Lovely Dark Things

SEVENTEEN (ISELEN POV)

"I don't know how you stand it," Ruby growls leaning her shoulder against the mast, her head covered with a hood to protect her face from the sunlight. Most of the crew are doing the same, keeping their heads low while working, and Teilan grabs the helm protected under a small sunshade that's fluttering thanks to the ocean gentle breeze.

"I want to make the most of this while I can, you know the sun doesn't show its face in Baalberith often," I answer smiling but keeping my eyes closed, my shirt sleeves are rolled up and I feel the delicious heat in my limbs. Although she's right, I have to cover my pale skin soon or I'll burn.

"And I'm grateful for that. Shouldn't you be working on that secret plan of yours?" I smile again when hearing the subtle hint of bitterness and open my eyes. The assassin is still leaned against the mast with her tattooed arms crossed over her chest, the knife hilt shines hanging from her belt and I can see her plump lips and chiselled jaw under the hood. I'm overwhelmed for a second, all the love I feel for her seems to build up in my throat, creating a lump that threatens with suffocating me. Suddenly, I feel like crying... I'm a stupid romantic.

"Ruby, I'll tell you about it soon, okay? I promise, but I have to tests some things out to make sure everything works the way I want it. There're some complicated calculations I should check and you know I prefer to go over the plan several times before sending a report to the Queen so I won't make mistakes."

"All right," the assassin answers with a neutral tone of voice.

"Babe, I'll tell you when we get back to Baalberith, we'll be safe in our rooms where no one will be able to spy on us, I swear." Ruby nods reluctantly and heaves a sigh, getting closer to rub my cheek with her knuckles, I take her hand and turn my head to kiss her palm slowly. "I trust you but what I intend to do is very dangerous and, if my knowledge falls into the wrong hands, your entire race could be at risk. I'm just trying to be cautious..."

"Okay, I'll wait till we're back home, we'll make an appointment with the Queen and will talk about it, the three of us."

"That's a great idea," I answer rolling down my shirt sleeves and taking the backpack that was at my feet, where I keep some notebooks, a couple of knives and some other stuff I need to work. "Maybe, we should invite the King to our meeting too... What's wrong?"

"This is weird," Ruby frowns. "It's the compass you gave me... It's hanging from my neck with a chain, as usual, and when you started talking about your plans and inventions, I took it to take a quick look without thinking... The needle is turning like crazy, I've never seen it doing something like this before... I think it's broken."

"No, babe, it's not that." I get closer to her, bewildered. "It could be a magnetic anomaly, it's caused by electrically charged particles moving around in the atmosphere, or maybe we're sailing over deposits of magnetics rocks and minerals... Or maybe it's a different thing..." I whisper frowning when I notice dark grey clouds swirling in the sky, hiding the sun. Suddenly, the waves get higher and the ship rocks abruptly. Teilan yells instructions and the crew runs across the deck, making sure the ropes are securely tied.

"I don't like this, we better go downstairs to our cabin..." the assassin puts her arm around my waist and guides me while I take a look around, confused, wondering how the weather can change so much in less than a minute.

"Do you think this was caused by the chaos demons?" I ask scared. "Damn it, this is nor fair. It's hard to fight against magic on equal terms and I have to comply with the laws of thermodynamics..." I growl angrily, following Ruby while feeling the first cold rain drops falling on my face.

"What's that?" my girl frowns, staring at the sea over the gunwale. "I could swear I've seen a shadow... Watch out!" The ship rocks again and Ruby holds me tight so I don't fall, Teilan is yelling instructions again but I don't understand half of what he's saying and his crew is getting more and more anxious. The ship's hull creaks and the loud sound sends a shiver down my spine... Are we going to sink? "There it is again," Ruby whispers, confused.