Open Wardrobes

Whew! A bit of a marathon day. I broke up my writing into various chunks today, interspersed among all of the other things I needed to get done today. But in the end I did just a shade under 4000 words and crossed the 20,000 word mark!!! That had been my ideal goal for the weekend, but wasn't quite sure I'd make it as it required 7000 words over the course of two days. But after crossing the 19,000 word threshold I was on a good track and so kept moving forward. Now, having fallen across today's finish line, I think it's time for bed (still can't believe the weekend is over already!).


In other news Kelly and I have been watching the first disc of the TV-version of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - absolutely delightful! The woman who plays the secretary is the highlight, I think, including when she is presented with two typewriters for her use, neither of which contain 26 working letters. "I have heard of such things," she begins in quiet indignation, "in a time before computers, when our country was called Botswanaland, and DINOSAURS ROAMED THE EARTH!!!"


Anyway, if you've been following my NaNoWriMo progress then I'm guessing all you really want right now is the next installment.




"I be with ye, Captain," Howl promised, "all the more to help ye finish the job when ye've found the Heart."
"Aye, aye," Longboot consented, "I think we all be with ye. What would ye have us do then?"
The plan, as Red saw it, was a simple one. Six names remained on his father's list, and despite Blackfoot's doubts Grey Foxx had continued to add to the list as new possibilities emerged. Red thought that now the best method of keeping the Admiral's folk from moving the map to an unknown name was to hit the remaining ones at once, leaving them no opportunity to hide the map deeper. These six names Red Foxx now divided among his captains along with whatever clues he help regarding their last known location. But the finding of these men would by no means be a task beyond the pirate-folk. It was difficult to hide forever even on the most remote of islands once the pirate-folk knew your name. There would always be someone ready to give you up for a price, and such folk the pirates also knew by name.
Red was careful as to whom he gave each name. Blackfoot received, of course, the name Red Foxx felt least certain to have the second half of the map. He was not one Red wished to bargain with to put the map together. Howl Matton and other such captains, who in truth were too dedicated to the idea of Foxx to care much about who wore the name, received one of the more promising names. Red Foxx, of course, kept the best such lead for his own crew, one they alone would seek to track down.
As the captains now conferred with each other, those seeking the same man discussing plans and strategies on finding him, Red slipped back out of the tavern and into the street. The day had worn on and the street now bustled with those seeking a drink to drown out the day's labors. Red had hidden the Captain's Stone again, and so he was not much looked upon as other folk passed to and fro. In time, perhaps, the mere sight of his face might set others to whispers, but for now Red still enjoyed a taste of quiet anonymity. Jat joined him.
"I have to admit, Captain," he said to Red, "that went more than a mite better than I be thinkin' it would."
"I was thinking much the same myself," Red admitted. "Though Blackfoot and his ilk will still take time to sway."
"Aye, 'tis true," Jat agreed, "though he'll not challenge ye openly for a time, and never if he be not findin' any more support for such a mutiny."
That much was true, Red thought to himself. Blackfoot would never make an open move unless he thought the other captains would mostly support him, a difficult gamble as long as well-meaning zealots like Howl remained under Red's command.
"Now, Captain," Jat continue, "I be thinkin' ye kept the name ye did for a reason, am I right?"
"True enough, Jat. This was the name my father sought next to pursue, and that is reason enough for me to chase it down."
"What think ye that he be hidin'?" Jat inquired.
Red smiled. "I have reason to think this one may be here in Harbarrow itself. We shall find out, and if he have it not then we shall join Howl on their chase."
"In Harbarrow, ye say?" Jat exclaimed. "That be a mite daring!"
"But wiser that it first appears," Red pointed out. "There are folk enough here to hide a hundred men, all the easier to hide your own name. We shall find it challenge enough to track this man down even here in the very heart of our realm."
And even as Red and Jat stood before the Black Tavern, the quarry they sought hurried quickly down the street before them! He drew a heavy hat over his eyes and a thick coat tight around him. He had heard rumor that many of the pirate captains had gathered in Harbarrow and he was careful not to find himself face to face with any of them. He paid little notice to Red and Jat as he passed them. A young pair of sailors they looked to him, and little he realized that he passed but steps away from the new pirate king himself. This hunted man knew futhermore how others who, like him, had served King Ottotorius in long ago days had been hunted by the pirates. He knew why, of course. Even though the map had been at first hidden with just two men, a much wider circle afterwards learned of it. Too late they had thought to find the Heart for themselves and not wait for the Ruined Kingdom's restoration. It was the news, more a rumor at first, that Captain Grey Foxx had found the first half of the map made the others realize their own danger. Now it was a chase with the Admiral's men seeking to always remain one step ahead of the pirates, doing what they could to lead their pursuers astray, until...
What? The hunted man found the whole affair futile. He and his fellows had formed a secret fraternity that even the Admiral had not been a part of, and perhaps that had been their greatest mistake, but how long could they hope to stay ahead of Captain Foxx and his many men? He had long thought, and only recently dared to venture, that perhaps they should invite Captain Foxx to parley and offer up the second half of the map and with it the Heart in exchange for some surety of peace. That idea his brothers rejected, on principle it seemed but little else. And so he moved on, staying in the shadows as much as could be managed, and thankful to reach a place of relative safety at last.
The man was Lord Quince Michaels who had once held his own fiefdom within the Shipwright's Kingdom. He did not return now to his own home, if home he could call it living here among the pirate scum and their trappings, but to a fellow refugee. He had been a wealthy merchant in former days and managed to eke out a simple living doing the like here in the port of Harbarrow. It also put him in a useful position to gather and spread news to whomever among his fellow exiles passed through. He greeted Michaels as he entered and cast one last look onto the street before shutting and locking the door behind his guest.
"I hope I shant put you out to stay here tonight," Michaels told him.
"Not at all, my friend," the trader replied.
"Thank you, Hugh. There's something afoot that I don't like the looks of. My own house will not be all that safe for me tonight, I fear."
Hugh nodded. "The pirate captains are about, have been for near a week now. They haven't flown their flags in the harbor, but I know enough of their faces, not to mention the lines of their hulls."
"What brings them here, do you think?" asked Michaels. He stayed to himself as much as could be helped and did not follow the comings and goings of the port as closely as Hugh did.
Hugh shrugged. "Hard to say, my lord, these pirates are a strange lot. They oft gather in greater numbers when the occasion suits them, and Harbarrow makes for a good meeting place for anyone." Here however Hugh lowered his voice to a whisper. "But there is a rumor going around that perhaps you have not heard of."
"Yes?"
"Some are saying that Captain Foxx is dead at last and his son, the one they call the Red Foxx, has risen to his place."
"You think that this Red Foxx is here?"
Hugh shrugged. "I know not what to think. I have never seen the lad myself."
"But if he is here, I am in even greater danger!" Michaels insisted. "He will be after me!"
Hugh slouched more deeply in his chair. It had been a long day in port and he wasn't much in the mood for fallen lords who did nothing useful with themselves. "If they are looking for you, then they will look for you wherever Captain Foxx waits. I will hide you here and when the pirate captains disperse perhaps I can smuggle you on board some vessel? If you are afraid of the pirates then you have chosen for yourself a poor hiding place."
"Where would I go?" Michaels asked sullenly. "There is no island truly safe from them."
"Go home," Hugh said dismissively, "go back to the swamps you once owned. What do I care? When you will not even trust me with the secret of why they want you..."
"I'll stay here," Michaels snapped. "There is no place any safer, and here in Harbarrow at least I can trust to the crowds to shield me. Not that it matters, eventually they'll find me wherever I go."
"Just what I say!" Hugh exclaimed, exasperated. "If you want to be truly safe, then give whatever it is to the pirates and perhaps they shall let you live in peace."
"But I do not have it!" Michaels protested. "Not anymore, at least, I gave it to..." He stopped.
"Yes, to whom?" Hugh inquired, but Michaels would have none of it.
"I am bound not to say. The more that know, the more likely it shall be that we shall be betrayed. If only there was a safer place..."
"Why not take up with the Admiral's fleet?" Hugh suggested.
"Easy enough to say," Michaels groused, "but not so easy to find any of the Admiral's ships here in port. The pirates would not allow it."
"They're more free than you think when it comes to this port," Hugh told him, "so long as there is a cut in it for them of any cargo that passes through. I do not disagree that they might make things difficult for one of the Ruined fleet if they knew..."
"Do not call it that," Michaels snapped.
"And why shouldn't I?" Hugh retorted. "Do you still dream it shall ever be anything else? But if you would for even one moment listen to what I am trying to tell you, you might find it useful!"
"Just hide me for as long as is needed," Michaels sulked. "Nothing else you have to say can possibly be of much use to me."
"Very well," Hugh answered, "if it does not interest you that one of the Admiral's ships docked in port but an hour past..."
"What?" Michaels exclaimed and sat up straight. "The Admiral? Here?"
"First of all," Hugh explained patiently, "I did not say the Admiral himself, though in fact it is his own flagship that even now waits in the harbor."
"If it is his vessel..." Michaels said eagerly.
"It is," Hugh said, "but I have unfortunate news: the Admiral himself is dead. His son, Captain Lemuel Drake, has taken up the command."
Quince Michaels sank back into his chair. "The fool that I was to hold out any hope! With the Admiral dead and no heir to the throne, our people have no hope!"
"I hope," Hugh observed, "that you will prove yourself a better guest when Captain Drake himself arrives."
"He is coming here?"
"When I learned of his arrival, which no doubt he had hoped to keep as secret as possible, I extended him the invitation," Hugh explained. "I thought that I might find you crawling to my door today and that Captain Drake might be able to better help you with your troubles."
"This eases my mind," Michaels confessed. "Perhaps I can put upon him to take me with him. I may know nothing of the sea, but..."
"Yes, I am certain a man of your talents shall no doubt find some useful occupation about ship," Hugh observed drily. "I am often told such high vessels are in need of one to taste the wine before dinner."
"There is no cause for such jokes," Michaels said. "My position here is not an easy one, and the living is none too fine for any man."
"I make my living quite well," Hugh countered, "even if my state is not as high as once it was. I may have my sympathies for those such as yourself with whom I once served the same king, but I have found that when you have learned to live to live at peace with the pirate-folk..."
Quince Michaels made a sound of great disgust and Hugh did not pursue the topic further. It was in fact a grim evening of silence as the two of them waited for Lemuel Drake's arrival.
By this time the meeting of the pirate captains had given itself over once again to drink and tall tales. Red had stayed long enough to tell his own requisite tales and drink a few more pints before making a discrete exit. Jat had hoped to wile the night away with more such revelry, but decided it best not to abandon his Captain in the dark of the Harbarrow streets. Not that he thought the Captain unable to take care of himself, but the rumor had reached them that one of the Admiral's fleet had docked in the port. The harbormaster had sent along this news, but Red Foxx did not let it concern him overmuch.
"It is a free port," Red reminded Jat, "by my father's own decree. It is well to keep an eye on their movements, the harbormaster shall see to that, but beyond that we shall stay on our errand."
Jat followed Red back down the road to the main part of town. They would stay the night onboard ship before pursuing their quarry the next morning. As they reached the square Red stopped and motioned for Jat to do the same. A pair of men passed them by, their cloaks wrapped tight around themselves, and moved quickly on.
"Captain?" Jat whispered.
Red gestured in the pair's direction as they disappeared into the dark.
"He may have left his hat behind," Red whispered in return, "but his cloak was not drawn tight enough to hide the uniform beneath. The young man sails under the Admiral's flag."
Jat understood and the two of them retraced their steps, shadowing the two strange men. They crossed deeper into town, making several turns as if to throw off any who chanced to follow, but Red and Jat had spent enough time in Harbarrow to know each street and alley even in the dead of night. So they came unseen to the shack the two men entered. Red motioned for Jat to wait as they stood across the street. The two men were greeted by a third at the door, and in the candlelight within Red saw the outline of a fourth within. He indicated thus to Jat and they loosed their pistols in their belts. The faint candlelight told them when all four had seated, and once the faint sound of voices reached their ears Red and Jat crossed the street and took their position underneath the windowsill. The voices within were careful to not speak too loudly, but they had not anticipated spies to be so literally on their own doorstep. This is what Red and Jat heard:
"Welcome, Captain," spoke the voice of Hugh Trant. "It is indeed an honor to welcome you here."
"Thank you," the captain answered. Not just a member of the fleet then, Red thought, but a captain of one of the Admiral's ships. He gave his companion a sober grin. It seemed they wouldn't have to wait for the morning for a worthwhile hunt.
"I am grateful for your warm welcome, Hugh," the captain's voice continued. "And you I also remember, Lord Michaels. I do not think I have seen you since the splitting of the fleet all those years ago."
Red stiffened. The name they sought here in Harbarrow was Quince Michaels, indeed a former lord of the Ruined Kingdom. Could it be so easy as to have this visiting captain lead them straight to the man's door?
"Thank you, captain," Michaels answered. "I cannot say how relieved I am to meet you here. You should know that I am a wanted man!"
"Is this true? If I can be of assistance, I would be most glad to help any of our beleaguered people," the captain said. "Who is it that seeks you?"
"I am afraid, captain, that it is none other than the pirate captains themselves," Michaels whimpered, "and Hugh has frankly told me that more than a small number are lurking here in Harbarrow even as we speak."
"There is little I can do about that," the captain answered. "It is a pirate port and they of anyone are free to do here as they please."
"I do not think you fully appreciate my situation!" Michaels exclaimed and the spies heard Hugh make an exasperated sound.
"Then explain," the captain ordered.
"They think I have something," Michaels said, his voice falling to a fearful whisper and Red had to press his ear close to the crack in the wall to catch the words. "I am sworn not to say what..."
"Then I cannot see what I can possibly do," the captain replied, clearly annoyed. "You are here among friends."
"I understand, my lord," Michaels said, "but you must understand that this is a matter even the Admiral knew not of, born as it was of the late king's most secret orders."
"Either tell me or do not," the captain snapped. "What is it you ask of me?"
Michaels apparently fought some secret struggle beyond their eyes, for no sound of a reply came for some time. At last he said, "There is a map, a map in two pieces..."
Red and Jat heard the creak of chairs as the other three men leaned in more closely.
"Yes?" the captain asked, at last interested.
"A map to the Heart of Destiny," Michaels told them. "We have hidden it as best we could, those few of us who knew this secret. It was torn in two to hide it all the better, but I fear that the pirates have at last found for themselves the first half."
"And you have the second?" the captain asked.
"No!" Michaels exclaimed. "I did, but I feared it became too dangerous and I passed it on. The king's servant entrusted with the Heart at first trusted only two others with the secret of the map, but as times have grown perilous we have widened our circle and now move it as much as we dare from one to another. I gave it over some weeks ago now and I sleep better not having it on my own person any longer."
"A true patriot," Hugh scoffed.
"You would have done the same," Michaels hissed, "if you heard the stories I have of how the the late king's men are hunted one by one to find the map!"
"Why did the Admiral never know of this?" the captain demanded.
"How should I know?" Michaels sulked. "If King Ottotorius did not see fit to tell him then it was not my place to do so. We kept this secret among the most trusted lords, as the king himself began it."
"Meaning you did not trust the Admiral nor those of us who served underneath him," the captain replied stiffly. "And yet now you wish for my assistance in this? You do not even have the map, or so you claim. What have you then to fear?"
"Just take me with you, captain!" Michaels begged. "It is not enough for me to have passed the map to another. I still know who has it now. If the pirates find me..."
"I am sure you have the stomach to resist their inquiries," Hugh scoffed. But silence fell again for a short time. Red could see Jat waited at the ready to storm the shack and take prisoners as they could, but Red motioned for patience. It may yet come to that, but if their enemies should let loose a careless word...
"So King Ottotorius hid the Heart outside the kingdom," the captain mused, "and the pirate-folk are as eager as ever to find it. You have heard, Hugh, have you not of the news concerning Grey Foxx?"
"I have, captain," Hugh answered, "and all news speaks to that he is dead and Red Foxx his son now leads the pirate-folk."
"I had hoped in coming here to learn some news of the young Foxx and so pursue him," the captain said, "but this news of a map brings to my mind a better plan."
"Aye, captain?" And so the fourth voice speaks at last, Red thought.
"Lord Michaels, you are certain the other half of the map has been taken?"
"As certain as I can hope to be when I must spend my days skulking around this wretched port," Michaels replied.
"Then we must track down the second half as quickly as possible," the captain stated, "and perhaps through the Heart we can trap the heart of Red Foxx. Who holds the map, Michaels?"
"Please, captain," Michaels pleaded, "take me with you and I shall tell you everything!"
"I am afraid that I cannot," the captain replied.
"But captain!"
"If the pirates are searching for you, then you must be found in due time and so lay for them a false trail."
"You may as well ask a worm to fight the fish," Hugh scoffed.
"Be that as it may," the captain said, "I shall need the time to find the second half before Red Foxx. Tell me, Michaels, and when all is done I shall see you put in a place on honor."
"Just take me with you," whined Michaels, "and I can be of help to you!"
"You are the most help here. Who?" demanded the captain. Red could not help but be surprised that this Michaels held out even this long. If he would but break...
"Your father, captain, would have had pity on me," Michaels complained. "If he were here..."
"The Admiral would show you no more pity than you deserve," the captain said sternly.
Red Foxx nearly jumped in astonishment. Not simply an Admiral's man, not just a captain under his flag, but his son, the Captain Lemuel Drake himself!
"We were sorry to hear the news of your father, by and by, captain," Hugh offered.
"Thank you, Hugh," the captain replied simply.
Jat now was straining at the leash to be released. What a blow they could deal the Ruined folk now! Red still motioned for him to remain still, but drew his own pistol out.
"I must return to the ship, Michaels," Captain Drake said, "so I ask you one last time: who has the map?"
A few final moments of silence ensued, but Michaels' resistance had come to an end.
"The Lord Ward Brant," he confessed, "that is who I gave it to."
At last! Red's patience had been rewarded and he made several motions to Jat who nodded eagerly.
"But I give you my word," Michaels continued, "that even I do not know where Brant has taken the map."
"Fair enough, as I would not think much of your precautions if you did," Lemuel told him and heard the faintest of clicks just outside the door.