Chapter 134: Fated Meeting of Four

Book 3, Chapter 33 - Fated Meeting of Four

The sailors dispersed. Aaron was left lying like a dead animal on the roadside. Eksa hesitated to approach him. She didn't want to make it seem as if she sympathized with him. Her pride came before any superficial attraction she felt toward him. And she was still owed an apology for what he did to even consider forgiving him.

“He isn't dead is he?” Eksa asked. The barkeep was grinning for some reason.

“No,” Aki said. She walked away and began helping out with the sails.

Eksa was left standing alone before the boy in rags. Maybe not alone. That thing called Viper had to be around. She picked up his coat and threw it over him like a blanket. That was about as much sympathy he would get from her then. Wouldn't do well for him to get sunburns on top of his injuries.

Though Eksa had come up to see Aaron punished, she didn't think he deserved this outcome. She'd rather have been the one to dole out discipline. Maybe force him into hard labor, polishing her boots, running noonday errands when the sun was highest, that kind of thing. But the way he just plopped down after being bludgeoned by Captain Dhorjun's fist, as if he were a bottle just tipped over the edge of a table. There had to be lingering damage after that.

Or maybe he was damaged to begin with. He'd been stupid enough to challenge that ogre anyhow. Eksa cringed at that display of violence. She really didn’t belong here. Flame's blessings that she hadn't heard any bones cracking. Even Aki had burst with primal fervor within the brief second Eksa had bought for her. She'd mounted atop Aaron within a blink and began strangling him as he'd done to her.

Eksa was no stranger to violence. She'd seen her share of tavern fights as a child. Had seen and suffered one sided beatings and whippings during her time as a slave. Each instance never eased the next. There was no experience to be gained when violence bore down on her again. There was only a reminder. A reminder of how pitifully weak she was. Not even a weapon could make up that difference. Aaron, a boy about her age and size, had so easily disarmed her when she tried attacking him. He could have just as easily killed her.

Eksa began making her way below deck when Crow returned with a new gang of brutish men following him on board. They hauled something onto the ship. A caged person with shaggy blonde hair touching their shoulders. A skeleton with no other discernable features. It was like a tree not a few months old, thin with twigs for limbs, cheeks sunken and eyes close to popping out of their sockets. They looked on the verge of death, yet wore a maniacal grin that made Eksa shiver despite the heat.

That grin would have stolen away her sympathy had he not been in a cage. She was looking at herself from not even a year ago. A slave, underfed, ignored, and damaged. But why had Crow brought it onboard? She stifled her urge to run down and retrieve a stale bun from her trunk to offer the pitiful slave, observing Crow as he approached Captain Dhorjun.

“What's that?” the bald man asked, pointing Aaron's way.

Dhorjun rubbed his face where he'd been struck. “Some thieving brat that'd snuck aboard. Kid's got some fight in him. Aki suggested we recruit him.”

Hawthorne walked up to a groaning Aaron and rolled him face up with his boots. “I brought you real men. We don't need a child.”

Dhorjun eyed down the eight men his second had recruited. “And how many of them do you wager could land a blow to my face?”

“None,” was Hawthorne's reply, sure and confident.

“Then this boy stays,” said the ship captain. “And what is this slave you brought me?”

“Entertainment, perhaps. Or something more. An anomaly who might be useful, or not. They say he eats raw flesh and drinks blood if given the chance. I don't believe it. He laughs spontaneously like a mad man though.”

Dhorjun nodded. It seemed this wasn't the first time Crow had done something like this. He picks up pieces to use or throw away later, Eksa observed. Should be fine to feed the caged boy then. She turned, freezing before having taken a single step. Eksa went cold as she turned around and examined the caged boy again. Eats flesh and drinks blood? Blonde hair. Ghastly pale skin. And a pair of large canines behind that grin. “Blessed Flames,” she gasped. It couldn't be, could it? Not a Vampire. Please let me be wrong again.

Hawthorne squatted down before the cage and unlocked it. He pointed at Aaron who was finally sitting upright whilst rubbing his face. “Look boy, your meal,” Hawthorne said. “Get it before he regains his senses.”

***

Aaron decided enough time had passed for him to now sit up. He'd sold the play quite well, he thought. He'd twisted his body at the moment of impact, taking next to no damage. To Dhorjun who had massive fists, he wouldn't doubt his own power. And to the spectators who likely knew their captain well, it wouldn't be strange for a single blow to drop a boy.

And Eksa had placed Aaron's coat on top of him. Was it to protect me from the sun? She really didn't belong on this crew. Her kind act was enough to somewhat redeem her image in his mind, but that kick to his head was a low blow. Something needed to be done about her stupidity.

Aaron frowned and rubbed his face. He still had to act groggy as if having a headache —which he did have after Aki and Eksa's damage, but nothing unbearable. A new group had just boarded the ship, bringing with them a caged boy. The bald one among them had said something about a blood drinker.

Vampire…? Aaron had never believed in them, but ancient memory informed him otherwise. A powerful race that were amongst allied vanguard during the War of Ashes.

The cage lock was undone by the bald man. “Look boy, your meal,” he said. “Get it before he regains his senses.”

The man was pointing Aaron's way.

***

Jack looked from Crow to the bruised boy sitting upright. Was this really it? Was this his ten seconds? He clutched his mask with one hand, not trusting Crow with it, and lunged.

And then fell forward.

His chin hit the deck hard. Everything turned black for a brief moment before his vision cleared again like dissipating haze. Jack tried pushing himself upright, but he was too weak to. He kicked with his legs, joints clicking. His skin had become so fragile that he now bled from his toes from scraping them against the ship's deck. He was like a worm, inching forward bit by bit, joints too stiff for anything great.

The boy, Jack realized, had regained any sense he might not have had. He was on his rear still, legs out, tattered ends of his trousers revealing a length of his shin and calves. It was too late. The boy would shuffle away. And Jack, useless, would be slain by Crow who stood to the side with cutlass at the ready.

Yet still he shuffled forward. The sight of that exposed calf drove him on. Just a bite. That was all he asked for. A hot sun bared down on his wrinkled skin, burning his arms and feet. His each breath felt caught in the drought that was his throat. The boy, it seemed, was not moving away. He was still there, and Jack was a mere foot from that shin. But at last, the boy's legs moved. The image that had been driving Jack forward was stolen from him. It left him imagining taunts.

Pebbles thrown his way. Jeers following his retreat. Tears flowing from his eyes. A field of white split by a dirt road. Winter's embrace. No protectors. No friends. Just a weeping, accursed child running away from where he was not wanted.

I just wanted to play…

Something picked Jack up. He felt warm inside. The warmth of a flame colored amber. Why he knew that, he wasn't sure. But it beckoned him back to the ship he was on. Back to the world of the living. He blinked, incapable of making out the figure before him. Something a bit damp but firm was pressed against his mouth. He felt suffocated by it before his nose reminded him of what it was. A human arm, beneath which the font of life flowed.

Blood.

With the last of his strength, Jack bit down on the arm. Life was breathed into him. The flame inside went out and was replaced by something fiercer. Each swallow cleared the fog in his mind, the haze in his eyes, and the block in his ears. He felt a hand press down on his head.

“Hush now, hush now, please don't cry.”

Startled, Jack stopped drinking.

“Mother will stay here by your side.”

***

It was all Aaron could do for this child. He had memories of his mother cradling him in her arms when he hardly was even one. Her memories of singing a lullaby to him. The words were not many, but paired together in different variations, the lyrics became lengthy. He chose from the ones he thought were most impactful. “Dream of meadows far and wide. Dream sweet dreams and smile tonight.”

Recalling so clearly his own mother's voice brought tears to his eyes. It resonated with this Vampire child. He too was crying. A child in a cage all alone, not a friend or family member at his side. A child likely thinking himself a blight upon the world. Just like Viper and I .

“Friend?” Aaron tried, offering a smile. The blonde boy didn't respond with words, but rather an embrace. Aaron could feel his new friend's heart pounding with new life.

***

A friend? For me? Jack clutched this boy tight as if his life depended upon it. He savored the moment, knowing it wouldn't last. How could it? The moment his identity was revealed, the moment his new friend realized he'd hugged a monster, he'd scream and flee. But Jack wanted to believe it wasn't so. Even for just a few seconds. He was living now, for these few seconds. Actually living, actually feeling everything with all of his senses functioning. He didn't want to let go.

But let go he did. It was time to end this illusion. Time to reveal the truth. “I'm—”

“I know what you are,” the boy whispered into his ear. “And I'll take you as a friend regardless. My name is Aarondel.”

A new stream of tears flowed from Jack's eyes. His first ever friend. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. But every functioning sense of his confirmed it. He felt Aarondel's touch. Heard the sincerity in his voice. Had tasted and smelled his blood, yet there was not an ounce of fear or disgust upon Aarondel that Jack could see with his eyes. “Jack…rin…” he managed between breaths. “I'm Jackrin Winters.”

***

Eksa stared in awe, not believing her eyes. Hardly anyone paid attention to what had just transpired save for herself and Crow who was standing a few feet from Aaron and the Blood Drinker child. It was a Vampire. She was sure of it. He'd bitten Aaron's arm and yet, Aaron just hugged and sang to him. Hugged and sang as if one were the long lost infantile brother of the other. They whispered to each other and now were bawling their eyes out.

Hawthorne narrowed his eyes. He stared for a hard long second, sheathed his blade, and then strode off toward the group he brought, explaining the basics of a sailor's duty to them. Eksa averted her eyes and locked herself in her cabin below deck. She tapped her heel against the floor on repeat while seated at the edge of her bed. There was a Vampire on board. No one knew it but Crow and her, unless Crow thought he'd picked up a freak of a person and nothing more. And Aaron had just comforted the creature instead of cowering in fear.

“Maybe… Maybe he's harmless?” Eksa tried convincing herself. Who was she kidding? The stories of Estraean villages terrorized by the night creatures of the Kal'Kar Mountains were too many to simply be peasant's rumors of exaggeration. Too many, and too violent. Yet, she felt a sympathy for the child too. He was small, likely torn from his home and abused for many months if not years. He was alone, maybe even afraid. And she was fearing him because of stories. Because of how pitiful she was herself.

Eksa was weak. Weak of body most certainly —a factor she couldn't change. But she was weak of heart also, and that was something she could alter. She gathered her courage and fiddled with the lock of her trunk, taking a good ten seconds to realize that it was broken.

“Flames,” she cursed, prying the lock away and throwing open the hood. She hastily pulled out one of her stored date paste buns, spilling crumbs all over her folded clothes, and marched back to deck. Luckily, Aaron and the boy were still sitting in the same place, going vastly ignored as sails were let down. The gangplank connecting to the docks had yet to be pulled back.

Eksa made her way over to the two boys and held out her hand. “Here,” she said, turning her head away from them. “You look hungry.” Flaming Ashes! Do Vampires even eat human food?

The blonde boy took the bun and nibbled on it like the child he seemed. “It's good,” he said.

She frowned. He hadn't even reached the sweet paste yet. He was only nibbling on the dry as sand bread part.

“Is she a friend too?” the Vampire asked Aaron.

Aaron turned to Eksa as if waiting for her to respond instead. She closed her fists, and considered —really hard— striking him. Was he so petty as to make her say the words just to humiliate her?

Alter your heart, Eksa. Be the bigger person.

Right. She was here to rid herself of her own fear. Besides, holding petulant grudges was not what her father would have done. A captain had good relationships with all his men. She vowed to earn Aaron's respect. “Yes, I'll be your friend,” she told the blonde boy. “What you are doesn't concern me in the slightest.”

The smiles they gave her made Eksa feel immensely better.

It is also a captain's job to reprimand his crewmembers if they step out of line , said a small voice in her head. Right. If one day Captain Dhorjun got her a ship of her own, she would work Aaron to the bone for a few days as reprimands for his actions. But that matter was a long ways off.

Eksa was suddenly shrouded in malodorous shade. “Girl,” a thunderous voice boomed. “You get to prove yourself faster than I anticipated. Get on that ship over there. It's yours now. Choose no more than five less two dozen deckhands to bring aboard with you.”

Dhorjun walked back toward the helm, each of his footsteps creating tremors on the floor. Eksa gaped as her captain called for a gathering of all for her to select from. The Empire caravel, that beautiful ship, was all hers now? And she got to choose her own crew before Crow did?

Has my misfortune finally run aground?