The Gaze of the Medusian Captain

I, Andromeda Scintillian, had been supposed to be many things.

The next Grand Duchess of the Scintillian duchy, for one.

A well-educated, well-behaved proper member of Keto’s high society, for another.

But I hadn’t been supposed to be the head of the notorious Scylla Pirates, captain of the infamous pirate ship Perseus.

Life really is an unfathomable thing.

“Captain.” My deputy, Raschee, hesitated. His gaze was on the floor.

His rigid posture and hands clasped behind his back looked almost like a child in front of a schoolteacher waiting to be scolded, in visibly sharp contrast with his eight-foot-tall figure.

“Out with it.” I took off my signature hat, its feather plume drooping as it was hooked on a stand. “I’m guessing Charybdis is on the move?”

Raschee slowly nodded. “They’re sending a small navy fleet to intercept us before we reach the Isle. Farliende sent a message the day before, but it only reached us now.”

Charybdis. The name of the Royal Ketoian Navy. The very navy that had been dispatched to retrieve me just thirteen years ago. And the very navy that I despised to the bone.

“Tch. Annoying.” Picking up a nearby dagger, I pierced it through my oak desk with a bang.

Raschee didn’t flinch. “So what are your orders?”

“Dispatch Cetus to the Isle.” I named our small ship in charge of clandestine reconnaissance. “We’ll handle the fruit flies. I’ve waited fifteen years to obtain the Star, I can wait a few more days.”

With a nod, and a quick close of the eyes, he turned and left the cabin.

Why did he not meet my eyes? Was I that fearsome? 

Questions would, undoubtedly, be piqued. 

Well, dear reader, there is an easy answer.

It was because I, Andromeda Scintillian, had been born with the curse - or blessing, if you were a fool of an optimist - of Medusa. 

Anyone who looked into my eyes would instantly be turned into stone. There were no exceptions.

But as Perseus' reputation grew, so did my own.

The Medusian Captain, the runaway daughter of Keto’s Grand Duke and leader of the Scylla Pirates of the Perseus, Andromeda. Her only weakness was her only cure - Medusa’s Star.

I had been prophesied to not live very long. When I had been born, I had turned my mother into a stone statue. With that incident, all the members of the household of the Scintillian duchy had become wary of me. The wariness had lasted until I had ran off to obtain Medusa’s Star.

With Charybdis after me, I had founded a notorious pirate crew with the sole mission of finding Medusa’s Star and wreaking havoc on the navy along the way.

Medusa’s Star.

A mythical treasure supposedly belonging to the original Medusa, it had the ability of rendering my ability null whenever I held onto it.

Nobody knew what it looked like, but that hadn’t stopped me from obtaining its location.

The Isle.

Snapping the map across from me shut, I pressed a button on my desk, just beside the implanted dagger.

Wa. Wa. Wa. Wa. Wa. Wa.

The familiar, yet irritating, wailing noise rang out across the entire ship.

The Captain’s Siren.

The wailing died out just as another sound boomed in return.

Wa. Wa. 

They were ready for my entrance.

As I adjusted my captain’s hat and slipped on my coat, I smiled.

It was time to crush some flies.

“Andromeda Scintillian. The Medusian Captain. I’m sure you’ve all heard about her.”

Fleet Captain Fletcher cleared his throat.

Murmurs.

“And I’m also sure all of you feel like bait right now,” he continued. “‘The Scylla Pirates will almost undoubtedly slaughter us, a small fleet.’ That’s what you’re thinking. But our main priority is to delay their procession to the Isle until backup arrives. We joined Charybdis to fight for our country, our nation of Keto, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Grumbles.

Everyone, even me, a small fleet soldier, knew that he was trying to make us feel better. All of us were just pawns in a bigger game against the ultimate endgame: defeating the pirates plaguing our borders and bringing back the runaway noble turned sea captain.

I made it sound easy, but everyone knew capturing the Andromeda Scintillian was any but.

The captain put his hands together. “So now-”

Boom!

The wooden wall splintered, and instantly the ship shook. A bomb.

“Fire!” someone screamed. I looked outside the window. Curls of black smoke and scarlet flames wreathed both our sibling ships and our own, and after frantically looking around, it was evident we were trapped.

No, no, no. I can’t die here.

My eyes immediately traveled to the fleet captain, who had his weapon out and was fiercely gazing at the distance. 

My head whipped just as I saw a shadowy figure of a ship trailing towards us. The figurehead had been ingrained in my imagination and had haunted my nightmares. A howling figure, carved with painstakingly loving detail. Golden scales overlapped scales on countless snakes that sprouted from a grotesque, tortured head. Medusa.

The Perseus drew closer, and from the stern leapt a lithe, flame-haired figure. At an almost inhuman speed, she approached as all of the sailors averted their eyes on reflex, including me.

Andromeda Scintillian.

Surprisingly, she advanced towards me, a shivering figure.

I heard the clicking of her identifiable golden snakeskin boots on the wooden plank floor. The tips paused as they came into my line of vision.

Almost as if I had been compelled by an almost magnetic force, I moved.

Slowly, but surely, I titled my head upwards.

Green, glowing eyes with almost serpentine pupils.

The face that belonged to the irises looked slightly taken aback, as if no one had faced death as readily as I had. 

As stone crept upon my hands, encasing my feet to the ground. As the grey material slowed my heartbeat, I smiled without fear.

I could swear I saw her smile back.

“Thank you.”

Perhaps no one had deliberately met those cold, haunted irises.

Perhaps no one had ever thanked the Medusian Captain for a swift death.

Perhaps no one had been frozen with a smile on their face.

Out of sentimentality, I had kept his remains. The sailor who met my eyes.

I had been later informed that his name was Colin.

Colin, the fleet soldier who had faced my gaze not with hostility, but with relief and almost regret. After he had been turned into a statue, he had been smashed into pieces. I had only kept his eyes, while the rest had been shipped back to his family.

They would mourn, but so would I.

His murderer would look at the eyes left behind not with triumph, but an almost empty sadness. I wasn’t a completely callous person - I knew that one day, I would be responsible for the lives I had taken.

One day, after obtaining the Star that had consumed my life, I would live my regrets.

But that was one day.

I sighed, closing the box that contained Colin’s stony eyes with a snap.

Right now, with my crew, I would obtain Medusa’s Star.

Perhaps, one day, I would meet Colin again in the embrace of the Grim Reaper.

It was unlikely, but perhaps one day, I could meet his eyes again.

I faced the blood-filled horizon with a smile.

Thank you, too.

Colin.

I look forward to meeting you again.