This chapter... hoo boy, this chapter was a pain, and I'll give you one reason why - phonetic accents. They're so much fun in theory, right? But no, you have to make sure every line fits in with the accent and you have to make sure not to overdo it or you'll offend somebody, etc. Anyway, we have a second party forming apart from the main one. Plan on dividing characters pretty evenly between both, but which character goes where is still yet to be determined.
Lloyd Wilson is NOT going to be a POV character, but I'll throw him into the guessing game anyway. Who is he? Who is Marina?
Marina: Davy Jones' Locker
Miles away from the tense meeting between Raphael and Echo and Princess, Key Mace, and Black Flame Sword, a group of pirates had put down anchor in the middle of the West Tethys and were having a hearty celebration over the treasure they had pillaged. Gold, jewels, spices, food, drink - all were divided out across the captain's table, with the same amount of infighting one would imagine.
"Hey! I struck the last cannon blow that sunk that fancy merchant ship! I should get more than 'im! He just sat in the crow's nest hiding as we boarded!"
"I did not, you bilge rat!"
The two pirates started tussling over the bag, and before long had drawn their cutlasses to end the argument - and each other.
"I'll settle this!" the captain sneered, daring the two to argue as he took the large sum they were fighting over for himself.
As soon as the treasure was divided up, the pirates, filtering out of the captain's cabin in groups of two or three, went below-decks for the night. Two shipmates lowered the Jolly Roger flag flying from the mast. No point in being recognized as pirates when they were all asleep, after all. The lamps lighting the lower deck and the captain's cabin were put out, leaving the ship in complete darkness. The sails were furled and tied to the rigging, leaving the ship to bob in place in the water, tied to the anchor. The captain dismissed them all belowdecks before going to bed himself, his pistol under his pillow and his gold neatly hidden away in various places around the room.
In the bunks below-deck, though, quite a few of the more insomniac pirates had stayed up in the dim light from a carefully covered lantern to tell stories. Stories about treasures they'd pillaged and memorable fights they'd had, stories about memorable women they had left behind on land, and before long the talk had shifted to the best kind of pirate stories - the scary kind. Tales of Davy Jones and his ilk, the Flying Dutchman, the Kraken, distant islands haunted by sorceresses and cannibals and other terrible things to chill the bones of the buccaneer next to him.
"You know, lads," an old pirate named Hawkeye began. The name Hawkeye was an ironic joke, as the old man had lost an eye long ago in a shootout with a warship that he'd never been able to shut up about since, and old age and cataracts had made him half-blind in the other one.
"Quiet, Hawkeye, nobody wants to 'ear about yer shootout with the Laurasaleen!"
"It ain't about that this time, you blighters!" Hawkeye snapped. "'S I was sayin', the West Tethys has always been a good spot to see some mermaids."
There was a moment of quiet at the low, spooky sound of his voice, before the crew burst out laughing.
"Mermaids! There's nothin' scary about mermaids!"
"Pretty curls and golden combs!"
"Tell us a real ghost story, ya old salt!"
"Shut up, yew idiots!" Hawkeye snapped again. "Mermaids ain't no laughin' matter!" At his cold, serious tone, the other pirates all collectively decided to shut up.
"You boys know those rocks over there?" Hawkeye asked, squinting and pointing out the porthole window. The more vision-inclined pirates could see a tiny outcrop of rock poking up from the ocean's surface a few meters away. "Some say, mateys, that on dark nights like this, mermaids climb up out of the water onto rocks jus' like those and sing."
"That's not scary at all, Hawkeye!"
"Unless they sing so bad it makes people scream!"
"I'm gettin' to the good part, shut up!" Hawkeye said sharply. "Th' mermaids' song is like nothin' on earth. Hauntin'... but purdy too. So purdy, that men who 'ear it have no choice but ta dive headlong into the water an' drown themselves to hear it more."
"They… drown theirselves?" one pirate asked.
"Yes, boys, or else steer their ship right into the rocks the mermaids're sitting on, an' sinking it, leavin' the whole crew to get snatched up by them she-fish - an' never seen again," Hawkeye said, pleased with himself. "Now, an old ship like this, moored at sea… them's a mermaid's best target. No land. No help. Nobody to hear you as she pulls you under."
The pirates looked at each other, no one daring to break the silence.
"Oooooooooh!" a pirate named Fester wailed, jokingly mimicking the mermaid's song as he grabbed the man next to him on the shoulder and made him jump.
"Ahh! Fester, ya bilge rat!"
"Shut up, all of ya!" Hawkeye shouted to restore order. "Stop jokin' around, you blighters! I seen a mermaid myself! I never came closer to dyin' in all my years!"
"You!? See somethin'!?" one pirate laughed.
"Blast all yew idiots. I'm goin' to bed!" Hawkeye shouted as he got up and stormed over to his bunk.
That was the last they talked about mermaids for the rest of the evening.
However, as the impromptu gathering dwindled from twenty to ten to one to none as more and more pirates went to bed, Hawkeye's rant stuck with all of them. Yes, he was a mad old man. But none of them had ever heard him that serious before.
Then, outside the ship, something stirred in the water. A tail swished, kicking up bubbles. A thin shadow swam under the ship and past the anchor, then back up toward the surface.
The face of a young girl popped up from below the porthole, peeking into the glass, before knocking on it. The pirate closest to the porthole jumped awake at the noise. Looking around, he yelled and jumped backwards at the sight of a little girl in the porthole window, the water making her long blonde hair float strangely around her head as if possessed.
Then she was gone, with only a swirl of bubbles showing where she had been.
The pirate backed away from his bunk, not wanting to go near the window where that strange girl had been.
Then he heard it - a soft voice wafting from above deck. Someone singing. He was about to dismiss it as somebody pranking him again, but it sounded too high and light to be one of the pirates. It sounded like… a woman.
A woman? Out at sea like this? The pirate felt a gnawing sense of dread in his stomach, but of their own accord, his feet led him up the stairs to the main deck. Outside, the moon shone round and white, casting everything in a strange pallor. The pirate looked over the deck, seeing no one who could be the source of this singing.
But still, it continued.
The pirate found himself wandering toward the ship's bow and peering out over the water.
The bright moonlight meant he immediately found what he was looking for: standing on the small rock Hawkeye had pointed out earlier was a human figure. The pirate's breath caught as he realized he was looking at a little girl!
The tiny thing looked not much bigger than eleven, and she was only wearing a sleeveless purple dress which billowed around her bare feet. Her long blonde hair hung down her back, still soaking wet, and the hem of her dress was also soaked, a given since she was standing on a rock constantly getting smashed by waves. Her eyes were an abyssal dark blue, almost black, as a perfect reflection of the water around them. She had a tattoo on her forehead that looked almost like a crown of twisted plants that shone blue in the moonlight. Similar shining vine markings adorned her bare arms.
The girl was singing, her voice soft and breathy like she was whispering a lullaby. He couldn't make out any words he understood.
Then, the girl looked at him. The pirate felt a chill as he looked into her impossibly dark - inhuman - eyes. She fell silent, but only for a moment, before she continued singing, this time in plain English.
"My name, it is Marina, a merchant's daughter fair," she began humbly. "And I have left my parents, and 3,000 gold a year."
The pirate had scrambled up to the steering wheel and yanked it hard toward the voice. Although some part of him recoiled in alarm, suddenly nothing mattered more than getting to that little girl and seeing what she was doing on this tiny spit of rock, miles from any land or town. From the make of her dress, she was rich, and her parents could be willing to part with some gold for her return…
"Come, all ye pretty, fair maids, whoever you may be," the girl beckoned. "Who love a jolly sailor bold, that plows the raging sea."
"Wiggins! What are you doing!? Get away from the wheel!"
"While up aloft in storm, from me his absence mourn…"
All the pirate could see was the glow of her tattoos consuming his vision - which was an actual glow now, pulsing like the lure of a deep-sea anglerfish - and the watery black voids of her eyes.
"And firmly pray, arrive the day, he's never more to roam."
The hull splintered on the rocks, throwing everyone on deck down. As the ship began to take on water, the pirates frantically tried to save whatever gold they could from on board.
In the confusion, the girl Marina jumped off the rock and into the water. The skirt of her dress seamlessly transformed into a shining purple fishtail, leaving the pirates to stare at her, openmouthed, as she dove under the waves where they couldn't catch her.
Marina gave a regretful look back at the marooned pirate ship. She didn't like to leave people to die, even if they were as remorseless as these pirates. She took a breath and whistled, a sound too high for human ears to even register. However, a pod of porpoises nearby did hear the noise and began swimming over to investigate. Whistling two more times to be sure they arrived at the rock and were clear in their instructions to take the men to shore, the mermaid then dove back into the water, collecting fallen treasure that had been jostled or dropped overboard. That done, she swam off toward the coast of Hightower.
She emerged on a quiet beach, taking a breath as her tail shifted back into legs, then hiked up her wet, sand-covered skirt and ran up the beach into the dark streets of Hightower. She avoided the busy streets, glancing fearfully around to be sure there wasn't anyone watching, and then slipped into one of many adventurer-friendly taverns dotted all over any town worth its salt in Kosuta.
Although, this one was a bit seedier of a place, and Marina wasted no time in stuffing all the gold she'd taken from the pirates into her nondescript leather bag that she had hidden near the front door before entering.
She walked uneasily past tavern patrons drinking and shooting strange glances at her. Then she climbed the stairs up to the rented rooms and found one marked 4.
"...M-Miss Charmweaver?" she said. "I-I'm back."
"It's about time, get in here!" came the sharp reply.
Marina cautiously entered to find the usual - Charmweaver laying on the bed, drunk, red-faced, and angry, and bottles littered around the room.
"Don't sit there lollygagging, give it here," Charmweaver snapped.
Marina heaped up the entire pile of gold and jewelry onto the table beside the bed. It was a lot, and Marina stood there for a minute, admiring her handiwork.
It wasn't enough, though, judging from Charmweaver's displeased look.
"I… I grabbed everything I could. The pirates grabbed most of the gold, and the spices were all ruined by the seawater."
Charmweaver struck fast, hitting Marina on the side of the head with her fist. "Don't make excuses for me, fish girl, just do your job!"
Marina ignored the throbbing in her head and forced herself to nod.
"Go to sleep, you scaly brat. And if I hear one peep out of you while I'm entertaining clients, I'll skin off every one of those pretty scales with my fish scaler and pawn 'em off as amethyst!"
Marina nodded, expecting that threat, before she ducked into the provided closet in the inn room, where a "nest" of old blankets had already been constructed. There, she settled down to sleep, drawing one of the thicker blankets over herself and settling down for what had become a routine in the weeks she'd lived in Charmweaver's house.
Charmweaver was an adventurer - although Marina had never seen her actually work, doing any of the adventurer things she overheard tavern patrons at the bar counter talk about, like killing monsters and stopping raids and protecting shipments. No, Charmweaver would spend only a few hours a day outside the rented room ostensibly doing the job she'd been asked to by her various clients. The rest of the time, she drank, slept, raged about how little business she was getting, and talked to the few clients who did approach her with a job.
Marina knew she should be grateful. Charmweaver, who had been struggling to make ends meet, had taken her in when she had shown up in Hightower with no memory and no belongings except the worn old leather bag on her shoulder. When Charmweaver had learned she was a mermaid and what she could do, it seemed only natural to obey her demand to scavenge gold from sunken ships to help pay for Charmweaver's equipment, her beer, and the cheap tavern room they currently lived in for about twenty gold pieces a night. Then, when existing sunken ships in the area had been picked clean, she'd turned to wrecking ships herself using her hypnotizing voice. She didn't want to, but she feared Charmweaver's anger should she come back one night with nothing.
Still, she only tried to steal from bad people, and to send her ocean friends to save anyone stranded by her actions.
Marina didn't know why Charmweaver didn't want any of her clients to see her, either, but hiding in the closet was better than risking her caretaker's wrath. She could sleep in there, after staying awake most of the night making her trips to scavenge gold, and sit quietly and think, and read books she managed to smuggle in from the scriptorium nearby.
She remembered she loved books, although she didn't remember anything else about herself.
So, Marina quietly slid a book out of her hiding place for them in the closet and opened it, reading by the dimness slanting in through the keyhole in the closet door, curled up in her nest of blankets. When she got too tired, she slipped the book back into its place and laid down to sleep.
Marina always dreamed of the same thing, of kneeling on a hard, stone brick path while someone knelt in front of her. She couldn't make out details of their appearance besides a pair of hazel eyes damp with tears. She put her hand on the person's shoulder in a comforting gesture, and found herself being wrapped in a hug. This time, however, the dream continued, and she saw a massive, stately castle built out of warm sand-colored stone, floating in the air. It was grand and beautiful, but for some reason looking at it made her feel deeply unhappy.
Marina was startled awake by a sharp pounding at the door.
She clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from yelping. The pounding became louder and more insistent.
"What do you want!?" Charmweaver's voice demanded to know.
"We're with the Hightower militia, ma'am. Someone said they have reason to assume an unregistered guest is living in one of these rooms."
"Well, I'm on the list, so you soldiers can buzz off and search elsewhere!" Charmweaver snapped.
"We need to search every room, ma'am, our apologies."
"I said I'm a registered guest! What authority do you have to search my room!?"
"Authority from Mayor Gutenberg himself, ma'am, now if you would step aside…"
"Allow me, Herr Colin," a new voice cut in firmly.
Marina crept out of her nest, pressing her eye to the keyhole to watch. Two guards stood at the door, and they had just parted to reveal a strange man in a fancy suit. Marina couldn't see their faces from her vantage point, but she wished she could, so she could gauge what they were thinking.
"Frau Charmveaver - zat is your name, correct?" the man in the fancy suit asked, only getting an enraged growl from Charmweaver as an answer. "Ve are sorry to intrude on your…" The man seemed to be looking around at all the beer bottles and garbage on the floor, clucking his tongue quietly. "...Delightful place of residence, but ze guard is right. Ve have been given a varrant to search every room from rafters to floor. Let us in or else ve shall force our vay in, and I'm sure you don't want zat." The man - from the shoulders down, as far up as Marina could see, anyway - looked like one of the aristocrats she had seen riding carriages through town to meet with the mayor. He spoke with a thick accent Marina couldn't recognize from any region of Kosuta she'd been to, pronouncing his w's as v's and th-sounds as z's. It only added to his proud demeanor, like a peacock fanning its feathers - someone who knew they would always be the center of attention and loved it.
"Who's this foreigner!?" Charmweaver snapped at the guard.
"Pardon me, but I can introduce myself," the man in the suit said haughtily. "I am Rose Emperor, an adventurer like yourself. Herr Gutenberg hired me to lend assistance to ze militia for a few veeks while a new commanding officer is trained. Seems ze last one vas eaten by a dragon." He tsked again. "Unfortunate."
Charmweaver was standing there, frozen, as the man spoke, her face slowly turning redder and redder. Then, faster than Marina could blink, she had drawn her sword and lunged at the rich man.
But he was somehow faster. In a flash he had drawn his own weapon - a whip covered in thorns - which wrapped around the sword, stopping it in its tracks. With another tug, the man yanked Charmweaver's sword out of her hands.
Charmweaver was left gibbering in shock as the soldiers recovered their faculties and grabbed her, securing her hands behind her back.
Rose Emperor frowned. "I detest having to resort to using zat." He went on, smirking from the sound of his voice. "Now, gentlemen, is zat really necessary?"
"She did draw a sword on you, sir," one soldier said. "Temporary as your position in the militia is, you're still militia until your job in Hightower ends. Threatening an officer of the militia is a punishable offense by Hightower law."
"Something Miss Charmweaver no doubt knows. So, what were you so desperate to hide that you'd attack law enforcement?" the other guard asked.
Charmweaver struggled and swore in her bonds as the second guard and the rich man searched the room.
Then Marina heard the clinking of gold items.
"Aha. Tell me, Frau Charmveaver, vhere did you happen upon these gold items? Vere zey purchased? Gifts?"
Charmweaver's mouth set in a tight line.
"You're not telling. As I zought, zese trinkets were acquired… less than legally." He walked up to Charmweaver. "You're a disgrace to ze adventurer's class, Frau Charmweaver. I'll gladly give you over to ze mayor. Ve shall see what punishment he sees fit for you."
Marina wasn't sure if she should scream, burst out of the closet to stop them, or cry as Charmweaver was pulled out of the room.
The tavern keeper walked in. "So they caught someone after all."
"It vasn't a vagrant as ve vere told, innkeeper," the man in the suit said distastefully. "But at least, your inn is no longer a house for stolen goods."
"What will you do with the gold, Rose Emperor?"
"Give it to ze mayor. I have enough money from my ventures. He and ze militia can hunt down ze jewels' proper owners if zey can be found wizout me."
"Where did all this come from? There haven't been any major robberies in the area - unless you count pirates."
"Hm. Vas Frau Charmweaver a pirate?"
"Could be."
Marina was leaning on the door, trying to see if she could catch a last glimpse of Charmweaver being pulled into a prison coach through the room window. Then, the closet door gave under her weight, and - loudly - burst open. Marina fell down and landed on her hands and knees, right in front of the two conversing men, who immediately spun around at the noise. The tavern keeper pulled out a knife.
Now that she could see the strange adventurer fully, she saw he had wavy black hair that fell just past his shoulders and, in place of a tie on his collar, he had a pink brooch. Marina's mouth dried up as she looked into his hazel eyes-
No, the man had dark pink eyes - rose-colored, part of Marina identified - that perfectly matched his brooch. Where had she gotten hazel from?
Rose Emperor looked strangely shocked. "A girl? Vas she in zere zis whole time?"
Marina's first thought had been to dive back into the closet, but since they had already seen her, she simply sat there on her hands and knees, frozen in terror.
The tavern keeper walked up to her, pointing his knife at her tattoos. "Not just that, Rose Emperor, a mermaid!" he said sharply. "Perhaps the same one who's been sinking ships all over the West Tethys coast!"
Marina squeezed her eyes shut in response to the knife being waved so close to her face. "Sir, please don't hurt me, please…"
But the knife blow didn't come. She gingerly opened her eyes to find Rose Emperor grabbing the tavern keeper's shoulder, his suspicious look softening.
"Put ze knife down, innkeeper," Rose Emperor ordered. He then knelt in front of her, which brought back memories of her dream. "Little girl, vhy vere you in zat closet?"
Marina dug her fingernails into the floorboards. "I… I'm not supposed to tell you that…" she whispered.
"Not supposed to?!" the tavern keeper burst out. "Who do you work for!?"
"Quiet down and put your veapon away, innkeeper," Rose Emperor scolded. "Little girl, did you know ze voman ve just arrested? Frau Charmweaver?"
Marina bit her lip, lowering her head. Charmweaver had told her over and over that no one could know about their arrangement, not clients, not innkeepers, no one.
"I… I can't tell you that, either… sir," Marina whimpered.
Rose Emperor scowled a little, like his worst suspicions had just been confirmed. "Did she zreaten you? Ever, at any time?"
"Rose Emperor, what does this have to do with-?" the tavern keeper asked.
"I said, quiet!" Rose Emperor cut him off, his gesture for the innkeeper to sheath his knife at his waist much sharper and more impatient.
Marina chewed her lip, also wondering why he was asking her so many questions. Finally, Marina gave a tiny nod.
Rose Emperor's frown deepened a little. "Vhat is your name?"
"...Marina," she replied truthfully.
"Marina, do you have any family ve can take you to? Muzzer? Fazer?"
Marina gave a tiny head shake. "Just… her," she said.
Rose Emperor looked deep in thought, before he smiled. It was faint, and had a slightly unsteady look to it as if it weren't that well practiced, but Marina felt any other kind of smile would have looked disingenuous on him.
"It's good to meet you, Marina," he said. "My name is Lloyd Vilson."
"U-Um, sir, remember, the rule-"
"Vhat of ze rule, innkeeper? And for heaven's sakes, put zat knife down, like I told you at least zree times!"
"You're - you're not supposed to give your real name to people outside your party after becoming an adventurer-"
"She is in my party now, innkeeper. She said herself she has no one. I oversaw ze arrest of her stepmuzzer - alzough I'd loaze to call her zat. Zerefore, I should take her." Rose Emperor offered his hand to Marina to help her up. "Step lightly, Marina - to be an adventurer you must have an adventurer's sheaze, and I don't intend to break zat rule today."