Chapter 10
"Do you have to go?" Elsa asked her parents. Agdar and Idun had been called to Corona to discuss the issue of the Black Suns. Elsa was not happy with anymore people she cared about going to the sea. Oh how she hated the water for taking Mikkel.
"You'll be fine Elsa." Agdar said giving his daughter a reassuring look. Both Anna and Elsa both felt in their hearts that his was not going to end well. The king and queen departed as Elsa went back to her room and threw herself to her bed. What was she going to do? What kind of life was this? She honestly wished she could just disappear, she hated living in constant never ending fear. Across the seas Mikkel, now known as Sea Wasp, looked overboard the Sea Ranger. He realized his mother probably thought he was dead. He wished he could go back just to let her know he was alive but that was not an option since he was among exiled men. He would just have to wait three long years.
"So whats yer story lad?" Sealion asked coming up from behind.
"Not as tragic as any of yours." Mikkel said.
"Well lets hear it, stories are how we pass the time." Sealion said taking a seat.
"Well after my father died when I was six my mother was offered a job at the castle. I befriended the two princesses. One day however." Mikkel began to say not wanting these pirates to think he was crazy, he left out the ice powers. "The castle was locked down and my mother and I had to leave. Elsa would not come out of her room. Even when I tried to say goodbye she refused to even acknowledge me. I thought it was because she was mad at me. Years passed and my curiosity and my guilt eventually over powered my common sense so I broke into the castle-"
"Ye broke into a castle?" Sealion asked. "That's a bit hard to believe."
"I'm my fathers son." Mikkel said.
"Well that much is true." Sealion said impressed. "Go on."
"Anyways, I went to her room and we got into an argument and she hit me." Mikkel said coldly. "That cursed bitch."
"Now thats no way to talk about a lady!" Sealion said. "Where are ye manners?"
"Screw manners, and screw the entire royal family. Hell if it weren't for my mother I wouldn't even bother going back!" Mikkel yelled.
"CAPTAIN! BLACK SUNS OFF THE PORT BOW!" A man in the crows nest yelled. Anger swelled up in Mikkel at the mention of those damned barbarians, he was thirsty for their blood.
"Now we are talkin!" Sealion said drawing his sword. "Come on lad, we got work to do!" Mikkel immediately ran to the armory beneath the deck to grab a sword and pistol as cannonfire began to rock the ship. Mikkel was eager for revenge. He ran back up to the deck where Mikkel looked closely.
It was the same ship that attacked him!
If Mikkel wasn't pumped before he was now! The Black Sun's ship soon came across from the Sea Ranger. Before Sealion could issue a order Mikkel screamed bloody murder and jumped onto the enemy ship swinging his sword blindly. He caught one pirate who wasn't looking directly in the chest and sprayed his blood across the deck. The remaining pirates immediately charged him. Mikkel used his smaller agile body to avoid being butchered by the massive Black Suns. Seabear had arrived and grabbed a Black Sun by the neck and snapped his neck. He then delivered a punch to another one and brought his massive hands to the Black Sun's face. he pressed his fingers into the pirates eyes and pushed back as he smashed the pirates eyes. The Black Sun cried in pain as Seabear crushed the mans skull with his hands killing the pirate. The rest of the Sea Rangers jumped on killing the Black Suns easily. Mikkel continued to hack away at the dead bodies in anger long after the soul that once inhabited them had left. He let out a blood curdling roar as enemy blood covered his shirt. Sealion looked to Mikkel and could see the warrior blood in his veins in all its lethal glory.
"Ye got guts Seawasp." Sealion said. "Ye will be a great addition to the crew."
"It will be a pleasure to serve." Mikkel said delivering a final kick to the dead body.
"Who is going to tell them?"
"Poor girls."
"The damned sea has claimed too many of us!"
"Listen I will tell them!" Kai said rubbing his head. He wasn't ready for this, to tell two young girls their parents were never coming back. Their ship had been lost to a storm at sea. He sighed as he walked over to Elsa's room but was nearly knocked down by Anna who as at full sprint.
"Oh sorry!" Anna cried helping the man back up.
"Its okay princess." Kai said dusting himself off knowing the words he was about to say would hit Anna much harder than she hit him. "Walk with me milady."
"Of course!" Anna said hopping next to Kai who had his head down.
"Princess, there has been an accident." Kai said. Elsa could hear the two of them talking from her room and immediately pressed her head against the wall to hear what he said. Her eyes opened as she heard the words leave his mouth.
"Your parents were lost at sea."
Anna's shriek immediately pierced the air and echoed down the hallway. Elsa grabbed at her heart which had been stabbed with grief and let out a icy blast of air which literally froze every square inch of her room. She curled up into a ball, she did not know how long she sat there. Only that she had not been able to go to the funeral. Elsa literally thought how better it would be if she just died. Anna could rule and no one would have to worry about her. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard that familiar knocking she had been forced to ignore for years.
"Elsa?" Anna called out. "Elsa please I know you're in there, people are asking where you've been."
"They say have courage, I'm trying to, just let me innnnnnnn."
"We only have each other, its just you and me, oh what are we gonna dooo?" Anna's words hit Elsa hard as she realized she was right. Mikkel was gone, her parents were gone, all she had left was Anna and Anna, Elsa.
"Do you wanna build a snowman?" Anna said falling to the floor as Elsa closed her eyes tight in her room which had turned to pure ice. Outside the castle, Aksel stepped up to Analise's cottage and knocked on the door. He was very worried about her, she had not eaten for two days and heavy black bags began to hang underneath her eyes. She heard the door knob clicking as the door opened. His eyes widened when he saw her, her hair was a complete mess, her eyes were heavy and dark. Her clothes now hung from her losing so much weight.
"Analise." Aksel said. "You can't keep going on like this!"
"I don't wanna go on." Analise said falling into Aksel's barrel chest. "I just can't."
"Don't give into despair." Aksel said. "I'm not saying any man could ever hope to replace Soren but you never know, you may find another man to love."
"You don't know this pain." Analise said.
"You're right, I don't." Aksel said. "But Soren would want you to move on."
"Its been so long and I still can't seem to get over it. But thats not even what kills me, its losing my only son." Analise said.
"He fought very bravely." Aksel said. "I would do anything to trade places with him." Analise melted into Aksel's chest as he tried his best to comfort her.
Three Years Later
"Alright we don't want no trouble!" Mikkel, now known as Sea Wasp, said to a group of frightened sailors on a merchant ship. Mikkel kept his pistol raised but had no intention on killing anyone with it unless they struck first. Seabear and Seawolf helped finish offloading the cargo from the hold on the merchant ship onto their own ship Sea Ranger. Mikkel had once again grown out his brown hair, he had a red bandanna wrapped around his forehead. He had small goatee beard growing under his chin. His once pale skin now neatly tanned from years of sailing near the equator. He wore a pair of black leather pants and a sleeveless leather tunic which emphasized his large toned muscles. Mikkel was by no means massive and hulking but had more of an athletic toned build. He had a tattoo on his forearm of a wasp within a wave to symbolize his name. He had a single gold ear ring on his left ear.
"You bastards will hang for this Seawasp!" The merchant captain growled as he watched the cargo be put on to pirates ship. Mikkel smiled and walked over to the captain.
"You gotta catch me first." Mikkel smirked. "Alright lads lets set sail!" The Sea Rangers left the merchant ship and hopped back onto their own. Mikkel had been promoted to captain over his three years of service. Age was catching up to Sealion and he could no longer participate in daring raids. He instead resided on Ranger Island. A small remote island that was a dozen square miles. It was far from land and was on no known charts. Mikkel had also grown quite a reputation and there was a bounty on his head in several kingdoms.
"Another good day of catching I see." Mikkel said to Seawolf who threw the last of the goods into the hold.
"Damn right! We have enough weapons to storm the Black Sun's island fortress!" Seawolf boasted. The Black Sun's island fortress had been discovered a few years back when the Sea Ranger had pursued a ship of Black Sun pirates for miles in a grueling three day pursuit. The Black Sun's hoped to lead the Sea Rangers to their fortress where they would be overwhelmed but the rangers escaped, just barely but escaped nontheless.
"Is that what I think it is?" Seabear asked as he pointed to a large barrel with a heavy alcoholic stench coming from it. Seabear walked closer and opened the lid to see the most beautiful sight he had seen in years.
"Vodka." He said with ecstasy.
"Hold on big guy." Mikkel said brushing Seabear away. "Remember that incident in Chile when you had a little too much to drink?"
"Da, it was not pretty." Seabear said backing off.
"Good boy." Mikkel said walking over to the ships wheel towards the helmsmen. "All ahead full to Ranger Island!"
"Yes captain!" The helmsmen said as the sails were rigged towards the wind. The ship lurched forward as the wind caught the sail and pushed the ship forward. Mikkel ran down to deck and climbed up the mast till he arrived at the crows nest using the rope. He stuck his head out and let the salty sea breeze blow past his face sending his long brown hair all over the place. He smiled as he took a deep breath. So this is what it was to be truly free! No rights, no wrongs, no rules! No king to bow down to or pay taxes to, no oppressive dictator telling him how to live his life. He honestly felt like he could do this forever. He had fallen in love with the sea despite their rather bad start three years ago. They had destroyed dozens of Black Sun's vessels and slain hundreds of the damned beasts over the last three years causing Mikkel's body to be littered with scars. Off on their starboard side hundreds of miles away he could see black skies signaling a great storm, luckily the storm was going away from them. The faint sound of thunder cracking across the horizon. Mikkel stayed up on the mast for the rest of the journey till Ranger Island came into view. The ship derigged its sails as it approached the port where hundreds of Sea Rangers waited to offload the newest cargo. The ship dropped its anchor so it would stay in placed as it parked next to a dock. Mikkel stepped off the ship onto boardwalk as the rangers got to work offloading the cargo. Mikkel took a swing of rim from his canteen and savored the taste as it burned down his throat into his stomach leaving him a nice buzz. He entered through the gates of the fortress which was armed to the teeth with cannons. He saw men laughing, swearing, wrestling, even playing a game of ball as he walked through. He approached the grand building where Sealion rested. Mikkel walked in and pushed the heavy doors where he saw Sealion sitting at a wooden chair scanning over charts.
"Ah so ye return laddie." Sealion said struggling to get up. "And with a heavy load I see."
"Enough rations to last us three months." Mikkel said.
"You know what today is Seawasp?" Sealion asked.
"No sir." Mikkel said.
"On this day three years ago ye joined our crew." Sealion said. Mikkel gasped, had it really been three years?
"Wow time just flew by." Mikkel said.
"Well we will sent you on a lifeboat from yer ship off the coast of Arendelle whenever ye please." Sealion said holding out his hand. "It was great to have ye with us."
"Sir, I don't know if I even want to go back." Mikkel said. "These have been the best years of my life."
"Don't ye have a mother back there?" Sealion asked. "I bet she is aching to see ya."
"Yes I guess." Mikkel said. "But I may come back here. No taxes, no rules, no tyrants."
"Seawasp there will always be a place for ye here." Sealion said putting his hand on Mikkel's shoulder.
'Well I have also earned quite a few bounties." Mikkel pointed out.
"Those bounties are for Seawasp, not Mikkel Erikson." Sealion said.
"I will return to help finish the Black Suns." Mikkel said grabbing Sealion's hand. "By my honor I swear it."
"Good to hear it Seawasp, now ye best better be on yer merry way." Sealion said smiling. Mikkel could swear he saw tears in the old mans eyes.
Sorry I took so long to update, I had a bunch of tests and I go to a Maritime school and the whole weekend I had watch on my school's training ship.