Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Chryseis and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
True Love Of The Seven Seas Chapter 1
The entire crew was on high alert. All were rushing about preparing for an attack. We'd tried to outrun the pirates on our tail, but we weren't able to lose them. Their speed was only increasing, showing they were gaining and were going to reach us in a matter of a few minutes.
I was leaning over the railing off the side of the ship keeping track of where the pirate ship was. They'd be right on us soon.
"They're coming up on top of us," I shouted, worriedly.
At my warning, my brother came over from where he was speaking with some of the crew.
"We'll have to fight them off. Prepare yourselves," ordered Proteus, shouting the command to the entire crew. "They must not get the Book of Peace!"
All members rush to take their positions following the commands of their prince.
Placing a hand on my shoulders, squeezing in a comforting manner, Proteus said "You ready for this, Chryseis? This is going to be dangerous?"
"Are you kidding, Brother," I joked, grinning, twirling my two double-bladed lances in my hands. "I was born ready."
Returning my grin, patting my back, he went up to stand at the door guarding the only way to the Book to prevent intruders from getting in. Moving away from the railing I take up a position among the crew ready to fight.
Neither of us knew that a drastic change was about to come to our lives altering the course of destiny for us forever.
On the opposite ship, the captain must've given command because a range of blades shot out from the side of the ship. The blades dug into the shipside of our vessel, locking the two boats tightly together. The force of the impact flung the captain into the air from his ship to ours which was exactly what he wanted. Flipping through the air he drew the two swords from his back. Upon landing, he was immediately bombarded by members of the king's soldiers. The others on his crew followed his lead, even the dog.
As soon as the fighting started there was one among the pirates that immediately drew my attention. He was tall, twice the height and size of all the others. There wasn't an inch of fat on this guy, covered in nothing but muscle. He was without a shirt, chest bare. He's wearing a pair of breeches held up by a belt with the appearance of a dark blue sash at his waist along with a pair of black boots. His head is completely bald. He had a beard with facial hair in small amounts in four spots. One is just underneath the mouth, one on each side, and the last at the point of his chin. Two earrings hanging from his ears.
The pirate's strength is more than apparent when it comes to his choice of weapon. Using only his arms he tore away a piece of the ship, mainly a large wooden railing where some shields were hanging. With this in hand, he easily knocked aside some soldiers charging directly at him. I wasn't going to have this pirate knocking around my men as if they were nothing.
Twirling my lances, I ran forward to attack. His back was turned as he was preoccupied fighting against another soldier. With him distracted I thought I would be able to bring him down easily without him seeing me coming.
Turns out I underestimated his levels of perception no matter what they were.
Just when it looked like I was about to pierce his heart the opposite happened. His hand snapped out, grabbing the lance and halting its progress as the blade was an inch away from touching his skin. Gasping, I looked up to find the pirate staring down at me with an insufferable smirk on his face.
"Nice try," he smirked, brow raised "That the best you can do?"
Eyes narrowed, I said, "You haven't seen anything yet."
I pulled back as if to tug the lance out of his grip, but that wasn't the entire purpose. Shifting into a backflip I kick hard against his chest and shove him away.
From the impact of the kick, the pirate was forced to release his tight grip on my lance as he was pushed backward. Landing a few feet back I crouched low, glaring at the pirate and lances held at the ready.
Steady on his feet the pirate came at me ending up with our weapons locked. His was the wooden rail while mine was the double-bladed lance.
"Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I don't know how to fight," I said, teeth gritted, smiling. "You shouldn't underestimate me."
"I'll remember that," he said, amused, swiping at my legs.
In order to dodge I jumped, feet just avoiding being hit by the wood. The next few minutes were a back-and-forth fight of dodging each other's blows while trying to land a damaging hit on the others. It only came to a stop when he landed a hit that knocked me up against the floor. Before I could rise to retaliate, or he could land another blow some soldiers stepped in to intervene and take over. I was about to join them when a sight caught my eye that immediately changed my mind.
Proteus was battling against three on his own. I already knew he was skilled enough with a sword to expertly take them down, so I didn't want to risk taking any chances. Rushing to the helm of the ship I went to help him out.
As soon as Chryseis joined in, she and Proteus commenced to have some fun. Proteus was fighting two while I was taking care of one. Cutting one's legs from underneath him, I slammed the blunt side of one of my blades into his face which caused him to yelp in pain. Proteus cut the blade from the spear of another from the tip, kicking him into the deck. He then worked on the third, using not his sword to take him down, but his legs. He smacked the guy's face around before aiming a kick from the heel of his boot from the direct force to the head. The two of us then heard a voice that hadn't reached our ears in over ten years coming from behind us.
"Stilling fighting like a pair of old ladies," said Sinbad, mocking our fighting styles.
"Sinbad," said Proteus, astonished.
"It can't be," I said, doubting my ears were telling the truth.
Letting our guard down we began to turn to get a glimpse, but this turned out to be a big mistake. As our backs were beginning to turn, we were tackled by all three of the pirates we'd been battling against.
Arms crossed Sinbad winced knowing that had to hurt.
"That wasn't very smart of you," he chuckled, wincing.
Proteus and I were being restrained, but we easily shook them off as we returned to standing positions. We were staring at our old friend in disbelief, not believing our eyes.
Proteus was the first to regain the use of his voice. Out of the level of the shock.
"Sinbad, what…what are you doing here," asked Proteus, flustered.
"I'm working," chuckled Sinbad, drawing his knife and stabbing it directly into the lock. There was no longer a need for a key after that. "You?"
"Don't you dare joke about this, Sinbad," I warned, eyes serious.
"What happened to you," demanded Proteus. "Where have you been?"
"It's good to see you, too," he said, brow raised, first speaking to me. Sinbad then directed what he said next to Proetus after he grinned at the identical glares aimed at him in fury. "Love to stop and catch up, but I've got things to do, places to go, stuff to steal."
Sinbad sheathed his knife, pushing the door open as he walked inside and releasing some light laughter.
If it were possible, I would've been shooting fire at Sinbad right then and there, incinerating him on the spot. Sinbad was lucky on his part I was restraining myself from pulling my lance on his as I moved to follow.
Before I was able to step in through the door a hand on my shoulder halted that progress. Turning my head, I looked up into the face of my brother. Smiling gently down at me he followed Sinbad inside and shutting the door behind him. The talk he wished to have been to be private and I wasn't invited judging by the signal he gave me to stay put. I didn't want to, but I complied with what he indicated. He was closer to Sinbad than I was although we did share a unique friendship as one.
With many of the soldiers now severely beaten I was left on my own with the pirates. I wasn't the only one who had made a move to follow the two friends inside. One of Sinbad's crew had made to follow which was the one Proteus had kicked in the face, but Kale held him back with a hand on his shoulder. The man I would soon learn to have the name of Kale, I recognized instantly as the one I'd fought against. The ones standing around him were either older or around the same age group. While analyzing them I couldn't quite tell.
During the middle of my observations, I caught Kale's eyes watching me. As soon as our eyes lock, I snapped my gaze away, not wanting to be caught staring at him. My attempt at being discreet didn't go over too well for I heard a deep chuckle come from his direction.
Eyes blazing behind my lashes, I said "Something funny here?"
Raising his hands in a calming manner, the pirate said "Nothing. Only that you seem to be determined to hide your movements."
"Oh, really," I said, arms crossed, brow raised. "And who are you to question what I do on my own ship?"
Standing tall while kind of puffing his chest in pride, the pirate said "Kale: first mate and second in command to Sinbad our Captain."
The words were meant to impress and on a usual person they would, but to me they held no such effect.
Hands on hips, I said "And that is supposed to impress me, how?"
The look in his eyes along with those of the ones standing around him appeared surprised and put down that I wasn't the least bit impressed. The expression is replaced when Kale instead peers down at me in intrigue, smiling slightly. He leaned his much larger upper body a bit over me causing shadow to loom.
I brought my head back to a certain point to meet his gaze but didn't move away. I wasn't about to show any signs of giving in to intimidation if that was the purpose of his actions.
Arms crossed, grinning, Kale asked "And who are you to be asking that?"
My eyes flashed dangerously for a split second, the only sign that there was even a hint of anger at his words.
Only those with extremely sharp eyes were able to notice it if not at all.
Head up high and proud, I said "I am Chryseis, the Princess of Syracuse and the only daughter of King Dymas."
There's an awkward silence after this announcement. Kale seemed to be expecting it. Not at all oblivious to my title and rank.
"I thought as much," said Kale, smug. "Kind of realized the connection after I heard Sinbad say you and your brothers' names."
"Judging by all of that Sinbad must've mentioned a lot about us to you," inquired Chryseis.
Kale answered "Enough."
"I hope he only told you the good things about my brother and me," I said, wearily.
Kale smirked, sensing the worry and dread of what might've been said, opening his mouth to speak…
Something slams into the bottom of the ship causing it along with the one belonging to the pirate to rock hard from side to side. Many of us lost our balance, falling to the floor while only a couple like me managed to even stay standing.
"What the hell was that," shouted an exasperated soldier.
That answer came to be not one anyone on either side wanted to see.
Shooting out in a wave of water tentacles lashing out in all directions came the giant sea monster Cetus. Startled yells rang all around as people sprang into action to fight off this great monster…well most of us did.
All of Sinbad's men went running for the security of their ship so they could set sail and escape. They weren't going to stay and fight when they could just take their leave instead. Their side remained locked against ours, so they were stuck.
When Sinbad and Proteus ran out from where the book was being kept all they could see around them was complete and utter chaos.
"By the gods," exclaimed Proteus.
Soldiers were being thrown all over the place whether into the water or making a crash landing somewhere on the deck as they were doing their best to land a hit.
Punching Proteus lightly in the shoulder, sarcastically, Sinbad said "Well, I see you're busy. Stay in touch."
"Wait, wait, said Proteus, exasperated. "You're just going to run away."
"Uh, yeah," said Sinbad, hanging off one of the ropes on the side, preparing to jump from our shit to his.
His look of disbelief changing to one of stone, Proteus ran off to where I was fighting to join me.
Sinbad was about to make the jump to his ship when something else interfered. A tentacle pushed in between the two boats, causing them to abruptly separate. Now his ship was way too far a distance for an easy mark. On Sinbad's ship equipment was knocked all over.
"Sinbad," called Kale, hanging on the helm for balance, ducking down to avoid getting hit in the head by a flying piece of wood.
Sinbad got his balance back on the railing to avoid falling flat on his back. As he realized what just happened, he looked on in anger and disbelief.
Sinbad shouted "You-my-my ship!"
Proteus and I were working in coalition together as a team. We sliced at any tentacles that came within range of our blades throwing any spear or sharp piece of wood we could get our hands on straight at the sea monster's face, especially the eyes. The problem was we needed to keep looking in so many directions at the same time which was so impossible to do in these kinds of conditions. Each time we saw a large tentacle coming we only were just able to dodge until one managed to hit smacking us down.
Suddenly Cetus opened his mouth, tongue shooting out like that similar to a frog, but a whole lot stronger. Latching onto a screaming soldier it pulled him into its mouth, swallowing him alive. There was nothing any of us could do to help him.
"Heads up," warned Sinbad.
Sinbad had actually stayed to help.
He tricks Cetus into consuming a barrel set to explode. It does so inside Cetus's stomach, forcing him to throw up everything inside of its stomach. Every single person in its relative range was sprayed with its stomach acid. It wasn't fatal to the touch, but it was extremely gross. To our great surprise the soldier Cetus swallowed was alive. The soldier took a moment to catch his breath and then charged straight back into the fray in a rage.
All the three of us could do was stand there astonished at the soldiers' fearless actions. A lot of people would usually retreat instead of rushing back into it like he did. We were left standing there speechless.
"Give that guy a raise," said Sinbad, gesturing with his eyes, breaking the silence.
Cetus quickly got over the effects of the bomb, returning to its actions of attacking the ship. The only thing that was left open as an option for us to do was to abandon ship in order to get the Book to safety.
"We have to abandon ship," I said.
"Come on, come on, Sinbad, let's go," urged Proteus, beginning to pull Sinbad away.
But Sinbad has other plans. He tricks Cetus into shooting his tongue at them. At the right moment, Sinbad pins the tongue to the deck with a sword. Cetus is now trapped, and he knows it.
Thinking fast a plan formed in Sinbad's mind with this opportunity. He was figuring out a way to get out of this. Looking up he spotted separate pieces supporting the ship's sails which had broken in half that would work perfectly with what he had in mind to do. He grabbed a pile of rope lying next to the mast.
Taking one end in his hand while wrapping it once around the mast, getting Proteus to grab the opposite end.
"Grab hold," he directed, holding out a hand to Proteus.
Proteus clasped it in his own, nodding at Sinbad.
Looking down to me, Proteus said "Stay down here. We'll handle this."
"Just don't get killed," I said, running for a sheltered spot behind some supply crates.
"Let's go," said Sinbad.
From where I am I watch the entire thing unfold. As she watched their antics, they didn't make any sense to her until the end.
Looking back and forth between them to the sea monster, I grinned "Brilliant."
Proteus and Sinbad held their knives at the ready, waiting for the most opportunistic moment.
"Now," shouted Sinbad, cutting his line with Proteus doing the same.
Immediately the sails they were standing on dropped, falling with the sharp ends piercing the sea monster's head. There was nowhere for them to stand leaving them to hang high up by a single rope and their arms.
Cetus had no way to escape from this as they came for him. The two ends stabbed him right in the center of the head, killing him instantly on impact. The sea monster no longer stood a chance.
At the sight of the dead sea monster a shriek of joy escaped from my lips with me not being the only one. Up above, Sinbad and Proteus release exclamations of glee at this victory. The soldiers having survived the attack punched their fists into the air cheering. As soon as my brother's feet touched the deck, I ran to him. I wrapped mt arms around his neck in a bone-crushing hug.
Legs nearly buckling from the force of my tackle, Proteus easily steadied himself as he returned my embrace. A moment later he yelped as I had cuffed him hard on the back of his head.
"Ow," he exclaimed, what was that for?"
"For being reckless," I answered, holding a fist in front of his face. "Next time you do anything like that again I'm going to punch your very lights out!"
"Well, it worked didn't it," said Sinbad, sarcastically, twirling his knife through his fingers before sheathing it behind his back.
As angry as I was with the pirate, I found I couldn't stay mad with our old friend for very long. Sooner than expected a smile formed, curving the corners of my mouth while shaping the lips.
"I knew you couldn't stay angry with me. You never could when we were kids all those years ago," laughed Sinbad. He then turned his attention over to my elder brother. "You all right?"
"Yeah," breathed Proteus, punching Sinbad in the shoulder while smiling. "Thanks for sticking around."
"Just like old times," said Sinbad, placing a hand on my brother's shoulder and gently squeezing. Suddenly a sight caught his eyes from behind us causing them to go wide. "Look out!"
A large tentacle was coming our way as the sea monster returned to the ocean, leaving our ship.
What happened next was a pure instinct on my part. Shoving Proteus out of the way I was the one who took the entire hit even as Sinbad dodged to the side. The tentacle wrapped tight around my person allowing no escape even as I desperately tried to pull myself free.
"Proteus," I shrieked, reaching out to him for help.
"Chryseis," called Proteus, trying to come after me.
But he was far too late. The last sight of me he saw was me reaching desperately to him, fear completely taking over my face as the sea monster pulled me into the water.
"Proteus," I screamed, my voice muffling out the rest of my call as water filled my mouth as I was pulled under.
Down below the corpse of Cetus was falling deeper and deeper into the ocean, pulling me along with it. I was trying so hard to get free, but to no great effect. I was almost out of air and running out of time with death nearly upon me.
Suddenly, I see Sinbad quickly swimming down from above. As he finally reached me, he pulled out his sword, stabbing it repeatedly to get it to release its grip. The sea monster wasn't as dead as we had thought. The sea monster was forced to let go of its prey.
I started to franticly kick to the surface since I couldn't hold it anymore. Sinbad assisted by giving me a strong push-up to help save time. As his hands left my waist I felt a slight tug, but not one that would hold me back. Initially, I didn't think anything of it since I was so focused on getting a new load of air to fill my lungs. The only thing I figured was him swimming up beside me, too busy to notice anything different or out of the ordinary.
It felt like forever, but it was a huge relief when my head broke through the surface. Immediately I sucked in a huge gulp of air, filling my lungs with fast yet slow breaths. As this has happened, I looked around for our ship to find it floating on the waves not too far away. Proteus was leaning over the side with his head bowed and shoulders shaking. Lord knows what was going through his mind, thinking I had drowned. He had not noticed I had surfaced.
Swimming over to the ship, I shouted "Proteus!"
"Chryseis," he shouted, leaning down, holding out his arm.
Soldiers assist Proteus in bringing me aboard.
Proteus pulled me into a large hug, taking the newly acquired breath out of me.
"Thank the gods," he whispered. "I thought I lost you."
Playfully pulling on his hair to get him to let go, I hissed 'Proteus, I can't breathe."
"Oh, sorry," he apologized.
Taking a towel from one of the soldiers, I said "Besides you really didn't think you could get rid of me so easily, did you?"
Proteus just laughed while hugging me closer to him again.
Pulling away from Proteus, looking around, I asked "Where is Sinbad?"
Face paling, Proteus said, "He went down into the water after you."
Frozen in place, horrified, I demanded "Didn't he come up with me? I was sure he was right there."
"No," breathed Proteus, slowly shaking his head from side to side.
Rushing over to the side I frantically scan the water. Proteus did the same, the both of us searching for even the single slightest sign. As the minutes went by were losing hope he would ever come to the surface.
Sinbad was always known to do close to everything unexpected.
Suddenly there was a big splash as we both saw Sinbad break through the ocean surface. A gasp escaped as I was barely able to contain my joy. Proteus is feeling the exact same way I was. There was no need for us to act any further for Sinbad's own crew took care of the rest.
Once steady Sinbad looked toward Proteus and I as our ship sailed by the winds further away from his.
Sheathing his sword, Proteus ordered "Men, all sails to Syracuse."
"Right away, Sir," said the Captain.
Authors Note:
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.
