Saviour of Souls

Cain

The crossing from The Borderlands to the Northern Isles had always been rough, with the legendary boat, the ‘Fire-Star’, out of business, having been commandeered, it meant anyone looking to cross now had to resort to supply ships for the ongoing war, or small fishing vessels. Not wanting to risk crossing the Sea of Fire, a long band of dangerous water circling the entire Dimension, cutting off The Borderlands from every other island, and that was known to be inhabited by creatures worse than anything Hell could birth up, in a small boat that smelt like fish, I had chosen to buy my ticket for a supply ship known as ‘Supplier Twenty-Seven’. It wasn’t exactly a creative name, or a creative boat, but as I boarded with nothing but the clothes on my back, and a satchel of supplies from Lyna, I was given an actual room on the top deck, opposed to the small space that had been reserved for passengers in the hull of the boat. The room came with a window, and a lock on the door that I made use of, before heading down into the lower decks to sneak a small journal and a pencil from one of the supply crates, wanting to write a letter to Destiny once I had safely made the crossing over the Sea of Fire- if I ever made the crossing alive.

There was never a guarantee, since the only boat truly safe from the Sea of Fires terrors was the Fire-Star, and since that was out of business, it meant we were enduring a fifty-fifty chance of survival.

On the first night, before we had even gotten to the edge of the Sea of Fire, I pulled out the journal, and penned a short letter to Destiny. It was more of a journal entry, really, but since writing to an inanimate object felt weird, I pretended it was to my younger cousin. At least then I wasn’t just talking to myself. The letter was short, detailing how I was getting across, and when we were expected to hit the Sea of Fire, and I ended it before I could use more than a page, the journal small, with little paper. Tucking it, and the pencil, into the satchel, I attempted to get some rest. The bed I had been given was built for a sailor, with a rough, hard mattress built to be too heavy to be tossed around in the event of rough seas, and with a scratchy, woollen blanket that was designed to be warm on even the coldest nights. The pillow, like the mattress, was stone-hard, but manageable, and eventually, I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

I could hear the waves rolling against the ship, the sound comforting, until I realised that we had crossed into the Sea of Fire, the change in sound audible.

It was like the sea had become deeper, and deadlier, the hissing of waves turning into the hissing of creatures, and though I was on the top deck, and far away from the waves below, I could hear the sounds of small creatures scraping their hands and bodies against the bottom of the boat, trying to tear wooden planks from the bottom, ripping nails out, pounding on the thick glass windows on the bottom of the ship in an attempt to break them. Could no one else hear these Demonic creatures?

There were several territories in the Sea of Fire, a fact I quickly learned when, during the middle of the night, the hissing of the smaller creatures turned to worried screeches, and for a moment, the sea was silent once again, except for those waves.

Until a large creature covered in spines made itself known with a deep, rumbling growl, tearing into the boat ferociously with its back, and I heard people screaming as they were woken from sleep by the noise. I opened my door, rushing out to peer over the railing, and saw the huge spines of a truly gargantuan creature. It was just a bit shorter than the boat, but far fatter, its sand-white skin paper thin, and I could see dabs of pink across it, like the sun had burnt it in spots. Huge spines covered its back, like bones, and its mouth was open, devouring fish who tried fervently to get away, the growling continuing from within. Its teeth were huge, jagged, and broken in many places, razor-sharp, and I quickly noticed that it was blind, having spent so long on the bottom of the ocean that fate, and the chances of evolution, had concluded that it no longer needed eyes. It had no arms or legs, just fins that stuck out from it like huge sails, catching the waves like a plane did the air. Sailors rushed around the deck, shouting, unsure what to do. They carried no weapons on board that would do even the slightest damage to such a big creature, but if they continued to allow it to slash into the boat with its spines, it would surely sink us.

In the end, I grew tired of watching the creature, and with a click of my fingers, the sailors too preoccupied to notice the flash of silver that darted beneath the waves, pulled the creature away, the sailors cheering.

A young woman, with long blonde hair and emerald-coloured eyes, joined me by the balcony, happiness dancing in her eyes and across her face, pulling her lips into a smile.

“Hey stranger!” She wore a long, flowing red gown, white fabric roses sewn across the bodice, curling down and around the hem, which was pinned up slightly, showing off her bare feet. Her hair was in soft curls that looked natural, and she wore no makeup or jewellery, nothing on or about her showed any sort of wealth, and her voice, while it sounded sweet, was not refined like a Lady. Nonetheless, she seemed pretty. “Evening,” I said, my shirt suddenly feeling tighter than it had before, and in a voice of honey, she said, “I couldn’t help but notice that little flash of magic. Are you a Fae?”

“Um… No, it’s just coincidence- moonlight bouncing off the waves and all,” I said quickly, and the woman giggled, turning to face the waves and nodding.

“My name is Adelia. It’s a pleasure to meet you…?”

“Maladur- Cain Maladur.” I extended my hand, and she shook it firmly, smiling.

“Where are you heading to, Cain Maladur?”

“The Northern Isles for business. What about you?” I asked, and Adelia sighed wistfully, “Oh, just a trip. I’m trying to escape for a bit, I suppose.”

“Escape?” I questioned, and she looked up at me. She was nearly a foot and a half smaller than I was, almost as tiny as Destiny, but she was close to my age.

“My brother is getting married. And while it shouldn’t concern me, his marriage means I must marry, according to my parents. I don’t want to marry just anyone.”

“Me either,” I muttered. The whole sordid affair just seemed to cause trouble, after all, and Adelia nodded enthusiastically. She didn’t seem to be trying to dupe me, or anything, she was just overly passionate. She toyed with one of the roses on her skirt, and I said, “That’s a nice dress.”

“It was a gift from my brother. He’s a merchant, and his soon-to-be wife is a seamstress, so they often send me gifts.”

“How lovely,” I said with a genuine smile, half-imagining Destiny and any of our cousins exchanging gifts. The only time it happened was at birthdays, and even then, there was tension in some form. Lyna didn’t like the earrings she’d gotten, or Alishan hadn’t had time to buy a gift because of her baby, or Destiny spent too much money on someone, and it upset them… Yada, yada, yada. It was nice to hear that somewhere out there in the world, family could exchange gifts without it becoming a brawl that needed breaking up.

“My cousins and I don’t exchange gifts.”

“Are you and your family not close?” She asked, and I shrugged. We weren’t far apart, we just weren’t brought up with the same ideals of what close was to the rest of the world.

“Not really. I’m really close with one, my little cousin. She’s back in The Borderlands.”

“It must be hard, travelling so far from family.”

Again, I shrugged. It was just something we had grown to accept, that at any time, one or both of us could die, or be sent away, or punished. Rather than tell Adelia this, however, I said, “I miss her, but business is business, and if it means I can keep supporting her, then I’m all for it.”

“What sort of business do you run?” Adelia said with a smile, and I murmured, “Just the usual sort.”

“Are you the sort to have a tattoo on your thigh?” She whispered in a conspirator’s voice, and I furrowed my brows, confused.

“You know, like the Northern Isles Night-Hunters?”

“Oh. Is that what you meant? Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve been back here, and in The Borderlands, the Night-Hunters used to put their tattoos on their right shoulder. Um… I’m sort of involved in that, I guess you could say.”

She beamed, and said, “Why don’t you come back to my room and we can discuss some business?”

Had I been told to describe the experience of crossing the Sea of Fire to Destiny in just three words, I would have chosen: Unpleasant, pleasant, and unexpected.

Adelia, it seemed, was looking for more than just conversations with strangers to take her mind off her prominent family issues, and since I had nothing else to do other than listen to the creatures below scrape their claws and tentacles and hands against the boat, I humoured her, and two hours later, grinning from ear-to-ear, she rolled over in her tiny bed, panting, “I’m glad I met you, Mr Maladur.”

“Me too, Miss…?”

“Athia-Kentin. Miss Adelia Athia-Kentin.”

Destiny would punch me when I retold this. I could just hear her now, berating me, “So you’re telling me that while I was out working, you were sleeping your way across the sea?”

‘What did it matter? I likely wouldn’t see Adelia again after this boat trip.’

“Aw, I hope I see you again,” she said sadly, and I blinked, turning to her.

“Did I say that out loud?” I hadn’t thought I’d spoken aloud, but right now, my mind was a bit scrambled, from both hunger and Adelia.

“I- I don’t know?” Adelia scrunched her nose in confusion, and I stood, pulling my jacket on. She looked so upset by my stupidly timed outburst that I cringed. I didn’t want to leave her looking so upset.

“Do you want to get some lunch tomorrow, Adelia?” The boat held meals at dawn, midday and dusk for those onboard, most of them made using the fish that were caught while we sailed, and whatever vegetables had been put on board, but taking Adelia for lunch, especially after she’d looked so upset, seemed like an adequate way to compensate for what I’d said, not to mention get to know her better.

“Lunch- Yes!” Her eyes lit up, and she clasped her hands together, grinning. Grabbing a notebook from her small bedside table, she ripped a page from it, and scrawled something across it, folding it and handing it to me.

“There.”

“Great. See you, Adelia.”

“Goodbye for now, Cain.”