Ghosts of the Past Chapter 4

According to Garin, finding Scarblade’s ship was going to be simple, due to its fearsome reputation and haunting appearance. So without much else to say he had the ship turned around and headed to where we last saw Scarblade, knowing that he would have had to hide his ship close by if he needed to make a quick get away.

And by the time we reached where the Revenge was, it was already dark outside with not a star, nor the moon in the sky. I shivered as Garin’s ship anchored just a short distance off from where we could see the lights from the infamous ship just ahead. Even in the blackness of night, I could see the eeriness of the evil ship, just like my grandmother’s stories described it, and the blood red letters that spelled out its name glowed in the dark just like Scarblade’s eye had. I sat down on the deck and turned my back to the haunting vessel, rubbing my arms and closing my eyes, though even behind my eyelids I could see that red orb staring at me, making me start to shiver as if I were cold.

“Not to worry, Lisa!” Garin said as he walked past me, and my eyes snapped back open. “Jacques n’ I will be back before dawn with the talisman to send you home!”

I paused, thinking for a minute about what Garin just said. For some reason I couldn’t sit with the thought of him and Jacques going, just to find a way for me to get home. These guys were my childhood heroes! If anything were to happen to them—and because of me—I’d never forgive myself!  I bit my lip as Garin and Jacques started to climb over the side of the Black Pawkeet to climb down to a rowboat that lay waiting at the bottom. Just before they did, I stood and walked up to them, leaning over to look down at them as they lowered themselves to the boat.

“A-Actually guys,” I said. “Can I come along?”

“Huh?” Garin looked up at me.

‘Good question, what am I thinking?!’ I thought, but shrugged. “I-I’m a bit curious…”

“You’ll be safer here, Lisa.” Garin said, shaking his head. “If we get caught things will get ugly quick. The boys here can protect you.”

I bit my lip again as Garin started to climb down again, and I leaned over further.

“That’s what I’m worried about!” I blurted. “If you get caught you both are as good as dead and it’ll be my fault!”

“Ssh!” Sam tugged on the bottom of my shirt. “They’ll here ya!”

“Sam’s right, keep your voice down.” Garin whispered up at me. “At night sounds carry over water like cannons going off.”

“S-Sorry…” I grumbled. “L-Look, I won’t take no for an answer!” I said, then swung my legs over the side to follow them down the rope, and to my surprise, they didn’t stop me. I looked at Garin as I sat down in the boat, and he shook his head at me.

“And why’s that?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know.” I replied. “But I can’t just sit back while you two take all the risk, especially since you’re doing this for me.”

“You’re not scared?” Jacques asked as he picked up the oars. I shook my head.

“Of course I’m scared.” I said. “I’ve been scared from the moment this all started, but I won’t feel better just sitting up there waiting for you two to come back. And like I said before, if Scarblade catches you two you’re both dead as doornails, before you can say ‘Parley’.”

Garin and Jacques stared at me, then looked at each other and I kicked myself, scrunching my face as I closed my eyes, groaning aloud for saying that like I did.

‘Way to be honest, Lisa.’ I thought, mentally smacking myself.

“Well… if you’re sure.” Garin said, sitting down at last, and I sighed quietly in relief, but for the life of me I don’t know why. Feeling relieved for asking to go from out of the frying pan and into the fire? I sighed again, this time in frustration as Jacques started rowing us towards the Revenge.

I was surprised I wasn’t having second thoughts, even as we got closer to our destination. The water was calm and it was dark, but I could barely make out Garin’s eyes in the dark, darting to and fro cautiously. When they moved to mine I looked away, clasping my hands together and trying to look as if I hadn’t been staring.

“You know you don’t have to prove anything.”

I looked up. “What?”

“You don’t have to prove you’re brave or anything.” Garin repeated. “That’s why you really wanted to come, right?”

I stared at him, about to object, yet couldn’t. Somehow, I could feel that he was right, despite not knowing it myself until now. Sure, I was worried that Garin and Jacques might get themselves killed trying to get the talisman for me to go home, however there was another reason. Almost this whole time, I had been mistaken for the Sea Cat, and maybe because of that, I was trying to prove that I was brave like she was. I looked up at Garin, about to speak, but stopped when I felt a hand—his hand—grasp mine.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “To be perfectly honest, I’m glad you did decide to come. We could use an extra pair of eyes to help search and keep watch.”

“Good point,” said Jacques. I nodded, thanking my lucky stars that it was dark, because I am damn sure that I was blushing as Garin finally let go of my hand. I cleared my throat quietly and looked up as we came up near the stern of the Revenge, swallowing as Garin stood up with a long length of rope in his hands.

On one end was a grappling hook, and he twirled that end rapidly before tossing it up, hooking the edge of the window expertly. He looked at Jacques and I, putting a finger to his mouth as an indication of needed silence, and we nodded before he started to climb the rope. I watched as he reached the top of the rope, folding his ears back so he could look into the open window before him, then after a moment, he disappeared over the edge of the windowsill. I held my breath and crossed my fingers, exhaling only when I saw his head pop back out of the window and he waved at Jacques and I.

“All clear!” he whispered loudly. Jacques nodded and motioned for me to head up first, which I did as fast as I could.

Once at the top, I climbed in through the window with Garin and looked around at the room as Jacques followed me up. Scarblade’s cabin was the eeriest place I think I’ve ever set foot in, dark and lit only with a few candles around the room, with a desk and a large, gold and red throne-like chair. I gulped as Garin and Jacques moved past me to begin searching the room, and I followed suit, starting with the large desk before me.

“How will we know what the talisman looks like?” I whispered.

“I’m not sure. Just look for anything with a purple jewel in it and pocket it.” Garin whispered back. “Can’t be too careful.”

“Got it!” I opened the first drawer and started to search. It surprised me that nothing was locked, and in the back of my mind I began to wonder if what we were looking for might be on Scarblade’s person. That would just make this difficult. Yet as I searched and thought about it, Scarblade probably wouldn’t risk having it on him, for whatever reason of precaution.

Having not found anything in the desk, I moved away and walked to one side of the room to a small trunk to search there, my gaze meeting that of an Iron Maiden. I blinked and stopped from kneeling down to the trunk and looked at it for a moment before walking up to it and taking a closer look. I winced at the thought of being stuck inside something like this, yet I couldn’t shake off the curiosity as to why Scarblade had a freaking Iron Maiden in his cabin. I glanced over my shoulder at Jacques, who was standing nearest me, and made a ‘psst’ noise to get his attention.

“Hm?” he looked at me, and I pointed to the Iron Maiden.

“Should I open it?” I asked. Jacques raised an eyebrow.

“What? Do you want me to dare you?” he asked. I stifled a giggle and shrugged as he moved on to a new cupboard to search. I looked back at the Iron Maiden and took a deep breath before reaching up and unlatching it. It swung open lightly and I winced, but to my relief there was no corpse inside, and though there were sharp nails in it, it looked like it was being used in the same way as a cupboard or closet, with hooks and small shelves to hold a various assortment of strange tools. However, as I looked them over, I realized that these tools were in fact the same kind you might find in a history book when looking up old torture methods. I gasped quietly and stepped back, shivering from head to toe and shaking my head.

“Ugh! Creepy!” I whispered.

“Find something?” Garin asked.

“You could say that.” I grumbled, pointed at the contents of the Iron Maiden. Garin looked at me over his shoulder, and to my surprise, though he did wince, he just shrugged at what he saw.

“Yep, that’s Scarblade for you,” he said. And though it shocked me how casually he took it, I couldn’t forget how often he had encountered Scarblade and how well he probably knew him after all of those encounters. I looked back at the Iron Maiden and reached out a hand to close it, but stopped when I saw a rather out of place object inside it; a piece of rope, no more than half a foot long, with two knots tied in the middle, two to three inches apart from each other. I tilted my head and picked it up slightly in my hands, but did not take it off its hook, then looked at Garin.

“If these are all torture devices then what’s this for?” I asked. As both Garin and Jacques turned to me their eyes fell on the piece of rope and they froze, his eyes widening in just the slightest. They looked at each other, then back at me.

“It’s called the ‘Rosary of Pain’.” Jacques said. “You screw a victim’s eyes out with it.”

I grimaced openly and stepped back in horror, my hands flying from the little piece of rope and raising into the air. I heard Garin snicker a bit as he turned back to his search, and I wiped my hands furiously on my jeans.

‘Ew, ew, ew! And double EW!’ I thought, then stopped wiping my hands and looked at the trunk I was going to go through before and knelt down. “You boys find anything yet?”

“Nope.” Garin replied, moving away from his side of the room and over to the door, pressing his ear against it and listening. I stayed quiet so he could hear, then smiled a little bit as he leaned his head away again.

“I guess luck is on our side, huh?” I asked. Garin chuckled quietly and gently took the handle of the door to check outside carefully.

“In our experience, half of everything is luck,” he said. I blinked.

“Then what’s the other half?” I asked.

Garin opened his mouth to answer me as he pulled the door open slowly and quietly to check outside of it for any trouble, and he froze. Standing there, at the door, with a hand held out to grab the handle and open the door, was Scarblade himself. My jaw clenched as the two of them just stood there, staring at each other in utter bewilderment without so much as breathing. Garin suddenly slammed the door back shut, locking it as he pressed his back flat against it and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Fate!” he exclaimed.