“If you leave this ship I will fucking hunt you!” Annabelle growls to the remaining crew struggling to free the one remaining lifeboat from its place on the ship. Despite being somewhere between half dead and on the brink of passing out, she still managed to muster enough strength to not sound totally pathetic.
“Between you and the hunter I'll take you any day!” one of them shouts, fumbling around his hip for a blade.
“It got the marked, it won't be coming back for us!” Peter shouts, joining Annabelle’s side with his own weapons already drawn. “Now pick your balls up off the floor and get us to the nearest bit of land you can find, Celeste won't be able to hold us much longer!”
Annabelle looks to Peter who narrows his eyes at the crew. The four men unable to do much of anything against the revenant, give up their attempt and bail from the small boat.
“Annabelle, help me haul this thing down the lower decks.” Peter demands, grabbing one end of the lifeboat.
Annabelle wants to snap something at him, but keeps it in for now as she hauls up the other end.
The two work past rushing deck hands and their other friends as everyone scrambles to get to the holes with any piece of wood they can find.
Water, nearly ankle deep on the 3rd deck indicates that they need to move quickly as well.
The storm had mostly gone, but still rain and heavy waves lingered, occasionally crashing into the ship and sending even more water inside.
The fastest of the groups, Elisayra, Zesstra, and Pounce, pail water from inside to try and prevent the entire ship from sinking, while the strongest of the groups, Thodhan, Annabelle, Peter and Laihal bring wood down.
Celeste strains against the limits of her own magic as she struggles to keep the water from getting in. a massive hole nearly the size of the entire lower deck gapes. Her portal redirects the water back onto itself in an attempt to keep some semblance of buoyancy.
Nephinae scrambles to make as many repairs as possible, speaking the enchantments for mending until her voice is nearly raw. Dorain remains immobile, holding one half of her cousin in her arms back on the upper decks, while Micha tries his best to get her back into action.
Time moves around Annabelle fast as death, each moment a breath away from vanishing into the next as they break apart wood, tear crates, hammer nails and fill the gaps.
Every muscle aches and screams in pain, every tendon burns as she pushes herself to her absolute limit running back and forth, breaking and building, until she simply can’t take it any more.
Hobbling down the stairs, the world pitches itself sideways as her foot slips on the final step.
Annabelle collapses to the ground, sending another armful of wood scattering across the now nearly empty mid decks.
She grunts and struggles, but the muscles in her arms shake and fail her before she can even pull her torso up off the ground.
“Annabelle!” a voice calls, but her vision flickers and fades before she can make out who it is.
Everything still hurts, but luckily for Annabelle it hurts just a little less.
Her eyes strain against the blinding light of the morning sun bleeding into the captain's quarters from the open window.
Annabelle shifts uncomfortably around on the mattress until she ends up on her side, and from her side, slowly works his body into an upright position.
The world spins, forcing her to plant her elbows on her knees and her head in her hand to stop from losing her lunch.
Lunch….
The smell of something sweet permeates the room. Her eyes drift around to the plate of fruit left on the table, though it looks like it might have been there for a short while.
Struggling to her feet, Annabelle has to catch herself as her leg buckles slightly, nearly sending her to the ground.
She makes her way over to the table, and looks at the small slices, which she now notices is next to a large mug of water.
Annabelle desperately takes in the sustenance, tossing down the fruit without bothering the chew, which ends up being a dumb decision as she starts to choke on the large pieces.
Washing down what would have been a very pathetic death after all that's happened to her, she gasps a few times to regain her breath.
After a time, Annabelle makes her way to the door and opens it, squinting against the blinding light reflected off the calm ocean around them.
Torn and ruined sails flutter in the wind, while patched sails are still in the process of being secured to rope on the deck of the ship.
One crew member sighs as he struggles to wash the blood stains off the wood.
Stumbling from the captain's quarters, unable to see anyone she knew by name, Annabelle calls out to the scrubbing deck hand.
“Where is everyone?”
“Navigation room.” he nods to the part of the ship directly below her.
“Right…” Annabelle struggles down the stairs, working her way to the door and opening it without bothering to knock.
Every head turns to her as she enters, many happy to see her up and moving, and a few that pierce Annabelle’s heart.
Peter smiles at her, motioning for her to join them around the table, flanked by Micha, Celeste, Zesstra and Alex.
On the other end of the table, led by Thodhan, has Nephinae, Elisayra, Laihal, and Dorain, all of whom regard her with contempt.
Annabelle pauses at the door, trying to assess exactly what was going on here, luckily she didn’t have to wonder soon, as Alex spoke up.
“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, maybe you can help talk some sense into the others.” Alex looks down at the map and rests her finger on a spot of land. “They went to look for Casper and the others, we want to get to land to repair the ship.”
“Don’t lie to her!” Elisayra shouts, shocking Annabelle as she raises her voice in anger for the first time.
“Eli, I am not lying..”
“Don’t call me Eli either. My friends can call me Eli, and if you think we are just going to leave them to die then you aren’t my friend.”
Alex smiles softly, and blinks slowly. “We can continue to look, after we are repaired…”
“And how long will that take?” Laihal cuts in. “Every moment not spent looking is a moment they are all likely closer to death.”
“And we should just risk ourselves for their sake?” Micha replies with narrowed eyes.
“Did they not risk themselves for you?” Nephinae speaks up.
“They did, yes.” Peter confirms, once more turning his attention to Annabelle. “So I doubt they would like to see us all die in pursuit of them, given the possibility they are likely already dead. We should use the life they have given us instead of throwing it away.”
“We… think there is a possibility they are alive?” Annabelle asks cautiously, her question asked towards Elisayra.
“Of course they are! It’s Casper! He can do anything! Of course he is alive.”
Nephinae nods her agreement. “He has done many incredible things, and survived many terrible circumstances. We should not abandon him.”
“Right, let us just raise our sails and get right on that.” Alex chuckles and shakes her head. “We won’t be doing anyone any favors basically dead at sea. I'm telling you we can look for him after we secure our own safety.”
Annabelle bites her lip. This was all too much having just become conscious. Just how long had this argument been going on anyway? she wondered.
“This is going nowhere.’ Thodhan narrows his eyes. “We have waited for your ally, she is here, and she has no opinion. The time for negotiation is over. Rathiel led us, now that he and Janus are gone, I am the leader. I say we stay and search.”
“Rathiel may have led you, but he didn’t lead us.” Micha challenges, the air around him crackling with power.
“There was never anyone in charge, the captain already told us he isn’t confident sailing the ship as it is. We should defer to his expert opinion when he says we need to dock for repairs.” Alex reasons, attempting to diffuse.
“The same captain who nearly threw himself at the feet of a devil?” Thodhan laughs. “No offense.” He adds to Laihal, who raises her hands.
“Non taken.”
Thodhan returns his glare to Peter. “The captain is a known fool, thus power falls to those who can take it, if you wish not to respect the word of Rathiel. Dare I challenge you to take it from me?”
Annabelle had just gotten here, and it was already too much to take in, but the look on Thodhan promised violence, and Peter seemed all too willing to risk a fight to get his way.
“Let’s try and calm the hell down.” Annabelle offers, but Peter shakes his head.
“No chance of that any more, it’s been a circular argument for hours now. I’m not about to have you and your lot of idealists risk the lives of everyone else aboard this ship on the dream your friends are alive. Maybe they are, but we can figure that out after everyone else is safe.”
Annabelle works her jaw back and forth, trying to find an out in any of this.
“So what, we are going to beat the shit out of each other and lower our chances of survival any way?” she eventually offers.
Some of the people in the room turn to her, but others remain locked on their perceived enemy across the table.
“If we fight now, both plans fail. Injuring anyone on any side lowers our chance of either finding Casper or getting to land safely. We are all exhausted, tired, scared shitless and without direction. Put your dicks away and think with the right head here.”
It wasn’t the first time she has had to have a talk like this. Being the only woman in a group of bandits didn’t do too many favors most days, but it also meant she played the role of mediator between factions of angry men a number of times in the past.
Thodhan raises his hands and backs off from the table. “Fine, you’re right. Fighting will help no one.”
Peter nods his head and crosses his arms, leaning backwards against the wall.
“We need to make repairs to the ship no matter what, I saw the crew still working to get this beast in working order. We aren’t sailing to any land or finding Casper if the ship won't reliably move. I take it the main holes are patched?”
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“Yes, they are. We are no longer taking any water.” Alex confirms.
“Good, so we aren’t at risk of dying today at least. Once we can get a better idea of the ship's condition at present we can reconvene, deal?” Annabelle offers, extending a hand to Thodhan first.
The giant takes it and shakes.
Annabelle moves her hand over to Peter, who also takes it and shakes.
“Good. now instead of bickering lets try and help anywhere we can.”
“The crew already told us to fuck off.” Micha notes, cocking his head towards the door. “Nephinae is the only one allowed to help any more. Mostly sewing and patching needs doing.”
Nephinae nods her head and leaves the room, making no effort to not hit Annabelle, who is forced to move to avoid a collision.
“So what are the rest of us doing?” Annabelle asks, eyes following the elf’s contemptuous walk.
“Minding our own.” Dorain follows Nephinae, making an effort to stomp her boots and show her disdain for everyone as she leaves.
Soon the others disperse, leaving Annabelle alone with her primary party.
“Thank you for the fruit.” Annabelle says to Elisayra with a soft smile, one she ignores as she shoves past the larger woman on her way out.
“You’re welcome.” Alex responds in kind, not minding that the thanks was directed to the wrong person.
Laihal in similar fashion shows no love for Annabelle, not that she ever did to begin with, but Annabelle notes an extra layer of disgust on her attitude as the half fiend passes her.
“I take it I am the bad guy now?” Annabelle asks Alex once the two are alone.
“Unfortunately you are. Though if it’s any consolation I would have done much the same.” Alex admits, taking to sitting on the navigation table, swiping away a stray piece of transparent slime.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I was too busy being a coward, hiding. I am not nearly as skilled as the others with weapons. So I took to managing the crew in order to fire the cannons. What good that did though.” She sighs and looks out one of the many windows, investigating how the light dances off her skin.
“I wouldn’t call that being a coward. It was smart. If the crew was on deck or running around without direction it would have caused the rest of us trouble.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“How upset is Elisayra?”
“Oh, everyone on Thodhan's side of the table is furious with you. Especially Elisayra. She took that as a pretty heavy betrayal. Nephinae in similar fashion wants nothing to do with me right now. It hurts… but what would hurt more is getting ourselves killed because we thought we were invincible.”
“Don’t try and drag me to your side Alex, not until we have more information…”
“I’m not.” Alex quickly brings up her hands. “I swear it. Just stating what I feel.”
“Right…”
“As for Thodhan and Dorain, they are deathly loyal to Rathiel. They will do everything they can to see their hero returned to them, even if it means sacrificing us peons.”
Annabelle sighs. “You are trying to sway me. I saw how you handled Katelyn and the Count, I might be a bandit but I’m not a fool. I’d ask you not to mistake me for one.”
Alex smiles softly. “My words scare you that much?”
“Yes.”
“I’m hurt…”
“You’re flattered.” Annabelle corrects, watching as Alex’s eyes sparkle slightly.
“You caught me… maybe I am more my uncle's daughter than my fathers.”
“Need I remind you what happened to your uncle?”
“No, you needn’t, I was there. I watched Casper kill him.”
“Then if you know how dangerous playing these games are, why continue?”
“They aren’t games. I am advocating for what I believe to be the most logical course of action,” Alex frowns. “I don’t have many gifts Annabelle. You can cut man and monster down, I can persuade them to do my bidding. My methods are no more or less dangerous than yours.”
“Wrong. When I swing my sword you can tell who I'm swinging it at.”
Alex sighs, and lets her head roll back to look at the ceiling, before shifting her eyes slightly to view Annabelle. “You really think I'd hurt you? Do something against our groups best interest?”
“I think you would do whatever it takes to secure your self interests.”
“Right, and my interests are to be with Casper and protect my companions, which luckily for you means the best course of action to take is to ensure that we are all safe, so we can all look for Casper together without handicapping ourselves unnecessarily.”
“It sounds like you want to look good in Casper’s eyes. He praised you for your work with the count and now you think yourself some scheming mastermind? None of this…” Annabelle gestures to Alex as a whole, “Existed before your flexed your ability to manipulate others. The rest of us could have benefited from your silver tongue long ago, yet it’s only an option worth considering after Casper gives you special attention for it. “
Annabelle scoffs and rolls her eyes, not sure if she can believe anything out of Alex’s mouth any more.
“Let me ask you something Alex, do you actually care about anyone here yourself?”
Alex’s expression twists, and Annabelle knows the question genuinely hurts her. Annabelle regrets it as soon as it leaves her lips, but it was too late to take back now.
“Of course I do.” Alex lets herself off the table, and brushes her short hair back to be off her forehead. “I love Nephinae with all my heart. Seeing her hate me so? It crushes me. I care for you, Elisayra, and Laihal. Truly I do. But just like you, we are both logical, practical people. You so willingly threw Engee to the proverbial sharks as readily as I would throw you, if it meant saving the majority of the others. Its numbers. I know you know numbers Annabelle, you’ve killed for numbers in your coin purse all your life.”
Annabelle readies a counterattack, but can’t find the words to disprove anything Alex was saying.
“So don’t come at me from your high horse, questioning me about my loyalties when the only thing making it higher is the pile of bodies you had to walk on to get up there.”
Alex’s serious expression drops into an easy smile, as she walks to Annabelle and pats her on the shoulder. “I suggest maybe you start trying to make nice with Elisayra, she is very disappointed in you.”
The sudden change gives Annabelle whiplash, enough to not notice Alex leaving her alone in the navigation room by herself.
Annabelle breaths slowly, digesting the words Alex spoke to her, all while trying not to let it get to her head.
She was right though. Annabelle had no business trying to preach morality or loyalty to anyone. She didn’t know much about Peter or his crew, but chances are there was more innocent blood under her nails than anyone else's aboard this ship.
Alex was also right about Elisayra. It might be playing into her hand but what choice did Annabelle really have? She cared a lot about that little half elf, and the thought of her being angry made Annabelle's heart sink. She would need to clear the air, and hopefully get her to see reason, because where Annabelle stood it looked like they were one bad day away from ending up at the bottom of the ocean.
Making her way to the crew cabin, Annabelle searches high and low for Elisayra.
Room by room, hiding place by hiding place she scours, calling out to her, asking the others if they have seen her, all to no avail.
She must have been desperate for forgiveness, because despite the fruitless efforts over the next two hours she still continued to search, doubling back on old area’s just to triple check them.
Guilt was one hell of a motivator, but no amount of guilt would help make Elisayra findable if she didn’t want to be found. Evidently Elisayra wasn’t feeling up to being talked to, and thus was a ghost.
Instead, Annabelle finds herself stuck in a room with Laihal well after she had given up.
She had gone to the now empty storage room, where she and Casper had kissed in order to try and be alone, but was too distracted by the piles of loose material to notice Laihal’s shadow darkening the doorway.
“What do you want?” Annabelle narrows her eyes, watching the half fiends tail swish in the air in time with the tapping of her foot.
“What do I want? Many things, though I'm afraid I can’t have most of them at the moment.”
“Can you speak normally please? You are only a half fiend, no point in mincing words with riddles like a devil.”
“If you think that’s a riddle then…”
“You know what I mean.”
Laihal smiles her devils smile and looks Annabelle up and down.
“You’re right, hells forbid I have a little fun hmm?”
“There is a time and a place and I highly doubt that time is now.”
“On the contrary! Why not now? It’s not like we are going anywhere fast. You nor I are busy, what's the harm in having a little fun before business?”
“It pisses me off.”
“Fine… fine…” Laihal sighs, and stands upright, tracing her nail along the pale tattoos around her body passively.
Annabelle rolls her eyes as she watches the fiend approach.
“I have a grudge against you Annabelle.”
“Spare me…”
“Quiet.” Laihal snaps with a shocking amount of authority in her voice, enough to set Annabelle on edge.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re excused darling, but just this once so don’t push me.” Laihal narrows her eyes. “You sold out Engee, and in doing so ended up getting Casper hurt. Casper is as much my master as mistress Alex is. Beyond the marked being revered by my people, to actively betray one is a great crime among fiends.”
“A good thing we aren’t among fiends.” Annabelle tests, suddenly realizing she didn’t have her weapon.
“A good thing indeed. They would make sure you lived through this formal declaration. I Laihal Ank’Haal hereby formally challenge you to a duel, may this bought be blessed by the hells.” She rattles off the words quickly, eager to get through them in order to commit her attention on the real goal.
“You don’t have to do this.” Annabelle backs up, looking for anything that might be used as a weapon against the suddenly very terrifying woman before her.
“On my honor I must. It was your action that saw Casper taken from us, possibly even killed, then by your blood shall it be made right.”
Laihal speaks so casually, so nonchalant that her sudden burst of violent aggression comes too fast for Annabelle to react to.
Laihal launches herself at Annabelle with incredible speed, her tanned skin turned into a blur as she crashes into Annabelle's midsection.
The air is ripped from her lungs as she slides to the ground, but instead of allowing herself to be pinned, she follows through the momentum and bucks her hips, sending Laihal flying off her and into the far wall.
Spinning quickly, Annabelle grabs a belt from the piles of clothing and whips it out just as Laihal darts in for a follow up.
The belt wraps around Laihal’s intact horn in an instant, and Annabelle wastes no time pulling as hard as she can on it.
Laihal lets out a growl as her head is yanked to the side, sending her stumbling over piles of loose boards.
Annabelle kicks the boards up, sending wood scattering into the air long enough to gain some ground and brace as Laihal’s tail whips through, splintering the boards and carving a massive gash into Annabelle's forearms.
Had she been any closer, it would have easily taken both of her arms off.
“Shit” Annabelle grits her teeth as Laihal pounces on her, her claws carving flesh from her cheek with her other hand nearly punches a hole through her stomach with the other.
Annabelle flips, diverting the punch into the floor instead.
Laihal's arm plunges through the lower deck, sticking her there for just long enough to allow Annabelle to get to the fiends back.
Annabelle's massive arms wrap around Laihal’s throat, and lock behind her forearm, holding her in a headlock.
She drives backwards, allowing herself to fall to her back in order to bring her legs up to wrap around Laihal’s shockingly small waist.
Laihal was like a feral animal, her speed and power and aggression unlike anything Annabelle had ever seen before. Her fear of the monsters was more than justified. She doubted she could survive long against just Laihal, let alone a pack of the savages.
Just as Annabelle begins to squeeze down, fire runs up the length of her arms as Laihal rakes her dagger sharp claws across her biceps.
Annabelle shouts in pain, releasing the hold to avoid every muscle from being cut through, which allows Laihal to pivot and mount Annabelle.
Annabelle braces as Laihal's fists rise up to finish the job and crush her skull, but the moment never comes.
She can still feel the weight of the half fiend on her, which causes her to dare a look upwards.
A dagger rests gently on Laihal’s throat, as Elisayra stands over Annabelle, her arm extended threatening to punch a hole directly through the fiends neck if she moves even a fraction, behind Laihal is another dagger being held by the dark elf, ensuring Laihal has nowhere to go.
Annabelle pants, blood soaking into her clothes, pain radiating from her body with each beat of her heart.
“Thank you…” Annabelle sighs, letting her head fall.
“I owed you.” Elisayra spits, removing herself from over top Annabelle, eyes locked to Laihal. “I don’t want to have to kill you.”
“You won't darling, you won't.” Laihal reassures the half elf with a smile.
Elisayra nods, and Laihal stands, brushing herself off, barely a scratch on the woman.
“A shame… maybe next time.” Laihal winks and stalks from the storage room, leaving Annabelle bleeding on the ground.
“Eli…”
“Don’t call me that,” Elisayra snaps coldly. “Only my friends can call me that…”
Elisayra vanishes from the room as quickly as she appeared, followed by only a few moments passing before Nephinae appears.
The full elf doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t even look Annabelle in the eyes as she presses old cloths to the wounds to stop the bleeding, washes them out with fresh water, and stitches the skin back together.
“No healing spells for me?” Annabelle dares ask, struggling to catch her breath still.
“No…”
“I really pissed you all off, didn’t I?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“Guess not.” Annabelle sighs, giving up on watching the full elf work, and letting her eyes stare up at the ceiling. “I just did what I thought was right.”
“No, you did what you wanted to.” Nephinae corrects. Not a hint of sympathy in her tone.
“But…”
“You can lie to Alex, but I am much harder to deceive.” She continues. “You do not care for Engee, nor do you care for Laihal. Your disdain for them is easy for anyone with eyes to see.
Annabelle stays quiet, a scowl working its way across her face. “If you knew what I knew about the marked or devils, you'd feel much the same.”
Nephinae shakes her head. “This isn’t about the marked nor devils, this is about people. Engee and Laihal have been nothing but kind to us. Both have saved us, fought with us. They drink and eat with us, they laugh and cry with us, they shop with us, sleep with us, and yet you can still only see them as marked and a devil. Just as you see Elisayra as a half elf.”
“That's not true-”
“It is.’ Nephinae quickly corrects her. “I know Casper has spoken to you. He has taken time to speak to all of us. Were I to guess, I would assume when he talked to you, he had said that it wasn’t fair to judge others on the merit of their birth. Rather the actions they take should be what defines them, correct?”
“About right…”
“If his words alone were not enough to convince you, perhaps then mine can.” Nephinae stands, and looks down at Annabelle with no small amount of disdain. The professional mask she wore was gone, replaced instead by a woman who has spent her entire life living with awful men, but couldn’t show it. Annabelle knew, because it was the expression she wore too when she was alone in her old camps.
“Your actions today disgusted me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The words cut like a knife, hurting worse than anything Laihal had done to her, because in that moment Annabelle saw the men she had spent her whole life hating reflected in the eyes of Nephinae, perhaps the ultimate authority on what it meant to be subjugated by awful men.
Annabelle wants only to be left alone to cry and bathe in her own blood and self pity then. It felt as if the sky hat shattered and fallen around her. The realization of who she was, in spite of everything burned through her soul.
But she didn’t have that luxury, not as Zesstra the dark elf returns once more to the room, speaking to Nephinae.
“We need you in the captain's quarters, quickly.”
Nephinae turns and leaves without another word, leaving Annabelle to choke down the tears and struggle to her feet.
“What is going on?” She asks an empty room, listening to their hastened footsteps echo down the hall.
“Shit!” Annabelle spits, watching the blood soak into her shirt, as she struggles to stand.