Chapter Five: The Deepest Chill

"We must be swift," said Yekin, "and very cautious. Inside, quickly."

As they prepared to enter there was a brief scare when Mason came up from below decks and nearly stumbled over them. Smee, however, noticed that he was stumbling to begin with, and the smell of rum wafted from his clothes, and he was singing to himself a tuneless song. He did not notice the open doors.

"He has become daft with the poison of which your kind is so fond," whispered Yekin as Mason staggered back below decks. "He did not see us."

"Poison?" Smee scratched his head. "I don't know about no poison, matey. Ol' Mason's been into the rum by the smell of it. 'E wouldn't be staggerin' about if he had drunk poison."

Yekin said nothing to this, but merely shaped his beautiful strange face into a sharp smile and allowed the bo'sun to lead him past the set of large ornate wooden doors, gilded in wondrous patterns. Even in the darkness the gold gleamed, and Yekin found that he liked very much to look upon it. But Smee tapped him timidly.

"Come, Yekin sir," he said, and his voice was trembling. "I'm afeared. His room is cold as death."

He looked up to Yekin as the creature remained silent, and upon his face was the same grave look. Smee pushed the doors closed and hurried to a near table, where his trembling fingers fumbled with flint and tinder. After a long agonizing moment a weak flame sputtered in the oil lamp, and then grew bright. Smee nearly dropped it as he led Yekin to his captain's bedside.

Hook lay unmoving, eyes closed, and Smee felt an initial surge of relief, for he looked simply as though he were sleeping. He turned to Yekin to smile at him, but Yekin's expression was far more grave than it had been, and his black eyes were bright with some untold emotion.

"Alas, poor bo'sun Smee," he said quietly, placing a long hand on the human's shoulder, "but he has gone."

Smee stared at the creature before him, not comprehending for a moment, and then not wanting to comprehend. "No…"

"A last papery breath," said Yekin softly, "and thus passes James Hook from this place of deepest chill."

"This…this ain't no time for poetry, matey," cried Smee, clutching the scaly arms. "You gotta do something! You… you gotta bring the Cap'n back!"

Smee then fell upon his knees and began to weep unashamedly into his dirty hands, his spectacles falling upon the floor with a soft, sharp sound, and from him a soft keening sound began to rise. Yekin felt a weight upon him as he read the sound; it was the sound of hopelessness, of a soul that had bourne ever so much for the object of its loss, and yet held an even greater burden for its loss.

I long to do what I must be done, thought Yekin, yet the Watchers would not approve, not in an eternity of eternities. They would cast me down to join my brothers, and there would be no more of Yekin to give and take the essence of Neverland's life.

"Be strong, brave Smee," he said, still struggling with himself, and laid a hand again upon the bo'sun's shoulder.

"It hurts, Yekin sir," wept Smee, unafraid to say it. "It hurts more than a cutlass in me gizzard. Without the Cap'n I've got nothin' left to live on for, an' I ain't ready to leave Neverland, sir. I don't want to see an' end like the poor Cap'n did, with no more singin' of the birds in the morn, nor the sunset on the water at evenin'tide, nor a good raid to fill the larders or the sparklin' of booty…" He broke down again, going to the still from of James Hook and laying his head upon the quiet chest, weeping to himself. "Poor Cap'n, poor, poor sweet Cap'n Hook, ye can't let a cullie alone without ye, poor Cap'n…" A tear-slick hand stroked the ebony curls; another held the cool bloodless hand.

Yekin watched, and not once reminded himself that he cared not for the affairs of humans, for had he tried he would have discovered it to be a helpless lie, once supple and bursting with truth, but now a dried-out husk that contained no ounce of truth any longer.

For now Yekin did care, and as he watched the pathetic little bo'sun weeping over the body of the man he served he finally understood devotion, and of the quality of humans.

It was then that he made his decision.