Idiot

The ivory keys of a slightly out of tune piano bounced beneath the fingertips of a burly, bearded man. Amber ale sloshed out of countless mugs as they slammed onto the bar top in time with the tune.

Cassius grinned, fresh mead warming his belly as he sang the lyrics of a familiar sea shanty alongside friends and strangers alike. He belted some mid range harmonies that mixed nicely with the other men's voices before grabbing the hand of the beautiful woman clinging to his arm and hauling her to her feet. He bowed swiftly to the maiden, not yet liquored enough for his balance to make a fool of him, and she returned the gesture with a clumsy curtsy. Soon the pair were dancing merrily alongside the others.

Cassius's smile was charming, his eyes a vibrant blue. Though he was getting on in years, he still looked to be in his mid twenties. Many of his friends cursed him for his luck, but only he knew that the secret of his retained youth lurked deep in the caves of Anakondra. It was a secret he would take to his grave, for he'd been the only surviving member of that shipwrecked crew to find it.

It was luck of course. The few surviving members of that particular crew had been stranded on a remote island with no hope of rescue. He'd wandered into the caves in a desperate search for food or fresh water. It was there he found it. Ancient magic that bound itself to his soul and kept him from perishing while he watched his fellow crew members succumb to starvation and insanity.

He spent about a year on that island before he was picked up by a crew of siren hunters. Over years aboard that ship, he learned all he could about magic, eventually coming to some sort of understanding about what had happened to him on that island. He learned about the deadly creatures that lurked in the depths, too, rising to the rank of first mate before another shipwreck left him stranded. This one, at least, was close to the mainland, so once the waters cleared, he and several others of his crew were able to make it to shore by clinging to pieces of the wrecked ship and letting the waves pull them home.

It was shortly after that that he had met Valentine. He'd been a curious discovery. Clearly lost in both mind and body, but determined nonetheless. Cassius was drawn to the man like a moth to a flame, and despite the undirected anger that consumed the man with lavender eyes, the pair became close friends and Cassius was determined to follow Valentine to the edge of the world on his quest for revenge.

That's how they'd come to pirate the Blight of the Sea together, and Valentine had captained the ship so ruthlessly, he had made them infamous.

It had taken nearly half a decade of friendship for Valentine to reveal his big secret to Cassius. He found it ironic that after years of hunting and killing sirens, he'd befriend one so wholeheartedly. In the end, it didn't matter. The past was the past, and in those days, Valentine brought the future. The gold, the respect, the kinship, and the direction his life needed. In turn, he revealed his suspicions to Valentine that he was unable to die by conventional means. They didn't go into much detail about it, or rather, Cassius didn't, for fear that someone may try to take the magic from him or try to find it again for themselves and abuse it, but Valentine understood that. To this day, he was the only person who knew of Cassius's affliction.

Well he would be, if he was still alive. The last Cassius had seen of Valentine had been with the Kraken's ink marking his palm.

He was dead now.

The thought saddened him, for Valentine had been like a brother to him, but he pushed the gathering clouds away from his mind and focused on the pretty lass across from him. She twirled beneath his hand, her skirts swaying and the ringlet curls in her corn silk hair bouncing.

When the song finally came to an end after several repeated verses, Cassius was out of breath. He bowed again to the woman and placed a quick kiss on the back of her hand before gesturing for her to return to the booth they had previously occupied. He returned to the bar to order more drinks.

It was as he was sliding a few coins toward the barkeep that a hand landed on his shoulder.

He turned, and in the poor lighting with an alcohol slurred mind, he thought he saw a ghost.

"Alastair?"

"No," the man said. "Roman."

It took a moment, but after recognizing the name of Alastair's son and blinking hard, Cassius registered the differences. For one, the man was too young to be Alastair. For two, he had less severe features. The eyes, though, could nearly bring Cassius back in time.

"Roman," he finally broke out of his stupor and smiled at the boy. "You've grown up since the last time I saw you."

"That does tend to happen with time," Roman smiled back. "It appears the years have been kind to you, though."

"So they have," Cassius laughed lightly as a filled mug was handed to him from across the counter. "How've you been?"

"Not bad. I was promoted to Sheriff back home."

"Great Goddess, boy. Don't say that too loudly in here," Cassius warned him, looking around to see if anyone had heard. Luckily, the chaos was loud enough that it drowned out their conversation to anyone conscious enough to overhear it.

"Right. Forgot where we were," Roman said, glancing down at a glaring Castor with a sheepish smile. "Anyway, we've been looking for you."

"Oh? I hope that's not because of your job," Cassius thankfully said it with an amused tone rather than an accusatory one.

"No. Nothing like that." Roman shook his head. "We're actually looking for Castor's former captain, and we have reason to suspect he was abducted by a siren. We were hoping you might have some insight that might help us find him."

Cassius's mind was already reeling through possibilities. His years of siren hunting, though over, still engrained certain information in his head. It was an unused corner of his mind that had been collecting cobwebs for some time now, but the dust was starting to clear.

"Do you have more information?"

"Yes," it was Castor who spoke. "We're looking for a man named Wesley Roberts and we believe he's under the melodic enchantment of Valentine Cross."

Cassius, who had been sipping some mead at that moment, nearly choked as the liquid lurched into the back of his throat. He coughed, pounding his fist against his chest to try to relieve the burning.

"I'm sorry. Come again?"

"Valentine Cross is a siren and he has abducted my former captain and best friend," Castor said.

The pieces were coming together.

"Was your ship raided by Cross?"

"Yes," Castor said.

"And this chap, he had brown hair and blue eyes. About this tall," Cassius held up his hand for reference."

Castor nodded, his eyebrows starting to furrow in suspicion about how the man knew such details.

"Last I saw 'em together was last summer on a deserted island about twenty leagues off the coast of Estoria. This captain you are looking for was rescued and brought home. Cross died on the island, as far as I've heard," Cassius said.

"That's funny," Castor said. "Because he turned up again last month and disappeared once again with my best friend. He sang his fucking song and poof: they were gone."

This time Cassius's brows furrowed. "That's not possible. I'm sure he's dead."

Castor shook his head. "I saw him with my own two eyes. Held a gun between his even, and then he opened his mouth and forced me to walk away while he enchanted my friend and vanished with him."

"That doesn't sound quite right by my reckoning," Cassius squinted at something irrelevant across the room. "Valentine hated using his voice on others. It makes sense that he'd use it on you to get out of a dangerous situation, but he wouldn't have used it on Mr. Roberts."

"How do you know so much about this?" Castor's eyes were narrowed accusingly and his anger was quickly bubbling up inside him.

Cassius smirked, recognizing the thinly restrained rage in the man's face. "Because Cross was my captain."

Castor lunged, wrapping his fingers around Cassius's throat.

Unfortunately, though the magic in his veins stopped him from aging or dying by normal means, it did nothing to numb the pain. Cassius's spine rammed into the counter behind him, and Castor's fingernails dug sharply into his neck, likely leaving open wounds as well as bruises.

The moment didn't last long, however, because Cassius's crew was quick to pull Castor off of the pirate captain, restrain him, and point an assortment of weapons at him from all angles.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the voice was Roman's. "Let's not do anything brash here. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"You killed my crew!" Castor yelled, oblivious to Roman's attempt to deescalate the situation. "My friends!"

After rubbing his neck for a moment, Cassius straightened back up and with a flick of his wrist, the pirate crew lowered their weapons.

"Yes," Cassius said, stepping closer to the man who was still restrained by multiple pairs of hands. "But guess what? That's life."

"You have him, don't you?" Castor's teeth were clenched in anger. "Tell me where he is."

"If you're suggesting that he's aboard my ship, then you are sorely mistaken. I haven't seen Valentine or your friend in half a year. Now I suggest you leave before my crew decides to execute you for assaulting their captain."

"Forgive him," Roman pleaded. "He's an idiot."

"I can second that," a new voice quipped.

Everyone's heads snapped to the front entrance where a brown haired, blue eyed man stood supporting the weight of a young black haired boy.

"Wes?"

----+------+----

A/N

Question: What is the strangest gift you've ever received?

Thanks for reading,

-Mora Montgomery