A Pirated Heart

His Close-Call and the Leviathan

Screams filled the air as Arabella fought against her bindings. Damien hung limp beside her; the steady rise and fall of his chest was the only thing that alerted Arabella that he was still alive.

“Damien, wake up!” She hissed as she continued to fight for freedom. Damien groaned before he started to struggle to open his eyes.

“Bella?” He questioned as he looked over at his sister, unable to properly focus on anything.

“I need your knife!” Arabella growled as she pulled at the enchanted ropes that held her and her brother by their wrists to the stone ceiling. Damien looked from his sister’s face to the ropes that held her in place, slowly coming to grips with the situation they were in. Suddenly his eyes widened. He looked around wildly as Arabella waited for him to remember her demand. Impatience drove her to remind him.

“Damien! Your knife!”

“It’s in my boot. I can’t reach it!” Damien replied as he attempted to bend down to reach into his boot. Arabella cursed. The enchanted ropes kept her from using her abilities and for all intents and purposes, kept her drained of physical strength.

“Can you lift yourself up?” She asked as she glanced at her younger brother.

“I can try,” Damien answered. Arabella watched Damien take a couple of breathes before he gripped the ropes that bound his hands and used his shoulders to pull himself further off of the ground. A few minutes of harsh breathing and labored grunts were all it took for Damien to somehow pull himself upside down and bend his knees so his hand could reach into his boot.

“Ah-ha!” Damien exclaimed quietly as he retrieved his hidden blade and let his body hang as it did before. Damien started sawing at the ropes that bound his wrists together and then he fell to the ground with a quiet thud. He grinned triumphantly at his suspended sister. Arabella frowned.

“Bravo, brother. Now how do you propose to get me down?'

***

Kaden and two of his men jumped into the water seconds before white hot flames enveloped the group. Kaden could hear their screams under the water. He looked over at Pike and his shadow, Connor Walker. Half of their group was nothing but charred bones and ash. Kaden grimaced when he and the others broke the surface of the water and the smell hit them. Burnt hair and flesh permeated the air as smoke simmered from the blackened corpses. Kaden felt his heart break as he thought of the two bodies that had been lying on the wood. Not only were three of his best men gone, but also Damien Cartridge and worse even, Arabella.

Arabella. Dead.

The thought would’ve sent Kaden to his knees if he had been on dry land. But instead he was treading water while Pike and Walker eyed the docks and skies for whatever had decimated their compatriots.  

“Cap’n.” Pike’s voice brought Kaden back from his crippling thoughts. Kaden turned his head to the two men.

“What do we do?” Pike asked as Kaden looked around. The fog still filled the air. Whatever attacked them was silent and the heat from the flames had all but vanished. He thought back to Arabella’s words in his head.  She had said to run and sail away.

“We get back to Calypso and we sail fast and far from here,” Kaden ordered as the other two men nodded and the three of them started to swim back to the dock.

“Where are we going?” Voices echoed through the fog and Kaden was quick to draw his sword once he was back on his feet. Pike and Walker were quick to follow his lead once they were out of the water. The three men waited.

“Directions would be nice!”

“I will stab you with your own knife if you do not shut your face, brother!”