Of Pirates and Princesses
Chaptre Eleven: Moon and the Sea
"This pool is beautiful," Regina gushed as she looked it over. Some of her melancholy seemed to fade at this as she gazed at the inky liquid, alive with bright specks of light. It was like the sky had melted onto the earth and was captured by the water here.
"From the destruction of evil, such wonder can appear," Emma said. "I know I cannot take away what happened to you. There is no way to make it better. But, I just want you to remember this: you did the right thing today. You behaved like a true hero. And while sometimes a hero must face terrible perils and hard decisions to make, you made the best choice and saved a lot of people. Without your help, we could have all been cursed here for another eternity."
Listening to Emma speak did make Regina feel a bit better. Now, it would only be a matter of time until she could truly forget this horrible incident.
"Let's sail away from here," Regina said, because she wanted to leave the terrible memories behind.
Emma couldn't agree more.
...
"Fuck!" Emma swore loudly and Regina flushed at hearing the swear. She knew the outside world swore a lot, most of it so vulgar and colorful that it made Regina feel like less of a lady to have heard it, her ears burning a bright red. But she had never heard Emma swear around her and not quite so loudly.
Yet, it was warranted in this case, as Emma grasped at her neck where a long dart was sticking out of, and then she was falling to the ground like a log. She was now face to face with Regina who too was immobilized.
Things were not looking good for the crew. They never should have stepped foot on this island. But their supplies had run out after two months of aimless sailing on the seas and they needed to stop somewhere. This island had been the first one they had spotted and they had stopped at it, going deep into the jungles in exploration, before being surrounded on all sides by men carrying spears and spattered in mud and blood paint. Fighting them off would have been no issue, had they not used a sneaky tactic like the darts.
Now, the whole crew was down for the count and being lifted up by these mysterious men and carted away to who knows where.
"I am so sorry, princess," Emma whispered to her, eyes frightened and angry as she helplessly watched Regina being picked up and carried away. "It's not your fault," Regina assured her, losing sight of the captain as they were separated. Whatever was in those darts made Regina sleepy. A sleepiness she was unable to fight. To her own horror, her eyes closed and she was uncertain if they would ever open again.
When she came to she was in a dark place, lying on a dry mat. Her head pounded and her mouth was dry from the affects of whatever it was she had had been hit with. She let out a groan as she sat up, trying to get a bearing on her situation. As soon as they saw that, the man who had been watching her sleep, came over with a flask and shoved it into her face.
At first she thought it water and took great greedy gulps. But when the taste hit her taste buds, she nearly sputtered it all out, wanting to spit it out. It was horrid!
But he forced her to keep drinking as much of it down as she could before she moved her head away, too weak to actually stop his actions. Maybe it was a counter potion to whatever it was was in the darts, because she felt a bit stronger now. Could feel a heat coursing down to her stomach and then spreading out.
She looked around her, trying to see where she was and if she could get out of here, but before she could, she was roughly jerked up by the arm by that same man, and tugged out.
"Stop," she tried to fight him, but her limbs felt sluggish and weak and she wasn't even sure she could walk to wherever it was he wanted her to go to. She tried to tug free but he was too strong for her. He lead her out of what appeared to be a small cave and out into the open where the bright light of torches affected her vision and made her wince. It was loud out here, the chatter of this people filling the air. More strength began to flood Regina's body now and she was able to step more easily. This gave her hope, that perhaps she could try to run. She scanned the crowd to see if she would notice anyone. If perhaps the crew were here as well. Her eyes caught a flash of blonde and she felt relief hit her. It was Emma.
Emma was here too, and being dragged towards the center of the crowd where a clearing had been made for whatever reason.
Emma and Regina were then pushed into the sand circle where a mighty fire was blazing in the pit, burning incense of a sweet and smoky variety. All around them stood people of the tribe, watching silently as the two women uncomfortably adjusted their clothes, looking for means of escape.
They were dressed in attire that did not match the crude nature of the tribes. Emma was wearing tight black pants made of leather in a fishnet design and on top she wore a white collared shirt with blue ink depicting scenes of waves, on top of it lay several necklaces of coach shells, cow beads, clams, lobster claws and even dried seaweed.
Her hair had been braided down her back and plaited with fresh kelp and tiny pink shells. Her face was caked with a mixture of sand and blue ink that swirled around her face like water streaming. On her bare ankles were beads that jingled when she moved as well as some were slung around her wrists.
Regina too wore a get up and hers was white and billowy, made almost from a satin like material that moved with the slightest motion. Her face was left bare, with only her lips caked in white powder and a single red dot on her forehead. Her black hair had been swept up into a bun that was held by two blades, little white milky pearls woven into her hair making it look like rain had fallen and crystallized there. She wore no jewelry or beads except the one necklace that hung from her neck. It was the shape of a crescent moon.
"What's going on?" Regina asked, her eyes wide like the moon in fear.
"I do not know. And I don't know where everyone else is." The crowd was devoid of familiar faces. They all looked menacing thanks to the red paint on their faces and the shadows flickering off of their angles.
A loud call went out and suddenly some drums started playing. They had a slow steady pace that sent shivers down Emma's back. "This cannot be good," she murmured out as her body slowly began to twitch. The potion she had been force fed before being put here was reacting to the music. She could tell because she could feel it coursing through her veins, heating up her body. So it was effecting Regina too.
She watched her hands and legs in horror as they seemed to awaken, coming from a long slumber. They shook out and then began to move in time to the rhythm.
"Emma!" she called out as she stomped through the sand. She tried to resist but it only brought her pain to do so, tears coming to her eyes.
"Regina, try to stay calm. Whatever this is, has to pass. We just have to ride it out,"she shouted back as their moves began to take on more complexity. Both of them had started out dancing in the same fashion, with strong harsh movements that stamped onto the earth and led to them lowering and raising their upper bodies as their arms swept through the sand and them up, kicking it around. The incense around them got heavier and began to make Emma's head dizzy. Make it feel light and heavy at the same time.
And still her body moved on, full of energy.
To their right a man had emerged, dressed like a chieftain, with his skins piled on him even in the heat of this night. He had a staff he raised up high as he began to say something.
"This is the night we have waited for for thousands of years. The night that has been foretold in the very stars and earth." Emma had no idea what he was talking about, for he spoke in a language she did not know.
But whatever it was, did not sound good. She could just tell.
"Our gods have blessed up with the embodiment of the moon and the sea in these two women. And with the ritualistic dance we shall at last use their magic to finally awaken He Who Slumbers and send him upon the world to purge it of it's evils."
The crowd let out an aggressive ascent to that. "Ha! Ha!" they pounded their chests.
"And now, let the two powers pull and push each other like the rising tide. Let them cycle around each other and awaken the beast!"
The drums speed up and more basic instruments that Emma didn't recognize joined in. Their bodies began to move differently now. Emma found herself on her knees, waving her arms around her, imitating a leaving and coming wave, her body bending over backwards so far she feared her spine would snap before she bent the other way and brushed the sand with her nose.
Regina circled around her as she did this, her dress billowing around her and she did spins, her arms out and her eyes closed with her head thrown back as she spun and spun, lost to the world around her.
The men and women began to stamp their wooden spears into the ground. Some of the men were also chanting and Emma could feel something pulling in her blood, bending her, controlling her. Telling her to get closer to Regina who was circling ever closer to her. Like she was out of control. Like she couldn't stop.
Emma grabbed into the sand and threw up a huge cloud into the air before she rose to her feet and rushed to Regina who had stopped spinning now. The two of them stood chest to chest, breathing hard as they began to move closer and farther away, their torsos undulating.
Emma could see some sort of energy radiating off of their skins but she had no idea why this was happening.
All she knew was she had to finish this dance. This ritual.
Around them the island was beginning to shake, trees groaning and falling down. The closed tomb they were dancing in front of began to glow, the hieroglyphs on the side shining a bright yellow.
Something was happening. Something evil.
"It is working!" Hollered the chieftain in happiness. "The sea slakes the thirst of the beast and fills him with knowledge of what has transpired in the world. The tides bring him the secrets and truths. And the moon guides his path with it's light and enlightens him to see who is good and who is not."
Regina and Emma finally stopped dancing, collapsing to the floor as they suddenly felt enervated. Like the very life had been sucked out through them.
Their limbs sunk like rocks and sweat clung to their skin.
"Bring out the sacrifices!"
Neal, Leroy, Sabine and Ruby were dragged out by men. They were bound and gagged. They were held out as the entrance to the sealed tomb opened up. The smell that came from inside was that of a thousand dead things. It made Emma want to gag and her eyes watered.
Two bright red eyes shone from the darkness, and then slowly by slowly a beast emerged. It was a cross between a salamander and bird. Skin scaly but in patches covered in feathers. It had wings too and six pairs of legs with a long thin body and tail. It's mouth was shaped like a beak but inside it were sharp teeth. In other words, disgusting.
"What is that?" Regina asked in horror, shaking.
"Something we need to kill," Emma said, already struggling to her feet. Wait, where was August? He wasn't with the rest!
"Captain!" was cried out and she turned her head to see he was on a galloping horse racing towards them. The men making up the circle turned to him with their spears but they were too late. He had jumped over them before landing safely on the other side. Quickly thinking Emma scooped Regina up over her shoulder, the princess too tired to even let out a squeak of indignation, and as August rode by, his hand held out she grabbed onto it and pulled herself up.
"What's going on August?"
"I managed to free myself but I couldn't get to everyone else before they took them. I think they're going to feed them to the giant beast."
"Not on my watch," Emma promised and where her body had been tired before, rage suffused the bones and limbs that made her wary.
"Thought you might say that. I brought your sword." He grinned widely and spurred the horse on faster, so they could reach the beast on time.
She pulled it out from where it lay strapped to the side. On it reflected her determined and grim face as they raced towards the beast. The men holding her friends captive stayed there, holding them still as the beast made it's way closer. It was so tall it reached the trees halfway and when it opened it's mouth it revealed rows of gleaming teeth.
"Regina, you focus on freeing the others and me and August will take on this beast," Emma ordered.
"I don't know if I can," Regina admitted fearfully. "I'm so tired-"
"You must."
Regina snapped her mouth shut and quit her whining. Emma was right. Heroes always fought on the last reserves of their strengths.
She drew out the other sword strapped to the horse saddle and dropped down to the ground when the horse came to a stop, a mere few feet away from the beast. She raced towards her captive crew mates, sword out. While still tired, she could feel her adrenaline kicking in, motivating her forwards. The two men with spears there, turned to her and with angry cries tried to ward her off.
Employing everything Emma had taught her, Regina deflected their blows, spinning around, ducking, and delivering her own blows. Behind her she could make out the monstrous screams of the beast and Emma and August's combined cries.
"Come hither, beast, to your own doom!" August snarled out. Regina didn't dare look back, fearing that if she lost focus now, she'd get hurt.
"Knock them to the ground!" Leroy cried out, encouraging her. And ducking under the spear of one islander, he was left defenseless and primed for her to knock him down with the blunt end of her sword to his head and a swift kick to his groin.
The second went down not long after, and not too soon. The beast behind them roared ever more frightfully and Regina heard Emma curse loudly. Regina took to quickly cutting the ties on her crew mates and Ruby and Sabine sprang for the discarded spears, holding them.
"No fair, I wanted that spear," Neal complained.
"Should have grabbed it faster," Sabine retorted.
"Oi, we're all good!" Leroy called out to the captain. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
"I don't think they'll be too happy with us leaving," Ruby reported grimly when she turned and saw that the crew was stuck between the beast and an angry mob of islanders coming at them.
"Get under the beast!" Emma cried out, avoiding the swipe of it's claw just by an inch.
"Are you insane!" Sabine called out.
"Just a little," Emma retorted and then tuck and rolled under the beast's belly, which the beast could not reach.
"Shit, she really did that," Leroy grumbled out and winced a second later when a dart hit him square in his thick neck. "Shit, the islanders are shooting their little darts again." He pulled it out and then they all bolted towards the beast.
"I'll distract him, go!" August said, waving his sword to the side and making the beast turn sideways, so the crew wouldn't have to slide under it's mouth to get out on the other side. With a run, they all went one by one, finding Emma on the other side, helping them up.
"What about August?" Regina fretted as she got up, her thighs raw from sliding on the rough ground.
"He'll be fine," Emma said confidently, but there was no missing the hint of worry on her face.
By now the islanders had pulled up to the beast, gathering it's attention and not in a good way. It hissed and turned on them, August jumping out of the way and rushing around it. The beast screamed at the islanders who held no fear of it. The leader stood in front, arms outstretched.
"We are the ones who have awakened you. Come, into our world and-"
The beast snatched up the man and ate him in one gulp. Now the islanders began to fear. Half of them screamed and ran and the other half ran at it, spears pointed.
"Let's go," August hissed when he regrouped to the crew.
"Not yet," Emma raised a placating hand. "Let's grab some loot first."
And so, while the beast turned on the islanders, the crew snuck back to the village and hastily grabbed any supplies they could carry, a feeling of urgency to it, because not far away they could hear the tortured cries of the islanders as they were devoured. Regina noticed Leroy was looking a bit green around the gills. "Leroy, are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine..." he trailed off, shrugging it off and trying to haul up some loot. But it dropped from his hands and then he dropped to the ground. Instantly Emma was on him, tending to him. "Leroy, what's wrong. Talk to me."
"I dunno," he sighed, looking so heavy. His skin was cold to the touch. Emma turned his neck and saw where the dart had entered it was blackish. "Shit," she cursed. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I figured it...wasn't...anything," he mumbled, eyes drifting shut.
"Leroy!" she screamed out as all of them stood frozen, unsure what to do, made statues by horror. "Leroy!" she screamed again, but his eyes did not open.
The beach was painted in red as the sun rose over the dark that had consumed the island. The crew stood on the shore as the water washed over the cold sand. "I'm sorry Leroy," Emma whispered as they put the last stone on his hasty grave, having buried him on the beach so he could be close to the water. The crew all stood around his grave, August dumping water onto it rather than the customary rum since they didn't have any right now. They all bent their heads and stood in silence, except for Regina who was openly weeping.
She hadn't known Leroy for long, but she had known him, and now, the idea of never being able to see his smiling face or hear his crass humor or eat his bad cooking, made her depressed. She had never seen the death of a friend and it hurt her.
But no doubt it didn't hurt her as much as it hurt the others. They had known Leroy for longer. They must truly be in despair.
Emma got up from her kneeling position. "Let us leave this accursed place," she told them and they trudged back to the ship, souls all weary.
The ship was quiet after Leroy's death. No dancing, no singing, and no drinking. The crew was all mourning him, especially Emma who took this really hard. Because it was her fault he was dead. He had asked him to come on this journey. She was his captain. She was supposed to make sure he was alright. But she had failed. And now he was gone. And it was all her fault.
Regina tried hard to console Emma and cheer her up and Emma was touched by the brunette's efforts, even if Regina didn't know how to make Emma feel better. But Emma also wanted some time alone to wallow in her misery so sometimes she dismissed Regina, telling her it would be best if they all just had some space to themselves.
They'd managed to snag some supplies- very meager ones- before sailing off. And soon they would have to get more supplies. Emma worried, because these islands were filled with danger and she didn't want to lose another of her crew. They'd been reckless in boarding that island and they had paid the price for it.
Ruby approached Emma one evening, as the captain was staring off to the horizon where the sun was setting. Without Leroy cooking for them, Ruby had been left up to the task. Her cooking was better, but they all missed Leroy's shitty dishes. "Here," she offered Emma her rum flask.
Emma shook her head. "I don't want any to numb the pain."
"This isn't to numb the pain. This is to remember Leroy," Ruby countered and Emma hesitated before taking it. She took a large gulp before handing it back to Ruby who also took one, and then poured out the rest into the gray waves below them. "This is for Leroy. May he drink to his hearts content in wherever his soul has gone."
The two of them watched the red rum melt into the gray and then it was gone.
"It's all my fault," Emma said bitterly. "I should have never had the stupid idea to-"
Ruby put a hand on Emma's shoulder, shushing her. "It's alright. It isn't your fault. Leroy didn't have to come on this trip. None of us did. But we chose to because you're our captain. And we respect you."
"What kind of a captain am I if I can't even guarantee your safety?"
"Emma, you've lead us through terrible perils in our youth. We've all survived thanks to you. But our luck inevitably runs out and then we're left with shit. Don't be too hard on yourself. We all know the dangers of pirating. Leroy knew it too, and he'd be pissed at you for moping this much about his death. He'd tell you to get pissed face drunk and go and fuck up some other shit in his name. So, what do you say? Next island we land on we completely obliterate them?" Ruby said with a wolfish grin.
Emma nodded her head slowly, feeling a bit better- resolving herself to feel better. "Yea," she considered. "After all, we're bloody pirates, aren't we?"
