The Azure Bottle: Chapter 12

 Chapter 12

Thyra felt her skin grow cold as the words hit her. What creature could live out here? There hadn’t been sight or sound of a bird in days, and the land surrounding the cove was barren. In the past days, when the sailors had tried to fish, the nets had come up empty. 

A shiver ran up her spine, and she felt her lip quiver as a missing piece fell into place.

“My father didn’t drown, did he? He had been a skilled swimmer; it had never made sense that he could have drowned. But was he…” Thyra bit her lip and fought back the tears that sprang into her eyes. Arne looked at her, his eyes filled with pity and grief. 

“I had to look away, I didn’t want to see the blood that followed when it grabbed him.” His voice was hardly above a whisper, but for Thyra it might as well have been concussive. She sat there in a stunned silence, heedless of the peril they were still in. 

“Thyra, I’m sorry, but we can’t stop now. We have to think of some way to get out of here. Arne told my father about the monster after his last voyage, but didn’t you say, captain, it was provoked by the rain and the ship? Three swimmers shouldn’t bother it.” The king inquired. The older man set his bound hands against the cut on his skull; the dried blood ran down the length of his face and had plastered itself in his beard. Thyra shook her head.

“We can’t try to swim,” she gestured with her head to Arne as his head lolled again. The king pursed his lips, and, pulling out his dagger, began to cut away at the captain’s ropes. 

“Well can you think of anything else that might work? They can’t see that we are unbound. My cousin will… kill us. I love her, Thyra, but like most sailors she is passionately avarice.” He squeezed his eyes closed letting the dagger hang limply in his hand. Thyra watched him, pity filling her eyes and heart. Setting her hand gently to his shoulder she squeezed it softly. 

“I love her too, she was a great friend, but we can’t think about that now. I don’t know how else we can escape, we have to try something else. We’ll never make it swimming.” A long silence ensued, broken only by the constant rhythm of the waves slapping the sides of the ship. 

“I’ll stay here and let them have their way with me, it should buy you two the time to escape.” He looked over at Thyra, his eyes peering into her’s. 

“You can’t! You just said she’d kill us, your people need you! I’ll stay. I’m much less important; I’ll stay.” Thyra swallowed down hard as she spoke the words and looked down. The king shook his head. 

“You are more important to me.” 

    Thyra shot her head up and looked into his eyes. The king’s cheeks flushed, but he held her gaze. “I’ll stay here and deal with my cousin. Help Arne and leave, that's an order.” Thyra continued to look at him too stunned to move, at last she returned to herself. This was her king, and she was sworn to obey him. Nodding her head, Thyra turned away from his enchanting eyes and back to Arne. She clasped his hands in her own, and he looked up at her. His eyes were glossy, and he seemed moments from unconsciousness. 

“Arne, we have to go.” She muttered softly. He gave her something that looked similar to a nod. She helped him to his feet, and the two hobbled over to the edge of the ship. The king ran over to the mass and untied the rope for the sails and cut it once it was a decent length. He ran back over to Thyra. 

    “Here, you can use this to lower yourself. I’ll try to help.” Thyra and the king lowered Arne down after instructing him to hold onto a piece of scrap wood that had broken from the floors when the sailors had attacked the captain. Arne was not a sailor to go down without a fight, and the broken wood was just a further sign of that.

    Once in the water and holding to his piece of wood, he slowly and groggily untied the rope from around his waist. The king pulled it back up. He looked at Thyra once the rope had been tied around her. His eyes were filled with grief, it was an expression that Thyra understood.

     Eyes locked and neither moving, they stood there, neither willing to end what was likely to be the last time they would ever see each other, though neither wanted to admit that. It was far better to think that, somehow, this would all end out for the best. 

    The king turned from her.

    “You need to go, the sun will rise soon.” He cast a furtive glance over his shoulder. There were no sailors out here at the moment. Thyra nodded and threw her leg over the side of the ship. The king came up to her, holding her steady as she got her other leg over the side. She stood there with her feet on the railing preparing to jump. 

    “Please be safe.” The king muttered, leaning closer to her. For a moment it seemed although he wanted to move in further, but he drew back. Thyra swallowed hard, then looked out over the edge of the ship. 

    “I will, as best as I can at least, my king.” The king nodded and pulled the rope tighter around her waist, then stepped back.

    “You don’t need to call me that, please just call me Beorn.” Thyra felt her cheeks flush slightly. With a deep breath she headed down the ship’s side.

The descent was slow, but even though she didn’t plunge into the icy water quickly it still felt like a blow to the gut when she reached it. Planting her feet on the side of the ship, she hurriedly untied the rope from around her waist and fell into the dark sea. 

The rope went back up quickly and soon disappeared. Forcing her chilled limbs to push her on, Thyra came up beside Arne. His face was pale, but he seemed more aware now with the cold water hitting him. He’d drifted a little ways, and Thyra had to struggle to pull him back on course. They’d swim right toward the monster’s cove and climb onto the rocks beside it, hopefully they could hide before daybreak. 

Thyra glanced up at the ship just as the king disappeared from the edge. She began to pull Arne behind her, though the splash of each wave pushed her back. She was making little headway, and it was becoming obvious just how long this was going to take. 

    The rocks edged closer and closer, bit by bit, stroke by stroke. The sun shone her first rays onto the world, shining onto the top of the mast like a gem. They wouldn’t be able to hide in time. 

. . . . .

Beorn drew his dagger and stood with shoulders back as the sailor’s began to pour from below deck. Hilda came from the captain’s cabin, her red hair as fiery as her eyes. 

“Cousin! Stop this madness please! Arne is the captain of this ship, stand down!” He cried and clutched the dagger in both hands. Hilda smirked and didn’t slow.

“Why should I? You knew about this treasure and you didn’t tell! Arne knew, Thyra knew, and none of you told! If you had had intentions to split it you would have told all of us!” She gestured to the crew. 

“This treasure isn’t for personal gain; I haven’t come here to get rich. This treasure can stop the war that plagues my kingdom! The war that killed our family! Hilda please, I beg you stop this!” Beorn moved closer to her as he spoke, and she stopped. 

“Why stop a war that suits me so well? I haven’t just sat here waitin’ for no reason! The kingdoms you are fightin’ have agreed that if I can provide them with you they’ll pay me a handsome sum. Do you honestly think that this crew didn’t know who you were from the moment you stepped on this ship? We’ve all been waitin’ for the right moment simply to hand you over, but when we heard there was treasure we decided to wait until you fools had led us here. I, however, have been bidin’ my time for a year, this was the first chance I got. And, well, the politicians I’m dealin’ with have been gettin’ rather impatient, but when I told them before we left where we were goin’ they were all too eager for this opportunity to take you prisoner. I, of course had to speak with them again at our last stop by correspondence or they would’ve stopped before they’d reached this cove.” Beorn stared at his cousin, his mouth fallin’ open. Steppin’ back, he held his dagger up. Had he ever truly known her?

“You traded me out! You’re a traitor to the crown!” He bellowed, anger and pain battling for control. Hilda’s smile faded.

“It wasn’t a hard thin’ to do after you all ostracized me! I wanted to sail, and you lot made me give up everything because of it,” She looked down at the hilt of her sword, then back up at Beorn, “They never said that I had to give you to them alive!” She was screaming now. Grabbing her sword and pulling it from its sheath, she bolted for him, the cold metal flashing.  

. . . . .

    Bah bah Bum!!!! Let me know in the comments if you saw that coming. I'll admit I didn't well writing this, and when Hilda showed what she was truly I was shocked and sad. She had been one of my favorites. 

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