Bonded by the Sea

by Victoria Mercier

  Beyond the small bay was still covered by the unnatural mist.

  “Good job, lieutenant,” the captain muttered. “That’s our way out of here.”

  “Where?”

  “The sea.”

  Fuck, he’s serious about this.

  Pembroke entered the water without hesitation. Immediately, tendrils of the mist snaked up his body. It didn’t look safe.

  Fuck safety.

  Pace joined captain. Pace’s temper receded and all her felt was hollowness. Not even coldness of the sea seemed to make him shudder. Without Ines, it didn’t matter what would happen. She was out there. Alive and well. He sensed a bond with her.

  I’ll save you no matter the cost.

  “Stay close to me. The mist is lieutenant’s doing, but if you get lost you won’t survive.”

  Tendrils of the mist enveloped Pace’s waist as if they were living things. He felt no physical sensation.

  They wedged forward at the same time allowing the mist to swallow them whole.

  *

  Pace

  A blinding pain brought Pace around. He jumped to his feet and screamed for everyone to hear him, but except captain and a crab that snapped at his leg the beach was empty. The sun was in the wrong place, too. It looked too early.

  The crab attacked once more, and this time Pace evaded the damned claws. Pace should be happy that he could still walk. His legs were icy cold and the spot where the crab pinched him swelled around the cut.

  “What the hell is wrong with this crab?”

  Captain shook off as if he woke up from a trans. He looked up at Pace and the crab that now hunted him.

  “You found breakfast. Well done.”

  “It is rather the other way around. It tries to eat me.” Pace wasn’t concerned about the oddly aggressive creature. After the unexpected attack, it had shown a considerable lack of speed, though Pace’s leg pulsed painfully now. Maybe it didn’t need to be quick, after all. Maybe a venom was already coursing through his veins?

  “Don’t worry about the red ones. They’re almost harmless.”

  Pace stopped and glanced at the captain. Nice. I can’t wait to meet the big bad boys, then.

  “Where are we?” Pace dropped a formal tone. Some remnants of anger still coiled in his stomach.

  The crab exploited Pace’s momentary distraction and attacked. Its claws lacerated the marine had hissed, then kicked the crab sending it flying into the sea.

  “That bastard.”

  The captain scratched the stubble at his face.

  “We are on Crab island.”

  “I’m not complaining. I wanted to see a piece of the world after all, but Crab island wasn’t on the list,” Pace said. “How did we get here?”

  “You passed out and it was the closest place I could think of.”

  So, captain hauled me from Blackport to here. I won’t say I’m surprised but fucking hell this is a feat.

  Crab island lay somewhere to the west of Blackport and north to Wild Peaks. Pace knew it because some of his father’s fishermen friends had been dreaming about visiting this place. It was the source of the best crab meat in the world… or at least in this sea. A distance from both islands wasn’t that much; the issue lay elsewhere. The waters around the island were infested with the giant crabs that tended to damage the fishermen boats.

  “Did you swim all the way from Blackport?”

  “It wouldn’t the first time. It’s a part of captain’s preparation training.”

  Pace didn’t consider raising throughout the chain of command in the Navy but being able to swim from an island to an island sounded like good training.

  “Is it because of the Soul Release?”

  “Not exactly.”

  A tug.

  The surroundings whirled around. Pace felt the moment his face connected with the sand. The sensation that filled his body existed here and now and somewhere distant. His mind reeled with emotions that didn’t belong to him. The effect of vertigo twisted his stomach and he gagged, then everything stopped, and Pace’s mind was filled with terrible sensations.

  His instinct told him that the pain came from Ines. The touch that fused their souls together and bonded them granted him an ability to feel her. I hope it won’t be only suffering or I’ll go crazy.

  The sensations came and went as if the connection with Ines wavered. Deep in his core, Pace knew that their bond was unbreakable. He wasn’t sure if even death could snap it. A crazy world to live in.

  “You must concentrate and control it,” captain’s voice sounded off.

  It was easy for the fucker to say. He didn’t have the second person in his head. Concentrate? How? The pain that flooded the bond threatened to annihilate his body.

  “What they doing to her?!” Pace yelled. ‘Stop it, bastards. Stop it.”

  “You can help her, but you must deny pain the control over you.”

  Pace grated. He focused on captain’s voice. It took him back to the beach. He lay on the sand, while captain sat cross-legged next to his head.

  “The Soul Entanglement is the rare form of the Soul Release. The full extent of the possibilities isn’t even known. But what there is something that can help her ease the pain. Now. Focus on the breathing and,” Pembroke’s palm touched Pace’s forehead. The virus… no, captain. “Follow the rhythm of my movements. I’ll guide you so you can overcome this pain and protect Ines’ sanity.”

  “Captain…” Pace murmured minutes later when his body calmed down and the pain dispersed. He sensed serenity coming from Ines. Somehow, she mimicked him and defeated the agony. “You touched me… the virus.” Pace wished to sound more confident and stronger, but he was out energy. Perhaps, lifting his head now would be a difficult feat.

  “I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.”

  “But aren’t you close to twenty-one or something?”

  “Three weeks.”

  “Is that enough time for doctor More to come up with an antidote.”

  Pembroke had nodded shortly, then he frowned. Something wasn’t right.

  “We have a company.”

  Pace blink as the surface of the sea erupted and the largest crab he’s ever seen began gliding toward them. It was the size of a small stable. It could eat a horse.

  “Should we fight this?”

  “That’s a cerulean crab. It has the best meat among crab,” captain said.

  Pace’s stomach grumbled at the thought eating the enormous thing.

  “Let’s eat it.”

  “But the shell is a problem. It’s so toxic, we’d last seconds after as much as brushing it. So, I advise. Run.”

  ‘Hey!’ Pace called after captain. It’s taken another five heartbeats to kick off a lever in his brain and make him follow Pembroke.

  Being chased by a blue giant crab seemed like a good way to supplement his training regime. So far, Pace hasn’t learned how to activate the Soul Release.

  The beach didn’t end and once the crab reached the ground, it increased the tempo and seemed to not run out of steam. The captain kept a steady pace, always remaining twenty steps before him the crab.

  The first snap almost took Pace’s arm. He rolled in time to evade the spear-like limb. It bit the ground a foot from his head. Pace grumbled. The giant crab reoriented itself with startling agility and its claw shot right at Pace’s neck.

  It’d behead him if not captain who had grabbed Pace and got away from the trajectory of the claw.

  “Don’t feel bad about this. This opponent is beyond most of the Navy captains.”

  “I didn’t,” Pace muttered, though he felt bad that he had let the crab surprise him.

  “We must get off the beach or find a rock large enough to squash it.”

  The line of palms was twenty to thirty feet yards away. They should escape if they wanted, but Pace really longed to taste the crab.

  “Let’s search for the rock. I’m hungry.”

  The beach was devoid of anything except sand.
And Pace lost hope of having a good meal. The exertion had started to take a toll on his body. There was no way he would outrun the crab for much longer. Every fiber of his muscles burned.

  “How are you holding?” captain asked as he suddenly stopped.

  “I can do it all day…” Pace said with a swag hiding a gasp for the air.

  “Good. Stay here and don’t move no matter what.

  The crab had sensed the opportunity and charged. The surprising change in the speed made Pace wince, but he stood his ground. The crab extended one his arms, the claws ready to snap Pace in half. Cap, any time now.

  The crab’s attack didn’t connect. A freaking palm smashed into the extended arm breaking it away.

  The squeak of the agony pierced Pace ears. He covered them with his hands, but it didn’t do much. The crab swiveled and shot toward the sea. The blood poured out of the torn claw onto the white sand. The wood of the palm that had smashed into the crab looked sick. Purple veins spread all over it.

  Meanwhile, the crab reached the waterline, its stub left a trail of blood. One claw should have more meat than a dozen people could eat. Oddly, Pace had a hunch it wouldn’t be enough.

  “We may regret it, I guess,” captain muttered. “But for now, it was the quickest way of getting rid of it.”

  “You said it’s good,” Pace already drooled. “Why would we regret it?”

  The surface of the sea churned as the giant crab recoiled at the first contact with the salty water. It must have overcome the pain as the crab disappeared eventually in the depths.

  “Cerulean crabs are the mild cousins of nasty cobalt crabs. At least, this is how the general population thinks it is, but in reality, cerulean and cobalt crabs are the same ones. Just much older and much angrier. This one will remember us and one day we may meet again,” captain said almost in a neutral tone. Maybe, a bit too neutral as he wanted to sound unshaken and confident. Did the encounter rock him that much? The giant crab was a nasty fellow, but somehow the Government agent seemed worse than it. Pace had held the thought a moment longer then discarded it. Whatever.

  “I’ve never heard about any of these names. Only rumors of some large ones that were keen to damage boats.”

  “Of course, you didn’t. The Government withholds the information about these, and other species and the Navy is obliged to eradicate every source of rumors of them, but nowadays these creatures are rarely seen. The fact that one came out of the water to chase us for so long is strange,” Pembroke said and once more that wasn’t all. Captain hid something.

  “I think, you know why the large one went after us, captain,” Pace said. “Didn’t you say before that the Soul Entanglement can be sensed by sensitive individuals? Maybe some animals can do it too.”

  Captain gave him a serious look. Slowly, he nodded as if Pace’s conclusion just reached his mind.

  “It is possible. I don’t possess knowledge about cerulean crabs and their reaction to such a rare occurrence as the Soul Entanglement. But if that’s the case, then we must work on the way of masking it.”

  Was such a thing even possible? Didn’t captain remained under rubbles to fake his death because if he tried to get out of that using the Soul Release, he could alarm Agent X? A discordant thought entered Pace’s mind. What if captain let Agent X have Ines for some reason? No. I can’t think this way. I’d turn into a paranoid like my father.

  None the less, Pace demanded an explanation.

  “I don’t think you can completely hide your bond; it’s just too potent, but there are ways to make the energy to look like a natural phenomenon. The Soul Release doesn’t offer this kind of ability.”

  So, the thing Pace and Ines had between themselves was more powerful than the Soul Release Now, how did it work?

  “How can I learn to use it?”

  “There are people out in the world who know this. I’ve never experienced the Soul Entanglement firsthand.”

  Pace nodded accepting his answer. He had a hunch that captain didn’t lie. And he trusted his instincts. But he had one more thing to say.

  “We must rescue her.”

  “Pace,” Pembroke said in a quite serious tone. “How much would you risk for her? Would you throw away a chance to stay in the Navy or even change the world, so you can save her?” What kind of question was that?

  “Without a second thought. I don’t understand this Soul Entanglement and I haven’t the slightest clue what it did to me, but me and Ines… we’re more than a boyfriend and girlfriend. This bond makes everything a hundred times more profound. You ask me if I risk my place in the Navy? If I have to choose between someone I care about or the Navy… how is that even a choice? Changing the world? Fuck me, but I will do it with her. The vision… the knowing is gone, but its residuals remained, and my gut says she is a key to everything. I will die if it means her freedom.”

  “She is in King’s Valley. A place we can’t go directly. The nature of its security is beyond our capabilities, but I have a plan that will see her safe and sound. This I promise.”

  Pace didn’t ask for more. This was all he needed from captain.

  Chapter 19

  Toggy

  The ship cut the waves with determination. Toggy’s mind was tightly wrapped around Blackport. It’s taken him two days to fully realize what the Government had done. They annihilated the entire island. All because they wanted to hide their dirt. What else they were capable of? And the Navy worked for them. Disgusting.

  Too much. I must stop thinking about it. I don’t want to know anything else! He’d believed that being admiral would be the best job in the world, but when yesterday, Ed explained what a bother the job must be, he suddenly regretted ever considering it.

  Since then his mind struggled with the world. He watched the water and horizon ahead.

  Riss appeared next to, like always, without as much as a whisper. Toggy meant to ask her who exactly she was in the crew, but somehow it stopped mattering to him. It looked like his Navy days were over. He expected that commander Kinson will drop him and Raba somewhere far away from civilization and leave. Pace’s gesture to take him aboard and Pembroke’s acceptance of it warmed his heart. But he couldn’t be sure if they survived. This crew didn’t look worried, but what if they overestimated captain?

  “You look grim, sweetheart,” she said, which sent a tingle throughout Toggy’s spine down to his crotch. “My father used to make such a face each time he had to pass the river. He was sickly afraid of crocodiles.”

  Toggy couldn’t imagine Riss having a father in the first place.

  “And what happened to him?”

  “He died of a heart attack.”

  “For a moment I thought that the crocodile got him.”

  “Yeah, perhaps he wished that, too,” Riss had answered vaguely, then she got to the point. “I’m trying to say that you’re worried about the wrong thing.”

  “How do you know what I’m worried about?”

  “I’ve seen this face on every new marine. They’ve joined to fight pirates, to bring justice and so on, but as they’d encountered the reality their dreams shattered and they got nothing of the passion that had brought them in the first place to that fateful man – master sergeant.”

  This gave Toggy a short pause, though it did nothing to dispel his demons.

  “What about you… officer Riss?”

  “Just call me Riss, I don’t bother with that rank-nonsense,” her voice had trailed off as she searched for words. Her fingers played with the endings of her pink hair. Finally, she sighed. “I can’t say, I’d ever had a dream about becoming a great marine, nor it’s duty-related. Things just happened this way. If not for Pembroke I’d be out of the Navy. It’s never boring with him.”

  “Commander’s scary though,” Toggy admitted.

  “He has a hell of a punch, but Pembroke can beat him,” Riss had smiled, then she whispered. “I will tell you a secret, if ever having a death wish, call commander, Kink-son.” A death wis
h? No way…

  “Is captain that strong?”

  “He is, but strength is not all. My father was one of the most powerful people in the world and it didn’t matter…” her voice lost something of its confidence. The corners of her lips tugged to form a weak smile.

  “Who. The. Hell. Was. Your. Father?”

  “The previous captain of this ship.”

  She had left gaping Toggy and walked away. The shocking reveal must have turned his brain in mush because he didn’t register her teasing ass as he just stood there.

  He still didn’t know who the previous captain had been, though.

  “Orange-head, come with me,” lieutenant Mist appeared out of nowhere startling Toggy to no end.

  Lieutenant’s voice didn’t leave room for discussions.

  They had gotten to the living quarters, where lieutenant stopped by the door with a thick “keep out” sign on it. Not bothering with knocking, lieutenant had seized the doorknob and pulled his hand with a hiss.

  “Old pervert!” he shouted, then kicked the door swinging it inward. The wood crashed against the wood, but miraculously the hinges held.

  “Get out!” the man inside yelled.

  “Shut your trap,” lieutenant warned. One would think that the monstrous strength of lieutenant could put some fear into the old man. It didn’t.

  “You’ll regret this, noodle-haired whelp.”

  “Say that again…”

  “Noodle-haired—”

  Lieutenant had clenched his fist and tendrils of mist snaked on the floor. But the gray-haired geezer in a typical colorful Santori t-shirt shot toward lieutenant with startling swiftness. The fight had exploded and forced Toggy to backpedal a few steps.

  “They always do that.”

  Riss leaned against the wall. She looked amused. A quite visible contrast from when she talked to him on the deck. Toggy couldn’t help it but admit to himself that she was beautiful. The thought slammed his chest and found no words to utter. I can’t think romantically about my superior. That’s forbidden in the Navy!

  “Whatever coils inside your skull,’ she tapped his forehead with a finger. “Don’t get excited.” Then she had turned toward the fight and called, “hey, idiots!”