Empress of the Sea|✔️

Chapter 7

Rewritten
***
Three Years After Sheries' Ship Sank

Captain Aeryn Branche of the White Crow stood on her ship with one leg on a barrel, her hands wrapped around a compass, and her eyes fixed upon the needle that didn't know where to point.

After three hard years of non-stop work, Aeryn built herself a ship, a crew, and a "stable" salary.

The first year, she discovered an all-female ship and worked there as a sailing master. She was glad her hard studying of fifteen years before she worked with Captain Sheries became her identity rather than her gender. As a sailing master, she received loads of respect for being able to read the maps, study the currents, and track their location. It had been the skill she studied for five years. Her father, trained in mathematics and cartography, made it his duty to teach her everything he knew when he got diagnosed with an incurable disease.

She applied to be a sailing master aboard Captain Sheries ship, and it did not work out as she hoped.

In the third year, she started taking many jobs to raise enough money to buy herself a ship. Later on, Erel found a ship with no one alive on board. So Aeryn merely used the money to fix the old ship up. After building up her crew which mainly comprised people Erel had saved and brought to the island and being voted captain by them, she set sail.

She could breathe the fresh air, feeling excited for no good reason other than being free.

Today was her birthday, and she woke to a whisper in her ear. The glowing entity based her ear as she slept in the Captain's Quarters whispered what sounded like a curse. But she ignored it because it must've been a dream.

Some time from now, you will encounter your enemy for the first time, but not the last. Your enemy will tear away everything from you—especially the things you take for granted. You will fight them for revenge in your second encounter. The outcome has not been determined. The day you lose everything you cared for will be the day of your awakening as the Empress. Until then, know that the Sea God had chosen you.

It made sense, but not really. Aeryn had heard about the curses captains would get on the first birthday they spend on their ship. She used to think it was nonsense until she heard those words. It did not bother her, but she should've paid more attention to her "curse." She'd already forgotten everything the voice said. Everything fell apart and left her brain, similar to how a dream vanishes moments after waking up. All that forgetting did was add stress to her plate, but at least she didn't have to remember the details of her curse. Eventually, she would face it.

"Capt'n," said a voice.

"What is it, Iona?"

Iona, the quartermaster of the White Crow, stood behind the captain, scroll in hand. "Another ship has fallen to the Black Egret."

The Black Egret, the ship that sank Captain Sheries's ship and everyone in it. "What's so special this time. They've been at it for the last three years."

Iona flinched, not knowing how to respond. "Capt'n...this time they sank a ship from the British Navy. There are no survivors."

"What?" Aeryn, unsure of how to react, fiddled her fingers around themselves. "The British Navy?"

"Yes, Capt'n."

"What is their last known location?"

"They were last spotted about five hundred miles south of where we are now."

She nodded her head to herself, glad that the Black Egret was nowhere near. "Tomorrow, we'll head to Aerel."

Iona's eyes widened. "But, Capt'n, Aerel is over two hundred miles northwest."