Free The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney Page B

the witches went on the
offensive. Shrieking and howling with blood-lust, they
boarded the pirate ship and the slaughter began. And
Alice went with them.
    They chased the pirates up the rigging, around the
deck or down into the hold. Those who stood and
fought lasted mere seconds before their life blood was
staining the deck. I strained my eyes to see what part
Alice was playing in all this, my stomach churning in
anxiety at the thought of the danger she faced. The sun
had set by now and the light was fading fast, so she
was lost to my sight.
    We were spared the worst of the horrors but we
certainly heard the screams of those dying pirates and
their unheeded calls for mercy.
    I walked forward with Mam to rejoin the others.
    'I find it hard to stand by and let such things happen,
lad,' the Spook complained, giving me a hard glare. I
suspected that his words were also directed at Mam,
who'd chosen our witch allies, but if so, she made no
reply.
    'It's a bad business, I'll give you that,' I heard
Arkwright say, 'but how many poor sailors have lost
their lives at the hands of those pirates? How many
ships have gone to the bottom?'
    That was certainly true and the Spook didn't bother
to comment further. At last the cries faded and finally
ceased altogether. And I knew that, hidden by darkness,
the witches would be taking the blood and bones
they needed for their rituals. I knew Alice well enough
to be confident that she would play no part in that.
    We lay at anchor until daylight, when the blood -spattered
    witches rejoined the Celeste and retreated to their refuge in the hold
    once more. I noted the contrast between Mab and Alice. The former was gloating,
    clearly revelling in what had just taken place; Alice stood with her arms
    folded and looked sick at heart.

CHAPTER
9
W HAT I A M

    We sailed north, tacking against the wind, with
the coast of Greece now always visible on our
starboard bow. I could see that this was a very different
land to the one I was used to. There was some
greenery, yes, with clumps of pine and oak and the
odd cypress tree spearing the sky, but it wasn't the lush
grassland of the County, with its high rainfall and
damp westerly winds. This was a hot, arid country, a
desiccated wilderness, the sun burning our heads and
necks, the hills parched brown.
    We were within less than an hour of the port of
Igoumenitsa, but the sea and its denizens hadn't
finished with us yet. The first I knew of the danger was
a distant sound, high and shrill, audible even above
the pounding of the waves against the rocky shore.
The Spook and Arkwright stared at each other, eyes
widening. At that moment the Celeste lurched, hurling
us to the deck as the prow began to veer to starboard.
We scrambled to our feet as she came about, until, to
my astonishment, we were pointing directly towards
the coast and a wall of jagged rocks.
    'Sirens!' Arkwright cried.
    I'd read about sirens in the Spook's Bestiary. They
were creatures of the sea, females who used their
strange, melodious cries to lure sailors onto the rocks
and destroy their vessels. They then dragged the
drowning sailors into the depths and fed upon their
flesh at leisure. A seventh son of a seventh son had a
degree of immunity to their calls but an ordinary sailor
could easily be enthralled by their hypnotic voices.
    I followed the two spooks forward to the wheel. The
cries of the sirens were much louder now, filled with a
shrill intensity that set my teeth on edge. I felt the urge
to answer their call, but I fought hard against it and
gradually it diminished. Most of the crew were in the
prow, staring towards the source of that powerful siren
song. The captain was at the helm, his eyes bulging,
the muscles of his bare arms knotted, as he aimed the
ship directly towards the black rocks that awaited us
like the huge fangs of a ravenous beast. He gripped the
wheel like a madman, his eyes fixed upon the awaiting
shore.
    I could see the sirens now, sprawled there on the
rocks.