The pirate captain is met by a man at the bottom of the ramp. “How’d we do, Quarter?”
“Best haul we’ve had, Cap’n. The gold on this lot? You were right—it’s Midas’s.” Even with the red cloth over his face, I can hear every word, can see the excited glint in the man’s—Quarter’s—eyes.
“Hmm,” the captain replies, his gaze sweeping over the snow. It lands on the guards kneeling, and he walks over to them, a black brow cocking up. “Stripped them down already?”
Quarter chuckles as he walks up from behind him. “Their armor was plated gold. Even their boots were tipped with it.”
The captain rubs his hands together, but it’s not to keep them warm. It’s the satisfied friction of a crook. “Excellent.”
“The horses are good stock, too. Already loaded ’em on the ship,” Quarter continues.
The captain nods and then turns, his eyes finally deigning to land on us. “This many women?”
“Whores, by the looks of ’em.”
This news piques the captain’s interest. He walks over to survey our line, his boots crunching in the sodden snow, his intense eyes taking in every inch of us.
“Hmm, not just whores,” he murmurs, fingering the dress of one of the women. She trembles, her gaze down, eyes buried in the snow. “They’re dressed far too fine for common whores.” He turns to Quarter, and even though his face is still covered, somehow, I know he’s grinning. “These are Midas’s royal saddles.”
Quarter’s eyes widen, and a low whistle escapes him. “Well, shit. Y’hear that, Reds?” he calls out to the gathered pirates. “We’ll be ridin’ some royal saddles tonight!”
A roar of approval rises up, like a pack of wolves howling at the moon in rabid jubilation. Beside me, Polly whimpers.
The captain walks down the line of women, eyeing each of us carefully. By the time he reaches Polly, she’s shaking so hard that I worry she’ll pass out. When he sees her wearing the fur coat, he flicks an impatient hand.
Quarter comes up and takes hold of it, snapping the buttons right off as he rips the front open. Polly lets out a shrill scream, trying to pull it back together, but another pirate comes up and yanks her arms behind her, holding her still.
Now that she’s being held, the captain pushes her scraps of dress away to get a look at her body. “Nice tits. Midas has good taste, at least.” His eyes travel lazily back up from her breasts to her face. “Look at me, girl.”
But Polly has her eyes shut tight, and she shakes her head no, keeping her chin down, keeping her shoulders curled.
The captain’s dark eyes narrow. “Hmm, these royal saddles are a bit stuck-up, aren’t they, Quarter?” he muses.
The bulky man—probably his second-in-command—nods. “Aye. But we can teach ’em some manners, Cap’n.”
Quarter takes a step forward and grips Polly roughly by her blonde hair, wrenching a cry from her as he tilts her head back, her eyes flaring wide. “You ain’t a royal saddle no more, girl. If Cap’n Fane wants a look at ya, then you give it to him. Y’hear?”
Polly whimpers and then her eyes suddenly roll back, her whole body going slack as she passes out. All three of the pirates let her fall, let her delicate body crash into the snow. Not one of them bothers to lift her back up.
Captain Fane makes a tsking noise. “Weak. We’ll have to train them.”
Inside my dress pockets, my hands shake.
Above me, the blanket of night smothers, holds itself over us, keeps me hostage. Far behind, the mountain pass breathes, a yawning divide that would’ve led us to the border, would’ve led us to Fifth Kingdom.
Too far. We were just too far.
What will happen when our party never shows up to Fifth? How long until Midas sends scouts to search for us? Will he be able to find me? Will it be too late?
Guilt, acidic and hot, steams in my stomach, each rising tendril malignant. Is this a punishment? Do the Divine gods and goddesses scorn me for my urge to leave Midas’s cage? Maybe this is a reprimand of the fates, proof that I should’ve been satisfied with what I had, been grateful for it.
The pirate captain steps in front of me.
My gaze lifts up, up, until it settles on his face. A cruel, callous face. White fur. Red band. Brown eyes.
I should never have looked away from Sail’s eyes. I should’ve stayed there, in that look, where it was safe.
The captain runs the same assessing, nearly bored look over me, same as he did the others. But then he goes still. Squints. Looks harder.
My heart pounds.
He snaps his fingers without ever looking away from me. “Light.”
“Light! Get the captain a light!” Quarter hollers, making me flinch.
I hear running footsteps, a shake of glass and metal. But I can’t look away from the captain. I’m stuck in fear, stuck, as if he has a hand wrapped around my neck.
Someone rushes over with a torch, its yellow flame hissing from the snowfall, its center a wounded red, like they lit it from the paws of their hellish beasts.
Captain Fane snatches the torch and holds it close to me, so close that the heat is nearly painful against my frozen cheeks. He lets the light glow over my face, drags it down my gold-threaded clothes. The glimmering leather of my boots. The luster of my hair.
His brown eyes are no longer aloof or disinterested. There’s surprise there, surprise, and then triumph.
It’s the triumph that makes my chin quiver.
He shoves the torch over to Quarter for him to hold, the man instantly gripping it. Then the captain reaches forward, grabbing my tangled braid, and holds the strands in front of the light. He drops it after a few seconds, and then my hand is snatched up. He yanks off my glove, studying my fingers, my palm, my nails. My skin glitters in the firelight.
“It can’t be,” he mutters before he reaches up and yanks away the red cloth that covers his face, the fabric lying around his neck like a scarf. He’s younger than I would’ve first guessed—maybe only in his early thirties.
To my disgust, the captain pulls my hand closer and then licks the skin below my thumb. I cringe, trying to pull away, but he holds me firmly and then rubs at the licked spot, like he wants to see if the gold will come off.
Paint. The other pirate had thought I was covered in paint. The captain just realized that I’m not.
A slow, daunting smile spreads across his face. A face laid bare for me to see, with a mouth revealing a few missing teeth that have been replaced with the same white wood as the ship. Short, dark blond facial hair growing on only his chin, the ends gathered in red beads. A thick piercing through his left ear, a plug of red-stained wood filling the hole. I don’t dare wonder if it’s been soaked in blood.
My mouth goes dry at that smile, at that look he gives me. It’s the kind of look that tells a woman all she needs to know about what kind of man has hold of her. If I had breath in my lungs, I would scream. But I’m dried up, emptied out. The only thing inside of my chest is that steaming guilt and a cold clutch of terror.
Without warning, the captain snatches my wrist and tugs me forward. I stumble at the unexpected move, but he spins around on his heel, raising my hand high above my head like a show of victory, like a prize to show off. “Reds! Look at the treasure we unburied!”
His voice booms across the Barrens like a drum.
“We’ve got Midas’s gilded whore!”
