Chapter 21 LIVERPOOL ENGLAND JULY 1698
Chapter 21 LIVERPOOL ENGLAND JULY 1698
It took them 3 weeks to reach Liverpool.
The Ancients must've been on their side because they had the wind at their backs the whole way, didn't have to tack once.
Even at this frantic pace, Britannia was still weakening.
Exor's splint didn't stop the bleeding and since that blood had nowhere to escape to now, it was running freely outside her veins.
Shocking that her own blood could be poisonous to her.
Her pallor had changed too.
She was lighter, turning whiter and her eyes were more ray than blue.
"You hold on Britannia~" Flying Dutchman growled
"I'm trying…" Britannia's voice was strained.
Flying Dutchman whimpered and nuzzled her.
"Please don't leave me." She begged.
"I won't." Britannia promised.
Lying Dutchman held her to her side as the great ship staggered.
"Just a little farther Britannia. Just another ½ km and you can rest" She said.
Britannia moaned, her teeth bared as she panted hard.
"Don't give up, please." Flying Dutchman begged.
"I won't leave you Shadow." Britannia groaned. "Whether I'm with you in body or spirit I'll always be with you." She promised.
"Don't die. I need you here." Flying Dutchman sobbed.
"No promises there." Britannia grunted.
"Britannia, please." Flying Dutchman cried.
Britannia sighed and let her apprentice carry her to her berth.
Flying Dutchman set her down and docked beside her.
"You still there Shadow?" Britannia asked.
"Yes and I'm not going anywhere." Flying Dutchman replied.
"Stay?" Britannia asked.
"I promised you once I'd stay by you till the end and I'll keep that promise." Flying Dutchman replied.
She seemed to be increasingly aware of Britannia's chances.
Britannia sighed.
"I love you." She whispered through the bond.
"And I love you." Flying Dutchman replied back.
Her healing love flowed over the bond, lending Britannia strength.
Britannia leaned back, rolling on her side against the dock.
Flying Dutchman settled down beside her.
"I love you so much…" She whispered.
"I love you more." Britannia murmured, her eye closing.
Flying Dutchman nuzzled her.
"That's it, rest." She whispered.
Britannia sighed and quite happily went to sleep.
Flying Dutchman didn't dare close her eyes.
She didn't dare go to sleep herself, keeping a close eye on dear mentor.
She kept the bond open, continuously yielding her own strength to Britannia.
By morning, she was exhausted but she would not yield.
Britannia stirred.
She'd rolled sometime during the night so she was now leaning heavily against Flying Dutchman.
She was shocked at her apprentice's state.
"Dutchman, what have you done? She whispered.
"What I had to do." Flying Dutchman replied. "Helping you."
"But not like this." Britannia whimpered, nuzzling her.
"You look half dead."
"And you don't look much better yourself." Flying Dutchman countered.
Britannia sighed. "Rest Shadow, I'm not going anywhere just yet." She promised.
"You better not!" But there was no malice Flying Dutchman's statement.
Her voice was already fading and she was sleep before her head hit Britannia's top deck.
The older ship smiled, holding her.
She tried to send her own healing love to Flying Dutchman but her apprentice remained her stubborn self, blocking her every attempt.
"You silly thing." Britannia chuckled, kissing the top of her head.
She watched over Flying Dutchman for the rest of the day.
Since then, Britannia refused to accept any of Flying Dutchman's healing efforts and it showed.
She grew weaker and was soon unable to hold herself upright.
She'd gone from on the mend to the brink of death in hours.
Exor returned late that afternoon.
"I could try bleeding her." She said to Flying Dutchman.
The fluyt dipped her head.
"Do anything you can to save her." She begged.
Flying Dutchman gazed down at her mentor.
Britannia was lying on her side as she had been for the last 90 minutes.
Only the faint rise and fall of her flanks showed she was alive.
Exor gently pressed her tools to Britannia's shoulder, drawing about a pint of blood before closing her up again.
Britannia had been struggling to keep herself alive the whole time and the sudden loss of blood only made her condition worse.
She went into shock shortly after.
It was sometime after midnight when she woke again.
"Shadow, are you there?"
Flying Dutchman raced over to her mentor's side at once upon hearing her call.
"I'm here." She replied, nuzzling her.
Britannia managed to calm her frantic breathing a bit before saying "Shadow you must find the truth."
"What do you mean?" Flying Dutchman asked.
Britannia groaned.
It took her several minutes to find her voice again.
"Find the truth
Moonlach Onthude.
From a Wench so Wicked
To a Pearl so Black.
Blood of your blood,
Bone of your bone.
Find the truth,
Moonlach Onthude."
Britannia locked eyes with her apprentice.
"Find her, Long Shadow and you'll never go astray." She rasped.
As those blue eyes clouded over, all Britannia's memories, her whole life was fed through the bond to Flying Dutchman.
As one partner died, she would ensure the other would carry a part of her with her.
This was why the breaking of a bond was so painful.
"I love you…" Britannia whispered in Flying Dutchman's ear.
"Britannia…" Flying Dutchman gasped.
In desperation, she held her mentor tightly to her side and kissed her fiercely.
Britannia responded weakly at first before she went limp against Flying Dutchman, her last breath captured on her desperate apprentice's lips…
RIP HMS BRITANNIA
OCTOBER 24, 4475 BCE- JULY 4, 1698