The Pirate Prince of the Ice Sea (Book 1 of The Legend Of Kaleania)

Chapter 20

The rain and snow came down harder at first light. It was colder, as well when I finally arrived at the Black Diamond. I climbed up the ladder and made it on deck with a sharp pain in my arm.

The first person who saw me was Aka. He was dressed in more clothes than before and the tips of his red hair had frost on it. "Airon!" he called, running up to me. I noticed his gaze turned to my hand covering my arm and asked, "Mary Mother of God, what in Kerala happened?"

"It's just a scratch," I lied. But that didn't stop him from removing my hand.

"We better get your arm healed before Lady Kara notices," he said. I nodded as he sat me down on the stairs. He then went into the storage downstairs and when he came up, he had a white gauze in his hand. He came to me and told me to take off my armor and shirt. I did as I was told and he started looking at my arm. "That is one deep cut."

"It's not a cut," I said.

"Well, that's one big-"

"Will you just wrap it up before Kara notices?" I asked, impatiently.

"I've already noticed," I turned to find her with Sarngika on the upper deck. She climbed down and ordered Aka to go do something. He left as she sat next to me and started wrapping it. "Why are you always so reckless?"

"This time it wasn't my fault," I said. "It was that idiot of a first mate."

"So, what's the plan?" she asked when she was done.

"We go to war," I said, putting my clothes back on.

"Yeah but why did you tell Kara to tell the pirates to wait for you until morning?" asked Sarngika, flying over to my shoulder.

"Because I thought that I would've come up with something." I turned to walk over to the upper deck but Kara stopped me.

"So what's the strategy, then?" she asked. "You must've come up with one by now." She was right. I must've but I didn't since I've been too busy thinking about Nekian's plan.

"I'm sorry, Kara, but I didn't," I muttered. "While I was there, Yashomi told me that Nekian had a plan and that I was involved."

"Does Airon know what Old Hag plan is?" asked Kuala, calling down from the wheel. I moved my arm away from Kara's grasp and climbed up next to him.

"No, I don't but we will find out her plan and stop her from having it completed." I explained. I pretty soon felt something swelling inside me and I didn't know what it was. Is it anger? Or hatred? Or is it something that I never felt before? I balled my fists, knowing that now wasn't the time to think about. I jumped onto the railing that was at the side of the ship as I ordered Kara to hand me her gun. She did and I aimed it the sky and fired it, making everyone nearby and here look at me.

"Pirates, out there is the most feared pirate in the entire world, waiting for us to come and fight her. But that's not all she's doing. She's planning something and we must not give into fear when we fight her and her armada. At this moment, you're all just silly little cowards but when this is through, you'll become fearsome pirates that just gained their freedom." I paused to let them process everything that I said. Their face expressions told me that they were scared but had hope of winning, which was great. "We set sail now!" They went into the positions as Harlock and Kuala worked together to navigate as I ordered the pirate captains who could hear me to hoist the flags. They hollered for their crew to do the same and passed on the message to the others.

Our flag was pulled up and waving against the harsh, cold wind as the ship pushed forward. Same did Nekian's. So the time has come, I thought. To destroy the one person that I despise more than the former king of Akaenia.