The Fairy and Her Captain - Chapter 9

Hazel’s blue eyes snapped open at the feeling of a stick jutting into her stomach. “Stop that!” She exclaimed, moving to take the stick away, but was pulled back by the rope binds that kept her tied to the tree. The back of her head smacked against the bark causing her to wince.

Her pain caused the young Lost Boy to laugh at her expense with a hand on his stomach.

“Sorry, lady, but you can’t get out of this rope.” A blond male stated. He appeared to be the eldest of the Lost Boys and their leader…second in command to Pan. His gray eyes studied the female up and down as he walked up to her.

Hazel searched around for a way to get herself out of this situation. She took a mental inventory of her surroundings. She was in a clearing with a small handful of tents around a fire. There were Lost Boys playing in and out of the little camp. One of which had her sword, sheath included. She looked down to see if she still had her pouch. Luckily it was at her side.

She shimmed to the side, hoping to pull the pouch against the ground enough to get it behind her back. The small leather pouch slid along the rope, making it about halfway before the boy’s hand held her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes.

The fae stared him dead in the eyes without a hint of hesitation or fear in her eyes. She wouldn’t allow herself to show such weakness to these Lost Boys. She had the confidence that she would make it out of this alive. That she would find a way out or Killian would come for her, rescue her from these boys before they got the chance to use that poison on her.

“The names Felix and you’ve got quite the spunk on ya. But ya should be afraid. ‘Cause when the sun sets…we are supposed to give ya some dreamshade if Pan isn’t back by then after talkin’ with ya captain.” He stated plainly with a devilish smirk dancing on his lips.

Hazel leaned forward and spat on his face causing him to back off and wipe the spit off his face. She thrashed a bit more roughly now to shift her pouch behind her back. She shifted to reach inside her pouch, searching desperately for her dagger. Her eyes widened when she made the realization that her dagger wasn’t in her pouch. She didn’t have anything sharp in there to take to free herself from the binds.

She pressed her tongue against her cheek before sighing softly. Her eyes locked onto her sword that one of the Lost Boys were playing with. She moved her fingers, feeling her magic rise to her fingertips and yelped when the rope around her wrists tightened. The magic receded from her fingertips and the rope loosened a little though it was tighter than it was before. “There goes that idea…” She muttered to herself.

Felix composed himself and cleared his throat. “Ya aren’t going to be making it out of this alive, fae. At sundown ya will be poisoned and there is nothing ya can do about it. Whether it be from us or Pan. There is no way that your captain will be able to get to us before then,” He glanced up at the sky and the sun was already past its peak on the way down. “Most of the day is gone already.”

The fae was able to tell that the boy wasn’t lying to her by Felix’s body language alone. That was the plan. They were going to poison her as a part of a game that Pan constructed. The boy in green was toying with Killian and the rest of the crew. They were toying with her and thought it a game. Lives were at stake. Her life was at stake.

This caused her blood to run cold and she pressed the back of her head against the tree. She closed her eyes for a few moments, taking the time to breath deeply. When she exhaled, she opened her eyes and stared at the sky. Her head tilted to the side.

If Killian didn’t get to her, she was going to die by the hands of these Lost Boys or worse yet, Pan. By the poison that took the lives of a number of men of the crew and whoever else they used the poison on. Her life was in the balance and on a timer that made her uncomfortable.

The very sun that she admired rising and falling in the horizon. The very sun that had given her hope that one day she would leave Pixie Hollow and onto a larger adventure. The sun that she admired from the cage on the Jolly Roger in the captain’s quarters. The same sun that she admired from her quarters below deck and up in the crows nest.

The sun transformed into a symbol of an hourglass. When the final grain of sand fell to the bottom, her death was guaranteed. The only person who could turn it around was her captain. Her heart sank to her stomach as she closed her eyes and her head fell to her chest. She bit her cheek as tears welled up in her eyes, a single tear trailed down her cheek onto the dirt beside her.

Hazel released her cheek from her clenched teeth and opened her eyes. She sniffled as she brought her eyes to the sky, dreading doing so, but she saw no other choice. Her eyes locked tightly on the sky, watching as the sun waned closer and closer to setting.

As the sky held ribbons of blue and pink, the fae’s gaze dropped to the ground.

“Now don’t look so glum, fae. It should be an honor that you die this way. It is the very same method that your captain’s brother perished after visiting Neverland.” Pan spoke as he walked into the camp, holding her dagger in his hands.

Hazel glared in Pan’s direction and her eyes widened upon seeing the dagger in his hand, her dagger. Something didn’t feel right about it. Like it had been tainted. “That’s mine! Give it back Pan!” She proclaimed proudly as she thrashed against her restraints, her magic running wildly throughout her body. The rope tightened, nearly crushing the bones in her wrists, but she fought through the pain.

“No. I don’t think I will.” Pan said, side-eying the fae. He looked to the sky and the sun was setting any moment now. The captain was nowhere to be seen. “Seems like your captain has gotten lost or given up on you. It’s a shame really. He seemed rather taken with you.”

“He wouldn’t give up on me…Or anyone else in his crew!” Hazel remarked sharply, some of her fire seeming to return to her. She was sure that her captain wouldn’t give up on her after all he spoke about honor and good form. After everything they had been through. He couldn’t just give up on her, could he?

The leaves rustled behind Hazel and a familiar voice spoke, “She’s right. I wouldn’t give up on her. Or anyone else on my crew for that matter.” Killian emerged from the forest and kneeled down to Hazel’s side, whispering to her. “Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

Hazel could feel her whole body relax the moment she locked eyes with the captain’s blue eyes. “Killian…” She breathed before answering him, “I’m okay…” The fae would have hugged Killian tightly if her hands hadn’t been tied behind her back.

Killian nodded his head shortly before he tucked away the purple ring back into his pouch, the light having faded from the jewelry. He used his hand to hold her hands in place while he used his hook to cut the rope holding Hazel. He helped Hazel to her feet and carefully wrapped his left arm around her, holding out his right to Pan. “The dagger, as promised and order your boys to give her back her sword while you’re at it.” He sneered.

Pan’s eyes flickered with a mischievous playfulness as he dropped his gaze from the sky to the pirate and the fae. He turned to the Lost Boy with her sword and gave a nod towards them. The Lost Boy handed the sword to the fae and walked away. Pan was the next to walk up to them and handed over the dagger as promised. He took a few steps back after Killian wrapped his fingers around the silver dagger.

“It was a close one, pirate. But I’m afraid that you were just a hair too late.” Pan spoke, a devilish smirk curled on his lips. He held out his hand and the dagger glowed faintly with a green hue. With one swift calculated movement, the dagger slipped through Killian’s fingers and sliced Hazel’s inner arm. The wound resembling that of the one his brother inflicted upon himself with a branch from the dreamshade plant.

Hazel could feel the poison enter her body through the wound. The veins around her wound became prominent and dark. Pain spread through her body almost immediately. Her eyes widened at the pain for a few moments before shutting as the pain became too much for her.

“Hazel!” Killian exclaimed, his gaze dropping to the fae in his left arm. His eyes flicked to the wound and images of his brother flashed in his mind. He shook his head quickly to get those thoughts out of the forefront of his mind. When he peeled his eyes away from the fae, the captain fought every nerve in his body to fight Pan for what he had done.

Killian dropped down to pick up her tainted dagger and stowed it in his pouch. He wrapped both of his arms around the fae as her knees gave out from under her. He picked her up bridal style and raced into the forest towards the magical springs on the island. Towards the one place that could cure her.

“Please stay with me…” He pleaded, feeling Hazel’s whole weight in his arms as she fell unconscious from the pain of the dreamshade.

He ran as fast as he could to the mountain that hid the springs behind several vines of the poisonous plant. Once he was faced with the entrance to the spring, he took out her dagger from his pouch and hacked away at the vines until he could enter into the springs.

He walked to the waterfall and set Hazel down next to the spring. He took out his canteen and placed it into the water, filling it to the top. He placed the canteen to the fae’s lips and tipped it, only putting a little at a time in her mouth at a time.

Slowly, Hazel started to drink the water The black veins that snaked up her arm towards her heart started receding back to her arm until the black disappeared completely.

He pulled the canteen away and capped it off, placing it at his side. He dug for some bandages in his pouch and treated her wound, wrapping it up in the bandage. Carefully, he propped her head up on his lap. His mind wandered back to his brother.

He lost his brother to this poison and Liam paid the price when they left the island after drinking from the very spring he just made Hazel do unwillingly. All because he couldn’t stand losing someone else so dear to him…even if he wouldn’t admit how dear Hazel had actually become.

He reached down to move some of the blonde strands from her face with his finger. “I did what I had to…I hope you can forgive me for that.” He uttered softly. His heart weighed heavily on the curse he subjected her to. Forcing her to live on another island, trapped, for the rest of her life or until he found a more permanent cure that would allow her to leave without risk of dying.