The man turned towards the noise and moved closer, looking around for any sign of the source of the sound as he did.
Anne threw another stone, this time much closer, and the man took the bait. He moved faster, whatever intelligence left driving him towards the ridge where he knew the rocks were coming from.
Anne, as they had planned, slunk back further down the ridge with the other crewmates waiting in the wings. They were a bit farther from William and Pukuh, who would be in the thick of it once the hollow man approached, but not too far away should the need arise.
William and Pukuh rose from their hiding spot just enough for the approaching man to see them, and he gained even more speed when his eyes fell upon them.
Anne pulled out the handbell from around her belt and held it ready.
The man bounded over to the other side of the ridge and lashed out wildly, striking at the two in front of him.
William kept his distance and positioned his right shoulder towards the attacker so that his injured shoulder was out of harm's way. Pukuh was behind the man, waiting to ensure the fight didn't go sour.
Anne rang the bell softly, the small ding of the golden metal striking her ears and pulling on the hairs on the back of her neck. Pukuh raised his spear in the air, a signal that he heard the sound, but the man remained unchanged.
The crewmates around her were tense at the sight of the hollow man in front of them, fighting with no regard for his own preservation. Anne couldn't escape the influence of that tense atmosphere, and she too felt stiff in her movements.
She struck the bell once more in a natural up and down stride. The ringer hit at the top of the arc closest to her ear, and she felt its strange pull once more in the deep of her chest.
The man continued his assault. Anne cursed under her breath. It meant she had to get closer for it to work, or it wasn't working at all.
Step by step, she advanced while ringing the bell in the same rhythmic motion. If they were to find an accurate distance, she would need to be consistent.
The hollow man, however, had other plans. As Anne approached, and William fended him off with precision strikes and manipulation, she caught the hollow man's eye. He changed targets and ran straight for her.
Anne gritted her teeth and held the bell out in front of her as though it were a pistol. With the flick of her wrist, she tossed the bell into the air just after it struck its tone when the man was not ten feet from her. She changed her stance, ready to jump out of the way and try the trick Alexandre had told them about, but something changed.
The man slowed gradually to a complete stop in front of her. She watched as the life and intelligence entered his eyes once more, and he suddenly looked confused.
He glanced about him, all eyes and several weapons pointed in his direction, but he didn't seem alarmed by the threat to his life, simply confused.
"My apologies, ma'am," he said after a moment. "I seem to be lost. Could you point me towards the main road?"
Anne let out a sigh, partially from the relief of tension, partly from what was two steps forward and one step back in their plans. There was only one way to make sure.
"Sir, are you well?" she asked, throwing as much sincerity into her words as she could muster. "We were just talking about the price of some of your town's produce when you suddenly went stark white, and now you appear confused."
The man now appeared shocked and recoiled. "Oh my! Perhaps I've come down with a fever. Well, no matter, I have my wits about me now." Anne couldn't help but scoff at the remark, but the man seemed not to acknowledge it. "Now let me think, for a ten-pound sack of potatoes that would be zero pieces of eight, we have some fresh zucchini you might like for zero pieces of eight, and…"
The man rattled on down a list of different vegetables and fruit, giving the same price for each as though it were a standard amount.
Anne once more cursed under her breath. "Alexandre," she called. "See what you can do."
Alexandre and Victoria came over, and Alexandre began his own hypnosis to lull the man into a waking slumber. Anne walked over to William and Pukuh nearby.
"I am at fault for not keeping the man's attention, my captain," William said as he bowed his head. Old habits from the days he was in service to the crown were hard to break even now.
"It is no one's fault save Silver Eyes and his abhorrent treatment of these people. And whatever madness drove him to create this hellish island is our misfortune. We must change our plans as we know now we cannot ask these people for help."
"So, we will leave them here, yes?" Pukuh asked.
"No, we can't risk leaving them at our backs like this when we don't know exactly what drives them. Silver Eyes could have instilled a fail-safe whereupon if none come to take them out of the trance, they come inland." Anne looked over her shoulder at Alexandre and Victoria tending to the man as the other crewmates watched them with a mix of fascination and horror on their faces. "Perhaps with a bit more time, Alexandre will find a means for them to join us in the fight."
"So, what do you propose, my captain?"
"I'll need more time. For now, we proceed as planned in freeing the people and dismantling the bell towers. We know that there's a limited range even with the bell towers, otherwise they would only need one, so we can take the people with us at a distance."
"Aye, Captain,"
