Chapter Four
"Leave him Usalka."
The clipped, haughty tone and warbled accent immediately silenced the crew's riotous mirth, their captain whirling on her heels to stare down the speaker with simmering hostility in her sneering visage. Her gaze took in his confident, wide stance, the way his straight cut black coat fit his figure, the regal crest embellishing each golden button down the middle of his chest, right up to the point where it met with the, what she considered ridiculous, vibrant blue stripes of his pants. His rich, violet cape was fastened about his shoulders by gleaming golden chains that hung neatly across his collar bones. The pressed cuffs of his coat were buttoned with small, polished, amethyst cuff links that matched the myriad of jeweled rings adorning his fingers. His gaze was cold behind a pair of thickly rimmed glasses and the striking shock of violet at the front of his back swept hair only infuriated her more for what it signified. This younger troll, this impetuous, self-serving usurper had the audacity to command her before her own crew.
"I don't recall asking you to join our little search party, Eridan." Hissing through her teeth, she scowled as he swept past her, matching her gaze with an icy sneer of superiority.
"I suppose I need to remind you again, Captain Teteri, that I am in charge of this mission and you are merely the transport. Think of it this way, I snap the whip and you gallop like the well trained hoofbeast you are. Does it finally make sense now or should I give you more time to consider in the brig?" He paused on the other side of the unconscious psionic, arching a brow as he swept his gaze back and forth along his body.
"I'm well aware of your intentions and your eagerness to please his high lord Orphaner, but you forget your place too easily. I am your prince and you will show me the respect due to me by my status. You will never use my name again without the correct title and when I give you a command you will obey instantly and without open displeasure or I will have you strung up by your heels, beaten and lashed to the pegs with these filthy dust eaters for the rest of this voyage!" Visible wrath etched both the faces of the prince and the captain, fury matching fury in a maelstrom of imperious wills. Eventually, Usalka backed down, lowering her head in submission and offering a curt apology that was clearly forced.
The prince appeared satisfied, turning his attentions back to the unconscious troll at his feet. He raised his right hand, snapping his fingers and motioning toward another figure waiting at the gangplank. A stout female hurried over to him, bowing and keeping her gaze from meeting his eyes. "Kasari, it seems we have miscalculated our true target. Be that as it may, fortune was with us. You see before you the heir to the kingdom of the west. The vast desert has spat out its little prince into our waters. Take him to the brig and make absolutely certain he is restrained and pumped full of sluice. I don't want him awake before we return to Aquaria. Attend to him yourself and report to me at every moon rise." He sneered viciously around at the crew, ignoring the soft acknowledgment of his subordinate as she knelt to gather the slumbering troll in her arms and carry him back across the gangplank. She passed the sour looking captain with a brief glance and a contemptuous smirk before vanishing below decks with her burden.
Eridan took a few steps toward the gangplank, his chin raised as he glared commandingly at the crew and Usalka. His black lips curled upward over sharp rows of pointed fangs, an almost mirthful tone to his voice as he called out loudly. "Ready the ship! It's time to return home." Continuing past the captain with an unnecessary flared toss of his cape, he descended the stairs into the bowels of the ship to return to his quarters. Usalka fumed and hissed at the empty corridor he had disappeared into, turning her ire on the only target available, her prisoners.
When her rage had finally been quelled by their torment, the battered crewmen of the Puravida were barely able to stand. Pained and mostly dazed, they watched the sea trolls finish checking the ends of the ropes secured to the large rows of pegs lining the deck of the ship. Many of them lie crumpled on broken legs, others slumped with exhaustion and labored breathing against the railing, bleeding from numerous open wounds and damaged internal injuries. They called out in confusion as their captors filed below deck, sealing the doors behind them and abandoning their prisoners to the sound of soft waves and the faint whisper of the sea winds. Then the grinding sound of engines began to rumble and whirr from the bowels of the ship, alerting them that they were about to start moving. One crewman made a startling observation, grimly looking about to his comrades as the ship shuddered and quaked beneath their feet. "It's descending into the water."
The realization of their fate struck many of them cold, the panic only setting in when the chilling rush of water began frothing about at the edges of the deck railing. Some screamed as they were tossed about in the foaming suction of the current, the force of the waves flinging their tethered bodies back and forth in the swirling water. As the ship submerged completely they were dragged down, the thick braids of rope holding their bodies secure as they floated helplessly under the waves, continuously pulled deeper into the inky currents of the sea by the powerful engines of the vessel. A few tried to hold what little breath remained in their lungs, blearily watching in horror as their drowned companions were bumped against the sides of the ship, trailing colorful clouds of blood behind them. As the last crewman began to lose his sight to the blackness he noted the murky forms of large sharks approaching through the wispy trails of mingled teal, lime and brown.
Inside the ship the crew was busy keeping the engines running, monitoring the living power sources wired into their circuitry for any spikes in chemical levels that could mark over exertion or the possibility of a decrease in sluice levels. Attendants stood near with vials of the golden fluid, alert to the possible need for re-administering the thick concoction into the blood streams of their organic batteries. In the helm room the captain paced back and forth, cursing and ranting in a shrieking voice over her disgrace while her first mate silently observed her from his place at the navigational controls.
"Impudent little worm! Parading around like he has any authority. He's only prince Eridan by chance! If the Orphaner hadn't seen some disturbing resemblance between them he would still be a whimpering little wriggler begging attentions at court." She whirled toward the helm, slamming a fist against the smooth wooden surface. "He's not even competent! I've heard the stories whispered down the ranks. This is the first time he's even been allowed to attend a mission alone! To think our lord would trust him with so important a task! Of course it ended up botched! If I had been allowed the honor to lead alone we would have that heaving, old light maggot by now, not his pathetic little heir!" Usalka's fingers curled about the wheel, grasping the wood harshly enough that it shuddered and splintered under her grip.
Her first mate took a slow breath before calmly turning to meet her fiery gaze; his expression one of well-practiced caution and tolerance. "It isn't known as a certainty the gossip that travels through the courts, Captain, or have you forgotten the rumors spread in your own name?" He continued, giving her little time to rebuttal his warnings. "Be it truth or not, the prince was placed in charge and is the decreed heir to our kingdom. You would do yourself a great disservice to incur his displeasure. Should he manage to survive long enough to ascend the throne he will remember those that disgraced his honor. On that day, where would you prefer to stand?"
Narrowed eyes regarded him in silent consideration. A deep sighing of breath issued forth from the captain's lips, her venomous fury ebbing back into a tightly closed place in her mind, where she could better cultivate and brood over it in absolute solitude. "I suppose, I should be grateful for your cautionary assistance, and I will be all the more grateful that you will keep our exchanges private."
Two decks below the prince reclined in his personal quarters, absently rubbing a finger back and forth along the line of his jaw as he thought about what to do with his captive. His sire's plan had gone exceedingly well all things considered. The attack on the island city had troubled the waters of Caeciliacorinna, Red Glare had sent out her pleas for assistance and as predicted, the other kingdoms had rushed to meet with her. The only problematic bubble in the plan was that they had miscalculated what ship the Kharonii would be traveling on. Eridan wondered if perhaps the elder troll had used a land based travel method after all, but hadn't their scouts claimed to see a psionic leaving the ports with urgency?
He snorted in realization. "Those idiots must have seen the prince. You can't trust drones to have any sense of what it is their looking at half the time." Rolling his eyes, he sat up a bit in his cushioned chair and drummed a few fingers against the polished surface of his desk. "I could keep him prisoner for ransom, maybe a trade off of sorts? No, I doubt he'll agree to using that method and those floundering dirt scrapers might try to pull something. He's too important to just toss into the dungeons, someone might take an interest in him down there, he's a filthy land dweller but he's not entirely unattractive." His musings were interrupted by a measured knocking at his door. There was only one troll that ever knocked on his doors that way. It wasn't quite time for the report but he could let it slide. "Enter Kasari."
Stepping through the open doorway, the attendant offered a small bow before closing and locking the door and moving forward to stand in front of the desk. She kept her hands at her sides and her back straight as she spoke, her gaze never once lifting from the edge of the desk's smooth surface.
"I have placed the yellow blood into the brig as commanded and restrained him. Three vials of sluice have been injected into his blood stream in addition to the initial dosage he received during the seige of the land dweller's vessel." She paused at the surprised noise her prince made, carefully lifting her gaze just enough to observe his figure rise from his seat and begin pacing slowly toward one of the small windows in the far wall.
"Three vials? Why would so much be necessary? He's not very large and by looks I would wager he's at least a sweep, maybe two younger than I am. Surely three is over doing it Kasari. I wanted him to remain unconscious, not to have his brain completely addled and destroyed. He's of no use to me whatsoever if he wakes up a slobbering slug." Eridan scowled, drumming his jeweled fingers against the thick glass of his window. He observed the small forms of fish swimming silently in the ocean depths just outside the ship. It didn't make sense that so much of their controlling drug would be needed on a troll like that.
Kasari carefully cleared her throat and ventured to possibly clarify the situation. "If I may, my young lord, I believe this boy is exceptionally talented in his abilities. His psionic power was far more advanced than I have ever seen in any yellow blood of his age. According to the scouting reports we had received on him, he is considered a prodigy among the psionics. It is entirely possible that he may some day surpass the powers of his lord. Given that consideration, I do not believe that three vials will cause him any great harm."
"Surpass him you say? I want to see these reports Kasari. Bring them to me at once. If all of this is true then I may find a use for him." He waved her off with a flick of his left wrist, settling back down in his chair to pull out a faded hand drawn map of Aquaria. He had taken painstaking efforts to etch the fine details into the parchment over the span of a whole sweep. Often he had been forced to sneak away from his chambers during the rest cycle, racing through quiet streets and misty tunnels to map what he could. Once he had finished transcribing the lay of the capitol city, he had turned to his sky horse, using the powerful steed to help him navigate the out lying communities and twisting tunnels where bleary shafts of light ghosted along the rocky cavern surfaces. It had helped that during the time he was creating his map he was expected to make short journey's through out the kingdom and display himself in grandiose parades to the nobility and working class sea trolls. Whenever he had the time he would steal away from his transport or guest room, evading detection by his keepers to indulge in his personal hobby.
Now he kept the map with him at all times, often pulling it out to admire the kingdom his sire had carved out from the very stones of the sea himself. One day it would be his. One day he would take the Orphaner's place on the throne and rule, commanding the sea trolls of Aquaria at his will. If his sire's plans went accordingly then perhaps, Eridan would one day be ruler of more than just a sea kingdom. Perhaps, he would rule all of Alternia, an emperor as powerful and feared as the great Condescension had been herself in the days before the land dweller's revolt. The idea was grandiose, even for his tastes, and he found himself chewing somewhat hesitantly at his lower lip as he considered the burden of maintaining control over such a vast domain. It was difficult enough to keep Usalka and her crew in line and he didn't consider himself to be doing such a decent job of that.
There was the small slip up of their mission to consider as well. Eridan felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach as he contemplated his sire's potential reactions over their failure. "No, it will be my failure." He sighed heavily, worrying the hem of his coat between his fingers. It was never easy to meet the expectations that his lord set for him. He had struggled since the time he had been little more than a grub, desperately trying to please the troll he looked up to, admired and stood in awe of. He had learned quickly that no matter how much he aspired to follow in the Orphaner's foot steps, he could do little more than flop and flounder along behind him, constantly stumbling when he should stand firmly. He wished to be as ruthless, to have the grand plans of global conquest his sire lived and breathed, to command forces with icy superiority and calculated power, but his attempts never managed to live up to his aspirations. Even at this point in his life, when he should have little trouble commanding a vessel with only a hundred crewmen, he was tired, frustrated and more than ready to forget it all and sleep. The only thing he had managed to do was claw his way up the ranking over Usalka, and that had been immensely draining.
At the very least, they had obtained the psionic prince. Perhaps, he could convince his lord that the boy was worth keeping, if he was as powerful as Kasari claimed, then he could become a great weapon for their kingdom. Eridan wasn't entirely interested in seeing the boy become little more than a power source to be harvested for lighting cities and fueling ship engines, but it would take a great deal of persuading to change his lord's particular line of thinking with regard to the yellow blood. He seemed to hold a strange resentment for them above all other land dwellers. Eridan had never been able to get his elder to explain the details behind his deep disgust, the few times he had attempted to do so he had been sent away for his trouble to his chambers. He had eventually learned with his sire not to request information that wasn't first freely offered. This often left him mildly confused about the things his lord expounded on, but he always did the best he could to fill in the gaps and fulfill his duties, even if his attempts were often less than successful.
"Maybe this time he'll see the potential in what I've achieved." The prince shook his head as he turned his chair around to better see out his window, once again observing the colorful fishes that swam serenely in the cool ocean currents.