The Heir of Depths

The crew spotted an island on the distance just when the first rays of the daylight sun started striking the deck. The Captain had decided to restore the ship with provision and spend the night on land, leaving the next morning before sunrise. Arline had spent the day helping the crew settle and chose to take a break on the shore, by the growing shade of the ship, to watch the Sun fall across the horizon.

She hadn’t seen Merrick for the entire day, but noticed his eyes following her every now and then, making her feel protected. Everything was going smoothly until the unwanted presence of another crew of men approached from in between the trees, a dark blond young man as their lead.

“If this isn’t the Dark Prince and his haunted ship” the young man said with arrogance while leaning against a tree.

“Hello Aidan” Merrick faced him with a boring expression on his face “I didn’t know you roamed around these islands?” He didn’t sound scared, it was as if he was talking with an old friend.

“Why? You consider me a coward?” he planted himself in front of Merrick.

“No, just too lazy and lustful to leave your own kingdom” he quickly replied, unfazed by his presence.

“What are you doing around here anyway, Merrick?” Aidan ignored the insult “You are far away from the mountains”

“Just inquiries, expeditions” he gracefully lied “The usual” he smirked with his chin up.

Merrick seemed calmed and collected on the outside, but inside he was desperate. He knew if Aidan found Arline, having two or three of his sailors killed was going to be the least of his problems.

She approached the crowd, carefully not getting too involved. But it didn’t take much time for some of the visitors to take hold of her small frame, she got an awful sense of deja vu “They are traveling with a woman Aidan” one of them said while pushing her in front of him a little too violently.

“Who’d say?” he smirked at Merrick who could just close his eyes “Very beautiful, where did you find her?” Aidan used the tone of an entitled prick, almost as if he believed he could charm her.

Merrick didn’t answer and gestured Arline to remain relaxed, something she already wasn’t and just added rage and nervousness into her system.

“None of your business” he became more protective as he was approaching her.

“Not very nice, your Highness” he grabbed Arline tightly by her arm and she instinctively pulled away “Feisty this one” he looked at her, surprised but pleased at her reaction. Arline was challenging him with her eyes.

“Don’t touch her Aidan, not unless you want to end up with your balls up your throat” he stepped in between them.

“I’d like to see you try sunshine” Arline really wasn’t having it with this back and forth game but could only lift an eyebrow. “Your crew stays on the ship, guarded by my people” Aidan said and Arline started walking towards it “Not so fast gorgeous, you and him come with me to my camp” one of his men lifted her up too easily. She gave a fair fight but not enough to free herself from the giant holding her.

They walked through the dense and cold forest until they arrived to a very well put together campsite. Then, Aidan’s men tied them up to a tree a few meters away from one of the various tents.

“We will figure out what to do with them in the morning” the blond blinked to the brunette and charmingly smiled to the girl. Then he left, leaving them with just their thoughts in complete silence.

“This wasn’t part of the trip schedule” Merrick said after hours of not speaking. The stars were already settled on the deep blue sky, while a chill breeze sneaked in between the trees.

“Who is he?” Arline asked him from the other side of the tree trunk, her back was screaming at her to get up and stretch.

“An arrogant entitled asshole” he said without hesitation and an amount of calmness that Arline found unsettling, considering the situation they were in.

“Well I know a whole lot like him then” she didn’t mean to say that but she started to ramble her thoughts back to her home town.

“Aidan Fajro, Prince of the Kingdom of Pozarite” he specified “His entire family shares the fire gift”

“Obsessed with purity?”

“Exactly”

They went silent again for a few minutes. Her head started to drop thanks to how tired she was, but the sudden movement of the ropes around her woke her senses.

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to get the rope loose because it’s impossible” she said to him.

“On one of my sleeves there is a dagger sharp enough to cut through this damned rope” Merrick guided Arline.

“So you just carry knives around you?” she found herself hilarious.

“Well yes, now help me” He thought it was a stupid question.

They were both struggling but considering they were opposite and couldn’t see each other, they were doing a pretty good job.

“Very subtle” she said after she could take a look at the weapon. Arline got out a not so small dagger with its handle covered in sapphires

“Birthday gift, very efficient” the Prince started cutting the edges slowly, trying not to get attention drawn to their spot.

They freed from the shackles and started walking slowly to get inside the forest and lose themselves in the dark. The very improvised plan was working out pretty well until one of the shift guards spotted their two figures and threw a ball of fire, aiming for their heads. They got down and tried hiding behind a big pine tree.

“Don’t move” he whispered at her giving her goosebumps “When I tell you, run”

“When you tell me what?” Arline sounded desperate. He didn’t exactly tell her anything and just grabbed her by her wrist, pulling her and started running, leaving the agonizing screams of the enemy crew behind.

They were on a high speed race, trying to avoid branches, stones and the imminent attacks being thrown at them. They continued running until they encountered a downhill. It was as if they were on a rollercoaster because of how fast they were descending. Arline got to slow down before she got hit by some rocks and got hold of Merrick before he hit head.

“Thank you” he said to her out of breath as he was trying to compose himself.

They were hiding behind a rock, trying to look for the right time to strike. When they lifted their heads they just saw a dark grey column of fog and smelled burning wood. Behind them, fire was consuming a path of trees, directing to the shore of the beach, where they were hiding. So they had to get away and head to the ship without a tangible plan.

Before they could react, some of the men guarding the entrance of their ship noticed them approaching quickly from the distance and lifted their swords, ready to fight them. The Prince took the hold of a sword from one of the sailors and began showing how skillful he was, and bought Arline enough time to escape the other man. Merrick noticed in that moment she was fast and flexible and had an ease to throw and handle punches.

“Go, I am right behind you” he said to her at the same time he was slashing his sword through one of the men. She didn’t believe him and tried staying by his side but he insisted.

Once on the ladder, a big man was waiting for her. She thought about going around him but he was too fast. Then the sudden realization of her skin in contact with the metal weapon hit her, she had been holding the Prince’s dagger this entire time. Thanks to the terror, the situation and the adrenaline running through her blood, she threw the dagger at the man, which landed in the middle of his forehead with the full force of speed and desperation. The giant fell on his knees and finally landed on his side whilst a pool of blood drained from the wound, taking the life out of his eyes.

“Nice shot” one of the crew members said, while handling a much smaller soldier.

Arline’s entire body was in shock, she couldn’t move a muscle and couldn’t stop staring at the body she took a life from, laying at her feet. In that moment, Merrick approached the ladder and saw the scene. He rushed to Arline’s encounter, saw the body and took the dagger out and put it away quickly, then kicked the body to the side, making it splash against the water.

“Arline” he cupped her cheeks to make her look at him, Merrick was trying to sound composed and to take her out of the bridge into the safety of the ship but she wasn’t moving “Arline focus” her eyes were cloudy with forming tears, looking down into the water.

“What have I done?” she was in disbelief and the remorse was unbearable, not to mention her mind was all over the place. She wanted to jump to the water and try reviving the body.

“Nothing that I wouldn’t have done myself” He pulled her on the ship’s deck immediately, without letting her get a glimpse of the cadaver floating underneath them.

Zeroun didn’t wait for the Captain to give the order to leave and took command of the ship while Merrick was dealing with a slightly bigger problem. Morality.

The Prince pulled Arline quickly into his cabin. She didn’t wait a second and curled up in a ball in a corner of the room and silently started crying, her face buried on her arms. He let her do it. Everyone coped differently, he understood that better than anybody. Merrick felt somehow relieved she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of death.

Several hours after sailing, the crew could calm down considering there was no imminent danger lurking around, for now. But Arline had stayed in the same position, in the same place since they had escaped., without lifting her face from her arms.

“Arline” Merrick softly said, squatting in front of her “Please Arline, look at me”

She lifted her head, showing her small nose tinted with a bright red blush and her eyes were puffy and irritated, tears were still streaming down her face “I’m sorry” she said wiping the tears away.

“For what?” he asked.

“You know what I did” her voice was weak. She didn’t even want to say the word.

“You did it to save your own life Arline” he quickly said, sitting by her side.

“Anyone else would tell me I’m a monster” she was looking at her hands, she was shaking a little bit.

“If I begin listing how many lives every person in this boat has taken, we should build you an altar and call you a Saint” She didn’t laugh despite finding it funny “How could I blame you for protecting yourself against a threat to your life” he gently told her but when Merrick saw she was still shaking, he grabbed her hands carefully and slowly, almost asking for permission to touch her, and started to rub them gently.

She was silent, replaying the moment in her head until a question escaped her lips “How did you handled it the first time?” It took the Prince by surprise because he never stoped to remember how his first killing happened.

“It was a battle” Merrick simply said “I only realized what I had done when it was over, and cried myself to sleep every night for weeks” Arline couldn’t imagine Merrick crying out of guilt but imagined a much more naive and young man in that situation.

“I know that your chest will feel heavy, you will not want to eat, sleep will not find you, but please do not try to push that feeling away, Arline” he advised her with a soft tone “Try to sleep”

Arline got up from the floor with his help, and washed her hand and face, recalling every detail. She believed her mind wouldn’t shut off but when she laid on the bed, it only took her a few minutes to fall asleep. Merrick covered her frame with a blanket and got out of the room.

Zeroun was waiting outside, checking the sailors on deck and still giving out orders every once in a while. His Captain patted him on the back and thanked him for his work.

“How is she?” Zeroun asked him. He was slightly worried for his friend. He wanted to go to her and calm her, assure her she was still a good person despite doing something so horrible like killing someone.

“Devastated, filled with guilt” he was looking at his crew “She will grow out of it eventually” Merrick was sure of that. He knew Arline was strong, but he didn’t know the limits of the girl laying on his bed. He would have to test them and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for either of them.

“We all do” Zeroun looked back at the door of the Captain’s cabin.