Sea Of Sparks And Shadows
Chapter Sixteen

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“Elbows bent, feet apart.” Mecheye stood a few feet away from her, arms crossed, and watching Amaris shift the wooden sword from side to side. “Hold it with both hands, right hand on top, left at the end of the grip.” She readjusted the weapon then looked up at him. He nodded in approval. “Now attack.”

“What?” she blinked. “You didn’t show me anything.”

He shrugged. “I believe in learning on the job.”

She lifted her brows but said nothing, instead, she lunged at him. With one easy movement, he pushed the wooden weapon aside and she stumbled forward. “Don’t stab. Swing. When you stab you focus all your power on moving forward that any small push from the side will throw you off. Try again.”

She lunged again. He stepped aside. “Too slow.”

Again. And again. By the time he finally fought back, Amaris was already panting. Just as she attacked him, he swung at her makeshift sword. It flew out of her hand and across the deck. He pointed his own at her neck before he spoke. “Tighten your grip. What’s the point of attacking if you can’t even keep your own weapon. Try again.”

This continued for hours before Mecheye finally threw his wooden pole to the ground. “Let’s take a break.” he said, though he didn’t look the least bit tired. If anything, he looked concerned for her sake. “It’s almost time for lunch, anyways.”

Amaris shook her head. “You go ahead,” she answered. “I’m not tired yet. I’ll just practice a little more.” The fact that she said those words between pants, sweat glistening down her arms, did little to convince him.

“Pushing too much at once isn’t going to help you get better. It will just cause you to be more sore.”

“Just a little more.” she promised.

“Alright.” he said, picking up his weapon again.

“You can leave.” she said. “It’s alright. Really. I’ll just practice my swings.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She nodded, smiling. “Yes. Go.”

He sighed, surrendering and put the stick back down. “Just don’t practice for too long.”

“Promise.”

He started walking away before stopping and turning around. “Oh, and, the captain won’t be down for lunch if you’re concerned.” he smiled and Amaris’ cheeks flushed. “He has a meeting with Wind Tuner and won’t be out for some time.”

“I don’t care.” she spat out in a way that showed just how true that statement was.

“I know,” he said. “I just wanted to let you know.”

As soon as Mecheye was out of sight, she huffed out a breath and swung the rod around furiously. It must’ve been too much to wish for people to forget.

*******

“Who are you planning to kill?”

Amaris lowered the practice sword and turned away from the main mast. Ash stood at the entrance to the corridor, a teasing smirk plastered on his face.

“The next person who thinks messing with me when I’m pissed is a good idea.” she pushed away the few strands of hair that escaped the ponytail and stuck to her forehead.

“I come in peace.” he said, lifting up the tray she didn’t notice he was holding. “Hawk asked me to bring you this,” he explained. “Along with a promise that the next time you don’t go down yourself you’ll starve until the next meal.”

“Definitely sounds like him,” she muttered, throwing aside the stick and sitting down.

Ash took this as an invitation and put the tray in front of her and sat down himself. “I’m telling you, he’s being way too nice to you.” he joked. “When I first joined, he would have me shine the pipes down in the boiler room for waking up late.”

She glanced at him sideways and mumbled over a mouthful of bread. “I’ll take that over a bucket of sea water any day.”

“So you and the captain, huh?”

“How did you know?” she groaned.

“It’s a small ship,” He shrugged. “Rumors spread fast, you’d be surprised. Not to mention, you weren’t exactly being quiet there, the whole deck heard your outburst.”

“Well yeah” she sighed. “I don’t even know how it ended up this much of a mess.”

Silence fell and they both stared out at the sea, listening to the waves and wind.

“What are you going to do?” Ash echoed her thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, “before this, I didn’t even think I would ever get out of Oddelerie in my life and now I’m supposed to acknowledge that this pirate is my father?!”

“Soldier,” he corrected, “not pirate. And why not?”

“you don’t understand,” she said, “all my life I’ve been taught that this man was a horrible human being, a beast, even. And now this... this man in front of me... he’s nothing like what they said and I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“well why don’t you give him a chance?”

“easier said than done. You don’t understand what it is to live an orphan.”

Ash snorted, “sure, that’s what you would think.”

“what?” she asked.

“nothing, I just meant that I might know more than you think. I do, and let me tell you one thing, my parents died when I was very young and if I had a chance to meet with them again, I would in a heartbeat. We didn’t have the heart to shoot Oldsalt and let him out of his misery even when we knew he would die anyway because we couldn’t steal those last moments from Sly. many people would kill for a chance to see their parents’ faces again. Just to hear their voices one last time. and you’re getting that chance and more. You get to make new memories with him, to know him and for him to know you and you’re here moping? I think you’re very lucky. And very stupid.”

Amaris swallowed the growing lump in her throat. Hurt and anger and curiosity warring in her head. she was about to answer when she heard a door open. she looked up to see the door to the captain’s cabin wide open and wind tuner coming out, grim and stiff.

Ash called “so are we going to die or are we going to die?”

Wind tried to smile but it was very strained, closer to a grimace than anything else.

Amaris didn’t hear his answer. she was focused on the shadow behind him the man who was staring back at her with a look she couldn’t understand. she quickly looked away into the sea and pretended that she didn’t see him. soon, she heard the door creek closed again. suddenly the food in front of her wasn’t very appetizing anymore.

“I guess it’s time to wash the dishes.” she said as she stood up and picked up the tray. “I’m going to go find Hawk.”

“wait.” Ash called but she pretended she didn’t hear him and trotted to the corridor and down the stairs.

***

Amaris was frowning at the stain on the corridor floor, scrubbing at it furiously when hawk walked in. “I’ve got some good news for you.”

She scowled at his boots when he stepped on the puddle of water and left his wet footprints all over the newly mopped floorboards.

She was tempted to throw the brush at his foot and tell him to finish the cleaning himself, but she knew she would end up doing it anyway and probably end up with no dinner too. Instead she huffed and picked up the towel.

“What?” she snapped and wiped away the watery traces.

“We’re reaching paradelia in five days”

Amaris’ scrubbing slowed to a stop. She had completely forgotten about that. How long had he said? Five days. Five days until she reaches land again. Five days until she has to leave this ship, and this crew, and these friends.

In as little as one week, she had gotten attached to these men that she grew to think of them as a family. A family she envied and wanted to be a part of. And for a while, she slowly realized, she had fooled herself into believing she belonged to it.

“Where…” she cleared her throat. “Where are you heading after that?”

Hawk was silent for a stretch, watching her forceful movements and her bunched eyebrows. “Linorva.” he said, “then a few ports in Sinsecria and back to Oddelerie.”

She didn’t even know why she had asked. Why she cared. She smiled up at him. “That’s great, that means i’ll soon stop breaking my back on these floors.” and soon, she wouldn’t have to avoid the captain anymore. She wouldn’t have to face him anymore. Ever.

“Sure, sure, keep complaining. You know you’re the first girl we allowed on this ship, and probably the last. You should be thankful we didn’t throw you overboard.”

“You would never do that.” she rolled her eyes.

“Keep slacking off like this and we’ll see.” Amaris opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off. “’t would be very helpful if you stopped sulking around all the time and helped around a little.”

Amaris stared at him dumbfounded before gesturing to the bucket with the cloth she was still holding. “And what exactly was I doing all morning?” She exclaimed.

Hawk only grunted a reply and dropped the bucket he was holding in front of her. “Leave that for now. You’ll finish it later. There are more important issues to take care of first.”

“Care to elaborate?” she threw down the cloth and stood up wiping her hands on her pants.

“The silver crescent’s color.”

She cast him a confused glance and he lightly kicked the bucket making the white paint inside sway and splash. “Go to the deck, and talk to Slygrin. He’ll know what to do.”

***

Amaris squinted at the sun as she reached the deck. She’d been avoiding going up there at any cost. The taunting redwood door she’d made a point not to look at had nothing to do with it of course.

“Oh, look. The bat decided to come out to the light at last.” she glared up at a snickering slygring. He was at the crow’s nest, as usual, with his legs dangling between the bars.

“Shut up and come down here.” she mumbled. “Hawk has a job for us.”

“Big surprise there.” a few seconds later he jumped from the ladder and in front of her.

She gestured to the bucket she brought with her and asked, “explain.”

“Humph, I was wondering how long it would take him to break these out.” she stared at him silently. “Oh boy you’re in for a real workout. And a lot of sun, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Slygrin frowned. “But Ash calls you that.” he objected.

“And I’m trying to get him to stop. I don’t need you joining him too.”

“But it suits you!”

She gave him an incredulous look then stared down at her oil stained and shredded clothes, the marks of blood and battle still visible after multiple washes, and her long curls that she gave up on taming. “Sly, I’m not sure you know what a princess looks like.”

He shrugged. “Come on, it could be your new nickname, it’s better than Amaris.”

She was about to respond to his insult when she remembered something.

A nickname is an honor, girl. You have to earn it. It shows your worth to this ship.You don’t hide it or feel ashamed of it. You wear it like a badge. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Hawk had told her on her first day on the Crescent. She stared at slygrin who seemed oblivious to what he was implying, or perhaps he simply didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Either way, Amaris simply gave a small scoff and tried to settle the satisfaction and joy that washed through her. “So what are we doing exactly?” she gestured towards the bucket.

Painting,” sly answered as he moved to the side of the deck.

Amaris rolled her eyes as she slowly followed him. “Obviously, but what and why?”

Hey ash,” sly ignored her as he snatched off a heavy sheet off of a large rectangular object. A wooden platform boarded up from three sides and tied with two pieces of rope.

“What is that?” Amaris was almost scared to ask.

“ that,” slygrin said as he threw away the sheet. “Is hawk’s torture weapon of choice.”

Amaris gave him a questioning look and he just grinned. “We’re going to paint the hull.”

“What?” she blinked. “Here? How will it even dry?”

“We might get spotted. We already changed the flag to Miruina’s but we they might still recognize the ship’s colors.”

“But-”

You could carry on to argue all you want but we’re just wasting precious daylight. And, knowing hawk, he probably expects this to be done by tonight.”

“This whole thing?” she screeched. “ just the two of us?”

“Nah, he’s probably down there pissing off more slackers to get up here and do the other side.”

“The waves won’t even let the paint dry.” She protested.

“Shark and tide will take care of that.” He shrugged

“Now stop complaining and help me lift this.”

With a frustrated sigh and a quick glance at the water swaying the ship, Amaris followed slygrin’s movements with a queasy stomach and lifted the narrow piece of wood, a large swing, she realized, hoping with all her heart that she wouldn’t have to resort to her non-existent swimming skills.

***

Amaris’ arm felt like it had been removed from her socket. The late rays of sun gleamed over the newly painted hull giving the pristine white liquid a golden glow.

Slygrin on the opposite side of the swing was whistling a familiar tune as he slathered the paint on the wood. Even after hours of working on this platform, her heart still clenched every time Slygrin moved and the swing swayed lightly. She was still clutching the barrier for dear life with one hand and vigorously swiping her brush on the hull as fast as she can to finish with the other. She couldn’t wait until she was on the slightly more stable deck.

She envied shark and Hightide, who were in their small boats, ropes attaching them to the ship and dragging them behind. Hightide, the smaller of the two men was lying on his back and dangling an arm and a foot off the edge and into the water. If Amaris didn’t know any better she would’ve thought that he wasn’t doing anything at all other than enjoying the sun and the wind. But she did know better and she did know that she owed her life to those limbs in the water. There wasn’t a wave in sight. No splashes or ripples near the ship at all. All thanks to the two water weavers powerful enough to control the grey sea. Or at least a small part of it.

“What are you even singing?” she gave in and asked after slygrin restarted the same melody for the fifth time.

He was silent for a moment, frozen almost, as if he didn’t realize what he was whistling until she mentioned it. Then, he shrugged. “An old rhyme Oldsalt used to sing.” Amaris almost dropped her paint brush. she shifted carefully to see his face. But his expression was relaxed, bored, even. Nothing on his face reflected any sadness or discomfort. His movement, however, was rigid and slow.

Amaris didn’t know what to do. The wound was still fresh and she didn’t know if poking at it would be a good idea. She regretted asking him instantly. She was about to turn back to her work awkwardly when he finally met her eyes. As if reading her hesitation he shrugged again and went back to painting to the rhythm of his song.

“Old captain Nil had a ship o’steel

When the waves attacked she did not kneel.

When the wind pushed through, the sails were ripped.

But the ship o’steel her trail she kept.

Lightning struck the old tall mast

And the captain knew the ship wouldn’t last

The giant waves cut their way through

But the ship kept on her road of blue

The sailors’ hearts did not once quake

As they realized their ship would break

The rain swallowed their last goodbyes

They knew their ship again shan’t rise

Old captain Nil stood at the helm

With his ship o’steel his lungs would whelm.

A ship, a captain and a crew that night

Were one last time submerged from sight.

But the spirits shan’t forget their names

For they have left with not a shame.

Their bodies may be bait for beasts

But their honor rise beyond our seas.

A heaven made for men of pride

Is their new home ’til our planet dies.

Old captain Nil had a ship o’steel

When the waves attacked she did not kneel.”

Amaris was silent as he finished. His movement never stopped as he sang the dreadful tale. Though the rhyme had a sad sort of beauty to it, she found one thing difficult to believe.

“Your father sang this song to you? While you were on this ship? At sea?” she asked incredulously.

Slygrin smirked. “Yeah. he used to say that every trip is an adventure. You don’t know if you will end it by stepping on the grey stones of a dock or the long grass of the Emerald land.”

She blinked. “What?”

He snorted “that’s what i thought too. After all the guards i killed I don’t think the wind spirits would send me straight to the heavens. I might need to annoy them a bit for them to send me there early.”

She stared at him blankly. She didn’t understand how a child could even speak about death as if it were a joke.

“Sly-” she began but he cut her off with a sharp look.

“I know that look. Don’t even start with the-”

“If you weren’t on this ship, where would you want to be? What would you want to be doing?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “This. I’d want to be doing this. Here and with this crew. I don’t know if someone told you but my mother was taken by the draft. Emperor Asshole took her away from me before I could even memorize her face. I was two at the time. My father tried to keep me safe he raised me and taught me when he wasn’t at sea and had the neighbors do it when he was. But miruina is small. To us, ten dozen draft subjects weren’t strangers, they were relatives, neighbors. I saw more death and destruction and tears in those lands than I did on this ship. Soon, he had no choice but to take me with him, first on merchant ships, and then here. He joined the crescents as soon as he discovered them. Even if he never held a weapon in his life. Even if his shoulder was injured and he wouldn’t be able to lift heavy weights or raise the sails. He still joined even if all he could offer was turtle stew and washing sheets. He believed in this cause. He wouldn’t let mother’s blood go to waste. And neither will I. he died for this cause. And I’m either gonna finish what he wanted or die trying.”

“But still,” she found herself saying, “you’re too-”

“Young?” he gave a short unamused laugh “i don’t know how your father raised y-” as if realizing what he just said, he swallowed a breath and turned away. “Mine- my father raised me on one thing and one thing only. The truth. He never poured honey over the bitter facts. And the bitter fact is that we’re going to die anyways. Might as well do something worth our time while we still can. Starting young only means I have more time to finish”

Amaris didn’t answer. She didn’t know how to. This twelve year old, despite his rude language and painful jab, was right. How many times had she thought of something bigger than herself? More than just a way to survive and do what she loved? When she imagined a parent, she imagined someone who would shelter her from those worries, someone who would keep her mind at ease from the constant stress that she might wake up homeless, that she might pass the winter with no coat. She imagined a shield against the cold dark world. She never considered that a parent could be a trainer who teaches her how to fight back against it. A fellow soldier who rushed into battle and dragged her with them until she learned how to swing her sword and stand on her own. An honest person who would always be there as long as they could and never hide the truth from their child. Only prepare them for it.

She almost laughed at the last thought. No, her parents were the kind to leave her behind, intentionally or otherwise. The kind who didn’t know_or didn’t care that she existed. And the kind who wouldn’t mind leaving her for the world to prey on. Leaving her with no shield nor sword or friend.

Before her thoughts could drown her even deeper, she heard a loud crash then the swing shook violently. Amaris screamed and held onto the rope with both hands. It was only when she heard a pair of voices laughing that she opened her eyes. Ash was staring at her terrified expression trying hard to hold back his chuckles. Slygrin, on the other hand, made no such effort, He was laughing at snickering and showed no sign of stopping.

“You do realize that shark and Tide won’t let you drown right?” ash smirked.

“Yes, well I’m not trying to test that.” she glared at him. “Did you do that on purpose?” His poorly hidden smile was answer enough. She huffed and pushed him back violently. “You are an absolute jerk, you know that?”

He simply leaned on the banister and smirked. She lifted her fallen brush and dipped it into a paint bucket, the fourth one, if she counted correctly, and she went back to painting.

“So how are you doing, princess?” Ash asked. She scoffed at the nickname despite herself, but didn’t face him, giving her full attention instead to the wooden boards in front of her. They were half way down the hull by now. Her muscles ached just thinking about all the surface they still had to cover. She envied the other sailors she saw, whose swing sets were much lower than hers. One pair even finished an hour earlier and climbed back up to the relative safety and comfort, of the deck.

“I’ll take that as a ‘not so well,’” his voice was amused. He was definitely smiling. “What did you do to get her this pissed?”

Before Slygrin could answer, she whipped around. “What, exactly are you doing here?” she asked waving her hand at him. What she didn’t account for was the paint on her brush splattering on his face. A long white streak covered his nose and cheek.

“I- I’m-” she sputtered as he wiped it with his hand, doing little to remove it. If anything, it grew messier. “I didn’t mean that. I’m-”

“That’s alright.” he said calmly, a smirk growing on his lips. “Nothing that some more paint can’t fix.”

She furrowed her brows in question but he ignored her and knelt down dipping his fingers in paint. Before Amaris knew what was happening, he pressed his hand to her cheek, drawing a thick ivory line. “There,” he grinned, stepping back, the debt is paid.” she could hear Slygrin snickering, apparently finding this exchange more amusing than his own job, and her face heated even more.

The cold paint was still dripping down her cheek when she pushed her brush back into the bucket. “You little-” she swung her weapon at him but the paint splashed into the sea when he stepped aside.

“You still need to better your aim princess.” she glared at him and lunged.

Soon, she was chasing him around the narrow space, her fear of falling long forgotten. The only thing on her mind was payback. Slygrin didn’t take long to join, dripping some more paint down the back of her neck and letting it slide down her spine. When she gave him a betrayed look he simply gave her an apologetic shrug, the huge grin on his face clearly showing that he’s anything but. So she changed her aim to him.

This went on for a while. The swing went back and forth at their movements. Curses and threats echoed through the air and paint stained every surface. Until Ash tripped on one of the buckets and fell, face first, into the puddle it created. Amaris, who was right behind him, tripped over him and landed on top of him. Slygrin was lucky enough to not follow their lead. He whistled leaning back and watching as the two groaned and tried to sit up. Amaris rolled off of Ash and sat on the ground. Only once she did, did she realize that she sat on the puddle.

“great,” She muttered as she lifted her now white palm and made to stand.

“What?” she heard Ash ask as he shuffled into a squat.

“I think i-” but her words left her as soon as she lifted her head. Instead, an uncontrollable bubble of laughter popped and she slipped back onto her backside. Before her, ash’s forehead and nose were completely white. His cheeks were in a barely better condition and the rest of the liquid was dripping down his chin.

“You have a little…” another giggle interrupted her attempt at speech. “A little something… on your face” the fact that he was squinting through his now white eyelashes didn’t help her, nor slygrin’s, laughing fit. Neither did the giant blob of paint that plopped from the top of his eyebrow onto the floor.

He huffed with feigned annoyance and tried to wipe it away with his palms. Only, his hands, too, were covered with a layer of white and did little to clean his face. If anything, it made it worse.

“Do you need some help mate?” Slygrin asked still snickering. He waved at him the piece of cloth they’ve been keeping for cleaning.

“Give it to me sly.” ash grumbled watching the glint in his friend’s eyes.

“I’m not sure I want to.” Slygrin drawled. “What am I getting out of it?”

“Sly…” ash warned.

“I’m thinking, your berry jams for breakfast? You’re a tough guy, you can handle two weeks without sweet-.” before he finished his sentence, ash lunged at his legs and pulled him down. He made sure to slide him into the puddle until the front of his jeans and shirt were both gleaming with paint. Sly cursed him repeatedly and tried to punch him to let him go, but he was laughing all along.

When Amaris tried to crawl over to them and stop their little quarrel before it grew, her arm slipped on more paint and she fell, once again, face first into the paint. A pain shot up her nose and into her skull. Tears erupted involuntarily from her eyes. She rolled onto her back, groaning. Through the tears she glimpsed two dark circles against the orange sky of the evening. As the tears slipped down the corners of her eyes and her vision cleared, Slygrin and ash’s worried, paint covered faces came into focus and another giggle erupted from her chest sending pure obvious relief to her friends who let out a shaky laugh.

“Hey! What in the heavens are you idiots doing?” they all looked up. Leaning over from the deck, was hawk, face red and angry. “Do you even realise how much money you wasted with your little makeup game.”

“Sorry about that,” Amaris called. “We’re almost done with the hull.” not entirely a lie. But still far from the truth.

“Oh you’re done with the hull alright. Get up here and clean yourselves. You have-”

“Work to do. We know.” called back Ash.

“Stop with the chattering then and get on with it.” Amaris hid her smile as she saw the two boys rolling their eyes and getting to their feet. Ash offered her a hand and she accepted, almost slipping on the paint a third time before he steadied her. “And don’t expect any-”

“Dinner tonight, we know.” they all called back. They heard his loud scoff before he was out of sight and earshot though Amaris was sure she saw a small smile on his face before he disappeared.

It felt good. To let go. For the first time, in seemingly an eternity, Amaris had forgotten about her problems, she’d thrown them to the whirling winds around her to scatter into oblivion. No fathers or captains, no homelands or new countries, no swords or guns or soldiers or rebellions. Just herself, the paint soaked brush in her hand, and her friends around her. Amaris threw her head back, felt the evening wind on her wet hair and watched pink and orange clouds above her, and smiled at the approaching night.

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on G𝘰𝘰gle to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.