Cadmium XIV

At the sound of the alarm, the crew burst forth from the interior of the ship like ants pouring from an anthill. The darkness of the Sea of Trees was lit by the myriad lights glimmering from the nymphs. The trees glowed with the iridescences of something unimaginable. Tales of the merfolk were common from mariners at sea, but it was rare for anyone to confirm sightings of a sea nymph, yet here they were by the thousands.

Then, as mysteriously as they had appeared, the amber lights flashed brilliantly and disappeared. The slapping of the waters against the ship’s hull was drowned by the splashing of their bodies into the sea nearby and in the distance. The crew looked towards the bridge. They did not understand what was happening. They had been so busy just surviving the last few days that they had not really thought about their predicament. They had no choice now.

The ship was wrecked on what appeared to be an ancient white castle. The trees sprouting from the ocean changed from the castle forward. They were eerily white. Admiral Ra stood on the bridge with Commander Sorrel to his left and Taav and Adorjan to his right.

After a few minutes of silence, the crew began to murmur. A crewwoman’s shout came from the throngs of people, “Admiral get us the sard out of here.” Hiccups of nervous laughter followed the outburst.

The admiral did not recognize the voice. Commander Sorrel shook his head. He did not know who it was either. The admiral finally tore his vision from the distant trees and studied his crew.

“We are trapped and surrounded in enemy territory.” The admiral was known for his quick and unapologetic military assessment. “Under maritime law, I have ceded command of this ship and her crew to the men on my right. Taav Torne and Adorjan Corr are Cretencia’s Templars. They have rightly surmised the situation till this point and thanks to their quick thinking we were ready at arms for what appeared to be an imminent threat to our lives.” The deck was silent under the weight of the ever changing situation. Admiral Ra continued, “I expect full cooperation with the Templars. I expect they be shown the same respect you would show any commanding officer of the service. I will be working with them in order to,” he paused and turned to Taav and Adorjan while still addressing the crew, “Templar Corr, Templar Torne, in order to what?”

Adorjan looked towards Taav and he nodded. Adorjan stepped forward and addressed the crew, “in order to leave this place and return to your homes. Now, as the admiral has stated, we are in a dangerous situation. We do not know the enemy but for sordid stories from men and women who probably had too much to drink and too little to eat.” A few in the crowd chuckled. “As you have seen with your own eyes, we do not know what those things out there want. We do not know what their goddess Sulę wants. When she threw up this Sea of Trees separating her land, her isles, from the rest of the Sea of Warm she also abandoned her temples. There is talk in the old manuscript of an alliance between the nymph and Sulę, we all can confirm this now. Templar Torne and I along with Admiral Ra will find a way out of here. Right now we need to focus on the damage to the hull. Work with your captains and make the Black Copper sail worthy again. You are dismissed.”

The crew hesitantly returned to their work stations and cabins below deck.

“This is sarding ridiculous Cine.”

“Leave it alone. Just follow me, Tray.”

“I can’t abandon my post. I thought I could, but I can’t.”

“I will not, sard, ” Cine paused frustrated. “We spoke about this, Tray. As soon as we entered this damnable place we sarding began making plans to escape.”

The two men were jammed into a narrow porthole looking down at the water.

“I, I,” Tray was holding on to a rope that disappeared above him into the deck, “sard,” he said under his breath, “it’s mutiny, man, mutiny.”

“You knew that before.”

“Yes, but,” Tray lingered on the but, “I don’t know what is out there. You saw those sarding things in the trees.”

Cine exhaled in frustration, “They live in the water. They don’t live on land. We need to get to the castle and head for land. We need to find sarding food, Tray. You work under the quartermaster. You know the supplies are critically low. We were supposed to have been in Avanna three days ago. Three days, Tray. How much longer are the rations going to last?”

From the other side of the ship, the large splash of a faering silenced the voices of several men working on the ship.

“There it is, Tray. That is the fearing they were going to cut loose. It is now, we have to go, now. We have to get out into the castle, find extra supplies, and take the faering and get the bloody hell out of here.”

Tray fiddled nervously with the rope. Cine pushed himself out of the porthole and clung haphazardously on the ships hull. Tray looked up and then down on the dark water below them, “Cine, I.”

“Now. Bye.” Cine did not let Tray finish. He said his two words and let go of the side of the ship. He fell for a long moment silently until the water splashed softly. The noise of the work on the hull of the ship overpowered Cine’s splash.

Tray looked on in horror. He could make Cine’s rough silhouette. He was already swimming towards the white castle. “Damn it.” He whispered towards himself and swung out of the porthole while simultaneously letting go of the rope. He fell, eyes closed until he hit the water feet first.

“Sard you Cine, you’re insane!” He said when he surfaced.

Cine kept swimming as he whispered loudly, “You are crazier for following me. Hurry up.”

Tray didn’t have to be told to hurry. He was swimming as fast as he could. He kept looking down into the dark water thinking about the nymphs. He was scanning for the amber light, but in a few minutes he was at the stone edge of the white castle.

“Take my hand. Come on. Get out of that water.” Cine extended his hand and Tray took it without hesitation. When they looked up they could see where the vessel had slammed into the stone walls of the castle. The castle was intact without any damage. However, the Black Copper was in bad shape. They could hear the men struggling with the water entering into the vessel. Cine tapped Tray and pointed to the narrow ledge they had to walk to get to the other side of the castle’s rounded wall. He started without looking back and Tray followed behind him. The ledge angled up, away from the water, and that, at least, brought Tray some solace. There was no going back now.