Chapter 12 | The Alcidone Galleon

   A long night on a galleon ship was more tiring than traveling on land, especially to the knights who'd been landlocked their entire lives.

   The merchants and Belmasse residents tried their best to accommodate Rufus and another knight as they hurled throughout the night. Asena took to sitting at the crow's nest so that she could watch everyone.

   There weren't many of them. In total, there were fifty people on the ship. Fifty abled bodies from a glance. Two suffered from seasickness. One was suspiciously always hiding from plain view. One captained the ship with ease and his crew while the rest were unassuming.

   The women and children, as previously checked by János, the Chief of the Port and Rufus, were safely in the quarters.

   "Are you sure no one was injured?" Asena spoke to her vambrace.

   A hurl and a quick yes spoke back.

   Her eyes fell on the suspect. She observed him as he glanced her way before huddling out of sight. He didn't smell like death. And he presented human-like responses, so Asena decided not to pursue him.

   The night was long and the wind was steadily strong. The captain would've liked to chalk it up to blessed weather, but the strong and steady wind was not a natural occurrence for this river. He knew it and so did the other seamen.

   "My lady!" he shouted from below. "My Lady, we've got a problem!"

   Climbing down the mast, she noticed the dwindling number of men that paraded around the deck. She also hadn't heard the hurling of her knights.

   "The wind is unnaturally steady."

   She didn't understand what that meant but nodded anyway. From his actions, she surmised the gravity of the situation.

   "Do you assume it to be a creature of the night?"

   "None that I know of."

   Asena decided she must be prepared for anything.

   "Where are my men?"

   "Down below, ma'am," a merchant answered.

   "We led the two down so that they may rest."

   "Who has checked on the women recently?"

   "I-I have, Lady Asena."

   One of the knights rose to his feet. He'd been crouched on the floor, hugging a wounded arm. The fact she didn't notice him was strange to her.

   She took note of that and his arm.

   "When?"

   "Not an hour ago."

   "Were you injured then?" She gestured towards his arm.

   "No, ma'am. I got this after. I nicked myself coming down."

   "What's that?" A merchant pointed at the puss on his arm.

   "Don't touch him," she instructed.

   "I-I don't know. It-it w-wasn't there before. M'l-lady..."

   The panic in the knight's voice was clear even to Asena as he stumbled.

   "Take off your shirt," Asena commanded in a steady tone, making sure to maintain his distance from everyone who'd gathered.

   They all looked at her incredulously.

   "Now."

   There was no urgency to the tone of her voice, but the knight could tell that he should follow her orders sooner rather than later. So, he quickly did as he was told. Covering most of his arm were the white pustules not so dissimilar to hers.

   She didn't wait.

   Drawing the sword tucked to his side, she hacked through his arm. He viciously screamed in pain, tears pouring from his eyes as he convulsed to the floor of the ship. Without a second's delay and not thinking of the repercussions, she grabbed the bleeding soldier and healed him. But not before drawing quickly a sample. She pressed a carnelian gem on her vambrace and burned the separated arm to ash.

   A merchant fell back on his buttocks. "The. Fuck." 

   "What–" The Chief rushed over after waking from his frozen state.

   He'd been idly walking around the deck, finding whatever he could to occupy his mind when the people started to gather around the young knight.

   Without getting up, Asena quickly addressed their state of shock.

   "That was the infection eating at his flesh."

   "How do you know?" a merchant questioned.

   "The others weren't like that."

   The crew and other people agreed with one another.

   Before the Chief could find a platform to speak on behalf of Asena, she spoke first.

   "The infected do not react the same. I have yet to distinguish why this is so. You. Check on the women and children again. And the two of you with the Chief, find a man in a tattered brown coat. He's about 5' 7". He has a mole on his lower–"

   "Gozzo of the Hebi Company?"

   "I do not know his name, but if the features match, I leave it to you. As for you, Captain of the ship. Continue to sail to Grimdeen Bridge. I've settled the steady wind."

   Most of the men didn't inquire anymore, believing in the commander the lord of the land had sent them. Others remained silent despite their thoughts, and the remainder silently protested.

   The Captain mumbled to himself as he returned to his station. "The infection is on the ship."

   Alcidone was rocking side to side as the wind died down, and the only thing keeping it sailing were the men and the stones embedded on its keel.

   "Have you collected yourself yet?" 

   Asena felt the cauterized wound of the knight. It healed neatly.

   "M-my arm." He was staring at the pile of ash. "You, you healed me with light. And my arm, you burned. I-I don't understand."

   "It would have killed you. As your commanding officer, I made a quick decision without your permission. I... apologize, I believe."

   "B-but you healed, you healed me. You-you healed the c-cut. My arm."

   "Yes, well, the duke will have to ready himself. As will my father."

   "You're a Seed. They said you were special." He observed his arm closely, it was such a clean heal. "When I first signed up to be a Drakonian, I had done it because of you. But I didn't think that you would be a Seed."

   The knight continued to ramble.

   Only he, the Chief, and anyone else closely familiar with her had truly seen what she'd done hence their following her orders.

   She's proven that she's the true captain of the ship without knowing it for herself.

   "Yes. Well, let's get up now. Check on your fellow knights down below. Bring them up here. We have much to do. Quickly." She tried to convey the urgency but wasn’t sure if she’d delivered it right.

   The knight stumbled to his feet. Though he felt no pain, he’d lost a lot of blood. The Chief briefly aided him.

   Asena made her way to the Captain to assess their path and time trajectory.

   The Captain seemed to have calmed down as the ship steadied. "The wind has died down, my lady. Why do you think that is?"

   "It was him. He's an Anima. Without realizing it, he was releasing mana due to the pain."

   "I see... did you know that he was infected just from the white puss?"

   "No."

   "Then, how?"

   "It could've been anything. The only fact you should care about is that the white puss was eating his arm. It could be the infection. It could be something else."

   "But then, you sounded so sure."

   "I am."

   The captain was at a loss. He didn't understand their conversation at all. Was she sure or was she not? Wasn't it a simple yes or no?

   "Asena Spiros, you've always been a conundrum for us, Imíoth."

   "Imíoth? You mean the merchant guild from the north?"

   "You may not remember me, but I always thought you were a weird one. Lonán Imíoth." He turned to her, hand outstretched and a grin painted on his face.

   "Ah, the little boy who followed Evren around whenever he'd come to trade."

   Lonán laughed, finding comfort in their conversation.

   "You were little then, too, Asena."

   "Yes, that is the natural course of aging."

   Again, he laughed heartily.

   A short quiet time passed by.

   "We were ambushed by Almaric's men when we landed last night. By then, János had the people on little boats just far enough from the docks. We hadn't thought much about it coming in, but the only way we could save ourselves was by diving into the water and swimming to the deeper ends. If mum– if the Captain hadn't thought to, we wouldn't be here."

   Lonán meant to continue the tale of what occurred in Belmasse but was cut short.

   A crowd of people came running into the deck. The women and children stayed huddled together and waved the men away.

   "Do not move any closer. We were safe in the quarters."

   "But her ladyship ordered for us to bring you out here."

   Asena tilted her head to the side. This was not what she had meant.

   "The women and children, come closer to me. The men may stay where they are."

   Pondering her next move, she watched as the Chief came out from the Captain's Quarters. Behind him was a man in cuffs. Gozzo had his head bowed uncomfortably backward and arms held by two men.

   "Is he dead?" she asked them.

   The word 'dead' sent the crowd into a loud panic state.

   "Quiet," she commanded.

   The deck went silent all at once. The night was long and dark. The river was not like Hallerbos or the town, light was scarce. The threat came in two forms, Creatures of the Night and secondly, the infection. But the threat of the infection was scarier as they could imagine what was to come next.

   One of the men said, "no?" 

   "He has the white posulate–" The other tried to explain.

   "The white pustules, ma'am."

   "Yeah, pustules..."

   "Gozzo..." She searched her library of familiar faces and names. "Yes, first mate Gozzo of the Hebi Company. Where is Almaric?"

   She looked to Lonán, but the answer came from much closer.

   "Dead, your ladyship," the Chief murmured and fiddled with his fingers. "Back at the port."

   "And his crewmates?"

   "Dead as well."

   Asena nodded, finding the situation a little less complicated. She put together Lonán's story and the recent event. If at Hempholme, the infection came from survivors of Orkney and a few residents of the town who'd returned from a long vacation, then the infection at Belmasse would've been similar.

   "Let him go before–" 

   But just as she was instructing, Gozzo snapped his neck forward. It was as if he'd been lying in wait. His eyes were an eerie red glowing in the dark of the night. They looked like another set of lit lanterns, but redder.

   He snapped his head to the side, grabbing one of the men in surprise. The man shrieked in pain as Gozzo's teeth dug past the thick fabric of the man's shirt and chomped off a piece of flesh.

   White pustules immediately appeared on the man's arm. This was not something Asena had seen before. The other man let Gozzo go and pulled the Chief with him as they ran behind Asena.

   Gozzo gnawed at the human flesh between his teeth but didn't make any other unexpected moves. He was like a starving animal, feeding for the first time in a long time.

   The injured man tried to move away, but the people turned against him.

   He remained between the monster and the people.

   "Why doesn't it attack?" Someone in the back asked.

   János peered over Asena's shoulder. "I had his legs severed." 

   Asena nodded. She had been waiting for it to lunge at her or the man, but as it was, that was hardly going to happen. She rushed at it, giving herself no time to conjure a weapon, and grabbed it by its fragile neck. She slammed it against the railing of the ship.

   Alcidone shook side to side from the impact. The women turned away while covering the children's eyes. A few fell to their knees from the sudden rocking. Some of the men gagged as they could not look away.

   She slammed the neck again. The bone cracked from the force of her attack as did part of the ship. Her unwavering eyes observed every second of their brutal interaction. The neck was being crushed by a force sharper and tougher than her dainty fingers, like a sharpened stone pounding at it. She repeated the motion until the neck and head separated.

   The head splashed into the river leaving its body still writhing in her hand. Soon after, she threw it overboard too.

   Next, she turned to the injured man.

   She remembered to give options this time "You either die now, or I cut your arm off.".

   "C-cut the arm."

   The man had seen the knight heal. He knew that the lady could save him, so he didn't hesitate to offer his arm. But the pustules had found their way up to his neck and behind his ears. She told him to turn so that they may face each other. The pustules had made their way to his eyes, now red and agitated.

   "Thank you," he smiled.

   Without a word, she manifested a blade in her hand. This man was alive and conscious. She could not do what she'd just done.

   "I'll make it quick and painless."

   The green knife in her hand sliced through his neck cleanly.

   She caught the head by the hair.

   "I can burn that..." A merchant offered for his fellow crewmate.

   He didn’t want him to be thrown off too like a deserter or traitor of the ship.

   She let him burn the head in her hand and then burned the body herself. Carried by the wind, the ash flew on over the waters.

   "Someone say a prayer," she commanded.

   Jojo, who hadn't looked away, rushed to the rail just beside the pool of blood. She knelt and said a quiet prayer.

   "May the great Lighting Tree grant the both of you eternal rest."

   The rest of the voyage went smoothly. No one else presented any symptoms known to Asena. Although the waters were calm and the people less chatty, she remained vigilant. She kept everyone on deck. She kept them as separated as she could and allowed only a select few to prepare food.

   The journey to Marrens Eve will be another matter entirely.