Siren(t) Night

WRITER'S NOTE: This is a revised version of Chapter 45 to The Blacksmith's Nephew. It would have been also a retrospective but considering the amount of characters, this short story is told by the narrator instead. Please enjoy.

Terrance found himself really tired that night. For he had passed out onto the helm after sailing for a good hour. It then began to fog again and everyone was sound fast asleep this time around.

Everyone on the Sunlight Howler began dreaming once they had all slept from where they were. All of a sudden, the men on the ship were each dreaming of themselves with their own dream girl simultaneously.

Terrance dreamt of himself and Ruth dancing. Sonas dreamt about himself with a tall beautiful woman (whom he used to know a long time ago) dueling in a friendly sword fight. Reuben dreamt of his Queen Esther and was welcome back home in the Northern Kingdom with open arms. Lemmy dreamt of a lady dwarf who was serving him a delicious supper in a cabin. This left Arkcon dreaming of himself along with Maren as they flew through the blue sky with some clouds. All the males on the ship were dreaming relatively the same dream. Maren meanwhile was sound asleep dreaming about her mother.

Amongst the waters of the Enchanted Sea were five sirens. These sea witches had white skin and messy dark green hair like seaweed. They had eyes that were completely covered in black with no pupils and they had razor sharp teeth. Their fins and lower bodies were as of a fish with grey scales as their upper bodies was covered with their seaweed hair. They were all related as well; a set of quintuplets.

These five sea witches placed a dream spell onto the sleeping males within the crew. When Terrance saw Ruth walking away from his dancing dream, he followed her. Once Sonas’s lady left the duel, he went to chase after her. When Reuben saw Queen Esther starting to go, he trailed along. Once Lemmy’s dwarven lady stopped working on supper and went outside, he went out to go after her. And when Arkcon saw Maren flying away from him, he flew towards her. While the sleeping males were chasing their girls through their dreams, they were actually sleepwalking in reality. Meanwhile in her own dream, Maren and her mother were out on a grassy meadow playing tag. Her mother was wearing the same attire as she wore the day she got the portrait. Maren was having a marvelous dream until her mother was caught by a shadowy figure that looked like a human.

Maren woke up immediately from that dream. She could feel sweat on her forehead, and her heart pounding out of her chest after waking up from that nightmare. Maren then decides to get some water and fresh air since her mouth was quite dry when she woke up.

Once she got out of her cabin, she could hear people singing. She ventured out of the hallway and saw her friends out there amongst the deck of the ship. Each of the male warriors were at five different places upon the deck as they were looking out to sea. From her left to her right: Maren saw Arkcon, Reuben, Terrance, Sonas, and Lemmy in that order all standing there amongst the ledges of the ship. Past those ledges were the five sirens using their singing voices and dream spells to draw the male warriors into the sea. The sea witches were trying to drown them.

Maren had to do something and quick! She quickly withdrew her dagger from the scabbard that was still attached to her waist and shrank down to fairy size, undetected. The fairy then started to pierce through each of those siren’s hearts one by one starting with the siren on her right. By the time she killed the first four, the fifth siren that held Arkcon in her spell saw this happening.

Once Maren came near, the sea witch used the backside of her right hand smacking Maren to a nearby mast of the ship. After the impact, Maren went back to her full human size and was passed out once again.

“Maren!” shouted Terrance after waking up from the sleeping spell and seeing Maren there unconscious. Each of the sirens that Maren had killed was now drowning to the depths of the sea. The last living siren grabbed the elf and dragged him into the sea. Lemmy saw this and immediately sprints across the deck jumping overboard to save Arkcon from the evil sea witch.

There under the sea, the dwarf dove to fight off the siren as he swam deeper and closer to them. Once he was there, the dwarf reached out for Arkcon’s pocket and brought out the elf’s weapon. The dwarf then quickly put out the dagger from it’s scabbard and slashed off the siren’s right hand that was holding onto Arkcon.

The sea witch cries in agony as she holds her right wrist. Lemmy meanwhile quickly grabs ahold of Arkcon carrying him on his right side. The siren gives the dwarf a stir look as blood was spearing out from where her right hand used to be. She then says in a hoarse voice: “Mark my words: I will have my revenge on thee.”

The sea witch then quickly swam deep into the sea after she had spoken. Lemmy floated there for a short bit but he had to hurry so he and Arkcon wouldn’t drown. The dwarf had to put this warning aside for now. Lemmy quickly lifts himself and the elf upward until they had reached the surface of the water.

Once they have reached the surface, Reuben saw the two of them out there in the sea but not too far from the ship. The royal beast quickly threw a lifesaver with some rope (which was attached to the ship) towards Lemmy and Arkcon. Lemmy grabbed unto it and Reuben pulls them in until they had reached onto the ship along with everyone else there. Once the two were safely on the ship, Lemmy gently puts Arkcon down onto the deck. You should never judge a dwarf’s strength with their size for they are very strong!

Maren finally woke up from her unconsciousness and quickly rushes to Arkcon’s side. She started to give the elf mouth-to-mouth and pressed the elf’s chest ever so often.

After three attempts, the elf spit out the sea water and was now breathing again. He saw both Lemmy and Maren by his sides after waking up. The elf then lifts his head up to see everyone else there surrounding him.

“Please, tell me....” says the elf to the dwarf. “That you didn’t just give me a mouth-to-mouth.”

“I can assure you I did no such thing,” says Lemmy feeling disgusted at the thought of it. "I just simply used your dagger to release you and grabbed you out of the water is all.”

“Well…thank you my friend,” said Arkcon with a sigh of relieve and having to get more oxygen in his system.

He then turns his attention to Maren grabbing her hand and says: “And thank you my darling.”

“You’re welcome dear,” says Maren to the elf smiling while holding his hand with both of her hands. “I’m just so glad that you’re okay.”

Terrance couldn’t help but smile for his friends being safe. The dwarf gave the elf back his dagger after using it for a short bit. But once Lemmy stood up from where he sat, he was in deep thought.

“What’s the matter my friend?” wondered Sonas as everybody else did. Everyone there on the ship was now looking at the dwarf with eyes of concern.

“That siren who took Arkcon under the water,” said the dwarf as he was now looking out to the sea. “She mentioned something after I chop her hand off down there.”

“What did she say?” asked Terrance.

Lemmy then replied trying to do his best impression of the siren, “She said something among the lines of: ‘Mark my words: I will have my revenge upon thee.’”

Everyone then took a moment to process this. After a slight pause, Terrance had finally said, “I’m sure she isn’t going to do anything now considering her hand is missing.”

“Yeah, but what if she still wants to get me for payback?” asked the thoughtful dwarf.

“Don’t you worry my friend,” replied Sonas as he put his left hand on the dwarf’s right shoulder for reassurance. “We always got your back.”

“Yeah,” Terrance agreed. “We are a team, a family! You aren’t alone in any of this. If she ever comes back and dwells onto the surface, she’ll regret facing off against the Warriors of the Three Kingdoms!”

Everyone else on the ship all nodded in agreement. For what Terrance had said was true: they were all in this together. Lemmy turned around and looked at his friends who were there with him no matter what the cost. He couldn’t help but smile, even getting a little teary eye and replied back: “Thank you everybody. You’re all true friends and companions I admire the most.”

“You’re absolutely welcome,” said the squire as he smiled back to Lemmy.

After a deep conversation amongst his friends, Terrance got a glimpse of light on his right eye. He turns his head slightly to the right from the ship to see the horizon. “Land oh everyone,” he said to his crew looking out back to the sea. Everyone then turned their heads to where the young man was looking at.

There it was: the Capital of Rissindell within less than a mile away! And behind it was a beautiful sunrise with a gorgeous orange sky hitting the outlines of the hilly city.