Respite Island. 498 years ago.
The first time Raine had killed someone with Excalibur, she had felt the enchantment strengthen her. Her spells became stronger, the amount of mana she could draw upon became greater.
She didn't believe what Rien had said about there being a spirit dwelling within the blades, but she knew he knew something about the nature of the weapons she'd stolen from him. Perhaps that was why she had spared him those two and a half years ago.
He had sailed alongside her as a prisoner; she had wanted him to see her campaign to seek revenge on Elvier for the loss of Captain Grimme and the rest of Moira’s Hand, a place she had assumed he'd held ties to. Though he said he stayed with her because Thoth had chosen to speak to her.
Raine barely remembered that hallucination and she chalked it up to him making fun of her in an attempt to take back what little power he could from her. That had served only to irritate her more. He was on the deck, right beside Raine as she delivered every order that pillaged, and ultimately sunk, each Elvier ship that crossed her path.
Though Raine had quickly realized Rien's disapproval of the scenes she'd forced him to watch hadn’t stemmed from any ties he'd had with Elvier, but rather at her for the “senseless violence” when she could have been a force for good.
The pirates who had united with Raine had become very wealthy and nearly a nation unto themselves. To Raine, that was the greatest good she could do: return her people to the positions they should have had since their time as merchant escorts.
She had offered him his freedom, but he had refused, insisting he was supposed to stay with her and the sword she’d stolen from him.
The two talked, and even fought on occasion, about the future of the pirate fleet, but he never left Raine’s side and he was present for every act of piracy she’d ever taken.
She wouldn't have called their relationship a friendship, more the best of a bad situation. Perhaps it was that relationship with Rien that had blinded her to Avanyu's mutiny.
Eventually Rien had succeeded in changing Raine’s views with a particularly scathing response following the sinking of an immigration ship they'd misidentified as another Elvier merchant vessel.
The ship hadn't complied with their demand for it to heave to and Raine ordered it sunk when they were within range. They hadn't complied with the order because no one on the ship knew the signal flags common to these seas.
Rien had compared that to when Grimme had left his country behind when he'd been ordered to sink a pirate ship that was already too wounded to do anything.
“Would Captain Grimme approve of the leader you've become in his place? You murdered hundreds of innocents!” Rien said with fury.
That had been the moment that had put everything into perspective for Raine as she approached the wreckage, watching the survivors, women and children included, torn apart by schools of scytherfish and larger.
Too bad his message had gotten through too late. Later that night, she confided in Avanyu of her plans to disband the pirate nation they'd built together. She would turn herself in to the authorities in Rielle, taking the rope she knew she deserved.
Avanyu hadn't taken the conversation so well. At the time, she'd simply chalked it up as frayed nerves, the same as she. Apparently she'd been wrong. He truly meant to keep his wealth flowing, promising even more ruthlessness than Raine had delivered. He didn't want to stop at the small collection of island cities the pirates had, he wanted more.
Raine had left Stray II when they'd made port at Respite, deciding she needed time away from Avanyu, her crew, and the haunting sounds of those she'd needlessly slaughtered.
That had been a week ago. A mighty tremble through the ground shook Raine awake from her sleep in her home.
Her eyes snapped open as the ground shook again. An earthquake?
No, the rumbling was far too regular for that. Raine dressed herself as someone knocked at her door.
“Raine! Wake up! A ship is bombing the port!” Rien shouted.
Raine went to her window and looked in horror at the carnage below. Houses were burning and crumbled, Respite had no defenses beyond the ships that called her home.
Stray II's unmistakable silhouette, the result of countless repairs and overhauls that left her wholly unlike her original construction, was illuminated by the light from her cannons as she unleashed a rolling broadside that steadily moved further inland. And directly towards Raine’s home.
Raine turned and ran to her bedside, grabbing Excalibur, which she always kept within arm’s reach. As her hand touched the hilt, she saw that same blinding light she'd seen those two and a half years ago.
Raine wasn’t in her room anymore. As far as she could tell, she wasn’t even on Terre. The sky above her was black, save only for the small pinpricks of light that were stars. The ground around her in every direction was a dark grey, crater-pocked wasteland barren of any life.
Except for him. The grey-armored figure with the featureless head whose face was a swirling maze of black ink that shifted its pattern as randomly as the waves of sea.
Thoth.
A ragged poncho covered his left half, but his right side revealed armor unlike Raine had ever seen before. Grey sheets of plating finely molded to his proportions overlapped a black fabric with glowing lights on his wrists that seemed to be demanding his attention.
Even though he sat on the ground in a meditative pose with legs crossed, he towered over Raine. When he seemed to notice Raine, the ink-like swirls on his face arranged themselves into eight dots, like eight eyes looking down at her. Scrutinizing her.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Raine cleared her throat. “So you are real. Why haven’t you shown yourself to me since that first time two years ago?”
“I have been by your side in every sword fight you’ve ever been in since touching Excalibur. I was the gentle nudge that took you from the life-ending bullet’s path. I was the extra strength that held up the sword to block the blow that would have cleaved you in two.”
Raine had to fight to roll her eyes at him. “But why show yourself now? Don't you realize I'm in the middle of something? I can’t really afford to be left knocked out cold while my home is shelled all around me!”
If Thoth had detected the anxious annoyance in Raine’s words, he hadn't acknowledged it. “You are going to die this night. It is unavoidable.”
“Only if you keep me here! I can run!” Raine shouted. She was nearly about to plead with him to help her live when she was hit with the memory of those innocents she'd murdered. No, this was exactly the fate she deserved.
“If I had not intervened, you would have run straight into your death.”
Tears streamed down Raine’s cheeks as she fell to her knees. “Let me die, I do not deserve to live.”
“Murderer, pillager, defiler of the innocent. No, you do not deserve to live,” Thoth boomed, the dots of his eyes changing into four V’s, glowing a crimson red with anger. “But I propose an alternative to death.”
Raine looked up at him. “An alternative?”
“You wish to take the coward’s way out. I offer you a chance to atone. A chance to redeem. A much, much harder path.”
“How is accepting the death I deserve cowardice?” Raine stood, suddenly angered by the pronouncement.
“The road for all ends in death. The great equalizer. Your deeds go unpunished in the balance of all things. I offer you a chance to do good where you never did before.” He paused, the four red V’s changing back to eight black dots. “It will be hell. It will be torture. But there will be redemption.”
But it wouldn't be death, I would live. “Yes, I'll do it. Let me atone!” Raine shouted. Let me live!
“Then return. Split Excalibur in two, Caliburn and Clarent fused. Leave Clarent with Rien and take Caliburn to Stray II. That is the way forward.”
Raine started to ask what that was supposed to do, turning herself in to Avanyu, that was surely death. But he was gone and she was back in her home.
“Raine! We need to go, now!” came Rien's call.
Unlike the first time she and Thoth had met, no time seemed to have passed during this encounter.
Raine opened the door. “Come in, hurry!”
Raine pulled him into her room, ignoring his protests as she unsheathed Excalibur. She saw the seam up the sword’s middle and with a conscious effort, split the blade in two. She pushed the blue-bladed Clarent into Rien’s hands.
“Take this, Thoth said you'd know what to do with it.”
He immediately ceased his complaints and instead looked at the blade almost reverently for a second. “Are you sure you want to go down this path, Raine?”
“I wish I'd listened to you sooner, Rien. I wish I'd had time to become a better person. But I don't. As far as I know, I'm on borrowed time as is. I should have died two years ago. The world would probably have been better for it. Now go, get yourself somewhere safe.” Raine turned and left without waiting for him to respond. She wasn't sure she could follow through with this if she'd stopped to stare at him any longer. Rien had been a better friend than she deserved.
Stray II's pounding broadside had paused long enough for Raine to to get clear and begin running in the direction that would take her to the dock and away from Stray's current target, which was her home.
The thunderous roars of her cannons continued, but ceased as Raine made it to the dock. Stray heaved to and approached, someone threw a makeshift rope ladder across and Raine caught it.
Avanyu was waiting for Raine as she made it on deck. Six guns were pointed at her.
“Thank you for saving us the trouble of having to search for your remains in all this,” he said.
“You slew hundreds of your own people and that's all you have to say? You're a monster. What have you done with my crew?” Raine took a step forward.
Avanyu raised a stalling hand at the gunmen. “I slew traitors to our cause. We have the largest navy of any force in these seas. And you would've squandered it. We serve you no longer.”
The events that happened next, Raine couldn't recall. Either she had drawn her sword first or someone else had fired upon her first. She didn't know and would likely never know for sure.
What she did know was Avanyu had turned away and Raine had slain three of the gunmen before two shots took her in the stomach and leg. Someone had knocked Caliburn from her hand and she was on the ground.
Avanyu had ordered the traitor's death for Raine even as she lay bleeding out. The only thing on her mind was that Thoth had lied or betrayed her as well. What was this death if not the same kind that would have happened had she died in her home? There was no redemption in this.
They were a mile away from Respite when Avanyu ordered them to drop anchor and ready the gangplank. Raine had her arms and legs bound with weights tied to her legs.
“You served the fleet well before you betrayed them. Your service will be honored by granting you the quick death you don't deserve,” Avanyu said, holding Caliburn.
The sword seemed dull in his hands, tarnished and unmaintained, though that had not been the case. Raine took great pride in the maintenance of her weapons. They always looked fresh and ready for a fight.
But he must not have been aware of Caliburn's nature, because it was clear that it was the blade he meant to impale her with.
“Goodbye, Captain Raine,” Avanyu said with false warmth as he thrust Caliburn into Raine’s chest.
Far over Respite, Raine saw a flash of purple light upon the tallest peak of the mountain. Avanyu kicked Raine overboard and the salty ocean water mixed with the metallic blood flooding Raine’s mouth.
Raine saw that same purple light in front of her own eyes as she sunk deeper into the depths of the cold, crushing water.
The light grew brighter and brighter, encompassing everything she saw.
Then she was in a grassy plain, gripping Caliburn's hilt. She turned and saw a short man with moppy white hair and pewter grey skin. Red tattoos covered the skin not hidden by his robes.
He didn't speak, but had already turned to begin fighting alongside a tall, muscular man in red, black, and gold armor. They were defending a fort against an attacking goblin force.
Raine raised Caliburn and joined them in slaughtering the blight that cursed this land.
The fighting ended and Raine saw that purple light again.
She was back aboard Stray II, just as Avanyu stabbed her and kicked her overboard.
The purple light came again and Raine was in a cave, slaying kobolds.
She was back aboard Stray II, just as Avanyu stabbed her and kicked her overboard.
And as she accepted the Summoner’s Call again, Raine did not die, yet she died a hundred times.
A thousand times.
Each time she felt the sword plunged into her chest and the ice cold ocean drown her, she heard the Summoner’s call just before death could take her.
Each time she answered.
Each time she fought alongside the Runic Elf Summoner, killing some monster or saving some people.
Raine began to understand the truth with each death and rebirth. Thoth had kept his word. She could not die and had been given her redemption.