Page 14 of The Withering Dawn (Wicked Tides)

The next day, everything changed. The air. The weather. The scents and the colors. It was like we’d entered an entirely new realm.

There were seagulls in the air, squawking and looking for scraps. And if there were seagulls in the air, then land was not far off. Cathal was sitting at the bow carving the same piece of wood. I still couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be. He had a vast collection of beveled wood scraps, of which I could only make out half of the shapes. He had a fat elephant, a wolf head, and what I thought was a chess piece, but whatever his new project was had not taken on any sort of identity yet.

“Land soon, cap’n,” he said, blowing a bit of wood dust off his work. “What’ll be our first order of business?”

“We’ll restock, ask around, find out if the cunt is really in Dornwich, and lure him out so one or all of us can castrate him and cut his throat.”

Cathal shrugged with a nod of approval and propped a foot up on the railing.

The closer we got to our destination, the stranger the waters became, though. We sailed along the coast, keeping land in view. Every village or port looked abandoned. The buildings were run down and the docks appeared old and warped. I stood with my hands braced on the railing, watching the coast pass me by like a cemetery. Clouds were rolling in, eating up the sunlight, and without the sunlight, the waters looked dull and gray. Sailing past tall cliffsides, I could see the white spray as angry waves assaulted the sharp stones.

Aeris appeared by my side, her presence so quiet, I barely noticed until I saw her red hair in my peripheral. She was staring at the coast, hugging herself.

“What troubles you?” I asked, observing the crease between her brows.

“These waters seem wrong,” she said.

“Wrong? Wrong how?”

She sucked in a long, deep breath and wrinkled her nose. “There’s so much death under the water. So many bodies. I can smell them.” She slowly leaned forward, carefully peering into the ocean below. “There are monsters beneath us.”

“How do you know?”

She shrugged. “I just know.” Turning, she met my eyes and for once, I knew exactly what she was feeling. She was worried. “This place stinks of pain and suffering.”

I nodded slowly. “We are not staying. I want Antonio. That is all. After that, we can go anywhere.”

A hint of a smile teased the corner of Aeris’s lips as if the idea excited her. I enjoyed that look on her. When I got what I was owed, I decided I was going to do everything in my power to see that smile fill out. Which amazed me because I felt as if I was just beginning to know her… and yet I felt a need to keep her by my side nonetheless.

“Captain!” Aleksi shouted. I looked up into the crow’s nest to see him pointing eastward. “Large port ahead. I think we’ve made it.”

I nodded, turning toward Aeris. “Do not think about this place too much. We are not staying. I promise you that.”

Once we anchored and I had a clear view of Dornwich, I could tell it was larger than other ports we’d passed since we started sailing east. Steam and smoke rose up from houses and establishments and as the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, I could see lanterns and torches lighting up the streets, even from the Amanacer.

“What do you want to do?” Cathal asked, a touch of tension in his tone like he was finally realizing that Antonio could be close.

“We sleep tonight. We go into town in the morning.”

“Aye. Let’s make sure our blades are sharp, yeah?”

A whole night.

We had to hold ourselves together for a whole night.

Everyone seemed restless. If I had been a lion, I would be licking my lips with hunger. I barely slept at all and Aeris, though she did not have the same thirst for vengeance that I did, was just as agitated. Every now and then, I would feel her move beside me, doing her best not to disturb anything as she shifted positions. I imagined it was as strange for her to share a bed as it was for me. I was not used to sleeping next to a woman nor was I accustomed to being so aware of her mental state. I could practically hear her apprehension buzzing in the silence of my cabin.

“Are you well?” I whispered when she would not stop squirming.

“Yes.”

“Do not lie to me.”

She turned her head to look at me, her eyes bright in the darkness. “I just do not like it here.”

“Aye, neither do I.”

A shaky breath left her lips. I did not like how uncomfortable she was and itched to ease her worry. Rolling onto my side, I wrapped my arm around her slender little waist and pulled her tight against me, fitting my body around hers. She stiffened at first and then gradually began to soften against me.

Warmth flourished in my chest at the way my touch could soothe whatever she was feeling. I savored how she relaxed in my arms and finally closed my eyes, breathing her in and memorizing the scent of salt and sea-breeze in her hair.

“Tomorrow, I will take you to shore with me.” I whispered.

“Will I go into town with you?”

“No. I do not know this place. You will stay on the beach, away from the port. Stretch your legs.”

“Alright.”

“Now, try to sleep, mu?equita. We both need it and I cannot even begin to relax until you do.”

“Sorry.”

I chuckled softly against her hair. “Do not be sorry.”

The next day, every nerve in my body itched with the thought of finally getting my hands on Antonio. I prayed he was there and I prayed I would get the chance to sink a blade in him so I could finally enjoy my freedom fully. For too long, his touch, his voice, and his stench followed me everywhere. It followed all of us.

We needed him gone. So did Aeris, in a way, because I wanted her to know me without that monster in the back of my mind.

Myself, Cathal, Aleksi, Nikolas, three of my other men, and Aeris piled into the jollyboat and headed for shore by midday. The whole time, Aeris could not take her eyes off the water. I could not read emotions like she could, but I didn’t have to to see the distress in her posture or the way she was toying with the fabric of her skirts like a nervous child.

We made land half a mile from town at a beach with a small, abandoned fishing shack as our only landmark. After we pulled the boat onto the sand, I turned and extended a hand to Aeris. She stood, a little hesitant, like a helping hand was something foreign to her, and then accepted my help. She started to step over the edge of the boat and, unable to help myself, I gripped her waist and lifted her out and onto solid ground.

Fragile. So fucking fragile. That was all I could think of when I looked at her, but then I recalled how she’d bitten a hole into Rourk’s neck and the contradiction was… eerily appealing. I didn’t like the idea of leaving her, but we were too close to back out now.

Aeris began to explore the beach, again seeming as if she’d never seen one before, so I stepped toward Nikolas and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“Stay with Aeris while we go into town,” I said.

He glanced over his shoulder to where she was standing in the sand, burying her bare feet in the soft grit. Then he gave me a shrug and a nod like he always did when I asked him to do something. I patted him on the arm and inclined my head before moving past him to speak with her again.

“It’s been a while since you’ve been on land, hasn’t it?”

She looked up at me with those big eyes full of wonder. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been anywhere that was not surrounded by locked doors. It feels… good.”

“Even with the waters being as dreadful as you say?”

“That’s a different matter. But you said we wouldn’t be here long.”

“No longer than we need to be. I promise. Nikolas will stay on the beach with you. When we return, we will have provisions for our journey out of this godforsaken part of the world.”

“To go where?”

“I do not know. Somewhere where the waters do not stink of death, perhaps,” I smiled.

She almost smiled with me. Almost.

I stepped in, kissing her on the forehead. Anything more than that, and I would likely get suspicious stares from some of my men who did not yet know where I stood with her. Hell, I didn’t know where I stood with her either. I’d never shared affections with a woman let alone a siren and I’d already been betrayed by three crew members over the mere idea. I had to expect others would follow suit. Most of my men were hired hands and their loyalty was thin at best.

I made my way toward the others, grabbing a rolled leather pack out of the boat as I passed. Cathal had one, too, and I planned to have them both stuffed full of provisions when we returned.

As we headed into town, I could feel an unsettling chill wash over me. I glanced at the water, the things Aeris said echoing in my mind. From the shore, the ocean looked like it was waiting for something to walk into its maw so it could swallow it whole. Even the Amanacer in the distance looked as if it was trembling on the deceivingly gentle tide, eager to sail elsewhere.

“Not the most inviting place, is it?” Aleksi commented.

“We’ve been worse places,” I said.

“Seems rather fitting that Antonio would have settled here. It don’t seem like the kind of place an honest man would be.” He cleared his throat, scrubbing his face with his hand. “I meant to ask. You’re actin’ a little cozy with her. What’s that about?”

I groaned, trying to think of a way to put it into words. “I just… feel like she needs me.”

“Right, but I know how you are with women. Are you two…”

He trailed off like I was supposed to finish that sentence. “Not your business,” I smirked.

Cathal chuckled on my other side. “She’s not your type. I know ye. Ye like the biggest, strongest lookin’ whores. What’s gotten into ye, cap’n?”

“Whores are for fucking. Aeris is…” I struggled again to think of the words and felt my pulse quicken even trying.

“Don’t say it. Don’t say she’s not like other ladies. That’s what men say when they’re fallin’ for a girl. Nazario Bacilio doesn’t fall for women.”

“We’re here to find Antonio and gut him. Why are we talking about Aeris?”

“Because I’ve never seen you covet someone like you do her.” His tone lowered, becoming more serious. “Whether you’re under a spell or not, caring about her looks good on ye. And dammit, I don’t like the idea of anything happening to her either. Makes me sick the things she’s been through. Reminds me of… well, you know what it reminds me of.”

“Aye, I do. But right now she’s safe on the beach and our job is to rid the world of one monster and one monster only. The rest we’ll figure out another time or we’ll leave it to hunters.”

We walked on until the sun started to cower behind the clouds, leaving the coast shrouded in a gray, muted light. When I began to hear the sounds of tavern music and voices, I knew we’d made it to the port. As the first lantern lights of the docks came into view, it almost felt like a normal town, but as we ventured further, the smell of decaying seaweed and ale filled my nose. The faint odor of fish was in the air, like any port, but there was a filth to it that didn’t sit well with me.

As we cleared the corner leading to the dirt road that cut through town, I realized the precise reason the smell of decay was so strong in that foul place.

On the docks was a thick, wooden post surrounded by old, molding fish nets and salt-crusted coils of rope that didn’t look to have been used in months. And hanging on the post was a figure, thin and frail and long dead by the odor. Her pale body was glistening with the sweat of decomposition. Thin strings of black hair hung over her gaunt face and above her head, her wrists were bound in bronze cuffs and nailed to the wood. The only thing covering her body was a fragile white shift that was clinging to her damp figure.

“Holy hell,” Cathal said, pressing his fingers under his nose. “What was that about being worse places?”

“That a siren?” someone asked.

I didn’t have to answer. A few more steps and we all saw the wooden plaque nailed to the post next to the body with a charcoal message scribbled on the surface.

Sirens are obedient or dead in Dornwich

“God,” someone else said, coughing at the stench.

And yet, with the body rotting in front of town like a trophy, the taverns were still full and the people still lively.

“Fuck,” I cursed, unrolling my leather pack. “Let’s get this over with. Ben and Kristoff gather supplies. Aleksi and Cathal, we’ll start asking questions.”

The other two men nodded, smiles on their faces like they hadn’t seen a town in years. Of course, I knew that wasn’t true, but not everyone was as cut out for exceptionally long periods at sea. As they walked off, Aleksi and Cathal closed in in front of me, brows raised in an almost identical manner.

“I hope your redheaded friend is right about this,” Aleksi said.

“How do we want to go about it?” Cathal added.

I took a deep breath and rested my hands on my hips. “Antonio will want his riches. I say the best way to find him is to make it known that we have it. Start talking. Go to the brothels. The taverns. Anywhere you think scum like him would show up.”

Neither of them asked questions. They tossed each other a fleeting look and then the three of us split up, taking to different establishments.

The town itself was almost pleasant if I forced myself to forget the decomposing welcome at the docks. The streets smelled of baking bread, ale, and the occasional stink of piss, but that was like any town. I first walked around, getting a feel for the people and the buildings. It wasn’t hard to find the brothel, a two story building with red velvet curtains and two scantily clad women on the second-floor balcony eyeing the men walking past. One of them set her gaze on me and batted her lashes and on any other night, I might pay her a visit, but if Henry was right about anything, it was that Aeris had her claws in me, whether she was trying to or not.

Below the balcony, at the open door, was a narrow cage with a woman standing upright inside, dressed in a similar white shift to the one the corpse at the docks was wearing. She had auburn hair and oddly gray-blue skin that made it obvious she was not human. Her wrists were bound in ropes and even from five steps away I could smell the sweet yet unnerving smell of hemsbane, the herb sirens were said to have no tolerance for. Her eyes were heavy and any fight that might have been in her had been starved like her body clearly had. She stared off into nothingness, her mind elsewhere while her body waited to die.

“Oy!” a man barked at me, tapping the prisoner’s cage with his black, polished cane. “The bitch is four times the price and if you look any longer, I’ll charge you a loitering fee.”

I raised a brow at the gangly man with his thin, white hair swept into a ponytail and moved on, thankful that I decided not to bring Aeris with me. Even knowing she was down the beach was a little unsettling. Despite what the woman in the cage was, any creature bound in that fashion was an unpleasant sight.

I moved on to a small tavern where everyone inside seemed less like they were having a good time and more like they were filling their bellies with ale to forget themselves. I walked straight to the bar and decided not to dance around the subject.

“Know a man by the name of Antonio Acosta?” I asked.

The bartender raised a bushy brow as he passed a mug of ale to a patron.

“Know the name,” he admitted. “Don’t know shit about ‘im.”

Every muscle in my body went rigid. “He lives here?”

“Aye. Said I know the name, didn’t I?”

He quickly moved on, filling more mugs, but all I could do was repeat his words in my head. Antonio was there in Dornwich, just as Aeris had suspected. We were not just on the right trail. We’d found him. I toyed with my thumb ring, grinding my teeth together, my nostrils flared. The noise of the tavern turned to a muffled drone like my ears were pressed to pillows. I turned, looking around, my eyes sifting through the crowds like I would find Antonio there in the room.

With no luck, I stepped outside into the cool air to get a deep breath, feeling like the tavern walls were closing in on me. Anger and hate clashed like a hammer and anvil inside me, making my ears ring. Down the street, I could see Cathal crouched down on one knee in front of a young boy. His bare feet covered in mud made it clear that the streets were his home. I started to walk his way, exhaling my disdain.

Cathal looked up at my approach, the intensity in my eyes telling me that he’d also confirmed Antonio’s presence in that town.

“Cap’n,” he greeted, getting to his feet.

“He’s here,” I said.

“I know. This here is Georgie.”

Looking down at the boy, I could see he was nibbling on a piece of bread.

“Says he knows Antonio,” he continued. “Or, ‘the man on Green Street.’”

“You an orphan, Georgie?” I asked.

He nodded, his chestnut eyes blinking up at me.

I crouched down to the boy’s level. “And who’s the man on Green Street?”

“He comes to the church sometimes,” he said shyly. “I go there to get soup.”

“Have you talked to him?”

He nodded. “I tell him when new boys show up in the orphanage. He needs them to work at his farm.”

“He hasn’t taken you there before?”

I was relieved when Georgie shook his head.

“Right,” Cathal cut in. “So how do we find him?”

“He’s on Green Street,” Georgie spoke up like it was the most common knowledge in town.

“And where’s Green Street?”

Georgie pointed down the main road and though neither of us could figure where exactly he was indicating, we knew the general direction. Cathal slapped me on my back and started to walk off.

“I’ll find the postal service and figure it out.”

I nodded, slowly getting to my feet. Georgie was munching on his bread, wholly uninterested in my presence now. I looked around, searching for a small shop of some kind, and spotted a stall down the road where a plump old man was selling various items of food.

“Come,” I said to the boy, leading him toward the stall. “What do you want?”

He rose up on his toes, peeking over the edge of the long wooden table to see what the man was selling.

He could be no older than I was when I first met Antonio and my already upside-down life turned sideways and cracked down the middle. I watched him scan a few red apples, some tangerines, and some small jars with cloth tied over the top. Immediately, his attention settled on those and he pointed, still chewing on a mouthful of bread.

I picked up one of the jars and found it full of gold.

Honey.

I smiled to myself and glanced down at Georgie. He was still staring at the honey like he was waiting to dip his hand inside and lick it off his fingers.

“Two jars,” I said to the vendor, grabbing a second jar and handing the man a couple coins from my coat pocket.

“Alright, Georgie,” I said, crouching down in front of him again. “Don’t eat all this at once, yeah?”

I handed him the jar and he nodded, his eye bright. “And don’t go looking for the man on Green Street anymore.”

Again, he nodded, peeling off the fabric top on the jar and sticking his finger right into the golden honey. As soon as he licked it, he smiled, his entire demeanor seeming to relax.

Fuck, I wanted to take him with me.

“Can I share with my friends?”

“Of course you can. That jar’s yours. You have someplace safe to sleep?”

He nodded. “I sleep in the church sometimes. Other times I sleep in the orphanage, but I sneak out. It’s boring there.”

I chuckled, ruffling his shaggy, brown hair.

“Cap’n,” Cathal said as he returned, out of breath. Next to him was Kristoff, equally out of breath like they’d both been jogging about town. “Found him. Lives up on a hill in a mansion.”

I groaned as I stood, realizing again how close we were to the revenge we all deserved.

My eyes went to Kristoff. “Want a job?”

“Sure.”

“You go to Antonio’s house, you knock on his door, and you tell him, not his servant or anyone else, that we’ve got his treasure.”

“Do I give him your name?”

“You tell him Jacob sent you.”

He nodded as I pulled a small pouch of gems off my belt from Antonio’s stock of treasure and handed it to him.

“Let this motivate you not to get it wrong.”

He opened the pouch to peer inside and blinked a couple times at the sight of the precious riches.

“Where should I tell him to meet you?” he asked.

“Down the beach, where the cliffs meet the water. Tomorrow morning.”

He nodded, tucking the pouch of gems into his pant pocket and looking around like prying eyes could reach out and take it from him. Then, he was off. He skittered down the road, almost colliding with a strolling couple as he headed further into town. Cathal stepped over to my side and watched him with me until he disappeared into the crowd.

“Kristoff isn’t the brightest. Think he can do it?”

“I have no idea,” I sighed. “But if any of us go to his house, he’ll either recognize us or we’ll kill him in front of too many eyes and get ourselves in trouble.”

“Aye. That’s the truth. Aleksi is in the brothel. I’ll go give him the news.”

“Meet on the beach before sundown.”

He nodded and we parted ways, impatient and eager. Looking down, I noticed little Georgie had disappeared from my side, but he had his bread and he had his honey. A part of me did want to track him down and take him with me, but my life, even without Antonio infecting my thoughts, wasn’t for a small boy. Perhaps he was better off on the streets of Dornwich. He knew them well. He was smart.

And I couldn’t save everyone.

My thoughts wandered back to Aeris. She wasn’t an orphaned boy, but the way I wanted to save her was similar. I saw myself in every sad little thing that needed rescuing, and it was my curse. But Aeris was different. She didn’t have that same vengeful poison festering inside her, corrupting her softness. She didn’t have the same furious, violent urges, despite what she was.

Unless it had to do with protecting me.

The thought made my lips twitch, threatening a smile. And as if the thought of her commanded my gaze, I caught sight of a dress store across the street. I could see her in that oversized rag I’d found deep in storage on my ship. It was musty and old and hung on her like a sack. She deserved better.

I headed toward the apparel shop, eyeing the few dresses displayed in the window. They were far too bland for Aeris. Her vivid red hair and astonishing green eyes needed something that brought out her colors.

Entering the shop, I could smell strong rose oil in the air and took a deep breath of the sweet aroma. Quickly, a busty woman with orange curls piled on her head greeted me.

“Not my usual customer,” she said, putting her fists on her wide hips and looking me up and down.

I took off my tricorn and politely inclined my head. “No, I’m not here for me. I’m here for a friend. A good friend.”

“Oh, my.” She placed a hand on her chest. “With that accent, I can’t imagine this ‘friend’ is just a friend. At least she doesn’t want to be,” she giggled.

I gave her a charming smile and a wink and took another scan of the shop and all the dresses displayed on wooden mannequins.

“What size is your friend, then?”

“Very small,” I said, running my fingers over the sleeves of a blue dress with lace trim.

“Small, eh? And what’s her color, then?”

“Fair skin. Green eyes. Red hair.”

“Goodness, she sounds like a doll.” She strolled to the back of the shop, stepping onto a little stool to skim over some boxes stacked on her redwood shelf. “Petite, you said? Let me see.”

Continuing my search for a dress that suited Aeris, I found myself not being drawn to a single one. Then again, I didn’t know women. Not really. I knew working women and the occasional shop owner.

“She outgoing, this friend of yours?”

“Shy,” I said.

“Shy,” she muttered to herself, finally pulling a box from the shelf and stepping off her little stepstool.

She walked the box to a wooden table in the middle of the room and lifted the lid off of it. Inside was a folded, moss-green garment with a square neckline trimmed in small, green beads and braids of fabric.

“Now, this one is special. Might cost you more than a handsome smile.”

I reached in and pulled the dress out by the shoulders, revealing the garment in its entirety. It was indeed small with half sleeves and a sash around the waist made of fine silk. I could already imagine Aeris wearing something so fine. Something for her and not something discarded by someone else.

“I’ll take it,” I said.

“Right then. That’ll be…”

She trailed off as I pulled a handful of coins from my coat pocket and slid them across the table.

“Oh. That’s more than…”

I walked out of the store, folding the dress in half and draping it over my forearm.

“Want a box?” she called after me, but I had what I needed and I all but ignored her, polite as she was.

As soon as I stepped out of the store, I had one thing on my mind. I was feeling strangely elated, despite that my whole purpose in Dornwich was to kill a man. But perhaps that was the source of my joy. Soon, I’d be rid of at least one heavy burden from my past and I was excited to celebrate, even if it was premature. Not with drinks or merriment, though. I found myself just wanting to return to Aeris with the news that we’d found him. We’d found the bastard and my freedom from him was not far off.