After walking for quite a while, Captain Kenny arrived at the appointed place where the Dragon Lord was meditating. He walked right through the waterfall and saw the sickly old Dragon Lord. “Child, come here...” The Dragon Lord called weakly. He paced towards the Dragon Lord monotonously.
“Lend me your ears please,” He requested.
And so, he drew his right ear towards him so that he could hear his will clearly.
“I’ve foreseen this a while ago and my time has come. I’m too old for my own dragon. I have this diamond sword too long with me. A seal has been casted on it and ye, my lad, must kill the dragon before dawn or the town will lose its shape,” He took out a brilliant sword and entrusted him his own will, the Excalibur.
“This beauty had once killed one of the minotours and of course, shall it be used to kill the magical creature such as dragons,” He explained again.
“You want me to kill that thingy?” Captain Kenny bluntly asked.
“Yes. Thou, Kenneth Rogers are the great Devil of the Sea. I believe in your ability. You will get yourself an honour, princess and all you need for what you have lost in the past. Don’th you think you’ve known yourself well my lad. Thee will face many perilous path that lies ahead.”
“I do not want any of those nor the princess. I just want to sail out of my own free will,” He replied.
“No, my lad. You, who once lost hope and faith and was forsaken by your own mother for another man must receive your happiness. You have suffered enough to live your life solely, being betrayed, living a life with fears everyday... asking ‘will I be able to live for tomorrow?’. The sky has heard your prayers and now guaranteeing their happiness for you?” The Dragon Lord muttered.
“You, are you a wizard?” He asked.
The old man let out a grin and turned himself into dust. Now that it had become his duty to eliminate the dragon, he must do it for the sake of his crews who were waiting for him to save them. “I’m coming, Chast, Eleanor! Please stay alive till then!” He prayed.
At the same time, all of the crews not including Chast, Captain Kenny and me were charging ahead to fight the humongous dragon. None of the attacks seemed to have any effects towards the dragon. All of it was futile. The crew ran out of idea. They had to distract the dragon towards the outskirt to prevent anymore destruction over the town and to prevent any unwanted death over the whole town. They kept attacking the dragon until the dragon finally moved towards the eastern side which was near the forest.
“If this continues, we might lose our stamina before captain and that dragon-tamer...” before Hardy could finish his sentence, the owner cut off his statement, “Dragon Lord, to be exact...”
“Whatever it is... We might not be able to fight any further. Most of the crew are at their limits,” He continued his interrupted statement.
“What can we do? Captain isn’t here yet! We can’t stop now or everything will be pointless,” Randolph said anxiously.
“Then, we just have to bear with it and push ourselves a bit more. Can you keep your stamina for now?” Hardy asked firmly.
“We’ll do our best! Don’t worry,” Fredrick gave his reassuring grin towards us all.
“Shut-up Fredrick! You’ve just healed 5 days ago and please stay back and don’t do any attempts in fighting with this beast or you’re dead,” Henry disapprove of his pure intention in helping them to fight with the dragon.
“Awww... Come on. You still know how to brag when we are in critical situation now. Drop it off and let me help,” He begged.
I put my hand on his shoulder and shook my head, “You are not allowed. If not, you might not lose only your stamina but your life this time. I don’t want to lose any more people on deck.”
“I get it. For you princess, I’ll hold my desire for your sake,” He bowed and stood behind them, letting the rest of the crew finish it.
“There’s no need to strain anymore my dear crews. I am now here to aid you all,” A well-known voice was heard not far away from where we stood.
“Tchh... What took you so long, capt’n? We almost lose our consciousness due to this fatigue,” Finn mocked with a slight grin of relief carved on his face.
“Well, I wasn’t able to bring that old Dragon Lord with me so in exchange, I was told to assassinate the dragon myself using the Excalibur inside this scabbard,” He answered while drawing out the diamond-sealed sword in front of everyone.
The Excalibur was well-designed and there were a few ancient words probably Sanskrit or ancient writings carved on its body. Captain Kenny dashed as fast as lightning towards the dragon’s nose so that the female-dragon could see his presence.
“I do regret for killing your baby. So, here I am to apologise over the dark incident. But, the reason I did so is that your child almost killed one of my crews down there. If you not approve of my apology, here by this sword I swear to eliminate you right this instance,” Captain Kenny made a bargain with that gigantic creature.
“That sword... I do fear the power. Where is that Dragon Lord?” The dragon asked.
“Your lord couldn’t manage to bid his farewell to you before his death. He entrusted me with this,” He showed the sword towards the dragon one more time.
“Is that so... So you are the so called Devil. The sky has heard your prayers and now offering their happiness for you. Even so, I will not approve of your apology for killing my dear son,” The dragon said fiercely.
“And so be it,” Captain Kenny swung the sword hardly and pierced it towards the dragon’s right eye.
The dragon roared in pain. She blew out her fire-breath towards him. He jumped out of the way and dashed towards its back and stabbed its back while running down the body. Now, the dragon roared shrilly and attacked him with her tail. He took the opportunity by cutting the dragon’s tail. He stood before her on the ground and stood still, chanting something, “The blue sea, please hear my words calling thee, from the darkest to the peak, me as your Lord, order you...” He pointed the sword towards the mouth of the dragon. “It is me, as your Lord, The Devil of the Sea, order you to fill this creature’s stomach and finish her from within!” He chanted.
Though nothing happened, the dragon was now groaning. Smokes exited from her mouth and her nose. She fell on the ground and died. Everyone was cheering for the glorious winning. Captain Kenny’s pace seemed to slow down little by little. He was walking towards me and Chast with a look of relief on his face before he fainted in front of us. Henry went towards him and supported him towards a nearby inn.
“He didn’t even receive any injury. Why does he faint?” I asked anxiously.
“Well, we still didn’t tell you the truth. As he wields the title, he can control the water. Since the water doesn’t sound quite nice, so the ancient time renames it as the sea since it’s the most suitable word to be used. We all know that our body contains 70 percent of water so, once he casts his order, the water from within the body or outer will react regarding to his will,” Henry explained briefly.
“You’re not answering my question,” I uttered.
“Okay, okay... To be able to control it uses most of his energy. He faints due to the fatigue. Don’t worry. He’ll wake up in no time. Just let him rest for now,” He patted my head and left the room.
I waited by his side, watching earnestly towards the strained figure who had almost sacrificed his life for Chast and me. I felt guilty for misjudging him since that his words were very piercing and hurtful to bear. The bell resounded itself for the fifth time and now it was nearing three o’clock in the morning. I restrained myself from sleeping and nursed him carefully, as a thank you gift for his bravery. Chast’s snore was heard throughout the atmosphere as the crickets sang madly. The feeling was indeed refreshing, the sound of nature. Chast was very exhausted I reckoned and I know that I, myself, needed a rest. I took one last glance towards his exhausted expression and finally, fell asleep beside Captain Kenny’s bed.
The sun shone merrily inside the chamber and the pigeons and the other birds had finally flown free in the air. Captain Kenny lifted his eye-lids and turned his head towards me who was exhausted from nursing him all night. Hardy entered the room and saw us. With a grin on his face, he finally spoken, “She pulled an all-nighter just to nurse you. You should be thankful to her.”
“How long have I been sleeping?” He asked bluntly.
“Hmm....” He grunted. “In my calculation, you were asleep for a day. We supposed to set sail last three hours ago. Seeing you in such state, we just have to hold our sail for two days. Don’t worry, the ship guarding chief said that he won’t charge even a penny as a gift of your act of bravery for killing the dragon that has haunted the town since 27 years ago.”
“I see. Our schedule has been violated for a certain reason I guess,” He rose up and was trying to walk.
“I won’t do that if I were you. That girl over there would be furious to know if you do so,” Hardy pointed his fore-finger towards my sleeping figure that was sleeping nearby.
“Bother me. I have loads of works to be done before we set sail. And I guess we better move tonight. A pirate doesn’t deserve an honour. We do bad things, not good deeds,” He said firmly.
“I guess this crew is very different compared to any other pirate ship. We only rob the other pirates, right?” Hardy smirked menacingly towards him.
“Screw you... Well, have you been enjoying yourself dissecting that dragon? The only reason you’re following me is to find odd creatures and have fun abducting them,” He asked with a weird look on his face.
“Yep, Very much indeed! What a beauty she was. But, her body is useless for any cure except for her blood,” Hardy explained.
“What can her blood cure?” Shifting his blankets away, he sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for an answer.
“Amnesia,” A single word made both of their attention turned towards me who was still sleeping.
“How sure are you whether it’s going to work or not?” Captain still doubted.
“Well, there’s this strange old man wearing a cloak who was having tea with the inn owner just now told me that. I don’t know whether it’s going to work or not,” He explained briefly.
“Let me guess, he wears worn-out reddish cloak and speaks in ancient tongue as if he’s from medieval age?” He guessed.
“That’s him,” Hardy replied.
“That dragon-lord... I’ll give him a second death after this,” Captain Kenny stood up from the bed but my right hand quickly caught his.
By that time, I was having a strange dream. Everything was peaceful, a crowned man, probably a king, was waving at me. I was escorted towards him with a gentle hand holding mine as I approached nearer towards the guy. A woman with the look of horrific was looking down at my tiny figure with the look of disgust. I can see that she was bearing a child within her womb. It was probably nearing labour. Then, the woman who escorted me brought me to a grave where there, whose grave it was, was uncertain since the writings engraved on it were vague. The woman who escorted me called herself Anna and uttered, “You poor thing. If only she was alive, she wouldn’t let the current queen... well, now that the whole kingdom knows that you’re kidnapped, it can’t be helped.”
I stupidly followed her inside a cottage after getting out of the horse-drawn carriage and there, a woman whose face was the same as Anna’s, bowed upon me and took me in. I overheard a few conversations between them but couldn’t make out what it was. Anna went in and hugged me for the last time, “I have to go my dear. My sister twin will raise you well until that horrid queen is no longer a queen.”
She bid her farewell and left me in her twin’s care. I didn’t know why, as her carriage went further, my heart felt heavy. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I ran to get her but her twin got me before I could manage to follow her.
With my teary eyes, I sobbed, “Please don’t go.”
Captain Kenny’s expression went blank. Hardy giggled over the funny situation and Captain Kenny gave a sharp glare towards Hardy.
“I guess I have a job to be done. You better wake her up so that you can move freely,” Hardy giving an excuse to flee.
“No. I’ll wait a bit more until she feels better. She might be tired from the all-nighter,” Captain Kenny sat down on the bed.
“As you wish, Capt’n,” He saluted him and went out of the room with a slight giggle.
Captain Kenny brush away my hair and wiped my tears while saying, “Why are you crying? I’m not going anywhere.”
As I shifted my eyes open, he jerked his hand away from me. I rubbed my eyes and stared towards where Chast was asleep but he was not there.
“Where’s Chast?” I paused. “Oh, so you’re awake.”
“I don’t know. He was no longer there by the time I woke up,” He replied but, his tone sounded weird.
“Have you recovered yet? You don’t sound healthy,” I said.
“Don’t mind me, you just go and get some rest. I’ve gain enough energy for now,” He persuaded.
“Oh, okay,” I went back to sleep without any more delay.
I was too tired to move and now, went for my rest. Captain Kenny carried me and put me on his bed and pulled his blanket to cover me. He went out of the room and closed the door lightly so that I won’t be disturbed by the noise of the closed door. Well, that’s all for the whole restless day. I wonder what it would be after this.
