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Aidan wrapped his broad hand around hers, closing it in a fist around the pearl. He nodded to the merchant. “We need to tie up that one. ”
“I know just the thing,” she said brightly, heading straight for Fraser’s suitcase and his grim cargo. She pulled out a pair of steel cuffs, dangling them. “Shall we throw away the key?”
He laughed again. “You’re full of surprises. I only regret that the Endeavor has left port. ” He knelt to shackle Fraser’s hands. “I’ve half a mind to put this one in the hold so he can spend the rest of his days laboring on some other man’s plantation. ”
She sighed, regretful of one thing. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get Captain Will. ”
“You’ll get your chance,” a voice announced from the doorway.
She startled, but Aidan only froze, as though turned to stone. Standing in the doorway was the man with the black pearl, and he was seething.
Above that normal body, those normal clothes, his face was distorted into a mask of rage. Elspeth’s eyes were drawn downward, and her flesh crawled to see the weapon dangling from his hand. He held a large ax—a sailor’s boarding ax—its flat head tapering into a lethally sharp spike. She knew such a thing was used as both tool and weapon, to hack through rigging, to hook and drag timber across deck, to climb and board another ship. And, of course, to slaughter men.
“So happy you could join us,” Aidan said. He rose, unsheathing his sword. “I’ve been dreaming of this for thirteen long years. ”
But the captain ignored him, glaring only at Elspeth. “I believe you took something of mine. I’ll not leave without it. ” He strolled toward her, swinging that gruesome weapon. “And I’ve had second thoughts. I think I might take you with me after all. ”
“No. ” Aidan stepped in front of her. “You won’t. ”
The captain peered at him, as though seeing him for the first time. His lips peeled into a slow smile. “I see the little chimney rat has grown up. ” He scanned up and down Aidan’s body, sneering at the sword in his hand. “You overreach, boy. ”
With a feral growl, Aidan attacked, slashing his sword down hard, but the captain grabbed his ax in both hands—one gripping the base, one the head—stopping the blade with its handle.
Aidan pressed forward, feinting and thrusting. “And you’re overmatched,” he said, slashing diagonally again and again.
“You won’t beat me, chimney boy. ” The captain bobbed back, blocking the onslaught with the handle of his weapon. “You’re naught but chattel to sell at market. ”
“And you’re naught but an aging cur. ” Aidan had him pinned in the corner, and Elspeth inched as close as possible to watch.
“Well suited, we are. Both men without homes. ” The captain edged along the wall, and spun free of the trap. Suddenly it was Aidan who found himself in the corner, his sword useless at so close a range. “The difference is, you’re a man without options. ”
Elspeth gasped then clamped her hand over her mouth. She dared not create a distraction. Her eyes flitted across the room, looking for some weapon, some way to help. Her head buzzed with energy, her body quivering with the need to act.
The captain switched his ax to one hand and hauled back for the kill. “But now it’s time for you to die. ”
Captain Will swung, and though the ax was lethal, it was clumsy, too, and Aidan managed to duck out of its path. The captain swung again, and again Aidan managed to dodge him.
But with no shield for blocking, Aidan would soon tire of hopping to and fro. Soon the blow would come that he’d be unable to evade.
She scanned the room again, and this time her eyes lit on the bellows. Not a shield, but better than nothing. “Here,” she called, tossing it to him.
The captain laughed, swatting the ax leisurely in the flat of his palm. “A bellows? Think you to gust and puff me to death?” Face freezing into a grimace, he exploded to action, and this time when he swung, the bellows stopped his blow.
“To death? You misunderstand me. ” Aidan pried his impromptu shield free and darted around the captain. A quick glance showed that though it was edged in metal, the bellows had been hacked halfway through. “I won’t kill you. I’ll see you suffer as I have. ”
Aidan prowled toward the captain, a cold smile on his face, and at the last minute, threw the bellows at him. The pirate was momentarily distracted, and Aidan slashed his sword deeply across the man’s torso.
Captain Will looked in disbelieving horror at his belly.
“Gutted like a fish,” he said with eerie calm. He raised his ax to strike, but his swing was awkward.
Aidan blocked, then knocked the ax from the pirate’s hand. He shoved the man to his knees. “And caught like one. ”
Aidan glanced at Fraser’s suitcase, and Elspeth understood at once. She retrieved a second pair of shackles, this one more elaborate, with four cuffs connected by long lengths of chain suited for hands and feet. “But don’t you want to kill him?” she asked quietly.
“And spare others the pleasure of watching him swing from the gallows?” He used the butt of his sword to knock the man onto his haunches. “Nor would I rob him of the many pleasures he has in store. First, I’m going to sell that pretty pearl, and rather than use it to pay for his burial, I’ve a mind to split the money among the men in his hold. ”
The captain’s head was lolling now, and he looked ready to topple.
