Chapter 37: Fall of a Pirate, Rise of a Captain
The weather was not as good as the mad wise women would foretell to idiotic travellers, especially out at sea along the eastern coast where rain pelted down heavily and the wind was without mercy, sailors out at sea and people standing along the high rocky coasts were subjugated to the harsh weather. In a port town along a flat part of the eastern coast there was a harbour overflowing with imperial naval ships, over two hundred and fifty to be exact. The naval ships were not very high but had tall masts and a large rod made of either iron or bronze at the front that was used for smashing into enemy ships, row upon row of oars were visible on two separate decks.
The town itself was large and was once known to be the trading capital of the east before the rise of the pirates, now it had been converted into a military harbour town that was used by the Empire as a base of operations in their war against the pirates led by Severia the Pirate Queen. At first, the raids were minor and not much trade was interrupted, that was the case until a town was razed to the ground and the land was burned before being sowed with salt. Ever since then mercenaries and bandits had taken their blades and offered their services to Severia, if they managed to get out to sea of course. Years of raiding had given Severia and her pirates a fierce reputation, there were even a few names that stood out and where known to many within the Empire, some of these names were; Severia the Pirate Queen of course, Stephen the Fierce who was also Severia's twin brother, Alexios the One-Eyed who was the leader of the mercenaries that were the first to sign up with Severia, then there was John the Raider and Kyo the Halberd Master.
What was an interesting fact about the pirates was their social structure, they were united under a single ruler –which was Severia – and her lieutenants who commanded several naval ships, then there were the commanders that acted as the third rank in the hierarchy, they were the right hand of the lieutenants. Finally there was the mass of the pirates who acted as the life and blood of the pirate world, they were the soldiers and were utterly loyal to Severia. It was a pirate kingdom with only naval ships as their territory, it was an interesting concept and the pirate kingdom was always on the move, raiding the coastline and destroying settlements if they found any. Not even the southern coast was safe from Severia's pirate onslaught.
The port town that the imperial navy was situated in was called Rodrigopolis, it had been named after a king who ruled a small kingdom along the eastern coast before the rise of the Empire, it had been a city once and the capital of the long dead kingdom but had been raised to the ground during a war, it was later rebuilt and the name for the new town remained. At any rate it was in danger with the war against the pirates. It had been attacked and sacked by the pirates before but the harbour town had been saved only by the efforts of the local militia and the army that arrived from the Imperial City which was led by Lucius Amullius – an old friend of Lothar before his betrayal. When the army arrived the navy, under the command of an admiral by the name of Terminus Maximus, was then sent to the town to regroup with Lucius and prepare for the battle against the pirates.
Lucius stood on the deck of the main command ship, the wind was starting to pick up in strength and blew toward the south-west, he sighed and stared out at the sea, there was many things going on in his mind. One of them was the thought of his old friend, Lothar, betraying the Empire and the slaughter of the imperial army along the north border, it was something that the young officer had yet to comprehend.
"Damn that bastard," grumbled Lucius to himself. "I swear, if I ever see him again I'll kill him!"
"I have no doubt you will," remarked a voice behind him.
Lucius turned around and saw his superior commander, Terminus Maximus, standing near him with his arms behind his back. The admiral wore the usual uniform for officers in the imperial army, this consisted of a steel breastplate with chainmail sleeves, steel arm and leg pieces and a steel helmet with a plume of feathers at the top, a red cloak was strapped to his back and a sword was attached to his left waist. He had a clean shaved face and his short blonde hair was hidden underneath his helmet, despite looking so young the admiral was actually in his early fifties, much to the surprise of Lucius and everyone else in the navy and army.
"Personally I wish I was reassigned to the northern border just for that purpose, but duty calls. We cannot allow the pirates to go unchecked any more," said Lucius with a determined tone.
Terminus nodded and stood next to Lucius. "I know you will do the Empire proud in the battle to come, I also know that the soldiers under my command will too fight proudly for their homeland, but it is a pity that a large number of our soldiers had to be reassigned to defend what is left of the northern border. I wonder, is there any connection between the barbarian scum and the pirates?" wondered Terminus.
"Not that I am aware of, admiral. Besides, I doubt the pirates would have anything to do with the barbarians at all. Anyway, who is this Severia the Pirate Queen? Is she connected to the Severia who disappeared a year or two ago along with her twin brother?"
"I believe so, one of the crewmen on her personal ship is called Stephen, I have no doubt that they are the missing twins."
"Should we inform their family?"
"No, it is better to not tell them, after all, those twins are going to be food for the fish after we're done with them."
Lucius nodded, agreeing with Terminus before returning his thoughts to the weather. "We can't really do anything with this damn weather, can we?"
"No, afraid not. The last report we received about the whereabouts of the pirates suggested that they may be somewhere to the east of here, that bodes ill for us because of the direction of the wind, it would just blow us away from our targets. Looks like a storm is brewing out at sea though."
Lucius noticed the lightning and the sound of thunder ringing through the dark sky, clouds had formed over much of the eastern coast and the prospect of going out to sea to face against Severia and her army of pirates had created fear in every sailor's and soldier's hearts. The priests gave offerings to the gods and prayed to them to ensure the blessings of the gods, hoping it would be enough to secure their safety in case the call to battle was issued. While they waited the sailors and the soldiers wandered around the town and many were in the tavern drowning themselves in mead and ale, hoping it would harden their hearts for battle, needless to say the price on alcohol was lowered and still the owner of the tavern made a fortune. Even Lucius, fearless as he was, even had a mug of ale to cool his nerves, now all he was waiting for was a sign from the heavens that would clear the storm and prepare the imperial expedition for battle.
The late morning flew past them and the afternoon rolled in, yet the weather did not cease to ease up, instead it looked as if it had gotten worse. Terminus sighed in disbelief and silently cursed the poor weather, then a thought occurred to him, in fact it was enough for the admiral to break out in a small grin.
The pirates are out there at sea where the storm is worst, that is a bonus to us as several of the bastards would have drowned by now, possibly even a few ships have sunk to the bottom. We best get prepared, those pirates are probably going to follow the direction of the wind and that would lead them near us. I suppose the fleet should move out soon.
Lucius noticed the grin on his superiors face and wondered what was going on inside Terminus' mind. "Um, are you alright, sir?"
"Yes, I am, I just had a good thought. The pirates are probably suffering out there in this weather and once we encounter them he might have the upper hand, I say we prepare for battle and wait a short while to see what will happen to the weather, then we'll head out and fight them."
"Sounds good to me, but how will we know that they are out to the east and not somewhere else as of this moment?"
"The report stated that they were to the east, or at least to the north-east, they would no doubt follow the direction of the wind to escape the hazardous weather. We will meet them out at sea before they reach the coast or anywhere near the town, hopefully at least. I doubt that our battlemages will be of use in this fight, especially those who use fire."
"The ones who practice in the art of water and wind might be of use."
"I realise that, but there are too few wizards here, and last I checked most were healers and fire users. No, this will have to fall on the shoulders of brute force."
As Terminus stopped talking there was a change in the wind, it had changed from a south-west direction into a southern direction, the storm also calmed down a notch. It was safe to say that it was highly possible for the fleet to head out to sea and fight the pirates, if they were lucky of course. With a satisfied sigh Terminus walked off the ship and into the town, followed closely by Lucius. The two of them made their way to the centre of the harbour town and prepared to gather the sailors and soldiers together for the journey out to sea, and to a bloody battle.
The wind had shifted south and with that a chance to escape the storm presented itself to Severia, the Pirate Queen was not about to let the opportunity to escape the storm to leave her. She had summoned her lieutenants from the other pirate ships and waited for their arrival. Severia stood in her cabin and attempted to think of a plan to get them to the southern coast and restock on supplies, the rations in the pirate fleet had gone down and people were already starting to complain yet nonetheless they all remained loyal to their queen. It was going to be a tough decision as the coastal towns and cities in the south were far away while the eastern coast was closer, yet Severia knew of the risks that presented itself if she decided to head that way, especially since she knew of the gathering imperial expedition at the town of Rodrigopolis.
I will have to get advice from the lieutenants before I make a good decision, at least the storm has calmed down for the moment so they should get here safely, sort off anyway. As for my own idea, well, I think getting to the coast is of the most importance, we haven't had a good raid for over a month. Hmm, I think it is time to cripple the Empire and destroy their navy and army along the eastern coast, then who knows what could happen. Perhaps I could carve out an actual kingdom on land.
The cabin door creaked open and four people walked into the large wooden room, they stood in front the Pirate Queen and awaited for her to start the conversation. That was the norm as Severia was highly respected and was always expected to start meetings. The four people standing in front of her were her lieutenants: Stephen her twin brother, Alexios, John and Kyo. Stephen was wearing his leather armour with a thick cloak around him along with the stubbles of a beard on his face, a mace was strapped to his waist, Alexios was wearing leather armour with chainmail and had an axe strapped to his waist, his messy black hair had grown longer as had his moustache. John had shaggy chocolate brown hair that reached his shoulders, he wore leather armour with steel shoulder and leg plates, a cloak was strapped around him and steel sword was at his waist, Kyo had pale yellow hair that went down to the middle of her back and dark red eyes, she was wearing light leather armour which gave her great flexibility, a halberd was strapped to her back but looked as if it had been shortened slightly.
"Yes, my Queen?" asked Kyo.
"While the storm is calm at the moment I want to go over what will happen next," explained Severia. "Despite this storm I feel the need to go on a raid, perhaps even a full on battle, the nearest coastal town is called Rodrigopolis and the imperial navy is there with a part of their army. How do you all feel of the prospect of crippling the Empire?"
Alexios grinned and held a fist close to his face. "Hell yeah! I'm all up for an all out battle with the Empire, we've still got to repent ourselves for not razing that damn harbour town to the ground."
John nodded in agreement. "I concur with Alexios on this matter, Rodrigopolis will be a thorn in our side if we don't deal with it. Besides, I think destroying their fleet and army while they're getting drunk in that harbour town before razing it to the ground would show the Empire how invincible we are." It sounded as if John was the voice of reason if everything else failed.
Stephen looked doubtfully at Severia, Alexios and John, he wasn't in with the idea of assaulting Rodrigopolis but could tell that his twin sister was really into it, as was Alexios. Kyo was silent at first before sighing quietly and seemed to agree with the prospect of attacking Rodrigopolis by nodding her head in approval. The grey haired twin could only imagine what was to happen in the near future as the rest of the group discussed battle plans, the storm began to pick up again and the rain pelted down viciously onto the pirate fleet, signalling the time to move out. Alexios was the first to leave for his ship and was followed swiftly by John, Kyo took a moment to look at the weather before leaving the cabin and out into the bad weather. The Halberd Master was the most quiet person that the pirates ever knew, she hardly spoke and would normally just either nod or shake her head when needed.
Severia watched as her lieutenants left and noticed that her twin brother was still standing there, in fact he had hardly spoken during the short meeting and merely shrugged whenever he felt like it, it was clear to her that something was bugging him. "Hey, brother, are you alright? You're a lot more quiet than usual."
"Well, to be honest, not really. I'm concerned about the upcoming battle, we have lost at least two ships due to this weather, plus the wind is turning in a southern direction so perhaps we could set sail for the southern coast instead," responded Stephen.
Severia sighed with care and approached her brother, she looked at him and smiled, causing the man to chuckle as he patted her on the head. "Don't worry about anything, by this time tomorrow we'll have a proper kingdom to call our own."
"Huh, guess you're still thinking about that then?"
"Yep. Come on, let's get back on deck, we've got a battle to fight in this harsh storm."
For several hours the pirate fleet headed towards the west in the hopes of reaching Rodrigopolis while trying to cope with the wind pushing them south, they almost lost another ship during the journey towards their destination. The imperial fleet, filled to the rim with large numbers of soldiers, set sail to the east in order to find Severia and her pirate horde. After several hours it didn't take long for the two separate fleets to encounter each other, even though it was by chance. The first to spot the other was the imperial fleet who then enacted their battle plan, this was for the fleet to separate into three main parts and surround the enemy, the smaller and quicker ships were to be set on fire and drive the pirates into the trap where they would be surrounded and destroyed. The pirates on the other hand, once they found the imperial fleet, decided that their strategy was to spread out and also try to surround their enemy while attempting to cut off the head of the snake – this meant that Severia wanted to kill the commanders to finish off the expedition. There were over two hundred and fifty imperial ships and three hundred pirate ships.
As the Empire positioned the first group, which was led by Terminus at the centre, made the first move and sailed forth towards the pirates in order to lead them into the trap, meanwhile Lucius led the second group to encircle the pirates from the north. The third group in the south was commanded by an officer by the name of Margaret Maesa, a woman with a fierce reputation for discipline and her hatred for pirates, she had the hardest job in the plan but swore to get through it and destroy the pirates. Lucius and Margaret, once in position, enacted their first part of the plan: releasing the fire ships around the pirates to lure them to attack the centre which was held by Terminus. It was a risky plan of attack as no one had ever used fire ships before, let alone using such a tactic in the middle of a rainy storm. Strangely enough one of the battlemages informed the commanders of such a tactic and used her fire magic to create a fire that could not be put out by water.
With the fire ships on the move and surrounding the pirates it was now Severia's turn, the Pirate Queen decided to split her fleet in half and led the first group towards the centre to take out the imperial admiral while the second group, led by Alexios and Kyo, manoeuvre their forces to take out the imperial ships who were trying to surround them. Severia had fought naval battles before, but she had never went up against anyone with a good tactical mind, now she was faced with three commanders who knew what they were doing, not to mention that they had battlemages with them this time. The Pirate Queen stuck with her strategy of taking out the head of the operations she rushed her half of the fleet forward towards Terminus, the imperial admiral had spread his group apart and prepared them for the inevitable clash.
"Wait… wait… wait…," Terminus ordered his sailors. "Alright, full speed ahead! Smash them head on!"
The drums from the lower decks resonated through the air as the imperial ships surged forth towards the pirates, Terminus' group was severely outnumbered but they had which the pirates were lacking in: catapults. The imperial fleet had built catapults onto the decks of their ships in case they were needed during a siege, but now Terminus had been granted permission by the emperor himself to use this weapon out at sea against the pirates and see what happens. As Severia launched her part of the fleet against Terminus the imperial admiral the catapults rained large boulders into the mass of pirate ships, sending several to the bottom of the sea, the Pirate Queen looked at her opponents and growled.
"By the gods, they have catapults?!" she snarled. "That does it. Spread out and destroy them!"
The battle had begun. Arrows flew through the wet and windy air, ships rammed into each other and sank to the bottom of the sea, catapults emptied their ammunition into the pirates and hand-to-hand combat escalated when either side boarded an opposing naval ship. The fire ships did their job and sent the pirates into the centre where they were surrounded, at least most of them, a few managed to break out of the deadlock and attacked the imperial fleet in the rear. Ships caught on fire due to the imperial fire ships and people screamed as they burnt to death. It was without a doubt one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on sea. Eventually Severia, who had boarded an imperial ship along with some of her crew and slaughtered everyone on board, noticed how they were being surrounded and the imperial fire ships were smashing their way into the pirate fleet, the Pirate Queen then saw the ship that Alexios commanded get rammed by two separate imperial ships and she watched as it went down into the water.
"Damn these imperial pigs, damn them to hell!" yelled Severia, her emotions getting the better of her. Alexios had been a good friend of her ever since she first became a pirate, now he was dead at the bottom of the ocean. In a fit of rage she impaled an imperial soldier and threw him off the ship and into the water. "Sink this bloody ship, I think we're near our target."
Her fellow pirates nodded and went about their business by setting fire to the lower decks, they then went back on their ships and watched as the imperial ship capsize and sink. Terminus, on the other hand, had rammed his ship into a commanding pirate ship and came face to face with John the Raider, the two of them stared at each other sternly for several seconds before they raced towards one another with the intent to kill. John swung his sword at Terminus who blocked it with his own, the two then clashed blade for blade, both manoeuvred around each other as the rain pelted down on them. Despite being just over fifty Terminus proved to still be a capable swordsman and was more than a match for John the Raider.
As Terminus slashed and sliced at John the pirate sidestepped the admiral and sliced his sword across the imperial's right arm, blood flowed down and onto the water drenched deck. Terminus gritted his teeth and got back into the fight, his right arm wasn't as good as before but was still good enough to use. As they continued to clash blades at each other John snarled at the admiral.
"You're going to fail in your task, imperial dog," grumbled John as he wiped his left arm over his eyes, he panted deeply for air as he stared down his opponent.
"Heh, yeah right. This is the end for you scum," retorted Terminus.
The two returned to their deadly swordplay as imperial soldiers and pirates fought hand-to-hand with each other, limbs were severed and heads were rolling as they slaughtered each other. The catapults continued to unload their ammunition at the pirates but there were a few close calls, especially during the duel between Terminus and John. As Terminus kicked John in the chest and swung his sword down across the pirate's chest John elbowed the admiral away and stood up straight with a vicious glare in his eyes, when all of a sudden a large boulder came falling through the sky and crashed into the ship, more specifically on top of John. Terminus had seen some terrible things during his career but this took the cake as the saying would go, limbs were crushed and blood was splattered all over the ground. The ship creaked and finally cracked, it sank to the bottom of the sea with anyone unfortunate enough to be on it, Terminus and those who followed him quickly made it back to their ship in time.
"That takes care of John the Raider," sighed Terminus, he ignored the sounds of one of his soldiers vomiting his guts out after that. The admiral looked over to the north-east to see Lucius' ship smash into another. "Good luck, Lucius."
Lucius boarded a pirate ship alongside his soldiers and began to fight the pirates in hand-to-hand combat, as the imperial officer stabbed his sword through the neck of one of the pirates he noticed that the pirates on the ship he had boarded were more ferocious than the others, he looked up at one of the flags and noticed the symbol: it was man with scaled skin, long hair and a trident in his hands, it was the god of the sea and it was the symbol of Severia the Pirate Queen. Lucius had hit the jackpot. He turned around and saw two people staring at him ferociously, it was Severia and Stephen, both clutched their bloodied weapons tightly and attacked Lucius and his group of soldiers.
Stephen swung his mace at Lucius, almost knocking him off his feet, the imperial officer blocked the next few strikes for the enxt few minutes before being punched in the face and the mace slammed into the chest, sending Lucius to the ground. The imperial officer grunted as he tried to get up but failed as Stephen put a foot on his chest and stared at him as he held the mace high above him.
"Your time is up," said Stephen calmly. "Now it is time to die."
"Not today!" retorted Lucius as he swung his sword at Stephen's legs, slicing the left leg and causing the grey haired man to wince in pain. The imperial officer then got Stephen to fall to the ground by rolling away, he then quickly got to his feet and pushed the grey haired man firmly to the ground and stabbed him through the gut, the young pirate cried out in pain and caught the attention of Severia.
"Wha- NO!" yelled Severia. She slammed the bottom of her trident into the face of an unfortunate imperial soldier and broke their nose, she then kicked them off the ship and let them drown in the sea. Severia stabbed her trident through the neck of another soldier and made her way to her brother, she ran up to Lucius and slammed the trident handle across his face, sending him to the ground. "Brother! Brother! Stay with me, stay alive!"
Stephen looked up at Severia and grinned cheerfully at her. "There isn't any reason to worry, we'll be together again someday in the heavens, just not now. My time is up. Stay strong and get through this alive, *cough* *cough*. Good luck, sister, I love you as always."
Severia cried her eyes out and her tears became mixed up with the rain water that flowed down her face, her brother died in her arms, his blood stained her steel gauntlets. Despite the chaos that was occurring all around her Severia couldn't hear anything, to her everything was in a void and all greyed out, her attention was focused on one thing: the lifeless body of her brother Stephen. She had never considered what would happen if Stephen would die, she just thought that it would never happen. But it did happen tight before her eyes. Severia ignored the cries of her fellow pirates and of the enemy, instead she continued to stare at the corpse of her brother. Suddenly a boulder from a catapult crashed into the ship and it began to sink into the sea. Lucius stood up and rallied his soldiers together.
"Come on, let's get outta here!" Lucius ordered his troops. They managed to get off the capsizing ship and watched as it sank into the sea along with Severia who was still holding her brother's corpse. It was clear how the battle will turn out, the Empire was going to emerge victorious.
Severia woke up on the beach, the storm had passed but the dark clouds were still there in the sky, she looked around her and noticed that she was on a wooden raft that was on the beach, pieces of naval ships were floating around the beach or had landed on the sandy ground, even pale corpses had wandered onto the beach. The Pirate Queen looked over to her right and saw the corpse of her twin brother, it had washed up onto the shore and was facing the sky. She crawled over to him and checked his heartbeat, much to her dismay her fears were a reality: he was truly dead. As Severia wept she looked out to sea and saw the remains of the imperial fleet sailing back to Rodrigopolis, it was clear to her that the Empire had won.
"It's my fault, it's all my fault that Stephen died," mumbled Severia. "I shouldn't have been so ambitious… if only… if only… GRRRRAAAAAHHHH!"
Never in all her life had Severia been so angry, so mortified, so full of wrath. Her dreams of a pirate kingdom in the eastern part of the Empire was in ruins and she was the sole survivor of what was once the most feared enemy the Empire had known at sea, but she was now at a crossroad. What was she to do now? Restarting her pirate career looked like a no-go idea, but she also couldn't go home either, so what was she to do? The first step was obvious: bury Stephen.
That proved to be a harder task than she anticipated, first the Pirate Queen had to discard the armour off her brother and carry his corpse of the beach and into a nearby forest clearing, then came the hardest task: preparing a grave. Since Severia had no spade she decided to use whatever materials that could be salvaged from the wreckage, eventually she made a shovel and managed to dig a rectangular hole in the ground. Stephen was placed within a handmade wooden coffin and was lowered into the grave, it was covered up and a large piece of stone was placed at the head of the grave, carved into the stone was the words 'Here lies my twin brother, Stephen. May his remains rest at ease and his soul make its way to the heavens. Words carved by his loving sister: Severia'.
"Farewell, brother, I hope our souls meet again the halls of Heaven, if we are to make the journey there," said Severia solemnly. She would have cried more if there were any more tears to shed, but Severia had finally run out. She looked up at the sky and noticed that the clouds had parted and her gaze fell upon the bright night sky. Severia gripped her trident tightly, kissed her brother's headstone and walked away into the night, without purpose or care as the loss of her brother had robbed the former pirate of many emotions. Never would Severia smile as happily as she did whenever she was around Stephen.
Severia huddled to herself as she gripped her dark grey cloak around her body, the cold winter air was freezing cold as the former pirate made the journey north towards the Northern Wasteland, she kept glancing left and right to make sure no one was around her and, much to her own comfort, there wasn't a soul in sight. The trees and snowy grass fields were barren of all manner of life, it was a surprise to Severia as she had expected to be some sort of animal life around, but there wasn't any at all. She did wonder why it was so cold though. At least half of the Empire and much of the territory across the northern border was subjected to the snowy winter, but rarely did it get freezing cold, even at sea it wasn't as bad.
But why make the treacherous journey to the Northern Wasteland at all? A month after the battle of Severia's Folly and the death of Stephen the former Pirate Queen had travelled across the Empire in disguise and heard many things. The first was the decimation of the pirates and the freedom of the eastern coast from the pirates, then there was the constant barbarian attacks along the heavily impacted northern border, the barbarians had even managed to get at least fifty miles near the Imperial City before they were destroyed in battle, Lothar had gone missing and Kharzark had been pillaging the southern territories before disappearing around the western territories. Of course there were two other rumours that caught Severia's attention, the first was reports of the man she called 'The Wraith', apparently he had been sighted around the Imperial City, then there was talk about the strange events occurring in the Northern Wasteland. That piqued Severia's interests and she decided to investigate the Wasteland.
Getting to the northern border was harder than she anticipated, but crossing it proved almost impossible, but when Severia did cross it she felt a pair of eyes piercing through her very soul, she had turned around to see two eyes that flared blue and red glaring at her from the darkness. It was the first time she had encountered Wraith, and it wouldn't be the last, and she knew it. Severia would later describe Wraith as a ghost of a man who would glare into the very souls of people, he would creep out of the shadows and his mere presence is enough to frighten people to death, she would later say that he was some sort of messenger or champion of the god of Hell. After what seemed like an eternity Severia ran north as fast as she could to get away from the glaring eyes, and days later she ended up in a frozen wasteland in the middle of nowhere.
"Curse this damn weather," Severia grumbled to herself. "I'm out of food, water, firewood and other supplies, not to mention I'm tired and cold. Damn this all to hell!"
Severia leaned against a tree and collapsed to the ground, she felt all her fatigue washing over her and eventually the former pirate fell unconscious. What happened next was a complete surprise to her. Severia woke up and saw that she was being carried by someone who was wearing a black cloak, grey steel plated armour and a steel helmet that covered the face and had several spikes on the top, making it look like an iron crown, it was strapped to his waist. He had red eyes and silver hair, despite the raging cold weather he didn't seemed to be fazed by it, instead he continued to carry Severia through the cold climate and towards an unknown destination. The stranger looked down at Severia and an emotionless look was on his face.
"Are you feeling alright?" the heavily armoured stranger asked Severia.
"I… I think I'm okay," Severia replied weakly. "Who… who are y...you?"
"My name is Agandur the Dark Lord, I am lord of the Northern Wasteland. I happened to be passing through this land and I found you by a tree, you were shivering all over and I decided to help you. We're actually close to the south-east border of my domain, it is a lot more warmer there and I'll answer any question you have, I'm sure you have many."
Severia nodded and fell into a peaceful slumber, as she fell asleep the Pirate Queen wondered why the Dark Lord of the Northern Wasteland was wandering around a frozen landscape, plus she was confused as to why he was wearing an interesting set of armour. Nonetheless Severia obeyed Agandur's words and fell asleep. When she woke up the Pirate Queen found herself in a different environment entirely, directly in front of her was a large mountain range made up of tall, dark mountains that seemed ancient and proud and there was little to no grass to be found, the environment appeared to be quite dead or just corrupted. Severia sat up and saw the Dark Lord, still in his suit of armour, standing up and looking at the mountains, he appeared to be thinking about something and hadn't realised that Severia had woken up. Severia coughed for his attention and got it.
"Hmm? Oh, didn't realise you woke up. How are you feeling?" the Dark Lord asked.
"I think I'm better than before," replied Severia as she stood up. "Um, thanks. But why were you wandering around that frozen landscape? And how are you the lord of the Northern Wasteland?"
"To answer your first question I was investigating the area for a good place to construct some sort of outpost or fortress, the answer to your second question is quite easy: I took it by force since there was hardly anyone there to resist. I am creating a new nation in the Wasteland that will unify the world under my influence, there will be freedom for all people, corruption will cease and justice will be served."
Severia was immersed with those final words, 'freedom for all people, corruption will cease and justice will be served', it sounded good to her. "I like the sound of that," commented Severia.
The Dark Lord smiled at her. "That's good to hear. Say, since you like my ideals would you care to join me and my world mission? I think you would fit in, Severia the Pirate Queen."
"How do you know who I am?"
"I have spies within the Empire and they took notice of you, so naturally I hear of things."
"Did you know I was in that frozen landscape?"
"I guessed that you would be somewhere around there. Lucky I found you when I did, who knows what would have happened. Anyway, let us get going, the fortress of Nazarlbur is nearby and that will allow us entrance into my domain. Then who knows, maybe you'll become my third Dark Captain."
"Third Dark Captain? What do you mean?"
"There are two others who have been in a similar position as you, their names are the Nameless One and Lothar. The Nameless One is my right hand and thus is usually called Agandur's Right Hand, Lothar is usually called the Bloodthirsty. I think you will fight right in. Care to join?"
Severia looked at the Dark Lord and wondered whether she should join him, the names of the Nameless One and Lothar put dread in her heart but at the same time she knew that there was a chance for vengeance against the Empire for the destruction of the pirates and the death of her brother, the names of Lucius Amullius and Terminus Maximus and even Margaret Maesa filled the Pirate Queen with hatred. It became clear to Severia about what path she should take: the path of darkness and vengeance. She nodded at the Dark Lord Agandur and smiled slightly.
"I wish for vengeance, I wish for justice, I will join you," said Severia sternly.
The Dark Lord smiled at Severia and patted her head with care, the Pirate Queen was struck with awe at how caring he was towards her, it felt like a father-daughter relationship to Severia. As they walked north-west on a dirt path Severia would come to regard Agandur the Dark Lord as a father, the father she always wanted. She became one of the Dark Lord's most loyal followers and rivalled Agandur's Right Hand in fanatical loyalty.
"A father you will always be to me," Severia told the Dark Lord, causing the tall silver haired man to smile.
"A father you will always be to me," Severia mumbled to herself. She was laying in a bed and was covered in bandages, her armour had been discarded and was piled neatly alongside her bed, the walls were full of cracks and holes. The old abandoned farmhouse may have been fortified by Agandur's Right Hand, but he had yet to understand how to fix a wall properly.
After her defeat in Lowee at the hands of Brian the Shadow Walker the Dark Captain had been rescued by Arfoire at the behest of the Right Hand, the wounded Severia was then subjected to harassment by the gothic witch before she was sent to the Zune District so Kharzark could have some allies in his struggle to come. Not long afterwards the Right Hand's Dark Followers took care of Severia and patched up her wounds, although she wasn't quite sure why there was a large talking rodent walking about the place, apparently he was a companion of Arfoire but remained behind due to something concerning a certain busty nurse. Severia never bothered to learn the talking rat's name, nor could she care less.
"Hmm? You say something?" asked the Right Hand as he popped his head into Severia's room.
"No, nothing at all," replied Severia in a monotone voice.
The yellow eyed man stared at his fellow Dark Captain for a few more seconds before shrugging, leaving Severia alone once more. She looked outside the broken window and saw the sun rising over the treetops, Severia thought it to be beautiful, though she knew that her fellow Captains wouldn't care or, in Lothar's case, grumbled severely about it. Right there and then Severia wish to be alongside the Dark Lord once more and love him as a father.
A/N: Last part of Severia's back story completed (possibly), and this has been my longest chapter to date so far. Who do you think is the most interesting Dark Captain so far and why? They don't all sound so bad now… right? Plus, don't ask me why I referenced Warechu at the end of this chapter, I don't know either. Anyway, if you have a suggestion then by all means leave a review with said suggestion, question or something else, I'm all ears. Have a good day readers.