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ALL THE NEXT DAY ANNA wandered the ship alone. Hawk trailed her occasionally, but his brother’s eyes trailed him. She assumed Airmed told him not to converse with her. A strange set up as Geraldo had told him to guard her. The conflict made things worse for Anna. Without talking to Hawk, she could get no answers, nor did she have an ally.
After the second day on the ship, Anna woke to the chants of the sailors. Airmed stood over her like a vulture waiting for its prey to die.
“What do you want?” Anna asked.
“Are you ready to talk?”
She squinted at the woman silhouetted by low clouds hovering around the masts. The ship rocked slowly, the main sail had been set, and the fan behind it blew quietly as they glided through misty waters.
“Where are we going?” Anna asked scrambling to her feet. She could no longer see the shore for they had traveled out of the bay.
“To meet your end if you don’t give me some information.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Very well.”
Airmed needed no weapon to frighten Anna. Her magic had been sufficient. Even though Hawk had healed the wound the witch had given her, Anna’s cheek had never stopped burning.
“Come with me,” Airmed ordered. The woman turned and walked away with such an arrogant air to her stride that Anna wanted to throw something at her. The force that the witch used jerked Anna’s feet into motion and no matter how hard Anna fought against following her, her body obeyed Airmed. The woman’s power drew her like a magnet. Anna’s father had used this type of exploitation to control her. She rid herself of his influence by killing him. And now here she was again, exactly as before. Every step she took in the shadow of the witch felt like a spike in the back of her neck. Her steps slowed once they got to a doorway.
Airmed opened it.
“Inside,” she said and stepped back for Anna to go through.
Anna could see nothing except complete darkness in front of her. She took one step and when she took the next, a cold hand pressed against her back, her feet met open space and Anna plummeted a good five feet into darkness, landing on a pile of canvas and netting that cushioned her fall. Anna held her breath and waited until she heard footsteps and the door above her close shutting the light out with it.
Anna struggled to her feet, shaking and breathless.
What does Airmed want with me? She has a vendetta against me obviously but why this?
“She could just kill me,” Anna peered into the darkness, hoping to find something large enough she could stand on to climb back out of the hole. If she could find Hawk, or make it to the Admiral’s cabin, maybe they would keep Airmed away from her. She debated screaming. There were sailors aboard who might hear her and pull her out, but the sorcerers might also come running.
She felt her way around—hands wildly touching crates and boxes. While exploring the dark, Anna found something soft, and a sudden groan came from the object. She jumped back, falling against a row of barrels. Liquid inside the containers splashed and gurgled and emitted a smell of wet oak saturated with wine. She stood.
“Ought to keep your hands to yourself,” someone said.
“Who are you?” she inhaled.
A duet of grunts and groans to the left of her told her there were more than one person besides herself in this rat hole. If only she had a light.
“He’s likely tied up, as am I,” a man said
She inched toward the voices. Her eyes had become accustomed to the dark enough to see two men bound—one of them gagged—lying on the floor.
“Oh!” Anna said and untied his gag. Once the man’s hands were untied, he stumbled to his feet and helped to untie the other captive.
“You, milady, are an angel.”
“Who are you and why are you here?” she asked.
“The name’s Henry, and this is Jules.” Henry untied Jules’ feet and helped him stand.
“What a godsend!” Jules said as he stretched his lanky body.
“How did you come to be a prisoner here?” Anna asked.
“You aren’t one of the sorcerers, are you?” Jules asked.
“No, of course not.”
“Then I could ask you the same question and I think our answers would be comparable,” Henry said. “Although neither Jules nor I are sure of all the details.”
“We were minding our own business, driving wagons for a man named Gingham from Tellwater when a storm came up,” Jules said, rubbing his wrists.
“Never saw any storm like it. Green sky, twisters, lightning, trees falling.” Henry added.
“Where at?” Anna asked, not recollecting a storm.
“It wasn’t happening everywhere, just where we were. In the hills outside of Tellwater.”
“Rain came pouring down on us and the next thing we know, we were in the back of one of our wagons with this,” he pointed to the wine barrels that filled the ship’s belly. “Sitting on a wharf when we woke up. Men in dark cloaks rolling the barrels down the dock. A woman in fancy clothes bossing them around. As soon as they saw us, they tied and gagged us and carried us to the ship, threw us down here, and left.”
“Don’t know what happened to our traveling buddies,” Henry added.
“Scoundrels!” Anna said.
“They’re stealing wine, because here it is. I don’t know how they did it.”
“I do,” she said.
Anna got a good view of Henry when he sat up. An older man, beardless, with a turn-up nose and bags under his eyes. He had a receding hairline with very thin hair that stuck up from his head in all directions. He smelled, too as if his clothes had been soaked in ale.
“Magic,” she explained before he asked. She glanced at the hole she had fallen through and lowered her voice. “I’ve seen them at work. These are sorcerers and alchemists.”
“Never seen a magician conjure up a storm,” Jules said.
“These people are different,” Anna noted.
“That would explain the gear deck,” Jules mumbled brushing his hair aside.
“Tell me about this gear deck,” Anna said.
Jules and Henry shared a glance with each other.
“We don’t really know much about what goes on there, just what we’ve overheard from their talk about a Machine.”
“A machine? You mean the fans that blow air into the sails?”
“Oh no. Something much bigger than those. Has nothing to do with sailing the ship either.” Henry added.
“Explain,” Anna said.
“Haven’t you heard it? Hissing, whining, and the entire ship shakes when they start it up. Maybe they haven’t run it since you’ve been here. Steam leaks through the floorboards with a rancid smell. They were starting it every morning and letting that noisemaker run until noon. Then they shut it down. But it’s been idle for a few days.”
“I’ve heard it and wondered what it was. By the way, we aren’t moored any longer,” Anna said.
“Where are we headed?”
“No idea.”
“Sure hope it’s to port somewhere,” Jules whined.
“They ain’t bringing us to port,” Henry scolded. “They’re just going to forget about us.”
“You think?” Anna asked.
“No reason to believe otherwise. So. We’ve told you our story, tell us yours.” Henry leaned against a crate, and rubbed the rope burns on his wrists.
“My name is Anna.”
“How did you end up here?”
“I was kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped? From where? Why? We figured our abduction was an accident, just something the storm brought in with the wine.”
“I’m not sure why. I live in a village named Kolada and was out horse riding. When I stopped to rest in the countryside, three men appeared out of nowhere, kidnapped me, and brought me here.”
Henry grunted and spat. “Kolada, eh? Funny we would have stopped there with a delivery. No storm, or wine barrels, or anything came with you?”
She laughed at the thought. “No. They knew my name. They wanted me for something else.” She shuddered, thinking about Airmed. “I’m not sure what. Have you met any of these people?”
“No one,” Henry said.
“Not a one’s come down to check on us. Someone tosses hardtack for our meal but Jules and I found a way to tap into these barrels without spilling the load.”
That explains the smell!
“They’re sorcerers up to no good. A woman named Airmed pushed me in this hole. I guess she figures none of us will escape now that we’re out on the open sea. If we can crawl out of here, we could...,” she thought for a moment, not thrilled at the idea of getting wet.
“Swim,” Jules, the tallest of them, said and walked under the skylight, stood on his toes and tapped the trap door.
“I’m not sure that’s wise. Airmed said something about protecting the boat with magic and warned me not to dive into the water.”
The men looked at each other and silence came over them.
“Maybe she was just trying to scare you,” Henry scratched his head, making his hair stand on end even more.
“Maybe.”
“I see only two choices. We either stay here and count on our captors being merciful when we reach land, or we leave the boat,” Henry suggested.
“There’s no other way to leave but to swim,” Jules said but looked down at his feet and shook his head. “I don’t think we want to do that. I’m not a good swimmer.”
“Maybe if we found some kind of float?” Anna said.
“What about the magic? Who knows what sort of spell is out there. After getting carried away on a storm, I’m not so keen on the idea of having another run in with magic.” Jules brushed his hair out of his face.”
They were silent for a moment.
“Buoys float.” Henry said. “I like the idea of a raft.”
“I don’t know,” Jules said.
“What then? You’re happy sitting in this hole?”
Jules looked around and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“I’m not happy sitting in the dark,” Anna said. “I don’t think our chances are any better in here than they are out there.”
“Sorry, Jules, you’re out numbered,” Henry said.
Jules shrugged again.
“There are buoys over here. They could easily be untied or cut apart and we could make a raft out of...,” she looked around.
“A wine barrel?” Henry suggested.
“Excellent idea! We’ll work quietly and wait for night.”