Bonded by the Sea

by Victoria Mercier

  Pace turned to check on lieutenant that scared the shit out of Toggy. He found a man with an explosive bush on his head and a disarrayed uniform with missing buttons. Pace grimaced, unsure why. Was it lieutenant’s presentation or the fact he interrupted his swift kidnapping? He couldn’t say. Maybe both.

  “What the fuck are you gaping at?” lieutenant growled. “Don’t you have work to do, duties to attend?”

  Pace feared that he might say a word too much, so he turned back and began walking again. Toggy pulled at him, but the difference in their strengths was ridiculous. The orange-haired marine ended up being dragged on the deck.

  Marines all over the deck stopped their duties and watched. Perfect. Now, all I need is captain biting my ass.

  Pace stopped because he suspected that Toggy might throw a fit of panic. The last thing he needed now.

  Lieutenant approached them, a causal gait indicating that the officer might be drunk.

  “I don’t remember your face, unlike the orange-head,” lieutenant murmured smugly. Their trio was the center of everyone’s attention now, and lieutenant seemed to find this appealing. “You supposed to brush the deck.” Lieutenant’s face looked obnoxious. No mistake here. That man enjoyed the misery of others. The kind of person Pace despised the most.

  “I’m taking him.”

  Toggy Luc seemed to choke. Pace knew it wasn’t serious.

  “And who are you? You’re wearing a marine uniform, but you’re not the part of this warship’s crew. Speak to me before I mob the deck with your face.”

  Pace’s hand let go of Toggy Luc’s forearm. His feet sprung, and he half-turned into position, as his left (weaker arm) fist delivered a punch. Lieutenant possessed nothing of Pembroke’s crew strength or speed. Lieutenant flew back hitting hard on the deck.

  “W-what… what have you done?” Toggy stuttered. “You just punched lieutenant Rafa. Oh my god, Pace. This is a serious offense.”

  Pace didn’t listen to him because lieutenant scrambled to his feet already. He didn’t belong to the same echelon as Mist or Kinson, but surely, he wasn’t some weakling. After sparing with Mist, Pace itched for a fight.

  “You will regret this,” Rafa spat. “After breaking your bones, I will throw your carcass into the sea. Fish will feast on you while you will slowly die. And you, orange-head, you will not get away without punishment.”

  Pace balled his fists. He couldn’t wait to beat this man into a pulp.

  Every single marine held breath as Pace and Rafa began exchanging their punches and kicks. Quickly, differences became obvious. Pace possessed way more raw strength, but Rafa had training and discipline. Lieutenant received another two blows to his face and his legs buckled beneath him. Pace’s hunch warned him of impending danger.

  Rafa reached under his uniform, but his hand stayed there. Someone else entered the main deck. Pace didn’t need to turn to get the idea of who appeared.

  “What’s the meaning of this Rafa?” an unfamiliar voice asked. It had imposing qualities. Pace gave him that.

  “An intruder, sir. He assaulted me when I’d demanded an explanation.”

  Pace, finally, turned. Next to a middle-aged man, with mustaches and short brown hair, stood captain Pembroke. He neither smiled nor seemed angry. Just between as if he couldn’t decide whose side he should take. Pace realized that they might actually fire him from the Navy for that. It could be a little too impulsive… just a little.

  “He has a marine uniform…” the other captain said. It hit him then. “Is this one of yours, Pembroke?”

  “The newest one. I picked him yesterday.”

  Pace raised a hand.

  “Marine? Do you wish to explain yourself?” captain Sigma asked in a bit of a fatherly tone. Now that he knew Pace belonged to Pembroke’s crew something in his attitude relaxed.

  “No, sir. Just wanted to fix my captain’s mistake,” Pace said. “I’m not the newest one. He is.” Pace pointed at Toggy Luc.

  The time seemed to stop. A deadly silence dawned on them.

  Pembroke began laughing hard.

  *

  Captain Pembroke

  “I have to say, I’m surprised how happy Sigma was to transfer you to us, Toggy Luc,” Pembroke noted.

  They left the warship and headed back to their ship. Pembroke had made a decision to check on Blackport first. The matter there looked serious. And a good chance it would answer a lot of questions about Karu.

  “I must have been too slow with my duties,” Toggy replied not seeking to make up excuses or blame someone else. Pembroke liked that. But the true reason why he agreed to take him on board was Pace. Pembroke trusted the young marine’s intuition. If he wanted him, then so be it. Still, curiosity itched.

  “Pace. Why did you decide to take Toggy with us?”

  “That’s a surprise, captain,” Pace puffed, though he masked his true emotions a bit of mischievous note in his tone trickled forth. “But I can tell you that Toggy loves asking questions. He doesn’t shut up. Imagine, cap, how much I can learn having him around.”

  Pembroke frowned. What exactly… oh, shit.

  “What do you mean, Pace?”

  “I have no time for questions. He can learn for me, while I train. I need to beat you guys.”

  Pembroke admitted that this was genuine on Pace’s part. After all, I saw his destiny. He’ll turn the world upside down.

  “Toggy, doesn’t it bother you that Pace wants to use you for his own good?”

  It was time for the orange-haired marine to puff. Pride and happiness bloomed on Toggy’s face. Sigma never belonged to the nicest people, but his lieutenant had foul character.

  “Let’s start from questions about the Soul Release, Toggy,” Pace said. “Feel free to drill captain until he tells you everything about it.”

  “The Soul Release? I know a good bit about it, too.”

  Pace’s eyes bulged.

  “Alright” Pace managed to narrow his eyes. “Do you know that captain had caught two bullets and sent one back to the shooter? How about that?”

  “That’s impressive but…”

  “But?!”

  A secret smile flitted through Pembroke’s face. There was more to Toggy Luc than he let out.

  “I believe, every captain in the Navy is required to possess a certain level of the Soul Release… it’s a condition introduced after…” Toggy Luc’s voice trailed off, though he kept to remained composed, his expression appeared pained.

  “Kava’s Incident,” Pembroke finished for him.

  “Kava? Isn’t that the place where you’re from, Toggy?” Pace asked.

  Yes, that explains his reaction. He must be eighteen now, so back then he had been eight.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s Kava’s Incident?”

  Pembroke looked at Toggy to see if he could muster the strength to speak about this. He understood the young marine’s pain, but if the pain would dictate his life, Toggy would never be free.

  “It had started when a tyrant Black Roc returned after a long journey to a frontier. I was eight when the news hit my village. Black Roc wanted to close off the country and cut off from the Government. People protested, but he possessed an absurd strength. After the local garrison had fallen, he began to gather followers. He gave every person on Kava a choice. Join him or die. My parents rebelled…” Toggy Luc’s voice wavered, then his fist clenched. “The next month the Government sent an entire fleet to subdue him, but without a single vice admiral, they were slaughtered.”

  “Bastard,” Pace gritted.

  “He was defeated by vice admiral Carbon.”

  “If people knew about the Soul Release then, they could defend themselves!” Pace hissed. Pembroke could hear how fast and hard the young marine’s heart hammered in his chest.

  “It would change nothing,” Pembroke said. “There is more to this story than that. When the time will allow, Toggy, I will tell you the truth of who Black Roc really was and why no one else but v
ice admiral Carbon could beat him.”

  Chapter 11

  Ines

  Darkness dissipated unwillingly as if the reality existed behind the veil. Ines struggled with her own will. She didn’t want to wake up. Her consciousness retreated into its hideaway, but a strong, cold tug jerked it back and Ines groaned as the pain in her stomach exploded with an unbelievable intensity.

  “Ouch… where am I?”

  “She’s awake,” an unfamiliar voice announced. It sounded afar.

  Her eyes struggled to open. She must have ended up in the next world after all. Could it be that the Inherited Codex didn’t lie?

  “What did she say?” someone asked.

  The answer didn’t come. Ines’ eye cracked open. A sensation of a thousand small needles stabbing it forced her to shut it up.

  “She’s alive.”

  “Of course, she is. We must take her to doctor Falander. He’ll know what to do with her.”

  “Falander? We ain’t have coins to pay.”

  “Then what we do?”

  The silence made the hair on her skin stand. The ominous aura descended on them. Her eyes snapped open. And the overload of stimuli made her gag. Pain in the stomach, the bright light of a lamp, invasive odor of fish and swaying motion. She was aboard a fishing boat. How did she get here?

  “What happened?”

  Two young men wore wool caps and thick dirty clothes. She had seen fishermen before, but these looked especially poor. They glared at her with their confused eyes.

  A gag reflex jolted her. She needed to leave the cabin. The odor threatened to suffocate her. But the moment Ines attempted to raise her vision blurred and the world began whirling insanely.

  “You must lie,” one of the fishermen said with a hint of concern. “There… there is something wrong in the air. Our da and uncle died this morning. You don’t look good, too.”

  The older one’s eyes squinted and he pulled his brother away from her.

  “What if she has this, too? Some type of a virus or other shit?”

  Their faces showed pure terror. They made a step back.

  “Wait!”

  But they didn’t wait, and the only response was the sound of closing the cabin’s door. This is great. I’m going to die because of two boys something that killed their father and uncle… wait! Wait! How was it possible that they knew their father and uncle? These two were around her age. It was impossible.

  Hours melted into an unrecognizable span of time. She must have lost her awareness because when the loud steps sounded above her, she realized that they reached a port. Oh no, I’m back in Karu. But who were they? Apart from the Inherited City, there is only a handful of coastal villages. I don’t remember that any of them possessed such a large boat that they could build a house on top of it. Wait a minute. Where is mine? Why I don’t remember anything after I entered the bush?

  Vague images swirled in her head. She got on the boat, unlocked the lever… and blacked. Did something hit her?

  Three men entered the cabin, they had thick mustaches and faces that made her think of Asaif. They were past their twenty-first birthdays. What was this?

  Thinking of Asaif made Ines feel awful. He stayed behind to save her. He could be dead by now. Oh, Asaif. I didn’t even have a chance to properly get to know you. I wish, we met earlier.

  The men approached her with caution. They wore long brown aprons and gloves.

  “Can you stand up?”

  “I don’t know,” Ines answered and felt the twisting pain her stomach. She bent violently.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Hunger,” Ines gasped. “I haven’t eaten for… days.”

  Three men looked between themselves and one of them left. They remained close to the door and she couldn’t understand why. What did they think was wrong with her?

  “Can you talk?”

  “Barely.”

  *

  Ines

  Eating was difficult. Her parched throat and shrunken stomach protested with every bite. It took her some time to finish a small bowl of caramelized dried fruits and a jug of milk. The men didn’t hasten her up. They pulled papers and pencils and began taking notes. Could they be the people that Asaif spoke about? The mysterious hazmat suits from the Gleaming Tower? She dared not to ask.

  “How do you feel?” the oldest of the three men asked. He had grey hair and a blotched face. His voice was like nothing she had ever heard. It was rough, but not angry. Rather, tired, though not exactly. She couldn’t place it in her mind.

  “Better. Much better. Thank you.”

  “Where are you from, child?”

  “I’m twenty-one, I mean, I had my Last Birthday some time ago, not sure, though how many days have passed since then. Anyway, I’m from the Inherited City. Where are we know?”

  The grey man perked up. “Did you say the last birthday? Can you explain?”

  Ines tilted her head and got a better look at them. They didn’t look like Karu. They were too old. Their eyes were slightly smaller… and the grey man’s strange reaction to the last birthday… every Karu knew what it was.

  “Are we in Karu?” she asked slowly.

  “Karu?” the man on the right frowned. “Are you from Karu? Doctor Falander, if that’s true, then we must notify the authorities.”

  “Why, Balander? What do you know?” So, the oldest one’s name was Falander.

  Balander made a sheepish face and his body shrunken beneath all the attention. But doctor Falander didn’t let his assistant back down.

  “Fifty years ago, a lone boat arrived here after a storm. It brought a passenger who was dying. My father was the first to treat him. They couldn’t save the man, and so they buried his body on the communal cemetery. A week later, the Government officials have appeared all over Blackport and interrogated everyone. When they discovered what had happened to him, they threatened my father with the Judicial Commissionaire, but in the end, they had exhumated the body and had warned people about stray boats from Karu, then left.” Does he mean we aren’t in Karu anymore? Blackport? I’ve never heard this name.

  A moment of silence didn’t last long.

  “And?”

  “Just saying…” But Ines sensed the lie. She knew that he was hiding some terribly important.

  “Balander, was this man from Karu?”

  Balander closed his eyes as if blinded by the flash of light.

  “Yes. He was, doctor. If we let her stay here, the Government will come, and they may stay true to their promise.”

  Doctor Falander had puffed, spun, grabbed his assistant’s collar and lifted him up. The third man and Ines gasped seeing how strong the old man was.

  “Spew it all, Balander, why would you hand back a child back to the Government?”

  “Because they’ll kill us all to get her back!’

  Doctor Falander returned him to his feet and turned to Ines.

  “Girl, what the Government has to do with you and Karu?”

  Ines shook her head. She had no idea what these men talked about. Balander had tilted his head and left the cabin, the third man had watched him go then, followed. Only doctor Falander and Ines remained in the room.

  “I’ve never heard about ‘government’ or any other names you speak of.”

  “I’m not surprised. What’s your name again?”

  “Ines.”

  “The Government is an organization that rules the seven seas. They have thousands of islands under their control. If they want you back then we can’t waste time on this boat, but I must ask you to keep a distance from others. There is a reason why the Government is after you. We can’t risk more lives.”

  “More lives?” Ines’ throat clenched. What did he mean by that?

  Doctor Falander might be the oldest person she’s ever seen, but he was also a sturdy-looking man. Right now, he seemed to shrink before her eyes.

  “I suspect that you’re infected by some kind of a disease that activates after
a certain threshold. You spoke of the Last Birthday. What age do people of Karu die?”

  “Always twenty-one… I’m an exception... I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  Doctor Falander had opened his mouth, then closed it without uttering a single word. He only managed to sign to her to follow him outside.

  Chapter 12

  Pace

  Kinson had a usual fit of aggression when Pace appeared on the ship. This time Pace evaded commander’s fist by the skin of his teeth. He must work on his speed or the next time one of these punches would land and send Pace to doctor More beneath the deck. One place Pace truly wanted to avoid. According to Mist, doctor had a shady past.

  Riss didn’t comment on the fact that Pace had ignored her earlier. No one even noted Toggy Luc on the deck until they left the port of Santori.

  “Who is that, Pembroke?” Kinson asked, shocked to the core.

  “I brought him on board,” Pace said further antagonizing Kinson. Riss winked to him after that and Pace’s head filled with heat visions. Pink hair wasn’t something he’d personally choose, but she was pretty and each time she has acknowledged him, his crotch hardened, and heat threatened to burn him.

  “Is this some kind of a joke, Pembroke?” Kinson asked. By that point, Toggy retreated underneath the deck scared by commander. Only captain, Pace, Ed, and Riss left on the main deck. Mist took over as a helmsman. “Since when a stray decides about who we bring on? Does he know who we are?”

  “Calm down, old man,” Riss said from a rail. She fucking loved risky stuff. Any moment the ship could sway and drop her ass into the ocean.

  I would jump after her. There is no way she could refuse me after that.

  “Toggy Luc stays with us. This is my decision and mine alone. Now, we have a bigger nut to crack. Something bad is going in Blackport. The Government sealed off the island. The port master had tried to send doctors there, but the black suits refused him access there.”