The Runaway Princess

Chapter 4

I woke up with a gasp. I was sitting up in the bed trying to get my breath back on track when Thala walked in.

"So stormy weather, I saw you staring at-" she stopped when she saw me. "Where's Storm?"

"Uh, she said she would be sleeping downstairs," I said, rubbing my eyes. Thala laughed.

"If she's down there she's not sleeping, the workaholic," Thala said as she climbed the ladder down. Pulling on my boots, I followed her to find Storm quite awake, writing in a leather-bound notebook.

"See princess, what did I say," Thala stated, grinning. Storm looked over her shoulder and spotted us, her eyes glancing between us for a moment before stopping on Thala. Thala walked around to the other side of the desk and hopped on top of it. "What are you working on?" she asked.

"The usual routine," Storm replied, handing Thala the notebook. I peered over her shoulder to see numbers and words in another language.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"It's Irian," Thala replied. "Storm is from there." Storm shrugged.

"I tend to write in Irian for logs about shipping supplies, but as you can see, I can speak this language quite well."

Before I could reply, a shout came from the deck.

"Man overboard!" came the voice of Hortensia. Thala and Storm exchanged looks before getting up.

"It's most likely Adair's servants, but she would be distraught if they disappeared." Storm explained to me as she left the office with Thala following.

"They can't even die!" Thala laughed out.

On the ship, there is a bundle of movement. Hortensia was in the crow's nest on the mast, pointing next to the boat. Amare was dragging a large bundle of rope towards the edge with Embeth following her. Baylen came running up to Storm and they jog to the side of the boat, muttering too quietly for me to hear.

Thala reached the edge right after them, and to my surprise started undressing.I spun around quickly, almost bumping into Odette who had just come up behind me.

"Are you all right?" she asked before spotting Thala behind me. "Oh yes, remember Thala is a siren, and she has to do that to merge her legs in the water." Just then I heard a splash and turned to find Thala gone, having jumped into the water.

I walked up next to Storm and Baylen who were looking over the side. I followed their gaze and saw who I assumed was Thala. She was covered in aquamarine scales, her legs had fused, and the fins on her arms had extended. She was swimming towards a body floating in the water.

After some time, Thala, with help from the ropes, got the man onto the boat. She sat on the side as her scales retreated into her skin, with a towel from Amare. Amare was currently fussing over the man. He looks to be human, I couldn't tell his height but he had golden brown skin and short hair and stubble. I stood back, not wanting to get in the way and overheard Storm talking with Baylen.

"We have enough food to keep him," Baylen was saying. "He could sleep in the brig, it might be comfortable enough. We shouldn't just leave him to the sea."

"I never intended to give him back to the sea. I'm assuming he came from an island of Valta. He must have been trying to get somewhere, we'll ask where he was headed, and drop him off at the closest place on our route to his location. For now, we must move him indoors before he gets sick." Storm directed her last sentence to Amare and then helped to carry him below deck. I heard a thump and turned to see Hortensia had hopped down from the crow's nest to join the rest of us.