Boyett-Compo Charlotte - Wind Tales 01 (44 page)

this man that met the eye.

“I've children to support though I'm not married to a single one of their mothers,” he answered bluntly.

“'Tis a good living and pays well. I just try not to think long on what it is I'm carrying by way of cargo."

Gilly leaned forward across the table. “What will they do to the prisoner that escaped Tyber's Isle,

Captain Mallory? Will they hang him?"

The captain shook his head. “They don't execute prisoners who get sent to that demonic place. The

Tribunal wants them to suffer every day of their lives. Death is too kind a punishment."

“Tell me,” she asked, needing to know though not knowing why.

Captain Mallory looked at her a long moment, gauging her ability to assimilate the information he knew

he shouldn't impart. At last, seeing the concern in her eyes, he shrugged and answered her.

“They crucify them, lass.” He held up his hands, palms toward her. “Nail their hands to a crosspiece of

wood and leave them there in the blistering sun until the Commandant is satisfied they won't try to escape

ever again."

Gilly felt a tremor go down her body at the thought of something so inhumane happening. “And has that

deterred anyone from doing it again?"

Captain shook his head. “I don't know, lass, but it would sure as hell deter me!"

[Back to Table of Contents]

Kaelan felt the hands on him and opened his eyes. He didn't know the tall man bending over him. There

was something very bizarre in the way the man's dark eyes were assessing him. “Where am I?” he

managed to croak.

The tall man didn't answer. His cool hands continued to roam over Kaelan's naked chest, down his hip

and onto his left thigh.

“Don't,” Kaelan protested, feeling uneasy at the intimate way those long fingers stroked his bare flesh.

“Lie still,” the tall man ordered.

Nausea rose up in Kaelan's throat as the tall man slipped both of his hands around the top of Kaelan's

crippled leg and began to deeply kneed the muscle all the way down to his knee, then back up again, the

backs of the man's right hand grazing Kaelan's testicles.

“DON'T!” Kaelan shrieked, trying to pull away. He became aware for the first time that his wrists and

ankles were tied to the bunk on which he lay. Panic sent his heart into spasms of terror and he opened his

mouth to scream out when a hand was slapped firmly across his mouth.

“Be quiet!” the tall man snapped.

Kaelan squirmed beneath the constriction over his mouth. He stared wide-eyed up at his tormentor, bile

flooding his mouth.

“Do you wish to go through your entire life crippled, Hesar?” the man hissed at him, bending down to

put his thin face close to Kaelan's. “If so, I will let you do it!” His hold relaxed enough to allow Kaelan to

pull his face free of the man's grip.

“Don't put your hands on me again!” the young prince snarled, his lips skinned back from his teeth.

“How am I to heal you otherwise, fool?” Occultus grated.

“Touch me again and I will...."

“What?” Occultus sneered. He reached up to tug at the rag which confined Kaelan's left wrist. “What

will you do? What can you do? Curse at me? Go ahead!"

“Don't you touch me again!” Kaelan repeated, fury blazing.

“I am trying to help you!” Occultus spat.

“Aye, I've heard of your kind of help, priest!” Kaelan threw at him. He pulled against his constraints.

“Untie me!"

With deliberate intent, Occultus slid his hand from the rag he had been gripping, down the length of

Kaelan's arm, down his side, his hip, then across the young man's belly where he spread his long fingers

and wrapped them around a portion of Kaelan's anatomy that made the young man yelp with indignation.

“I can,” Occultus said, putting his lips to Kaelan's ear, “do whatever I wish to you, Hesar.” His fingers

tightened and began to kneed.

“Oh, god!” Kaelan gasped, choking on the bile in his mouth. He tore his face away from Occultus’ and

gagged. The thought of this pervert molesting him filled him with pure terror.

“If that were my intent,” Occultus said in a gentle voice, “I would have done it as you lay unconscious, as

is the bent of most of the Brotherhood."

At the mention of that devilish sect, Kaelan's face snapped back around and he stared up with total

shock at the tall man whose hand had heresy, but it was the Brotherhood who ordered that arrest.

Pure fear drove right through Kaelan. “Why?” he asked.

“Because there are those who, although they do not know why they should fear you, do,” Occultus

answered.

“Me?” Kaelan asked. “Why should they fear me?"

“Because you have been blessed by the gods, Kaelan Hesar."

Kaelan flinched as the man leaned over him, not sure of what this stranger would do next. When he felt

the cool fingers on his wrists, untying him, he relaxed as much as he could.

“I was trying to mend the bones in your thigh, Kaelan,” Occultus said when he untied the other wrist,

“though I would not mind tasting the pleasures I am sure you could give me."

Kaelan blushed to the tips of his toes.

Occultus moved to the foot of the bunk and untied Kaelan's ankles. “If you would like me to..."

“No!” Kaelan barked, trying to push himself up on the cot, but too weak to do so.

A rare, thoroughly pleased smiled fell over Occultus’ thin lips. “...mend your thigh, I will be happy to

finish what I started.” He cocked a thick black brow. “What else would you like me to do, then?"

Kaelan did not miss the amusement in the other man's voice. He had heard tales of the powers these

men could wield and he knew it was not outside the realm of possibility that a High Priest of the

Brotherhood of the Domination could heal his crippled leg.

“What's it to be?” Occultus said, placing his long, thin hands on the footboard of the bunk. “Do I heal

you or do you remain in agony every time the weather changes?"

The thought of the man's hands near so private a portion of his body still brought uneasiness to Kaelan's

stomach, but he didn't dare let his pride and modesty stand in the way of being made whole for Gilly

once more.

“For Gilly,” Occultus answered. “A most brave and resourceful woman, your wife."

Fear of a new kind stung Kaelan and he struggled up in the bed, barely wincing at the pain in his left

thigh. “Where is she?” he asked, his eyes pleading for good news.

“On her way here,” Occultus answered.

Kaelan looked around the cabin. “Where is here?"

“Oh, you are on the Revenant, Lord Cree's ship,” Occultus replied, “but we are at anchor in Montyne

Cay, awaiting your lady-wife's arrival."

“Montyne Cay?” Kaelan gasped. “How the gods-be-damned hell did I get to Montyne Cay?” The tall

man's words registered. “Lord Cree's ship?"

“It's a long story,” Occultus laughed. He pointed to Kaelan's thigh. “Shall I continue?” The man's thin lips

twitched. “For Gilly?"

* * * *

“SAIL HO!"

Nick turned away from helping Thècion thoroughly tromp Diarmuid and Traer at whist and looked up at

the crow's nest. “WHERE AWAY?” he called back.

Tyler Dixon leaned over the rim of the crow's nest. “THIRTY DEGREES OFF TO STARBOARD,

CAP'N!"

“She's a prison transport,” Lumley Tarnes snapped, coming to his feet. He might be a might long in the

tooth, but there was nothing wrong with his eyesight.

“How the blazes can you tell?” Taylor Dixon, the new boatswain of the Revenant, queried.

“Know the Captain,” Lumley informed him. “Know the ship."

Nick swung his head toward the elderly man he had made his first mate. “Friend or enemy?"

Lumley took off his hat and scratched his balding pate. “Reckon both.” He slapped the cap back on his

head snugly, tugged the brim down and turned his head to spit a stream of tobacco juice over rail. “Took

a woman away from him once. Don't know why he'd be this far south, though."

“Coming after us,” Riordan A'Lex breathed.

“Don't figure,” Lumley disagreed.

“Then why's she here?” Nick demanded.

“Don't know,” Lumley answered. “Could have been a mutiny, though that don't seem likely with

Mallory. He's a toughun, he is.” The old tar shook his head. “Don't make no sense to me. Tribunal ships

know better than to sail into this harbor."

“Unless?” Thècion stood up, laid his cards down on the barrel top that had served as a table for the four

of them.

“Unless what?” Diarmuid snapped.

“He's here to bring Kaelan's lady to him,” Thècion answered.

“I don't think my sister would hitch a ride on a prison ship full of men,” Nick scoffed.

“Put nothing past a woman who's after being reunited with her man, Cap'n,” Lumley chuckled. “And I'm

thinking that especially true of your little sister!"

“We'll ready the guns anyway,” Nick said. He looked to the six fifty pound cannons lined up on the bluff

overlooking the harbor. There was more than ample shot to blow any ship to sawdust.

“Send a signal, Taylor, then gather us up a bordering party."

“Aye, Cap'n!"

Occultus had come on deck and was standing at the rail, watching the advancing sails of the Serenian

Star. For a long moment, he stared at the ship, his insides boiling with rage and hurt and abject despair.

He was having trouble breathing and reached up to push at the air, as though he were trying to push

away a lid that had been placed over his face, shutting out the oxygen. He snatched his hands back,

groaning despite his best effort not to. He looked down into his palms, seeing them blistered and raw,

oozing. Another groan rippled through him and he stumbled, twisting against a great agony which ripped

down his back.

“Your Worship, are you all right?” Jess Patrick put out a hand to steady the priest.

“Do not touch me!” Occultus whimpered, moving away.

Patrick jumped back. He turned to look at Nick, shaking his head at the priest's odd behavior.

Nick and the others watched as Occultus stumbled back from the rail and made his way unsteadily to

the hatchway, still refusing help from those who offered.

“What's wrong with him?” Diarmuid inquired.

Raine Jale, who'd had more truck with sorcerers and magi than the rest of them put together, turned his

attention out to sea. “He was sensing something evil from the ship,” he answered. “Something yet to

come, I think."

Nick followed Jale's gaze and thought the man might be right. He, too, felt a weird electricity in the air,

shimmering around the ship.

“There's a man on board that ship,” the men heard Occultus call from the hatchway where he had

paused, holding onto the wood. “I want you to free him.” He risked another glance at the ship, then

quickly away. “Get them all off that hellspawned ship, but bring that man to me! One of his will be very

precious to the McGregor family!"

Thècion nodded as though he understood perfectly. He put a hand on Nick's arm. “I've a mind to go

aspirating with you, Nicky.” He grinned. “In the name of the McGregor family."

Nick shook his head adamantly. “Oh, no, you don't!” he protested. “We'll get that ransom we're gonna

ask from your father, then you can go get D'Lyn; but I'm not going to put my neck through a Serenian

noose so you can ease your boredom!"

“'Tis not boredom,” Diarmuid disagreed. “'Tis high adventure we're after, Cree!"

“You can get your bloody adventure elsewhere, Brell!” Nick suggested.

“If I go get D'Lyn,” Thècion reminded his new friend, “I can't go home again."

“And I've no real desire to,” Diarmuid put in. “The crown belongs to Sean and I've no itch to wear it.”

He looked out over the waves. “But I do have a mind to fleece the Diabolusians and try my hand at

pirating!"

“No!” Nick stated firmly. But one look at the two young noblemen and he knew they would pay him no

heed.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Gilly held the lantern as high as the low ceiling would allow. The stench below decks grew stronger the

closer she got to the brig. Now and again, she had to stop and readjust the handkerchief she had

plastered over her nose. Even her eyes were watering from the horrible smell coming from the prisoner's

cells.

The crew was on deck, readying their arrival in the harbor at Montyne Cay. No one had noticed her

when she left the captain's cabin, the first time since being ensconced there as Mallory's ‘prisoner'. Since

the Serenian Star and her crew were so close to their destination, the captain had seen no reason to keep

such a close watch on his stowaway.

“Just behave yourself, lass,” he had admonished before going on deck. “And stay put!"

The plight of the prisoners had been weighing on Gilly for days now. She knew the men weren't being

mistreated, but neither were they being seen to with all that much care. Jeremy had told her that he

helped take food down to the caged men once a day and that they were, for the most part, healthy and

as comfortable as leg irons and manacles could make them. But suffering was something Gilly had long

taken to heart and she knew, there but by the grace of the gods, might Kaelan be.

“You can help, Gillian,” the voice had whispered to her. “You must help."

Making up her mind to set the men free, she had taken the lantern and made her way down the

companionway to the hatch leading down to the brig. The breeches she had stolen from the jail lent her

the freedom to climb down the ladder and she was of a mind to continue wearing them as often as she