Legacies || Hermitcraft

Chapter XII - The Empath

Mind reading, it was really quite the useful skill. Sure, the click of an empty gun when the trigger was pulled was what really gave it away, but Keralis had had a feeling that the crew were actually bluffing. The naval officers, suddenly more confident now that they knew the pirates were essentially unarmed, made no attempt to wipe the smug smirks from their faces. "Well then, let's get through with these arrest warrants, shall we?"

The only thing Keralis respected about pirates was their ability to improvise. Even though he'd refused to help them, even though they were unarmed, and even though the captain was livid, they'd managed to fight the navy off and escape before backup could be called. Needless to say, nobody was particularly impressed with how he'd ruined their plans, but it wasn't as if they could get rid of him with empty guns. 

He'd been thrown below deck, as the cuffs had been destroyed during the fight and he couldn't be let hear anyone for fear he'd trick them into letting him go. The first mate came down an hour or so after they'd escaped, and Keralis couldn't tell if his bloody nose was from the fight they'd gotten into or the captain's rage. He dragged Keralis to his feet, pulling him up the stairs and onto the deck, seething with anger and loathing. 

"You're a real riot, you know that?" He spat bitterly. "Now half the crew's been beaten bloody, the captain's throwing a fit, and I've been left to get rid of you."

Keralis froze, digging his heels into the ground and forcing the two of them to stop. "Get rid of me? I thought you wanted to keep me on board to help you."

"We did, and then you resisted the captain's orders and almost got all of us thrown in the slammer. We'd be much happier to have you dead than alive, and it's far easier to kill you than to try and convince some rich bloke to buy you off of us."

Keralis frowned at the idea as he was pulled along by the first mate. He'd much rather be dead than left to spend the rest of his life as nothing more than a treasure to show off at parties, especially after all he'd done to try and keep himself away from such a fate. He knew so many like him who'd been thrown onto a lifetime of debt and servitude, and if avoiding that life meant forfeiting his own life altogether, so be it.

Even as he was led onto the deck and towards the plank, Keralis held his head high. For years he'd been trying to retain his dignity as a magic user with no home or wealth to his name, and this was no time to stop. 

"So... Do we knock him out first, or tie him up so he can't swim and then throw him in?" One pirate questioned. The first mate sighed, pinching the bridge of his bruised nose between his index finger and thumb, his frustration radiating off of him like waves of fire.

"I don't care how you get it done, I want him dead and off this boat within the next thirty seconds." He instructed. Several pirates glanced at each other, before one shrugged and grabbed a hold of Keralis. One hand was held over his mouth and nose, the other locking him in a chokehold and leaving him unable to breathe. 

Keralis kept trying to draw a breath, relentlessly struggling against his captors, but to no avail. He tried to summon his magic, to gain some form of control over their emotions, but was panicking too much to use it efficiently. It didn't take long for him to become lightheaded and his vision to blur, and within seconds he'd collapsed into the pirate's arms, unconscious. 

The next thing Keralis was aware of was the fact that he was breathing. He didn't think much of it at first, his mind too foggy to remember what had happened or where he was. Bits and pieces of it slowly came together, the memories reconstructing themselves inside his head. He remembered being dragged onto the deck, grabbed by the neck until he passed out, brief glances of the ocean surrounding him, and something, or perhaps even someone, pulling him out of his own watery grave.