“Son of an imp!” I cursed as I braced myself for the inevitable impact that I was unsure I would walk away from.
Outside, I heard the storm raging and the wind howling with my descent. The impact came, but it wasn’t solid. Salt water seeped into the mouth of Kronyx.
“I’m in the ocean!”
I ordered Kronyx to open his mouth for me to escape, and his jaws opened, letting water rush in. I glanced only briefly at him as he sank into the deep before I fought against the turbulent waters to reach the surface. I couldn’t tell which direction I was from the shore while the storm surged. All I could do was try to keep my head above water until it subsided.
Hours later, I finally washed ashore, but I was so exhausted I lay on the beach long after the conjured storm dissipated. The events of the past two days began playing over and over in my head. I had lost it all. Once again, my life was gone. “Jinxie,” I cried into the sand.
CHAPTER IV
CAPTAIN LORENA
When the morning tide began washing over my face, I felt it was time to get myself up. There was not a cloud in the sky and not a soul in sight. I felt for my swords and was relieved that they were still sheathed on my back. I removed them and stripped off my ruined clothes to wash the sand from my matted hair and skin. I opened the pouch that I still carried on my belt to examine the ashes within and found them to be perfectly dry. I magically wove myself a new set of clothing and continued following the coastline on foot.
I walked all day. I was tired, sore, smelly, and hungry. Along the beach, the remains of spidery crustaceans were left by birds.
As the sun set, I saw what looked to be torch light far up the beach. I pushed myself to continue on instead of stopping to rest.
The torches burned along an inlet that led into a harbor with a single ship docked. I stepped up on a creaky, wooden walkway that led to a large building with several small huts built beyond it. As I approached, I heard thumping music coming from within. A sign hanging above the door depicted the legs of one of those crustaceans I saw on the beach and the fan-shaped tail of another creature.
I opened the door to a bustling restaurant. A band played drums while women wearing next to nothing danced on and around tables of food. Everyone was drinking and praising the hostess as she made her way around to greet everyone. She wore a white shirt tied tightly to hug her womanly figure, a red dress with sandals, and a large red hat that sat at a sharp angle atop her head.
“Where did you get all that beautiful blonde hair?” a man asked the hostess, rubbing a lock of it between his fingers.
Staring him straight in the eyes, she answered, “I stole it . . . from my mother.” She smacked his jaws and walked away, bringing a laugh from everyone in the restaurant.
“What about those gorgeous blue eyes?” another man flirted, pulling her to him.
“They’re from drinking too much sea water,” she smiled, taking his mead away and drinking it down in one gulp. Handing the mug back to him, she dropped it on his foot before he could take hold of it.
“How ‘bout you untie those kittens there, kitten?” a man asked as he took hold of a string that held her shirt closed but struggled with the knot.
“How ‘bout I help you with that,” she offered, unsheathing a knife. As she brought the knife up, she severed his belt. His pants fell to his ankles, and everyone burst with laughter. “Whoops,” she voiced, covering her lips bashfully. While the man hurried to pull his breeches up, she effortlessly pushed him over. “And it’s not kitten; it’s Captain,” she corrected him. Stepping up on a table, she took her hat off and bowed theatrically, bringing cheers from the people. “Captain Lorena.”
I made my way over to a long table covered with all sorts of exotic food and filled a plate with as much as it would hold. I then grabbed a full mug of mead and sat down. It felt good to rest and put food in my belly. Staring at my plate, I soon forgot about the humans making merriment around me.
“Who are you?” a woman carrying a large pitcher of mead asked, startling me from my dinner.
“Uh…”
“Captain!” she called out.
The charismatic hostess walked over to my table and turned a chair around, sitting in it backwards. “I’ve heard tales of Dark Elves, but you’re the first I’ve laid eyes on.”
I glanced around to see that everyone was staring at me.
“Yeah, you’re a scene stealer, but how were you planning to pay for all this? I’m not running a charity for outsiders here, you know.”
“I was hungry, so I filled a plate.”
She laughed loudly. “A fellow pirate! I like you already. You’re welcome to eat and drink to your heart’s content. My name is Captain Lorena, owner of Legs & Tail,” she announced, waving a hand out to the restaurant which slowly began resuming its evening festivities of drinking, dining, and dancing.
“I’m Ambros of Ashwood,” I told her, licking the mead from my lips.
“Mmm. Sounds like an exciting place for a girl like me.”
Catching her dirty comment, I repeated more clearly, “I said Ashwood.”
“I know what you said,” she winked. “So how did you find this place?”
“I was caught in a storm and washed ashore not far from here.”
“I know these waters. I know the surrounding lands. There are no elves here.” She took a bite of food from my plate and washed it down with a swallow of my mead. “It’s impolite to keep a girl waiting.”
“My business is my own.”
“Not when you’re in my restaurant,” she argued.
I felt the swords on my back being quickly unsheathed. Just as I was standing to face the person behind me, the blonde captain threw a dinner plate, striking me across the brow.
I awoke in a small, wooden cage, suspended in a narrow hole by a rope and pulley. I could sit up, but the cage was too short to stand in. Torch light burned around the top of the hole. Mere inches below me, I saw the tips of long, wooden spikes with the bones of unlucky men scattered about them. My head ached, but I could feel that the skin wasn’t broken.
The captain stepped to the edge of the hole to look down on me. Her hands rested on my sword hilts. She had them fastened around her waist. Before I could say a word, she held her hands out and smiled. “Pirate,” she reminded me.
“Those aren’t to toy with, my dear,” I warned.
“They’re nice,” she commented, unsheathing one. “But I’d much rather toy with you,” she teased, smacking the rope that held my cage with the side of the blade, causing the cage to jostle.
I held on to the wooden bars and looked down at the spikes that awaited me.
“I’m not a bad girl. Oh wait, yes I am,” she laughed. “I’m just suspicious of strangers—especially Dark Elf strangers—who show up at my restaurant. I have to look after my crew, you know.”
“I told you already, I was caught in a storm. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m not even sure where here is.”
“And I’d like to keep it that way.” She then walked away, leaving me caged in the hole.
“You can’t keep me down here!” I yelled.
I heard her laugh in the distance. “You’ll stay down there until I’m satisfied.”
I then heard men sniggering from somewhere nearby. “Until she’s satisfied,” one of them mocked.
“Shut up!” Lorena yelled. “And get away from that hole.”
“Sorry, Captain,” they apologized and hurried away.
I didn’t sit in my prison long before deciding it was time to escape. I slid my hand down one of the wooden bars and broke a splinter off in my hand. “Err!” I grunted. Once I removed the thick shard of wood, I squeezed drops of blood from the wound and focused my thoughts on the human bones resting at the bottom of the pit. Their flesh had fallen away, but I didn’t need it to grant them movement again. Ethereal energy from an unseen plane began to materialize as a green aura that reconnected their bones like muscles. Organs took shape but had no
function, and transparent skin covered their bodies, making the two skeletons appear like the ghosts of men who had died in that pit.
“Good evening, boys,” I greeted them with a smile. “I’m glad you’re here. Did you see what that human did to me?” I asked, pointing up and laughing. “Did she do the same to you?”
They didn’t say a word, but they didn’t have to. I could somehow draw memories from them as if reading their minds, even though their minds had long since gone black.
“Well, if you two would be so kind, I could use your assistance in escaping this cage.”
The ghostly men scaled the muddy walls of the hole and began hoisting me up.
Just as my cage was lifted high enough for me to see out of the hole, I saw two of Lorena’s men scrambling toward one of the huts that lined the bay. They began pounding their fists on the door and yelling, “Captain! Captain!” while looking back frightfully at the two spirits working to release me.
My cage was spun around to solid ground and the bottom unlatched, so I could escape. I snapped my fingers and pointed to the men trying to get Lorena to come outside. The two spirits ran up an embankment to them. The men immediately fell to their knees, surrendering. Lorena opened her door only long enough to see what was going on before voicing a humorous yelp and slamming the door shut.
“We’re sorry! We’re sorry! Please, don’t kill us!” Lorena’s men cried.
“Quiet!” I ordered them, walking up to the hut. “Come on out, Captain.”
People in the surrounding huts peeped out their windows at what was happening but were too afraid to get involved.
“I’m sorry I imprisoned you,” she apologized behind the door. “I wasn’t going to leave you to die down there. It was only going to be for the night, so I could figure out what to do with you.”
“She speaks the truth,” one of her men said to me. “We weren’t going to leave you down there, honest.”
“Return my swords, and I’ll return your men,” I proposed.
“Unharmed?” the men asked fearfully while still on their knees at the feet of the undead.
I laughed. “Yes, all of you will be unharmed.”
“Keep them,” Lorena told me. “I have plenty of men. I’ll get more use out of these swords than those two.”
“NO! Captain, don’t trade us,” the men cried.
“Hand over my swords peacefully and keep your men, or I’ll send my men in to take my swords by force,” I told her with a laugh. I hoped she would refuse the deal, so I could give her a good scare.
My captives struggled to hold back their cries while they waited for their captain to make a decision.
She opened the door quickly, pointing one of the swords at my throat, but I didn’t flinch. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you like I did those two phantoms by your side?”
Calmly, I answered, “The skin is deceiving, but the dead tell know lies. You didn’t kill these men, and I don’t believe you’ll kill me.”
She sighed and sheathed the sword before handing them over to me. “You’re right,” she laughed at herself, shaking her head. “My father was the real pirate. I’m just a simple ship captain. I’m sorry. How’s your head?”
“You gave me quite a headache,” I answered, strapping the swords on my back.
“Well, I thought you were a pirate. And if there’s anything I learned from my father, it’s you can never trust a pirate.”
“Can we go, now?” Lorena’s frightened men begged.
“Go on, you crybabies,” she told them, and they scrambled to their huts for the night.
“You too,” I commanded the two dead men who released me from my cage. “And thank you.”
One ran down the sandy bank and fell into the pit where I found him. The other moved closer, staring at me. The green ethereal muscles moved his jaw as if he tried to say something, but there was no sound.
“I know you don’t have eyes,” I responded, grabbing hold of his shoulders and turning him around. “Why don’t you go do something?” I then pushed him away, and he scuffled after the other skeleton, falling into the pit.
It was well after midnight, and people were leaving the restaurant. There were many small huts built along the bay where they coupled up for the night.
I nodded to the captain and left to go sit on the steps leading down to the dock. The ocean was quiet there in the bay. Looking up at the twinkling starlight, I instinctively reached for Jinxie’s hand, but she wasn’t there to take it. Instead, I felt a bottle pushed into it.
“You look like you can use a drink,” Lorena said, taking a seat next to me. In her other hand, she held a smoking pipe.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and sniffed the bottle’s contents. I turned it up, taking a long drink of the red wine. “Is this how you make friends; knock them out, throw them in a cage, and then offer them a fermented drink?”
“Why? Is it working?”
“No,” I laughed, lightly touching my bruised face.
“So what was her name?”
“Excuse me?” her question catching me by surprise.
“The woman you’re thinking about.”
“I didn’t know humans could read minds.”
“It’s always about women,” she explained. “Or men, if you fancy that sort of thing.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I told her, shaking my head before taking another drink of the wine she had brought me.
“Come now, don’t lock up on me,” she said, bumping her shoulder into me. She put her fingers under the bottle of wine I was holding and lifted it a few inches. “Perhaps you just need to drink a little more,” she suggested.
I stayed tight-lipped, turning my eyes back to the stars.
“Do you know what I see when I look up there?” she asked, turning her questions toward herself in hopes I’ll soon talk.
I waited for an answer while she smoked her pipe. Looking up at the night sky, her blonde tresses fell past her shoulders. She exhaled a puff of smoke before revealing what her human eyes saw.
“I see a dark curtain, punctured by arrows and pricked by spears, allowing the light of Valhalla to shine through, assuring valiant warriors of the glorious battles that wait beyond.”
“Wow! Now that sounds like an exciting place,” I told her, impressed by her words.
Handing me her smoking pipe, she asked, “What is it that you see?”
I placed the pipe between my lips and let the smoke circulate my nasal passages before answering. “I see eternity. I see loneliness. I feel insignificant beneath the vastness of space.”
“Then this is your chance to take a new direction. If there was anything I learned from my father, it was everyone around you and all those who came before you serve as an example of what you can be. Take what you can from them to better yourself and move on.” She took a swallow of wine and sat the bottle between us. “So how are you planning to get home?”
“I no longer have a home,” I answered quickly. My eyes filled with tears, and I looked away for a moment to calm myself.
Lorena placed a comforting hand on my shoulder to express her sorrow. “My father was a ship captain. He built this place, and my mother managed it.”
“Where are they now?”
“My father died in battle, and disease took my mother. Life out here is tough.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
She accepted my apology with a nod. “So what about your folks? I’m sure elves have parents, too.”
“I miss my pop,” I answered, remembering him teaching me the fundamentals of magic.
Lorena handed me the bottle of wine, so I took a swallow. “Has he passed on, too?” she asked, hesitantly.
I nodded and looked out at the ship tied to the pier. “He told me I should leave Ashwood. That was over a century ago.”
“You’re over a hundred years old?” Lorena coughed. “Give me that wine,” she ordered, taking it from my hand.
She brought a much
needed laugh from me. “I’m actually over two hundred years old, but who’s counting?”
She began coughing and sat the bottle down to cover her mouth; she had become strangled on a swallow of wine.
I took hold of her wrist and lifted it. “Put your arm up,” I told her.
She coughed out a laugh and pulled her arm away from me. “Stop it! You’re crazy,” she laughed. “How is lifting your arm supposed to help that?”
“Well, you’re not strangled anymore.”
“HA! You’re a strange man, Ambros.”
With a sly smile, I told her, “You haven’t seen strange, yet.”
“Then show me. What more can you do besides raise the dead? Show me the strangeness of elves,” she teased, leaning into me. Her blue eyes gleamed in the torch light that lined the wooden walkway.
I laughed shyly. “Perhaps another time.”
“Well, then let me see these beautiful swords again,” she said, touching the sheaths still on my back. “I promise not to run off with them. Were they made by elves?”
“Pop made them.” I reached behind my shoulders and unsheathed them. The two feet long obsidian blades burned with a subtle, mystical fire.
“They’re pretty,” she commented, reaching out to take them.
I handed her the black sword first. “This one is named Devour. And this one is Scourge,” I said, handing her the green sword.
“I like the names; they make them sound scary.” She held them out, feeling their weight. “Why do they glow like that? Are they magical?”
“Devour burns through all the moisture of whatever you cut with it. And where it attacks the body, Scourge attacks the mind,” I described, tapping on my head. “It brings madness to a sane mind, dredging up an overwhelming flood of emotions. That is, if your enemy survives the wound it leaves.”
Lorena’s eyes were wide from my description. “They are scary. I want one.”
“HAHAHAA!” I laughed.
Examining the blades closer, she asked, “What are they made of?”
“The blades are fashioned from a volcanic glass called obsidian.”
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