AN
I just want to thank everyone who helped me correct my mistakes in the first chapter and let you know that I have fixed them. If you see any mistakes in this chapter or have any idea's for this story let me know I am always willing to listen.
"Eleanor! Hey, Eleanor! Where are you?" Oscar called, but Eleanor can't see him. All she sees is darkness, a black mass that spreads endlessly in every direction. There is nothing here, nothing but the voice of Eleanor's beloved older brother. "Eleanor!"
"Oscar!" Eleanor shouted back into the void around her hoping Oscar can hear her, hoping Oscar can follow her voice to find her and get her out of here because she can't see a thing. "Oscar! I'm over here!"
"Eleanor! Please answer me! Eleanor!" Oscar continued to call. Eleanor's voice must have gone unheard because he doesn't sound like he noticed her. "Eleanor! Where are you?"
"Oscar I'm over here!" Eleanor shouts as loudly as she can, praying so desperately that he will hear her this time. "Oscar I'm right here! Oscar!"
"Eleanor!" Oscar continued still not hearing her.
"Just leave her" Now Teresa's voice joins his and Eleanor can feel her body fill with a fear of being left alone in this black void. "It's clear she wants to stay here, just leave her."
"No don't go!" Eleanor cried.
"But she is our sister," Oscar replied but to Teresa. "We can't just leave her."
"Yes, we can," Teresa tells him forcefully. "Just come with me."
"Ok," Oscar sighed giving up. "Let's go."
"Don't go!" Eleanor shouts in vain as she tries to leave the darkness moving towards where she heard her brother's voice, but all she finds is more darkness no matter where she goes. "Oscar!" Eleanor starts to cry and panic; she doesn't want to be left here. "Oscar! Please don't leave me!"
"Oscar!" Eleanor is suddenly out of the darkness and into the light, her body shoots up, and her arm reaches out. Her hand grasps the empty air, and her throat is sore as if she has been shouting and screaming for hours. Eleanor feels her heart pounding in her chest beating a mile a minute and the sweat covering her body, looking down she finds her blanket has twisted around her body wrapping around her as if it was a rope.
Eleanor lowers her arm and tries to control her breathing as she remembers where she is. She remembers the abduction in the middle of the night, the news that her older sister Teresa hired an assassin to end her life and that the assassin that was sent to kill her offered her a position on her ship among her pirate crew.
"It was just a dream," Eleanor tells herself, she places a hand over her heart and feels the muscle in her chest start to slow down. "I'm on a pirate ship now, not in that void," A few seconds' pass before she moves again this time she moves to untangle her body from her blanket, almost as soon as she has freed herself there's a knock on her door. "Come in."
Laphicet opens the door and walks in, he stops inside the room and looks at the princess with a smile on his face.
"Velvet sent me to tell you breakfast will be served in a few minutes," Laphicet tells her before he turns to leave but he stops when his hand touches the door handle, he turns and faces her once again. "Do you remember where the galley is? I can wait for you outside and show you if you don't."
"No, I'm fine," Eleanor answers with a small shake of her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I can find my way there, so you don't need to wait for me."
"Ok" Laphicet replies with a smile. "I see you there, you better hurry Velvet is cooking, and her food is the best and always goes fast."
With that warning, Laphicet leaves Eleanor alone to change. When she joined the crew of the Van Eltia Velvet gave her a few sets of clothing and since all she had was a nightdress. Some of the clothing fits her surprisingly while but others hang off her body because they are a size or two too big.
Once Eleanor dressed she leaves her room, at first, she was worried the ship would be a maze, but she was relieved to find that the Van Eltia has a surprisingly simple layout. Eleanor has already memorized the locations of all the important areas on the ship she needs to know about so she walks through the halls of the ship with confidence and soon finds here destination. She also finds out that Laphicet wasn't joking around when he warned her that the food would be eaten soon, Velvet's cooking must be something as the sailor's shove and push each other to get some of it.
Too nervous to get involved Eleanor decides to wait at the back of the crowd for an opening, she's too afraid to make a move to get to the front of the crowd as she watches the elbows from the crew thrown wildly around and how the sailors fall over after a rough shove.
"This is madness," Eleanor comments as she stares at the scene.
"This is normal" Eleanor jumps at the voice, she turns to see Eizen stood right beside. "When Velvet cooks it's always like this"
"Is Velvet that good of a cook?" Eleanor asks as she looks at the crowd once again, she has never seen someone's cooking make such a commotion before.
"She's the best," Eizen tells her. "No one's cooking has ever come close to hers."
"Hey, Eizen!" A large figure emerges from the crowd, and Eleanor soon recognizes its Rokurou carrying two trays of food with Laphicet right behind him carrying another two trays. "I got your food."
"I got you some too Eleanor," Laphicet says as he offers a tray of food to Eleanor which she accepts gratefully happy that she won't have to fight her way to the front of the crowd.
"Thank you," Eleanor replies as she takes the tray.
"Aren't you going to thank me First Mate?" Rokurou asks in a teasing tone.
"Only if you want me to punch you," Eizen warns him as he forcefully takes his tray from Rokurou.
"Ha, I never expected you to," Rokurou says with a laugh. "Man, that was a tough one right kid?"
"Right," Laphicet nods his head in agreement.
"I enjoy a good fight but that was brutal, I'm glad it's the Reapers turn next time" Rokurou smiles looking at Eizen.
"Are you sure you want a repeat of last time?" Eizen asks as all four of them sit down at a nearby table.
"Of course, it was a sight to remember" Rokurou answers before he starts laughing his head off.
"What happened last time?" Eleanor questions while looking at the group. Rokurou is laughing, Laphicet is smiling looking like he wants to laugh and Eizen, well Eizen just looks annoyed.
"I tripped…" Eizen admits looking down at his food. "I tripped and the food I was carrying spilled all over me."
After breakfast Eleanor was put to work, she was ordered wash the dishes, clean the deck, and help another crewmate with the laundry. To say that things didn't end well would be an understatement. When she was washing the dishes, she broke several of them. As she swabbed the deck of the ship, she hurt two sailors by tripping them over with her mop. She also did a lousy job of cleaning, because of her several sailors had to take over and show her how to do it. Finally, when it came to washing clothes that too ended in disaster. She tore several shirts as she scrubbed them, she shrunk several more, and the only thing she managed to clean was herself. She only managed that because the sailor who was doing the laundry with her pushed her in the wash tub.
All this left Eleanor embarrassed and left her hiding in her room as she dried off, an unhappy crew and caused Eizen to storm into Velvet's office. The two pirates normally agree with each other but when it came to Eleanor Eizen and Velvet are on different pages. Eizen sees her as useless; he saw her make a mess of her jobs and how she seemed nervous around the crowd of sailors at breakfast. He doesn't trust her in a fight; he doesn't even trust her to be loyal to the crew and to be loyal to Velvet. He thinks the first chance she gets she will run, turn them in and ruin their plans to steal Flamestone. That's another thing he doesn't understand; he also wants to know why Velvet told Eleanor about her plans. He would have kept that a secret, at least until he knew he could trust her with that information.
"I don't understand what you are thinking," Eizen tells Velvet as he leans on her desk. "Kidnapping her is one thing but recruiting her and telling her our plans is a completely different story… What are you planning?"
"I don't know," Velvet admits shrugging her shoulders. "I have just been doing everything on a whim since I met her."
"I know," Eizen sighs knowing this isn't Velvet's normal self because if it were then Eleanor would have died instead of destroying everything she touches on the ship. "But can we trust her?"
"We have to wait and see," Velvet tells him with a small smile forming.
"That's why you told her our plans isn't it?" Eizen asks seeing his captain's motives; he knows what the smile on Velvet's lips means. "You are testing her by letting her know about our plans and seeing if she reports us to the authorities."
"I told her the wrong target if you are still worried about that," Velvet replied, "I told her we would hit a warehouse instead of the ship as we planned. If she betrays us than the ship will have fewer guards because they will be protecting the warehouse, if she is loyal then we can carry on as planned."
"I see," Eizen says rubbing his chin and thinking over what Velvet just told him. "I guess I should have trusted you."
"Don't worry about it," Velvet tells him. "It's your job as my second in command to question my decisions, that way I can see holes in my plans and plug them before it's too late."
"I guess that's the First Mate's duty," Eizen smiles. "We still need to give her something to do, I know she's a princess, but I didn't know she was so useless as part of our crew."
"Ask Rokurou to look after her" Velvet decides. "At least he can fix her fighting problems, she may be good, but she still has some rough edges that need to be worked out."
It's a beautiful day in the palace, the sun shines, and the flowers are blooming in the garden fill the air with their lovely scent. Sat amongst those flowers at a table covered with a pure white cloth the Royal Twins sit, drinking tea from a beautiful tea set and enjoying each other's company. From a distance the people passing by would see a peaceful sight, just the two twins relaxing in the sun but up close, you will see that everything is not ok. Oscar isn't as happy as he seems and Teresa is annoyed at that mostly because of the reason he is unhappy.
"Oscar just try not to think about her," Teresa gently says reaching over to touch her brother's hand.
"I don't understand…" Oscar replied. "I know she was upset, but I never thought she would kill herself."
"She didn't deserve to be queen," Teresa tells him. "You will make a better king then she would."
"That's not the point," Oscar snaps pulling his hand away from his sister's touch and making Teresa flinch. "She is our sister Teresa, don't you miss her?"
"Of course I do," Teresa lied. "But I didn't get along with her; you know that Oscar, after all, you spent most of your time breaking up our fights."
"Sometimes it feels as if I don't know you," Hearing that makes Teresa's heartache, she did this for Oscar, and he doesn't even see he is better off with Eleanor out of his life. "You are always so warm and loving, but now, our sister took her life, and you haven't let out a single tear."
"I do mourn her," Teresa tells him. "I just mourn her in privet, so the people don't see, you are the next King Oscar, how do you think the people will feel if they see you crying and depressed all the time?"
"I can see your point," Oscar answers. "But here in the palace, no one can see us; we can mourn her and every will understand."
"I'm sorry Oscar, I am, but crying isn't going to bring her back," Teresa says, and she instantly knows that it was a mistake to say that, Oscar looks at her with pain and hurt in his eyes.
"I'm going now," Oscar tells her before he walks off.
Teresa knows Oscar is upset with her. Whenever Oscar is upset with a person, he won't shout and scream. Instead, he will walk away from that person and give them the silence treatment. Teresa doesn't know when he will speak to her again, it could be weeks, it could be months, and it could even be over a year till they next speak. Teresa looks down at her hand to see blood; she opens her hand to find a nail has dug into her palm. She must have clenched her fist at some point; it must have been when she watched her brother walk off because she knew what that meant.
"Damn you, Eleanor," Teresa bitterly says to the empty garden. "Even when you are dead you are still getting between Oscar and me… I wish I were the one that killed you instead of that assassin."
"You still can kill her," Teresa barely reacts to the voice, she knows who it is even without looking.
"What do you want Shigure?" Teresa asks the tall, muscular man behind her. "If you said that in same vain attempt to cheer me up you failed, Eleanor is dead and I know this because that assassin never misses her target. As much as I want to I can't kill her, Eleanor is dead and soon to be forgotten."
"But she's not dead," This time Teresa does react, she turns right around to face the massive swordsmen.
"What?" Teresa asks in disbelief. "That assassin told me she killed her."
"She lied," Shigure tells her. "My informant on the Van Eltia says that the princess is still alive and the newest member of their crew."
"Are you sure?" Teresa asks still not believing what she is hearing. "How reliable is your source?"
"Very," Shigure confidently replied. "He's the reason why we killed Van Aifread three years ago."
"I want her dead and that assassin dead," Teresa tells him through gritted teeth. "I want them both dead."
"They are on their way to Hellawes right now, Velvet is planning on stealing some Flamestone there," Shigure says. "I know some mercenaries in Hellawes, they will take the job without asking any questions, but they do charge a small fortune."
"I don't care what it costs I want them dead," Teresa replied coldly with an evil smirk. "And make sure that the pirate suffers, she charged me for that job she didn't complete."
"You paid her," Shigure laughs.
"Yes and she will pay for ripping me off," Teresa answers through gritted teeth.
"Ok I'll go make the arrangements," Shigure says as he walks away. "I'll tell them someone is pretending to be the princess and dishonoring her memory unless you have any better idea."
"Make sure that you do," Teresa tells him. "I want her dead this time."
As Shigure leaves Teresa alone in the flower garden, Teresa has never been happier. First, she learns that her sister will soon be dead and then that she is about to get her revenge on the pirate that ripped her off, she couldn't be any happier.
There is nothing Eizen enjoys more than a good drink, he sometimes thinks could switch his drinking partner with anyone else on the ship but in the end, he wouldn't want to drink with anyone else. For Rokurou drinking is the only thing he enjoys as much as fighting. This late night drinking has become a ritual for these two sailors, meeting up on deck after the sun goes down for a glass or two of the hard stuff. They do this every night, Velvet joins them sometimes when she's having a bad day, but those are rare times, she doesn't drink and prefers to spend some time with Laphicet instead.
Eizen and Rokurou never miss a night on deck. No matter the weather they can be found on deck even if it is pouring with rain but on nights like this night are perfect for drinking. The air may be getting colder as they sail further north and the wind has a bite to it, but they don't let that bother them, as they drink they let the liquor warm their bodies and their conversation distract them from the coldness of the night.
"So…" Eizen asks. "How's the princess doing?"
"Better than I thought she would," Rokurou replied. "She already knows how to use her spear, she has good stamina and is determined but…" Rokurou pauses nodding towards a part of the ship where someone has split the wooden deck. "She swings her spear around wildly when she starts to get tired or angry, in a prolonged fight I think she would only endanger herself and us."
"I'm still not sure about her," Eizen admits. "The captain may be willing to give her a chance, but I think it's reckless."
"I heard about the test Velvet has planned," Rokurou says as he pours himself and Eizen another drink. "I think it's smart; we will win ever way with this plan."
"I know, but so much can go wrong," Eizen says shaking his head. "It's reckless to bring a princess aboard, if she's spotted with us every ship in the Royal Navy will be coming after us to rescue her."
"I see your point, but Velvet always leads us to victory," Rokurou replied. "For all, we know this could be part of a bigger plan."
"I hope you are right," Eizen tells him. "Someone with the reapers curse is bound to bring out the worst case scenarios."
The city of Hellawes is a busy trading hub, and the only exporter of Flamestone, ships of all shapes and sizes fill the harbor. Their captains brave the frozen waters filled with icebergs to transport these vital shipments of Flamestone. Hellawes is a busy place but it wasn't always like this, several years ago Hellawes was a small town whose main export was fish. Now ever since a large discovery of Flamestone near the city, it has changed, the city grow almost overnight with its population tripling within a week as more and more people flocked to the city looking for work.
Few people in the city still fish, the only real fisherman who fish for a living are two old men. Every morning at dawn they shake and shiver on their small fishing boat, they endure the cold days in Hellawes not just because it's their jobs but also because it's their passion. These men love to fish and to sail on their boat; they have been fishing since they were kids and can't see themselves ever doing anything else. This morning for them is like any other; they take their small boat out to sea dodging the larger ships as they go, they set their lines and then sit back and relax as they wait for their first catch of the day.
An hour past and then two with the two senior men catch several large fish and even more small ones, nothing is different from any other day in their lives. The only odd thing in the harbor is the arrival of several people covered in black robes, the two fishermen don't recognize them, but they know the ship they are boarding well. It's a merchant ship that was about to be loaded with as much Flamestone as it can carry. From their small fishing boat, the two men watch as the robed figures force the merchant ships crew off of their ship and stop the loading of Flamestone, confused but not wanting to get involved the two fishermen just watch. The merchant ship then sets sail leaving the ship's crew behind as well has the vital cargo it was meant to carry.
One of Magilou's favorite places to relax is the crow's nest; it's nice and quiet all the way up there. Very few people disturb her when she's up here, it's a difficult climb, and many of the sailors hate the height. It is a perfect place to relax. Magilou can stay up there for hours humming or singing to herself, she sometimes worries her fellow pirates when she walks on top of the wooden poles that keep the sails in place, she never falls, but people still worry. It's no surprise that she is considered the craziest person on the ship.
"The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow," Magilou sings, "And what will poor robin do then poor thing?" Snow starts to fall as she continues to sing. "He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm," Magilou spots something in the distance but continues her song. "And hide his head under his wing, poor thing," Now that object becomes clear, it's a ship and not just any ship, it's the ship they are coming to Hellawes to plunder. "Ship! Dead ahead!" Magilou shouts as a smile grows on her face, "Finally, some excitement."
The merchant ship wasn't moving and had its distress flags flying. Confident and hoping that fate has given them some luck for once the crew of the Van Eltia pulls their ship alongside. Velvet and Eizen are the first to step aboard the merchant ship; they find the deck empty. There is no sign of anyone being aboard.
"I don't like this," Eizen says.
"Me too," Velvet agrees. "Search the ship but be careful, the crew might be below deck with the Corsair's Scourge."
Most of the crew members from the Van Eltia now spread out covering every inch of the ship. They form small groups to search below deck while Velvet and Eizen head straight for the captain's courters. They want answers; they want to know why this ship left port several days earlier then it was meant to set sail. The crew spread out in their search as Eizen and Velvet disappear into the captain's courters.
Meanwhile back on the Van Eltia Eleanor and Laphicet wait. They were left behind and told to wait in Eleanor's room by Velvet. Laphicet doesn't seem to mind, and Eleanor understands why he isn't going, he is just a kid, and by every right, he should be anywhere near any dangerous situation, but Eleanor can't understand why she has was left behind. She could understand why she had to stay if Velvet wanted her to protect Laphicet but she didn't ask her too. Instead, she told Laphicet to keep an eye on her like she was the one who needed protection.
"Eleanor," Eleanor feels something tug at her sleeve, and when she looks, she finds Laphicet's tiny hand and concern covering his usually happy face. "Is everything ok? You look like something is troubling you."
"I'm fine Laphicet," Eleanor replies putting on her best smile. "Thank you for your concern but I just have a lot on my mind right now."
"I'm worried about them too, but I know they will be ok," Laphicet tells her. "Velvet is strong, and she always comes back, I just know she will come back."
Still, in her favorite spot on the ship, Magilou continues to watch the scene unfold. From all, they way up in the crows nest the mischievous witch has the best view of all what's happening. She sees things everyone else has missed, things that could potentially cause disaster but as normal, she keeps them to herself. This time she sees a plank of wood extending out of a cannon hull on the merchant ship to a gun hole on the Van Eltia. Magilou is giddy with anticipation and excitement as she wonders how this will end, her eyes follow the dark robed figures as they slip aboard her ship undetected by the pirates who climb onto theirs only a meter above them.
"Oh Velvet, whatever will you do?" Magilou says to herself. "Will you save the princess in time or will she die?" A dark evil smile fills the witches face. "I can't wait to see how this will end."
Velvet kicks down the hard oak wood door with ease, the force of her boot causes the door to shatter sending splinters flying in every direction. As the door flies open Velvet confidently walks in with her blade out of it gantlet, and Eizen doesn't carry a weapon instead he relies on his fists. Any sword Eizen always handles breaks, no matter how well made it is the blades of those swords always breaks. To some, that may seem like a weakness, but for people like Velvet who has seen what Eizen is capable of with his fists then it is clearly a strength. The things he can do with his fists are unbelievable; he can kill a man in countless ways before his body hits the ground.
Inside the room, they find nothing, just a bed, a footlocker, a desk, a chair and a fat man trying to hide from them. His hat and uniform give him away as the captain of this ship, Eizen wastes no time in running over to him. He grabs the man and roughly pulls him to his feet by the man's collar before slamming him into the wooden wall of his room. It's clear this man is terrified. He is shaking in Eizen's grip, and his eyes are as wide as saucers. Velvet can smell his fear, she smiles and knows he is the person that will answer her questions. Velvet has always been good with fear; she knows how to cause it and is an expert when it comes to using it.
"You will tell me what I want to know or…" As Velvet says that Eizen tightens his grip on the man's collar making it harder for him to breath, he struggles to get free, but Eizen doesn't let go. "You will find my friend here is excellent at getting information from people with tight lips."
"I'll tell you what you want!" The man shouts. "Just don't hurt me!"
"Where is your crew?" Velvet asks as Eizen loosens his grip on the man.
"They are not onboard," He answers. "These people came and took over the ship; they had papers from the Royal family so we couldn't refuse. They forced my crew off of the ship; I went to get a few things from my room when they set sail with me onboard."
"And they were ok with you onboard?" Eizen now questions. "Judging by how they forced your crew off the ship I'm confident they don't want any witnesses."
"They said they were going to kill me!" The man yells. "They locked me in here and stated that they were going to throw me over the side."
"I have just two more question," Velvet tells him. "Where are these people and what are they after?"
"I don't know who they are I swear!" The man cries hoping that answer won't get him killed. "I overheard them talking; they said they were going to kill some princess!"
"Eleanor," Velvet says as she turns on her heels and runs.
"Velvet wait!" Eizen calls as he lets the man go and gives chase. "It could be a trap!"
"Velvet," The man says as he watches them go. "That was Velvet, the horror of the eleven seas."
Eleanor hated the wait. She had little to do, and although Laphicet tried to talk to her, no conversation got off the ground because Eleanor was not in any mood to talk. She wanted to be on the other ship; she wanted to help any injured crew member that may be onboard that ship. Instead, she is stuck here imagining Velvet and the others looting whatever treasures they find. She hates this waiting, her mind runs wild, and she can do nothing to stop it. She doesn't know how much time has passed since Velvet lead her band of pirates aboard the merchant ship so it could have been minutes or hours by the time she hears footsteps approaching her room, expecting them to belong to Velvet she turns to the door ready to yell at the pirate for leaving her behind. When she sees the doorknob to her room turn, she opens her mouth.
"I hope you had fun on that ship," Eleanor says as the door opens only the person that enters isn't Velvet or one of the other pirates.
Instead, she is face to face with a tall man wearing a black robe that covers his body and a white skull mask over his face. Eleanor can tell he is a man by his body structure and by the bread she can just make out under his mask. In each hand, he holds a deadly looking dagger. Both daggers have long razor sharp blades with a serrated edge. Eleanor quickly grabs her spear and points at the robed man who takes up his combat stance.
"Who are you?" Eleanor demands.
"That doesn't matter," The man replied. "All you need to know is that my friends and I will be very wealthy after this thanks to your sister."
"My sister," Eleanor still feels hurt hearing that, a part of her wanted to believe that Velvet was lying and her sister didn't want her dead. Now she knows the truth which is that her sister is trying to kill her.
"Put down that spear, and I'll make this quick," The man tells her as he gets ready to strike.
"I won't give up," Eleanor replied. "Laphicet get back."
See the princess won't give up the man smiles under his mask as he rushes forward slashing both his daggers through the air. Eleanor is quick to react blocking both blades that dig into the wooden handle of her spear. He jumps back pulling his blades free, Eleanor is shocked to see a large chunk of her spear is now missing.
"What's the matter, princess?" The man taunts. "Can't handle a real fight?"
He swings this making contact with the same spot of Eleanor's spear again, this time her spear breaks in two. Eleanor's attacker starts to laugh as two more robed figures emerge, soon they to start to laugh.
"Hurry up and finish her off," One of the new arrivals orders.
"I was just about to," The first man replied. "Killing her is half the job, we still have our second target to kill."
Eleanor pulls out a knife from her boot; it's a small one with a blade that's less than the length of her index finger, but it's all she's got to defend herself with now that her spear is gone. Rokurou gave this knife to her and a quick lesson on how to use it, it may seem like her knife won't do much, but Eleanor has seen with her own eyes what it can do. Rokurou gave her a demonstration where he used it to knock the sword out of the hands of one of the pirates onboard; it took him less than a second, and it truly amazed the princess. Now with this useless sort knife, Eleanor stands ready to defend herself from these three robed men.
"Get away from her!" In a blink of an eye, Velvet is there and has run through one of the attackers with her blade. This assailant was a woman; she screams as Velvet removes her blade causing the woman's blood to splatter all over the floor.
"You are making this too easy for us," The first man laughs. "Not only is both our targets in one room but we also have one less person to split our pay with."
"You don't care that your friend just died?" Eleanor asks feeling sick. "How can you be so cold?"
"It's just life," The man answers. "We all got to die someday; she died today just like you two will."
"No you two will be the ones that die!" Velvet yells as she attacks with a swift thrust.
The man jumps back just in time to avoid being run through as that woman was, but Velvet is quick to add in a high kick aimed at the man's head. Eleanor watches a blade appear out of Velvet's boot as she swings her leg, the blade hits its mark slicing into the skull mask and the flesh of his cheek below. As the man drops to his knees yelling out in pain the other robed figure attacks, Velvet moves with almost superhuman speed blocking one blade then the other before throwing a left hook which sent the robed figure flying. As that one land the first gets back up, holding one of his hands to a nasty gash on hs cheek and attacking with a blade gripped in his other hand, he makes his move. For Velvet dodging, this is child's play, in less than a second she is behind the man and plunging her blade through his heart. But by doing so, she doesn't notice the other robed figure has gotten back up or that they two are thrusting their weapon towards their target going for the kill.
"Lookout!" Eleanor calls out as she moves.
Velvet turns to see the shiny dagger heading straight for her and instantly knows she can't avoid it, with her blade still buried in her recent victim there is nothing she can do to prevent this potentially life-ending blow. But Eleanor can, moving faster than she has ever moved before she get between Velvet and the robed figure. Before she knows wants happening she feels the robed person run into her tiny little pathetic knife. Then Eleanor feels a warmth wash over her hands and onto her stomach, it's only when the robed figure falls to the ground and off of her little knife that it becomes apparent that warmth is the blood of the person Eleanor just stabbed. She must have hit something vital inside that person, her hand and the front of her shirt is soaking with their blood.
Eleanor falls to her knees and throws up when she realizes what this means. She just killed somebody, ended the life of another breathing thinking creature like her. Eleanor drops her bloody knife that clangs against the wooden floor and just stares at her hands. They are bright red, stained with the blood of the person she just killed. She has never killed before; not an animal despite the many hunting trips she's been on with her family and certainly not another human being. Eleanor just kneels staring at her hands until she feels something. A light pressure on her shoulder which she is surprised to discover is Velvet's hand. She finds the pirate captain kneeling next to her, blood stained but somehow not looking like the merciless pirate she is right now.
"Was that the first time you killed someone?" Eleanor just nods to that question. "Laphicet get some water and towels."
"He can't go!" Eleanor calls out worried for the boy's safety. "There could be more out there!"
"It's ok," Velvets voice is oddly soothing to Eleanor, she can feel the fear she had for Laphicet melt away with each word Velvet spoke. "I took out two other on my way her, Eizen took down another and right now I have my crew search the ship for any other assassin that might be on the Van Eltia."
Laphicet quickly returns carrying a bucket of water and towels over his shoulders.
"I got what you asked for, and Eizen said the ship is clear, he found two more trying to sneak back onto the merchant ship and no signs of anyone else." He reports as he places the water bucket down being careful not to spill a single drop.
"Good," is all Velvet says as she wets a towel and starts to wash off the blood from Eleanor's hands. "The first one is always the hardest, you need to wash this blood off of you, or you will get sick."
"Was it hard for you?" Eleanor asks as she lets Velvet clean her up.
"No," Velvet answers stopping dropping the towel.
"How come?" Eleanor questions her, and if she weren't in the state, she is now she would have seen the signs and not asked that.
"I had my reasons to kill him," Velvet tells her as she quickly walks away. Eleanor flinches as she slams the door shut. She knew she hit a sore spot; Velvets voice changed from being something to cold the moment she asked that question. She was left staring at the doorway wondering what had happened to make her kill whoever she killed so easily.