The Winter Sun

Chapter 39

Amaya arrived in time to pull at his arm, and Lach stumbled backward. Still, his hand was reaching for the dark ocean. A greenish mist engulfed them as the languid, haunting melody got louder.

Lach launched forward as if yanked by an invisible force, his stomach pressing against the wood rail and half of his body already hanging over the crashing waves. "Lach! Please. You will fall!" Amaya hissed under the strain of his pull.

"Amaya," Lach whispered again, and Amaya followed his delighted gaze toward the dark water. That was when she saw them. Two glimmering red dots rocking by the waves. Like rubies. Something cold wet her skin. They were moving closer to the ship at a slow but unwavering pace. Her pendant flickered, and she hissed against the burn it printed on her chest. But she wouldn't let go of Lach despite the ache. "I am coming," he said, his lips still stretched widely, eerily.

Stomps buzzed behind. "Shit! They are here!" Kristina yelled, followed by her crew behind her. "Get the ropes!" They all scattered, moving in fastidious expertise. The bags of ropes were snatched open, and the ropes were launched into the air, getting caught by competent hands that had manipulated them all their life.

Bett's features scrunched with concern. "What's happening?"

"I don't have time to explain. Get a rope and tie one end around yourself and the other around the mast! Now!" Kristina tossed a rope, and Bett caught it."

"Lach. I am here next to you! Please wake up!" Amaya implored. Her arms enlaced his bust, and she planted her feet on the wooden floor and let out a painful hiss at her aching foot. She leaned backward inside the ship, trying to pull Lach back in. Still, he was too strong, and his determination to fall headfirst into the water was even stronger.

"I am coming, my beautiful pearl," he said in a joyous, eerie chuckle. Wind wiped his strands away from his face, and his eyes glistened red. Amaya's arms started to loosen around him, exhausted from the traction. A piercing shrill noise, and when Amaya looked down. The dots were now closed enough to discern the head belonging to them as the mist dissipated. She let a sound like faint horror. It was like a dead corpse coming straight from the depths of hell with putrefied and decaying skin, hanging from showing bones with few strings of hair like dead snakes.

Its glowing red eyes were pulling, and Amaya's pendant scorched her skin. She howled. The thing's splintered lips drew back to show teeth as sharp and pointed as spears.

Lach hopped a leg over the railing, and Amaya's chest swelled with panic. "Kristina!" Her feet slid on the floor as Lach's weight dragged her. "Help!"

Kristina whirled her face to them and untied the rope around her hips. "Keep him inside. I am coming!"

"I am trying!"

Kristina stormed past her crew, tying themselves to the robust mast. The tree that would keep them in place.

"We don't have enough rope!" Creinge yelled, fidgeting with her own.

"Then, tie yourselves together!" Kristina grabbed her rope and ran towards Amaya.

Bett's chin jerked up, and they were about to follow the Captain when a hand grabbed them. "Tie yourself. Kristina got it," Creinge said.

"I am not leaving them to drown," they said, letting go of the rope. Creinge's eyebrows jolted. "This girl owes me a thousand pieces of gold, and he can't die, for I am not done beating his ass." They stomped away.

"Lach!" Amaya implored. It was becoming challenging to keep the man from jumping. Her breath was harsh, and sweat pearls drenched her forehead and hair. Kristina's steps faltered as she pressed a hand against her creased forehead as if something had punched her on the head. She fell to her knees. "Kristina!"