Chapter 33: The Waking
Spanish Translations at end (just short phrases/words)
"Athena!"
Tugging.
On my hair.
"Not enough, not enough!" Frantic muttering. "Lo siento, Athena, but I must take more!"
I heard the sound of something being sheared along a blade, at the same time I felt a dull sting on my scalp, followed by a fast tapping.
Metal striking rock.
An abrupt fizz, like someone lighting a match. Reddish light filtered in through my eyelids. And then that pungent, bitter smell wafted over my face, stronger than before; making my nose itch, curling into my mouth.
"Por favor, Athena, wake up!"
What was that smell?
It receded a little; but then someone was grasping me by the shoulders, shaking me hard, trying to wake me.
"¡Despierta!"
I tried in vain to open my eyes, to move my sluggish tongue and tell whoever was shaking me, alright, stop, I'm awake, but I could not. My body - my body? For a moment I didn't feel sure it was, although I couldn't think of why that would be - but it paid no attention to anything I wanted it to do.
"Perdóname, perdóname, Athena!"
To my bewilderment, I felt myself being lifted up, dragged into someone's lap, crushed uncomfortably against a hard chest, unable to move or even protest.
Who was this?
I struggled again to open my eyes, and failed; all I could do was lie helplessly in this stranger's arms. Their voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I didn't know why. I tried to clear the fog from my brain and remember - well, anything; but nothing was making any sense. I remembered being inside a courtyard, with a fountain and orange trees… and then a wild storm had come, and I'd been trying desperately to save someone...
But where was I now?
I listened hard, wondering if the person holding me would speak again; but all I could hear was the muffled sound of heavy rain outside, the crashing of waves, and the groans and creaks of a sailing ship…
A sailing ship.
La Maria Silenciosa, my brain helpfully supplied.
That's right… I realised slowly. I'm on a ship called La Maria Silenciosa. Good job, brain. But… what am I doing here? All memory stalled again. What the hell has happened to me?
"Forgive me!" They whispered earnestly. "I should never have brought you down here, I had no idea it would -!"
But in the next second, as if disgusted with themselves, I was being held out almost at arm's length. "Insensata! You made it angry, so angry! You pushed it out, and now it is punishing us, you do not know what you have done -"
Wait just a minute…
I did know that voice.
I knew that sharp, haughty, scolding tone… but before I could figure it out, I heard something else, over the waves and the rain: something that my brain suggested was actually rather dangerous.
The sound of swords clashing.
"Los prisioneros escapan!" Someone was shouting above us. "¿Quién hizo esto?"
"¡La Maldición!" A voice cried back. "¡La Maldición está enfadada!"
"The Curse..." Arms gently rocked me, followed by an agonized, "It's letting them all out, because of you, foolish girl! Why did you have to fight it? Now it is angry and thirsty for blood, because you weakened it…"
Thirsty? Blood? What in the world?
And then there came the unmistakable sound of a shot being fired, right over our heads, followed by more curses and cries in Spanish, and heavy boots running hard.
I was pressed tightly against their chest again, an arm cradling my head as a hoarse prayer was begun over me, "Virgen María, Madre de Cristo, do not let her be dying, por favor -"
I listened in complete bewilderment.
"Do not dare - " their voice broke harshly, " - be dying! Not now! ¡Despierta Athena, por favor, despierta!"
I was shuffled uncomfortably in their arms, and then the pungent odour from before was suddenly shoved right back under my nose, and my body broke into a paroxysm of coughing.
"Gracias a Dios!" Their relief was instant. "You're awake!"
"Wh-what...the - hhhhell!"
I flailed at whatever the source of the smell was, just to get it out of my face, but I had no strength to keep my hand up for long. With a tired moan, I let my hand fall uselessly onto my stomach.
"That - smell... what the hell is that?"
"Hair, Señorita."
"Uh..?" I struggled to open my eyes. "Hair?"
"I improvised," they said. "You would not wake up - I had no smelling salts - so I cut a little of your hair and burned it."
"Why the hell," I coughed weakly. "Would you do that! Now I'm gonna smell like burned hair for the rest of my life..."
I felt a hand against my forehead, as refreshing as cool water, and a haughty, "A strong smell irritates the lungs, and triggers the body's natural desire to breathe."
"Huh. You talk like a doctor -" Light dawned, and a name emerged through my foggy brain to fit the voice. "Wait… are you - Officer Magda?"
A pause.
"Disappointed, Señorita?" He said dryly. "Were you expecting el Capitán?"
I tried to shake my head - I had no idea who 'el Capitán' was - but my body was still refusing to cooperate with the merest instruction, and he did not wait for me to answer.
"I doubt he has woken up - no matter what idiotic schemes you and Lieutenant Lesaro thought would work!"
I had no idea what schemes he was talking about, but his sharp rebuke was so comfortingly familiar that it almost put me at ease.
"I think you really like to scold me, don't you," I commented casually. "Do you do it every time we talk?"
"Scold you?" He was flat. "If it keeps you alive, sí, I will do more than scold you!" He started to shift his legs underneath me. "Do you have any idea -"
"I don't. But I don't need to." I hoped he wasn't going to make me move just yet. I was very comfortable where I was. "Scold me all you like, just don't burn any more hair."
"Most ladies would thank me for reviving them -" He stopped, and I could hear him grit his teeth, trying not to lose his patience. "Can you open your eyes?"
I tried, managing a brief glimpse of Magda's face above me, but I was completely distracted by the golden halo around his head.
"Oh, pretty," I said, blinking up at it.
"... que?"
I blinked again, and realised it wasn't a halo, but the soft glow of a lantern, swaying from a hook in the ceiling beam behind him. The lantern's flame flickered gold and amber in the rocking motion of the hold.
I was definitely on La María. I closed my eyes again, comforted by the thought. I couldn't remember why, but I really liked La María.
"Does the lantern hurt your eyes?"
I managed to successfully shake my head. "No. I like it. Fiery. Fire colours are good."
"Are they." His grip shifted, and he cleared his throat. "Athena."
"Hmm?"
"We must move from here. The prisoners - they have been let out. They will be desperate to find a way off La María, but... they may also come down here to hide. And so, I must take you somewhere safer."
"Ah. Well." I paused. "That's going to be a problem. I kinda - can't move right now."
"Are you injured?" He was concerned. "Does your head hurt?"
"No... um - it's just. Nothing works? And -" I added, in case it mattered, "I can't remember things…"
"I see. Do you remember what happened? Before you - fell unconscious?"
"Um. Not really…"
I tried to remember. But I didn't know if what I was remembering was a dream or something that had actually happened. It had seemed real. There had been orange trees, and a fountain. Black and white patterned stones. And - again, that sense that someone else had been there, someone I wanted desperately to help, and… they'd - I'd… oh. We'd - kissed?!
"I don't remember anything." I hurriedly said, my face burning. "I was dreaming. That's all I know."
"What kind of dream?" Magda pressed. "Was it a bad dream?"
"It was just strange. Felt like it went on for hours..."
Hours.
Hours...
Something stirred in my memory, the echo of another conversation -
...I'm glad you woke me. Sometimes, they last many hours.
Hours?
Time moves differently in the Nightmare.
And then all at once, I remembered. I remembered everything.
"Capitán Salazar!" I cried out, my eyes flying wide open.
"Shh, Athena," he hushed me at once, glancing pointedly up at the decks above us. "We do not want to be found here by the wrong people!"
"But I need to see him -" I whispered urgently, "I need to - the Curse! - and La María - I need to make sure he's -"
"You said you cannot even move, Señorita!" He cut me off abruptly. "Or have you forgotten whose body you're in?"
I craned my head to look down at myself, still lying in his lap, and was immediately disappointed to see I was still in Lady Stanhope's body. Dammit, I cursed silently. No wonder I was having so much trouble moving! I glared at it. Out of all the bodies I could've been shoved in, I got an indolent upper-class lady's body. And the worst part was, that for a moment I'd genuinely forgotten. It didn't help matters either, that in Capitán Salazar's false reality I'd been in my own body. I mean, it hadn't been real, I knew that, but it'd been nice to feel like I was back in my old body again.
But the pity party was interrupted by a voice I knew all too well.
Tchhhhh tch kck-kck-kck kck!
"La María!" I stiffened, recognising the angry, desperate note in her creaking.
TCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTCHTCHTCHTCH!
She was above us, somewhere on the top deck, and it sounded like she was fighting again, just as she'd been fighting the Curse in the courtyard... there was no time to miss my old body right now. I had things to do. The first being, to make sure Capitán Salazar was awake.
"Help me stand up!"
"Is that a request?" Magda's eyebrows flew up, and his lips pursed in displeasure. "Or an order?"
"A request!" I quickly amended, adding, "Please."
He glanced away down the length of the hold, appearing to think - and I struggled to rein in my impatience as I heard more of the fighting on the decks above us, because I knew he could hear it too.
"Here is not the safest," he murmured, half to himself. "We have no way out if we are found." He looked sternly down at me. "I will help you, but you will do as I say! If I tell you to hide, you must hide, and if I tell you to run, you must run!"
"I will! I promise."
"Bien." He gently shifted me from his lap, his hands still supporting my head and my shoulders, allowing me to feel the floor beneath me. "Now. Señorita Athena. I need you to focus. I can carry you out of here, but it is better if you are able to stand by yourself. In case you do need to run."
I nodded again, swallowing, my heart already starting to pound; but I braced myself, and counting silently to three, I heaved with all the strength I had until I was sitting up.
"Uggghhh," I groaned as my centre of gravity turned every which way but the right one. "That hurt!"
"Slowly, slowly," he chided, holding me by the shoulders, while I pressed my hands to my spinning head. "No one is coming. We have time. Not much, but a little. Take it slowly, Athena."
"I don't have time to take it slow!" Annoyed, I grabbed Magda's hand, not caring at the surprise on his face when I did. "Pull me up - I need to see Capitán Salazar right now -"
"Do not worry about him," he said curtly. "Be concerned for yourself! Capitán Salazar can fight his own battles."
I shook my head, "Not always."
Magda chose not to argue; he just sighed and smoothly stood, picking up his sword that he'd used to cut my hair and sheathing it, before holding out both his hands to me.
"Here," he waited for me to place my hands in his, before gently pulling me up until I was on my feet facing him. "Now place your arms around my waist, until you feel steady enough to stand on your own."
But standing was a disaster. From the first time he tried to set me on my feet, I started to slide back down again. Again and again we tried, but nothing seemed to be working. Not my arms, or my legs, and definitely not my eyes, which kept threatening to shut of their own accord every few seconds.
"I can't." I slid to the ground for the umpteenth time, upset at myself. "I can't - make this damn body work!"
"Dios mio," he tapped an invisible boot, "I do not know how you stay alive!"
"Fate." I said. "Karma. Destiny."
He rolled his eyes. "I would say it is your sheer annoying stubbornness."
"Same thing."
"You want to save el Capitán, but you cannot stand on your own two feet." He shook his head deprecatingly. "I would say you're a walking contradiction, except you can't walk."
"Oh?" I looked up and caught his smirk, "Ha ha. You're hysterically funny."
"I have been known for my wit." He paused, watching me; and then in a different voice he said, "Perhaps I should carry you."
"No!" I clutched onto his hands, already levering myself up off the floor. "I'm gonna - damn well - do this!"
With a heave, I succeeded in standing - or rather, leaning heavily - against him; he staggered back a step under my weight and adjusted his stance to support me, but for once I wasn't sinking back down again.
"Bloody hell!" I panted, gripping onto his shoulders to keep myself up. "Why the bloody f-"
His eyebrow shot up.
I swallowed the swearword, and said instead, "Why is this so hard?" I glared down at myself. "I feel like I've woken out of a coma! How long was I asleep for?"
I didn't really expect Magda to answer, figuring he wouldn't know; but to my surprise, he did.
"Two minutes," he looked down. "You were unconscious for two minutes, no more than three." He became harsh, scolding me again. "You are still weak, Athena! Why are you pushing yourself? For el Capitán? What do you intend? To fight the Curse all by yourself?"
"If I have to, yes!"
"You should be thinking of yourself first! Let me carry you, I can take you to a safer place than this -"
"Are you for real!" I snapped. "You really want me to hide away while everyone else is fighting? Leave Capitán Salazar alone in his cabin, without knowing if he's alright?"
I tried to shift back, to stand without leaning on him, but immediate inertia threatened to send me toppling backwards; with a muttered curse he pulled me closer to keep me from falling.
"I am still your guard, Señorita, and it is still my duty to keep you safe!"
"Officer Magda." I graced him with as dignified a look as possible - which was hard, given that I'd just about fallen over - and said, to recover my composure, "I doubt there is anywhere safer than next to Capitán Salazar!"
I'd never seen him look more offended.
"Por favor," he said dryly. "You could not have been more insulting to me if you'd tried."
"And you left me alone!" Frustration made me snap at him. "I know it was more than two minutes that I was passed out!"
"It was not."
"How can you be sure? What if it was longer!"
"Athena." He closed his eyes, jerking his chin away from me. "I was here."
I stopped, suddenly aware for the first time that his whole body was tense.
"I was here." He repeated. "In the hold."
I frowned.
"I am -" he did not look at me. "Sorry that I could not stop it from hurting you. It - would not let me speak, or move. It trapped me against the hull. Made me watch while it tried to kill you."
"Wait - what?" Shock made my voice high. "You - were here? You mean - here here?"
A dull clunk startled us both; we looked around the hold, but we could see nothing beyond the edge of the lantern-light.
"You must keep quiet," Magda's voice was barely above a whisper. "We cannot be discovered here."
I paused, listening harder than before, but the sound of swords and shouts above us were muffled and distant. I thought I heard a soft sudden rustling sound in the hold, close to where we were, but though Magda stared sharply at one shadowy spot in particular, eventually he seemed satisfied that we were still alone.
"Sí, I stayed here." He resumed quietly. "I meant to watch you."
"But. You - you left me..." I whispered back. "You walked away. I heard you go."
"No, Athena." He looked pained. "I let you think I did. But I did not."
"So... you were here the whole time?"
"I was." He said. "I wanted to see what you'd do, if you thought no one was watching." He breathed in through his nose, before admitting, "I saw how you talked to La María, I saw you had apples in your cloak. I saw how they tasted strange to you, but it was not until later, after I saw the Curse try to force you to eat them, that I knew there must be something - very wrong with them -"
"Aye, there was something wrong with them," a gruff voice interrupted from the shadows. "Twas Laudanum."
Emerging into the circle of lantern light Captain Barbossa came, his wooden peg leg striking the floorboards with a rhythmic clunk, his yellowed teeth showing in a complaisant grin as he came to a halt before the bars.
And with him was a young man holding a sword, rain-soaked hair plastered down his forehead, muddy water dripping off his chin. It took me a second, but I recognised him. It was the same muddy-faced pirate from before. The same one who'd poisoned the apples with laudanum. Only now, his face had been washed clean. His eyes slid towards me and he looked disappointed to see I was standing - and very much awake.
"Henry Turner." Magda's cold rage made him spit the name. "I should have known!"
"But you didn't!" Henry was triumphant. "It didn't take much to deceive you. A little mud, and you didn't know who I was!"
Magda smoothly slid his arms underneath my elbows and spun me around to lean against the cell bars behind us. He moved so fast it made me gasp, and involuntarily I clutched at his uniform coat to steady my dizziness.
"Stay behind me," he said, gently taking my hands from his front and making me wrap my fingers around the bars I leant on. "Hold onto them," he murmured, before turning back to face them.
"This cell is locked," he shrugged his shoulders, and spread his hands, as if helpless in the matter. "So if you are here to take the Señorita, let me advise you this: do not waste your time. Turn and leave. Or you will die."
Barbossa nodded once at Henry, who handed him his sword and moved at once to kneel before the door, starting to pick the lock with the same tools I guessed he'd used to free Barbossa.
"The boy's a quick study," Barbossa told us proudly. "Me daughter's taught him everything she knows, so we'll be having ye both out of there in no time."
"Ah, bien. It must be so pleasant, to have an industrious son-in-law." Magda sounded as unperturbed as if he were exchanging pleasantries about the weather. "But has he learned to kill a dead man?"
"Come, come, Spaniard," Barbossa's eyes narrowed, though he made an attempt to sound friendly. "No need for that! This just be a small matter, betwixt us – no one needs to know you saw us." He gave a false smile. "Why not say ye came a minute too late?"
Magda did not respond.
Henry glanced at Barbossa, his fingers still busy picking the lock, but the pirate captain showed no sign of being disturbed by Magda's silence; so he kept on, and with one more click, the lock was undone. He stood, shoving the cage door open, its metallic whine echoing through the deck.
I clutched at the bars behind me, holding my breath.
Magda stood complacently between the open door and me.
Henry hesitated at the door, watching Magda uncertainly.
But Barbossa's blue eyes became shrewd; he pivoted on his wooden leg so he could look around Magda to make direct eye contact with me.
"What say ye, Lady Stanhope?" He swept the sword in a genteel gesture towards the door. "I'm sure this Spaniard has enough honour to let ye slip on past..."
Still, Magda made no response; neither confirming nor denying whether he would actually let me pass him without intervening. For a moment, I felt unsure what to do.
"Freedom awaits," Barbossa encouraged, "If ye wish for it!"
"You... want me to come with you?" I couldn't help being suspicious. "What for?"
"What for?" Henry was incredulous. "What for?"
"Yer betrothed, m'Lady." Barbossa attempted a friendly smile, but looked like he had something rotten under his tongue. "I'm sure ye want to be reunited with him again."
Henry glanced sideways at Barbossa with a raised brow.
"The fair reunion of two lovers, the wedding ye been waiting for... don't ye wish to run into his arms?"
I'd heard enough bullshit in my time to recognise it for what it was.
"No thanks," I said. "I'm very happy where I am."
"Alright m'lady," Barbossa rolled his eyes and shoved the sword back into Henry's hands. "I'll be straight with ye." He jerked a head at Henry. "I've heard enough from the boy here, to know Salazar must have a very keen interest in ye."
"You think you can bargain with me?" I said flatly.
"Oh," he laughed. "Not ye, Lady Stanhope. Captain Salazar." His eyes shone with a satisfied gleam. "It'll give him reason to pause, afore he attacks one of me ships again!"
"Oh. Wow. Yeah. I'm really convinced." I said sarcastically. "You think saying that is going to make me want to come willingly?"
"But think of all the lives you'll save!" Henry blurted. "I've seen the way they protect you! Come with us, and they won't dare attack another ship!"
"You're making a hell of a lot of assumptions-"
"Come with us, we'll keep you safe!" Henry earnestly believed his own words. "He won't hurt anyone again, if you're with us!"
"If I come with you," I said, "He's going to kill people. If you think he'll bend over backwards just because you have me, you don't know him -"
"Oh, I know Captain Salazar well enough!" Barbossa bellowed, startling me. "Tried to kill me daughter, right in front o'me! So if he has a hankerin for ye, then I say takin' ye away be a fair lesson to teach him not to cross Captain Barbossa!" He quietened a little, but his ice-blue eyes still blazed. "Now I be a gentleman, Lady Stanhope, an' I have a reasonable sense of fair play, but if he needs to see reason to 'bend over backwards', as ye say, then I won't stop short of giving him one!" Barbossa nodded at Henry, who took a step into the cage, his sword at the ready. "So step aside Spaniard, and let the lady come along, quiet like. I'd hate to have to give Salazar a reason!"
This whole time, Magda had remained silent, unmoving. He didn't even look back at me. He just stood there.
Was he considering it? Was he actually thinking about letting them take me?
I tightened my grip on the bars behind me. I could not leave with them. If I left with them – Capitán Salazar would be enraged. I was sure of it. It wouldn't matter if he woke up and was still mad at me for the last argument we'd had in his cabin – he'd be angry if I was gone. He'd be angry that it was pirates, who'd taken me. No, he'd be angry that it was Barbossa, that the pirate captain had dared to try and manipulate him. Actually, he'd be angriest with me, for letting myself be taken. Who knew how many prisoners he might kill in retaliation for my leaving! I couldn't risk it.
"I can't go with you!"
"You have no choice." Henry Turner was grim. "We're taking you, whether you're willing or not!"
"Even if the lady was willing," Magda's cold words interrupted. "I am not."
Barbossa huffed. "She is of no consequence -"
"Ah? Do you think so?" Magda mocked softly.
"Oh, aye, she be of consequence to Captain Salazar." Barbossa let a low laugh out, "But I know ye have only a passing loyalty to yer Captain! Twas me leg I lost, not me hearing! So step aside Spaniard, and let us take her. Then we can be on our way!"
I saw Magda suddenly tilt his head, as though looking at something over Barbossa's shoulder. I wondered if he was feigning boredom, or trying to distract them.
If so, it nearly worked, for Henry started to turn, to look in the direction he was looking; and it made Magda straighten and announce in a loud voice, "I will never understand," he drew his sword with a speed that made Henry's eyes pop, "Why everyone always assumes I would allow this Señorita to come to harm under my care."
The sword sang in the air as he whipped it in a complicated parry, before letting it rest right in Henry's face, who stumbled backwards through the cell door in fear.
"If anyone harms her, it shall be me, and no other. If anyone takes her anywhere, it shall be me, and no other. El Capitán himself gave the order that she is to be under my watch, and I never fail in my duty. So if you want her, you may try. But you will never take her."
"Spaniards," Barbossa growled. "Always making things harder than they have to be."
"Harder? Harder? " Magda chuckled. "Capitán, I think they have no idea, what that word means."
"Sí," came a deep baritone behind them. "But I would very much like to teach them."
SPANISH TRANSLATIONS:
¡Despierta! - Wake up
Perdóname - Forgive me
¡Insensata! - Foolish girl!
Los prisioneros escapan! - The prisoners have escaped!
¿Quién hizo esto? - Who did this?
¡La Maldición!- The Curse
¡La Maldición está enfadada! - The Curse is angry!
Virgen María, Madre de Cristo - Holy Mary, Mother of God (the beginning of the rosary)
