They chased the pirates up the rigging, around the deck or down into the hold. Those who stood and fought lasted mere seconds before their life blood was staining the deck. I strained my eyes to see what part Alice was playing in all this, my stomach churning in anxiety at the thought of the danger she faced. The sun had set by now and the light was fading fast, so she was lost to my sight.
We were spared the worst of the horrors but we certainly heard the screams of those dying pirates and their unheeded calls for mercy.
I walked forward with Mam to rejoin the others.
'I find it hard to stand by and let such things happen, lad,' the Spook complained, giving me a hard glare. I suspected that his words were also directed at Mam, who'd chosen our witch allies, but if so, she made no reply.
'It's a bad business, I'll give you that,' I heard Arkwright say, 'but how many poor sailors have lost their lives at the hands of those pirates? How many ships have gone to the bottom?'
That was certainly true and the Spook didn't bother to comment further. At last the cries faded and finally ceased altogether. And I knew that, hidden by darkness, the witches would be taking the blood and bones they needed for their rituals. I knew Alice well enough to be confident that she would play no part in that.
We lay at anchor until daylight, when the blood -spattered witches rejoined the Celeste and retreated to their refuge in the hold once more. I noted the contrast between Mab and Alice. The former was gloating, clearly revelling in what had just taken place; Alice stood with her arms folded and looked sick at heart.
Chapter 9
WHAT I AM
We sailed north, tacking against the wind, with the coast of Greece now always visible on our starboard bow. I could see that this was a very different land to the one I was used to. There was some greenery, yes, with clumps of pine and oak and the odd cypress tree spearing the sky, but it wasn't the lush grassland of the County, with its high rainfall and damp westerly winds. This was a hot, arid country, a desiccated wilderness, the sun burning our heads and necks, the hills parched brown.
We were within less than an hour of the port of Igoumenitsa, but the sea and its denizens hadn't finished with us yet. The first I knew of the danger was a distant sound, high and shrill, audible even above the pounding of the waves against the rocky shore. The Spook and Arkwright stared at each other, eyes widening. At that moment the Celeste lurched, hurling us to the deck as the prow began to veer to starboard. We scrambled to our feet as she came about, until, to my astonishment, we were pointing directly towards the coast and a wall of jagged rocks.
'Sirens!' Arkwright cried.
I'd read about sirens in the Spook's Bestiary. They were creatures of the sea, females who used their strange, melodious cries to lure sailors onto the rocks and destroy their vessels. They then dragged the drowning sailors into the depths and fed upon their flesh at leisure. A seventh son of a seventh son had a degree of immunity to their calls but an ordinary sailor could easily be enthralled by their hypnotic voices.
I followed the two spooks forward to the wheel. The cries of the sirens were much louder now, filled with a shrill intensity that set my teeth on edge. I felt the urge to answer their call, but I fought hard against it and gradually it diminished. Most of the crew were in the prow, staring towards the source of that powerful siren song. The captain was at the helm, his eyes bulging, the muscles of his bare arms knotted, as he aimed the ship directly towards the black rocks that awaited us like the huge fangs of a ravenous beast. He gripped the wheel like a madman, his eyes fixed upon the awaiting shore.
I could see the sirens now, sprawled there on the rocks. Beautiful women with bright eyes, golden hair and skin, their allure very powerful, but as I concentrated, trying to slow my breathing, their appearance began to change and I saw them for what they really were. They still had the bodies of women, but their hair was long and green like tangled seaweed, and their faces were monstrous, with huge fangs sprouting from grotesquely swollen lips. But I realized that the captain and crew had been separated from their wives for long weeks; and without the immunity possessed by spooks, they could only see the illusion.
Arkwright seized the captain by the shoulders and tried to drag him away from the wheel. During my training I'd wrestled with Arkwright and fought him staff against staff so I knew to my cost that he was extremely strong – but even so he couldn't manage to prise the man away. As the Spook went to his aid, some of the sailors left the prow and started to come towards us brandishing cudgels, their intention clear. They were desperate to answer the sirens' call, and aware that we were trying to prevent them.
'Stand back!' cried the Spook, stepping forward to swing his staff in an arc. But the crew kept coming, their eyes glittering insanely. They were in thrall to the sirens' song and would do anything to obey their summons. The Spook struck the wrist of the nearest sailor, sending the cudgel flying from his hand. The man gave a howl of pain and stepped back a pace.
I moved forward to stand at John Gregory's side, holding my staff diagonally across me in a defensive position. Neither the Spook nor I had released our retractable blades. We were facing the crew of the Celeste, after all, and didn't want to do anyone any permanent damage. It was for that reason too that Arkwright was still wrestling with the helmsman rather than cracking his skull to bring him to his knees.
Suddenly Mam was at Arkwright's side; I glanced back to see her roll something in the palm of her hand and insert it into the left ear of Captain Baines.
Arkwright twisted the captain's head and she did the same to his other ear.
'Now release him!' she cried, shouting above the roar of the waves pounding the rocks, which were dangerously close now.
Whatever Mam had done, the change in the captain was sudden and dramatic. He gave a cry of fear, his eyes filled with loathing as the sirens on the rocks now appeared to him in their true shapes, and he began to spin the wheel. In response the boat came slowly about and began to veer away from the sirens. At that moment the crew rushed us, but the Spook and I used our staffs to good effect, bringing two of them down hard on the deck. The next moment Arkwright was at our side, pointing his staff towards them, clearly prepared to use it if necessary. But by then the sirens' cries were already beginning to fade as we sailed down the coast in the opposite direction, the wind now to our rear, driving the Celeste fast across the water.
I watched the crews' faces as the allure of the sirens began to weaken and they could be seen in their true shapes. By now the hideous creatures were hissing with anger, showing their fangs as they began to slip off the jagged rocks into the sea.