Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane (56 page)

‘Some of the guys here now want to turn this place into a restaurant,’ Rose added. ‘They reckon they’ll get bigger tips waiting tables than warming beds.’

‘And that’ll be just cook and curry for all,’ Che said obscurely.

Kal had to smile. Of all the people she had met on this adventure, at least Che wasn’t involved in piracy, dark magic, smuggling, zombie curses, or indeed anything more sinister than smoking ganja. She knew who to come to for some easy, uncomplicated company … and, of course, some good food.

‘Did you go home and check up on your father?’ Kal asked. ‘Is he alright?’

‘I
am
home,’ Che said. ‘Before I leave town, ten years ago, I live
here
in this big ol’ house! My father, he’s the gov’nor. He’s fine now though—no one can hurt him in his little fort.; and he can’t hurt me, haha.’

Kal’s mouth fell open.
What?
‘You never mentioned all this before,’ she said.

‘No way I want the crew to know who my father is,’ Che said. ‘And
they
didn’ tell
me
he been kicked out the house neither!’

Well, this crazy town is bringing out all the secrets tonight,
Kal thought. She had no chance to question Che further, though, because there suddenly came a series of screams and shouts from the somewhere near the main lobby.

‘Stay here,’ Kal said to Che and Rose, and hurried off to see what was going on.

When she arrived back at the entrance hall, she found it twice as busy as when she had left. This time the light from the chandelier reflected not off gilt, but off steel: swords, cutlasses, axes and daggers. And in the hands of the man in the blue coat who commanded the attention of everyone in the Blue Mahoe, the light glimmered off a brace of flintlock pistols.

‘I’m here for the gutter-crawling cur who betrayed my brother and collected the bounty on him. One of you owes me one hundred thousand doubloons … and their life!’

Amaro Azul was tall, with long flowing black hair that was streaked with blue dye. His skin was the deep olive shade common to the people of Eldragoro, and he wore a immaculately-groomed and oiled beard and moustache, as well as a great deal of gold jewelry. His coat was open to reveal a bandolier that holstered
four
more pistols. Kal had heard that such a rig was common at sea, when the chance of drawing a water-ruined weapon was high, but she suspected that this get-up was more for effect than anything.

Azul stepped up to Dead Leg and aimed his pistol right between Dead Leg’s eyes. ‘What about you, sir?’ Azul growled. ‘I heard the slimeball I seek sailed on a leaky heap of flotsam called the
Swordfish
. You fit the description of the captain of that sorry vessel. Was it
you
who brought poor Gaspar here in chains to meet his fate at the gallows?’

Dead Leg kept his cool, despite a bead of sweat breaking out on his forehead. ‘If I had collected the bounty on your brother,’ he said calmly, after swallowing hard, ‘I would be living a life of luxury on a secret island far, far away from the rest of these scallies.’

Azul laughed, and his crew sniggered along. They stopped abruptly when he pointed his pistol upwards and fired a shot that echoed all around the room, brought flakes of plaster floating down from the ceiling, and set the chandelier swinging. ‘Someone better get me a drink and a bite to eat,’ Azul demanded, ‘because I’m going
nowhere
until I’m satisfied!’

Kal edged around the room to where Lula was standing against a pillar in the shadow of the balcony. ‘Do you know who …’ Kal began, but the look Lula gave her told all.

Lula’s teeth were clenched in fear, but her guilty eyes couldn’t meet Kal’s. Lula held her chin up, though, as if she were proud.

Kal’s mind cast back to what Lula had told her as they left Amaranthium:
I decided to keep my head down for a while by joining this gang of smugglers.

Oh no, Lula
, Kal thought to herself.
Just how much more trouble can you get yourself into?

II.v

Tropical Chancer

So it was Lula who had captured the notorious pirate, Gaspar Azul, and handed him over to the governor of Port Black in exchange for a handsome bounty.
Well
, Kal thought to herself,
she’s certainly going to owe me a slice of the pie if I get her out of this mess alive
.

Amaro Azul had turned his attention—and his pistols—on Dogwood. Thankfully, the fat captain wasn’t wearing his Senate Guard surcoat (for a change), so perhaps he didn’t consider himself on duty tonight. Even so, if nothing else, Dogwood wasn’t a coward. He stood up in the face of Azul’s aim and held the pirate’s stare. There was a jingle of belts and chains as Azul’s crew reached for what weapons they hadn’t already drawn.

Kal took a deep breath and stepped forward, shrugging Lula’s hand away from her shoulder. Azul raised a quizzical eyebrow as Kal approached his table, but he lowered his pistols, and Dogwood sat back down. Everyone in the Blue Mahoe now had their eyes on Kal.

‘I know who captured your brother,’ she said to Azul. And, because she had an image as a pirate to cultivate, added, ‘I’ll tell you in exchange for a bar of gold.’

Azul smiled. He had beautiful white teeth—the whitest Kal had seen in Port Black. His coat was salt-faded but clean, and up-close he smelled of cinnamon and pine needles. He was aggressively attractive—the kind of man for whom Kal would instinctively raise her defences … but also sometimes let break through.

‘You undervalue my thirst for vengeance, girl,’ he said. ‘I’ll give you as much gold as you can carry if you tell me.’

Kal sat down at the table next to Dead Leg and Dogwood, and Azul took a seat opposite. ‘His name is Bob Bones,’ Kal said, pulling the name out of thin air. ‘He’s not here, though. He wanted to be let ashore on the coast of Nubara; said he would rather take his chances in the desert than risk running into you.’

Azul treated Kal to an even bigger smile: a smile like a shark. ‘You lie,’ he said. ‘You lie well, I admit, but not well enough to deceive me.’

Kal just shrugged. Her only hope now was to see the bluff through and not waver. Azul’s bright blue eyes held her gaze for over a minute … then he visibly relaxed, laughed, and clapped his hands.

‘So you like to play games,’ he said. ‘Well, so do I! But not with an empty stomach and a dry mouth. Who do you have to kill to get some service around here?’

At that moment, Che appeared carrying a tray loaded with drinks: pint glasses filled with a dark fizzing liquid.

‘Well, hello, Chalky,’ Azul said as the albino set down the tray. ‘What’s this?’ He took a swig, choked, turned his head and sprayed all over the floor.

‘My own champion creation!’ Che said proudly. ‘Made from bissy nuts, vanilla and cocaine. I call it
Vitalize
!’

Azul sniffed it. ‘It might do for washing down my deck,’ he remarked.

Kal and Dead Leg took a cautious sip of theirs. ‘It’s missing something,’ Dead Leg said.

‘Alcohol!’ Kal and Azul said as one.

The Eldragoran pirate snapped his fingers at a member of his gang, who tossed him a bottle of red wine from a nearby table. Azul took everyone’s glasses and tipped away the brown drink until the glasses were only half-f. Then he pulled the cork from the wine with his teeth and topped up the drinks.

He took a swig of the new concoction and sloshed it around in his mouth. ‘This is
my
creation,’ he declared. ‘I name it for my brother …
Gasparvino
!’

Kal tried it, liked it, and told Che to go and prepare more. Azul drained his glass and slammed it back down on the table. ‘Make
lots
more!’ he ordered.

One of the most eventful nights in Kal’s life had just begun.

* * *

The Blue Mahoe was suffocating under a miasma of smoke. As Kal moved between parlours, corridors and alcoves, she couldn’t escape the fog of tobacco and marijuana, and the sharp tang of Sirensbane.

Azul’s crew were mixing with Dead Leg’s, joining together in mutual appreciation of drink, flesh, gambling, drugs and violence. Kal noticed Dogwood throwing dice with Azul’s first mate, a fearsome giant with a beard down to his belt. She saw Bosun playing five finger fillet, egged on by some raucous Eldragorans. Many of the
Drago Azul’s
crew, like the
Swordfish’s
were from all around the world, and Kal saw Jako and some other Nubarans engaged in a naked wrestling contest under the chandelier. Local Islanders from both crews were swapping tales of life in and around Port Black, and even discussing which downtown venues to take the party to later in the evening. Kal heard mention of a gorilla fight held in a secret location on the seafront. Only Dead Leg sat alone, Sea Dog on his lap, watching the proceedings warily with his one good eye. But even he indulged that night: Kal noticed him cradling his stained Sirensbane pipe.

Kal was looking for Lula, and found her—of all places—talking to Azul in a window seat halfway up the main staircase. Lula was also smoking from her glass pipe, and she offered it to Kal as she approached. Kal shook her head; she was sorely tempted, but the previous night, following Lula’s rejection, she had gotten high with Jako instead, and then gambled with Dogwood deep into the night. Kal had won a great deal of money through aggressive play … but sleep had not come her way as easily, and now she was wary of what another night on the drug would do to her body and her senses.

‘Cursed by a god?’ Azul was saying to Lula. ‘I cannot believe it.
You
curse
them
, Lula; you challenge them with your beauty, and—’ He pulled his eyes from Lula’s when he noticed Kal standing there. ‘Ah ha! Here is my tale-telling friend. So
you
tell me why I had to fight my way through fifty mindless ghouls to reach Port Black? No lies now; you know I can’t be fooled.’

Kal thought about all that she had seen and heard recently. ‘The Islanders have brought this nightmare upon themselves,’ she said, cautiously.

Azul fixed her with a stare, and then shrugged.‘As you say,’ he laughed. ‘I would have avoided the jungle altogether if I had known the governor had lost control of the town! Perhaps I will head down and see if this new council of captains needs a new member. If they haven’t got the governor sundried and swinging by now, I will personally see to it. Revenge for Gaspar! The greatest tragedy of all is that he was hung for the one crime that he
didn’t
commit!’

Azul stood up and hoicked at his crotch. ‘But first,’ he said, ‘I need to go and drop the brown anchor and empty the bilges. Don’t go anywhere, ladies!’

‘We have to go!’ Kal said to Lula once Azul was out of earshot. ‘What were you thinking, Lu? You don’t want to be drawing his attention!’

‘It’s called hiding in plain sight, silly,’ Lula protested as Kal dragged her down the staircase. ‘He has no idea who captured his brother. He’ll get drunk, get bored, then get lost! Where would we run to, anyway?’

‘A safehouse in town?’ Kal suggested. ‘Maybe the governor could let us hide with him in his fort. Or we could buy a small boat and take to the sea. You must be able to afford one, Lula, considering the size of the price on Gaspar’s head!’

Lula shook her head. ‘The governor couldn’t make good on the hundred thousand doubloon bounty. Over the years, he financially ruined Port Black; that’s one of the reasons he was run out of town.’

At the foot of the stairs they ran into Dogwood. ‘Moonheart!’ he snapped. ‘I need some money!’

‘You and me both,’ Kal said. ‘Hey, you don’t happen to have any more of those marked notes …’ Then Kal suddenly realised why Dogwood wasn’t wearing his gold-threaded surcoat. ‘You’ve gambled everything away, haven’t you?’ she said. ‘Even the clothes off your back!’

Dogwood bristled. ‘It’s not my fault,’ he moaned. ‘You said the game was mostly random, but there’s a man in town who managed to beat me ten times in a row earlier today!’

Kal raised an eyebrow, ‘A man?’

‘
The Magician
, they call him,’ Dogwood said. ‘And I swear it’s magic—dark weird magic—that he uses to win. I’d go back and challenge him again and try and catch him out, but the Bank of Amaranthium has been closed. They turned it into a temple to Vuda. I have no way of getting any more cash.’

An idea flared up in Kal’s mind. She only considered it for the briefest of moments before committing herself. ‘I have a plan,’ she told the other two. ‘Lula, you go and find us a boat for tomorrow morning. Dogwood, stay here and make sure that Azul and his friends keep drinking. I want them to pass out before they notice we’ve gone.’

‘What are
you
going to do?’ Lula asked.

‘I’m going to get Dogwood’s money back,’ Kal said, ‘and hopefully win some more on top.
And
there’s a few questions I want to ask this Magician character before we leave town.’

* * *

At the bottom of Kal’s sea chest were the envelopes she had packed back in her apartment in the city. One of them contained a letter of introduction from Zeb Zing, Kal’s best friend and proprietor of the Snake Pit in Amaranthium. Kal used the Snake Pit as a bank—one that provided her with a line of credit in almost any gaming house around the world.

She tore off her zombie-splattered shirt and threw it in the firepit. She was standing at the mirror, buttoning up her only remaining item of clothing—her best red silk blouse—when the door to her room opened and Amaro Azul blundered in.

‘You don’t look like the kind of girl who works in a brothel,’ Azul slurred. ‘Which is just as well. When it comes to sex, I never pay …’

There was an awful pause as Azul hiccuped and belched.

‘… the kind of cheap prices they ask for here,’ he finished.

Kal laughed and turned to face the pirate. She screwed up her nose: the force of his drink-infused breath was stronger than the force of his personality.

‘On any other night, you might have a chance,’ Kal said. ‘But you’re too drunk tonight. Far too drunk to appreciate what I have to offer!’