Domum

Chapter 1

I remember we went everywhere when we were younger. We traveled the world, and our names showed that. I was young at the time, so some of my memories have faded over time, but I will always remember the liveliness of the people that surrounded me. My brothers and I were so intrigued with the world around us. At the time my brothers had a better understanding of it than me; some of which I eventually found out myself. In my eyes there was so much color and laughter and family, I found a home everywhere I went. One day I lost all of that though.
I should begin with my name, Matthieu Vliet, although I only went by Matthieu for the longest time. At the time I believe we were going to travel to a new land, people were going there from all over the world. My parents thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see a surplus of cultures gathering at one point. I was six at the time, and I remember I kept on getting seasick, my brothers kept on teasing me about it, especially Arne, he seemed to be immune to the rocking of the tremendous ship, of great elegance I might add. I don't remember every detail, but it was built by an amazing shipwright of the South Sea. It wasn't a ship for tourists or trading, it was a great battleship, that was being borrowed for that occasion as the captain owed my parents a favor. To this day, I have no clue how such a great ship could have been overcome so easily by a single storm, the path of life is quite odd. All day there wasn't a cloud in the sky, we were playing a card game on deck, our energy spent from previous activities. We would have been below deck, but my brothers and I were banned from the lower decks due to an unintended situation concerning cannon balls, a plunger, and a few oars; it didn't end well. I sometimes wonder if we had been below deck with our parents, if things would have been worse, or maybe better. In the moment though, it changed quickly from a normal situation to one I dread to remember.

~~~~~~

"Jacob," Matthieu whined, "We know you're cheating, you're a horrible liar." Jacob's tan skin recieved a hint of red as he glared at his younger brother, his grip on the cards tightening.
"I'm not cheating, if anyone in this family cheats it would be Mr. I'm-so perfect over there," he mocked, pointing over at Renato, "He's the most troublesome out all you pests." he finished with a refined nod of the head.
"That's not very nice, I should tell mom you've been lying again, even Mattie here can tell you're nothing but a liar." Renato slyly picked up another card, a knowing smirk gracing his face. Within a second, Jacob had pulled Renato's hair, which was retaliated with a smack to the face. Arne gave a quick laugh before a sudden realization hit him, "Guys, mom and dad are going to get mad if they come up here and see you guys fighting. I don't wanna be scrubbin' the decks, again." He animated the last word with a harsh whisper. Before Renato could finish biting Jacob to get out of the half-nelson he was currently in they quickly picked up the discarded cards. Matthieu was still trying to stifle his laugh from the scene, Jacob giving him a light shove in response.
"Soooo, anyone got an Ace?" Renato asked.
"We were playing go-fish, I thought we were playing crazy eights." Arne questioned.
"I think we're all playing something different..." Jacob added on.
"I was just laying down cards I didn't like, after awhile I realized it wasn't go-fish." Matthieu added nonchalantly.
"You knew we didn't know what we were playing?" they asked in unison.
"Yeah, but I thought you guys did it on purpose, to see if it would work out playing three different games."
"I thought you boys were playing checkers." We suddenly realized that James was standing over us. He was one of the soldiers on the ship, and due to the fact that he was a new recruit, he had to watch the little rascals. They were still not sure sure if it was because he got into a fight with his commanding officer, who happened to be his father, and he got stuck with us or because he volunteered. He didn't seem to be that bad of a guy, and he rarely complained.
"There aren't any checkers on the ship, how in what world would we be playing checkers?" Jacob always seemed annoyed by the man's presence.
"Yeah, and why did you let me beat up Jacob, I mean I know he's mean, but isn't your job to make sure we stay out of trouble?" Renato added in his two cents in which received a glare from Jacob.
"Well," he started, "I figured that you guys just really wanted to play checkers and decided to use the cards as checker pieces. And, I only saw the end of the fight, Arne had a good handle on the situation so I let it pass." He then whispered something about a bad knot.
"You're not that good at your job." Jacob commented at this James made a hurt look. He quickly recovered though as he just shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm only starting out so, I have room to improve, plus if I didn't catch that horribly tied knot in time, who knows what might have happened." His positive attitude warded away any negative comment, and probably the clouds in the sky that day; at least for a little while. They continued on, after finally deciding on a game: charades, even James joined in after a while. Unknown to them the calm cool day was quickly changing, they were heading into a storm. It started with a single raindrop falling on Jacob's head.
"Hey, did you feel that?" He rubbed his head looking around.
"Feel what, is it those invisible goblins from when you were little?" Arne teased.
"No, I think it's about to rain." James replied looking up at the sky, as it started to drizzle a bit more, the clouds closing up on the sun. A worried expression crossed James' face as he scrunched his eyebrows, his hand covering his eye.
"We better head in, this kind of weather is worrying me a bit, I don't know how it's going to turn out." he whispered that last bit before clapping his hands together, startling everyone, "Well let's head back down, I'm sure the captain won't mind us coming in since it's raining." Arne went over to pick up Matthieu before a light caught his eye. Squinting into the quickly darkening sky he noticed part of a ship in the distance.
"Oi, James, I think I see a boat in the distance, they're signaling something I think." Arne called out to James as Jacob and Renato were following him below deck. Sighing, he grabbed a telescope from his satchel and pointed towards the ship, his hands steadied it as he tried to see what was going on. A small gasp could be heard as he quickly put it away, dragging Jacob and Renato with him, he threw himself down shouting, "DUCK!" A shot from a canon could be heard and Arne quickly followed James' orders making sure that Matthieu wouldn't be hit. A cannonball hit the side of the ship, rocking it from one side the other.
"W-what was that?!" Renato asked, his voice squeaking.
"That was a raiding ship." James said sternly, "We gotta get you boys to a safe location, go to the captain's quarters right over there real quick, there should be a room behind the painting in there that should keep you boys safe. I'm not sure if there's any water coming in from below, but if there is, I'm sure you're parents will be up in a moment. I'll be right there, gotta make sure that punk that was supposed to keep watch actually saw anything. Now go!" he ordered before sending them off in the other direction. Another hit to the side caused the boat to rock as the boys were heading into the captain's quarters, a simple office, besides the large painting of himself to the right. It seemed so odd that such an serious looking man would want such a pompous picture of himself, but that was beside the point. They quickly grabbed at the painting, trying to figure out how to open it, before it finally opened outward. They ran in as Jacob grabbed at the door, another hit made him off balance, and closed it behind them. It was completely silent as they sat there, a tenseness in the air, the creaking of the wood as it was slowly being beat upon.
"Is mom and dad going to be in here with us, or is James going to send them somewhere else to hide? I don't wanna be separated from them." Matthieu asked in an attempt at a whisper.
"I don't know what's going on, but I know we're going to be fine. Mom and dad are going to find their way to the safest spot, and if it's with us or not shouldn't matter, once this is all over, it just matters that we're safe." Arne reassured, Jacob scoffed which was responded with a glare from Arne, but he let it pass as they fell into verbal silence once more.
For what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, they sat there, waiting. BAM! A door was thrown open as a startled gasp left Matthieu's and Renato's lips, Arne shushed them before they could question what was going on. They all tensed as footsteps and loud breathing could be heard at a slow pace coming towards the picture frame. Arne slowly stood up into a crouch, handing Matthieu over to Jacob, he made sure he was in front of them. The painting creaked open as a face looked in, Arne relaxed as he saw it was James before worry and panic took over though. James was bleeding from a head wound, a black eye was forming on his left, and he was panting slowly, as a wound to his side was being hugged by his right hand.
"So," he started in between breathes, "Good news: is I found out why Jack wasn't keeping watch for raiders. Bad news: he was a raider. More good news: I won a fight against him, and he was the only backstabbing traitor aboard. More bad news: you boys have to get off this ship now." he paused as he bit his lip, looking away, a tear could be seen on the edges of his sky blue eyes, "Without your parents." he whispered. Renato grabbed at Jacob's shirt while Jacob himself could only stare, it slowly turned into a glare.
"W-what?" Arne gasped out.
"Your parents were killed when that first cannonball hit, they were with the captain and Jack must've signaled them to fire at the captain. We don't have time to talk about it though, I promised to keep you boys safe, to do that you need to get on a ship before the raiders get here." He looked pained as he said it, but there was a firmness there that couldn't be questioned. Jacob tried to protest, hoping that this was an elaborate joke, but Arne just grabbed his shoulder shoving him forward.
James made sure all four were out from behind the frame before ushering them to where the boats were. The rain was pouring as if holding a grudge and the waves just as upset as the lashed out against the ship. Looking out onto the ocean Arne and Jacob scowled as they saw the raid ships closing in and even more so when they saw the traitor lying on stomach in an unsightly position, Arne made sure to shield Matthieu and Renato. As they made their way to the back on the slippery ship, the creaking and groaning made their hair stand up on their backs. On the other hand James, although looking around once in awhile, stood his ground, until he heard the snap of a rope followed by wood creaking. Looking up he saw the spanker boom swinging low and was unable to stop it from hitting Arne in the back of the head. The force knocked him out and the slippery deck was not merciful as he slipped, the hold on Matthieu released as they both fell onto the floor. Jacob tried to run, but the rocking of the ship threw him off balance catching himself on the side of the ship. Renato helped pick Matthieu up from the floor, who was crying from the hard fall.
"Don't worry about Arne, I'll grab him, just watch out for the spanker boom, it'll swing back soon!" James yelled over the roaring ocean and angry rain. He picked up Arne by the arm, keeping low to the floor in an attempt to stay on balance. Jacob hopped into the boat and helped James get Arne into the boat. Renato slowly followed, the rocking of the lifeboat creating quite the problem. James was holding Matthieu for dear life as he slowly lowered the both of them into the boat, a sudden shift of the huge vessel holding the small lifeboat didn't allow it though. With a sudden dip, the boat was on its side, the lifeboat halfway submerged, James lost his grip on the ship, but held on tighter to Matthieu as they fell into black waters below them. An eternity later of being submerged underneath the dangerous waters they rose from the depths gasping for air in hopes of helping their aching throats. This hope was quickly demolished as the pouring of the rain and the violent waves toyed with them, only able to stay above the pull of the waves in short spurts. Matthieu tried to call out for his brothers only to get a mouthful of water for his attempts.
Jacob was violently cutting at the ropes that still bound them to the ship, Renato on the other end attempting to do so as well. After a few moments of their efforts the boat was cut loose, falling harshly into the waters below, they made sure Arne didn't hit his head again. Taking an oar, Jacob thrashed at the waves hoping that he would be able to take enough command of the harsh waves to reach Matthieu and James who were slowly being taken by the waves.
"MATTHIEU!" he shouted, his voice hoarse from the cold and a sudden pain in his chest. A small call of Jacob's name could be heard, slowly becoming far away.
James was making every attempt to keep Matthieu above the waves as the current pulled and tugged them both away from safety, unable to fight against the terrible waves. The salty waves pounding at both of their faces. Matthieu continued to cry out to his brothers before noticing that he was calling out to nothing, a sob escaped his lips as he tried to stay awake, his brown hair acting as a shield against anything from seeing. James continued to hold on as he waded in the ocean, hoping the storm would be over soon and allow his arms and legs to relax, to allow him to look for the others, to find Matthieu's family. He noticed the sound of wood creaking and waves pounding, peering over his shoulder he noticed one of the raider's ships,
Probably trying to get out of the storm, he thought. Subconsciously his grip tightened around Matthieu as he saw the glint of someone's eye peer over the side as they rushed around the boat. A shout for the captain was heard, and in return a man in uniform appeared, looking proper, the wind, the rain, even the ship being tossed left and right didn't seem to affect this man. A sly grin crossed his face, his lips moved as he shouted unknown orders at his men, James continued to glare, unsure as to what was about to happen, he could only expect the worse.
A lifeboat was quickly filled with men of the toughest caliber, being lowered into the thrashing waves they made their way towards the two of them, James's heart quickened as he made an attempt against the waves to stay clear of the boat, even if it would get them out of the water, he knew it wouldn't be worth the "safety" aboard a ship like that. A hand reached out grabbing his blond hair in a painful tug, more quickly joined as they men pulled the two in as if they were a net full of fish. Sputtering and gasping, James made an attempt to struggle and keep Matthieu out of their reach, but was subdued, Matthieu was grabbed away from him in a panic, a knife quickly being pointed at his throat, James backed down, begrudgingly.
"Give him back and I promise I won't put up a fight anymore." He said, his voice unwavering, staring each one of them down, as if he could challenge each one and win.
"Only this once, the cap'en don't want ya too injured." one of the gruffy men said. They all set down, Matthieu, who was in a full fledged panic, was passed down to James.
"W-where d-did Jacob and Arne a-and Renato g-go?" he asked in a sobbing whisper.
"I'm not sure big guy, but I'll make sure we get out of this situation safely just pretend you're falling asleep, and I'll talk our way out of this." he said in a kind voice, a glare still graced his face as the lifeboat made its way back to the ship.
Once they made their way back, they were taken aboard, being shoved at to climb their way up the ladder. Matthieu was still being carried by James, even though it was hard with the prodding of those below him. He made his way up onto the ship, the man from before greeting them. Up close, he realized the man was wearing a proper suit, his fierce red hair slicked back, a smug look on his face. James wanted to punch him.
"Welcome to my humble abode," he greeted with a bow, "Of course, it probably isn't as nice as that you two used to have. Sadly, we must have put a few to many holes in that lovely battleship of yours. We were unable to," he mocked hesitation, "acquire anything during this raid except for you two unfortunate souls." he sautered over and without hesitation he kicked James in the knee, a loud cry echoed throughout the ship. It unnerved Matthieu, but he still pretended to be asleep even as James fell onto his other knee with a groan. Almost as quickly as when the captain had kicked two men came forward and pried Matthieu from his arms, infuriating the man.
"What do you think you're doing? I said I wouldn't cause trouble if you didn't seperate us." James questioned, now lying on his stomach, his face being pressed into the ground from the struggle.
"Now, now, don't be rude. I mean this is my ship, meaning I give the orders around here, not some lowlife from the sea." the man said, a scowl crossing his face.
"I don't care if it's your ship, you attached ours, so I'm exactly in the most pleasant mood to be cooperating." he established that statement by spitting at the captain, a small smirk attempting to ride his face as the captain stepped back, the spit still hitting his nice shoe. He growled at James before kicking him in the face, sending him flying into the side of the ship.
"You can keep your filthy saliva, I'm sure whatever buyer won't care if you're slobbering at the mouth. You look like a tough fellow, you can probably work for awhile." He stated, vengeance in his voice. With a couple more shouts he ordered some of his men down from throughout the boat.
"Take the slobbering dog below deck and chain him up. The boy," he hesitated, "Put him in the cage, make sure he's in sight of the pest, but keep them separate." he finished before dramatically turning, heading towards the back of the ship.
The crew leaped into action as three men had to forcefully drag James down into the hull of the ship, eventually four as James kicked one in the stomach, two had to replace him. Matthieu on the other hand continued to play possum, looking around for keys and places to hide during escape. The realization that James wasn't just a stubborn fool showed that it was indeed a good thing he was in the navy. Tough as nails, but there was hope of a tactician under all that, that or he was making this up as they went along. The crew taking them down were just at wit's end, but thankfully they arrived at their destination. The crew threw James into one of the corners, he hit his head on his way down, but he refused to come to subconsciousness. Sadly, that did not help in the matter of them chaining him to the wall by his neck, arms, and legs. They dropped Matthieu into the cage on the far side of the hull, closing the door with a slam.
They both waited for the crew to leave, all of them probably sick of being in the same room as James. As they left both James and Matthieu let out a groan of pain from the harsh treatment, although Matthieu continued to cry afterward. The impact of what had happened in a single day taking full effect. James lowered his head, he wanted to cry himself, but wouldn't allow it as he remembered his promise to the poor kid.
"Hey," he said, his voice gentle and smooth breaking through the raging storm outside. "Come on, you gotta talk to me little man." He tried again.
"Mat-" he was quickly interrupted, "W-what happened?" a whisper could be heard. Processing this question, James put his head back.
"We're on a raider's ship heading who-knows-where." he responded with a sigh, he really wasn't sure what to say. He always knew there was a possibility that he would be captured while out at sea, or worse, but he wasn't expecting a little kid to end up in the same situation.
"We were just playing a g-game, mom and dad the-the-they just wanted to take us to a new home. We always travel, w-why did this happen now? Where is Arne and Jacob a-and Renato? I just wanted to see our new home, why did all this mean stuff happen? Did we do something wrong?" Matthieu asked, sobbing in between questions, James' heart broke for the kid.
"You didn't do anything wrong kid, you or family, this all may just be some horrible coincidence or..." He paused thinking back to a story his dad used to tell him, "Maybe there's some other path you need to take and the road is just a bit rough." he paused allowing Matthieu to process the information. Taking a breath he began again, "I'm sorry about what happened to your parents, they were a good pair of folks to have. I don't think you should give up on your brothers, that's for sure, and I don't think you would let it cross your mind to long. I have a feeling that you guys are going to see each other again, sooner or later, you just gotta have patience. You'll find each other soon enough" Matthieu seemed to calm down at that last bit, hope seemed to sneak into his eyes, if only just a little bit.
"W-what was the story that your dad used to tell you?" Matthieu stammered out, it brought a smile to James' lips.
"Well, I remember that it started with some kid getting a fancy coat from his dad, and his brothers were jealous of it." The storm around them seemed to fade as James continued to tell the tale of a man named Joseph. He didn't remember then, but it was a story his father told him from the Bible as a young child for him and his brothers, among many others. It was a story of betrayal, truth, forgiveness, and putting your faith in God.
As James finished up, he noticed that Matthieu was slowly falling asleep, his seasickness not affecting him, the lull of the waves dragged him into the realm of sleep and dreams. James attempted to move around a bit, trying to find a comfortable position, but alas, his body was sore from the treatment from before. He finally decided on one that allowed him to lay flat on the floor. The ship carried the two peaceful sleepers on a raider's ship to a world of possibilities.