Deep Down in Atlantis Ch. 02

Shadow turned to me, smiling.

"You didn't think I would let them take over my crew, did you?"

I gawked at Shadow. Who was he? What powers did he have?

I was about to find out.

"They didn't bring the Needles."

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

"It's a powerful weapon. Of course Veil wouldn't let anyone take it. Specially to deal with just one ship."

Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"This Veil you speak of..."

"The one I told you about. Who killed my father."

He nodded.

"No matter. I'll deal with them."

Shadow jumped down onto the main deck, scaring a few sailors. He walked slowly, his dark hair wavering in the wind, and his sun burnt and wind marked skin glowing below the sun. I watched as he raised his arms high, then pointed toward the heads in the water.

The ship moved by itself. It pulled itself towards where Shadow pointed, and the ropes and the wood and the sails, all obeyed. Then Shadow caught a single harpoon lying around, and threw directly at a mermaid. She died instantly, the harpoon caught in her right eye.

The angry faces in the water dived deep and swam closer to the ship, using their sharp trident like weapons against the wood. But one by one, they were lifted by magical ropes that obeyed its captain's orders. The crew used their sharp lances to kill the fish people. They screamed in agony.

They still tried to fight. One single man died from a careless approximation to one of the mermaids, his head was torn off easily by her strength.

The rest swam away.

They didn't fight anymore, and Shadow stopped his ship, and it returned to obey the natural laws.

From the captured, two survivors. A sweet young maiden, her tail yellow with speckles of blue, her golden hair shining preciously. She hung from the rope. All around her, men stared with hungry eyes.

I knew what her fate would be if she stayed there.

But the other prisoner was Tarlan himself. The gigantic general from Atlantis had a black tail that seemed slick and oily. His long black hair also had the same feel to it.

"I noticed," said Shadow to me, "that this one seems to be important for the way you looked at him."

I startled.

"How did... I was looking from the distance. How could you notice?"

Shadow ignored me.

"Is he important?"

The men stared at me, and the two merpeople as well, hanging in the air by the magical ropes. They said nothing.

"Yes, that's Tarlan. A general. One of the traitors."

"You are the traitor. You kill your own people," said Tarlan.

I advanced at him, but Shadow stopped me with an arm.

"You killed my father," I said. Scorn in my voice.

"I didn't. Veil did. But I would gladly have done it, if she hadn't got to him first."

Shadow grunted.

"Just as well," he said. "You, pretty blondie. You tell that Veil that if she wants her pretty general alive, she must come herself. Otherwise, he's a fried fish."

Shadow wavered his hand and the rope turned, and the mermaid whimpered, her tail struggling. But then, the rope left her fall on the water. A few minutes later, when Shadow was sure that the young mermaid had gone off, he turned to the General Tarlan.

"You'll meet your death, Captain. Whoever you are. Veil will never accept an exchange. She will fight."

"I expect her to," Shadow answered, and decapitated Tarlan with a quick swing of his blade.

The crew threw away the rest of the body, and the ship moved on. Shadow grabbed the head by the hair, and walked off the main deck. I ran after him.

"But... will Veil come now that he is dead?"

"She doesn't know that, does she?"

And he was right. Veil came, on the very next day. Nobody expected her to come so soon. And she came alone.

She must have jumped out of the water when nobody saw her, and transformed her long red tail into legs in mid air, a brilliant ability to have. She fell on the middle of the main deck. Every crew member, Shadow and even I took a moment to process the image of a dark and lean woman, naked, standing in the middle of everyone. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open.

Veil.

She didn't see me. She only looked around, her large eyes the color of amber.

"You asked for me. Here I am." She smiled.

The men, also open mouthed, fell behind one another and the space cleared around Veil. Her curled hair danced graciously in the wind.

Shadow moved away from me and looked down at Veil.

"And here I am, the captain of this ship," he said, aloud.

"Where is your prisoner?"

"Ati is not my prisoner."

"The traitor is not of whom I speak, and you know it," she said. Her eyes narrowed and she waited. "Where is Tarlan?"

"Oh, this one?" Shadow disappeared behind a door and came back quickly, his dark hair appearing slick below the sun. The captain threw the head at Veil's feet. He's eyes were still open and he had his tongue out. She gasped. "Oh, was he someone dear to you?" Shadow asked.

She didn't answer. Her lips trembled and she stared wide eyed.

"Men, kill this bitch," Shadow said. I shook my head, to warn them, but it was too late. In a sweep of her hand, Veil threw at the first three men who approached, a sea needle, a magical weapon that the Atlanteans created. It was thin as a needle, but large, and the blade cut the three men in half.

Shadow squinted his eyes, then he looked at me.

I told him what the weapon was. And Veil had probably brought many more with her. They would appear in her hand as soon as she needed them.

All the while, Shadow and Veil stared at each other. She, filled with burning hatred, and he, a cold calculating stare.

"You stained my ship," he said. Then he jumped down, and I quickly went down the stairs and hid behind the barrels. Yes, Shadow believed me strong and powerful, but in moments like these, I knew the truth, I knew that my transformation would never come, because I was a coward. My father, who could transform at will, still died for Veil. And I had to run away. Maybe Shadow could kill her. Maybe.

Veil didn't wait long. She threw another sea needle, this time directly to Captain Shadow's head. He dodged them, but the poor man behind him fell down with a hole in his throat. The needle went through the walls of the ship, and disappeared. Shadow ran. He jumped over the bodies of the dead men. Veil raised her hand to throw another needle, but her hand was caught by a rope. She turned, and widened her eyes with puzzlement. The rope was held by no one. Shadow came to her and put a fist into her face. Veil flew away with the amazing strength of Shadow's punch, but before she fell on the sea, the rope brought her back, with a wave of Shadow's hand.

Everyone watched with awe as Veil came, but it was the captain's time to be surprised. She cut the rope mid air with a needle, and threw at Shadow. This time, he had no time to dodge. It cut him through his belly. He bled profusely, but stared at Veil, who had fallen on the ship's main deck, and smiled. She raised her hand and threw another needle. Then another, and another... A dozen powerful needles through Shadow's body. He stepped back from each one, each time, the flesh of his body falling, blood spilling everywhere. His face went slack, as he went overboard, and I heard the thud of his body hitting the water.

Silence reigned. Then suddenly, a random pirate screamed.

"For the Captain!"

He charged at Veil.

Veil caught the man who charged by his throat and squished his neck. The man's scream turned into gurgling sounds and he fell on the ship, his blood staining the nice wood, turning it to dark red.

"Where is the traitor?" she asked. Her long dark legs shone as she walked, she seemed used to it. Her transformation still baffled me, so quickly did she acquire the human form.

"Die, bitch."

That was Jimmy. The lad raised his axe and charged, fearless. He tried to thrust it into Veil's head, one, twice, she dodged like an experienced fighter. Jimmy fell back a few steps. Then the axe danced again, and all the while, I hid and watched.

Coward, that I was. They were dying for me. But how could he fight her, when Captain Shadow couldn't. The mysterious man fell over the water with more than a dozen sea needles through his body. He was gone, and now I was going to die as well.

Jimmy advanced with swings that made his axe mingle with the wind, but Veil ducked, and kicked Jimmy on the heels, taking him off his ground. He fell, but axe firm in his hand, he still cut the air with it. Veil seemed to have run out of needles. She would have to hunt them down. They were good surprise weapons to throw, but could not be held as a sword, or they would break.

I watched myself get out of behind the barrels, my hiding place. Hardly a safe place, anyway.

"Veil!" I screamed. "Here I am, the one that you look for. But I am not traitor. You killed my father."

She faltered. Then a side of her lips hinted at a cruel smile. Her large amber eyes glittered and she forgot about Jimmy. He buried his axe on her leg.

Veil screamed in agony and fell down on her back. Jimmy quickly recovered the axe, but as he was about to hit Veil again, she twisted her body and hit him on the guts with her other leg. Jimmy was forced back a few steps and, losing his balance, fell over the rails and into the ocean, just like his Captain.

Veil stood up again, her leg wound bleeding, but seemingly causing her no pain anymore.

No one on the ship charged her again.

She stood up and looked at me.

"Your father was a weakling like you. What I have done, I did for Atlantis."

"Then why are you so afraid to let me live?" I said.

Veil blinked. I saw confusion in her eyes for a moment.

"I am not afraid."

"You should."

I remembered Captain Shadow telling me, as our bodies lay intertwined in his bedchamber, how powerful I was. He told me he felt something big, worthy of the fear of the most brave. Captain Shadow had given himself to me, and become mine. I trusted him. Now I lost him.

I saw it in Veil's eyes, somehow I could see my own reflection. I had horns on my head and gleaming blue eyes. She shook her head. She was afraid. I watched her step back once.

"How did you kill my father? Behind his back, with your band of traitors?"

"Your father was a weakling," she repeated, scorn in her voice.

"No... You could never defeat my father." My voice was now deeper. I became taller, the magic blood of my family speaking my truth. "You... you were the one who lay with him, his concubine..."

Veil's face retorted.

"He took me from my family" she said. She looked around, to see how close she was from jumping to the water, and gave another slow step back.

"Oh, and when you thought that you had the royal blood inside of you, you could get rid of him, and me, to rule in our rightful place," I said. Anger built inside of me like a fort. My arms grew huge, my muscles almost tearing my skin apart. "He put a child in you."

"And once he did, I killed him. The rest of your family fell for the armies of mine. Atlantis welcomed us as their new rulers. You have no place there anymore, even with all your power. And maybe I can't kill you the same way, unguarded, but my child has your power too, and when it's grown, you will meet your match. Good bye, Ati."

She turned around, ready to jump. But she halted, as a figure rose from the ocean, body completely healed from all wounds. His eyes shone red, like hell fire, and he smiled.

Veil screamed, and stepped back.

But Captain Shadow was in a transformation of his own, and he soared into Veil's direction and ran an arm through her belly.

Her blood splattered everywhere.

Inside the red fist that had gone through her guts, when he opened, Captain Shadow held Veil's heart. It fell on the ship floor with a thud, and her powerful heir was no more, dead just as its mother.

Shadow proceeded to torn off her head, and this he threw in the water, the rest of the body he let go on the wood.

"All that talk, I could swear she would be harder to kill," was all Captain Shadow said. His men started to cheer.

Absorbed in Shadow's actions, I had become normal again, my transformation going away. I was again just a young man, and Shadow looked in my eyes and nodded in approval.

In the hours after the fight against Veil, some men were brought up from the water alive, Jimmy included. He gave a big hug to me, and then went to help the others in their meal. In her death, Veil had turned half fish again, and now they were about to roast her fish part. Her part that resembled a human, they threw away like trash.

I was horrified. But kept my silence. My head only thinking about the revelations I had faced.

The crew members ate Veil. Not the part that resembled them, of course, but they roasted her fish tail. The smell nauseated me. I hid on the rear of the ship, holding off my disgust, and stared off into the night.

Captain Shadow found me.

"The men lost many," he said, as if he knew my thoughts. "They think that any barbaric act will be unaccounted for in the eyes of the gods."

"I suppose they are right, since you don't seem to care."

Captain Shadow smiled, but he shook his head.

"I am no god."

"Are you not?"

The stars reflected in his eyes. It made me remember the moment when I could see flames in them, when he had transformed into something else.

"I might be one day... Not yet, I'm afraid."

They stood in silence, side by side.

"I'm tired," said him, finally. "Would you pleasure me with your company in my private quarters?"

"But if you're tired, what would be the point?" I said.

I turned to him, and my hands ran around his thighs and grabbed the fat buttocks.

"You shouldn't touch me like this in here," he said to me. But his voice dropped to a more subdued tone. He didn't remove my hands. And I pulled him tighter against me, feeling his warmth, his hardness.

"What are you going to do, then?" I said.

I sneaked my hand below the breeches, and in between his buttocks. It was warm and sweaty, and his hole started to pulse and close around my finger, as if daring me.

"Please, come with me," he said. "Or I will kneel to you right here."

I removed my hand.

"I'll go with you," I said. Fuck Atlantis. Those who abandoned me. "Wherever you take me, Shadow."