Chapter 37 - Confrontation

The people of Edr and the Lark company were pre-arranged around small fires in the center of the village, slurping hot seafood stews and drinking cool ales. Some of the Lark men around a fire, nearest to the forest entrance, saw two shadowed figures fast approaching.

“Cato, where’ve you been?” called out one of them.

Cato and Arnest entered the illumination of the fire and slowed their brisk run to a stop.

“Giving a tour of the island for student officer Arnest.” Cato said, beet red from being forced to run.

“Ah yes, a tour of the island. Many good hiding places for two young boys to find themselves…” said another Lark, pausing before continuing, “and each other,” accentuating the ending in an overtly flamboyant tone.

The men around the fire started roaring a hollering laughter, with knee slapping, gum smacking, and eye watering joy. Others paused their own conversations and looked towards their direction and grew interested, walking over to see what started the commotion.

“What’s so funny over here?” asked one of the Edr villagers, with a friendly tone.

“Young Cato and student officer Arnest came here late, from the direction of the woods. We were just wondering what two curious young men would be doing in the forest at night, that would make them late for this great feast.”

The villagers and other Larks had smiles growing on their face when they understood the innuendo.

“Yes, what could two boys be doing late at night, alone in the forest?” said an older Edr villager whom feigned ignorance.

Almost everyone started chiding in, men and women, children and elderly alike. Pretty soon it just became a contest between them all to see who could come up with the best jokes and force the others to their knees in uncontrollable laughter.

A young girl walked up to the front with teary eyes. “Cato… I thought you said you loved me. Why would you do such a thing with another, let alone a man?”

“Wait, wait! Aurora, I never did anything like that with anyone! Especially not student officer Arnest. Guys, tell her you’re just joking around! Please!” Cato shouted loudly so he could be heard over the drunken jokes and laughter.

“But you were alone in the forest with him! What else could you have been doing?” Aurora cried.

“Nothing happened! I was just showing Arnest around because Captain Nemo ordered it!” Cato said, looking around, trying to find more excuses. His frenzied gaze fell upon Arnest and he quickly said in a hushed voice, “Tell her the truth! Tell her nothing happened!”

“It’s true, Cato was just showing me around and took me through the forest to a beach. He taught me a lot and we came to understand each other better.” Arnest said.

Everyone quieted their laughter and started to murmur amongst themselves.

“Taught me a lot…”

“Understand each other better...”

The Lark soldier who started it all walked up to Cato and placed his hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. “Cato, to be honest, I was just joking at first. But after hearing what the student officer just said, are you sure nothing happened?”

“I swear to Neptus and all the other gods, that nothing happened!” Cato screamed into the night sky with all his might.

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A week passed after this night and the rumor concerning Arnest and Cato had become fact in a matter of days. News of the couple spread like wildfire, perpetrated by the villagers mainly. There had even been a number of Edr men who offered their vows of love and devotion to the duo who were warded off with Cato’s screams of denial and Arnest’s confusion. The running joke had run its due course with no signs of stopping.

Captain Primum Nemo in the meanwhile did not pay any attention to the matter and continued to spend most of his time within his mother’s hut, awaiting for the nectar to be ready. On the morning of the seventh day, it finally bubbled its last and despite being constantly heated, had a stilled red glow instead of a fiery boil.

“Mother, the nectar has calmed down.” said Captain Nemo who had been staring at the pot since early dawn.

“Neptus has finished blessing the pot. Child, quickly bring it over to me.”

Secuna hurried over to the other side of the hut and grabbed a small ladle and walked over to what looked like a box covered in a highly detailed rug. Pulling the cover off, it revealed a wooden cage that made squawking sounds. She flicked the latch out, opened the cage and with lightning reflexes, grabbed a hen by it’s neck and shut it in the same instant. Captain Nemo carefully placed the steaming pot next to Secuna who dipped the wooden ladle into the nectar and extracted a small bit. Then, with force, she clamped the cornish hen’s mouth open and dripped the boiling nectar down its throat.

The hen screamed in pain because of the temperature of the nectar but it soon subsided after it was inside its stomach. Secuna dropped the hen onto the ground and it walked around a bit, trying to remember why it was feeling so uncomfortable. But then the effects of the nectar exploded inside of the hen. The casual strut became an agitated flurry of feathers and squawks. The bird flew around the hut and tried to hurl out the nectar from its body to no avail. Captain Nemo and Secuna just watched the hen for a while until it fell to the ground with a dead silence.

Secuna grabbed the still hen by the feet and held it up in the air, plucking the feathers. When all of them were removed, the pink fleshy skin was exposed. But unlike a typical chicken, this one had strange markings all over it. It was a combination of simple shapes like circles, squares, lines and dots but combined made an eerie piece of art. She inspected the strange red markings intently, frowning ever so more slightly in each passing moment.

“What’s wrong?” Captain Nemo asked when he saw his mother’s expression.

“Primum, we have to get ready to leave Edr. Get your people to pack up the nectar and my hens and gather everyone on your ship. We must leave now.”

“Why mother?”

“If we do not leave, a great tragedy will befall everyone here on Edr.”

“Alright, your prophecies have never been wrong. I’ll gather the men.”

Soon enough, without any warning, Captain Nemo ordered everyone to gather on the ship. No one really fought the order, since Captain Nemo had protected the Edr people for a long time and the Larks always indiscriminately obeyed their commanding officer. It took some time but eventually everyone was crammed in, except for Secuna and Arnest, who were allowed to stay inside of Captain Nemo’s quarters. Captain Nemo was atop the deck, ordering the Larks so they could depart at the quickest speed, which left the two of them alone.

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Secuna was fiddling with her hens while Arnest sat upright on the couch. The two were diametrically opposed to each other, silently but surely opposed. She eventually closed the cage and threw the tapestry on top of the chicken crate, sitting in Captain Nemo’s chair. Tapping her fingers so that they rapped against the wooden tabletop in a bored fashion, caused Arnest to be unable to contain his annoyance.

“I’m sorry to ask, but could you stop that?”

Secuna continued to tap her fingers, one after another. “Stop what?”

“Nevermind. Forget I asked.”

Silence ensued and the two of them just listened to the tapping on the desk and men running across the top deck. It continued for only so long before Arnest thought it would be better to fill the void with talking.

“Do you know why Captain Nemo has decided we should leave Edr?”

“He hasn’t told you?” Secuna asked, stopping the tapping.

“No, he hasn’t.”

“Our god, Neptus, warns of a calamity that will strike Edr. We must leave before it is too late.”

“How do you know Neptus is warning you?”

“We have made the nectar of Neptus and it has divined this truth.”

“Is the nectar in that pot over there?” Arnest asked, pointing towards the pot that was in Secuna’s hut.

“Yes, that would be it.”

“Could you show me how it works? The nectar, that is.”

“There is only so much nectar and wasting it to show you would be nothing short of blasphemy.” said Secuna, her scorn showing through her face.

Arnest paused for a bit, thinking. “You say that your god, Neptus, gives you these prophecies right?”

“Yes, Neptus is all knowing.” Secuna’s face started to relax.

“Is it possible for prophecies to change?”

“Well yes, it’s possible.”

“Then if the prophecy said it was dangerous to be in Edr, and then we all got onto a ship, couldn’t that mean that it changed? Couldn’t it be possible that it wasn’t dangerous for us to be in Edr, but it was dangerous because of a specific person who was in Edr that was related to the danger?”

Secuna started to frown again. “Yes… that may be.”

“So it’s probably best if you use the nectar for another prophecy right now, before we face a tribulation.” Arnest said, smiling.

Secuna sighed and started the process of divination. She took her ladle and hen, scooped up some nectar and forced it into the chicken’s belly. Arnest watched intently as the hen sat on the ground with some normalcy. Yet it didn’t take long for the bird to run around mad, flapping it’s wings and feathers flying everywhere. Within moments it was dead, Secuna plucked it, and revealed the strange markings.

“Did you really have to kill a chicken?” Arnest asked.

“I could’ve had you drink the nectar instead, but you’d be dead instead of the chicken.”

There were still simple markings but this time there was a new marking. Red arrows that pointed towards the back of Captain Nemo’s quarters. Arrows pointing straight at Arnest who sat in the middle of the plush sofa.

“So what’s Neptus’ divine wisdom telling you?” Arnest asked.

Secuna’s forehead started to sweat as she said nothing, and quietly exited the room. Arnest sat on the sofa dumbfounded but didn’t think much about it. “Must have been pretty bad then,” he thought to himself.

It wasn’t long until Secuna reached Captain Nemo and told him of the divination.

“Are you sure that’s what the prophecy said?” Captain Nemo asked.

“I’m sure, Neptus wouldn’t lie.” Secuna replied in a serious tone.

Captain Nemo furrowed his brows and started to self reflect, weighing his options. “Even if this is true, I can’t leave him to die. If he does, I would be blamed and the entire Lark company would be punished by Ralom.”

“What good does being loyal to Ralom when it will just end up getting you all killed? Remember the last student officer? I told you he was cursed and you didn’t believe me! Remember what happened to your other men!”

“I remember, mother... “ Captain Nemo’s face became even more pained, “But I made a promise to someone to protect him.”

“Please listen to my words, Primum. Neptus is all knowing and would never tell a lie. That boy is cursed!” Secuna begged.

“Mother, I just can’t-”

“Mamalark to the east!” a Lark man shouted, interrupting the captain.

Captain Nemo turned to his side and saw the giant beast approaching. “Ready your stations men! Hide the Edr villagers underneath in the hull!”

“Mamalarks coming from the west!” shouted another Lark.

“What?!” Captain Nemo turned towards the west and saw at least four more coming from that direction.

“Mamalarks behind us, at least seven!”

“They’re coming from the north…”

“Captain, we’re surrounded… I don’t think we have enough men to fight them off,” Cato, who was next to him, warned.

“It’s too late to run, we have to take them head on.”

“Primum,” Secuna gripped onto Captain Nemo’s shirt. “We still have a chance, throw the boy into the sea and they’ll take him instead of us.”

“Mother, not right now. I have to prepare to fight.”

“Primum! Listen to me, please!”

“Cato, take my mother back to my quarters.”

“Primum, please!” shouted Secuna.

“Yes Captain.” Cato answered.

“Listen up, Larks!” Captain Nemo shouted as his mother was screaming, being dragged away.

“I know things look grim… We’re surrounded by monsters on all sides and we’re stuck on this small boat. But we’re the Larks! Every single one of us have been bred and trained to be Ralomans, the monsters of the human race! Today we will see who is the stronger monster, Mamalarks who aimlessly charge or us Larks, who have fought hundreds of these stupid creatures!.”

“We’re with you, Captain!” shouted the Larks.

“I’ll take out at least four of these beasts so all of you better kill at least one, that’s an order!”

“Aye, Captain!”

“Kill them all!” Captain Nemo roared.