They snuck off the ship, under the guise of night. But the moon was bright and now they crouched low on the wet sand, hidden beneath the bow of the ship.
“Well, what do we do now?” Salem asked.
“Now we make a run for it,” Gemma told him. She’d brought her sword with her, just in case, as had Bobby. She clutched it’s handle loosely, even though it was strapped tightly to her hip. On her other hip, she carried a short loop of rope and some strips of fabric, much to the incredulous looks from her siblings. Gemma was the one who had sailed the most though and she’d encountered pirates more than once before, so they trusted she had some plan.
“What if someone on the ship sees us?” Bobby whispered.
“We’ll go as fast as we can into the dunes then along toward the other ship from there. Once we get to the dunes we should be hidden enough,” Gemma replied.
“See, this is why you need to let me borrow some of your magic,” Katrina told Salem.
Salem scowled, but the truth was, he was kind of wishing the same thing. Bobby had explained his plan of Salem using his invisibility to sneak through the pirate ship while the others kept watch. Unfortunately Salem only had enough skill to make two of them invisible and they needed to be physically connected.
“Alright, go!” Gemma gave them almost no warning before she sprinted out from beneath the shadow of the ship. The others were left with little choice but to follow.
They reached the rolling waves of the dunes without anyone noticing. There they rested a moment to catch their breath.
Keeping to the dunes, they made their way at a quick pace toward the dark ship further along the beach. Merry sounds of music filled the air while flickering lights cast dancing shadows on the retreating waves. The pirates seemed to be having some kind of party up on the aft-deck, leaving the forecastle in enticing darkness.
“How do we get up there?” Katrina whispered, even though they were still quite far away.
“Um.” Bobby frowned up at the dark ship with no obvious way up.
Sasha’s eyes lit up and she held out her hands and wriggled her fingers. “Ice staircase.”
Gemma frowned down at her. “Could you make enough ice for that?”
Sasha shrugged.
“It’ll be slippery anyway,” Salem replied.
“We only need to get one of us up there,” Bobby said. “Then that person can lower down some rope, or a ladder if we’re lucky.”
“How about telekinesis?” Katrina asked as she pulled forth a silver chain from her pocket, yet another necklace, one of five she had on her person. This one had a silver treble clef hanging off it.
“That’s risky,” Gemma remarked. “If you mess up that’s a long way to fall.”
“It’s Shiv’s telekinesis so it should be good quality,” Katrina replied.
“Yeah but how good’s the infusement and your control?” Bobby asked.
“I do alright.”
“Well enough to lift a person all the way up there?” Gemma asked.
Katrina hesitated. “Have you got a better idea?”
“This is serious,” Gemma reminded her. “And it’s probably going to have to be Sasha since she’s the lightest.”
Katrina thought about it and she eyed the ship height. “I haven’t done that distance before but I can cut a carrot into almost perfectly sliced pieces with a telekinetically controlled knife, so my control’s good. If I mess up the distance, I think I could probably catch someone as they came back down. But Shiv can do that height easily and my efficiency losses aren’t that bad so we’re probably good there too.”
“Okay,” Gemma replied. “You know, it’s actually good they’re playing music up there. It should give us a bit of sound cover.”
“Why do you think it hasn’t drawn the creatures?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know.” Gemma started moving toward the ship. “Let’s go.”
They ran single file straight toward the looming hull.
Behind them the wind picked up, wiping their foot prints from the sand as if they had never been there at all, but the dunes remained silent.
When they reached the hull, Katrina slipped the necklace around her neck, and dropped it’s charm down the front of her blouse so she could feel it against her skin. Her infusements didn’t work without skin contact and she wanted her hands free to help guide Sasha up. Magic was easier to conduct when one’s hands were free to move. She also needed a good line of sight. She stepped out from the shadows as she removed her other necklace, a dainty cat charm, her aunt, and namesake, had once gifted her. A charm imbued with dreamwalking magic. She slipped it into one of her pockets. The one where it was least likely to get entangled.
Gemma hissed at her from the darkness. “Don’t go out too far. You might get seen.”
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“Yes, well I need to see. You don’t want me to drop her do you?”
Gemma was quiet.
Finally, Katrina looked to Sasha. “Ready?” she asked.
Sasha nodded and looked up at the tall ship apprehensively.
Bobby gave her one last piece of advice. “Remember, don’t look down. Just focus on getting over the railing. And if you can’t see any easily accessible rope, give two thumbs down and we’ll send someone else up.”
“Maybe we should infuse some invisibility first?” Salem suggested.
“I don’t have anymore charms,” Katrina whispered.
“What about that flute?” Bobby pointed toward where it was poking out of her pocket. “I don’t know why you brought it.”
“I didn’t mean to. I forgot I had it,” Katrina replied. She reached for it.
“Wait,” Gemma interrupted. “Do my knife instead. You might need it for cutting anyway.”
Katrina returned to the shadows of the ship. She reached for Salem’s hand and the knife. She closed her eyes momentarily to get a feel for the texture of the knife, of it’s shape and it’s weight. Then she opened her eyes and studied it visually. She could already feel Salem’s magic. All magic had a signature of sorts.
She let his magic flow through her and into the knife. It was more difficult than her usual infusements. The knife was bigger physically. She was more practiced at using jewellery and other small items. She could sense a similarity between it and the flute but there was something different here. Something she hadn’t noticed before.
She had spent a few days now, studying the flute, trying to feel for what had once been infused within. She’d had little luck in sensing much of anything magic about it, but she had in that time become intimately familiar with it’s shape and structure as a whole. But the knife was different, and in her comparison with the flute, she could see the difference almost immediately.
The knife did not feel whole. Nor was it separate items. There was an intertwining that she could feel, a contrast between the handle and the blade. Only, the thing was, once she felt that, she found she could feel even more. She could feel gaps in the wooden structure of the handle, and the impurities in the steel. Not many, but they were there. She felt as if she could break the object down into components, as small as she liked or merge it into one. In doing so, she could choose into which parts she imbued the magic. She could also feel the shape of the magic change as she pushed it into different places. Into the tip of the blade she sensed a way to make it last longer, to make an item that could accept a sacrifice from the user. Once she got that far, she sensed that she could mold the magic the same and put it into the handle, but that it was harder, like forcing a pin into a hole meant for a bolt or vice versa.
The handle had it’s own shape too, but then so did every inch of the handle, every atom almost. But while she could see it, she could not quite make the magic fit into just one area. It flowed like water and her own brain fought her. The most obvious single structure was the knife itself, followed by the handle and blade. She found she could split the knife in two and put the magic in only one half, but any smaller and the magic rebelled. But she’d seen it, a glimpse, an option, possibilities. She just needed more practice.
“How long is this going to take?” Gemma pressed.
"I'm almost done." Katrina chose the handle. The magic wanted the blade. She could feel it. It was easier to put it there. But she also got the sense that it was dangerous. Katrina was easily distracted by these new discoveries. She could try and weave it such that it could renew itself, but she did not feel that it would last beyond her hold on the knife or even with direct focus. She also wasn't sure that she might not accidentally do the opposite and create an item that took whatever it could with no more invitation than a nick of blood. The right point felt delicate, like balancing on the edge of a blade. She dared not slip, so she chose the safe option and pushed it into the wood.
Her distraction had cost her somewhat. She knew this magic would not last long, but a few minutes should be enough for Sasha to find a rope or ladder.
She handed the blade to Sasha. "You remember how to use it?"
Sasha nodded.
Katrina did not wait for an answer. Her mind was already wandering again. Her siblings were used to using her infusements, but now she wondered, what if she changed how she made them? Would it change how a user needed to interact with them? She needed to test it. But not here, not tonight. Tonight she should keep things simple. She was the most practiced with telekinetic infusements, and so she was the one who would lift Sasha up. She needed to focus on that.
They stepped back from the boat, the two of them. Sasha strapped the knife to her belt. She did not use it's power yet, for Katrina needed to see her to be be able to move her.
As Katrina looked at her sister, waiting patiently there to be lifted up, she thought of how she’d split the knife, and she wondered if maybe it was also a possible for a person to be split into their components. What if all she lifted was the blood in her sisters body? The thought entered into Katrina’s mind uninvited, and she recoiled away from it the moment it appeared. But she could not forget it. The idea terrified her and she was suddenly keenly aware that all it would take was one mis-thought mid-flight to mess up this magic completely in horrifying ways that could never be undone.
She felt sick. Her hands shook.
“Do you want me to do it?” Bobby asked, noting both her shaking hands and her hesitation.
She did not answer straight away, so Bobby took the knife gently from her grasp. She did not resist. She stepped back into the shadows of the ship, head down, avoiding the curious gaze of her other siblings, and fighting the panicky feeling in her chest.
A small voice in her head taunted words at her, words like, useless and incompetent. She raised her head again to watch Bobby skillfully raise Sasha up through the air. She gritted her teeth and steeled her mind against those thoughts. Thoughts like that would not help her improve. It was just a small set back. She’d do better next time.
A moment later a thick rope came tumbling down. It hung, shy of the ground by about a metre, but it was easily reachable.
Gemma climbed up first since she was the best climber and most capable of defending Sasha at the top if any wayward pirates stumbled upon them.
Salem went next. He was actually pretty good at climbing. It was the one part of gym class that he enjoyed, much much more so than running or ball sports. He didn’t mind swimming so much either.
Bobby waited at the bottom and watched, ready with the remaining telekinesis, just in case.
“Are you alright? You look pale, even for you,” Bobby asked Katrina as she reached out to take the rope.
She just nodded.
“I’ll catch you if you fall. But try not to okay.”
She nodded again, but it wasn’t the climb that was bothering her. Or at least it wasn’t the main thing bothering her, for the climb was long and she was not gifted with a great amount of arm strength, but she did trust Bobby.
She took the rope, and the intimidating climb that lay ahead did something toward chasing away darker thoughts.
As she climbed onto the rope, Bobby watched her with concerned eyes.
She struggled upward, but she knew the right technique. She took at least twice as long as Salem had, and by the time she was at the top, her arms ached like they’d never ached before.
Gemma reached an hand over the side, and helped her over the last little bit. Then they waited in silence for Bobby.
Soon, all five of them stood on the dark deck of the enemy’s ship. Not a single one of them made a sound.