NotM Bounty 10 - Mutiny

It was the wind that drew Anya awake that dreary day, whipping against the small glass windows of their shared cabin. She rose from the soft bed, the silky covers falling away from her tattooed body, the air cold even within the cabin, sending goosebumps across her darkly tanned skin. She took a second to look over her shoulder, smiling at the figure that still slept soundly beneath the mound of blankets.
Going to the vanity pressed against the far wall, Anya pulled a comb through her black hair, smoothing the waves before working them into a thick braid. A stray lock of hair fell into her round face as she made her way to the wardrobe, pulling out a set of clothes. By the time she went to the bed, she wore dark leather pants tucked into tall black boots, with a loose white top beneath a leather corset. She took just a second more to pull a necklace over her head, tucking the bone fish hook pendant beneath her shirt.
Kneeling on the mattress, Anya put a hand on her lover’s shoulder. A fair-haired head poked sleepily out from beneath a blanket, giving a tired moan of annoyance. “Come on, love. We’ve got duties to tend.” Anya whispered, letting a finger trail down the soft bit of neck she could find. “As well, I need your help.”
“We can worry about it later, Anya.” The woman complained, trying to pull the covers over her head.
“Or we can do it now, Leila. There’s a storm rolling in and we’ve got to secure the deck.” Anya urged, reaching beneath the blanket and giving Leila’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll go get the crew while you get dressed.” With a kiss to Leila’s forehead, Anya left the cabin and stepped out on deck, rubbing her arms a bit to warm them up.
It was far colder than she’d thought it would be, with very strong wind and powerful waves buffeting the ship. Stepping into the cold sea spray, Anya looked over her shoulder, smiling when she saw the ship’s navigator. The navigator, also serving as her first mate, stood at the helm, his dark blue eyes trained on the horizon. He glanced down when Anya gave a small wave of her hand before hugging her arms and climbing the steps to join him.
“How long has this wind been up, Marceau?” Anya called, working her way to his side.
“Since sundown.” He replied in his usual deep voice. “It’s gotten worse in the past few hours.”
“Hmm.” Anya hummed, frowning a bit. “I’ll get the others up to secure the ship for this storm.”
Marceau turned his dark blue eyes up to her, looking more nervous than Anya had ever seen.
“What is it, Marceau?”
“It’s… It’s the crew. They’ve been acting strangely.” He commented.
Anya frowned. She’d noticed it too, but hadn’t mentioned it to Marceau or Leila. She put on a smile, instead, and gave his shoulder a knock. “They’re just eager to get back on land. We’ve been out for a while now. There’s nothing to worry about.” She said, turning and making her way down below the deck, into the crew’s quarters. All the crew slept in one area, with rows and rows of hammocks lining the two walls and hanging on the support beams. Anya took a small breath and called out. “Come on you guys! There’s a hell of a storm on the way!” Her voice was soft but held authority, enough that about fifteen men stirred from their sleep, rolling from their cots to pull some warm clothes on before venturing outside
Satisfied, Anya bound back up the steps and went to fetch a coat from her cabin, smiling when she saw that Leila had gotten up and was getting dressed. Stepping up behind her, Anya wrapped her arms around the younger woman’s waist, kissing the side of her neck, rubbing small circles into her belly with her thumb. Leila laughed quietly, turning her head to kiss Anya’s cheek. With a bump of her hip, Leila urged Anya toward the door with a small smile. “I’ll be up shortly.” She said.
Going back on deck, Anya went about directing the others to secure the sails and the rest of the deck. Then the rain began, completely soaking everybody to their skin. Marceau came down from the helm- Leila had taken his place at the helm – instructing everybody to secure themselves with a length of rope to a mast as they brought down the sails and secured some of the barrels and crates on the deck.
From that point on, the weather turned very bad, very quickly, with twenty foot waves tossing their ship, the Ocean Bandit, around like a toy boat in a child’s bath. A wave came over the bow, pouring water across the deck, sweeping half the crew off their feet and making the rest shout angrily. Anya winced, shoving hair out of her face. “Alright, I want everybody below deck!” She called above the howling wind. Most of the deck was secure and taking care of the rest wasn’t worth the safety of her crew.
The weather, though, didn’t even give them a chance to get below deck. Another wave, some forty or fifty feet high, rammed into the bow of the ship, sending much of the crew scrambling for something to grab hold of. Before anybody had a moment to recover, a second wave crashed against the starboard side, throwing the ship on its side. Anya was slammed against the rail, the wood cracking beneath her ribs. She felt something crack in her chest – broken ribs, she suspected – and it took all she had to not cry out.
“Man overboard!” A deep voice screamed just off the port side as the ship struggled to right itself. Anya’s head snapped up at the sound of Marceau’s voice calling out from the water. Without thinking, Anya swung to her feet, pulled the knife from her boot, sliced through her safety line, and raced to the side of the ship. The deck was still at about a forty-five degree angle when Anya grabbed another rope, secured it to the railing with the fastest bowline knot of her life, and dove off the portside rail. The last thing she heard before hitting the icy water was Leila, screaming her name. Then, all she heard was the sound of bubbles racing past her ears.
Freezing needles shot across her skin, making her gasp and inhale half a mouthful of sea water before she surfaced again, nearly losing her hold on the rope, sputtering and trying to get some air back to her lungs. “Marceau!” She screamed as soon as she could breathe.
“Over here!” Marceau called weakly just a little ways off. Anya whipped around in his direction and started swimming. Almost as soon as she moved, though, her limbs started to slow, her fingers going numb as she swam. She caught sight of Marceau’s dark haired head, ice already starting to form on his dreadlocks. It was so cold – they both needed to get out of the water now. Anya started towards him, getting to his side and holding on to his shoulders. He was shaking, his teeth chattering audibly and he grabbed hold of her, trying to keep his head above water. She looked back toward the ship and froze, seeing something floating just above them.
The figure was illuminated just enough to make out features – it was a woman, with long, blue black hair and eyes the color of seaweed. She looked down on Anya with serious eyes, one pale hand holding on to Marceau’s shoulder, keeping his head just above the icy waves. Wordlessly, the woman vanished with a gust of sea spray. Turning her attention to Marceau, she lashed the rope around his chest and gave it a tug. Someone up on deck started pulling them back to the boat, jerking them painfully through waves with each tug.
By the time they were hauled up on deck, Anya could barely even let go of Marceau – her arms so cold and stiff they didn’t want to release his body. Leila hurried forward, pulling Anya’s arms from around his chest and helping her to her feet. “I want everybody below deck, now! Strip Marceau of his clothes and get him under a blanket! Do not take your eyes off of him!” Leila commanded. “Dimitri, you’re with me!”
Another man, with olive skin and a golden ring in one ear, stepped up to Anya and put a stiff arm around her waist. While the others all went below deck with Marceau, Dimitri helped Leila get Anya into their shared cabin. Inside, Leila dismissed Dimitri and rushed to get Anya undressed, not quite catching the look that crossed the deckhand’s face before he left the cabin. “Come on, love, you need to get those clothes off.” Leila worried, pulling her out of her boots and corset, then her shirt and pants.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Anya said quietly, trying to get her shaky hands to work.
Once she was finally undressed and wrapped in a blanket, Leila hugged her, kissing her forehead with wet cheeks. “Don’t scare me like that again.” She warned with a scared laugh, holding Anya tight. She took a breath and leaned back, untying Anya’s soaked hair form its braid and trying to dry it with a towel.
“I wasn’t going to leave him in that water.” Anya breathed shakily, letting her love hold her, warm her up.
Leila swore quietly in her native tongue, running a finger across a bit of tattooed skin she could see just beneath Anya’s collarbone, dark blue ink that read ‘Ocean Bandit’. “I’m going to get Dimitri to take us to the nearest port.” Leila said, starting for the doorway again. “The weather looks like it’s just going to get worse.”
“But the treasure! We’ve gotten so close already!” Anya started, trying to stand and succeeding only in collapsing, her knees completely giving way beneath her body.
Leila sighed and returned to Anya, helping her back into bed. “You need to stay in bed and get warm. That bloody treasure will wait. I’m going to check on Marceau and the others.”
“Alright.” Anya conceded, laying down and closing her eyes. Before her head even hit the pillow, she was sound asleep.


“Get up!”
The voice was familiar but hoarse - and very angry. Only after they shouted again did Anya start to stir from sleep. Then a hand wrapped up in her hair, making her cry out. Looking up with bloodshot brown eyes, she saw Dimitri standing above her, his face twisted with malice.
“I said, get up!” He growled, throwing Anya from the bed.
“What do you think you’re doing, Dimitri?” Anya demanded, stumbling up to her feet, trying to keep the blanket around her shoulders.
“Get dressed, quietly, or you can go out with just that blanket.” He warned, slicking back dark hair, showing off stormy eyes.
Color rose in her face as Anya stood and went to her wardrobe. Dimitri watched her with eagle eyes as she dressed, pulling on underclothes, then a black shirt and dark leather pants. Only after she’d pulled on a pair of boots – hiding at least two small knives – and a heavy coat did Dimitri speak again. “Get up on deck.” He ordered.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Anya glared at Dimitri, not moving.
“Go up on deck and find out.” With a shove, he spun Anya around and started her up the stairs.
Up on deck, where a moderately thick fog had started to roll in, Anya felt her blood run cold when she saw Leila and Marceau on their knees by the rail, a great purple bruise blossoming across the young woman’s jawline. They both had their hands tied behind their back
“You’ll pay for this, Dimitri. The lot of you will.” Anya warned.
“You won’t be alive to carry that threat out.” Dimitri chuckled, grabbing her by the arms and trying a rough rope around her wrists, knotting them together before shoving the captain forward, nearly into Leila. Two men came forward, hauling each of them to their feet and shoving them towards a small lifeboat that hung against the side of the ship, smacking against the rail with each bob of the ship. Once the three prisoners were inside the tiny dinghy, the two men started lowering the ship into the sea. As the boat was lowered, Anya looked between her two companions. Marceau was pale and shivering, wearing only a pair of dark trousers and a thin shirt, but was red with flush, though whether that was from anger or fever Anya couldn’t be sure. Leila, too, was pale but didn’t look quite as cold. She seemed on the verge of tears, though, from fear and anger alike.
Their little boat was lowered quickly landed in the water. Their line to the ship was cut and they started to drift away as Dimitri stepped forward with two men at his side. They had long guns in their hands and greedy expressions on their faces. “Thanks for the ship, Captain Anya.” Dimitri sneered, raising his gun. “Don’t worry, though. We won’t let you die in the cold.” The other men raised their guns and took aim, followed by a cocky Dimitri.
“You’ll regret this, Dimitri. Don’t get comfortable. As long as I breathe, that’s my ship.” Anya called back, standing up, trying to inch her fingers toward the knife in her boot. If she could just get her hands free-
Three cracking shots rang out and Anya was thrown back, pain exploding from her shoulder. She heard Leila cry out and a small grunt from Marceau, followed by two more thuds. At first, she couldn’t move, could only listen to the cheering and cackling from the ship as hot blood spilled down her chest. Orders from Dimitri had the sails dropped and the ship angled away, no doubt heading for the nearest port.
Things had quieted on the water when Anya jerked at the sound of Leila coughing. Moaning, Anya rolled onto her side and then her front, finally pushing up to her knees. Working her tied hands toward her boot, she freed the knife tucked against her leg. It took a moment of careful cutting before her hands were finally freed, the sudden movement causing her to whimper and grab hold of her shoulder.
Looking up, she saw Marceau first, on her left, with a bullet hole in his throat. His eyes were open and glassy, with no life giving them light. A lump rose in Anya’s throat and she took a second to reach a shaky hand out to close her dead friend’s eyes. Only when she had done so did Anya turn to her lover. Leila, her beautiful girl, had a similar bullet wound near the center of her chest, burbling with blood. She lay flat on her back, blood trickling down her cheek each time she coughed. Her eyes had already started to glaze over.
Anya’s stomach dropped and any concern for her own injuries were thrown to the wayside. Desperately, Anya cut the ropes off of Leila’s wrists and ripped her shirt open at the neck to look at her wound. It was bad, really very bad, bleeding everywhere and staining the bottom of the small boat red. “No. No, no, no! Talk to me, Leila!” Anya cried, the lump in her throat threatening to make her voice break. “I will not lose you both! I won’t!”
Thick fog had moved in quickly, collecting in cold droplets on Anya’s skin. The captain cupped her hands around Leila’s face. The co-captain’s eyes fluttered open for a moment, a tiny smile showing on her pale lips. “It’s alright, love.” She breathed, so quietly Anya could scarcely hear her.
“Don’t talk like that! You’ll be fine. You’re not going anywhere!” Anya’s voice was high even to her own ears, tears just on the verge of falling. She leaned over Leila and put pressure on her wound, earning a pained grunt in return.
“Anya. Anya, I want you to look at me.” Leila breathed. “It’s alright, Anya. This isn’t your fault.”
“I should have seen it. I should have known! I did know and I did nothing to stop it!” Anya wept, tears falling as the rain picked up again. It was gentle rain, not like before. Like the sky was crying for Leila.
“Don’t do that to yourself, Anya. Don’t you dare. You can survive this, so you better take care of yourself. If you don’t, I’ll haunt your ghost.” Leila chuckled, the noise ending with a hacking cough. Anya pulled the girl closer, her heart clenching in response. “You need to live. Find another boat and sail. Sail for the both of us.”
“I can’t sail without you.” Anya sobbed. “It won’t be the same.”
“No, it won’t. But the sea is your home. It’s as much…a part of you, as you are of it.” She breathed, reaching up and pulling a necklace from around her neck. Anya looked down and a sob caught in her throat when Leila opened her hand, revealing the necklace the captain had given her lover several years before, right after they’d met. It was a piece of carved ivory, rectangular in shape and smooth, carved with the shape of some hoof print, like from a deer. Leila, who had grown up in the mountains and hadn’t taken too well to life on the ocean, had loved it and she’d never taken it off.
Anya closed her hand around it and pulled it, along with Leila’s hand, to her chest. “You always were sentimental.” She choked out, pressing her forehead to Leila’s. She’d already grown so cold.
“Ah, but that’s why you fell in love with me.” Her words were fading with each breath.
Anya gave her a long kiss, salty tears and that metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“I know, love.” She gave one more smile and turned her eyes up, looking at the cloudy sky. “I wish I could see the stars. But… It’s time to go, I think.”
“No, no please!” Anya begged, holding Leila tightly. “I need you!”
“It’ll be alright, love. Find another ship. Find a family and love them. And let them love you.” Her words came on an exhale. When her body sagged, Anya waited for another inhale. She waited and waited, but it never came.
In that moment, she was more alone than she’d been in years. Marceau was dead and Leila was gone, and she sat alone, covered in blood and bleeding from her own wound that throbbed with pain, the cold rain freezing her skin. She started to rock, holding the cold, still body that had once been so beautifully warm. That misery started to engulf her completely, like a black wave putting out whatever light she had in her soul. It was then that Anya glanced down and caught sight of the knife she’d dropped earlier.
She reached for the blade, muttering terrible words. One quick stab would be all it took, and she wouldn’t be alone. Just one quick thrust and she’d be with Leila. The pain would be gone… It would be so easy…
Something bumped the boat and Anya banged into the rail. The knife slipped from her hand, clattering against the wooden boat. When she went to reach for the knife again, she realized she was reaching over Leila’s body. In a heartbeat, Anya realized just what she’d been considering and immediately hated herself. Leila had asked her only one thing and she’s almost done the exact opposite of that wish.
Anya leaned forward, taking the knife up in her hand. Not allowing for a second of hesitation, the captain hurled the knife away with a savage cry, the glittering knife tumbling over and over until it struck the water, taking her darkest thoughts with it. Only when she’d stopped gasping for air, the bullet wound in her shoulder shrieking with agony, did Anya take the time to try and figure out what it was they had hit.
The tiny dinghy had bumped into some bit of driftwood, a huge chunk of wood that had jolted the whole boat. Turning her eyes up, Anya could see the sky – growing ever darker still more storm clouds, the air crackling with thunder. Looking ahead, she saw a tiny speck of what looked like land, covered in forested mountains.
Tiredly, Anya sat back and carefully peeled out of her coat. The pain in her shoulder started to radiate down, the entirety of her torso pulsing in agony with each heartbeat. Beneath the coat, blood had soaked her shirt, plastering it against her skin. Pulling off her shirt, Anya washed it quickly over the side, then ripped it into one long ribbon and wrapped it around her shoulder as securely as possible. Definitely a poor job, but it would have to do for the time being.
“Hello, my child.”
Anya’s eyes snapped toward the warm voice. It was the woman from before, her dark green eyes filled with sadness.  Anya looked to the woman with a mixture of anger and confusion. “Why are you here? You helped before, and then you let Dimitri shoot us! You let him kill them!” She cried, her voice cracking painfully.
“I am sorry, my child, but I could not interfere.”
“I am not your child and you have no right to be here now!” Anya yelled, trying to stand. The boat pitched wildly beneath her feet but she wanted to be angry. She wanted the distraction, needed it.
The woman frowned, sinking nearer to the boat a bit. “I know, child. I will not remain if you do not want me to, but I have come with an offer.”
“Unless you can bring Leila and Marceau back, I don’t want anything from you.”
She continued as if she hadn’t heard Anya’s quip. “My offer will grant you the strength to continue on in this world, to do that which your love asked. How you use this offer will be up to you, as for how you see it.”
Anya straightened and studied the woman. What could she be talking about? What sort of gift did she think would help her live how Leila had told her to? “And if I accept? What happens then?”
“Your life will never be the same, but you will be able to defend yourself against the one you call Dimitri.”
“My life won’t be the same whether I accept or not, now that Leila is gone.” Anya knelt back down, looking over at Leila. Find a family and love them. And let them love you. Looking up at the woman, Anya stared the woman head on. “I’ll accept you gift.”
The woman frowned again and drifted even closer. Reaching out, she touched a finger to Anya’s forehead. Pain blossomed from the very center of her forehead, making her cry out as she fell back into the boat. The agony in her head combined with that in her shoulder and she could do nothing but let blackness slip over her. The last thoughts she had. Falling against the boats’ side, Anya could feel the dinghy beneath her pitching on the waves. Going from her beautiful Ocean Bandit to such a small and unstable boat, it was like she was trying to rest on the back of a bucking horse. Somehow, the darkness drove off every thought, letting her slip into something that wasn’t quite sleep, nor unconsciousness.


Freezing cold water and a deafening crack of thunder jerked Anya awake, groaning when she sat up too quickly and her head swam. Another band of storms had filled the sky with near black clouds but the rain hadn’t quite started back up, despite the strong wind buffeting Anya from what felt like all sides. Looking up, she saw what had been a tiny speck on the horizon before was now a great big island looming ahead, still far off in the distance. And near that island was a ship.
At first, Anya felt a cold fury. The ship looked almost like the Ocean Bandit with her black hull gilded with gold and white sails, and she considered using every last bit of her own strength to find Dimitri, to watch the light leave those evil eyes of his. Then she noticed slight differences between her ship and the one at the beach – this ship had a shorter bowsprit with some kind of glittering figurehead at the bow. Much of her anger faltered, and she fell against the edge of her tiny boat.
It took Anya a moment to realize she was being towed toward the island by the tide or wind, she wasn’t sure which. Forcing herself to lean back, she looked between Leila and Marceau, the pool of blood they all lay in, and her own bloodied clothes. Provided whoever was on the island didn’t kill her outright to see what valuables she had on her, surely they would be concerned about whatever they imagined she had done to her companions.
The rain came down harder and harder the closer she got to the beach. It was a maelstrom by the time she could roll herself over the side and into the water, crying out when the salt water made her wounds sting painfully. Dragging the boat behind her as she made for the beach, she used up nearly all her strength. Finally making it to dry sand, Anya strained to bring the boat far enough inland to keep it from being swept away. Leila and Marceau deserved proper burials and, if she lived, she would see that they did.
On the beach, Anya let herself fall, half on wet sand and half still in the waves, the strength draining from her body with each passing second. Lightning cracked across the sky in hot branches, letting Anya see, for a split second, just how bad of shape she was in – blood and rain soaked clothes, tangled hair hanging in a heavy curtain and terribly pale skin. Struggling to her feet, Anya found herself breathless as she started down the beach toward where she’d last seen the ship that looked so much like her own. She had to walk for a long while, stumbling in the sand and fighting to keep on her feet. Eventually, though, she saw a flickering light a little way’s off, like a small campfire.
It was only when she could see the ship that she finally saw a group of people around the campfire. Anya was surprised when she felt relieved, even though the group was asleep. No, not everyone was. One man was awake, sitting on watch against a tree. His head was tilted down, reading from some sort of book or journal propped on his lap. To his right, she could see the ship’s figurehead - a silvery spread-wing eagle, its beak open in a fierce scream. Something in the sand made Anya stumble, the movement catching the man’s attention. He looked up, the alert look on his face giving way to an array of emotions – surprise, confusion, some mix of concern and distrust.
He stood and stepped around his sleeping crewmembers, making his way nearer to Anya. She held her shoulder with one hand and braced the other against a palm tree, trying to keep from falling over as her eyes drooped. It took everything to keep from passing out. Watching as the man stood, she looked him over with blurry eyes. He looked middle-aged, with graying black hair and a full beard. He was obviously muscular, with a massive and beautiful tattoo running from the base of his neck and down the length of his arm – his jacket covered the other arm. His eyes were deep grey and trained on Anya, his brows drawn together with obvious concern.
“Are you alright?” The man’s voice was richly accented.
Dozens of thoughts ran through Anya’s head, the first and foremost centered on whether or not she should trust this man. She’d trusted Dimitri and he’d destroyed everything she’d ever loved. Anya didn’t know this man, just knew he was as likely to kill her as help her. But looking at him, with no weapons in his hand and a worried look in his eyes, she realized she no longer cared. If he helped her, she’d be grateful. If he wanted to kill her, she wouldn’t stop him.
Without a word, Anya took a small step forward. Her hand fell away from the tree and went around her waist. Another step made her knees buckle and she pitched forward, landing hard in the sand. The last thing she heard was the man calling for something – maybe help, maybe a knife, she didn’t know – and the sound of the ocean, waves breaking against the shore in a rhythm. Thunder rippled across the sky, and the rain finally started to ease.