The Lost Seas’ Sagas

Chapter Twenty-Five

"The ocean on the edge of our Empire is rich with resources, of food, of plants and undiscovered lands. It poses great difficulties however. The forests are thick and full of beasts that can bring men down within seconds with only a single bite.”

Teal's mind jumped straight to the captain's as if he was standing right there beside him, and he was all but lost within the words.

"As an explorer and adventurer, a pirate and a gold hunter, I was filled with excitement as to what these lands could hold and the people we might find. We traveled island after island. To my dismay, we found no one.

"Even the little islands that dot the coast were empty of intelligent life, completely deserted. After several weeks though, we found a large island that promised the chance of fresh water. My crew and I disembarked using the small rowboat and trudged through the knee-deep water to reach a beach so pristine and white, it blinded my eyes. We separated into two groups and headed into a jungle full of plants that I had never seen. There was a large mountain on the island, and I was sure if we explored long enough, there would have to be a river or creek of some sort.”

Teal paused and took a mouthful of water before continuing.

"We were to be disappointed at first. There were four of us in our small group, and we trekked for hours searching and listening for any signs of running water. We had not heard from the other group since we split on the beach. It wasn't until we had wandered down into a valley that we found a river, not very wide but running fair enough that we were brave enough to taste it. We filled our waterskins and took stock of our bearings to help us find the valley again to stock up our ship supplies. It was then that we fell into trouble."

Teal paused, conflicted. He was petrified to move forward, of what the captain might reveal, but at the same time, he only wanted to keep reading to have some insight of something possibly related to the Lombock.

"Keep going," the Emperor told him firmly. Teal glanced at Jale who nodded encouragingly despite the frown on his face.

Teal took a deep breath and continued, "It was the kind of trouble where even the most hardened pirates become afraid and don't like to mention to make themselves appear weak. It was at this time, deep in the valley that one of my men began to feel as if we were being watched. We laughed it off, but a heavy uneasiness fell on our shoulders. One by one we started to look over our shoulders scouring the surrounding vegetation. The presence was real, yet we couldn't put our fingers on it to find its source. I tried to laugh it off and tell them they were hardened pirates even though I couldn't shake off the sense of doom that had fallen around us.

"With our waterskins filled, I encouraged my men to start heading back, telling them that we needed to make up time so we could get our row boats supplied and filled with water before we could pull anchor. Not one man looked like he wanted to return to get more."

Teal turned the page and didn't dare to look up.

"We turned and headed towards where we had climbed down the side of the valley. The sun moved behind clouds making it dark underneath the treetops. The man at the front of our group, gave a yell. He had found something that had been hidden by the shrubs as we had climbed down. I pushed forward and there before us, a pillar of stone rose from the ground and stopped at waist height. It was round and smooth, far smoother than I had ever seen stone before, and on its surface on its flat top, the outline for a hand with a curved bowl where the palm should have been.

"I didn't know what to make of it. I still don't know what to make of it. There was nothing else like it from what I could see, and I have not seen anything like it again. Who made this? Who held the tools to make such an item? I glanced at my men knowing they would see my worry, especially when I told them we should make haste. There was something ominous, something not right about this island.

"And then, it was their time, this was when they attacked. From the shrubs and the treetops above us, several men sprang out of their hiding spots and landed agilely in front of us. They're skin was fair compared to ours, their hair orange with black streaks, and their eyes, a wild vibrant cerulean. Except they weren't really wild. Those eyes harbored intelligence and purpose and their clothing was made with fabric complex and well-crafted.

"None of that mattered though. We were trespassing and whether that mysterious stone was some kind of religious relic for them, I don't know. But they were unarmed and one of those creatures still managed to kill one of my men before we could even draw a weapon, taking his head in his hands and twisting is so viciously his neck snapped. He fell to the ground and the creature, because I have to call it a creature, for they were not what I would call human, climbed over his body and sniffed him like a dog. He lifted his head and snarled, and the strangest of sounds came from its mouth. He staggered away from my crew mate's dead body seemingly disappointed.

"We were surrounded. There was at least six of these creatures, two to one, on the ground, but there were more of them above us, in the trees. I could hear them laughing and calling to one another. We could all hear them. I would go down fighting though. I would fight to the end, and I told my men that as well. I thought we would stand a good chance, but I thought wrong. Even with our weapons they brought us down. They were fast, so fast, dodging and swerving from the blades of swords, laughing and heckling us. It only made my men angry.

"I pause in my writing because it takes such strength to relive the horrors that I saw that day. They still haunt me in my dreams at night. Even when I am blessed to have a beautiful maiden in my arms, the feel of her warm body is still not enough to chase the dreams away. And I bare guilt, so much guilt that I was the only one of my men to survive. In all truth, I had no idea that I was going to be their prisoner for so long.

"They didn't kill the rest of us on the spot. They managed to succumb us, knocking us out. I awoke to find myself being carried on a stretcher of sorts. So swiftly and with ease they moved through the forest."

Teal froze and swallowed at those words, something at the back of his mind clicking into place. Knowing that the Emperor and Jale were watching him closely, he continued, his voice shaking.

"I was carried into the mountain. As I entered the cave, I saw the trees teeming with these creatures. They took me past streets that had been cut centuries ago into the rock, filled with these beings as well.

“We travelled deeply, the inhabitants heckling and hissing at us until they stopped deep in the darkness, deep in the bowels of the mountain and locked me inside a dungeon of sorts. Dark and damp, I waited until one creature, taller than the others and who stood out from the rest with his silver and black hair...

Teal paused, and his heart skipped a beat. He now wished that he could read this in privacy and not with the Emperor's and Jale's eyes on him.

"No doubt about it, this one was their leader. He was followed by an entourage, who themselves were dressed and covered in jewels, but nothing was a grand and bright as the jewels and clothes on the leader's body. His cold eyes scanned over us. They rested on mine, and I stared back at him. Unflinching, the creature stared and then, as quickly as he arrived, he turned and walked away.

"As I watched, trying to determine how I was going to escape, I saw other bodies lying on the ground. It was my men who had been in the other group that had set off from the beach earlier in the day. They had been captured as well and there I was, hoping that they would return to the ship and raise the alarm that we had not returned.

“To my horror, I saw one man blink. They weren't dead, but their limbs were frozen, unable to escape while they were ceremoniously being attended to, their bodies being covered and prepared ...for sacrifice.”

Teal stopped at the sight of that word. His chest rose quickly. It was impossible! He didn’t believe it!

“They sacrificed my men and then ate them. I won't delay on those words any longer. They took my men one at a time, killed them, strung them up and ate them raw.

"I have to pause again. I have to move away and return to my whiskey that has helped me forget so much but for only limited amounts of time. I wish I could be drunk all day, every day and forget. Now that I'm sitting again with my ink stick in my hand, I remember the other little details for other travelers to remember that they might be able to use one day to kill these wretched beings off the world.

"Their civilisation is on the precipice of a hill range that begins towards the back of the island. When you travel to the back of the island, there are three smaller islands that wrap around the first larger one and from what I could see, they were also teeming with these beings. They are sophisticated. They have social order, their own language, their own ruling system.

"On the last night when all of my men were dead and only myself remained, their leader came to me. He carried my body under his arm, his strength so unlike anything I have ever felt, me a big burly pirate. The shame! There would have been no chance for me to fight against him. He took me back to the surface of that mountain and there, he let me go.”

Teal stopped, his breath caught in his throat and in his peripheral vision, he caught the Emperor and Jale share a glance. They waited patiently.

"He didn't attack. Instead, his eyes glowed blue. And then, he simply looked at me, dead in the eyes. He showed me his teeth, pulling his lips back and hissed. I cowered on the spot, but this creature did not hurt me. He turned in the opposite direction, turning back to the jungle. He didn't look back, he just kept going until the jungle swallowed him up and he was gone.

"I feared it a trap. I didn't know what kind of horror waited for me if I dared to re-enter that forest, but what else was I expected to do but to run for my life. Starving and desperate, I dared to climb and in my weakened state, I tumbled to the ground. I expected to be pounced on, to have them grab me and slit my throat and to eat me just like my men. But they didn't. No one came out of the trees to find me.

"They had gone. I was alone, so I ran. As fast as my stiff and cramped legs could carry me, I ran. I stumbled over roots and rocks, but I continued using the tallest peak as my guide to find the shore where I prayed my ship would still be waiting for me. And I wondered, just as I had when I had been a prisoner, why had my men who had stayed on the ship, not come to search for us?

"I ran and I ran, and by the time night was drawing in, I stumbled out onto the beach to find with all the relief in my heart, that my ship was still standing in the bay. I screamed and shouted as I ran to the water for someone to see me, for someone to come and get me.

“No one answered. Exhausted but desperate, I ran to the water and began to swim. My heart was not going to give up. I was going to make it. I was not going to look back. The anchor was still down, and if I could just reach and use that as my way to climb back onto my ship, I would.

"It took time. Most of it, I floated on my back swaying my hands to guide me in the right direction while I tried to preserve my energy. It is true what they say, that when your life is threatened, when you are in mortal danger, a man is capable of amazing things because finally, I made it to the anchor. My lungs were burning, my body weak. I screamed some more and still no one answered. I cursed inside my head, and I cursed out loud as to what I was going to do with the men who were ignoring my cries for help.

"I honestly don't know how I managed it. A fire was burning through my body by then, and I had the strongest will to survive. I climbed and I climbed up the chain. Occasionally I slipped, but my hands managed to regrip. I finally reached the top and scrambled my way over the side. I collapsed onto the deck and I..."

Teal stopped reading his eyes having already skimmed ahead. The Emperor and Jale leaned forward.

"What is it?" Jale asked.

"Keep going," the Emperor stated and for the first time, there was a hint of a warning in his voice.

Teal looked up. His mouth was dry in the horror of what he was about to say.

"They were all dead," he whispered.

They were silent until the Emperor simply motioned with his hand for Teal to continue.

Teal turned his head back to the page and read, his voice barely a whisper.

"There were bloodied rotting bodies all over the deck. There was not a single living person within range. The smell of the dead lingered and filled my senses, and I dry retched. To this day, I do not know why they ate the men in my company and slaughtered the men on my ship instead. From the looks of things, my crew had put up a good fight as their bodies were strewn all over the deck of the ship. There was not one sign of the monsters who had attacked us.

"In hindsight, I didn't even check to see if there was anyone below. I turned to wind the anchor and dropped the main sail to get as fast as I could away from the shore. The wind was on my side and my ship slowly moved away. I remember looking back at that island, to see if they were watching me. My eyes didn't fall on a single soul but they were there. I know it. They were watching me, making sure I truly left and leave I did, sure that I would never return."

Teal set the book down quietly on the table as he reached the end of the chapter. He reached for his glass of water and finished it off. He didn’t want to look either of the men before him in the eye.