“Captain, over here.”
Eliana looked up. She and her crew had made their way to one of the islands of the Dowan Archipelago, a cluster of islands to the north-east of Jasodar. They were accompanying a group of mercenaries and researchers here. Apparently there was some sort of ruin on this island that was of interest to the kingdom. Her crew had just finished putting down supplies for the next few days.
“Ah right, there you are Bardabin.” She looked around, the hot sun blinding her slightly as she took off her captain’s hat to fan herself. “So, what does it look like?”
Truth be told, they’d considered going to this archipelago before, but it was one of those things that never really felt right. This expedition was the perfect excuse. The researchers carefully came off the ship, huffing and puffing in the process. They were a sorry bunch of old folk with only two youngsters among them. A bookish kid named Kayzel and an abrasive woman in her mid twenties called Ada. The rest of the researchers would crumble if left out in the heat too long so Eliana instructed her crew to quickly set up some shade for them. When the old folk were finally sitting down, she sent out a few people to look at the jungle that seemed to cover most of the island. “Don’t go too deep into it yet, we first need to have a better idea of what we’re dealing with,” she carefully instructed them. After they left she turned around to see the kid standing behind her. She called him a kid but Kayzel was probably close to twenty already. To someone like Eliana who lived a very long time that seemed like a kid but Kayzel probably wouldn’t be all that happy about being referred to as a kid. “Can I help you with anything?” She asked.
“Well, I was just impressed with how efficiently you managed to set everything up here and I wondered if you’d done this kind of thing before?”
Eliana smiled. “It’s good that you recognize my greatness. And yes, we have experience babysitting, so we know how to handle folk that aren’t used to leaving their towns. We’ve been sailing these seas for quite a while, after all.”
“What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen on your journeys?” Kayzel asked, eyes almost glimmering with excitement.
Eliana chuckled. “Aren’t you a curious one?” She thought for a few moments. “Well, there was one time to the south of the Ravadier peninsula. We got stuck in a storm and then after being thrown way off course we eventually collided with some strange black mass. It didn’t seem to be alive at first, but as we made our way out of those waters it almost seemed to be stalking us. Very creepy stuff. And then there was.” Eliana stopped when a voice from the jungle grabbed her attention. “Captain, you’re going to want to see this.” She looked over to see Bardabin with a worried look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” She said, walking up to him with the young Kayzel in tow.
“Well, there’s something strange a little further in, follow me.”
She followed Bardabin a little bit into the jungle until they rather quickly reached a small clearing. In this clearing was a marble statue of a woman that was half fish, half human. A shiver went through Eliana but she quickly shrugged it off. “Doesn’t this kind of look like you, captain?” Bardabin asked.
Eliana shrugged. “If every beautiful woman with long hair looks the same to you then you’d best keep that to yourself from now on.”
Bardabin took a step back. “I meant no offense captain.”
“This is a siren.” Kayzel commented.
Eliana glanced in the young researcher’s direction. He was looking at the statue in awe. “The siren folk are said to have lived in these waters a long time ago, but have since either moved or gone extinct. The last siren sighting was over fifty years ago.” He turned to Eliana. “Have you ever seen any?”
Eliana shook her head. “Can’t say I have. How long has this place been uninhabited, have the old men figured that out yet?”
“I believe it has been uninhabited for at least a hundred years. Sirens were already rare a hundred years ago, but they did exist in these waters back then, so perhaps they had a town on this island before they disappeared from the region.”
“Could be,” Eliana answered. She didn’t sound convinced. “Why do you think there could be a statue here otherwise?”
Kayzel pondered this for a moment. “Perhaps the person or people living on this island revered the sirens, treating them with respect. That or they just thought she was a beautiful woman.”
“Someone should carve a statue of me,” Eliana remarked.
After thoroughly looking at the statue of the siren the three of them made their way back to the camp where they shared the information with the other researchers. They seemed to agree that it must have been a relic from a time when sirens still inhabited the area. That seemed to be the end of it, they made and exchanged some notes but Eliana wasn’t really all that interested in that part. She found Bardabin again off to the side. “Besides that statue, anything else that’s interesting?”
“Well, yes actually. I’m not certain, but it does seem like we’re not the only people to be here. Or at least someone traveled through the jungle quite recently. I’ve seen signs of someone cutting away branches.”
“Well that’s concerning.”
“For sure, we’ll have to keep an eye out.” He looked at his captain. “Are we going to accompany them inland? We only promised to bring them here safely.”
Eliana nodded. “We’ll definitely not be up front, but I can’t say I’m not curious about what we’ll find here. Perhaps it’s worth it to tag along in case things go poorly. That way we can take off with any valuables we come across.”
Bardabin grinned. “You never change, captain.”
Eliana grinned as well. “You know it.”
After a relatively calm night, besides some eerie animal screeching coming from deeper in the jungle they got ready for their trek inland. The researchers were all standing over a map of the island. They’d deduced that the ruins they were looking for were likely on the northern part of the island. They were on the eastern shore right now. Their plan was to travel along the shoreline for an hour or two and then make their way into the jungle. Progress was relatively slow as the mercenary band that the researchers had hired made sure everything was safe. Not to mention the researchers walked quite slowly. Kayzel walked up to Eliana again. “So, what do you think of this place so far?”
“Why are you asking me, you folks are the experts.”
Kayzel chuckled. “We’re experts on history and legends. But none of us are familiar with strange lands, dense jungles and weird statues that seem to have been there for many years but show no signs of aging.”
Eliana looked at the young man properly for the first time. “I thought you didn’t notice that little detail.”
“Do I look that incompetent to you?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Anyway, I figured you have journeyed to strange places a lot more often than most of us have and I wondered what you thought about this particular place.”
They’d reached the part of the island where they would start traveling inland which meant that their pace slowed down to a crawl as the mercenaries carved a path through the dense jungle. Besides the seven mercenaries, the five researchers and Eliana there were also two members of her crew. Both Bardabin as well as a young woman named Mella, who had only joined the crew somewhat recently accompanied their captain. The rest of the crew would stay put on the beach and the ship, making sure it didn’t get attacked by anyone or anything strange while the captain was absent. Their ship was their life after all and as Bardabin had said before, they didn’t really owe these people any help once they got here. It’s only Eliana’s curiosity that caused them to join the expedition inland.
“Well, you are correct in saying that I likely have more experience than you with exploring strange places. But I’m afraid I don’t have any clue what could be on this island. As for the statue, I’ve seen that kind of marble once before. It’s likely from the large marble caverns that are in the northern part of the Razelath desert. The marble mined there has a special property that allows it to retain its shine and quality over very long times.”
Kayzel nodded. “I was thinking of that as well, but do you know what that means?”
Eliana nodded. “Someone still needs to take care of the statue. It’s very good quality marble that will stay good for pretty much forever if someone takes care of it. If it’s left on its own it will eventually wither due to rain and other weather.”
“So that implies someone is on this island?” Kayzel asked.
Eliana looked over her shoulder as he said that, almost as if she felt something breathe in her neck. “That’s what I’m worried about.” She looked at the slow older men walking in front of them. “But I’m more worried about these old folks if I’m honest. They’re a liability if anything happens.”
“That’s what we hired those mercenaries for. They get paid to protect us from any danger. Even if there is someone on this island, I doubt there are many people.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Eliana kept to herself what she thought of the mercenary band that the researchers hired. They seemed like nice people, but their equipment was too shiny and new to really prove their mettle. If there’s one thing Eliana knew, it was people. And she could see that these people were relatively new to the mercenary life. That in and of itself didn’t mean they were incompetent, but for someone like Eliana who had lived a dangerous life for a very long time this was enough information to be on guard. She wouldn’t want to worry the researchers with it. Them knowing this wouldn’t change anything anyway.
“So how did you get into this business?” She asked Kayzel, getting her mind off of the creepy feeling in the back of her mind.
“My mother was a scribe at the Ruby Observatory.”
“Isn’t that a fancy library? The one in Marsolin?”
“That’s the one. It’s one of three actually, it’s a very impressive collection of buildings. She worked there for most of her life and as I grew up in Marsolin I was often brought there to visit her and watch her work. I loved the stories she would tell me about old ruins and interesting civilizations from many years ago. When she passed I decided I wanted to do something similar to her.”
“And you’re not in the Ruby Observatory because?” If he was already there, why wouldn’t he just stay? Eliana thought to herself.
“It’s a bit boring if I’m honest. I’m still young so I want to be out there and see the world. Stories are great and I’m sure I’ll spend a lot of time in libraries throughout the years, but first I want to see things for myself.”
Eliana smiled. “That’s a great attitude to have. Who knows, perhaps you’ll become a fancy librarian one day and then I’ll come visit.”
“Ha, wouldn’t that be fun.”
The mood had shifted ahead of them and it hadn’t gone unnoticed by the two. The thick jungle that blocked their path for the past two hours was slowly thinning out and finally the party found themselves at the edge of what looked to be a completely overgrown and ruined village. It seemed like they reached their destination.
Opal Kaharis 