26
Eyes black as Deat h
T he Rebecca sliced through the waves, the wind howling as The Crown’s Justice loomed in the distance, chasing relentlessly.
“We sink that ship today!” the captain yelled, his voice sharp with fury.
“We’ve got the speed, Cap’n!” Duke called from the helm. “We can outpace them!”
“No! I’m ending this—”
But as the words tried to left his lips, something changed. The waters began to tremble, a deep rumbling sound coming from beneath. We all stumbled, eyes darting as the sea itself seemed to shudder. The Rebecca lurched unnaturally, dragged by a force that none of us could see.
“What in the Gods name,” Alastair muttered next to me, but his voice was swallowed by a hideous, gut-wrenching scream. It pierced the air, a sound so unnatural it sent ice down my entire body.
My heart pounded as my eyes snapped to The Crown’s Justice. Its once-pristine white sails were slowly darkening at the edges, curling as though rotting. The blackened tips looked almost diseased, creeping inward as the scream echoed from the ship.
“Everyone, hold fast!” Calico bellowed. “Steady the ship!”
But the seas weren’t steady. The water churned violently, thrashing beneath them, and from The Crown’s Justice, something moved—fast. Too fast.
Underwater, a dark mass surged through the waves, slicing towards The Rebecca. Towards us.
We barely had time to process what was happening before it erupted from the sea in a towering explosion of water.
The creature was massive—an immense sea serpent, its body dark as midnight, scales glistening with a sickly sheen. Its stench hit me first, a foul odor like rotting fish and death, making me gag.
Its head loomed high, terrible jaws wide, dripping with seawater as rows of razor-sharp teeth gleamed in the low light. The thing let out a guttural hiss, the sound rattling through my bones, and chaos erupted.
“Man your posts! Fire the cannons!” Calico roared, but his voice was almost lost in panic.
Everyone shouted. Cannons boomed. But the serpent didn’t flinch.
It smashed its massive tail against The Rebecca, sending crates flying, the wood groaning under the impact .
“Kill that bloody thing!”
The serpent continued to scream, eating pieces of the ship as if they were simple seaweed. Yet it wasn’t attacking us. Its movements were deliberate, tearing into the ship’s hull but avoiding the crew, as if it wasn’t there to kill—just to trap.
My heart hammered in my chest as I grasped the railing, staring up at the beast. Its eyes—two fathomless pits of black—seemed to suck in the light. Lifeless. Like they were…possessed.
And then I saw it. As the serpent trashed and slowed us, my gaze flicked back to The Crown, now perilously close. A figure stood at the bow, arms raised, lips moving in some silent incantation.
The serpent wasn’t acting alone. It was being commanded. Someone on that ship was controlling it.
“Thalassa!” I called to her.
The serpent’s black eyes locked onto The Rebecca, its monstrous head looming like a nightmare over us. Cannons fired again uselessly into its side, but I could see it—those lifeless eyes, dark and bottomless, pulling at something deep inside me.
Eyes black as death, Lady Love.
They were its weakness.
I steadied myself, heart pounding but movements precise. In the whirlwind of shouts and cannon fire, I reached for my bow, my fingers grazing the familiar curve of its decorated wood.
The world around me blurred, falling away as my focus narrowed. The chaos of battle became distant, like a storm seen through glass .
This was my moment. Calm in the chaos.
Drawing one of my pink diamond-tipped arrows, I aimed straight for the serpent’s massive, hollow eye. My index finger, tattooed with that same sea serpent, tightened the rope. Time slowed, my breath steady. Everything—the captain’s shouts, the crashing waves, the tremble of the ship—faded into silence.
I let out a breath, and I released.
The arrow sliced through the air with deadly precision, burying itself deep in the creature’s right eye.
For a heartbeat, everything went still—then the serpent let out an earth-shattering scream, a sound so primal it tore through the soul. It reared back, thrashing violently, its body crashing into the water, sending waves slamming against The Rebecca.
The other eye. I needed to hit the other eye.
I was already nocking another arrow, eyes locked on the creature’s remaining black eye. And I released again.
The second arrow struck true, and the serpent let out a final, horrifying screech. Its massive form shuddered and began to dissolve into dark ash before our eyes. Its body crumbled, black dust mixing with the sea, and in moments, it was gone—like it had never existed, save for the terrible stench left behind.
Everyone was stunned still gripping their weapons, but my mind was already moving. The Crown Justice was close now—too close.
I sprinted to the side of the ship, my breath quick but steady as my mind sharpened .
Grabbing two more arrows from the quiver, I aimed for the white sails of The Crown’s Justice.
I could see the blackened edges from here, like death creeping across their fabric. The arrow flew, and a satisfying rip echoed through the air as it shredded through the sail following the weight of the diamond tip, slowing the enemy’s advance.
One more shot.
My eyes darted to their helm, where I could immobilize their steering. My fingers brushed another arrow as I readied to fire—but then, I froze at the shout.
“Donna!”
Diego.
He stood at the helm of the ship, his face unmistakable, staring straight at me. The world seemed to tilt, time slowing in an instant. The crew, the battle, the sea—all of it faded, leaving just the two of us. My bow was still drawn, the arrow ready to fly, but my heart pounded with a different kind of tension now.
“Donna!” he screamed again.
My breath hitched as I stood frozen, my arrow still aimed at The Crown.
Diego’s face stared back at me across the waves. My hands trembled—they never trembled when I held a bow. Never. It was the one place I had always been steady, unshakable.
Was this it?
My mind raced, the weight of my bow pressing against my palms, my finger hovering over the release. I could end it now. Everything—the betrayal, the pain, the vengeance I owed Dara and this crew—everything could end with one shot. The arrow was already nocked, my muscles taut, ready to let fly.
But still…my hands shook.
A torrent of emotions surged within me, and I could feel the unsteady beat of my heart, faster than ever before. I knew I had to, and yet I hesitated. The space between us stretched, endless, like a chasm too wide to cross.
My voice, when it finally erupted from my throat, was fierce, like a crack of thunder across the waves. “Next time I find you in front of one of my arrows, I’ll shoot. So please don’t come near me.”
It was a promise, seared into the very air between us.
His face twisted—his eyes widened, shock and disbelief mixing with something else, something darker. His jaw tightened, and I could see the unspoken words on his lips. The man I once loved like the bestest of friends, now stood as my enemy, the weight of that knowledge crashing down on me. His expression was a poem of pain, fear, and defiance.
He hadn’t expected this, I could tell. But I hadn’t expected him to pierce Dara's heart, and with it, mine as well.
With a sharp exhale, my grip steadied, and I released the arrow. It flew like a streak of lighting, straight to its mark—the rudder splintered under its force, breaking neatly in two.
The Crown’s Justice groaned, its speed faltering as the ship slowed to a crawl, Diego still locked in my gaze. But the reprieve was short-lived. From the deck of The Crown, I saw the sudden, frantic movement of men preparing their cannons. The sound of metal scraping and barrels being rolled into place carried across the water. I knew what was coming.
The Rebecca was still within range—close enough for their canons to tear us apart.
Without another thought, I turned and sprinted to the deck, my voice rising in desperation as I shouted to the heavens and waters. “Thalassa!” My voice was raw, pleading.
I fell to my knees from the accumulated fatigue, eyes wild, my hands raised as if begging the ocean itself to answer me. Because that was what I was looking for. Her answer.
“Tell me what to do,” I whispered.
Behind me, I could hear the crew’s confusion, but then, so suddenly, Calico’s voice joined mine, deep and commanding, as he stormed to the deck, his eyes flashing with the same urgency.
“Ventus!” he bellowed, staring up at the sky. “Propel your sails! Propel our sails.”
The wind began to stir, faint at first, but quickly growing stronger. I could feel it, the air thick with something powerful and ancient. The sea around us rippled, the currents shifting.
My heart leapt—they heard us.
But the threat was still near. The sound of cannons being loaded thundered from The Crown’s Justice. I glanced back just as the first cannon fired—a deafening roar that cut through the wind.
For a split second, it seemed as though everything would end there, that the cannonball would tear through our ship—but then, like an explosion of energy, The Rebecca lurched forward, the wind howling in her red sails, and the sea swirled beneath me, speeding us away with impossible force.
The cannonball hit the water just behind us, sending a massive spray into the air, but The Rebecca was already gone, racing ahead like she had been touched by the Gods themselves.
I, still on my knees, stared in awe as the ship flew across the waves, the distant figure of Diego and The Crown’s Justice shrinking behind us, powerless to stop our escape.
“Alastair.” I heard the captain’s voice from behind me, his tone was like the one in the temple, as if he was asking for answers.
“It seems, my captain,” Alastair responded, “that Death has finally heard their prayers.”