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The Blackened Emerald

Alejandro Fernández

    “Why the Hell did we take the boat out?” Damian screamed to his younger brother after spitting the salty water that engulfed them with the last furious wave. He held to the ropes of their fishing boat, defying the fearsome wind, the sea that wanted to take them down, to make him, his brother Hermes and the boat, one with its bottom.
    “Because we are idiots.” Fear tainted Hermes voice.
    “I hope your Angelica will be happy once our dead bodies wash ashore.” Angered, Damian made his way to the center of the boat, where his brother had tied himself to the mast. “Did you at least secure the wheel?”
    “Yes, brother.”
    Another wave struck, shaking the fishing vessel.
    “Yes, I did. Now we can only wait and pray.”
    “What did Angelica tell you, by the way?” Damian asked.
    “What do you think? The same story everybody tells in the village: if you want to prove your worth, go find the Blackened Emerald at the bottom of the sea.”
    “Only that?” Replied a sarcastic Damian. He couldn’t give credit to his ears.
    He understood that his fifteen-year-old brother was infatuated. And he bloody well knew how hard life was in the coast of Galicia, the perfect target for English pirates during those times of war. It wasn’t that long ago after the English army launched that massive attack, the one that had their father killed.
    “There was a bit more...” Hermes added.
    Another wave hit and the boat curled perilously at its edge, splashing back into the unforgiving water. When the brothers recovered their breath, Hermes continued.
    “A bit more... she told me that if we went out and braved the storm, emerald or no emerald, she would take me to...”
    “Enough” Damian interrupted “Don’t say anything else. So we are here, in the middle of this madness and by God’s mercy, because the miller’s daughter offered to lift her skirt for you.”
    “Well yes, pretty much...”
    “And because of that you took me from my bed, we left mother behind, clueless, and begged me to come to sea tonight. Tonight, when the older fishermen did not even dare go to the shore.”
    “I am sorry, brother.”
    “Be sorry for mother,” replied Damian, gloomily. “If we die, nobody will take care of her.”
    Silence befell the boat as Hermes understood the meaning of his brother’s words. They fought the storm as best as they could, and tried to maneuver the boat to safer positions, praying for Gods’ mercy.
    The night moved on, but the storm continued, relentless, longer and harsher than either of the brothers knew.
    “This cannot be natural.” Hermes muttered at some moment.
    “A trial from Our Lord perhaps,” Damian observed. “Be strong, brother. We can get through this.”
    Damian held Hermes hand and looked into his eyes. He could barely notice them through the dark hair plastered to his face, yet he could imagine the tears rolling down and mixing with the furious rain.
    “I am so sorry, Damian... “ Hermes sobbed.
    Damian hugged Hermes, as the fiercest of the waves destroyed the boat and swallowed them.

    Both brothers were underwater, trying to push their way back to the surface. After a few seconds of terror in which Hermes lost sight of Damian, he noticed him coming from a few meters underneath. They managed to reunite and held one hand, to make sure none would get lost. They saw, close to their heads, some wooden planks, leftover of their boat. If they could hold on to them, there would be hope...
    They kicked hard with their legs. The air in their lungs burned already, pushing its way out. Hermes knew that if he let the air out, he would die. The plank was almost there, some centimeters away from his fingers, as his vision started to blacken. He knew his brother was still there with him, the pressure of their clasping hands still strong. A small push... he could not see anymore, but he felt the plank, he touched the soaked wood and he held. Drained of energy, he managed to emerge, take fresh air, hold onto the wood... just to be pulled down again. Damian had pushed his hand too hard and brought him down, again underwater. As they both submerged, Hermes glimpsed his brother on top, looking at him, kicking to try to get to the surface and he so needed air, his eyes opening wide... he knew Damian would not make it without help.
    “I am sorry,” he repeated to himself in his mind. “With both his hands he held his brother’s left foot and pushed him upward. Damian’s right was clenched in a tight fist, probably out of desperation. Damian reached the surface and the boat pieces, but the effort was too much for Hermes. Exhausted, all he could do was look up, to his brother legs still kicking, accidentally hitting him and disappearing in the distance as he sank... a thunder flashed in the sky, giving him a last sight of light before his eyes closed forever.

    It was already daylight when Damian reached the shore. He laid in the yellow sand, grasping, a sorrowful image barely resembling a human being. He was wounded in several places, his skin blistered. Covered in seaweed and spitting water, his right hand clenched, his eyes closed in pain.
    Something interposed between him and the sun, projecting a merciful shadow.
    “The fishermen are looking for you, you know,” came an indifferent feminine voice “All of them went out to sea, your mother crying for your safe return.”
    Damian was not able to move.
    “Did you get it?” continued the same voice.
    After a moment, Damian managed to articulate some words:
    “Yes Angelica, I did” he opened his hand, revealing a deep cut and a dark green stone, the size of a walnut.
    “Very good.” Angelica kneeled and took the stone from his wrinkled hand. “Your brother?”
    “Gone, as payment... like you said.”
    “Thank you, Damian. You have done well. Rest now.”
    “Angelica...” Damian lifted his head, looking at the girl’s radiant, preternatural beauty: from her long, perfectly shaped legs to the captivating blond hair. Fear filtered through his words as he spoke
    “I got you the Blackened Emerald, as you wanted... I waited two years for this storm, I killed my own, brother, he had no clue about our plans, about your deception, to make him want to sail...”
    “Oh, but your brother had a clue...” Angelica interrupted, caressing his damaged cheek. “He had the same promise from me as you did, if he killed you and brought me the stone, I would marry him...”
    “What? That is not possible, he saved my life when he saw me sinking, he fell for the trick...”
    “Then I guess that your brother valued your life more than you valued his own,” Angelica said with a sweet tone. “But don’t worry, Damian. You did it, you succeeded. You can have your reward now,” she continued, smiling at his terrorized expression.
    “My reward... my brother was in the same quest, yet he did not... what reward, I only deserve one and that is death...” Damian was muttering.
    “Yes. You deserve death, and you deserve a kiss and you deserve to see why this emerald is so important,” Angelica said.
    She kissed the Blackened Emerald. The stone reacted emitting a tenuous greenish light. As the lips parted the stone, Damian noticed a black light taint on them. Angelica’s face came closer to his. He tried to escape but exhausted as he was, he could not even turn around. Their lips touched, a bliss of delight and pain overfilling Damian. It was the first time he kissed a girl and he knew it would be the last. Water started flooding his lungs, along with seaweed and small fishes. He coughed, reeked much of it out, but his lungs kept filling, out of nowhere. He realized that the water would only stop pouring when he died.
    “Goodbye Damian.”
    The last thing Damian heard as he coughed out sea water and his blood was the beating of enormous wings. He died at his home’s beach, a breeze of fresh air, from those wings caressing his hair. Only one path of Angelica’s steps, leading to his body, were there. No path of steps back to the village. And these disappeared with the rising tide.

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