Land and Sea

Part 1

Elias raised the spyglass to his eye, out across the water on the distant horizon he could spot the forested green island. The clear blue waters around it glinting in the sun. Not a hint of smoke, nor a single man made structure in sight.

“What’s so special about it?” he inquired of his uncle. The elder sailor leaned against the rim of the ship, his eyes cast out to the island he couldn’t see.

“We don’t know. No one knows what’s on that island, but the sea folk protect it with their lives, and no man has ever set foot on that island and returned to speak of it.”

“Have you ever tried to go there?”

Henri grimaced but didn’t face his nephew, “Once, years ago, when I was your age. I tried. The Sea-Folk ruined my skiff, I had to tread water for over six hours before my shipmates finally drew straws and Nathan came for me.” Henri pulled his gaze away and snatched the spyglass away from his nephew.

“Hey,” Elias protested.

“You’ve just come of age boy, your father expects me to look after you. Not to put fool notions in your head.”

“I was only asking.”

“So did I at first. That island is damned. Don’t think about it.” Henri warned, his finger pointed so close to Elias’ face he nearly felt the tip hit his nose. He didn’t watch his uncle walk away; he leaned down against the ships rim, his eyes staring out across the water.

He’d never seen the Sea-Folk, they didn’t like coming too close to the shoreline but he’d heard his uncle and the other sailors speak of them all his life. He’d been to sea nearly a fortnight and he’d yet to see them, not a trace of their gem-like tails, or their pale human-like bodies. Just what were they hiding on that island? Treasure? A Nest? Captive sailors lost at sea? What on earth would the sea folk want with dry land? As far as he knew they couldn’t survive more than a day without sea water, their skin dried and shriveled up. They couldn’t even maneuver on land well. What was worth dying for?

Reluctantly he tore his gaze from the horizon and went to continue his tasks for the day.

Days passed steadily into weeks. They traveled the coast line, stopping at every major port, Allanya, Navira, and a half dozen smaller ones, until the bowels of the ship were filled with cargo. Soon they’d make the long trek across the South Sea to the east continent to sell their acquired goods.

Docked at Sophira, they were closer to the mystery island than ever. He could see it without the aid of the spyglass now, though it still seemed quite small.

“Mermaid Island, we call it.” A woman said, nearly making Elias jump. “I’m sorry did I scare you? I am Leona.”

“ Just startled me is all. I  didn’t hear you come up. I’m Elias.” He studied the strange woman for a moment, her dark hair was braided and wrapped around the top of her head like most of the Sophiran women. He could see a handful of white streaks through the black, though her face was smooth and her smile bright. Her clothes were a mismatch of styles from along the coast.

“You’re a merchant,” he questioned. She smiled and shook her head.

“A courier of a sort. Your uncle has granted me passage to Lyv on the east continent.” She explained. “This is your first voyage?”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting most of my life for this. I hear Lyv is an amazing city.”

“Oh it is. It’s been some years since I was last there, but it is a wondrous place, though it’s not without it’s dangers. Much like I imagine Mermaid Island is.”

“Uncle tells me no one’s ever been there.”

“That’s not entirely true. A generation or two ago there was a village there built by the Sea Clans. They inhabit most of the islands along the coast. They called that one Star Haven. A terrible disaster struck the island and the Clans were forced to leave. Shortly after the Sea Folk claimed it. The Clans still curse it to this day, though none will speak of what happened there. Always were a superstitious lot, worst of the sailors in that regard,” she scoffed.

“You don’t believe it’s really cursed,” Elias questioned.

“Don’t tell me you do? There’s something on that island I have no doubt, but it’s not a curse. The Sea-folk wouldn’t protect it so thoroughly if that was all it was. My bet, the man that makes it to that island will find something he couldn’t even dream of.” Leona mused, her gaze holding his own. Elias couldn’t doubt the certainty on her face. As he peered back towards the island, he couldn’t help but feel the tingling thrill of anticipation go down his spine.

The dark hour before dawn came at last, for most of the night, Elias paced the small length of his room. He’d been unable to get the island out of his mind ever since his conversation with Leona. He’d wanted an adventure, dreamed of sailing the seas and finding treasure like in all the childhood stories. His uncle’s ship wouldn’t set sail for another day, plenty of time to make it to the island and back.

He’d rented a small sailing skiff on the premise of early morning fishing. He doubted the good man would have let him take it if he’d known his true intentions.

The wind in his favor, Elias set out across the dark water, with only the moon and fading stars for light. It was nearing mid-morning by the time he saw the first sign of trouble. Dark heads floating at the surface of the water, opalescent eyes peered at him from too pale translucent faces.

Sea-Folk.

They bobbed and stared at him as he drew ever closer, their hair floating around them like oil.

Go back, he heard, and whipped about in his boat. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from. As one, twelve floating figures raised long pale arms and pointed back towards Sophira.

We give fair warning. Death awaits on the island.

He stared at one floating pair of eyes and realized at last he wasn’t hearing them at all, at least not with his ears. He’d heard rumors, stories that they could mind-speak, but he’d never thought it was true.

“What’s there?”

What is ours.

“Why are we not allowed on the island?”

It is ours.

Go away, another voice hissed and he winced in pain at the forcefulness, at the sheer hostility that radiated through his brain, but also the immense fear that undercut it all. His body trembled without control.

“What use does your kind have with dry land? You can’t even go further than the beaches or you’ll die,” he countered.

Go. The island is ours. Go, go, go… the voices chanted in his head, each time louder and more hostile than the next. He cradled his head in pain, felt warm wetness run from his nose and as he wiped it away his fingers came away liquid red.

A sharp thump hit the side of his boat and he watched a dark fin disappear underwater. Another loud thump came from below hard enough to crack the wood. A third, a fourth, Elias watched a hole appear at the bottom of his boat, water gushing all too quickly to drench his feet.

Still their screams of go, echoed through his head and he could do nothing but watch as a second hole was made in his boat. Before long he found himself treading water. Trying to stay afloat even as his head pounded in pain.

“Kaseema!” he shouted, a last desperate gamble. “I invoke Kaseema’s will, by the sea goddess’s own law you have no right to keep a land dweller from the closest body of land.” He cried. All at once their voices stopped and he felt his head clear. But still their eyes floated just above the water, watching him. Following him as he swam the remaining distance to shore. Stared at him from the deep as he crawled and coughed to collapse on the beach.

“Hah!” he cried out at them laughing between desperate gasps of air.

Fool…dead fool…soft are the voices in his head, defeated and he paused and stared back into the closest pair of eyes, he would have almost said they were sad. Slowly one by one, they disappeared beneath the water, save the one that held his gaze.

Come away…come away, she called to him and after a moment he realized he was walking towards her.

“Stop!” he cried and stepped back.

“I’m going to find out what the hell it is you’re hiding here,” he called out to her and turned towards the dense forest.

Madness and pain, the voice whispered.

Come away, come away, come away...,the voice grew more faint the further he moved into the forest. Birds chirped overhead, streams of sunlight filtered through the dense leaves.

He kept his steps light, his eyes focused for both traps and potential threats. Tree limbs and bushes shook as he passed, birds and small animals startling at his unexpected presence.

For hours he walked, picking his way through the forest until he found himself on the opposite side of the island. Not a sign of human life on the island that wasn’t already decades old. Collapsed huts, a decaying shed overgrown with vines and small trees.

“What the hell is here?” he cried and turned back into the forest. He’d crossed north to south. He’d have to try east to west, so with the sun high in the sky, he headed northwest across the island.

Still more hours passed, the sun started its long descent, when Elias came upon it. The lagoon took up two-thirds of the western side of the island, separated from the sea by stone and sand. The water a transparent turquoise sparkled up at him, and there at the water’s edge sitting on a stone her feet dangling in the water was a familiar figure.

Her hair was dark, darker than the sea under moonlight, and it hung down her back in dry gnarled tangles. Her pale skin was splotched pink in places, a dark painful red in others. She looked at him with wide blue opal-like eyes and he found himself entranced.

“You have legs,” were the first words he found he could utter, staring at the long lean, very human looking legs. She shifted and was crouching on her feet in seconds.

“And you’re naked,” he realized, his eyes going wide in shock. He moved as if to turn around but found his arms suddenly full of the shrieking young woman. He felt her blunt nails dig into the side of his face and head, the force of her jump knocking them both to the ground so that she knelt over him, her knees on the ground on either side of his chest.

“Human!” she cursed and never had he heard such venom uttered in one word. “Die” she cried and Elias felt his head lifted and slammed back into the dirt.

“Get off!” he cried and threw the smaller being off him, a chunk of skin and hair going with her.

“Ow! Damnit, what the hell was that for!” he cried, stumbling back, one arm held out to fend her off if she tried to launch herself again. He watched her roll and kneel once more to one knee.

“Human,” she seethed again, softer but with no less animosity.

“Yes. I’m human.” He agreed, absently fingering at the missing patch of skin and hair at the side of his head, blood sliding down to drip from his jaw.

“Damn it, I’m bleeding,” he cursed.

“Evil. Liar, traitor. Murderer!” she shrieked again and launched herself at him once more. Elias, more prepared for her attack, managed to side step her in time.

“What? I haven’t killed anyone!” he defended. “I came here to find out what your people are hiding on this island. I’m assuming they’re the ones that did this to you,” he said, trying to keep his eyes on hers.

For once her eyes flicker away from his own, though from the jittery way she shifts when he lowers his hand to his side, he doesn’t doubt she’s still watching him.

“A lesson,” she says at last and he hears her stumble over the words. It’s clear she’s not used to speaking aloud.

“Lesson?” he asks.

“To atone,” she spits as she says it and for a moment he half wonders where she learned that habit.

“No need. I did no wrong,” her chest puffs out and her back straightens as much as her crouch will let her.

“Human, the liar, the killer.”

“I already told you I’ve never killed anyone!” Elias defends, straightening to full height. He watched her scuttle back, her eyes wide and once again on his, holding his gaze and he waited one long moment for something to happen.

“They took your mind-speech,” he said finally realizing.

“They made me this,” she seethed.

“Why?”

“They say I am broken.”

“Why?”

“I killed a human. Try to kill more humans,” she admitted, a smile slipping across her pale pink lips.

“Why?” he pressed again, his heart beating faster.

“Humans deserve death” She stated and the smile slipped off her face.  Something deadly entered her eyes.

“You deserve death,” she promised and he watched her turn and run back into the forest and disappear into the shadowy green.

“What the holy high tide was that?” Elias breathed, his heart pounding beneath his chest, his hands running through his hair. He couldn’t stay in the forest now, too easy to be surprised. His eyes traveled out to the stone and sand barrier between the lagoon and the sea.

He could also use some answers.

He clambered up onto the stone, his eyes searched the water for a floating pair of eyes but found none.

“I know you’re out there! I know you can hear me. What the hell did you do to her? She’s one of your own.”

She is ours. Our sister, our daughter. We are responsible for her. We protect her from the land dwellers. We protect the land dwellers from her. We protect her from herself. A familiar voice sounded in his head and a pair of vibrant mint green eyes, flecked with a dozen colors raised above the water for him to see, her hair spilled out around her.

“Why have you trapped her here as a human? Why does she hate humans so much?”

Not all humans are good.