Normally, Axis would have woken up before the sun broke over the horizon, but when the rocking of the ship caused him to become aware of his surroundings, he realized that it was well past noontime.
Axis sat up slowly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He still felt tired, even after sleeping so long after…
After…
Axis’ eyes widened. He kicked the tangled sheets off of his feet and swung his legs over the side of his hammock. He stood up straight, then staggered as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He flung out his arm and steadied himself on the wall of the small cabin until he centered himself.
“That would be a side effect of the medicine we had to give you.” A quiet voice said from the other side of the room.
Axis looked over. Aniha sat against the wall, her knees tucked up to her chest, her hands fiddling, somewhat nervously, with a small piece of rope. Her hazel eyes flickered up to Axis for a second, before she cast them back down to her lap. “I’m sorry.” She murmured.
Axis narrowed his eyes, anxiety beginning to bite at his chest. “Sorry for what?” He asked.
Aniha licked her lips. “Um… well, for giving you a medicine that would keep you asleep-”
“Where’s my father, Aniha?” Axis hissed, cutting her off.
Aniha blinked, looking taken aback by Axis’ unusually sharp tone. She uncrossed her legs and stood up, as if she were getting ready to flee from the cabin. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
Axis paced forward until he stood directly in front of Aniha. “I asked you a question, Aniha. Answer me. Where is he?” He growled, the panic he was feeling was showing in his voice, and he struggled to force it back.
Aniha pressed her back against the wall, her eyes fearful. “Axis, listen, we couldn’t-”
Axis slammed his fist against the wall next to Aniha’s head in frustration, and Aniha yelped. “You couldn’t what?! Save him?! We had a whole crew of fighters!” He shouted, leaning closer.
Aniha swallowed. “Axis, we-”
“Since when were we scared of three men?!” He interrupted, his jaw working.
“Axis, this isn’t like you, you’re scaring me!” Aniha cried out, tears jumping to her eyes.
Axis froze, then quickly drew his hand away from the wall. He stared at Aniha, who looked like she was just barely keeping herself together.
Axis chewed on the inside of his lip as his anger subsided. She was right, it wasn’t like him to get mad like that. He reached out and touched Aniha’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’m sorry, Lady-Bird, it wasn’t your fault, I shouldn’t have-”
“Damn right it wasn’t my fault, you half-wit!” She snapped, raising her hands and pressing them to her eyes. Despite her shaking, angry words, she leaned forward until she had her forehead pressed against Axis’ shoulder. “Just after Abbott… took care of you, Kahula and Fletcher came to help… but then more of those men in white showed up, and Taylor was shouting at us, telling us to leave.” She grabbed Axis’ hand. “We were outnumbered, Axis, and they wanted… they wanted you, we couldn’t…” Aniha shook her head. “My… my father was adamant, Axis, he made us leave.” She finished quietly.
Axis lifted his arms and wrapped them around Aniha, more to calm himself than to calm her. “Did… did you see them take my father?” He asked.
Aniha drew away from Axis. “No, we didn’t actually see them take him away… he was fighting as well, but Axis,” She met his gaze evenly and continued. “don’t get your hopes up. It was a one-to-twenty fight, there’s almost no chance he managed to escape.” She said.
Axis looked away. “I know I shouldn’t, but…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Marie… Marie was hurt. Is she safe?” He inquired, changing the subject.
Aniha nodded. “We took her with us. Her leg was badly broken, but Leah managed to set it. My father’s letting her have his bed… the hammocks wouldn’t be good for her healing.” She said, stepping away from Axis and heading towards the cabin door. “We’re at sea now, heading towards Canlon. If the conditions stay the way they are, we’ll reach the port by evening.”
Axis turned around and followed her to the door. “Canlon? Why?”
Aniha paused. “My father will explain more carefully, but mainly so that Marie can have a safe place to heal. We don’t know if those men will be back for her, seeing as she was associated with Taylor.” She said, placing her hand on the door knob.
Axis nodded slowly. “I still don’t get why they were after my father, but yes, it makes sense.” He said, stepping up to stand beside Aniha. “Aniha…” He started. Aniha looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes. He looked down. “Again, I’m sorry for getting angry at you… you didn’t deserve it.” He mumbled.
Aniha touched his hand with her fingertips. “It’s okay. You’re scared. I understand.” She said softly. Before Axis could respond, she opened the door. “Let’s take you to my father, in the Navigation room. He will explain everything to us.”
Axis nodded, and walked forward, only to run into Aniha’s back. He frowned. “Why did you stop?” He grumbled. He looked up.
Emmett, Kelly, and Adalynn stood outside the door, their backs turned towards them, their shoulders stiff.
Aniha started shaking. “Were you all…. listening in on us?!” She shouted.
Axis leaned forward and looked at her face, which was turning red. Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but grin. He strode towards his crew-mates and lightly punched Emmett’s shoulder. “Now, why would you listen in on us? Certainly you don’t think anything bawdy is happening between us?” He asked.
Aniha nodded briskly. “Exactly. That’s ridiculous.” She muttered.
“We would never do that where you could listen!” Axis snickered.
“Axis!” Aniha yelped, startled by the crude joke.
The three crew-mates swiveled around to face them, beaming. “That’s what I told these two, but they insisted.” Adalynn explained, placing her strong, callused hands on the two men’s shoulders.
Aniha stormed past them, her cheeks darkening with a lovely shade of red. “You all…” She fumed.
Emmett reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could leave. “Actually, we came to tell you that Marie was awake, and that she wanted to see Axis after Captain explained everything to you.” He admitted, letting go of Aniha after she directed a particularly nasty glare his way.
Axis dipped his head. “Thank you. Please tell her I’ll go there right after.” He promised, touching Aniha’s shoulder and leading her away from the three mast workers.
Aniha made to elbow Axis in the ribs, but he darted out of the way in time to avoid the attack. “You joke too much.” Aniha muttered, moving out of the way so Hokulani, who was carrying a rather large bundle of rope, could pass.
Axis shrugged. “Only trying to lighten the mood, little Lady-Bird. We shouldn’t let ourselves be down.” He said. ‘Even so, we lost Braddock…’ He thought to himself. He brushed the thought aside, knowing it would do him no good to think of that. There would be time to mourn him later on. He looked away, out over the side of the ship. It was a hot day, even while they were at sea. The sky was clear, and the waves were small. Axis decided that Aniha was right; if the good weather kept up, they’d reach the island of Canlon by evening.
They walked in silence towards the Navigation room. When they got there, Axis stopped, and Aniha paused. “What is it?” She asked.
Axis shook his head. “I don’t know. I just…” he trailed off, not being able to find the words to describe his feeling.
Aniha’s gaze softened. “Feel like something big is about to begin?” She finished for him. Axis hesitated, then nodded. Aniha smiled. “I feel that too. So let’s get this started, so it will be over sooner.” She said, opening the door for Axis.
Axis smiled at her, then entered the small room. Aniha trailed after him, closing the door behind her.
“You’re here. Slept a little late, didn’t you, Axis?”
Axis turned his head towards the left hand side of the room, where Captain was sitting in a chair, his hands clasped. He looked unusually… something. Not serious, he was always serious…. unusually anxious. That was it.
Axis strode forward, Aniha on his heels. “I’ll have to attribute that to the medicine you all gave me. So?” He started, trying to change the subject. “What do you have to explain?” He asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest in an attempt to look collected.
Captain looked up at him, then back at his hands. “Yes, fine. I knew I’d have to tell you eventually, I only hoped it wouldn’t be under these circumstances.” He sighed. He straightened up. “I’ll get right to it. Your mother, Rebecca, and Taylor were once members of the Cult.”
Axis frowned. “The Cult? What’s that?” He asked, confused. Was he supposed to know what that was?
Captain drummed his fingers against the wooden arm of his chair. “I suppose you wouldn’t know too much, since we don’t talk about them much anymore.” he sighed before continuing. “Truth is, we still don’t know a lot. However, once your father joined us, we knew more than what most people knew about them… which is that whatever they’re doing, don’t get in their way, or they will kill you without hesitation.” He watched Axis for a moment, then went on. “Your mother and father came out of the woods sixteen years ago, in a port near the town of Lantone. They told us that they’d escaped a house of bandits, and that they needed to escape so they could take better care of you.” Captain allowed himself a small smile. “You were putting up quite a fuss… but I guess you had that ‘intuition’ of yours back then too, because you kept reaching towards the woods…”
Axis tilted his head. “Hold on. So… you said my parents were a part of this, this Cult. What was that about?”
“Let me finish.” Captain raised an eyebrow. Axis fell silent. “After that, the Cult attacked from the woods. They didn’t spend too much time with us, it seems they were only interested in your mother. They took her away. Taylor insists that they must have killed her.” Captain took a deep breath. And I’m telling you that because I don’t want you to get your hopes up. She probably is dead anyway, by now, given the job she had.”
Axis swallowed, his throat was dry. He wasn’t completely sure he wanted to hear this. He was perfectly content, thinking that his mother had died of an illness. He was perfectly content, not knowing what his father did before Axis was born. But some part of him, that curious part, wanted to know.
“So? What were they… doing there?” He asked, keeping his voice even.
Captain folded his hands in his lap again. “Your father was a soldier. And a damn good one, at that. He joined voluntarily, thinking it was nothing but an organization that would make his family proud… I guess that’s the reputation that the Cult built in Taylor’s town. Your mother…” Captain shrugged. “I don’t know too much about her in particular, but I know that they had a… system there. There were women who were specifically for… breeding, I guess you could say. That was your mother’s duty. She and Taylor had you, and then Taylor found something out about the Cult. He convinced Rebecca to escape with him, and they took you along.”
Axis fell silent. He looked towards Aniha on instinct, trying to see if she could help him out in his attempt to process this information, but she looked just as bewildered as Axis did. Axis turned back to Captain. “So… so what made Taylor leave?” He asked.
Captain leaned back and closed his eyes. “The Cult found something, several years ago… Taylor described them as “mages”… I know that sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.” He said raising a hand to cut Axis off, as if he knew without looking that Axis was about to laugh. “Apparently, these people had powers. I’m not sure to what extent, but I know that they began to capture them and breed them with others to try and raise them as soldiers.” He explained.
Axis frowned. “Now I just feel like you’re trying to make me look like a fool.” He said. Captain stared evenly at him, and Axis sighed. “Let’s assume you aren’t fooling me. Why on earth would they breed them for soldiers? What would they be after? Besides power, obviously.”
Captain tilted his head. “Taylor wasn’t sure exactly what he found out, but, he was sure it had something to do with taking control over something.” He closed his eyes again. “Maybe the country, maybe the continent. Whatever it’s for, I can guarantee it wouldn’t better the world.”
Silence.
“So…. what now? We just give up and try to avoid them?” Axis snapped. “Like we’re doing now? Going to hide out on islands until someone else takes care of it?”
Captain stood up. “I, for one, need to think more. At first glance, yes, that would be what I would do, for the safety of my family, for myself, for my crew…” He moved his dark brown eyes down to meet Axis’ gaze. “But I need to think more about what would be right.” He brushed past Axis, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about your father… he’s a strong man. Now go meet Marie, she said she wanted to see you, right?” He said, moving to the table and looking down at the map.
Axis slowly turned and left the room. Aniha followed him, and once they were outside, she took his hand. Axis raised an eyebrow at her. “You were awfully quiet in there. What’s wrong?” He asked.
Aniha watched him for a moment, then dropped her gaze. “It’s nothing, Axis.” She said. She let go of his hand, and Axis almost immediately missed the warmth. “Go and see Marie. I have to talk to my father.” She said, before she turned back to the Navigation room and disappeared inside.
Axis stood still for a moment, out on the deck, the hot sun beating down on his face. The crew members milled about, taking care of their individual tasks, as if nothing had happened. As if their lives hadn’t gotten more dangerous. As if someone hadn’t died just hours before.
Axis sighed and began to walk across the deck, towards the Captain’s Quarters, where Marie was. He wasn’t sure what to think of at this moment… his father, the Cult, his role in all of this…. He stopped in front of the door of the Captain’s Quarters and took a deep breath.
“One thing at a time, Axis…” He muttered to himself, before opening the door and stepping inside.
.oOo.
I’m sorry.
Er mah gerd I’m so sorry.
That took forever.
But here it is.
I can’t guarantee a consistent schedule for updates, but I’ll do my best.
Again,
Sorry.
Bai. :3
Willowlark 