The mermaid swam through the salty waters of the ocean at a rapid pace. Her friends Red and Waves would join up with her later, but for now she had a desire to venture to the surface and sunbathe on the shore. Just revel in the rays that glowing ball of light could shed.
Turquoise finally emerged from the water with a large splash! that went everywhere as she surfaced, teal-colored hair dripping wet, looking for all the world a normal human from the waist up. That is, except for her teal-green hair and blue skin. The two white starfish were the only cover over her breasts. She was a mermaid, she had no need for clothes!
Sitting on a nearby rock, she idly began brushing her hair with a small comb she had acquired on her underwater travels. It was a white smooth comb, with only one tiny broken part but was still in good condition otherwise. She ran the comb through her tresses and then placed it down on the ground next to her, before lying down on her back to soak up the sun. Closing her eyes, she began to relax and feel very much at peace. Nothing could disturb this moment. It was beautiful.
As Turquoise rested, a weighted net was suddenly cast over top of her followed by triumphant laughter.
"I was beginning to think we'd never find one," Captain Blackheart said as he approached. "You're coming with us, lass. Someone's going to pay a fortune for you."
Turquoise's eyes flew open when the net went over her and she immediately began bucking, trying to free herself. "Release me this instant!" she screeched at the captain, a pirate with steel blue eyes that looked at her with greed in his countenance. She struggled fiercely, but could not entangle herself from her prison no matter how hard she tried. She had been captured and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Now, now," Blackheart told her. "Let's not be too hasty. You'll be released soon....To whoever offers me the most for you that is."
Blackheart then turned to his men.
"Grab the mermaid. If you swine don't waste too much time we'll be able to make it back to the Call by tomorrow evening."
Several pirates came forward and subdued Turquoise, tying her arms behind her back. One grabbed her by her armpits and another grabbed her tail. The two of them began carrying her back to the ship.
Angrily, Turquoise tried to use her tail to lash out at one of the pirates that came over to her, but failed to do so as she was much too entangled in the net to even get a decent hit on him. She continued to struggle but her efforts bore no fruit. She screamed in rage and shouted, "You'll regret this, I swear it!" And she continued to fight against her bonds and the pirates whom held her as Turquoise was promptly carried onto the ship.
"Swearing ain't very polite, lass," Blackheart commented. "Very unbecoming of a lady. We've quite awhile until we get to my ship, so you just relax and enjoy the walk."
The thing was they would have to set up camp for the night. Walking through the night wasn't an option. The men were already exhausted and grumbling as it was. A close eye would need to be kept on that mermaid so that she didn't try anything crafty.
As the captain's words and the reality of her situation began to sink in, Turquoise's eyes became wide with fear. How was she going to get out of this one? Curse it all for this happening again! The walk continued for some time, but Turquoise didn't relax. Not at all. She made sure to give them as much hell as she possibly could, screaming obscenities at them until her voice began to get hoarse from the effort.
It was starting to become dark out and Turquoise began to berate herself for her foolishness. But then again, how was she to know this was going to happen? She screamed a final time before going quiet, not knowing what else to do.
A collective sigh of relief could be heard amongst the crew as Turquoise finally went silent. The two that had been carrying her were certain that they had gone deaf, but they didn't dare oppose the Captain. As it became darker outside Blackheart turned to his men.
"That's far enough, lads," he announced. "We'll stop here for the night."
The crew immediately went work setting up camp, every single one of them already knowing what their job was. Turquoise was put down leaning against a tree so that she was sitting up while the two men that had carried her went to tend to their own duties in setting up camp. Blackheart walked over to Turquoise and looked down at her.
"You're quite the screamer, lass."
Turquoise looked up sullenly at the captain, her magenta-purplish eyes burning with indignation at her predicament. There was no way she could get back to the water from here. She was stuck. "Where are you taking me?" she asked him, defiance shining in her eyes.
((I made a slight edit in my first post due to a boo boo I had overlooked at first. It doesn't change anything that's happened though.))
"I'm taking ye to the mainland," Blackheart replied. "There be plenty of rich snobs that would pay a fortune to have a mermaid. You're kind are rare, which is another word for valuable."
"You cannot do that! The mainland is too far from the sea! I'll die if I go too long without water!" Desperation began to form in her eyes and she pleaded with him, "Please, let me go? I'm no good to you or anyone dead!"
Even though it hadn't been long enough for the lack of water to have any effect on Turquoise yet, it was only a matter of time if these stupid pirates didn't release her back into the ocean. She could not let that happen. Turquoise thought about using her siren-song ability on them, but she obviously was not in the right frame of mind to attempt this. Hopefully later she could try, although the effects while powerful, could be resisted by those of very strong will. Weaker minds stood no chance.
"What does this person want with me? I have a right to know!" she demanded.
"Don't know, don't care," the Captain replied. "And if it's seawater ya need we can definitely supply you with some so that ye survives the journey."
"But--that's not fair!" Turquoise exclaimed weakly. She winced at her moronic response, however it was too late to take it back. "Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?" Hopelessness was starting to grab hold of her, and she would do whatever it took to get away from these men--these pirates. The mermaid did not have much hope that the captain would oblige, but she had to try somehow!
"If you can find me something more valuable than yourself, I will let you go," Blackheart told her. "But until then, you must be hungry. What is it that you eat?"
"How am I to do that when you won't let me go? I have nothing on me of value." she said crossing her arms in front of her.
As for his question on what she ate, she didn't respond to that, except to say sullenly, "I'm not hungry."
"Well, let me know if ye thinks of anything," Blackheart replied.
He turned and began walking away, but paused to look back over his shoulder.
"I'm sure you'll get hungry eventually."
With that, he made his way over to one of the campfires to get himself something to eat.
Turquoise sat silently after that, leaning against the tree, a sullen expression on her face. The bonds had been removed from her arms earlier as the pirates probably figured she couldn't go anywhere anyway. And they were right. She was trapped for the time being. But Turquoise was determined to find a means of escape. Her only means of hope at this time was her siren-song abilities, but she would wait until only one or two of the pirates were around before she enacted her magic. It would be more likely to work better that way the fewer of them there were to hypnotize.
She fervently prayed to the Ocean Mother that the captain was not one of them as he seemed to be more strong-willed than the others. Being the captain, that was to be expected. Turquoise sighed. Already, the lack of water around the mermaid, while not affecting her yet, was starting to become uncomfortable. Turquoise longed to be amongst the sea again, but she dare not say anything of her plight. The sea maiden would just have to endure the situation for now. And she despised that greatly.
Once all of pirates were done eating they all got ready to get some sleep. This mostly involved a fair amount of grumbling and complaining while using anything relatively soft that they could find as a pillow. Blackheart assigned two men to keep an eye on the mermaid, one of which was the quartermaster.
"Make sure the lass behaves," was the only instruction Blackheart had given, giving a lot of room for interpretation on the quartermaster's part. The camp then fell silent as the men went to sleep, with the exception of Turquoise's babysitters.
Turquoise observed the activity around her with growing hope as most of them, including the captain himself made preparations to sleep. Soon they were all sound asleep, with only two of them watching her to "make sure she behaved" as the captain had so bluntly put it. As the two pirates sat at the remnants of the campfire, Turquoise began weaving the magic of her siren-song ability, hoping to convince them to let her go while the others were out of commission. After a couple minutes of soft singing when she thought the magic had taken hold, Turquoise then said sweetly, "Let this mermaid go, back to the ocean of her home." saying this while maintaining eye contact with the both of them.
The magic worked on one of the pirates watching over her, but not the quartermaster. As the first one got up to return her to the sea, the quartermaster stood and knocked him to the ground, bringing him to his senses.
"That's a quite trick ya got there, lass," the quartermaster said with an evil grin. "But it won't work on me. There's a reason I'm first mate."
The quartermaster then sat back down while the other pirate returned to his place rubbing his battered head. The quartermaster issued a threat before resuming his silent watch.
"If I hear ye singing again, there'll be trouble."
Turquoise was stunned. Apparently she had underestimated the one who had spoken to her. She frowned at the threat the quartermaster issued, and glared at him with as much animosity and force as she could muster. "I will get away!" she snapped. Somehow... she thought.
The quartermaster grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Turquoise.
"Shut up," he shot back. "You ain't going anywhere. Not unless you know of something more valuable that the captain will trade you for."
Turquoise glared fiercely at him after the dirt had hit her on the cheek. Oh, how she hated him! Seething inwardly, she settled down repositioning herself against the back of the tree as best she could. Her fear of never getting back to the ocean was starting to take firmer hold on her, and a tear silently slipped its way down the mermaid's face. She continued to sulk in silence, not saying anything else. What would be the point?
Halfway through the night the shifts changed. The quartermaster and other pirate went off to go to sleep and were replaced by a single man: the Captain himself.
"I kinda figured ye try some magic trick," Blackheart commented as he sat down under a tree. "The quartermaster's a bit rough around the edges, but he's more loyal and definitely more stubborn than most."
After the shift had changed, with the Captain now guarding her himself, Turquoise didn't comment at his statement and refused to look at him even, staring with both anger and sadness out at the horizon before her. After some time she started to get bored, but there was nothing to do for it.
Turning to the captain again she questioned him, "What other sort of valuables are you looking for?" Perhaps she could make something up, a convincing lie that could set her free. It was worth a try.
"It don't matter," Blackheart told her. "As long as it's valuable."
Blackheart then leaned forward and his voice became low and ominous.
"But if ye lies to me, lass, you'll wish ye'd never been born."
At the cold, steely look in his eyes the mermaid shivered a little, but tried to appear unperturbed. She still had to try, to come up with something believable so that she could have a chance to escape.
"I think there is something...but I don't recall exactly where though." she stated slowly, trying her best to meet his gaze and not look like she was fibbing. "It's in an underwater cave though, so I don't know if you could get to it. Some say if you find the right signs it will point out the way quite clearly. I could tell you the signs if you promise to let me go after." Turquoise pleaded hopefully.
"In this cave, you'll find a treasure so beautiful and exquisite, enough to make a living from for the rest of one's life! And probably longer too." the mermaid continued her extravagant tale, hoping the captain would buy it. "As to what the treasure is, well, I'll let you discover that yourself when you find it. Much more valuable than me many times over!" Turquoise finished and looked expectantly up at the pirate captain, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Do ye take me for a fool," Blackheart asked. "Even if you're telling the truth, there's no way I'd let ye go before I found the treasure. I'd keep you until I was holding it in my hands."
"I am telling the truth!" Turquoise argued with him. "I only said you had to promise to let me go. Once you find the treasure, then there's really no need to keep me around anymore. I can go back to the ocean!"
Or so she hoped. Even though there was no treasure like that that she knew of, there had to be a way! Turquoise quickly thought of what else she could say to further make the treasure seem real and out there, trying her best to fill in the blanks of her white-lie.
"One of the signs you'd need to find first before the others is a coral reef with the colors of blue, pink and yellow. It is a rather large coral reef, located somewhere in the Tuor Ocean, perhaps a little west of where you found me." she fibbed again, looking at the captain. Turquoise hoped her act was convincing enough, or this was all for nothing. If she could somehow manage to get away before this, only circumstances at that time would reveal such. The mermaid was fishing for solutions that weren't readily apparent, but she didn't know what else to do.
Blackheart's eyes burned into Turquoise long and hard trying to discern her honesty.
"Nearly every reef I've ever seen has those colors, lass," Blackheart told her. "You know, it's funny how everyone usually thinks of something more valuable then themselves when I offer to trade them in for it. Do ye know how many of those stories were true?"
Turquoise shook her head, uneasy. "I don't know?" she asked, trying to appear clueless and so not to give him any more reason to doubt her. So, okay, either Turquoise needed more skill at lying or the Captain was more perceptive than she had given him credit for. Perhaps it was both.
She stared at her hands, not sure what else to say at this time. Her silence probably spoke volumes about her false story, but right now the mermaid didn't seem to notice that to be a possibility. Turquoise was worried about her friends, and how she might never see them again.
"Two," Blackheart told her. "And only one was actually worth more than the person."
The captain leaned back against the tree.
"Ye don't seem so sure of your story anymore. I've been doing this for a long time, lass. You don't be captain for as long as me by being stupid."
"So, I take it you go around with your filthy pirate gang to capture more unfortunate souls from the ocean, is that it?" Turquoise snapped angrily at him, purple eyes ablaze. "And then what? They are forever stripped from their homes, never able to return? What kind of life is that? It's not I tell you! If you had any kind of decency in you, you'd let me go right now!" she shouted this last part, completely fed up with the entire situation and this 'captain'.
"It's because I have any kind of decency that you ain't one big bruise, lass," Blackheart told her. "It's also what keeps my crew from having their way with you."
Turquoise's eyes widened at his words, fearful. "They wouldn't...." she couldn't finish that sentence.
Hugging herself again, the mermaid once more wished to be free amongst the waves, the deep blue depths where much was possible. Here, on land for too long, that kind of freedom was in very short supply. It reeked of human scum like these pirates and other such creatures that were not attuned to the sea like she was. In the ocean, her cares seem to melt away and independence was at an all-time high. In the ocean, Turquoise was in her element, free and uninhibited. Now, her fate was uncertain and the mermaid was at a loss on how to simply be. Being on land was only supposed to be temporary for her kind and others like her, not dredged out like this. It was an atrocity! And sadly one she couldn't get out of at the current moment.
Tears threatened to overwhelm Turquoise again but she fiercely held them back. She would find a way, she would! She had to...
"They would," Blackheart replied. "A bunch of men at sea with no women around makes them a bit antsy, but they know what will happen if they try anything."
Blackheart sat and observed the mermaid. It looked like she was about to cry, which was to be expected. She also seemed to have a lost a bit of her fighting spirit. Hopefully she would survive the journey back to the mainland. A live mermaid was worth a lot more than a dead one.
Turquoise didn't respond. Once again, she prayed to the Ocean Mother hoping for some miracle to save her as well as trying to keep her tears at bay. The mermaid wondered what this associate of his could possibly want with her. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to find out.
The rest of the night passed in silence, with Turquoise sitting back against the tree. She was much too worried to even try sleeping, the circumstances surrounding the sea maiden were not in her favor. As dawn broke, marking the passage of half a day gone by without water, Turquoise was starting to feel the effects come upon her, weakness beginning to grip her in its ugly clutches. This was not looking good.
As a new day dawned, Blackheart wanted to get moving as soon as possible. He stood, stretched, and then fired his pistol into the air immediately waking everyone present.
"Rise and shine," Blackheart announced.
The pirates groaned and complained as they immediately started getting breakfast for themselves. They really hated when the captain did that. Blackheart turned to Turquoise.
"Are ye hungry yet?"
Turquoise slowly turned her head and glared hatefully at the captain. "What I really need is water right now!" she shrieked at him. "I don't suppose you could just drop me off at the nearest shoreline?!" And with that, she folded her arms again in a petulant manner, not speaking any further to him or any of the other pirates.
Blackheart said nothing and walked away. A little while later as the pirates were finishing their breakfast, a young boy who was probably only around 12 approached Turquoise with a bucket. He then slowly and carefully dumped seawater all over her.
"Is that enough," the boy asked.
When the seawater was dumped on Turquoise, the mermaid immediately felt some strength return to her being. However it wasn't enough. "More." she gestured to her tail. Another bucket full should do the trick for now. It was something at least, so Turquoise supposed she should be grateful for small blessings. However, it was no substitute for actually being in the ocean. She waited for another bucket of sea water to help get more of her energy back.
The boy scampered off and then returned a short while later with another bucketful of seawater. He dumped it on her just the same as before.
"Is that enough," he asked again.
As the second bucket of water was dumped on her, Turquoise was feeling much better now. "That's all for now, thank you." she told the boy gratefully.
She chanced a glance at the pirate captain out of the corner of her eye. Turquoise was still hoping for a way to outsmart the captain and get away. But until that time came, she had to endure with what she was given.
The boy scampered off into the camp with the bucket. The captain was talking to the quartermaster, though Turquoise would not be able to hear what exactly it was that they were discussing. The pirates soon began packing up camp and two of them came to tie up Turquoise once more and resume carrying her.
Turquoise scowled at them as they approached. When both came closer, the mermaid lashed out her tail as best she could to hit the one nearest it right in the face hoping to stun him and knock him down. What good that would do Turquoise didn't care, but she wanted to put up some resistance at least! She refused to make this easy on the pirates. If she had to suffer, so would they.
One of the pirates fell to the ground as Turquoise's tail hit him in face. The other one responded by slapping her in the face. Hard.
"You stupid bitch," the first pirate grumbled rubbing the side of his head. "You're lucky the captain's watching."
When the slap came, Turquoise shouldn't have been surprised but she was. She held her hand to her face, trying to relieve the pain that the slap had brought. A purple bruise was starting to form but without a mirror Turquoise couldn't tell for sure.
She glared at both pirates angrily, and shouted at them, "You'll regret that, I swear!" Her tail bounced in agitation and Turquoise really couldn't wait to get out of this mess. It was completely unacceptable!
"Shut up," the second pirate snapped.
They then proceeded to tie her up significantly tighter and more roughly than before. They also were not at all gentle picking her up and carrying her as the pirates started moving again. The captain was leading the pack, but he would glance over his shoulder every now and again to check on his prize and make sure that it was behaving and undamaged.
"Ow!" Turquoise cried out in pain and discomfort. "You're hurting me!" They were being none too gentle or nice with tying her up as she had successfully angered them.
As her arms were roughly tied behind her back, Turquoise winced again and tried to muffle her cries of pain as best she could. She would not give them that satisfaction! Her arms now hurt from the ropes and they certainly did a number on making them as tight as possible. The mermaid could barely move, it was so restricting. So Turquoise suffered in silence, a couple more tears streaking down her face as the lot of them moved onward.
Blackheart brought the group to a halt and then walked backed to Turquoise.
"Untie her and do it again," Blackheart told the men carrying her. "Not so tightly this time."
The pirates looked at each other in disbelief then back at the captain.
"If we do that she'll just try to..."
The man was cut off by Blackheart punching the man in the stomach, causing him to collapse and drop Turquoise's tail as he tried to breathe.
"I wasn't asking for your opinion, lad," Blackheart said menacingly. "I don't want my prize damaged. Now untie her and do it again."
The man picked himself up and the two of them did as they were told. They picked her back up, more gently this time, and then looked to the captain to gauge his reaction.
"That's better," he said simply.
Blackheart then returned to his place at the head of the group and they started moving again.
Now able to breathe easier, Turquoise was tempted to rub her arms to try to get feeling back in them; however that was made impossible when they simply redid the knots although much looser this time. The pirates picked her back up more carefully this time, and all Turquoise could do was be pulled along with them as they continued their walk.
Sighing inwardly, and feeling very sorry for herself the mermaid tried to imagine herself back in the ocean, pretending that none of this was happening, that she was safe and free amongst the waters where she belonged. However a harsh reality check was soon doled out as the gang of pirates moved ever quicker trying to get back to their ship no doubt, uncomfortably jostling her as they walked along. It was too bad she didn't have a shell and some ocean water with her, at least that way she could try to fight back with a conjured water tunnel. However with neither of these things present, the mermaid had to endure the hasty walk back to the pirate ship.
(OOC To be quite honest I was banking on someone coming to try and rescue Turquoise by now. :P I was just trying to stall long enough for someone to join in.)
((I was also wondering about this. Which is why I left the thread marked open, hoping for someone else to come by. Hmmm, what to do now?? Will poor Turquoise ever be rescued? Come on peeps, there's a mermaid in need of saving! :P))
Just as Blackheart's men were about to resume their walking, eight figures on horseback came into sight along the path. They approached from the opposite side of camp as if they'd come from near the ocean. None seemed to be in any rush, and it was several minutes more before they were within the pirates' hearing distance.
The foremost horse bore the smallest rider, a man tanned by a fortnight's worth of island sun whose face remained serene as he called out across the thinning sand. "Gentlemen and lady, is this what it looks like?"
As he spoke, the small group slowed their advance. All brought their horses to a stop just within proper conversational range. "And if so, how much do you want for her?"
All of Blackheart's men immediately laid their hands on the closest weapon available. Blackheart himself simply crossed his arms and sized up the horsemen.
"And who might ye be," Blackheart asked. "Ye seem like an awfully pretty gentleman to be all the way out here."
Dulcian was easily within empathic range, an advantage the captain would have no way of detecting. Not that he'd have needed it to know what was being implied.
"Like all appearances," he said, "mine is a tad misleading." He smiled, not enough to show any fang. "Name's Dulcian Dragonsblood. I'm sure you haven't heard of me."
"I haven't," the captain confirmed. "Which usually means you're of little consequence to me. Now tell me why you're here."
"Excellent," he said. "Being of consequence to you doesn't appear to be an enviable position, if the mermaid's fate is any indication."
"We were waiting on provisions. This isle is commonly used as a stopover on the way to Yoreiq." Dulcian gestured toward the peaceful isle. "Being quite bored, I followed the sound of a struggle here."
"Well, ye found the source," Blackheart told him. "And since your here, I'll be taking anything valuable that ye and your friends may have."
Blackheart's men circled the horsemen, weapons at the ready. Blackheart even drew a pistol of his own and aimed it at Dulcian.
The group of pirates had started to move again when another group on horseback arrived on the scene. "Gentlemen and lady, is this what it looks like?" Turquoise heard these words being called out to the pirate captain and the rest of them. She immediately craned her neck to try to get a good look at the horsemen. The front horseman featured a thin man with blonde hair and expressive eyes wearing fine clothing. Turquoise studied him for a bit. He didn't appear to be human, but something else. There was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on...
As they conversed, Turquoise's hopes began to rise again. Maybe they could free her! It was a long shot, but right now Turquoise only wanted to go back home. The mermaid was more than fed up with being around these men who only saw her as wealth for their pockets. However it didn't seem like the pirates wanted to waste their time with these newcomers and weapons were quickly drawn!
"Wait!" Turquoise yelled out. "I want to hear what he has to say! Don't kill them!" She sincerely hoped the captain would listen to her and let the man talk. There could be a chance to escape!
Dulcian's lips drew back in a grin, this time one that exposed his fangs. "Oh, I don't think you sell my kind of provisions," he said. "You'd spill it all."
(OOC Blackheart is not that stupid. Plus, the pirates carry her hadn't put her down.)
(OOC: Fair enough, though I figured the NPCs were as it hadn't been mentioned. Either way I'll modify it; when in doubt, throw it out, as they say.)
(OOC: And modified! Sorry for holdin' up the thread with my mispost.)
(OOC It's fine. That ending was just so anticlimactic. :P )
"Ye don't scare me," Blackheart said. "Now let's go. Hand over your valuables or I'll just loot your corpses."
(OOC: I was banking on a chase sequence, but I still probably should've mentioned that OOC first.)
"You don't scare me either, and I know you better than you know me." Dulcian shrugged. "You and I both know there'd be no corpses to loot."
Meanwhile, Turquoise just stared at the blonde-haired man when he exposed his fangs. What exactly was he? she wondered, starting to become scared. The mermaid didn't know what this creature wanted with her and the thought of getting help from the group started to fade as uncertainty set in.
Threats were exchanged between the two men and Turquoise shifted uncomfortably as best she could being tied up and all. She didn't know what was going to happen and she was in no position to do anything about it either. All she could do was watch to see what would happen.
"A lot of people know," Blackheart replied. "They're scared to death of me, and rightfully so. So what makes ye think I won't be shooting you within the next five seconds, exactly?"
Dulcian sensed the maiden's fear, though there was next to nothing he could do about it right now. In the long term, he was certain the joy of regaining her freedom would far outweigh any present discomfort the sight of his fangs might cause.
"You could. It wouldn't profit you though. At this moment, I assume you've more valuables on you than we do," he said to Blackheart. "I was on the beach, not getting ready for a formal gala. Until ten minutes ago I wasn't even wearing a shirt. And what use has a vampire for carrying his wealth around?"
He shrugged again. "Furthermore, if you took anything from us you'd need to outrun horses and more to keep it, and with a mermaid in tow no less. But if you show a little patience and trade with me you could go about your business unopposed by us and unburdened of her."
"Ye just said you have no wealth you," Blackheart replied keeping his pistol on Dulcian. "So how do ye expect to pay for her."
Turquoise watched the scene with great interest and mild apprehension. She wasn't familiar with what a vampire was, there was nothing like that under the waves where she called home. The mermaid still wondered what this person wanted with her and hoping against hope he and his group would have the kindness to let her go. These pirates most definitely did not possess that sort of kindness or she wouldn't have been in this situation to begin with.
Her posture became anxious when Blackheart trained his weapon on the vampire again. He looked as though he were ready to attack at any moment. And any possible chance of Turquoise being released would be gone if the others were killed or injured.
The sea maiden thought about using her tail to flick the weapon out of the captain's hands but that also was not possible because not only was she tied up, the captain was too far out of reach for her to attempt this daring feat. Turquoise wanted to say something, but didn't know what, so she kept quiet for now, still watching. Still hoping.
"True. I also mentioned showing patience," Dulcian said. "We have several options. If you insist on currency, those provisions we're awaiting are due to arrive today. Were I to send a messenger now I could have a favour called in and see gold delivered with them."
He glanced at his companions on horseback. "Alternatively, if you've any weakened or injured crewmen we can restore them to full strength, or if you need the help of an animal of some kind it could easily be arranged."
Sometimes, he wished he were free to "pay" someone like Blackheart by letting him live. Most of his people believed bullying to be counterproductive in the long run, but Dulcian sometimes suspected it was the only language bullies understood. He'd never honestly gotten to try it and see for himself, after all. His culture, his clan and his parents' values were too important to him to risk crossing that line.
"On the other hand, if you are interested in magical artifacts, we could bargain without any hurry."
Blackheart lowered his pistol, but still kept it in his hand.
"What kind of magical artifacts," he asked.
Turquoise breathed a sigh of relief when the captain lowered his weapon. Anxiously, she looked back toward the blonde vampire to see what else he would say. If luck were on her side, she would be free before the day were over.
"Well, if treasure's your aim, perhaps your best bet are the birds. Animated statues of gold, platinum and various gems."
Before explaining further he looked over at the horseman to his left, who was smiling broadly. "They can fly indefinitely without sustenance or rest, and return to the whoever holds the mark of their ownership without failure no matter how he or she travels. Each can sense the material it is made of as well as an array of expensive spices and commodities- liquor, fine cloth, even poisons and drugs."
Looking back to Blackheart, he added, "There are no other such birds in existence, individually nor in sets."
"Do ye thinks I'm daft," Blackheart said angrily. "Your stories don't mean a damn thing. If such birds exist, then bring me one. Until then, the girl stays with me."
At the mention of treasure and sparkly gems, Turquoise's eyes gleamed in delight, but that fascination was quickly squashed as she once again, remembered where she was and the current situation. Holding her breath in anticipation, she waited to see what the vampire would say next. If these golden and jeweled birds did exist, then surely that would be more than enough to satisfy the captain's greed and let her go! Turquoise could only hope.