Chapter 1 | The Burning Ship

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COBALT


I never thought that I would see these docks again, let alone set foot on them.

I watched our welcoming party draw closer as we pulled into the Water Kingdom harbor. The Queen stood silently on the wooden decks and my eyes followed Hobbson as he disembarked as soon as we let down the plank, making his way over to her and whispering something quietly in her ear. I could imagine the pain in her eyes as she turned her head away, it was not good news.

Amaryllis appeared at my shoulder, her perfume wafting through my nostrils. I turned to her and gathered her in my arms, kissing her head and holding her tightly. Her hands stroked my back and she whispered soft words of encouragement as I tried to banish my anger.

"It will be okay, you can't give up hope."

"How will it ever be okay," I said bitterly. "How can I justify how I feel with you while my brother is dead and Circe is missing? I am so selfish."

"You are not selfish." We turned to look towards Hobbson again. "None of this was your fault, we will do our best to help and we will find her. But you cannot carry all of the weight yourself; you have to learn to let others share the burden." She cupped my cheek and kissed me softly. "That is why you have me."

I kissed her back. "You are so beautiful," I said honestly.

Nathaniel had just reached the Queen and we silently watched their reunion. I knew how the magical world felt about half-breeds and I knew that Nathaniel, as the half-blood son of Queen Evangeline, was not allowed to let anyone know of his true identity, which was why I was surprised when the Queen pulled him to her and hugged him tightly, her frail shoulders shaking.

Nathaniel too seemed stunned for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her to return her gesture. Hobbson caught my eye for a moment and his look was one of satisfaction. This was good.

The point of our return was to request more supplies, but more importantly, Hobbson and I had decided that it was time Nathaniel commanded his own ship. He had impressed me greatly in the past few weeks, a constant presence at my side, his determination to find his sister had fueled his eagerness' to learn everything he could about being a Captain. In the last couple of days especially I had felt his rising desire to become independent from my ship, a choice that I supported.

I knew Nathaniel wanted to return to his home town and that was not a wish I could grant for him while he was currently travelling with me. If he wanted to go back to the humans, he would need his own ship and his own crew. I had a feeling that Lacy and Leonardo would join him and if he covered the human ports in his search for Circe, well it was one less thing that I had to do. Nathaniel's connections in the human world would be a great asset, after all Circe had grown up there, and the Queen would be foolish not to see that.

The two pulled away from each other, Nathaniel's hands lingering on his Mothers shoulders. I could see that he was speaking urgently to her and from the look of it, she was listening. I saw her gaze flicker up to me but I had no desire to join them. I could not speak to the woman who had condemned my brother, even if she had not been the one to serve the death sentence. A blue haired man joined them then. Ambrose. Now this should be interesting.

Ambrose ran his own agenda. He was loyal to the Queen, but she did not command or control him. He was a powerful ally to have. He was with another Water Sprite woman and my brow furrowed as I struggled to place her. Had I seen her before?

"That's Katarina," Amaryllis whispered in my ear, "Ambrose's ex. She left him for Zalas, the Air Prince, it was supposed to be an arranged thing but Zalas mustn't have brought into it because it wasn't long before she came back. I heard that by then though Ambrose didn't want anything to do with her. I wonder what she is doing here now."

Wonder indeed, I mused. Ambrose was talking to the Queen and the woman was standing a decent way behind them. Just when I thought that I might have to join them, so curious was I at what they were saying, they broke apart and Nathaniel looked up at me, a grin spreading across his face. That could mean only one thing, success.

*

It was a few more days before we were able to set sail again. Nathaniel's new ship had to be brought around and filled with supplies. Rather than choose a crew of Water Kingdom soldiers who would not be able to know the truth about their Captain, we had come the agreement that some of my crew mates would join his ship along with Lacy and Leonardo. Hobbson would also go with Nathaniel, but for now we two ships would travel together and head for a pirate port where we could pick up more hands in order to make sure that each ship had a full crew before we parted ways.

I knew from talking to Nathaniel, that part of the reason that he wanted to return to his home was because he knew some people who would want to join him on the sea. I didn't have an issue with it, a man was perfectly within his rights to choose his crew from wherever he saw fit.

Ambrose was still hanging around with the other woman Water Sprite and there was something off about the way that he watched me as though waiting for something. I hadn't asked him if he was joining us and I hadn't planned to. He had been close to Circe, I had seen that, but I also knew he could take care of himself. If he wanted to join me, he would.

*

I was glad when we finally left. I wasn't welcome in that place. It held nothing but bad memories for me. My brother had been tortured there. I had suspected that he had been wrongly accused, but that was over now, he was gone and there was nothing I could do.

Pulled from sleep the first night back out on the ocean, I left Liss sleeping peacefully in our bed and made my way out to the deck, surprised to find that I was not alone. Samson turned to me, sorrow in his dark eyes. I joined him at the railing and for a while we did not speak as we looked out across the ocean that was eerily still in the moonlight.

"It's not the same without him Boss."

"I know," I said quietly, looking over my shoulder at the door that led to the Captains quarters. I had refused to let it be used, choosing instead to stay in my own room. Behind the mermaid door, Circe's room too was collecting dust.

"Say we do find her," Samson said suddenly, "what then? What is there to say to her to make her stay? What are we offering her? We have nothing for her anymore and I'm not sure that anyone else does either."

I turned my face away, the reality of his words sinking in. "I don't know Samson. But we have to find her, we just have to. We will figure the rest out later."

I felt him nod his head beside me but I could tell that he found no comfort in my words. I sighed and turned to leave. "I'm going back to bed."

"Very good Captain, I think I will stay out here a little longer."

"Goodnight Samson."

"Goodnight."

*

The sea air was fresh on our faces when we woke the next morning. The sky was beginning to lighten revealing clear cornflower blue sky. Everything was going well and we were making steady progress with the aid of a slight breeze in our sails that promised to pick up later in the day. I could see the figures on Nathaniel's ships scurrying around completing their tasks and I could hear his voice calling out orders, Hobbson present at his elbow.

I felt a sudden sadness as I looked at the figure of the old man, realizing that once we parted ways I would no longer be travelling under his guidance. My Brother and I had sailed the seas long before Hobbson had joined us, but the old man had become such a powerful presence in our lives. I suspected that were Obsidian still alive, the old man might have remained with us, but his duty was first and foremost to the Water Queen and her children and Nathaniel fell under that category. I would miss him though.

We didn't have any delays until around midday when a shout from the crow's nest alerted me the fact that something wasn't right. A similar call came from Nathaniel's ship and everyone on deck stopped what they were doing to look in the direction the lookout was pointing.

A column of black smoke poured into the sky, still some distance away, but the fire was so large that I wondered with amazement how I had missed it before. I gave the call and we changed direction slightly so that we could check for any survivors. My face was grim as I gave the order, although ship fires were not uncommon it normally meant that there would be a hostile ship in the surrounding area, victorious after battle. Two ally ships would be difficult to take down, but pirates were un-predictable at the best of times, we would have to be careful.

Amaryllis found her way to my side, her blue black hair floating in the breeze, her face concerned as she gripped my arm.

"It looks serious; do you think there will be any survivors?"

"I doubt it, that much smoke from this far away? It looks as though the entire ship was incinerated. I hate to think that whatever or whoever is responsible is still hanging around."

She nodded, staying quiet as we sailed closer, slowing down as we did so that we could properly survey the damage from a safe distance. Nathaniel's ship maneuvered alongside my own and he shouted across the water to me.

"I don't think it is safe to go closer, do you want to send out the row boats?"

I nodded. He was right, the ship was still on fire but it appeared to be completely abandoned, no screams were sounding out across the water, no cries for help reached my ears. Debris was floating out towards us, large chunks of wood, barrels containing who knows what, advancement by row boat was definitely the safest option.

I called out to Samson. "You and Jacob will join me, along with-"I picked out another couple of hands and the row boat was lowered with us inside. We joined Nathaniel on the water; Leonardo was with him along with a few others. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from us, otherwise the smell of smoke and death would have been overpowering.

Grimly, we rowed towards the burning vessel, moving slowly so that we were able to push any wreckage gently aside. We found our first body, or what was left of it about fifty meters out from the ship. The entire corpse was charred beyond any recognition other than that of the human form; I was unable to even tell if it was floating face up or down.

The silence across the water was eerie, only the crackling of burning wood broke the quiet and I could tell that Samson and Jacob especially were uneasy. Both of them practiced voodoo magic religiously and whatever they were feeling right now, well by the looks on their face's I was glad that I couldn't feel it too.

"This is not normal Captain," Samson said, the big man's voice fearful and his eyes shifted uneasily from side to side as he pushed and pulled on the oars. "Another ship could not have done this."

"I might have to agree with you there," I said grimly. "Does anyone have any idea who the vessel might belong to? Is it Human?"

"It looks like a merchant ship to me," Leonardo called out. "Look, the." 

I looked to where he was pointing and recognized the symbol on the side from my days Pirating, the Lion in front of the crossed swords was all too familiar. These ships were ones to look out for, they often carried valuable treasures and were well worth the raid. 

"Remind me to check some of those barrels on our way back Samson, there could be something worth having in there." I muttered and he nodded in response.

The bodies were thickening as we drew closer to the ship and we reached a point where the heat and the stench became too much so we opted to sail around the perimeter, although my hope for any survivors was quickly dwindling.

"Wait!" Nathaniel called out, pointing across the water. "Over there! I think I saw movement."

We all looked in the direction he had pointed and saw a person adrift on a piece of wood. In response to the voice we all witnessed a twitch of an arm and it was enough for Nathaniel to turn his boat around and head in the direction of the man. I gestured for my men to follow, but there was a twisting in my gut that told me this would not be good. Samson had dropped his oars as we drifted over and was clutching his tooth necklace at the base of his neck, muttering fast words under his breath, his eyes looking up to the sky.

Nathaniel reached the figure first and I saw his body stiffen momentarily. "You there!" He called out. "Can you hear me?"

As we floated around his boat we were finally able to get a clear view and I felt someone gag beside me. The unfortunate individual was definitely alive, although I didn't know how and I felt that certainly they didn't have long left.

It was a man, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. The thought that, was Circe here she would probably be able to save him, crossed my mind but then I thought no, not even she would be able to heal this damage. The fresh burns on his skin were oozing and weeping, the skin blackened in some places and angry red in others. The man's hand twitched again and I saw that his eyes were open, although they were not looking at us. Upon closer inspection, my stomach twisted as I realized the reason for this was because the delicate skin around his eyes had been burnt clean off and he was no doubt now blind, so severe was the damage to the skin on his face.

Unwilling to watch him suffer anymore I pulled out my gun from its holster, pointed it at the crippled figure and shot him straight through the head. The loud noise breaking the silence made everyone jump and although a few faces turned to look at me, no one said a word.

"He wouldn't have been able to tell us anything," I said brusquely. "It would have been cruelty to leave him alive."

Nathaniel's face was grim as he nodded in agreement.

"I think we have looked long enough boys, I don't know about you but I am ready to return to the ships now. I don't imagine we are going to find anything else here." I said quietly.

I didn't have to say it twice. Silently we turned away from the still burning wreckage and made our way back to ships. Samson's eyes were still turned heavenward and paranoia made me follow his gaze and although there was nothing there, I couldn't stop checking around me as the feeling that someone was watching caused the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle and stand up. We managed to snag some barrels as we went and they bobbed behind us forlornly. 

It was with some relief that we reached the ladders that had been lowered down for us and after attaching the hooks to the boats we scrambled up, leaning over the railing to help pull them aboard.

Amaryllis's face was worried as she greeted me. "I heard a gunshot, what happened? Did you find any survivors?"

"One," I said darkly. "But he was barely surviving, hence the shot you heard."

Her hands came up to cover her mouth and I pulled her close. "Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't think it's a question of 'who' any more and more like 'what'."

I found Samson's gaze over the top of Liss' head and I gestured for him to set sail. "Let's get out of here now. There is nothing more that can be done here." I squeezed my eyes shut as the picture of the burnt corpse popped into my head and I could not help but see my brother in its place, his body burnt beyond recognition. My eyes snapped open. "Now, let's go!" I yelled again and suddenly the ship sprang into action, bustling bodies all around.

I felt as though I held my breath long after the smell of smoke and decay left the air. The memory of it was still there, clogging in the back of my throat and although I had been witness to far worse, the image of my brother's face would not leave my mind and I felt that the longer I looked at it, the more it morphed into a reflection of myself.

*


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