Last Request

Serenica waited to hear her sentence. While gambling was frowned upon under normal circumstances, these times were unusual, and truly, the captain had been just as much on edge as the rest of them. He just handled it in a different manner. Serenica tried to remain calm. It was a hard thing to do. She thought she heard a squeaking noise in her head. Surely it didn't come from the ship or anyone near her. She was reminded of the poor mouse she had disturbed a while ago.

She only hoped that mice were not as cowardly as they were thought to be.

"Relax, lass."

Spade almost never called her that. This was serious. He was going to do something bad to her.

Still, he didn't grab her by her hair or her arm. He didn't hit her.

It slowly dawned on Serenica that the captain intended to do something way worse than that.

Serenica swallowed.

"Come with me. I'll show you something interesting," Spade said.

He took her to a quiet spot in the rear end of the ship. They were on the deck, looking towards the sea, and while the sparkling turquoise was hypnotic enough to make Serenica forget the whole gambling ordeal, the captain pointed at something in the water just beside the ship and cleared his throat.

Serenica didn't see anything that would have been noteworthy to her.

"Barnacles," Spade said.

Serenica didn't understand why he was cursing.

"The damned barnacles," the captain repeated. "Look at the side of the ship. Lean further - aye, like that."

Serenica nearly fell overboard while reaching to look at the barnacles that had attached themselves close to the waterline, apparently during a time when the Princess had been carrying heavier cargo and had had more of its nimble hull underwater.

"What about them?" she asked and pulled back to the relative safety of the deck.

"You know how bad they are for the speed of a ship? Every once in a while, we turn the ship a bit and clean them off, at least the ones we can." Spade scratched his beard.

"I understand," Serenica said slowly. She hoped she could please the captain by moving and talking according to his whims.

"No, you most certainly don't," Spade snapped, turning towards her, hot rage blazing in his eyes. "You don't understand. How can I tell? If you knew what I am talking, you would be horrified."

A coldness crept into Serenica's bones, forcing her to be still. The captain was the most terrifying man she had ever met, no question about it. Not even Wheatby came close to Spade. It was somehow worse that the infamous leader of the pirate crew was, at times, a most kind and courteous person. It only grew the gravity of his softly spoken anger.

"If you knew from the beginning that I was going to use your face and a lot of rope to scratch off the barnacles..."

Now Serenica could move again. She tried to get away from the captain, but he put his massive left hand on her shoulder and prevented her from escaping the situation.

She couldn't scream. She knew the men would only support Spade in his decision. Or would they? Was the whole mutiny atmosphere a product of a sick, paranoid imagination?

Serenica decided to listen to the part of her that said something about screaming being for cowards. She had to fight the mouse. Its squeaky noises were almost too much to take, it was so horrified, in such a panic that the feeling threatened her control over her own being.

Keelhauling was a brutal practice. A cruel and unusual punishment, it was not very well understood by landlubbers. The most horrifying part was that it wasn't clear what finally killed the poor soul being dragged under the ship, loss of blood or drowning. In any case, there was a lot of pain from the sharp barnacles involved.

Serenica did not want to find out which one would kill her. She had to bargain to avoid the barnacles.

"I will do anything for you," she said. "Think about your girl. Think about starting a family. Do you not feel softly about your future son? Your unborn son who is yet to even exist?"

Spade laughed like a maniac. "And have you not stalled enough that I should know by now - you are not capable of it? Shouldn't I be wary of quacks like you? Myorka, she is so different, she still trusts a dark-haired woman of many means, she still has that innocence in her. Me, I'm too jaded. You're giving her false hope. That should be enough for me to kill you. But I forgave you. This isn't about gambling anymore. This is about not feeding a parasite."

"Are you calling me a parasite after I've saved many of your men?" Serenica asked sharply, her indignation pushing through her fear. "You know what? The world doesn't end where Myorka's thighs end. Get out your bottles of blood, you misanthropic monster. Show me your deadrouser tricks. You want a student? Here, I'll be that person. May the gods have mercy on your soul. If you haven't eaten that already, too."

With an expression that was an entire uncharted continent, the captain turned away and slowly pulled a cigar from the box he so fondly kept in his pocket. After a moment of apparent hesitation he gave Serenica one, too.

"Is this my last request?" Serenica asked, bitter and tired, pointing at the tobacco stick.

"It's your first cigar as a deadrouser," Spade said. "Enjoy it. Things are only going to get weirder from now on."

They retreated into the captain's cabin. The corpse candles were out, there was a little red stain on the table, and Myorka was sleeping in the armchair.

"Wake up, honey," Spade said, shaking his wife gently. "I have work to do. Work that you would rather not see."

The bookkeeper yawned. "Can I sleep in your cabin, Serenica? I don't feel comfortable here, since there's a dead man in the bathtub. I apologize for that little fight we had. You're pretty sane. I appreciate that."

Serenica looked at the bathtub. It was once again full of that strange liquid.

"There is a body in there?" she asked, pretending she wanted to know the answer.