With Courage [King Caspian X OC]

Chapter 18

The world fell silent.

Amber's gaze drifted down to where the spine had sunk into her flesh, watching her blood bubble over its rough skin. She felt her stomach sink impossibly low to the point of nonexistence, leaving behind a gaping hole that filled with pain and fear with tremendous speed.

With a shaking hand, she lifted her sword and cut off the spine and watched as it faded to nothing, dissolving in a green cloud to be reclaimed by Dark Island.

She didn't hear the thud of her blade as it met the deck, or the sharp intake of her own breath as the agony increased tenfold, blood seeping quicker between her splayed fingers. There was only the pounding of her own heart left to fill her ears, though now it sounded like a bomb ticking down towards its detonation.

The sea serpent flailed back out into the ocean and aimed instead for the sail, pitching the ship sideways as it tugged on the wooden beam.

Amber tripped and fell to the ground. She made no move to stand, and when a wave pushed the ship back, she did not resist the way gravity had her slide down the deck limply until her body hit the half-destroyed wall. She couldn't if she tried.

The crew continued fighting. Their concentration was focused solely on the sea serpent as they gathered harpoons and prepared for another attack, launching their weapons out to sea and watching the dull metal sink into the creature's flesh.

Nobody saw the colour drain from Amber's skin.

Nobody was present the moment her hands became so soaked in blood that her fingers began to prune.

Nobody helped her hold onto reality as it slowly slipped away, leaving only whispers of thoughts that scattered to the wind as soon as they floated through her head.

People were yelling, she thought. She could make out the sounds, vaguely, but it was hard to hear over a slow thumping in her head. Though it wasn't just in her head; she felt it underneath her hands too, still pressed firmly to her stomach. Is that my heartbeat? She asked herself. I don't remember it being so quiet before.

Before her shone a pillar of green and gold and white. It crackled and burned, waving erratically across her hazy vision until it collapsed, slowly, heavily, out of sight. She had no idea what it was. What had happened. All she knew is that she was tired; so, bone-deep, achingly tired. She wanted to close her eyes, just for a minute. Until the pain left her.

On the other side of the deck, the Dawn Treader crew cheered, watching the body of the sea serpent drift down below the ocean before dissipating into nothing. With it left the sinister presence that had latched itself to their beaten-down forms and drained them of hope like a leech drains a man of his blood. They were free.

Caspian clapped a hand against Drinian's back and let out a breathless laugh. He looked at each and every one of his crew's faces and smiled, overwhelmingly glad to have them here standing beside him, stretching their blades triumphantly into the air and hugging each other as if it had been years since they had last met. The thought of losing any of them was unbearable.

Up above, the clouds split open and the sky burst with sunlight like it was saving all the warmth and the colour for their return and hadn't wanted to waste a drop when they were unable to appreciate its beauty. They grinned wide, closing their eyes as they faced the sun and let the heat overwhelm them.

Amber sat still and grew colder. She couldn't find it within herself to shiver.

She looked up towards the sky with half-lidded eyes. Is this... England? I don't remember sunshine like this.