Under Ember Tides

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. In fact, there weren’t always women who washed up on shore, out of nowhere, either. Usually when that happened, they were dead from being thrown over board off of pirate ships, women who were being transported as slaves or just women who were murdered. Darla was unconscious but still breathing when she washed up on the shore, south of the Valley.

When she did wake, sea water immediately expelled from her throat, burning it, making her sit up and turn to her left as the pain in her stomach caused her to force the rest of its contents, out. The feeling seemed worse because she had never ingested salt water and she thought she would have gone her entire life without doing so, and trying to remember how she ended up where she was, she had to remember what happened before she hit the raging waters.

Blinking her eyes, at first she couldn’t remember anything. And perhaps that was great, but she needed answers, so she thought hard and the first thing that came to mind was her best friend proposing to her other best firend. The night was perfect, she could remember that much. But there was something, or someone who was ruining her fun. Then her mind went immediately to her boyfriend, Graham. The man who couldn’t stand to see Darla having a good time without making sure he made her suffer. So he did what he’d always done when he noticed she wasn’t paying him any mind. He flirted with other women and he got as close as one could get. He wasted no time at all while Miles proposed to her bestest friend of twenty years, Ava. So when Darla finally noticed what he was doing with one of Ava’s acquaintances from work, Darla decided to excuse herself rather than cause a scene, the way Graham wanted her to. She excused herself without saying a word, stepped through the sliding doors before closing them behind her, and went to stand at the front of the large vessel so she could get some air.

Love consumed Darla the same way life consumed the minutes of each passing day. Some days it was slowly, patient. Others it was too fast to catch and make it halt for a little while. The way love consumed Darla into believing she should be treated the way Graham would treat her, only proved how in love she was with the insufferable man. She should have known the relationship would have eventually run its course the second she realized the thing he was doing wasn’t love, it was torment. And stepping out to get the fresh air she needed, she knew she would have to end it. What else was she supposed to do? He was flirting with other women right in front of her with no regard about how she felt. He was doing it on purpose and it didn’t matter, it wasn’t how she deserved to be treated. It took her four and a half years to admit it, but it was time to let it go.

Graham always believed he was going to keep his claws deep inside of Darla’s back, that she would never leave him. It was why he did the things he did. He wanted her to react so he could tell her she had no reason to feel the way she did. That way he could tell her that what she saw, she didn’t really see and she had no right to overreact to something that was clearly meant to be a joke. Well, Darla was no longer laughing, and being as exhausted as she was with him, there was no reviving what she thought she felt toward him. Emotionally and mentally she was done with the manipulation, and that night was the last straw, so now she was done physically. And with Graham eventually following her out onto the deck, the first thing out of his mouth would have been: “What is your problem now.”

Not giving him an immediate response, she folded her arms over her chest to blocked her chest from getting cold. She was trying to choose her words carefully, not that ending their relationship would be easy, but she wasn’t trying to send him over the edge, exactly why she had to tip toe around him anyway, it was quite tiresome. If she didn’t do it in that moment, she feared she’d be stuck forever. “This isn’t working anymore.”

He pretended to not hear her the first time, instead he just licked his lips and turned away for a second. Trying to come up with something stupid to say. “Why don’t you come back inside and get a drink with me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Graham.” She spun around and made sure not to get side tracked into breaking up with him. “This isn’t working out between us.”

“And I heard you.” He shrugged it off like it wasn’t happening, and that only made her patience thin. “We can talk about it when we get home.”

“I don’t think we will because I would like to talk about it now.” She demanded loudly, which had gotten the attention of Ava. She didn’t come out onto the deck, but she did pay attention and watched closely to how close Graham was to Darla. “This isn’t working anymore, and I can’t stand here and want to be in a relationship with someone who does nothing but cheat on me.”

“You’re overreacting again.” He brushed off her feelings and that was about it for her. She couldn’t stand there arguing with him about it. They were done and she was going to leave it at that.

“See that is what’s wrong with you. I am not staying where I am not wanted, and you clearly do not want me. So this is done, and I mean it.”

“You’re not leaving me,” His smile dropped and his voice became sinister. “You don’t have the right.”

“The right?” Her head cocked back, she shouldn’t have been surprised just by his behavior, but the shock was still evident on her expression. “I absolutely refuse to be with someone who treats me like I’m not even there. What’s the point of being with me? For an insane sense of control?”

“Shut up, Darla.” He rolled his eyes, and she had her answer. “If you really cared about how I treated you, you would have left years ago. Just because we’re around your little friends you want to be brave. Shut the hell up and get over yourself.”

He began stalking toward her, and she took a step back instantly. He had never raised a hand toward her, and she didn’t believe he had it in him at the moment, but she still wanted to but some space between them before things got out of hand.

“Just accept that its over. Go inside and be with the girl you’ve been flirting with all night. Forget about me!”

“Fine, you want to be forgotten? Done.” His scowl turned into a grin in a split second and his arms were grabbing her roughly, causing her to instinctively fight to get out of his grasp. That fight had pushed her over the edge. Literally.

As she went over, her head hit the front of the boat-as it was still in motion- before her entire body disappeared underneath it. Ava was the first to come out when she didn’t see Darla and immediately thought the worst. Once looking over the side of the yacht and then look back where she would have thought she would be spotted but it was dark then so there was no real way of knowing where she ended up. Moving back so she wouldn’t be next, she shoved Graham’s chest which resulted in him shoving her back. Miles was right behind her throwing a right hook, connecting it directly to his jaw before he shouted to his friends behind him to call the police and the coast guard. While Graham held his face, Miles didn’t give him the chance to go anywhere, he tackled him and sat on top of his back. Given, Graham had no where to go unless he made the choice in going overboard as well but that was unlikely. Darla’s friends really had her back in making sure he would be punished for causing harm to someone who wouldn’t have dreamed to do the same to him.

Which brought Darla back to where she was now. She had to be dead, she felt the pain soaring throughout her entire head before everything went dark, and that happened before hitting the water. She attempted to get to her feet, but was brought right back down when a screeching noise came from above her head.

Slowly turning her head up to the sky, her mouth fell open while her eyes widened to the sight of a ginormous beast flying around, breathing an ember in a dark and bright shade of blue, and the hue of its scales were an emerald green. What really made her start running for her life, was the second beast sailing through the sky, clashing into the other, with scales the color of mohagany and embers a bright red. She definitely believed she was dead-how could she not be- and she wasn’t going to question her mortality while trying to get the hell out of dodge.

She thought she wouldn’t have to pay attention while running for her life-what life she had left anyway because she truly believed she died and that was her sort of afterlife- but she didn’t think she would have come to the end of a sword the moment she looked forward. It was inevitable to avoid death while being dead, and the man standing on the winning end of his sword, staring at her face, wondering why she was there, in the same place as he, wearing clothes no of his century. He was on the defensive, and yet he couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t stop staring. So strange, yet so unique. It didn’t stop him from speaking first. “Who are you and what are you doing here?!”

She didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out the truth. If someone told Darla there weren’t always dragons in the Valley, she would have believed otherwise with the two flying above her head. Another thing she would have believed was the sheer fact the Valley was her afterlife, and the pirate standing across from her, was there to guide her on an adventure to her paradise.

It was what she came to think anyway.