NOVEL NEXT Book 10 chapter 15
Joan groaned and held a hand over her mouth, suppressing the urge to lose her lunch. She didn't think she was truly someone who was susceptible to motion sickness. But, judging by the others on the ship, she wasn't the only one.
She knew Chase could move a ship far, far faster than was normally possible. The Chosen of Water was, effectively, in his domain at sea. However, with a smaller ship like the one they were on, designed to never go further out to sea than the sight of land? He could make it move at speeds that many birds would struggle to keep up with.
Unfortunately, the consequence of such rapid movement was… devastating. Joan, Bauteut and Qakog couldn't even stand in the rocking, rapidly moving ship. If there was more space Joan would have likely retreated below deck to curl up and maybe, if she was lucky, pass out. Sadly, below deck was filled and she had no desire to go near it again. Instead she sat on the steps leading up to the steering wheel and watched the waves they approached, just in time for their ship to bounce into the air a bit more and make her even more grateful she'd had a light breakfast.
Breeze was sitting, but she seemed barely affected. Another sign to Joan that whatever she was, it certainly wasn't human or human-like. Penthe was standing, but her hands were locked onto the mast and she hadn't moved much since the fourth bounce. Chase was the one moving the boat, steering it by hand while his magic amplified the water below and caused the currents to go only the direction he sent them, even tearing through waves that blocked their path with ease.
Joan wished there could be less winds and tall waves so the ship could do less going up and down, but she supposed that wasn't an option. There was one other on the vessel. Yahir. He was standing by Chase, holding a golden compass and directing him where to go. The fact he was fine wasn't surprising, considering under that thick, steel armor of his he was an undead. Just like his horse that was down in the hold.
Chase had the weirdest 'friends' sometimes.
"Oh gods not again," Bauteut said. Joan glanced to the right. A gaping maw rose out of the water, so large it could have easily swallowed entire villages were it on land. It surged out from the water, revealing rows upon rows of 'teeth', if they could truly be called that, larger than most ships. There was another surge and the ship practically flew through the air, skidding over a massive wave and seeming to hover in the air for a moment before it hit the water once more. It bounced for only a moment, before continuing along by the current while the massive monster missed them. Waves large enough to level cities arose in its wake, but with Chase guiding the vessel they would have no chance of catching them.
Unfortunately, Joan was fairly certain the same applied to her stomach. She held onto the ship's guardrails ever tighter and rubbed her wrist against the bracelet she wore. In theory, if she fell overboard she'd at least not drown.
In reality, beneath the endless waves were monstrous titans that could eat her and not even notice. That was the main reason all of them had ropes wrapped around their waists, secured to the ship itself. At this point she almost wondered if drowning would be a mercy, they'd certainly been hit with enough water it felt like it.
"I don't think it even… urgh… saw us," Qakog said. "It's probably just trying to… ugh… eat birds or something."
"What birds?" Bauteut asked. "Nothing but us is out here. Most birds have at least a little more sense than, ugh, us."
"We're with Chase," Joan said as firmly as she could muster, moments before the ship bounced through the air again and a tentacle the size of a mountain broke through the surface. "N-nothing in the water could hope to compete with him."
"There's a reason nobody comes out to these depths," Bauteut said with a groan, closing her eyes. "Nobody but the undead and pirates."
"Usually undead pirates," Qakog added in a way that Joan was sure he thought was helpful. Joan just gave another groan as the ship lurched and glided through another tidal wave, dousing them in more water.
Finally, after what felt like days of going through waters that seemed to be in a state of eternal storming, the waves began to shrink. Though Joan still doubted she'd want to be eating anytime soon.
"Everyone okay?" Chase called down from above.
"We're fine," Bauteut called. "Water logged, but alive!"
"We should hit land soon," Chase called. "Hope you're ready!"
"Land, yes, please," Joan said softly. The vessel went up and then down once more, riding a particularly large wave. She felt her stomach nearly rise with it and closed her eyes. "Please land…"
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Slowly Joan climbed to her feet, supporting herself as best she could on the handrails. The wood creaked ominously under them, but it had held itself together well enough. Now the vessel rested on the beach, still and calm. She swore she could still feel it moving, though.
The only members of their group who seemed at all unaffected by the voyage were Yahir and Breeze. She wondered if that meant Breeze was an undead as well. But if she was, wouldn't Bauteut know that? As far as she knew, Bauteut wasn't even sure what the girl was.
Chase didn't look sick, though. He looked exhausted. Standing at the top of the steps, he was leaning over the guardrails to peer at the sand below. At first, Joan thought he had been looking for something, but after a few moments she'd realized he wasn't really looking at anything. He was just exhausted.
Then again, the amount of power he'd been exerting to get them here had to have been tremendous. Even for him. It was one thing to make a massive dome of ice over a city in a few minutes. Something else entirely to spend hours upon hours manipulating the sea itself, forcing a small vessel like theirs to travel at speeds it could never hope to otherwise. While also ensuring the waves themselves didn't destroy the vessel or that those massive titans didn't devour them. For all the threats that the land held, the sea was a danger that even the Hero had rarely tried to fight alone.
"I don't think we'll be making the return trip on this," Chase finally said.
"Huh?" Joan asked. Slowly, she peered over the side and paled.
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She supposed keeping them afloat had also been one of the things he'd been forced to do. Long gouges had been dug into the ships side and she could see dozens of small holes which water now dripped out of. The fact they hadn't sunk was, well, likely only due to Chase's considerable power.
"We made it, though," Yahir said. "As the sun sets, the City of the Dead will rise!"
"Yaaaay…" Qakog said with almost no enthusiasm before crawling up to the side of the ship. "We're… not going to have to do… that again… are we?"
"Of course not," Yahir said. "The city will take you under the sea and—"
"Please, stop talking," Bauteut said before crawling to her feet and all but draping herself on the side. "Just… stop. Is there a ramp or do we just… jump down?"
Joan stared down at the sand below and felt her stomach do another little jump. It wasn't that far down, a benefit of having such a small vessel, she supposed. The sand didn't look that hard, either. But she also didn't trust herself to fully stand right now, let alone properly land.
"I think there's one down in the hold," Breeze said. "But we didn't really have much time to check. If you plan to eat, you should do it now. Once the city appears, you wouldn't want to eat their food and there's no telling how long we'll be there."
Joan gave another soft groan. The legendary Underwater City of the Dead. She thought it was just a myth. She really, really wished it was just a myth. Myths were nice. Myths only, occasionally, came back to try and kill her. But very, very few myths forced her to rush across the sea at such nauseating speeds in order to get to them before they disappeared again. Dixon had better be worth it. Because if he wasn't…
There was a light thump as Qakog fell off the side of the ship and hit the ground, rolling a few times on the sand before coming to a stop. "I'm okay," he called up. "Ow."
Joan just stared at him and sighed. The worst part was that she found it kind of cute. What was wrong with her?
Then there was a gurgling sound before Bauteut threw up over the side of the ship. That was considerably less cute. She glanced over to Bauteut as the girl collapsed to her knees on the ship. "I think… I think I actually found a mode of… ugh… transit… I dislike more than… urg… teleporting."
Joan groaned and dropped down onto the deck as well.
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"You really should eat something," Chase said, glancing towards Joan.
Joan lightly nudged the bit of sausage on her plate around before, grudgingly, taking a bite of it. Her stomach had yet to approach anything akin to settled, but it wasn't the only reason she didn't like the idea of eating. The sun was starting to set, which meant the City of the Dead would be here soon. They weren't the only ones here, either. Though their arrival had likely been the most rushed.
The island was small, mostly just sand and a very small 'forest'. There were other ships anchored further out from the island. Their ship was, easily, the smallest. The others were designed for traveling the sea, not for small fishing excursions within sight of land.
But what made her the most uncomfortable was how many of those on the island were in chains. Humans. Demons. Dwarves. No elves, though she couldn't say she was surprised. Elves weren't known for surviving such fates for long, with their susceptibility to disease and the like.
Slaves.
The occasional look towards Chase brought her some comfort. For the moment, they had to keep their heads down and not draw too much attention to themselves. But as far as they knew, they were all going to the same place. There was no way that Chase would leave them to suffer.
There was no way she would leave them to suffer.
"Can't we do anything?" Bauteut asked softly.
"Not yet," Penthe said.
"It's not… it…" Bauteut said softly.
"I know," Penthe said. "But the mission has to take priority. If we interfere here, we may never find the city again. Even if we did, we do not have the means to get all of them somewhere before they starved. Or worse."
Bauteut gave another soft sigh before nodding. Her sausage was only slightly more chewed on than Joan's.
"We should just kill all of the pirates," Qakog said. "Break their chains and then take this city ourselves. They'd find us to be much harder to chain than those fleeing the war."
"Qakog," Penthe snapped. "Don't. Dixon comes first. We can save them after. If our mission is ruined here, so many more lives will likely be lost."
"So we just leave them here? There are few crimes as terrible as trying to own another person," Qakog asked, his voice filled with bitterness. "Leaving them is hardly heroic."
"I'm not a hero," Penthe said firmly. "Sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do for the good of the world."
"And when their ships leave?" Joan asked softly.
"Then some get away," Penthe said. "I know you want to run in and fight all of them, but that's not realistic. If we-- Chase? Chase, don't. I know what you're thinking. You need to conserve your energy. Getting us here was exhausting enough as it was."
Chase, however, had gotten to his feet already. Before he made it very far a hand reached up to grab his. Yahir's voice echoed from behind that armor of his. "The city will be here an hour after sundown. If there's a fight, they'll join in and the city will be filled with even more dead."
Chase stopped, lowering his eyes. He then glanced towards Penthe.
"You'll be endangering all of us," Penthe said.
Joan got to her feet, her stomach settling as adrenaline began to pump through her veins. "Oh thank the gods. I wasn't going to be able to sleep for like, the next month anyway if we didn't do something. So, an hour after sundown?"
"Joan," Chase said.
"What? I'm helping," Joan said quickly.
"The guards are likely going to start killing the slaves if they think they can be used as leverage," Chase said. "I'll be the distraction."
"On it," Joan said, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Some of them are undead already," Breeze said, before the last of her sausage disappeared from her plate and she got to her feet. "Some of us will have to stay behind to try and keep them safe."
Penthe just gave a soft, exhausted sigh before getting to her feet. "And so the many die so the few are rescued…"
"That's just it," Joan said. "Sometimes, you just have to save everyone."
"It's never that simple," Penthe said. "We're probably going to regret this."
"We'd be guaranteed to regret it any other way," Qakog said before getting to his feet.
Chase pulled his hand free from Yahir's before walking towards the edge of the water. The waves lightly lapped at his feet while he held out his hands. It was a sign of just how tired he was that it took a few moments before anything happened. Then, slowly, the ships in the water started to drift towards the beach.
It wasn't until the first slammed into the beach and the sound of shattering wood filled the air that anyone seemed to notice. But, by then? The others were already on their feet and making their way towards the prisoners.