p dir="ltr"On the list of dumb, idiot choices Dark has made thus far. Attempting to escape via a rowboat-out on the emocean/em-was definitely in the top ten. Right under trying to use magic to shave. And only because he hadn't spilt any blood, yet./p
p dir="ltr"Really though, what other choice did he have? No doubt if he had attempted to fight off all those pirates he would have failed. Badly. And been wounded. Maybe even killed. Or worse. It was either this or going with them willingly. Going with emWilford/em./p
p dir="ltr"Yeah, like he'd go with the man who poisoned and tricked him. At least that fiasco with Anti made sense now. Wilford never wanted to emkill/em him, he wanted to kidnap him. Still, as relieved he was to learn the man wasn't out for his blood, he was still a damn empirate/em. Who knew what else he or his crew wouldn't mind doing after they nabbed him./p
p dir="ltr"Alright, so maybe all the books in the royal library were biased./p
p dir="ltr"Regardless, Dark would rather chance drowning./p
p dir="ltr"He was lucky there wasn't a nasty storm tonight./p
p dir="ltr"Unluckily he left his coat on the docks when he ran. He could have used it for some shade. For when the sun was still high in the sky. Yet here he sat, leaning against the wooden seat with pink cheeks and sweat drenched clothes. His mother would have fainted if she saw him now. She never wanted to see him getting any more of those "heinous spots" from being out in the sun so long./p
p dir="ltr"Dark liked his freckles. And it felt so good to not have to hide them anymore. No more disgusting powder. Or glamour stones./p
p dir="ltr"It was freeing./p
p dir="ltr"What a shame it was that he was stuck on this dingey little boat, with a high chance of him starving or going mad./p
p dir="ltr"His magic could only take him so far, and he didn't want to use it all up. What if there was an emergency? He should save it up until then./p
p dir="ltr"-br /It was nightfall of the second day he had been out at sea. Dark was hungry. Turns out trying to catch a fish with a hidden knife didn't fair so well. He was also thirsty. So much water and not an ounce to drink. He knew the salt would only dehydrate him even more so./p
p dir="ltr"He also managed to lose a paddle./p
p dir="ltr"The fates loved toying with him, didn't they? Even now./p
p dir="ltr"Dark was jolted awake by the tiny boat rocking. Not the gentle to and fro of the waves. It was as though something had bumped against it./p
p dir="ltr"At first he thought perhaps those pirates had found him. Then his mind went to sharks./p
p dir="ltr"And then, oh then, he heard laughter./p
p dir="ltr"Not a ship nor land in sight, yet he heard it. Clear as day. It was chilling./p
p dir="ltr"Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe it was just the afterthoughts of a dream still lingering in his mind./p
p dir="ltr"But Dark heard it again. And with the moon shining high above the water, he could juuuust make out a vague shape breaking the surface./p
p dir="ltr"Oh, he did not like this./p
p dir="ltr"He raised his cane, holding up a hand as red and blue lit up across his palm. It was just enough light for him to make out what he was seeing./p
p dir="ltr""Jim!"/p
p dir="ltr"Jim?/p
p dir="ltr""Jim! emThis/em boat Jim glows!" Gasped the merman, now grasping the side of Dark's tiny vessel. So excited that he nearly capsized him. The prince was astonished. He's never seen a merman before. A live one anyhow. He's seen a emtaxidermy/em one. It looked awful and grotesque compared to the real thing. This specimen, true to many of the books he's read, had the upper body of a man and the lower half of a fish./p
p dir="ltr"Dark could make out blue scales, gills. The works. And claws. Claws that could easily filet him if they wanted. But they didn't./p
p dir="ltr"This little group seemed more curious than anything. All chit chatty, poking at the prince from all sides and darting back under the water whenever he turned to look at them directly./p
p dir="ltr""Playful little bunch, aren't you?" he commented./p
p dir="ltr""Yes! Jim, Jim and Jim, and emJim/em are emvery/em playful!" that was a lot of Jims./p
p dir="ltr""Are... are you all named Jim?"/p
p dir="ltr"The mermen shared some curious looks, one eventually swimming nearer to speak directly to him, "No? emJim/em is Jim."/p
p dir="ltr""... Right, my apologies." he never read anything about mermaid culture, or linguistics. Or anything of the sort. Didn't think he'd ever need to./p
p dir="ltr"It was quiet for a few moments. All the while the cogs were turning. Didn't he read that mermaids loved to collect shiny bits and bobbles? He was sure he did. Fairytale or not, maybe it had some truth to it?/p
p dir="ltr""Say," he started, "you wouldn't happen to know where the nearest bit of land in-" he pointed out on the horizon, in the opposite direction of his homeland. "-that direction is?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yes-" one bleated, immediately silenced by a hiss and a wet slap of a tail against his side./p
p dir="ltr""emNo/em." the merman corrected, shooting the one who spoke a warning glare. This one seemed to be one of the eldest, sporting shinier, brighter blue scales. There was another who looked about the same age, with two thick gray bands of color covering all the way from his shoulders and fading down to his striking blue tail. He was going to call this one "striped Jim"./p
p dir="ltr"Dark wasn't convinced in the slightest. These mermen were flashy, they couldn't survive nearly as long as they have out in the open ocean. They'd stick out like a sore thumb. They had to be living in shallower waters./p
p dir="ltr""Oh?" he looked down, the buttons of his shirt becoming more and more interesting as time went on. "Are you certain?" he asked, thumbing the delicately carved silver material. He would hate to ruin such brilliant craftsmanship, but it was necessary. "Such a shame. And I had one, two-emfour/em buttons for the lot of you, to exchange too." Dark sighed, rolling one of the buttons between his fingers./p
p dir="ltr"It didn't take long for him to convince the Jims to help him out after that./p
p dir="ltr"It did, however, take them nearly all night to reach land. To reach their cove. The bright one didn't seem too happy about it, almost grumpy. But Dark was too eager to reach land to care./p
p dir="ltr"He was tired, hungry, and damn thirsty. By the time they reached the cove the sun was beginning to rise. Down four silver buttons, Dark tumbled out of his boat into knee deep water. Too shallow for the Jims to push him further. He trudged on, until he met with the dry land./p
p dir="ltr"It was there that he decided to lay. Well up on the bank, resting against an oddly shaped rock jutting out of the earth. Just below a shady tree./p
p dir="ltr"Damn the ocean. Damn the sun's rays. Damn this terrible gnawing feeling in his gut./p
p dir="ltr"Was this what starving felt like? Like his insides were trying to do him in? He hated it. But as much as he would love to satisfy his hunger, he needed to rest first. No use overexerting himself in this state./p
p dir="ltr"Maybe once he woke up he'd discover it was all a dream./p
p dir="ltr"And he'd wake back in his bed./p
p dir="ltr".../p
p dir="ltr"For some reason the idea made him ill./p
p dir="ltr"Really though, what other choice did he have? No doubt if he had attempted to fight off all those pirates he would have failed. Badly. And been wounded. Maybe even killed. Or worse. It was either this or going with them willingly. Going with emWilford/em./p
p dir="ltr"Yeah, like he'd go with the man who poisoned and tricked him. At least that fiasco with Anti made sense now. Wilford never wanted to emkill/em him, he wanted to kidnap him. Still, as relieved he was to learn the man wasn't out for his blood, he was still a damn empirate/em. Who knew what else he or his crew wouldn't mind doing after they nabbed him./p
p dir="ltr"Alright, so maybe all the books in the royal library were biased./p
p dir="ltr"Regardless, Dark would rather chance drowning./p
p dir="ltr"He was lucky there wasn't a nasty storm tonight./p
p dir="ltr"Unluckily he left his coat on the docks when he ran. He could have used it for some shade. For when the sun was still high in the sky. Yet here he sat, leaning against the wooden seat with pink cheeks and sweat drenched clothes. His mother would have fainted if she saw him now. She never wanted to see him getting any more of those "heinous spots" from being out in the sun so long./p
p dir="ltr"Dark liked his freckles. And it felt so good to not have to hide them anymore. No more disgusting powder. Or glamour stones./p
p dir="ltr"It was freeing./p
p dir="ltr"What a shame it was that he was stuck on this dingey little boat, with a high chance of him starving or going mad./p
p dir="ltr"His magic could only take him so far, and he didn't want to use it all up. What if there was an emergency? He should save it up until then./p
p dir="ltr"-br /It was nightfall of the second day he had been out at sea. Dark was hungry. Turns out trying to catch a fish with a hidden knife didn't fair so well. He was also thirsty. So much water and not an ounce to drink. He knew the salt would only dehydrate him even more so./p
p dir="ltr"He also managed to lose a paddle./p
p dir="ltr"The fates loved toying with him, didn't they? Even now./p
p dir="ltr"Dark was jolted awake by the tiny boat rocking. Not the gentle to and fro of the waves. It was as though something had bumped against it./p
p dir="ltr"At first he thought perhaps those pirates had found him. Then his mind went to sharks./p
p dir="ltr"And then, oh then, he heard laughter./p
p dir="ltr"Not a ship nor land in sight, yet he heard it. Clear as day. It was chilling./p
p dir="ltr"Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe it was just the afterthoughts of a dream still lingering in his mind./p
p dir="ltr"But Dark heard it again. And with the moon shining high above the water, he could juuuust make out a vague shape breaking the surface./p
p dir="ltr"Oh, he did not like this./p
p dir="ltr"He raised his cane, holding up a hand as red and blue lit up across his palm. It was just enough light for him to make out what he was seeing./p
p dir="ltr""Jim!"/p
p dir="ltr"Jim?/p
p dir="ltr""Jim! emThis/em boat Jim glows!" Gasped the merman, now grasping the side of Dark's tiny vessel. So excited that he nearly capsized him. The prince was astonished. He's never seen a merman before. A live one anyhow. He's seen a emtaxidermy/em one. It looked awful and grotesque compared to the real thing. This specimen, true to many of the books he's read, had the upper body of a man and the lower half of a fish./p
p dir="ltr"Dark could make out blue scales, gills. The works. And claws. Claws that could easily filet him if they wanted. But they didn't./p
p dir="ltr"This little group seemed more curious than anything. All chit chatty, poking at the prince from all sides and darting back under the water whenever he turned to look at them directly./p
p dir="ltr""Playful little bunch, aren't you?" he commented./p
p dir="ltr""Yes! Jim, Jim and Jim, and emJim/em are emvery/em playful!" that was a lot of Jims./p
p dir="ltr""Are... are you all named Jim?"/p
p dir="ltr"The mermen shared some curious looks, one eventually swimming nearer to speak directly to him, "No? emJim/em is Jim."/p
p dir="ltr""... Right, my apologies." he never read anything about mermaid culture, or linguistics. Or anything of the sort. Didn't think he'd ever need to./p
p dir="ltr"It was quiet for a few moments. All the while the cogs were turning. Didn't he read that mermaids loved to collect shiny bits and bobbles? He was sure he did. Fairytale or not, maybe it had some truth to it?/p
p dir="ltr""Say," he started, "you wouldn't happen to know where the nearest bit of land in-" he pointed out on the horizon, in the opposite direction of his homeland. "-that direction is?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yes-" one bleated, immediately silenced by a hiss and a wet slap of a tail against his side./p
p dir="ltr""emNo/em." the merman corrected, shooting the one who spoke a warning glare. This one seemed to be one of the eldest, sporting shinier, brighter blue scales. There was another who looked about the same age, with two thick gray bands of color covering all the way from his shoulders and fading down to his striking blue tail. He was going to call this one "striped Jim"./p
p dir="ltr"Dark wasn't convinced in the slightest. These mermen were flashy, they couldn't survive nearly as long as they have out in the open ocean. They'd stick out like a sore thumb. They had to be living in shallower waters./p
p dir="ltr""Oh?" he looked down, the buttons of his shirt becoming more and more interesting as time went on. "Are you certain?" he asked, thumbing the delicately carved silver material. He would hate to ruin such brilliant craftsmanship, but it was necessary. "Such a shame. And I had one, two-emfour/em buttons for the lot of you, to exchange too." Dark sighed, rolling one of the buttons between his fingers./p
p dir="ltr"It didn't take long for him to convince the Jims to help him out after that./p
p dir="ltr"It did, however, take them nearly all night to reach land. To reach their cove. The bright one didn't seem too happy about it, almost grumpy. But Dark was too eager to reach land to care./p
p dir="ltr"He was tired, hungry, and damn thirsty. By the time they reached the cove the sun was beginning to rise. Down four silver buttons, Dark tumbled out of his boat into knee deep water. Too shallow for the Jims to push him further. He trudged on, until he met with the dry land./p
p dir="ltr"It was there that he decided to lay. Well up on the bank, resting against an oddly shaped rock jutting out of the earth. Just below a shady tree./p
p dir="ltr"Damn the ocean. Damn the sun's rays. Damn this terrible gnawing feeling in his gut./p
p dir="ltr"Was this what starving felt like? Like his insides were trying to do him in? He hated it. But as much as he would love to satisfy his hunger, he needed to rest first. No use overexerting himself in this state./p
p dir="ltr"Maybe once he woke up he'd discover it was all a dream./p
p dir="ltr"And he'd wake back in his bed./p
p dir="ltr".../p
p dir="ltr"For some reason the idea made him ill./p