Chapter 24: Merrow

"I am NOT HAPPY!"

BANG.

Bluebeard blew across the door like a cannon. The sound woke Tigerlily. But the instant she opened her eyes, Bluebeard closed the door and attacked the girl hanging by her wedding veil.

"So long you sulk!" Bluebeard wrenched the wedding veil, strangling the girl. She flailed blindly but Bluebeard twisted harder. "Mademoiselle bride! Redbeard's wretch! Well, my Merrow sparrow –" Bluebeard sunk his mouth into the girl's neck. "—see my passions burn to anger!"

The girl screamed. Air sucked through the wedding veil as her mouth moved under the sheer fabric.

"Your song!" Bluebeard snarled as Tigerlily struggled to her feet. "Sing me your song! Finish it! Argh!"

Tigerlily pounced. Nausea overwhelmed by rage, she jumped to the girl's protection. Shrieking like a brave, she clawed Bluebeard's beard and pulled. The pirate's neck cracked but he did not waiver. Viciously counter-attacking, Bluebeard swung Tigerlily from his shoulders.

Carcasses swayed as Tigerlily landed. Something mushy slipped under her feet, but Tigerlily hadn't a second to imagine what it could be. Bluebeard wrestled cuffs to her ankles and smiled when Tigerlily kicked helplessly against the chains.

"Now…" Bluebeard returned to the girl. He pressed a square blade to her cheek. The wedding veil frayed as he sawed into the fabric, exposing the girl's lips. "….you know what I want to hear. Yes? My little Merrow sparrow?"

The girl shied from the blade. She yelled as Bluebeard curved her neck over his knee. Locked against him, Bluebeard lowered his mouth to the girl's.

"…you will either sing or cry for death…" Bluebeard's blade puckered into the girl's cheek "…I'm listening."

Nothing.

Then, Bluebeard hissed.

"Sing!" Tigerlily screamed. Both pirate and the girl turned their heads, startled by her outcry. Bluebeard lifted his dagger. The girl squinted through the wedding veil. But neither was more surprised than Tigerlily, who continued to scream without any other reason than instinct. "Just do it! Just now! Sing! Sing!"

Bluebeard flipped back his dagger by the tip. Tigerlily staggered as he aimed for her head. "Savage wretch – "

" – be my asleep at last."

Silence.

Tigerlily's heart stopped. Bluebeard dropped his blade. It clattered. Mesmerized, both Bluebeard and Tigerlily turned to the girl still shroud in a wedding veil.

She had sung. Just one lyric. But it was more than singing and it was more than one piece of a song. It was clear, disarming, purity. And perhaps the girl's voice was purified by mere contrast to her surroundings, but as the notes faded, Tigerlily thought them utterly magical.

Bluebeard thought the same.

"…be my asleep at last…" Bluebeard prompted. He growled, touching the girl's throat. Tigerlily winced. Bluebeard's voice was disgusting, almost hurtful, compared to the song. Almost hopefully, she looked to the girl.

The girl wavered, Bluebeard's fingers on her skin. Doubtfully her lips moved. She did not sing. Then, Bluebeard clenched.

The girl cringed. Breathed.

And slowly, she started to sing.

"…be my asleep at last….

…kiss me full and hold me fast…

…be my sail and be my mast…

…anchors away…

….forever cast…

…and…"

Bluebeard slid his blade across the floor. He pushed it under her chin.

"…and…?"

The girl mouthed. Suddenly she sobbed. Bluebeard squeezed her jaw, hungry for the unfinished song.

The poor girl tried to sing. But every attempt seemed unbearable. Then she gasped, each word gouging her mouth.

"…and…and…in the morning…please…here be….cause…red…skies…still…still…"

"CAPTAIN!"

The lock rattled. Bluebeard cocked his head, listening to his crew but eyes on the girl.

"The Jolly Roger scum!" a crewman yelled. "They're gone! Hook has fled!"

Tigerlily's stomach dropped. The Jolly Roger was gone? Gone? Leaving her with Bluebeard! Without Black Antler and…without John. Tigerlily groped the floor. Already sickened by the stench, she tried not to faint with panic. She needed to get out. She needed to get out now.

Pirates banged on the door, knocking Tigerlily back to her senses.

"Captain! Captain! Shalz we hunt them?"

Bluebeard closed his eyes. Anger vented from his body. Every passion he directed upon the girl. Fingers digging through the veil, Bluebeard strangled her until he heard the crewman's desperate cry.

"Captain! Hook! Hook! Hook's getting' away! DO WE HUNT?!"

Bluebeard threw the girl. Her neck twisted back as the veil caught. Tigerlily seized her. Bluebeard glared as Tigerlily gathered the veil.

Then, Bluebeard joined his ravenous crew.

"Si tu veux."

The pirates screamed. Bluebeard barked orders. Sweat poured and muscles strained. Then, with a lurch, the Devorador prowled after the Jolly Roger.

Tigerlily exhaled. So did the girl.

Tigerlily looked down. Remembering Bluebeard's taunting, she tentatively asked the girl's name.

"Merrow?"

Merrow sighed. Face still mummified by the veil, she lifted a cheek from the floor. "Could you untie me?"

Tigerlily immediately obliged. Expertly she unraveled the lace knots binding Merrow's ankles, legs, hips, wrist, arms, neck, face….

"Good Goddess." Tigerlily lifted the veil. She gawked at the tattoo on the side of Merrrow's neck. Slowly, her lip curled.

"A red fish? A red flying fish? The Flying Fish is the name of Redbeard's ship."

Disgusted, Tigerlily pointed. "You're a pirate!"

Merrow blinked. Although her vision was unfocused from days under the veil, she placed a hand directly over the tattoo.

"Redbeard is my father, yeah." Merrow traced the flying fish tattoo up her collar bone and behind her ear. "But a girl cannot be a pirate."

Tigerlily scoffed. She agreed – wholeheartedly – but decided to disagree on principle. "Really? And why not, girl pirate?"

Merrow rubbed the tattoo. "Bad luck."

Tigerlily paused. She did not fight back, although she wanted to. Oh how badly she wanted to!

Captain Redbeard was a fearsome pirate. With Hook in Neverland, Bluebeard in the Northern Neversea, and Blackbeard in the Ever East, Redbeard ruled the Windy West.

The stories say Redbeard's ocean was plagued with unending storms and waves one thousand feet high. Redbeard's ship, The Flying Fish, was so named because it flew between waves and wind, when other galleons would capsize.

But Redbeard, the pirate lord himself, earned his name by a victory ritual...of drinking his victims' blood.

And here was Redbeard's daughter. But….

Tigerlily frowned. Perhaps it was Merrow's sad tone, or perhaps it was the simplicity of her answers, but either way Tigerlily's spite was dampened.

Merrow stretched her neck and kneaded her eyes. Tigerlily watched, catching features. She grimaced. Merrow was thin and colorless as the wedding veil that bound her. Tigerlily glanced at the crumpled veil and shuddered.

"How long was your face…in that thing?"

Merrow stopped. She lowered her hands. "It's bad, yeah?"

Tigerlily leaned back. At first it was unnerving. Merrow was bone white and her hair was an unpleasant rusty shade. Like dried blood. It was a nasty contrast.

But…

Tigerlily looked again. Peering hard, she almost smiled. Merrow had big ears and a tiny chin, which made her face gorgeously heart shaped. And her eyes were a very simple honey brown. Tigerlily consented. Maybe in better light, Merrow's hair would look more auburn and less like dried blood.

"Not bad." Tigerlily eyed the red tattoo. "For Redbeard's daughter."

Merrow did not immediately respond. It was a little infuriating – Tigerlily was accustomed to fast, two-sided arguments with Wendy. But when Merrow spoke, her replies were incredibly deliberate.

"You hate pirates. I can't see you well. Where are you from?"

Tigerlily crossed her legs. The chains dragged across the floor. "Neverland."

"Neverland?" Merrow's eyebrows raised. "Are you a fairy?"

Tigerlily scoffed. "Good goddess, no."

"But you are from Neverland, yeah?"

"Yes. I am Tigerlily. Indian Princess."

Merrow was less impressed that Tigerlily had hoped. "If you are from Neverland, then you know Captain Hook?"

Tigerlily growled. "We've met."

Merrow noticed her tone. "You dislike the captain, yeah?"

"Um, yeah." Tigerlily said, mimicking the girl's accent. "Why? Friend of the family, Redbeard's daughter?"

Merrow smiled, undaunted. "You really di'not like pirates."

"And I'm liking them less and less."

Merrow's looked a little amused.

Tigerlily hit the ground. White girls. All of them. Irritating.

All pirates are the same!" Tigerlily said before Merrow could laugh. "They capture and kill! Hook has kidnapped me twice, but this time took my friends and left me with Bluebeard to die!"

The ship lurched. Merrow waited for Tigerlily to regain her balance.

"My father did that to me too."

The carcasses swayed. Tigerlily swallowed hard. She looked at Merrow. "What do you mean?"

Again, Merrow waited. But, this time the answer seemed too painful to share.

"I…I was a bargain . My father bargained me to Bluebeard. As…a bride."

Tigerlily was stunned. "Why?"

Merrow looked up. "They are pirates. Yeah?"

It was a perfectly reasonable answer. Still, the idea of bartering lives infuriated Tigerlily. After all….Peter's failed bargain for Wendy started this whole misadventure!

Angrily Tigerlily ground her fists. Merrow noticed, and Tigerlily told her why.

"…then Peter showed up, but of course he was too late! Black Antler and John were caught, and the seawitch turned Wendy into a mermaid. Peter dove into the magic, and good goddess knows if he's dead, alive, a merman, or a stinking fish –serves him right!"

Tigerlily wrung her chains. "And now, I'm stuck here! With Bluebeard in this…this…" Tigerlily, suddenly stopped. "What is this place? And who are…"

Tigerlily gulped. She looked away from the sightless eye sockets and rotting hands. "…who are all…these?"

Merrow blinked, reviewing Tigerlily's narrative. Then, she spoke.

"You di'not know the story of Bluebeard?"

Tigerlily already felt queasy. "Do I want to?"

"Do you?"

Tigerlily hugged her knees. "Fine. Quick. What is the story?"

Unlike Wendy, Merrow was not a story teller. So, she told it quietly and plain.

"Bluebeard slaughters his brides."

Tigerlily froze. She looked at the hanging bodies. Then she looked at Merrow.

"But…aren't you…his bride?"

Merrow, for all her composure and all her calm, trembled. "Not for long."

"But…" Tigerlily shook her head. "…why?"

"Because…now you're here."

At first it didn't make sense. Tigerlily stared at Merrow. Then, the words connected and crackled into meaning.

Tigerlily jumped. "We have to escape!"

Merrow lifted slightly. Tigerlily's intensity was inspiring. But still, as the Indian princess clanged upright, Merrow watched the chains at her feet. "How?"

Tigerlily turned. Her dark eyes glittered. "Tinkerbell!"

Merrow was surprised. "Who?"

"Tinkerbell!" Tigerlily paced, matching her speed to the plan formulating in her head. "Wendy was looking for Tinkerbell, and Hook said he was looking for Tinkerbell, and now Bluebeard and Hook are looking for Tinkerbell – "

"—What is a Tinkerbell?"

"Tinkerbell! Tinkerbell is a pixie – a fairy from Neverland!" Tigerlily pounced, grabbing the idea before it slipped away. "And if we can learn Hook's scheme, we might be able to find Tinkerbell! Or at least wait until the pirates do! Then if we can get to her first – "

Excitedly, Tigerlily turned. She snapped her fingers in Merrow's face.

"Then we can use Tinkerbell's pixie dust to save the day and fly away!"

Merrow blinked. Bypassing the parts she didn't understand and assuming magic would explain them later, she returned to the breathless princess.

"So we need to know Hook and Bluebeard's plan. Okay. How?"

Tigerlily gestured. "You!"

Merrow shook her head. She needed details. "How?"

Tigerlily put a hand on her hip. White girls. Also sometimes stupid. "You're the bride. Give Bluebeard what he wants."

Merrow almost rose. "Excuse me?"

"Your song!" Impatiently Tigerlily rolled her eyes. "Your beautiful song! Bluebeard almost slit your throat, he wanted it so! Lure him with your song!"

Merrow was quiet. Eagerly, Tigerlily waited. She was deliriously hopeful; her plan was so simple, so foolproof.

But then Merrow denied it.

"I can't."

Tigerlily's hope crushed. "You can't?" Angrily she beseeched the girl. "You can't or you won't?"

Merrow glared. "That song…my song…Red Skies…"

"— good name. Use it against Bluebeard – "

"…is not for him." Merrow struggled to her feet. She wavered from weakness, but was saved by seasoned sea legs. She challenged Tigerlily with quiet defiance.

"Red Skies is a magical song. It was a blessing, given to me by a siren the day I was born. I can only sing it…the whole thing….to the man I am meant to love. Forever."

"And…" Merrow continued, cutting Tigerlily off. "… I do not want that man to be Bluebeard."

"But – " Tigerlily protested. "— Bluebeard just made you sing!"

Merrow clicked her tongue. "Not the whole thing. The entire song makes the spell."

Tigerlily considered.

"The song is magical?" she verified.

Merrow nodded. "Very, yeah."

Tigerlily toyed with a braid. "Annnd….Bluebeard…knows this?"

Merrow lifted her chin, suspicious. "…yeah. That's why he hasn't…killed me. He wants…the song."

Suddenly, Merrow understood. She looked at Tigerlily. "You want me to be the bait. You want me to trade my song…for information."

Tigerlily thought. Then she consented. "And also a dagger or two." she said. "If you could steal a couple along the way."

Merrow stared. Then, she strode for the door. "Yeah. It is a good plan."

Tigerlily turned. "Really? I uh…" she followed, but reached the limit of her chains.

"You don't have to sing the whole song." she offered. Ankles stinging, she spoke to Merrow's back. "…or just make up words. Lie. And then when Bluebeard brings you back here, we'll – "

"You'd better be quiet, yeah." Merrow knelt. Eyes closed, she lay her forehead on the door. She did not want Tigerlily to see her cry. "My voice isn't that strong."

Tigerlily stopped. She stared, a little angry. White girls! No gratitude! After all, they were both trapped and Tigerlily had at least devised a plan!

Annoyed, Tigerlily suddenly thought of Wendy. Although Merrow's rational was refreshing, Tigerlily would have almost preferred one of Wendy's ethical arguments. Where Merrow accepted the logic, Wendy would have judged Tigerlily's conscience. Tigerlily glared. At least with Wendy, it would have been an admirable fight; and probably ending– knowing Wendy – with a compromise that would somehow work with a little spit and a little elbow grease.

Still…

Guiltily, Tigerlily listened as Merrow cleared her throat. There was something equally admirable about this girl willing to endure all risks for the wisest course. Despite all her sufferings.

She sighed.

And as Merrow started to sing, Tigerlily prayed they would escape.

sultal's note: Merrow's song is on Youtube. You can get there by typing this into Google Search "Red Skies sultal." I was sick when I recorded it, so the airy-ness is a bear.

The name of video is "Red Skies (Merrow's song in story)"