Save the Sea

by G. Bailey

  “The war has started. It happened earlier than we thought,” she says, and I nod. I know my pirates would have rushed in here because of my leaving. I stand up, holding my dagger in one hand and the crown in the other as I follow Jacob’s mother to the door. She unlocks it, and we walk out into the large, empty corridor.

  “My husband, and those loyal to the princes, have gone ahead to disarm the guards surrounding the queen,” she explains to me as we run down the corridor. We run around a corner, and she leads me to a set of stairs. As we run up them, a cannon smashes into the staircase, going straight through the wall.

  “Faster, they are destroying the castle,” she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs around the falling stone. I climb with her, holding on to the dagger and crown even when it’s hard to. We come out to another corridor, and it is packed with guards. There are at least ten guards on the floor knocked out. There are five still standing, and they nod at us when they spot us. Jacob’s mother runs to one of the guards, holding him close, and I walk past them all, straight towards the closed door.

  “The queen is in there, with two maids passed out,” one of the guards tells me.

  “Thank you.” I ask one more thing of them just before I open the door. “Now, do not let anyone in here, please?”

  “For the crown and for our children’s lives, we will protect the door,” the man I presume is Jacob’s father says firmly, and the guards move into a line between the door and the only staircase. I take a deep breath before opening the door and going inside. The room is dimly lit with several candles. There are no windows and just a simple bed. On the floor near the door are two brown-haired girls, their heads hung down, so I can’t see their faces. I can hear that they’re breathing, so I know they are okay. The queen sits on the bed, her long, almost-black hair hiding her face.

  “Queen Riah?” I ask, but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t even flinch at my calling her name. I look down at the dagger, swallowing the nervousness that builds up in my throat as I walk over to her. I go around her, sitting next to her on the bed, when she suddenly stands up. I stand up, too, facing her as she raises her blue eyes to meet mine. She looks so pale, so thin and lost. Her eyes, though, they are the image of Hunter’s.

  “You have his eyes,” I say, not realising I’ve even spoken out loud until she nods.

  “I-I can’t do it,” I say, dropping the crown and the dagger onto the floor, staying still as they bounce on the wood before settling. The sounds of dragons roaring, swords smashing against each other, and screams can be heard outside. Yet, the room is eerily silent in a way. Queen Riah keeps her eyes locked with mine, not blinking, not moving. She is like a doll, no fear ever shows in her eyes as I face her with a dagger. Not even when it is clear I came here to kill her. Her lips mumble something, nothing that I can make out as actual words. I watch her lean down, and pick the crown up, a glow floating up her arms, and her mark lights up a glowing blue colour.

  “You must let me die. You have to save the future, you have to save the sea, Cassandra,” she insists, and it’s the most I’ve ever heard her speak. Maybe the crown is giving her some power, power she is using to speak to me normally. To get past the damage that has been done to her by a man she once loved and trusted.

  “You’re their mother, and I love them. I can’t do that to them,” I say, taking a deep breath. When I need to be strong, when I need to be emotionless, I’m not. I can’t do this, and it will cost me everything.

  “You love my sons, they are your chosen,” she says, and looks down at the crown for a long while. I don’t answer her, she knows the answer, anyway.

  “They are fighting the king now, with my other chosen and my army. They don’t know I’m here, what I came to do,” I explain to her, hating that I had to make this decision without them. And I still couldn’t do it.

  “They wouldn’t stop you. It’s time I died, and you will send my evil chosen after me. I will make sure he pays in death, his soul will burn with the god of souls in hell,” she exclaims. I believe her completely, seeing the determination in her eyes. She looks up, her eyes so much like Ryland’s as she smiles, and her mouth parts in shock. She coughs, and blood trickles out her mouth as I look down, and see the end of a long dagger appearing through her stomach.

  “Finally, I get to be with my chosen,” she chuckles as the dagger is pulled out. “Not that they ever left me,” she whispers as her eyes fade, and her soul leaves her body. She falls suddenly, and I catch her, holding her to me as I look up and see who killed the queen.

  “You . . . . How could it be you?” I mutter, shaking my head as Livvy drops the dagger on the floor and takes a step back.

  “He never killed me, and I owed you. We are even now, Cassandra. Please don’t stop me from leaving,” she says, walking towards the door. I gently place the queen on the floor, closing her eyes and picking the crown up.

  “Stop! I deserve more of an explanation from you,” I shout at Livvy as she rests her hand on the door handle.

  “I am done. I should have died at the hands of whoever won me at the auctions, but I did not. I believe you only saved my life because I was meant to help you now. To do something no one else could,” she opens the door slightly. “The king will be weak now, and he won’t have his gifts. You can finally win.” Her last words end on a scream, as the door falls away from a massive blast that sends me flying across the room, landing next to the bed which slides away. I panic, reaching around as I fall and grab hold of a floor board, waiting for the rocking to stop. When the dust settles, half the room is gone, and the walls don’t exist anymore. I look across the battlefield, seeing thousands of guards and my people fighting. There are hundreds of ships, some are sinking, while others are on fire in the sea. I look up, seeing the king riding his dragon, flying across the sky and burning the ships. Even without his gifts, he is still burning everything.

  “Vivo!” I scream out, placing the crown on my head.

  24

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hunter

  I almost drop my swords when everyone stops to watch the castle fall to pieces. The sound of my father’s dragon snaps me out of it, knowing I can’t die. I can feel Cassandra is alive, and that’s all that matters. I look around and see fire, death, and destruction everywhere. There is so much of it. I spot Everly fighting back to back with Chaz against four other guards, and they need help. I lift my sword, chucking it straight towards the guard nearest me, and it goes straight through him. I run over, pulling it out of his back before he can even fall to the floor. Everly continues to struggle against two guards, and one of them manages to knock her to the ground. Tyrion comes running colliding with him, and pushing him away. I run over, but I’m too late to stop the guard from stabbing his sword into Everly’s leg, making her scream. I kick him off of her, stabbing him in his chest before he can get up. Chaz finishes off the other guard with her sword, and I see Tyrion is dealing with the last guard just fine.

  “Chaz, she needs you!” I shout to him, kneeling down as she screams and holds her leg. Chaz runs over, taking my place as I stand to keep an eye out for anyone coming near.

  “We need to wrap this, and it’s going to hurt,” Chaz warns Everly, pulling out the bottom of his shirt and ripping a long bandage from it.

  “Do it!” she demands, closing her eyes, and I spot a guard running towards us. I smack my sword against the guard’s as I hear Everly’s scream behind me. He watches me from under his helmet, and it suddenly seems to dawn on him who I am as he fights harder. I smack my elbow into his face, knocking him to the ground and slamming my sword into his chest.

  “Vivo!”

  “Did you hear that?” I ask, looking up to see a tiny part of the castle left standing and Cassandra standing on it, glowing a blue colour, and the crown is on her head.

  “She is going to fight the king with her dragon!” I growl out, knowing how dangerous her reckless decision is, but I have to believe in her. I look around, seein
g the changed ones using their gifts to throw guards into the sea, but most of the guards are running to the decks and trying to kill everyone there instead. I run back to Everly, who Tyrion has managed to pick up, and Chaz stands near them. I look around, seeing Ryland near the cliff, and Jacob and Zack protecting some of the changed ones.

  “Can you walk?” I ask Everly, and she shakily lifts her sword.

  “I can.”

  “No, you can’t. You need to rest or you might do serious damage to your leg,” Chaz warns, placing his hand on her shoulder, but she shakes him off.

  “I can fight.”

  “Then you will, and I will be at your side,” Tyrion promises her, and she nods, barely able to remain standing. I share a look with Chaz, and we both agree without words that we need to keep Everly alive. Not just because she is to be queen at the end of this, but because Cassandra will kill us if we let anything happen to her.

  “Let’s do this,” I shout, lifting my sword, and running head-first into the biggest crowd of guards I can find.

  25

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Cassandra

  I jump on Vivo’s back when she gets to me, and hold on tight so I don’t fall off as she takes off towards the battlefield. I can sense my pirates, and I send them the only feeling I know they might need. Love. I spot other changed ones using their powers in the fight below. Someone is using fire, another is making large plants rip out of the ground, and vines are grabbing guards. I look back at the castle, just as more cannons are fired into it. The ships are behind the cliffs, firing cannon after cannon at the castle, or what is left of it now.

  “We need to fight the king and his dragon. Fire must be destroyed!” I shout to Vivo, who roars, gaining the attention of the king and his dragon as we get closer. They turn around, and the king’s eyes lock with mine, a sinister grin spreading over his lips as his eyes burn with anger. I try not to be frightened, but some fear still fills me as I remember what he did to me. I close my eyes for just a second, and remind myself that this is his ending, not mine. He lifts his hand as I open my eyes, and his dragon breathes a long stream of fire straight at us. Vivo roars, and a long breeze of icy wind comes from her mouth, hitting the fire right in the middle of us both. Vivo pushes the dragon’s fire away, her strength is too much for it to keep up with. The fire dragon stops suddenly, flying straight towards us and knocking its huge body into Vivo. I scream as I try to hold on. Both of the dragons claw at each other, and I can’t lift my head from the pressure of the wind to look at the king or anything that is going on. A loud roar fills my ear, and then the dragons hit the ground, sending me flying off the dragon and rolling across the grass. I groan in agony, feeling my shoulder hurting me, and my right leg is shooting with pain. I bite my lip as I grab the crown near my head, shakily standing up and looking around. I can see all my pirates fighting in the distance, and the dragons are back in the sky, battling with each other. I don’t know who is winning, but they are covered in blood. I spot the king near the edge of the cliff, and no one is here to stop me from getting to him. I run over, avoiding the few bodies on the floor until I’m close enough to him.

  I stand on the edge of the cliff, holding the blood-covered crown. The crown we fought so long to get. The crown that will win this war. I glance around at the men I love, each one of them I would die to protect. My pirates are fighting all around me on the battlefield, keeping me alive as I face the king alone. This was always the plan, the only one that would work. The ground shakes as more screams fill the night. I can’t look away from the king to see if anyone I know is dying. If anyone I love is.

  Everything we have fought for has led us to this moment, and I won’t let them down.

  We don’t say any words to each other, as words are not needed. He knew this was coming, and the war around us is proof. The king started this, not me. I was chosen to stop this.

  “You will never save the seas,” the king sneers at me after a long silence between us.

  “I don’t need to. The Sea God will save us all,” I say, my voice loud as the wind howls, and lightning fills the skies.

  “What did you promise him in return?” he shouts back at me. I look the king over, remembering every cruel thing he has done to me, the people he has taken from me, and the deaths he has caused.

  “Your death,” I say and lift the crown, placing it on my head, and the power floods my mind.

  “Kill me, and you will have my soul tarnishing yours forever,” he says, opening his arms.

  “This is for my mother,” I hear said next to me, and I turn facing Ryland as he steps to my side, throwing his dagger, and it lands perfectly in the centre of the king’s chest.

  “No!” the king blurts out, staring at the dagger and lifting his hands in shock.

  “You have no power now,” I say, and close my eyes, remembering his shock. I lift my hands slowly, pulling as much water as I can from the sea. When I open them, a wall of water is hanging over the cliff, the king standing right next to it. The crown lets me control the sea, control everything. I can feel the power, so much power.

  “Cassandra, stay with us. Remember why you have the crown, and why you are here,” Ryland coaxes from somewhere near me, and I open my eyes, looking at him.

  “I remember,” I say, lifting my blue glowing hand. I look down to see all of my body is glowing blue before looking back at the king.

  “Return to the sea, and meet your fate,” are the last words I give him before he screams as I let the sea pull him back over the cliff. There is a deadly silence as I still hold the wall of water and turn around. I see Vivo sitting on what is left of the castle, all frozen over from her power, and the king’s dragon frozen at her feet, clearly dead. We have won. All my pirates walk over to me, many of them covered in blood and cuts, but alive. That’s all that matters. I spot Everly as she comes over, with Tyrion holding her up as her leg bleeds. I use my water to lift myself into the air, until I’m standing above every person on this field.

  “The king is dead!” I shout, and cheers follow my words. I wait for them to stop before carrying on. “This land will be known as the final fight between our people. The final war. We will have peace!” I shout, and the people cheer again. I watch as the guards, the changed ones, and the rebellion army all fall to their knees. I pull some more water over, lifting Everly into the air as she lets go of Tyrion. She stands tall, despite the blood pouring down her leg.

  “Rise, Queen Everleigh. Queen of Calais!” I shout, going to my knee in the water and lowering my head. Everyone shouts her name, cheering about their new queen, but I keep my eyes below me, on my pirates as they smile.

  Hunter mouths one word. “Home.”

  I lower myself and Everly back down to the ground, before pulling the crown off but keeping hold of the water.

  “I need to do this, return the gift that was stolen from the sea. I must finish the deal,” I tell Chaz who gets to my side first.

  “We do this together. We are here,” Jacob says, and the others all stay close, their actions making it clear they are in this with me. I walk to the very edge of the cliff, holding the crown over it, and place it in the risen water.

  “I never thanked you for your gift, and I don’t mean the powers. I mean the bond. Thank you for my soul mates, and thank you for blessing me. The sea god will never be feared again, only worshipped. That is my promise to you. Goodbye,” I say, and I let the crown fall with the sea as the power leaves me. I watch as the water drops back down, and the tornadoes, whirlpools, and the anger of the Storm Sea disappears, only leaving peace. The next thing I feel is myself falling back as darkness takes over.

  26

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Cassandra

  “Queen Everleigh of Calais, you are crowned, and you will serve Calais. Do you accept your birthright?” Master Light asks Everly as she kneels in front of him, the three other masters, and me. Her long red dress circles around her like she is kneeling in a cloud of sparklin
g fabric. The red represents the new royal symbol, a red rose. The old royal colour of green has been erased, and red is the new colour. Everly chose red to represent the amount of blood that was lost to secure the throne.

  “I accept my birth right,” she replies, and he lowers the red ruby crown onto her head. The thousands of people gathered around cheer for their new queen as she stands, the official crowning finally over. The castle was destroyed, nothing but rubble and blood was left. We managed to pull many surviving guards out of the castle, like Jacob’s parents, but Livvy’s body was found near the queen’s. She must have died when the castle fell. Hunter and Ryland know how their mother died, and they don’t blame me for wanting to go alone. They were glad that it wasn’t me that killed her in the end though. We had a funeral for them all, a funeral that thousands of people attended. My baby kicks, and I smooth my hands over my rather large bump as Everly smiles at me and turns around, raising her hands in the air to stop the cheering.

  “Thank you for your support,” she says first. “I am not like any queen, or any royal, that we have had before us. I was brought up on Onaya, starved for most my life, and my story’s past was nothing good. We as a world have suffered, Calais has suffered, and I will spend the rest of my life making sure that we suffer no more! Calais will be strong, changed ones will be safe, and everyone will know true peace,” she stops her speech as cheers roll out, and she walks down the gap in the people, limping on her right leg that never fully recovered from the war. The healers and changed ones have tried to heal her, with no luck. Everly doesn’t talk about the limp now, but I know she is in pain when she walks. I nod respectfully at her four new personal guards, who follow her until she disappears out of sight.