Nocturna League (Episode 2: The Mist Hour) (10 page)

The Captain calmly steps
out of the brig and goes to the one door leading to the lower
decks, the one in the helm. Using the key only Boris,
Luisoix,
Estradia
,
a certain secret someone, and himself have copies of, he opens the
way and closes the door behind him into an eerily-lit hallway- old,
long lasting lightbulbs charged by magic, producing an almost sepia
light to the hall below deck. He goes down another flight of stairs
to the engine room. Even though the Nocturna is moving, setting
sail for their originally-intended destination, there are no engine
sounds to be heard- just breathing. The hallway’s open door leaks a
little light down into the engine room. What is barely visible is
horrifying beyond description, but The Captain is used to this sort
of thing.

“
Well, it’s not often you
come down to visit me anymore,” a very strange creature says,
breath blowing through the room like a gust of strange
wind.

“
I apologize for that. I
suppose it has been a few days- I’ve been busy,” The Captain says,
taking a seat on the steps leading down to the engine
room.

“
I noticed. Colette’s quite
the good shot now,” the thing says.

The Captain nods. “She’s improving
quickly. I feel rather proud of her. Anyway, thanks.”

“
It’s the least I could do.
Swimming around being a job is just too easy.”

The Captain scoffs with a smirk. “Yes-
but it’s something only you can do. I’m quite grateful. She shot me
so much, and the wind was already blowing hard. I would have
guessed it’d take at least a week before I could recompose myself,
if at all.”

“
It was close, but that’s
what I’m here for.”

The Captain laughs- a rare sound.
“Yes, yes it is. So, anything of interest?”

“
Only your conversation
with Colette in your quarters. You let her embrace you- quite
uncaptainly.”

The Captain adjusts his visor and
bends his head aside as if in embarrassment. “Well, she’s getting
attached. I expect the lack of a capable father figure, or perhaps
a blooming desire for professional acceptance.”

“
Regardless. You can’t let
her too close. That would ruin everything. Perhaps you should spend
your time with that new recruit: Itrim I believe was his
name.”

“
Kotherrhre,” The Captain
addresses.

“…
Yes, sir?”

“
I call the shots. I’ll
befriend who I like.”

The air in the room gusts in a sigh.
“Yes sir, sorry, sir.”

The Captain straightens his
spectacles. “I’m glad my lack of visitation hasn’t worn down on
your understanding of authority,” The Captain says, getting up and
brushing off his coat. Kotherrhre is silent as The Captain starts
up the stairs back into the lit hallway. “Oh, and nice touch
pulling me out of the woods like that. It was enjoyable seeing her
surprise at my waiting on the boat for her.”

“
Yeah, Captain… Oh, and by
the way.”

At the doorway, The Captain peers down
into the pitch blackness. “Yes?”

“
There’s a presence that’s
taken the trail of the ship. It will be on us in about three days
if we keep sailing.”

“
Of what sort?”

Kotherrhre laughs darkly. “Captain,
please. You know what it is and what it’s coming for. This many
land-faring mortals on the ship? We’re bait without a
hook.”

The Captain nods and turns back to
leave. “We’ll be ready. Our cargo and our crew are too precious to
lose.”

Another laugh from Kotherrhre.
“Sometimes I wonder just who the ‘crew’ is, and who’s the
‘cargo’.”

“
Have a nice day,” The
Captain says, stepping out.

“
You too, Captain,”
Kotherrhre says, watching The Captain leave and close the door,
shrouding it back to the complete darkness it’s used to.

The Captain does a couple of other
things below decks and soon after ascends back to the waking world.
He decides to while away the time exchanging jokes with Boris in
the kitchen- but The Captain’s sense of humor is too dark and
horrifying for Grancis to appreciate- she especially didn’t like it
when he relayed a particularly graphic tale about cannibals
devouring each other in a fight to get at one another’s hearts, as
if it were a comical story. Sure enough, Boris laughed, and Grancis
asked for permission to go outside.

Leaving the deep-voiced guffaws of the
kitchen as Boris started a story about his old days devouring
humans as a beast of the depths, Grancis steps out onto the misty
deck, and spots Colette swabbing. Naturally, she approaches her
good friend.

“
Hi,” she says simply,
rebinding a bit of her hair to ensure it doesn’t blow about in the
wind.

A miserable-looking Colette only needs
to hear her voice before she turns around, still swabbing, but with
a smile on her face. “Heya, Gran- Kitchen too hot?”

“
Oh, yes, something like
that. So, how was the trip to the island?” Grancis grasps the
railing as Colette smirks.

“
Pretty crazy, Gran,” she
says, mopping vigorously as if to polish the deck to a mirror-like
quality. “I was… Well, it was pretty hard for me- lots of crazy
stuff happened.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yeah. I was played like a
dumbass.”

“
Don’t be so hard on
yourself. You were very brave, fighting that entire group of bad
guys by yourself.”

Colette looks over to Grancis. “Wait…
What?”

“
The Captain told me,
before he left to go help you, that you were fighting off all the
Kalamests by yourself- and defeating some terrible magician; he
said he was impressed beyond worsd, but he knew you needed help,
which was why he went on to give you a hand.”

Colette stares at Grancis with
bewilderment and confusion, the memory of her shooting The Captain
to blowing dust flashing in her mind, but she decides not to ask
the specifics- the mysteriousness is beyond both of them. “Well… it
was my pleasure, Gran. I’m happy to help.”

Grancis hugs Colette. “I’m happy
you’re okay,” Grancis says, brushing her head against Colette’s
shoulder.

Stunned for only a moment, Colette
drops the mop and returns the embrace. “Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay
too.”

“
APPRENTICE MEAT! WHERE ARE
YOU OF THE BEING? WE HAVE MUCH OF THE COOKING TO DO!” A giant
crustacean cries out from the kitchen as a pleased Captain turns
out and goes to his quarters to read a book.

Grancis draws a powerful breath. “I’LL
BE RIGHT THERE, MASTER BORIS!” With that, Grancis says goodbye and
rushes off to prepare lunch.

Colette is back to mopping, but as she
continues, she watches The Captain go up to his quarters. For a
moment, he turns around and looks at her. For a few fleeting
seconds, they do nothing, and then they both smile and nod. The
Captain turns to his quarters, and Colette to the deck. She
realizes that as much as an incomprehensible asshole The Captain
can be, he has her back. She spends the rest of the morning
swabbing the deck, whistling an old tune from the town she came
from.

-To Be Continued-

(Chapter 1 from
Nocturna League: The Sunken
Breath
included after the
break!)

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Also, I’d love a review as well. It literally
would make my day.
Thank
you!

Good day,

I certainly hope you enjoyed this
story- it means quite a lot that you’ve read my work; whispering in
your ear is entertaining, hopefully for both of us.

I was a little concerned
about this chapter in the story- it seemed a bit strong, a bit
edgy, a bit… more than what I usually write. I was particularly
concerned about The Captain threatening (rusingly, that is,) to
assault poor Grancis in some way. There was a time in which this
sort of thing wasn’t talked about much, but on the Internet it’s
talked about quite a lot, so just know I’m well aware of that, but
I still thought it was true to The Captain’s character, and it was
what he would have done. Things that are sexual in nature,
especially when it refers to a sexual assault, even the reference
or implication of such has turned people away- seeing it as
just
too
taboo. I
personally feel that art should be free to tackle any subject in
any way based on the discretion of the artist, but I understand
some people can get quite offended when there are realistic and
traumatic things depicted in fictional stories, so on that I would
offer an apology and ask for your understanding. If you found none
of it offensive, and simply saw it as fictional characters dealing
with other fictional characters, feel free to disregard it. That
said, I’m bringing this up just so you know what you’re getting
into, and you can expect more of this kind of thing from me in the
future- my stories aim to be as real as they can be- in their
context, of course. I just thought I should bring this up in at
least one of my author notes so you know I do think about this sort
of thing. I feel it’s good to be open with you, Reader, in my
fictitious dealings- upfrontness is generally a good, honest
policy. I quite appreciate your understanding, and keep this little
note in mind, because chances are it’ll be the last time you hear
it from me.

Outside of that fairly “P.C.”
mishmash. I’m eager to hear what your thoughts on the
story:

Surprised with The Captain? His
shocking comeback? His dubious and questionable methods of command?
His irresistible charisma? H-how does he look
shirtless?!

Concerned about Colette?
Will her sanity hold out long enough for her to become a good
captain? Can she protect Grancis? Does she swing…
that way?!

Oh, and what’s the deal with Boris,
anyway? I mean, he’s probably a perfectly-nice… thing, were you to
get to know him!

If you have any questions,
comments, or thoughts in general about the story, feel more than
free to shoot an email over to
[email protected]
- I
respond to every piece of fan mail I get, so I dare you,
I just dare you
to send
me a message of some sort- it doesn’t have to be particularly long
or important- you can just say “hi”, and I’ll say “hi”, and then
we’ll both do something that rhymes with “hi”.

…
Fly?… Sigh?…
Die?

Just kidding. Email me, and let’s
become fast friends.

Oh! Also I should
shamelessly plug my other work. If you want more Nocturna League,
or are interested in entering some of my other lands, mosey on over
to
kellinkston.com
, in which
you can learn more about me, get my other books for free or
not-free, and basically just enjoy staring at a really pretty and
clean-looking web page that is
probably
100% spider-free.

Thank you so much once
again for taking the time to enrich your life with a fine story,
one that I hope you’ll remember and look forward to the next
installment of! Now without further ado, enjoy the sample
for
Nocturna League: The Sunken
Breath
!

All the very best,

Captain Kell Inkston

Chapter 1: A Peculiar
Happenstance and Talking Things

This chapter upon the M.S. Nocturna
begins calmly enough. It is a quiet evening, the sun bending over
the misted horizon. Grancis and Boris are quietly maki-

“
BE OF THE SMASHING, COOK
MEAT! BE OF THE DESTROYING!” Boris yells as a twelve-legged
mammal-like insect scrambles about the floor wildly, screeching
arcane curses as it rushes for a hiding place.

“
Got it!” Grancis, now a
trained killer when it comes to using cooking utensils, tosses a
spice jar to stun the two-mouthed horror just long enough for her
to bring her pan to the floor with absolute, cast-iron judgment.
The creature squirms under the pan, speaking of an
incomprehensible, unbearable death for Grancis as she slams the pan
down once more, finishing the creature and lining the underside of
the pan with greyish gore. With not even a squeamish gasp, she
raises up the corpse, places it in the pan, and brings it to Boris.
“Here you are, sir,” she says with a smile, as if she hadn’t just
obliterated a small, horrific animal.

“
YOU ARE WELL OF THE DOING,
COOK FOOD! THE MANY-LEGGED BEAST FOOD MAY BE OF THE QUICK RUNNING,
BUT YOU HAVE BECOME OF THE QUICKER WITH THE PANNING AND THE
SMASHING. I AM OF THE PROUD,” an emotional Boris says, embracing
Grancis and forcing all the air from her lungs.

“
Th-thanks, sir,” she says
with the same smile. She’s quite used to this by now.

Boris turns about and after smashing
the creatures to a more-complete pulp, scrapes it into the pot and
stirs with a massive claw. “DON’T BE TELLING THE CAPTAIN THAT THIS
WAS OF THE HAPPENING. HE IS OF THE STERN WHEN HIS FTHHOGANOTHS
AREN’T OF THE MOST FRESH- HE IS OF THE ENJOYING WHEN HE POPS THEM
HIMSELF,” the massive red Boris says, waving his claw about in
warning.