Till Death Do Us Part

Time had reset, and I was standing in the throne room. Blood dripped from my hook.

I turned, expecting to see a shocked or angry king. Instead, I saw his lifeless body slumped on the throne.

Why was he dead? Time had reset, so shouldn’t he…

A terrible thought crossed my mind. If I absorb their skills, do I also take their souls? Is that what the others saw with the curses clinging to me? Was that what X meant when they said the cursed would live on after death?

The thought of one of my crew members dying flashed into my mind. I staggered over to the corner of the room and emptied my stomach.

I had to stop the duke. I couldn’t allow this to play out again. At least with the king dead, nobody other than the duke should enter the throne room.

I spent several hours alone in the chamber, hoping the duke would come so I could ambush him. But he never showed.

If the king was truly dead because of my accursed gem, it made sense that the duke wouldn’t bother to finish him off this time. Still, as much as I knew it was unlikely, I hoped he'd at least double-check.

Then again, the duke was a careless man. No doubt he would just assume the king would die with or without his intervention.

At that moment, the doors of the chamber burst open.

Oh right, I forgot about him.

Sir Branwell entered.

“My lord, I have come to inform you that Valgroth is on the move.” He looked up and noticed me sitting on the throne, and then looked over and saw the lifeless corpse of the king.

“This isn’t what you think,” I tried to explain, waving my hands.

He drew his blade.

“How dare you kill the king?” He asked in his usual stoic voice.

“Would you believe that I wasn’t the one who killed him?”

“If not you then who?”

“Duke… um… twat-card or something.”

The response was clearly unsatisfactory. He said nothing, simply lunging at me with his blade.

I rolled over the side of the throne as the chair was cut cleanly in two. I stumbled to my feet just as another strike slashed where I had just been. Each swing of his blade cut deep into the marble flooring of the throne room.

Although I was able to avoid each of his attacks so far, I knew it was only a matter of time before one would connect. Unfortunately, Sir Branwell was an experienced soldier and was guarding the exit despite gradually nudging his way closer to me. There was no escape.

Desperate, I thought back to my inventory of sly tactics. Only one came to mind.

I slashed my hand with my hook.

It was a trick I hadn’t used for a long time, but it was the only one I could think of.

As I collected the blood in my hand, Sir Branwell cautiously approached. Once he was near enough, I flung the pool of blood at him. It splashed across his face and momentarily surprised and blinded him.

I knew it wouldn’t last long, but it was just enough time for me to enact my second tactic. I turned and fled out the door of the throne room.

“Halt, Pirate!” he called out, still wiping the blood from his face, and began giving chase.

“Why would I wait for you?” I called back.

“If you turn yourself in, I can guarantee your death will be painless.”

“How about I don’t turn myself in, and my death be not at all?”

More guards followed suit.

“Stop that man,” Sir Branwell called.

People peered from their doorways as I bolted down the middle of the street, guards hot on my heels.

I ducked into an alleyway, running down the side streets until I turned a corner and ran straight into a group of guards. Behind me, Sir Branwell and the other guards had caught up. I was surrounded.

Sir Branwell gripped his blade and, in a move almost too quick for my eyes, he approached.

A loud bang echoed through the alley. Sir Branwell turned to block a bullet, but as he did, wires wrapped around his wrists, momentarily slowing him.

Sitting on top of a roof was Mel, her leg resting on the parapet. A bottle in one hand and a gun in the other. Next to her, sitting leaning over the edge was Viola, wires in hand.

Elora jumped down with her axes.

“Took you long enough,” I called up to the rest of them.

“We’re sorry, Pippa mentioned time…” Túta began to explain.

“What she said is true,” I replied as I blocked a blade from a guard. “Let’s save this talk until after this battle.”

“Right.”

“Let’s go, Túta!” Pippa called excitedly.

“Hey, wait, what are you…?”

Her words were cut short as Pippa grabbed her by the waist and leapt from the rooftop. Pippa turned into her fluff ball form and flapped her wings, trying to support Túta’s weight, whilst Túta was trying to hold her skirt down as she fell from the sky.

Pippa flapped, exhausted, but managed to drop Túta to the ground safely.

“Pippa!” Túta scolded, her face was red.

“Pwii,” she panted.

“Why did you pull me from the roof?”

There was a puff of smoke as she turned back into her human form, lying on her back. Her mouth was open as she breathed heavily.

“I thought you wanted to jump in and save the day.”

“It’s ok, you all can rest, I’ll defeat them all,” Elora added, cutting down another guard as she simultaneously blocked a second one.

I looked up to see Viola and Mel both trying their best not to laugh. That was when I noticed.

Wait… where’s Raizel?

One of the guards who was blocking my path, opposite Sir Branwell, stiffened and collapsed to the ground. Blood sprayed from the back of his neck. Raizel licked it from her fingers using the tongue on her hand.

“Did you miss me, groper?” she teased, looking at me.

I suppose our conversations from the previous timeline didn’t carry over. Still, I was glad to see she was alright.

“Last I saw you, you were trying to hold a casual conversation with Valgroth, so yes, I did miss you.”

She blinked a few times, clearly not expecting that response.

“Ah, shucks, you made me embarrassed.”

A guard tried to slice her, but she vanished like a shadow behind him and slashed him with a blade.

“Did you say Valgroth?! So I can take it you are behind a larger conspiracy. That you are not only responsible for the murder of the king, but also behind the Valgroth incident?” Sir Branwell asked.

“Wait, you killed the king? That’s pretty badass,” Raizel added smugly.

“You do seem to have a bunch of new skills in your accursed gem. Is one of those the king’s?” Called Mel from the rooftop, adding even more fuel to the fire.

I side-stepped to dodge a piercing strike from Sir Branwell. The building's side cracked from the force before the entire wall collapsed into a cloud of dust and broken rocks.

“I keep trying to say to everyone this is all a big misunderstanding,” I asserted.

“Our Captain will defeat all and make this kingdom his own,” Pippa added, having recovered her energy.

“I’m doing no such thing!” I shouted, sliding on my knees to avoid a slashing attack from Sir Branwell.

Several guards approached but froze in place, wires wrapped around them. A very quick Raizel slashed through the majority of them. Túta stabbed one non-fatally in the leg, preventing him from continuing in the battle.

I quickly got up as Sir Branwell approached once more.

“Attacking guards, killing the king, conspiracy with Valgroth and an admission to intentions of conquering the kingdom. You are all quite clearly guilty of treason.” Sir Branwell commented as he prepared another attack.

I expected him to strike, but instead he shoved me with the side of his blade. The attack caught me by surprise, and I fell to the ground. I suppose this is what you’d expect from a seasoned knight.

He did pause and lifted his blade.

“This is the end for you, Accursed Captain Lark!”

“Captain!”

Several of my crew members screamed, rushing towards me as he slashed diagonally. In the last few moments, I saw a shadow flash in front of me. Although I didn’t see who it was, they took the full brunt of his attack. The one thing I knew was that no one in my crew would be able to survive that attack.

▪──── X ────▪

End of chapter 45