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WARNING: Mature content

:  C H A P T E R  N I N E T E E N : 

 The island was made of a massive stone table resting upon nature-built pillars on all ends. As I stared up at it while Conroy guided me beneath its strong overhang, I reckoned the thickness of the flat rocky top could fit two of me.

The pillars were carved into with the faces I saw surrounding the archway leading in and out of this lake. Torches hung on the rocky walls that domed over our heads, tunneling down into the depths of the mammoth cave, though they all remained unlit. All around we could hear the rush of running water, and the drizzle of rivulets from the walls the deeper it went down beneath the lake water. A single staircase led down to the collection of fires being held in the hands of Avarice and the other shipmates. The man in the boat remained back on the shore, leaving the remainder of us to descend into the damp darkness.

The steady decline took Conroy, Shannon, Ivan, Archer and I to the level ground where I nearly walked directly into a massive pit with a perfectly circular circumference. Conroy pulled me back from falling completely, but it still made my heart jump into my throat. I realized how skittish I was, especially when I stared ahead at the faces across the circle, and found the firelight glowing on the eyes of each of the men I knew from the ship. They were all watching me, their eyes reflecting a mixture of pity when they saw me standing there, apart from the crowd. I became a stranger again to them, and I never felt more alone, even with Ivan there watching from afar.

"That took a bit longer than I expected," a voice announced from the side, approaching Conroy and I as we stood around the circle. I saw a torch in the man's hand, illuminating the beard on his chin, and the gleam of ice in his eyes.

Avarice stood there, and beckoned me over. "Come 'ere, dearie. We've got to get ya cleaned up before midday." It sounded like a mighty fine idea defying him right about then, but I couldn't deny that my skin felt grimy and I was fairly positive I had a few scrapes that I didn't recall acquiring.

I followed Avarice over to the wall where he propped up the torch in an iron metal holster beside a face sculpted from the rock face. I couldn't stop staring at it and its sharp, menacing teeth while Avarice ordered Ivan to help. A stream of water descended from the mouth of the face, but it was a weak amount of water that dribbled onto the ground and descended the gentle slope to the main ground.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Avarice's voice echoed, even though he kept it down to a low hush. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned his eyes upward, as if he could see something there that in the light we couldn't see. Ivan approached my side, took a handful of water, and addressed the raw skin that the cuffs kept covered until now.

"And what is it, exactly?" I inquired, keeping my voice sharp at the end to imply I wasn't happy about this entire experience whatsoever.

"I've spent a great part of my lifetime to find this place. I was nineteen, I b'lieve, when the Oseaans recognized me as my father's son. He used ta come here, it seems," he explained, a thoughtful, yet saddening expression falling on his face as he buried his hand among the hairs on his chin. I found that I couldn't stray my eyes from him, even as Ivan doused the blood from my face and pressed his palm forcefully to the wound on my temple.

"Oseaans?" I repeated. It sounded similar to the Southern accent of "oceans".

"The people who brought us 'ere," he clarified. "Before me, my father enlisted their help. He's an explorer of sorts, has been since I was a child. I can't remember a time when I'd spent more than a week with my da at a time."

Talking about his father made me uncomfortable. I nibbled on my lip and resisted the urge to look at Ivan, though I could already see it on his face out of the corner of my eye. He looked gravely concerned, but kept his words to himself. He dropped his hands from my head and looked towards his captain, who brushed his sleeves up to his elbows and stepped forward, reaching out for my head.

"What're you-" I started, but stopped as soon as his hand made contact with the wound and a bright pain fizzled to life there. I recognized the words mumbling past his lips, and resisted the urge to be amazed as the pain subsided, and the cool touch of air once again hit the surface of my temple, no longer split at the skin.

I stared at Avarice in amazement as he walked away, brushing his hands together and returning his sleeves down to his wrists.

"He's a charmer," I gasped, looking instantly towards Ivan. He appeared just as uneasy as he did this entire way here. In fact, he looked sick to his stomach.

"It's easier to charm here, and the cap'ain's studied the art most his life. The island is the center of charming in the Outer Planes, so even if you have a small amount of magic in your system, it can be enhanced tenfold just to step inside here. I've studied it for quite some time now, an' I've read legends that say here's where it started. The Pool of Life has charming abilities over there," he explained, pointing to the perfectly circular dip in the earth that seemed to drop down for ages. I realized no one got too close to the edge, but stayed around the rim of bricks surrounding it.

"Pool of Life? Why haven't I heard of it?" I asked, though that was untrue. Among the tales and rumors about the Outer Planes existence, there were ridiculous myths about creatures lurking in the forests, and ravaged humans cannibalizing on newcomers. I felt foolish for not believing that eternal life was promised, and almost wished I would have heeded more cautiously to the tales.

"It isn't well known. As far as I know, only the Oseaans worship here. I've only ever observed their culture though, an' two cultures never overlap in this area. Perhaps the Pool of Life was originated by the Oseaan people, or a civilization before 'em," he said, tossing his arms in the air in a vast sweep, displaying to me the open space around us. His voice echoed off the walls, and I realized the cave went deeper than I thought.

I withdrew from my place on the outskirts of the pirates. Ivan followed me in my quest to approach the Pool, staring down as far as the light was willing to reach. The edges of the Pool were perfectly sculpted, not a rock out of place other than the occasional crack from the wear and use of it. It was massive—the diameter was the length of my entire body with my arms stretched up. Overhead, the torchlight caught on a sliver of metal.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing up to the bar that connected to a wooden beam drawn over the top of the Pool. There was a rope strung down from it, and I nearly went pale when I mistook it for a noose.

I stumbled back under the hand of one of the pirates, warning me away from the edge. "Ya best not fall down there, girlie. Lest ya die before we get this thin' overwit'," he joked, and had it not been for the fact he was making fun of my demise, I may have laughed with the others. Instead, I frowned and knitted my eyebrows together. Shaking my hand away from him, I pushed back over to Ivan, who stood on the sidelines. His visage was growing more and more distressed, and glowed with an eerie concern beneath the light of the torches. I couldn't blame him—I was terrified as well.

Living forever in such an immature age didn't sit well with me, nor did living forever fit my fancy.

There came a stir of frenzy commotion across the cave, which drew all of our attempt to the shrill shriek of a woman. She shouted in another language, and I nearly lost my breath when I finally recognized it. She spoke so little when I last saw her, and I couldn't recognize her at all without being able to see those pure periwinkle eyes.

"Mhyra," I gasped, clutching my hands over my mouth when the shouting became too loud to dissect.

It echoed all around, hammering into my eardrums as she writhed among the pirates as Avarice stood on the steps behind me, shouting above everyone at an increasing volume. "Tie the ropes tighter!"

"What's going on?" I breathed out, horrified at the sight of the men setting their torches on the metal handles surrounding the Pool. The woman I knew as Mhyra was forced to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, breaking into sobs as they tightened the ropes that bound her arms to her body, and her ankles together. The sound of her screeching was terrifying, and all I wanted to do was cover my ears and beg for them to stop.

I looked over my shoulder at Avarice, only to be distracted by the light entering the cave. The sun was setting, and it was beginning to cast its orange glow down the steps. Avarice became a mere silhouette against it as the light crept towards us as we gathered around.

"Step back, everyone! Stay at the walls!" the captain shouted, and started down the steps again. I nearly slipped on the dampness of the floor in my attempt to back away, but he caught me by my arm and nearly dragged me towards the fountain he healed me at. He stepped onto the rim of the room where the rock stood over the flooring where the men scattered, except for a few that reluctantly remained to push Mhyra out over the Pool. She wailed loudly, her voice cracking until I couldn't understand whether or not she was speaking in a tongue anymore.

They hung her upside down like a piece of meat over the Pool.

"What are you doing to her! You can't do this!" I cried out, tugging helplessly at Avarice where he clasped onto my wrist in an iron grip. The more I twisted, the more it hurt and burned where my skin twisted over my bones. "Let her go!"

My chest ached, and the hot tears streaming down my cheeks stung all the more. The light was pouring in, crisp and pure and glittering against the moist droplets scattering across the rocky ground. It touched the final step, and surged on for the rim of the pool. All the while, I pleaded for someone to release her. The paint on her face was starting to smudge black down her forehead and into her hairline where the tears fell.

The sunshine pierced the first posts around the Pool, and the flames burst from their torches and scattered ash across the cave floor. The two men standing on the other end ducked and shielded their arms over their heads. There came an urgent sense of doom the fast the sunlight reached the Pool, and as it dipped into its darkness, Avarice shouted something just moments before a roar filled the cavern and deafened our ears.

It sounded like... a angry current of water, and a furious voice echoing the name of the doomed.

One man held Mhyra by the rope around her hands, while the other took a knife to her neck.

"No! Don't kill her, please!" I screamed, managing to take a step down from the ridge around the cavern walls. My wrist screamed in agony—it felt like I was chained to the cell in The Avarice's brig again. My sole wish at that moment was to escape so I could help Mhyra, at the very least push one of the men into the Pool so he would never cause any harm again. I despised my shipmates now, for they were hardly that. They were murderers, just as Father always said.

"Mhyra! Wait!" The voice echoed around the cavern, among the swishing of invisible water circling back around again.

Footsteps pounded along the stone walls, and in a roar of intense importunate demands, Avarice yelled, "Finish it, dammit!"

My knees hit the ground as the blade struck her throat. It slid ever so swiftly across her flesh, severing it wide open and splaying blood down around her chin. It merged with the white streaks of paint, turning it red. Her jaw remained in mid-scream, periwinkle eyes glazed over with all the awful dread that dribbled across her delicately painted features. The sunshine gripped her image in that moment, shining upon the dark black of her blood as it soaked into her hair.

Oh how I wished I could forget the moment her eyes became paralyzed, and how little Avarice cared for her. Her purpose as apart of this ritual was unbeknown to me, nor did I ever want to know. It should have never happened.

If only I had run away sooner. Her sacrifice never would have been needed.

"No!" someone burst, exploding into a fitful rage of cusses and terrible curses at Avarice. Two shadows fell across the space of liquified sunlight, and I became distracted by my own tears blurring everything into white exposure. A ripple of it came flooding down the staircase, washing out the light in an almost heavenly glow that rushed across the stone flooring. The kicked up at the ankles of the intruders, petrified at the bottom steps.

It was Cody.

The other man urged Cody out of the sunlight, and in a burst of speed Avarice heaved me to my feet and hauled me back onto the rim just as the water flooded the ground in a whirl of a storm. I could only stare between Mhyra and Cody, whose cheeks were stained with the same blurry white I saw in my own vision. All there was were tears and water, and a mixture of them both as they rushed towards the Pool of Life.

The sunshine was sheer gold, and it encompassed the cave in its awesome glory. The fountains streamed excessively, pouring into the whirlwind of water that drained into the Pool. At the height of its strength, it reached the edge of our careful stone rim. All I could hear was the rush of water in my ears, and all I could focus on was the face across from me, beyond the Pool, and standing along the edge of the cave with his stricken eyes fixated on Mhrya.

Her loss panged deep in my heart, and I feared I'd feel it ringing there forever.

The water ceased to rush any longer from the staircase the moment the sunlight began to fade again, and merely remain around the circle of torches glowing brighter than ever. I grew to realize that the darkness that reflected in the pool wasn't the emptiness I saw before, nor was it the water that seemed to dissolve into its depths. It had a reddish hue that mirrored on the ceiling in ripples of bloody gore.

The last of the sunlight dissolved from the cavern, and yet remained alight in the pool of blood. It embraced the cave, emitting a reddish glow that provided light to see the pale faces of Avarice's men, and the way Ivan stumbled off his post and sought to find a bucket in which he could vomit.

"Come." Avarice's order couldn't be ignored. His voice grew stoney, and though his excitement was clear, there was a solemn attitude in the way he stepped off the edge and pulled me down with him. I collapsed to the ground almost instantly, unable to hold my weight up. I stared helplessly at Mhyra's body, which spun haphazardly in the wind and faced the opposite direction. I was almost glad for that, for I could not bear to see those eyes lack any color at all.

"N-No," I stammered, my throat constricting and threatening to close up for good. My tongue felt impossibly heavy in my mouth, and swallowing became a difficult task the longer I replayed Mhyra's death in my mind, and the way the water was swallowed up by the Pool.

Avarice dragged me anyway, unhindered by his men who all saw the death of the only other female on the ship. He forced me to my feet and shoved me towards the pool, and I feverishly grasped onto one of the poles that held the torches. As helpless as I was, I wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Father, you can't." He spoke up finally, barely able to find his own voice. I looked up, astonished to see Cody stepping down from the rim and coming over to the Pool. He was visibly disturbed by Mhrya's body, still dripping blood into the Pool. It looked as though she'd emptied gallons of it within minutes, and the thought made me queasy.

"This doesn't concern you, boy. Step away," Avarice ordered. I clutched onto the pole tighter, pressing my cheek against its cold surface while the light from the pool caught on Conroy's face as he stepped up and stood alongside Cody. He didn't look nearly as phased as Cody did—in fact, he didn't look phased at all.

When Conroy held a hand onto Cody's arm, he shook it away and stepped around closer to me. "I refuse to let ya go through with this. Maxine's got no part in this either."

Avarice hesitated, not out of reluctance for his decision, but out of unbearable anger that clung to his tongue and twisted it in horrid ways. Now was not a time for him to snap at his son, nor at anyone for that matter. My spirit was weakened the longer I stood near Mhyra's suspended body, and I could barely stand the stench of blood stinging my nose.

"You pathetic boy," Avarice hissed, and it felt like a punch to my gut to hear him say it to Cody's face. "If you believe in love and family, you have no right to call yourself part of my crew."

In that moment, I was struck by his atrociousness. I couldn't even grapple for a grip on the pole as soon as he reeled me back by the collar of my shirt. I barely had time to catch my footing before it was lost on the edge of the Pool, and I fell straight back through the air. The backs of my legs were the first to strike the surface, and a slice of white-hot fire engulfed them. A scream ripped out of my throat, and I reached up to grab onto something, but my fingers only reached the end of Mhyra's hair before my entire body was emerged in the inferno of her blood.

I was immobilized, and no matter what I couldn't stop sinking. 

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