Rabbit Trick: A Mindspace Investigations Novella (6 page)

The Venetian sighed. “Mother, leave off tormenting the captain. I will not go with you, and you cannot stay, no matter what treaty you have made with the local sea-god. You know very well that the sea will not lose its viscous ink so long as you stand here. It is a poor adventure indeed when one never moves. Go back home, I will be back in a year or two if things go well. I have promised you thrice already.”

She turned, and stamped her foot at her son. “It isn’t fair! You get all the fun while your father talks to tedious men and cavorts with silly mistresses! I will not be ignored.” The sea grew shaky below them, until the ship’s boards groaned with the strain of this unexpected movement.

“And I will not adventure with you any longer. You must go alone.” The Venetian’s tone was quiet, sure, full of his own power. The air seemed tense around him, tense so much that Allende once more knew a battle between them would crush them all.

“Adventuring alone is not what I want.”

A sailor fainted just in Allende’s periphery, and the ship groaned as the inky water began to rise. Shortly they would all be like de Tera, lost at sea, swallowed up against all nature. de Tera had been right, it seemed, about the Venetian. He was a magician, surely, if not worse. This one fare would kill all of his crew, and Allende was responsible for all of their lives.

“Give me your word you shall not harm the ship, my crew, or myself in any way,” he heard himself saying.

“What?” the Venetian asked. The woman-creature turned as well.

“You, lady. If I go with you, give me your word you will leave my ship be forever after and that you will not harm me.”

“Of what benefit is that to me?” the woman-creature said.

She was petulant, perhaps, but there was a mind there to appeal to. He prayed that there was. And great beauty, beauty such as he had never seen. This was to be his last journey, after all, and he could at least save the sailors from their fate.

“My lady, you clearly travel by means other than ships,” he said cautiously. “You have offered to take your son to underwater palaces, and unless he be far different than any other man, you have means to keep him hale. I have spent forty years at sea. I have traveled near all of the world, and what I have not, I have studied.
If
you give me your word to leave my ship be, not to harm me nor to allow me to come to harm in any way, I will go with you and show you all that I have seen. You wish to adventure, and to not adventure alone. I will go with you.”
 

She frowned, but he could see her interest. “I know the sea better than any man.”

He gripped his courage in his hands and stepped toward her. “Do you know the land? The bazaars of Istanbul. The camels of Arabia. The spice markets of the Indies, and the silk spinners of the Orient. Creatures with long noses that princes ride upon to war. Trees so large a dozen men holding hands cannot measure their breadth. There are wonders out there, and adventures a plenty. Who is to say your son should be the only one to test his mettle against the wide world?”

“This is a terrible idea,” the Venetian said. “She will break you like a shell the first time she has a temper.”

“I will
not,”
the woman-creature said. “I rather like the captain. And if he offers me adventure…”

Allende stopped. What had he promised? What had he gotten himself into? “Adventure indeed I will offer you,
if…
” Allende said.

She took a breath, and truly considered. Allende nearly reconsidered, but the ship groaned loudly as the pressure of the seas built. Sailors whimpered, and he knew he had no choice.

The woman-creature smiled, a smile that lit up the sea. “Very well. I promise to leave your ship and your crew unharmed. I promise not to harm you, nor to allow you to come to harm to whatever degree I have influence. I will not be held an oathbreaker if you court danger without my presence,” she added. There was wit there, and compassion, which sat oddly with the petulance and beauty. Perhaps she might deal fairly, if she found what she sought. He prayed she would, for upon such things his life depended.

“Thank you, my lady,” he added, through his real fear. But beside it, perhaps a small excitement, perhaps a knowledge that this, after all, would not be his last adventure, his last voyage at sea. “I pray thee, give me a scant hour to settle my ship for my absence and to gather things.” He took a breath and considered. “Am I able to bring a sea trunk?” His life—for as long as it lasted in her presence—would be much improved by the taking of supplies.

She considered. “Perhaps a large sack, something you can carry about your person. We shall have plenty of fish to feed upon, but the sea does get cold at times. Go, and I will talk with my son.”

“Very well, my lady,” Allende said, regret and excitement mixing within his gut.

“How will father feel about this?” the Venetian asked in a stern tone. “Consider it, mother. With both of us gone, who will take care of him? Pray, reconsider.”

“He should take care of himself, or find yet another mistress to do so,” the woman-creature said. “
I
will have an adventure.”
 

The two moved up to the helm, and continued to talk in low tones. Allende stopped to speak with Ortiz, his first mate, currently huddled behind the mast, to give him courage and brace him for the responsibilities to come—if they lived.

After, he gripped his fate in his hands and passed belowdecks, passing common sailor upon sailor who cowered away from him, as if he were contaminated. The ship creaked again, more urgently, with the edge of the sound of snapping wood.

He had pledged his life to the survival of the ship and its crew, year after year. If he were to keep the pledge, he must move far faster than the hour.

But if the beauty and the wit of the woman-creature held, he would have one more great adventure, and live on the seas and in the foreign lands some time longer. Or he would die, as he had lived, a part of the sea and all its wonders after all. Now to assemble supplies and to determine where to take her first, and how to navigate with only the stars, a sextant, and the inky black sea.

Find out more about Alex Hughes and her work and read excerpts, short stories, deleted scenes and more at
http://www.ahugheswriter.com
.
 

While you’re there, consider signing up for the newsletter for updates on new releases and the occasional free short story here:
http://www.ahugheswriter.com/email-signup
.

Check out the rest of the series:

Clean

Payoff
(novella)

Sharp

Marked
(coming April 1
^st
2014)

(All links support the author.)

Alex Hughes, the author of the award-winning Mindspace Investigations series from Roc, has lived in the Atlanta area since the age of eight. She is a graduate of the prestigious Odyssey Writing Workshop, and her short fiction has been published in several markets including
EveryDay Fiction
,
Thunder on the Battlefield
and
White Cat Magazine
. She is an avid cook and foodie, a trivia buff, and a science geek, and loves to talk about neuroscience, the Food Network, and writing craft—but not necessarily all at the same time. You can visit her at Twitter at @ahugheswriter or on the web at www.ahugheswriter.com.