Twisted Destiny

At Sea

The ship chased them relentlessly, but that wasn't so much a problem. It was the bows and the harpoons and, apparently, a troop of seals that got sent after them. King Frederic managed to find an underwater cave and swam them inside, and Varian could only let him take the lead.

They found a point in the cave that would let them get up to the surface and they broke free of the water with pained gasps for air. There was a shore, and King Frederic swam them over before pushing Varian up onto the shore before he climbed up next to him, the two of them dripping wet but alive and relatively unharmed.

King Frederic pushed his soaked hair out of his face, then looked at Varian. "Are you alright, Varian?"

"Ye...Yes, Your Majesty." Varian nodded, coughing a bit. "That...was not expected."

"Well, Trevor has never been known for being rational, and his people aren't much better." King Frederic said, taking off his vest and wringing it out.

"You're hurt!" Varian realized, looking at his bleeding arm.

"Oh. So, I am." King Frederic shrugged. "It happens. I suspect one of the many weapons sent our way struck me."

Varian looked a bit ill, then cleared his throat and unfastened his belt before untying his apron, folding it and using it to wrap up the wound. "Wouldn't do for the King to have an open wound. Could get infected." He said, fastening his belt back on.

King Frederic hummed a bit and got up to look around. "It's enclosed enough here. Could probably safely start a fire and dry off, wait out the danger."

Varian nodded. "...Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Hm?" He looked at him.

"You didn't let me drown." He checked in his belt for anything they could use.

"Yes, well. I couldn't betray your trust." King Frederic paused. "Oh my."

"What?" Varian got up and walked over to him.

"Do you know what these are?" The King asked, his eyes shining a bit.

"Uh...no." Varian shrugged.

"These are eggs, Varian. Sea serpent eggs." King Frederic revealed. "Oh, and they are beautiful."

Varian looked down the further length of the cave. "Uhm...if there are eggs, where are the parents?"

"Oh, probably around somewhere. But look at them!" King Frederic said in awe. "I used to collect eggs. Don't do it as much anymore, but I do enjoy reading about them from time to time."

Varian felt a bit nervous. "Maybe...we should get away from the eggs."

"Oh, if only I had my journal. I'll have to draw it from memory later." He stepped back and walked over to Varian. "Do you want to explore the cave?"

"Honestly, I want to get back to Equis and away from the sea monster." Varian said bluntly.

"Serpent." King Frederic corrected.

"Big thing that is probably going to eat us that happens to live in the sea." Varian shivered, completely unrelated to the cold.

King Frederic blinked in surprise. "Oh. You're frightened of it?"

"Aren't you?" Varian asked.

"I used to be. I used to be frightened of many things and was content to stay at home and simply do my studies. Wolves were frightening, swords were frightening, Saporians were frightening, dragons were frightening, even cats frightened me. I was...embarrassing. Trevor teased me relentlessly about it." King Frederic sighed wistfully. "And then...I met Arianna."