Had an idea for a piece so I wrote it. Enjoy!
Silence nearing the edge of the Sea
The Assassins Syndicate has recently added a new sea curse to their collection, and are in the process of transporting it to one of their hideouts. We believe they are intending to give the Curse to an Overseer hiding out in the Nimbus Sea. On the off chance the Overseer is at Makrinaos, which Admiral Torres believes holds a number of criminals, we will need to ambush them early. Using the cover of the Keraxe-Sameria war, they seem to have entered the Nimbus Sea near Port Mistral and are sailing across the southern border. We have deployed an ambush from the Aegean Sea which arrived shortly before we received this intel. The Syndicate are using metaforéas - Curse Couriers - which they bought from the Ryujin Dynasty in a secret trade deal. Metaforéas are prisoners of war used to transport Curses more securely. Their eyes are forcefully gouged out, their head is blindfolded, and they are restrained. A hundred of these prisoners on a ship, three ships. One of them has the Sea Curse. The Syndicate knows that we don’t want to risk killing the prisoners or sinking the ship, to ensure we do not lose the Curse, and they also know we don’t have three hundred Devourers on hand. Rear Admiral Stanford Locke, you have been tasked with command over one of our three Ships of the Line, The Silence of the War Seas. You will report to Admiral Verdi, who is positioned on the Galeward.
Your task is to retrieve the Sea Curse and ensure it ends up in the hands of any rank above Commodore. You may not fail this mission.
– The King Admiral Robin Adkins.
“Rear Admiral Locke Sir!” Shouted a marine, entering his office with a large box in hand. “We have secured twenty total Devourers. Admiral Verdi has assigned two to each ship, one to the Commanding Officer and one to the Vice Commanding Officer. This is your devourer. Sir.”
Placing the box on the table, the marine saluted.
“Good. Please report to the Commodore and ask him to ensure the ship is turned parallel to the Syndicate’s course. Arm the harpoon launchers.” The Rear Admiral replied.
“Yes Sir.” Said the marine.
Seconds passed, the ship was starting to turn and Stanford could hear shouting on deck. Bells rang, a sudden raised cacophony.
“There they are. Prepare to fight!”
…
The Rear Admiral was on the deck of a large Galleon, in the midst of cloaked figures scrambling to fight. He reached for his gun, a shining revolver by his side. It would be a shame to get it dirty again. Six bullets loaded. Arcanium.
Six cracks later, and more explosions following up, six cloaked figures fell. A huge tornado formed around him, obscuring Stanford from other Assassins. Verdi, far above, wiped multiple enemies off the top decks with blasts of wind.
There was a small trap door open in the flooring, where the Rear Admiral snuck down into the hold below. All restrained in layers of dark chains, they were silent.
“Which one of you holds the Sea Curse…”
No voices spoke up, of course if one of them was in possession of the Curse they wouldn’t say it, out of fear of getting stabbed by a devourer. Attempting to sense the location of the Curse User was out of the question as well, as a vague aura seemed to hang over the whole hold. Surprisingly, there was not one guard below deck. Perhaps the Curse User was in another boat. Perhaps.
There must be some sort of clue, so slowly Stanford Locke walked past every prisoner, watching them, pressing his revolver or Devourer against their head. All similar reactions, begging to be spared.
One however only struggled, and sobbed with no tears from behind the blindfold. They quietly struggled, but were almost accepting of their fate. Kneeling down next to this prisoner, Stanford whispered. “If I told you I’d kill you either way, would you admit to being the one holding the Curse?”
And it nodded.
Stanford Locke didn’t often take lives like this, occasionally he had to quickly execute a Corsair Captain before a door got kicked down, or put a dying assassin out of their misery. He had never killed a possibly innocent, mistreated, enslaved and beaten prisoner sobbing in his arms.
Slowly, Stanford brought the blade into his heart.
A flash of light, and the prisoner fell dead in his arms. The devourer dissolved, leaving behind a hollow pink glow, which grew into a large cube shape.
The Rear Admiral touched the Sound Curse and absorbed it.
With a bang, the deck of the ship was destroyed in a second, and the Rear Admiral flew upwards with the prisoner’s body in his hand, retreating quickly to the Silence of the War Seas.
The Assassins were defeated, and prisoners brought onto the Grand Navy ships, where they were to be healed, and transported to a refugee court to decide whether to free them or not. The three Galleons were looted and sunk, with no Assassin surviving the ambush. After finishing his paperwork Rear Admiral Stanford Locke brought his ship to a small islet, where waves brought themselves crashing lazily against the sands. There, the metaforéas was buried with the honours any Grand Navy soldier would have been buried with, at the silence nearing the edge of the sea.
