literature

Part 1: the Storm

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In a world not much older, but more innocent than the one you live on now, a gentle yellow sun dawned upon ceaseless relentless sea waves, as they rolled on across the face of the world, as they had for centuries.

A cool morning breeze wafted over the sea, gentle caresses of fresh news from far off places brushing over the white heads of foam.  The breeze brought with it a thousand scents, and occasionally travelers, in the form of sea birds, gliding over the silvery green waters below.  

Islands dotted the sea blessed by the suns gaze, islands where humans bustled about busily.  Most had been working for hours already, as soon as dawns silvery tendrils had tickled the night sky’s underbelly they had awoken, and set about their business.  

Out on the water, long wharfs stretched out towards the horizon, ships docked and awaiting their cargo, or unloading, but not all ships were visible.

Dark earthen eyes looked up at the dawn sky, yellow clouds bleeding into pinks, melting into blues and chasing away the dark.  A calloused hand stroked a chin that hadn’t seen a razor in a long while, then settled upon the railing.  The dark, slightly battered ship bore no name upon her hull, but all who saw her knew, she was the Desdemona.  White sails adorned her mast, one, single flag flying low for now, ebony in colour, with the skull and crossbones proclaiming the Desdemonas purpose.

The Desdemona slipped easily through the sun-kissed waves, the blue-green sea washing past below, churning up foam in her wake.  She was the fastest ship in this part of the ocean, built for speed more than strength, though she’d survived more than her fair share of assaults.  

Upon deck, the owner of those dark eyes leaned upon a rail, looking down into the sea and smiling faintly.

“Damn mermaids.” He chuckled, watching in fascination as the feminine creatures leapt out of the ocean, playing in the wake of his ship as dolphins would, were he in another ocean.  This was the Nagean however, and here, mermaids were a common sight.  

Giggles wafted up from below, feminine giggles quickly swallowed as their makers fell beneath the waves once more, flashes of bright scales and dainty hands catching his sight now and then.  
He’d rarely even seen a mermaid before.  Oh enough that he knew they were real, but not that he’d ever expected to see three playing about the bow of his ship.  They seemed either completely oblivious, or completely uncaring that it was a pirate ship they played about, although they always disappeared when anyone got close, or when they passed from the open sea.  

Innocent perhaps, but also cautious.

“Cap’ain Ripley?” The quiet was shattered as voices of the crew rose behind, and the captain turned, his dark eyes looking to find his first mate standing at his side, eyeglass in hand.  

“Mmm?”

“Captain, look.  South west.  Rourke.”

Long fingers grasped the eyeglass from the first mate, lifting it to peer through the telescope at the ship that had appeared on the horizon behind them.

“Its him, isn’t it Captain.” It wasn’t a question.  

“Captain Rourke… well hello there… long time no see, mr pirate sir.”

Indeed, the ship bore the common skull and crossed bones upon black, but then, so did one the captain stood upon.  No no, it was more than the flag that was causing concern.  It was the wide bulk of this dark ship bearing towards them.  

Wide and heavy, she sat lower in the water than most, but that was because of her cargo, and her build.  Cannon ports lined both sides, but it was what was invisible that was the most dangerous.    
Captain Rourke’s ship, the Black Scythe, had steel reinforcements in key places within.  Her hull was reinforced, and the bow had one long hammered blade running from the top, to below the water.  Rusted it was, but that didn’t take away from the effect such a thing would have upon another ship.  The Black Scythe was built for ramming, for destroying a ship in a single blow, cannons or no.

“Out run her Cap’ain?”

“Its all we can do! Desdemona cant handle him out here at sea.  We’re the faster, lets lead him where we have the upper hand.”

“Aye aye cap’ain!”

Aidan Ripley, captain of the Desdemona crossed his arms across his chest, scowling into the growing light.  

“Bastard.” He growled faintly, cursing the day he’d met the captain of the ship cutting through the sea like a knife.  

The sun gently moved into the sky as the two ships sped up.  The Black Scythe had already been sailing at top speed, but the Desdemona was faster by far, a smaller, lighter vessel, and far more manoeuvrable.  

It was amongst the smaller islands, and the coral reefs that they took to in the Desdemona, the sleek ship slowing, gliding between underwater obstacles that only the Sylph, the magical water fairy standing at the bow of the ship, could have known of.  

The sun passed its zenith, dark clouds rolled in from the south, clouds that caused the Sylph worry, her brow furrowing even as she watched the waters below.  This was a bad place to be during a storm, and she was not the only Sylph aboard a pirate ship.  The Black Scythe was behind.  Slowed, hampered by the coral, and after what seemed hours of pursuit she at last melted from view, left behind amidst a particularly dense coral reef.  

The clouds rolled in overhead, darkening the skies, bringing rain and wind and anxiety for those aboard Desdemona, prayers whispered, and hands clutching talismans, no matter how useless, as the ship was slowly, tentatively guided through the reef, seeking to come out the other side and be able to find safe harbour.

Luck, or good judgement, was on their side it seemed, for before the storm hit with full force the Desdemona slipped free of the reef and back into the deep ocean, the sails raised once more to catch the wind in the hopes of speeding to the nearest safe harbour.

“Captain! Starboard!”

The shout went up, and all eyes turned to see, in horror, the bow of the Black Scythe bearing down on them at its highest speed.

Captain Ripley swore, yelling “Hard to port!” and grabbing the wheel, attempting to turn his ship even as his men leapt to obey.

“How in the blazes did he manage that?” called the first mate from the lower deck, squinting through the haze of rain.

“Either he has a mage there, or he knew how to get around the reef.”

“A trap.”

“Rourke’s been here before apparently…”

The Black Scythe bore down upon  the Desdemona, the smaller, lighter ship doomed to be smashed into two parts if the Black Scythe struck true, doomed to sink if it were even too close.
“Turn ya bloody bucket of bolts!”

At what seemed the last second, the Desdemona turned, showing her side to the Black Scythe just in time to avert total calamity, the scream of stressed wood piercing into the darkened skies as the two ships struck.  The blood red metal bow of the Black Scythe kissed along the Desdemonas  hull, sliding off as the sides of the two ships struck, wood splintering.  The rain intensified, pouring water down as the two ships bobbed apart in the roughening seas, the shouts of angry men muffled by the rain, but the dark shapes of men swinging across the gap between the  ships was unmistakeable.  Grapple hooks landed in the sides of the Desdemona, hurriedly thrown off by her crew, but it was too late.
Captain Ripley scowled, and drew his sword as fighting broke out upon the deck, throwing himself into the fray.

“Aidan! Look to your cabin!”

The captains dark eyes turned to the door to his own cabin, to find two men jimmying the lock, a heavy wave washing aboard and almost knocking Aidan from his feet as they broke the lock, hurrying inside.
Shaking seawater from his eyes with a flick of his head, Aidan growled and made his way through the fighting towards his cabin, his dark hair sticking to his face with the water, and his clothes soaked through, uncaring as the cold water slid down the blade of his sword to drip on the floor as he beheld the two men within his cabin, ransacking the drawers in search of something.  

Another wave crashed into them and the Captain braced himself against the door, the two men finding a small sack and dropping its contents into a palm.  Aidan frowned at the glass oblong in the hand of one of the thieves.  What did they want with a trinket like that?

A yell from behind, and Aidan spun in time to deflect a blade aimed for his head, knocking his assailant aside and spinning to kick another in the knee.  Fire laced around his forearm and the Captain hissed a curse, as crimson stained his torn sleeve, his first assailant rearing back with dagger in hand.  

Damn, how had he missed that?

Aidans hand snapped out, grabbing the wrist of the hand holding the dagger, holding the blade away from his flesh while parrying the blows from the mans other hand, spinning in place to slam his attacker into the wall, knocking the wind from him, his sword clattering to the deck to be washed aside with the next wave breaking over the bow.  

Metal gouged into wood, narrowly missing the captains skull as he dived aside, dropping to the deck and kicking the feet out from under his second assailant, a swift swipe from his blade rendering the man useless, and allowing the captain to once more focus upon the raiders in his cabin.  Raiders who were tying their stolen cargo into bags against their chests, cargo evidently more than just the small glass oblong.

“No!” cried the Sylph as they smashed the windows at the back of the cabin, and swung hooks out over to the Black Scythe, even as the captain ran into the cabin after them.  His fingers brushed their legs as they swung out over the water, taking their prizes with them.  Prizes that evidently the Sylph new the value of as she leaned over the broken window frame to look for where the thieves had gone.

“That was a Seeing Stone! Used with the right map, they can see any place they wish to, even the secret places of the Nymphs and the Faerie!  You must get it back!  You must!”

Aidan growled softly at being given orders, but nodded, looking around to find a grapple hook hanging at the belt of one of the fallen attackers. Knowing better than to gainsay the Sylph he snatched up the hook, leaning out of the broken windows and squinting through the sea spray spinning in the air.
“If I don’t come back, Turney is to be captain.”

With that he jumped from the window.

Cold bitter wind bit at his arms and legs as he swung through the empty space between the two ships.  The waves reached up to him, catching at his boots at the lowest of his swing, the dangerous swells growling to swallow him whole, to swallow him into the dark waters, the wind howling its anger as he swung away once more, his feet striking against the hull of the black scythe.

The grapple had been expected, though he had not, and it wasn’t until he had scurried up the knotted rope and climbed aboard that it was realised he was not the third thief.  Three men hit the deck, rendered immobile as the Captain of the Desdemona moved to onto the deck, seeking the thieves amidst the grey mass of men.  Fortunately the majority of the crew were aboard the Desdemona, leaving Aidan in relative peace as he traversed the deck, sneaking down the steps to the lower decks, hurriedly searching for his stolen goods.

It was not that however that caught his eye.

A flash of purple glitter caught the captains eye, and when he paused to look once more, what seemed like fish scales moved, and a human voice whined.  Chains clinked, and Aidan moved closer, heaving against crates and shoving them aside and revealing something he had never expected to find aboard this ship.

Mermaids.

Four Mermaids sat there, dry, chained to a beam, bruised and beaten and obviously scared.

“What the…”

“Please!” one of them cried, the closest, a gorgeous thing of pink scales and blonde hair, leaning as far forwards as she could to him, with her wrists manacled to the wood.

“Please, free us!  Free us or we’ll die!”

“Yes, please!”

“Please”

The chorus of gentle but insistent duotone voices had the captain pausing in his actions, at last with a growl grabbing up the keys he had seen on the entrance, moving over to the sea creatures and hurriedly releasing them from their bonds.  The thought of them being a trap had crossed his mind, but it looked as though if Rourke had abused them any more, he would have killed them.

Indeed, the last mermaid looked more dead than alive, half her face swollen and bruised, and Aidan lifted her gingerly into his arms.  He’d never even seen a mermaid until he’d come to this part of the world, let alone seen one so close.  Her fin was scaled, of course, but he hadn’t realised until just now that those scales extended up her sides, and along the backs of her arms, up around her shoulders, her throat, and around the edges of her face.  Her ears were fins, like those of the lion fish he had seen once in a fishing village, but her face, and her eyes as they  looked at him half glazed were completely human.

“H….hel…p…” she could barely move her lips, and with a growl Aidan looked around for something to drag them from the ship in.  How else to get them up the stairs, other than take them one by one, a time consuming task?

A loud crash rocked the ship, wood splintering inwards as something tore its way through the ship like it was parchment, the shouts and sounds of gunfire washing in along with seawater.

Cannon fire.  

His problem solved, Captain Ripley grabbed the girls by their hands, and dragged them across the floor, to the new hole in the side of the Black Scythe, urging them to leap out into the sea below.  For them, the task seemed simple, each eagerly letting herself plummet into the raging waters and disappearing like a dream as soon as she could, never resurfacing.

The last mermaid paused, not letting go of his hand, and looked up into his eyes, her own green ones reflective in the dim light in the cabin.

“Thank you.  I’ll not forget your kindness.” She said over the din from without, squeezing his hand before slipping from the hole in the side of the ship into the sea, disappearing as though they had never been.

The Captain of the Desdemona turned, feeling as though he had spent hours freeing the mermaids, when it had only been moments, beginning his search for the Seeing Stone anew, but it was not that which caused him to suddenly freeze, and curse loudly.

The cannon ball had torn through the hull, yes, and along its path had been a single lantern, one which had fallen, and almost gone out.  Almost… but not completely.  The smouldering wick had been enough to catch alight a faint trail of the powder leading to a stack of kegs.   Kegs which bore a sigil Aidan knew all too well.

“Oh sh-“  he turned and leaped from the hole, diving to the water, but not soon enough to escape the violent explosion at his back.  Flames burst out, singing his hair and clothes before he slammed into the ocean, the water seeming as hard as rock when he struck it with the force of the explosion behind him.  Debris flew into the water, striking at him even as he struggled to resurface in the raging seas.  

The Black Scythe was well alight, smaller explosions rocking her, and one such sending another spray of debris his way, Aidan diving under the water once again to avoid being killed.  

The black sea closed over his head, cold, unrelenting water swallowing him greedily as it had so wanted to not moments ago, and even as he tried to resurface, the sea clung to him.

Something broke the surface just above Aidan, striking him in the head hard enough to submerge him anew, hooking in his collar and dragging him down as it went, his dazed struggles futile as the light faded and he couldn’t see what he was doing.  His lungs became tight, his throat aching for air once more, and still he could not free himself from the weight dragging him into the ocean.

I’m going to die… no... I'm not... i wont...

Aidan unbuckled his belt, pulling his shirt from his breeches in an effort to strip off the clothing that was hooked, a wash of precious bubbles escaping when something tore down his back, staining the water crimson.

The white silk came free, and the pirate captain struggled out of it, pulling the shirt off and managing to float free as the beam continued to sail into the depths.

Dark earthen eyes looked back up to the surface, his body feeling inordinately tight and pressed, his ears hurting from the pressure at this depth, as long arms and legs moved, attempting to reach the surface before his lungs gave way.

The two small dots that were the raging ships, one light, the other dark, drew fractionally closer, but not fast enough.  The sea was lulling… no longer so icy cold… somehow comforting… almost.. warm.  Wrapped around him like a blanket.

Aidan struggled on, even as his vision dimmed and his lungs gave in, the last remnants of air in his lungs rushing out to race to the surface far above, water filling his lungs like lead weights, causing his limbs to turn weak and leaden.

The last thing he saw, was the two ships, like the sun and the moon, and the rippling of the waves from below, never more farther away than at the moment his vision at last faded, and everything turned black…
Be Gentle! i havent written properly in over two years :F this is my first go, so be encouraging!
Fairytale-ish story for my beloved *angelofyang Inspired by our status's in #neverland chat room (:P You'll just have to visit now to see what they are, to get a hint about the direction of the story mmm? :eyes:)
All Characters are mine.

(of course,its to be continued ;))

Part1: [link]
Part2: [link]
Part 3: [link]
Part 4: [link]
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Tsarina-Nereid's avatar
I really like your beginning and it's a quite unique story.