Sanctuary Of Sin

Hunted


Riven’s POV

I ran through the dirty streets of Ganice Town while my side was bleeding a lot and the pain kept biting into my ribs with every step I took. I held my side with one hand and muttered to myself.

“Damn. I’m really hurt.”

My shirt was soaked with blood and some of it kept falling on the ground and leaving a clear trail behind me. I knew those guards would catch me soon if they kept following the blood.

“Those guards will catch me if they keep seeing this blood trail,” I said under my breath. “But I can’t stop now or I’ll die.”

Being the captain of the Black Mercy was good in some ways but it was also bad because the nobles and the royal guards had all promised to hunt down pirates like me. Behind me I could hear the guards shouting loudly at each other.

“Catch him! He can’t be far!”

“Go that way! I think he went that way! No, not that way! This way! By the woman’s pepper stall!”

“There’s a blood trail! He’s here! Go after him!”

My steps were already getting slower because I was so tired. Earlier that day the Royal Navy had ambushed our ship on the sea. One-Eye, my right-hand man, had seen them first and shouted a warning but it was already too late. The Navy fired a cannon that tore through the fog and hit the Black Mercy hard, and after that I ordered my men to abandon the ship and run onto land. Since the guards wanted me the most I jumped into the water right away and swam in a different direction so they would chase me instead of my crew. That had happened many hours ago when it was still daylight, but now it was night and after all the running and fighting I was alone, cold, and almost blind from how much blood I had lost.

“Is this how I’m going to die?” I asked myself. “I wanted to die on my ship like a real pirate, not like this in a dirty street.”

Just when I felt I could not keep going anymore I saw a church that was tall with grey stone walls that looked like they were glowing in the dark, and at that moment it felt like the only chance I had left. I had no other choice so I ran into the church because I needed somewhere to hide if I wanted to survive the night.

It was very dark inside and my eyes could not see clearly.

“Why is it so dark here?” I said. “Why are there no candles? Is this church empty?”

I soon found the big hall where people usually came for service and luckily it was empty. I stumbled forward while breathing hard and then my eyes landed on someone who was kneeling near the altar. He had long silver hair that fell down around his slender shoulders and he was wearing priest clothes, but even with the loose clothes I could tell he had a thin body and a small waist. His back was facing me and I just stood there for a moment looking at him because he seemed so beautiful even from behind.

He must have heard me come in because he stopped praying and turned around to look at me. When I saw his face I almost stopped breathing. He was so beautiful that I nearly fell backward from the shock. He had violet eyes that glowed a little in the dark, long silver eyelashes, pale smooth skin, high cheekbones, a round nose and soft full lips. The light from the candles around the altar shone on his face and made him look even more like a treasure I wanted to have. If I had not been bleeding so badly and close to dying I would have tried to talk to him until he smiled at me.

“I… I…” I tried to speak.

His violet eyes went wide with shock.

“Who… who are you?!” he asked.

“I come in peace, Father,” I said.

“Stay back!” he shouted. He stood up fast and moved away from me.

“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need your help…”

I could not finish the sentence because my legs finally gave out and I fell to the floor. My body was too weak to stand anymore. I heard the priest gasp and I remember thinking that even the way he gasped sounded pretty. Then I heard his light footsteps coming closer.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

When I looked up at him he was even more beautiful from up close. I opened my mouth to answer but no words came out because the pain was too strong.

“Oh my God! You are injured! Why didn’t you say so before?” he said. He reached out and pulled me up against his chest. “You have lost so much blood. What happened for you to end up this badly?”

I could not answer him and only shook my head a little. While he held me I thought that maybe dying here would not be so bad because he smelled nice and felt warm.

“How badly are you injured and where?” he asked again. “Oh, you can’t even respond. You are in a lot of pain, brother.”

He started to open my clothes to look for the wound. I felt my face get a little hot when his cool hands touched my skin. He found the deep cut on my side and pressed it gently.

“Argh!” I cried out in pain.

“Oh sorry! I just wanted to find your wound. I will dress it up. You will be okay,” he said.

But before he could do anything else we both heard the loud shouts of the royal guards outside.

“Sir! I saw him go into the church! He must have gone in to hide!”

“What are you waiting for?! Go in and get him out! You must find him. That bloody pirate must be found. Dead or alive!”

I knew they had found me. I grabbed the priest’s hand and saw the fear in his eyes. He now understood that I was a pirate and an enemy of both the Crown and the Church.

“You can’t let them catch me,” I told him.