Alvar resurfaced, tearing through the waves and gasping for air. The crew on the slave ship ran to the side as Alvar took a breath of fresh air and fell unconscious in the water, bright crimson blood staining the water around him.

“Don’t just stand there, grab the boy!” The captain shouted and three slaves jumped overboard. Together they grabbed hold of Alvar and pulled him to the ship’s hull. “Quickly now, the sirens will be coming back for more flesh,” The captain shouted as the men fastened a rope around Alvar and the other slaves on the ship hauled Alvar up and onto the deck. Alvar’s body landed with a hard thump onto the decking and the crew gathered around him. Alvar was pale and motionless, the water on his skin reflected the light and made his body shimmer.

“Is he dead?” One slave asked as the three slaves climbed back aboard the ship.

“No,” The captain replied as he crouched beside Alvar. “If he was dead the sirens would have consumed him. The ocean has saved him once before and I think it’s done so again.”

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“You don’t believe that Tallara stuff do you Captain?” A slave asked.

“Where are we sailing to?” The Captain asked and the slave went quiet. “I thought so. Call it what you like, but something wants the boy alive,” The Captain replied before he frowned as he inspected Alvar’s damaged arm and the remaining marks of his tattoo. “Whatever did this to him. It doesn’t approve of his identity.”

“I think you’ve gone soft,” A slave commented and the Captain whirled around and pinned him against the ship’s mast. The Captain’s knife was pressed firmly against the slave’s neck.

“You talk like that again and you will go in the trench with the others. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” The slave replied. Behind the Captain, Alvar gasped and spluttered, causing the Captain and all the slaves to look back at him. Once he had stopped coughing up the water from his lungs the Captain spoke,

“What did you see?” He asked Alvar.

“Sister. I saw. My sister,” Alvar stuttered before he began shaking. “Cold. So, cold,” Alvar continued, closing his eyes. He gasped and spluttered as his body shook violently.

“Take him under the deck and inform me when he’s awake once more,” The Captain said and a slave picked Alvar up and carried him carefully under the deck.