Prince Ehreth and the Kingdom of Dreams #4

February 1, 2011 1:40 am Sir Haxington PEatKoD, Stories

The waves crashed against the bow of The Ultimate as she bobbed confidently through the Kirklondian Sea. With the wind at their backs, sails at full mast and cannons on standby, the crew of The Ultimate was poised to finally take what was theirs.

Hunting The Runner had been difficult enough. True to her name, The Runner was the fastest vessel in the entire kingdom. They had been tracking The Runner for months. Any other crew would have declared mutiny by now. In fact, other crews had declared mutiny chasing after what most considered to be fools gold: The Conch, the last link to the Merfolk who watch over the murky depths that no man dare tread.

Only the one who holds The Conch holds the power to communicate with the dwellers of the deep. Only the one who holds The Conch holds the power to command them.

Or so the legend goes.

The crew of The Ultimate had been instructed by their Captain to hunt for The Runner, a Mills-Class frigate commanded by De Leon, one of the most unscrupulous and infamous pirates that had ever set sail. The Runner wasn’t his ship originally, but after raiding the vessel at port with only a handful of loyal henchmen, he proceeded to murder the entire crew of The Runner in their sleep. Much to De Leon’s surprise, he stumbled upon The Conch hidden inside a fairly plain wooden box in a galley cabinet. Good fortune indeed.

Over time De Leon learned of the power of The Conch and eventually used it for his own personal gain. With the power to command an army of Mermen, De Leon razed port cities across the kingdom and sunk entire fleets on a whim. A single, selfish, lucky, alcoholic human shut down the seas almost single-handedly.

De Leon had become more drunk with power than any bottle of whiskey could have delivered him. His name brought terror to anyone who knew of the sea.

Captain Khay-ti learned of De Leon’s exploits in one of the most gut-wrenching ways imaginable. Her fiance aboard the Naval vessel JSS Conviction had been brutally murdered by De Leon’s fleet in the open seas. She had heard that while there were survivors from the attack, De Leon left them for dead.

Khay-ti mourned for days. Then the anger sunk in.

As she watched The Runner flailing in the open sea, most of her crew already shot to pieces, Khay-ti stared coldly across the horizon. She came ever closer to her revenge and restoring order to the seas. She, nor did anyone of her crew notices the clouds were parting slightly different that day. The sun was a little less bright and the shadows being cast were a little different than usual.

“Fire!”

The cannons rang out on her command. Cannonballs ripped through cloth, wood and flesh. Men were thrown overboard by explosions all across the ship. Others jumped into the deadly sea. Sails sagged and tore free. Oil slicks formed on the water surface and were promptly consumed by flame. The Runner began listing.

Captain Khay-ti ordered her boarding team assembled. She led the group aboard The Runner, amidst the chaos and wreckage. She kicked at a few of the corpses and injured crew of The Runner as she strode by.

“Tend to the wounded… and find De Leon! I bet he’s still alive here somewhere!” she shouted over the crackling of fires and snapping of wood.

Khay-ti had a gut feeling. Her instincts kicked in. She knew where De Leon might be hiding. She descended into belly of the ship.

On her decent she became frozen in pain. A migraine split her skull then disappeared in a flash. A faint voice in her head began to call out.

“You… I know it’s you. It could only be you.”

“De Leon… how…”

“Listen to me… I’m in the belly of the ship. My time is almost through. You’ll have your revenge. Behind the wine casks. Come take what it yourssssss…”

The voice hissed and faded. She moved deeper into the ship, her head splitting from pain and unable to see more than a few feet in front of her.

Fires were spreading rapidly. Wood support beam began to buckle. The ship was taking on water. Fast.

The smoke began to build. Khay-ti could barely breathe and at each step forward she thought about running back to the deck.

She didn’t.

Just as the voice in her head had told her, De Leon lied motionless behind one of the large wine casks near the bottom of the ship. Khay-ti splashed over to De Leon through knee keep brine as water filled her boots. She began to pick him up and drag him out when he spoke again, this time from his own mouth.

“You heard me then. It still works! Here. Take it!”

De Leon began grasping at a sack attached to his belt. Khay-ti saw his flailing motions and snatched the pouch from his belt. De Leon began to laugh.

“Now you’ll see. Now you’ll know! The Conch is more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

He sputtered and coughed up thick red and black mucous. The thick scent of rum and iron wafted into Khay-ti’s nostrils.

“You think you have won… but this is only the beginning! The Conch can get into people’s heads. You can use it to get into people’s heads!”

Khay-ti’s face washed over with anger. She held up the sack and shook it near De Leon’s face.

“You used this to kill thousands of innocent people! You used this to abuse the Merfolk and turn them into your slave army!”

She dropped De Leon into the water, then knelt beside him. She screamed.

“You used this to kill the one I loved!”

De Leon laughed one last time.

“…my dear… you’ll see! Remember that I warned you… that getting into someone’s mind takes a piece away from them… and a piece away from you too…”

On De Leon’s dying breath the roof of the ship splintered and cracked. Debris from the floor above began to pour in. Another large hole erupted in the side of the ship and water began rushing in at an alarming rate.

With the pouch and its contents firmly in her grasp, Khay-ti dashed up through the smoke and water, back onto the deck.

“Captain! We thought we’d lost you! The Runner is a lost cause! We need to…”

“I know, I know! Let’s get off this wreck, I got what I came for!”

The Ultimate’s boarding party returned to their ship. After gaining some distance, Khay-ti watched as The Runner sank to the bottom of the Kirklondian Sea. A sense of relief and accomplishment washed over her. Not only had she gotten her revenge, she managed to sink the fastest ship in the fleet as well and put an end to the terror on the seas. The Ultimate, Her Ultimate was now the fastest ship and no one could take that away from her. She wouldn’t let anyone take anything from her again.

Khay-ti clutched The Conch, separated only by a thin layer of cloth from her palm. She ordered her ship to set sail for the port of Rochelle to deliver her good news.

The Captain of The Ultimate retired to her cabin and slept.

—

The following morning, after a decent meal and exercise, she returned to her cabin to change. The Ultimate was on route and making good time.

There had only been one thing on Khay-ti’s mind all night and day.

She pulled The Conch from the sack. It looked remarkably ordinary. Smaller than she expected. Natural. Sunlight poured in through the window as she fumbled with the artifact, trying to activate somehow. Eventually, she did the obvious.

She breathed in deeply, held The Conch to her lips, then blew outward. Then there was a flash.

“You must be the new Commander. What are your orders?”

There was a moment of confusion. She could see the Merman in her mind. Clear as day. It felt like a daydream, but at the same time, very real.

Am I dreaming? Orders? I want to set them free! What do they expect from me?

“You are free. De Leon is dead. You no longer need to take orders from anyone.”

“What are you orders? Wait… no something is wrong, Commander. We strongly advise altering course leaving for Infinity at this very moment!”

“What? No, you need not listen to me. You are free to… wait, why Infinity?”

“Commander, there is no time to explain. We must go now! We await your orders!”

“To Infinity then.”

“Confirmed. We will get us there as quickly as possible.”

Just then, The Ultimate groaned. Khay-ti fell sideways then to her knees as the ship shuddered. Her table, chairs and cabinet began to slide across the room. Yelling and sounds of confusion could be heard from the crew outside. She heard the unmistakable sound of rushing water.

The Captain stumbled onto the deck only to witness her vessel being lifted slowly from the sea on the back of a Leviathan. The massive sea-beast began to carry the vessel faster then anyone aboard The Ultimate could have possibly imagined.

The crew stopped screaming. They were entranced.

Khay-ti thought having The Conch wouldn’t be so bad after all.