Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
ANA THE DEATHLESS
The sword came straight for my neck. I ducked to the side and trapped myself against the cave wall.
A pale hand slid between me and that glinting blade, stopping it from hitting my neck.
The tip struck the rock beside my face. I staggered back and drew my own sword.
I turned to find Thanatos standing right beside me.
I looked down at his unmarred hand and grimaced.
“It is your job to live,” he said.
I twisted away from him and turned to face the men that’d been waiting for us.
I held my sword up, blocking the second swing.
Metal clanged against metal as I shoved the first attacker away.
He staggered back to stand next to the other two pirates with him.
I recognized them as part of Captain Barr’s crew.
While the captain was well-dressed in fine clothing, his men were not.
They wore threadbare shirts, ripped-up pants, and shoes with holes in them.
Worn leather straps wrapped their waists and held their swords.
I narrowed my eyes at Thanatos. “What are you doing here?”
“Failing at my job.” He stared at something above my head, but I didn’t have time to follow his gaze.
“Stopin’ ye from followin’ the captain.” The one in the center cackled. Not a single one of the men reacted to Thanatos’s presence. They didn’t look in his direction or stare at his odd clothing. Instead, their eyes were on me and Jack. “Goin’ to cut ye up and make ye bleed as a warnin’.”
The other two on his flanks smirked and nodded at his words.
I scoffed. “Hardly seems fair.”
“I would agree. You should walk away,” Thanatos said in a smooth, even tone.
The pirate in the center growled. “It’s not a fair world.”
“For you . . . it hardly seems fair, for you.” I tightened my grip on my sword.
Jack cackled as he drew his sword and readied himself. He spread his arms out wide. “Have at it then.”
“This hardly seems wise.” Thanatos took a step back. I tried my best to ignore him, but my eyes darted toward him, and the three pirates facing off against me glanced in that direction.
I raised my sword and bellowed, ready for the attack. I charged toward them.
The pirate closest to me stepped forward. “Stupid woman.”
He drew his sword and swung at me. I blocked it and then twisted around, trying to stay upright on the uneven rocks while their ringleader joined in with him.
I held my sword up, blocking his strike as well.
My sword flew back and forth as I fought the two of them off.
They might’ve been stronger, but I was faster.
I spun and twisted through our fight, all the while blocking their advances.
Jack was beside me, easily fighting the pirate that was left.
A wide grin spread over his face and he chuckled as he blocked a particularly strong blow from his opponent.
He swung his sword at the man’s neck, but the pirate was quick and blocked the strike.
I turned my attention away from him. Jack was an expert with a sword and even more deadly with a knife.
A sword sailed toward my face. I ducked under it and swung for the other man, slicing a deep cut into the side of his thigh.
He staggered to the side, clutching his wound as blood flowed down his leg and he wailed and cursed my name.
A blade soared between me and the pirate who was the leader of this merry band of idiots. We both leapt apart as it sank into the chest of the one I just knocked to the ground. His eyes widened and he fell flat on his back. My eyes swung back to Jack.
“That ought to even it up a bit.” He smirked.
I turned back toward the one I’d wounded and shrugged. “Told you it wouldn’t be fair to you.”
He didn’t heed my words. He lunged for me.
I leapt to the side and swung my sword, knocking his away from my body.
My foot caught on a rock, and I tripped and dropped onto one of my knees.
The sharp rock cut into my skin, but I refused to show weakness.
I held my sword up as he swung down at me.
Pain vibrated up my arm from the force of the strike, but I would not let go of my weapon.
With my other hand I reached down and grabbed a loose stone.
He lifted his arm to strike down at me again, but I rolled to the side.
His momentum forced him to stagger forward.
I shot to my feet and threw the rock at his head.
It smacked into his cheek sending him staggering even more.
Blood trickled from the gash below his eye, and he pressed his hand to it. “You yellow-bellied wretch.”
“That’s original.” I scoffed and charged forward.
I swung my sword for his midsection, and he jumped back.
But I was on the attack and couldn’t stop now.
I swung my sword and he countered. The sound of our swords clashing filled the air.
I continued the attack, but he was strong and countered my swings with his own.
When his back hit the cave wall, I smirked at him and thrust my sword into his thigh.
I yanked it back as he screamed in agony, then pointed the blood-coated tip toward his face.
His sword clattered to the ground beside him, and he glared at me while holding his wound. “Captain Barr will hear of this.”
“No, he won’t.” Jack stood beside me with his arms crossed over his chest and his sword in his belt. His opponent lay sprawled on the rocks. Soon the tide would come and sweep the body out to sea.
“I’ll tell him. I will.” He tried to hobble away, but I held my sword under his chin and he froze.
“If you run to your captain like this, he’ll know you failed.”
“Aye, what of it?”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Is Captain Barr a forgiving captain?”
We all knew the truth. Barr would kill him simply for failing. The wound I gave him would keep him from sailing for a few weeks. Barr would simply run him through.
The man lifted his chin defiantly. “He is.”
A burst of laughter came from Jack. “Barr would kill any one of you for a single gold piece.”
Thanatos sighed. “He is correct. I have collected many souls who were slain by Captain Barr.”
Still neither of them reacted to Thanatos.
It was starting to drive me mad that no one but me could see him, even as the wind blew his hair around his face, mist from the crashing waves gathered over his skin, and the hem of the fabric draped around his body was darkened where it soaked up water off the rocks.
He was beautiful yet watchful with those uncanny eyes.
But the question was, was I truly mad or did he truly exist?
I shook my head, focusing on the pitiful pirate before me.
He pressed his lips together and gave a begrudging nod. “Aye, that be true.”
“So . . .?” Jack waved his hand, trying to get him to connect his thoughts.
“So?” His brow furrowed in confusion.
Jack sighed and shook his head. “Captain Barr never did pick the sharpest sailors.”
I nodded. “True enough.”
The pirate’s face dropped into a grimace, and he sucked in pained breaths. “Out with it.”
“You should run or hide until Barr is gone.” Jack caught his eye. “Lest you be killed for failing. It’ll take weeks to heal that wound. Assuming the infection doesn’t get you first.”
“It will.” Thanatos made a tsking sound. “Shame.”
It would be a shame. Dying of infection was a horrible way to go. “Keep the wound clean.”
“I’m not a simpleton,” he growled at me, then he turned to Jack. “But I see your point. I will not tell Barr if you let me leave now.”
I took a step back and motioned toward the shoreline beyond the rocks. “You can go, but you will vow never to cross me or my crew again. Lest you want Jack the Jinx to curse you.”
His eyes widened and he hobbled toward the shore. When he was out of earshot, Jack moved closer. “You know I can’t curse ‘em, right? That’s not how it works.”
“I know that, and you know that.” I nodded at his retreating shadow. “But he doesn’t.”
Jack chuckled. “Aye then, Captain.”
“You should stop this now. Nothing good will come of it.” Thanatos stepped up to stand by my other side.
“Will you stop?” I snapped.
Jack gave me a sideways look. “I haven’t started anything, Captain.”
“Not you.” I glared at Thanatos. “Death haunts me.”
“I do not.” Thanatos scoffed. “I saved you.”
“Death haunts the deathless.” Jack chuckled. “Best of luck with that.”
“I do believe I’m in need of a blessing.”
Jack’s face went deathly pale, and he shook his head. “Don’t do it, Captain. Some things can’t be undone.”
“Some things are worth doing.” I glanced toward Thanatos. “Especially with Death by my side.”
“You truly think Death walks with you?” Sweat broke out over his skin.
I nodded. “Even now.”
“Then we must stick to the land,” Jack spoke in a rush.
I shook my head. “Death knows us all, Jack. The sea is where we belong. If you feared death, then you would not sail with your curse, and I would not sail because I am a woman.”
“You are not wrong,” Thanatos added.
I narrowed my eyes at him and he held his hands up and pressed his lips together.
“Aye then,” he whispered. “What now?”
“You ready the ship and I’ll go for a blessing . . .” I wagged my eyebrows at him. “ . . . Or a curse. Who knows.”
“You take chances no man would.” He chuckled. “But I will ready the ship.”
I glanced toward the sky, noting that it’d turned from a dark purple to a dark blue.
Soon It would be day. We needed to be able to leave soon.
No doubt Captain Barr would leave within the hour.
That pirate was always ready to get underway—never giving his men leave and never resting his boat.
He would sail a tree trunk if it got him the treasure he desired.
I slid my sword back into the leather strap at my hip. “Then we part here, and I will see you in three hours’ time.”
Jack nodded. “Three hours.”
I turned away from him and walked back toward the town while Jack hurried off into the darkness where he would find most of our crew readying the row boats on shore.
Thanatos walked beside me, and for a moment I thought he would not speak.
The only sounds came from the waves crashing upon the shore.
“Anastasia—”
“Ana,” I cut him off.
He groaned. “Very well, Ana. Why do you insist on living this way? The afterlife will not treat you kindly for it.”
“I’ve only got one life to live. If this is how I choose to live it, what concern is it of yours?” I didn’t stop walking or turn to face him. Instead, I focused on each of my steps and the way they sank into the sand.
“I . . .” His words trailed off, and he cleared his throat. “I wish for your afterlife to be a rich one.”
“So I’m going to die soon?”
“Someone once told me it was unkind for any human to know when I would take them from this life to the next. And so I have vowed to never do so again.” His tone was light, but the way he said it made me feel like there was something more important behind the words.
“Whoever told you that was wise. I’ve seen men who knew they were a breath away from dying make horrible decisions to hurt themselves or others.” I shrugged. “So, I’m not dying?”
“I didn’t say that either.”
I stopped and whirled to face him. “Then why are you here?”
“I wish for you to live a good life.”
“So you’ve said.” I turned and started walking again. “Stop haunting me, Death. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”
“I saved your life.” He fell into step beside me. “On the rocks, I intervened when I should not have. That blade was meant for your throat, and I stuck my hand there to stop it.”
“Why?”
He held his hand out, examining it even though there was no mark there, not even a thin one. “Because you are not done yet.”
I didn’t know what to make of this conversation with Death.
He wanted me to live, to be good, to think about the afterlife.
But who could think about an afterlife we couldn’t be sure existed?
It was a thought about a place some believed in and others didn’t.
I didn’t know what I believed, but I did know Death seemed to want to remain close to me, which was unnerving.
“That’s right. I’m not.”
“You should not go after Captain Barr,” Thanatos suggested in a matter-of-fact tone. But there was that feeling of concern behind his words.
“And you should not make suggestions to a woman who’s never listened to anyone a day in her life. Have no worries, Death. I am well-aware of what I’m doing.”
He chuckled. “You are so very unaware.”
“Then let it be so.”
“Very well . . . Ana the Deathless. I will leave you to your endeavors.” Before I could say another word, he was gone. I spun around looking for him, but I was left alone with the sea . . . and a sense of something . . . loss . . . that I’d never felt before.