Tides

Chapter 10- Praxis

I woke up to a rough sea, rolling over I felt for Apollo in the bed before the memory hit. Of course, he wasn’t there.

We’d been at sea for about three or four days now and were right on track to arrive in the next one or two. No pirates had troubled us of course but still we had to keep a keen eye out.

Groaning I rolled out of bed and onto the floor, the blankets tangling themselves in my legs. God’s I hoped he was ok. I’d never forgive myself if he wasn’t.

Pulling on my clothes I wondered out onto the deck. An island was visible in the distance and Blair was steering a course to take us to the left of it. “Wouldn’t the right side be a more direct route?” I asked her as she handed over the steering to me.

“Yet but the map say’s shallower waters. I didn’t want to risk it.” She replied with a yawn.

“Ow it’ll be ok, we just won’t go that close.” I said changing course slightly.

“Aye captain,” She called out mockingly as she headed below deck. The poor girl looked exhausted. She’d barely slept at all since we’d discovered Apollo was missing. At first she’d been worried, wanting to search the whole town for him. But it had been a pointless effort.

I sighed as I watched people swap places. We were working in shifts, half through the night and half through the day to keep the ship moving efficiently. This wasn’t a place where we really wanted to stop.

As we neared the island I noticed that there seemed to be movement under the water. It wasn’t odd of course, probably just fish, big fish. It was just that there was a lot of it. Frowning I tried to look at it more closely when I was distracted.

“Captain!” Someone called from the deck bringing my attention back from the sea to the ship. “There’s something hanging off that cliff.”

I gestured Archer up and handed him my spyglass. His brow’s creased into a frown as he looked at it. “Looks like a body,” He mumbled.

“Put there by pirates as a disincentive you think?” I asked.

“Na, captain,” he said frowning even more. “He’s alive. He’s moving,” Archer said making me frown. “Look’s like he’s trying to climb…” he said trailing off. “I, I think you should look at this.”

Passing him the wheel I took back my spyglass. Looking through it I soon found the body on the cliffs, no hanging off the cliff. What the…?

And then I saw the hair.

“Bloody hell!” I said nearly dropping the spyglass. Shaking my head clear I looked back through and knew what I saw was true. Only one person I knew had hair that changed color in the water. Definitely only one with the combination of red, purple and blue. “Apollo.” I growled in a mix of frustration and anger at the boy.

“Your order’s captain?” Archer asked a knowing look on his face.

Sighing I shook my head. “Guess we better help him, the bastard.” I said. “Get Rowen and take a small boat out, get him on it and bring him back we’ll stay away from the shallow waters but wait as close as we can.”

Archer nodded. Handing me back control of the ship before going off to do what I told him. Bloody idiot Apollo. What on earth were you thinking? Yet my mind was full of one thing, had we carried on to the left of the island we wouldn’t have seen him.

~~~

Archer, Rowen and two other’s took the boat out. Blair and Tyler appeared on deck soon after. Realizing what was happening Blair took over for me as I waited and watched. It took a while to talk him down it seemed, then a while more to actually get him into the boat.

We took the ship as close to the cliffs as we dared and soon enough he was back on board. Shivering and bleeding. His hair turning white as it dried. Tyler soon appeared and helped patch him up.

His feet were cut up again, his back a mess of grazes with another large one on his face that though not deep wouldn’t stop bleeding. “We’re just going to have to leave that one to it’s self. If it’s still going by tonight then maybe we’ll try and stitch it but I’d rather not.”

Apollo only nodded.

“Do you mind if I borrow him for a bit?” I asked and got a quick nod. Trying to smile as best I could I quickly grabbed Apollo’s arm and, not caring about his cut feet, dragged him to my cabin. Forcing him to sit down I promptly ignored him as I tried to dig out my spare pair of boot’s.

He didn’t say anything to me and I didn’t say anything to him. The silence was tense and uncomfortable yet neither of us were willing to break it. Finding my old boot’s I grabbed a pair of sock’s and a top. His trousers had survived, if a little blood stained but everything else was in ruins. I handed him the shirt witch he quickly slipped on before giving him the socks. Again he put these on with no fuss or words.

Then I knelt down in front of him. Keeping my eyes on his feet as if I were his servant, I gently slipped the boots onto his feet. When I was done I didn’t let go of his leg but instead rested my forehead on his knee. I breathed in the smell of the ocean that was so much apart of him. Inside I was willing him to understand what I’d thought when I found him gone. I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to him yet.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. Gently and cautiously yet at the same time it completely unsettled me. He left it there, not moving. It wasn’t as if he was trying to comfort or reassure me yet he wasn’t pushing me away either. And it was his indifference that made me snap.

 “What were you thinking?” I yelled at him, breaking the silence with sharp words. “Are you stupid or something? Do you want to be caught? Killed?”

“No,” he began. The little color that was left beginning to drain from his face. “I just…”

“Just what?” I asked, my body practically shaking as my hands formed into frustrated fists. “For god’s sake Apollo you drive me crazy! Do you know what you put me through? What the thought of you gone, dead even, made me feel like?”

“I can’t worry about you Praxis,” He said turning away from me to look out of the window. His words were blunt, emotionless, yet he wouldn’t look at me, couldn’t look at me. “Don’t you understand that I’ve got my own problems, my own big problems to deal with. Just stop getting involved, leave it and let me just deal with it. I don’t need your help. I never asked for it.”

“Goddess you’re an idiot!” I said putting my hand on his shoulder and making him turn around. Using my hand to tip his chin up I looked at him. I just didn’t know what to feel any more. “Don’t you get it, can’t you see it?” I asked my voice cracking. “Look at me Apollo, look at me and ask me again to let you go.”

He looked up then, met my eyes and I know he saw exactly what I wanted him to see in them. “Praxis,” he began, his voice starting off soft before becoming incredibly harsh yet again. “Leave me alone. Let me go.” And with that he pushed me away and stormed out of my cabin.