The Wraith of a Snowy Sea Part 3

Zendaya jumped awake feeling the warmth of a stone fireplace in a new ship. She glanced around the very clean, fire room, full of books and maps. There were even a few well ornate pistols hanging on the walls. Across from the room sitting in a chair with a book open on his lap but staring right at her was the Pirate King himself.

                “Bad dream?” Spencer asked.

                Zendaya rubbed her head and said, “The fire woke me up.”

                “Ah, hadn’t been warm for a while, huh?” He asked closing his book.

                “Yes, it been some time.”

                He nodded and then asked, “What happen to your crew?”

                She sighed and then started to fight back the tears as she explained what had happened. Her father went north to hide from the navy for a bit when the ship was attacked by a ghost. A ghost that killed everyone on board but didn’t dare kill her. She didn’t know why or how the monster did its deed. She wanted to know why. She didn’t understand why any of it happened at all.

                Sure, her father wasn’t the best squirrel in history and sometimes he could be cruel, but he was loving and caring to her. She got to see a side of the Capitan no one else ever got to experience. She loved her father and most of all he loved her more than anything in this world. So, why did he have to die the way he did? She couldn’t find herself to even asked the question out loud.

                Spencer didn’t say a word he just let her vent to him. When she was done and still trying not to cry, he said, “It wasn’t a ghost.”

                “What do you mean?” She asked looking at him.

                “It was a wraith,” He said in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Or the way you describe what attacked is a wraith.”

                “A wraith? What does that mean?”

                “It means someone sent a wraith to attack the ship and that someone is a very powerful Spellcrafter,” He said. “Normally, a wraith is an assassin trap between the realm of the living and the dead. It is either here nor there, and it is a cursed soul. Mostly a dead an assassin who found themselves killing the wrong person. It doesn’t matter too much what it is, but rather who sent it.”

                “Oh.”

                “I’m sure your father had many enemies.”

                “He does �" did,” she said.

                “I’m sorry then,” Spencer said. “We’ll take you to the next port or any port you wish.”

                “What?” Zendaya asked jumping out of his soft bed. “That’s it? You are not going to find the squirrel who killed my father?”

                “Do you have the name of a Spellcrafter powerful enough to summon the assassin?” Spencer asked.

                “No.”

                “Any names?”

                “No.”

                “Then sadly,” Spencer said, “there is nothing I can do.”

                “You can’t just sit by and do nothing.”

                “In fact, I can,” he said. “Look, you can find your father’s killer all you want, but I can spend the rest of my life hunting down dead ends.”

                “But I need your help,” She cried. “I don’t know how to do this.”

                Spencer sighed. “If you can give me a name, just one, then I can help you a little,” he said, “but without it, I’m sorry you are on your own.”

                She sat back down on the bed letting the tears flow saying, “My father was all I had left.”

                “I understand,” The Captain said, “but you have to give me something, you have until the next port to come up with a led.”

                Zendaya didn’t say a word because she knew he was right. She couldn’t really think the King of the Pirates would stop everything for her and to put his life on hold for a quest to stop a killer. A killer who might have ever right in the world to end her father’s life.

She stood up to go above deck for some fresh air when Spencer said pointing at the travel pack at the edge of the bed, “Your stuff, I hope.” She picked up the pack open it and notice it was almost all her stuff, even her father’s journal.

“You are a Gun Mage?” Spencer asked.

“My father was having me train as one,” she said looking at the pistols in the pack.

“You any good?”

“I don’t know or care,” she said taking her father’s journal out.

“Who was your master?”

“A few squirrels here and there,” she said heading for the door with his words in her paw, “but mostly my dad.”

“He was a good pirate and a better Gun Mage,” Spencer said watching her.

She looked back and asked, “Did you know him?”

Spencer grinned and told her, “We had a few quests together before your birth.”

“You knew my mother?” She asked.

Spencer turned back to his book and said, “Yes, I married them.”

Zendaya didn’t know what to say and left the Captain’s quarters to a very nice ship. She didn’t know how Spencer came across the ship, but there had been serval stories about it. She didn’t know which were true, no one did. She knew the Crimson Edge was a small ship but a powerful one to boot. It was made from Blood Trees and was the last dame created by the trees before they were all cut down. This ship was the last one sailing on the waters made from the mythical trees. It made the ship have a dark red hue inside and outside.

She walked the hall to the upper deck not seeing any of the other crew. The ship was smaller enough to be squirreled by a tiny crew, but this was an extremely small crew. When she broke into the cold air, she took a deep breath and smile. There was something great about breathing in the cold salt air, and Zendaya loved it.

                For the moment standing there in the chilly wind made all her troubles blow away until she opens her eyes again realizing she was on not home. She was on another ship which wasn’t hers and had no idea where they were going.

                A place she found to start reading the last words of her father wrote to her was at the head of the ship sitting under the railing with her boots over the edge like she did when she was a child learning her letters. A few hours had passed before she had to take a break and notice the dark eyes staring at her from under a dark hood. She jumped back from the shadowy thing lurking at her.

                “Hello, child,” Franklin said softly.

                “Who and what are you?” She asked.

                “My name is Franklin,” he said removing his hood to reveal a black raft’s face. “And I’m not from this Realm.”

                Zendaya gasped never seeing a real rat before in her life. She had heard stories about the race, like everyone in the Realm, but she didn’t think they were real. And yet, there was one sitting in front of her. She blinked a couple of times still trying to believe her eyes.

                “I didn’t mean to startle you,” the rat said, “but I guess it was inevitable because few squirrels had seen my kind.”

                “Can I touch your fur?” Zendaya asked always wanting to feel a rat’s fur.

                Franklin smiled and said, “Of course, child.”

                She reached over to feel the softest fur under her paw, it was like petting a smooth cloud, and she likes it a lot. It was not what she expected his fur to feel like because it looked so rough, but it was not.

                She sat back away as Franklin said, “Your father saved my life once.”

                “He never told me,” Zendaya said.

                “I feel there is a lot he hasn’t told you,” he said.

                “That I’m sure of,” she agreed. “Too bad I’ll never be able to ask him.”

                “Yes,” Franklin said frowning, “it is a shame.”

                “And your Captain, his King, won’t do anything about his death,” Zendaya said.

                “Ah, why?”

                “He said he needs a place to start before he could help,” she explained. “He can’t put his life on hold to hunt down a killer who can summon a wraith.”

                Franklin shook his head and said, “I can’t say he is wrong.”

                She frowns deeply.

                “So, you need a name then?” The rat asked.

                “It seems,” she said.

                The rat nodded a little sitting back and putting his hood back on. “Did you know Rage Stromwing?”

                “No.”

                “Hm,” Franklin said thinking for a moment, “you should see if his name is in that book.” He pointed at the journal.

                “Who is Rage?” She begged him.

                “If his name is in the book,” Franklin said standing back up, “then we can talk. Good luck, child.” He started to walk as she drove into the pages.