Heroes of Darkness

IX

ELIZABETH

It had all happened so fast. The last few weeks had rushed by in a blur, and now Elizabeth Tidall felt the rocking of the great ship as it crept up and down the waves of the open seas. She was used to the ship's movements now. She had gone back and forth to her ancestral home of Lilycove every so often.

Elli looked over the side of the boat and smiled at Luvdisc down in the ocean below. She always liked to watch her Spirit Pokémon play amongst the calm waves every morning. There was a time when the open ocean was stormy and treacherous, wild and unpredictable, her teachers had taught her. That was one of the many things that had improved under the reign of Empress Myranda Glamour.

Sometimes, when the day turned to night, Elli could gaze out into the pitch black sea and know that her Majesty was close behind. During the day, her Highness stayed on her own royal ship. But at night, she rode on top of Kyogre, her Spirit Pokémon and the God Pokémon of the Sea, and together they would calm the waters, making the voyage for Elli's trip safe.

She knew she was safe, but there was still something that made her uneasy. There was no need to fear a sudden squall, nor the impending threat of pirate demons that sprung up from under the water at the crack of dawn, as the stories before the Empress' reign told of.

"It's time to come up, now," she called down to her Pokémon with a smile. The pink, heart shaped fish leapt into a small bucket at the side of the ship and out of the deep ocean water. Elli began to tug on a pulley, to raise the little Pokémon back to the deck.

"Here, m'lady," came the voice of a rugged sailor. He looked to be older than her own father. He was missing a few teeth. "Let me."

"It's quite all right," Elli smiled back. "I'll pull her up myself. You've worked hard so far on this voyage." It was true. The man had the thick, veiny arms of an oarsman. Elli had no doubt that the pulling would have been faster if she'd let the sailor do it, but she felt like she was giving him a break. The oarsman worked in shifts, nine hours at a time. It was a wonder their arms didn't fall off, the captains worked them so hard.

After Luvdisc leapt out of the bucket and into Elli's arms, she sat there next to the old sailor. Now that Elli got a good look at him in the morning's light, he looked too old to be an oarsman. Old, and hungry.

Elli reached down into the pocket of her tunic, and pulled out an orange she was saving as a snack for later. She offered it to him. The sailor just looked at it, unsure.

"It's an orange," Elli said, after noting the man's confused look. "Take it, you've earned it." He hesitated for a second before taking it and peeling it, but still he wouldn't talk to Elli. He seems shy.

Elli looked up at the sky, the dark grey clouds were already beginning to brighten, and to either side of the deck the young lady could see the other ships accompanying her to Lilycove, the deep blue banners of the Empress flying from their masts. From there, they would take the inland river to the lake where Mt. Pyre rested. That made Elli uneasy, and her spirit Pokémon sensed it. It was said that the souls of the dead from all over Hoenn made their way to the mountain. And then there's the coin...

Something jolted her from the side. The man was holding out half of the peeled orange for her to have, and smiling a big, single toothed grin. For the first time, she noticed the necklace made of small shells that lined his neck. It reminded Elli of when she was young with her friend Jessi...

The sailor talked to her again, in a wispy, croaking voice. "My daughter made it for me," he said, fingering the shells. "She made it for me before my retirement voyage."