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Legend stumbled out of the portal and onto a wooden deck. Immediately, he was pelted with wind and rain, so hard it hurt. A quick glance around showed he was surrounded by burly men with giant beards, who were staring at him with confusion that would turn to anger as soon as their minds comprehended his unintentional unauthorised boarding of their ship.
He couldn’t see any of the other heroes. That had been a separation portal. Fuck.
Lightning flashed overhead, momentarily lighting up the faces of the crew. Anger was growing on them. His heart stuttered in his chest as thunder crashed, both from the sound and the sailors.
He turned and ran towards the side of the ship — even trying to weather the storm in the ocean with the mer tail would be better than facing more than 20 men on his own. He didn’t get far, though. He’d taken too long being just as surprised about the situation he’d landed himself in as everyone else aboard the ship. Someone caught him about the waist, arm as thick as both his legs together. Another arm grabbed him. A third.
He was divested of his bag and hat, dragged across deck, and shoved to kneel in front of the largest of the men, who had a great bushy beard down to his middle and even bushier eyebrows set in a fierce scowl. His clothes were ever-so-marginally nicer than the rest, and Legend surmised that this must be the captain. His hands were wrenched behind his back and tied with a rough rope.
A hand in his hair forced his head painfully downward, and he found himself studying the captains boots. Gold buckles but worn leather — they were in dire need of replacing. He wondered if the sailors had been having a rough few seasons of it recently.
Then his eyes caught on something that made his blood run cold. Engraved in the leather was an insignia he recognised as one that Wind had taught them to be on the lookout for. ‘Incredibly dangerous, do not engage’.
Shit!
“Interesting method of being a stowaway, boy,” the captain commented, with the humour of someone who was five seconds from snapping.
Legend stayed quiet.
“Nothing to say?” the captain continued, his voice getting harsher. He grabbed the front of Legend’s tunic and gave him a harsh shake. “No excuses for coming aboard my ship?!”
‘I was trying to leave’, Legend wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. He couldn’t afford to be sarcastic right now, as much as he wanted to.
When he continued to stay silent, the person holding his head forward lifted his hand, raising him into the air by his hair. It wasn’t high enough for him to get his feet under him, but it was high enough that his knees no longer touched the deck. His scalp burned. A pained grunt escaped him before he could bite it back.
“Still nothing?” the captain asked, back to sounding more conversational. “Not to worry. We’ll pull that information out of you somehow, along with everything else you have. After all, if you were that confident you’d survive the water, you must have something interesting to share, some ability or spell or something, hm?”
At that moment, lightning crashed nearby, the thunder rumbling the deck. Legend couldn’t withhold his flinch.
The captain's eyes glinted with malice and greed. “Ah, there is! Well, if you aren’t willing to share now, I’m sure a few nights in the brig will help you along.”
When Legend continued to not speak, he was dragged bodily backwards, scraping along the wooden boards beneath him the whole way, and down below deck, jeers being called out to him as he went.
---
At the end of the fifth day of his capture, Legend was losing hope of ever getting off this ship alive.
The brig was damp, cold, mouldy, dark, and stank of piss and blood. He hadn’t been fed since being put down here, and the world was starting to go hazy for it. He was pretty sure time was skipping on him, though it was hard to tell with no portholes to see the outside with.
The captain, or another man Legend was reasonably sure was the first mate — though he hadn’t been able to tell the difference between the two by the third day — occasionally came to demand answers from him. The lanterns they brought with them burned his eyes. They took great delight in flashing him with them to watch him squirm.
He couldn’t tell them, though. He couldn’t remember what it was that he couldn't tell them, but he knew he couldn’t, and so he kept his mouth shut.
Another lantern lowered into the holding deck where the brig was, and Legend breathed out a stuttered groan. He’d already had someone come interrogate him for his usual nothing today! Couldn’t he at least be left alone to wallow in misery?
The man holding the lantern stepped closer, causing it to be even brighter and more painful. He said something that Legend’s ears just couldn’t make out. Time skipped again, and the cell door was creaking open.
He knew he’d wished not to die in this cell, but this wasn’t inspiring confidence in him. It wasn’t like he was being let out for good behaviour.
Even if he’d wanted to jump up and try running, Legend’s body refused to do more than writhe slightly as the lantern entered the cell. The lantern was set down, and then the man that had brought it in tried to lift him up. It didn’t work. It felt like he couldn’t get the right leverage. Legend wouldn’t have helped him even if his body would cooperate.
The man was still speaking, Legend realised. He still couldn’t make out any words.
When Legend continued to refuse to respond or be moved, the man finally stepped back. He did something, and Legend’s body sat up, despite his continued lack of direction to it. Without his input, he got to his feet. Terror flooded his chest and made his heart freeze. The darkness that had been threatening to envelop him jolted closer.
Legend walked out of the cell he’d been kept in for nearly a week, trapped inside of his own body. He wanted to ask what was going on, or beg them to stop, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t speak. He wasn’t allowed to speak. They shouldn’t know. They mustn't know!
Silently, his body climbed up the ladder and out of the holding deck, following the man with the lantern that was still burning his eyes. They climbed higher and higher, the darkness creeping ever-closer, until they were ready to walk out onto the deck.
The man finally blew out the lantern, granting peaceful darkness to Legend’s poor, sore eyes for just a minute, and then lightning flashed through the window of the door leading to the deck. Legend’s terror ratcheted even higher, which wasn’t something he thought it could do. He wouldn’t go out there. He couldn’t!
With no acknowledgement of his feelings towards the matter, the man stepped through the door. Legend’s legs started to follow. The dark haze tried to take him again, and Legend only barely fought it off to stay awake. He had to stay awake to step out into the storm….
…Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Even if they could still force his body around with him passed out, at least he wouldn’t be there to experience it.
Darkness enveloped him, and Legend knew no more.
---
When Legend awoke, he wasn’t on the deck of a ship in the middle of the storm. He didn’t open his eyes, but the air was dry and thunder didn’t sound. At least that had only been a nightmare. However, the room didn’t feel like his cold, damp cell, either. The floor beneath him felt just a touch too soft, the air just a bit too warm.
He was ill, that was it. A fever was making the room feel warmer than it was. All his senses were off. In a bit, the fever would make the air would feel even colder than usual as shivers set in.
Liquid was poured into his mouth, and Legend forced himself to swallow. The pirates must have realised that he was dying and decided to force some water into him. Like the air, the water was too warm. It didn’t taste right, either — salty and gross.
Were the pirates trying to poison him after all? He was already dying, he didn’t need any help on that front. Saltwater certainly wasn’t going to make him speak. Or were they trying to induce a transformation? He knew there was one that was activated by salt water, though he couldn’t remember what it was. He just knew it had to be secret. They couldn’t know, they couldn’t know, they mustn’t know!
In fear of spilling anything, Legend reached for the darkness that lurked at the edge of his mind. The floor beneath him tilted backwards, and Legend fell, hurtling into sleep.
---
The next time Legend awoke, the air around him was freezing.
Was it Winter already? Legend knew he’d been losing time, but he hadn’t realised it was that much. Or maybe the pirates had simply sailed so far north that they were reaching colder waters. That also meant a large time skip, but not as bad as if it were Winter already.
More liquid was forced into his mouth. Like the air, it was icy. Legend swallowed, but only because he had no other choice. He was too weak to do anything else.
Something was placed on his forehead, and the frigid shock radiated down into his brain. It was like a spike to his senses. Were the pirates torturing him now? He tried to move away from the whatever-it-was, but he couldn’t. Something that he was pretty sure was a pained whine pulled its way out of his throat, but he couldn’t hear it.
Time skipped again.
---
When Legend woke up this time, he was wary of what new tortures would be waiting for him. Would he be burning hot? Icy, freezing cold? Something else?
Surprisingly, he actually felt somewhat comfortable. The floor beneath him was still softer than he remembered it being, the air was a pleasant temperature, and no lightning was flashing. He couldn’t smell the stench of his cell, which meant he must have gotten used to it — disturbing, but it was nice not having to smell it.
“Legend,” a voice he didn’t recognise said, and all comfort immediately left his body. His heart stuttered in his chest. How did they know his name? What else did they know?!
Legend said nothing. They couldn’t know. He needed to keep quiet so they didn’t know.
“Legend, please respond. It’s been over a week. Please.”
…That didn’t really sound like the angry, sadistic captain or his first mate. That sounded sad.
Legend forced his eyes open, which took far more effort than he was comfortable with. He could tell the room was dim, though it still hurt his eyes. Wooden walls bracketed him in, with no iron bars to speak of. He was in a bed, with a soft blanket covering him. The captain’s quarters?
Next to the bed, holding his hand — a sensation Legend hadn’t really registered until his eyes had caught on it — was a small, blond boy in blue. He didn’t look like any of the pirates that Legend had seen, but he certainly wasn’t going to trust it.
When the boy noticed him looking, his eyes widened. “You’re awake!” he said. “Holy shit! How do you feel?”
Legend said nothing. He didn’t know how much the pirates knew, but he was not going to be giving them more.
“Legend? Legend, please say something.”
The boy was begging, but Legend kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t remember what information the pirates wanted, but, sad kid or no, he knew he couldn’t tell them anything. He wanted to live, and something told him that sharing might make that difficult for him.
Tears ran down the boy’s face. “Please, Legend. It’s Wind. Please speak to me.”
Wind. It reminded him of calm seas and an ocean breeze. It reminded him of small teases, an island that looked like a memory, and hugs that felt like family.
“Wind?” Legend croaked out and then immediately cursed himself for speaking.
Wind lit up, however. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s Wind. How do you feel?”
Now that the dam had broken, he couldn’t stop the words from spilling out. He’d known that would happen, and he berated himself for it even as he said, “Bad.”
Wind laughed wetly. “Yeah, I can imagine. Here, I have some more broth for you. Do you feel up to drinking it?”
A bottle was held up to his lips, and liquid poured into his mouth. He recognised it as the “salty water” from before. It wasn’t sea water, it was room-temperature bland broth. He choked it down with a grimace at its lack of flavour. Couldn’t Wild have added some spices at least?
Hang on, where had that thought come from? Wild? The name reminded him of uninhabited grasslands and forests, unconventional weapons, fire, adventure, and the same hugs that felt like family that Wind gave off.
That memory sparked another, and then more, until he could remember eight heroes in all, annoying but loved all the same.
“Wind,” he rasped. “What happened?”
Wind's face sobered. “It was bad, Legend. You got captured by the crew of Esmond the Reaper. We aren’t sure how.”
Legend thought back. He remembered wind and rain, a hand in his hair, and pain in his knees. “Portal.”
Wind’s face somehow managed to look even more grim. “They were convinced you had some sort of item or spell that would allow you to either fly or breathe under water. They were searching your items when we found you. I think we got most of them back, but you might be missing a few things. Sorry.”
Legend did his best to shrug. “Better that than still being there.”
Wind nodded. “Anyway, they kept you in the brig under their ship. You didn’t look like you’d eaten in over a week.”
“Hadn’t.”
Wind looked pained at that thought. “I’m so sorry, Legend.”
“Not your fault.”
“Still,” Wind insisted.
Legend rolled his eyes. “Fine. If you want to make it up to me, you can get up here and give me a hug.”
Wind lit up and was clambering onto the bed in seconds. Legend sank into the warmth of the hug. It felt like family. He was safe.