Unveiled Shadows: Tales of a Lich

Chapter 14 - Brothers & Birds

Everything felt cold, colder than usual. "Am I dead?" he pondered, his thoughts adrift in a sea of uncertainty. "Where are the gods? The feast? The songs of glory and battle?" He felt lifeless, floating amongst the frozen waves. Valbrand was slowly returning to life, his entire body numb as if it had fallen asleep improperly. The pins and needles coursed through his body as he felt his body surge back to life, the water becoming warmer. Ever so slowly, the circumstances of reality started coming back to him. "Where are the ships? The Bloodreaver? The Spineripper?" He lay there, floating on the waves on his back, turning his head slowly as if to not lose his buoyancy, glancing to his left and right, seeing nothing but endless blue.

"Best not to panic..." he told himself, mustering all his strength to shift from his back into a swimming position. In the distance, a ship loomed on the horizon, prompting him to wonder, "What sails are they flying?" Desperation left little room for contemplation of what might await him aboard the vessel. He began to swim towards it with a sense of urgency, each stroke growing stronger as hope ignited his thoughts.

"Hoy!" he shouted, his voice coarse and strained. The word seemed to get stuck in his throat, but he persisted, repeating "Hoy!" repeatedly as he drew closer to the ship, each call louder and more desperate than the last. As he neared, they seemed to take notice of him, and he could see a small boat, a levy, now coming towards him. He looked up to see the faces of his rescuers on the levy and saw black sails with a white fine-pointed blade on the backdrop, looming above him. His stomach churned as he gazed upon a man with a puffy brown hat adorned with a magnificent white feather, and a long dark beard covering his jaw. "Slavers..." Valbrand thought to himself, a sense of dread washing over him.

The man with the magnificent hat glanced at Valbrand swimming in the ocean. "Aye, ya look like a wet rat who just swam up the capitol sewers," he jested, placing one flamboyant green leather high boot on the edge of the levy, revealing a crooked smile with a golden tinge. The words fell on deaf ears, as to Valbrand, they sounded like gibberish. Valbrand, unsure of what to do, began swimming away from the levy.

"Aye, not so fast! Lads, we've got ourselves a runner! Or a swimmer, I should say!" he barked, chuckling at his cleverness. The levy began paddling faster and cut off Valbrand on his course. Valbrand reached for Skullsplitter, but nothing was there. His heart sank, and his skin went colder than before. Realizing his defeat, he stopped swimming. "I should have died..." he thought to himself, shamed by the loss of his cherished family heirloom, birthright, and badge of command.

Valbrand felt as weak as a suckling babe, requiring the strength of three men just to lift him into the boat. He felt naked, his body unresponsive, lifeless, and hopeless. "Oi, this one's a mighty big one, ain't he?" quipped the preposterous leader, as they finally managed to secure Valbrand in the levy at sword and pistol point.

"Aye, he must be one o' them giant-blooded brutes we've heard tales of, livin' in shanties made o' snow and piss." one of the men on the boat commented. His attire appeared ragged and ill-fitting as if pilfered from a distant land. The long, tangled beard and the menacing glint in his eye suggested a deep-seated malice.

"If he's one o' them giant folk, why ain't he rowin' the boat with his brawn, eh?" another crew member suggested, smirking at the idea. He wore a tattered tricorn hat not quite as exuberant as their leaders, a patch over one eye, and a mismatched assortment of garments that had seen better days, with a cutlass hanging loosely at his side.

"Oi, Giant! Lend us a hand and row the boat!" barked the one in the magnificent hat, whom Valbrand presumed must be their leader.

Valbrand furrowed his brow in confusion, trying to decipher their unfamiliar dialect. "What are they saying?" he pondered silently, his mind racing with suspicion. "They'll trade me to the highest bidder the moment they get a chance." Caught in a whirlwind of thoughts and uncertainty, he remained motionless, ignoring the leader's command.