Chapter 19
Nene yawned as she rose from her sleep and stretched. Rubbing the sand from her eyes, she looked around and her eyes widened as the entire dome seemed to be covered by whirling sand. She got to her feet in a hurry and approached the barrier. As she tried to touch it, a scrambling sound could be heard and an ugly thing crashed against it, prompting a surprised yelp. The dust mephit shook its head, hovered off the ground and flew off. She yelped again when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Surprised?" asked Doris as she smiled at her before looking outside in amazement, "I heard of sandstorms like this but it is another thing entirely to see it with your own eyes… We may have to wait for a while."
One by one, the others woke up as sand scratched and the odd piece of stone scratching the tiny hut. Everyone waited patiently for the sandstorm to end. It didn't end but instead moved off. Nene could have sworn she saw a pair of glowing, yellow eyes staring at the dome at one point. Just as the storm cleared up, a large piece of ruin suddenly slammed on the top of the dome. The barrier didn't break, but Doris urged everyone to pack up and get ready to move.
As the sandstorm moved away, revealing clear skies, Doris ordered, "Alright, get out of the area please."
The party and the porter moved outside, and after making sure they had cleared the hut, she stepped out after them. The shimmering dome winked out of existence and the ruined piece, a broken part of a pillar, crashed to the ground unhindered.
The mermaid turned to them with a smile and said, "Well, let us continue. Huan Tuo awaits."
And so, they continued on their journey to the port city. The sun rose higher by afternoon and the triton's water intake increased, already going through two waterskins. As the walk continued, Nene said, "Erm, am I seeing things? Is someone approaching us?"
"You are not seeing things," replied Lamy as she wiped her brow, "It looks like a merchant of sorts."
As both sides neared each other, the group saw that it was a lizardman with a large pack with several things hanging off it. When he spotted them, he called out, "I greet you, travellersss. Do you wish to perussse my waresss?"
The group looked at each other in confusion. Then, Lamy spoke up, "Forgive me for saying this, but what? We are on our way to Huan Tuo, we are hot and tired, and you wish us to peruse your wares?"
He shrugged and said, "You are confusssed. That much isss underssstandable. Sssurely you can ssee that by being a ssseller of waresss, one mussst take all chancesss to make a sssale."
"Alright, alright, no need to fight," interrupted Polka before the cleric could say anything else, "Here, let me see."
"But of courssse," he replied with a pleased tone as he unshouldered his pack of knick-knacks.
"Go on ahead," she urged the others, "I'll catch up, no worries."
Getting nods from the others, they went on their way as the monk looked into his pack. True to her words, she did catch up eventually.
"So, what did you get?" asked Botan.
"Ah, I got this," she stated as she held up her purchase. It was a small glass jar with a large stopper. In it was a viscous white ointment that seemed to have several odd chunks of dubious origin in it. "He said it's some sort of healing ointment for burns from some far off jungle," she continued to explain, "It's supposed to be really good, but the way he said it… I'm not sure if he said the truth or not."
"Eh… we'll see about that... if we get into a fight," muttered the archer with disbelief.
Thankfully, they didn't have to try out the ointment as nothing else tried to attack them. After the sun started to drop down from its apex in the sky, they eventually saw the city in the distance. It was still far away but it gladdened their hearts to see it. However, a few miles down the road, Lamy thought she saw something sticking out of the sand. She thought nothing of it but then Botan pointed it out.
"It looks like a hand," she stated, "Let's go and see if anyone needs help."
The whole party then detoured over. They discovered a hand made of wood and metal.
"Er, what is that?" asked Polka in confusion.
"I… think I've seen this kind of thing before..." muttered Nene with a furrowed brow.
"Ah, Rikka!" exclaimed Doris, "I believe we should dig him out."
"Eh? Dig him out?" repeated the puzzled monk.
"Oh, yeah, Rikka… yeah, we better dig him out," agreed the lore bard as she motioned the others to help her, "Come on, let's do this."
The monk just shrugged and joined in. With many hands helping, the owner of the hand was dug out in no time. It was a warforged made of yellow-tinged stone with some brown leather-like substance visible in some places. It wore a set of steel plates over its shoulders and right side of the body. Slowly, as its upper body was revealed through the digging, its empty eye sockets suddenly glowed blue and it said hoarsely, "...Oof, how long have I been asleep?"
"Hello, sir. What is your name?" asked Lamy.
"Oh, my name is designated Alfa-Romeo-Charlie, ARC for short," he stated calmly, "I was a guard in a caravan but I was separated from it during a bad sandstorm. I decided to shut down functions to save energy while awaiting rescue. Were you sent by them?"
They looked at each other and Aloe said, "We weren't? How long ago- hmm, you probably don't know how long ago."
"Indeed. I admit I do not know how long it has been," he stated as he climbed out of the sand, "Perhaps I can make it to the city and find my team." He had a shield on one arm and a longsword in its scabbard.
"You are welcome to join us," invited Doris, "We are heading to Huan Tup ourselves."
"Ah, you are too kind, miss," he replied as he took stock of the situation, "Very well. I shall join you and escort you to the city." He then saluted, a fist slamming his chest.
The port city of Huan Tuo was a welcome stop. ARC said his goodbye and went off in search of his team. The party then went to the harbourmaster to ask about a ship.
"Sir, is the Deep Sea in the docks?" asked Doris, much to everyone else's surprise.
The greying man scanned the book and nodded, "It is. I believe the captain is expecting you."
"Thank you very much," she said happily before leading the party out.
"Is that the name of your ship?" asked Polka as the mermaid led them down to the docks.
"No. That… Deep Sea belongs to a… friend," she replied mysteriously.
They found the boat. It was a sailing ship on the smaller side, pear-shaped to hold more cargo and mangonel removed in favor of a second mast for more sailing speed. The captain, a more fish-like triton, greeted them from the ship with a wave and ordered the sailors to lower the gangplank.
"Good to see you again, princess," he greeted Doris as she was the first to step on the ship.
"Princess?" repeated the others in confusion.
"Ah… I never told them, Calixes," the mermaid muttered with a blush.
"Ah… apologies… urm, well, the guest cabin is ready for you. The others… well, I did not expect so many. I suppose you can discuss amongst yourselves your sleeping arrangements," he informed them, "I will let everyone know when we reach Colch Island. If you would follow me."
"Very well. Please give me a moment," stated the supposed princess as she had the porter that accompanied them the whole time to leave her travel chest on the deck. She then proceeded to dismiss him while paying a little extra for his services.
Then, Captain Calixes led them down to the lower deck to the back of the ship. There were four doors there, one with a red cross on it.
"Right, the one with the cross belongs to the ship's doctor," he explained to them, "The other three are the guest rooms. The left one was supposed to be set aside for the princess… ahem, now, I shall leave the decision up to you. I have a ship I need to run. Good day, ladies."
After he left, the party discussed sleeping arrangements. In the end, Lamy stayed with Doris, Polka and Botan shared a room, and that left Aloe and Nene in the last room. Then...
"Before we talk of anything else, do you have anything to tell us, Doris?" asked Lamy.
"Well… I am the princess of Leviathis," she confessed, "I came to the surface world to… satisfy my curiosity so to say, as well as to foster good relations with the surface. I do hope you can forgive me for not telling anyone of my status."
"...to be honest, your friends probably won't care much for your status," stated Nene, "They… we are your friends because of you, not your status."
"Ah… thank you, friends," she replied gratefully, looking quite relieved.
They then decided to take a nap until dinner time. However, halfway through their nap time, they were awoken by loud knocks on their doors. They quickly filed out of their cabins to face the captain.
"If any of you know healing spells, we could use them," he told them with a stern voice, "We are nearing a merchant ship under attack by pirates. The pirates seem to have won and we are rescuing the survivors while they are busy plundering the ship."
"Come friends, we must help them," urged the mermaid before leading the rest to the upper deck.
The crew of the ship had already rescued ten survivors, which included two of the merchant guards. Botan offered to be a lookout while the others made use of the healing potions they had in their packs to heal and the remaining water in their waterskins to hydrate. Polka was immediately impressed when she used the mysterious ointment on the only burn victim rescue, which magically restored most of the damaged skin.
Meanwhile, Captain Calixes stepped next to the archer and asked, "The ships still there?"
"Yeah, but I think the pirates are letting the merchant boat burn up," she guessed as she kept watch. The black flag had a heart outlined in white with the inner part colored black and white. An arrow pierced its center while a grinning skull was displayed in the forefront. After a while, it slowly sailed away, leaving the burning ship that slowly sank into the sea.
"Tch, Houshou pirates," muttered the captain before spitting on the deck, "If only someone would take them out." He then moved on to direct the crew.
After assuring the survivors of their safety, they were moved down to the hold. The ship still needed to get to Colch Island for them to get some relief for them. During dinner time, supplies were stretched a little thin, even after a few hours of fishing beforehand. And before sleep, Doris, Nene, and Aloe went down into the hold and sang a few songs for them to keep their spirits up.
The island of Colch was a circular island born from a volcano. The volcano itself has been dead for quite a while, but the village stemming from its foot did not. Its inhabitants were at first a few, but after making contact with the undersea city in the ocean depths, It grew to a respectable size. It was now a mixed village of land dwellers and curious sea dwellers that wanted to know more about living on land. In addition to the tritons in the sea, there was an atoll nearby that housed a colony of sea elves that were friendly to them as well. Relations were peaceful and harmonious.
This is what greeted the passengers when they disembarked on the wooden harbor. A wide array of open wooden houses spread from the beach towards the foot of the hill. It didn't go that far as the island was not very large, but big enough to support the village. The party could see small huts on the side of the mountain surrounded by vegetable plots.
"Ah, welcome to Colch Island. Peaceful place," stated the captain as he turned to the party, "I already sent some of my boys ahead to let them know of our survivors. No worries. They'll be taken care of and we'll send them back to the mainland free of charge."
"Thank you, captain," said Doris gratefully before regrouping with the party at the other end of the gangplank. "Alright, first we go to the inn," she stated. Nobody questioned her and the party headed to the local inn, Fish and Ships. Strangely, she paid for one room for one week. Then, she had everyone store all but their most essential equipment there. After that, they headed straight for the harbor once more.
As they stopped in front of the ship, she asked Botan and Polka to pick up her travel chest. She then declared, "Okay, if everyone is ready, we can go to the undersea city."
"Eh, how do we do that?" questioned Botan, "I don't think any of us has any experience swimming or can breathe underwater."
"Ah, there will be no difficulty at all," the mermaid stated as she headed towards the end of the pier. She then dove in.
The others hurried over and found her floating in the clear water with a fish tail, her blue scales gleaming beautifully. She then lifted her sea-green trident, twirled it around, and thrust it into the air while shouting something they didn't understand. Shimmering streams of white motes of light spilled out and swirled around her in a large sphere before disappearing.
She then said, "Jump in! And bring the chest with you! Do not worry! All is well."
The party stared at the confident mermaid and then looked at each other. As if in silent agreement, they jumped in as well. The archer and the monk tossed the chest into the water before diving after them. They held their breath as they went in but they were astonished when they got within the sphere's influence. Ethereal fishtails appeared from their behinds and as Polka yelled in surprise and let go of her held breath, she found that she could breathe normally.
"See? All is well," stated Doris with a smile.
It took a while, but eventually, everyone got used to their new situation and followed after Doris as she swam out of the deeper regions. Deeper they went and slowly the city came into view. Built of a mix of coral and stone, the buildings were in a remarkably ordered arrangement with a palace at the far end of the city. As they neared the gates, two triton guards stopped them.
"Halt, do you have anything to declare?" asked the one with a large fin running over the top of his head. The other, with seaweed-like hair, just looked on stoically.
Doris just smiled and said, "I am glad my guards are as vigilant as ever. Do you not recognize me?"
After peering more closely, he smiled and said, "Welcome back, princess. But, I insist on asking, do you have anything to declare?"
"Only my belongings that I brought with me and several friends," she replied, motioning behind her.
He gave them a cursory glance, his eyes narrowing a little when he saw the succubus, but said, "Very well, princess. Welcome back to Leviathis. I… highly suggest you head straight for the palace. Things are not well."
"Why? What happened in the time I was away?" asked the mermaid princess worriedly.
"Your father is gravely ill, princess. Go to him. He may not have long."
She immediately tossed her trident to Botan and sped off towards the palace.
AN: Hello, readers. Welcome to the next chapter. Time to finish crossing the desert. On the way, Polka decided to buy something from a traveling salesman and the party rescued a caravan guard. Nothing too difficult. Then, upon reaching Huan Tuo, they got on the Deep Sea, a ship belonging to someone familiar to the princess. Once more, they rescued more people, this time victims of a pirate attack. Doesn't the flag look familiar? Hmm...
And now time to go home... to some most troubling news. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.