Landon felt the shiver of death set over him and instinctually, he knew that he was about to die.
Growing up as he had, there had been no shortage of times when Landon thought he was about to die. One of his earliest memories had been fighting against the currents of the sea, gasping for breath, feeling his muscles weaken. Another instance had been after a particularly violent beating where Landon was bleeding and he knew that he'd lost too much blood already and if he didn't get it to stop he would die.
This sensation was unlike any of the times before. To Landon, death had always been about an inner weakness, a failing of his own body. This was something external. This was looking into the eyes of another creature and somehow knowing that it had just made up its mind to kill you and there was nothing you could do about it.
For the first time in his life, Landon felt the terror of knowing that death was coming, that it was inevitable, and that no matter how quickly his mouse-heart beat, the cat before him was going to kill him. Not because the cat had taken some insult in his action, not because the cat was angry and needed to take it out, not even because the cat was cruel. Simply because that was what cats did to mice.
And then, the captain stepped between them.
The captain was saying something but Landon could not process his words. All he could hear were the crashing waves against the ship and the relief screaming in his ears. Landon wasn't about to die. The captain had saved his life, perhaps unwittingly, perhaps otherwise. Landon really, really did not care right now.
All he cared was that the silver eyes of the thief, the silver eyes of death incarnate, had moved on from Landon.
"-just a misunderstanding," he said.
"Is that so?" the captain asked. "Apologies for him. Landon is one of the junior members of my crew. Only been sailing for a couple of years. He's a good worker, better than most of those boys, but he still hasn't the experience to-"
"Landon?" The stranger's tongue curled around Landon's name, sending a small shiver of terror down his spine. "That's your name?"
"Ye- yes," Landon said.
This stranger, this Ray, pursed his lips. They were painfully pretty things. A bit like rose petals in both their hue and shape. They did not seem to suit him at all. And yet, at the same time, Landon could not see him without his fine features. They made sense in a way. Beautiful things were oftentimes the most deadly.
"If you," Ray said, his voice soft, almost considerate, but there was something else there too, some unseen power that made the hair on the back of Landon's neck stand at attention, "or anyone else on this ship dares to touch me again, I will not hesitate to throw them overboard without arms or legs to assist in their swim back to shore."
Despite his neutral tone, Landon did not doubt the violence of his words for a moment.
"I'm sure it won't come to that," the captain said.
"Good," Ray said. "I'll take my leave now."
Those words reawakened the reason why Landon had approached this person in the first place. "H-hey!" he shouted. "What about my dagger?"
Ray turned to look at Landon, then at the captain, his chin tilted upwards in challenge.
"This was the misunderstanding I was speaking of," Ray said. "This... boy," There was a disgust in how he spat the word out, "seems to believe that I have any use for his possessions. Please keep him from bothering me."
"Yes, of course," the captain said, clasping Landon's shoulder and leading him away from the other person.
"But-"
"Landon," the captain said, cutting off Landon's protest before it was able to fully manifest. "Walk with me?"
Landon did not want to. He feared that if he walked away now, he might never find his dagger. It was ridiculous. They were on a ship and there were only so many places that this person could go but Landon was more worried that he'd be convinced that this really was some kind of misunderstanding. Which it was not. He knew that this person before him was Ray and he knew that he was the one who had stolen the only heirloom Landon had.
However, when he looked into the captain's eyes, he saw something that made him nod his head. The captain was an old man. Spindly and thin with a wispy white beard, he was not like most of the captains that sailed through Jihn. The captain was a Sea Child, just like Landon. He'd been the one to give Landon his first job. He was someone that Landon looked up to and admired.
So, when he saw that helplessness, that desperation for Landon to just comply, in the captain's eyes, Landon couldn't do anything but nod his head.
Ray disappeared into the ship and Landon walked with the captain up to the ship's bridge. With each step he took, Landon felt as though he was collapsing in on himself. His dagger was probably somewhere on this ship, somewhere within his reach, but Landon was willingly letting someone else keep it from him.
"It's not a misunderstanding," Landon said.
The captain looked at Landon, lips pitched down in a frown. "I know," he said. It was more of an acquisition than Landon had been expecting.
"Then why are we just letting him-" Landon scowled. "We should tie him up and throw him to the guards. He's a thief."
"I agree," the captain said.
"But?"
The captain sighed and shook his head. "There are some people in this world who just... they ain't like the rest of us, Landon. That boy is one of them." The captain shut his eyes and suddenly looked very, very old and very, very tired. "I agree that he deserves to rot in a cell for all that he's done, and really, stealing your dagger is the least of his sins, but... there is no way that people like us could put him there."
"He's a murderer?" Landon asked though it wasn't much of a question. He knew that Ray would have killed him if the captain had not stepped in when he did. Ray still might kill him.
"Yes," the captain said.
Landon had met killers before. Soldiers, after all, were just murderers who were given gold for their crimes by the crown. Ray seemed different than them, somehow. He lacked that air of righteousness that some soldiers had. He lacked the bloodlust of the rest of them.
"I'm going to get my dagger back," Landon said.
"You are going to get yourself killed," the captain said. "He won't hesitate to rip your stomach out, you know."
"I don't care," Landon said.
That was what it came down to. Landon had no desire to die - in fact, he was rather attached to being alive - but he simply did not care. If dying is what it took to get back that piece of himself, of his parents, then Landon would die with his dagger in his hand.
"Don't be stupid, boy," the captain said.
"I'm not," Landon said.
The captain looked as though he distinctly did not believe Landon. "You won't be able to enter his chambers. He only ever leaves them when we're at a port and if your dagger is the thing he's been after, he will take it with him."
"Then I'll sneak in when he's sleeping. Or I'll bring him food or go in to clean." Landon fixed the captain with a stubborn glare. "He stole my dagger. I'm going to get it back from him."
"I hope you do Landon but... you have to know what he is."
Perhaps there was some truth to the captain's words and perhaps the fear in his eyes was valid. "He's just another person," Landon said.
Despite those eyes which spoke of a predator, Ray was a human and like all humans, he would have moments of vulnerability. He had to sleep and eat just like all of the rest of them. So long as that remained true, Landon was sure that he would be able to get his dagger back eventually. He didn't care how long it took, he would have his dagger back.
But the captain shook his head. "Landon, you don't understand. I know you don't believe in these kinds of things but I've seen it." The captain looked up, eyes sunken into their sockets. "He's a demon."
"A... demon?" Landon echoed.
"It's true," the captain said. "He's not human. No human could do what he can do."
Landon thinned his lips. There was something... off about Ray. About the way, that fire had started. It had happened too quickly. It had burned the wrong color. And... Landon couldn't be sure that he hadn't dreamed it but... in the end, he swore he saw Ray walk through the flames and he was not burned by them. But that didn't mean he was a... there was no such thing as...
"His father was one too," the captain added, quickly. "The whole bloodline. That's the reason why Alyra is so powerful."
"What's Alyra got to do with any of this?" Landon asked.
The captain frowned. "Because... the Ash Emperor is the man who stole your dagger."