Chapter 2
By the time the boat was within swimming distance of Belinsk's docks, dusk had started to fall. Batta ordered his crewmen to fetch out the white flags of surrender. He hated the thought of having to give himself up, but Eoleo's command rung in his head louder than any of his thoughts.
Up on the deck, Eoleo was barely conscious. His bandage had started to loosen from the blood and was seeping blood once again, forcing the crewmen to swap the old bandage for a new one. Three bottles of rum had been emptied on Eoleo's hands and feet, practically soaking him in the booze. Quite a lot of it had absorbed into Eoleo's bloodstream, causing Eoleo to become groggy, but more importantly, sedated from the pain.
As the boat reached the dock, they heard the Belinsk alarms ringing, summoning a handful of troops to the dock. They had seen the surrender flags, yet a large force met them as they slowly maneuvered into the dock. The pirates dropped their weapons before throwing the ropes to the Belinsk soldiers, who hooked them up to land. As the pirates put their walking plank against land, the troops organised themselves into a defensive line, almost as if they were defending the dock from the pirates.
The battalion of armoured troops parted in the middle, revealing a beast man dressed in a large, silver breastplate and blue shoulder pads. There was a cape wrapped around just above the breastplate and under the shoulder plates, spreading over his shoulders before falling to the floor, almost covering his entire body in a dark blue backdrop from the colour of the cape's fabric. His large, powerful bare arms were barely visible beneath the sweeping motions of the cape due to the wind, his black, plated gauntlets fully revealed from the swaying cape. There were two armoured, bullet shaped plates that covered the sides of his thighs, reaching down to the area just above his knees. they were held together with belts and also held a second garment that hung behind the man's spine, dropping a second cloak-like garment in front of his main cape; almost resembling an skirt with an opening in the middle, where his grey, baggy trousers and armoured boots could be visibly seen.
His face was one of a jackal's, with pale blue fur. His eyes were dark and focused, his mouth was slightly twisted in a frown. He appeared cold, somewhat ruthless, empowering. As he stepped up to the top of the plank with a steady, balanced pace, unaffected by the wobble of the plank, he cleared his throat loudly.
"What business do you have here, pirates?" the general said, spitting onto the deck in disgust. The deck was drenched in blood and the remains of monsters that had begun to rot, filling the boat's atmosphere with an unpleasant smell.
"Our cap'n is in serious danger" Batta said, trying to control his anger, unable to stand the general's sneering face. "We docked here so he could get help"
"I can see you've been up to your bloodthirsty ways, what with all these stains" the general hummed. He then winced and waved a hand in front of his nose mockingly. "And the smell is absolutely repugnant. Must I remind you that you're interrupting a highly emotional service? We're currently mourning the passing of the victims of the Grave Eclipse…" The general, backed up by his armored soldiers wielding spears, spoke with a very patronizing, posh accent. His voice turned darker as he continued. "… and you have the gall to come here, dressed in your rags and your tatters, demanding service from us?"
"But you don't understand, we're not here to cause trouble!" Batta pleaded, his nostrils flaring. "Our captain's been stabbed and he's dying! If you can't save him, then he's gonna die!"
"We couldn't care less about your captain" the general huffed, puffing his chest out, his height being slightly larger than Batta's. "Turn your ship and leave now, or we'll have you all arrested and executed tomorrow morning. Face it, your sorry little captain dies, one way or the other"
Batta stamped on the floor with his feet, stepping right up to the sneering general and looking him right in the eye.
"Listen here, you punk!" he grunted, seething with rage. "You don't talk about the captain like that! You save his life now, or me and all my mates will gut this place!"
"How dare you!" the general growled, not moving an inch. "Men! Arrest them now!"
Just as the guards started to cross the plank, Eoleo let out a howl of pain. Batta flinched, looking to his captain.
"Eoleo!" he called in worry. As the name escaped Batta's lips, the general froze in his steps.
"…What did you say?" he barked suddenly. Noticing his men were gathering behind him, he spun on his heels.
"Stop! Stop!" he yelled at them in frustration, waving his hands erratically. He then turned to Batta, clutching his tattered shirt as he marched onto the boat, staining his robes with the mess on the deck.
"What did you call him?" he ordered.
"Eoleo. What about it?" Batta replied defiantly. The general opened his eyes in fear and turned his eyes to the figure leaning against the crow's nest pole, looking right back at him, breathing shallowly. The general let go of Batta, still looking at Eoleo, before stepping back.
"Eoleo!" he thought to himself. "Isn't that the name of the man who joined Queen Sveta in ending the Grave Eclipse? No, it's not possible!"
He jerked his head to reexamine Eoleo. "Ah, it is him!" he thought quickly. "The red hair, the pirates, it has to be him! Argh…if the queen is close friends with this man, then she'd be livid if I were to turn him away to his death! But I can't let these pirates just take advantage of us! Argh...what do I do?"
His mind acted quickly as he turned to Batta once more, conjuring a proposition. As he did, one of the guards cleared his throat.
"…General Stamford" the guard asked. "Shall we…"
"Silence!" the general yelled. Clearing his own throat, he snarled at Batta.
"Fine, we'll take him into the palace for treatment" he admitted, snarling. "But in exchange, you must all surrender yourselves and spend the night in our prisons. You'll be lucky if I don't have you all executed, but if you're so determined to save your captain, then you will agree, no?" he bargained. Batta sighed; he knew he would end up spending the night in some form of discomfort. But he had to do it. Looking around slowly, he saw the expression of every crewmember, each and every one willing to comply for the life of their captain. Having finished looking, he turned back to the general.
"…We agree" he said in defeat.
"Good" the general sneered. "I am General Stamford; remember the name well, pirate. Guards! Take these brigands to the cells. As for the injured one, handle him carefully and take him to the infirmaries. If he dies….you're all sacked" he said monotonously.
Acknowledging the order at once, the guards walked up onto the ship as the pirates surrendered themselves. They were handcuffed, one by one, and led off of the boat in a single file line, flanked by both sides by a seemingly endless stream of guards. Two of the guards walked up to Eoleo, carrying a stretcher. Rolling Eoleo onto the stretcher, his face looking upwards to the now night sky, the guards lifted him and carried him off of the boat, taking him to the castle with speed. Stamford caught a look of Eoleo's ailing face as he was hauled off of the ship and away into the depths of the castle through a secret entrance. Batta, whilst being handcuffed, also watched as his captain was taken off of the boat.
"Eoleo….please make it through this" he grunted to himself as he was nudged off of the boat by the guards.
As Eoleo was laid onto the stretcher, smelling of a disgustingly pungent rum and blood mixture, he appeared to be in a semi conscious state. He was rushed quickly into the infirmaries, where the Belinsk doctors excused themselves from the memorial to prepare themselves. As Eoleo was laid out upon a wooden table, the doctors removed the bandages, revealing the disgusting wound in his abdomen. Administering their anesthetics and herbs, they set to work.
Eoleo couldn't remember a single thing when he fell out of consciousness. All his pain faded away as his senses shut down, one by one. After hours and hours of pain, the final thing he could remember was the realization that he was dropping out of the world, sighing a breath of relief. He wasn't sure if he was going to die, but he didn't feel nervous about anything. In addition, he felt somewhat defiant that the anesthetic couldn't knock him out before his own body could.
His last thought was that if he were going to die, then he would be with his father again. The image of Briggs flared in his memory before everything faded to black.
