Raw Winter

Chapter 48: Deep, Cold Water

Joeson could only stare in horror as Rawintr loped towards them, taking a step back, though she definitely had forgotten about him in the wake of what the man beside him was saying. He had little respect for Rawintr, but he was aware of what she could do and had warned Catinol how fast tides could change in her presence.

He, of course, had dismissed this as pirate drivel.

Now he could see the full extent of what she could do, and he felt all his blood turn to ice.

And in the distance, he heard a pirate ship approaching. He felt his teeth clenching, knowing this wasn't the sound of the Red Liar, though couldn't imagine what it meant. Had she gathered allies since he had last seen her in Port Vestar? It had been easy enough to find out she was coming here. He just had to pay the mapmaker and had more than enough from what they gave him when he left the ship. He knew all the channels Hades used to claim jobs. He was invaluable to a crew, and it wouldn't have been hard to find himself a new one and wash his hands of her.

But he had to get revenge for Cartledge, deserved or not.

Now, he realized that getting revenge on Rawintr Wlyfric was the same as getting revenge on a force of nature. A man could shoot a stray dog for biting him, but all he would have is a dead dog, and a man could beat the encroaching shore with a stick, but it would do nothing to stop its forward march and soon enough the whole of the sea would drag him under.

He saw the flash of her crystal eye staring into him and felt dread greater than any he had felt before, and though he heard the ship coming nearer, it didn't stop him from retreating to the sea. He was sure after she was done with Catinol, he would be next.

Captain Derevi, like his new counterpart, was just as single-minded in his pursuit of his most hated enemy and though the force of leaping from the ship onto the dock below tore his stomach open again, blood gushing down his front, he nary cared. The thing coursing through him was more than enough to mask the intense pain of the way his insides crunched. He was so close to finding the bitch that did this to him. Pink froth speckled his lips as he made his way towards the two entwined in the throes of death.

Joeson ran into him and the captain, derisive and angry as if the wind had carried trash into his face, reached up and tore the head from the man's shoulders, tossing it to the side and throwing the body the opposite way so his path was clear.

The men with their crossbows, if they had any common sense, were aware Rawintr was already dead. She may have sat up, may have looked outward, may still whisper prayers through clenched teeth, but she was dead. When they saw the big pirate captain coming for her with the power to tear a man in half, they found a new target and all raised their crossbows.

But by now, the rest of the crew of The Gold Fetcher were streaming into the port. This port was meant to be impenetrable, but few things could stop pirates with a grudge, especially one that was dying. Derevi's men, though many were shot with bolts, far surpassed those lined up to put Rawintr down, so it wasn't long before they were flowing over and overwhelming them. The cries and screams of the slain summoned more men from inside Catinol's keep, and it wasn't long before a full-on battle raged in the courtyard. A man inside had been killed and there needed to be someone to blame.

Whistle and Chresher were desperate to get to their captain, but both men looked at each other and knew it would be suicidal to reach her. They knew she didn't want them to die, so they retreated to safety and both wept together where they huddled. This was the end of the line.

And before long, Captain Derevi, his guts nearly spilling afresh, stood over Rawintr and the woman looked up at him with her cursed eyes and tried to say something to him, but all that came from her lips was a bubbling wheeze.

He took satisfaction when he stood over her and blocked the sunlight from reaching her, snuffing out the glow of her cursed blue eye. For a moment, he considered that enough, but only for a moment.

"In the name of Lyviarian," he rumbled, his voice like thunder in the center of the storm he brought for her, "I'm here to drag you back to the depths of hell with me. This I swore and this I keep."

His sea foam blood splattered at her feet as he spat it from his lips, and his big hand gripped her hair and dragged her along as he turned back to port and back towards the water.

She struggled, but only for a few seconds, like a fish drowning out of water. It impressed him how she managed that much. He felt angry this was what he came to find when he had been promised so much more. Still, he felt her grip like iron on his wrist and felt he hadn't lost too much. She wasn't dead yet. He still would have the honor of drowning her.

As they made their slow way to the water, the lapping waves beckoning, the sight that befell him stopped him. Suddenly, The Red Liar was there and its figurehead—built for it—plowed into The Gold Fetcher. He screamed his outrage, but already his breaths were too precious to waste and he staggered on his feet. His grip loosened, and he felt Rawintr slipping from his grip. He frowned, his sharp teeth grinding together, making him taste more blood. By now it was all the same.

If his ship was going down, so was he, and he supposed that was a good thing. He was doomed, so why not his ship? He wasn't sure the woman he held still breathed, but he cared little. His eyes flickered down to her, and she seemed so empty and so small, and suddenly he felt a strange empathy for his enemy, though he had only met her once.

"Hades brought us here, didn't he?"

He reached down, stomach splitting with the effort, and brought her into his arms. He minded the spikes that protruded from her as he cradled her and scoffed. Rawintr Wlyfric was almost certainly dead. So was he.

He couldn't see anything anymore. Nothing more than himself and her. He started walking down the dock, not knowing when it would end and just knowing that eventually, it would need to. It felt like the longest walk of his life, and for a moment he thought he wasn't going to make it. He thought it would be funny if he were to keel over only a foot away from where he was aiming.

And then the creaking wood that did not yield to the heavyweight of the two captains suddenly fell away and he pitched into the water. He plunged into that deep, cold sea as everything around them went to hell and burned up and the icy, black ocean wasted no time wrapping its arms around them and pulling them deep, deep under.