Chapter Seventeen – With Proper Grip, at Last
Lily's body stirred, her mind in the sweet valley between sleep and awareness, the sea rolling comfortingly beneath her. Her hand moved itself up to brush a lock of hair away from her nose—
Her mind ricocheted into consciousness, hands instinctively trying to pull themselves apart, but rope twisted at her wrists.
"It's all right, Lily," Remus said from next to her.
A wall of barred iron entrapped her, Remus, and Caradoc—she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding—all three of them similarly bound with their hands in front of them. Her legs had been left free, and she maneuvered herself into a sitting position and rested her back against the wall of the ship.
The Death Eaters had clearly set out with different goals than James had: They had a brig and a dozen odd beds on their gun deck, but they lacked the eponymous cannons.
Outside the brig, a long, thin table sat along the edge of the ship. Lily's cutlass lay on top of it next to her mokeskin pouch, both tantalizingly out of reach. A nearby ladder led to the main deck, letting through sunlight and distant shouts.
She'd made it through captivity on James's ship in one piece, but somehow she doubted the Death Eaters would be as trusting or hospitable as James had been. There would be no leveraging their good will. And, assuming they were headed back to England now, there'd be no escape into a city, or at least not for a long while. If she even made it that far into the journey.
But unlike her previous imprisonment, this time she didn't have to rely on only herself.
"Got an escape plan?" she asked Remus.
He sat in the corner, eyes alert and legs straight in front of him, dried blood marring his sleeve. "I remain hopeful."
Gold still glinted on his earlobe, so he wasn't being entirely foolish.
Lily brought her hands up to let her fingers scramble through her hair until they settled on her hairpin. It had always felt different to her, somehow alive with a faint hum of magic. There was definitely still hope of escape, she thought as she eyed the large keyhole in the brig door.
She turned to Caradoc on her other side. He was alive, at least, although he slouched against the wall, head lolled sideways in sleep. The beginnings of bruises decorated one eye, and fresh blood ran in a lone rivulet from his nostril alongside his mouth.
"What happened?" she asked Remus.
"The prophecy's destroyed," he said, and he didn't appear to be able to announce it without smiling a little. "Another Death Eater appeared after you were knocked out. Marlene and I tried to hold them off, but unfortunately I found myself bested, and I'm not sure what happened next. Last I heard, everyone else was still alive in the cave."
Lily nodded. The others were probably still alive. They were all skilled, and clever, and it was unfathomable that they—
They were alive. They had to be.
She glanced toward Caradoc. "Is he all right?"
"I'm fine," Caradoc murmured. He groaned and sat up straight, hands brushing away the blood on his upper lip. Hands were no neat cleaning tool, though, and he ended up smearing it instead, giving himself a grotesque moustache.
Lily scooted sideways to sit closer to him and examined the small cuts and scrapes along one side of his face.
"They don't look too serious, just a black eye," she said. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
Caradoc cracked a smile. "They had other priorities."
"The ship?" Remus asked, quietly, as though afraid to hear the answer.
"Intact, last I saw," Caradoc said, and Remus let out a contented breath. "Two of them broke through the repelling defenses. They took the woman out of the magazine and tried to break the other spells, but they couldn't manage, so they gave up to go after the prophecy."
"And Algernon?" Remus said.
"Hidden in a cupboard. They didn't know to look for him, so I think he made it through."
It had not occurred to Lily that they would have killed a cat. Then again, Algernon would have immediately retaliated if they'd attacked Caradoc in front of him.
"He's fine," James said over the earring.
Lily closed her eyes and bit back a sob of relief, his voice falling over her like cool water over a fresh burn.
"Hullo, James," she said softly.
"We're very pleased to hear that," Remus said. "And your charming voice, too, I suppose."
James laughed. "Don't think we're going to let them sail away with you."
"The ship's all right?" Caradoc asked.
Lily repeated his inquiry to James.
"Of course it bloody is, you stubborn tosser."
"He says yes," she said, "and he called you a tosser."
"Well," Caradoc said thoughtfully, "you called me a canary."
"I called you a canary in a specific context."
"Canary?" James asked. "Is that some sort of Muggle insult?"
"Oh, yes," she said. "Canary's the worst insult you can give someone in the Muggle world."
Caradoc cocked his head at her, his smile broadening.
"Well, don't call him that," James said. "He kept my beautiful ship alive and we're going to do the same for you lot."
"Are you calling me beautiful, James?" Remus said. "You flirtatious sod."
"I am, as a matter of fact. You're all so beautiful I'll just have to come rescue you to prove it to you."
Remus held up a hand, and Lily and Caradoc immediately stopped their laughter, their smiles dropping. A pair of feet had appeared on the ladder, briefly blocking out the sunlight shining down from above.
A man with long, white-blond hair elegantly climbed down, still in his black robes but his mask gone. He stepped away from the ladder to allow someone else passage, and this one Lily already knew.
The woman from the magazine and the blond man approached the brig, equally smug looks on their faces. The woman Lily could understand—turnabout was a beautiful thing, provided you were on the right side—but the man….
He had sharp, condescending features, and he strolled like a man in a park, simply savoring his time. He flicked his dark wand to send tiny balls of light flitting about the deck, and they zoomed around to settle on several candles hovering in the air.
He stood in front of the brig, the woman triumphant at his side, and considered Lily.
"Dearborn and Lupin I know," he said, "but I don't believe we've met."
"Lily," the woman supplied. "Lovely Lily who spared me from being killed by McKinnon."
"She didn't," he murmured, with a sidelong glance at the woman. "Oh, a foolish choice, indeed."
"She's a Mudblood, Malfoy. Not sure how she fell in with this lot, since she was practicing Stupefying me. Couldn't even do it properly."
"Two Mudbloods and a werewolf," Malfoy drawled. "My, but Dumbledore grows desperate." He walked over to pick up Lily's cutlass from the table—with poor grip, she noted absently—and angled it, watching the way the candlelight played off the steel. "That does explain this. A rather primitive tool, but that's to be expected." He set down the cutlass and picked up bag instead, dumping out her coins. "Muggle money, I expect. Are you sure she's got any magic at all, Kipling?"
"Difficult to tell, really. I'm not sure why she stole all that magic if she wasn't even going to learn to use it properly."
"Stole," Lily said, making to stand up. "I didn't steal anything—"
Malfoy twitched his wand where it hung by his side, and an invisible force wrenched on Lily's shoulders, forcing her back to the ground.
"I assume you're not alone anymore," James said quietly in her ear. "Wait for my signal before you try to escape."
Malfoy and Kipling could both fuck off – James was coming for them. And Lily could do her part to help him find them.
"You've gone very Muggle, locking us in the brig," she said. "Don't Death Eaters have something more, I dunno, magical?"
"Would you prefer the magazine?" Kipling asked, narrowing her eyes. She frowned, and took a step forward. "You didn't have an earring before. Neither of you did."
At Malfoy's nod, Kipling opened the door of the brig and stepped inside, wand raised. She leaned over Lily, her lack of recent bathing unpleasantly noticeable in close proximity, and pried the earring out of place. Then she stepped back, her gaze dropping to Lily's neck.
"Might as well take that, too." Kipling reached around Lily's neck to undo the clasp of her necklace.
Kipling could have the earring—James was coming for them—but that was Lily's necklace.
Lily took the opportunity to bite Kipling's arm. Hard.
Kipling yelped and snatched her arm out of Lily's mouth, stumbling back a step with the necklace in hand. Then she laughed, low and dark, and glanced back at Malfoy. "Animal-like, you know."
Lily refused to let her eyes linger on the necklace, even though she felt nude without it, and smirked at Kipling instead.
Remus's bite posed more of a danger, and Kipling made him turn around before she took his earring. Goods in hand, she backed out of the brig and slammed the door shut.
She dropped the earrings into Malfoy's waiting palm, and he set them on the table, gold glinting in the dim light. He cast a few nonverbal spells at one of them and smiled, thin and narrow like a cat, as he held one up aloft between thumb and forefinger.
"Potter, I assume," he said smugly. He paused, head cocked, listening. "Lily, too? She's pretty, in a rather bourgeoisie way." He paused again, and then chuckled. "I'm not certain you're in a place to be making threats."
Meanwhile Kipling had strung Lily's necklace around her throat and was now running her fingers over the pendant.
Lily's toes curled in her boots. Patient. She had to be patient.
"Such hubris," Malfoy said to James, glancing at Remus. "I rather believe I've more information than you think."
He paused as a new set of feet climbed down the ladder, and Lily's breath caught.
Severus. Wearing those awful black robes, but no mask.
Except for the couple inches he'd grown since she'd last seen him, he could have been the same fifteen-year-old boy who'd promised to write her every week from Hogwarts. At least in terms of physical appearance, anyway. Rail thin, pale skin, long hair. But she'd never seen him look so haughty before, his nose upturned as he stalked over to Malfoy.
He wouldn't be expecting her here – his eyes stayed on Malfoy, and then they glanced over to the brig, and surely he'd notice her—
But he looked right over her. He'd definitely seen her, but he flat out ignored her, his lip curled.
"It smells atrocious in here," he said as Malfoy set down the earring again.
"Mudbloods," Kipling agreed.
Lily tried not to stare at Severus, tried to pretend it wasn't shocking to see him there – James and the others had warned her he was part of that side, but seeing him there, with them, with that God awful look on his face….
Whatever cracks had been mended in her heart by hearing that he was alive shattered anew, this time deeper.
"And wolves," Severus drawled, eyeing Remus. "What are we supposed to do with this, Lucius? We've nowhere to house it come the full moon."
"I don't intend on keeping it that long." Malfoy picked up the cutlass once more, weighing the feel of it in his palm and approaching the brig.
She'd defended Severus to James. To everyone on the ship. So certain, she'd been, that he was truly on the right side. And yet there he stood, casually discussing murdering Remus in front of her, with absolutely nothing to indicate he didn't truly want to be there, didn't fully agree….
"The Muggles have begun acting out," Severus said, sounding rather bored by it. "I suspect the sudden madness of Carrows and Travers is interfering with the Imperius Curse."
Malfoy sighed, in a put-upon way, and set the cutlass back down. "Priorities."
"It might be wise to stop on one of the islands and acquire new Muggles. The current set won't last much longer."
"They'll endure." Malfoy handed the earrings to Severus. "Toss these overboard. It's only Potter on the other end."
Kipling smirked at Lily one last time before the three of them disappeared up the ladder.
Within seconds Lily was on her feet and striding toward the door of the brig, hands reaching up to her hair. A twist of the hairpin allowed her out onto the gun deck, unencumbered save for the ropes. Heart hurtling against her chest, she darted over to the table, fetched her dagger out of her pouch, and sped back into the brig, pulling the door shut behind her on the way.
Remus nodded at Lily, impressed, and Caradoc hid a smile.
"Malfoy's always been a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to hubris," Remus said, watching Lily settle into her previous position on the ground.
She tucked her dagger under a thin, ratty blanket heaped next to her. Either the dagger or the cutlass could have cut them free immediately, but it was worthless to free themselves if they had nowhere to run but the ocean. They could escape, just not yet.
She nearly brought up Severus's lack of response with Remus, but it seemed unwise to mention it within a mile of other Death Eaters. They already knew she was a Muggle-born, but somehow it would be awful if they knew she'd been Severus's friend. Maybe it would have been worse for him than for her. In fact, it probably would have been. But despite the sharp ache in her chest—he hadn't saved her, hadn't even acknowledged her existence—she couldn't deliberately harm him. He'd offered her one final kindness, one last piece of advice before disappearing years ago, and she could do the same for him.
And then they would be through. Forever, as far as she was concerned.
Malfoy returned shortly, and strolled across the room to pick up the cutlass again. "Do your compatriots know that you killed Jacobs last month, wolf?"
Remus looked up at him mildly. "I wasn't aware I was on trial."
"No trial. I only wanted them to be aware of the dangers of associating with a werewolf. Not that I should expect that level of intelligence from Mudbloods, I suppose."
"This team of werewolves and Mudbloods destroyed the prophecy," Lily pointed out.
"I suppose you were rather incapable of following the subsequent events," Malfoy said, opening the brig. "But prophecy spheres have an interesting quality."
Malfoy waved his wand in a large arc, shooting out a web of light that formed into a new, ethereal wall in the brig, dividing Remus and Malfoy from the others.
Lily made to stand up, but a clammy hand settled on her arm. Caradoc had moved closer, and was watching Malfoy with keen eyes.
"There's nothing we can do," he said, quietly enough that Malfoy didn't hear.
"When a prophecy sphere shatters," Malfoy continued, "it recites the prophecy one final time. And the wolf here, as the culprit behind destroying the original copy, likely overheard it."
"I didn't," Remus said simply. "There was too much noise on the earring, and I had to duel you when you suddenly appeared, if you recall."
"And then your chivalry rather got the best of you, didn't it? Although I suppose your life is less significant. Perhaps you do know your place after all."
Malfoy advanced on Remus and cast a spell that dissolved the ropes, and another in quick succession that sent shackles snapping at Remus's wrists. The irons yanked Remus's arms over his head, forcing him to his knees, and connected with a chain that dropped out of the ceiling. A final spell Vanished the bloodied sleeve from Remus's wounded arm.
Remus eyed his new trappings passively. He had to have been terrified, though; nothing had ever horrified Lily as much as Malfoy's eager smirk at that moment, a smile full of dreadful promise.
"Now," Malfoy said. "Let's just find out whether you did hear anything, shall we?"
He examined the edge of the blade, and then swiped it in a long line along Remus's damaged shoulder, drawing a suppressed noise of protest out of Remus's throat. Blood welled up around the wound and trickled down, leaving stark tracks along his skin.
Lily choked back a cry. Caradoc rested his shoulder against hers, and they leaned in on each other, a unified front for Remus.
"This should be an interesting experiment," Malfoy said. "I've heard werewolves have tremendous healing abilities. And I've never heard anyone discuss the effects of Muggle instruments on werewolves before."
Remus swallowed hard. "I didn't hear any of the prophecy."
Malfoy swiped the blade again, overlaying it across his first cut, creating a long, angry X. A strangled, whimpering noise escaped from Remus.
"I remain tragically unconvinced," Malfoy said.
Apparently this was going to go on indefinitely. Malfoy shredding Remus's arm to pieces, Remus insisting he knew nothing, and on and on, and suddenly Lily had broken away from Caradoc and risen to her feet.
"Stop it!" She took step forward. "He doesn't know. How is he supposed to prove it to you? You can't prove a negative!"
Malfoy slowly turned toward Lily, head tilted, his long hair swaying slightly. "You're rather new at this, aren't you?"
"She's not in the Order," Remus said, between deep breaths. "She ended up on our ship by accident. She hasn't lived in England for years."
"And yet she was in the Cave of Prophecies. Rather implies she's in the Order, no? Or at least an ally, if nothing else." Malfoy turned back to Remus. "Sadly I know exactly how useless she is, at least with regards to the information I require. You're the only one who could have heard, wolf. I'll deal with her later. Or maybe I'll let Severus have a go. He has a bit of a predilection for red-haired women."
Lily shivered in revulsion, and pointedly did not consider the broader implications because her pain wasn't important at the moment. Instead she caught Remus's eye and glanced at the blanket covering the dagger, and then back at him, raising her eyebrows in a question. He discreetly shook his head, making it look like he was adjusting his position.
Malfoy raised the cutlass again, and Caradoc pulled Lily back down, and Severus was upstairs somewhere with Kipling, and no one was going to put an end to this.
All Lily's weapons and all her wits could do nothing to stop it.
And so she watched, crying, as Malfoy made another cut, and then another, and then another, on and on until Remus had more blood than skin showing on his arm.
Malfoy worked methodically, each slice precise, inspecting each new injury with a sick fascination.
Lily couldn't feel her hand anymore, it clung so tightly to Caradoc's. His face had as many tears as hers did, and it was all for nothing because Remus had gone limp at some point, twitching at each new cut, his voice ragged.
And then, right as Malfoy had raised the cutlass once more, something boomed in the distance. The whole boat tipped slightly to the side, and then righted itself, overcorrecting a bit.
Lily closed her eyes, savoring the noise. Cannon fire had never sounded so miraculously beautiful.
Malfoy pulled back, eyes darting around. "Potter," he spat.
He strode out of the brig, dropped the cutlass onto the table, and disappeared above deck.
When he'd gone, the barrier between Lily and Remus fell, and she was at his side in an instant. The wall of light had vanished, but the shackles had no keyhole for Lily to unlock.
Remus struggled to smile. "You two should go."
Caradoc had already slit the ropes around his hands and held out the dagger toward Lily. She let him free her and turned back to Remus.
They had to take care of his arm if they were going to get to safety. She reached for the hem of her shirt, but Caradoc was a step ahead of her. He'd removed his shirt and began tearing at it with the dagger, ripping it into long strips that he handed to Lily, who wrapped them delicately around Remus's arm.
The ship rocked again, and Lily could hear shouting through the ladder hole.
"You've only got one chance," Remus said weakly. "Don't wait for me."
"We're not leaving you," Lily said.
"We're really not," Caradoc said.
Everything seemed terribly clear cut, and distant. There was no time to panic about Remus's arm or whether Severus had truly turned on her. They had to escape before Malfoy killed all of them, or found out whatever secrets Caradoc and Remus did know about the Order.
Of course, she hadn't quite figured out how they'd get off the ship without running into more Death Eaters, but the priority was freeing Remus. And they'd need a wand for that, which meant they needed a Death Eater.
They'd have to wait for one to come down.
"Ambush?" Caradoc said.
Lily nodded. She unlocked the brig door with her hairpin, grabbed her cutlass—with proper grip, at last—and hid out behind the ladder, Caradoc at her side.
They lay in wait silently, and that was perfectly fine. She had no time for words at the moment. Her ears strained to hear the sounds of someone approaching amidst the shouting above, the boom of nearby cannons, and the harsh cracks of splintering wood.
From what they could overhear, Malfoy and his crew were in a panic, uncertain of how to defend against these attacks, much less volley back.
Within minutes—delicate, precious minutes of Remus's nearly inaudible whimpering—a pair of feet appeared on the ladder.
Lily struck out with the cutlass, slicing along the first calf that appeared.
Kipling shouted and fell backwards off the ladder, landing with a thud on the deck. Caradoc immediately hopped on top of her, pinning her wrists to the ground with one hand and covering Kipling's mouth with the other. While Kipling struggled, Lily knelt down and rummaged through Kipling's pockets.
She withdrew Kipling's new wand and ran back to Remus, who let out a weary sigh when she offered him the wand. But mercifully, whatever damage Malfoy had wrought, he hadn't stolen Remus's basic instinct to live. Remus muttered a spell to release the shackles, and he drooped under his own weight. Thankfully Remus wasn't Caradoc's size, and Lily managed to gingerly help him out of the brig.
"Is there a way off this ship from down here?" Caradoc asked Kipling.
It was muffled by his hand, but she was definitely laughing at him.
"Can't we just blow a hole in the side of the ship?" Lily asked. "There must be a spell for that."
Caradoc looked down at Kipling, and then shook his head at Lily. "They've probably warded it against spell damage, like we have ours. They're not idiots."
Remus made a faint noise of agreement, and Lily helped him perch on the edge of the table. She turned back to Caradoc, her pouch in one hand, her cutlass in the other.
"Then we've got to find a way above board without being seen," she said. "I've got a candle—"
A cannonball burst into the gun deck, far enough away not to hurt any of them, but close enough that several splinters of wood scratched against Lily's face, the floor shaking beneath them. Sunlight flooded in through the new hole in the ship, and whether James had intended that hole for them or not, Lily sent him a mental prayer of thanks.
"Looks like you didn't ward against Muggle attacks," Caradoc said to Kipling, smiling grimly. "Hubris, indeed."
Lily managed a smile at Remus. "Escape path just opened up. Sure you want us to leave you behind?"
"As long as it's convenient," Remus said, "I suppose I can tag along."
"What do we do with her?" Caradoc twitched his head toward Kipling. A pool of blood had formed under her leg, some of it soaking into his boots.
They couldn't leave her awake and well, not if they wanted to escape. They had her wand, though, and even Lily could probably manage to Stupefy her at this point.
But there were no prophecies here – unless Remus or Caradoc knew a spell to induce madness, Kipling would remain a threat when she awoke. And she might come after them again later, even more enraged that they'd escaped her.
The choice was clear.
"I saved her life once already," Lily said, although she hadn't been intending to speak.
Caradoc said nothing, looking up at Lily passively.
If Remus had been in better condition, he might've done it. But he wasn't, and Caradoc would never.
"She didn't respect the Life Debt she owes you," Remus said, his voice strained. "Poor form, for a pureblood."
There was no time to debate the matter. They had to act, and jump, and swim. They could not dither, and yet Lily's mind remained a blank slate, a beach wiped clean by the ocean.
Lily crossed the deck and looked down at Kipling's hard, defiant eyes. Caradoc might suffocate her eventually from sheer weight on her chest.
But they didn't have time for that.
Lily swallowed. She'd wanted to spare this woman's life at the vote, and she had saved her from Marlene, and it hadn't affected this woman's mind at all – she'd knocked Lily out in the cave, hadn't even hesitated as she'd done it. She'd done nothing to restrain Malfoy from torturing them. Hadn't said a word about their overall humane and respectful treatment of her during her own captivity. And then she'd taken Lily's necklace, which still hung tauntingly around her thin neck.
Kipling would keep coming after people like Lily and Caradoc, keep trying to kill them. Lily could not convince her with actions, could not change her worldview with words. Kipling thought Lily and Caradoc and Remus were scum that she could torture and—and kill. She'd tried to kill Lily that first night in Oporto, and Lily had been pretending that hadn't been the case, but it had been. Kipling had tried to kill Lily, and Lily had saved her, and Kipling had not cared one bit. Kipling would only take Lily's escape as fuel, as proof that Lily needed to be put down like a dog.
Tears sprang to Lily's eyes, and she hastily swiped them away.
This was not some storybook, where the villain could be redeemed. This was not some fairytale, where magic would save Lily in the end.
This was war.
This was war, and it was awful.
She tucked her pouch into her dress, and grasped the cutlass handle with both hands. It wasn't a natural position, but it was steadier, and she didn't want to have to do it more than once, had to get it right—
Lily let out a sob, and killed Kipling.
The cutlass slid over her throat with monstrous ease. A terrible gurgle imprinted itself into Lily's ears, and she looked away when she'd finished, letting the sword fall out of her hands. The blade rang out against the wooden floor, but it did not matter. She would not need to use it again.
Caradoc finally stood up, his hands sprayed with blood and his boots soaked. He hugged Lily briefly, and together they helped Remus to the hole in the side of the ship.
Lily no longer had to think about anything. The remaining parts of the plan were clear, and her body operated the way it knew it must.
She didn't look back, and jumped.