Through the dim room, Venus could barely catch the small light above them swaying back and forth telling her that they were indeed on a boat. Besides the light, the crashing of the waves against the wooden walls rang throughout the room as they rocked the ship as well as shifting the boxes around them. The salty scent of the wind blew in from the cracks in the door above their heads while the pillar they were tied to was rotting from the outside in.

“I’m so sorry for not being able to get you out of there! If I had my sword I could’ve at least given you a gap to get away but I thought retrieving you wouldn’t take this long.” He kept apologizing profusely while Venus ignored his cries for forgiveness and listens to the waves to find out where they could be.

With every sway, she closely listened to anything else hitting the boat until she picked it up: wood scraping gently against wood. Rope splashing in the water while the boat rocked in place. “We’re still in the docks,” she mumbled.

“I swear I’ll avenge you one day, I didn’t mean for any of this to-”

“Scotty, listen!” She spit out the rag shoved into her mouth early and lowered her tone searing his apologetic tone to a stop, “if you shut up for the next 5 minutes I’ll return you unharmed to your Captain.” She waits for his answer while he shakes his head energetically not realizing she can’t see him right now.

He stops and asks slowly, “I will but uhm, how do you know my name?”

“I’ve heard it numerous times before even meeting you. I’ve been following your boat for miles, don’t you remember spotting me in the water?” She rolled her eyes impatiently as she thinks of the right spell to use in this situation.

He perks up again and asks, “how come I’ve never heard anyone call for you?”

She twisted her head around to yell at him for still talking when the roof above them concaved revealing Caspien standing valiantly in front of them. He chuckles to Scotty answering in Venus’ place, “because she’s neglected to tell anyone, Scott.” Cutting their ropes, he turned back to venus and quickly ties her back up without waiting for her to run away again, “we need to talk so I’ll have to keep you tied up for the time being.”

She rolled her eyes and jumped up out from the hole Caspien created behind the two sailors. As their eyes adjusted to the blazing light, James steps up to Caspien, brandishing a buffed out sword shining in the daylight and smirks, “it’s always a party when you’re here, Casp. Shall I introduce my crew to your pets? Though, I’m sure we should get our introductions over with first and foremost.” Swinging his blade out and towards Caspien, a loud clang resounded over the docks as Captain Caspien pulled his own from its sheath in retaliation.

Without wanting to get more involved than she already is, Venus sprinted for the side of the boat and was about to jump over, hands tied and shoeless, until she heard grunts and yelps from behind her. Unfamiliar voices rang through her mind mingled with Scotty’s grumbling. She turned to see him fending off James’ crew with only his fists and a nearby rusted pole. With one swing, the pole was knocked from his hands sending him to the floor in one foul swoop. He tried his best to keeps his balance and eyes open against the Murilian soldiers but with the ratio being 4:1 he wasn’t going to get out easily.

She went to jump over the side again but something stopped her. Whether it be the fact that he’d learned so many things from him before this all happened or that she needed his captain to tell her more about what happened to her family, she knew she couldn’t leave them like this. Jumping in front of Scotty as he was getting beaten to death, she sang out, “Drop below the tide and bow to me, if not, you shall break your fragile knee!” She repeated the chant as the roots of her hazel hair glowed with her eyes dripping into a blood-red shine.

The Murilian crewmates laughed at the spectacle. They quickly tried to pounce on Venus and Scotty but stopped as they began to shriek and fell to the floor. Venus gave them a venomous stare as she watched their legs crack forward too far at the knee. Some stayed within the skin while others broke the outside brandishing sharded bones and muscle. From beside her, she heard the stifled sound of vomit plummeting into the sea over the boat. But she paid no mind and looked to the men behind those rolling on the floor as if to ask, ‘who’s next?’

With just one look, the men ran off towards the docks while others jumped overboard trying to drag their dismembered friends away from the crazy witch. With a smirk and a skip in her step, Venus headed towards the freeboard thinking Scotty would follow but heard him call out to his captain.

Sure enough, on the upper deck, Caspien and James were neck and neck alone. As soon as Scotty called out, James took the chance and slashed across Caspien’s chest making him stumble backward. Crimson blood trickled down to the floor as he tried to hold himself up as best as he could. James held his sword up to his neck and called down, “I’ll let your captain leave if the sea witch releases her curse on my crew!”

The four of them looked between themselves until Caspien coughed, “fine! But she comes with us,” he pushed James’ blade away from his face and stumbled down to the lower deck with blood trickling from his leg to the boat. Scotty wraps his captain’s arm over his shoulder while Venus gets the other involuntarily swung over her. As they drag him away James calls out for Venus to take off the spell but she just waves her hands in the air without looking back.

Hauling Caspien onto the boat, Venus looks down at her hands and thinks to herself, ‘if they trusted me more, I’m sure I wouldn’t be tied up right now and could get some answers out of him. Maybe even slip away quietly when the time is right.’ She pondered for a while more as they dragged the captain across the lower deck until she came to her own inner conclusion. Stopping in place, Scotty turned to her but was caught off guard by her single, sweet word, “Venus.”

Caspien straightened out at her single word while Scotty dropped the weight of his long time friend. They both didn’t know what to say or what she meant. They just stood in place taking in her hard lilac gaze piercing through them waiting for a response from their flushed senses.

Caspien curled under the pain and gasped, “Venus is...?”

“My name,” she answered curtly while grabbing his arm again with her tied hands.

Without waiting for the order to do so, Scotty pulled a small knife from his captain’s pocket and cut her restraints. The two of them hauled Caspien to his quarters as he coughed out between bated breaths, “can we talk? Just for a moment, I need to speak with you before anything else.”

Venus peered down at the slash across his chest and nodded her head without questioning him. Of course, she knew that he needed to be treated before anything so she agreed silently and entered the hell she’d escaped from twice already.