Chapter 61: The Eleventh Floor[4]
The sea stretched endlessly in every direction, yet the new ship’s timbers carried them more surely than the fragile and withered boat they previously had.
Days passed with the steady rhythm of waves against the ships hull and for the first time after they entered the Eleventh floor they were not at the mercy of drifting aimlessly.
Princess Meeka kept quiet most of the time, only speaking when necessary. She treated them like mercenaries hired to help her and promised to give them gold if they take her back to the Voltaris Kingdom alive.
But when she did speak, she spoke with the ease of someone born to command, yet there was no arrogance in her tone, only patience and a kind of gentle strength that set her apart.
Beatrice was drawn to her like moths to a flame, she spent time with Kayla and her mother and then with Alice, Becca and even Maria.
But no one had such an effect on her that she was curious of her life. "You really were meant to rule?" she asked on evening when the sun was setting in a blaze of orange.
Meeka smiled and brushed away the stray hair from Beatrice’s face. "Meant to, yes. Whether I will...that is up to the higher being in the Tower. They decide such things as much as blood."
"And your kingdom?" Beatrice’s eyes widened like a child learning about something new. So far she had only learnt some of the history of the Tribes on the lower floors and then of how humans became Hunters.
"The Holy Kingdom of Voltaris," Meeka said softly. "The floors eleven through twenty form its domain. Oceans upon oceans, scattered with islands ruled by sea clans, pirate kings, and merchant lords. My father wants to unite them together under the Divine Sea, but..." She trailed off as her gaze drifted to the horizon.
"Not all welcome the crown’s reach. Not to mention the Kingdoms of Elves, Dwarves, The Lich and finally Mermen. They too want some of the land so they’ve been hindrances to my fathers plan."
Alice listened to the mess on the floors eleven through twenty and sighed, Xior and Becca would have to shoulder all this mess and so she spoke, "sounds like a mess, but don’t worry. I will help you as much as those two will." She said as she pointed her finger towards Becca and Xior standing at the edge of the deck, observing the water.
Meeka knew that all this was just more knives in the dark, waiting to cut through her and her father.
Was she delusional to think she could bring order? Did her duty as the princess really matters at this point? She didn’t know but despite that she wouldn’t just leave her father struggling.
If death was imminent, she wanted her death to be fulfilling. When her own guard wanted to ravage her like hungry beasts she wanted a quick death but now she was given hope.
And with that hope she wanted to have a death in which she is satisfied. That she has no qualms about anything in life.
*****
The weather turned strange as they pressed further into the floor, at times the ocean lay glassy and still and their ship glided forward without wind or wave.
At other times, squalls struck without warning and black clouds covered the sky as rain lashed down in sheets that stung the skin.
Xior and Becca were down to their shirt and pants, their trench coats were inside while they had folded their pants up to their knees to make some temporary shorts, the buttons of their shirts open, showing Xior’s scarred chest and Becca’s ample cleavage.
Then just as quickly as it started raining, the sky would get clear. At night, the crew heard faint voices.
They felt like the chants of Sailor’s, deep and mournful drifting over the water though no ship’s were near.
The first time it happened Alice climbed the mast and scanned the horizon but there was nothing in sight.
Only the moonlight on the waves and the blood red moon hanging in the night sky casting eerie glow over everything.
"That was spooky," she muttered and jumped down from the mast onto the deck.
Beatrice came out and looked at Alice whose gaze was fixed at the water. "What if it’s the dragon?"
Becca shook her head from behind, "That wasn’t a song...this was something else."
Sleep brought no comfort as nightmares plagued them, thick and heavy as the sea mist.
Alice woke up gasping for air, sweat clinging to her skin as something or someone whispered her dead sister’s name.
Becca who was normally unshakable, gripped her sword tighter each morning as she saw the tragedy that struck her five years ago.
Even Xior was now more stiff, his silence felt heavier than before. Mekka too grew pale, though she never spoke of what dreams haunted her. Only Beatrice seemed spared from the nightmares. Though she muttered nonsense in her sleep.
It was the fifth night that the true horror showed itself. The red moon hung low and swollen Becca stood at the front of the boat, her hair whipped by the wind when she noticed lanterns flicker in the darkness.
One by one, the flames guttered as if held by unseen hands. "Xior," she called, her voice sharp which cut through the sounds of waves against the hull.
He walked towards her, his gaze followed hers out to the sea. At first he saw only darkness but then through the darkness he saw shapes...dozens of shapes.
They were ships, their outlines shimmered faintly, sails tattered and masts broken. But despite all that they moved silently across the water as if driven by some phantom wind.
Their hulls were black with rot, and their decks swarmed with figures, skeleton sailors with their bones glinting under the moonlight as they stared at the group with their empty sockets. The air became cold as the ghostly ships surrounded their ship.