Fiery Lands and Stormy Seas (Pokemon Watty Award Winner 2014)

Chapter 21

LUNA

She woke to the sound of thunder. Her left eye was still swollen shut, and it hurt to sit up with one leg in a splint and on the other a swollen knee. Yet she pulled herself to lean against the wall of the rank wooden cabin on the ship. Luna Love peered across the moldy room to see Gardevoir, still bound in her blanket of chains.

For the seventh day in a row, she cried. She wept tears for Lily most of all. Her daughter never cried out before Ahab had slit her throat. Luna had gone mad after that moment, and she remembered little besides her cold wet quarters on Ahab's tiny vessel. The only thing that kept her sane was the look that Gardevoir gave her as she lay in her steel chains. My brother will come for me, she knew then. She hoped against hope that Chris would save Swampert as well.

It was the morning of the seventh day since she was taken. She vaguely remembered being tied to Gyarados as it pulled her through the surf to Ahab's ship that was waiting on the open sea. Sometimes she could hear the beast roaring in the night as they sailed on.

Luna still could not stand. Her knee was swollen from where she was blasted by the monster. She didn't think it was broken, but the muscles around it were inflamed and she could see reddish-purple bruises under the skin. The first day of her captivity the rocking of the boat had sent waves of pain throughout her leg. She couldn't help the moaning, but Ahab didn't care. His first mate, a young man hardly older than Chris with wavy blonde hair, had warned her about her noise-making.

"The captain says if you keep making noise he'll come to give you something to really cry about." His eyes were cold, and his voice as well.

He doesn't understand the pain... Luna remembered thinking. The loss of her child made the pain even worse. She had let out another moan, of course, she couldn't help it what with the rocking of the ship slightly moving her leg.

Ahab himself had come in after that. "I warned you not to make any noise. It's just annoying, you see," he said. His breath was rank with ale and raw fish. Ahab then knelt down as he had when he slew Lily. Luna had trembled as his hand caressed up her good leg. She had whimpered aloud for the last time then.

"It's just that you're not as pretty when you cry," he slid his hands back down to her good knee, massaging. "But if you're so determined to make a fuss..." Ahab had snapped the knee of her healthy leg out of place, and Luna screamed. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Ahab's horrible smile.

She had suffered in silence since that day. Or has it all been the same day? It had been so long since she saw the sky. When she woke from her unconsciousness, someone had splinted the leg that Ahab had dislocated, and the tight wrappings kept the pain away.

They had left Gardevoir alone, thankfully. It seemed the steel chains acted as a barrier to her powers. Luna had wondered who had forged them.

And so it was now, the seventh day she supposed, that the blond-haired first mate had arrived again. His eyes were still cold, yet he was gentle as he dragged Luna out onto the deck of the ship. The sky was a dark grey, and lightning flashed in the clouds as a huge mountain rose out of the sea.

The blond young man sat her on a bench. The small crew were about their chores: steering, and raising or lowering sails. It wasn't long however, until the Captain himself walked out on deck. Shirtless, his chest was full of the same wiry black hair as his patchy beard and full of scars.

"Do you see that place?" the vile man asked Luna as he pointed to the towering thing that the ship was approaching. "We're going home now." He took a seat right next to her on the wooden bench and sniffed in her hair. "Now you smell like a proper woman, like the sea." She tried to pull away in disgust, but Ahab grabbed her arm. "No need to fear me, my lady. I admit it wasn't... gentlemanly of me to hurt you like that." He snapped his fingers, and the blond man slapped Luna across the face.

"You can hit harder than that, you Skitty-boy. How can you expect to be Chief of Lilycove if you can't even pack a punch?" Ahab pulled Luna back to him. "You watch out for Thomas, my sweet. Next time my fingers happen to snap he won't be as gentle. Will you, Thomas?"

"No, Captain," blond-headed Thomas said coldly. It seemed to Luna that the young man was staring blankly past them, out to the sea.

"That's a good lad," Ahab said as he stood up, and walked his way back to his own cabin. "Let my lady have some fresh air before we get back to Sootopolis. It may be a while before she gets any again." The murderer snapped his fingers again, and this time Thomas almost knocked Luna off of the bench.

She felt tears welling in her eyes as they sailed into the mountain of an island. As they passed under an opening in small cove, Luna determined to herself that she could not let the tears fall. I will not let him get to me.

Sootopolis was, in fact, a dormant volcano that had risen out of the waters in ancient times. Some say it had jutted out of the water at a time when the Gods themselves had clashed. The City was hewn from the walls itself; stone buildings that had been magnificently carved. The walls encircled an immense lake of clear seawater, and all forms of life swam below the surface... Including Ahab's monstrous Gyarados.

Eventually, the boat came to a stop in a glittering marble cove. Luna was lifted by Thomas, who carried her into another hall after they disembarked the ship. The throne room was more beautiful than she could have ever imagined. Marble and gold and silver and colored sands decorated the shining hall, polished to where one could see their own reflection in the floors and great white marble pillars. At the end of the hall, she could see a huge waterfall, cascading into a shining pool behind a great marble throne.

Thomas gently put her down on a chair in front of it. It wasn't long until Ahab showed up, dressed in a shirt this time and void of his nasty unkempt beard. No matter how beautiful the man may have seemed, he was a monster. Inside, Luna shook with fury.

"Sister, come out," Ahab cried. His voice echoing off of the walls. "Baby brother is home."

Almost instantly, the most majestic Pokémon Luna had ever seen swam out through the waterfall. There must be another room behind, Luna thought. It had a coral top and rainbow scales and soft blue eyes. Riding on the huge Pokémon's back was a woman to match its beauty.

Long, golden hair wet with seawater splashed across her back. She was Luna's age at least, but she looked fifteen years younger. She wore fine, flowing, white transparent robes that covered the tight leather underclothes that lined her slender yet seductive curves. Her flat belly could be seen through the silks.

"Luna Love," she said as she gracefully hopped off of her Spirit Pokémon, Milotic. It was then Luna saw she carried a dark wooden staff with a golden trident at the tip. Reflecting the light of the hall was a shimmering blue jewel, as large as a fist, imbedded in the trident. "So good of you to join us. I've been anxious to meet you ever since my half-brother... picked you up. Good day, Thomas."

The blond young man fell to his knees. "Your Majesty."

The beautiful woman sat lazily in her marble throne, perfect long legs and feet dangling over the side. "Though I am sorry to hear about your daughter... But you must understand, my dear," she observed the nails on the back of her hand, and then waved it away, "she was an obstacle. Tell me, Ahab, what did you do with her egg?"

"What egg?" Ahab responded.

Thank the gods he never found it, Luna breathed an audible sigh of relief. She had hoped that it had stayed buried in the sand, as evidence of what had happened.

Empress Glamour had death in her eyes. "What do you mean 'what egg'?"

"I..." Ahab turned to Luna. She could tell that he was scared of his half-sister, the Queen of the Eastern Seas. He snapped his fingers.

"NOT HERE!" The queen on the marble throne commanded as Thomas raised his arm. "It makes no difference... By now Starfall has her son's Spirit Pokémon. Soon the Marshes will be gone from this world." She turned her head to Luna and pointed with her trident. Her voice turned to honey again. "Luna Love, my dear, we have many things to negotiate. Doubtless you are weary from your travels. Maybe you should rest tonight and we will begin our meetings in the morning." She gestured to Ahab.

"Take her nicely to the visitor's quarters. I will have it be known that Empress Glamour treats her guests with respect." She banged the trident on the ground and Milotic rose back out of the pool. "And brother, do try not to break this one."