Checkmate

8. The Ones Who Love

I didn't dream. I floated in a blank white space. Fog covered the floor, as if standing on a cloud. A voice called my name. It seemed worried.

"Father?" I felt myself say, my breath producing more fog, as if the air was cold, but I couldn't feel the cold, I couldn't feel anything. "Pan? Is this supposed to be a game? It isn't funny!"

A figure appeared in the mist in front of me. She wore all white, and her hair was brunette, just like mine. "You smell like strawberries," I told her, matching her smile with mine.

"You have to go back," she said, her smile fading.

"Go back where?"

"I will see you again, but not for a long time. Go back."

Suddenly I shot backwards away from the woman, as if something had wrapped a string around my middle and pulled sharply. I felt myself landing, the pain in my side returning and fuzzy shapes in my vision. I felt myself groan, inviting hands to rest on my shoulders.

"Lay back down lass, yer in no fit shape to move," one fuzzy shape told me.

"I'll wring his scrawny little neck one week without seeing her and then I get her dropped at my feet like a cat bringing dead mice to its owner," came the other fuzzed shape as it moved in and out of my view.

"Father?" I groaned, recognising the voice.

He came to my side immediately, replacing what I realised later to have been the captain. His face coming into view to look at me through red-rimmed eyes. "Don't move, my dear. The dagger didn't get anything major. You're lucky I've had medical training."

"Where's Pan?" My father froze at my words. "I gotta save the lost boys. He'll kill them." I felt the tear fall down my face towards my ear, but father stopped it.

"My dear, it's been a week. If he intended to kill the boys, he would have done it by now." More tears fell, but father caught them in a clean handkerchief.

"I wanted to save them." I started to move, my anger overcoming the pain. "I have to save them. Pan cheated."

"Pan always cheats."

I felt myself laugh at my father's truth, stopping at the new spike of pain arriving with nausea. My head dropped to the pillow a little too quickly, making my vision of the fuzzy room spin even more. "He'll kill them if I don't eat with the group."

"Then it's his loss."

"But he'll kill them." I felt myself repeat as a wave of exhaustion washed over me. Not noticing the extra person in the room until it was too late.

Once again, I didn't dream, and neither did I see the woman. Instead, I awoke to the swift rocking of a ship on a stormy sea. Alone.

I stood slowly, making sure to use my hands to pull myself up on anything I could find, giving myself time to adjust to the nausea that threatened. Even in my groggy state, I knew the ship wasn't supposed to rock so violently unless something was wrong. So, convincing myself it was the right thing to do, I made my way to the door, using everything but the floor to hold myself upright. The rocking of the ship did not help at all with the already spinning room. Once I got to the door of the cabin, I noticed that the noise beyond it sounded like that of fighting and a storm. Opening the door, I found much worse.

Scattered over the deck were both lost boys and pirates, having lost their own battles, fighting over something I wasn't aware of. Lightning danced in the dark sky, with thunder following close behind it. The sea moved viciously and the mermaids swimming inside it glistened with excitement at the possibility of dinner. In my fuzzy haze, I could just about make out their tails glistening in the violent waters.