Chapter 36
Dylan
Naia had succeeded! She had discovered our new destination. We had finally reached our goal. I knew that the end of the world awaited us at the bottom, but I had been surprised when she had told me that the island we were looking for was none other than the island of the gods. To tell the truth, it made sense, but it didn't explain everything. And I imagined that we had to expect anything. We were about to sail into unknown territory, where many had not returned alive. Then, as with the previous islands, we would be tested.
In any case, I wasn't fully recovered. So we sailed gently, while my men and I prepared ourselves morally and physically. We all knew that what was ahead of us was going to be different, was going to change us forever.
But for now, I was taking it one day at a time. My back wasn't hurting anymore thanks to Kevin and his miracle ointments, but my rib was still cracked. I was still able to move without it hurting too much. That was progress! As soon as Kevin had told me I didn't have to stay in bed, I had jumped up and down. Well, I tried to jump, but my rib had reminded me of the pain and I had gotten up with the help of the healer. He had helped me walk every day. I had felt like a child learning to move again. I had felt like such a loser. Fortunately, I had my friends who supported me and now I could walk like I used to.
Even Ondine was in better shape than I was. Her wound had taken a while to heal, but now she could move her arm normally. She'd just gotten a fighter's scar, which suited her. Besides, she wore it proudly.
As for Naia, she had become an expert navigator, guiding my second through the waves to reach the end of the world as quickly as possible. I didn't know what was going on in that pretty little head of hers, but I was pretty sure she had a billion questions. Starting with: What was the treasure we were looking for? And what was waiting for us at the end of the world?
Although I knew the answer to the first one, I was also wondering about the answer to the second. For no one knew. No matter how much we imagined what might happen to us, we knew that our imagination would fail us. Because behind the end of the world was a world of magic. But we had to get there.
Perhaps I should not have thought that. For no sooner had I said those words in my head than the boat hit something.
“What was that?" I shouted to Ondine.
“I don't know," she replied.
I rushed to the edge to see what was going on. At first I saw nothing, then I heard a scream behind me. It was Naia and she was looking at something quite intensely.
“We have to get out of here and fast," she shouted.
I didn't understand what was going on. What was she so afraid of?
It took me only a minute to understand. From the sea a snake's head rose, then another and another. The monster rose from the waves and became gigantic. Its body was made of rock and ended with six horrible heads. It was then that I understood two things. One, we had reached the end of the world. And two, the Scylla monster was the welcoming committee!
Chapter 37
Naia
If there was one thing I hated in this world, it was sea monsters. They were fierce and hard to kill. And I was powerless against them, even with my magic. So yes, when I saw Scylla coming, I screamed in fear. You have to understand me, this monster was horrible to look at and seemed invincible. But I wasn't going to let it get me down.
On the contrary, I took my sword out of its scabbard and put myself on guard. Only, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my sword would be useless to me. His body was made of rock, and I was pretty sure that if we cut off even one of his heads, it would be quickly replaced.
Just as I was thinking this, Morgan cut off one of the monster's heads.
“No," I shouted, but it was too late.
I ran towards Morgan and tackled him to the ground just as another head grew to replace the previous one. It was a good thing Scilly wasn't a hydra, or we'd have had to face seven horrible snakes instead of six.
“Don't cut their heads off!” I shouted to the crowd.
“But how do we defeat them then?" replied Ondine.
“I don't know," I whispered in defeat.
I had to admit, we were in trouble. For there was no way to destroy Scylla, between her body and her heads.
“There must be some way to kill this monster," Dylan said.
“What if we blow it up?" said Morgan suddenly. “Kevin and I have enough to make explosives.”
“It could work, yes," I said. “Go ahead, we'll cover you, but hurry.”
Morgan went to get Kevin and they rushed up the stairs to get the ingredients. I turned around ready to strike, but it was no use. We couldn't cut off the monster's heads forever. Dylan threw himself into the fray to protect his friends. Some of them were already injured or worse, dead. There had to be a way to end this. I had to think, had to have a master plan. I stepped back and went to the helm, for there was a good view of the bridge and the situation. It was then that I noticed something. While the pirates were attacking the snakes relentlessly, I saw some sort of strategy on the part of the monster. It was protecting one of its heads, which was always backwards. That must have been its weak point.
“We're ready," Morgan shouted.
“Aim for the eye of the middle head," I shouted back, pointing at the target.
He gave me a thumbs up to let me know that he understood. Then he walked over to Scylla, shook what he had in his hand and threw. I could only hold my breath waiting to see the result. Then the bottle that Morgan had catapulted hit its target and a violent explosion sounded. I was thrown to the ground, the flames licking my skin and burning me. My ears began to ring. I struggled to my feet and saw what had happened. All the pirates were down, yet I could say with certainty that the monster would never rise again. In Scylla's place, a huge fire was ravaging the water. I saw the rest of his body sink, and soon there was nothing left. We had defeated the monster. But it had cost us much.
Chapter 38
Dylan
The ship was on fire when I regained consciousness. But fortunately for us, we were surrounded by water and it didn't take long to put out the flames. Morgan and Kevin had made an explosive strong enough to kill the monster, but too strong for us and the ship. We had all received some burns. Others had died either from Scylla or the bomb. Kevin went back and forth to help the wounded, helped by Naia, Ondine and Morgan. While I dealt with the dead. There were far too many for my taste. I recited the pirate prayer and then prepared their funerals. I know they were all aware of the risks, but a doubt suddenly crept into my mind. Was I right to go through with this adventure? Was the death of my men worth it? I wasn't as sure as before.
Once I had finished with the dead, I set about repairing the ship a little. It had been much abused by the beast and the fire, but it was only minimal. Then, when I had finished putting up a sail, and some ropes, and repaired the deck, we went on our way. We were so close to our goal that we could not stop there. We had to go on, for otherwise the sacrifice of my men would be in vain.
Before taking the helm, I was going to check that my men were ready to continue this journey. They were all pretty much recovered, the most serious cases having remained inside under Kevin's watchful eye.
As I held the helm, I saw Naia in the distance. She was looking at me with a strange look on her face, which worried me more than I thought it would. Seeing that I had noticed her, she approached me.
“Is everything okay?" I asked.
“Yeah, yeah, it's just that you've lost a lot of men, so...”
“So you are worried about me. I want you to know that yes, I am sad about losing dear friends, but they wouldn't want me to spend my time mourning them. We are pirates after all and we love adventure, treasures. They would have liked me to continue but think of them when I had reached my goal.”
“That's very honorable," she whispered. “I want you to know that I'm here if you want to talk, or not talk.”
“Thank you," I smile at her.
Suddenly the boat began to turn. I felt the rudder turn in my hands, but I could not hold it.
“What's going on now?" I said, a little annoyed.
Naia ran to the edge and returned with a terrified expression on her face.
“I'm not going to like this, am I?”
“Not at all. We're heading straight into a maelstrom. And it gets worse!”
“Let me guess. The maelstrom is Charybdis?”
“Yes," she nodded.
“Oh, shit.”
“That's exactly what I thought.”
And yes, after Scylla, we had to fall on the other ancient monster: Charybdis.
Chapter 39
Dylan
I held on to the rudder as best I could to avoid falling into the whirlpool, but my ship could not resist the magical pull of the monster. It was being dragged into the maelstrom and I felt helpless against it. How could one defeat this kind of monster? Usually, we saw the cyclones ahead of time and went around them, but there was nothing normal about this one. And I was helpless.
“It's time to have an idea, any idea to get us out of here!”
The pull of the maelstrom became stronger and stronger and it was almost impossible for me to hold on. I resisted as best I could, but the monster did not give up. I felt as if it wanted to sap our strength and drag us down into the depths of the water. I was not the only one who was struggling to avoid Charybdis. My men were pulling on the sails, unloading the barrels to make us lighter. Each of them was helping me to keep the boat out of the whirlpool, to no avail. We were already in it and we all knew that once we were caught in the waves, there was no way out. That was one of the first lessons we learned as pirates.
This was the end! We were going to lose everything, but at least we would die together, having attempted the best thing a pirate could do. We could be proud of how far we had come on this ship.
“Let go of the helm," Naia told me.
“What? What do you mean? You're crazy!”
“Please, trust me. You must go into the maelstrom. Don't you see that Charybdis swirls harder when you resist. So, let yourself be carried away by its waves and you will see," she explained.
“But we're going to die!" I replied, vehemently.
“We're going to die anyway Dylan so let go of the helm!”
She was right, so I gave up the rudder and let the ship go with the waves. With no resistance from me, the ship moved faster and faster, and soon we found ourselves in the middle of the cyclone. The water splashed in our faces, and my beautiful ship cracked under the force of the wind and waves. Soon we were thrown overboard and the darkness enveloped us.
Chapter 40
Naia
I coughed, clearing the water from my lungs. This wasn't normal, I shouldn't have felt this way. I knew how to breathe underwater after all. So why was I having trouble breathing in?
I opened my eyes. I was on a white sandy beach, soaking wet. What the hell had happened? It didn't even take me five seconds to remember.
First there had been Scylla, then Charybdis, which had dragged us down and sunk us in its waves, under my command. I remembered that very well now. What I did not understand was where we were. Were we dead? Alive? On the island of the gods? And for that matter, where were the others?
I struggled to my feet and began to search for my pirate friends. I was so disoriented. This had never happened to me before. I had always known where I was. And I didn't particularly like it. I had to find a landmark, any landmark.
As if my prayers had been heard, I heard a voice calling my name in the distance. I turned and ran in the direction of the noise.
“Dylan," I said, throwing myself into his arms.
He held me close to his heart and I finally felt safe. It was both strange and completely normal. Again I felt a tingling sensation wherever his skin touched mine.
“Naia, are you all right?" the young man asked me.
“A little disoriented, but I'm fine, how about you?”
“My rib hurts a bit, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“Where are we?" I asked.
“No idea. But I'd put my money on the island of the gods.”
“So we did it?”
“Yes, partly, and it's all thanks to you. Now all we have to do is find out where the treasure is buried.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. We had finally reached our goal. Okay, we hadn't made it all the way, but I was so happy we made it out alive. For a second I thought we were all dead.
“But why are you crying?" said Dylan.
“Because we did it, Dylan! We defeated Scylla and Charybdis. Can you believe it," I said, jumping onto his neck.
He began to laugh and I joined him enthusiastically. I could feel his laughter echoing against me and for a moment I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment. I knew I had to get back to the others, but I wanted to stay here, against him, for a few more minutes.
Then, after a while, I broke away from him. He looked at me and I knew at once that we were on the same page.
“Let's go find our friends and explore this island!”
I nodded, took the hand he held out to me, and we set off away from the beach, into the bowels of the island.
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