Enjoy, lovelies!
xoxo

Update: Wattpad finally got its shit together so hopefully y'all see the photos now lol

Alistair

So there may have been perhaps a few things I hadn't taken into account with this plan.

Well really rather one.

As I sat on the barren floors against a wooden pillar of Gaelick's ship, my hands now bound behind my back, I realized that this pirate had done a little more inquiring than I initially thought.

What bound my hands tightly behind this wooden beam centered in the middle of this cargo compartment, was the chains of Kilaidreon. Something so ancient, I was surprised by how this enemy had even found such a thing.

Last I heard, it was lost to the burning of Azultia.

While my powers were not completely contained to these spell bound chains, I couldn't break free of them myself. Not many things could break this metal. And as I looked up to the tall captain, his sandy colored hair brushing his broad shoulders as he slipped brass casings onto the knuckles of his left hand, I realized this man was far more interwoven with my own fate than I once thought to be true.

He wore all black much like myself, yet his stature didn't come near to my own. Neither did his demeanor. I could see it now when I saw the great deal of weariness flash across his bland yet hardened face every time my body repositioned itself.

"So this is what you call a negotiation?" I asked this man, to which his dull brown eyes found mine as they cast down to the floor below him.

"You chose to board this ship. You should've known your fate, possibly better than I." His voice was rough and slightly uncertain, like he wasn't used to asserting a shred of dominance over his men.

As I stared at this lanky man, his less than impressive demeanor, I genuinely questioned who would be willing to follow him into battle. Any battle.

Not I, that I was certain of.

Even his blows were weak, I thought to myself, though regardless of what my heart begged for, I didn't say those words aloud. He still had well over a hundred men walking above us on that main deck. An entire fleet, which I passed as I was forced down below. They sounded like a stampede of animals as they paced, sending clouds of dust down through the spaces in the floorboards, below to me and the few men who surrounded my slightly battered self.

"I cannot even say to who I've found myself surrendering to." I replied with, doing my best to move this conversation along quickly. There was no window in this room, the only light was produced by the torches attached to the wooden paneled walls, yet I didn't need to see the sun to know she had long since taken her leave.

I may have been down here long enough that she could soon reappear above the waters again.

Gaelick had successfully skewed my perception of time, but not by enough. My feet knew when the decks of my ship called to them, and they were waiting for my to return. As were my crew. And Caspian.

I thought of what I had told that white haired man. How I had assured him that I would return before this nightfall, or the next. The rash, less thought provoking part of me was wishing this to be done by now, yet my more intelligent half knew that not to be reality. I still had no further information on who had sent Gaelick, and I wasn't leaving without something so crucial.

This ship wreaked of uselessness, from the abundance of pirates he had above deck, to the shitty work his men had done down below. The men's cargo wasn't even correctly tied down, something my men would've gone without supper to fix at any given notice. And I assure you, no notice would've needed to be given. My men understood their work.

His floorboards didn't smell of soap and blood like mine had. Instead, all that ambushed my senses was vomit, piss, and shit. The only thing worth any coin spent, was the canons this ship harbored. All I could do now was pray my men exercised enough patience to spare Ol' Bess any damage, much like I had told them to do so shortly before surrendering.

The only thing I wanted from this rubbish pirate and his more pitiful crew, was information. Engaging meant we would sacrifice a piece of the puzzle that meant more to me than a victorious battle.

"You killed two of mine." I heard this flimsy pirate say.

I wasted not a single breath responding with "your men fired a warning shot at one of mine. As far as I'm concerned, this feels fair."

"How?" This captain asked. It pained me to even address him as such, for he was the farthest thing from a captain. It brought me a glimmer of joy to know that he was living up to the lowest of potential I had wagered his existence to be initially.

"That man of yours that fell to the sea should've calculated his distance better."

That earned me a swift yet hard kick to the abdomen, forcing my body to hunch over from the impact in the same place which withstood much of Gaelick's abuse as is.

If this captain was nothing else, which was another wager I was willing to put money on, he was thorough with the target of his hits. At least someone here could aim, for the man who fired blindly into the night sky, hitting Coop, surely didn't.

"And yet here you are. Tied to a post, and taking a beating." Gaelick replied to which I had to almost physically tell myself not to smile at. What Gaelick hadn't understood, was that we could continue this until the sun itself ceased to exist.

"And taking it well." I couldn't stop myself adding, which earned me the first hit to my jawbone with the metal encasements on Gaelick's knuckles. It may have almost dislodged a tooth from my gums, yet the sound of the metal covering cracking was heard by us all. Even his surrounding men who were willing and ready to take their best attempt at my life if I decided to do something unexpected.

When was the last time I allowed myself to be beaten like this, I wondered. And more importantly, when did I welcome such a beating this greatly?

When I looked back up at Gaelick, I quickly understood. The amusement of seeing his head perched upon on a tall, thick, wooden spike, was going to make this even sweeter.

"He told me this would be more difficult, and yet the great Pirate King has dwindled down to nothing. He now beaten and bruised on the floor of my ship... those shackles have worked better than I could've ever imagined."

I didn't even try to test the restraints, for any pressure I applied would double tenfold when they tightened themselves in response. This was the magic forged into the metal. Escaping would prove to be futile, but escape hadn't been on my mind just yet.

"Who is he?" I asked, to which Gaelick scoffed.

"You really don't know who wants you dead?"

My gaze shifted from the floor towards this pirate again, his men watching me closely as my eye found his dull brown ones.

"According to my Navigator, this list is endlessly growing." I replied. Gaelick must not of appreciated my response, for another swift kick to my abdomen was delivered with his steel toed boot. I buckled over again, this time coughing up some blood.

The crimson red liquid splattered across these filthy floorboards, to which I immediately frowned at. These floorboards didn't deserve a droplet of my blood.

"Well let's just say I've been sent to remove you from your reign and terror of the sea."

I kept my eye cast down to the floorboards, but this time it was to mask the smile I couldn't stop from spreading.

It was quite the challenge really, when faced with someone so challenged themselves. Both mentally and physically.

Whatever annoyance I felt could often be entertained when coupled with a phrase so utterly stupid, it touched a part of me that should've otherwise been taken back by the sheer amount of audacity.

I was sure of many things, but one thing written in stone, one thing so unwavering, was the sacrifice needed to release me from the sea... and no man was willing to make it. Not even the worst of my enemies.

"And so your plans are to kill me?" I asked, finally looking up at Gaelick again once I was positive I no longer had such a large smile stretched across my face.

"Aye." Gaelick nodded. "However we hadn't prepared for you to come upon us, sailing a white flag none the less."

That made my lips twitch up into another smile, which received a hard strike by the back of Gaelick's palm.

How did this man even become a pirate, let alone a captain?

The last time I struck someone, I dislocated their neck.

In all honesty, I had been hit harder by a woman than this weakling. And for much less.

"I had agreed to a negotiation." I reminded Gaelick as he tried to hide the pain his hand was now surely in. He and his men may not of caught it, but I heard a few bones break once that very hand connected with my jawbone.

"And what negotiations could you possibly think I would be open to?" He countered.

I showed physical restrain to keep this next grin at bay as I responded with "you tell me who's willing to go to this extent to eliminate me, and I'll allow your men to live."

The laughter Gaelick and his men erupted into made me feel a little more safe to crack a grin of my own, but that earned me yet another kick to my stomach. It was clear Gaelick has settled on the steeled toes being his best option. He sure as all hell wasn't going to attempt another strike with his hand, I knew that for certain.

More blood coughed up onto my now bloody shirt, yet the black color of the material made it impossible for my enemies to know how much.

"Let my men live, say you?"

"Aye," I nodded, barely phased by this mans brutality. "Your men shot at mine, yet I have no quarrels with them. Especially now witnessing for myself just who they were forced to turn to for guidance-" I paused a moment, giving this a second thought before more words dripped in hatred spewed past my lips. "Actually, they had no captain to turn to. He wasn't even on the fucking ship."

It may have been for just for a moment, but as my gaze moved from Gaelick to his men, I noticed the look of uneasiness on a handful of their faces. Gaelick only further proved both my point, and my suspicion, with his next choice of words.

"My men serve powers higher than I. They would gladly lay their lives down for that purpose."

"And yet you wouldn't lay yours?" I countered. A few of his men took their eyes off me for the first time, to look at their captain.

"My time hasn't come yet."

And to that, I full on laughed. Gaelick seemed to be far too taken back by the sudden outburst, to think of silencing me with his foot again. "Those are the words of every man faced by death. A real captain, or any really worth a damn, would know that your time is directly tied to your ship and crew. You go down with them... and since you haven't yet, consider this time borrowed."

Gaelick must've finally remembered he still had legs, for another swift kick was delivered, but this one was to my face. I felt a tooth dislodge itself immediately from the metal, but I barely paid it any mind when I spit the bloody thing out on the floorboards.

"My men have purpose. You lack any." Gaelick spoke, yet his words were somewhat wavering. He was still unsure of the words falling past his lips, and it was something his men had also picked up on. I could see it on their faces. "You live for the world, while we live for a cause."

It took almost everything left in me not to laugh. The race of men would never fail to disappoint me.

"You are correct." I told this captain, watching as his dark brows shifted slightly higher in surprise by my honest admission. "I live for this world... and all the beauty it holds. The movement of the currents as they're led by the winds.  The high tides brough upon by a full moon. I even live for the burning that comes from the salt of sea water once it splashes against a fresh cut, or open wound. And how no amount of blood shed, neither above water, nor below it, can take away from its mesmerizing blue hue."

The look on Gaelick's pitiful face told me he hadn't quite expected this answer. And from the look of the faces surrounding us, neither had his men.

"I am the sea's keeper not by force, but by choice. As is my men's decision to follow me. To let me captain them. My cause is my men. My purpose is the sea itself... For I knew better than to live for the race of men. To live for the very thing responsible for the destruction of both this world and all its beauty."

My eye narrowed at Gaelick when I spoke these final words.

"Now ask yourself... Why would I find purpose in a race of men that cannot save themselves from themselves, nor save themselves from death itself? To devote myself to something so easily swayed, and with a life span so easily shortened?" I watched as more of Gaelick's men slowly cast their gaze from I, to their captain once more. "Then perhaps I'd invite you to question why you yourself would. Why you should."

That was the last thing I remembered saying before one last swift kick sent my body crashing to the floor.

And yet the questioning anger in Gaelick's eyes right before his foot connected with my face once more, made it all the worth it. As did the provocation in his men's. The questioning look on their own hardened faces.

I had planted a seed in them only I knew how to reap.

And something told me it would prove itself fruitful.

••