Disclaimer and Warnings: As with this entire series, all scenes of sexual acts involve more than two people. If you don't like that, don't read this. Simple?
So enjoy ; )
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Chapter 3: The Unholy Princess
The deck of the Bleeding Heart was in complete disarray as the giant tentacle of Leviathan descended upon it in a lazy arc. Captain Heart stood still as it struck, sending wood and men flying in all directions. He was vaguely aware of his first officer trying to pull him to safety, but Heart shrugged Devin off and continued to stand in defiance against the creature.
"Sir!" Devin yelled, "You must get below deck...,"
"I can stop it," Heart said with confidence. The power he now shared with Lana filled him with an energized assurance that this creature was no threat to him or his ship, "Where is Lana?"
"Controlling the creature," Stella, who had come with Devin, said as she pointed toward starboard, where more tentacles were waving, "I warned you that unlocking this power would be a disaster."
"Quiet," Heart hissed, but followed Stella's pointing finger to see Lana, who was still unclothed, gesturing her arms up at the creature, laughing manically.
"Sir...," Devin started, but was cut off by a sharp yell from Heart.
"Lana! What is the meaning of this?" Heart stormed across the deck and grabbed his new bride by her shoulder, spinning her around to face him. Devin and Stella followed, but at a safe distance, watching the sky warily for another attack from Leviathan.
"I did not mean for it to hurt you," Lana said with a smile, "It just got a little excited is all."
"Did you call this beast upon us?" Heart demanded, tightening his grip on Lana's shoulder, "We are bonded now -- you do not defy my wishes!"
Lana smirked, "But its has been waiting for me for so long," she said, pointing up at Leviathan's appendages, "Don't you feel how happy it is?"
Heart seemed about to say something, but paused, as if listening. Then he nodded slowly, his eyes wide with amazement, "I...I do hear...something."
"It's Leviathan," Lana whispered, "The unholy servant of the East Ocean, come to hear its mistress's command."
"You are not in charge here," Heart growled. He could feel their link and reached out for Lana, lashing out psychically to inflict pain. She cried out and sunk to the deck on her knees, clutching her head. Above, Leviathan grew agitated at it mistress's distress, but Heart reached out to it and commanded it to be still.
"Please," Lana moaned, as she bent over double, "Stop this!"
"You will learn your place," Heart snapped as he broke off the assault on Lana's mind, "Pull another stunt like this and I will see that pain is all you will ever know for the rest of your life."
He then reached out again to the Leviathan and told it to retreat. He was met with resistance from the beast in a language that he had never heard, but for some reason could understand. It wanted to stay and serve he and Lana.
'Return to the depths, creature,' Heart growled inside its head, 'You have done enough damage. Stay close if you wish, but do not show yourself unless your master commands it.'
Devin had returned to the captain's side as the giant tentacles that had held the crew in a terrified trance since they had appeared began to retreat once more beneath the dark ocean waves.
Satisfied, Heart turned to survey the damage Leviathan had done. Aside from a smashed railing on the starboard side and some cracked boards on the deck, the Bleeding Heart itself had received minimal physical damage. However, at least five men lay crumpled and bleeding, thrown from the force of the tentacle's impact. For some reason he suspected was linked to his new power, Heart could tell that these five men were dead.
"We have lost too many this day," the captain spoke loudly and solemnly to his wary crew, "See to the injured and take care of the dead. Then I want you below decks until morning. Dismissed."
The crew was slower than usual to answer its captain's order, but soon the deck was bustling with renewed activity. But they were silent, Heart noted, probably too shaken from the close call with Leviathan to be in much of a talking mood. Even Greta and her harem were unusually sober as they help tend to the five dead men. Another incident like this and Captain Heart feared that his men's fierce loyalty might begin to wane ever so slightly.
It was an unpleasant thought.
"Sir," Devin spoke as Heart helped Lana to her feet, "This power..." Even Heart's closest friend had doubt in his voice.
"Walk with me, Devin," Heart said as he led Lana toward the stairs to below deck, "Bring your witch with you. I need counsel."
"Of course, Sir," Devin nodded and gently guided Stella as he followed Heart down to his quarters, where he shut and locked the door with an uncharacteristicly heavy sigh.
Heart turned away from the door, "I admit I may not understand this power as much I thought...."
The captain, who had looked the picture of health during the rousing ritual now looked pale and somehow ragged -- as if he had aged ten years in under one hour.
"I warned you," Stella said, eyeing Lana uneasily while sticking to Devin's side, "This is power even the holy sisters fear."
"No one was talking to you, witch," Heart snarled, "You are here as my prisoner, not my counsel. That job falls squarely on Devin's shoulders."
Devin shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat, "Sir, with all due respect, perhaps you should listen to St-...to the witch. She seems to have a good deal of knowledge about Lana's power and I admittedly have none."
Heart glared at Devin for a long moment before waving his hand in incredulous defeat, "Tell me what you know, witch. Lana, get some clothes on so you don't distract me any further."
Lana grinned and pressed herself up against Heart in a suggestive gesture, "But I thought that's why you kidnapped me? To be a...distraction," she punctuated her sentence by cupping Heart's member through his pants.
"Just...sit on the bed and be quiet for a minute," Heart said, pulling Lana off his body with tremendous self control, "You can distract me later." He turned on Stella, "What are you waiting for?"
"First I need to know how much of this power you do understand," Stella said, crossing her arms over her chest, "I wouldn't want to insult your intelligence."
Heart growled, "Remember your place, witch. What I know is what anyone knows. Twenty years ago news spread through the usual vines that some ancient prophecy had come to pass and that the unholy goddess blessed this world with a baby girl. Of course no one but religious zealots believed this prophecy to begin with. But when the people of the holy citadel Solaris were all killed by disease, leaving only a single female infant alive, even the most moderate of the holy sisters took note. At first they tried to raise the survivor, thought to be the unholy princess, to be one of their own. Although everyone knows it wasn't long after her seventeenth birthday that the child, Lana, was banished.
Again, word spread - of who Lana was and why she had been banished. Unlimited power -- that was what drew me to the tales. I was, and am, known across the world as the 'mad pirate' and three years ago I viewed this crusade as a means to perpetuate that legend. The mad pirate was searching for unlimited unholy power, what was more frightening? But the closer I got to Lana the more I began to believe in my own quest and I prepared for the day when I would finally catch her. And here we are...," Heart finished with a spread of his hands.
Stella frowned, "Unlimited power...is that all you know of Lana's actual magic?"
"What else is there to know?" Heart shrugged, "As a man who has spent his entire life building his own story to the heights of legend, that is all I cared about."
"Did you ever consider where this power comes from? As you must know, there are two types of magic wielders -- the holy sisters and priests, who get their power from the sun goddess, and witches and mages, who derive theirs from the moon. To most men, the sun and moon are simply symbols, but to users of their power they are the most respected and feared forces of nature in this universe.
When the prophecy you so easily disregarded spoke of a child of the moon being born twenty years ago, it was very literal. That child, Lana, is one step removed from the unholy goddess herself. The power that comes with that parentage is darker and more powerful than any mortal can comprehend. We witches tap into but a tiny drop of the magic the goddess grants us. Lana, and now you thanks to your little 'ritual', can access more of that magic than every witch who is alive or has ever lived before combined. As I'm sure you figure when she managed to summon Leviathan from the depth of the East Ocean like it was nothing!
But this power is not meant to be shared. The moon gifted it to her daughter and her daughter alone -- not to some power hungry pirate. You may feel good now, Captain Heart, but the goddess will not be pleased when she finds out what has happened. It won't be long until Leviathan reports to its true mistress what has happened here tonight. And when it does...," Stella finished her speech by trailing off ominously, staring Heart straight in the eyes.
"Why should I believe you?" Heart snorted. His face narrowed in anger, but there was fear in his voice, "All this talk about goddesses. It's religious nonsense."
