CHAPTER ONE #2
I finally flung myself over the railing, laying flat across the sultry beams. Clouds rolled out above as I gasped for breath.
I couldn’t grapple the unfamiliar sensations—the sky, the warm sun against my skin, the legs, even the air that blew across my beaten body like the sweeping currents of the ocean's deep.
But somehow, I also welcomed its acquainted pull, like something I'd forgotten I once knew.
What was happening with my mind?
I lifted my arm to inspect the damage of my shattered wrist, barely able to raise the appendage, when a female voice pierced the air far sharper as if the edges of the words crisped, but they weren’t nearly as razor-edged as the blade digging into my chin when I startled.
“You thinking of casting something? Try it on my ship, and I’ll be feeding your fingers to the ocean.”
Under sluggish legs, I scrambled backwards, exhaustion and the excruciating agony racking my body. The blade trailed along with me.
I wouldn’t survive the day. Death wouldn’t come from what crept beneath the waves. It’d come from above.
“What are you doing on my ship?” the woman demanded with a snarl, the blade of her sword still aimed at my gasping throat.
I looked up into bright jade eyes, momentarily stunned by them, even though they were half-hidden beneath a brimmed hat; however, I questioned my whereabouts even more than the lady ever could.
My only intentions were to survive. My only thoughts swirled with the fury of the sea and the murderous creatures that lurked deep within.
No way in hell was I going to be forced back in there.
The pirate lady’s beauty entranced me, her skin of deep umber, rich and smooth that contrasted the snug fitting white tunic and leather vest she paired.
Sun rays kissed her warm, deep brown skin, including the inky-lined arm that held the sword to my chin.
Some innate part of me magnetized to the woman, whispered safety in a world of chaos.
“Final chance, water-girl,” she hissed, advancing with the blade, slicing just enough to promise worse.
Water slammed over the rail behind me like a fist thrown by the sea, pulling the lady’s focus as another Tide Reaper hauled itself aboard, its limbs jerking and twisting in unnatural sync, arms and legs scuttling like a spider’s, wet bones cracking with each grotesque movement.
The weapon released from my neck and rammed straight through the throat of the creature.
Its limp body hung from the side of the ship like a threat delivered without mercy.
Its head rolled to meet my side, mud-colored ooze spraying across my shivering body, sickeningly cold against my skin, the odor rotten like powdered sulfur.
Oh, gods.
Frantically scooting away, my legs fumbled my escape. Only for my back to bump into a solid, icy mass. I slowly turned away, terrified of what or who I rammed into, but it didn’t matter.
Claws tore into my shoulders, saliva splattering across my skin from the Tide Reaper’s ripped mouth at my back, mixing with the creature’s festering greige along my torso.
It pierced its serrated talons into my flesh, breaking the skin beneath my shirt.
I couldn’t open the claws, my mangled fingers pulling at the sharp grip.
Instead, I shoved forward, ripping my body from its grip, flesh chunks remaining in the creature's pincers, and worked to drag myself away.
My bellow pierced the world, weak yet desperate and confused.
The Tide Reaper’s glassy, tawny eyes bore into me, its malicious grin widening as it approached.
Then, they frosted white as a blade from behind shot through its abdomen, the tip stopping inches from my nose.
Its rotten scent assaulted my senses as the Tide Reaper’s blood dripped from the sword’s end into my lap.
The monster fell lifeless to the deck with a thump when the sword slid grotesquely from its spindly body.
A hooded, male figure squatted before me, wiping the sludge from the blade using the shirt of the Tide Reaper.
Black hair tumbled over his pale forehead, shadowing a face caught between memory and horror when he finally realized I was there.
He madly lifted his sword again, low-lidded eyes of lingering twilight fixed on his target and ready to attack.
My heart beat against my sternum, hoping that the end of my too-short life of twenty-four years would earn me eternal solitude.
“Don’t kill her,” the pirate lady demanded from behind as if her blade hadn’t just been across my throat, threatening my life.
I shuddered at the response. Maybe they’d torture me before my death.
The cloaked man hesitated before slowly lowering the weapon, his scrutinizing stare searching my bewildered gaze.
“Why are the Tide Reapers chasing you, water-girl?” the pirate lady pushed again.
“I’m… not sure,” I quivered, setting eyes on her. For the amount I remembered, I might as well have died and been reborn. There was no amount of fake information to even muster to get myself out of it.
“They don't just hunt down anyone. They have orders.
They're starved so that when they find you, they're too ravenous to let you go,” she instigated. She took two steps closer, the metal clasps in her chestnut, braided hair glinting and drawing my unruly attention. “So, let’s try this again. Tell me why they want you so bad.”
“Give her some time, Zah. She looks like she just went twelve rounds with a hurricane and lost,” a different male called from the other side of the main deck, clear concern lacing his words, but I could only make out the golden curls billowing in the breeze as he jumped toward us from a raised part of the ship.
My name is Caelyn. And I am the sacrifice. I mean no harm. Please.
Blinks slowed in between each repeat of my name in my head, my body struggling to stay upright.
I opened my mouth, reached for the words, and then the world tipped. I had just enough strength to think of the answer but not enough to give it voice before darkness swallowed.