by Ryan Gilbert
Stabbing her sword through an attacker’s shoulder, Julia yelled to Clint, “We need to help Riggs.”
Jumping away from a sword, Clint shouted, “We’re not in a position to do that, missy.”
Punching a man in the face, Clint continued, “We leave, and the ship gets overrun. The Captain knows what he’s doin’.”
Still, the girl could not help but feel a little uneasy. She could not stand watching Riggs fight and possibly die without her at his side. Though he was confident, Riggs could not fight Ororis alone, but there was nothing that Julia could do to change that.
Or was there?
Strength was leaving Riggs’ body with each swing of the sword. Ororis knew that, but she was losing some strength as well. The Captain was pushing her to her limits, a feat which no human, except Marstow, had ever done before. It almost frightened her. She would have been terrified if it were not for her magic.
Sensing what Ororis was thinking, Riggs put all of his effort into one more sword slice, but the mermaid dodged it and the blade stuck in the wood of the rail. He tried to yank it out, but the steel was embedded into the structure.
Ororis swung her sword at him, but he jumped backward, falling to the ground. Her blade cut into the deck right in front of him, barely missing him. He rolled out of the way and tried to pry his own sword loose, but Ororis cracked his head against the rail. Riggs fell again and, in an instant, felt the cold, wet steel pressed against his skin.
“Why don’t ye just kill me?” Riggs asked as the mermaid held him at the tip of her sword.
Ororis laughed, “Foolish boy… do you think that I would let you just die by my sword? No… I have far worse things planned for you.”
Looking over at the Red Sky, Ororis said, “But your ship, on the other hand, will be resting at the bottom of the ocean.”
She raised her hand and purple mist swirled around it. It looked like the same mist that the mermaid had used to hang Riggs during their first meeting. It began to move faster and faster around Ororis’s hands until Riggs’ eyes could no longer follow it. Throwing her hand toward the pirate ship, the mist shot toward the ship and encircled it. Nobody on the ship even knew what was happening.
“In minutes, your crew and your ship will be sharing a watery grave, Captain. What do you say to that?”
Riggs had to think of something. He fumbled in his coat for something, anything to stop the attack. His hand curled around something as he caught the mermaid’s attention once again.
“Me? I’ve got nothin’… but my friend here has a lot to say.”
She looked down and saw the pistol in Riggs’ hand. His finger was already on the trigger and ready to pull.
BANG
The mermaid clutched her stomach as the blood began to flow. Her concentration broken, the mist started to dissipate. She crumpled to the ground in pain.
Riggs stood over her and watched as the blood ran from between her fingers. She looked shocked, like it was a new feeling for her.
She muttered something, and Riggs leaned in closer to try to make out what she was saying.
“I’m hopin’ that was a surrender,” he said.
Baring her fangs, she said, “Vulnus… vita.”
She lifted her hands from her stomach, and the wound was sealed.
“Oh… bugger,” said Riggs as Ororis’s pained look turned to a devilish expression.
Lightning shot out of her blood-covered hand, blasting Riggs into the wheel. The lightning stopped flowing from Ororis’s hand, but the Captain’s body was still wrought with tingling and muscle spasms. He tried to pull himself to his feet, but it was almost like his leg was frozen in place from the shock.
“You really think you can defeat me? I wield the power of the gods.”
Another blast of lightning brought Riggs to his knees. He screamed in agony as the hurt coursed through his body.
“I am a sea-farer’s worst fears realized.”
The next wave of lightning pushed Riggs back against the balcony rail of the helm. He could see his bones outlined by the lights running through his skin, muscles, and skeleton.
“Nothing can stop me!”
A final blast pushed the pirate captain over the edge, and he fell to the deck below. The impact was deafening to Riggs. He could not stand up at first. The breath had been driven from his lungs. All that he could do was look up at the darkened sky and try to will himself to his feet.
Nearly every bit of his energy had been drained by Ororis’s attack.
He heard her walking down the stairs, her boots clomping on the wooden steps. Clenching his fingers, he tried to crawl away from the sound, but the effects of the lightning had not worn off yet.
Riggs raised his eyes from the ground and saw the mermaid standing in front of him. There was not a scratch on her body, though there was still blood smeared all over her pale, white skin. He struggled to keep crawling, but Ororis just stood there, basking in her own pride.
“You have lost, Captain Riggs. The sea is mine.”
Her hand began to glow, and red sparks started to drip from her fingers.
“Much as I would relish the pain that you would go through watching your ship sink, I need to kill you. You’ve already given me too much trouble as it is.”
“Really? *cough* Then keep *cough* me… ugh… around. I’ll give ye… ow… some more.”
Extending her glowing, bloody fingers toward him, she said, “Goodbye, Captain Riggs.”
He cringed, unable to watch as Ororis raised her hands above her head.
“Acer Mor…”
*slice*
“… AUUUUUUUUUGH!”
Ororis screamed as a blade cut into her shoulder and neck, snapping the chain of the necklace. Riggs was just as surprised as the mermaid. The red glow in Ororis’s hands disappeared immediately as she grabbed the blade and tried to yank it from her skin.
From behind the mermaid appeared Julia, looking fiercer than ever before.
“How’s this for trouble, Ororis?” she spat.
Gritting her teeth, the mermaid pulled the sword out of the gash and turned her attention to the girl. After muttering a spell and healing herself, Ororis turned the weapon on her new opponent. Julia grabbed a discarded sword just in time to block the mermaid’s attack.
By now, Riggs had started to regain some of his strength. He got his knees underneath his body and tried to support himself, but he was still not strong enough.
His eyes searched around him for something to keep him steady. Instead, he focused on something else: the emerald.
It lay just feet from him. The emerald itself had broken free of the necklace and lay on the deck, sticking out from the rest of the debris with its bright green color. He could not believe it. Reaching out with a still-shaking hand, he picked it up from the ground.
He knew next to nothing about the emerald. Was there still power inside of it? Was it all within Ororis now? Was it able to be destroyed?
Julia and the mermaid were still fighting each other. The girl was reaching down deep to fight with a passion that she did not even know that she possessed. A couple of her strikes even forced the all-powerful Ororis back.
Riggs ran his hands across the emerald. It seemed just like a regular jewel again.
Turning the necklace over, Riggs heard an echoing sound coming from the green stone. Fighting against the tingling in his arm, he brought the emerald to his ear. He could hear a man’s voice saying something. He strained to hear it over the sounds of the battle raging around him.
“Whosoever finds this,
Heed my warning.
Magic cannot rule the seas.
That power must be destroyed,
Much like it was supposed to die many years ago.
Destroy it.
Destroy it like a mirror,
Ready to be broken and show its true face.”
The two women were still battling, but Ororis was starting to overpower Julia. Again and again, she brought her sw
ord down on the girl, forcing Julia to her knees to avoid being skewered. With a strong upward strike, Ororis cut the girl’s sword in half, sending the two pieces skittering across the deck.
The mermaid grabbed the girl by the neck and pushed the blade against her throat. Julia was as good as dead.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you, girl.”
Just as she was about to slit Julia’s throat, Ororis heard a voice from behind her shout, “Ororis… I think we have some unfinished business ‘ere.”
Turning her head, she saw Riggs, leaning against the mast, nearly broken, but still trying to build the strength to fight.
“Don’t make me laugh. I’ll kill you when I’m done with her.”
Grabbing a sword from the ground, he said, “Do you enjoy havin’ that magic?”
Ororis cocked her head to the side, perplexed by the question.
“Say goodbye to it,” he said, opening his hand and letting the emerald drop to the ground.
Bringing the sword down in one swift motion, Riggs smashed the emerald, breaking it open and splitting it into tiny pieces.
“NO!” screamed the mermaid, dropping her weapon to the ground and rushing over to the broken pieces of the emerald.
She hurriedly tried to put it back together, but it was already destroyed. Riggs stepped back as the individual pieces glowed a dark green. The look on the mermaid’s face was of absolute terror.
Suddenly, her arms began to shake uncontrollably. From underneath her fingernails, white mist began to spiral into the air. Horrified, she tried to grab it, but it slipped through her fingers every time. There was nothing she could do to stop what was happening. The pale skin of Ororis began to regain some color.
An unseen force yanked her arms back as mist poured from every crevice of her body. Her mouth was forced open as a stream of red mist flowed from it. Her eyelids were unable to be closed as her glowing red eyes transformed into two rivers of red mist rising into the air above. The mermaid tried to scream, but she could say nothing.
Riggs stumbled over to Julia and helped her to her feet, still unable to take his eyes off of what he was seeing. The mists surrounded Ororis, hiding her from the two onlookers. Within moments, the column of mist changed to a glowing white color. Whatever was happening inside could not be seen at all, not that Riggs or Julia wanted to see.
With one final flash of light, the mist was gone.
At the base of where the column used to be lay Ororis, still alive, but changed. Her pale skin was now like a regular human’s skin, pink and healthy. Her red eyes were no longer glowing. She looked like she was quivering with fear. Her legs had turned back into a black fin. The mists seemed to have undone all of Ororis’s enchantments.
“What… have you… done to me?”
Finally standing straight, Riggs said, “I’ve just brought ye down to our level.”
As the sun started to poke through the dark clouds above, Riggs knelt down and asked the mermaid, “How’s it feel to be powerless?”
Frowning, she thrust her hand at him, trying to unleash another lightning storm.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, but nothing happened then either.
Then she began to cry.
Riggs drove his sword through her shoulder and through the deck, using most of his regained strength to pin her to the ship. She cried out in pain as she could do nothing to heal or defend herself.
K-BOOM
The Captain and Julia looked up and saw a visitor approaching from the distance. It was the HMS Magistrate.
K-BOOM
The cannonballs were already crashing into the ship.
With her free hand, Ororis tried to grab on to Riggs’ arm, but he backed away from her. Without her powers, the mermaid almost seemed pitiful. Tears of pain and sorrow ran down her pink cheeks.
She begged, “Please… just let me go. I promise… I won’t ever come near any of you… ever again.”
“No.”
K-BOOM
The holes began to appear in the Black Fog, more numerous than before.
Julia handed Riggs a sword, ready to end the battle once and for all. The helpless mermaid’s body was quaking with fear as she tried to free herself. She clenched the blade in her shoulder, trying to pull it out. Blood ran from her hand as it cut into her skin.
Riggs raised his weapon above his head, ready to kill Ororis. In a single moment, the seas would be safe again.
Just as the blade was coming down, the deck below lit up with an orange glow. Flames spurted through the cracks in the wood as the supports gave way. The section of the deck to which Ororis was pinned fell down into the hole and was consumed by the fire. The screams of the mermaid fell on deaf ears.
Riggs and Julia ran to the rail, trying to avoid the cannon fire from the Navy ship. Riggs grabbed a rope and pulled Julia close to him as the deck behind them disappeared when a cannonball broke through the wooden planks. The Magistrate was pounding the Black Fog with everything that it had. Entire sections of the deck collapsed in on each other. No part of the ship was stable any longer.
The two leapt off the ship and swung back to the Red Sky just as the deck of the Fog was consumed with fire. Within seconds, the ship that was once known as a vessel of certain doom was meeting its own end for the second time. This time, it would not be rising from the grave.
An explosion rocked the ship as the lower decks exploded outwards. The Magistrate’s cannonballs had hit the munitions supply and the gunpowder had blown up, creating large holes into which the sea could rush. The rope that held Riggs and Julia let loose just as the two landed safely on board the Red Sky.
The deck of the Red Sky had been cleared of all enemies. Those who had survived had either jumped overboard when they had seen the defeat of Ororis or had surrendered.
The Black Fog was burning, a satisfying end to a hard-fought battle. As the flames grew, the sails became ablaze and the smoke billowed into the newly blue sky. The clouds had mostly dissipated, and the storm had ended.
Riggs turned the Red Sky away from the sinking ship. None of the pirates wanted to get caught in the HMS Magistrate’s bombardment.
The pirates watched as the bow of Ororis’s ship plunged into the sea. The burning bits of the sails fell into the water and were dragged down as they got snagged on the jagged wood of the deck. Creaking, the mast cracked and fell into the water, its supports too damaged to hold itself any longer. Water flowed into the captain’s quarters through the broken windows and holes in the stern. Soon, the fires were extinguished by the ocean water as the entire boat sank beneath the surface of the ocean.
The crew let out a cheer as the Black Fog disappeared forever. At long last, the evil of Ororis was gone, and the dreaded ship was on its way to the ocean floor. The crew could finally rest easy knowing that they had overcome the worst thing to ever roam the seas.
Hats were thrown into the air. Pirates were dancing. Rum was being drunk. All of the crew was extremely excited and thankful to be alive. Everyone felt like they were on top of the world.
Relinquishing the wheel to Clint, Riggs looked behind the ship. They were leaving the Magistrate far in their wake. Nothing could catch them now. The only thing the Commodore could do now was sift through the wreckage of the Black Fog.
“He’s not going to stop chasing you,” said Julia, standing beside Riggs.
She held his hand and leaned against his dirty coat. She was still torn between him and her father. After everything that they had just done, it felt strange to leave the man that she had just fought to protect.
At the same time, she could not imagine never seeing her mother or father again. Even though her father’s views were very strict, she did still love him. If she stayed with Riggs, she would not even get to say goodbye to her mother. She could not make her poor mother go through that.
“Should I go back, Riggs?” she asked, staring into his eyes.
Gazing back, he said, “Follow your heart… like you
told me to do.”
What followed was a long moment of silence. If she left Riggs, then she would be leaving the only man to which she had lost her heart. If she left her family behind, then she would be breaking the hearts of the people who had given birth to her and raised her. She could not even imagine the shame that would be brought upon them if she were ever found to be gallivanting about with pirates.
With a sigh, Julia asked, “Would you be able to see me if I went back to Yorktown?”
Riggs thought about it for a minute. Inside of his heart, he had almost expected a pain to appear, but it did not. He was still happy, whether she came with him on his adventures or stayed in the safety of Yorktown. He would find a way to make it work out for the best.
“I think so, sweets. Maybe I’ll raid the port every once in a while,” he said with a grin.
“Just stop by the mansion when you’re there. Who knows? Maybe I’ll let you capture me again.”
Smiling, Riggs ordered his crew, “Make ready a longboat.”
All of the men fell silent.
Clint said, “Captain… the Magistrate’s on our tail. You don’t want ‘em to catch us, now do you?”
“Don’t worry, mate. They won’t catch us,” Riggs responded.
“Ready a longboat,” he again shouted to the crew, “Hop to it.”
Coral Jack pushed to the front of the crowd, asking, “What’s goin’ on? I thought we were getting away.”
“We will.”
“Then why are we interrupting that for a little boat ride?”
“We have somethin’ that belongs to the Commodore, and we’re gonna give it back,” said Riggs, looking straight at Julia.
Jack followed his captain’s gaze and was totally surprised by the decision. He pulled Riggs aside and tried to make sense of the situation.
“Captain, you know that if ye let ‘er go, you might never see ‘er again.”