Page 57 of A Flash of Golden Fire

His voice was kind, as if he were asking me about a regular occurrence, and not my questionable ability to call upon powers beyond nature.

So I told him what I did know.

“My mam told me that these powers were a gift from her. She didn’t know why, and she didn’t really understand her powers either. But she said she could feel them in me as soon as I was born, even though she was in denial for a long time. She didn’t teach me anything, only subtly guided me when she saw glimpses of…these forces…rising in me. She wanted me to keep them hidden. From everyone, but especially from my papa.”

I stared at the bed covers. I didn’t like to think about these things. Most of the time, I pretended I was a regular man, albeit with questionable morals and even more questionable desires. But flesh and blood like anyone else. I didn’t like to think of myself as different, and to be honest, these inexplicable powers frightened me. I didn’t like to think I had so much influence on the world.

“Rooster, what happened when you were twelve?” Dinesh asked.

I’d known this question was coming. Why wouldn’t he ask the most obvious question?

I took a deep breath and explained in the smallest number of words possible. “I tried to save my mother, but I wasn’t able to.”

The captain’s face fell. “Oh, Rooster. I’m so sorry.”

I nodded. “The power got away from me. The burn on my side was the least of what happened.”

Captain Martin looked horrified. “But…you didn’t—”

“My father was not a kind man. And he was afraid of her powers. He drugged her and killed her whilst she slept. When I woke to the horror, I couldn’t hold onto my rage. The whole cottage, with her body and him in it, was destroyed, and I barely escaped.”

“My God,” Captain Martin said, his expression one of utmost sympathy.

“I’ve survived, somehow, on my wits ever since. I thought, maybe, the powers in me had died with her and my father. But it appears not.”

“No,” he agreed with solemnity. “It seems not.”

I gently pulled my hands away and let them fall to my lap.

“Are you…are you going to tell the crew?”

“Tell them what?”

“That I’m a witch?” I asked, my voice barely audible. ‘Witch’ was the only word that made any sense.

“Is that what you are, Rooster?” the captain asked without fear or blame or anything but a casual curiosity.

I nodded with a sad smile.

“Among other things,” I said, reaching out to touch the captain’s whiskered chin.

“You mean, a sodomite and a very, very naughty young man?” he asked with real affection.

“Quite. But not so little,” I said, glancing down at my swollen cock making a tent in the sheets that had come to take part in the conversation.

“No. Not little. And a very sexy fucking witch.”

I loved him for that. For implying that my strange and mysterious abilities only served to make me more interesting.

“Are you sure the crew doesn’t hate me? They must have been terrified to see what happened.”

Captain Martin considered. “I won’t say they weren’t. But these men have been through more than you’ll ever know. It takes much to truly frighten them. And they are well aware that they wouldn’t be here today but for you, Rooster.”

I nodded. “Well, that’s promising.” I thought of the circumstances of our ambush. “Are you going to punish the men on the night watch?”

The captain gazed at me with kindness, perhaps that I’d think of others when I myself suffered.

“I made sure they understood the gravity of their mistake. But I think in all of the chaos and confusion, and because we only—” He cleared his throat and seemed overcome for a second. “—only lost one man, the crew is willing to forgive them. And so am I.”