Author's notes: OK – for everyone who wanted a short chapter – enjoy this one! For those who like the longer ones the next one when Mallory and Jack finally get a semi-private moment together should be on par with the Bonny Swan in length.
TheDmntdFerret: Thank you for the superlative praise – I only hope I can continue to deliver.
Blood of Avalon
Chapter 8: The Mystery of Mr. Cotton
Mr. Cotton remained as expressionless as always while Mallory sat back on his elbows and gawked. He opened his mouth, started to speak, and then snapped it back shut three times before finally just muttering "Damn".
"Not yer usual level of articulate eloquence there, mate" Jack observed.
Mallory ignored him completely as he slowly levered himself to his feet. The hair on my arms rose and Mallory snapped "I do not require assistance." He stumbled a bit as he jerked forward and kicked the bowl of soup over the side. That had been some very good soup, that was a loss. It also occurred to me that that was now the second bowl to vanish over the side tonight. Forget Anna-Maria and the glasses at this rate of attrition I was going to end up eating my meals out of the pot.
"Of course not" he said to the Pearl "I" "But" "No" "Yes" "Please don't be wroth with me. I know I've been an utter ass this evening. But I really am" He was slurring, not much, but there was a definite blurring of his normally crystal clear speech and his eyes had taken on that slightly out of focus look I'd seen far too often on Master Brown. Plainly whatever Jack had spiked the Merlot with was beginning to make itself felt. He paused and listened for several long breaths "You do not need to feel that way lass, I" she must have cut him off again. Finally he inclined his head graciously "Far be it from me to deny so fair spoken a lady her pleasure." His gaze returned to Mr. Cotton and he circled him slowly.
"I'll applaud later" Jack whispered to the Pearl. "Credit where it's due lass you never would have manipulated him that easily if he wasn't suddenly a full sheet te the wind."
Jack had a point he'd gone from stone cold sober to half gone in minutes. But then he'd also evidently overextended himself magically – I somehow doubted that the two were unrelated. He made a third (or was it fourth?) circuit of Mr. Cotton. The parrot squawked indignantly.
Mallory looked up "Wow". It looked like yet another Captain Jack Sparrow plan was about to break up on the shoals since apparently Mallory became monosyllabic when drunk. He raised an arm and the parrot dropped lightly onto it. He stroked the back of its head and rolled his arm so that it fanned its wings.
"What bloody brilliant work, absolutely lovely" he muttered still slurring just a bit and sounding a lot like Jack.
"It's just a parrot" Jack protested.
"No, it's a twyllodrus, the best twyllodrus I've ever seen. But then Argellion always did do superlative work." The parrot hopped from Mallory's arm to Cotton's shoulder. "He was the best, the absolute best at that sort of thing, I'm not bad" he gestured to the not parrot "But that is just amazing." He dropped his head "But he'll never craft another." He flashed a green glare to the north-east. "Like Mannwan he was one of my instructors, like Mannwan he was sent whether he will or nil against me, and like Mannwan I killed him. Argellion couldn't fight his way out of a sack – he never had a bloody chance at least Mannwan had a better than even shot at me."
Elizabeth looked up from the harp "If he was the best why waste him in a fight he couldn't win?"
"Every Wild Hunt that has been sent after me has contained at least one Ellyllon or cyfae I knew well in the hopes that I'll make a fatal hesitation. There is a certain ruthless logic to it. Not only does it improve the chance that I'll be taken but if I'm not I'm put into a position of slaughtering my own supporters. It's really quite neat and as I said I'm worth any twenty others. I'm sure He considers it worth the price." Mallory didn't sound like he agreed. He gave himself a shake and when back to staring at Cotton. "One does wonder how the blazes this happened."
Cotton opened his mouth but no sound emerged.
"Don't try" Mallory slurred quickly "You'll only hurt yourself but, undoubtedly, you already know that."
"What happened?" Jack voice had a certain long-suffering note in it.
"This gentleman seems to have become the pawn of at least a dozen different Ellyllon or cyfae." Mallory made another circuit. "I've been trying to figure out which of the various bits of magic that have been done to him was first but it's like trying to unravel the Gordian Knot." He looked back up that the not parrot and then at Cotton. "I'll say this though he's under a Gorchymyn of the King of Avalon not to communicate - Argellion's twyllodrus is an attempt to get around that."
"Then why doesn't the bloody thing ever speak clearly" Gibbs grumbled.
"Because it can't" his brow was furrowed in concentration and then his eyes narrowed "Puck put you to sleep. It's Puck's doing that you're here."
"Wind in the sails" the not parrot said.
Mallory glanced at it in confusion.
"Mostly we figure that means yes" Gibbs said.
"Alright, so we're still playing one of Puck's games. I've got a harp that won't speak to me and a man who can't. Damn it all Puck, why couldn't you ever just send a clear message?" He gave a little mirthless chuckled "because then you wouldn't be Puck and I wouldn't trust it anyway. Should I trust you?" He asked Mr. Cotton. "Don't answer that, it's a terribly rude question. We'll pretend I do even if I don't. The King of Avalon ripped out your tongue and put a Gorchymyn on you. Was He just being his typically vindictive self or did you give Him cause?"
"Wind in the sails."
"A little of both then I suppose. Well, the tongue is easily restored but that doesn't do a damn thing about the thrice benighted bloody Gorchymyn. I suppose it'll at least make eating a more pleasant experience."
Jack caught his arm. His hand disappeared completely – just how thin was Mallory? "Are ye sure yer up te that?"
Mallory yanked his arm easily out of Jack's grip and stepped quickly but not quite gracefully back. So he was starting to recover his strength again but he was still more than a bit inebriated.
"One nursemaid is more than enough. Besides this poor soul has been used and abused by enough Ellyllon that he deserves whatever succor I can give him."
"Becalmed."
"I assume that means no?" Mallory asked Gibbs who shrugged.
Mallory canted his head "Do you want me to leave you alone? I most certainly would understand if"
"Becalmed" the not parrot cut him off.
"Do you want me to restore your tongue?"
"Wind in the sails."
"Then what did you say no to? Is it that you think you don't deserve my help?"
"Wind in the sails."
Mallory looked surprised "Why? I know of no harm you have done to me or mine. We have never met"
"Becalmed" the not parrot interrupted again.
Mallory studied Mr. Cotton more closely with intense curiosity while the parrot said "Dead men tell no tales."
"You're someone I think is dead?"
"Wind in the sails."
"How could I have missed Bledri and Anuion's work? Now it almost makes sense."
"Would ye care te share?" Jack asked while Mallory continued to study Mr. Cotton in a slightly bleary fashion.
"The Alltude – the Exiles started this. Late in his reign my grandfather banished seven Ellyllon, including Bledri, for apparently minor offenses. When he was murdered and my instructors where recalled decades before they should have been Mannwan gave me six of their names so that they could take the place of the teachers I was loosing." He shook his head "It was like trading a bunch of Cambridge scholars for a pack of illiterate dock workers but any port in a storm as it were. There's a certain knack to creating and maintaining a good glamour and of them only Anuion and Bledri had any talent for it. The rest of them were living on the fringes of human society, barely surviving. In exchange for their service I offered them cozy positions. I am an Athrocysgad, a Master of Glamour. I either assassinated or took advantage of the natural deaths of various prominent men and then replaced them with the Alltudes which allowed me to maintain permanent, obedient presences in key positions. But that's irrelevant to this gentleman, suffice to say that with the exception of Bledri whom I all but marooned near Porto Bello I left all of the Alltude well set when I left for my Defod. Sometime after Bledri's return to Europe and my own internment in the carchar they tried to mount a rescue except they were banished so they couldn't cross the Atalfa themselves" he waved a hand at Cotton "so they sent you instead. How am I doing so far?"
"Wind in the sails."
"They wrapped you in glamour as one of the caeth but you were taken anyway probably long before you got anywhere near the Citadel. You were brought before the King who had a bit of fun with his new toy then when he wearied of you he ordered you discarded. Those who supported me in the court secretly intervened with the help of Puck. Each set a sigil of some sort on you. Puck put you in an enchanted sleep and set you on a course to intersect mine." He glanced questioningly at Cotton.
"Wind in the sails. Shiver me timbers."
"Shiver me timbers?" Mallory glanced at Gibbs.
"He says ye missed a bit."
"Ah" Mallory frowned and studied Cotton again "Who are you though?"
"He's Mr. Cotton" Gibbs volunteered.
"Is your name really Cotton?"
"Becalmed."
Mallory circled Cotton again. "There are so many sigils I can't see a thing through them." He cupped his hands around Cotton's chin, closed his eyes, and stood silent for what seemed like a small slice of eternity. Cotton's eyes went crossed as he stuck out a perfect pink tongue and then caught Mallory as he half slid down him. He braced himself against Cotton's chest and then pushed back to stand under his own strength.
"Better?"
"Red sky at night."
"Thank ye" Gibbs supplied before Mallory could even turn his done in eyes on him.
"My sincere pleasure" Mallory tucked his elbows into the Pearl's rigging and slouched back. If Jack had done it it would have been a relaxed and comfortable pose but Mallory didn't slouch and I got the distinct impression that the only thing keeping him vertical was the rigging. "The least I could do. You deserve a good bit more."
"Becalmed."
Mallory arched a dark brow "Are we back to that? I haven't a clue what the Alltude told you to convince you to come into Avalon after me but you lost whatever life you had all those years ago. You were tortured, maimed, and are still being used by them. If nothing else I owe you for that even if it didn't do any good in the end."
"Becalmed."
"It did some good?"
Hard silence.
"You're quite right that's my second terribly boorish question. I could blame it on Sparrow and the no longer just a Merlot" Jack's head came up. So Mallory had figured it out – from the beginning? Or did he realize after the effects so suddenly made themselves known? Or had he let Jack get him drunk? "But I'm in a generally contrary mood tonight. Would you be so kind as to strike that one from the record? And I'll attempt to be better behaved, honestly, or dishonestly, since I'm really not terribly good at honesty. Did that make any sense at all? Not that it matters, ashes and dust." He gave himself a slight shake. "So we knew each other before I went back to Avalon, back in the 1500's?"
"Wind in the sails."
"Allies?"
"Wind in the sails. Becalmed."
"Did they even tell you the risks? None of them had the gifts to force you – were you blackmailed into it?"
"Wind in the sails. Becalmed."
"You went knowingly into Avalon to save an enemy?" He asked incredulously.
"Becalmed."
"You went knowingly into Avalon?"
"Wind in the sails."
"But we were no longer allies?"
"Wind in the sails. Becalmed."
"You thought you owed me something?"
"Wind in the sails."
He canted his head "I'd like to pull down Bledri's glamour and get a real look at you but I have to take apart all the other" an almost Jack like wave "stuff they've piled on you. I'm not sure if I can do that safely. They made a horrid mess and I certainly shouldn't attempt it right now. Not safe, not safe at all. But if you're truly desperate I can try but I'm as likely to kill you as not and I can't do a thing about the Gorchymyn."
"Becalmed."
"Very wise" Mallory shook his head and sat down on the deck on the other side of the cask. "Play your games with someone else Puck. I thank you for the attempt, sir. Whatever debt you might have owed consider it well and truly discharged, good evening." And with that he dismissed Mr. Cotton who picked up the cetera and dropped it in Mallory's lap again. Mallory gave a long suffering sigh "You want me to play?"
Cotton picked up the cetera and pushed it into Mallory's hands.
"How did he even get it?" Gibbs wondered.
"Sea says she gave it to him to give back to me." He started tuning the cetera "I'm not sure whether I find the thought of Puck and Sea in any kind of accord terrifying or comforting." He played a quick scale to check the instrument's condition and then launched into a song in French. By the second line Jack's eyes were wide, by the second verse he and Anna-Maria were in stitches, the Governor was turning purple though I couldn't tell if it was indignation or restrained mirth, Elizabeth's jaw was heading for the deck, and Gibb's face shifted between deep concentration and amusement. Not knowing French all I could do was admire his stunningly good voice and nimble fingers.
Jack wiped streaming eyes "Where in bloody Hell did ye learn that?"
"In a brothel with the King who gave me this in the first place" he picked up the dark bottle he'd been working on "To Henri Bourbon, born Prince of Navarre, died King of France, a man who did his level best to be both the literal and figurative Father of France." He drank and then muttered "How many times did I warn you not to travel in bloody open couches? How many times Henri?" He closed his eyes briefly and then got stiffly back to his feet.
"That was not appropriate to play before my daughter, sir" the Governor snapped chin up.
"On the contrary, as Aphrodite's handmaiden it contained any number of things which she should find…useful as a married woman."
The Governor just stammered and turned an even darker shade of purple.
"Are ye taking requests?" Marty asked. I was surprised to realize that we were now surrounded by the entire crew. Mallory gave a gracious bow and stepped firmly forward to the center of the deck "From the small country dance to the courtly ball – I've played for them all. Ask and ye shall receive."
"Matthew 7:8" Jack murmured while the crew shouted requests to Mallory. As Mallory played and the pirates sang and danced with gusto my father gave my shoulder a quick squeeze and then began whispering earnestly into Jack's ear. My last sight as I slipped into sleep was the flash of concern in Jack's eyes while the pirates partied in the background.
