The Making of Witches

Chapter 13 - Part 2

Lore's heart skipped five beats as her fists clenched, sparks of flame dancing around her fingertips. She had known Swift was going to be using her for her powers at some time but she had never imagined it would be for this purpose. Murdering her own crew. When she said her crew she was unsure if she was talking about Swift's or her own. Technically she was part of the crew now but it felt wrong of her to feel any kinship towards them. Yet despite those feelings, she felt sad about what had happened to this man.

"Well, Lore, chop chop." Swift had sidled over to her during her momentary panic attack and was now breathing down her neck, chilling her spine as Lore shivered. Keelin still stood at the top of the main mast, oblivious to the rapid turn of events that were unfolding on the deck. Lore looked up to her for a split second, wishing for comfort in a familiar face but she was facing away, chatting to the boy in the nest.

"Don't you have a plank or something?" She nervously stuttered out, trying to quell the fire in her palms that only grew. Swift smirked from behind her, digging something sharp into her back.

"I said burn him, fire girl. Get on with it."

Lore still hesitated despite the threats. Panic swirled around her head and her fists clenched and unclenched, the fire making lines up her forearms. Swift, sensing her unease, delivered her final threat. She pointed her gun in the air to her right, aimed directly at the crow's nest. The gun was perfectly poised to fire right through Keelin's head.

Lore spun around in shock, taking a step towards the circle. The crew seemed equally surprised as well, murmurs and frantic whispers rising in volume. Clearly, this was new even for the crew. Lore finally understood why the boy had stayed up in the nest despite his fear. His chatter kept Keelin's back turned to the bullet trained on her head.

"Kill him or my girl goes too." There was a smile in Swift's voice as she spoke. A battle raged in Lore's mind. She shouldn't have minded that a criminal girl was going to die by her own captain. It shouldn't have mattered to her at all. That was her rule - don't get close, remain indifferent. To care for a pirate was a weakness that could be exploited. But here she was, in a panic over a criminal girl she had grown to care about in some strange way that could not be explained. And her weakness had been exploited well and proper.

"Get on with it, fire girl, or she dies." The edge in Swift's voice had transformed into a serrated knife's blade that was cutting her slowly. Lore trembled as she turned towards the thief who was begging for his life, fear shining in his eyes.

He didn't want to die.

But neither did Keelin.

And neither did she.

The captain chuckled as Lore lifted her shaking hands, letting the flames consume them. The shaking ceased as something hardened in her eyes and the crew fell silent, shocked by her choice. They hadn't expected her decision. Then again, neither had Lore herself.

She didn't hear Nave's cries for mercy.

She didn't acknowledge the rising whispers of the crowd.

She didn't feel the knife still rubbing against her clothes.

She didn't feel anything as she began to draw the pentagram in the air. Her fingers flicked and moved as the sign began to carve itself in fire, hanging in the air, waiting to kill. She let herself feel for one moment as her fingers dropped again. She saw the tears running down Nave's pain-stricken body, his mouth still emitting broken sounds that resembled pleas. She let herself acknowledge what she was about to do. I have to do this. It's me or him. It's Keelin or him. I have to do this. She kept repeating that sentence over and over in her head as she opened her mouth. She repeated it again as she blew the sign onto his struggling body and watched it go up in flames.

Nave screamed and screamed, agony ripping his voice to shreds. Lore tried to close her eyes, tried to block her ears but she was immobilised by her fear. Fear of herself. When she had killed Ox she barely knew what she was doing, high on pain and adrenaline. But now she knew exactly what she was doing and it was ripping her apart from the inside. The flames she had considered a gift were being used to destroy her very soul and there was nothing she could do but watch. She should have felt guilty. She should have felt sorry. But within the hardened, ashy part of her soul that had solidified into a shield she felt nothing but a mild wish for the screaming to stop. That hardened part of her knew that she had no choice and that when every decision risked her survival, she had made the right one. But then a different section of her soul, hidden away beneath her shield of rock and flames fluttered like a butterfly with a strange sensation of care. When Swift had threatened Keelin's life something within her had jumped with panic and fear. She had grown to rely on the girl. Maybe not just rely, but feel for.

When Nave's screams finally transitioned from weak cries to silence and everyone watched the last of the flames turn his body into ash, Lore spun around to face the captain, wincing as the knife she moved away from nicked her. Fury rolled through her in waves and steam almost poured from her arms as the flames licked their way up her arms and wreathed her neck. Her brain yelled at her to stop, to think logically and slip away from this mess. But her anger overpowered every rational thought she could have had.

"I should kill you." She growled, fists clenching and unclenching. Swift smirked at her empty threats, dismissing her instantly.

"If you killed me my crew would not hesitate to inform the authorities of your whereabouts. And while the imbeciles are unfathomably slow, they are thorough. I wonder how many times they'll torture you before they kill you." Lore shuddered as the flames guttered and she rubbed her temple, shoving her way out of the circle. The stunned crew watched her go. They had never imagined what had taken place could ever happen. Maybe they were finally seeing the bigger demon on this ship. Bigger than Lore. Bigger than all of them.

She stalked back to the main mast, her eyes burning with the force of the tears she was holding back. Her shield had crumbled under the weight of her blind rage and all her emotions were seeping in, flooding her mind. She climbed the ropes at such speed it was a blur and gripped the edge of the crow's nest rail tightly, her knuckles white. The boy slipped away and Keelin looked at her confused, oblivious to what had happened. She had no idea that she had been a turning point in the events below, no idea that a gun had been trained on her by the captain she claimed to remain loyal to forever. Lore still didn't understand why the possibility of losing Keelin meant so much to her and she felt too embarrassed to recount it. So when Keelin asked what had happened she had simply replied with,

"I don't want to talk about it." And rather than pestering her or leaving her to sit in her silence of shame, Keelin hesitated for a moment before laying a comforting hand on Lore's back. At first, Lore tensed, unsure, but then she relaxed and let Keelin's warmth sink into her. Keelin shifted an inch closer. Then another inch. And then another. And when they were close enough Lore risked laying her head on Keelin's shoulder. And the other girl did not buck her off as expected but instead stayed still, rubbing slow circles on Lore's back as silent tears dripped down her cheeks. They silently comforted each other until night fell, breathing each other in.

And that was when Lore finally accepted it.

She did care about Keelin.

More than she could ever know.