Although everybody aboard the Feodora had known their captain and first mate to be Sidhe, they felt extremely uneasy and restless being shown both the power of the old gods as well as their own Captain’s power. Earlier they could simply ignore facts, now it was ingrained in their brains like a branding of sorts. The high salary McLir offered suddenly not being enough to mute their doubts.
The unrest of the crew boiled under the surface merely bottled up by the even greater fear.
Ian felt utterly reminded of what he knew his brothers had felt seeing him ‘commune’ with animals as they had called it. At the same time though the crew that consisted of many a lost soul like him held much loyalty for their Captain, so they wouldn’t dream of munity against him. But the lingering fear persisted. Until it finally found an outlet, him.
Ian could feel their stares and whispering like physical pain. It was worse than at home, since there had always been the forest and the stable, he could hide in when it got intolerable. He knew now, more than ever, that fighting or even talking back was not only futile but dangerous.
They had yet to try hurting him physically, but he knew at this rate it was only a matter of time. His only chance was to be either sheltered by the captain, though he didn’t put much hope into that. The captain had to fend for his own. He couldn’t look after some youth he barely knew.
His other hope however was that they reached shore fast enough for him to flee, unharmed. Though he felt like the captain would not let him go since he had been requested by the entity, Mannan or whoever had conjured the storm.
Ian felt like a mouse couped up with cat watching his every move. Especially Samuel a young unruly sailor was watching him with malicious intent. Little mishaps seemed to happen every time they crossed paths. Bucks with dirt water were spilled over the deck he had just scrubbed. Knots he had double-checked untied themselves mysteriously. Nothing dangerous, only little stings. But still enough to mark him as a clumsy nuisance in the eyes of the rest of the crew. A dangerous thing to be especially in the current climate and on top of being different.
It was the second fortnight when the crew finally turned against the 12-year-old boy. The nightshift had just taken their place on deck and Ian was about to enter the crew’s quarters like every evening to sleep in his bunk, as Samuel and Berth stepped in his way. ‘Don’t you dare to enter, you Fey rat. We don’t want to sleep with something like you. Off you go, sleep with the other rats in the freight-space.’ Having that said Samuel reached behind him and tossed Ian’s belongings out. Only his change of clothes and his little sack he had carried from the farm.
No blanket, no cover, no cushion. And no warm jacket they used whilst on nightshift.
‘I will freeze myself to death. You can’t do that. At least give me a rug.’ Ian shrieked anxiously.
‘Nah, you rats have your magic and fur to provide for you. No need to waste a proper rug on a waste of space like you. Would’ve even kept your possessions you have probably stolen from some child you strangled in his sleep…if it wasn’t for the curse, you probably laid upon them… fine clothes, too good for a rat like ya… but how could an animal like ya self otherwise guise itself like a human being. If it wasn’t for the Captain being some unholy creature, too we would have thrown ya off board and watched ya drown, like the rat you are. Now off you go, before we make ya and don’t dream of eating with us proper people anymore. The scrabs we leave are more than enough for such a dirty, smelly rat.’ Berth rambled in a tone that made Ian shrink back.
Hiding his head between his shoulders he turned around and ran. Before those hateful people could harm his body on top of his heart. He had to flee from home after his father’s death. Now he was unable to feel safe in his refuge ever again. Bitter tears of hurt burned in his eyes. He hated human nature for the cruelty it possessed. Maybe one day he would start to hate humans themselves, he thought. Running blindly in direction of the freight-space to look for a sheltered hiding-space where he could hope to endure the night without having to keep one eye open at all times, he bumped into a muscular chest.
‘Ho, young Ian. I was coming to find you, but now it seems you have found me instead.’ The voice of Ròn the first mate rumbled. ‘But say, lad, why are you fleeing, crying and carrying all your worldly belongings with you, like you angered the wild hunt?’ the giant asked in a suddenly worried tone.
‘Well, I don’t know about the wild hunt, which I would never badmouth, but humans can be scarry, too, if they hunt you… I seem to attract such situations…’ Ian explained silently, trying to avoid sobbing loudly.
Stolen story; please report.
‘There, there, child… What did they do? How can they do something like this? And how old are you, dear? You are but a child, a very young one at that in our standards. Come with me, I will take you to Sean, the Captain. He wanted me to get you.’ The dark and intimidating first mate said in a tone as if to calm a prancing horse or a little child. He put one of his giant hands on Ian’s small shoulder and led him in the direction he had come from.
’12. I am 12.’ Ian answered now sobbing.
’12… it could be, Sean is right… it could be… ‘Ròn mumbled looking at the slender boy beside him attentively. ‘Dear, tell me, could you describe your mother to me?’ he suddenly asked.
‘I’m sorry I can’t she was stolen from us, half a year after I was born. Got barely enough milk to survive, the nurse said. I have never known her.’ Ian said a little confused about the question.
‘That’s unfortunate…’ Ròn mumbled.
Then they reached the Captain’s cabin and Ròn opened the door without knocking.
‘He has heard us since ages.’ The first mate explained, when he saw the shock in Ian’s eyes.
‘While that may be true, I would still appreciate, if you did not ruin Ian’s good manners, old friend.’ The Captain said with a slight smile rising the edges of his mouth.
Today the regal man did not look like Ian had seen him ever before. He looked several years younger seemingly about 20 years old, instead of the middle-aged version of him Ian knew.
‘I see, your contact to the Sidhe was enough to awaken your true sight…’ Sean McLir said when he took the boy’s astonished gaze for what it meant and added ‘I warn you… if you look into the mirror, you will see people’s true form…’
Winking at the boy the Sidhe said ‘don’t fret when you see Ròn. He means no harm to you at least…’ the captain explained, looked into Ian’s eyes and added ‘I guess we should just get over with it.’ As he held out a mirror in an angle that Ian could see his own face and the area Ròn should be. But instead, there stood a horse. A freaky white horse with long predator fangs and glowing eyes. It shook his head in annoyance. Ian’s eyes widened when he recognized the Kelpie.
Then it opened its horrifying mouth and said in Ròn’s voice ‘Well done, well done, you princely idiot. I brought him here with still wet eyes from crying after being hunted by the crew and now you scare him to bits.’
Ian somehow did not feel anxious seeing the monster behind him. He felt what the captain had said was true, Ròn meant no harm to him, in the opposite, actually, if he looked into the Kelpie’s eyes that carried a warm expression. But one thing continued to bug him about the whole situation ‘I didn’t know Kelpies could take human form, I thought you guys were restricted to horse and fay form.’ He blurted out, biting his tongue when he saw the incredulous expression on both the captain’s and the first mate’s, or rather the Kelpie’s faces, thinking he said something wrong.
He felt incredibly relieved when both of them exchanged a look and started to laugh.
‘Well, that’s a first.’ Ròn finally said a little out of breath. ‘Normally people fret and try to escape or at least beg me not to eat them. Gets rather annoying, I assure you. Good you are different. Well, I guess you better be, since you should say goodbye to the idea of being human. But back to your question, no, I am one of my kind. Sean’s father, Manannan MacLir, yes that one…don’t look at me like this, you have just outed me – ‘the first mate said looking at the grumpy face of the captain, before adding ‘anyways Manannan can’t provide immortality without giving an aspect of his into the mix. I was a human seafarer, before he offered immortality to me. As you can guess I decided rather quickly to accept the offer… well, as you might also guess he forgot to mention I would not be a human afterwards… He sent me to sleep and the next morning I got up in my quadrupled horse form… only after I got hungry, I got to know, what I really had become… the nightmare of every child living near the coast… it took me some time to get to terms with it and even more time to first learn control myself and then get a hang on transforming back to the imagine of my former true form.’
He sighed, seemingly remembering darker times as his expression darkened. ‘Without Sean… I do not know and do not want to imagine what would have become of me. Because unlike his father and mostly any Sidhe I have since then, he didn’t think it a great joke letting me loose on my former village… Manannan’s view was that he had fulfilled his end of our bargain. I had become a fey and therefore immortal. They take every word they say literally… that is good, since they cannot lie, but they know how to interpret their words and your words in their favour.’ He cautioned the wide-eyed boy, who could not believe the fantastic story he had just been told. Though at the part of letting a new-born Kelpie loose on a village he shivered.
‘Well, now that you have heard a very human-coloured story about us Sidhe… I am going to help you see the other side, too. We, that means me and you are not evil. Though we are both Sidhe. The Sidhe, our country and our people belong to the Grey Planes. Neither celestial nor infernal, just like the mortal planes. Neither good nor bad, though I have to admit, we have a sometimes-goofy humour. Especially the older ones… but imagine to have lived for millenniums and tried about everything… they just see mortals as a form of entertainment. I guess both you and me will get to that point, eventually…’ Sean said with a sigh, then he looked into Ian’s eyes and added ‘Yes, Ian, you are Sidhe. Are you by chance close to your 13th birthday?’
‘Yes, tomorrow… why?’ Ian asked completely unable to make a sense out of what the Captain had said.
‘I asked because that is the moment Sidhe and half-Sidhe children awaken and become real Sidhe. That means they become vulnerable to iron, hot and cold, unable to lie and utterly unable to control their powers, unless properly educated… you get the idea.’ Sean McLir, or MacLir said solemnly.
‘Uff.’ Ian said and asked ‘How do you know?’
‘The conversation you have heard is not the only one, that has taken place. The voice you have heard, my father, Manannan MacLir has claimed you. He told me, that you are his grandson and my nephew, my lost sister’s son… so welcome to the family, Ian MacLir’ Sean told the flabbergasted Ian and pulled him into an embrace. Ian couldn’t believe it. He had a family, a place he belonged. And a bunch of new problems, seemingly starting tomorrow.