“Are you sure we didn’t have to visit Miyara?” Cobal asked.
Mana nodded. “We should hurry up and get on with figuring out this mess quickly. Once everything is resolved, we can come back to visit her.”
They just reached the shoreline and were recovering from the swim. It had fully gone dark by now and the moon was high up in the sky.
Cassandra was laying on her back, with her lantern next to her signalling to a small ship in the distance that they were ready to be picked up.
“And what do you think of this other otherworlder being involved?”
“Can we not do this right now?” Mana replied.
“I’m sorry, but it’s kind of a big deal.”
“Well, it will still be a big deal in the morning.”
“Can that boat hurry up already?” Cassandra interrupted. “I’m freezing.”
Cobal smiled. “Why don’t you go run in circles to warm up.”
She grumbled something inaudible and laid back down. The small boat with the same two crewmembers that dropped them off appeared and they went back to the Tidesetter.
Eliana was standing on the deck, waiting for them to return. She’d had their crew heat up some tubs on the shore and the trio each took a quick bath to warm up a bit before putting on dry clothes and meeting. Cobal was done first and walked up to Eliana, who was staring off into the distance. “So, what’s the deal?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, and I’m the captain of this ship,” Cobal replied.
Eliana didn’t look at him but eventually let out a deep sigh. “What do you want, Cobal?”
“Why the intense dislike of Arana? Something must have happened and it had to be serious since Kiiran didn’t feel like divulging any information about it.”
“I’m sure he would, he’s one of those people who takes everything too seriously.” She turned around to face him, leaning against the railing. “I don’t like this story, you know.”
“If you don’t want to share it, then I won’t ask again.
“It’s fine.” She looked at him. “It’s just not a particularly interesting story.”
“Well, I’m still curious.”
“Forty years ago,” She started before immediately stopping again. “What?”
Cobal chuckled. “I just forget that you’re old.”
“Keep talking and the same can’t be said for you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Forty years ago, I visited Arana. I had known about the city for many years prior, but I never quite had any reason to go there. You see, although both the people from Arana and myself are from the ocean, we are very different. They’re seafolk and that’s how they see themselves as well. Meanwhile I’m what people call a siren.” She paused again as they heard footsteps approaching.
“Would you mind if I listened in as well?” Mana asked.
“Sure, why not just tell everyone.” Eliana sighed. “It’s fine.”
“I am what people call a siren. What are your associations with our race?”
Cobal thought for a second and considered skirting around his actual answer but decided to be honest. “Evil spirits from the ocean.”
“In my world, sirens are mythical creatures that are rumored to look like beautiful women that try to lure sailors to their death.”
“So in neither case we’re looked at particularly nicely. That’s probably for good reason. The siren race has a long history of plunder, death and destruction. It’s not that we’re all evil monsters by nature – although some people like to think that – but we do have a very different moral compass compared to a lot of the landlocked races of Palaria. We were here before the humans came, mind you, and we were doing just fine back then. But the lands changed dramatically and suddenly we became a feared and hunted race, almost driven to extinction. Before long, most of us either left the continent behind or died out. Eventually, the people from Arana offered those of us who had chosen to remain a place to live. This worked for some and you might have seen some sirens while you were there, but we tend to keep to ourselves. It didn’t work for me. I was asked by Kiiran’s people many times to join them, but I never gave in. It just isn’t for me. I’m a free spirit as they say.” She smiled. “But after a lot of nagging I finally went down there to speak with them. Things turned nasty rather quickly and one of their priests insulted my honor during the conversation. I ended up wounding him quite badly in the process and have since been exiled from the city.”
“I somehow expected it to be something much worse,” Cobal said.
“Agreed, this seems tame for you.” Mana said.
“Then what did you expect?” Eliana asked.
“Maybe let’s not get into that.”
“No, let’s get into that.” She grabbed his wrist. Her face surprised him. She looked genuinely upset and that wasn’t something he’d seen before. “I told you my story, now tell me why you expected things to be worse.”
Cobal suddenly felt very self conscious. What he said clearly hurt Eliana and he had mostly meant it to be a bit of a joke. “I don’t know, you’re a well known pirate so I thought maybe you robbed them or something like that.”
“Is that all? No, I did not. In hindsight I probably should have taken some valuables with me when I left, but I didn’t think of it at the time.”
“Well, I’m sorry for asking you to come with us. I didn’t know it was a place with bad memories.
“It’s alright, you didn’t know.” She turned back to watch the sea. They had just taken off while they were talking and the coastline was slowly getting further and further away.
“How long will it take us to get to Shark Tooth Island?” Mana asked.
“A couple of days, it really depends on the weather. I’m hoping it will only take us four days, but it will likely be at least five.”
“I thought you were some of the best sailors out there.”
Eliana gave him a look. “I’m a pirate, not a wizard.”
Cobal had sailed with Eliana twice before and also spent some time aboard the Chandecobra back when Captain Ferla was supposed to bring them to Jasodar before everything went horribly wrong. But of course those unfortunate events led to them meeting Eliana in the first place, so it can’t have been that wrong. Before that he’d taken a few boats when he was younger but it was mostly up and down the river. This was the first time he’d truly left the mainland behind and was out on the open ocean with not a bit of land in sight.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mana commented, standing next to him on the side of the ship.
“It’s kind of a lot to take in. I’ve never been this far away from land in my life.” He paused. “Were there ships and oceans in your world?”
Mana chuckled. “There sure were. I’ve told you about planes before, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Big metal tubes that fly and hold people in them.”
“Oh, yes I do remember you talking about those.”
“Well, I never really took ships because they weren’t used much for commercial travel. Unless you booked a cruise ship. Those were crazy. They were massive ships used as a vacation destination. People would just stay on the ship for days and there would be casinos on there, shopping malls, live performances, restaurants, it was insane. I went on one once with my mom, but all that I really remember from it was that there were so many old people.”
“So you mostly used those metal tubes to travel then?” Cobal asked.
“For super long distances, we did, but otherwise we’d use cars. I also used my bicycle a lot.” A thought hit Mana and a grin appeared on her face. “I bet I can teach Cassandra how to make a bicycle.”
“Are you sure? The last time you wanted her to make something you realized halfway through the process that you lacked the specific knowledge.”
“Well, it seems easy to explain stuff until you realize how dumb you are.” She smiled. “But a bicycle makes a lot of sense in its design. I’ll talk with her about it once we have some spare time.”
“What’s the point of a bicycle?”
“It’s a vehicle with two wheels powered by your legs. You rotate a bunch of gears and a chain to spin a wheel, which propels the bike forwards. It’ll probably not be super useful in this world due to the quality of roads, but there were bicycles meant for dirt and offroad as well, so I’m sure we can figure something out.” Her smile slowly faded. “I need to be careful though, I don’t know what other advancements it could lead to.” She sighed. “Maybe we need to wait a little bit longer before I figure things out a bit better.”
“You have a difficult position,” Cobal acknowledged.
“Don’t I know it.”
“So, what are your thoughts about these pirates and more specifically this mage’s tower?” Cobal asked.
“You mean the one that supposedly belongs to another otherworlder?” Mana replied.
“More or less what I meant, yes.”
“I’m terrified. If it’s someone with knowledge from my world who is also capable of building a mage tower full of traps they’re clearly much more powerful than I am. We have no idea what this person wants and if they’re even real. If we’re lucky, they’re a good person or no longer around, but I feel bad for hoping for the second of those two options.” She looked at Cobal. “Am I a bad person?”
“No, you’re just filled with anxiety all the time, it’s different.”
She smiled. “I’m not sure that’s better, but thanks.”
The clouds on the horizon started to get darker. Night was approaching and with it so was rain. It was their fourth day on the open waves and Cobal really hoped they would reach the island soon. Just having the safety of nearby land would make him feel a lot better, especially with bad weather on the horizon. He shivered. “It’s getting colder, so I’m going back inside and do some reading.” He looked at Mana. “Are you coming with me?”
She shook her head. “I’m staying on the deck for a little while longer. I like the fresh air.” She shivered as well, “but probably not for long.”
Cobal left her to stand outside while he got cozy in his bunk. He could hear Cassandra tinker with something two bunks away from him. Not much time passed before the sound of soft rain hitting the deck reached him and he listened to it for a while before going back to his reading. He had picked up some books at the palace to get through on this journey. They were mostly about history, culture and different encounters with the Feral Wildlands. The rain would continue to pick up in intensity throughout the evening and the night.
Opal Kaharis 