The Cursed

Chapter Twenth Three

Everette

The sun shines over my cabin, the crew already busy with the days work. The ship feels empty without the sound of Lilura's bare feet as she dances to her own hums. The crew has gotten slower, lazier without her. Walter's food has grown cold and bland. We all are thinking, but never speaking aloud, that I made a mistake sending her away. I need her here. I am growing weaker than I ever was. Her attempt to heal me has caused the feeling of ice to grow in my bones. I do not think that I have much longer to walk and work. Although I am thankful she is not here to witness my decay, even if it was by her hand.

"My Captain," Blayze says before hobbling into my quarters. "Your mother is here."

"What? Where is she?" I bark out. Blayze takes a step back. My anger towards my dearest mother knows no bounds.

"The deck sir. She has the crew silent and frozen." I roll my eyes. She must come in with an attention-grabbing play of magic. I push back from my desk and limo to my cane, newly purchased after my condition worsened after leaving Lilura behind.

I storm across the deck to the best of my abilities given my circumstances. My crew are statues, stuck in place like stone, their tools hanging limply in frozen hands.

"Mother, how May I help you leave my ship as quickly as possible?" The Queen of Iris turns to me. Her red hair not moving despite the breeze. Her red lips in a cruel smile.

"That's no way to treat your mother Everette. Or Captain Everette. Or Prince Everette. My love please come home. What do you have out here that I cannot provide in the castle?"

Lilura, I want to say, but inklings to her presence will only cause her death.

"My crew, a ship I captain without you. Freedom." She purses her lips at my words, but quickly curve back into a cunning smile. My stomach fills with bile. This disgusting creature that is my mother must leave.

"Son, I can provide those for you. I can give you your crew as servants. I can make your room smell of the sea. You will have freedom once you are on the throne. Unless," she pauses and her eyes glint, "you want the girl. The homeless girl you found on the docks one day. Who stole your heart and crushed it with her disappearance. I'm sure you know where she is though. You haven't been sailing looking for her anymore."

My mouth goes dry. She knows.

"I can fetch her, being her to you in the palace. I can reach out to her. She is not on your ship, and you miss her. Perhaps she ran away," she coo's.

"I do not want Lilura anywhere near you. Now leave my ship this instant."

"Oh such a sharp tongue for such a little boy. Do you miss your plaything. What with no sight or memory?" The flames of my anger lick my throat.

"She is not a plaything and her sight has returned. She is with a witch getting her memories. We are undoing your work. We will be together again and overthrow you," I shout. My mother pales, then smiles even wider.

"Oh are you? Pray tell what witch? There are only three. One of which is me." My stomach drops. She can track her down. She can find her and lock her up again, chained to the walls and unconscious. I rescued her and brought her to a forest where she woke up, and we ran from the Kingdom I could not longer call home.

"I will not tell you. Leave my ship this instant."

"Your wish is my command," she says and bows before turning and disappearing in a cloud of smoke which drifts into the sky. The crew unfreezes with moans and dropping of tools.

"My Captain," Blayze begins, but I hold my hand up to cut him off.

"We must turn around and warn Lilura, it's time she knew the truth," I say.

"And Alan?"

"Being him to my chambers. We must meet."

"Yes sir." Blayze wobbled swag as I turn to go back into my chambers. The crew stared as I pass, a weak excuse for a captain with sagging, yellowed skin, thinner frame, and a limp that I know will not fade.