He clasps my forearm tightly. He. The Alchemist. My father.
"You've become who you truly are."
I swallow the shame down, tugging down the mirrored robes to hide the tattoos and scars on my body. "The name's Lucky now. But my story's far from it."
"You'll tell me that story. In time." His eyes, newly healed, sparkle. Reflecting the sands of Akua. Of home before it was awash in blood and violence.
From a home that a child left. A home that a pirate was born from.
"I..."
The doors splinter then, a horrid creak as the metal starts to liquefy and burble. An unbearable heat, like we're caught in the midst of a forge.
Sol crawls away from the blinding light and heat emanating from the doorway. "The council. Fire. They've harnessed fire weapons, trapped in sigils of bronze and iron."
Kura lifts her, supporting Sol's weight, rubbing water from her hip flask to cool down Sol's metal parts. "We won't hold the doors much longer."
Malika and Farzaneh link hands. Farzaneh serves as the outpouring of magic, Malika directing it towards the focus point of the doorway, trying to turn the heat back against our enemies. I turn towards my father, lifting his frail, beaten body in my arms.
Make. Make. Make.
Dead. Dead. Dead.
Ali looks to me, "Captain... Lucky?"
She helps me lower my father's body to an empty surgical table. Cato, the Matriarch, and the Lord of Deceit are all bound. In chains and collars. On display like they're beasts in an outlandish exhibition, just oversized lab rats. They aren't the problem now.
The Lunes are.
Then I hear her.
Lucky, there's a drain for the lab beside the chemical station.
"Ode?"
Meet us in the sewers. We'll plot there.
I run towards the grate in the floor, peering out beneath the chemical beakers. "The drain, hurry!" I scrabble against the screws, but Sol just reaches down and twists the grate aside easily with her strength. Kura joins her, lifting the heavy grate high above their heads.
"Go!" Kura waves us on, Sol gritting her teeth in exertion. "Leave us behind, we'll be fine!"
I nod. "Pōmaika'i."
A blessing for you.
Kura and Sol turn back to the task at hand as the rest of us filter down into the drains.
We descend into the damp and darkness. Kura and Sol drop the grate into place with a thump. Malika and Fari help to re-seal the grate above us just as the Lunes' backup streams in.
Screams. Ferocious snarls and the sound of tearing flesh, burnt meat. Kura and Sol, back-to-back, defending Cato even in his tortured, animalistic state. We all back away from the grate, tearing our eyes away as the reinforcements keep coming.
Ali steps forwards, holding up a set of manacles.
"It seems the Queen of Thieves and the Dragon Veil Gang taught me too well about thieving. I just can't stop." She smiles. "Oops."
But I just look up, wondering if Cato will recognize his own daughter, with all the Lunes did to him. Wondering if Sol and Kura knew what they were doing, sacrificing themselves for us.
...if it was even a sacrifice at all.
***
Hey Pirates,
So, let's play a game.
Smash, Spouse, Slay. (You might know it by the OTHER name, but I was trying to keep the three S's). Character edition.
Any takers? ;)
-Sophia
أنت تقرأ
A Pirate for the Dead Goddess (Legends of Rahasia Book 2)
الخيال (فانتازيا)"Farzaneh..." I pull her to me, flinching when my sleeve rolls back, her eyes drawn to the markings. On my bare skin's a map revealing a different tattoo, one for every person I killed. I hate looking at the running tally of tattoos on my body. It r...
