Shadow Slave

Sunny and Jet looked at each other.

”The Dutchman used to pursue you?”

They knew that the House of Night had a history with the ghostly ship and its wraith armada, but were under the impression that it mostly consisted of distant sightings. Then again, Nightwalker had not mentioned his clan... he only mentioned himself, as if the Dutchman had it out for him personally. He chuckled.

”Oh, yes. It was quite troublesome early on, to be honest.”

Nightwalker glanced around and smiled.

”Luckily, there is no vessel in the Stormsea that can outrun the Night Garden. So that bastard never managed to get his hands on me.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”But why would it be interested in you in particular? Wait...”

His expression changed subtly.

”Don’t tell me that the Dutchman raced to the Eternal City because you were here?” Nightwalker laughed and shook his head. “No... you got it backward”

He flinched when an especially loud thunderclap resounded above the Night Garden, followed by a dreadfully inhuman howl. Then, grimacing, he added:

”The Dutchman was hunting me down because I had the map to the Eternal City. He always wanted to come here, and I was the only one who knew the way. That is why he pursued me relentlessly for the better half of three decades — not that I ever let him get close. That is also why he did not attack the House of Night after I left. There was simply no reason to, because I took the map with me’

Sunny stared at him in surprise.

”But why exactly did the Dutchman want to come to the Eternal City?”

Nightwalker shrugged.

”How should I know? Sadly, I am not in the habit of talking to sinister apparitions. So, I didn’t ask.”

He remained silent for a few moments, and then said in a concerned tone:

”First of all, you need to understand that the Dutchman... is not a Abomination. It is, in fact, two Nightmare Creatures who are bound to each other.”

Sunny and Jet could not help but look at each other again. Eventually, it was Jet who spoke first:

”Two... bound Nightmare Creatures? Do you mean the ship and its captain?”

Nightwalker glanced at her with a smile. “Bingo! Those two are entirely separate beings, but at the same time, they can never escape each other. They are one and the same.’

Sunny frowned.

”I thought you did not talk to sinister apparitions. How do you know?”

Even Cassie had not been able to tell them much about the Dutchman. So how was it that Nightwalker seemed to know so much? “It is because the Stormsea is my home.’ Nightwalker shrugged.

”And the Dutchman had been haunting these waters for thousands of years. You did not think that Awakened of the waking world were the first ones to suffer his malice, did you? No... there are traces of him, and of stories about him, all over the ruins left behind by the Serpent King’s people. To them, he was like a plague”

His expression turned somber.

”In fact, numerous of those ruins became ruins precisely because of the Dutchman. Oh, but they did not call him the Dutchman, naturally. Instead, they called him... what was it? Ah, right. The Cursed Wanderer — a mortal captain who was cursed to wander the sea forever, and therefore became the curse upon the sea.’

Nightwalker glanced into the distance, then smiled saintly.

”Those ancient people believed that seeing the Cursed Wanderer was an ill omen. If you saw its silhouette sailing in the mist, even from afar, death would come for you soon — something like that”

He paused for a moment and then added in a neutral tone:

”According to legend, the Cursed Wanderer used to be a mortal captain who swore to find the Eternal City and profess his undying love to the Demon of Repose. He sailed the Twilight Sea, searching endlessly, slowly growing weak and old. In the end, desperate to buy himself more time to fulfill his oath, he braved the heart of storms to claim a mythical treasure — the Well of Souls. Only that treasure turned out to be cursed and sealed for a reason, so it claimed him, instead.”

Nightwalker grinned.

”That’s how it goes with cursed treasure, usually. In any case, the captain became bound to the Well of Souls, but instead of becoming its prisoner, he subjugated it. The Well of Souls became a ship, and the captain became its helmsman. However, they never reached the Eternal City, and never found Repose, cursed to wander the Stormsea without reprieve, forever.”

He shrugged and chuckled quietly.

”Well, that’s the legend, at least. It is mostly nonsense, I think... but some parts of it are true. The Dutchman is a kind of well of souls, at least. It’s like a nesting doll of horror — the ship consumes souls and enslaves them, then sends them out to slaughter the living and conquer more souls.”

His expression dimmed.

”You must have noticed that killing the wraiths does not destroy them; it just sends them back into the holds of the smaller ships. And destroying the ships simply returns them to the Dutchman. From what I know, once it gets you, there is no escape... the souls of a few of my friends are probably still there, among the ghost soldiers of that horrid duo.”

Sunny gave him a dubious look.

”You had friends?”

Nightwalker flashed him a menacing smile.

”...Shut up.”

He paused, and then added in a dark tone: “This ship itself is merely a tool. Although its captain is one of the captured souls — I think — he is the true master of the Dutchman. He’s the evil will behind the curse that has been plaguing the Stormsea for thousands of years, as well, reaping many lives and bringing despair to all who see him.”

Nightwalker grimaced.

”It is our luck that the Dutchman almost never comes close to the coast. Otherwise, humanity would have had far fewer Citadels.”

The battle still raged on, so Sunny did not really have the energy to ponder that peculiar story seriously. Still, it echoed in his mind, making him feel like there was a kernel of important information hidden in it.

As he pondered, Jet said with a smile:

”I did not feel despair when I saw the captain of the Dutchman, though.”

Her smile widened a little.

”All I thought was... hey, that bastard is staring at me. Ah, I want to kill him so bad.”

Nightwalker chuckled.

”Well. You’ll get a chance soon...”