The Crimson Rogers sailed like a shark through the night. The sounds of work could be heard from every corner of the ship, as men worked through the night without rest. Boards were nailed into place under the waterline of the Rogers, men holding their breath as they dove beneath or hung over the side to pound boards into place.
Sails were patched and rigging replaced as the Crimson Rogers sailed on, a malevolent presence in the night, a siren in search of prey, hungry for blood and maddened by its own pain. It glided, despite its weight and bulk, sailing at top speed. Below-decks, men toiled with the heavy bilges, pumping relentlessly to keep the ship light in the water. They sweated until they were ready to drop from the exertion, but more water poured in relentlessly from where the Black Dawn’s cannon had splintered the hull.
It was the only way for the men making repairs over the side to do so without suffering death at the hands of the sirens. They had followed the Crimson Rogers for as long as any of its crew could remember, feasting off the blood and death that followed in the wake of the Crimson Rogers. Only speed preserved the lives of the pirate crew, and yet sirens still swam with all their might, occasionally snapping at the dangling crew members before falling back into the waves.
Captain Reis stood motionless before the wheel. His eyes flicked occasionally down to members of the crew who slowed in their work. Riant, like a zealous puppy, snapped his cat o’ nine from his belt at every gaze from the dreaded, silent Captain. He cracked it, shouting, snapping it across the backs of pirates who began to move slowly, who tired.
The sky had begun to grow lighter upon the horizon. Dawn was coming.
Julius Caligari reclined against the rail, watching the others work. His station here, as an emissary from his uncle Vincenzo, afforded him certain privileges. He fingered his glass eye absently. He had offered Reis long ago to watch his Uncle’s interests with his right eye instead of his left, and Reis had paid his price without question. Now, he enjoyed the adventure of sea life amidst company who appreciated his sadistic tendencies rather than being appalled by them. Tonight, however, Reis bothered him – and so he spoke with the only person aboard the ship he trusted with his confidences.
“Have you ever seen him like this, Jemy?”
As always, the large man remained impassive. He watched over the side, as one of the pirates nailed a board into place, occasionally swinging his simple hammer at any siren that ventured too close. Jemy seemed amused by the antics of both pirate and siren, even as Julius brooded, deep in thought. He stroked at his goatee, his mind distant. Then a light shone within them as the final wheel turned into place.
“I think I know what it was…he’s always been frightening, but I think this is the first time I saw him mad. Truly angry, you know?”
Jemy continued to watch, impassively. As the siren jumped and locked fangs into the neck of the pirate, he tilted his head. The pirate screamed, thrashing at the siren, before the tether which held him to the side of the ship snapped under the combined weight. His scream cut short, as he disappeared beneath the waves. Julius glanced backwards as he screamed. Leaning over the rail to watch, he grinned to himself. “That’s the fifth one. I’m going to lose the pool if another one goes before dawn.”
He looked up at the orange nimbus on the horizon. “Of course, dawn will be here any minute.” He smiled at Jemy, turning to check the pirate further up along the side. He hadn’t had any trouble with the sirens, when there was closer prey, but he looked back nervously as he finished putting his board into place. Julius, satisfied that his guilder were as good as won, turned towards his quarters, ready to turn in.
The ship rocked under him, groaning at the powder room exploded. Julius was thrown into the air before coming down hard upon the deck. One of the three masts ripped from the ship, tearing free of its rigging, even as the deck exploded and tore open, the larboard side evaporating in a blast of fire and wooden splinters. Pirates were torn apart by the blast, dying instantly, and others were thrown into the sea. The sirens screamed in pleasure, diving upon the bodies awake and unconscious alike, tearing themselves into a frenzy as they tore hapless crew members apart.
Reis stared at the great, gaping hole in the side of his ship, then gazed back in the direction of Canguine. His eyes narrowed. He had suffered two insults now – but the first was still more pressing. Canguine would pay, but not until Berek’s life was choked out by his own hands. He surveyed the water the ship was taking in, the disaster which had nearly destroyed the Crimson Rogers.
He let go of the wheel, stepping over to the ocean. He freed the strange, one handed Synerth scythe from its place at his side, digging the razor sharp tip against his hand. A single drop pooled in his hand, and he turned his palm, letting a drop fall into the water. Upon the larboard sign, the frenzy of the sirens abated. They froze, looking towards the water where the strange blood had touched the sea, then turned as one, screaming in terror as they swam away from the Crimson Rogers, leaving their feast to rot and bloat in the water.
“Meryth, Princess of the Sea”
“Meryth, Pearl of her Mother’s Eye,”
“Meryth, Terror of the Ocean, I summon thee.”
It was seconds before his summons was answered. A woman, clad in seaweed, shells and pearls, her eyes burning with hatred and resentment, spat into the water between her and Reis, even as she stood paces away from him. Reis sat upon his ankles, to meet her eyes, sheathing the scythe and sweeping the tails of his long red coat aside to leave the blade’s handle yet revealed.
“Who dares to summon me? What fool calls his own destruction, here within the court of my mother? Who dares call Meryth, Daughter of the Queen of the Sea, and court their own destruction?”
Behind her, a tidal wave rose as her ire blackened the sky and reddened the morning sun. Her face darkened as her voice grew louder, her hair sweeping behind her as she rose to swell above Reis. Reis, for the first time in the memory of his crew, smiled. “Silence, fool girl.” His voice was velvet, a soft purr that managed somehow to carry above the squall that was Meryth’s rage.
“I have a task for you, and you will find you have no choice in this matter. Ask your mother if you please; we will wait. Or, if you prefer, I will summon her, to explain it to a petulant child.”
His voice was iron, his gaze steel, and Meryth felt something she had not known in all her existence as a fay – fear. She did not know if this strange mortal bluffed – she knew only that she had never felt a call so strong, so terrible before. The wave receded behind her as her anger stilled. Her hair wreathed her again as she floated back down to stand upon the waves. She bowed her head, numbly. She knew know who he was. She would obey him.
“What is your will?”
Reis smiled, again.
“Take me to Berek.”
Then, as an afterthought, he added,
"Then destroy Canguine."
7th Sea copyright Alderac Entertainment Group. Dreamlyrics copyright ASCKEY Ltd.
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