Sirius thought about their conversation the whole way up to the wheelhouse. He thought about the way she moved and smiled and how she always seemed to have an answer to everything. He didn’t realise he was whistling until he almost ran into Neko who remarked in surprise, “You’re in a happy mood?”
Sirius blinked. He’d hardly been paying attention to where he was going and in his surprise he felt and explanation was required. “Uh, yeah. Just glad we’ve almost gotten through all the crates and the pythons are the worst thing we’ve found.”
Neko grinned. “Heh, yeah. Would you believe me if I told you that Crick’s walking around wearing one of them like a scarf?”
Sirius gave a laugh. “No.”
“Well he is, calling it his new best friend. He even named it Steve. He scared the hell outta Billie. Hey, I’m thinking I might practice my snake charming later after dinner if you’re interested.”
“We’ll see, maybe give the other men some warning first though.”
“Yeah yeah.” Neko nodded. “Oh, Crick also wanted to know if you want us to go through the crates we brought on board at Wildwater?”
Sirius shook his head. “No, leave those.”
“We don’t know what’s in em and Griff said they weren’t on the itinerary?”
“I know what’s in them. Leave them alone.”
“Alright,” Neko replied with some hesitation.
His hesitation was understandable. Sirius knew that the itinerary was blank for those crates and he usually liked to make sure that the men knew what they were carrying. He had told them many times that he believed in honesty. But Polly had been adamant that none of the crew should know about the contents of those crates and Sirius was a man of his word. That and the less they knew about this the less risk to all of them. Obviously they had to move them from Polly’s ship to his but Sirius had been hoping that they wouldn’t notice the omission of them on the itinerary. It was only supposed to be a one time thing after all.
But Neko didn’t argue. “What do you want me to tell Crick and the others?”
“Just tell them they’ve already been checked.”
Neko nodded and the two men went their separate ways.
Sirius found Shiv in the wheelhouse, driving the ship with one hand, the other nursing a bottle of whiskey.
“Shiv,” he growled.
Shiv glanced over at him. “I ain’t had much. Pierre had to go take a leak.”
Sirius crossed his arms.
“Hey, it’s not like you been paying as much attention to things lately either,” Shiv retorted.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m talking about your pretty little red-head stowaway.”
“Shiv,” Sirius warned.
“You been barely paying attention. You nearly let Pierre crash the ship at the Corpse Isles because you were too busy looking at her. They’re bad news, woman. Love is nothing but a distraction. At worst it’s an evil that will drown you as quick as a siren’s song.”
Sirius sighed. “It’s not like that Shiv, and even if it was, what was that last night in Wildwater? You were acting like you wanted us to get together.”
Shiv waved a hand. “A) I was drunk and B) I didn’t mean for you to keep her on the ship, I meant bed her and send her home. Get it out of yer system. Have a good night.”
Sirius frowned and in a cool voice he replied, “You should know me better than that by now Shiv.”
“I thought if you won’t do a prostitute then-”
“It’s not about the prostitutes and I did do a prostitute in case you’ve forgotten. It wasn’t enjoyable.”
“It was a shitty prostitute then.”
“Three prostitutes Shiv. I did three. None of them… well the last one, by accident. The last one was by accident. But do you know how it feels Shiv when you think you’ve met a nice girl and then she asks you for money while you’re just… ?” Sirius spread his hands out in emphasis.
“What, and you think this one is any different? What do you think she’s going to do when you give her that pegasus? You think she’s gonna stay on this ship with you? Settle down? Have a nice pretty little family in among all the smuggling? Or you think maybe she’ll stay on shore but you’ll visit her occasionally. Maybe a love in every port?”
Sirius narrowed his eyes.
“Because that’s the best you’ll get. What do you think will happen when a nice land lubber comes along to sweep her off her feet and you’re away at sea? Think she’ll push em all away for a guy she sees once a month or once every two? Or will you go ashore yourself? Back home? Assuming you have one to return to? And what will happen to the crew then huh? What about you? What would you do on land? What can you do? Everything you know is out here.”
“I told you it wasn’t like that,” Sirius replied in a cool voice but with a dark look on his face.
“Oh sure, you may be able to lie to yourself boy but I see right through you. That girl will ruin you and us along with you. You mark my words.” He stepped away from the wheel, leaving it free to spin gently. Sirius grabbed it as Shiv walked out the door.
Sirius sighed and took up steering the ship. Pierre returned and stayed until Sirius sent him off to have his dinner.
He watched as outside, night fell, and the dark swallowed everything apart from the glow from the electric lamps which illuminated the deck and the inside of the wheelhouse. He’d steer early into the morning when Griff and Riki would take over. Shiv would probably be back after dinner although Sirius wasn’t sure he wanted to continue their previous conversation. Shiv had made some good points but he just didn’t want to hear them. How did he think something like that would end? He wasn’t a fool. He knew it couldn’t work. Whatever it was, and yet…
Shiv did return, without the whiskey thankfully, and seemingly more sober than what he had been before. It was doubtful he’d drunk less though. It was probably just the food soaking things up. But Sirius trusted Shiv not to overdo it, not on a night like this. It was even possible he’d just been acting a little more drunk than he was just to get away with talking to his captain like he had been. But Sirius did appreciate the candidness. It was important to know what the crew thought. He was more annoyed that Shiv didn’t seem to trust him to make the right decisions when it came to Amanda. He knew better than to get involved with her. He doubted she was interested in him anyway. Gods, he’d probably acted like a complete fool before. He didn’t want to know what she thought of him now.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Crick tells me we have crates on board that aren’t on the itinerary?”
Sirius glanced at him. “Those are for Polly. His original contact was with the one that drove through the wharf at Wildwater. We’re just taking them as far as Scarlett.”
“That’s not much comfort. The customs at Scarlett are almost as bad the Emerald City, worse even.”
“They won’t do a count.”
“Won’t they?”
“We’ve got our guy remember.”
“Yeah, except we’re a day out. That plan relied on us getting there on time.”
“They’ll just have to adapt.” Sirius kept his eyes ahead on the open sea.
“Mmm, I don’t like it. You gonna tell me what’s in them? Polly’s crates?”
“Nope.”
“Alright then. It better not be what I think it is.” Shiv took a seat by the map table.
“You remind the guys about the earplugs?”
“Yup.”
“Michael too?”
“I thought I’d leave him to his own devices.”
“Shiv!”
“Yes I told him.”
“And Amanda? I forgot to mention it to her earlier.”
“Yeah, her too. They were all talking about sirens at dinner. No one’s as worried as they should be. Except for Michael. I gave him my earplugs, bloody unsanitary if you ask me.”
Sirius spun, nearly losing his grip on the wheel in the process. “You did what?!”
Shiv held up a couple pieces of cloth. “Don’t fret, I got me cloth ear plugs here.”
Sirius frowned at him. “What happened to all those spare ones we have. I thought we had a whole box of them?”
Shiv shrugged. “Dunno, somebody moved it. I’m sure it’ll turn up. Everyone keeps their own on them anyway not that they’re worried. They were all drinking. Well, except for Amanda.”
“She wasn’t?”
“No. Your doing I take? Or the hangover effects from Wildwater?”
“I thought you didn’t want her on this ship.”
“I don’t but that don’t mean I don’t want her in good spirits while she is here. It’s more fun.”
“You’re a man of contradictions Shiv,” Sirius told him.
“I do what I want when the mood strikes. It’s why I’d make a terrible captain.”
“Hmm. Did you manage to find her some ear plugs then?”
“I mentioned the sheets as an option but she’s a woman. She won’t hear them anyway. All the boys were telling her so. She seemed happy enough with that. She knocked off to bed early. Most of em did actually.”
“Most of em partied too much last night,” Sirius replied.
“Mmm,” Shiv agreed. “That’s why I’m taking it easy tonight.”
“What you mean only the bottle of rum?”
Shiv chuckled. “I don’t drink rum. That stuff’s disgusting. Although if Dickie carries on the way he is it’ll be all we have left. I might even have to do a sober night.”
“What a travesty that would be,” Sirius remarked with dry wit.
They bantered into the night.
The air in and around the ship had taken on an almost deathly silence and a strange electric feel. In half an attempt at some sort of redemption in Sirius’s eyes, and perhaps her own as well, Amanda had forgone the bottle of spirits that had been passed around at dinner. It had helped significantly that after last night the idea of another round momentarily made her want to lean back over the ship’s railing and give her lunch back to the sea. What she really wanted was a good night’s sleep, and it seemed like that was the same for most of the crew, except Dickie, who was telling anyone who would listen about the ‘no good whore’ who had snubbed him in Wildwater. Too bad for him, the only ones who would listen were more inclined to make fun of him than to share in his woes.
“It’s your nose Dickie, it’s too stubby. Bet if you got one of those nose jobbies them rich city folks get she’ll take you back in no time,” offered one crewman.
“Yeah, get a long one like Pinocchio, maybe then you’ll be more likely to hit her spot if you know what I mean,” suggested another.
Amanda left the mess as a roar of laughter erupted behind her. As she moved from the welcoming warmth of electric lighting to the more subdued and blue glow of the caterpillars which illuminated the hallway Amanda felt the temperature drop. She wasn’t sure if it was imaginary or just caused by her mind’s interpretation of the light. Sirius had said they were sailing into colder waters though.
Somebody had put some more blankets in her cabin. Tired as she was she was actually looking forward to curling up in them and doing a little reading before sleep. Even though she didn't normally read much apart from spell books and comics she was curious about the book of ghost stories that Sirius had left her. She grabbed the blankets, wrapped herself in them, climbed up on her bunk, opened the first page and began to read:
The Call of the Sea
Finn could hear it calling to him, whispering his name, the voices in the waves. He had always been able to hear them, for as long as he could remember. But as he had gotten older, the voices had gotten louder and now that he was nearly a man he could even make out some of their words.
“Join us,” they cried in somber sadness. The tone made his whole body ache and he longed to walk down the windy path to the beach and walk right in to meet them. But Finn could not swim and something, some other voice in his mind held him back.
“Don’t go Finn,” it said. “Your mother needs you.”
Finn nodded to no one in particular and once more he wound his way up the spiral staircase to where the giant lamp lived. Day and night he tended to its glow, steering ships away from the shore. The hours he slept were few and far between but Finn found he did not need to rest so much these days and so up and down, up and down he haunted the lighthouse.
But still the voices called.
“Come to us Finn.”
“We need you Finn.”
“You belong with us.”
Except for one.
“Don’t go.”
Time and time again he heeded the warning. He stayed in the light house. He looked after his mother and the light at the top. He did his duty like he was supposed to.
One morning he found his mother sitting at their kitchen table. She was looking sadly at a photograph of herself, a man, and three young children, two boys and a girl.
“I should have taught you to swim,” she whispered softly to the photograph.
“It wasn’t your fault ma. You need to let them go,” he told her.
But she did not listen and so he wound his way up the twisted staircase as he had done so many times before to feed the lamp.
She followed him up and when she found the work already done she sighed. “Why do you stay here?”
He sighed. “You know why ma.”
But she did not reply. She just stared sadly out at sea.
That night the voices called to him louder than ever. Three voices, always the same.
“She doesn’t want you there.”
“Come home.”
“Taibhse dian!”
He did not understand the words of that last one but he recognised the language. It was his father’s native tongue.
“Be quiet,” he told them and he shut his window tight. “Not tonight, not yet.”
The days went by and then the years. And still the voices persisted.
His mother got older. The stairs got harder and harder for her to take. Yet, still she persisted in climbing all the up to make sure the lamp was lit.
Seeing it done for her once more she sighed and took a seat to get her breath back. As she often did she looked out to the sea. The gentle waves looked peaceful tonight and for once the voices were silent as if they knew a change was coming.
“You don’t need to light the lamp ma,” he told her. “Let me do it for you. Why don’t you get some rest.”
She did not respond. It was as if she could not hear him but after a few more minutes she got shakily to her feet and made her way slowly down the stairs.
It was only four stairs from the bottom when her foot caught and she tripped. She fell the rest of the way with barely the energy to put up her hands.
He would have caught her if he could but she fell right through him and landed with sickening crack on the hard stone floor. Her neck was twisted at a strange angle.
Finn watched as from her cold shell she rose up and for the first time in years she laid eyes on her son.
“Finn!” she cried. “I knew it was you. All this time, and you look full grown. Such a thing, I thought I’d never see. But why did you stay?” She turned toward the sea, the voices clear to her now too.
“Come back to us.”
“We miss you ma and brother.”
“We love you.”
Once more Finn resisted their call. He turned to his mother and he explained. “I needed to help you light the lamp, especially these last few years, and you needed the company. I know you did.”
She smiled. “It certainly made me feel less alone. Come.” She held out a hand. “We can go now. We can join the others. We can see them again. I won’t be alone.”
Finn reached for her hand but then drew back. “But the light. The ships. Someone must keep it lit, or what happened to us will happen to others.”
She sighed, nodded, and sniffed sadly. “I suppose that is true. But I’ll miss you. I’ll sing to you at night so listen carefully. At least then you will know we are out there.”
Finn nodd-
BANG!
Amanda glanced up from the book at the sound of a loud crash somewhere on the ship. She listened intently, but a moment later everything was silent. Probably just someone knocking something over after too much to drink.
She shivered at the silence. Except it wasn’t completely silent. Very faintly she could just make out another sound. It sounded like singing but not the loud, celebratory, and slightly out of tune voices of the crew. This one was more feminine, higher pitched, perfectly tuned, and slightly sad. It made her want to forget everything she was doing and go and find the source. In fact, one might say that she needed to find the singer. With singular focus she put down her book, rose from the bed, and walked toward the door.