The Starry Abyss

Chapter 6

"How much longer, Capitano?" Lovino didn't bother looking up from his knives that he was listlessly polishing. They had been in transit for 60 hours now, time spent navigating the best way back to Belmire. They were avoiding the direct route, trading speed for secrecy.

Arthur huffed, and sank down into the chair across from Toni. "By my calculations, we've got another 50 hours left. The radars haven't picked up any unnatural movement, so we should be alone."

"Capitán, what are we going to do with the other two?"

"Kill them."

"When?"

"Soon. I want to see if I can't get any more information out of Matthias beforehand."

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"Ok, you've both been doing very well. Introduce yourselves." Matthias was sprawled against a crate, seemingly at ease, but both Alfred and Matthew noticed that his ax was always unimpeded and ready for use at a moment's notice.

Alfred cleared his throat, "Heil! Minn nafn ir Elfráðr. Ær ru yðr?"

"Góð! Ek em Matthias. Eða ær ru yðr?"

Mattie spoke now, "Ek em Matthew. Heil."

Matthias began speaking again, and the twins followed along carefully. Matthias had been serious in his desire to teach them the common tongue, and so they were learning helpful phrases and basic conversation. Though it had only been a short while, they were both quick learners and could hold a simple conversation somewhat fluently now.

Suddenly the ship shuddered violently, throwing them and many of the crates around like marbles. Matthias stumbled to his feet and looked frantically for his ax. Alfred began looking with him, digging through the fallen crates. Matthew looked toward the entrance, where there was a lot of shouting and swearing.

Suddenly three burley, grimy men burst into the room, brandishing an odd assortment of guns and knives. Without even looking they ran at Matthew. Yelping, he flung up his arms in a futile effort to protect himself and stumbled back. But the men kept going, running toward Alfred and Matthias, who had just found his ax. The first man began to aim his pistol when Matthias whirled and cut him almost in half with his ax. Matthias began to stalk forward as the other two men backpedaled quickly, too afraid to think of using their guns. Alfred reached and grabbed the fallen pistol of the dead man and looked around the room frantically.

"They've got Mattie!" he shouted, voice cracking with the stress, "I can't find him anywhere!"

At Alfred's shout, Matthias hesitated a bit, and one of the men lunged forward, only to stumble back with a blast hole in his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. Shaking off his momentary distraction, Matthias made quick work of the last man, before turning to Alfred.

Alfred was standing, shaking, staring at the dead man, the pistol held loosely in his grasp.

Matthias approached him carefully, and grabbed his hands, "Snap out of it Alfred. We've got work to do. Snap out of it! Follow me quickly now. We need to find Mattie before it's too late."

Matthias looked hard into Alfred's eyes before letting him go and making his way to the door. Numbly, Alfred followed, not registering anything. In the hallway, the shouting was louder. They soon found the others, fighting viciously against the unwelcome guests.

Romano was pushing desperately against his assailant, struggling to stop the knife from slitting his throat. Antonio was dueling away two others with his sword. Arthur was nowhere to be seen.

Matthias jumped into the fray, lunging toward one of Antonio's assailants, ax glittering in the artificial light. His target fell quickly when his leg was lopped off, and Antonio made quick work of the last one. Alfred hesitated, looking down the blood-splattered hallway before a sharp grunt from Romano caught his attention. Romano was slowly being pushed down, the knife at his throat getting dangerously close to causing serious damage. Without really thinking, Alfred raised the stolen pistol and shot again. Romano sank to the floor under the weight of the dead man.

Suddenly the door to the cockpit blew open. The last of the thugs stumbled out, clutching at his throat, face slowly going purple. Arthur stalked out, perfectly calm, with a snarl on his face. The rest of the hall fell silent, watching him. The thug fell to his knees, face a putrid shade of plum. With a soft laugh, Arthur threw a knife between his eyes. He fell with a soft thump, and the oppressive aura faded.

Toni moved to help Romano up, and Matthias sighed and leaned against the wall. Alfred still stood in numb shock, not registering what was going on around him. They all jumped in shock when they heard a low groan.

Arthur turned to the only raider still alive. He knelt down to face him and smiled softly, "So tell me. Who are you and where do you hail from?" There was no response from the man, and he continued, "If you tell me I'll make the pain stop. You'd like that, wouldn't you? To have no pain."

"We...We wanted the bounty." he groaned softly. "I'm Eron...Eron Scarred. We're just simple pirates from the Draugluin System."

"A bounty?" hummed Arthur

"The Kingdoms raised the bounty on the rock. Make the pain stop. Please!..please..."

Arthur sighed, "Very well." Almost disinterestedly he took one of his knives and cut his throat.

Brushing off his clothes, which were soaked through with blood and grime, Arthur stood up. "What are you fuckers lollygagging for? Get these corpses off my ship and unhook their ship. Take what we need, and figure out what they broke! MOVE!"

Antonio and Romano scrambled to get rid of the bodies and Arthur grumbled quietly before focusing on Matthias.

"What's wrong with him?" Arthur jerked a thumb to Alfred, who had slumped down and was sitting on the floor.

"He's never killed before. Nor has he used a pistol. Shocked him I believe." responded Matthias.

"Tell him to get up. Where's the other?"

"I don't know. Mattie disappeared."

"Find him." Arthur turned to attend to the incessant beeping of the ship, and fix the damage.

Matthias gently took Alfred by the elbow and lead him back into the storage bay. Matthew was standing there, looking at the three men dead on the ground. He jumped at the sound of footsteps, but relaxed when he saw that it was Matthias and Alfred.

"Mattie, could you please cover up the dead?" Matthias asked softly. "I don't think it would be good for Alfred to see them."

Matthew dug through some of the crates, and quickly covered the corpses with an old tarp. Matthias meanwhile sat Alfred down on a crate and settled across from him. Mattie sat next to Alfred.

As he cleaned his ax Matthias spoke, "You did well today. I know you've never done this before, nor had any training. But you're alive, you're unscathed. You've done well."

"I hid! I didn't do anything!" Mattie exploded, "I was a coward and didn't do anything."

"And that's ok. You've never been in this situation before. It's ok to be scared. It's ok to hide. You were unprepared, unarmed. You did well Matthew. I'm proud of you.

"And Alfred, I'm proud of you too. You've never killed before, and I know you're in shock. I've been where you are. You'll get through it. They were necessary deaths. If you hadn't killed I would be dead. Romano would be dead. We both owe you a life debt, though I'm not sure how Romano will hold that. But you did a good thing, a heroic thing. I am proud of you, you are alive. You seem to be a natural with that pistol...I think you've found your weapon. And I'm so very proud of you. I'm proud of you both."

Matthias finished cleaning his ax and slung it back over his shoulder, "Let's go help these pirates get rid of the dead ok." As he passed Alfred he offered a few pats on the back, before going and grabbing the first of the dead.

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A/N

Hey guys! It's been a while, but here's another chapter. I can't promise much, but I'll do my very best to have more frequent updates. Please leave a comment or a vote if you liked it, they give me inspiration.

Translations:

Heil! Minn nafn ir Elfráðr. Ær ru yðr? -- Hello! My name is Alfred. Who are you?

Góð! Ek em Matthias. Eða ær ru yðr? -- Good! I am Matthias. And who are you?

Ek em Matthew. Heil. -- I am Matthew. Hello