They leave us alone.
For an hour, maybe two, while they’re busy at work, following some invisible navigation they seem to use that tells them where to go in this dark, frozen world.
It’s a lot of shouting and rushing around as they get going, steered by the fire claws, our vessel leading the other two ships that travel behind us.
Soon, we start to fly.
Gliding across the barren ice land, the ships race onward as they catch the sweet spot of speed. Using the strength of the running beasts pulling like wolves on a sleigh, the ships use it to their advantage, whips cracking, until we’re going so fast that all the ships need is the slick ground to carry their velocity.
All three snow pirate ships careen across the expanse of white as sleet continues to fall, whipping at our faces in the wind. The smooth wooden bottoms slide like an unstoppable force, snow spraying up against the sides like cresting waves.
Even with the wind tearing through my hair and the rain soaking my dress, I stay standing, stay gripping the railing, stay staring at Sail’s body ahead.
And that anger, that first spark of it that lit when my ribbons uncurled to shove Mist, it comes coiling up again.
The shocked sadness of Sail’s death was cold. But this, this is hot and red—as red as the band across Captain Fane’s face.
My eyes settle on him, on where he stands at the bow as he shouts orders and directions below. The black feather in his hat is bent back with the open rush of the air, and there’s a glint at his waist, at the knife tucked there.
It’s that knife that I focus on, that I stare at as I let go of the railing at last, my fingers cramping, still missing one glove from where the captain tore it off to touch me.
I don’t care that it’s full night, carrying weighted shadows that suppress my soul. I don’t care that the clouds unleashed a torrent. I don’t care that I’m one woman against a ship load of men. I don’t care that I’m vulnerable, that I’m walking toward the captain alone.
Because Sail was my friend.
And this is not okay.
My ribbons trail behind me as my steps grow surer, my spine straighter. A mantra plays in my mind as I remember Sail’s last comforting gaze.
This is not okay, this is not okay.
No one stops me as I walk forward, no one even looks my way. I’m so inconsequential to them—all of the saddles left on the deck are. A fact made obvious since we’ve been left unguarded. Left to huddle and cower on the deck.
But I won’t do that. Not with Sail strung up like that. I suppose a person has limits, and this is mine.
It’s easy, so easy to make it across the ship. To pass by without anyone bothering to even look my way. It’s the arrogance of men, to think so little of women. And it’ll be their downfall too.
Past hooks of weapons, past coils of rope, past pirates hauling loot, I veer around it all. Until I make it all the way to the bow. Right behind the captain.
All twenty-four of my ribbons move like tentacles. All down my spinal cord, growing in perfect symmetry out of my skin, the inch-wide satin strips rise up on either side of my spine, from the bottom of my neck, to the dimples above my butt.
Their long lengths are like snakes ready to strike. Not at the captain, but to Sail, to the ropes that bind him to the pole.
Some of the saddles in the middle of the ship see me and cast nervous looks around, some of them inch forward to get a better look through the wind-driven rain.
I stand at the base of the wooden post, looking up, directing, moving each ribbon with determined intent. Even as they get sodden and heavy with rain, they deftly tug out knots. When that’s not enough, their edges harden, no longer soft like satin, but sharp—as sharp as the edge of a blade. Golden silk battles against corded twine, ripping and yanking, slicing into the strands like they’re nothing.
“Oy!”
I ignore the shout that snags the attention of the pirates, ignore them as they finally see me, see what I’m doing. My ribbons keep shredding, keep tugging.
When the first pirate gets to me and snags my arm, a ribbon is already there to intercept him. It lashes out, slices into his arm, cutting through his thick furs like they’re as thin as a petal.
A muffled yelp of surprise escapes him as he stumbles back and lets go of me to put a hand over his wound, but I pay him no mind. My eyes are still up, my attention ensnared on Sail’s body.
Down. I want to get him down.
My ribbons work viciously, directed with barely a thought, fueled by anger as red as a fire claw’s flames, despite the fact that they’re soaked-through and heavy.
One after another, the bindings fall away from Sail’s body, until someone grabs me from behind and spins me around.
I come face-to-face with Captain Fane, his brown eyes searing, his face uncovered. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarls.
His hands grip my arms so tightly that he pinches my skin despite the layers of my sleeves covering me. I shove at him, but the slaps of my hands do nothing against him. He barely even notices it, because he’s too busy looking behind me, looking up.
To where my ribbons are cutting through the last of the ropes.
The captain’s eyes widen. “Shi—”
Before he can finish his curse, Sail’s body is falling.
It crashes over us, cold flesh and stiff muscles knocking us down, tearing me out from the captain’s hold.
I land in a jolted heap, Sail’s legs sprawled over my torso. The sound of footsteps pound toward us, voices yelling through the whipped wind.
I roll out from under Sail and outstretch my ribbons again, making them wrap around his body. Around and around they go, until he’s bound from neck to hip, and then I start to pull.
He’s heavy and both of us are soaking wet, but my ribbons pull as hard as they can, refusing to let go. Inch by inch, they drag him across the puddling deck.
The strain is instant along my spine, the muscles at my back burning with every tug, already exhausted. But I have no time to slow, no time to rest between heaves, because the Red Raids are coming for me, the captain is snarling, vile anger in his expression as I pull Sail’s body toward the edge of the ship.
“Stop!” Captain Fane shouts—not at me, but at his men. “I’ll fucking deal with her.”
Dread swarms around me, but I don’t let it show on my face, I don’t let it stumble my steps.
Because I don’t care.
I don’t care that the captain has a promise of punishment on his face as he stalks toward me. I don’t care what he’ll do to me for this. Because he killed my friend. He killed him, and I couldn’t stop it.
But I can stop this. I can stop the Red Raids from dishonoring Sail’s body. So I will.
With gritted teeth, with sweat and sleet dripping down my temples, I heave. I keep two ribbons loose, poised at my sides, ready to lash out at any who approach or try to stop me.
But the pirates backed off at Captain Fane’s order, so it’s just me. Just me, dragging Sail’s body slowly—too slowly—as the captain stomps toward me, fists clenched and eyes raving.
My back hits the railing of the ship, and I waste no time to lean down, placing my hands under Sail’s arms. I pull as hard as I can, ribbons straining with me as we try to get him up.
Heavy. So damn heavy.
My back sags against the railing, panted breath butchering through my chest, the wind and rain making it hard to breathe, to see. My body is frozen through, my fingers slippery and numb.
Being this spent and labored is a consequence of my own idleness. I was too useless, too passive, all those years in my cage. My ribbons slip around Sail.
Weak, I’m so damn weak.
My golden eyes find the saddles where they’re standing off to the side, huddling in their circle, as if they can keep out the weather, the world. “Help me,” I beg them.
My eyes go to Polly, who managed to get my golden coat again, the gold fur wrapped around her to help ward off the rain. But she stays still, unmoving, unwilling.
“Please,” I plead, finding Rissa next. But she doesn’t move either. Maybe Rosh… But he looks away as soon as my gaze finds him.
Outsider. Even when I’m trying to help one of our guards, a guard who was kind to each and every one of them, I’m the outsider. I’m on my own.
Captain Fane laughs. “Not even your fellow whores are willing to help you.” His voice is so thoroughly pleased.
I sniff, forcing myself to keep it together, to not give up. Sail didn’t give up, not for a second. I can do no less for him.
I will do this.
I heave again, ribbons straining, pulling at the skin of my back, like sewing needles threaded through the muscles.
Captain Fane takes a taunting step closer to me. Close, but not close enough for my ribbons to lash at him. He studies them, taking in the way they curl, the way they tug. Vile eyes flick up, a crooked smile showing off those few wooden teeth. “Look, Reds. A true fuck puppet. She even comes with her own strings.”
Mocking mirth surrounds me. Their laughter horrible, their words worse.
I block it all out, my teeth clenched so tightly together that my jaw jumps. Amidst the ongoing snickering, I manage another hefty tug, and I get Sail’s body propped up at last.
My back screams with fire, while rain and sweat drip along my spine, but it’s nearly enough…it’s nearly there…
The captain’s mouth curves up in cruel amusement as he watches me continue to struggle. I must look pitiful, pulling a guard who’s nearly a hundred pounds heavier than me, soaking wet in a puddle.
“Are you trying to jump overboard and ride your dead guard like a sled?” the captain asks, making some of the pirates behind him chuckle.
He holds up his arms and turns full circle, displaying the desolate land all around. “Hate to break it to you, but we’re in the middle of the Barrens, you stupid cunt. You’re not going anywhere.”
My body shakes, my ribbons strain. But I don’t give up. I don’t give in.
The captain steps closer, testing my boundaries, pecking at me, looking for an opening.
In a snap decision, I wrap the remaining two ribbons around Sail, leaving me defenseless to the captain’s advances. All of this will be pointless if I don’t.
The last two ribbons give me the extra strength I need.
Captain Fane lunges for me, but he’s too late, because I’ve hauled Sail’s body up and over the side. The second I do, my ribbons unwind from his body, passing him over to gravity’s clutches, and he falls.
Falls, falls, falls, landing right in a pile of pillowed snow far below.
I lean over, watching, chest heaving, dropping icicle tears into the rain as our ship slides past.
A blink, and Captain Fane is there, snatching my ribbons in a vise-like grip. He crushes them together in his fist, yanking them tight against my spine, my back arching painfully.
“You foolish bitch. All that fuss, and you failed. Couldn’t even manage to make the jump.”
He yanks me away from the railing and starts to drag me away, but he’s wrong. I wasn’t trying to escape. I never intended to jump. I couldn’t survive the fall anyway, and they’d only catch me if I managed to somehow make it.
No, I accomplished exactly what I meant to. I got Sail away from here. Away from these pirates, off this ship.
His place of rest might be a mound of snow in the middle of the Barrens, but it’s better than the alternative. I couldn’t let him stay strung up for a second longer.
I get pulled harshly, quickly across the deck, toward the captain’s quarters, toward that punishment his eyes promised.
“You can’t disrespect his body anymore,” I say boldly. Bright side. It’s the only bright side I have right now to cling to, as bleak and grim as it is.
Captain Fane’s grip tightens on my ribbons in anger at my words. They’re tired, wet, and wilted, crushed in his hold and sapped of strength, same as me.
“Fine,” he says against my neck as he leads me on. “Then I suppose I’ll just disrespect yours.”
