“Weapons down, if ya please,” Tanner shouted over the wind as one of the fake wooden boulders caught a gust and began a tumble to the sea. Keelin counted ten pirates, and all appeared to be armed with pistols.
Drake looked calm, almost as though he’d expected the trap and had still walked into it willingly. He slowly drew his sword and threw it into the middle of the clearing.
“Now, luv,” Tanner said to Beck, “I suggest ya follow Drake’s example. I know just who and what ya are. If I see you so much as utter a word I’ll have my boys test how hard it is ta kill an Arbiter. That said, I’d really rather not start a fight with ya Inquisition, so if ya put those lovely pistols down and keep ya pretty hole shut we’ll be having no problems.”
Beck didn’t look convinced, but Drake nodded to her and she disarmed, throwing all seven of her pistols to the ground.
“You too, Stillwater,” Tanner continued. “Just in case, ya see. Not that I expect any trouble from the likes of you.”
Keelin dropped his cutlasses.
“Excellent.” Tanner grinned and signalled to the pirates behind them.
Two men rushed forwards and grabbed hold of Drake, forcing him to his knees and twisting his arms behind his back. Another two men gave Beck similar treatment, pausing briefly to stuff a dirty gag into her mouth. The fury on the Arbiter’s face was enough to give Keelin nightmares, but Tanner only smirked at the rough treatment.
“Don’t want ya casting any of ya magic while we do this, now do we?”
“We should just kill her,” Blu shouted, only to earn a hard stare from his father.
“Aye, because we currently don’t have nearly enough enemies. Boy, ya foolish as that damned sister o’ yours.”
Keelin was left wondering why he was the only one not being restrained by Tanner’s crew. Not that he was about to argue with Tanner if the man had decided to spare his life.
“I gotta say, Drake, I’m more than a little surprised ya turned up as ya did.” Tanner stepped forward, putting himself close to Morrass. “Ya must ’ave seen this comin’. No?”
“I thought you’d be smarter, Tanner,” Drake hissed. “Killing me won’t save you or the isles. My ships will…”
“Your ships will turn and fight mine and we’ll all go sinking down to Rin’s watery abyss? Fair words, mate, but I doubt them very much. Without you to lead them, I reckon your boys will do the only sensible thing left. Join me. Especially with your little mate, Stillwater, beckoning them over to my side.”
Drake turned his head to look at Keelin. Keelin in turn looked at Tanner. Tanner laughed.
“Aye. This was his plan. His and my daughter’s, that is. Ya put ya trust in the wrong captain, Drake. Stillwater is as loyal as a shark and twice as treacherous.”
Keelin thought about arguing, but he was still a little dumbfounded. He’d conspired to bring Tanner and Drake together on Ash; he just hadn’t suspected Elaina’s true intentions. He could only assume Elaina had told her father that he was in on it. Elaina had saved Keelin’s life at the same time as condemning Drake to death.
“See how he doesn’t even refute it, mate.” Tanner looked down on Drake. “Don’t feel bad. The little shit betrays everyone. First it was me, then my daughter, and now you.”
Keelin wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t. Everything Tanner was saying was true.
Tanner waved to Blu, who stepped forward and handed him a small metal contraption. “First things first,” he growled.
Tanner grabbed hold of Drake’s head and forced his teeth apart, thrusting the little metal device between them and turning a screw on the side. It was a jack, and before long Drake’s mouth was stretched wide open. Keelin could see real fear in his eyes. Morrass started to struggle then, but the pirates behind him held him tight.
“Tongs,” Tanner said with a smile, and Blu handed his father a large, rusty implement. Tanner inserted it into Drake’s mouth, gripping hold of his tongue.
“Knife,” Tanner said, staring down into Drake’s terrified eyes. Blu handed him a serrated blade. “Let’s see just how silver this tongue of yours is, eh?”
“Stop.” Keelin’s voice came out as a whisper that even he couldn’t hear over the violent roar of the wind, and he struggled to take his next breath.
“Stop!”
Tanner looked at Keelin just for a moment. “Nah.”
Keelin didn’t have time to think; he had to stop Tanner. “Kill Drake and you condemn us all to death.”
Tanner was still holding Drake’s tongue out in front of him, the knife just inches away. “I actually thought you’d be smarter than this, boy,” he said. His crow, Pilf, shrieked at Keelin. “Elaina tried ta save ya. We all knew it ta be shit, but she tried. And here ya are, throwing away all her good nature by siding with this?” Tanner waved the knife in front of Drake’s face, catching his nose and opening up a bloody gash. “Not very smart, boy.”
“I won’t follow you, Tanner,” Keelin said.
“Well, no, probably not once yer dead.”
“And neither will they.” Keelin pointed towards Drake’s three ships floating just off the coast of Ash. “Or any of the others. Your little fleet is as big as it will ever be, because everyone is too scared of you to join you.”
Tanner narrowed his eyes and Pilf let out a scream.
“Don’t listen to him, Da. Stillwater’s a damned salt licker.”
“Quiet, boy,” Tanner hissed. “They’ll fall in line once this one is dead.”
“No,” Keelin said. “They won’t. They’ll run as far from you and the isles as they can get. You’ll find yourself facing Sarth and the Five Kingdoms alone.”
Drake, thankfully, kept quiet; not that he could have spoken if he’d tried, with Tanner still holding his tongue ready for removing.
“You followed me before, lad,” Tanner said.
“And never will again, Tanner. You rule by terror. I’ve seen you beat your children for just voicing an opinion, and I’ve seen you kill for no reason other than someone looked at you. No man or woman wants to live under that sort of fear, and we pirates have no need to live that way. We can sail wherever the winds and the ocean take us, so why would we suffer you? That’s how the old Captain Black ruled, and look what happened to him. The other kingdoms came for him and his people deserted him, just like they will you.”
“Yet you’ll follow this lying sack of mouldy puss maggots?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Tanner roared.
Keelin hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if he truly believed in Drake. He didn’t. But then, it didn’t matter. Drake Morrass was the only one who could bring all the pirates together. He was the only one they would all follow.
“Because he doesn’t just want to rule us, Tanner,” Keelin said. “Drake wants to save us all, and he knows he can’t do that unless we change. He knows he can’t do it unless we stop fighting each other and band together.
“Drake came here suspecting a trap,” Keelin continued, risking the lie, “but he walked right into it because he knows he can’t kill you. Because he needs you. You need each other.”
Tanner released Drake’s tongue and threw both the knife and the tongs to the ground before stalking over to Keelin. Keelin wanted to back away, to run from the fury in Tanner’s eyes, but he stood his ground and hoped he wasn’t staring into the face of his own death.
“Why do you,” Tanner shouted into Keelin’s face, and punctuated the words by prodding him hard in the chest, “follow him?” He pointed at Drake, then lowered his voice so only Keelin could hear. “If not to betray him like ya did me? Like ya do everyone.”