Heirot

Laya's legs were trembling and she didn't know if they would hold her up much longer. She stood dizzily, having nothing on her. She had no pretty necklaces or rings. She had nothing but the dress the woman in the town had given her with was a bit too big for her, but the ribbon around her waist held it titely to her waist, enough to give away the fact she was slender and curvacous.

Truthfull, their group really didn't have anything besides weapons on them now. They had used the last of their money just getting on the ship. But when a pirate ordered them to drop their weapons, Neko and Kratos hesitated. For them, weapons were their valuebles and they had no interest in letting them go.

Their moment of hesitation though, cost them. The pirate lunged forward towards Neko, taking her hostage as well.

"DAMN YOU!" Kratos shouted. Holding Neko at knife point, and fondling her chest with his free hand, the pirate ordered weapons to be dropped again. Kratos threw his down after glaring the pirate up and down.

"Let me go, you filth!" Neko demanded.

"Don't feel like it missy, you feel nice to me." The pirate said luedly in her ear. He had her in a position where she couldn't even extend her weapon without screwing up. Kratos had a hard time restrianing himself from attacking the pirate who held his sister like a barbarian.

Laya's eyes widened with fear. She didn't want the same fate to befall Neko... The same fate that happened to her. She then realized that the pirates looked fairly familiar. Then again she could be hillucinating again.

"No, please! Don't hurt her... Take me... Please?" She said softly. "Please set them free... I'll take there place. I'm too weak to fight you..."

I'm going to die... Might as well die to save more lives.

Telanis looked over the heads of the other passengers and recognized his brother at the front of the boat. "No," he gasped, his fists curling protectively. And now Neko was in danger as well... he didn't know what to do. Fighting was not a skill of his.

"I like mah women healthy." The pirate said, insulting Laya and walking away while dragging Neko next to him. Kratos clenched his fists, cursing himself and his inablility to act. All the people around him were being looted, and he couldn't stop the pirates without risking lives.

Laya couldn't take it, she didn't want anyone to get hurt. She didn't want Neko to be...

Laya used her strength to run forward and fell at the captains feet, not be choice. Her legs gave out right when she reached the captain. The one who held Adonis was before her now. Maybe if he recognized her.

"Please... Don't hurt him. Take me... Please? I'll do anything," she had nothing to live for. She was dying... She could feel it. Laya slumped weakly before him, her brown hair falling slightly in front of her beautiful tired face.

She glanced up at the captain. "Don't you remember me?" she breathed. She seemed more healthy than she had been a moment ago. It was because she wanted ot save Adonis's life. She truely wanted to save these people.

"The one with the vampire that came on your ship. The day you're cabin boy was murdered by him. Aren't I a much greater prize? After all, he never payed you, he killed the boy..."

"The vampires whore?" one of the men grunted.

"Yea, heh... I remember those sounds coming in through the walls..."

Laya felt sick. She had a mental image of Kron raping her again.

"You must have been pretty good to keep him in that room for almost a week." He laughed.

"Well, I guess there is only one way to find out, hu?" She forced the words out of her mouth, trying to seem like she might actually enjoy it. She hated the thought, she would rather die. But, if it would save lives...

"Try me, if you don't like it keep them. If you do... let them go. Please." If anyone looked closely they would notice the fact that her hands were trembling. This time it wasn't because she was sick. She was deathly afraid.

She looked at the captain. "I'm willing to give everything for them."

A few drops of rain began falling, as if on cue with the horror of the scene. The captain looked down at her for a long moment. "What makes you think I would accept your body in exchange for his," he asked with a snort, "when I can take you both?" A cruel grin crossed his features.

Thunder sounded in the distance. Two pirates took hold of each of Laya's arms and pulled her up and over to where Adonis was being held. The unicorn looked over at her to the extent it was possible with the knife to his throat. Why was she doing this? What motive could she possibly have to want to save him, when he felt fear pouring from her that was so intense it would have paralyzed other humans?

"Search them, too," the captain sneered at Adonis and Laya. Another pirate patted them each down greedily while the other men held them secure. He took some liberties patting down Laya, though he wasn't quite as cruel as the other pirate had been to Neko. Finding nothing in Adonis's pockets, the pirate turned his attention to the jet black stone that lay across his forehead on a gold band. "Pretty rock you've got there," the man smiled. "Thanks for donating it to our cause."

Adonis's eyes widened as the hands reached toward his head. "No," he protested, the first sound out of him since he'd been captured, but the pirates hands still closed on the stone, pulling at it. Adonis wrestled sharply, his strength nearly pulling over his captor, and cried out as if in pain. He twisted his head to get away and felt the knife find its way into his throat, cutting a shallow gash that bled down over his collarbone and trickled into his shirt. At the sudden reek of blood Adonis fell abruptly silent and still, wincing in pain as they tried to pull the stone away.

"What the hell? Looks like it's...attached," the pirate muttered, somewhat horrified.

Thunder struck again, and the skies finally opened, pouring cold rain down onto them. Lightning flashed in the distance.

"No! Please don't hurt him!" Laya couldn't bear it. She was too weak to help Adonis, not that she would be able to even if she were strong, since two well built men were holding her thin arms.

Would she be risking everything to save him if she knew he was the one killing her? If only she knew... However, Adonis, like her, was the creation of the horrible deeds of another person.

She jerked weakly though she couldn't do anything but tire herself out more. It was useless. She hadn't done anygood, but now all of their group was captured except Telanis...

"Captain please! You have all the jewels and you have us, can't you save that one jewel for later?" Laya didn't understand how it could possibly be attatched...

The captain looked over at Laya, raising a brow at her curiously. "You're a brave one, my lass."

"Shall we rip it off, cap'n?" asked the man touching Adonis.

"...Leave it," the captain conceded. Bravery deserves some reward, I suppose.

Adonis slumped forward as the hands mercifully released his head and the knife backed out of his throat. "Seems the fight's gone out of im, sir," commented his captor in amusement.

A thundering crack suddenly came from above them, along with a blinding flash. A bolt of lightning arched down and struck the tall mast of the ship, splitting it straight down the center and throwing the barrels and crates at its base into flame.

"Good lord!" gasped the real captain of the ship in dismay as the fire began spreading across the deck towards them. The deck became chaotic then, with men running in every direction, some to try stopping the flames, some to escape them, and some running below deck to be away from the pirates, some of whom gave chase.

Telanis staggered as various bodies knocked him about in the chaos, staying as close as possible to Kratos and trying to keep track of where Laya, Neko, and his brother were.

Laya winced as she was thrown to the ground by the men holding her, there large bodies falling down beside her. She tried to lift herself up, but her energy was fading and she didn't have the strength to do anything except try and skoot out of the way of the burning sail coming down upon them.

"Adonis!" She screamed, but he seemed... distracted.

She cried out in pain as she forced her pained body up she pushed him out of the way, just as the sail and parts of the pole that held it fell down upon where he had been standing.

Laya didn't get out of the way in time. She wasn't crushed, just hidden by the hot flames.

"I always was afraid of dying by fire," she muttered as she laid there staring at the flames growing closer. It was so hot, but she couldn't move or stand up. She had nothing left to use. She was paralized by weakness. She began to cough as the smoke began to fill her lungs.

Adonis regained some control of himself as a sharp force shoved him sideways, saving him from a falling pole. He looked up and recognized Laya, astonished again that she had saved him. Through his blood-numbed senses, he felt a wave of heat approaching them, and then Laya was gone, hidden by flame. Her pain called to him through the flames. Overruling his half-paralyzed body, he pushed to his feet. The men who had been with them before had run toward the center of the ship, because now they were cornered between the flames and the bow.

Adonis shook his head and made his decision. He could figure out what to do about her later, but his instincts screamed to get her out, get her out, GET HER OUT. ~"Hold on. I'm coming for you,"~ his soothingly deep, though rather dizzy voice penetrated her thoughts, clear and quiet despite the roaring flames around her. He grabbed onto the flaming sail that had fallen over her and hurled it sideways. Luckily, most of the flames had suffocated themselves on the underside, but Laya still looked badly singed when he got to her. His hands and face felt like they were burning away as he took hold of Laya and gathered him into his arms. Her clothes were on fire. He looked out at the ocean; the nearest island was about two miles in the distance; he could barely make it out. But the deck wouldn't last long at this rate. ALready some were diving off the boat to escape the heat. Gritting his teeth, he held onto Laya and jumped off the side, plunging into the water with her. He took hold of her and slowly fought their way back to the surface, gasping for breath as he pulled her up with him.

Laya by now was blacking out. All she saw was a dark figure with long hair coming towards her and taking her into there arms. She thought it was Telanis, becuse the voice in her head. Telanis was the only one who ever talked to her through her mind. She was to tired to talk to him through her mind or her mouth, so she just numbly growned.

She vaguely felt cold water hit her burning body and she gasped from shock, sucking in a small amount of water which she coughed up as soon as she hit the surface.

Her eyes were almost closed and her body almost limp. She couldn't bare to hold on much longer. So... she let go.

It might have seemed like she was dead from how pittiful she looked, but she was alive... barely.

Adonis struggled harder and harder to hold Laya up with him, sputtering breathlessly as her body finally fell limp in his arms, no longer helping at all. Unlike his aquaphobic brother, Adonis could swim decently as a human, but holding another person above water made the task much more difficult. He considered just letting her go, but something made him decide not to. He looked back at the blazing ship. His brother was probably still on there. This was all his fault; if not for him, he'd never have had to get on a boat of all things in the first place. "Try to stay conscious," he asked her breathlessly, needing her to help him hold on, even if it was only slightly.

His muscles grew more and more tired, but at least the water washed away most of the blood that was bleeding from his neck, letting him think and move a bit more clearly. Finally it came down to a matter of either dropping Laya, or getting serious. He'd never make it to shore this way. However, in his Equiine form, he might. He decided. Closing his eyes, a blinding glow surrounded him and his body changed form. A moment later he was an elegant black stallion, the black stone blending well as a reflective bump on his forehead where his horn stood long ago. He dove down under the water to where Laya had begun sinking without his grip, and used his muzzle to push her up over the arch of his shoulderblade. ~Stay awake, if you possibly can,~ he encouraged her as they broke through the surface again, her body already beginning to slide off his back. He reached his head around and clamped onto her sleeve with his teeth from the other side, but he couldn't possibly swim in this position.

Laya felt cold salty water sting her blistered and burned skin and dig its way into her eyes, burning them. She groaned as the voice entered her mind. "Telanis?" she asked allowed and blindly, shaking, and groaning, she pulled herself onto Adonis's back trying to wrap her arms around his thick neck to hold on to him.

"Why are... you black?" she muttered, thinking he was Telanis... "Please don't let me have been the cause... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have stayed with you... Don't think I'm horrible for saying what I did to the pirates... I wanted to save Adonis." She continued on the mindless rambling as if it were the only thing that would keep her somewhat awake. "I wanted to save Neko... No woman should ever be raped... its horrible... oh gods... Maybe I really am a whore... Just like they said. But, I never wanted to... he made me... but I'm still a whore... I'm sorry, I'm so stupid... I corrupted you... I'm sorry..." She started sobbing... She was to tired, to drained, to stressed, to hurt...

Adonis couldn't believe the words and emotions pouring out of this human's mouth and psyche. She thought he was Telanis...she had been raped? How could she make such an offer to the pirates after that experience? What motive could she possibly have for saving him? He couldn't understand her logic in light of the view of humans he now accepted as fact, and the two wouldn't resolve. Her emotions, however, made sense to him. She seriously doubted herself, but though he wanted to agree with her self-reproach, he couldn't.

~ I'm not Telanis. My coat has always been this color. We don't just come in white, you know,~ he said, swimming toward where he'd seen the island before. He doubted the humans would be able to spot it, but he could. His long jet-silk mane flowed out in the water behind him and brushed against her face. ~ You're not a whore. You were trying to do right. But that doesn't mean I will trust you, or that I like you. I'm just trying to get us to shore. ~ he said. His smooth, oddly calming voice had an icy quality to it as he tugged both their bodies through the water.