The WindFlyer

Chapter 34

Draen's PoV

What I saw in that meeting, in that city, in those captains, it was horrifying. It reminds me of why my father hunts them and persecutes pirates. And what they said. The threats and all that, yes, but about my father. My father wants me back, he's been looking for me. I wish I could say I wasn't surprised but he's never really cared. He was raising me to be the king, he was cruel and cold to me but it was always with the hopes that I would be a good leader. Maybe that was his way of showing that he cared... in whatever twisted way that that makes sense.

I do not want my absence to put Astoria and her crew at risk. I know it was Astoria who took me in the first place, but I also know she could have killed me the moment she laid eyes on me... but she didn't. She let me live, she didn't maroon me, and she showed me a world I never thought could exist. Astoria even offered me a place there. How can I let her suffer for my missing? How can I make the people of Oneiro suffer because my father demands my return? If my father gets ahold of her or the crew, I know exactly what he will do to her. I know the punishment she would have to endure and I do not wish that upon someone I've grown to care about. But if I am not returned and the other Pirates find out that Astoria holds me, they could turn against her. The lords could set a trap and summon her then drag her before my father.

"Get the ship away from here. I don't want to breathe in more of this filth than I have to," the captain orders as she walks up the gangplank. The crew members, as if anticipating this, already have the ship set to sail. I barely leap off of the wooden plank connecting us to the ground before it's is drawn back onto the ship. Astoria storms over to the wheel, her coat whipping behind her violently as she walks. I dart after her in an attempt to avoid getting in anyone's way while they go about their business with well practiced efficiency.

"I cut off his thumb," Astoria muses when I'm next to her. I blink in surprise, this is not what I expected her to say. It almost sounds like she is sorry for doing it but also not.

"Aye, you did," I say slowly. I don't really know how to go about approaching this, she seems bothered. I choose to simply agree for now.

The captain chuckles darkly after a beat, startling me by her rapid change in demeanor. "I guess things will go back to the way they were before," she says, cutting me a glance as she does. I cock my head and feel my forehead crease. I don't know what she means. Astoria rolls her eyes and looks to the horizon. "You hating me because I'm a pirate. You saw exactly what I am in that room, so you'll go back to wishing for my death and--" she cuts off when I start shaking my head.

"I saw the mask you put on the go into that room. I saw the part you played when you went before them," I correct her.

"A part of that person is still me. You would be smart to go back to hating me," she snaps back, still not looking at me. I don't quite understand where this is coming from. I grab the captain's arm and then gently take her chin in my hand, forcing to meet me stare.

"I may have seen a cruel part of you, but do not think that I don't have cruel parts of me, too. I may not have liked to see you become that person but I know you. I know who you are. I know what you care about and what you stand to risk if you don't become that person. I know because every damned day in my life I had to become that person too. I've only ever been able to be myself when I'm at sea. When," I pause for a second. Not sure if I want to say it. Then I look back into the captain's eyes. The swirling depths of the sea held in the two orbs. Her pain, whatever is causing it, pierces me through the chest. She deserves to know. "I'm here." With you, I silently add, unable to force my lips to form the words. Her throat bobs a little and she opens her mouth to say something but I speak again. "I'm going to take a nap, Captain," I say, turning on my heel and make for her secret ladder up to the wheel. Maybe I'm a coward but I don't want to know what she had to say after what I said. Maybe I didn't even want to say it in the first place.