2.

Barely five minutes had passed before the skeletons made way for their captain. Since the lead skeletons last remark, they had stood in silence as though they were dead. John narrowed his eyes as he sized up the skeleton captain. ‘Weirdest skeleton I’ve ever seen’ was his conclusion. The skeleton was only recognizable as such by its skull head. Its body, however, looked just like a gleaming white marble statue of a human man, with perfectly carved and defined hands and arms, as well as what he could see of its neck and shoulders. The rest was hidden under dark brown vest and trousers, with gleaming black boots catching the rays of light through the last of the mist.

“Just what kind of monster are you?” John whispered. The chatty skeleton earlier bristled at his remark and began to speak when the skeleton-statue thing put its hand up to stop it.

“My name is Morrigan. And this is my first mate, Strand.” Strand bowed, flippantly switching moods, “Pleasure to meet you.” He straightened up, and John could have sworn one of the soul fires in its eye winked at him. “Ahem,” Morrigan continued, “To answer your question, how I look is none of your business. Now, let’s continue with the challenge.”

“Please wait.” John hurriedly stopped him. “We have several non-combatants on board. I beg of you to spare them should I fall!”

Morrigan eyed him steadily, the deep black of his soul fires unsettling. “I shall consider your proposal. No more delaying. Say the oath.”

John took up his saber, turning his body sideways he declared, “With the Harvest God as my witness, I, John Patrick declare that should I die by the hands of Morrigan, my soul shall be his and I shall forever vanish from this Earth. Upon my God I swear.” Morrigan didn’t reply, instead he cracked his gleaming knuckles and started slowly walking towards the knight. John was surprised that Morrigan didn’t use a weapon, but he instantly recovered and made the first move. With a diagonal swing from high to low, John aimed for the killing blow instantly. But Morrigan simply reached out with his hand and grabbed the incoming sabre as though it were nothing. John paled, and Morrigan simply chuckle. Pulling his sword away, John began to draw power from the yellow core embedded in his heart, infusing it into the crystal on the pommel of the sabre. ‘This is it’ John though. ‘This is all my power. Let’s see if this bastard can take it.’ With a ferocious cry, John leapt forward and swung the saber with both hands like a greatsword. Leaving a light green trail in the air, the slash that would have cut ten armored men in half like paper was stopped with a single palm.

“If that’s the best you can do,” Morrigan lightly pushed the blade away, “Then let’s finish this.” With a single step John found Morrigan appeared right in front of him, frantically, he struggled to reorient his sword that had been knocked off balance, but Morrigan’s fist was faster. In the blink of an eye, John slumped, heart impaled by the cold shining bone. When Morrigan pulled his hand out it remained pure, blood dripping from his fist until it was once again gleaming. A green glow traveled from the motionless body into Morrigan’s eyes, making the black ever so slightly darker. Turning away, he said to Strand, “Kill the rest of them. I’ll be in my cabin. If you find any interesting cargo, let me know at once.” Strand bowed. “As you command, my captain.” He turned eagerly towards the last crew members standing there, trembling.

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Morrigan sat in his favorite chair, digesting what he had received from John. Oaths to any God were common, but few would ever dare to swear away their mana soul. Without it, once you were gone you were gone for good. It was the source of all power in life, and in death it guided you through the cycles of rebirth. A green core was a large boost and should take even some of the most experience practitioners’ months to absorb and consolidate. However, Morrigan was not most practitioners and was already feeling his strength rise incrementally.

He leaned back, staring at the vaulted ivory white ceiling of his cabin. One of his skeleton crew had been a painter before he joined the House, and the ceiling in the captain’s cabin was a piece of art to rival the greatest churches. It depicted a traditional religious design, with scenes from common miracles, and the Great God’s creation of the Earth.

The only difference was that instead of the typical humans shown in these scenes, they were replaced by beasts. Minotaurs, satyrs, centaurs, imps, demons, succubi, liches, slimes, golems, giants, merfolk, dragons, all the myriad monsters that humans sought to dominate or destroy were graced with the light. Morrigan had spent hours staring at that painting, wondering. He sighed, feeling sentimental. He knew better than anyone how he’d mellowed out over time. Except for maybe Strand. He’d been with Morrigan since almost the beginning. Every time Morrigan offered him a new form he refused, with a ridiculous reason every time. “What makes you tick Strand?” he whispered to himself.

“Glad you asked boss!” The cheerful reply came. Morrigan shot upright, startled.

“Where the hell did you spring from?!” Strand’s muffled voice came from outside the door, “Found some special cargo captain. Thought you’d want to look.” Morrigan sighed. Strand had a fluctuating sense of what was special. One raid it might be a favorite hat, the next it’s a crate of candy. Morrigan sighed again. ‘Why would a skeleton even need candy?’

“Alright, come in.” He said. Strand opened the door with a flourish and a twinkle in his eye sockets. As he strode in, Morrigan frowned at the presence he sensed behind him. “I thought I told you to kill them all.” Strand said nothing, simply smiling. The lady behind Strand stepped forward with a humph.

“How dare you talk about me like that! I am Eliza Striker Hart, next in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Roy. I demand you release me at once!”

Morrigan turned in disbelief towards Strand who grinned and said, “Yup. Got the relics and paperwork to prove it! Put a seal on her too so she doesn’t get any funny ideas.” Morrigan groaned. All he wanted was a nice simple raid on some valuable cargo without drawing attention or armed forces to his doorstep.

“Wipe her memory, put her on a raft and send her to New Port.” Strand protested, “But captain, think of the possibilities! We have been thinking of expanding on to land for ages now. Now that we have a princess as a hostage, we can turn the entire kingdom into our staging area! It’s the best chance we’ve ever had!” Morrigan sighed again. He had been doing that a lot today.

“Alright, say that we really can use her as a bargaining chip. Do you think the other powers would just sit by and watch Roy be taken over by monsters? The Extermination wars were not that long ago.” Eliza butted in,

“Stop ignoring me! As if I’d let you use me as a hostage! I demand you release me and provide safe passage to Roy, in accordance with the international treaties!” Strand couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “Sweetie, do we really look like people who have signed the treaty? We’re pirates! The only laws we have are the captain’s words.” He turned to Morrigan. “What say you, mighty captain?” Morrigan was silent for a moment.

“We take her with us when we return to Haven. You may be onto something. Dismissed.” Strand nodded.

“Aye captain. I will inform you when we are above the drop point.” He tipped his hat, turned, and left. Morrigan eyed Eliza, visibly shaking with anger from being ignored.

“And now, you and I will have a nice long talk.”