Music From The Deep

Revenge Path

"I don't care about the next shipment. Get what's left of the cargo and sell it. I am no longer bothering with any previous contracts," Tetsuya ordered, storming across the deck of the Tidewalker.

"Captain, to sell what's left and ignore the shipments that you should be taking... you will never be able to afford supplies when you dock next." the Nehapor dockmaster said nervously, his thin hair flying about his face from the breeze blowing in from the ocean.

Tetsuya turned and loomed over the abnormally short dockmaster. He cringed, looking away from the imposing sea captain.

"I just lost my son to a sea beast." the captain spat, hatred dripping from his words like venom drips from a snake's fangs. "I will not rest until it is dead and his death avenged. Sign off on the cargo, get rid of it. I am no longer taking clients, now get off my ship!"

The dockmaster scrambled to get off the ship, calling for his men to unload what was left on the ship. The crew watched them with stony expression, most sharpening spears, harpoons, and knives, or mending nets. The dockmen quickly unloaded the Tidewalker, before hurrying off. As soon as Tetsuya had made certain that there were no longer any men that weren't his on his ship, he started barking orders at his crew to shove off.

The people of Nehapor watched as the Tidewalker took to the sea. Word had started to spread about the young sailor who had been taken by a siren during a storm and how the captain was now on a revenge path. The people whispered that he had sworn a blood deal with an Infernal to catch the siren.

Some whispered that he wouldn't stop until he dragged the siren to Misery itself.

On the ship, Tetsuya had turned to his navigator, a tanned, wiry woman from Kurultai that had joined the crew a year before.

"Zuma, the map?"

"Yes, Cap'n," Zuma said in a thick Kurultain accent, pulling the largest map the ship had from a pouch at her hip.

Tetsuya walked across the deck to his cabin, Zuma following dutifully. The sea captain waved Edestus over to him, who hobbled over with a grim look on their wrinkled face. Once the map was unrolled upon Tetsuya's desk, he nodded at Edestus, who pulled the vial of potion from under their shirt. Very carefully, they poured a single drop onto the old parchment.

A shimmer of black spread across the map. Zuma gasped slightly in awe. It flooded across the parchment, before it transformed into a deep blood red upon hitting a spot in the waters between Sawatee, Mahrain, and Auzerandi. Then the red converged on a single point in that area. The blood red spot was small, and pulsed with a grotesque, unearthly light, blue shining beneath the red.

The captain ground his teeth in frustration. The siren hadn't even been slowed by the storm. Of course not. It didn't need to fight the winds when it could just dive beneath the waves and swim in the opposite direction. It was nearly two weeks ahead of them.

At least now with the hold empty of unnecessary weight from trading goods. All they had now was the needed water and food for a full month on the sea for all the crew. And so long as the winds held up, they would be upon the siren in a week.

"Keep us on course for the beast. Don't stray. I don't care how long it takes, I want it dead."

"Yes, Cap'n," Edestus and Zuma said in unison, both of their eyes going flinty.

Tetsuya spun on his heel, marching back out of his cabin. His crew mates followed him and he went to stand before his crew. They stood silently, eyes alert and waiting with a heavy sense of impatience in the air. Edestus nodded his head towards the crew, urging Tetsuya to speak. The captain sighed but turned to his crew anyway.

"We know where the beast is. If the wind holds, we should be upon it in a week. If luck favors us, it will double back in our direction."

The crew roared in approval at that. Tetsuya nodded, before going on.

"When we find this thing, I don't want you to kill it," this raised angry protests, but Tetsuya went on, silencing the crew, "We capture it, and take it to Sedrick's family. There, it will die on land, far from its home in the deep. And Sedrick will be avenged!"

A raucous roar rose from the ranks of the Tidewalker. Tetsuya watched them, their cries for justice for a young man gone too soon.

"Sharpen your weapons!" Tetsuya shouted, eyes a little wild. "Prepare yourselves for its song! Harden your hearts against whatever unholy beauty it will throw at you! It will not mar the waters with its existence for much longer!"

We are on our way, my son, he thought to himself as he turned away from the crew.