“What are you searching for?”
“I don't know”, Corsair told the
voice. He tried to reach out towards it, but he had no body, he was
just a consciousness floating through an endless black void.
“What will you do if you find it?”
the voice asked, again.
“I don't know that either.”
Corsair felt like he was moving, though he couldn't say where, or
how.
“Then perhaps you should pay more
attention to what's in front of you.” The voice was very deep, he
noted. “There are people who need you.”
“Who are you?” he asked the voice,
but there was no further reply, and he felt his consciousness
slipping away again.
“Corsair! Come on! Corsair!” He
suddenly heard someone shout. His whole body seemed to shake.
He opened his eyes. His vision was
blurry, but he saw Sabre sitting on top of him, shaking him.
“Corsair! Are you all right?”.
“Where am I? Why am I all wet?”,
he asked, weakly.
“You're on the deck.”, she told
him, a bit choked up. “I poured water over you, but it didn't
work. Nothing worked. I thought you were...”
Corsair chuckled weakly. “I never
would have guessed you could cry, Sabre.”
“What the hell were you thinking,
going in there alone?!”, she yelled at him, her expression suddenly
fierce. “Don't you ever do that to me again!” She punched him
in the arm, hard, got up, and walked away in a huff.
“I'm sorry”, he groaned, rubbing
his sore arm, but she didn't seem to hear him.
“I told you”, Pegleg whispered,
peering over him. “The Black Ship brings disaster to all who come
across it. We should get out of here as fast as we can!”
“No kidding” Corsair mumbled under
his breath, struggling to sit up. Suddenly, he remembered what had
happened to him last morning. “...Sister!” he cried, jumping to
his feet. “We have to get back, she's in trouble!”
---
“So what happened exactly?” Cross
asked as they sailed back the way they had come.
“I don't know. I was at a strange
party, then I saw Sister in a big box, and we fell through the
window. Then it all went dark... or something like that.”
“And what makes you think Sister is
in some kind of trouble? Surely she's back with the others, waiting
for us to return.”
“She was there! You know what that
means, she must have been nearby, but now there's no sign of her!”
“Are you sure it was her? And we
still don't know what determines whether or not we're sent to the
same place.”
Corsair took a deep breath. “I'm
sure. It didn't just look and sound like her, the things she
said...” He trailed off, not wanting to say any more.
“...In any case”, Cross added
eventually, “it's going to be several nights before we can get
back. You're just going to have to sit tight until then.”
Corsair slammed his paws on the
railing. “That's too long! Why did we come all the way out
here?!” He stormed off, angrily.
“Why indeed?” Cross said, to no
one in particular.
Back in his cabin, Corsair tried to
remember last morning's events in greater detail for his journal. “I
guess the dark-skinned man with the yellow eyes must have been the
stranger”, he thought, but it didn't seem to add up: that man
hadn't spoken to him until the very end, and you usually couldn't see
a stranger's eyes very well. “The way they just let me go about my
own business, it was almost as though I was the stranger.” He
shrugged his shoulders and put the journal away.
There was a knock on the door to his
cabin. He turned his head, but before he could get up to answer it
they let themselves in. It was Sabre, and she strode right towards
him with a determined look in her eyes.
“I told you I was sorry”, he
started to say, but she ignored him.
“The sun is already coming up”, she
told him. “You were gone for a long time.”
He stood up from his chair, and she
took his left paw and locked her arm around his.
“I'm going with you this time.” she
said, firmly. “Someone has to make sure you come back.”
“All right”, he sighed, knowing
that he wouldn't be able to dissuade her. “I suppose I did promise
you some excitement, as well.”
“You wouldn't believe what happened
to me yesterday”, she sighed, looking away from him.” I was a
princess at a royal banquet, trying to give a speech to everyone.
I'm terrible at giving speeches...” she paused, pulling him closer
to her. “...But that's better than finding you like you were
tonight. I don't ever want that kind of excitement.”
There was a profound seriousness in her
words that got through to him. “Sister was there too, things might
be even worse for her. That's why we have to find her.”
“Together”, she agreed. A single
tear struck the floor as the light enveloped the ship.
---
The first thing he felt was the rush of
the wind against his face. Corsair opened his eyes to a sea of
green: grass grew tall across endless hills as far as the eye could
see, and fluffy green trees reached out towards the clear blue skies.
“The world of the strangers truly is a magnificent place”, he
thought, marvelling at the sheer size of it all. He wished he could
just go off and explore it at his own pace, but such things were not
to be, the sights and sounds of the vibrant green world flew by just
as soon as they had appeared. Looking down, he quickly realized why
the world was passing by so fast. He was seated atop a magnificent
white horse, whose golden mane fluttered in the wind as it galloped
down the path, carrying him to whatever destination this morning had
in store for him. Corsair himself was clad in a full suit of metal
armour, and he wore a sword at his side – a metal one, not one of
the wooden ones that they used for practice. Looking at it, he
remembered Sabre and looked around for her, but there was only a
single narrow dirt pathway and he seemed to be alone. “Maybe it's
for the best”, he thought, stroking the horse's mane and smiling to
himself, “I don't think she'd be happy about this.” Those horse
let out a neigh and broke into a full sprint, and Corsair took one
last wistful look at the wide open world before concentrating on the
path ahead.
It wasn't long before they came upon a
town, gated by a high stone wall. As the horse trotted through the
tall archway that served as the town's only entrance, Corsair was
immediately struck by how quiet it was. Every home had the windows
shuttered and barred, not a single person walked the streets, and the
gentle clip-clop of his horse's hooves was the only sound to be
heard. “I hope it isn't the plague”, he thought grimly, as they
trotted through the empty town. Just as he was about to leave
through the other end of town, he heard hushed voices, and he turned
to see a small crowd gathered in a nearby square. He dismounted his
horse, patted its head, and quietly joined the others. Shuffling
about at the back for a better view, he spotted a lone man at the
front preparing to address the others.
“Gentlemen!” said the man at the
head of the crowd, “our town is besieged! The fearful Dragon Lord
raids our farms, burns our fields, and carries off our beautiful
maidens! This cannot go on! The king seeks brave men to travel to
Darkstone Keep and slay the accursed beast!”
Just then there was a terrible screech
overhead, and a giant shadow fell across the crowd. “The DRAGON!!”
someone shouted, and most of the people dove for cover. Corsair
looked up to try to get a glimpse of the creature, but it was gone
just as soon as it had arrived.
The messenger picked himself up,
cleared his throat, and continued: “...Who among you has the
courage?” he asked, not sounding very courageous himself.
“I will fight the dragon!” bellowed
a deep voice. It belonged to a man in a full suit of armour, his
face covered by a full casque. “I cannot stand idly by while a
lady is in peril!”
“I'll go too!” said Corsair,
raising his sword.
“Thank you, brave knight!”, said
the man in the armour. “Who else will aid us?”
There was silence from the crowd.
“Count me in as well!”, a bold
female voice proclaimed. The crowd let out a collective gasp.
“But the Dragon feasts upon beautiful
maidens!” someone volunteered. There were various frightened
murmurs of agreement.
The woman drew and brandished her
swords, one in each hand. “All the more reason a woman should be
the one to slay him!” she said, fiercely. She sheathed the swords
and tossed her long red hair back with her right hand.
“We shall welcome all the help we can
get” proclaimed the armoured man, “unless one amongst you would
take her place?” The crowd fell silent again. “Thank you for
your courage, my lady, we would be honoured to have you with us”,
he said, taking her hand gently in his gauntlet. She gave him a
strange look and took her hand back.
“Someone has to keep you safe”, she
whispered to Corsair. “It's me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Is it really?
I barely recognized you.” She elbowed him in the side, which still
managed to hurt despite the chest plate he wore.
As soon as the commotion was over, the
crowd quickly dispersed and the town was empty once again save for
the three of them.
“We'll need horses”, the man in
armour said, “Darkstone Keep is quite a distance from here.”
Corsair saw Sabre wince. “My lady, you can ride with me if you're
not comfortable handling a horse”, the armoured man offered, but
Sabre declined him. “I'll manage”, she said, bitterly.
Corsair retrieved his horse from the
town gate and they were on their way.
“I must confess,” the armoured man
said as they rode along, “my motivations for embarking on this
quest are not entirely selfless. A woman I once cared for has gone
missing, and I wonder if she could have been taken by the Dragon
Lord.”
“That's as good a reason as any.”
Corsair reassured him. “A friend of mine is missing, too. I hope
she's not in any trouble.”
“Then I suppose you'd best hope we
don't find her here.” The stranger pointed to the castle that now
loomed over them. “This place has trouble written all over it.”
“Bring it on”, Sabre drew her
swords. “I'm ready for whatever it is.”
“You are quite a woman”, he
chuckled. “A lady warrior is quite rare.”
“A woman makes just as good a warrior
as a man”, Sabre told him, “I'll show you that soon enough.”
“I'm very much looking forward to
it”, he said eagerly, his gaze fixed on her. Corsair drove his
horse forward to get between the two of them before something went
wrong.
It wasn't long before they reached the
foot of the mountain upon which the castle was built. “We'll have
to go on foot from here, the path is too treacherous for horses.”
“Finally!”, Sabre replied, quickly
jumping down from her horse. The path was extremely narrow, and
parts of it crumbled under their feet. Corsair went first, followed
by Sabre and then the stranger. “This feels strangely familiar”,
Corsair thought to himself, as he gingerly placed one foot in front
of the other to make sure the path would not collapse.
Just then, there was a horrible screech
from above. It startled Corsair, and he felt his foot slip out from
under him. He tried to quickly steady himself, but it was too late,
he was falling over the edge. He tried to grab upwards for the
ledge, but it was behind him, and he couldn't turn in time...
“I've got you!” Sabre cried,
grabbing onto his arm. “Try to climb up!”
Corsair tried to spin himself around
and get his other hand on the ledge. With some difficulty, he
managed to find a solid handhold, and with Sabre's help he pulled
himself back onto the path. “You've got to be more careful!”
She chided him, “we almost lost you.”
“I'm sorry”, he apologized, “that
noise surprised me.”
“Just don't do it again.”
“You're really got some strength”,
the stranger said, impressed. “To support a fully-armoured man
with just one arm is no easy feat.”
Sabre ignored him. “There's no time
to waste here, let's keep going.”
From up close, it was clear where the
castle got its name. It was made entirely of a rock as dark as the
night itself, cold and sharp to the touch. The door to the castle
was massive, a giant double wooden door with black metal braces
holding it together. Corsair gave it a light push, and it creaked
open slowly.
“Unlocked” the stranger noted, “I
smell a trap.”
Corsair slowly pushed the door open
further. “Or an overly confident dragon.” The inner hallway was
completely dark. Sabre retrieved a torch and a flint rock from her
satchel. “It's a good thing one of us came prepared”, she said,
lighting the torch.
The inside of the castle was even more
ghastly than the exterior. Bones were strewn about the hall, with
not a scrap of flesh left on them. An assortment of broken weapons
and armour were also discarded here and there, and there was an eerie
creaking sound coming from the second floor. “It's just trying to
intimidate us”, Sabre stated confidently as she strode forward with
the torch in one hand and a sword in the other, pointing the sword
around in the darkness as she went. “The bones have been scattered
about in many piles, but there's only a few complete sets.”
“I'd still rather not become one of
them.” said the stranger, as he accidentally kicked aside a skull.
It rattled down the hallway before crashing unceremoniously against a
wall.
“Then keep your eyes open and your
wits about you and you won't-!” Sabre's torch and sword fell from
her hands as Corsair tackled her to the ground. Only seconds later a
giant log passed over their heads, right where Sabre had just been
standing.
“Are you all right?” Corsair asked
her as she lay beneath him.
The light from the nearby torch just
barely illuminated her face, but Corsair could see how surprised she
was. She looked at him for a moment in disbelief, then shoved him
off of her. “I will be as soon as you get off me!” The stranger
snickered.
“Perhaps I'd better take this”, he
said, picking the torch up off the ground. “You'll need both hands
to use those swords of yours, and a true gentleman would lead the way
for a lady.”
“I guess now we're even.” Sabre
said, poking Corsair in the side.
“Hey, we have to look out for each
other.” he told her as they stumbled along in the dark.
Under the stranger's leadership, they
encountered no further trouble until they came to the stairs. “I
can hear voices coming from above!” he told them in a hushed voice,
and sure enough, Corsair could hear what sounded like a woman
screaming. “We have to hurry!” the stranger said, bounding up
the spiralling steps. Corsair and Sabre chased after him.
“Wait!”, cried Corsair. There was
a terrible rumbling sound from above. “Something's coming!”
But the stranger seemed not to notice
and kept running up the steps. “We can't let anything happen to
him!” said Sabre, “or we'll never find out who's on the top
floor!”
So Corsair did the only thing he could,
reaching out and grabbing the stranger's boot. He tripped and fell,
knocking his helmet off and dropping the torch. The rumbling was
getting louder. “Run!” the stranger cried, as a gigantic round
boulder crashed down the stairs in front of him Corsair dragged the
man to his feet and they flew down the stairs as fast as they could,
just barely escaping into the hallway before the boulder crashed into
the wall behind them.
“That was close!” The stranger
wiped his now helmet-less brow. He had short hair, but Corsair could
make out no more in the darkness. “We can't go that way again, he
might have more boulders. And we've lost our torch.”
“My eyes have started to adjust to
the darkness”, Corsair said. “But we have to find another way
up. Does anyone see anything?”
“There's a tunnel through the wall
over here”, Sabre gestured to a small hole in the wall. “I can
hear the woman's voice through here, it must lead to the second
floor!”
“Ladies first”, said Corsair, and
Sabre deftly climbed into the small tunnel and began crawling along
on all fours.
“Good choice, friend”, the stranger
said quietly to Corsair, nudging him with his elbow. “What a
sight!” he sighed wistfully as Sabre slowly wiggled up the tunnel.
“Who would have thought that a bombshell could be such a formidable
warrior?”
Corsair wasn't sure what he was
enjoying so much. “You're welcome to go in after her if you fancy
getting kicked in the face.”
“After you”, he said, pushing
Corsair towards the tunnel, “your eyes have adjusted to the
darkness better than mine.” He gave Corsair another push as he
climbed into the tunnel, causing his head to bump into Sabre's
backside. “Hey!” She barked at him. “Watch where you're
going!”
Corsair thought he heard muffled
laughter from behind him. He paused for a moment to let her get far
enough ahead that he wouldn't bump into her again, then started
carefully navigating the narrow shaft after her.
Even from behind Sabre Corsair could
see that there was light at the end of the tunnel. “Where are we?”
He whispered to her.
“I don't know, but the coast seems to
be clear. I'm getting out.”
Sabre dropped down to the ground, and
Corsair followed her a moment later. They found themselves in room
lit by torches burning with an unnatural green flame.
“It's kind of pretty, in a way”,
Corsair said. The torches cast everything in the room in a faint
green light.
“Yeah.” Sabre said, turning to
face him. “Thanks for bringing me here, and for looking out for
me.” Her red hair glowed a deep shade of purple in the green
light, and the light reflected brilliantly off her green eyes.
Instinctively, Corsair put his arms around her, and pulled her close
to him. “I'm glad you're here to share it with”, he told her.
She seemed taken aback at first, but after a moment she closed her
eyes and rubbed her nose against his.
“I hope I'm not interrupting
anything”, the stranger apologized, climbing out of the vent.
Corsair expected her to pull away, but
she didn't, she nuzzled him for a moment longer before opening her
eyes again. “Let's finish this, together”, she drew her swords,
instantly back to her regular self. The stranger joined them, and
Corsair noted that the light barely reflected at all off his face or
skin.
“Help me!” the woman's voice cried
out from the next room, clearly audible now, and together the three
of them pushed open the door.
With a deafening screech, they came
face to face with the mighty Dragon Lord. His bulbous crimson body
was like that of a lizard, with two giant scaly wings and three long,
snake-like necks housing his three horrific heads. Each featured two
pointy horns at the back, a long snout, and gigantic yellow teeth,
which it barred menacingly. “Spread out!” Corsair yelled, and
the stranger and Sabre took off to separate sides of the room.
“You're mine!” yelled Sabre,
lunging at the head on the right with both of her swords.
“Watch out!” Corsair warned her, as
the head in the middle turned towards her and belched out a stream of
flame. She just barely managed to roll out of the way in time as the
flames charred a black mark where she had been a moment earlier.
“My turn!” cried the stranger,
charging at the head on the left, but before he could strike, the
head on the right ducked under the middle one and snapped at him. He
deflected the attack with his shield, but the head on the left spit
fire at him, and he had to jump backwards, out of striking range. In
the confusion, Corsair made a swing for the middle head, but it
dodged out of the way, and the beast spun with surprising quickness,
knocking Corsair off his feet with his tail. The middle head was on
him immediately, lunging for his unprotected face, but Sabre was
faster, thrusting her sword between the beast's jaws and holding him
at bay. The Dragon grunted and effortlessly shattered the blade
between its massive teeth, leaving Sabre holding only a bladeless
hilt. It retracted its head and roared at them.
“Okay, now I'm mad!” Sabre growled
fiercely at the Dragon as she tossed the hilt away and switched her
other sword to her right hand.
“The heads protect each other!”
Corsair yelled, back on his feet. “We have to work together!”
“Wait for it to attack, then take
them all out at once!” the stranger agreed.
The Dragon reared back and a puff of
smoke rose from each of its three heads.
“NOW!!” cried Corsair, as the
Dragon's three heads fired a mighty fireball towards each of them.
Dashing forward under the fireball, Corsair slashed at the Dragon's
neck, and he felt his sword cleave through the dragon's scaly hide as
the once-menacing head let out a final screech and fell to the ground
behind him. He quickly looked left and right and was relieved to see
that the others had made it as well. With all three of its heads
severed, the Dragon toppled forward and hit the ground with an
unceremonious thud. The three nodded to each other, sheathed their
weapons, and strode forward into the brightly-lit chamber beyond.
“I knew you'd come!” cried the
woman, and she ran straight towards Corsair with her arms
outstretched. She leapt into his arms, brought her lips to his, and
buried her face in his chest: “My hero.” she said softly.
Corsair breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“I'm so glad you're safe.” He put his arm around Sister and
patted her head as she snuggled up to him.
The stranger shook his head slightly
and whispered to Corsair: “A kiss from a maiden's a fair reward
for a hero, but methinks the lady knight's heart is yours as well.
Choose carefully, my friend.”
“I don't see why I have to choose”,
Corsair said, confused.
“You can never have both,” the
stranger said, sadly. He looked about the room, and sighed: “and
alas, my lady Michelle is not here.”
Sister immediately perked up, and they
all froze. “Did you say, 'Michelle'?” Corsair asked, in
disbelief.
“I did indeed. A fairer maiden I
have never known, but she is lost to me now. I have searched far and
wide to find her, and to make amends.”
“Are... are you... Steven?” It was
getting dark around him, but Sabre and Sister both looked on,
transfixed.
“Indeed, friend, I am Sir Steven.
How is it you know me?”
Corsair stepped closer, and the castle
seemed to vanish. “Michelle sent us, with a message for you: She
was in an accident, and she wanted to tell you she was sorry. Do you
know what that means?”
“I do.” He said, looking directly
at Corsair through wide, brown eyes, which he could make out clearly
for the first time. “Who... are you? You're... a cat?”
There was a load rumbling sound from
above.
“We have to go!” cried Sister.
“You've given him the message, we have to get back!”
The castle was collapsing around them,
but Corsair paid them no heed. He gestured to himself with his paw:
“I am Corsair. Remember me.”
“I will never forget it.”, Steven
told him, clasping his paw with his hand, “You have saved my life.”
“Come on!” Sabre insisted, grabbing
Corsair in her paws and dragging him away. “I'm NOT leaving you
behind!” The roof collapsed just as soon as she pulled him through
the door.
Corsair was dimly aware of being
dragged down the stairs and back to the ship, as Sister shrieked and
Sabre growled, but he was in another place. All he could think about
were Steven's last words: “You have saved my life.” Something
about the way he said it resonated with Corsair. “Sister was
right”, he thought: “They ARE real, just like we are.”
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