NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32
Syn jolted awake, a dull throb pulsing behind his eyes, the remnants of his dream clinging like damp fog. Time blurred—hours, maybe days—lost to the haze of beer and exhaustion, an eternity compressed into a pounding headache. His body was a furnace, skin slick with humid sweat, his shirt clinging to his chest like a second, sodden hide. He tried to lift his head, the weight of it a leaden ache, and found himself pinned—a human sandwich between Pako and Aster.
Their arms and legs coiled around him, a tangled snare of warmth and booze-soaked breath, their bodies sprawled across Vera's vast bed in a drunken sprawl. Syn squirmed, his muscles protesting as he pried their limbs free, Pako's hand sliding off his waist, Aster's leg flopping aside with a soft thud. Neither stirred, their faces slack, mouths parted in the deep, oblivious sleep of the intoxicated.
He sat up, the room tilting faintly as he rubbed his temples, a murmured echo slipping from his lips: "The King really hates the pirates…" The dream lingered—a child's game shattered by gunfire, blood pooling in the dirt, a soldier's whispered regret—a shard of memory that cut deeper than the hangover. Vera wasn't there, her absence a quiet void amid the chaos of Pako and Aster's snores. She didn't drink, he recalled, her focus likely still chained to the control room, her work an unrelenting tether.
Syn swung his legs off the bed, his boots hitting the floor with a muted thump as he stood, swaying briefly before steadying himself. He locked the door behind him with a soft click, the sound swallowed by the ship's hum, and set off toward the control room, an uneasy knot twisting in his gut. The hostage exchange gnawed at him—the King's hatred for pirates was a blade that spared no one, a truth burned into his bones from that blood-soaked day. Letting any pirate walk free wasn't his way.
The control room door hissed open, and Syn froze, his breath seizing in his throat. The scene was carnage—two bodies sprawled on the floor, blood pooling dark and slick beneath them, their lifeless forms twisted amid a wreckage of overturned consoles and shattered screens. The air stank of iron and ozone, the room a battlefield abandoned mid-clash. His heart slammed against his ribs as he bolted up the stairs to the bridge, his boots silent on the metal steps, dread coiling tighter with each stride. He crouched at the top, peering cautiously over the edge, his pulse a deafening roar in his ears.
Vera stood alone on the bridge, a battered warrior against three pirates, their blades flashing in the dim light. She fought barehanded, her footing a desperate dance—dodging a thrust, landing a brutal elbow to one's jaw, her gasps ragged as she spun to block another. Blood dripped from shallow cuts on her arms and sides, crimson streaks staining her olive uniform, her strength visibly fraying. She ducked a wild swing, her fist crashing into a pirate's gut, but her breath came in sharp, labored bursts, her legs trembling as she teetered on collapse.
Syn didn't hesitate. He leapt onto the bridge, his eyes snagging on a taser discarded below—a fallen soldier's last stand. He snatched it, its grip slick with blood, and lunged at the pirate nearest Vera, whose blade arced toward her back. The taser buzzed to life, a crackling hum as he jammed it into the man's side, sending him convulsing to the floor in a twitching heap. The other two spun, their blades glinting as they registered Syn, but he was already moving—barreling into the pirate on his right, wrenching the knife from his grasp with a twist that sent it clattering away. The third lunged, his blade aimed at Syn's spine, but Vera's hand shot out, catching his wrist mid-strike. With a savage twist, she snapped his bones, the crack echoing as he howled, the knife dropping. She caught it mid-air, her grip steady despite her gasps, and slashed it across his throat in a swift, merciless arc. Blood sprayed, the pirate collapsing in a gurgling heap, clutching his neck as life bled out.
Syn pinned his foe beneath him, one knee grinding into the man's chest, his fists slamming down in a furious rhythm—once, twice—until the pirate's head cracked against the floor. He gripped the man's jaw, yanking it up to stare into his face, expecting a familiar scowl—but something was off. The skin shimmered, rippling like liquid, then turned a sickly green, the features warping into something grotesque—wide, white pupils staring blankly from an inhuman visage. Syn recoiled, his breath hitching as he glanced at Vera's fallen foe—its skin had shifted too, a lifeless husk revealing the same alien truth.
"Shapeshifters?" Syn rasped, his voice a mix of disbelief and dread as he met Vera's gaze, the taser still buzzing faintly in his hand.
Vera nodded, her chest heaving as she wiped blood from her arm, her blade dripping crimson onto the floor. "The King must've killed the real pirates and slipped them in with our people when they were released." Her voice was steady, but her eyes flickered with a weary fury, her strength a fragile thread stretched thin.
Syn's jaw tightened, the dream's echo—"The King really hates the pirates…"—ringing louder, a truth now carved in blood and betrayal. "Anyway," Vera said, stepping toward the pinned shapeshifter, her blade poised to end it, "what are you doing here? Weren't you asleep?"
"Cuff him—throw him in the prison," Syn interrupted, his voice firm as he stood, brushing dust from his hands. "He could be useful." Vera paused, her blade hovering, then nodded, sheathing it as she pulled cuffs from her belt, snapping them around the shapeshifter's wrists with a metallic clank. She hauled him up, binding him to his unconscious comrade, their green skin a stark accusation against the floor.
"You didn't answer me," she pressed, her tone sharpening as she turned to him, her blood-streaked face narrowing with suspicion. "Why're you here?"
"I had a feeling," Syn said, his voice low as he moved to the bridge's edge, peering down at the two dead crewmates below—their bodies crumpled, their blood a dark pool seeping into the cracks. "You should've called for help." His words carried a quiet rebuke, his gaze heavy with the sight of their loss.
Vera pressed a button on her console, a sharp beep cutting through the silence, then joined him at the rail, her steps slow and deliberate. "They took them hostage," she said, her voice steady but strained, her eyes fixed on the fallen. "Told me not to move, not to signal—nothing funny, or they'd die."
"What did they want?" Syn asked, turning to her, his hand brushing the guardrail, his knuckles whitening as he gripped it.
"The armory password," she replied, her gaze dropping to the bodies, her voice a hollow thread. "But they killed them anyway—tossed them down like trash." Her hand slammed the rail, the metal ringing under her fist, a crack in her usual steel as her shoulders trembled. "Then they came for me—the boss, your lovely darling. Guess who swooped in to save her?" She forced a smirk, her tone aiming for her usual tease, but it faltered, a tremor of sadness bleeding through—two crewmates gone, a wound she couldn't hide despite her bravado.
Syn's hand slid over hers, firm and warm, his fingers curling around her clenched fist in a silent anchor. Vera froze, her breath catching as she felt the gesture, and then she crumbled—her arms wrapping around him, her head burying into his chest. Tears soaked his shirt, her gasps muffled against him as Syn patted her back, a steady rhythm of comfort. "It's not your fault," he murmured, his voice low and sure, cutting through the doubt he knew gnawed at her, the guilt she'd buried beneath her captain's mask.
"I was scared," she whispered, her voice breaking, a raw confession spilling free as her grip tightened, her fingers digging into his shirt. "So scared… that I'd die, just when I'd found you again." Her words shuddered, her body pressing closer as if he might vanish. "I was terrified I wouldn't get to be with you—touch you, hold you…" She faltered, her breath hitching as she stopped herself, burying her face deeper into his chest, her tears a quiet storm against his steady heartbeat.