icarus

//thanks for the inspiration.//

Captain Matthias Spencer stared over the precipice of his destiny. His crew-mates' jeers from behind him brought the vile taste of his last meal up his throat. All that he had done for them, the riches that he had brought forth, was thrown back into his face with the rough wood of the plank damn near stabbing his feet. He had expected to feel a lot more…frightened of death, he was a pirate after all, a man of ill repute who had been ravaging British shores since he began this life a decade ago.

Matthias had been a sixteen year old with nothing to lose, already a known criminal to the crown. Mere petty thievery to make ends meet for his mother and his survival. The violent waters below him combined with the cascading rains of a beginning hurricane reminded him of her. A fiery woman who loved her liquor than propriety and taken from him far too soon after his last arrest from consumption. When he had been released he boarded the earliest ship and headed to the Americas with the many pounds in his pocket his mother had managed to save for him. A measly sum but ‘twas enough to get his life started in the new world.

The months long voyage left the young teen anxious and jumpy and he traversed the ship he road upon, attending to whatever ship maintenance was needed. Oddly enough, he took to it splendidly and was disheartened to leave it. A crewman by the name of Robert Saliné took him under his wing and informed him of the pirate lifestyle. Robert had been an infiltrator and the navigator, tasked with getting their ship as close to his captain’s as possible and he saw promise in the young Matthias.

When the time had come for the mutiny and take over of the ship, Matthias joined the pirates in swiping all the riches then aptly became a cabin boy, soon rising through the ranks as he became more and more valuable to the captain. Robert had continued to assist him in his duties and a tentative love affair began for the two. A regrettable affair all things considered as the man stood askew at his side, once loving grey eyes slitted into malice and drunk on power. Matthias wanted to laugh at the irony but found there was no laughs he could bring up from his lungs. Only a crushing sadness of defeat. The man’s first damn action Matthias had seen from him had been betrayal. Why had he thought making him his first mate and trusted adviser would be different? Foolish sentimentality was the death of me mother, he thought bitterly.

“Tis not too late Matt, there is still time to accept me as yer new captain,” said Robert.

He used his nickname to spite him. Working his jaw, Matthias stood his ground a faced out towards the unholy expanse of the ocean.

“You are dead to me. Each and every last one of you,” he said.

His wrists were tied together sloppily and tightly with a rope. He figured he was too inconsequential to use the proper metallic cuffs and his rosebud lips trembled. No, damn them they would not see him cry. He wouldn’t allow it! He focused steadily on the pouring rain that seeped into his once impeccable golden sapphire coat, now but mere rags after the beatings he had received.

Everything precious he owned now turned to ashes before his very eyes. The crew stared at him now with some resemblance of curiosity to their colosseum blood thirst. If they had been expecting a broken man he would not give them the satisfaction. Robert froze in his own congratulatory mood and his fist slammed into Matthias’ jaw with no warning and Matthias managed just barely to stop himself from going over. He spit out a tooth and a mouthful of blood, peering up defiantly.

“Is that all you got?” he said angrily.

Robert ignored him and addressed the crew with his red hair glued to his head with the force of the rain. Even now the man looked attractive to the desolate Matthias. There was power to the other’s gait, a sense of charisma that only Robert possessed. He was not a handsome man by any means with his crooked nose, numerous facial scaring, and thin lips as though the had been pressed upon by an iron, nay twas his ego and ambition that had brought him Matthias’s numerous affections. Ambition that was now being brought to fruition.

“Gentlemen observe your once Captain, now but a mere wretch. His carelessness has cost you money, jewels, and the whores you so rightfully deserve,”

Matthias was not sure if it was the money or the whores that had started the cheers of the crowd but he gathered his bearings, as much as one could tied up and in tattered cloth, and shakily stood to his feet. His legs wobbled in a way he hadn’t felt since he first got on a ship and his eyes took back in the ocean. There in the distance a small light illuminated under the water and he furrowed his brows as his once lover continued on his speech.

“….And so we have gathered to send him to the sirens below so he can meet his maker. God rest his soul.”

“God rest his soul,” came the hollers of the crowd. It sounded almost sympathetic if not for the laughter that came afterwards. Bastards.

He felt the thin steel blade stab into his back and he began his all too quick journey to the ends of the plank, his heart now a steady rhythm. There is went again! Another light under the water. It had to be his eyes playing tricks on him or the lightning from above yet, he had never seen lightning make lights so effervescent under the water and such an odd green. It was far too hard to make it out in the darkness and he was far too preoccupied with his current situation to notice it coming closer and closer.

His steps streaked blood as he came to the edge with the splinters in his feet inching themselves closer to the bones of his toes and his soles. He wondered if Robert would have any last words, something resembling the love for him that he once had. Hope was a dangerous thing for a man like him to have and the sword stabbed further into his shoulder wing and, with nary a signal, Matthias was kicked overboard. Robert unceremoniously spit down at his fallen lover but the rain was so plentiful and the pain so great, the ex captain couldn’t even tell it was on him.

The ocean welcomed him as an abusive spouse and the waves roared, enveloping him entirely with no relief. With his hands tight behind his back, Matthias could not properly swim and he swallowed the salt water against his will as he fought Poseidon with the god of the ocean winning. His lungs were on fire and filled up quickly with water with his legs kicking out once more in vain against the inevitable. All he saw in his reddened vision was once again that cerulean light and a gorgeous face close to his with a brow furrowed in concern. It was a face that defied human description, chiseled jaws, a cleft chin, hair the color of silver.

It seemed human but not fully, with a kaleidoscope of gills firmly etched into its neck and masculine presenting with strong arms that quickly wrapped him in their embrace. It made a loud noise, almost in grief, but Matthias couldn’t keep his eyes open for another second and fell into darkness.

- - - -

Johthaan had been watching the human king for quite some time now, all against his clan’s warnings. They had warned him against interactions with all humans, citing the thousands of his race killed by their foolishness and hatred. Dangerous they called them, yet he could not see what was so dangerous about the human king. Johthaan watched him as the sun began its rest for many days and the king looked…sad. A handsome tragedy wrapped in golden silks.

The others on the moving castle were different, rougher and grimier, each one more dirty than the last but this one kept himself to a higher plane of cleanliness and there was a kindness to that face he had never seen from a human before. He wanted to talk to him, touch him, sing to him as his ancestors had before they had been driven out of Ireland and Wales into the Pacific ocean.

Johthaan spent hours thinking of what he would say to the golden haired king and practiced his singing in secret from his clan and family to the crab colony that lived not that far from their coral reef home. All sirens of the day were out of practice in their singing due to King Triton banning such for their safety then the kings henceforth upholding his decree. That never stopped him and he was far too old to be controlled by his mother and father, let alone his clan chief Zostien. He was two hundred and twenty four years old for Poseidon’s sake and they left him to his own devices.

Tonight he had not been expecting to see the human king so tattered and abused. Some days ago he had left the starboard bow with one last look and had been gone all hours of the days without warning. Anxiety had stricken Johthaan enormously and he began to follow closer to the moving castle, checking for any and all signs of the object of his affection. Now he knew what those on the ship had done and the hatred in him could not and would not be quenched so easily. They would pay for what they had done. But first, the human king needed to be healed.

The heartbeat of the other was faint, but still there hammering softly at it ribbed jail cell. There was only one way to save him but it required a magic he did not posses. Only Zostien had the power to change a human into a selkie as he was but it would be difficult to convince him. He sung a soft lullaby to unconscious blond in his arms and held his hand against his chest. The magic he did know was minimal but it was enough tondo the trick. A green light emulated from his palm and sunk itself into the water filled lungs, sucking out the water that it could and replacing the injured flesh with gills that matched his own.