Falling For The First Mate

Chapter 31

“Hurry!” Shen hissed. “Honestly, Skyler, you’d think you wanted her dead at the speed you’re going. Run!”

“I’m trying!” Kade snapped. “Shen, I’m trying! Not all of us have superhuman strength, though I could sure as hell use some right now.”

Stopping still, Shen caused Kade to ram directly into his back.

“What the-” Kade tried to stop and stumbled. However, before his protesting could reach its climax, Shen had slammed a hand over his heart and sent a zapping of adrenaline through his body. Instantly refreshed and invigorated, a grin appeared on Kade’s face. He took off running once more, his pace increased tenfold.

“Superhuman enough for you?” Shen laughed, matching his strides.

“Oh yeah!” Kade replied, punching the air above him and looking back over his shoulder. “Grimme! Drago! You got the gear?”

Grimme and Drago lagged behind. Both were panting heavily as they lumbered along with Raven’s giant sack of diving equipment slung between them.

“Aye.” Grimme managed.

“Good! Brilliant! Fantastic, even! Shen, do this to them as well! We’ll be at the bottom of the sea in seconds!”

Shen tisked at the First Mate’s drunken behaviour; Kade was almost as high on the rush as Evanora had been! Though Shen’s power felt more drained than ever before, he followed orders, slowing to lay his hand over the chests of first Grimme and then Drago. As predicted, they took advantage of the Kappas’ confusion and were geared up and against the side in what could have been a world record.

Teetering atop the railing, Kade raised a hand in a final salute and closed his eyes. For a long moment, the very air seemed to dim its wail and the world stopped to pay homage to the fallen and the doomed.

“For Eric!” Kade finally cried, dragging a breathing tube to his lips.

“For Eric!” his team echoed, each mimicking his salute and following him over the side in dives of near identical determination.

As their goggled eyes adjusted to the darkness of the deep, Kade signalled for the group to split up: Grimme and Drago would take the direct route, straight through the entrance to the city, whilst Kade and Shen invaded from above. After a few exaggerated nods of the head, Grimme and Drago swam away, initiating the plan.

Now all they could do was follow it closely and pray that Captain Silvestre knew what he was doing with Evanora.

**********************************

 Grimme and Drago had expected confrontation. Both experienced pirates, they knew the importance of checking both to the left and right on a regular basis. They knew also that nowhere was truly safe, for to a pirate, safety was just an illusion of a naïve mind.

Locked tightly in a defensive stance, their approach to the gates of Atlantis was a slow and suspicious one. Every bubble out of place caused alarm, each unknown movement a trigger for the drawing of their weapons. To the duo, paranoia was a constant companion- after all, what they were to encounter had always been a mystery.

Drago despised the silence. Despite his hatred of his partner’s ramblings, he wished that the water was breathable so that the words of the storyteller could fill his mind. Anything was better than the suspense that intensified with every leaden step.

Grimme hated the situation just as much. He had always envisioned his demise as the stuff of legend, shrouded in words and left to the distortion of minds. But heroics such as this belonged in the stories he created, he realised, not in reality where death was as easy as the turning of a page.