he was part of why so few made it. He had seven kids. Those kids all had a mess of kids too, and so did the current generation. All told, I think there's about seventy of them. Before the Magistrate showed up, they were what passed for a military around here. They're wealthy, mean, well armed, and prone to completely disproportionate revenge against any slight, real or imagined. And you just stabbed the eldest grandson to the old man himself."

Belita's rage finally wound down as Will's words sunk in. "Alright. Time to head to the ship then. We're about loaded. We were jus' waiting on ye t' finish yer work. We c'n weigh anchor and wait a ways out, just past the harbor."

"That might work. Old Man Kidd and his sons have ships of their own, but I don't think any of the ones we need to worry about are currently here." Will said, his mind racing.

"Can't we just go to the Magistrate?" Mister North asked.

Will shook his head. "The Magistrate doesn't have nearly the kind of foothold here that they think they do. Most of the soldiers are busy finishing the construction of the fort. They only send about a dozen out on patrol, and they haven't established a charter of law yet. They're preparing to take over, but it hasn't happened yet, so their peacekeeping efforts are all informal. Right now, they're just a trumped up neighborhood watch. It's curbed street violence, but they tend not to get involved in anything that doesn't threaten the community directly. The Kidd company still has more clout than them and generations more entrenchment. We might be able to convince the Magistrate we're innocent, but I doubt they'll want to protect us if Kidd decides he wants our heads. The Fort's still needs Kidd and his influence to keep the locals from revolting."

"Pirate holds don't change easy," Belita nodded. She'd seen plenty of places like Bastards Bay. The law was whoever had the most money and the biggest crew. "We need t' leave now. How soon can ye be ready t' board, Will?"

"Tomorrow morning?" Will shrugged. "I'm not actually packed yet. I thought I had more time."

"Good enough. We'll shove off now. We're still waiting on six smallboats. We'll have you brought out to us in one of them." Danica said.

"Can you walk, Colin?" North asked.

"Yeah," the big man said, standing. He immediately sat back down. "No."

"Help him. I'll go with Sterling and help him get packed," Captain Vex said. "I'll rejoin ye with him and his witch in a smallboat. Get the Kestrel out of here."

"Aye, Cap'n." Danica said, handing Belita her coat. The Norths helped Colin to his feet and started slowly walking down the street looking like they were carrying a drunk.

"Let's go Sterling," Belita said, heading the other way toward the old lighthouse. She took off at a run. He shook his head and followed.

_________________

Neither of them said much during the jog back. Will was wrapped up inside his own head and barely noticed when they arrived. Things seemed like they had been going so well. He looked at his hands, like somehow his curse was in them, specifically. "The bourbon was a nice touch," he muttered as he stopped running in front of his lighthouse.

"What?" Belita asked.

"Nothing," Will said, "Just thinking."

They reached his door and Will spent too long opening his locks. He knew word of what had happened was starting to spread by now. The Kidd clan was starting to wake up. He didn't have anything to worry about. He hadn't been involved in the fight, and unless someone had seen Belita leave with him, he was actually pretty safe at the moment. The Kestrel was the danger. Belita wasn't well known, but she was unmistakable. It wouldn't take them long to track down who she was and where her ship was moored. If Danica couldn't shove off before the Kidd clan roused their own ships, the Kestrel would be blockaded in, and then they'd be at the mercy of what Old Man Kidd thought of as justice.

Someone came running up behind them, and Captain Vex whirled, a pistol coming up in one smooth motion.

Bella skidded to a halt and held her hands up. "Please don't," she said, her voice trembling. From behind her a tiny monkey dashed out of the shadows and stood it's ground in front of her. It puffed up it's fur and shrieked at Captain Vex.

The pistol lowered to the monkey in surprise, then it disappeared back into the frock coat. "What're ye doin 'ere?" Belita asked, her eyes flicking from Bella to the monkey in confusion.

"I heard what happened. Jakob Kidd looks like he's going to live," she said. "And I wanted to tell you that you need to run,"

"Already on it," Will said, yanking his door open and striding inside.

The two women followed him.

"Bella, can you-" Will started.

"Clothes, yeah," she said. The monkey was already running up the staircase with the witch close behind.

"What about me?" Belita asked. She hung her coat and hat on the hook by the door. Will was struck by how much the hat and coat changed her. With them, she was every inch a sea captain. No one could mistake her for anything else. She had the bearing and the presence and the look. Without them, she was still impressive looking and had a strong presence, but she was more... approachable. She was a beautiful and friendly looking blond woman with an edge of wildness to her, and then as soon as she donned the uniform she suddenly became larger than life. It clicked in his head. Right now she was just Belita. When she wore the outfit, she was Captain Vex. It made sense to him. Every adventurer sea captain was trying to build their legend. Belita just seemed to understand the power of theatricality better than most.

Will stepped up next to her to pull the door shut and finish engaging all the locks. Then he crossed the room to pull a steamer trunk out from beneath the sideboard. He hefted it to the table and opened it up. There were ledgers and files inside. "All these go into my office, on the desk."

He started pulling charts and books off the shelves, stacking them on the table. Belita took an armload out of the trunk and carried them into the office. "What time is it?" Will asked.

Belita looked around and saw the big clock. "Half past one."

"Janie usually gets here around six. That's too long to wait. Bella!" Will shouted up the stairs.

There was a brief clattering, "What?" she called down.

"I need you to cast a spell!" Will called back up.

The stairs creaked loudly as Bella came down. "What? Which one?" she asked.

"I don't know. Something that will set off Janie's wards," Will shrugged.

"Alright," she said, coming all the way back down the stairs. She had an armload of Will's clothes and was haphazardly stuffing them into a duffel bag. "Why?"

Will dumped the next armload of charts he was holding onto the table. "They're keyed to her."

"Oh, right!" Bella said, catching on. "If I do something the wards don't like, she'll know."

"And if it's bad enough, she'll come running," Will nodded.

"I better make it bad then," Bella said.

"Not too bad though," Will said, collecting a few more dusty books and papers. "Don't break the terms of your registry just to get Janie's attention."

"Of course not," Bella scoffed. "How about some evocation? I'm not very good at it, but I think I can work up something big enough to trigger the sigils. They're pretty sensitive, right?"

"No idea," Will shrugged.

"You really should know more about your security, Will," Bella said. She turned in place and drew a circle around herself in the air, then brought her hands up in a dramatic flourish. Evocation was all about quickly drawing up a lot of energy in a framework that can't contain it, and then purposefully allowing it to destabilize. The trick was to shape the destabilization itself. It was hard, and dangerous. Bella hadn't actually drawn a control circle, but she'd imagined one. That was the point of all the big gestures. It helped with visualization. For evocation, a real control circle would have actually made the energies less likely to destabilize, and a real pattern would have focused the energies in a way that might have done something that wasn't destructive. That's what circles and patterns and rituals were for. It was all about being safe while harnessing the creative forces of the universe. A truly talented evoker didn't need to visualize any kind of control methods, but Bella needed those crutches for magicks of nearly any kind.

Bella gathered the ambient energies around them and waited until the vibrations were causing her hands to shake. "Come on..." she pleaded with the magic. Will felt hot. He touched his chest. The paint beneath his shirt was getting warm to the touch. Bella was still feeling what he felt, but didn't realize in the moment that the sensation wasn't hers. She looked down at herself in confusion wondering where the sudden heat was coming from. Engrossed in the moment, she guessed wrongly that the heat reaction was resistance from Janie's wards and kept gathering her energies to the breaking point. Sudden warmth wasn't an uncommon reaction during evocation, so she dismissed it and kept focusing.