The Crystal in the Chasm

chapter 3

The fae pirate had escorted me to his private headquarters the second I slid down the rope. He said we had business to discuss and guided me through the crowd of snarling pirates. A few still had visible gashes exposed from the work of my daggers. He must have been in higher ranking in the pirate hierarchy for the rest of the crew not to question his decision to spare me. I bared my teeth at a couple as I had passed by. My magic had concealed only my Kingdom of Fae markings, but allowed my fae form to still shine through. There was no sense in hiding that any longer since my secret had already been revealed. He led me to a separate small room away from the other hammocks with a singular hammock and a large chest. A map was sprawled across an old table, a burnt-out candle dribbled beside it. A few books were stacked in the corner.

"What should I call you?" I blurted out and shifted uneasily in the corner of the room. I had been watching him tie another hammock from one post to another for an unbearable amount of time to be silent.

He fastened the last knot and tested the sturdiness, avoiding looking at me entirely as he spoke, "Crew calls me Death Bringer. I assume you do not want me to refer to you as Helena?"

I sucked in a breath. He had a slight pirate accent that made my name sound different on his tongue. My stomach twisted with disgust. He was a pirate! A filthy, lying pirate. I had to just endure this boat ride until I made it to shore and could find refuge elsewhere.

"Definitely not," I shook my head.

His eyes flickered, "Sea Wolf it is."

I blinked, "Sea Wolf? A pirate name?" My back rested against the doorframe casually as if I hadn't just mangled a bunch of his crew mere hours ago.

"If you are going to sail on my ship, you are going to be a pirate until you step foot off of it. Do you know what that entails?" Death Bringer's eyes met mine for a moment. The light blue fiercely contrasted with the darkness surrounding them.

I shook my head, "Enlighten me."

"It means," he sat casually in his hammock and swayed with a sense of power, "you do not speak of what happens on my ship once you are off my ship. A pirate does not betray a fellow crew member. As a member of my crew, you will not live to tell the stories of my ship should they try to even murmur from your lips. Dead men tell no tales."

Baring my teeth with a confident smile, "Is that a threat?" He would have to get some other fool to attempt to do his dirty work considering our bargain.

"It's a promise. Feel free to wash up in the room down the hall. You're stinking up the place," Death Bringer confidently strolled out of the room without a second glance.

I clenched my fists at my side, digging into the healing cut from our blood bargain. As if the men on this ship didn't reek!

When I was certain he was gone, I took advantage of his offer. I washed off the necessities and scrubbed as best as possible with a bucket of water and a rag. Ignoring the burn, I bit down on my lower lip and tried to clean out my open wounds that had started to scab slightly. Just as I was finishing washing up, a few knocks sounded on the door. I shuffled over and peeked through a crack only to find a pile of clothes on the floor. Sighing gratefully, I grabbed the garments quickly and shrugged them on before heading back to his room and folding my dirty clothes in a pile on the floor. The clothing that had been dropped off at the door had been a frilly white dress and a corset along with clean undergarments.

Sitting in the hammock Death Bringer had set up for me, I was reminded of my hunger. To distract myself, I began prodding around his things. First I rummaged through his books, deciding that I would read the one about ancient folklore tales later. Then my wandering fingers found themselves tracing lines upon his map, my nail lightly grazing the Kingdom of Fae before grunting and pushing the map away. When I had thoroughly bored myself, I noticed the small jewelry box that seemed to slip my attention the first time around scanning the area. When it clicked open, I gasped. The rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets within were to die for. Each of them were uniquely handcrafted by someone with such skill... I found myself braiding small braids throughout my hair with beads and jewelry like I had seen in Death Bringer's hair. Then I felt my pointed ears and shoved earrings in the various empty earring holes; they luckily hadn't closed despite the weeks I hadn't wore anything in them. One of his necklaces containing beads and a simple amethyst crystal found its way around my neck, followed by some rings and bracelets. If he wanted a pirate then he would get one. I was about to mess around with his eyeliner when the ship began to creak and groan as the water grew a little more violent than before.