The Dread Pirate Molly Hawke Ch. 03

***So this is the final chapter of this one. I could go on with a few adventures for Bess and crew, but I've gotta get back to the Marble, since things are heating up there. 0_o

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Bessie and the Bible

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During the next few days she watched him work like a fiend. It was as though their meeting each other seemed to spur him somehow. He taught her how to work basic tools and taught her to be a little careful not to snap the heads off of bolts -- after the first time that she did it.

She didn't know whether he was trying to hide it from her, but she did manage to find the odd moment to look at him as he worked. At first, it had only been out of a desire in her to admire him a little, but it soon grew to where she had to try not to allow her jaw to fall open at his strength. She'd never seen a man do things such as he could with apparent ease.

In truth, he hadn't wanted her to see anything like that, but there was more here than a man might be able to do and he only had one block and tackle and one come-along and a few sling straps so he dared not break anything.

She was sleeping one morning when she was awakened by a sound that she'd never heard in her life. It was a whine which rose and fell a few times and then it stopped. She was about to close her eyes again when it began all over again, and this time it was followed by a deep clattering rumble. She ran back to find him standing watching some machinery as it made that sound which Bess found vaguely unsettling.

"Claytan!" she shouted, "What are you trying to do? Why must you vex a girl when she tryin' ta sleep? I almost hit me head on the ceiling, just now."

He didn't turn his head. He only stood with no shirt on from the early morning's work. He looked at the machinery and smiled, "Over one thousand horsepower."

While she gaped at it, trying to comprehend, he shut it off, turned and then his jaw fell, "Oh, Bess."

She looked down and realized that she was naked. Her first thought was to disappear, but then she almost shrugged. What was there to hide anyway? What was it that she had which needed to be hidden away?

There was only Clayton here and she liked him a lot. She looked at the distance between them and saw nothing which might do more to her than perhaps get the soles of her feet a little dirtier, so she just walked to him a little slowly.

"I like what I see in your eyes, you know," she smiled, "It say that I still have at least a little in the way of charms. Do you think that it might be enough to get you to come to my bed for a little while?"

He was about to reply when her eyes widened and she shouted, "Your horse!"

They ran to the door, hearing the frightened nickering and whinnies which sounded more like screams as his mare tried to pull against her tether to get away from the trio of demons who were trying to corner her. Clayton was out of the door before she could stop him and she ran after him, fearful of losing far more than the horse.

The sounds that she heard from Clayton when he confronted them were like nothing that she'd ever heard before and she stared as she saw what the bare top half of him looked like now. The smooth skin of the man that she'd felt so attracted to was gone, replaced by ridges of gray musculature and Christ in Heaven; he had a pair of leathery wings. The three newcomers reeled from the harmless-looking little spheres which he threw from his hands and one of them fell over in his attempts to get away.

It seemed a little surreal to Bess, but he looked more like the demons than he'd ever looked a man. One of the monsters backed away a little to try and come at Clayton from the rear, and he howled in pain as Bess hit him with a piece of four by four that she picked up and swung like a club at his head. The sound alerted Clayton and the soft little round glow that seemed to float over hissed and sizzled once it had touched the demon's flesh. While he wailed and bellowed in agony, the little ball moved through him, carving a painful path to his heart.

It was over in another minute, three demons lying dead while Bess looked at his back as he stood looking down at what he'd done. She saw a little blood glistening in the sunlight where it lit his shoulder. His breath threw clouds of fog in front of him as his chest heaved.

She stood waiting, knowing at last what she'd gotten only glimpses of when she'd looked at him. She'd seen something, but nothing had prepared her for this.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly as soon as he had the breath for it, "I didn't want you to see this."

Bess thought about it quickly. She decided that there was more to a friendship than appearances and she found that she still liked him. She tried to steel herself, wondering how much demon there was in him like this and knowing that when he turned, she'd better be prepared to at least appear not to mind the way that he'd look then -- whatever it was.

She had no idea. She'd seen demons before and they'd never bothered her, since she'd just disappeared before she was noticed every time. What she'd seen in terms of their faces had always repulsed her a little.

She walked to the very nervous and still somewhat frightened mare and began to try to calm her as best she could, "There is nothing to be sorry about, Claytan. You did as you had to do. I knew there was something about you which you wanted hidden."

She stroked the horse's head and jaw, reaching to draw her fingers over the skin near to her ears without tickling. "The question which I see before us," she crooned as though she was saying it to the horse, "is that you have now seen me as I am, with none of the clothing which I can show myself wearing."

With her patois, it sounded as though she'd said 'weering' and he liked that.

"You looked to be interested in me then," she said, "Now I have a chance to see you as you really are and I find that I want it so much.

Will you let me see it Claytan, or will you hide yourself away from me forever?"

"I can't imagine why you'd want to see me like this," he said, "This is what has frightened people away from me all of my life. This is what I keep hidden away or I'd never have the chance to speak to anyone."

"You feel that it is what cost you a love long ago?" She asked softly, "If so, then you're wrong, I think. You may look different like this, yett I find that I still like you. But I see that my friend Claytan feels shame which is not his to bear, the way that I see it."

She walked toward him slowly, "There is a sad fact, Claytan and it is a truth which I was taught a long time ago. People -- that is, human people, are often quite stupid -- or they can be. You know quite a lot of human history, Claytan, so you know how they can be to anyone who looks different.

I was a little fortunate in that I was usually in a position where I could ignore it, but even so, I was in a place where the color of my skin would only allow me to go so far. I would go to buy powder for my guns or rope and canvas for my rigging and if it was a place where I had never been before, the man would speak to my ship`s mate, Willem, before he would ever speak to me. If I went alone, he would ask me for the name of my master, thinking that I was a half-breed slave.

I`d want to kill him over it, but what would that do for me?

So please, Claytan, let me see you."

He was still looking down, "My father was human, a man who fell in love with a female demon." He turned his head a bit and in doing that, she was able to see at least a little of his profile. The flesh of his face appeared to be stretched over the underlying bones a little and his lower jaw was just a little pointed, but she knew that she was looking at someone who was not all human and to her mind that required her to be careful not to judge him by human standards.

He was very different in this way, and the longer she looked, the more that she could find features which she liked in a rather inexplicable way until she thought of Pok and had her answer.

But for certain, she was not repulsed at all.

"And that is how it would be said," he went on, "a man who was in love with a female demon. Anyone who saw her only saw a woman. I'd have thought that demons are close enough to humans that the females would merit at least the same word. A demon woman loved a human man. I am the result. My family was the only one like that on the island, so we hid it -- or tried to. By the time that we were driven off the island, my father was already insane -- a family thing, we were told.

I loved a girl, and she saw me like this while I was asleep," he shrugged, "She was disgusted and worse, I could see it in her face when she thought about how often we'd slept together. She wouldn't listen to a thing that I said. She only grew more frightened."

Bess stepped over and she put her hand on his shoulder, "I see nothing which disgusts me. I like you and," she chuckled, "I never see wings like this before. Pok have wings, but not this large. So you can fly?"

He nodded, still not looking at her directly, "I don't do it very often, but I can."

"I like your horns," she smiled and he heard it in her voice and it confused him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Think about it," she said as she stepped up to where her hand could reach for his face, though she didn't do it just yet, "Imagine that there were angels here right now. I'm not saying that you're bad or that you're good in that way, but imagine it. Who do you think would look better to a girl like me?

Whatever was wrong with that girl you knew, I can't say, Claytan, but I know what me like, and it not harp music, you know."

It made him smile a little and he turned his head fully then and she touched his cheek. "You look different, but there's not a thing wrong to me."

He looked past Bess and he saw where the demon that she'd hit had fallen and what was left of his body from the little orb. "You hit that one pretty hard. I think I was more surprised than he was, though he felt the pain."

She smiled as she tried to adopt a serious air with her hand on her hip, "That was only my first swing that him feel. Him knock half me clean laundry offa the line and it land in the dirt for me to wash again. That worth him life!"

They laughed about it and after a few moments, Clayton began to get the horse saddled. Bess asked and he turned to her, "Not three minutes ago, you as much as told me that you have no real clothing. You said that what I might see on you is nothing more than something that you place there to make it look as though you're clothed. We're not going to do a thing more today until you have something on you to keep you a little warm. I have a little gold to spare for this."

He shook his head, "What the hell do you do in the winter?"

"I stay in the building," she said, "and it not really cold here in winter." She pointed eastward. "Over the mountains, that is where the winter get cold."

He handed her the horse's reins then and walked away, returning in a minute with a heavy sweater, a pair of loose pants which had a drawstring waist and a heavy cloak. After Bess put the articles on, Clayton set her onto the horse and he climbed up carefully to sit in front of her.

"Where now?" Bess asked and he only said, "Town. We might be back in time for supper if we hurry."

Bess reached around his waist and pulled herself against him, "Whatever you say, Claytan," she smiled, her cheek against his back," I'll do as you say that I must."

She wasn't quite as threadbare as she'd said. Bess had one sweater of her own which she wore as clothing on the coldest days and she stayed inside. But with these things on her, Bess felt warmer almost right away and she was thankful.

"Must we really go to town?" she asked "I feel guilty that you'd spend your money on me. Why?"

"Because as lovely as you are to me," he smiled over his shoulder, "I think that you ought to have some proper clothing and you said that you wanted to be with me. I won't feel good now, knowing that what you wear does nothing to keep you warm."

"Will you change back before we get there?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "Why?"

"Because you are bleeding a little from your shoulder. Keep going and I 'll see what I can do to mend you."

"There might be a clean rag or two in the saddlebags," he suggested as he began to reach for the injured spot. She slapped his hand lightly, admonishing him a little that he'd only get it infected. "You know there are rags in them?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I don't really know what's in them. I've never really had a good look. I just put what I need in them and when I unpack, I've found a few little things that I didn't know were in there. I always just put what I find back in. The bags came with the saddle," he said with a shrug," The saddle came with the horse."

Bess looked down on either side of her. Where she was, the saddlebags were a bit of a backwards stretch, but she managed it twice to feel for things in the bags. She felt something which might have been a book in the bottom of one and she ignored it for the moment. She found the rags and after a bit of close examination to ascertain just how clean they might be, she was satisfied and jammed them between Clayton's lower back and her own belly for the moment to keep them there.

She went for the book and sat with her jaw open at what she held.

"Claytan," she said, "There is a bible here."

"What?" he asked, "You mean like the Holy Bible?"

"Ay-yah" she sighed with a bit of comfort and great satisfaction, "If it not important to you, may I please have it for my own?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "I didn't know it was there or I'd have taken it out. I need the room more than I need the weight of it and the space it takes up."

He heard her gentle laughter over his shoulder, "Then if you don't want to carry it in there anymore I must find meself a pack for my back for I will carry it with me always."

"Well you're very welcome to it if it provides you comfort," he said.

"It do more than give comfort, Claytan," she smiled as she leaned forward and kissed his rough gray skin, "It depend on the person. To most Christians, it a holy book. It that for me as well, but in me hands, if I can remember to do as I was taught by old Winifred, you have given me a mighty sword, you know

You just guide the mare and forget about me for a little while. I must look for what I can do for that wound."

Well it might have been possible to forget that Bess was there -- if she'd sat still, but she began to chant a little and in doing that, she moved a little to her own rhythm and suddenly, Clayton felt a little warm water on his shoulder, soothing the slight pain that he felt from his torn skin. It was followed by a gentle breeze which Bess sent from her mouth to dry it and by the time that she was done several minutes later, there was nothing to be seen on him in terms of injury.

"You'd best change yourself back soon, Claytan," she said quietly, "I feel people not far off."

He looked at his shoulder, "How in the world did you do this, Bess? I can't see that anything happened here at all."

"I told you, Claytan," She smiled, "I am a witch. It part of what I know. This part ya call conjure, or you might know of it as hoodoo. In the hand of one who know, this," she said gesturing with the book, "this is a talisman all by itself. With it open to the Book of Psalms, I can cast all sorta things if we have need. I just need to remember more. I must get to where I can recite with only the right page open and me fingers on the words."

He tried to take it all in and understand and he couldn't, really. But that didn't matter to Clayton. Bess said it was important and so it must be. "Why did you make it sound so, ... as though doing that would be a great task or something?"

She sighed a little sadly, "Because there was no school for me, Claytan. When I was a girl, there was no school for the children of Maroons." She set her jaw in a bit of determination, "I learn at the knee of my mother and old Winifred, my grandmother. It 'as been a long time since then, but your hurt is mended, and so I can still conjure. Now I must set my mind to remember and practice reading again."

"So you know voodoo then? "he asked.

"That not what I said," she grinned, "I said hoodoo and it not the same thing at all, but I know of that too."

At the small settlement there, Bess earned her share of looks when they walked in, with her feeling a little like a girl stuck in an accordion, since Clayton's clothing was far too large for her. She insisted on clothing which was made more for working and even so, when she walked out wearing what fit her, she drew very different looks now.

"It's my hair and my eyes," she said with a bit of a helpless shrug, "They tell only one story, but my features tell another and my color tell a third. I can't help it."

"I know the story," Clayton smiled, "You look awesome."

"Awesome?" she asked, "What it mean Claytan, that I frighten people here?"

"No," he grinned, "that you're a beauty."

Bess had always known that her appearance was a little striking for all of her life. She'd never really considered herself to be a beauty, so Clayton's words elicited a response from her that was just as unusual. For perhaps the first time in her life, Bess had no retort to it.

"Why do you look so shocked now?" Clayton asked, "Have I said something wrong?"

"No," Bess smiled shyly, "Until now, the only ones who ever said that were my mother and my father and a girl can't take that to mean anything. When Alexander said it, I took it to mean that he wanted me for his pleasure."

"If those were the only times that he said it, Bess, then I think you must be right -- and I think that he must have been a fool."

She chuckled a little as they walked and she looked up, "I think he was, in many ways."

He took her to an eatery where they ate a fine seafood dinner before they rode back, arriving well after dark and wondering about the flames which they saw as they drew near. Pok had returned in the meantime and finding the carnage, she'd just dragged the bodies into a heap and lit them up to burn them.

Bess introduced Pok and it was a bit of a strange meeting until Bess finally figured it out. This was the first time that Pok had seen Clayton as he really was and in his natural form.

Before she said what had come to her mind, the two stood looking at each other as though they were each looking to find similarities between them. There were similarities, to be sure, but they weren't seeing them at first. It was like a dog looking at a cat.

Pok was a demon of which the holy books of many faiths spoke. To Bess' mind as she explained it, Pok was one of the many sorts of demon which were 'native' here and lived on a lower plane. Clayton, along with the others which were now so prevalent here were 'newcomers' from another place and plane entirely.

They shared a few traits, physically, but they were different creatures. There were long moments where the two stared at each other, but they found enough commonality to try to get to know each other eventually. ---------------------

Helping out Pok

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The cabin on board the boat was a little crowded that night, and guessing what might happen, Pok said that she wanted to find another place to sleep. Bess asked her about it privately and Pok shook her head, saying that she wanted Bess and Clayton to become closer. To her, it was what was needed, and it gave her an incentive to look for someone herself.

Bess wasn't sure that it would happen, but Pok indicated that she was certain that it would. They needed time together and some privacy, that was all, and with that, Pok moved to another bunk in what had been the radioman's nook.