The Different Ship

11

Azhar had been sleepless for days after had sent the letter to The Other Council. He sat in his cabin, his hair a mess and leaning on one of his hands staring down at his desk. The council usually blow him, them, and his ship off because of what they were. No other magical beings get along with vampires because they have to drain others to live. Azhar isn't innocent, he himself had done it before but its how he lives, how his life is sustained. Draining others of their life forces, but this wasn't about him or his ship. It was about Rune, the fragile human girl that came aboard the wrong ship.

Azhar forced himself to stand to his feet, grabbing his hat and walked out of his cabin into the wheelhouse. He made his way out to the deck to make his normal rounds. The deck looked dead, his crew was working but time seemed to be trudging along. He expected Rune to suddenly come running out and fix one of their mistakes, this was odd for Azhar this feeling. His heart was heavy for her, he wished to see her, take her back. A small broken smile formed as he thought about it, it made his heart swell she always is on his mind.

As he made his round all of his crew seemed sluggish but it was getting done, not at the pace it ever had. Has that girl really that much of an impact on the ship? He didn't realize it until she was gone, or she just did anything to help keep the ship together. Time ticked my even slower as they neared Galahad's charted territory. Azhar let out a gravely sigh and headed back towards the wheelhouse when he stopped, spotting a white falcon perched on top of the roof of the wheelhouse, his eyes widened in realization on what that was. The Others Councils symbol hung around its neck as it let out a loud squall and flew over to him as he clicked his tongue, holding out his arm. Upon its leg was a letter, he was in shock that they took their time out to respond to him.

"They actually responded this is a shock." he said taking it off the bird before letting it go. He closed his eyes and suddenly appeared at his desk in his cabin, his hands clammy and shaking as he slowly pried up the wax seal. A bright illuminated as they paper came out on its own and stood up on its own in front of him.

"Azharis Vaduva, why have you summoned a presence with us, what mess do we have to clean up of yours this time?" a male's voice projected as the light dimmed. It was a small group of The Others Council on the other side of the letter. A better explanation of it, it was the heads of it themselves. He couldn't tell who was who due to they had their faces covered for safety reasons. Azhar's eyes narrowed at the use of his full name.

"No mess, it is actually an urgent matter, one of my fellow shipmates had been taken from me during the last storm." He said leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. They sighed and shook their head which angered Azhar; he dug his nails into his arm and holding his tongue.

"Sir Vaduva, how do you know they didn't just leave? You can't just assume they were taken, now can you? Storms can be a treacherous thing on a ship; they could have just been flung off no?" A female's voice rang out to him, he snarled and turned his head more into the light showing the bags under his eyes.

"Azharis, why do you look so, well to put it bluntly... you look worse than you ever have." Someone else spoke out; he tried to take a breath but snapped his head over to them.

"It was not just a damn crew member, it was a girl! Not just any girl, she was a damn human and Galahad took her! Now are you going to sit here and belittle me or are you going to help me?" he snapped at them his eyes beginning to faintly glow, his mouth opened as he let out a small hiss.

"How can we be so sure that you don't want us to help because she tried to get away and he saved her?" they asked him, narrowing their eyes behind their hoods, he leaned in and went to snap at them again as Arab walked into the cabin. He walked up to the desk with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed at them.