The Village of the Daughters
Wisps of smoke rise to the sky about two miles inland from the beach.
The Village of the Daughters. Young, nubile and beautiful, every one of them.
They are the daughters of Mother - the witch known as Chafer.
The grand house on the hill. Home of Mother.
First and second mates are brought in bondage before Chafer. Nobody’s mate is hiding in the forest.
Chafer gets her name from the rubbing of her voluptuous thighs; strong enough to crack a man’s skull.
Ratty wants to do a deal. A pig for directions to Barracuda Island.
Conversation
Mother dismissed her daughters and cut the captives’ bonds.
The conversation turns nice…for a while. Chafer has something of a split personality.
“Why Baracuda Island?”
“We’re on a mission. To rescue a woman from captivity.”
“What’s her name?”
“We don’t know. We didn’t ask.”
“YOU DON’T KNOW?!!! A woman in the clutches of some foul prisoner on a poisonous island overrun with monstrous undead and ringed by stone teeth that will crush any ship that attempts to approach – and you didn’t ask for her name! Insolent men!!”
Mother calms down. The men are at least intent on resuing a woman. A noble quest then.
She agrees to give the information but wants more in exchange. The pig and the fish. And the woman is to be brought to her island where she’ll be admitted to the safety of her community.
The terms are renegotiated to everyone’s satisfaction. The pig she’ll keep, but Ratty’s precious fish in a jar is only to be held as security. The rescued woman will be brought back alive and one of Mother’s daughters will go along with the crew as her eyes and ears on the mission. She chooses a daughter named Summer Breeze.
Deal.
Mother takes possession of the pig and the fish and gives a blank piece of parchment to Ratty in return.
Ratty examines the both sides of the blank paper. "This is the map? Our directions?"
"Yes", replies Chafer.
"One more thing," she adds.
She reaches out a hand, shaped now like a claw, and tears Ratty’s heart from his chest. Chafer places the still beating heart in a jar and pops it on a shelf next to the fish.
The fish looks worried, the water in his jar goes suddenly cloudy.
Ratty collapses to the floor in a faint. Cocunut dares protest.
"He’ll be fine. His heart will beat for fifteen days. You need to be back with the resured woman and my daughter before his time runs out."
Party on
The mates (all three now) spend the night in the village with the daughters. They of outstanding beauty and hardly a stitch to wear between them. Ratty, looking a bit pale gets talking to their new crewmate, Summer Breeze. Coconut makes the acquaintance of the Beautiful Dawn. Which reminded him. They have to be back aboard the Jolly Jackdaw at the crack of dawn.
Back to Sea
The longboat pulls alongside the Jackdaw an hour before first light. Captain Early is nowhere to be seen. He doesn’t get up ‘til late. Ladies first up the ladder. Summer Breeze, in nothing but a tu-tu like grass skirt, climbs first. The mates shoulder each other out of the way to be the one who holds the ladder for her.
“Weigh anchor. Unfurl the sails.” Ratty, looking very grey, gives his orders.
“Its bad luck to have a woman on board,” shouts a protestor. The protestor flies overboard like a great wingless bird and takes a swim.
Handbrake off, the ship moves away leaving the protester behind.
One little proble. About the woman they're off to rescue. Mother wants her alive and she'll need to be if Ratty wants his fish and his heart back. But to claim the cash from the shadty stranger, weren't they meant to kill her.
"Where away?" calls the crew.
Ratty looks at the blank piece of paper Mother gave him. "Er, that way" he points.
"Bring me that horizon."
