Secrets from the Deep

Chapter 14

Everyone on board heard the splash as Meg walked back onto the ship, exhausted from all that had happened during the morning.

"What was that?" Caden asked.

"I guess he realized there was no way to get out safely after he revealed the truth," Jasper guessed before he rushed to Meg's side.

"It's so weird. I have been a member of the Air Mando for almost ten years alongside Captain Moncilia and Terrance Espen. Now, in the course of not even two days, both of them died. What are we going to do now?" Timothy explained as Jasper tended to Meg's wounds.

Aslan walked over to Meg and kneeled before her. "Miss Catalani, as the daughter of Captain Moncilia, what do you wish we do?"

"Well, I first ask that you treat my friends and me with respect and bring us back to Plymouth, and then after that, you may do as you wish," Meg stated with grace.

"Yes, Miss. I think tonight, however, before that happens, we should have a funeral for the Captain."

"Thank you, Good Sir," Meg replied.

Aslan took the helm and began to head for where they would leave Captain Moncilia's body.

"Meg, he offered you to end his life; why did you not accept it?" Jasper asked Meg as they began to set sail.

"After learning the whole truth, I realized that if I followed through with his offer, I would not be any better than he was. It also was not going to bring me the satisfaction I desired," Meg explained.

After Jasper finished bandaging the cuts Meg received during the fight, the two tightly embraced one another once again.

...

That night, Aslan emerged from the captain's cabin holding the deceased Captain Moncilia, who was dressed in royal blue like a powerful and respected pirate.

"People on this ship, we have sailed to the Silent Reef, the coral reef where the pirate captains who have died are brought. We are here today to celebrate and remember the life of Captain Moncilia," Aslan began, keeping himself as composed as he could.

"Before he was the man you all looked up to, he was a man named Dominic Catalani. A sailor with great dreams who traveled the world at a young age," Meg added, remembering things she learned when reading her father's letters to her mother.

"Soon afterward, he was a captive on the Air Mando. But learned the ways of a pirate quickly and would later become one of the greatest captains the world has ever known. As he goes to the next world and joins the others we have loved and lost, I would like you all to raise your sword," Aslan said.

Meg and Aslan stepped into the dinghy with the Captain's body and began to lower it down to the sea as everyone on board took a sword and raised it to the sky.

"May I say a few words first?" Meg asked once the dinghy was floating in the water.

"Absolutely, Miss," Aslan replied.

Meg looked down at her late father and took his hand in hers. "Father, I was never able to properly know you, but from what Mother and your crewmates told me about you, I am proud to call you my father and hope that you and Mother are very happy to be reunited once again."

Aslan then let the body of his beloved captain fall into the water to lie alongside the coral.

...

"What are we going to do now?" Chris asked as he poured himself a glass of the late captain's finest wine that was being served.

"Since I was the first mate of Captain Moncilia at the time of his death, it is my duty to take over as captain on the Air Mando. Timothy, you will now be my first mate," Aslan explained.

"Will the next stop be Plymouth, though?" Robert asked, thinking back to Meg's request that morning.

"Yes it will be; you are all free," Aslan explained in a way his mentor would be proud of. Everyone on the Air Mando cheered and clapped.

"We are finally free!" Charles exclaimed.

"We will be going home at last!" Benedict added.

"And I'm going to be the first mate on the Air Mando!" Timothy rejoiced.

...

The next day, the Air Mando arrived in Plymouth to drop off all its former captives.

"I just can not believe that I actually met my father," Meg said to Annie, Jasper, and Caden as the rest of their former crew members went home, still in shock from the discovery.

"So, what comes next for us?" Jasper asked.

"Well, I now have this," Meg replied as she gestured toward Captain Moncilia's sword, which was in a sheath attached to her belt. Everyone on board had agreed that Meg should have her now-deceased father's sword.

"Wait, what about the Night Wind!" Annie called out, realizing the ship she and Meg started their journey on had not returned to the docks.

"Or the Star Sailor!" Jasper exclaimed.

"When the pirates captured Caden, Annie, and me, they looked through our ship to see if there was anything they would want to take with them. After that, they left it in the middle of the sea," Meg explained.

"The same thing pretty much happened to the Star Sailor. We were following them when, all of a sudden, they were on the deck before they kidnapped us and left the ship." Caden added, feeling embarrassed. "But do you think it would be fine for us to return to the water anytime soon to get those ships back?"

"I love that idea. But I think there is one more thing we have to settle before that," Meg said.