Heir of the Seas (#Wattys2017)

The Final Chapter

     Ava lay motionless in the dimly-lit room. The stench of her own blood was growing stale. She hated this. She hated this more than anything she'd ever been through- and that was saying a lot. She rolled her head to the side. This room was completely empty. Nothing but Ava, the table, and blood that was not hers. A tear slid down her red-stained cheek. The foul stench of past gasses that kept her weakened still lingered in her clothes, in her hair. She hated this. She wanted her father, wanted her Sister. Now, she thought bitterly, I'll get neither. They'll both be dead by the time they come back.

     The candle by her head flickered. Another tear rolled down her cheek. She closed her eyes, just about to give up when a sudden wave of icy air shot through the room, seeping into her soaked clothes and into her bones, and snuffed out every candle. Whatever test came next, she could take it. She had to. Ava kept her eyes shut, faking sleep, when the door scraped the floor, groaning... "Good gods, child you look absolutely horrid." Ava's head snapped forward as she beheld Rue Acontium, the witch-queen. Her rescue.

     "Rue," she croaked. "Hush now, pirate." Rue had rings around her kaleidoscope eyes, darkened with weariness. So she was the one to cast the spell, Ava mused. When Ava was little, Rue had taught her how magic works; how it's like energy. You can have a lot when you're just walking, but full-on sprinting could and would sap up most of your energy. And Rue had just done more than sprint, as powerful as she was. The place was riddled with runes against magic, but she'd done it.

     The witch pressed her fingers to the glittering chains, whispered a chant that sent shivers up Ava's spine, and the previously golden chain links began to dissolve. Soon it was reduced to nothing more than that of golden powder. Golden powder that Ava swept into one of Rue's small, ever-present sacks, of course. She wasn't the Pirate Heir for nothing, you know. 

      Rue knew nothing of stealth. It wasn't like she needed to, though, Ava realized as she followed the woman with heavy footsteps, her blood quietly dripping on the floor. Ava almost swung at the Silver Lady when she locked eyes with the ancient- but her fist was caught by Rue. "Touch her- touch anyone- and my spell is broken." Oh. Oh. Ava blinked, realizing that the Silver Lady was indeed frozen, like a statue of... well, silver.

     Rue quickly wove through the petrified crowds on the streets of the Golden Empire, clicking her heels and humming a tune as she dodged random arms and elbows of precious jewels. Ava didn't even dare go for any of them. She realized with a shock that she didn't want them anyways, either. What she really wanted was food and a bath. 

     At the docks, Rue, more tired-looking than ever, held her hand to Ava to help her into the rowboat. A rowboat that rope's been slashed through cleanly. A weary smile tugged at the corners of Ava's lips. Clever woman. She'd stolen a boat and turned everyone into artistic masterpieces. Ava decided, as she practically fell into the little wooden boat, visible staining it red, that she wouldn't much mind the witch-queen's presence. 

     "Sorry, love," Rue said, her worn face appearing above Ava's, stroking her cheek. "But if you want to get back to your people, I have to do this." With a sudden jolt of fearful adrenaline, black blossomed on Ava's vision. Once again, she was floating in darkness. But this time, it was different. This time she wasn't scared. 

*  *  *

     The Pirate King stood at the bow of The Silver Thorn, one hand on her worn, wooden rail, another pressed firmly to his brow, shading his eyes from the setting sun as he stared towards the island his daughter was on. Not only his daughter but the heir of his kingdom, as well as the sirens. If Ava didn't come back, if she was hurt... he wouldn't have to kill himself, the sirens would do it for him. No... it wouldn't come to that. Ava would be okay. She'd be back. She's the savior, she has to be. 

     It was only after Viserana had tried to jump off into the merfolk-infested waters while wounded had he realized that Rue was missing. He didn't care where she went. Actually, he knew where she went. She was on the island with Ava. Honestly, Ava's men were dimwits. He'd have to make her a new crew or something. Seriously, it took a Pirate King to notice that one of the rowboats had been cut loose. No matter. 

     Then something strange happened. Confusion cocked his bushy eyebrow up as the smog parted, as if a butcher's blade had cut it like a log of frozen meat. And the waters... A small, barely visible rowboat glided through the oily water. The sirens clicked happily and chittered among themselves and blinked up with their beady black eyes wearing lethal grins before diving below the surface. The two... princes... stumbled on deck, tripping over each other, as Viserana limped behind them alone. 

     Something clicked in the King's head and in a flash, he found himself racing towards the pulleys, throwing a rope down, and heaving the rowboat up. The boat came over the edge and hit the deck with a thud, sending the contents tumbling out onto the wooden planks. Rue hopped down before she too fell, but she couldn't help- everyone collectively gasped, including the men. Ava rolled onto the deck unconscious, her cheek ripped open with three long gashes. Her entire face was splotched red with her own blood, and bruises rippled all over her limbs. 

     With trembling hands, the Pirate King took her into his arms. His daughter... His Ava... her hair was matted to her forehead with an unpleasant mixture of sweat and blood. She was limp in his arms as he embraced her, hugging her tightly as if he'd never let him go again. His blood rushed in his ears, furious. He wasn't aware of anyone around him, it was just him and his daughter. Then he felt a slender, heavy hand on his shoulder. Rue came through his fog. "She will live," she said, smiling faintly, "if only you stop crushing her."

*  *  *

     Ava had been asleep for five days, and on the sixth day, she wasn't much for answering questions. She claimed not to remember anything. "Claimed to", at least. But she was full of questions and tried not to cry whenever she saw anyone she knew. "But," she asked Rue, "the curse still stands! I didn't break i-" Rue shoved a spoonful of her famous herbal healing remedy in Ava's mouth.

     "Nonsense. That Goldie, in the beginning, she didn't deliver the full story in that prophecy of hers." Ava swallowed the mush. "What do you mean?" she asked carefully. "Well, I mean that she didn't tell you what to do, just that you were the one to do it." Ava sighed through her nose. Getting the message, Rue smiled and finished.

     "She didn't tell you everything, is what I mean. You remember their needing for your beloved's blood?" Ava nodded curtly. "Well, that's to break the curse, to get them back to immortal happiness, where they could rule and torment forever, savvy?" Ava nodded a second time. "They didn't tell you how to fulfill the curse. To banish them to..." she glanced away. "Well, that part doesn't matter, just that you did." Ava gave her a third questionable look. "The curse called for the blood of the savior on the land of the Golden." 

      "And you bled over everything, believe me." Ava leaned back, for once at a loss for words. Savior. She really was the savior. And she saved the entire world from the Golden Empire. No one knew it, but it was a pirate who was born to save the world. She looked around. Her crew was missing, and she knew those miscellaneous scratches anywhere. 

    She suffered multiple losses, but now, Ava figured, everything would turn out grand. She'd get her story out, the story of all her friends and her family, and her entire story. She'd risk her neck doing so, but she already knew how she'd start it. She would start it like this: 

     Uneasy chatter ran through the Pirate Heir's ship like a virus. Brows creased with misunderstanding. Eyes darted back and forth with unexplained worry. The captain, however, did not care about the chatter. She was busy studying the sky and which way the orange stained clouds stretched against the deep pink and purple sky.

A/N:

     So that's it! We can all go home now... or... you can go ahead and see this book's much-deserved sequel, Prince of Nothing. Go check it out!