Page 2 of The Pirate Queen of Ruin
I would rather peel my flesh from my bone before I let another man touch me. My mouth opens to hurl some form of abuse at the cretin, but I have no voice. A rasping sound leaves me, and that is it. He laughs at me, and more of the crew join in. They all stare at me now, some grabbing hold of their crotches.
“Clean ‘er up,” another man announces, a sneer so vile spreading across his lips that my stomach rolls. “She’s ta be presented back to her husband.”
A crowd cheers as I am dragged, naked and bound, from the docks up to the cliff where the palace stands tall above all else. My childhood home overlooks our island and our ocean. It’s all ruined now. As we pass by the many shops that line the market, bodies are strewn among the burnt buildings. Shops along the market have been looted and proprietors executed. Outside the temple, naked and broken, my sisters kneel, forced to watch my demise as well.
We are barely past them when cheering erupts, and I know they have been slain. May they rest in peace as they deserve. May their stories echo across the underworld for all to hear. The gods have abandoned us.
Overlooking the sea in a courtyard of the palace, there is a small altar made of the purest stone our people could find when they first came to be on this island. It is a holy place to make sacrificial offerings to our goddess, and my brother’s head lies next to it. The scrapes against my torso now as I am bent over it, next in line to die.
Then comes the rustling of leather and metal as the guards who stand for this new king gather around and watch. The captain of the guard stands proud in front of them all, the same smirk on his face from the ceremony. The pig.
“Today, we put an end to a cursed line of rulers, ones who wish to keep you in the dark, ones who deprive you of the real message.” The traitorous man I was forced to marry addresses the crowd.
A heavy blade is placed along my neck. There is no fear left in my body, no humanity. I snarl and kick out like a wild animal. Whips lash across my skin, but I don’t stop. These traitors will know that I will not go out without a fight.
“This is the end of an era of lies,” he continues, the sword lifting off my neck. The last thing I hear is a whistle of iron slicing through the air, yet I try one last time to voice my rage.
“Suff-”
Water surrounds me, crushes me, swallows me whole until I have become one with it. How I am alive again, I don’t know. There is no light, only darkness and fury. My body burns, and a fire courses through my broken limbs even as the water tries to extinguish it. Nothing will cure me of this rage.
A ripple in the water causes me to snarl. I bare my teeth, all that is left in my mouth, as if that will frighten off the creatures of the deep. My pain is the only thing keeping my mind clear of the fog that is threatening to take over me.
The goddess did not protect me, did not save me from the hell I was forced into. Her brutal inaction as I wailed for it all to end, I will remember it for the rest of my days. The gods do not care for us mortals because we are not worth saving. A chaotic and evil creation that only causes suffering.
How I would make those who cause harm shudder in fear. How I would burn cities to the ground to strike terror into all those who think to take away another choice. I will ruin any king or man who crosses my path. I will ruin the world until there is nothing left and I can start a new one to prove to all how wrong they were.
I will not be an absent god.
The water surrounding me suddenly evaporates and I am lying on the floor, gasping for air.
“Who calls to us from the depths?”
The voices that erupt in the darkness with such force bring tears to my eyes. As terror and rage war within me, I can’t find mine to answer. There is a flicker of light, like a flint striking stone to create fire. It doesn’t catch though.
Instead I am left in the dark, unseeing as the ground beneath me morphs into something softer, something slick that writhes against my bleeding flesh. A humming surrounds me until my muscles have turned soft and I believe I will melt into nothing.
Still I can’t speak. My lips part, but not even a sound comes out.
“Hush,”the voices rasp and the floor begins to envelop me.
My body is too weak to panic, whatever spell this creature has cast upon me is set. As it absorbs me, finally reaching my end, I want for nothing but revenge. Regret that I shall never have it turns my stomach.
The pain of my body that kept my thoughts clear lessens and a fog rolls in. It douses my thoughts until the rage inside me cools, but I crave vengeance.
“Yes, you shall be our heart.”
Tentacles surround me, engulfing my senses. There is no light, only the scent of pomegranates in the air, like the blossoms of the trees in spring and the ripe fruit mix together as I gasp for air. My body is still even as I demand it move. I must move, because I have no other course of action but to ruin those who sought to hurt me and my family. Even if they were my blood once, they are no longer.
“To have what you seek, you must give up your past, give up your false gods.”
“Th-“ My voice finally cracks and the sound echoes in the vastness of the dark. “There are no gods.”
The appendages move me, lifting and anchoring me until I dangle in the air. The flint strikes again and a pink light burns softly. Tentacles the colour of the ocean on a summer’s day cover every place I look. They pile on top of each other and move in masses. Suddenly eyes blink open, creating spots in the fleshy walls of this prison.
“Our heart,”the voices hum a soothing vibration.“There is a god, and it is we.”
Fear and terror should be running through my veins. My body should tremble at such a sight, but I find that I can’t bring myself to such a pitiful act. There is nothing I worship now, nothing I will ever feel but hatred for my humanity and those people.
