The Different Ship
11

Azhar had been sleepless for days after had sent the letter to The Other Council. He sat in his cabin, his hair a mess and leaning on one of his hands staring down at his desk. The council usually blow him, them, and his ship off because of what they were. No other magical beings get along with vampires because they have to drain others to live. Azhar isn’t innocent, he himself had done it before but its how he lives, how his life is sustained. Draining others of their life forces, but this wasn’t about him or his ship. It was about Rune, the fragile human girl that came aboard the wrong ship.

Azhar forced himself to stand to his feet, grabbing his hat and walked out of his cabin into the wheelhouse. He made his way out to the deck to make his normal rounds. The deck looked dead, his crew was working but time seemed to be trudging along. He expected Rune to suddenly come running out and fix one of their mistakes, this was odd for Azhar this feeling. His heart was heavy for her, he wished to see her, take her back. A small broken smile formed as he thought about it, it made his heart swell she always is on his mind.

As he made his round all of his crew seemed sluggish but it was getting done, not at the pace it ever had. Has that girl really that much of an impact on the ship? He didn’t realize it until she was gone, or she just did anything to help keep the ship together. Time ticked my even slower as they neared Galahads charted territory. Azhar let out a gravely sigh and headed back towards the wheelhouse when he stopped, spotting a white falcon perched on top of the roof of the wheel house, his eyes widened in realization on what that was. The Others Councils symbol hung around its neck as it let out a loud squall and flew over to him as he clicked his tongue, holding out his arm. Upon its leg was a letter, he was in shock that they took their time out to respond to him.

“They actually responded this is a shock.” he said taking it off the bird before letting it go. He closed his eyes and suddenly appeared at his desk in his cabin, his hands clammy and shaking as he slowly pried up the wax seal. A bright illuminated as they paper came out on its own and stood up on its own in front of him.

“Azharis Vaduva, why have you summoned a presence with us, what mess do we have to clean up of yours this time?” a male’s voice projected as the light dimmed. It was a small group of The Others Council on the other side of the letter. A better explanation of it, it was the heads of it themselves. He couldn’t tell who was who due to they had their faces covered for safety reasons. Azhar’s eyes narrowed at the use of his full name.

“No mess, it is actually an urgent matter, one of my fellow ship mates had been taken from me during the last storm.” He said leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. They sighed and shook their head which angered Azhar; he dug his nails into his arm and holding his tongue.

“Sir Vaduva, how do you know they didn’t just leave? You can’t just assume they were taken now can you? Storms can be a treacherous thing on a ship; they could have just been flung off no?” A females voice rang out to him, he snarled and turned his head more into the light showing the bags under his eyes.

“Azharis, why do you look so, well to put it bluntly… you look worse than you ever have.” Someone else spoke out; he tried to take a breath but snapped his head over to them.

“It was not just a damn crew member, it was a girl! Not just any girl, she was a damn human and Galahad took her! Now are you going to sit here and belittle me or are you going to help me?” he snapped at them his eyes beginning to faintly glow, his mouth opened as he let out a small hiss.

“How can we be so sure that you don’t want us to help because she tried to get away and he saved her?” they asked him, narrowing their eyes behind their hoods, he leaned in and went to snap at them again as Arab walked into the cabin. He walked up to the desk with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed at them.

“Ya know Ayo was one of us. She helped us n’ was more than loyal ta this damn ship. She woulda never got up nd’ scampered off. She wasn’t flung off tha damn ship ye lily livered scoundrels.” He snapped at them, he had heard what they were saying as he walked into the wheelhouse. Arab was also very protective over Azhar, but even more so over Rune.

“Oh Arab you are still with Azhar I see?” they asked as the letter pivoted slightly to see him better. Arab let out a low growl and glared at them before shaking his head.

“Ya know damn well I am, but maybe instead of lettin’ tha others that took Ayo run free ya can help us? They are always comin’ into our territory and fuckin’ up ar’ things, we all have different charted placed and if we were ta do what tha hell they do or did ya would have ar’ heads!” he yelled at them, the councils member looked at one another.

“What does this have to do with us again?” they asked Azhar, he huffed out and scowled before turning it back to him.

“The damn girl is a human and she has no clue what we are! That is why I called for you, I don’t know what the hell to do!” he yelled at them, his chest heaving in rage at this time, the council tensed.

“How did a human manage to get on your ship…” they trailed off and went to say something before Arab interrupted stopped them.

“She came aboard on her own, she made herself look like a man. Had me fooled along with tha others, yet Azhar knew betta and ya know what tha man did? When tha others found out what she was he protected her and neva laid his damn hands on her!” he growled at them. They sighed again before looking at one another and nodding giving in to his desperate plea.

“Well, if you are to battle it out for this girl… we forbid you to do it on either one of your charted domains. You must find unmarked or unclaimed ones Azharis.” They explained to him causing him to pinch between his eyes in frustration. He wasn’t worried about the battle he was more worried about if she was dead or not. He would never be able to forgive himself if she wound up killed; she was innocent in this sense.

“Two things, one is I wish not to fight them just get her back and two… can you help me locate their ship or give us a direction it may have gone in?” he asked them as his tongue ran over his fangs. Arab looked over at him in slight concern; his fangs usually concealed and unnoticeable.

“We aren’t sure what they are doing but we saw their ship through our falcon eye headed south bound along the horizon.” They told him. Arab nodded and turned not even waiting for Azhar’s direction to change the course. He took it upon himself to do that they were already a ways away from them and needed to close the gap as fast as possible. As Arab walked out Azhar let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes.

“Will that be all Azharis or is there something more you wish to discuss with us?” they asked as they looked him over; he looked at the letting and bit his lip thinking. The question in his mind, just him forcing it from his lips was the struggle.

“What… are the chances of her being alive in Galahad’s hands?” he asked, his heart sinking as such words, but he must know if he is chasing a lost cause. The council whispered among themselves before one cleared their throat.

“Considering we know how he can be, it is slim. We send out our condolences even though we aren’t sure why you care for a human. We are sorry; there isn’t much we can do along this point Azharis.” They told him as they watched him, deeply confused on his deep sorrow for this human girl.

“Very well, but if something did happen to her you will be here from me again and I may have that damn mutts head since you aren’t going to do anything about it. She isn’t a vampire she is a human, I think it’s more than about time you stepped up and do your duties. Aren’t you there to keep the peace between the different creatures and make sure the humans are safe from us? You need to do that before everything erupts into chaos.” He told them narrowing his eyes at them before one of them waved their hand dismissing him and the letter drifted to his desk as a regular piece of letter paper. He swiped his desk clean in anger as everything clattered to the ground around him.

“Tch, why did I think they were going to be more of a help than that.” he said before he kicked his door open and stormed out on deck, whistling loudly to get the crews attention.

“Listen up crew and you listen close. We are headed into dee wolf domain, and we are going to show them why you don’t mess with us. You hear me? We are doing this for Rune and our name this time! We will show them why they should fear us, this time we aren’t playing by the rules!” he yelled out raising his fist into the air, his fangs bared and his eyes glowing against the night surrounding them. The crew raised their fists in unison behind him and let out a loud “Ay- Aye sir!” and they quickened their pace, getting the ship back up to par so they could be prepared. It wasn’t just Azhar that wanted her back it was her crew, with a wicked smirk filling out over his lips he stood on the bow of the ship, hands behind his back. His hair fluttered from the breeze, his eyes narrowing at the black sea that reflected the moon, it coming close to being full. The waves tumbled against the ship rocking it and rolling back into the sea as the ship sailed on.

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