A Pirate's Revenge (Legends of the Soaring Phoenix) (7 page)

“No,” he whispered.

Doc lifted the back of William’s sticky shirt. “Da blood is seepin’ through da bandages. How much further?”

“’Tis only a half mile more,” Mariah said.

“I can make it.” 

Kane draped William’s arm over his shoulder. “We’ll carry you.”

Ignoring the pain, William struggled to stand. “I said I can make it.”

William swayed, and Kane steadied him.

Mariah lifted an eyebrow. He clamped his jaw shut, daring to her say anything.

William didn’t resist Kane and Doc’s help. His brother would likely throw him over his shoulder and carry him if he did. Instead, he put an arm around each of them, then hissed. Sharp pain from his shoulder nearly paralyzed him. His vision blurred, and his eyes fluttered shut. He struggled to not pass out. 

Mariah led the away again, but they moved at a slower pace. The rocky trail turned to a smooth path of dirt and pine needles. The throbbing in his back lessened. Sweat drenched his body and dripped into his eyes, blurring his vision. Bloody hell, he should jump into the rumbling stream to wash his stench and jar his senses.

“Capt’n, he’s about to pass out,” Doc said.

“Aye,” Kane grumbled.

“I’m fine,” William said, but he stumbled. 

“He needs medicine,” Mariah said. “
Grand-mère
can help him. We are almost there.”

The sun swirled around him, her voice drifted away, and he leaned his head back. A dog barked.

“Solstice, no,” Mariah scolded. “Down girl.
Oui
, I know you were worried.”

The dog barked again.

“These are the men from the
Soaring Phoenix
,” she said to the dog. “And they will help us get Lark back.”

“You…are talking…to her like you…can understand her,” William panted.

Mariah sighed heavily, as if she was tired of being questioned about talking to animals. William blinked. Lord, he was seeing two of her.

“I am talking to her. I hear her as well as I hear you,” Mariah said.

William frowned. His heart thumped blood between his temples. Sweat drenched him and dizziness tossed him into a spinning whirlpool. The sun, clouds, and trees spun faster and faster and faster. He tried to take control, to stay awake.
She thinks she can talk to animals?
She was way too daft to believe that she or her brother could take on Coaybay. Zuto would have her in chains soon and force her to do his bidding. William wouldn’t let that happen. He’d find a way to make her stay safe.

“You can’t defeat Zuto, Mariah,” he muttered. “He’s too powerful, and you’re too witless.”

He closed his eyes and passed out.

William awoke to a wet cloth upon his forehead, and he inhaled fresh sage and lavender. The memory of a dream whisked over him. He’d been arguing with someone. The voice had been familiar, but he could not place it, and he could not see the speaker’s face. This person wanted him to take Hannah and her father to Zuto. Was desperate for him to. Was this all part of the damn dragon spell? He didn’t want to dwell on the nightmare. Taking another deep breath, he opened his eyes.

Mariah gazed down at him. “
Bonjour
.”

He glanced around the room. Through white lacy curtains hanging over a window, the sun sank behind purple mountains. Bloody hell, tonight there was another full moon, and he’d turn into a damned beast again. “What happened?”

“You lost too much blood, but
Grand-mère
put some salve on your back and stopped the bleeding. At least, she
is not witless.”

William glared. “She doesn’t have it in her head to take on a demon either.”

She stopped mopping his face. “She says I am powerful enough.”

“Then you’re both playing with Pandora’s box. Nothing good can come out of it but foolishness.”

“No, we are not.” She wrung out the rag into a basin and tilted her head. “Your brother is pacing in the other room. Can you walk?”

He pushed himself off the bed and put his feet on the floor. At a yelp, he jerked his feet up. A white spaniel with russet spots jumped off the rug and growled.

“Solstice,” Mariah said. “He did not mean to step on your tail.
Sois bonne.”
She patted William’s leg. “See, he is a friend.”

The spaniel returned to the rug. She laid her head back down and wagged her tail.

William tried to ignore the stirrings in his groin from Mariah’s touch. “This is the dog you think you can talk to?”

“
Oui
,
je suis désolé.
She is protective. My familiar. And I am not imagining it.”

“You are if you think you can talk to animals.” 

“Solstice aids me with my magic. She has the ability to keep dark magic at bay.”

“Just what I need.”

Solstice snarled and barked.

The dog’s howling spiked the pounding headache between his temples, and he winced. 

William swiped at his hair hanging in his face. The movement pulled on his fresh bandages, and the constant throbbing in his back had stopped. Now, if he could get rid of his damn headache… “I don’t understand. The pain…”

“Is gone,” Mariah said. “
Oui
, I know.
Grand-mère
used a herbal salve to numb the pain, but she said that your dragon strength aided in your recovery.”

“Grand,” he murmured. “She’s powerful?”

“
Oui.
”

“Can she cure me from turning into a dragon?”

“
Je ne sais pas
.”

“So, she can cure human ailments but is powerless to heal magical ones?”

The oak door creaked open. An elderly woman with long white hair shuffled into the room. Her bony knuckles were white from her grip upon a gnarled cane, and when she moved, the gold bangles on her wrist clanged against each other.

“So, you are awake,” she said.  She had the same violet eyes as Mariah, only tired and glossy.

Solstice rolled off the floor and nuzzled against the woman’s leg. The woman scratched the dog’s ear. 

“
Grand-mère
,” Mariah cried. She rushed over to her grandmother and wrapped her arms around the old woman’s slim shoulders. “You look so tired.”

“Of course, I am tired. I am dying,
chérie
.”

Solstice whined and nudged the woman’s hand.

William frowned, and his stomach shifted with unease. Could the dog understand the old woman too? He didn’t like this, not one bit.

Mariah wrapped her arm around the woman’s waist as if to steady her. “No, you are not,” she insisted.

“You are lying to yourself,
ma petite chou
. I can walk myself. I am not dead yet.”

Mariah dropped her arm and bit her lip. “
Oui, Grand-mère
.”

The old woman shuffled over to a wooden chair beside the bed and sat. She gasped and clasped the cane with both hands. Her shawl fell down her shoulders, and her gauzy blue dress hung off her frail body. William swore that a banshee had to be on her way to escort the old woman to the other side.

She shook a skeletal finger at him. “Do not look at me that way
garçon
. You are as bad as
ma petite-fille
.
Je suis
Morgana Fey.”

William tensed. “So, I have you to thank for healing me?”

“
Oui
,” Morgana said. “Feeling better?”

“Aye. Mariah says you had something you wanted to give me.”

“If you are well enough to hear the truth.”

“The truth?” More tales about magic, things about dragons, about him, that he didn’t want to know and would corrode his insides. 

“Venez avec moi.”
She pointed her crooked cane at William and then at the hallway. “Your brother and his men are waiting. ’Tis important we are all together.” She labored to stand, wheezed, and shuffled toward the door.

William rushed to her side. “Let me—”

She pushed his hand off her arm. “I can walk.” 

William and Mariah glanced at each other. He shrugged and followed Morgana out of the bedroom. She hobbled down a narrow hallway into a large kitchen. Cast iron pots and pans hung from hooks next to an unlit fireplace. At least ’twasn’t a cauldron boiling with human remains.

’Twas a normal kitchen. White dishes with painted roses lined a wooden china cabinet. A large rectangle table had six matching chairs around it.  The cozy kitchen reminded him of his mother’s back in Ireland and how she used to love to bake bread and sing. But that was before the Irish Confederate War. Before Palmer had killed William’s mother. Before he and Kane were forced to become pirates to survive.

Morgana headed toward a large round door and opened it to a darkened room. Candle light flickered upon the walls. Dread seeped into William’s bones.

Morgana gestured. “Do not be afraid. Go inside.”

“I’m not afraid, madam.” William stormed past her and hoped, he wouldn’t see human skulls, ritualistic signs, or some other ghastly thing that witches used to worship the Devil.

He was surprised by the scent of pine, mint, periwinkle, rosemary, and coriander. But his trepidation quickly magnified when he spied the painted circles around a five-pointed star on the brick wall. On the opposite wall, an enormous wooden bookshelf filled with books stretched from the floor to the ceiling. On another wall, built-in shelves contained jars, bottles, and candles. A fireplace flickered, and this hearth held a boiling pot. 

Kane and Ronan sat at a round table. With them was a man with bushy white eyebrows, a matching beard, and hostile blue eyes. Another five-pointed star had been carved into the table’s wood grain.

William sat next to Kane. Kane nodded and smiled. He squeezed William’s forearm.  “Glad you came back to the living.”

William would have given him a smile, but he was too busy watching Ronan. Ronan’s gaze followed Mariah as if she were the most beautiful lass in the world.

William tried to ignore the burning anger rising within him. Why should he care if Ronan wanted the wench? Ronan had survived the tortures aboard the
Fiery Damsel
thinking of Mariah. William should step aside. Besides, she was a witch, and by the looks of things, could easily be in league with Zuto.

Mariah sat next to William, and he couldn’t help but feel a glint of satisfaction at Ronan’s obvious disappointment.  Morgana sat next to the old man and patted his arm.

“
Bonjour, Grand-père
,” Mariah said.

A grin spread across the old man’s face. “
Chérie
.”

Solstice trotted inside and curled up in the corner on a rug

“So, Morgana,” Kane said, “Tell us why we are here and why I had to send my first mate and ship’s surgeon back to the
Phoenix
.”

“’Tis not their story.” She pointed to each of them. “Not yet. They will have parts to play, but this is William’s and Mariah’s tale. Your men’s comes later. You are all intertwined and are about to find out why. A new adversary is coming. Do not worry,
garçons.
This room is fortified from evil.” 

William snorted. “You can’t keep a demon out of a room just like you can’t predict anything.” 

“I can see into the future, and I know what you are,” she said. “You are a dragon.” 

“Can you cure me?” His voice filled with eagerness, and he held his breath, hoping she would say the word he wanted to hear.

Her eyes softened. “No.”

He hung his head and exhaled bitter disappointment.

“I have something that will help you tame the wild beast.” She patted the old man’s hand. “Jonas, bring me my bag.”

The old man scraped his chair away from the table, rose, and grabbed a black velvet bag off a shelf. He handed it to Morgana. She reached inside, pulled out a red velvet cloth, and unwrapped it, revealing a gold chain with a jade pendant. She handed the necklace to William. “I have personally charged this stone, and it will aid you in learning how to control your other self.”

He took the necklace. “Charged? My other self?”

“
Oui
, you are now two and can never be parted. You are a shifter now and must learn to control your beast. My magic shall help you.”

He examined the stone, brushing his thumb over its smoothness, waiting for it to do something evil.  Chills trickled up his arm, and he shuddered. “More magic?”

“Not all magic is black,
gamin
. You are caught in a magical web and scoffing at it shall be the death of you.”