31

Zemar had said they would be taking a boat. That would have made a whole lot of sense if there was actually a single boat in sight; or a single living thing for that matter. But as far as Jason could see, all that stretched in front of him was water and sand. And more water, then more sand. But he didn’t voice his thoughts and found it wiser to follow the three people he was travelling with. They began to walk along the beach and did so for hours until far away in the distance, Jason could just spot the outline of a boat. Or maybe more of a ship but he couldn’t see well from this distance.
“I’ll go forward and investigate so we can set sail once you guys reach there,” James offered and Barine nodded. Zemar, of course, stayed mute like she had done most of the time. James set off running at an alarmingly fast seed. He was two kilometres ahead before Jason could so much as blink and with the keen eye of an engineer, Jason could see that the boat was about thirty miles ahead. Yup, he’d definitely get there before they did.
As they got closer, the first thing he noticed was that the ship was made entirely out of wood. It was like the ships he used to see on the cover of his pirate novels. The masts were high and strong and despite the way the boat bobbed on the water, it looked sturdy and well-built. With an even closer look, he could see that the ship was about fifty feet high and easily two hundred feet long. On its hull was a beautiful woven carving of a merman with hollow eye sockets and short wavy hair. The sails had been reduced to tiny scraps of cloth and Jason wondered if everyone else had noticed this. Because how was a ship going to sail without sails? Maybe they had a plan. Jason kept mute and decided to wait and see instead of opening his big mouth and embarrassing himself if they actually did have a masterplan.
In what felt like hours to Jason’s tired legs, they finally reached the boat and were able to get on via a rope Jaye threw over the edge. When they climbed on board, they were met with a dusty deck and a small trap door that led to the inside of the ship. Funny enough though, all the ropes and paraphernalia Jason usually saw on ships in pirate movies were missing here. Apart from the dust, the mast and a cockpit along with the sails, there was nothing else on the deck. Jaye was already talking.
“I’ve done a sweep of the entire ship and used wind to get rid of the dust inside. There are thirteen sleeping chambers and a kitchen. From my estimate, this ship was probably abandoned when Firgewan took charge. There were booby traps, of course, but I disabled them.” He puffed out his chest with pride and looked directly at Zemar, hoping that she was impressed, “this is ordinary ship. My guess is that it was run by those mermen who were rumoured to be trying to evolve by using ships like pirates before we left.”
“That should explain the fact that there is no steering or whatnot on deck. The mermen simply control the water around the ship,” Barine said and looked up at the tattered sails, “the wind probably helped, hence the sails. It’s going to take some effort for us to make this boat go fast, even with you and Zemar at work, Jaye.”
Jason decided that if he didn’t ask some questions, he wouldn’t be able to make sense of anything, “But if this ship is six years old, how come the wood hasn’t rotted by now? And how come the ocean isn’t dried up like Irewood? No offence, Barine.”
Barine smiled and shrugged but it was Zemar who answered him, speaking for the first time in what to Jason like forever, “To answer your first question, Jason, the wood used in making this boat was stolen from Irewood, much to the chagin of Barine’s parents, if I remember correctly,” her eyes slid away from Jason to Barine for a moment, “that pretty much makes the wood invincible to anything but a powerfully magical creature.
“As for your second question, you saw how Barine had the choice to make a certain area of the forest thrive, even though she was not powerful enough to make the entire ocean thrive. That’s because it is just her. However, the ocean is teeming with mermen, mermaids and nereids; thousands of them, plus the few sea monsters. So their joint power is enough to keep the ocean alive.”
“Aren’t you going to meet their leader or something to be a part of your cause?” Jason asked, causing Zemar to raise an eyebrow.
“The merfolk are generally a peaceful set of people. They have no need for a leader. The ocean is big enough for all of them so conflict is very rare. They usually have the same mentality and the same goal in mind and in this case, it is to keep their life source alive; that is the ocean. Even those who owned this ship and called themselves ‘pirates’ never gave anybody trouble, except Barine’s parents, of course. My guess is that they were just bored and thought a few trees wouldn’t be noticed. You’ll learn more about them, don’t worry. Your people are actually very close to the merfolk.”
“Oh,” Jason replied intelligently. This was really a lot for him to swallow. It was like every time he was getting used to how things had been since he woke up in Erogon, another gigantic piece of information was just dumped in his lap. Now he was going to be diplomatic with mermaids and siren. He had no idea what to even expect from them but he probably shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. First thing on his agenda was to actually see Tiledonia with his own eyes, but apparently that had to be when Zemar deemed it fit.
Zemar started walking towards the back of the ship which faced the ocean and said over her shoulder, “Jaye, please can you raise the anchor so we can get moving? The sooner we leave, the better. I’m also going to need you to help me with the steering. I’m still trying to get my strength back.”
With the look on Jaye’s face, Jason was confused as to whether he wanted to pass out or do the harlem shake. But he got to it and soon, he was standing beside Zemar, both their faces scrunched up in concentration.
“They’re trying to get the water high enough to move the boat away from the sand,” Barine said, “I’m going to explore the ship. Wanna come with?”
Jason looked at Zemar and Jaye standing at the far end of the boat with their eyes closed, breathing in unison and decided he definitely did not want to watch this. So he nodded and followed Barine down into the belly of the ship.

They walked around for a while in silence until they felt the ship move in a way undeniably meant that Zemar and Jaye had successfully moved the boat into the water and they had set sail. At that point, Barine and Jason found the kitchen which was a big room with wooden furniture and almost nothing else except for a big dining table and chairs along with a huge countertop at one side. That’s when Jason realized that there was no way mermen could sit down.
“How is it that there a chairs here when mermen can’t sit down?” he asked Barine, “and how is it that they could even play at being pirates anyway? They can’t even run.”
Barine chuckled softly, “Merfolk can don a human form anytime they wish as long as they are not in contact with water, Jason.”
“Oh, okay,” Jason said.
Barine looked around for a little while before speaking again, “So, I couldn’t help but notice your eyes. And when my queen mentioned ‘your people’ earlier on. You’re Tiledonian, aren’t you?”
“Yes, well, that’s what everyone tells me. I still know nothing about it yet. Zemar says its because I’m not in touch with my powers yet. We hope a visit to Tiledonia will change that.”
“Hmm, that’s strange,” Barine pondered, “you know, you really should watch how you cann the queen by her name. Some people could get really pissed and violent at you.”
“Yeah, I should get to that. She’s kind of a big deal on Earth too. It’s taken so much effort to stop calling her Jean in the first place.”
“Well, you’ll just have to try. Because you could get badly hurt.” In the blink of an eye and without looking back, she tossed a wickedly sharp knife right at Jason’s forehead.