Hey, guys! Guess who's back!;D Also, Happy late Easter to you all!
~Ashlee
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Delia's knees slam against the deck. Pain shoots through her, but she grits her teeth and bares it. Perched on their knees on her right are both Tavius and Maude.
They don't realize it, but they ruined my plans of escape. Delia thinks, more sad than angry at the two men.
Kagon is suddenly thrown down beside her. His sky blue eyes are jagged pieces of sharp stone, his jaw clenches with anger and fierce determination. In spite of their situation, some kind of affection stirs in her chest as she looks at him.
"You betrayed my trust." Captain Baymont seethes. His eyes are on Tavius and Maude, but they cut to Kagon and Delia just as quickly. "Both of you were not involved with the attempted escape of your friend's, which is something I commend you for. However, you will share the same fate as them, so I'd blame them for all the misery that is in store." He lets out a dark chuckle.
When Delia looks at Tavius, he gives her an apologetic look. She tries to send him a reassuring smile, but is immediately sent reeling backwards by a hard slap.
"You will look at me and only me." Baymont shouts, looming over her with an open hand.
She can't help but flinch when he brings his hand close to her face as if he is going in to hit her once more. Delia's eyes zip over to Kagon, trying to stay strong as Captain Baymont leans over her threateningly.
Captain Baymont follows the direction in which she is looking. Instead of slapping her once more for not keeping her gaze on him, he smiles sinisterly. His lips curl into a cruel smirk. "I should have known." Baymont chuckles quietly, so only she can hear. "You're in love with him, aren't you?"
Delia's eyes widen, but she immediately hardens her features.
"Ah, ah, ah." Captain Baymont wags a finger. "It is too late for you to try and hide it. I already know the truth." Baymont leans in closer. As he speaks, his lips graze her ear. "Shall I assist you in admitting your affections? Perhaps I'll even teach you a crucial lesson." He moves away from her so Delia can see the upturn of his ugly lips. "Love is dangerous."
At his words, horror infiltrates every fibre of her being. Delia desperately clings to showing a brave face, but it easily crumbles. "Don't you dare! Leave him alone!"
Her friends, having not heard the conversation, look on in worried confusion.
Captain Baymont scuttles over to Kagon like some disgusting bug that Delia aches to squash. Kagon looks up at him with a sharp and rebellious gaze.
Baymont smirks and unsheathes his sword. Delia screams. His weapon comes down. But it stops right at Kagon's neck.
Delia's chest heaves, her eyes zeroing in on the closeness of steel to flesh. Throughout all of this, Kagon looks forward levelly. In spite of this, Delia can still make out the quick rise and fall of his chest.
Captain Baymont laughs maniacally, giving Delia a sideways glance. "Love is dangerous, but perhaps there is a little bit of an old romantic in me." He admits almost sheepishly. "Perhaps I will be merciful if you scoot a little closer to your love and tell him and everyone," he gestures around at all his crew gathered to watch, "how you really feel."
Delia breathes out through her nose, trying to still her panic as she inches closer to Kagon.
"That's a friendly closeness." Baymont comments. "But that isn't all Kagon is to you, is he? So, I advice you slide closer. It might help to instill the merciful old romantic in me."
Delia moves closer, to the point that she presses against his side. Only then does Kagon look at her. "Delia, what is he talking about? What is going on?"
"Please, don't say anything." Delia begs, cheeks red and eyes brimming with tears. She takes a breath and closes her eyes for a moment before opening them, but she only feels worse.
"Kagon." Captain Baymont interrupts before Delia can harden her nerves. "Do you know Delia's feelings for you?"
"Of course."
Delia's heart trills like a flute.
"I am her friend."
The trilling immediately turns into the deflated sound of a tuba.
"Oh, this is hilarious!" Captain Baymont cackles. "He still doesn't even have a clue!
Pure rage crashes against Delia's inside like the waves beating on a sandy shore. Her grey-blue eyes become even more stormy in appearance. I am done being played like a lovesick fool by this Captain! I will not allow him to manipulate me like my father did! I am no longer anyone's puppet, I am free!
Kagon's forehead wrinkles in frustrated anger. "Delia, what in the Fates' Golden String--"
"Sticks and Stones, you idiot! I love you!" Delia shouts, then she does something that not even she expects. Delia throws her arms around Kagon's neck and smashes her lips on to his. Her teeth awkwardly clink against his and she has no idea what she is doing. So, logically Delia deepens the kiss, running her hands through Kagon's golden hair and committing to memory the chafe of his stubble against her face.
Just as quickly as it begins, it ends with Delia shoving him away from her as if nothing ever happened. Delia looks at Kagon from the corner of her eye, but his expression is unreadable.
Captain Baymont claps slowly, grinning from ear to ear. "If you both wouldn't fetch a pretty coin at the Shadowlands then I'd keep you for entertainment!"
Delia scowls at him, the kiss causing courage to fill her. "Just throw us into the brig with the rest of your cargo already, you pig." She spits.
Baymont's face turns from amusement to anger within a second. "Do as the shrew says and toss them with the other cargo!" He shouts.
Delia and her friends are roughly grabbed and dragged over the plank connecting The Dogfish and The Sea Sorceress. Kagon's skin becomes ghostly pale as he stares down at the churning sea below. Delia watches as he squeezes his eyes shut, looking sick.
Once they're on the deck of the The Dogfish, Delia and her friends are dragged down a flight of stairs. As they descend deeper into the ship, Delia's nose is hit with the overpowering odor of human excrement. It takes all of her willpower not to gag as the smell only increases the closer they get to the brig.
What kind of conditions are these poor people in? She wonders. However, Delia does not have time to wonder long as she is shoved down the last couple steps that lead into the brig.
Delia lands hard, letting out a groan that turns into a yelp when one of Captain Baymont's crew mates yanks her ankle up, cuffs it in a metal chain, and locks the other end of the chain to the nearest wooden post.
"Enjoy your stay!" The crewmen snigger after they chain all of them. She hears their feet thumping back up the stairs. Delia's face twists into a wince at the sound of the heavy door slamming, leaving her and her friends alone in the meager light the flickering lanterns and few portholes provide.
Delia soon finds that they are not quite alone as she thought when she looks around them. People upon people are stacked side by side like crates waiting for shipment. The elderly, women, and children make up the majority of the crowd. Their gaunt faces and haunting eyes cause a chill to trace its way up her spine and eventually spread throughout her whole body despite the oppressive heat of the brig.
"Are you all alright?" A hoarse, dehydrated voice croaks. The voice belongs to an old man with a dark-skinned, weathered face, and soulful eyes.
"Yes, thank you." Delia says quietly, afraid that if she speaks too loudly then the people will crumble to dust.
"How long have you all been down here?" Kagon asks, voice tinged with disgust and outrage.
The old man lifts up a shoulder in a shrug.
"Poor bastards." Delia hears Maude mutter.
There is silence and then, "We will get you all out of here as soon as possible." Kagon promises. "Don't give up hope yet, I am Kagon of Pik, hero of all the lands."
No one within the crowd of half-dead people speaks, not even the old man.
When all the hope that there is is a flicker from a lantern and the sunlight filtered through grimy glass, faith is most easily lost within the the shadows of what could have been.