From Sea to Sky

o n e | l a n a

o n e | l a n a 

g r a p h i c  b y  anisa__angel

AS LANA LOOKS into the distance and surveys the endless ocean from atop a rope ladder, a sense of dread fills her as she notices a ship with dark sails approaching, the double sword and kraken sigil all too familiar. Watching its inevitable arrival makes her limbs feel weak and bitter anticipation begins to weigh her down. This isn't any ordinary ship; it's the bounty hunter ship that stole her away from her home nine years ago, forcing her into a life where she's berated, beaten, and broken into a person she hardly recognizes.

"Incoming ship on the starboard bow!" Lana forces herself to yell as the ship comes closer, her obedience causing something to dislodge itself within her, leaving her shaken and uneasy.

One of her many tasks while she's aboard the ship is to announce the arrival of any friend or foe that makes their appearance on the horizon. She wishes she had the courage to stand up to them but after years of scars etched across her body and memories of the agony she has endured engraved in her mind, all acts of defiance, no matter how insignificant they may be, never seem worthwhile; at least not any more. Maybe once they were, maybe once she was braver and more foolish, but after so many years, defiance has become a burden that she cannot afford to bear.

Standing confidently upon the freshly mopped deck, Captain Henry Drax of the Sea Terror looks up at her in the Jacob's ladder with a cruel grin. He seems to have known this ship would arrive today, and the day he bought her from them must be just as unforgettable to him as it is to Lana. Flashes of faded memories steal her breath away as she remembers fire and screaming and so much agony. Her breath starts to come in short gasps and her world starts to fall away as she descends into a memory that seems oh so distant and yet still manages to tear a visceral reaction from her body. She squeezes her eyes shut and, like she has done many times before, forces herself to take deep breaths and return to the present. As she opens her eyes she fights the urge to look away from Drax as anger, shame, and fear dominate her. Every inch of her screams of terror and trauma that's buried deep, but she cannot let him win. This is not his victory to take from her.

After watching her reaction for a moment, a smirk spreads across Drax's features that only she can see and he turns away, perversely satisfied by her reaction. His husky voice echoes across the ship and in an instant everything is alive, moving as one in preparation for the bounty hunters' arrival, a flurry of ropes being adjusted and crew members disappearing below decks. Lana watches them all with a sick sense of interest as something nauseous builds in her stomach, imitating a vicious kind of sea sickness and tying her stomach into painful knots, making her spirits sink further.

The hustle of the ship below spurs her into action and she starts the long descent down the ladder. As she moves closer to the site where the transaction will take place and sees other slaves being whisked down below decks, their presence blissfully unimportant, the burning question of why she's treated so very differently from any other slaves on this ship rises within her. From the moment Lana was bought, she had become Drax's personal puppet. She became his lookout for foreign ships, his messenger, his errand runner, but most importantly, his victim. She bears the brunt of his anger as other slaves watch on; a terrified, morbid curiosity forcing them to stare at her as Drax covers her body in blue and black blooms of color. None of the other slaves carry these bruises; that is a privilege reserved for her alone; they may be forced to row and clean until they collapse, but only she feels Drax's wrath as it caresses her each evening with vice-like grips and closed fists.