Winds of Fate [Books I-III]

Chapter Twenty-Six: Treasures

What could it be? Her mind is conjuring up different scenarios that could have been. Perhaps he lost a lover? Perhaps he was once a soldier for the Crown, who got disillusioned? Eleanore sighs, pressing her fingers to her forehead.

This is exactly why I do not want this. She mournfully muses. My heart knows no bounds when it latches itself to another. I give everything away...Despite it, Eleanore also knows that Anton is different from John. The mere fact she can put her very life in the hands of one and not the other testifies to that. Even if this does end in a heart ache...

It will be worth it.

She sighs. And I will fight for it.

Opening the door, she peeps a little. "Captain?"

"Lenore." He stands from his desk. "I am proud of you with the rigging."

"Oh." She pushes herself in, closing the door gently behind her. Eleanore smiles. "Thank you, I worked hard in memorizing the knots. Nigel told me, a true sea salt would've been able to tie and untie them in the dark." Eleanore shrugs. "I have yet to do it in the dark, but...I hope I'll be able to."

Anton nods. "I cannot agree more."

"I take it...there is something else?"

He takes off his coat, setting it on the chair. The Captain hesitates for a moment. "We have not...spoken more about what you found in Havana." He frowns. "Forgive me, I was quite occupied."

"I thought the talk of spirits agitate you," Eleanore carefully says, "And so, I have not broached it." She sighs, "But recently? I have no progress. And for the ancestral spirits I have met-"

"Ancestral...spirits?"

"Yes," Eleanore murmurs, "The goddess that my once grandmother had served. My ancestress...she came from a family of priests. I met this goddess, goddesses actually, in Havana. The amulet led me to her." 

The Captain gapes. "Oh...I see." Then he scowls. "No."

"What?"

"Priests...then it means-" He stops, pointing to her necklace. "The medallion...it is calling for you all this time."

"Yes, that is also my guess." She walks toward the table. "And there is...this...one little thing I have not yet told you. But which the spirit in the ring told me."

"What is it?"

"He thinks it is the Sea-Devil behind his imprisonment...And that this same devil has a hand in how the New World is plunged into centuries of bloodshed-" At this, the Captain's face changes. He looks to the map, walking far away from his desk. "Have you ever heard of...? I mean, sure you have...there are tons of superstitions about him - Davy Jones?"

"I have." 

Eleanore freezes. "What do you-"

The Captain turns to face her now. "Lenore, listen to me."

"Who is he?" she demands, stepping back. "Why does his mere name vexes you so?"

"Lenore," Anton ignores her question, "Do not trifle with darkness! What if this dark spirit is merely using you, for his own ends?"

"I know what I am dealing with!" She holds her amulet, as if warding him away. 

He clenches his hands to fists. "You do not understand, the repercussions-"

"Then tell me why! You keep on warning me without telling me why-"

"Magic," Anton steps closer to her, "Has a price."