Chapter 15

Ash woke up late; Ryla was still sleeping, cuddled against him. He wanted to wake her up and go another round, but he was the captain and had to work, so he left quietly.

On the deck, the Amazons were training with the half-breeds; they seemed to have mingled nicely. He entered his cabin, and Raeya was waiting for him. She was reading a book.

"I thought I won't see you till lunch," she said looking up, she was back to her usual self, all thanks to Flora and Elf's healing.

"Why is that?" he asked, picking up an apple from his desk.

"Well, you guys hardly slept at night," she said, smiling.

"What? How did you? Did everyone?"

"Don't worry, no one else heard, I have better hearing, and my room was the closest," she replied. He was red in the face.

"Well, anyway, what were you doing here? Did you need something?" he asked, composing himself.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you something."

"Tell me what?"

"The real reason, me and Drax are going to the islands," she said with a serious look now.

"Why now?"

"I believe after all you did, it's your right, it's the least I can do, and we are more than just business partners now, we trust each other," said Raeya, and Ash nodded.

"Well, it's a long story, the Elves, and most other immortal races."

"You aren't immortal."

"I know, you get what I mean, just let me finish, well we have all been trying to regain our immortality, and we believe there is something on that island that can help us in doing that; it's a big, secret very few people know about it, Drax and I were tasked of retrieving it quietly, but we were not alone, some very bad people had also found out about it"

"The Dark Lords?"

"Yes, wait how did you know about them, well it doesn't matter; they knew we were going to Slarveg and so they had sent their closest minion Sakarr after us, and I escaped him once to his great anger, his masters must have punished him, that's why he had been after me like a mad dog" she finished and waited for his response.

Ash had instead, from the mention of the Dark Lords, started thinking about Kuln, he had forgotten about the old man who was, in reality, responsible for his and all of their escape. He would be dead by now, his body decaying in that small dungeon in the basement. He hoped he had heard of their flight like he wished to. Raeya had taken Ash's pained expression for something else.

"Look, I am sorry; we didn't want to put you in any unnecessary danger; we'll understand if you don't want to do it anymore," she began, breaking him out of his thought.

"No, it's fine, we are going there anyways, it doesn't matter, it's too late now and I don't blame you, you told me yourself, that's enough" Ash however was thinking of the Dark Lords, for him they were responsible for Kuln, and if he could fight them like this he would, Kuln would have wanted that.

A few days passed without any major incidents; the worst thing they faced was terrible weather. Ash's nights were rather enjoyable. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

"It's like there is some sort of sickness in the air," Raeya said one morning in his cabin.

"I can barely get any sleep at night, you two, the half-breeds, the amazons, and Drax and Flora, and she is the loudest, the little thing, but I guess Drax and her are..." she began, but Ash stopped her with a loud cough.

"Amazons, too, you said," he asked, pretending to be uninterested. Raeya raised an eyebrow at the sudden interest and answered.

"Yeah, that Murk, he looks innocent but he is a real charmer, the amazons of course know how to take care of each other, there are hardly any males in their villages, so they must spend their time somehow," Ash again was glad she stopped from revealing too much information, but this time it was because of a loud thump from somewhere below the ship.

"Did we hit a rock or something?" she asked, standing up.

"No, it can't be," he said and they ran outside.

A few hours before, they were in clear water; now, they were surrounded by rocks. But they weren't rocks but giant Leviathans, monsters of the sea.