FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS//CHAPTER 4 EXECUTION
Curtains parted to reveal the deck of an enormous vessel. The ship was an antique—full-rigged, with three masts towering endlessly into the red dawn sky and sails that seemed to dwarf the sky itself. Seigen had seconds to marvel before his sole wrist was shackled to heavy chains, each end of which seemed to disappear over opposite sides of the hull’s width.
Canvas snapped against the rigging overhead, and Seigen watched with unease as a crew of mono-sailors took positions at the capstan. All at once they began to move, and as the mechanism rotated, the young captain was inched toward the portside rail.
The furrow of his brow carved into his features and he braced against the pull, intent on taking his execution standing. What he had done was unforgivable—Katsurou was dead by his hands and the rest, had he succeeded, would have followed soon after. Face twisting with shame, Seigen spat on the deck, a piteous tactic to distract his eyes from tearing. He deserved what he was getting.
Sweat was beading on his forehead as he turned his eyes to the capstan. Mono-sailors were stepping in perfect unison now, their motions guided by a comrade standing atop the mechanism. This new mono-captain had decorated himself like a pirate, sporting both eyepatch and pegleg. Cackling, the wretched stuffed animal shouted for speed, and the chain hauled Seigen over the rail.
Hanging from one chain while the other disappeared taut into the brine, the captain noticed with alarm that the sun was rising—an ill omen at sea, with a sky so red. As he kicked restlessly with his legs, his pulse began to race and his chest heaved with ragged breaths. He was near enough to the water now that he could feel its salty spray, and the reality of death was finally setting in.
Though he knew the lacquered hull was too smooth to climb, Seigen clawed desperately at the gaps between its planks. His eyes darted about as he scrambled for purchase, and by the time he had exhausted himself the captain was waist-deep and had nothing to show for his efforts but dark streaks of red and sacrificed fingernails. He hollered expletives and pounded his fist against the ship’s stained hull—then, with no time to take a breath, he found himself submerged. The chain dragged him deeper with all haste until he came to a full stop beneath the ship’s monstrous keel.
Unable to fight the need to breathe, Seigen’s lungs pulled in the sea. He forced his eyes to open despite the sting of salt, and through to the very end, watched his beloved waves from below.
