Hook & Jill (The Hook & Jill Saga) (31 page)

“She is the mermaid of your story.” The name came to her. “Your Beauty?”

“I gave you my word. You will hear the tale and know her better in morning light.” His eyes were changing, subtly, to violet. “But before the light, we must pass through the Darkness. I swore I would have revenge, that I would tear the enemy who took my hand. Before I can honor my promise to you, I must honor that vow to myself.”

“And I promised you. I will accept the consequences.” But she was shaking.

“And then you will be released. But I also swear…” He held up his wrist, placed her hand on the mermaid, and covered it with his own. “She is you.”

The rush of emotion overpowered her. She reached for him and took his face between her hands. “You must take her now, before—” But he shook his head, cutting her off, just as she wanted him to do, and he pressed his broken wrist upon her lips. Then he let it fall, so that he touched her only with the black velvet of his voice and the purple fire of his eyes.

“Let me bring you death, and life.”

She had stopped breathing already. “I will.”

And he swept her away in his mutilated embrace, and laid her down in his bed. The sea rocked them as he lay down beside her. Her legs wrapped around him and clung to him, she stroked his face, dragged her fingers through his hair. He rolled with the waves and pressed her beneath him, his damaged wrist delving under her back to raise the gift she so willingly gave to him. And when at last he took his lips from hers, his eyes burned red and his teeth were set and he unsheathed his weapon to satisfy his passion and fulfill the vow he had sworn so long ago when he hissed into the Darkness at his unseen enemy. As a pirate on his prey, with a single savage thrust that forced the breath screaming from her body, he tore her.

And then, as a man to his woman, he made love to her, passionately.

Chapter 25

Rites and Rituals

A long way away, the river twisted behind the braves, a living shadow. Even farther away, they could see the flickering orange of light thrown upward by outcasts’ fire. Seeming not so far were the silver stars, shedding their blessings on the mountain while the breeze swept over it. Rowan and Lightly had climbed to the pinnacle and sat looking down like gods on the passion below. But they were not above it.

Lightly was still adjusting. “So Nibs and Tootles are pirates! And the Twins are the Men of the clearing, arranged by Captain Hook.”

“Lightly, I believe he has arranged more than we know. He discovered that you and I became friends the very day it happened.”

“How do you know that?”

“He had a man watching us at the camp, the one who captured me. And although I didn’t answer the captain’s questions, he could read my eyes. He was very interested in the Golden Boy’s companions.”

“You were lucky to get out of there alive.”

“I do not think it was luck. I think the captain spared my life, knowing you would one day come away with me.”

“Before we knew it?”

“So it would seem.”

“He knew who I was when he saw me. The first of Wendy’s boys to grow up. But why would he want to find places for Peter’s band? He wanted to kill us before. Wendy worked hard to keep us all safe from him.”

Rowan shook his head. “The man is deep. He must have his reasons.”

“You think he changed his course because of Wendy?”

“It would work in his favor. He wants her.”

Lightly shifted uncomfortably on the rock. “Wendy knew we were growing. She worried about us breaking Peter’s law. I saw it in her face every time we lost a tooth. And look at us now, almost men! It must be because we’re away from Peter, as if we’re making up for lost time. I’m sure none of the brothers we saw today will fit down the hideout’s chute by tomorrow.” He stretched his long legs. “Wendy must miss us.”

Rowan watched Lightly in the cool starlight. “When we bring the council’s message to Peter tomorrow, we will know for certain if the captain’s men took Wendy. We will also learn whether your remaining brothers are safe.”

“If the pirates captured Wendy, Peter will be determined to battle, with only John, Michael and Curly to help him. They’re no match for that crew. Knowing Peter, he’ll challenge Hook to a duel, but he’ll bring his boys along. You’re right, they aren’t safe.”

“Lightly. You aren’t understanding what I said.”

Uneasy, Lightly tried to absorb his friend’s words. Rowan’s carved face was uncompromising.

Rowan said, “The captain arranged to take you and your brothers away from home. Not to harm you, but in order to save you.”

“To save us?”

“After listening to my mother today, I am certain. Wanting to be sure I spoke truth, I didn’t tell of my suspicions before.”

Lightly shivered in the wind. “Suspicions.” It wasn’t a question.

“Like me, you never questioned the ways of your tribe until now.”

Lightly sat still as he thought, and then he spoke slowly. “But why would Hook want to save us, and from what?” He knew the answer. He wanted to be wrong.

“Why? As he told us today, for Wendy’s sake. From what?” Rowan straightened and turned away. “I do not wish to speak ill of your family.”

Lightly looked over the end of the mountain, over the end of his childhood. His feet dangled in the air. “I already know. I just don’t want to believe.”

“No, Lightly. You want to continue to believe.”

“Yes.… It’s hard to let go.” It was just as difficult to speak. “I loved Peter.”

“It is disappointing. An occasion for great sorrow.”

Lightly watched the wind swirling the fringe on his leggings. “Even Wendy couldn’t help him. Hook saved her, too. She tried so hard to love Peter, and he almost slit her throat.”

“She is also a brave.”

“She believed in him and nearly died of it. Just like me. When I couldn’t help growing up, he left me to the crocodile.”

“I have not doubted it. You were a sacrifice to the Spirit of Time. But you had to discover it for yourself.”

“I was an offering, to keep him from growing older.”

“Like those little teeth in the bowl on his altar.”

“Rowan, if Hook hadn’t spared you, you couldn’t have rescued me.”

“And we repaid the life-service to him. I see now.” Rowan lifted his chin. “It is not an obligation. It is an honor.”

Lightly’s nod was brief, as if it hurt. “Peter’s boys and I lived in fear of Captain Hook our whole lives. Now he’s the reason we live at all.”

“The captain has granted you a future. Peter is the past.”

“He is just a boy, and he always will be.”

Rowan lent his strength. “But you are a man. You will endure this, and be stronger.”

Lightly drew a deep breath. “Yes.” They were silent. The stars blurred. Lightly ran his arm over his eyes. He gathered in his legs and set his feet squarely on the rock of the mountain. “I have lost Peter, and I will mourn him. But I mourn for more than that.” He blinked before meeting Rowan’s eyes again. “You asked me when we first met. Where my other brothers went— the older Lost Boys.”

Rowan waited.

“…Now I know.”

Rowan’s arm firmly surrounded his companion’s shoulders. “Tell me about them.”

* * *

Tom Tootles and Nibs the Knife outdistanced Mr. Smee and his lantern in the dark woods, despite his longer stride. He had informed them that they acted well today and that the captain was satisfied. Now Nibs was trying to keep his mind on business. “Our training paid off. I could see Mr. Starkey was relieved.”

“Good thing the captain sent us for Wendy when he did. Getting down the chute was easy, but we sure had a hard time of it getting back up.” The new britches squeezed Tom tighter today than the old ones had done.

“She was happy to see us!” Nibs rubbed his hand over the prickly stubble on his chin.

Tom made an effort to follow the conversation at the same time he followed the pulsing beats of sound. “She was shaken up, though. But the captain cured her of whatever Pan did to keep her. As if she could be kept!”

“No more than we could be.” Nibs tripped on a tree root and had to slow his steps. He dusted the dirt off his hands, looked up to locate the orange glow above the trees, and tightened his kerchief. “She tried to get the captain to release us, can you imagine?”

Tom smelled the smoke of the bonfire. “I can imagine her doing anything, since she trussed Pan and held us at gunpoint! She’s proved her valor. I say she’s a match for him, all right.”

“For Pan?” Nibs scented the smoke too, and he wasn’t thinking clearly at all.

“Get your head on straight! For Captain Jas. Hook, as engraved on the brass plate we polish every day.” The throbbing drums reverberated within their chests. They were getting closer.

“I knew it when we saw Wendy’s face on the
Roger
’s figurehead, Tom. They’re mates.” Something in their words made the blood hammer in their ears and their necks hot, in spite of their open collars.

The place was easy to find. They stumbled into it, halting abruptly. Several of the young braves had brought their drums and flutes, and they sat in a bunch around one of the logs, pounding and piping out the rhythm of their hearts, free of restraint in this place of red smoke. The women spread the blankets within the circle, stoking more than one kind of fire there.

Mr. Smee caught up to his charges and placed a restraining hand on Nibs’ shoulder. “Hold up, mates. Mr. Starkey can teach you many skills, but listen to me when it comes to the ladies. Doesn’t do to look too eager.” And in his hurry he pushed past Nibs and Tom, leaving them waiting on the edge of the clearing. They stood fidgeting, listening to a parrot squawk in the trees where once upon a time they had played hide-and-seek.

But the ladies wouldn’t allow hiding tonight. They held out their slender brown arms. “Come, we are waiting for you!” The young men felt their feet trundling them forward.

“You can’t dance in these. Set them here, with your swords.”

Nibs and Tom hesitated until Mr. Smee nodded, his spectacles flashing in the firelight as he turned away. The two women eased them down. The ladies drew off the prized boots and, knowing the ways of pirates, set them at the ready.

Like the boys, the clearing was changing. The house was growing up, too, and a totem pole stood beyond the fire. It appeared to waver, springing to life in the heated air above the flames. Its wood showed only two symbols carved in it so far— at the top, a lion with a fierce expression; under that a tiger, bearing a subtle smile. Tom knew the work. “The Twins!”

Two heads stooped so that two sets of brown eyes could peer at them from the viney window of what used to be Wendy’s house. Smiles followed. The beat of the drums was too much to resist. It was a force of nature, and they all began to move to it. The twins left the little house to the sleeping children; young men belonged outside tonight. The braves and the brothers hailed one another, while the women smiled and began to move as well, sinuously, around the fire and over the blankets.

Mr. Smee laid a hand on Lily’s arm and coaxed her from the cluster of braves. “Are you free, love?” She laughed, then looking back at her admirers, she touched the nearest on the cheek with her fingertips, and as his black eyes watched regretfully, she left him.

“Smee. You are late.”

“And I’d not let the boys fly ahead, I’m that stubborn!”

Lily’s feet slid through the damp, cool grasses as she led him around the old house, past the stacks of lumber, and into the adjoining frame of the new. Inside, in the warm light of Smee’s lantern, she bent over a basket, her hand resting on the knotted edge. Smee set down the lantern. Disregarding the basket and its sleeping infant, he tugged her arm away from it. “The captain sent you this.” He slipped three golden bracelets onto her wrist.

Lily held up her arm to view them and her smile stiffened. A cooling breeze swept through the house frame, and her manner matched it. “The captain’s generosity has already proven bountiful. Please tell him that my sisters and I accept these as gifts only. As for all who come to us, it is our pleasure to assist him.”

Mr. Smee’s eyes twinkled over his spectacles. “And this.” He pulled from his pocket a cord on which dangled another shiny object. Lily studied it. Slowly, her eyes lit with comprehension, and her smile softened. Smee hung it on her finger. “He said to tell you your builders should know what to do with it.”

She clasped it. “A key. For the front door when it’s ready! It is a message, isn’t it? He tells us that the place will be truly our own. The good captain grants us the gift of home.”

“Aye, Lily. He asks nothing more of you. I’m glad to see you happy. I know how much you’ve wanted a real home since leaving the village.”

She rested her hand on his brawny arm. “Smee, I ask no more than you can give.” She looked out the door to the alluring light and listened to the drums that called her back. “And you do the same for me.” After a long moment, her eyes shifted back to his admiring face.

“Aye. We’re a pair.” And with an effort, Smee freed up his gaze to cast a glance about the place. “That’s a fine big window! Almost another door, you might say.”

“Yes. Our young men tell us the window must never be closed. It is a tradition.”

“You’ll be wanting some curtains for it. I’ll bring back some fine kind of cloth this trip, and run you up a set.”

Lily smiled, but her voice was subdued. “So the time of parting is come, then? Your captain has won Wendy from the boy?”

Smee grinned. “We’ll know in the morning, but I’ve no doubt. And then we’ll be weighing anchor.” He scooped her into his arms while she dropped her treasured key to the pallet on the floor. His red beard burrowed into her neck and she giggled like a girl until the baby began to mewl, pudgy elbows flailing at the air. Smee’s rough smile struck his face. “Go on. I’ve a job to do, anyway, getting these cursed boots off.”

“Will you hold your daughter again?”

“I’d rather hold you. Give her these.” He unhooked his spectacles from his ears and tossed them to Lily. “I’m told children like such things.”

Lily looked askance at him and set them down by the lantern. “Take your boots off, man, and hold peace about things you don’t understand.” She shook a mellow-gold bracelet off her wrist to dandle it over the child, who grasped it and quieted. Lily drew off her dress, swaying to the drums, and when she turned back to Smee, the blue-white drops were beading on the tips of her breasts and rolling down in lines that clung to her curving skin.