"Scalpel," The Idriolan man with the spiky hair hands the Rahasian snake-skinned doctor a blade. The rest of the Lune surgical team stands watch. Arms folded in silence.
Observing the twisted body of the combined Matriarch of Truth and Lord of Deceit on the operating slab.
"Please don't." The combined voices beg. "Don't cut us apart."
"We will make you whole again." The blue-haired Okami woman responds. "Better."
The snake-skinned doctor grins. "We've all undergone the ordeal of surgery. Slice away the excess." The knife plunges and the two-faced creature on the slab howls in agony. Cato curls up into a ball in the corner, holding his hands to cover his new eyes. Wanting to tear them out, but unable to because of the biting metal set into him.
Another cut. The creature on the slab starts morphing, undone by the heated knife edge. "...after the pain ends, that is."
***
I stand at the bow of the ship, my fish-scale jacket snug on my shoulders again. The dice warm. Familiar.
Kura Nur rubs her hands along the ship ends, cloaking the wooden sides so they blended in with the ocean waves and sky.
Soleil, wary-eyed, sticks close to Kura. Ode's allowed her to roam without her manacles, designating Kura her chaperone. Something that Sol seems highly satisfied with.
The Witch Queen Malika draws some runes, gathering the sails of the Rahasian naval ship, claiming the most favorable trade winds.
And Farzaneh...
Two hands cover my eyes. "Guess who?"
I whip around and my nose ends up enveloped in waves of black hair. "The scent of coffee. Must be..."
The hands uncover my eyes. I blush with how close we are together. She winks at me. "Everyone's favorite deadly witch. Though Malika would argue that."
Ode and Kane, meanwhile, decide to plot beneath the ship decks. Leaving me to stare down my highly trained, legal ship's crew. The naval beauty's called The Arnina, after Emperor Elio's firstborn daughter.
The Arnina's crew stare back at me with suspicion, having been ordered to obey a total stranger. And a former pirate at that.
"We must reach Lune before the gate closes." I clear my throat. "Set to work. Mind the wind that the Witch Queen's controlling. It's smoother than leaving it up to chance, but magic is unpredictable."
They stay a moment longer, testing my authority.
Suddenly, a familiar presence at my side. I catch a glimpse of sharp features and stick-thin hair. A Dragon Veil tattoo, just healing. Knives stuck beneath a bandeau. "You heard him!"
The crew, disgruntled, reluctantly sets about their duties.
I turn around to receive a reassuring hug from Ali. She sticks her tongue out at me, holding up a flask of mead. "Ode promised me limitless party supplies if I agreed to be your first mate again."
"And Xander?" I try to keep the hope from my voice. I fail. I miss the Kona, no matter how fine a ship the Arnina is.
"Still devastated over Jun and studying holy scrolls." Ali hugs Farzaneh next, Ali pulling away when she's uncomfortable with too much physical touch considering her past. "He sends best wishes for a most deadly journey though."
"Sounds like he wants us to sink." Fari snorts.
Ali shrugs. "Not if I'm around." She scratches her head. "How scary can a bunch of scientists be anyways?"
This time, a gruff voice. One we haven't heard in a long time. A dragging step. A metallic click and a whir, half a body cloaked in metal. The breast lit with a forge fire.
Ali nervously shuffles her feet at seeing Sol, miraculously cowed by Kura's presence. "The Lunes cut me in half and then remade me." Sol declares. "That's how cruel they can be."
Then Kura pulls her away, a gentle arm against her bicep. A gentle tug on her limp braids.
We work in nervous silence then.
Never forgetting the horror in Sol's eyes as she said that.
***
Hey Pirates,
Thanks for the votes and comments. Love you, fam.
-Sophia