Red / THE MAJOR'S QUEST / 14

Chapter Five

The Major's Voyage

"Sir? You're needed. Sir!"

Kane opened his eyes to see his right hand man standing above him, and stood up. "What is it, Santos?" he asked.

Santos motioned to the bilge that lay at the bottom of the ship. "They're calling for you. They won't stay quiet any longer."

Kane sighed. He wished he didn't have to go down to the bilge, but it seemed that he couldn't avoid it any longer. He grabbed a nearby oil lamp and walked down the rusty steps of the ship that had been corroded by the salty seawater, and into the dark, cold bilge.

He stepped down into the water that sloshed about on the floor of the bilge, which rose to the ankles of his boots. Walking over to the far end of the bilge, the Major could hear voices shouting. He sighed and took a deep breath. "Silence!" he boomed, his voice echoing through the bilge. The voices died down, and he walked closer to where the voices came from. Major Kane lit his oil lamp, and a candle light burned, illuminating the bilge.

Numerous mermen were trapped in cages, crammed and partially submerged in the water through holes created in the bilge floor with nets extending over the holes. Water filled the cages, allowing the merfolk to live underwater while still trapped in the ship.

"Why have you called for me?" Kane asked, hoping that it wouldn't take long. Among the many mermen, one pressed forward through the crowd, and the Major looked at him.

The merman was an elderly one, and had a long white beard, steely eyes, and short hair. He also had a rather impressive and muscular frame for someone his age.

"What is your name?" Kane asked the merman.

"Triton, King of Atlantica."

Immediately, Kane recognized the name. Triton? The legendary son of Poseidon? He had King Triton from the kingdom of Atlantica trapped on his ship? It was almost impossible to believe. Ever since he had started his quest, and even before he had ventured to Motunui, the Major and his mercenaries had been capturing merfolk from the various underwater kingdoms across the ocean as a part of his grand scheme. They had used large nets to ambush the merfolk and reeled them in, and among them, apparently Major Kane had ensnared the fabled King Triton.

"Why have you captured us merfolk? We've done nothing to you. Release us now, before this goes too far." King Triton demanded.

Kane looked at Triton sympathetically. "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I need you all here for a reason. Bear with me, this will all be over soon."

"Reason? What reason?" Triton bellowed. "We deserve to know what's going on!"

"You're in no position to be making demands, Triton." the Major pointed out. "You may be king in your domain, but here on my ship, I'm in charge." The Major turned around, and began to walk away. "Try to make yourselves comfortable, this will all be over soon." He climbed the stairs back up to the deck of the ship to find Santos and a few other mercenaries talking amongst themselves.

Santos saw the Major approaching and motioned for his comrades to keep silent. "What did they want, Sir?" Santos asked.

"Release." Kane replied, snuffing out the candlelight from his oil lamp. "As do the rest of us." He sat down on his chair, staring out into the great blue sea that lay in front of him.

Santos looked at the Major, who obviously didn't want to hold a conversation, and motioned to the other mercenaries to leave. "Not you." Kane looked at one of his lieutenants that was among the mercenaries. "The rest of you may go." Santos and the rest of the mercenaries knelt with their right knee on the ground, and crossed their right fist to the opposite shoulder, and departed hastily before their master changed his mind.

"Sir, what do you want with me?" the lieutenant asked.

Major Kane got up from his chair, his back facing him, seemingly ignoring the question. For a few seconds, it seemed like the Major had suddenly become deaf, but then he spoke. "The others tell me you gave the green light to start firing on the villagers. Is that true?"

The man's heart sank, unable to come up with a suitable response.

"Remind me again, what were my orders before we reached Motunui?"

The man swallowed hard. "Deter, but do not kill the innocents."

"Then why were there hundreds of bodies strewn across the beach?" Major Kane asked calmly, his back still facing the mercenary as he looked out at the ocean.

The lieutenant gulped. "I'm sorry, Sir."

The Major turned and walked towards him. "Those villagers were innocent. If we kill women, children and the unarmed, then aren't we nothing more than just extremists? Would you defile my crusade and turn it into nothing more than mindless terror attacks?" The Major towered over the mercenary with his fist clenched.

The lieutenant glanced down to see the totem on the Major's ring finger glowing red. "It won't happen again, Sir." He bowed his head, with one knee to the ground, his right fist crossing over to the opposite shoulder.

Kane looked down at him with disgust. "For your sake, I hope it doesn't." Kane's voice was dark and ominous, sending a chill down the mercenary's spine.

He got up, avoiding eye contact with the Major, and walked away quickly.

Sitting down, Kane exhaled. All he wanted from Motunui was the snake totem, no one had to perish, yet so many had died horrible deaths. He had vowed that he would only kill when it was absolutely necessary. Wait, but that wasn't true was it? He had killed one of the villagers in cold blood. The villager had stabbed him first though, so was it really his fault that he killed the man? He didn't have to retaliate against the villager. The man's attempt was unsuccessful so did he really have to kill him? No. It was an act of sheer malice, and Kane was ashamed of that. He was just glad that none of his own mercenaries had witnessed him murder the villager. In a way, as he was chastising his lieutenant, he was really chastising himself.

However, a tiny part of him had actually felt a sweet release when he had killed the man, and he was horrified at himself. It was a bloodlust that he had to find a way to get rid of somehow. He was going to make it a top priority to get rid of the bloodlust because he certainly could not afford to let the bloodlust cloud his judgement and tempt him to murder more people needlessly. Yes, he swore that he would kill when he absolutely needed to, but nothing more than that. Major Kane looked out at the ocean. Although there was turmoil within, he had hoped that he could calm the storm within by enjoying the peaceful waters on the way to his destination. The sound of the ocean reminded him of where he came from, before all this.

His family lived in a village next to the ocean when he was just a little boy. He couldn't remember much about his father though, since his father had spent most of his time away in the military. When he was six, his village received news that the soldiers that had gone out to battle had been caught in an ambush and that some had died. The young Kane had waited anxiously for his father to return, but after months of waiting and seeing other soldiers return home to their families, he and his family had accepted the fact that Kane's father had died in the ambush. Kane's mother turned to alcoholism to cope with the loss of her husband, and had often abused the boy and his siblings. As the family had depended on the man as the sole breadwinner, they were poverty-stricken as there was no one in the family who worked to earn a living, and so, when Kane turned nine, he started to work in the village.

The young Kane did small jobs like delivering goods and washing clothes, and when he grew older, he worked in the paddy fields as a farmer's assistant. When he turned eighteen, Kane enlisted into the army like his father before him, hoping to make a real difference. It took him a long time, but the young man eventually earned the rank of Major, a middle grade officer in the military. He fell in love with a woman from the village, and had two children, a boy and a girl. Major Kane remembered their faces, and smiled. His family was the only thing that had truly brought him joy. However, like his own father, Major Kane was often away from the village on military operations, and he felt the pangs of guilt for not being present enough in the early years of his children's lives.

One day, due to a lack of a junior officer in the company, the Major was attached to a naval mission as part of a joint-force initiative between the army and the navy, and had to sail out to sea to personally lead the mission against their enemies. Out at sea, he missed his family even more, and constantly dealt with homesickness. A week after he had embarked on the mission, he received word that the village where his family lived had been attacked by terrorists and burnt to the ground, leaving no survivors. Kane was completely crushed. He still remembered the exact feeling when he had received the news about his family's death, even though it had happened close to five years ago. It was a feeling that he would carry with him to the grave.

"Sir."

Kane was ripped from his deep thoughts and looked up in annoyance. "What is it, Santos?"

"Just wanted to inform you, Sir, we'll only arrive in Agrabah tomorrow morning." Kane looked out at the horizon. He could see nothing but ocean stretched out like a blue carpet in front of him.

"When it's time, gather the troops."

"As you wish." Santos bowed, and hurried down to the ship quarters to gather the mercenaries.

Major Kane looked out at the ocean. Soon, it would be time for the next leg of his quest to begin.

###

Elsa sat in the ship, unable to believe that just a day ago, she had a peaceful life up in the North Mountain, away from everyone and everything. The Princess from Denmark, Melody, had managed to convince her to embark on a journey with her and the self-proclaimed demigod to stop a warlord called "Major Kane". They had travelled back to Arendelle from the North Mountain and took one of Arendelle's cargo ships. The demigod had tied the ship to his body and transformed himself into a whale, dragging the ship quickly across the ocean. She couldn't believe that this was the crazy world she lived in now. Demigods and warlords. Then again, she had powers of her own, so what right did she have to be surprised?

However, Elsa couldn't really understand why Melody and the demigod had sought her out for this journey, other than the fact that she had powers that could be used against their enemies. Why her though? Surely there had to be better options out there. They were now travelling through the North Atlantic Ocean towards their destination on the other side of the world. Melody had told Elsa that they first needed to travel to one of the islands of Hawaii to rescue a specific girl who was stranded before they could begin to confront the Major. She wasn't even sure who this "Major Kane" was and why they were going to confront him, as Melody had told her that she would leave the explaining to the demigod, but he had transformed into a whale and hadn't explained anything to her since they embarked on their journey. So now, Elsa was stuck in a ship travelling across the world to face a danger that she didn't even know when all she wanted to do was to hole herself up in her private sanctuary and brood for days on end. She sighed. There was a tiny part of her that felt that maybe it would have been better if she had just stayed up in the North Mountain.

"How are you holding up?"

Elsa was jolted from her thoughts, and she glanced up to see Melody standing in front of her with a concerned look on her face. "Fine, I guess." Elsa lied with a straight face. "Any idea when we're gonna get to our destination? Wherever that is?"

"Motunui, I think." Melody replied. "And no, only Maui can answer that. How much further, Maui?" she called out to Maui who was towing the ship behind him rapidly.

"Don't know why, but I'm feeling some resistance! Could get a little rough!" Maui hollered above the splashing of the water against the sides of the ship.

Melody rolled her eyes. Maui didn't even answer her question. After they had returned to Arendelle from the North Mountains, Maui had suggested taking a ship and towing it across the ocean. While Melody had sworn never to take a ride from Maui ever again, the ship didn't seem like such a bad idea. Besides, it was pretty much the only way they were going to get to Motunui quickly. And safely.

Suddenly, the ship lurched violently and came to an abrupt stop, and both Melody and Elsa were thrown from their spots to the ship's deck.

"Hey, what's going on?" Melody shouted, getting up from the deck and running over to the side of the ship, looking down at Maui who had stopped.

"I don't know what happened. I can't move any further!" Maui replied in confusion.

"Look!" Elsa cried, joining Melody at the side of the ship, pointing at the water. "The water's turning black!"

Maui and Melody looked at the water, and true enough, the water was darkening and slowly turning black.

"Great. We're stranded in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle." Maui muttered. "Should have known better than to cut straight through the most dangerous waters in the world."

Upon seeing the waters turn ink black, Melody took off her leather jacket, passing it to Elsa, and undid her ponytail, letting her hair loose.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, visibly confused.

She ignored Elsa's question. She didn't have time to explain. Climbing the beam, she stood precariously on the edge. "Maui, get back on the ship with Elsa. I'll handle this."

Now, Maui was equally confused. "What do you mean 'you'll handle this'? What, you're gonna dive down into the ocean and find out what's causing this?" Maui asked in a joking tone.

Melody ignored him as well, and grasped the locket around her neck. It glowed golden and the rays engulfed Melody, causing her to levitate a few feet above the beam.

Maui and Elsa shielded their eyes, unsure of what they were witnessing.

The light faded, revealing Melody with her salmon pink tail, and she dived into the ocean, disappearing below the dark waters, much to the shock of Elsa and Maui. As Melody dived deeper below the surface, the waters started to become clearer. Looking up, she could see that the surface was covered in inky water, but she was sure that that was not the only thing stopping them from moving. Something more sinister was at play here. She had heard about the Bermuda Triangle before and the many disappearances of ships in the region, but she had always dismissed it as myth. Now, she was experiencing it first hand.

Melody looked around at her surroundings. The waters felt so much more unfriendly compared to Atlantica. Everything seemed dingy and run down. It definitely wasn't a city, that was for sure. There were no merpeople or sea creatures anywhere, save for only a few crabs lurking around the seabed. It seemed that she didn't have many options. She swam down towards the seabed where the crabs were loitering. "Excuse me, can anyone tell me why ships magically disappear in this part of the ocean?" Melody asked, and the crabs jumped.

"A mermaid? We don't see you merfolk often in these parts." One of the crabs marvelled.

"Yeah, and why is that?" Melody probed further, attempting to solicit an answer that would point her in the right direction.

"Word is that it's those sea witches."

Sea witches? Melody hadn't heard of them for a long time. "These sea witches, they control the waters around here?"

The crabs nodded, evidently trying to avoid talking too much about the sea witches.

"Where can I find them?" Melody asked, and the crabs looked mortified.

"Kid, you don't want to do that. Stay away from those octopids in the Dark Zone. They're bad news."

Melody knew all too well what octopids were capable of. "Look, it's important. If you could just point me to this Dark Zone?"

The crabs looked at each other, and pointed towards at a shadowy area across a nearby reef.

"Thanks." Melody swam towards the reef and peered over it, surveying the Dark Zone. It looked abandoned, like a No Man's Land. Stuck in the seabed was a plank of wood with the words "Go away" scratched on it. It was highly likely that no living creature would pass through the area if they could help it. However, Melody knew she didn't have a choice. If she wanted the ship to be free to continue its voyage, she had to cross into the Dark Zone to bargain with the sea witches to free her vessel. The last time she had dealt with a sea witch was six years ago, and she had changed a lot since then. She was certain that she would not allow any sea witch to get the better of her ever again.

Melody crossed over the reef and into the zone. So far, she hadn't seen any octopids around. Maybe the Dark Zone wasn't as dangerous as the crabs had made it out to be. She swam over to one of the caves nearby, hoping to find signs of life inside. She hesitated, before heading into the drab cave. Unbeknownst to her, a figure lurked in the shadows, staring at her with piercing turquoise eyes. Melody swam through the cave's passageway, leading out into a huge gloomy cavern. It looked like a home, with shelves and plates and all, but no one was around. Maybe this was a mistake. She had broken into a sea witch's home, and things could get ugly if she was found intruding. Melody turned around to leave before she was spotted by anyone, but was slapped across the cheek by a long blue tentacle and sent reeling across the large cave.