Sea Of Sparks And Shadows

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!

Amaris stared at the basket in her hand, then at the rope ladder between her and the crow’s nest. How by the heavens was she supposed to carry the basket up there? She only had two hands! And Spirit may have helped her in previous tasks, since she turned him on again, but he couldn’t float any higher than five feet above the ground.

She looked around the empty deck. Everyone was in the mess hall having their lunch. How by the spirits did they get anything up there without slipping and falling to their death?

Her eyes caught on a rope at the edge of the port and she jumped into motion as an idea sprung into her mind. She quickly grabbed it and tied it to the arm of the basket, next she tied the other end around her wrist and started climbing the ladder.

It took her heart a few steps before its beating settled into a regular rhythm. It took her hands much longer to cooperate and release the rungs swiftly from her tight grip. She forced her eyes to only look up and not at the growing distance between her and the deck.

By the time she got to the top, her hair was tangled by the growing winds, her lungs were pushing all the air from inside her and her hands were so clammy that every time she made to grab at another rung, she could picture her hold slipping and her body falling all the countless feet she’d just climbed.

She didn’t know if it were a few minutes or a whole hour she spent climbing before she pulled herself onto the small circular platform. She let out a breath of relief when she made it to a sitting position on the wooden floor.

Only a foot in front of her, Slygrin was leaning on the wooden rail, his body slumped as he slept away. This was the first moment Amaris could see him for what he really was, a child. His bandana had somehow slipped from his forehead and now sat as a scarf around his neck. His blonde strands fell over his tanned face and his brows were furrowed, as if he wasn’t enjoying whatever dream he was having. Or maybe, Amaris had concluded, his back hurt from this position.

She didn’t know why they had Slygrin up here if they already knew that it would take at least two more days to reach land. The poor boy was getting sunburned for no reason. She looked around and had to admit that maybe the scorching sun and violent winds were worth it. There was something freeing about being this high up. Only the clouds and the open sky above her. It almost felt like she was detached from everything. As if she was but an air spirit watching over the empty deck and the faraway clouds and passing ship. As if everything around her was nothing more than a story book she got to read when she wanted to. As if life wasn’t something she had to do. Maybe that’s why she was so fascinated by the iron feather. The idea that she could soar through the skies like this whenever she wanted was a dream she always had. She wished she brought with her the miniature prototype she finish-

“What are you doing here?” Amaris reluctantly drew her gaze away from the top of the mast where Oddelerie’s flag, two gold circles touching and a silver serpent crossing between them, all on a black background, flapped against the winds.

Slygrin was sitting up straighter and rubbing the remainder of sleep from his eyes.

“I thought you had Paradelia’s flag up.”

“Naw, we work for Oddelerie.”

“Where are you from?” she was suddenly curious about Slygrin. She didn’t know much about him other than that his father was the cook and that he grew up on this ship. He had a strange accent and she wasn’t sure whether he picked it up from here or before that.

“Miruina. You didn’t answer me. Why are you up here?”

Suddenly Amaris remembered why she dared even step on the unreliable rope ladder in the first place. “I got you lunch. But I didn’t want to wake you.”

Slygrin looked around. “Where?”

Amaris blinked before she recalled that she left the basket on the main deck. “Right.”

She peered through the opening she came through. The basket was still safely on the ground. The rope was much longer than she initially thought. She started pulling on it, and in a few moments, she was pulling the loaf of bread and closed container out of the basket and placing them in front of Slygrin. He didn’t waste any time opening it and digging in.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” She asked. For some reason, the sense of peace in the air made her want to stay longer. The view of the horizon, the ship nearby and Slygrin’s for once calm self, lulling her into sitting there just a few minutes more.

“Try not at all.” He mumbled between mouthfuls. “I took night’s guard too.”

“What?” Amaris was shocked. “They put you on night’s watch and morning too? That’s cruel how could they-”

“Hey!” He interrupted, sounding personally offended. “No one put me anywhere. I volunteered and made sure they let me take it. Don’t think for a minute anyone on this ship is cruel or unfair because this ship is- it’s our home and this here is my family. So think before you spew that kind of bull-”

Suddenly, a loud shot rang out then the world started to tilt. No, the ship was tilting. Roughly. Amaris screamed grabbing the nearest bar of the rail to steady herself. She whipped around to check on Slygrin. He was already on his feet and turned to look at something behind him.

“Shit” he cursed before pulling something from the back of his pants. “let’s go.” He ordered and jumped down the opening. Before Amaris could scream again, he caught a rung halfway down then continued climbing down two steps at a time.

She looked up at what he saw and realized the ship she was watching was heading in their direction. One of its canons had smoke coming out of its mouth.

She turned back to Slygrin who was almost on the deck. “Wait, Slygrin what’s going on? Why are they attacking us?”

“No time to explain.” He yelled up. “Just get down here and go below deck.”

Amaris had gone down precisely two rungs when another shot was fired. She yelped and grabbed at the edge of the opening. When the boat steadied enough, she climbed back on the crow’s nest and crouched down then yelled down the hole, “I can’t!”

By now, the deck was full. The whole crew was down there. Some were yelling commands, while others were pulling at levers and opening hidden hatches. The ship, who she now noticed had the green flag of Sinsecria, a white circle with the silhouette of a black wolf, was far too close for her comfort.

Soon more shots were blown. This time, from their ship. She watched from between the bars of the rail and saw as men huddled in small groups at the edge of the starboard. She squinted to see what they were gathered around but she didn’t need to for long. A loud ear-shattering shot echoed and smoke appeared amidst the group and a strange smell of coal reached her. A cannon. They were gathered around a canon that appeared out of nowhere and they were preparing it for another shot.

It took her a moment to realize that Hawk was one of the people loading a new cannonball and yelling orders to the rest of the crew. Ash was beside him, aiming the canon with two other men.

There were three canons in all, and they were shooting mercilessly at the attacking ship. The latter wasn’t slow to retaliate once again. Amaris felt lightheaded and she wasn’t sure whether it’s the shock that she somehow got herself in the middle of a battle or the constant rocking of the ship.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in her peripheral vision. Wind Tuner flew past her, a pistol in each hand. As soon as he was close enough to the enemy ship, he started shooting at them from above. He had never flown in front of her and now that she did see him soaring through the sky, she finally understood why they were called the Skydancers. He possessed a grace she never saw before. If she wasn’t too terrified of what was happening around her, she might actually follow his dance like movements in awe.

Sinsecria’s ship was much closer now and a new kind of shot rang out. The men who weren’t busy loading the canons or aiming them now each held a gun and fired at the boat. She noticed Ash and another familiar man holding flaming matches and huge balls of…wool? Ash placed the match on the ball and the rope caught fire faster than she thought was possible. Though the fire had reached Ash’s palm, he didn’t seem concerned or in pain as he threw it at the ship.

Amaris yelped as a bullet whizzed by her ear. She crouched even lower and looked at the other boat. They weren’t much more organized than the crew below her. They all wore the grey and gold uniforms of Sinsecrian soldiers and rushed from one corner of the ship to another, charging cannons and hiding behind any solid surface from the shower of bullets. One soldier in particular, was staring straight at her and smirking, as if he just won a prize; An easy target. He pulled the trigger again and she barely dodged it. She let out a weak whimper that got lost in the noise of battle.

“Why are they shooting upwards?” A familiar, low voice shouted. The captain.

“Shit.” This time she knew it was Slygrin. “The girl is still up there.” He said.

“What?!” the captain yelled. “Get her down!”

Another shot scraped the edge of the platform.

Amaris prayed. She could do nothing but pray, to the spirits, the heavens, heck even to the golden willow that this wasn’t going to end in death.

Suddenly, a dark shadow hovered over her. She forced her eyes open and looked up. Wind tuner was flapping in place in front of her.

“Come on,” he said, “we need to get you down.”

“Are you crazy?!” she yelled. “They’re already shooting at me as it is. If I take one step down that ladder, I’m dead.”

“Not the ladder.” He suddenly glided to one side as a bullet shot by.

“How the-” Realization hit her. “Oh.” She gulped.

“Trust me.” He offered her a hand, the gun now in his belt, and she reluctantly accepted and stood up on shaky legs. What choice did she have? She held onto him as closely as she could, the phantom feeling of a bullet breaking her skin teasing her as she did.

In one swift movement, Wind Tuner shot up and just as he was about to come back down, she felt a violent shove against them. A yell erupted from his chest and they went tumbling down, not to the ship’s deck, but to the sea beyond it.

Amaris could see the water getting closer and closer. She closed her eyes, unable to hold the scream tumbling out of her throat. She braced herself for the impact when she felt the rush of wind across her cheeks change direction, she pried her eyes open in time for her feet and knees to touch the wooden floor. Wind tuner fell beside her. His dark grey feathers now stained with blood.

“He’s shot. He needs-” before she could finish, she felt a hand grab her by the upper arm. She looked up; it was Ash. He held her arm with one hand, his pistol in the other. As he dragged her away, he kept his eyes on the rival ship, occasionally shooting.

“W-Wait!” she protested as he dragged her below deck. “He’s hurt. He’s-”

“He’ll be fine.” He interrupted. He opened the first door they came across and pushed her inside. “Just stay here until someone comes to get you.”

“But-” he slammed the door in her face, and something clicked shut. She tried the handle and as she expected, it was locked.

“Ash!” she yelled banging on the door. “Ash, open the door. Open this damned door right now or so spirits help me- Ash!” no response. No matter how many threats and curses she threw or how hard she banged on the metal door, nothing helped.

She tried to swallow her rising panic, but she wasn’t sure how successful she was.

Amaris didn’t realize she was crying until she tasted the salt on her lips.

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!