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Chapter 14: Those Who Survived
The glaring light of the suns burned harshly in my eyes. The huge deck was a good chunk more prominent than my old crew’s. Three instead of two masts reached high up, where seagulls embraced the salty breeze. Just about a dozen people were around. It made the ship feel even bigger and the gloomy mood more lost.
Captain Reysans strained expression behind the steering wheel told enough. With some more under deck somewhere, these were all of the Dawn Tide Breaker that had survived. Bandages covered most of their cuts and burn marks. Like me, some had also lost a limb, but out of flesh.
A tall man approached me. His black clothes were adorned with thin white stripes, just like his hair. His nails were even darker than mine; most strikingly, he wore a double eyepatch. Though it didn’t seem like he had any problems moving around.
The slight dents in the blindfold where his eyes should be stared directly at me. My hand cramped and jerked straight at his face. He didn’t move. And just as my hand reached his eyes, as if trying to rip them out, he caught my wrist. A grip so tight that it didn‘t allow any movement, even with a hand that had just destroyed a metal box in one go.
The spots of his eyes examined my hand, following along the green scale skin going up to my forearm.
“That’s quite a lot of a surge.” He pulled a green flask out of his jacket. “Here, we can’t have you causing havoc.”
He placed the flask in my hand. The Jade Mint, shaped as multiple spirals, swirled at different paces, constantly changing to catch up. Oddly enough, when the spirals reached the top, it looked like they traveled through a portal connected to the bottom to swirl back up, as if in a loop.
My hand cramped again, slowly cracking the glass. Like strings, the bones in my hand became visible. With a twitch, the glass shattered. Again, my skin absorbed it all while the glass shards remained. The gem now turned purple without a trace of any other color.
“T-thanks—I guess.” I gulped. The eye shapes behind his blindfold stared through my hand’s scale-like skin, watching the muscles regaining their former thickness.
“You're welcome.” He let go of my hand and walked past me. Not bumping into any of the others behind me.
I kept my eyes on him as he walked up the stairs to the bow. It reminded me of my eyepatch, so I quickly pulled it over one of my eyes. Similar to the Jade Mask, it provided some comfort. A safety layer to protect me.
“That’s Miru.” Nita arrived beside me. “He’s usually not that talkative.”
“His eyes . . .”
“He’s really blind. He doped too much with Jade Mint. He hasn’t told anyone yet, but he can obviously see or at least sense his surroundings somehow. It’s not unheard of for excessive Jade Mint users to develop a sort of sixth sense, but he’s just—a weirdo.”
“He seemed nice, though.”
“Ye, he does seem nice. Anyway, let's get you to Captain Reysan.” Nita led the way.
“Hm?”
“He’s interested in your hand, but that might lessen when he finds out it’s just because of the mer-beads.”
“Wait, what are mer-beads?”
“Right, I forgot to mention that only the mermaids Under The Dawn Sea can produce them.”
“So that’s why they’re so much harder to come by.” I had heard from some veteran adventurers that mermaids always hide their true form to seduce humans, but when endangered, they’ll show the monsters inside of them.
“Yeah, just one of those beasts needs an army to match it.”
“Hard to imagine when all their portraits are so beautiful, they seem made of glass. I once heard one as a child. Their intricately soft voice felt like a massage for the inner ears. Weird—but nice.”
Nita chuckled at me.
“What?” I asked, offended.
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“But you are still a child.” She kept walking.
I rolled my eyes and followed her.
We went up the stairs to the stern, where Captain Reysan stood behind the steering wheel, hands on the handles.
“Captain,” Nita said loud and clear.
“Lady Nita.” He nodded. “Hercu.”
His short, syrupy brown hair stuck flat to his head, shaped by a hat he had probably lost during the fight. There was no sign of a Jade Mint tattoo on his exposed skin, but when the wind properly caressed his loose white shirt, a pattern could be seen underneath. Static darkness surrounded his washed-out green eyes. Upon closer inspection, his eyes looked much younger than the rest of him, not matching the wrinkles and battle scars that marked his face. They lacked what made a veteran fighter.
I nodded back.
He glanced, intrigued, at my hand. “For the time being, what can I assume? Will you leave us at the next opportunity after what happened, or will you stand firm and continue to follow our plan.”
Nita reassured me with a nod.
“I’m sorry for your loss. If I had been more careful and—”
“I didn’t ask for excuses.” He glanced at me, annoyed. “I’m well aware of what you did. What you have delivered us as well as what you have got us into. I had never expected to accomplish this mission without casualties, but that many . . . the Major won’t be pleased.” He closed his eyes and took a breath.
I bit my tongue to stop myself from asking about the major. I had thought that the Dawn Tide Breaker contained one big crew but not several under an even greater force.
“Nita informed me that you also lost someone, this Finn, so you’re mad enough at yourself already. But don’t think that your actions won’t have consequences. Anyway, just answer my question.” He slightly tilted the steering wheel.
“The fight hasn’t changed my goal but rather solidified it further. I won’t snitch on you.” I gazed into his eyes with full resolution.
“Good.” A hint of a smile made room on his lips. “Your hand will come in handy later. I’ll assure to make good use of it. But for now, it’s just a nuisance.”
Apparently, he immediately understood what had happened to my hand.
I made a fist. “Not like I chose this—thing.”
“We’ll feed you the necessary Jade Mint and train you to gain control over it. I expect results. Not only will your hand cost a fortune, but your prosthesis will also. We’ll train you so hard that you’ll puke and suffocate until you’re strong enough to pay us back. Otherwise, I’ll cut off your hand and use it myself.”
I swallowed. “He can do that?!”
I cleared my throat. “Yes, Captain.”
“Oh, and of course, you get no share of any loot we make.”
“Yes . . . Captain.”
“Good. Lady Nita?”
She nodded. “I already spoke to the smarties.”
He grunted in approval. “Then don't hold back just because he’s our rookie.”
Nita nodded, and we left.
Down on the main deck, I caught up to her immediate steps. “Why’s he calling you Lady? I thought you didn’t like that?”
“He’s my superior. You think I can tell him what to call me?”
“Eh, I mean—”
“Shut up!”
I took a step back.
“You heard him. I won’t go easy on you. Get ready.”
“Wait, wait! I’m still injured!”
“Oh? And will you also tell that to an opponent in a real fight?”
“No—I just—”
“I said get ready, last chance.” She drew a dagger.
“Is she pissed now? What did I—hm, well, I probably deserve it.” I got ready, lowering my stance.
She threw me another dagger. Surprisingly my shoulder hurt a lot less. It still stung, but I could move.
Without warning, Nita dashed. She grabbed her dagger in reverse and struck at my neck. I moved to block, but the blades never connected. Instead, her heel crashed into my chin.
I lost balance and stumbled to the ground, wavering. It felt like the kick had come out of nowhere.
This ‘training’—or rather: me getting beat up—continued for a while. When we took a break, Nita explained that I focused too much on her daggers. That’s why it’s so hard for me to foresee feints and attacks that are not coming from the weapon.
She kept beating me up until sunset. I already felt the bruises at dinner. Before going to bed, I remembered my Journal. I found the small stack of parchment where I had first woken up on the ship. With two crates as a seat and desk, I went through them. The ink had smeared because of the seawater. The book I had stolen had suffered too, but I didn’t want to decipher it right now.
I eventually found my pen and started to write.
'A lot had happened the last few days. Mainly a lot of losing.
Finn was killed. My confidence had taken aback. My prosthesis was shot and destroyed. And my other arm felt like a ravenous green demon had moved in.
Not to forget all the members of the Dawn Tide Breaker that had died.
On the contrary, I also gained some things.
I learned more about Jade Mint, and Selina and I got to know each other, although not in the best ways. After we stole the Mint Map, I had thought we had succeeded in the and after all. Selina had paid for excessive Jade Mint use, but even with that, it might have been a total success.
If it only weren't for Wyatt following us. I had been so distracted by my confidence in success that I hadn't even considered that someone could follow us.
And that mistake ultimately caused the deaths and loss of the ship.'