14
The Mariner’s Mirage
“I told you.” Captain Pierce laughed behind me. “Should have bet, love.”
I looked at him confused and then to the woman in front of me.
Ela Treasures. Even her name sounded legendary.
“I’m Donna,” I managed to say to her.
Ela smiled, putting her hands on her hips. “Pirates sing a pretty amazing song about you, Donna,” she said to me. “I would have given my left leg to see it.”
Captain Pierce grinned and entered one of the taverns near us. I followed his steps with my gaze and looked up to find a sign creaking in the salty breeze, striking against the faded wood of the tavern. ‘The Mariner’s Mirage’ was painted in bold sweeping letters the color of deep ocean blue, now chipped and worn but still commanding attention. Above the lettering, an intricate design depicted a ghostly ship sailing through mist, its sails billowing in an unseen wind, with the faint outline of a mariner at the helm. The figure was half-shadow, half-light, as if caught between reality and illusion. The edges of the sign were adorned with swirling patterns resembling sea foam, and if one looked closely enough, they could almost see the flowers hidden within the design, like a secret waiting to be discovered.
“You coming, Pink Arrow?” said Ela from the door.
Stepping inside The Mariner’s Mirage was like entering another world, one where the boundaries between sea and land seemed to blur. The tavern was dimly lit, with flickering lanterns casting warm, golden light across the room, creating shifting shadows that danced on the walls. The floorboards were rough and worn, polished smooth surely by the countless boots of sailors who had passed through over the years. Nautical relics adorned the walls—old romantic maps with edges curled and browned, weathered ship wheels, and rusted anchors.
In one corner, a large, ornate mirror with a tarnished frame, giving the illusion of greater space, as if the tavern itself stretched endlessly.
I kept following Ela between tables, music, and murmured conversations. The tables were sturdy but mismatched, each bearing its own history of spilled drinks and hastily carved initials.
Along the back wall, a long bar made of dark mahogany ran the length of the room, its surface scarred with the marks of many lively nights.
Behind it, shelves lined with dusty bottles of liquor gleamed in the low light, each one holding a story of distant ports and daring escapades. The atmosphere was thick with murmured conversations, laughter, and the occasional shout, all underscored by the steady, rhythmic creaking of the wooden beams above.
I could tell that it was a place of secrets and camaraderie, where pirates and sailors gathered to share tales, plot new ventures, or simply lose themselves in the fog of drink and song.
In the corner, next to the mirror, I saw a round table where the crew of The Rebecca was sitting. Jonah and Efren, laughing and drinking with two other men I had not seen before, Captain Pierce looking straight towards us, and Duke looking at his surroundings, searching for something.
But I knew it was not for something, but for someone. For her. And suddenly my heart began aching again.
“Treasures, took you long enough!” It was Efren who stood up and offered her a drink.
“I was busy saving the captain’s ass,” she responded as she sat down in one of the chairs.
I stood there, and I couldn’t take my eyes off Duke. My stomach churning with a mix of dread and sorrow. He was still completely unaware, looking at every corner of the tavern, his expression softened with the remnants of hope, the same hope that I knew would soon be shattered.
Every small gesture, every flicker of emotion on his face, made my chest tighten with anxiety, I could barely breathe, my heart was pounding as I braced myself for the inevitable moment when he would find out the truth.
My mind raced, wondering how he would react, how the light in his eyes would dim when the words were spoken. The anticipation was agonizing, like standing at the edge of a cliff, waiting for the ground to crumble beneath my feet. All I could do was watch him, helpless, as the seconds dragged on, knowing that the moment of heartbreak was inching closer.
And seeing all these men telling stories with enthusiasm, as if they came here just for that, to share, seeing this table in front of me where everyone laughed like sharing they own language as if they were one big family, I felt like a stray thread in a tapestry, visible only for how out of place I was.
No matter where I stood, it was like I was watching life through a glass pane. The conversations around me seemed distant and muffled, as though I was just an observer in a world I couldn’t quite touch.
In an instant, Duke locked eyes with me, and an uneasy emptiness settled in my chest, a constant reminder that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was adrift, unmoored, and far from where I was meant to be, because I was here and Dara wasn’t. She had a life with them, here. And I didn’t. I had taken Dara away from Duke.
Lady Love.
My breath came in rapid, shallow bursts, each inhale jagged and uneven as if my lungs were struggling to keep up.
Lady Love.
My chest heaved erratically, the frantic pace of my breathing making me dizzy and light-headed.
I thought I heard a distant voice calling my name but I could only focus on how my face flushed and my hands clutched at my sides as if to steady myself, and I felt my eyes go glassy as I fought to regain control over my breath.
I must have been so lost in my anxiety that I didn't notice when the captain stood up, because he was suddenly whispering in my ear, “Close your eyes and listen.”
I felt how one of his fingers gently went down my arm and I looked down to find his hand, a striking canvas of ink and muscle covered by a tattoo of a sprawling octopus, carefully caressing my wrist. The tentacles of the octopus curled sinuously across the skin, their intricate details rendered with dark, fluid lines that seemed almost alive. Each moving of his fingers brought the octopus to life, its tentacles shifting and writhing as if they were reaching out into the world beyond the ink.
Close your eyes, Lady Love. Listen to what they are singing.
“Listen,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes, and as I felt his fingers on my wrist, I listened.
My ears were filled with a melody driven by the steady pulse of a fiddle and the upbeat squeeze of an accordion. The tune was both exuberant and infectious, with bright, ascending notes that soared and dipped like the waves of the ocean. And then, I heard the lyrics.
“The winds tell of a pink arrow bright,
With a diamond tip that cut through the night,
Shot by long auburn hair,
She stood at the bow with a fierce,
Burning stare .
With a bow made with a pair of tights,
And a broken oar carved from wood
of the oldest tree,
She let it fly swift over dark,
churning sea,
The arrow it flew,
like a comet’s fierce glow,
And stopped the injustices with one
powerful blow.
Oh, the injustices she will stop,
with just one powerful blow.
A pirate is she? The pink arrow of the sea?”
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, as if I had just been resurrected and reborn.
“A pirate is she," Captain Pierce whispered, "the pink arrow of the sea.”
I looked at him, and before I could say anything, he was murmuring softly so only I could hear, “His heart may be about to drown in the shadowy abyss, but you prevented his body from sinking in the dark depths. And we”—he nodded back to the table—“his family, cannot help him heal his heart if his body is not aboard my ship.”
I looked down again, at his hand on my wrist and his thumb making soft circles on my skin .
I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it, again.
“Dara is not here so these pirates can dream today of a pink arrow ending injustices, and silly prophecies. She was killed for you, not because of you. She went to the Gods willingly, to save you.”
I faced the table, everyone was sitting with their drinks talking to each other in muted conversation, as if they understood the weight of my struggle, and chose to respect my space, like if they were offering their support somehow by not staring and making me feel like a spectacle.
Their casual, quiet chatter was a shield, protecting me from prying eyes, while also reminding me that I was safe among them, that it was all right.
And suddenly, Captain Pierce was muttering words that made me gather tears in the corners of my eyes.
“Look at us, love. A hard-bitten cynic with a marble leg, a cook with a tragic past, a virelanthian priest turned pirate, two sailors in love who are too dull to realize it, a man who is about to get his heart broken, an egomaniac captain, and a pirate archer who apologizes too much. We each have a story that made us what we are today, some terrible and others wonderful. And that is what makes us belong. That is what makes us—”
“Lovers,” I whispered, looking away from the table to stare into his eyes.
“Pirates.” His smile softened his entire face, unraveling my defenses, piece by piece .
“Same thing.”
As my breaths began to even out, I clung to the steady rhythm of his voice, the warmth of his hand, and the soft murmur of the table—a lifeline pulling me back from the edge.
You belong here, Lady Love. Just like Dara belonged once. She wanted you to have this too.
Already seated at the table, the two men I didn't know, introduced themselves.
“I’m Alastair,” said the tall man, who even sitting, towered over most of us. His lanky frame casted long shadows that seemed to stretch unnaturally in the dim light. His thinner gave him a spectral appearance, like a wraith who had slipped free of the world of the living but hadn’t quite left it behind. His face was gaunt, the sharp angles of his cheekbones jutting out beneath pale, sallow skin, and his mouth was often set in a thin, grim line, as if a smile had long since been forgotten.
He was telling me how he once served for the Virelanth religion, and left to the sea, because the calling was strongest. But Efren interrupted him saying how he had definitely discovered something terrible and that was the true reason he left. When I looked at Alastair, his dark eyes, which I bet once were filled with the fire of faith, held a cold, haunted intensity—as if he was wearing a reflection of the darkness he had uncovered, like the weight of the truths he’d learned had carved out hollows in his soul. So I fully believed Efren’s theory.
Not only because of what I could have imagined behind his gaze, but because he still wore a remnant of his past—a tattered, black clerical collar that peeked out from under the collar of his rough, salt-stained coat. It maybe served as a grim reminder of what he once was, and what he had become.
The sight of it sent chills down my spine and, I had no doubt, to even the most hardened of pirates too, for it was common knowledge that a man who had turned his back on the most powerful of hierarchies was one to be feared.
When he finished talking, the man at his side introduced himself too. “And I’m Ceol Cook.” He laughed.
His face was rugged yet warm, with a strong jawline and expressive features that blended charm and toughness. His deep-set, almond-shaped eyes exude a sense of warmth and depth, hinting vulnerability beneath a confident exterior. His slightly weathered skin and faint stubble added to his rugged appeal, while his wide, genuine smile softened his face. Giving it a balance of strength and kindness that made him compelling and memorable. A faded bandana was tied around his head, and a bushy beard framed his face.
“Just the cook,” he said. There was a glint in his eyes, a spark of humor that belied his rough exterior.
He drank from his big glass and I took that silence as an opportunity to speak. “You now, being the cook is being the heart of the ship. I bet you can calm tensions with just a very good meal. I don’t think the captain can do that, can you?” I said looking at Captain Pierce.
And with that smile of his, he responded, “I'm not going to answer that question. ”
Everyone laughed, but when I looked at Ela, she was rolling her eyes. “Yes, we get it. You men are very amusing and charming.” She nodded at me, and continued saying with a sincere smile, “You don't know how grateful I am to have another female presence aboard. I already like you better than any of these scurvy dogs.”
I smiled genuinely because I understood. I haven't had that either. In my life I have only had that kind old seamstress and Dara, but they were more like a mother figure to me. Maybe they themselves felt the need to choose that role, because of how young and adrift they found me—nothing more than a lonely, lost girl with a mind full of questions and wonder.
I have never had a relationship with a girl my age that was not competitive. Palace girls just made me want to be more like them, and in some way, better. But I knew that was somehow my problem, and how men pigeonholed us into roles that we had to be better at among ourselves so we could be able to live well according to their perspective. But at the age when I wanted to realize that probably all the girls in the palace were alone suffering from the same thing, I had already isolated myself with my bow and books. And I figured they had done the same with their own things. Probably because we had always been taught to see each other as competition, and once we were deemed ready, we should devote our lives to a man.
And our dreams… what about our dreams? We had to hold onto them before it happened, before they became just a mere memory that a silly little girl once had. At least to be able to live our own lives, even if it was just for a few seconds .
“Since Dara only set foot on The Rebecca once every—” Ela continued speaking but immediately cut herself off when she realized what she was saying.
“You can say it.” It was Duke's voice that made me turn to look at him, and my heart trembled for a moment.
“Mate,” Ceol called, but it sounded like a consolation.
“I knew it since the moment I got off the ship and stepped foot into port,” Duke said with a sorrowful voice, and started drinking. “She warned me, the last time we saw each other she kept saying how she had found a cause for which she would give her life if necessary. You know how she was with those old prophecies.” He sighed in form of a quiet and small laugh. “I know she would do it a thousand times more, and I respect that. That was one of the reasons I loved her, and always will. I just need you to tell me how it happened.”
My heart shrank, and at the moment I was going to open my mouth, the captain spoke, “His name is Diego Hart, he’s the Captain of the Royal Guard of Tidia. She was killed by his sword.”
I waited for Duke to say something but he was just looking at his captain in silence, and after a couple of long minutes, he said, “You have my permission if you want to kill him.”
“I won't do it if she wants to do it,” said the captain, nodding at me.
I suddenly felt all the eyes of the table studying me as if waiting for an answer.
“What did he do to you?” asked Ela, almost in fighting position, as if she were ready to leave and go into battle .
“Nothing,” I said, almost too quick. “Nothing… He umm… He killed Dara.”
“When Dara was not with us at sea, she was with her. And that was most of the time, so she has the same right to kill him as we do. Dara wanted her with us,” said the captain.
“So he betrayed you,” Ela interrupted.
My gaze found hers as she kept talking. “He must have known how much she meant to you.”
I nodded.
“And still he killed her.”
“King Thadrius gave the order.”
“Then you kill them both.”
I blinked, unable to speak. I wanted The King dead since I saw how he hung my father in front of Tidia. In front of me. But I had never dreamed that it would happen, I had never asked the Gods for it, I had just waited for it to happen.
“We first go to The Heartbreak Harbor,” Captain Pierce interrupted before I could say anything, like he was reading my mind and knew I needed help.
Some of them coughed their drinks at the mention of The Harbor.
“Pardon?” Ela said at the same time as Efren.
“I thought we were looking for The Vile Phantom?” asked Jonah.
“We are,” explained the captain. “I deduced that’s where it is from the map Dara gave us.”
“Where is that map?” Duke asked .
I took the pink shell out of my pocket and put it on the table in front of him.
He laughed softly and moved his head to the sides, while saying, “Always with the games.”
“What does it say, Duke?” asked Ceol.
“Piracy is for lovers,” we both said in unison.
He looked at me and smiled, and suddenly I felt like I wasn't alone in this burden as I noticed how everyone shared a smile too.
And then Ela broke the silence with the question they were all probably wondering. “All right, they are in The Harbor. But how in the name of the Gods we get there and leave without dying. I thought that’s why we needed the map we were looking for? The map Dara supposedly found in King Thadrius’s palace? The one who has all the secrets of the sea?”
I widened my eyes when I heard that last sentence. The map that had all the secrets of the sea?
“Thalassa’s Veil? I thought that was a myth?” I asked without even realizing it, and suddenly all the tavern got quiet. There was no pirate who wasn't looking at our table.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Ela screamed as she got up and took out her pistol to shoot a barrel of rum that was in the corner, making a hole in it and causing the rum to flow all over the floor of the tavern like a fountain. “Didn’t I just buy you a round?”
Immediate shouts of joy began to sound and the musicians began to play again instantly making the tavern return to life .
She sat down to drink from her own glass as if nothing had happened, and murmured, “I wasted two bullets on you today, Cap’n. You better keep it in mind.”
“It's a good thing someone owes me one then,” Captain Pierce said, looking at me. “Is it not, love?”
I could feel heat rising to my cheeks, an unmistakable flush creeping up my neck. Desperate to hide it, I turned my head slightly and kept my gaze fixed on the table, my heart fluttering nervously, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
But there was something inside me that screamed to look up, to catch his reaction, I didn’t know what it was but I had been feeling it since I step foot on this island. Or maybe since I set foot on The Rebecca.
“We have the map,” Duke announced, calling my attention. He said it with such confidence that made me wonder if he had just maybe discovered something.
I caught the captain smirking at me from the corner of my eye, like we were both keeping a secret.
Duke took one of the candles that illuminated the table and brought the shell close to the flame so we could all see what was going to happen next. The heat of the flame must have melted some type of wax that hid a message in the shell, because suddenly, letters began to appear.
My eyes widened as Alastair read the hidden message out loud.
“Only the captain holds the key to the compass. ”
Everyone then looked at Captain Pierce on instinct, and he let out a little laugh. “I missed the part where I lost the title of captain, because I certainly don’t hold a thing.”
“Didn’t she say anything to you?” Ela asked me.
“She gave me the shell without me knowing, she hid it in my hair. I just recently discovered what it really was, but this is the first time I see that message.”
“So she wanted us to save you just to deliver a massage you didn’t even know you had to deliver… Aye, that sounds like Dara.”
“Would you like to enlighten these sorrowful sailors as to who you are, love?” said the captain, so all could hear.
Everyone was looking at me with confusion and excitement at the same time.
Their mouths began to move upwards in expectant smiles, and I really started to feel like someone, like part of something.
I moved my hair with my hand and placed it to the side, turning, so everyone could see the exposed left part of my neck, where the heart-shaped birthmark marked my skin.
Some sighs of disbelief covered the swearings of Efren and Ela, but I could hear how Duke said, “She knew, Cap’n. Dara knew who she was, and that's why she wanted her here with us. She must know where The Phantom is.”
“That was my theory. But she has never seen that ship in her life,” Captain Pierce responded.
“Can we stop for a second and appreciate that Balboa’s son is a woman? This is the best day of my life,” Ela said with a laugh, accompanied by Jonah's disbelief. “And she is also an archer? What if Dara was right, what if—”
“We need to get to The Vile Phantom, Captain,” Alastair interrupted with seriousness.
“Agreed,” the captain answered. “She has Thalassa’s favor, that must be one of the reasons Dara wanted her aboard The Rebecca. She will take us to The Heartbreak Harbor with the help of the Goddess of the seas.”
“We still have a message left undeciphered.” We all turned to Duke who was still inspecting the pink shell. “Dara went to a lot of trouble to hide this.”
“Pirates will be pirates, and we now know where to find them. And that is, in The Heartbreak Harbor. The end,” Captain Pierce said, almost angrily. “I won't let anything else keep me away a minute longer from that bloody ship. We don’t need any map, she will take us to The Harbor, and that is the end of it.”
“With all due respect, my captain,” Alastair cut the tension in the atmosphere with his words, “we want to get to The Vile Phantom, but we all know that Thalassa has lost control of the Nine Seas.”
My heart froze with that final remark.
“Mornatos has taken control of the waters, the dead reign again with the help of the sovereigns of Marethys,” Alastair continued. “They have control of the land and the sea. There are certain waters that not even she, with the help of Thalassa, could navigate. And you know it, Captain, because you have seen it. We need that map, that's why we've been looking for it for years, is it not? ”
The table filled with a silence loaded with questions and fears. And something about the stillness of the table, made me speak a truth I had recently discovered, “I can talk to her.”
Everyone stared at me confused, waiting for an explanation.
“I can talk to Thalassa, she speaks to me.”
It was Captain Pierce who turned his head abruptly towards me. His eyes widened, a flicker crossing his face as my words hung in the air. For a moment, he just stared at me, his breath catching as if he’d been punched in the gut. The disbelief was clear, but beneath it, a strange mix of sympathy and recognition began to surface. His gaze softened, almost as if he was seeing me for the first time, a long-buried secret now suddenly shared. He swallowed hard, struggling to find his voice, but the emotions swirling behind his eyes—relief, fear, and something almost like kinship—spoke louder than any words could.
Suddenly, I started to feel a burning sensation on the left side of my neck, and his eyes fell straight to it. My breathing began to quicken when his eyes opened even more and he reached out to brush my hair away. He put his hand carefully on my neck and touched my birthmark with his thumb, very slowly.
“She has the compass,” he whispered.
And then he blew very gently on my neck, and looked at me with a full smile.
“Hell, Pink Arrow, your little heart is glowing,” Efren said, and I immediately put a hand to my neck. The moment I made contact with the birthmark, a strange sensation rippled through me, like a gentle tug deep within my chest. It was as if the world around me shifted, my surroundings falling away, leaving only a singular, undeniable sense of direction.
I closed my eyes and my heart quickened as the path unfurled in my mind, clear and certain. I had never felt anything like it before—a quiet, yet powerful pull guiding me, as if the heart-shaped birthmark had awakened to show me the way.
And with that, Dara’s words from that same morning echoed in my mind. “Listen to me carefully, Lady Love. Always go where your heart points, it is your compass. You are destined for more things than you think.”
I opened my eyes abruptly.
“That heart of yours, Donna, is what is going to take you everywhere. You could lead armies with it.”
My neck started to burn even more and I closed my eyes again on instinct, but this time, in the darkness, I saw the haunting image of an island rising from the depths of my mind.
The air was thick with salt, and the distant roar of waves echoed in my ears. As the mist parted, I saw the island’s worn stone structures, their weathered beauty both ancient and mysterious. Carved seahorses jutted out from the cliffside, their eyes almost alive with secrets they guarded, as waterfalls cascaded into the turquoise waters below. A marble staircase led down to the water’s edge, partially submerged, as if inviting me to descend into the depths of hidden knowledge.
The island was bathed in a soft, ethereal light, highlighting every crack and crevice in the stonework .
The balustrades were worn but intricately detailed, each design holding a story lost to time.
Despite the tranquility of the scene, there was an undercurrent of something long forgotten—stolen treasures, perhaps, or forbidden art concealed from the world, given to the columns and statues of marble and white rock that I could see like small flashes in the middle of the island.
The ocean stretched endlessly around the island, isolating it, as if protecting the treasures it harbored from prying eyes. And I knew, deep within me, that there was something hidden there, waiting to be uncovered, as if only I could decipher the island’s whispered secrets. And the moment that thought crossed my mind, I heard her voice.
You must find it, Lady Love. Only you must find it.
And then I saw it.
A vivid image of an ethereal, shimmering cascade of translucent fabric woven with strands of silver and deep azure. Thalassa’s veil. The map was a literal veil. I could see intricate patterns that mimic the ocean’s currents and hidden depths, each fold and swirl in the fabric concealing ancient secrets and mysteries of the seas. And as quickly as it came to me, the image was gone.
I opened my eyes abruptly to find the whole crew of The Rebecca looking at me, astonished.
And then, I parted my lips to speak the only truth that was consuming my mind, “The map is real. And I know where to find it.”