Chronicles of the Dragon Pirate (4 page)

To my complete surprise Captain Cholula didn’t seem the least bit upset, but only chuckled. “Not very creative, are you? Captain Alfonso, meet Karl the Hammer, a mercenary of sinister reputation but absolute honor, if you can believe it. He’s my personal armsman.” She stepped between them. “Before Tomas goes one more step, I need but one more thing from him.” She spoke to the empty air beside her. “Shadow-viper, if you would?”

A young woman’s voice, soft and silky, came from the air in front of me. “Well met, Tomas. With your permission, I’d like to taste a little of your life essence, so I will know for certain you’ve not been in contact with any of the Dark Sisters, and learn...other things as well.”

I felt like a boy trying to cross the marsh at night without a dragon-globe or a torch. “I suppose it’s alright,” I said as I held out my arm.

Delicate fangs perhaps a little larger than Smoke’s pierced my flesh, only to be withdrawn a moment later, the spot where they’d touched me barely getting a chill. Shadow-viper’s voice sounded smug as she spoke from the air next to my ear. “Cholula, my love, you truly want this one.”

I would’ve bolted for St. Augustine right then and there, had it not been for Alfonzo’s hand on my shoulder. “Tomas is not yours.”

“Once again,” General Montejo said in an exasperated voice, “Captain Cholula has made a dog’s dinner out of a fine meal.” He turned to Alfonzo, speaking to him in a more reasonable tone. “My good captain, Lord Marcus understands the situation in St. Augustine, and the fine things Tomas has done for your fair town. Truly, we are not here to steal him away. All we wish to do is talk.”

Alfonzo looked at me for a long moment before turning back towards General Montejo. “If that’s all Lord Marcus wants then we shall talk.”

General Montejo smiled, making a sweeping gesture with his hand towards the open door of the church. “Then let us proceed inside. Captain Cholula, I do not want your men milling around. Send them back to your ship.”

Captain Cholula raised her eyebrows. “Do you think that wise?”

He glared back at her. “Five minutes alone out here and your men will be searching for willing women among the natives.”

“Only five? Very well; Too-Tall Henry, take the lads back. But keep a weather eye out, and stay ready after you’re aboard.”

“Aye, captain,” the tallest of the Africans said, and he got her soldiers marching, more or less, out the gate while General Montejo led Alfonzo and me into the church. Captain Cholula and Karl the Hammer followed at our heels, while Master Gomez and the two soldiers with silver wolves on their breastplates brought up the rear. The rest of the soldiers remained outside, one of them closing the door behind us with a hollow boom.

The inside of the church was surprisingly well lit from the four dragon-globes hanging down from the ceiling in woven baskets. At the rear of the church the wooden altar stood against the white wall, a mural of the crucifixion drawn in bloody detail upon it. Row after row of wooden benches stood on either side. To one side rested a wooden baptismal font, around which three men in fine Artifact coat-of-plate armor and long, black cloaks, stood talking.

Their voices went silent as we entered, and they watched us with dark eyes as Shadow-viper’s voice whispered in my ear. “Those three are called the Elders, Dragons next in line for Lord Marcus’s position as Knight-Abbott. None of them are favored above the others, though all know that Sebastian has all but secured the election for himself...when Lord Marcus is dead, of course.”

Alfonzo heard, for he muttered, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Captain Cholula gave a low chuckle. “Indeed.”

We walked up the center aisle towards a man sitting in the second row, facing the altar, who turned his head to watch us approach. He was lean, his wrinkled face close to being skeletal, with a bald head marred by brown spots, and he stared at us with eyes shrunken into his skull like dark pits. But his voice was firm as he hailed us. “Ah, Captain Alfonzo; I feared you were not coming. And you must be young Tomas.” He slid over on the bench and patted the surface beside him. “Come sit with me.”

There was naught in the world I wanted to do less. But I did as he asked, sitting on the bench as far away from him as I could, as General Montejo bowed to him. “Sir, the heathen chief and his son have yet to arrive.”

The old man shrugged. “We clearly told their envoy sunset today. Very well: once we have concluded our business here, we shall adjourn to the ships.” Master Gomez made a strangled sound, and the old man looked at him. “You are troubled, master merchant?”

Master Gomez was sweating. “Ah, a little, milord.”

“They are the ones who broke faith this time, not you, and in front of witnesses. I would say the score is settled, at least where honor is concerned. Would you not agree?” Master Gomez bobbed his head and the old man looked at me. “So tell me, Tomas, who am I?”

I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. “I’d say you’re Lord Marcus, head of the order Draco Dominus. At least the chapter in the New World,” I amended quickly, adding, “I mean, who else could you be?”

He chuckled,” Who else, indeed? Now tell me, what do you know of our order?”

I chose my words with care. “Only what my foster-mother’s told me.”

“And I can well imagine just what she has said, considering the Draco Dominus, under a different Knight-Abbot of course, helped in the destruction of Fort Caroline. She has told you we were once part of the Templar knights, has she not?” I gave him a tentative nod and he continued. “We alone of the Templars survived the great purge, and only because we could call upon our dragon-spirits in our defense. So his Holiness spared our order and made it independent. But there was a price. Since the Templars had built themselves great fortresses and had amassed an enormous amount of wealth, corrupting themselves in the endeavor, we were ordered to never follow in their footsteps. Thus, we are only allowed temporary places of shelter. For example, two years ago his Holiness, Pope Paul, ordered all the Draco Dominus to abandon their fortresses, so I had our chapter destroy the fortress we held on Hispaniola and re-establish ourselves on the island of Jamaica. We did this without a word of complaint, for we are an order of wandering knight-monks, obedient to his Holiness at all times.” He gave me a shrewd look. “Now tell me, since we are a wandering order, what refuge do we have that no one can take away from us?” I shook my head and he said, “Take a moment to look at Captain Cholula and think.”

I turned my head to look at the captain, imagining her on the deck of her...”Ships,” I blurted out in sudden realization. “If your order always has to wander then they’re perfect, because a ship’s always travelling.” I looked back at Lord Marcus. “You wander the seas in your own floating fortresses, and no one can take them away, because you’re following the letter of the law.”

Lord Marcus gave me a pleased look. “Cholula said you had a full set of wits about you, and once again she speaks the truth. You have the right of it: our order does wander the waves, hunting pirates and those out of favor with his Holiness, heretics and the like.” His face became severe. “But our true mission is seeking out and destroying Shadowmen and those Dragons who have given themselves over to evil, the dragon-spirits known to their kind as the Dark Sisters.”

“Lord Tiberius told me about them when he renewed my license,” I said, beginning to forget my fear. “He said they have the ability to turn men into golems. Is that true?”

“They are not truly golems,” Lord Marcus replied, “although the Draco Magistris calls them such, and while Tiberius believes they are created through the Dark Sisters, no one truly knows how they come into being. In essence: Shadowmen are humans neither alive nor dead. They cannot die of natural causes, but neither can they heal from their wounds, and they can only eat the flesh of men and women, choking on any other food they try to eat. Also wine, or any other kind of alcoholic spirit, will poison them.”

“Our blood’s like wine to them,” Captain Cholula said. “Shadowmen retain their wits and their earthly lusts, but they cannot be killed with ordinary steel unless hacked apart.”

“Artifact weapons kill them,” Karl the Hammer said. His voice was rough, as if a stone were given speech. “They’re stronger than a normal man but slow, especially when the sun’s out. And their Dragon’s die like normal men, since a dragon-ghost can’t get strength out of a Shadowman.”

I gaped at him. “You’ve fought them, man to man?”

He nodded. “Captain Thorne, master of the ship ‘The Black Narwhale’, is reaving the seas around the Bahamas short a few crewmembers these days.”

Captain Cholula’s face grew serious. “The next time we find them they’re going to join the ones we’ve already sent to hell.”

Lord Marcus raised his hand in a calming gesture and Cholula subsided. “My dear Captain Cholula,” Lord Marcus’s face turning back towards mine, “was searching for them when I called her back to perform another duty for the order, one she is especially good at...as an Inquisitor.” The knot of fear returned three-fold, and must’ve shown on my face, for Lord Marcus laid a hand upon my shoulder. “Cholula is not an Inquisitor in the old sense, someone looking to purify the heretic’s soul by fire. Rather, she is as Inquisitor’s were meant to be: someone who investigates.”

I nodded in understanding, and he took his hand away. But I was still concerned. “If I may ask, sir: why did you need to investigate St. Augustine in the first place?”

“Why indeed? You see, when Master Gomez sent word of his dilemma, he knew we would never come to his aid out of the goodness of our hearts, much as we might like to. So he offered us treats to tempt us, starting with knowledge of the smuggling operations of his longtime rival, Master Mendez, whose assets we seized this afternoon.”

Alfonzo glared at him. “St. Augustine depends on the goods smuggled in to survive. We’ll never make it only on what the Spanish merchants send us.”

“Yes, yes, I know that. Why else do you think we have let it go on under our noses for so long? But the Spanish crown still has an edict against smuggling, and for now we are selectively enforcing it.”

“Keeping the gold and goods for yourselves.”

“Of course. Captain Alfonzo, we are a wandering order of knight-monks without any tax revenues to support us. But soldiers expect to be paid.”

“Lord Tiberius won’t stand for it.”

Lord Marcus chuckled. “My dear captain, I have done Tiberius a great favor. Some of his more far flung smugglers were becoming independent, like Master Mendez, and in one blow I have brought the rest of them scurrying back to Tiberius’s loving arms. He will commend me publicly for bringing this malefactor to the king’s justice while letting me know privately who his next merchant smuggler shall be, and I will make it a point to leave the man’s operations in St. Augustine alone. It is a game Tiberius and I have played for years.” He looked at me. “However, that was not the only treat Master Gomez offered us, for he knows we are always on the lookout for wild Dragons who will make good fighters.”

Alfonzo whirled on Master Gomez, who’d placed himself behind the two soldiers with silver wolves on their breastplates. “You unholy bastard!”

Master Gomez raised his hands in supplication. “Captain, I can explain.”

“Gentlemen,” General Montejo barked as Alfonzo’s hands curled into fists, “if you please! I expect both of you to act with decorum in front of the Knight-Abbot.”

Alfonzo glared at the merchant as he uncurled his hands, and then deliberately turned his back on the portly man. Lord Marcus continued as if nothing had happened. “Now, wild Dragons are not as rare as they once were, and many are not worth bringing into the fold. So I sent Captain Cholula to see if you were worth the trouble.”

“But I swear I’ve never set eyes on her before tonight! How could she have investigated me?”

“How indeed? Think back and tell me, when could Captain Cholula have investigated you?”

I turned to look at Captain Cholula as my thoughts ranged back in time. “Sir, I swear to you I don’t know. The only stranger we had in the house recently was a sailor’s whore being treated for the red pox.”

Alfonzo made a strangled sound. “What! Johanna would never do that.”

Captain Cholula barked out a laugh. “She did when I paid her with gold. Shadow-viper’s not a healer, but Red-dog’s been with the order for a while, and she could’ve done it easily after the symptoms first showed up.” Karl gave an amused snort, and she shrugged. “Go ahead and say ‘I told you so’. But the boy was too comely to pass up, and you have to admit it got me into the shoppe.” I listened with growing horror as she went on. “I went to Johanna with a sad tale which she thought was my own and she took pity on me, but also took the gold I offered, and let me stay with her after Smoke had extracted the pox nodules. Tomas, of course, was not allowed to help, and I kept my face covered by a grey shawl while I was healing.” Her face softened for a moment. “You always call Johanna Belle-M’ere, which means something in French.”

“Beautiful-mother”, Karl said.

“Indeed she is,” Cholula said. “We became thick as thieves, she and I, for Johanna loves to tell a tale as well as hear one told. But to the rest of the household I was like a little grey mouse: watching everything but saying nothing.” She gave me a wicked grin. “I also got a rare treat when Captain Alfonzo came to the house after the old man had gone to the tavern, and he and Tomas stripped off their shirts and went at it with wooden swords. Johanna and I watched from the upstairs window, of course, so not to disturb the boys at their play. You then had Smoke create an air-golem of a wolf, and the two of you went at it like sailors in a wine shoppe brawl.”

Everything she said had happened, but I didn’t understand how she could’ve been there to see. “Smoke should’ve known what you were the moment you set foot in the shoppe.”

Captain Cholula tapped the temple of her forehead. “Not with Shadow-viper taking residence up here. There are ways to tell, of course, but a dragon-ghost has to know what she’s looking for, and Smoke is untrained.”