Bucc staggered onto the beach and collapsed into the golden sands. Moving was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do but he knew he had to. Every inch of him ached. He pushed through the pain and helped Milla to her feet. Neri plastered herself flat against his back and seemed content to stay there. 

During their approach of the island he’d noticed a village. He hadn’t been sure as he had fought against the waves and his own exhaustion, but now he was closer he could barely believe his eyes. They had left the riftway right beside Cantruug. The odds of that were astronomical. Neri had to be involved somehow, but Buc didn’t have the time to dwell on it. He was just thankful to be on familiar ground.

“You know this place?” Milla asked him.

“Yeah. Cantruug is a wheat island with one of the busier port villages in the Fourth Sea. My ship, the Singing Seal, used to come here for supplies. It was the last island we visited before my Awakening. I wouldn’t call it beautiful but I’ve always felt at peace here. Maybe you will too.”

They walked across the beach towards the familiar buildings of Three Potatoes, but with every step a feeling that something wasn’t quite right was creeping over Bucc. The air smelled different. Even the general noises of a pirate settlement seemed muted. There were the clangs of hammers but Bucc couldn’t hear cheers, arguments, or drunken singing.

He stepped up a ramp that led into the village and was immediately struck by how dour the few villagers he could see were. More concerning though were the scortchmarks across several walls and construction sites where previously there had been warehouses. Something bad had happened. Bucc felt his stomach lurch. He stumbled over to a broad workman who stood nearby.

“What happened?”

The man looked at him blankly. “What happened? You been livin’ under a shell? That happened,” he said, pointing discreetly across the street towards a fur clad pirate. Bucc instantly recognised it as the clothing of the northern pirates. He tried to press the man further but he refused to explain anything else, instead casting fearful looks towards the northerner. 

“Let’s try the tavern,” Bucc suggested. Everyone knew that taverns were the best place for news and stories.

Bucc led the way through the familiar streets toward the village’s largest tavern. They noticed several of the northern pirates standing at corners or in doorways as they passed. The tavern still stood but two of the northerners were guarding the entrance. The hanging sign naming the tavern as the Guiding Spud was missing and there were no sounds of revelry within.

“The Ashenna are using this building as a command post. This island’s been occupied,” Milla explained quietly. She hung back in the shadows and watched the northern pirates with a mix of caution and burning hatred. 

“What? That can’t be right. We’re far from the Northern Seas here. No fleet could get this far and capture an island in the few days we were gone.”

“I’ve seen enough occupied islands over the last few months. This is definitely one of them.”

“We’ll speak with Mister Blackfoot. He’s a farmer I know. He’ll fill us in on what’s happening.”

“Just be careful. It’s possible that our descriptions have been passed around. Pyrefist isn’t one for leaving loose ends. We don’t want every Ashenna pirate on our backs. I can fight off a few, but not an entire garrison.”

“No killing. We’re just going to keep our heads down, okay?”

“Until the need arises, sure.”

Bucc started down a street that led inland and stopped suddenly. Milla immediately took a fighting stance but it wasn’t a threat that Bucc had seen. He thought that he had recognised a woman in the distance, but she had disappeared through a doorway before he could tell for sure. Everything else slipped from his mind and he found himself veering towards the building. He approached the door and knocked. There was a long moment of silence then the door inched open. A scarred man that Buc didn’t know answered. Bucc couldn’t see past him to look into the room beyond.

“What?” the man asked him gruffly.

“Sorry. I… er, I thought I recognised the woman that just came in here.”

“Buccaneer?” said a woman’s voice from behind the man. The door opened wider, allowing Bucc to see clearly inside. It was a shabby, unfurnished room where several people were standing around. All of them turned their attention to the door. Bucc knew several of those faces. 

The woman rushed forward, roughly shoving the man to the side before wrapping Bucc in a crushing embrace. 

“Ma, you’re going to kill me,” Bucc weezed. 

“We thought you were dead,” his mum sobbed. Bucc had never seen her cry before. Her Shayla bounded up onto his shoulder and brushed her head against his while purring loudly. “You were on the ship, then there was fire everywhere. We managed to escape but nobody could find any sign of you. I’m so happy you’re okay. How did you even find us here?”

“Luck, I guess,” he answered. “Is everyone here?”

“Most of us, though a lot has happened since you disappeared. The world has changed so much. Where have you been for all of this time?”

Bucc frowned. “You’re making it seem like I’ve been gone for ages.”

His mum looked into his eyes as though she was trying to read him. Her shaking fingers brushed his cheek tentatively, like she wasn’t quite convinced that he was real.

“Tell me what happened,” she told him in an unsure voice.

“It’s complicated. You remember this girl? Well this is Milla and she has a weird connection to the blanks. They came and carried us away from the ship. You won’t believe me but we ended up at the Shores of the Nexus. From there we hopped into the riftway and got thrown out right next to Cantruug. It’s been a crazy few days. But what about you? I’m impressed that you managed to get from the border seas all the way here in the few days it took us to find the riftway. Were you picked up by another ship and rifted straight here?”

“Bucc, it’s been over a year since the Seal was destroyed.”

The words hit him like a hammer. He took a step back, stunned. Milla rushed past him and grabbed his mum by the shirt, a savage snarl on her face.

“What do you mean we’ve been gone a year? Where is Pyrefist?”

Bucc’s mum was a strong woman who was one of the raid leaders back on the Seal. Even she was intimidated by the flames that burned in the girl’s eyes.

“As soon as the Seal was destroyed, Captain Pyrefist sent his fleet south. We got reports that most of the north was already under his control but their resources were stretched to breaking point. The local pirate lords tried to bargain with him, then after that they tried to fight him, but neither worked. The Ashenna crews don’t fight like pirates. They’re organised and battle without any passion. Nothing we did slowed them down. In the year that you two were gone, three quarters of the south has fallen to the Ashenna Empire.”

“So the world belongs to him now,” Milla said in a low, threatening voice. “Where is he? I’ve waited too long to kill him already.”

“I’d give up on that if I were you, child,” Bucc’s mum tried to soothe her. “Our job now is to make the best life that we can out of what remains. That’s just a fact of life. Pyrefist is too powerful. He wiped out the entire southern alliance in a series of decisive victories. Even without his ships, he single handedly sunk several of our best vessels. To face him is a fool’s dream.”

“Maybe I am a fool. So tell me, where is Pyrefist?”

Bucc’s mum sighed deeply. Bucc knew the feeling. After a moment of thought she relented. “He returned north. I assume he returned to pacify the last holdouts. A smaller fleet led by his daughter is moving on the remnants of the southern alliance. I’d expect that within another year everything will belong to the Ashenna.”

Bucc stepped between the two women. He had his own questions that he wanted answering.

“Where’s Pa?”

“Your Pa and me got separated after the Seal. His boat ended up fleeing to a different island. We managed to exchange messages. He’s currently with Lord Captain Steeledge and the remaining ships of the Southern Alliance. A few of us were actually just preparing to sail down there to lend a hand.”

Bucc felt a sudden hope. Lord Captain Steeledge was known throughout the southern seas as a master swordsman and charismatic leader. He had risen to the rank of lord captain very quickly and was considered by many to be the best tactician alive. Surely somebody with his reputation could oppose the Ashenna.

“But didn’t you just say that standing against Pyrefist was a fool’s dream?”

His mum smiled. “We’re pirates. Foolishness is in our blood.”

“Good. I’m coming with you,” Milla interrupted. “Until I can track Pyrefist down, I’ll have to settle for sending him a clear message. Beating the Red Demon will be a good start. I owe her for the last time we came face to face.” She stepped back to the door. “I’m going to scout out this island. I’ll be back soon.” Then she was gone.

“That’s quite the young lass you’ve found there, Buccaneer,” his mum told him in an overly sweet voice. “She’s got the fiery spirit of a real pirate, though she’s maybe a bit too cold and focused for her own good. A bit of work and she’d make a good wife. Very pretty.”

“Shut up,” Bucc snapped. He could feel a blush spreading across his cheeks. “I’ve only known her for a few days in our time. Forget about that though. Where are Adward and Jesse?”

His mum’s smile disappeared. “Come on inside and find a seat. We have a lot to catch you up on.”

Bucc’s heart dropped. It must have shown on his face because his mum quickly changed her tone.

“Don’t worry! It’s nothing like that. Adward and Jesse are both alive. It’s just that, well, a lot happened when you disappeared and the Seal was destroyed. I don’t want you to blame yourself or anything, but the fire was devastating. Most of us got out without serious burns but Jesse tried to save you. She got too close…”

Bucc felt his knees grow weak. He sat down heavily on a nearby stool. “Is she okay?”

“She got some really bad burns. I’ll not lie to you, Bucc, straight after Pyrefist’s attack it was touch and go if she would survive. She recovered relatively quickly. Thankfully it was mostly superficial damage. It took a toll on her mind though. She was always quiet, but afterwards she wouldn’t even speak to Adward. One night they just left. They took a boat and sailed off. We haven’t seen them in months.”

It took Bucc a few moments to process this information. He sagged in his seat as a million thoughts and feelings crossed his mind. 

“It was my weakness that got her hurt. Captain Pyrefist pulled my strings like I was a puppet and because I couldn’t control my powers I destroyed our home and hurt my friend. He wouldn’t even have been there if I hadn’t run away.”

His mum didn’t say anything. She just bent down and hugged him. The gesture was filled to bursting with a year’s worth of loss, worry and love. He found it completely disarming. Before he even realised it he had broken down into tears and hugged her back tightly. 

“I want to come with you.”

“No. Stay here where it’s safer. The Ashenna hold Cantruug. No boats sail without their say so. It’s going to be a battle just to leave here, and they’ll send pursuers. It’s too dangerous. Unless you are willing to fight…”

Bucc gently removed his mum’s arms from around him and stood up. She was reluctant to let go. “I don’t know. I need to think. Time to clear my head. I have a year’s worth of information to process. Give me some time to think things over.”

He left the house and had to once again fight down the discomfort of how different everything was.  It wasn’t just the scorch marks and northern pirates that made Three Potatoes unfamiliar. While he couldn’t tell for sure, it appeared to be less crowded than he had seen it before. Buildings had been demolished and saplings or crops grew in the new open spaces. There wasn’t any of the characteristic smells of cooking food or marketplace herbs and spices. In fact, it looked as though none of the shops were in business. 

Bucc skirted around the village and headed into the woods towards Mister Blackfoot’s small plot of farmland. It quickly became apparent though that the small farm hadn’t escaped the changes. Before, several patches of farmland owned by individual farmers dotted the woodland. Now the small huts had been removed and the patchwork of fields were joined together in uniform strips. More Ashenna stood guard over labouring islanders. 

He spotted Mister Blackfoot working at a nearby patch of dirt. He looked gaunt, his formerly fat and jolly appearance replaced by a much slimmer ghost of himself. The farmer noticed Bucc and froze as though he had seen a spirit. 

“Buccaneer Jones? As I live and breath, it really is you,” the man laughed, his face lighting up with some of its old joy. “From the way the Seal’s crew were talking, I’d put you down as dead. You’re sure a sight for tired eyes, lad.”

“It feels like I step away for a week and suddenly the world’s sank straight into Davy Jones’ Locker. Makes me feel very important.”

The farmer laughed softly. The Ashenna guards watched them but didn’t make any moves to get Mister Blackfoot back to work. He noticed Bucc looking at them and waved them off dismissively.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re sticklers for the rules but they don’t go out of their way to antagonise folk. Well, other than taking all of our land and assuming command of the entire island. All food and supplies are strictly rationed and a lot of new laws have been enforced. Still, they ain’t outlawed talkin’ just yet.”

“Maybe they haven’t, but I have to say that you aren’t looking great. Nobody is.”

Mister Blackfoot shrugged. “Times are hard. Supplies were running low. Everyone knew it but nobody wanted to do anything about it. Pyrefist and his Ashenna did what nobody else wanted to do. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. Who knows? In this world though, might makes right, and Pyrefist’s army has that in abundance, so what can we do?”

As the man spoke, Bucc noticed Milla standing in the woods just past the field. She had a dark look of anticipation on her face that set Bucc’s nerves on edge. He was genuinely concerned about what she might try when surrounded by people she perceived as enemies. Worried about leaving her alone, Bucc quickly turned back to Mister Blackfoot.

“I think things are going to get interesting soon. Try to keep yourself healthy, okay? I’ve got to go.”

“You be careful yourself, Mister Jones. When your crewmates told me what happened after your Awakening it had me worried. You seem to have grown a lot this last year. I wish you all the best. You’ll make a fine man, mark my word.”

Mister Blackfoot held out his hand and Bucc shook it happily. He smiled at the words. Had he really changed that much in the few days since the Awakening? Everything had changed, but he still felt like that same frightened child. A warmth radiated across his back from Neri that put him at ease. Bucc nodded to the farmer then headed towards where Milla skulked.

The girl didn’t acknowledge his presence. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the Ashenna guards. A grim smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Your people will need a distraction if they want to leave. I have just the thing.”

Bucc sighed. “Look, just relax for a while, okay? For a few days we’re safe. Let’s take the time to recover. You can’t hope to fight in your state. The Ashenna aren’t going anywhere.”

“That’s my worry. Pyrefist is going to rule the entire world. Then there’ll be nowhere to run or hide, no safe havens or pockets of resistance. If I have any chance of killing him then I need to strike now. My body only has to survive until then.”

“The others have to finalise their preparations anyway. One hot meal and one night’s sleep. That’s all I ask. Okay? Then we can go be freedom fighters.”

“We? Have you given up your silly ideas?”

“No. If anything my powers scare me more. Back on the Seal I hurt my friend, Jesse. She got all burned trying to save me. I did that to her. Even when I tried to avoid conflict I still managed to hurt someone. The thought of that happening again terrifies me.”

“It was that same fear that drove me to become stronger. I can only protect people by being strong enough to beat anybody that wants to do harm. You have a great deal of power inside, Bucc. You have to ask yourself how to use it to save those you love without hurting others. Maybe you can even manage it. It isn’t impossible. It just means you have to be smart. And have the skills to back it up.” 

She turned to leave. As she walked away she spoke again. “My plants need some overdue care. A day or two to prepare everything might not hurt us too much.”

Previous – Chapter 16. Return to Reality.

Next – Chapter 18. Dawning Rebellion.

Bucc reached out his hand as high as he could. Then he tried jumping. Neither achieved anything. He thought about holding out Neri to look through and the blank bounced up onto his head and drooped down over his eyes as though it had read his mind. He looked around and saw that the riftways lost their colour about ten feet from the dome. They still existed past there but as a faded shade of themselves. There was no way they’d be able to reach the coloured section, and that was even if those strange invisible riftways would take them anywhere. 

“Looks like we really will die here. I’d be furious that I didn’t get my chance to watch Pyrefist die if I wasn’t so tired.” Milla seemed to sag. She sat heavily and closed her eyes. “Maybe it’s time to catch up on some of that sleep,” she muttered, more to herself than to Bucc.

“Wait,” Bucc told her. “I have a plan. You can’t give up yet, okay?”

“What plan could you possibly have? We don’t have any food, any water, or any supplies of any kind. We’re tired and weak. Face it, it’s over.”

“Weren’t you the one willing to walk to the ends of the earth to get your revenge?”

“Yeah, well as far as I can tell, this isn’t even part of the planet as we know it. There isn’t an end here to walk to.”

“But what if I told you we could reach the riftways above?”

“Well, it would be a quicker death then sitting here withering away.” Despite her words, her posture became more attentive.

“I can use my affinity to make glass, so with a bit of work maybe I can make glass blocks,” Bucc explained. “We stack them up then we can reach the edge of the riftway and hopefully enter it from there.”

“That sounds like it could work. It’ll take a lot of energy though. Are you up to the job?”

“Yes. I think so. It’s my turn to be strong.”

Bucc set to work piling up sand to scorch. Forming anything resembling blocks proved to be near impossible without any tools. Misshapen, lumpy blobs were the most common result of his efforts but he didn’t let that stop him. He channeled flames for hours while Milla carted them up the dome to build their makeshift staircase. Whenever the strain threatened to overcome him, Bucc felt a reassuring boost from Neri. It seemed that the little blank could give him some of its own energy, energy that was replenished with regular visits to the surface of the dome.

“Do you think it’ll support our weight?” Bucc asked when the unstable tower of warped glass finally reached up to the edge of the dome’s influence. It didn’t look very safe.

“Probably not. We’ll just have to be careful. Can’t you blast it with fire to melt all the separate chunks together?”

“No. I can barely stand anymore. It would take a massive amount of power to melt something this size. I don’t know that I could do it even at full strength.”

A thoughtful look settled across Milla’s face. “I wonder,” she mused quietly. She held out her arms and splayed her fingers. Yellow mist began to filter out from beneath her dress to obscure the pile of glass.”

“Fire burns better with fuel. I’ve studied flamecasters. Most have a weak flame since it is sustained by the air and the caster’s will alone. If it has a source of fuel then maybe you can send your flame out further for a short time.”

“I can try. Here it goes.”

Bucc concentrated and once more felt the heat spread through his body. Fire erupted from his hands and instantly grew in intensity as it made contact with the pollen. The entire cloud was consumed by flame with a giant whooshing noise that struck Bucc like a physical blow. It took all of his will to keep the flames under his control. His face contorted with the effort and he shouted wordlessly as he poured the last of his strength into the inferno. 

His vision flashed white then he found himself on his back. Tendrils of flame still hung in the air but quickly faded. The glass glowed a faint amber colour. It hadn’t melted much, but the edges had softened just enough for the individual blocks to fuse. 

Milla helped him to stand back up and as soon as the glass had cooled they began a slow climb up its steep rise. They still couldn’t see the riftway above their heads but the electric crackle was very much present. Together they perched at the top, their heads a few inches from the raging passageway.

“I guess it’s do or die time,” Milla said softly. “It’s strange, I’m not scared of dying but the thought that I could be throwing my life away for nothing is kind of daunting.”

“Don’t worry. I can’t say for sure but Neri feels confident about going through. She hasn’t led us astray so far. I trust her.” He held out his hand to Milla and offered her a smile. “You ready?”

She nodded and took his hand. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

They jumped. Bucc felt a massive pressure across his body as his muscles stretched and contorted. Colours tore around him like a tornado of lights and he found it hard to breathe. They were inside the riftway. Everything from here was in the hands of fate. He clung to Milla as their bodies were thrown in every direction at once. 

Bucc’s mind was focused on pure survival. He was in a disoriented freefall without end that threatened to pull each of his limbs from their sockets. A constant roar like a fierce storm battered at his ears and an acrid smell filled his nose. His lungs were burning and cramps wracked his muscles. 

Unconsciousness began to creep into the corners of his thoughts, threatening to tear away all control from him, but something else prodded at the parts of his mind that continued to fight. It was an icy calmness that probed his thoughts, injecting emotions directly into his brain. Vaguely he was aware of the cold weight on his head that was Neri. The two were connected.

Images flashed through his subconscious and Bucc finally realised that this was Neri’s attempt to communicate with him. She was preparing him for what he needed to do. He forced his eyes open and stared through the blurry maelstrom to find Milla. She was curled up in the fetal position other than the one arm that held onto Bucc, her eyes closed and a look of calm concentration on her face. He hesitated for a moment but a mental pressure from Neri spurred him to act.

Bucc reached across with his free hand and pulled the girl closer until he was able to wrap his arm around her waist. She opened an eye to stare accusingly at him, but then closed it again. He waited. The strange, not quite words, from Neri told him to listen to his heart. They told him to act when he knew that he should. That didn’t mean anything to him but he tried to obey the command. He thought about everything that he loved, repeating the names and faces and memories of everything that defined who he was. 

He felt something twang deep inside his chest. Bucc braced himself then let go of Milla’s hand, immediately firing off a stream of flame that slammed into the wall of the riftway. The energy propelled them backwards and they hit the opposite wall. He felt the swirling lights part around him like raging water. It hurt but he gritted his teeth against the pain. 

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the pain and the pressure vanished, leaving Bucc feeling weightless. He enjoyed this for a few beautiful seconds until he realised the weightlessness was caused by him hurtling through the sky towards the sea far below. He shouted in panic, any sensible thoughts abandoning ship before impact. The shouts caused Milla to open her eyes again, at first in annoyance, then wide-eyed terror a moment later.

Milla dragged herself closer to Bucc then swiveled so that she was the closest to the sea. She held out her hand and vines crawled up her arm and whipped out ahead of her. The vines thrashed as she straightened out her body into a diving position. Bucc quickly tried to do the same. 

Bucc hit the ocean. The impact rattled his bones and he gasped. The water rushed in to fill his emptied lungs. Every inch of him stung. The very concept of up and down was lost to him for a frantic few seconds as he fought to right himself and find the surface. His head emerged and he took several ragged breaths.

He looked around. The sea was perfectly calm and the sky was blue. Not too far off was a large island. The only thing missing was Milla. She was nowhere in sight. Bucc dived back under the water but he quickly needed to surface again. Neri squirmed then covered his head like a helmet, creating a pocket of air between Bucc and herself. He ducked back under the waves and pushed himself lower.

There.

Milla was floating below him without moving. Her eyes were closed and her hair and dress billowed like ghosts. Bucc swam to get to her then kicked with all of his remaining strength to pull her up to the surface. She wasn’t breathing.

“Come on!” he shouted at her. “You can’t die like this! Your motivation is awful, but you’ve got to see it through, right? How can you beat a pirate lord if you can’t survive being thrown through a riftway unprotected and falling into the sea at terminal velocity?”

A million thoughts clustered in his brain, each one shouting at the others about what to do. Stay calm, Bucc, he told himself. I’m a pirate who lives on the sea. I’ve seen people almost drown before. How did the adults save them back then?

A memory came to him and he gulped nervously. There wasn’t time to waste though. He had absolutely no idea about the actual details on what was supposed to happen, but more than once he had seen someone brought back from the brink by someone else breathing for them. He leaned in and took a deep breath.

“If you even think about it I’ll kill you.”

“Thank the Noodley One! You’re alive!”

Milla groaned in response then started to cough and splutter. She sagged in the water but her breathing eased into an unsteady rhythm. Slowly Bucc paddled through the water, pulling the girl along behind him.

“Are you okay?”

Bucc couldn’t see her face but from the icy silence he assumed she was glowering at him. 

“Neri, can you help her stay afloat,” he asked the familiar. The translucent ball seemed to nod then slithered across to Milla. “There’s an island just ahead. We’ll be on dry land in no time.”

“And then what?”

The question took Bucc by surprise. The unexpected part of it was that he immediately knew the answer. “Then I find my crew.”

Previous – Chapter 15. Seal of the Lifestream.

Next – Chapter 17. Warmth and Revelations.

Another day passed in the endless desert. Compared to the previous days it was almost a pleasant experience for Bucc. He no longer noticed the heat, and while he was still hungry and thirsty, he didn’t feel like a dried out husk anymore. The constant walking was beginning to take its effect on his feet though. He’d spent most of his life on a ship. Long walks over rough terrain wasn’t something he had ever experienced before.

For Milla, the journey seemed to be taking a heavy toll. True to her words, Bucc hadn’t seen her sleep at all, and the small amount of water they’d shared hadn’t invigorated her as much as it had with Bucc. 

“I chose to become one with the plants,” she explained in a tired voice. “I don’t just wear them, we have a symbiotic relationship. They draw nutrients from my body instead of the soil and can use them just like my own arms and legs. They also let me use photosynthesis for energy. If I had a good supply of food then it wouldn’t matter, but I don’t think I’ve had a full meal in over six months.”

“But why? You’re going to kill yourself getting this revenge.”

“That’s kind of the point. Killing him is the only thing that’s kept me going. Nothing exists past that. I have no life to return to. Milla Vantis died the night my village burned. I’m just a wraith looking for blood to pass on in peace.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Bucc shouted. “Life is all about living. You should know that as someone with an affinity for earth. On some islands they burn the ground and the flames add fresh nutrients into the soil. The destruction creates new life. That’s what you are! This is a second chance for you. Why waste it?”

Milla laughed. It wasn’t an unkind sound, but one that was very tired. “The world must look like such a beautiful place through your eyes. Everyone’s hearts shine golden and every cloud has a silver lining. I envy you, you know? All I see is a world in pain. I don’t think I have a place in either world.”

Bucc didn’t know how to answer that. They walked in silence for a long time, until Bucc couldn’t take another step. They made camp and Bucc tried to catch a few hours of restless sleep. He was woken by Milla before dawn.

“Look,” she told him.

He turned to where she was pointing and saw the blank bouncing in place, it’s speed getting quicker and quicker until it was almost a blur. It hopped over to them and nudged Bucc repeatedly before continuing its bouncing.

“It’s been like that for an hour now. Seems really eager to get moving. I think that whatever it wants to show us must be nearby.”

That was all the encouragement Bucc needed. He picked himself up and took hold of the small blank. It squirmed in his grip, making it difficult to hold. Its entire body was vibrating. He’d never seen one act so erratic. Once it was on his head it immediately began to urge him forward. As Bucc began to walk a thought came to him. He held out the blank and looked through it once again.

The warren of riftways was growing denser. If he squinted he could just make out a centre point off in the direction that the blank was urging them. It was a tight knot of passages that spiralled down to a single unseen point below. Bucc had a suspicion that the point where the riftways connected and the place where the blank was leading them was one in the same.

The riftways were still invisible to them but their presence was certainly felt. Having so many so close by made the air feel like they were walking through soup that had been hit by lightning. 

“Look,” Milla said after a while. “What in the seas is that?”

Bucc could see it too. There was a strange lump in the distance, a half-sphere that shone blindingly in the light of the sun. He angled the blank in front of his eyes and saw that the static tornado of riftways was converging on that very spot.

“Whatever it is, that’s where all the riftways lead.”

“Maybe that’s the only way out of here. It’s a big risk. Entering a riftway without a ship, or even a wayfarer, is basically suicide.”

Another hour passed before they were close enough to the object to get a better look. It was a large dome made of what Bucc could only assume was gold. It was perfectly smooth at a distance but as they neared it he realised that every inch of the surface was covered in intricate lines and runes. The air all around it shimmered and shifted even without looking through the blank. 

“What is it?” Bucc asked aloud. He could feel the tugging of the riftways above as he stepped closer. There seemed to be something at its top. The curve looked gentle enough to climb. 

He approached the golden rise and reached out his hand to touch it. The dome was mesmerising. It seemed to draw Bucc in, pulling at his mind and body with a gentle yet irresistible force.  His fingertips brushed against the icy cold surface and a ripple passed through him as though he had been suddenly submerged into frozen waters. He pulled back and fought to catch his breath.

The blank was humming with energy now. Bucc took it in his hands and looked through it at the dome. It glowed with the light of the riftways but no other secrets were revealed. He placed the creature on the ground, curious to see what it would do next. The blank bounced giddily and threw itself at the dome. It’s darkened body began to glow but nothing else happened. It looked to Bucc like the blank was feeding on the energy that was pouring from the metal.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Milla said. She moved around the dome, leaning in close to observe the symbols and patterns of its surface. “Someone had to build it and place it here, right?”

“I don’t know,” Bucc answered. “If it is gold, I didn’t know there was that much of it in the entire world.”

He braced himself and again placed his hand on the surface. The blank slithered across to him and rolled up his arm onto his shoulder. He tentatively lifted his foot up and took the first step onto the dome. Nothing dramatic happened so Bucc made his way cautiously towards the crest.

The top of the dome was a complete contrast to its base. The topmost quarter of the structure transitioned into clear glass that emerged from the gold seamlessly. Bucc tapped it with his foot and it seemed solid. He looked down and was hit with an overwhelming sense of awe. The dome was a cap atop a huge well that descended down deep into the earth. Colourful lights swirled within the hole but he couldn’t see the bottom. 

Shapes moved within the swirling vortex of lights. It was impossible to get a clear look but thousands of shadows swam together, some small, others colossal. Bucc watched them in open-mouthed amazement. The different shapes put him in the mind of familiars, but he had never heard of so many familiars gathering without humans.

Milla appeared at his side, staring wide eyed into the void below them, then bit her lip thoughtfully. She moved slightly further up and Bucc managed to pull his eyes away from the endless vortex to watch her approach a metal wheel that jutted from the centre of the dome. He followed her, his stomach dropping as he walked over the all too visible hole.

“What is it?” he asked. The wheel lay flat on a long metal pole that disappeared into a metal ring in the centre of the glass. 

“I don’t know. It looks like a valve of some kind. Pyrefist’s fleet uses them to control steam. I’m not sure how they work though.”

“Maybe it’s a lock,” Bucc observed. “All of the riftways join together here, and there are all those crazy lights and shapes on the other side. This dome is like a giant seal that keeps both sides separate.”

“But why would someone do that? And how? It doesn’t make sense.”

Milla stepped up to the valve and tried to turn it but the wheel was locked in place. In the centre of the valve was what appeared to be a keyhole. 

“Whatever it is, it needs a key to work. That doesn’t help us much.”

Bucc noticed that the blank was nudging the valve without success, the small blob growing more agitated with every second. He scooped it up and cradled it in his arms.

“Sorry, little guy. We don’t have the key. I’m afraid you brought us here for nothing. Unless you know where the key is?”

The blank drooped and quivered, sliding from Bucc’s arms to settle into the gap between Milla’s feet. Bucc interpreted that as a no. He turned back to Milla.

“Does this blank have a name? It seems a bit rude to not call it something.”

“Blanks don’t really have names. They all look basically identical. It makes keeping track of them hard.”

“But this one isn’t identical, is it. So it should have a name. What do you think, eh?” he said. Bucc crouched down and stroked the blank. It pulsed and made a low thrumming noise. “See? It agrees with me. But what to call you? Hmm. Well, you saved us from Captain Pyrefist, getting yourself hurt in the process. Then you guided us to that oasis. You’ve really helped us a lot, haven’t you? You’re just like one of the mythical nereid, sea nymphs that help pirates. How does Neri sound to you?”

The thrumming rose in pitch and the blank shook erratically between nuzzling Bucc’s hand. Bucc laughed and rubbed the top of the blank affectionately. 

“Okay! From here on out you’re called Neri.”

As Bucc spoke the words, the blank glowed with a golden light. There was a flash then calming warmth radiated within him. The light faded and Neri jumped into his arms. The blank gave the impression that, if it had a head, then it would currently be cocking it to the side as it stared up at him.

“Wait. That’s not right!” Milla said. She stormed over to Bucc and prodded the blank repeatedly.

“What?”

“The magical light display wasn’t just for show. You bonded with the blank and gave it a name. That aura was a sign that your souls formed a union and became master and familiar.”

“Master… and familiar… Wait, so Neri is my familiar now!”

Milla frowned. “Well, it should be. But it hasn’t changed for some reason. The connection is there but it hasn’t taken a new shape like it should. I’ve never seen this before.”

Bucc shrugged. “Neri accepted me, and that’s all that really matters, right bud?”

Neri rocked its whole body in an attempt to nod. Nothing had really changed about the blank, yet to Bucc it seemed that the creature somehow had more personality about itself. 

“I guess you’re right, but that still doesn’t help us get out of here,” Milla said. “I’ll be honest, I half expected us to get sucked into the riftways just by climbing up here. This seal must put out some kind of barrier that stops the riftway from directly touching it. We’re trapped here.”

Previous – Chapter 14. Acceptance.

Next – Chapter 16. Return to Reality.

These thoughts floated through his mind as he slipped into a delirious half sleep. He woke up suddenly, drenched in sweat and panting. The ground felt hard beneath him, and for a moment he feared that he had once again been taken somewhere new. The panic calmed when he sat up and saw the desert still dominated the landscape. 

He shifted his weight and noticed that the ground was smooth and solid. Bucc looked down to see his own silhouette scorched into the sand, the fine white grains melted into a glossy shadow of glass. He jumped away quickly, checking himself for any burns.  

“You had a bad fever in the night,” Milla noted dryly. “Your body had an over-dramatic way of sweating it off.” Her voice was calm, but there was a nervousness in her eyes. It wasn’t exactly fear but it was too similar for Bucc’s liking.

Bucc tried to ignore that look. He ran his fingers across the glass, breaking off a small chunk to examine closer. Glass was a rare commodity to have. It was used as a material for windows and several navigational instruments. Most pirates didn’t own anything personal containing it.

“Hurry up. We don’t have time to waste. Your little night time light show made you sweat out what little water reserves your body had. If we don’t find water soon then you’re going to die.”

Bucc was feeling very dry. His mouth was parched and his lips were cracked. Even breathing hurt his throat. He nodded then pocketed the glass fragment before standing up. 

They resumed their march across the sand with a confidence born from knowing that there was no known landmass that would take two days to cross. With each passing hour though this optimism faded. White sand and black rocks repeated in a seemingly infinite loop. Wherever it was that they had found themselves, it went against everything they knew.

Bucc was carrying the injured blank as they walked. It bobbed and pulsed in an increasingly agitated manner. He held it up to his face to take a closer look at the poor thing. It was hard to judge how blanks were feeling as they had little way to convey emotions. The blackened membrane still looked sore. Its darkened outer layer caused the world visible through it to take on a greyish sheen. There was something else that was visible through the translucent blob too. Bucc lowered the blank just to check, then lifted it back up again.

“Hey, Milla. Does the world usually look different through a blank?”

The girl stopped. “Not really, no. Riftways look clearer, almost like they glow, but everything else looks the same.”

The sky above through the filter of the blank shone with a million strands of pale light like a tangle of heavenly glowworms. Bucc passed the blank over to Milla without a word. She took it and stared through the creature without any outward reaction. Slowly she lowered it and turned back to Bucc.

“That isn’t normal,” she said. “They look like riftways, but I’ve never heard of invisible riftways. Or of so many in the same place.”

“Invisible riftways,” Bucc muttered to himself. The concept triggered memories in his head of one of the many conversations he’d had with Adward about the network of passages. Adward had observed that Captain Dread must have found hidden tunnels that parted from the main pathways to their true destination. If Adward was right then that could mean only one thing.

“The Nexus…” He whispered into the stunned silence. “It has to be, right? Adward was always talking about it. The Shores of the Nexus, a hidden land where all riftways eventually lead. And here we are on a strange desert bigger than any known island with a sky full of hidden riftways. Where else could we be?”

Milla took a moment to process this. “The blanks do seem connected to the riftways. But if that’s true then I have no idea how to get out again. If nobody has ever discovered this place then maybe it doesn’t exist in the same way that a normal island does. There’s a chance that there isn’t a sea to find here.”

“Lord Captain Dread did find this place though, and I doubt he had the blanks’ help. Also, why would they bring us here if it meant certain death? I mean, they have no reason to help me, but the blanks clearly want to keep you safe. They wouldn’t just dump you here to die.”

Bucc though fast to keep the momentum of hope rolling. He took back the blank and placed it on his head. It offered a welcome relief from the glare of the sun but that wasn’t his intention. 

“Hi, little guy. If you can understand me then try to guide me. Maybe you can’t lead us with your injuries but you can put pressure on my head in the direction you want me to go, okay.”

The blank wiggled and swayed for a few seconds then drooped slightly to the left side of Bucc’s head. Bucc turned to face that direction and the blank shifted its weight towards his forehead. A wide grin split his face.

“This way! I don’t know where it leads but the blank wants us to go there.”

Milla looked confused. “How did you know that the blank would try to guide you?”

“When you were trapped in that barrel we used it as a raft. We were lost at sea with no islands in sight. There was a swarm of blanks that clustered around us. Around you. They made a ring and pointed out where to go. Because of them we found the island where you woke up.”

Bucc and Milla set off with renewed energy under the guidance of the blank. Even this optimism began to fail as time grinded by towards another night without any indication that they were getting anywhere. Bucc’s strength was failing and his vision was growing blurry. 

“Does that rock look like a tree to you?” he asked, nodding towards a large cluster of shapes in the distance. Milla squinted then tried a shambling jog for a short way.

“That really is a tree. All of them are. It’s an oasis! That means water!”

They made a broken half run across the sand. Vivid greens became clearer with every step, the oasis gleaming like an emerald in the monochrome world. Milla pulled ahead, her fitness outpacing Bucc’s even with her injuries. 

All of their hopes were confirmed by the sight of glistening blue hidden in the centre of the foliage. It was a pool of crystal water about twice as wide as Bucc was tall. Milla dove straight into it as Bucc chased to catch up. He dropped to his knees at the edge of the pool and stuck his head into the cool water to drink deeply. He choked and whipped his head back out, gagging violently. Milla emerged a moment later doing the same.

“It’s salt water!”

Milla stomped out of the pool and placed her hand on the smooth bark of the closest tree. She growled then sprawled out on the floor in the plant’s shade.

“Most plants can’t absorb salt water. My vines certainly can’t. I thought maybe these plants were a rare variety that had adapted to it. They’re not.”

“What do you mean? They have to be drinking this water or the oasis wouldn’t exist.”

“This place isn’t real. Everything is a memory of reality. This tree isn’t alive. I can’t really explain it. It’s like the tree was frozen as a moment in time, a physical memory almost. It isn’t withering, but it isn’t growing either.”

“So we’re back at square one? I don’t know how much longer I can go without water.”

Bucc rolled away from the pond and stared up through the leaves at the sky. To be so close to water yet be unable to drink it was torture. It was like being on a ship surrounded by undrinkable water, but that was normal life. Pirates still had water to drink. They just filtered the sea water when it was needed. All it took was heat and a smooth, cold surface like sheet metal or glass…

He looked at his hands nervously. With a little concentration he felt heat flow out from his chest and down his arm into his fingers. They began to glow with a faint, warm light.

Fire was a dangerous thing. It offered the potential for great destruction and death, but then, it was a tool just like every other element. Milla had taken the power of life and weaponised it, perhaps Bucc could take the power of death and turn it into something peaceful. He moved away from the oasis then knelt, placing his hands down in front of him after flattening a patch in the sand. After a deep breath he began to channel flames into the sand as evenly as he could.

The strain of his affinity was causing him to sweat. The last of his body’s water reserves were going into this job. Any hope of them surviving now rested in his hands, and in the powers he hated. This was different though. Nobody was going to get hurt. Instead of destruction, he would create.

This was all new to him. Controlling the power was one thing, but knowing what level of heat was needed was another. He had never seen something like this being made before. He adjusted as he saw fit, and was surprised by just how much heat he was needing to generate in order to achieve anything. Milla approached him. Her whole body was tense and her eyes stared numbly at the flames that covered his hands.

“Can you make a bowl or something out of whatever you can find nearby? Something that will hold water?” he asked her without looking away from his work.

“I think so,”

“Good. Do it twice if you can.”

Understanding dawned on her face. She nodded and disappeared back into the oasis. Minutes passed before Bucc took a step back to admire his hard work. The sand before him had been melted into an uneven sheet of glass that still glowed with heat. On a whim he channelled a small amount of power into his fingers and touched it. The near molten glass didn’t burn him. Could he make himself resistant to heat, he wondered. Maybe he could use it to avoid getting more sunburns.

The amber glow of the glass dimmed quickly. Bucc carefully dug out the section of glass and picked it up. After a quick trip to the pond he had it fully cooled and cleaned up. Nobody would have accepted the lumpy and thick rectangle as a windowpane but it would work for what he needed. Milla joined him holding two shallow bowls made from leaves. The craftsmanship looked very neat but Milla still looked disappointed.

“If they were normal trees I could have triggered their cell production and physically fused the leaves together. Then it would be fully waterproof,” she answered at Bucc’s sceptical look. 

Together they built a small stand from sticks and stones that held the cumbersome panel of glass at an angle. One bowl was placed beneath the lower end of the glass while the second was filled with salt water from the pond then placed below the higher end of the glass. Being very careful not to burn the leaves, Bucc slowly heated the water until it boiled. Thin clouds of steam rose up from the bowl and condensed on the cold surface of the glass where it beaded into droplets that slid down the slanted pane and gathered at the lower end where it began to drip into the second bowl.

It was an old pirate trick. Salt was heavier than water, so when saltwater was boiled the particles of salt would form as silt at the bottom while the pure water evaporated into steam. That steam cooled back into water if it was caught on a cold surface like metal or glass.This water could be collected and drank safely. It was a useful thing for a people that could go months without seeing any sources of freshwater.

It took a while but eventually the second bowl was filled with clean water. Bucc took a few thankful sips then passed it to Milla while he refilled the first bowl. They repeated this process a few times until both of them had sated their thirst. Now that he wasn’t dehydrated, Bucc found that he slept easily in the soft grass of the oasis. It was the first peaceful night’s sleep he had gotten since before his Awakening and he hadn’t known just how much his body had needed it. Waking fully rested but very hungry, Bucc realised that they had a difficult decision to make. 

“Should we really leave here? Who knows when we could find another source of water.”

“It isn’t really a choice. We might have water but we don’t have any food. These trees don’t have anything edible on them. We might survive longer here, but we’d still die far quicker than I’d like. Listen, nobody is going to come here to save us. Our only hope is to keep going and try to find some way back out again.”

The blank bounced around Bucc’s feet impatiently. It certainly seemed to want them to continue. Bucc picked it up and placed it back on his head. He experimented with his power slightly to block out the sun then stepped out of the oasis’ shade.

“Okay then, little guy, lead the way. Our lives are entirely in your hands. Wait. Entirely in your… er… sphere?”

Previous – Chapter 13. Bonds of the Broken.

Next – Chapter 15. Seal of the Lifestream.

From the darkness came heat. It washed across the thin veil of consciousness to fire up sleeping nerves. Thoughts began to swim through mists of uncertainty. These thoughts were pushed forward by waking sensations that spread and resolved into loose words. Consciousness bloomed like a flower in the first false spring.

Bucc’s sense of self flooded into the darkness in a great rush. Panic flared in his head at the heat that was bathing his body. For a dreaded moment he feared that the flames still raged around him. This was different though. The heat wasn’t internal but external. The sun beat down on him fiercely and the ground beneath him was a fine sand that was hot to the touch. But that didn’t make sense. 

He opened an eye and was almost blinded by the intensity of the sun. The searing whiteness gave way to blurry colours. The white didn’t fade though. All around him the landscape was rolling hills of pure white sand. There wasn’t a single plant in sight, and neither were there any signs of the sea. Bucc struggled into a sitting position but the sand extended unobstructed in every direction. Only tall rocks of pure black dotted the dead land.

“You’re finally awake,” said a voice close by. Bucc turned to see Milla sitting with her back to one of the rocks. 

“Where are we? What happened?” he asked, trying to make sense of the events between here and his last memory.

“Pyrefist was manipulating your power to destroy that ship and everyone on it. I separated you from him, then the blanks came and, well, sort of carried us away.”

Bucc took a few unsteady steps closer to her. Her dress was blackened and she looked in an even worse state than when they had found her. She leant against the rock without moving, her breath making an audible rattling sound with each rise and fall of her chest.

“I don’t understand…” he said. “Why do the blanks follow you, and where have they brought us?”

“I don’t know. They only started following me after Pyrefist destroyed my village. My familiar was killed and I was left for dead. Next thing I know, hundreds of the little guys are circling me, keeping back the fires that consumed my home. As for where they’ve brought us, your guess is as good as mine.”

“You had a familiar? You look too young to have one.”

“I was.”

She tried to stand but quickly collapsed back against the rock. Bucc rushed to her side and grabbed her shoulder. Vines writhed under the fabric, unwinding to lash at his fingers. He pulled away fast.

“Don’t touch me,” she growled. “I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath.”

“I don’t suppose that any blanks will show up again to take us somewhere recognisable?”

“No. Most of them died bringing us here. Your fire burned them up. I’ve only seen one here, and it’s injured.” 

She shifted her weight and lifted the corner of her dress. Beneath the cloth was a small blank that had turned a charcoal grey colour. It appeared to be having trouble holding its shape, the bottom half of its body pooling out on the sand around it while the top half bobbed miserably.

Bucc felt a pang of sickening guilt. His power had killed several blanks. The thought made him want to throw up. That captain had been the cause, but Bucc had been the weapon that dealt the damage. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind for a moment and focus.

“How long was I unconscious? They couldn’t have taken us that far. They don’t look strong enough to carry humans any distance.”

Milla shook her head. “That’s not how they work. The blanks didn’t carry us anywhere. One second we were on your ship, the next we were here. They are intune with the riftways somehow. I’ve seen the blanks use them. Maybe they can tap into the rift system somehow. We could literally be anywhere.”

“Does it count as a rescue if they just dumped us in the middle of nowhere to starve?”

The blank hissed indignantly at him.

“Dehydration will kill us first. Besides, cannibalism is always an option.”

 Bucc took a hasty step back. The girl laughed then began coughing again. She slid down lower and stared up at the clear blue sky.

“We need to make a start.I don’t have time to recover. Help me up, just this one time.”

“You don’t look in a good way. You should rest a while first.”

“No. Every second I waste is another second that Pyrefist gets to draw breath. A second he escapes justice. He forced you to destroy your own home and intends to use you as a mindless weapon. Aren’t you eager to see him dead too?”

Bucc thought the question over. The man terrified him, more than he had ever thought possible. He feared the man, and he feared what he could make Bucc do against his will. What good was pacifism if others could force your hand without your own consent? He hated him for putting his friends and family in danger. But did he want to see the man dead? 

“Not really. I mean, what difference would it make? It wouldn’t change the past.”

“No, but it would stop him from hurting others in the future.”

“So would convincing him that there’s a better way, and then nobody dies.”

“Are you stupid? Pyrefist is a pirate lord that has killed hundreds of people. He’s the most dangerous man in all of the seas. Do you expect to just walk up to him and make him feel bad about everything he’s ever done? You want to persuade him that hurting people isn’t a good thing? You don’t understand the world at all, do you?”

Bucc didn’t answer this time. He was getting fed up with people saying that he didn’t understand. What was there to understand? Something was bad so it shouldn’t be used. It was black and white in his mind.

He tried to shrug off the doubt and focus. Only, he wasn’t exactly sure what it was that he actually needed to do. He didn’t know where he was, whether his friends and family were safe, or what his plans were going forward. The one thing he knew was that he would die if he stayed where he was.

Bucc took Milla’s hand and helped her up. The blank clung to her arm. “There’s a lot I don’t understand. I know we can’t stay here though. Any idea what we should do?”

“I’m going to keep hunting. Whichever way we go we should reach the sea before too long.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll still be moving long after you’ve collapsed from exhaustion. Worry about yourself.”

The two began a steady walk through the sand. Each step left a clear footprint that marked a long trail behind them. Nothing moved. There wasn’t even a light breeze to cool their skin or shift the fine sand. They walked in silence, the sound of their steps seeming strangely muted. Bucc wasn’t sure if he was still disoriented or if the world had truly become numb.

An hour passed and the scenery hadn’t changed in the slightest. If not for the footprints behind them then Bucc could easily have believed they hadn’t moved at all. He didn’t think that he had ever been on an island before that he could walk in a straight line across for an hour without reaching the sea. Bigger islands existed, but he struggled to comprehend just how big this landmass must have been.

Hours slid by with syruppy slowness and still there wasn’t any signs of a shore. Dread began to drift across Bucc, like shadows of stray clouds passing across the sun on a winter morning. The sun was slipping down into twilight and there hadn’t been a trace of water or anything edible. As the sun disappeared from sight, a fierce chill cast out the lingering heat of the day until Bucc could barely think from just how cold he was. Fatigue dragged him down and he could feel his pace slowing.

Milla still walked with the faltering steps of the injured, but her pace was showing no hints of slowing. She cast frustrated glances back at Bucc as he fell further behind. Bucc couldn’t get a read on her at all. She was beaten and exhausted yet continued onwards one step at a time with a single-minded determination. With the thin, ripped up dress that she wore, she should have been half frozen on top of everything else, but she showed no outward sign of discomfort.

Finally Bucc’s legs gave out on him and he collapsed face first into the sand. He could feel tears stinging the corners of his eyes and he hated himself for it. He tried to wipe them away but he was so cold and hungry that they just kept coming. He heard Milla sit down beside him and expected a scathing comment. None came.

“You lasted longer than I expected,” she told him softly. “You held yourself together against a lot of physical and emotional stress. It was bound to hit you eventually.”

The words didn’t comfort Bucc. Frustration and anger burned within him. 

“Why? Why can’t I keep it together and keep going? Why am I always letting people down? I should be the one supporting you, not the other way around. You’re younger! And you’re injured! Yet I’m the one crying on the floor like a pathetic baby. I’m so useless! I couldn’t even stop myself from hurting those I love! Just once in my life I don’t want to be a failure!”

“I don’t have any answers,” Milla said in her dull tone. “Failure stings, doesn’t it? I broke down after the massacre of my village. I lost my family, my friends, and the piece of my soul that was my familiar. I had nothing. I was a shattered mess, and it was hatred that stuck those fragments back together. But it still isn’t enough. I’ve sacrificed what little remained and the gap between me and Pyrefist is still so wide that I might as well not have tried at all. But what else can I do? Revenge is the only thing that keeps me going. I can’t let go.”

Bucc looked at the girl with tear blurred eyes. He realised how broken she really was. A burned and abandoned doll trapped inside a statue of a warrior. The emotionless sheen of her eyes was just a mask to hide the pain beneath. Somewhere along the way the line between the hurt farmgirl and the ruthless hunter had blurred and now even she didn’t know what her true self looked like.

“You have an affinity with the earth, don’t you?” he asked her.

She nodded. “There was a storm. I left shelter like a fool and was swept into the sea by a giant wave. I felt myself die out there in the darkness of the ocean. But then I woke on the beach with a familiar on my chest and my affinity awoken. I don’t know how it happened. I was only six at the time. By the time Pyrefist arrived I was already one of the better farmers on the island. But then in those flames all of my love for nurturing life died. I wanted blood, but all I had was the ability to grow crops.”

“So you weaponised it?”

“It was the only thing I could think of at the time. I took the power of life and twisted it until it was a tool of destruction. Every advantage I could take from the plants I took without a second thought. Vines grow across my body that obey my will. I have spore pods that can shoot pollen to blind opponents, and chlorophyll cells line my skin to take in the sun’s light as a secondary source of energy. I can go for a long time without much sleep or food thanks to that. Part of me wonders if I’m even human anymore. But against fire, none of it matters. I’ve taken earth affinity beyond its bounds but I still couldn’t beat even the weakest of flamecasters. The world isn’t a fair place, is it? Yet you have all that power and waste it. Why?”

“Does it matter? I don’t want to hurt people and my affinity exists to cause pain.”

“But why do you, out of every pirate on the seas, have such conviction against battle. Are you just a naive fool, or a coward? I don’t care if you are a pacifist, I want to know why you are one.”

Bucc closed his eyes. Part of him wanted to ignore her, to push away the question and go to sleep. Milla had just told him everything about her own history. Even though he tried to avoid them, the memories floated to the surface of his mind and he found the words were already forming on his lips.

“My parents are both skilled pirates, and our family has quite the reputation in the south seas. When I was young I was full of confidence and loved to fight. For my age, I was pretty good at it too. I could make friends with anybody and had the skills and courage to always be the leader of the children. I didn’t have a direction though. I wanted to win everything because winning made me feel special. That was all.

“That changed when an older boy came back to the Seal. He had been born there, but after his parents had been killed in a skirmish, he left for two years. He was called Kaz, and he was the perfect picture of what a pirate should be. He had a natural charisma that made people want to follow him and had such big ambitions. He was one of those people who was good at everything they turned their hands too. Nobody doubted that he’d go far.

Well, even though all of the adults wanted to guide and befriend him, Kaz preferred helping the younger children. Somehow, he ended up taking me, Jesse, and Adward under his wings. I was directionless, Jesse couldn’t speak to anybody except for her brother, and Adward was a serious kid who tried to have an answer to everything. He saw our potential and worked hard to help us grow. He shared his dreams and made us understand that together we covered each others’ flaws. He was the older brother that bound us together as a family. The four of us together were unstoppable.”

“I’m guessing things didn’t stay that way?”

“No. Three years ago we were visiting an island on the eastern borders. Kaz was a few weeks away from his Awakening.” Bucc paused and took a calming breath before continuing. “Jesse has always liked weapons, and Kaz had encouraged that interest. She saw a pirate there with a custom pistol, three gilded barrels, a real work of art. Following Kaz’s example, she tried to talk to the man to get a better look at it. Usually she would have been too anxious to even try, but Kaz had made real progress with her. This pirate wasn’t the sort that you spoke to though. He was a bounty hunter with a nasty reputation, not that we knew that then. He shoved her to the floor.

“I saw it happen, and me being the reckless, overconfident kid that I was, ran straight up to him and pushed him back. I shouted at him to apologise to her, my hand on my knife. That was a mistake. He pulled that beautiful pistol out without thought and aimed it straight at me. He fired it, and if Kaz hadn’t come charging at the man then I’d be dead. The round still clipped my side and I fell. I could only watch as Kaz faced down the man.

“Kaz was our idol. He was a rising legend and everybody knew it. Nothing could stop him from becoming the greatest pirate who ever lived. That was just a fundamental fact of our life. I saw him standing there with nothing but his knife and a look of cold rage in his eyes, and I knew everything would be okay. 

“There was a crack of a pistol and Kaz staggered back. I remember being so confused. He ran forward, and all I could focus on was how much blood there suddenly was. The bounty hunter fired again. There was more blood. Kaz didn’t stop. He ran on and stabbed at the man. The man tried to dodge but couldn’t. He got a nasty cut across his throat, but it wasn’t deep enough to kill him. Without even flinching, he headbutted Kaz then drew his sword, running him through without hesitating. 

Kaz collapsed. I was too shocked to really know what was happening. The bounty hunter left as though nothing had happened. It was all over so quickly. We ran to Kaz. I don’t think that either of us could understand what had happened. Kaz was untouchable. He’d give us one of his cocky grins and laugh the whole thing off. He didn’t.

“His pale face was so unlike him. I almost couldn’t believe it was Kaz there on the ground. Blood was everywhere. There wasn’t any famous last words or moments of clarity, just our hero crying in a pool of his own blood as the life left his eyes. He was scared. I’d never seen him be scared of anything. All of his reputation and confidence had melted away and I saw that underneath all of that he was just like us. He was a child terrified that he was dying. His last words to me were “I don’t want to go”. There was nothing I could do.”

Milla had been listening to his story in silence, but to Bucc, she didn’t exist. His mind had taken him back to those blood slick streets. He realised he was crying again. He tried to blink them away.

“Jesse blamed herself for approaching the man. Her confidence unravelled and now she’s back to only being able to speak to me and Adward. I blamed myself for confronting him. He likely would have ignored Jesse after shoving her away, but I threatened him with a knife. Kaz died to protect me. My mistake put him in that position. I saw how quickly violence could escalate, and I saw the raw pain that it brought. Any time I even think of hurting another person, that pale face rises up from my memory. 

“We pledged that we’d keep his dreams alive inside of us. Jesse wants to become a great captain just like Kaz wanted to be, and Adward wants to find the Shores of the Nexus and claim Captain Dread’s treasure, the treasure that Kaz had always set his sights on. As for me, well, I guess I ran away from that like I do everything. I pitched it as fulfilling Kaz’s desire to help people by providing food and making sure that nobody went hungry. Really though, I just wanted to nurture life since death scared me so much.”

“It sounds like he was a great man,” Milla told him softly. “He sacrificed his life to save you. He saw something in you worth giving everything for. Don’t throw that away.”

Those words rang in Bucc’s head long after they were spoken. He lay there lost in his own thoughts for a long time. Milla’s fate had been to be a farmer. She was born into it, had the right affinity, and excelled at the work. But then she had taken all of that and reforged it for a new purpose, one that was so far from it’s intended use that it sailed against the current of common knowledge.

Previous – Chapter 12. The Fires of Fate.

Next – Chapter 14. Acceptance.

“You want to kill a pirate lord? Are you crazy?” Bucc exclaimed. 

“Probably,” Milla said without emotion. “You asked and I answered. I’ve been following him for two years. I’ll kill him, or die trying. Run to the south if you want. War will spread there soon enough.”

“Wait, hold on,” Bucc said. Her words had triggered something in his head. “Is this the same pirate lord who is gathering flamecasters to create an empire?”

“That’s him. It seems that his atrocities do reach you in the south, only they fall on deaf ears.”

“Was he the one that beat you and sealed you in that barrel?”

“That’s none of your business. I’ll keep growing stronger.” She clenched her fists, her eyes sparkling dangerously. “They might have fire, but none of it burns as fiercely as my hate for them.”

“But that’s no way to live.”

“You’re giving me advice on how to live? Tell me then, why are you three out here so far from home? What grand plan do you have for your own lives?”

Bucc didn’t answer. He supposed that he never really had thought about the future. The second that things hadn’t gone to plan at the Awakening he had thought of nothing but running away from his life. Maybe he and the girl were opposite sides of the same coin. He ran away from his destiny while she had embraced it and let it consume her.

He and Adward rowed the boat in silence. They steered it in a vaguely southern direction without any real destination in mind. The girl stared out to the horizon and ignored everything else around her, seemingly blanking the others from existence. Jesse sat at the other end of the small boat with her eyes locked firmly on her own feet.

This was how the rest of the day passed. When the skies began to darken, Adward swapped places with Jesse so he could read the stars better. After another few hours, Adward offered to take the paddle again while Jesse tried to sleep.

Milla surprised Bucc by offering to take his place. “I don’t sleep,” she told him without explanation. “I can manage a few hours of light rowing.”

Bucc wasn’t about to argue with the offer so he moved over and nestled into the corner that she had occupied. He tried to have a conversation with her, asking about the strange vines that grew across her skin, but she didn’t respond. After several questions died in the air between them, Bucc gave up and attempted to rest. He fell asleep almost instantly and only woke up when Adward shook him roughly by the shoulder.

“What’s up?” he asked groggily. 

“There’s a ship ahead. A sea village judging by the size.”

It was still dark. Ephemeral starlight washed over the rolling waves, a mesmerising sheen of liquid silver in an otherwise grey world. Bucc peered across the glimmering ocean and caught sight of the ship in question. 

“Are northern sea villages any different to ours?” 

“I don’t know. Never seen one. Do we risk getting their attention?”

“How far north are we?”

Adward frowned and looked up at the fading stars. “I don’t think we were too far north to start with. I can’t be sure but I’d say we’re sailing just north of the Free Seas Belt between the northern and southern fleets. That ship is coming from the south, so it really could be anything.”

“It isn’t a northern ship,” Milla said impassively. “Resources are more scarce up here. Ships are smaller with less crew.”

“If it’s a southern ship we should be safe to get their attention,” Adward said. The others nodded, other than the girl who had simply resumed her staring out to sea. 

They rowed towards the ship until it altered its direction slightly to meet them. As it got closer and dawn began to break, the details of the ship started to become clear. Down in the tiny row boat the ship looked like a colossus of wood that grew to consume the world. It’s dark shadow returned them into night, but not before Adward had had a chance to look closely at the vessel. 

“I think this might be a bad idea. It’s the Seal…”

Bucc’s face dropped. “What? It can’t be. Why would the Seal be this far north? We never leave our own waters.”

“Is there a problem?” Milla asked sharply.

“That’s our ship. We ran away after our Awakening.” Adward explained. “I imagine that we won’t be getting a warm reception.”

“Well, you’ll know soon enough. They’re sending down their welcoming party. Just know that if they stand in my way I will kill them.”

A boat larger than their tiny rowboat was lowered from the Seal and lurched towards them. Bucc tried to swallow but suddenly realised how dry his throat had become. Even from this distance he could see the telltale glint of Captain Gus’ golden nose. Accompanying it were the glints of drawn swords. It quickly neared them, only slowing just before the two vessels collided.

The captain stepped up to face them and offered the group a grim smile. “Well isn’t this an unexpected surprise, eh, Buccaneer Jones? And young Adward and Jesse Reeds too. I thought finding you three would be more challenging.”

“How did you even know where to start?”

“We followed the riftway. You’re far too valuable to let slip through my fingers,” Captain Gus told him. As he spoke he motioned for the other pirates to bring the runaways across. Bucc and the others didn’t put up a fight. There was no point. Milla looked ready to lash out at any second but allowed herself to be led along with the others. 

“A good number of the crew figured you were dead. Attempting a trip through a riftway without a sturdy ship and an experienced crew is seen as suicide. I had a feeling that you made it. Looks like I was right.”

They made the short journey back to the Seal and waited for the ropes to be set up to hoist the boat back up to the deck. As they slowly rose up out of the waves, the captain continued.

“This was truly a chance encounter. We’re in these waters for a meeting. Like I said, you are a very valuable man now, Bucc. But you made it clear you wouldn’t stay with my crew. That meant you needed to be someone else’s problem. I needed a few extra chests of gold, so the situation worked itself out nicely. Our guest offered to show us the area where someone was likely to exit the riftway. You really saved us the trouble.”

“You can’t just sell me!” Bucc argued. “I’m an adult now. A pirate. That’s our creed! Live free.”

“The world isn’t an ideal place. Times are hard. If you don’t pull your weight then I won’t support that weight. I didn’t want to do this. This man’s offer is one nobody would refuse. He’ll take you whatever I do, and none of us could stop him if we tried. At least this way we get something out of it. You see, I’m only doing what is necessary to protect my crew.”

The boat rose up past the railing of the deck and Captain Gus stepped down onto the Seal. A lot of the crew had gathered on the deck and stared at the youngsters in sombre silence. Bucc scanned the crowd and saw his parents near the back. They had tears in their eyes and were being held back by other crewmates. Everything seemed tense. The air itself crackled with an agitated energy. None of the familiars scampered around like usual, instead clinging to their owners or hiding in folds of clothing. Even the captain seemed nervous.

A man and a younger woman stood opposite Captain Gus. There was a bubble of space around them that nobody crossed. The man was tall and broad, dressed head to foot in warm, dark clothes similar to what the men on the island had worn. He had a neat black beard and a bald head, but his most distinctive feature was the blood red colour of his iris. Only the skin of his face was visible and that was a latticework of scars.

The younger woman looked little older than Bucc and shared the man’s dark hair and red eyes. She too wore a heavy coat. She watched the Seal’s crew with barely veiled contempt. Unlike the man, she was armed with a long, slender sword that was sheathed across her back. Neither of them had a visible familiar.

Bucc didn’t recognise them, but from Milla’s reaction, it was obvious that she did. She charged forward without warning. Several of the Seal’s pirates stepped in her path with weapons drawn but she struck them down with fist and vine before they even knew what was happening. 

The red eyed woman moved to draw her sword but the man lifted a single finger and she returned her hand to her side. Milla launched several tendrils out in front of her that the man sidestepped easily. There was an explosion of the yellow mist again which obscured everyone’s vision. It cleared and Milla was behind him. She struck out with her fist as vines swept around to either side to lock him in place. He hopped back and spun to face her, evading everything that she threw at him. 

Lightning fast, he drove his knee up into her gut with sickening force. Milla staggered and collapsed, throwing up bile onto the planks beneath her. She gaped for breath as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Captain Gus stepped forward with a placating gesture of his hands. Wild panic brimmed in his dark eyes. The blackclad man smiled and stepped back, resuming his previous pose. The captain sighed with relief but was still visibly tense.

“Buccaneer Jones,” Captain Gus announced. “This man will be your new captain. Show your respects to Lord-Captain Pyrefist of the Crimson Waves, Emperor of the Ashenna Empire of the North.”

Pyrefist strode past the girl and approached Bucc with a quiet intensity. Up close his sheer size was terrifying. He towered over Bucc like a wall of muscle and gave out an intimidating aura unlike anything Bucc had ever experienced. Just standing close to him made Bucc sick with fear.

“You are a flamecaster.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact. His voice was deep and rough, but each word was clear and spoken with an uncommon eloquence. 

“Your captain tells me that you are a pacifist. Why?”

The voice and eyes compelled Bucc to speak even though his throat felt completely parched. He feared what would happen if he didn’t speak.

“I… I don’t want to hurt people. Pain and loss hurt everyone. I want people to be happy.”

“You are fighting against human nature. To live is to engage in violence over resources. We revel in it. Humans embrace the thrill, crave the adrenaline of gambling with pain. Your idealism means nothing in the face of this fact.”

“You’re wrong! If nobody tries then we’ll never know how far we can take it.”

“They are the naive dreams of a child. Even if your philosophy took root and spread, what then? Can you infect every human that lives and ever will live? Because that’s what it would take. In a world of pacifists, the man without morals is king. Who is going to stop him? No, only strength can overcome evil.”

Pyrefist swept his eyes over Adward and Jesse. Both took an involuntary step back. “Do you agree with your friend’s view of the world?”

Neither answered. Adward managed to shake his head slightly while Jesse just swayed where she stood. 

Pyrefist’s eyes fixed once more on Bucc. “I intend to use you to bring peace. True peace, not a delusional ideal that can never be. If you wish to help the world then you should join me willingly.”

“No! I’m not a weapon!”

“Don’t fear the fire, boy. It’s a part of who you are. That spark doesn’t grow out of nothing. Embrace it. Let it set you free.”

“It might be who I am, but it isn’t who I choose to be…”

“We shall see.” 

Without warning, Pyrefist took hold of Bucc’s head with one broad hand. Bucc felt an energy ripple through him. His heart began to pound in his chest and blood rang loudly in his ears. A feeling of heat rose up in his chest that he couldn’t control.

“What… are….you doing… to me?”

He could feel power building up inside him. He tried to bury it but Pyrefist was drawing the power out of him by force. The flame flared within him, it’s heat piercing his bones and burning his mind. His teeth grinded together painfully as he tried to keep control. A scream tore itself from his throat and the world became engulfed in fire.

Shouts and cries of terror sliced through the roar of flames and crackle of burning wood. All Bucc could see was blinding light. The weight of Pyrefist’s hand felt crushing, pushing Bucc’s soul down into the abyss. He tried to move but his limbs wouldn’t respond.

“Bucc!” 

Through the light a shadow resolved itself into Jesse. She ran to him with a sword in her hand. Pyrefist clenched his fingers tighter and Bucc felt more power explode from him. Jesse screamed and fell back clutching her face, then she was lost once again to the blinding light. 

The flames were growing more intense by the second. Bucc couldn’t breath. The fire leeched his strength, consuming him completely. The sounds of destruction cut through it all, ripping what little of his heart remained to shreds.

Something slammed into him. A cold sensation splashed against his chest, then his arm and back. Bucc forced his eyes open and saw Milla pulling him away. Blanks were swarming in and surrounding them, forcing their way through the flames to envelope Bucc’s body. The red eyed girl ran for them and Milla blocked her with a stolen sword. More blanks flooded down, several burning away in the blaze. 

Something wrenched at Bucc’s body, pulling him violently in every direction at once. For a moment he was completely numb to the world until colours spiraled straight into his brain. He hit the floor hard without any sense of orientation. Unable to do anything else, he threw up then collapsed, feeling his face sink into warm sand before his consciousness retreated into the dark corners of his head.

Previous – Chapter 11. The Girl who Dances with Death.

Next – Chapter 13. Bonds of the Broken.

Bucc’s mind raced but he couldn’t see any way out of the situation. The man had him in a firm grip so he wouldn’t be able to break loose and run. Fighting was out of the question. The only option was for Adward and Jesse to escape without him.

Before he could speak, Jesse acted. She grabbed a stone from the ground and hurled it at the head of the man holding Bucc. Blood splashed across Bucc’s face. The man reeled back, clutching his head, allowing Bucc to stagger away. Everybody started shouting. Jesse and Adward were already running, with the other two pirates giving chase. Bucc ran after them, moving faster than he ever had in his life.

“What’s the plan!” Adward shouted as he weaved between trees. He was already panting heavily. 

“Keep running!” Jesse called back to him. “Maybe we can lose them then double back.”

Bucc risked looking around. The men were gaining on them quickly and there was movement above them. “No. We can’t lose them. They have some kind of bird familiar.”

“Then we should go back to the girl. The blanks helped us before. Maybe they’ll help us again,” said Jesse.

“But that’s where they want us to go!”

“What other choice do we have? Come on!”

They ran around a hill then sprinted back to their camp. Bucc could hear the heavy footsteps of the men right behind them. He was too scared to look back. They were so close. He could see the canopy of their makeshift shelter.

A hand grabbed at Bucc’s shirt and jerked him back abruptly. He felt his arms get locked into place and a slither of cold steel brush against his throat. He gulped and froze, too scared to even breathe.

“Stop your running now or your friend here is going to have a really bad time!” one of the men shouted. The sword against Bucc’s throat pressed deeper to emphasise the point. 

Jesse and Adward stopped just short of the camp. Bucc tried to tell them to keep running but couldn’t make any sound. He watched helplessly as the other two men moved past him towards his friends. One was the man who had been on the receiving end of Jesse’s stone throw. He looked furious. Smeared blood covered his face, making him seem almost demonic in the flickering light that filtered down through the trees. Both had their swords drawn.

The pirate pushed Bucc forward. He shakily began to walk, being very careful not to make any sudden movements. Another pirate took hold of Adward while the other struck Jesse across her face hard enough to knock her to the floor. Bucc tensed up but felt the sword nick his skin. The bloodied man yanked her back to her feet by the scruff of her collar. 

“You’ll pay for this cut, girl. Mark my words,” he hissed as he shoved her forward. His scowl lifted quickly though as soon as he noticed the blonde haired girl laying alone beneath the canopy. 

As they approached, the blanks rose up and formed a shield around her. The pirates’ leader tied Jesse up with a length of rope then stepped up to the wall of creatures. They pulsed angrily but showed no sign of moving. He slowly reached out his hand and placed it on one of the translucent spheres. It shivered and pulsed harder but offered no other reaction. He laughed and tore it away. The hole was quickly filled by another blank.

Jesse looked over to Bucc with tears in her eyes. She didn’t speak but was clearly mouthing words at him. “Use it. Use your power.” 

Bucc felt his gut lurch just from the thought of it. He could feel the fire flickering deep inside, eager to escape in a blaze of devastation. Every instinct screamed at him to save his friends, but each time he reached out to grab the fire, he heard screams and saw flesh burn in his mind. Again he saw the ground run red with blood. Someone had died the last time that Bucc had tried to protect Jesse. His instinct to fight had cost Kaz his life. Who would die this time?

The images didn’t stop coming. Bucc’s breathing was out of control and tears streamed down his face. Everything he could do would lead to pain. His inner fire flickered, then was smothered by the weight of his fear.

“Tie them up,” the tattooed man ordered the other two men. He turned back to the blanks and drew his sword. “I don’t have time to deal with this nonsense.”

The man slashed at the blanks, cutting through several in a single swing. The creatures writhed and deflated, falling away like autumn leaves. Bucc couldn’t believe his eyes. The killing of blanks was forbidden. The man’s familiar looked on at the butchery without compassion. 

The deaths of the blanks sent a ripple of pain out to anyone with a heart. Even with the blade on his neck, Bucc couldn’t suppress a strangled sob. The pirate struck again and more blanks silently vanished from the world. More pain washed over Bucc like a physical force. He blinked several times and tried to focus on the living shield. He hadn’t been the only one who had flinched. Another slash caused another pang of hurt. He had been right! This time he saw the girl jerk slightly. 

Then her eyes opened. She looked bewildered and wild. Her hands clenched. Slowly, unsteadily, she rose to her feet. The pirate noticed her and grinned broadly.

“So, you’re awake? Good. Captives are easier to manage when they can walk. Now call off these blanks and come with us without any trouble-”

The blanks parted and a spray of yellow mist flooded out. The man shouted but Bucc couldn’t see what was happening through the mist. The other two pirates readied their swords and took an uncertain step forward. Something lashed out from the cloud and struck one of the men across the knuckles. He dropped the sword and yelped. 

As the cloud dissipated, the girl came running forward. She looked different. There were too many limbs. Bucc realised that it was the vines that worked their way around her body. She was somehow controlling them, using them as whips to strike at them men. She moved with a grace that Bucc had never seen before, spinning around sword strokes without even appearing to look. The men were double her size but after a brutal flurry of attacks, both fell to the ground and made no sign of getting back up. Their familiars stood beside them, hissing and growling, ready to protect their masters. A faint glow spread from the creatures to cover the men, shielding them from further harm. The barrier was easy enough to break, but the girl ignored them.

The remaining blanks crowded around her. She glared at the unconscious men then toppled into the dirt. Bucc crawled up to one of the dropped swords and managed to cut the rope that bound him. He rushed over to Jesse and Adward.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he sliced through the ropes that bound Jesse. Her cheek was still bright red.

“I’m fine. It barely hurt. Honest.” The moment she was free she grabbed a sword and moved to her brother. “I’ll cut Adward free. You check on that girl.”

Bucc nodded then ran to the girl’s side. She was still awake but her eyes were scrunched shut in pain and she looked feverish. All of the vines had returned back beneath her tattered dress. Jesse tried to speak with her but couldn’t get a full word out through her stammers. A hiss of frustration escaped her lips as she motioned at Bucc to take over. 

“Are you okay?” he asked nervously.

The girl opened her eyes and stared angrily up at him. “Do I look okay? What kind of stupid question is that? I’m dying, so you may as well mind your own business and get out of my way.”

“You’re not going to die? We’re here to help you.”

She laughed but it quickly became a spluttering cough. “You can’t help me. Nobody can. But don’t worry. I don’t intend to go anywhere until I avenge my family.”

“Avenge your family?”

Adward was collecting the weapons of the men. He motioned for Jesse to help him tie their hands then interrupted the conversation. “Talking can wait. We need to get off this island before they wake up. Get what supplies you can then let’s take their boat. I can probably navigate our way back south to safety.”

“Right,” Bucc nodded. He turned to the girl. “Can you walk?”

“Yes,” she answered bluntly. She struggled to her feet, each little movement bringing with it a hiss of pain. Bucc tried to help her but she shoved him away. “I don’t need your help.”

“Er, sure. Okay,” he answered uncertainty. This kind of interaction was out of his depth. He put on a smile and tried to reassure her. “I’m Bucc by the way. And these are my friends Jesse and Adward.”

The girl ignored him. She began an unsteady march towards the beach. Bucc followed close behind. 

“Just leave me alone!” she snapped at him.

“Look, just hear me out. There’s one way off this island unless you know how to build a boat from scratch. We all have to work together if we want to find safety. Anyway, we kinda rescued you so you could maybe be a bit more appreciative.”

“You rescued me? Get real. All three of you would be dead if I hadn’t saved you. Without you here those men would still be out of the way and I’d have the boat all to myself.”

“Maybe, but you’d never have made it to this island in the first place. We rowed your barrel here. Without us you would have died in that cramped darkness all alone!”

The girl stopped mid step. She hesitated for a moment then resumed her stride. “Then maybe you should have left me.”

Bucc gave up trying. He fell back to walk beside Jesse and Adward who had been following them a short distance behind. Both were weighed down with equipment so Bucc took what he could to lighten their load.

“Any luck?” Adward asked him.

Bucc shook his head. “No. The only thing she’ll talk about is her own death. She seems to want it. I… I don’t understand her. Jesse, can’t you try getting through to her. You’re a girl too after all.”

“Thanks for noticing,” Jesse muttered. Her words sounded muffled through a swollen lip. “I can’t exactly talk to her though, can I? Even when she was unconscious I stumbled over my words. There’s no chance that I can speak with her giving me that scary glare.”

“This is going to be a really long voyage, isn’t it?”

They caught up to the girl beside the boat. She was leant against its side breathing heavily. Sweat rolled down her face. Several blanks were huddled around her feet.

“Took your time,” she grunted breathlessly. “You don’t seem that eager to leave this island to me.”

This time it was Adward that tried his hand at diplomacy. “My name is Adward Reeds, this is my sister, Jesse, and our friend Bucc. We’re going to be stuck with each other for a while, so can we at least get your name?”

“Names are unimportant. If you need one though, call me Milla.”

“Well, Milla, we don’t have much of a plan other than to head back south into familiar waters. Where do you want to go?”

The girl climbed up into the boat and settled into the prow. She spoke in a low voice, each word slow and methodical. “Further to the north is a fleet controlled by Lord Captain Pyrefist. He is the most powerful pirate alive and his fleet dominates the northern seas. Very soon he’ll take the title of Pirate King. I’m going to kill him.”

Previous – Chapter 10. New Dangers.

Next – Chapter 12. The Fires of Fate.

Bucc sat at the edge of their shelter feeling useless. Jesse was furiously attempting to light a fire while Adward was preparing a meal from what few nuts, berries and bulbs they had found nearby that didn’t look poisonous. Most of the island was covered in sickly green mushrooms that Bucc advised them were deadly. The mysterious girl was laid out in the centre of the space wrapped in a layer of leaves to try and keep her warm. The blanks rested on top of the leaves like giant bubbles, though Bucc wasn’t sure if they provided any heat.

None of them had much knowledge of medicine or health. It wasn’t something that interested most pirates. If plenty of rum and a hot knife didn’t solve the problem then that was that. The best they could offer was to keep her dry and try to keep her hydrated. The torrential rain at least went some way to helping with everyone’s thirst, but the food situation was still looking bad.

“She looks badly beaten, but I’d guess it’s exhaustion that hit her hardest,” Adward had announced after a tentative examination. Jesse had checked the girl over more closely but confirmed that she didn’t have any major injuries. Even so, she showed no sign of waking.

Adward handed Bucc a folded leaf then passed another to Jesse before reaching out into the rain to grab some cups that he had built from more leaves and fibres. Bucc sniffed the folded leaf then risked taking a small bite. The leaf was rubbery and tasteless, but inside was a thick paste of berries and nuts. It was bitter but Bucc didn’t care. He scoffed the rest of it down ravenously.

The rain didn’t ease up through the night. Water pooled on the ground and flowed into the shelter until there wasn’t a spot of dry floor left. At first Jesse had tried to use her affinity to keep the water at bay, but it had been a continuous battle, and in the end she’d no choice but to give up. A pile of leaves was the only protection they had to work with and it did little to keep the group dry. Exhaustion fought with discomfort, ensuring that Bucc stayed in a constant state of half sleep.

With the first light of morning came a break in the weather. A fine drizzle hung in the air, but compared to the downpour of the night it seemed almost pleasant. Bucc had barely slept and his hunger had returned. Even the sights, sounds and scents of nature were doing little to improve his bad mood.

“We need to explore the island better today,” Jesse said. She looked down at the mystery girl and her words faltered. She turned away and continued. “We need a boat, or at least a reliable source of food and a shelter that isn’t going to let so much water and cold in.”

“Do you think she’ll be safe here by herself?” Bucc asked, motioning towards the girl.

“She should be okay. Her condition looks stable. Anyway, those blanks seem really drawn to her. I’ve never seen anything like it. I think they’re watching over her. Protecting her,” Adward answered. 

With that decided, the group set off. The jungle was dense and thick mud clung to everything. The strange mushrooms covered every surface and the air was thick with humidity and the sickly sweet smell of rot. There didn’t appear to be any sign of humanity at all.

It was hard to keep track of which direction they were going and where they had been. Eventually they made their way back to the beach and decided to do a circuit of the island. At first there were no discernable landmarks until Jesse spotted something that none of them had expected.

“Hey, is that a boat?” she asked. She slowed her walk and squinted. “It is! It’s a boat!”

“Keep your voice down,” Adward snapped. “Let’s see what’s going on before you make a scene.”

There was a trail leading out of the sea up the beach that ended at a rowing boat. The churned sand looked recent and the boat seemed well maintained. It couldn’t have been there for long. That meant only one thing. They weren’t alone.

Eyes darting in every direction, the friends ran back into the jungle to find cover. In the relative safety of the trees and bushes, they crept along in search of the other pirates. Not far from where they found the boat they saw smoke and followed it to a campfire beside a sturdy tent. Two men sat next to the fire warming their hands. Both were armed with swords and pistols.

“What do we do?” Bucc whispered. “You think they’ll give us a ride off this island?”

“I don’t know,” Adward said. “I’m not even sure which crews sail this area. Some pirates would go out of their way to help us, others would rob the clothes from our backs then bury us in a shallow grave.”

The men wore more clothes than most of the pirates that Bucc had ever met. Other than their faces they had no exposed skin, and small sections of metal armour covered the padded fabric of their jackets. Their swords were bigger and straighter than a traditional pirate scimitar too. They looked well equipped for colder weather and for brutal combat.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Bucc said quietly. “You two stay here. Talking to people is about the only thing I’m any good at. So I’ll go introduce myself and see if they’ll help us.”

“Or we could just watch them and see why they’re here. If they start talking about anything bad then we can run and hide, if they sound okay then you can work your charm,” Adward argued. “It’s not like we can jump in and fight them off if things turn nasty.”

“True…”

“Shhhh. They’re talking,” Jesse hushed them.

The three leaned in closer to catch the words. It was hard to hear the men over the constant rhythm of rain but thankfully the men weren’t trying to be quiet. Their speech was thick but lacked the characteristic accent that was common in the South.

“Just think of the money. What’s a little rain when we’re rolling in gold?”

“Is she really worth that much though? She’s just a girl. I’ve got no Idea why the Lord Captain wants her back so badly.”

“Nobody knows what’s going on in that head of his, but he built the Empire, so he clearly knows what he’s doing. Besides, it was the Red Demon herself who gave us these orders, so it must be important. The reward will make us rich men. But first we need to find her. This is the only island for miles. If she isn’t here then she’ll be adrift in the sea. She wants to hope we find her or she’ll die alone inside that barrel.”

“They must be talking about that girl,” Bucc said.

“Well, I doubt they’re talking about another girl in a barrel,” Jesse said sarcastically. “Not unless these northern crews have a real funny idea about how to transport women.”

“But they don’t want to find her because they care about her. They just want to sell her. They beat and starved her. We have to help.”

“But what can we do? We have nowhere to hide and no weapons to fight them off. Not that you would fight them anyway,” Adward pointed out.

“There has to be something!”

“It’s simple,” said Jesse. “There’s an obvious trail where we dragged the barrel. We carry the girl and wait for them to find it. Then when they are busy with the barrel we steal their boat and make our escape.”

“Why do all your plans revolve around stealing things,” Adward said with a sigh.

“Just be glad I don’t have any gunpowder. The plan would have been much more fun then.”

They slowly backed away from the pirate’s camp then dashed through the undergrowth back towards where they had left the girl. Bucc ran between trees then slammed into a dark shape that had appeared in his path without warning. He looked up to see a third pirate smiling down at him. Jesse and Adward froze in place, unsure whether to run or jump to Bucc’s aid.

“Now what have we got here. This ain’t no place for children,” said the man. His voice was deep and had a wicked edge to it. Tattoos covered his face and his teeth were sharpened into points. He whistled, the sound echoing loudly through the jungle.

A spike of fear stabbed at Bucc but he shoved it away and thought quickly. “No kidding. We’re starving and soaked. We got washed away and ended up stranded here. Could you help us?”

“Oh, you did? Well then, I guess we’d better drop everything to help you little urchins out then, eh?”

The man’s tone was mocking but Bucc decided to play the fool. “I’m glad. We were worried that nobody would ever find us here.”

“Listen, kid, don’t play dumb with me.” He grabbed Bucc by the shirt and pulled him up level with his face. “You have the clothes and accent of the southern pirates. You’re a long way from your own waters. What’s more, I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere, and those ears tell me that you know where our mark is.”

“Mark? Can’t say I’ve seen anyone called Mark. Are you sure you haven’t got the wrong group?”

As he spoke, Bucc saw movement beside his foot. He glanced down to see a long snake slither past him then begin to wind its way up the man’s body. The pirate didn’t take his eyes off Bucc.

“You see, boy, this is my familiar, Sentinel. I can see and hear whatever she does. I know you know where the girl is. You’re going to save us a few minutes of searching and take us straight to her. That is, if you don’t want you and your friends to get hurt.”

There was the sound of footsteps behind him now. Bucc could still see Adward and Jesse frozen in place. The two other pirates moved toward the siblings.

Previous – Chapter 9. Lost at Sea.

Next – Chapter 11. The Girl Who Dances with Death.