Chapter 20: Despair

Marlo watched the endless tiny bubbles hastening to the surface of the water, as if it was a race bright orange chunks of ship sunk in the opposite direction. The thoroughness of his sabotage bringing an unfortunate mix of satisfaction and sorrow. A boat filled with his favourite people, travelled on the downward sway of a white-capped wave, he gripped the rail letting out an audible sigh. “I’m glad you are on our side,” Aiden affirmed sounding rather impressed. Marlo thought about letting Aiden’s behaviour slide, but he turned towards his manservant and let out another rant of displeasure, “Damn it Arlo, I thought I asked for some cream for my sore wrists.” The usually boisterous spymaster flew silently after being helped overboard, thankfully the satisfying sound of him spluttering sea water could be heard upon surfacing.

“Well, I did warn you,” Marlo lectured, wagging a finger towards the man below. “Ahhh, I needed that,” he affirmed to no one in particular. He noted Arlo inching in the direction of his master, “Don’t,” he warned. Luckily, Arlo thought better of his actions and stopped.

Perching himself at the top of the ladder, he waited for Morgan’s party to scale, when they started to ascend, he was concerned by the sight of Meena injured and unconscious. He reached down taking her in his arms, the deathly paleness of her skin, heightening concern.

The ship’s crew met with hugs and back pats, the arrival of their Captain’s party ensuring that all duties were forgotten,

Morgan’s first task upon reaching the deck was to send her voice loudly over the din, “Someone get that man out of the water. Gruth, get us out of here, NOW.” The crew scrambled to do their Captains bidding, Marlo was standing right beside her and yet her voice continued to break over the ship, “Marlo, take Meena to her cabin. Castain, get to bed.” Morgan strode away, off on some nameless errand.

“Stage one,” Sha stated cheekily.

“OH, shut up, GO AND FIND SOMEONE TO check ON your injuries,” Morgan bellowed, unfortunately for the prince she wasn’t quite out of earshot.

 

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Morgan was going through a mental list, “Check for internal bleeding, tick. Check for excessive blood loss, tick. Bandage but not too tightly, tick.” She was growing ever more concerned.

“It’s not good, is it?” Marlo asked, ducking his head as he ambled into the room.

“That’s just it. There is no reason for her to be like this. It’s a flesh wound.” Morgan felt the impact of her words as they were spoken aloud, her resolve wavering.

Marlo frowned back at her, “Tell me what happened, how did she get in this state?” He asked. She complied, describing in detail the happenings and Meena’s subsequent collapse. Morgan finished her explanation, waiting rather impatiently for the giant to impart some much-needed age-based wisdom. Instead, he just sighed.

“You know what’s wrong, don’t you, tell me what I can do?” Morgan pled, desperate for answers.

Marlo finally responded, his words laced with misery, “Nothing, you can’t fix this, she is heart sick, she has lost the will to live.”

Morgan tucked a stray hair behind her friend’s ear, “This is all my fault, she was acting on my orders.”

Marlo rested a hand upon her shoulder, his words stern, “You know better than that, Kurja is to blame here, not you.” She continued to clean her friend’s cuts, listening as she did so to Marlo’s words of encouragement, “We need you little sparrow, don’t give up, don’t you give him the satisfaction, show him you can become something greater than the evil in his eye.” Morgan worked as the giant talked, tears formed. When she had finished, she dried her eyes with a sleeve and moved to exit. Marlo’s concern laced words stopping her at the threshold, “I’ve got a confession to make. I sabotaged those kingdom ships, so they couldn’t chase or fire on us.”

“No kidding,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Marlo continued haltingly, “It was dragon’s fire that caused their cannons to explode.”

Morgan’s brain snapped to attention, her words harsh, “Are you actually kidding me right now, YOU BROUGHT DRAGONS FIRE ONTO MY SHIP.” The towering giant cringed under her onslaught and Meena mumbled in her sleep. She lowered her voice; a few unsavoury words exiting her mouth before she gained control once again. “We will talk about this later, I need to check on the others,” she said, dismissing Marlo with the sight of her back as she stormed out of the room.

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Later that night, Morgan was finally heading to bed, brooding as she did so that when one looked in the dictionary under ‘shit day’ they would find this one. She didn’t think that it was possible to be so exhausted, her weary body owned by the promise of a comfy, bumps in all the right places, oh so soft bed. The days, strange remembrances played across her mind, including the sight of Castain silently staring at her, as she had redone all his bandages. The man always seemed to be pondering some big secret that he never felt the need to share. Her thoughts jarred, she was starting to wind down, euphoria was triggered by the sight of her bed as she slid open the night room door. It didn’t matter that there was a nagging feeling in the far reaches of her mind, it didn’t matter that she was still clothed, she collapsed face first into her feather-down pillow.

Morgan was blissfully close to sleep when the scuffing sound triggered alarm and instinct took over. Bringing her hands upwards she used her headboard to send her body towards the opposite end of the bed, then she heard a thwack noise of a weapon hitting right where her head had vacated. Flying feathers brought with them a feeling of annoyance at the ruining of her favourite pillow. Using the newfound momentum, she brought her leg around and upward, a powerful movement that sent her attacker into the wall beside the bed, “AVAST, WE ARE ATTACKED,” she yelled. The ships lamplight illuminated a male form, she backed away, her hands reaching blindly for a weapon, the search fruitless. The assailant recovered quicker than expected, he advanced, stalking her relentlessly. Morgan side stepped another swipe then walked into the movement forcefully sending the heal of her palm upwards and into a chin. Stunned the attacker executed a clumsy sweep of his sword. She chopped a hand downwards into an exposed wrist, thankfully it was enough to disarm the attacker. Yet her foe continued coming at her with renewed force and surprising skill. She barely managed to misdirect a closed fist that was aimed at her face, instead it connected with the side of her head. The ferocity of the attack sent her backwards and into a wall. Morgan waited for another kick then she stepped inside reach, pulling her foe into the wall that he had trapped her against a second before.

Marlo charged into the room, closely followed by Castain, their lamplight illuminating Aiden’s face, his features twisted in loathing. The sight of help gave Morgan a much-needed boost, feeling tired and cranky she used the last of her energy and the space that she had just gained to round the spy master in the face with the full sweep of her leg. Her act stunning Aiden long enough for Marlo to enclose him in a steely armed grip, she stumbled backwards, alarmed by the worrying sight of foam spilling from Aiden’s mouth, despite being imprisoned by Marlo’s massive arms the spy master fought to reach her, his eyes strangely blank. Thankfully, Castain ended the assailants squirming and by association her ordeal with a well-placed fist. 

Sha strode forward, his sword threatening to dispatch an unarmed and unconscious man, “HOLD, don’t do it,” she warned.

“He was about to kill you while you slept,” Sha hissed incredulous.

“See to MORGAN!” Castain commanded stepping in-between, breaking line of sight.

Morgan swayed grasping her bedpost for support.

Sha made it to her side in a second, checking her for injuries of which there was little. Annoyed by the pawing, she slapped his hand away and commanded the rooms attention, “Marlo, chain him up in the hold, make sure he can’t move an inch, everyone else will you get out of my room so I can get some darn sleep.” They moved although hesitantly, uncaring she headed towards the prize. Too tired to weep, she ignored the feeling of Deja vu collapsing deep onto her bed, feathers flew around her as her head hit the pillow.

 

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The next morning Morgan woke feeling sore, tired, and questioning her profession, more sleep was needed yet she pushed herself out of bed. A stabbing headache visited her as soon as she was upright, this bringing only a moment’s hesitation, then she was moving. It was unavoidable, and it certainly wasn’t appealing, the mirror reflected her inner turmoil, dishevelled the worst of her bruises around her nose and eyes. It was nigh on impossible to ignore the mess that her life was in. Nonetheless, she walked out into the world, one determined step after another. Sha met her as she moved into the day room, a steaming hot tankard of coffee in his outstretched hand. Smiling her gratitude, she took the offering to her muddled brain while absently tucking in a wayward shirt. Ignoring Sha’s raised eyebrow, she moved in the direction of the officers’ quarters.

Meena was unchanged, still pale, and lifeless the strangeness of her friend in such a state made her want to grab shoulders, shake sharply, and scream, “WAKE UP, WILL YOU!” Instead, she quietly checked bandages and left, feeling more useless than when she had arrived.

The hold felt like a warzone, conflict, anger, and unexplained actions all feeding the hostile environment. Aiden marked her arrival, straining against his bonds in a way that inferred that loosening them would have resulted in him breaking himself to get to her. Thankfully, Marlo had done a thorough job of restraining him. Unsure of how to even start with a man in such a state Morgan nodded in Castain’s direction, allowing him to continue with the interrogation.

“Who sent you?” Castain commanded. The only reply was a dark stare, there was a coldness in the spy master’s eyes, that Morgan had never witnessed before, and as she got closer, he writhed clearly trying to finish his task, spittle coming out of his mouth. Of course, Morgan decided that this was her new definition of bat shit crazy. Castain kicked Aiden in the ribs, she readied a stern lecture on how things worked aboard her ship, then she noticed Aiden hadn’t flinched, his eyes following her as she paced the room. “Why are you trying to kill Morgan?” Castain demanded. Nothing, no response. On it continued thus, one thing was clear, the spy master had one thought in his mind, a thought that blows, and words could not deter.

Castain kicked out once again, that is when Morgan noticed it. “Marlo, hold him for me,” she asked, bending down she pulled Aiden’s shirt downwards, to reveal a row of black dots, the sight of which causing the unbound occupants of the room to suck in air.

Although Marlo let out a slurry of profanities, Sha was the first to make sense, “Okay, how is it that he was in our midst this whole time? This man is my father’s spymaster, this is just-” Sha continued babbling, “Wait, what, does this mean that anyone could be one of them? We should do a strip search of everyone on board this ship, like now!” Sha’s comment was not lost on Morgan, after all, who could one trust when your enemy was able to blindside you in your own bed. “I say we just kill him now and be done with it,” the prince’s words disclosing his hatred towards Black Cloaks.

“We can’t, we need answers,” Morgan said. She gently placed a hand upon Sha’s shoulder, stepping in front of a hate filled gaze, “You need answers,” She affirmed gently.

Aiden ruined the soothing tones of her comment, his words edged in ice, “Yes that is right, why don’t you kill me. I have killed countless Kingdom subjects. There is no redemption for me.”

Sha leapt towards Aiden, Marlo calmly held out a lengthy arm, effortlessly stopping the prince as he tried in vain to land punches and kicks, “Calm lad, that’s the oldest trick in the book, use your head, will ye?” The giant chastised.

Aiden’s strange choice of words collided in her brain, reaching her hand between her breasts she grabbed the tiny vial that had rested there since Nia had gifted it to her. “Marlo, open his mouth,” she said, prying the lid open.

Marlo didn’t question her, first waiting long enough to ensure that Sha had calmed, the Giant then stood over Aiden, bent down, and used firm hands to pry open his jaws. Carefully, as Aiden fought to bite her fingers, she dripped the glowing blue substance into his mouth, then she waited.

It was as Morgan was wondering if she had made a horrible mistake and was feeling considerably foolish, that Aiden visibly relaxed against his confines and let out an unusually long sigh as if the world’s problems had lifted from his body. When the spy master looked upwards again there was gratitude in his eyes, “Thank you, you don’t know what you have given me,” he said appreciatively.

Going with her infallible gut, Morgan turned to Marlo, “Loose his bounds, looks like he is ready to talk now.”

Castain looked like he was ready to interject. Marlo, however, was already carrying out her orders, years of following had taught him not to question such things. Grabbing a cup of water from the nearest water barrel, she bent down, then gently helped Aiden to take small sips. When she glanced upward again, she noticed Castain and Sha hovering, hands on hilts as if she couldn’t protect herself. She rolled her eyes, “Either trust me or get out,” she growled.