Bab 8: Force of Nature
THE Narvach stiffened at the confidence with which the Captain spoke to him, and so did everyone else on the boat. He had just said no to the most powerful man at sea. Ash opened his jaw wide, and so did Glit; they both were rooted in place with shock.
"Is he mad?" Glit asked, her voice trembling.
"I don't know," Ash replied without thinking.
The Narvach turned around immediately, removed a gun from one of his guard's holsters, and pointed it at Felis' head. "What did you just say to me?" he inquired, his neck and palms growing sweaty. Even though they were out in the open sea, he was sweating from the burning heat of his own anger. No one had ever dared to tell him no. Not in a decade had he heard that word used directly when speaking to him.
"I said no, sir. With all due respect, every member of this crew is invaluable to the mission. They are the reason you get your cryptological potions every time you come. You get the exact amount and the exact quality every single time. Not once have you ever come to me and complained about my work. Every single one of your clients was always satisfied with your delivery. The reason for that is the efficiency of my crewmates. Every single one of them was handpicked by me because of a certain role they fulfill. If you remove one of them, sir, with all due respect, it is the same as crippling me," he tried to salvage his utter disrespect with a flurry of words that showed he was speaking from a logical standpoint.
Helios, however, wasn't a man who got easily distracted from what he considered disrespect. He glared at Felis for a while, then suddenly, with a shift of his arm, he changed his gun's aim and pulled the trigger. Ash covered his ears as a loud bang resonated across the ship. Even with the howling wind, everyone heard the sound.
Ash opened his eyes, expecting to find Felis on the ground bleeding to death but instead it was Romero that was laying on the ground convulsing. Helios didn't shoot Felis, he shot a random bystander. Before Ash could even come to terms with what was happening, a deafening shriek of agony rang across the ship as a woman rushed towards the body of the convulsing boy.
"My baby! My son!" She yelled as she knelt over the boy, holding his hands. The woman turned back. "What did you do? My boy never offended you, you monster!" She yelled but before she could complete the words, Helios released another shot.
It was the first time in Ash's life that he would see the head of a human being blown apart. The woman dropped on her son 's chest and in the place of a head, there was a pulsing, discombobulated mass of flesh with blood streaming out of the wound and staining the floorboards of the boat.
Ash and everyone stood in place, shocked to the bones. Felis could barely move as he dropped to his knees staring at the two bodies laying in front of him. "Cassandra," he whispered, trembling and shaking. "Romero!" He gasped. "No… no… we don't, we don't have a healer. Anyone! Someone, just…" his words were incoherent as tears rolled from his face and it took both Glit and Ash by surprise.
They understand the captain was a fair man, but to shed tears for random crew mates that he even barely talked to. The fact that he knew their names was jarring, but crying for them, it made Ash's heart sink more. This was their fault, Felis was trying to protect them and for some reason, he'd managed to incur the wrath of the Navarch of ElderTide. Only three other people held that title in the entire world and they were complete omnipotent rulers over the sea they commanded, only a few other officers could talk back to them.
"Now there we go, this is exactly the kind of emotion I was hoping for," Helios began, pacing slowly in front of the sobbing captain. "You just said your crew was invaluable and that you needed every single one of them to help. Well, two of them are dead now. A shame. I know you are a smart man, Felis. Figure out this scenario—what would you do, huh? How would you react? How do you fix this loophole?" He walked towards the guard he had collected the gun from and shoved it into his holster. The guard stood still, but everyone could see he was shaking; a raging Narvach wasn't something to be trifled with.
"You killed them," Felis whispered. "For no reason. They serve no purpose in our argument nor our negotiation," he said, glaring at the bodies.
Ash felt sick at the sight of what was happening and gripped Glit ever so tightly. This was the scariest moment of his entire life. Any silly sound and a bullet might sink into his head.
"Argument? You think of yourself as my equal? You do not argue with the working force of a god! Do you argue with the wind? Do you argue with the wraiths of the night? No!" Helios yelled. "No! I am a force of nature, you dimwit. I am your fate, the very dictator of your sorry lives," he said, shifting his neck so he could breathe from the tightness of his royal cloth.
Felis didn't speak anymore. Ash saw him close his eyes and mutter something. "Take those two kids," Helios said, pointing to Ash and Glit. "Take those two too," he pointed towards Mute and Kay.
Ash's heart sank. He was visibly trembling; every single click of the guards' boots against the floorboards shook him with fear. His teeth vibrated in his mouth, clicking against each other. He felt Glit wrap her hand around his as the guard loomed towards them.
"Take one more step, and you will lose your head," Felis said, opening his eyes and glancing at the guard.
Hadiah
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