CORDELIA

Chapter 5

I could hear some distant voices of a few men speaking along with the squawking of seagulls and susurration of sea waves. I slowly opened my eyes and I could see a wooden ceiling. I hastily woke up and found myself sitting on a small wooden bed, wearing a long nightgown, my bare arms were paler and fairer than earlier, covered with purple marks and bruises. I looked around, sunlight was peeking through windows and holes between the wooden walls, unlit lanterns and shrouds and ladders hanging down the ceiling to the walls . It was a large room with few shipping drums and shelves. There was another chamber in the room where it had a huge study table with few paper rolls scattered and had a map hung in front of it. I pushed off the blanket and was about to get off when I heard a creak and the bright sunlight fell on my face. I frowned at the silhouette standing at the doorstep until he came closer and I could see his face. He was a grumpy man in his late 30s with rough countenance with long brunette hair and clear green eyes. He was wearing the same outfit as what Edwin wore but his one was much cleaner and in good condition. He came and sat near me , I covered myself with the blanket , and looked at him with my wide eyes. He gently held my face with his palm and gave a rough smile.  

" Good morning, I hope you had a good sleep." He said, trying to make his rough tone sound as gentle as possible. I was dumbstruck. 

' Who is he? And who am I to him? And why am I lying here wearing an old fashioned gown? ' 

" Who… are you?", I asked ineptly in a low voice. His smile faded and his eyes widened. 

" I see , Last night was not enough for you to learn your lesson and now you are uttering gibberish ", he said, gritting his teeth and pulling my hair. 

" Ahh.. it.. it hurts!", I groaned when he freed his grip and pushed me on the bed.  

" I don't know what the hell are you saying! I really don't know you!!", I shouted. 

" You..!!", he was about to grab my hair again when a young fellow came. 

" Captain is looking for you", he said , he was a tall man wearing a leather waistcoat and breeches with a scarf tied around his head covering his bald head. 
 
" Tell him I am coming ", he said in his raspy voice. 

" Okay sir ", he bowed and gave a so-called pitiful look before he turned around and left.  

" You think you got lucky this time? Well you have no idea, what you will face this time, Eliza", he hissed and glared before he turned around and left. 

" Eliza? Who is she? What grudge does he hold for me? Why am I here?", I thought. I got up from the bed, my whole body was in pain. There was a long dressing mirror kept beside the bed I went near it. I looked at myself in the mirror and my jaws dropped , eyes widened as I looked at my reflection . It was not me! It was a young lady standing in front of the mirror with golden brown hair flowing till the waist in messy curls, she had green eyes and an extremely delicate face. However her white skin was all covered with bruises and her back was full of whip marks.  

" This is not my body… neither the face is mine then where is my body? Why am I in this body?", I was dumbstruck. There was a dress hanging from the hook at the front wall. I was asked to get ready , I took the dress rubbing my fingers against the fabric, it was a white gown with brown leather bodice. 
I wore that and opened the door. There were two guards standing with their huge frame at the doorstep , their face were covered with beard with eye patches on one of their eyes. 

" Captain asked you to come with us", one of the guards said in a low voice . 

" We don't have to be so polite with her! She is a prisoner after all", the second guard said, with that they dragged me outside.We were on a ship which was much larger than ours and looked quite familiar, moving amidst the clear sea surrounding us , not even a single island I could see. They dragged me near a wooden door,  the guards opened it and pushed me inside , we climbed down the stairs and reached a large area. 

" how can a ship have such a large hall "  , I wondered,  it was a large dark area which didn't even look like part of the ship. The place was crowded by the people who looked like a member of the pirate crew holding fire lit torches,  they moved aside as they saw me getting dragged amidst them.  

" Captain! She is here", one of the guards shouted as we came near an elevated area where a man stood facing his back wearing breeches and waistcoat of deep crimson color and having a tri cornered hat garnished with feather of an exotic bird with long brunette hair with curly long beard, had a left pegleg and having a hook in his right hand. He turned around facing us , his large black eyes glared at me.
Suddenly I had a sharp pain in my head,I was losing my balance but still pretending to stay normal in front of them. As I closed my eyes, to my astonishment I could see some unclear visions of my unknown past.  

" I will come back soon..", a middle aged man in the same attire told me before he sailed for his voyage, wind was blowing fast, suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder and I flinched and opened my eyes quickly.  

" What did I see just now? Who was the man?" , I thought facing the ground 

" Captain Kevin Keene was the only person who could cross the Sea of Cordelia and set foot on the île Maudite. He was given the power by his wife Ethel. Though he did not return as his power was limited and weaker than the curse , but you have the power in your blood,  you possess the Curse itself and only you can give me what I want. ", the man said gruffly, whom the people were referring to as Captain.  

" But...what power are you talking about? What do you want from me?", I  asked, my voice was trembling , I was demented and scared.  He frowned even more, giving a dreadful look. Suddenly the ground shook , I backed off and my eyes widened with shock as I saw those guards disappearing in a viridescent mist which engulfed me on all sides. I could barely see anything , when the surrounding got clearer and what I saw made me shout and stumble and stagger and I fell on the ground trembling, my mouth widened as I saw myself on the deck of the ship swaying on the high ripples of howling  olive green sea water , and surrounded by huge tentacles of a giant octopus , wrapping few of its tentacles with the mast.  making our ship breach as it hit the water.  

" You wanted to sea how the heart of Cordelia looks isn't it" 

" What.. are you!", I cried when I looked up and saw a strange creature walking towards me , it has a huge tentacles hanging from his lower part of the chin till his chest, he was wearing the same attire as the captain and has the same voice and his eyes were like him, he had muddy and scaly skin and had a dagger in his hand. 

" Give me your heart, your blood that is flowing inside you, the only thing that can feed my strength , my power." he said as poised his dagger towards me , my feet lost its strength and I fell down. I crawled backwards trying to get up , my eyes were fixed on his dreadly look, I soon found myself surrounded by different creatures like him having muddy skin , some had horns and spikes all over their body. I backed off until I hit the end , there was a pole behind me , no place for me to escape , I wrapped my arms around my head and closed my eyes shut as he came close when I heard him groan. He stood there with his eyes wide , dark liquid oozed out of his abdomen as he stumbled and fell down. I saw Edwin standing in front of me with a dagger covered with his dark blood.  

" Come with me!", he dragged me by my arm and we ran towards the bulkheads. Those creatures attacked us but somehow Edwin stabbed them and fought them off our way and we climbed to the top of the bulkhead. I looked down at the dirty green water, it was deep with high tides , we would surely drown to death if we jumped from there and on top of that a giant sea monster was resting his head under the water.  

" We need to jump into the water.", he said while stabbing one of the creature's neck with his dagger. 

" No way we could jump! We would die" 

" If we stay we would die here too, look!",  
I looked up , and one of the tentacles moved through the water and was about to hit us. 

" Jump!" He cried and we jumped down inside the water, it was all hazy around, I could see the tentacles inside the water attached to a giant creature resting deep into the ocean. I could barely hold my breath and all I felt was Edwin holding my hand and floating along with me before everything got dark.