princeling
Evan reached out and hauled Regulus on to the deck of Narcissa’s Revenge. His grip was cold and firm and familiar. Uncalloused. The hands of a nobleman. Regulus couldn’t help but notice how pale and dead the ship seemed, so unlike the well-worn planks of Lady Lily.
Regulus grasped Evan, his entire body tightened with shock.
“Evan…” he choked, “How is this possible? How are you here?”
Evan smiled, coy and self-assured as ever, “We came to find you, Regulus.”
“But how? How did you get here?”
Evan spread his arms, “We snagged a place on your cousin's lovely gem of a vessel. Pandora was fretful. I gave old Malfoy a ring and presto, we’ve got ourselves a ship.”
“A ghost ship,” Regulus corrected, “And who is ‘we’?”
“Reggie!”
Pandora’s bell of a voice could have carried miles as she sprinted across deck and collided with Regulus. Regulus gratefully accepted her embrace. Her pale dress was stained and pinned up, her face was red and sunscratched. Her hair hung down her back in a plait, like bleached rope. The sea had not been kind to her.
But she still smelled like hyacinths and matches and her arms felt like home.
Never wanting anyone to be disincluded, Pandora pulled Evan in too. The three of them stayed like that, huddled together, for a long moment.
“What about the others?” asked Regulus hopefully.
“Below deck,” said Pandora, “Dorcas was being mouthy, as per usual-”
“And Barty wouldn’t shut up, damn him-” Evan continued.
“The rest of the crew threw them in the galley. We haven’t seen them in a few days,” Pandora finished.
Regulus was puzzled, “Rest of the crew?”
“Malfoy’s men,” Evan said.
“The skeleton crew,” Pandora shivered, “We had no clue it would be like this. After you went missing at the party, your father was…uninterested, in what we had to say-”
“Typical,” Regulus deadpanned.
“I knew you wouldn’t have run off. They didn’t want to listen.”
“Your cousin Bellatrix did,” Evan added.
“Trixie?” Regulus was floored, “She advocated for me?”
Pandora rubbed her arms against the chill, “She told us about Malfoy’s ship in the first place.”
“Didn’t even know he owned one.” Evan mused.
“Neither did I,” said Regulus. He passed Pandora his coat. She slipped it on thankfully.
“Anyway, we paid him to take the four of us aboard. He said Narcissa’s Revenge was more for sport than anything else,” Evan fumbled with a cigarette, his hands shaking, “If you were going to be anywhere in the sea, Malfoy told us, you would have eventually drifted towards the Celtic. Then someone sent word Malfoy that you were confirmed to be on a pirate ship heading towards Waterford.”
“Lady Lily,” Pandora breathed.
Regulus’s brow pinched. The Celtic. Waterford. The exact route James and Remus had laid out for Regulus on his first days. A trail that only someone on Lady Lily would have known.
“Do you know who sent the message?” inquired Regulus, but he already figured Evan’s answer before it was spoken.
“Some lad named Peter,” he answered casually, “He said he had been with Lady Lily for many years and that he wanted off. Malfoy must have made him a handsome offer. To give up your ship to another crew is-”
“Suicide,” Regulus sneered.
“Treason,” said Pandora, gently winding an arm around Regulus’s waist, “I cannot imagine how he will be punished.”
“You two must have become good friends,” Evan observed, “For him to risk himself for your saving.”
Regulus blinked. Saving me, he thought, Is that what they think they’re doing? The white hot knife of Peter’s betrayal struck him again and again.
Fuck him.
“We are not,” Regulus growled.
Regulus turned Evan and Pandora’s story over in his mind. If Peter really had betrayed that Regulus was on Lady Lily, it would be unforgivable. James would be heartbroken. Sirius, angry.
Regulus reached out and pressed his forehead to Evan’s, keeping his arm around Pandora and tucking her in closer.
“Thank you for coming for me,” he whispered, “But I cannot go back home. And neither can you both.”
Evan’s eyes flashed, “If that dozy little captain you were snogging is putting you up to this-”
Regulus smiled, “He’s not.”
Pandora slapped Evan’s arm, offended, “Evan! They’re clearly in love. Of course Reggie isn’t going to come back with us. I told you!”
Pandora winked at Regulus.
“You are in love with him, aren’t you?” She said knowingly.
Regulus shrugged, “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Christ. You two can be too much sometimes,” Evan rolled his eyes, “So that’s all then? We pack up and leave for home. Without you? Won’t your family be furious with us?” His voice was growing pitched and distressed.
Regulus shook his head, “You know they won’t, Evan. Besides, you all are the only people I care about seeing.” Despite himself, Evan smiled slightly at Regulus’s recall of his own words the day he was taken.
“We’ll miss you.” Pandora said.
“You won’t have to,” Regulus said, “You can’t stay on Narcissa’s Revenge.”
“Reggie, but-”
“No, you need to listen to me,” Regulus was becoming insistent, “She’s a ghost ship. A phantom vessel. No one on this boat is alive except for us.”
“What about Malfoy?” Said Evan.
“He’s the captain,” Regulus explained, “He commands them. He’s magicked them to life. It’s the only reason he’s not dead as well.”
“Reggie,” Pandora said slowly, “Do you mean to say we’ll be killed?”
Regulus responded honestly, “I am afraid it could be so. Ghost ships are hostile to the living. That’s why Dorcas and Barty got tossed. They aren’t very sympathetic to those left unconquered, those who thrash against their wishes.”
“I also wouldn’t put it past Malfoy to murder a lot of teenagers,” Evan flicked his cigarette over the rail.
“How do you know all this?” Pandora was stunned, invested, even.
“The Lady Lily has been kind to me. The crew…” Regulus struggled to find the words, to capture the absolute sense of family he had grown to love the past week, “They have shown me what home means, the way you both have shown me. They- we- would gladly bring you aboard and take you to Dorset ourselves. But I do not trust Malfoy to make good on his promises. If he is anything of superstition, none of you will survive the voyage back.”
“Then we must get Barty and Dorcas,” Pandora decided. She looked to Evan for agreement. Confliction shone in his eyes.
Carefully, he said, “We set out to find you, Regulus. I did not expect after how your family has treated you, you would be so eager to come back. But still, I hoped you would think we were worth it.”
Regulus swallowed uneasily.
Evan met Regulus’s gaze, proud and decided, “We will all go together or we will not go at all. I ask that we board Lady Lily, if she will have us.”
Regulus nodded, “She will.”
Suddenly, he pulled a knife from his boot, the one Marlene had given to him in exchange for the promise that Regulus would eventually make it home to return it.
As long as he was with Evan and Pandora, home could be anywhere in the world. Regulus held the blade out to Evan. With a jolt of recognition, Evan’s hand closed around the hilt.
“Then it’s settled,” Evan said. Regulus released the blade to his friend.
“Who said anything has been settled?”
Malfoy’s cool cadence broke through fog. His steps across the deck were even, voluptuous with intention, a panther stalking towards them. He seemed unbothered by the cold, his black shirt open to reveal his skin, cut up with the scars of magic, of piety. His scalp was shorn, accentuating his dark eyes and white, cruel smile.
“Hello princeling,” he hummed, “Leaving so soon?”
Of all the infernal weapons in the seven seas, Malfoy possessed a revolver, one that was now growing closer and closer to Regulus as Malfoy advanced on the trio. His bare feet made no sound, a shadow in the wind.
Cooly, Regulus sniffed. He pushed Evan and Pandora behind him.
“Hello Malfoy,” he said heedlessly, “You look worse than usual.”
“Thank you, princeling, I do try my best.”
Malfoy raised the revolver a little higher in the air, the muzzle not an inch from Regulus’s face.
“Now why don’t you get below decks so we can have a little chat?” Malfoy suggested.
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” Evan grumbled.
“No. You’re not. Family matter only,” Malfoy curled the fingers on his empty hand, twitching them in an epeletic pattern of movement. The air grew colder, “My crew will take you from here.”
From the fog emerged a dozen pirates. Well, they must have been pirates at some point. Now their movements were jerky, forced, arms and legs and necks bending at odd angles as they circled closer. Most of their clothes were torn or shredded off, their skin translucently pale. When darkness hit them just right, Regulus could see their bones.
The skeleton crew, closing in for the kill.
“Stop,” Regulus commanded.
Malfoy’s fingers twitched. The ghouls stopped.
“We will talk on deck,” Regulus said, “Unless you’re so afraid we will outskill you even in this storm.”
Malfoy cackled, “You three? You’re a lot of posh prats, stupid and rich as they get.”
“I’m more pirate than you, Malfoy.” Regulus sneered, “And more human, too, it looks like,” Regulus flicked his eyes across Malfoy’s deeply scarred torso, markings cut into his skin and kept raw with ink.
“Spending a week or two on a ship doesn’t make you a pirate, Black. It makes you a prisoner.”
Regulus smirked, “Care to test the theory?”
Deliberately, Regulus leaned forward and pressed his own forehead against the mouth of Malfoy’s revolver. He nodded to Lady Lily.
“Down on that ship are some of the roughest, nastiest pirates I’ve ever seen. And they’re all watching you. Messy Marls herself, the Slamfire Siren of the Seven Seas, is watching with bated breath for my signal so she can blow your silly little ghost ship and send it to the bottom of the ocean. Back to where you fucking belong.”
“Oh I’m here to do exactly that,” Malfoy said, “You think your friends are the only people who would pay to get you back? Your mother personally asked for me to seek you out and return you home. She misses her dog, you see,” Regulus flinched, Malfoy continued, “But I have another plan for you, princeling.”
“Didn’t realize you possessed the ability for such complex thought, but go ahead.”
Malfoy frowned.
“Necromancing is a pricey strain of magic, Regulus,” Malfoy ticked his middle finger. A ghoul to Regulus’s right collapsed, “It requires dedication and skill and lots and lots of practice.”
Malfoy gestured to his mutilated skin, “As you can see, I’m running out of real estate. But my crew always needs expanding.”
He flicked the revolver upwards, flipping back a curl of Regulus’s hair. Regulus fought not to recoil, “You would make a fine bloodletter indeed.”
Regulus’s mind swam as Malfoy’s words triggered his recall of ocean magic, the pieces forming a whole. The need for physical sacrifice. Remus’s scars. His particular hesitation for James’s seeking of the ghost ship in the first place. Peter’s intimate knowledge of Remus’s past, despite his quiet and discomfort on the subject.
“Remus Lupin,” Regulus accused, “You used him for the first wave of your crew. You cut him up.”
Malfoy waved the revolver, “The Welsh lad, yes. He was very fussy, wouldn’t stay still. I’m afraid my hand was rather careless when it came to him.”
Regulus blanched, “You fucking monster!”
He jumped back and drew his short sword. The ghouls immediately advanced forward, but Malfoy seemed unbothered even as Regulus jammed the tip of his blade under Malfoy’s chin. Regulus’s eyes gleamed with wrath, his body coiled like a spring. Pandora cried out.
“How could you do that to a person?” Regulus spat, “You’ve scarred him forever. And for what? So you could hunt out other ships? Killing the living and raising the dead for sport?” Regulus’s arms were shaking in anger, his teeth gritted, “You’re a fucking monster and I can’t wait to bury you in the tide.”
Malfoy’s manic grin faltered, “Put the sword down, princeling. I doubt you know how to use it.”
Short, strong attacks, Lily had said, Bring the blade up in the air and back down in a succinct, powerful swipe.
Regulus did exactly that, curving the blade so steel met skin and Malfoy’s severed hand landed with a smack on the deck, revolver forever clenched in his grasp.
Malfoy’s howl of pain was more demon than human, his screams blending with the furious storm and the gangling of the skeleton crew.
“Go!” he urged, pushing Evan and Pandora to the gangplank, “Board Lady Lily. Find James and tell him not to fire on the ship until I give the signal!”
“James?” Pandora yelled.
“The captain he’s snogging!” Evan finished, “What about you Reg? I told you we’re leaving together!”
The ghouls stood frozen in time, eerily still. It wouldn’t be long until Malfoy recovered to puppet them again.
“I need to find Dorcas and Barty,” Regulus said, “I’ll meet you there. I promise. Just find James and get below deck, okay?”
“Reggie, we-” Pandora hesitated.
“Go!” Regulus rushed them. Evan and Pandora hastily crossed the gangplank down. The second Regulus saw them touch deck on Lady Lily, he brought his foot down hard on the gangplank, sending it crashing into the sea. Pandora’s wail of worry must have been heard for miles.
Regulus turned his back to his friends, his ship, before he regretted it.