Aric’s eyes flashed open. He began to cough uncontrollably, each breath sent an echo of the searing pain he felt in his abdomen throughout his body. He glanced at a knee as it retracted from his caved-in chest. Instinctively, he reached for his chest, only to be met with the rattling of manacles.

“Ah, it seems you’re finally awake. Everyone can go now.”

Aric lacked the strength to lift his head high enough to see who was speaking—or who they were speaking to. The only thing he could make out were dimly lit wooden floorboards. As hurried footsteps grew fainter, the creaking of the floor rippled through the room. As Aric’s hearing returned, and the footsteps vanished, the ambient noise in the room became clearer; just outside the room, waves were crashing.

“Are you alright? You were knocked out cold for a bit. You needed to be dragged off the lobby floor, and back here. I tried, well they tried, other means of waking you up but it didn’t work, so I took a slightly inelegant approach.”

Just barely mustering up the strength to lift his head, Aric’s eyes met those of the only person in the room.

“Queen,” Aric groaned.

Queen smiled at Aric. The Calavera skull painted on her face, matched with a solitary blood-red rose in her hair—the only splash of color on her entire figure—gave a look fitting of her epithet.

“[The Reaper’s Beloved],” Aric said, mirroring Queen’s smile. “What can I do for you captain?”

“Tell me what you were doing on the floor of the lobby, for starters.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t recall requesting an apology. I ordered an explanation.”.

“Right. There was this kid. He had all this random junk in his backpack. I thought there might be something interesting inside so I told him to hand it over. Then he threw some metal cylinder at me and this gas bursted out. One whiff and I was out.”

“Hmm, odd. Could you be a little more specific? What did the child look like?” Queen asked.

“Uh, red hair, goggles, little younger than 18, I only saw him for a little while.”

“Red hair?” Queen murmured under her breath. Her gaze drifted off toward the ceiling.

“Something the matter, captain?”

“Nothing,” Queen said. “Now, for your punishment—”

“Punishment?”

Queen’s expression twisted from apathetic to annoyed. “Did you interrupt me?”

Aric was silent.

“You’ll remain in the brig until we can reunite with the main fleet.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll still be fed your normal rations. Though I suppose getting seconds won’t be possible.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You expect me to sit here for weeks shackled in a box?”

“No. An expectation would be you don’t act a fool like you did today. This is a command,” Queen said.

“Some kid knocked me out, so what? It’s not like it matters.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Queen’s pitch jumped sharply. “I’ll tell you why it matters. You work for me, and in a public place, you were laid out on your back like an idiot. You were specifically instructed not to enter the auction hall alone. I was unaware your galavanting was so valuable. What if someone else had dragged you away, and tortured you for information?”

“I wouldn’t have told them shit.”

“Bold words.” A doubtful grin stretched along Queen's face.

“It’s true,” Aric insisted. “Not like you know anything about us. With your fancy epithet, you don’t bother with people like me. You haven’t even said my name, because you don’t know it.”

“Your name isn’t worth saying Aric.” If Queen were a snake, venom would be dripping from her mouth. “This delusional thinking isn’t setting a very good example for Lillia. A good older brother would’ve followed orders.”

Aric wanted to back up through the wooden walls of the ship, and be swept away by the waves.

“No, that’s not fair. Calling you delusional without giving you a chance to prove yourself. You insist you have at the very least a modicum of power.”

Queen pulled loose the black tie around her neck. As it unfurled, a white light engulfed the tie, then twisted it into the form of a long black rapier. With a single swing, Queen shattered the chains holding back Aric. “So what I want you to do is prove it. Prove your name is worth speaking.”

Aric’s breath quickened. A mountain stood before him.

“I want you to hit me. Just once. Normally you’d have to fight Jack first, but it’s not like this a traditional duel.” Queen grabbed her black tailcoat adorned with bone white striations, but realized removing it wouldn’t be necessary.

By some miracle, Aric managed to steady his breath. He rummaged around his pockets and pulled out a set of brass knuckles. The tremors in his hands caused one to slip out of his grasp.

“I’ll wait,” Queen said.

Aric quickly knelt and picked the brass knuckle from the ground.

“All ready?” Queen asked.

Aric nodded his head.

“Good.” Queen placed her rapier’s handle parallel to her ear; the tip pointed straight toward Aric. “[En Garde].”

A sudden blast of essence filled the entire room. It felt like hundreds of invisible ants were dancing along Aric’s skin as the air crackled. Aric’s whole body felt supercharged with static electricity—and a single step could discharge it all.

“Bulldoze through, [Accelerate].” Half a step. That was all Aric managed.

The blood splatter on the wall was visible before Queen’s blade.

Aric reeled backward, clutching his scored throat, as crimson poured down his neck.

Queen glanced down at herself, her black undershirt and pants for any blood stains. “Thank the gods.” Queen breathed a sigh of relief.

Queen looked back to Aric and saw him slumped down, in the same position he was in before he had been woken up. “I do hope he’s not dead. A thrusting strike would’ve been safer, but a slash was the only way to stop his blood from getting on me. Well, he’s probably fine, but his vocal cords will be a mess until we can get proper treatment at the fleet.

“Still, he made it rather far. Using a chant to sacrifice agility for raw speed, basically turning into a train, isn’t a bad idea. If you can hear me Aric, I’m glad your training paid off, because it was disastrous when you started. Running overboard all the time, and forcing Charles to drag you out of the ocean.

“Oh, perhaps that philosopher’s stone they were talking about could fix his throat before we reunited with the fleet. Well, I doubt I have enough for both that and [Nocturne]. Yeah, definitely [Nocturne]. Sorry Aric.”

With a flick of Queen’s wrist, her rapier transformed back into a tie. “CAN WE GET A HEALER DOWN HERE!”