by Ryan Gilbert
This was different.
Standing on the deck of his ship, chained to the mast with Julia and his crew at his side, Riggs did not know what to do.
“Goodbye, Captain Riggs,” said Ororis, stepping onto the gangplank, “My hope is that your death will be as painful as when you left me to die on the Fog.”
“I should’ve killed ye right then and there,” Riggs snarled through his teeth.
Ororis gave the Captain an evil grin as she walked across the gangplank, slowly turning away from her enemy. Before long, the crew of the Red Sky could hear the gangplank being removed.
The end was coming.
At their side, the Flying Dutchman started to move away from the pirate ship. None of the crew even wanted to guess what Hades and Ororis had in store for them.
They just wanted to escape.
Grabbing Riggs’ hand, Julia asked frantically, “What’s your plan?”
“I… I-I-I don’t know. There’s… there’s got to be a way out o’ this,” Riggs sputtered.
The pirate jammed his hands into his pockets, trying to see if there was anything inside them that he could use to pick the locks on the chains. His hands came up empty.
“Check yer pockets, mates. If there’s anythin’ we can use to get out o’ these chains, we need to find it quick,” he said.
It did not take long for him to start hearing his crewmates responses to him.
“Ain’t found nothing, Captain,” replied Coral Jack.
“Nada,” said Ripper.
Clint just shook his head.
“I’ve got nothing,” said Valera.
Out of desperation, Riggs planted his foot against the mast, trying to pull the shackles free of the wood. He had nothing within reach to pick the locks, and the keys were nowhere in sight. With the chains so tight on his wrists, there was no chance of him sliding his hand out. He was stuck unless he could weaken the chains.
Even just a little bit might do the trick.
“Everybody try to pull on yer chains. We’ve got to get out of this,” Riggs ordered.
The sounds of clanging chains could be heard all over the deck as the Dutchman circled around to face the Red Sky.
They were nowhere closer to being free.
“Let go of me,” whimpered Sapphire.
Even in her weakened state, the fairy tried to pull away from the disgusting creature that held her. The fishhooks that dug into his skin were enough to scare her. His rough nature did not help matters.
“Shut up,” Hades ordered. He did not even bother to turn around and look the fairy straight in the face. His eyes were focused solely on the defenseless Red Sky.
“Coward!”
Sapphire just yelled the first word that came to her mind. As Hades spun around in anger, she could tell it was probably not the best word to use.
Stepping directly in front of the fairy, Hades growled, “Coward? You think I’m a coward, eh?”
The god of death leaned forward even more so Sapphire could see the gruesome deformation that was the side of his face. She tried to look away, but he grabbed her and forced her to look.
“A coward is someone who takes advantage of a man when he’s weak. A coward is someone who seeks to gain power through thievery and deceit… very much like your worthless, pathetic captain.”
Glancing back at the Red Sky, Hades finished his statement, saying, “A coward is someone who deserves to die.”
Sapphire could do nothing but watch in horror as the bow of the Dutchman pointed straight at the pirate ship that she had called home for over a year. Her friends were onboard and she could do nothing to help them. It was horrible. Fear and anxiety flowed through her body as she shook in terror.
In front of the fairy, Hades nodded to Ororis, who was standing at the rail. The evil smile had not left the mermaid’s face. She had been waiting years to destroy Riggs, his ship, and his insignificant crew of misfits.
Now was that time.
“You had better say farewell to your precious crewmates, Sapphire,” said Ororis, teasing the petrified fairy, “They’ll be dead in a few moments.”
A purple mist started to swirl around the mermaid’s hands. As her magic seemed to build, Ororis threw her hands toward the Red Sky. Instantly, the mist dropped down to the surface of the water, snaking its way toward the pirates’ vessel.
Sapphire clutched her wand with all of her strength. She almost thought that she was going to snap the Gicmae wood with all of the pressure that she was putting on it. Her entire body was shivering uncontrollably as she watched certain doom approach her friends.
So far as she could tell, there was no escape.
Riggs strained against the chains, still trying to pull them free. The shackles bit into the skin of his wrists, but he could not give up. If he gave up, then he and his crew would surely die.
“Come on,” he muttered to himself, “Come on.”
Beside him, Julia leaned back against the mast, letting out a long breath. The chains were starting to hurt her. She just needed a moment to collect herself.
“There ain’t no use, Captain,” said Coral Jack, yanking his shackles.
They were still locked tight.
“How about you, Val?” asked Riggs.
“I’m still stuck.”
“Clint?”
“Not a single budge, Captain,” replied the navigator.
“Ripper?”
“Dere’s no way I know ta get out o’ dis. Dey’re too tight.”
*creeeeeeeeeak*
Every single one of the pirates heard the Red Sky start to creak. Underneath their very feet, they could feel the ship start to move. Riggs and Julia could see the purple tendrils of magical mist wrapping around the rails. Looking past the wooden rails, they could also see the horizon starting to get a little higher.
Ororis was sinking the Red Sky.
As the ship shifted again, Riggs could swear that he heard the sound of running water. From where he stood, he was almost certain that he could hear it coming from the lower decks.
Just like his ship, his heart started to sink.
With a newfound fury, Riggs tried to pull against his shackles one last time. He did not expect a different outcome, but there was no way to predict one. He could hear the waters of the sea rushing into the lower decks of his ship through the open portholes.
The Red Sky was slowly sinking, its era and its captain’s era coming to an end.
Riggs could not let that happen.
*cr-creeeeak*
The sea beside the ship started to seem closer and closer to the pirates’ level. From the deck below him, Riggs could hear the water starting to pour into it. He did not care about the pain in his wrists. He just needed to find a way to stop Ororis.
By now, all of the cannons below deck were underwater. Even from a short distance away, the Flying Dutchman looked like it towered over the sinking ship.
Panic started to overtake Riggs.
There was no way that this could be happening.
There was no way.
Churning water started to seep out of the lower decks, lapping against Riggs’ ankles. In desperation, he kicked at the mast as his thoughts became nothing more than a blur.
This could not be happening.
All of a sudden, Riggs felt Julia’s hand grab hold of his. In that instant, his thoughts stopped. He turned to look at his one true love for what seemed like the last time. The solemn look on her face said it all.
There would be no more scheming.
There would be no more fighting.
There would be no escape.
As the sea poured over the rails and quickly reached their waists, Riggs locked eyes with Julia. In their last moments, there were so many things that he had wanted to say that he could never say, but three words came to mind… the most important words that he had ever come to know.
Gazing into the girl’s eyes, Riggs proclaimed, “I love you.”
“And I love you,” Julia re
plied, choking up.
Even as the water reached his shoulders, Riggs kept a tight hold on Julia’s hand. It was the one thing that was calming him. The two lovers took deep breaths just as the water reached their heads.
There was nowhere to go but down. Below them was a deep, dark abyss, like the pits of Hell were waiting to devour them.
Neither Riggs nor Julia saw it.
Even as the Red Sky sank below the waves, they kept their eyes fixed on each other.
“NO!”
Captive onboard the Flying Dutchman, Sapphire could do nothing but watch as the red sails of the pirate ship were engulfed by the sea. With anger, fear, and grief raging inside her, she tried to pull away from the crew of the Dutchman, succeeding in escaping the hold of one of the creatures.
The fairy started to run forward, but a quick blast of magic from Ororis froze her in place. Purple mist surrounded Sapphire, quickly forming a glass-like prison that seemed to coat her skin.
“We cannot have you leaving this ship, you pathetic little insect,” said the mermaid, leering down at Sapphire with a smile on her face, “I still have so much planned for you.”
Behind Ororis’s turned back, the top sails of the Red Sky sank below the surface of the water. An overwhelming weight felt like it had been dropped on Sapphire’s shoulders, and none of it was from her foe’s magic.
It all came from watching her friends slowly drowning, chained to the ship and helpless.
Her darkest hour had come.
Even with the clouds in the sky dispersing, thunder started to rumble and lightning flashed between the clouds. No one paid any attention to it as all eyes focused on the fairy and the mermaid. Even Hades was intrigued by Sapphire’s attempt at bravery.
Still frozen where she was, Sapphire said, “I will not let down my captain.”
Glaring at her prisoner, Ororis said, “I’m afraid you’re a bit too late for that.”
With her eyes shifting toward the mermaid, Sapphire said, “I’ve already lost one captain in my life. I’m not about to lose another.”
Laughing, Ororis taunted the fairy, saying, “You’re hardly in a position to escape, much less actually do anything about…”
*crk*
The mermaid’s voice trailed off as she heard something that sounded like a crack. Instantly, her eyes scoured the fairy’s magical prison. Ororis was the most powerful creature of the seas. There was no way that a fairy without magic could break through her prison. As her eyes poured over Sapphire, the mermaid could not see anything out of the ordinary.
*crk* *cr-crk*
There was just one area that Ororis was missing, one place that she had not thought to check.
*cr-crack*
Another clap of thunder rumbled throughout the sky, and another web of lightning lit up the clouds. Right then, Ororis saw the crack forming in Sapphire’s prison.
It had all started with her wand.
SMASH
Sapphire broke free, grasping her wand tightly in her hand. She did not even bother to look at her captor. Without another moment to spare, the fairy bolted up into the air, flying as fast as her wings would let her. She could see bolts of Ororis’s Old Magic flying at her, but she could not pay attention to it. She was focused on only one thing.
The spot where the skull and crossbones had sunk mere moments ago.
Pressing her wings against her body, Sapphire dove straight down into the water, trying to reach the Red Sky before it was too late. She could feel something building up inside her, pulling her down towards her drowning friends.
As she plunged deeper and deeper, her vision became brighter and brighter. What was causing it, she could not tell.
It did not matter.
She just needed to save her friends.
“Damn it,” cursed Ororis as she watched a calm settle over the sea. How had a near-powerless fairy been able to break free of the most powerful magic in all of creation? It was inconceivable.
“What the bloody hell was that?” shouted Hades, wanting to know what had gone wrong.
“I don’t know. It just… she escaped,” Ororis grumbled.
It was the first time in a while that the mermaid was genuinely flustered. She had no answer for the god of death.
Frustrated, Hades grabbed Ororis by the arm. Sensing an attack, the mermaid opened her mouth, flashing her fangs at the captain of the Dutchman. Neither of them saw the strange lightning in the sky, jumping from cloud to cloud. They were too focused on their own predicament.
“You should never have let her go,” growled Hades.
“You think that I let her go?” asked a shocked Ororis, “She broke free from me. I had no control over that.”
“How do I know that you’re not trying to betray me? First, Riggs, and then, you. It would be so easy.”
“I never…”
“My lord!” rasped Grim.
“What?” shouted Hades, visibly annoyed at everything that was happening.
The mysterious first mate pointed at the sky with his spindly fingers. What they all saw was unlike anything they’d ever seen, even for Hades.
Continuous bolts of blue lightning crackled in the air, forming a web in the sky. All of the bolts seemed to pulse toward one central point… right above where the Red Sky had sunk. With each precious second that passed, the pulsing seemed to grow faster… and faster… and faster until it was all one blinding light.
“What is that?” asked Ororis, puzzled.
FRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A crackling bolt of lightning shot down into the water, lighting up the surrounding sea. It was so bright that not even the crew of the Flying Dutchman could look straight at it. Even Hades and Ororis raised their hands to shield their eyes from the brightness of the lightning.
Without any warning, the lightning suddenly exploded outward across the sky. Ororis and Hades rushed to the bow of the Dutchman, trying to see what had happened.
As they reached the rail, they saw a small figure rise out of the water. Sapphire had her arms at her sides, bent like she was pulling at something. Currents of blue lightning, or rather magic, coursed over her body as her wings beat furiously against the air. In her hand, the Gicmae wood glowed with an unnatural blue aura as it channeled the magic flowing through the fairy.
“Impossible…” said Ororis.
Before the mermaid could even say a spell, Hades pushed her aside, his patience at an end. Stretching out his hand, he directed his gaze right at the fairy.
Within a second, fire rained down from the heavens, heading straight toward Sapphire. Raising the hand that held her wand, the fairy let out a crackling blast of magic, propelling the balls of fire away from her.
Now, even Hades had to be surprised. No one had ever before deflected his attacks so easily.
At the side of the god of death, Ororis readied herself to let loose her own barrage of magic. It was then that something caught her eye.
It was not Sapphire.
It was something below her.
The fairy raised her arms yet again, straining against an unseen weight. Slowly but surely, she flew higher, hauling something along with her.
The first thing that Ororis saw was the skull and crossbones. The flag broke through the surface of the water, letting the wind catch the wet fabric.
No one onboard the Flying Dutchman could believe their eyes.
Sapphire climbed higher in the air, her wings fluttering as she dragged the uppermost sails of the Red Sky above the water. The waves of the ocean lapped against the mast as the fairy fought for every foot, every yard that she could.
“Guide the ship closer, ye fools,” Hades ordered.
The hunters quickly obliged.
The red sails of the sunken pirate ship broke through the sea, catching the light of the sun and the lightning. The blood red of the sails stuck out from the clouds and the horizon, a sight that inspired awe in even the supernatural crew of the Dutchman. There was one thing that was noticeably absent
though.
Even with all of the exertion that Sapphire was using to channel her powers, there was no blood running down her face.
Beneath her, the Red Sky continued to rise from the water, dragged by Sapphire’s rediscovered magic. Water poured from between the rails like waterfalls as Ororis glared past the black hull.
Still chained to the mast, Riggs, Julia, and most of the crew gasped for air as soon as their heads reached above the water. Nearly all of them fell to their knees, sucking the oxygen into their lungs once again.
They were alive.
The open portholes yielded gallons upon gallons of water as the ship rose higher. It cascaded down past the cannons, tumbling into the sea as the villainous mermaid watched in disbelief.
It could not be happening.
What she was seeing could not actually be happening.
Droplets fell from the bowsprit, shimmering like diamonds in the sunlight. The entire ship, still wet from its plunge, shined brightly as the light reflected off of nearly every surface that it hit. The creaking of the ship echoed loudly over the sea as the entire hull rose out of the water.
Sapphire was in complete control.
Both the fairy and the Red Sky flew higher into the air, rising just above the height of the Flying Dutchman’s sails. In its many years, that was the first time that the supernatural vessel had seemed like it was dwarfed by another ship.
Peering around at the stunned faces on Hades’ ship, Ororis knew she had to bring it all to an end. Concentrating her hardest, the mermaid focused on the fairy, channeling all of her energy into what would become a powerful killing spell.
With red sparks starting to drip from her fingers, Ororis pointed her hand at Sapphire and began, “Acer mor…”
That was as far as she got.
Before she could even finish the word, the Red Sky disappeared in a flash of lightning. All that was left behind was a trail of blue bolts in the clouds.
No ship.
No crew.
No Sapphire.
As the sparks ceased their dripping, Ororis turned to look at Hades. The look on his face was not a pleasant one. With a scowl, he did not even meet the mermaid’s eyes. Instead, he silently made his way to his quarters as Ororis tried to follow.