By Xandra the Blue

Chapter 1 - The boat

Summary - Part of the Amethyst series, missed with My Liberty Dearest, this story is about a group of Psyxen's who get taken away from their own dimension. Don't worry if you haven't reads any of these fics, or haven't got a clue what the hell a Psyxen is. It gets explained on the way.

Rating - PG for peril, and very mild swearing.

Anything else? I wrote this as my English coursework, as I have a very understanding English teacher. As You can tell, I'm not that good at English, but I try anyway. It's just you'll get the longer version. There is more to come! There are certain words not in English because they are part of the Psyxen language. Just go with me on this.

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As the small ramshackle ship rocked and juddered under the six-foot waves Captain Demitrius Niuadum tried to steady himself against the rail. It was a dark storm, so dark that you couldn't see more than a foot in front to you, but bright flashes of thunder lit up the sky around him as he realised that the ship would be damaged, if not broken even if they survived this storm. How long had they been in the storm? About eight hours. Demitrius hadn't slept for about two days now, as he tried to keep the ship on course. There was a small crew, rather moth eaten and motley, but a crew never the less on this ship. There was Denver, a tall imposing person, Nathan, a small mouse-like man with blue hair, Eteocles, the doctor of the ship and always the one to see reason, Tiger Lily, in a league of her own and of course Bennett and Solange, the only people on the ship to not be Psyxen.

The Psyxen's were a race of people who had been lost in humanity, and over a hundred years ago there had been a war between what was known as 'them' and 'us'. Neither side won in the end, killing off millions, if not billions of people, but what were left were Psyxen's. They had won, but they had to pay a price. And this was it. The world had turned against them, trying to rid itself from the last of humanity and Psyxen kind. Demitrius had tried to avoid the storm but it seemed as if it were chasing them, wanting to envelope and kill them. There had been a shift in the air at the time but right now the storm was worsening.

Demitrius peered around, looking for something he recognised as another wave engulfed the ship. 'Demitri!' shouted a female voice close by, over the howling storm, 'Deemitriiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!' it shouted again, 'Where are you?'

'I'm just here Tiger Lily!' he shouted, 'I'm okay!' Then a figure appeared before him. It was Tiger Lily, running towards him. Her black hair was soaked, and her clothes were drenched because of the waves that crashed over the ship. She shivered, her wet clothes, the cold night and the icy wind causing her usually rosy face to pale.

'Oh Goddess, I thought you were washed over board.' she said, grabbing him. Demitri looked into her golden eyes and saw the fear in them. 'Come on,' she said, shouting over the screaming winds that whipped her long black hair around her neck like a cat o'nine tails, 'you've got to get back!'

Demitri nodded at his sister, and crawled after her to the helm. The waves crashed around them, trying to push them back, and the winds were fighting against the two people like a deadly enemy. They reached the helm after much fighting and shouting, and saw that Eteocles's the ship's doctor had taken over the helm.

'Demitri!' shouted the Doctor trying to force the steering wheel on a safe course,' this is madness! We can't win! The wind is too strong!'

Demitrius ran over to him and grabbed the wheel out of the doctor's hands. 'We will win Teo, or we will die fighting!'

'Demitri, are you out of your mind? We are going to die out here anyway!' screamed Eteocles as the wind screeched through his short green hair[1].

'We can't turn back!' shouted Demitrius,' We never could!'

Another wave hit the ship, almost capsizing it. Eteocles and Tiger Lily fell backwards, skidding as the ship rocked and shook out of control. Demitrius lost his footing, just for a moment, and almost fell over, but didn't. The captain of the ship realised that Eteocles, for once, might be right. This storm was the worst they had experienced. He didn't know how to sail a ship really, but he had been made captain being the hero out of the whole motley crew.

Eteocles clawed his way back up the deck to Demitrius and said,' Captain, what should we do? '

'Go to the living quarters,' Said Demitrius,' take Lily with you.'

'Hey, just because I'm a girl it doesn't mean I can't help!' she responded.

'No, but I want you to be down there if anything goes wrong. ' Said Demitrius,' I want you to be the one who gets us all out.'

Tiger Lily looked at him, her big Golden eyes staring at him in wonder. 'But Demi-'

'GO!' he shouted, 'Go Lily!'

Lily didn't say another word as Demitrius grabbed onto the wheel and started to steer. Another waved crashed down upon the battered old ship and started to throw it around on the waves like a child throws toys in a tantrum. Denver was still on deck, trying to get one of the extra oil canisters free to run the engine with. Demitrius panicked, and kicking the hatch open, shouted down 'Nathan, you better get your butt up here and help Denver with that canister. I don't know if he can get it out!'

A young man crawled out of the hole, his glasses obscuring his face. He looked at Demitrius, his face tired but determined and his desperate attempts to stop the ship from sinking, and nodded, running out into the beating rain and going out to help. Demitrius watched as the two men tried to drag the oil canister back to the helm, but as another wave whacked the boat, it made it go almost vertical, making the two crew members slide down the deck on their stomachs as the unshaved wood came off in horrible large splinters. The canister opened, and flew into the air, spattering out the horrible black liquid first into the sky, and then into the water.

Demitrius screamed out for someone to help them. He screamed out for them to hold on, even though they couldn't possibly hear him over the crashing of the waves and the wailing wind. The ship started to turn upright, almost horizontal again, but he saw as the poor men slid back down, more splinters forcing their way through their threadbare clothes and into their chests. Demitrius saw the way Nathan slid, out of control and splayed out like a starfish out of water. Another wave hit the ship, causing to go the other way, almost vertical again. Denver hung on to the deck for dear life, finding a splintered hole to grasp to, but Nathan couldn't. Demitrius could see his fingernails scrabble desperately at the deck as he slid down towards the side rail at a high velocity. Nathan screamed in fear as his head hit the rail, making a nasty smacking sound. His glasses were catapulted off his face and fell into the water. When the ship started to level again, he saw that Nathan didn't move.

Demitrius felt himself calling out for help; his words cracked with tears and mad with fury. He screamed until his throat hurt too much to shout at all. Denver crawled over the immobile Nathan, and tried to get a reaction out of him. But it was to no avail. Demitrius cried out again, his throat feeling as if it was bleeding with soreness. Demitrius wasn't there, and he was no doctor, but to him Nathan looked dead. If he weren't dead then he would never recover from his injuries. They looked quite bad, and the sound of Nathan's head smacking into the rail kept repeating in his head like a demented broken record that only played the worse sounds, and never gave up.

But he heard the shout of metal boots on a metal ladder. Only one person on the ship wore metal soled boots. It was Bennett, the demon who had recently joined his crew because he was on the run from the devil with his Angel girlfriend, Solange. Demitrius, his voice hoarse shouted out, 'Bennett! Get out there! Get Denver and Nathan back!'

The metal booted demon took one look at his captain and ran out, the rain weighing him down. Lightening struck again, hitting the water around them. A spark hit the oil slick around the boat and caused a fire on the water surface. Demitrius tried to steer them away, but the boat was slow and another wave forced them into the wall of fire. Bennett ran into the fire unafraid, and pulling Denver up and grabbing Nathan he ran the gauntlet of fire that was previously the boats deck.

Bennett ran across the fire, his metal boots stamping it out as he went along. Denver ran behind him, keeping close. Another giant wave hit the ship, putting out the flame all around, but turning the ship almost vertical again. Bennett dropped Nathan, throwing him towards the helm where he stopped, skidding to a halt on his belly. Demitrius couldn't take it any more. He left the wheel and ran out, pulling the limp, lifeless body of Nathan back to the helm, and eased his way down the sliding deck to see if he could help Denver and Bennett. Denver's feet were on the rail, and as the boat moved to a horizontal position again he stared at Bennett. Demitrius gave him a look that ordered him to return to the helm, which Denver did reluctantly.

Demitrius flipped over like a fish out of water and ran over to the rail where Bennett was hold on, his fingertips starting to slip on the wet rusted metal. Demitrius half-fell, half-ran over to him, and grabbed onto Bennett as he hung over the ship. Demitrius's rough, painful hands hung onto Bennett's cold pulsating wrist as he used all his strength to pull him up. But the more Demitrius seemed to try, the more Bennett seemed to weigh on his tired body. Finally Demitrius's hand started to slip away, and Bennett's could no longer hold on.

'Demitri, let go!' said Bennett, seriously, water running down his pallid face.

'No Ben, I can't.' he said, both his hands holding onto the demon's wrist. His eyes flashed silver as he tried to bring him up, but it was useless. He was too tired to use his powers.

'This is no time to play the hero!' exclaimed the Demon, his icy blue eyes flashing red,' Let me go, save the crew!'

'Bennett, I can pull you up!' he said, pulling vainly at the demons wet slippery wrist again, 'Don't move!'

But Bennett let go of Demitrius's wrist, and as the poor man tried to bring him up, his hand slipped, and Bennett descended towards the dark waters. Demitrius didn't shout out, or cry again, but watched his already cold body turning to ice as he watched him plunge to his death in front of his eyes. Demitrius's throat seized up, his emotion he felt unable to be expressed in words or sound.

He looked behind him, and saw the whole crew standing on the helm, watching him as the ship rocked again. Eteocles had tried to take the wheel, but he couldn't stop it from moving. Demitrius slid down the deck, and nearly hit his head as another wave hit the ship. His already sodden clothes got wetter, and his boots started to fill with water. He looked up at the helm where everyone, even Solange the Angel was watching them. Her eyes were filled with terrified sadness, her face full of tears she could not cry and her body full of a raging despair she couldn't feel. Denver held her back as she stared out for her forbidden lover.

Demitrius let silent tears of fear; frustration and fury run down his face. He was their captain, and he couldn't save them. He could feel the ship going down as he realised that he had failed them all. He reached for the sword he kept in the scabbard on his belt, and felt the comfort of the Amethyst and gold encrusted hilt in his hand. As he felt it, he realised he had to go on, even if it meant he had to give his own life up.

He looked up, hoping for some divine intervention, but none came. He could feel the tiredness and the coldness get to him as he chattered on the ship. He kept looking up as he felt his life ebbing away like wine from a faulty flask. He could see a bright while light, getting closer, closer, closer.....

Demitrius also heard the whirring of blades in the air and thought it was the sound of his life passing before his eyes. But he saw nothing but the bright white light and the shadows of whirring blades. Demitrius's confused mind though he was about to fight, so he drew his sword out of the sheath and stood up, his whole body shaking as he shouted to the whirring sound in defiance,' I will defend them to the last!' but as the sound got closer he realised that the world was whirling around, almost like the blades.

The crew of the tiny ship watched as their captain replaced the sword in his sheath and started to giggle insanely. His knees gave up, letting him fall to the floor, and then his body fell down as Demitrius fainted in pure tiredness and hopelessness.

The crew ran out, all ready to fight to the death for their captain, but then they looked into the light, and Eteocles whispered,' The light....it's so beautiful.......'

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'At five o'clock yesterday morning a crew of five Psyxen and one unidentifiable were rescued from yesterday's storm, one of the worst in recorded history. ' Said the young female newsreader on the Television. The picture on the screen changed to video footage of the rescue by helicopter, and the bedraggled crewmembers being carried up to safety. 'The storm has been explained by being a product of a build up of a natural energy source in the Cronousburg area, but the meteorologists are arguing over this point. The Deputy Prime minister's office of Jorvic Gray has issued the statement that that there is no need to worry, and that the storm will soon be over, but many people expect further storms. '

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Thanks for reading, and if you would r and r me, I'd be very happy as I'd like to know what my grade might be. Or at least tell me if the idea's good. ----------------------- [1] Hair colour in the Psyxen race is very different to human hair colours. It is his natural hair colour; it's just that it's also green. Many Psyxens have strange hair colours e.g. purple or blue.