(Now this is a chapter those of you who read the Tales of Wonder might recognise! (:)
The next morning, they sailed all day, finding that Atlantica was much farther than they expected. The whole day, Captain Sindbah was on edge. He kept looking up at the sky, a little nervously.
"Captain Sindbah? Are you scared something's going to happen?" Aaliyah asked from where she was practicing magic with Oliver. The captain nodded.
Aye lass. A storm's brewing. I can feel deep in me bones."
"Should we be concerned?" Swaine asked from where he and Esther were teaching Gogo and Gunther some new tricks. Sindbah shook his head.
"No, just stay calm like the sea. The Sea Cow has been through a few storms, if you recall the Eye of the Storm. This one will be small."
RTNK
"Argh!" Sindbah shouted as the Sea Cow fought against the storm that was beyond small. "Move yer carcasses, ye scurvy sea dogs! Or I'll have yer necks for it!"
"Aye, Captain!" the crew called. Marcassin was up against the side of the ship, holding onto to the railing tightly so that he wouldn't go overboard. Swaine was helping the crew out and Harmony was getting Drippy, Esther, and Oliver into the cabin. Aaliyah was being blown down by the wind and couldn't get up. Marcassin was coming to help her. As she lay on the ground, she vaguely heard a voice that didn't belong to anybody on the ship.
"Come on! Scoot, ye landlubbers! Else, I'll toss ye to Davy Jones' Locker and ye can answer to him!" Then the voice was lost to the wind. That was when Aaliyah felt someone grab her hand and looked up to see Marcassin standing over her, the dark sky, the lightning, and his long dark hair making him look like he was evil.
"Aaliyah! Come on!" He helped her to her feet against the wind and together, they made it to the cabin, where Marcassin immediately sat down, exhausted. Aaliyah curled up next Oliver and Harmony, listening to the wind blowing outside and the shouts and calls of the men. She thought about that voice she had heard. It sounded like a woman, but she couldn't be sure. It might have just been the wind whistling. She'd have to ask Sindbah in the morning. Then she felt a blanket get draped over her and saw Swaine had come in and was passing out blankets.
"Sindbah sent me in." He explained. "He said that we can ride out the storm tonight, so we oughta get some sleep." Aaliyah nodded, already feeling sleepy and Oliver had dozed off next to her. Soon, she was out as well.
When they woke up, Aaliyah could see the sun shining through the window. She jumped up and ran out to the deck, where she saw the crew and her friends except for Swaine, who was not an early riser, cleaning up debris. When she saw Sindbah, she remembered the voice she had heard on the wind last night, and ran over to him.
"Captain Sindbah, sir!" she called. He stood straight and looked at her, then smiled.
"Aye, lass! What is it?" He asked her.
"Yesterday, during the storm, I thought I heard more pirates. Someone was calling to their crew." Sindbah furrowed his eyebrows.
"Aye, that be strange. There ain't many other pirates out there, and if there were, they wouldn't be caught in that storm." That was when a crewmember called from the crow's nest.
"Captain Sindbah! There's been a shipwreck! Up ahead!" Sindbah raced to the front of the ship and looked ahead. Sure enough, on a small island, there was a ship that looked like it had been crashed there, but it still had it's deck.
"Land-ho! Bring 'er around! We'll investigate 'er!" They landed on the ship and started to explore. Almost the entire crew decided to head into the forest, saying that the ship looked "shifty". Sindbah called them cowards. But they had a right. When Aaliyah looked into the windows of the cabin, and swore she saw a shadow. So Harmony decided to go in. She slowly pushed the door open and stepped in, then shouted as the shining blade of a sword swung in front of her, almost hitting her nose.
"What the hell!?" she shouted, stumbling back. That was when a whole bunch of pirates appeared, surrounding them. Aaliyah and Esther screamed.
"Arr, what have we here?" They heard a female voice say, and looked up to see a woman with a long black cloak, a red shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to her elbow, white pants, big brown boots, and a brown captain's hat, a sharp looking sword at her side underneath of the cloak, her dirty blonde hair flowing in the wind. She looked intimidating, standing on the railing of the crow's nest.
"A couple of trespassers, Captain Swan!" Called up one of the men. "Shall we dispose of them?" The woman, Captain Swan, glared at them. Oliver stepped up.
"Please! We were only looking for survivors! We didn't know that there was anyone on the ship!" Captain Swan jumped down from the crow's nest and walked around them, looking them up and down. She stared intently at Marcassin, Esther, and Aaliyah, who wore royal robes and lots of gold. She smirked at them.
"Awful dressed up to be sailing, en't we?" She told them. Aaliyah touched the headband she had been given to by Queen Cassiopeia nervously. Marcassin just adjusted his jacket. Captain Swan tapped her chin. "Who're ye all? Where ye heading?" Marcassin answered first, trying to seem brave.
"I am Prince Marcassin, Ruler of Hamelin." Swaine and Harmony came over, standing next to him protectively.
"I'm Swaine, his brother."
"Harmony, the Songstress and his fiance." The crew all oohed and chuckled at this. Captain Swan seemed pleased by this as her gaze moved to the smaller ones.
"What about ye, squirts?" She demanded. Aaliyah backed into Esther, who stood tall, but was trembling.
"I am Esther, my father is Rashaad the Great Sage, and this is Aaliyah."
"I'm Oliver." Oliver called up timidly from where he had stayed back. Drippy came stomping up.
"Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Fairies! And you lot better not be thinking 'bout hurting any of us!" She laughed darkly at the fairy.
"Why would I hurt ye? When ye are all of value." She turned to her crew. "How many guilders do ye think the Great Sage would give to get his daughter back?" The crew chuckled and Esther gasped, not feeling quite so brave anymore. "Or maybe the fairies for their Lord High Lord? What about Hamelin for their Princes and his fiance?" Then she examined Oliver. "Let me, see. About eleven years old, red cape with a blue shirt, horrible combination by the way…" That was when she noticed Astra in his holster, and grinned. "Ah, Astra. Ye must be Oliver, the Saviour." He stumbled back as she grinned back at her crewmates. "World domination for this one!" The crew cheered, then she turned to Aaliyah. "Let me see here, curly red hair, clothes designed possibly by whoever makes the Queen of Nazcaa's, worthless pendant." She turned back to the crew. "This runt is useless! She may dress like a princess, but she's a nobody!" Aaliyah felt hurt by the Captain's words.
"Hamelin's not going to want this one, Captain." one of the men said, poking Swaine with a club. "They still don't believe he's royalty!" Swaine backed away. Captain Swan glared at him, with a familiar glare that he couldn't remember.
"I don't blame em. Frankly, I don't believe that he's royalty either. Still…" She walked over to him, her boots thumping with each step. "Every thief has a bounty over his head and an enemy or two. Somebody'll pay for his capture."
"And I'll bet they would be pleased to hear that the witch thief wasn't going to be their empress." Another said, pointing his sword at Harmony, who pushed it away with her staff. Captain Swan tapped her chin again, turning to her captives.
"Plus, the Great Sage runs a babana stand in Al Mamoon. He can't have much." A woman added. Esther stomped her foot when she heard that, but she said nothing. Captain Swan still tapped her chin, then spoke.
"She is still of use. As for the the runt and the pirates, they can be gotten rid of. Even if Hamelin doesn't want the Songstress, she'll be worth something elsewhere. Send the prisoners to the brig!" The pirate crew cheered and surrounded Sindbah's crew as well as Swaine and Aaliyah. Some of them went to bind up their friends.
"No!" Oliver shouted, pointing his wand at the enemy pirates. "We won't be your prisoners or your bargaining chips, or whatever you're going to do to us!"
"Yeah! Leave us alone!" Esther called, holding her harp threateningly. Captain Swan looked at the group, seeming to notice that they weren't just a pile of guilders, then grabbed Swaine, held his wrists down with one hand and held her cutlass to his neck with the other.
"Hey!" He shouted, struggling against her, cross eyed from staring at the cutlass with fear.
"Let him go!" Marcassin demanded. Captain Swan smiled with mock sympathy.
"Oh I'll let 'im go. Over the edge of the ship and into the sea when we can get this boat moving again!"
"No!" Oliver cried out.
"Then do as I say! Or else…" She pressed the cutlass harder down on Swaine's neck, and Swaine felt a trickle of blood run down his neck. "I leave more than a scar!" Oliver looked to his friends, then back at Captain Swan.
"Just please don't kill them! Please!" Captain Swan glared at the little boy for the longest time, the only sound the lapping of the waves. Then she nodded.
"Fine! I need a few more strong hands to fix the ship anyway!" Sindbah came over, having about enough of this nonsense.
"Now ye listen here, missy! No Miss Captain is going to tell me to fix 'er ship!" Captain Swan pushed Swaine at him instead.
"I think I've already told ye! Fix me ship! And I'll even bargain with ye. If ye and yer crew fix me ship, I'll let yer crew go. Yer crew and said mates." Sindbah thought that this was a fair deal, and the crew of the Sea Cow began to fix the ship. There was a huge gap in the hull of the ship from where they crashed. The men gathered wood from the trees on the island and fixed up the ship in no time. As soon as it was done, Captain Swan sent her first mate, a girl who looked about eighteen with short hair and an eyepatch whom she called Merits, to inspect it. Merits looked at it closely, Oliver begging in his head for it pass. He didn't want to be here any longer than they had to. Finally, Merits passed it.
"Looks good. Now take yer runt an' git!" Oliver gasped, but Swaine wasn't taking that. He stomped right up to Merits.
"Listen here now, little girl! Your captain promised we could all go free!" Merits pulled out a small knife and pointed it at Swaine, it's sharp blade glinting from the sun.
"The deal was if they fix th' ship, th' crew and said mates get ta leave! Cap'n Swan didn't specify which mates ye get! We keep ouer prisners!" Aaliyah was getting angry now herself. She came stomping over to Merits and pointed her staff at Merits.
"Listen here! I didn't come to this world to have my friends captured by pirates! Now you let them go, or else I'll blast you with a Fireball!" Merits held her hands up in surrender. That was when they heard the stomping of boots, and Captain Swan came down. To Aaliyah's surprise, she was smiling. She came over and pushed Aaliyah's staff away.
"Now little girl. We had an agreement. Can't ye honour that?" Aaliyah hesitated, then she shook her head and pointed the staff at Captain Swan.
"No! I want my friends!" Captain Swan's smiled disappeared.
"Oh please. You aren't the only ones with magic around here." Then she held up a hand, and it turned into a furry paw. Correction, make that a furry claw! Aaliyah watched as dirty blonde fur grew on the pirate girl's hand and claws sprang from it. She gasped and looked at Captain Swan's face, and the captain smiled, sharp fangs showing instead of the human teeth that had been there. Aaliyah screamed, then she shot a Fireball at Captain Swan, making her howl like a wolf in pain. Aaliyah ran towards Swaine, the rest of the pirate crew coming at her.
"Leave her alone!" Oliver shouted, casting Astra, sending blinding light over the whole crew and sending them down. To his friends, he said, "Come on! Let's get out of here!"
"Right!" Esther called, and Harmony grabbed Drippy. Then they all ran to the Sea Cow.
"Get 'er movin, ye landlubbers! Else I'll have yer heads!" Sindbah called.
"Aye, Captain!" they all called back. They got the ship back in the water, but that was when Swaine saw a huge wolf with dirty blonde fur running at the ship, growling.
"Guys! Captain Swan is right on our tail! And she's turned into a wolf!" Sindbah came over and looked, then jumped about ten feet in the air.
"Faster, ye lazy bild rats!" Soon, they were far from the island and the crazy captain. Swaine watched as the wolf morphed back into Captain Swan, and saw her eyes. They were dark like the night sky and looked as though there were stars in them. She stared back, looking almost hurt as she looked at Swaine, then shouted,
"Cowards! I will find you! I will get my revenge! You see if I don't!" She shouted, her accent still a pirate's, but sounding slightly fake. Swaine moved away to where he couldn't see her. The gaze. That gaze was so familiar, and yet he didn't know it was. Just a dark captain. That was when he felt warmth spread over the open wound on his neck and turned to see that Marcassin had cast Healing Touch on him. Then his younger brother smiled at him.
"Brother, is there something you would like to tell me?" Marcassin asked him. Swaine shook his head.
"No, there's nothing." Marcassin patted his shoulder.
"Gascon… Swaine, did you know Captain Swan before?" Swaine shook his head, but at the same time, wanted to say yes.
"No, I didn't. But yet… she's so familiar, like… I've met her before. In another lifetime." Marcassin nodded.
"I feel the same way. It's like… I've seen you two together before…" Swaine shook his head, then went down to his cabin, where there was a woman. A woman in a white dress with glowing white hair and silvery wings. She glowed and he thought that she was a ghost.
"Hello?" He said to her. She looked at him, then smiled, waving her hand to the table, in which she had laid some sort of band on. Swaine ran over to the table and lifted the band, then placed it on his wrist, it feeling very familiar. Then he noticed a button on it, and looked to the woman.
"D-do I press it?" He asked her. She nodded, and he pressed it, then a picture appeared on the wall. It was him and Captain Swan. They were standing on the balcony of a Cat's Cradle that was in Nazcaa, currently being built. She wore a white nightgown, and he had his arms wrapped around her. She was smiling up at him with those dark eyes, and he smiled back at her. They looked very happy. Swaine looked at the woman.
"What does this mean!?" He demanded, a little nervous. The woman just came over and put her hand on the band.
"Her name is Nichole." She told him, then she vanished, along with the band on his wrist. Swaine's eyes widened, and he sat down in the hammock, needing to think.
"Nichole?" He whispered. Where had he heard that name?
RTNK
Captain Swan stood on the sandy beach, watching as the Sea Cow sailed away, her changing back from her wolf form back into a human. She stared intensely at the man who had the curly hair. What did he call himself? Swaine was it? Where did she hear that name before? It was so familiar, yet she couldn't place it. Perhaps she needed to just lie down for a few moments.
"Merits!" She called to her shipmate. Merits came running over.
"Yes, Cap'n?" Merits said.
"I'm going to go lie down. Get the ship moving. Head for Autumnia. I'd like to meet them there." Merits saluted her.
"Ay ay, Cap'n!" She said. Then Captain Swan disappeared into her cabin, where she found a wristband on her desk. It was blue, and it looked to be made of metal. She took it in her hand and put it onto her wrist, then pressed a button as if she'd done it all her life. From the button, came a picture on the wall, of her and that Swaine man. They sat together in an alleyway, his arms wrapped around her comfortingly, her looking like she'd been crying. Captain Swan jumped back and fell over, staring at the wall. That was when she saw a bright glow, and there was a young woman standing there.
"What does this mean!?" Captain Swan demanded. "Who is this man!?" The woman, who wore a white dress with silvery wings came over to her.
"He knows who you are, Nichole." The woman said. Then the woman disappeared with the band.