The Summer Siren

Erik

I had lost her and now I don't know if I was going to be able to get her back. She's probably praising that sneaky pirate while I struggle to get my crew ready to sail again. When we had put anchor down here, we thought we were going to be here for a while, especially after we had seen that it was Ace with a woman on the ship. It's our favorite past time to fuck with people who anchor in our territory.

After I had managed to get the lifeboat back to the ship and pulled up by the crew members that didn't immediately go take a nap. They had planned for me to take a lot longer on the smaller ship. With the limited crew members, it took twice the time to get the other boat pulled up and out of the waters. Once it was pulled up, I made my way to the captain's chair and started barking orders to the crew that hadn't fallen asleep. One of the orders given was to wake up the crew members. It didn't take long for them to hustle, getting the ship ready to sail once again.

We didn't have an engine like the one on the little boat, but we had the best rowers known to man and the wind to help push them along. The little boat was no longer in sight when we started to row, but I knew she could see mine. My ship, Saebroga, is named the terror of the sea for a reason. My men continue to row until the sun starts to set and when I still don't have her in my sights, I can't help but get more frustrated. We stopped at the opening of the Eastern Brook Canal. I know that when they had hit these waters, Ace had probably pushed the engine to its limits so it wouldn't get tangled up in the dancing seaweed that laid below the surface of the water.

With a normal ship such as mine, and Ace's actual ship, it did no damage because there was nothing for it to truly grasp on. There have been a couple strange ships like hers in the past and then some of our other ships that have below water engines have been grabbed by the seaweed before. Once it's in their grasps it won't let go. I have seen plenty of watery deaths in this canal. From crew members who hadn't been told about the danger, from my seat on my ship while another boat struggles to remain above water, their crew members already in the water because they knew what the outcome would be.

Despite knowing that I made sure that I had men posted along the side of the boat, waiting to shoot at the seaweed if it were to climb up the sides of my ship. This isn't our first rodeo with dancing seaweed and while I would prefer it to be our last, I knew better. After making sure all our men were posted where they needed to be, I called my second in command into the dining room.

I'm eating a dinner roll when Gunnar walks in and I'm not surprised when he rips it out of my hands and finishes it off in one bite. "I assume you want to talk about the girl and how we can get her back," he asks, leaning back in his chair, feet thrown on the table.

"You assumed correctly. I don't know what it is about her, but she seems different from the rest. She drew me in, and I couldn't seem to break lose from her grasp. She didn't even hardly talk while I was there. She spent the time making sure her ship was in working order and nothing was broken." I grabbed another roll, determined to finish at least one with my meal today.

The chef brings out our plates of food and stays long enough for me to take a bite and make sure it tastes okay. I take a bite of the meat and wave him away with a flick of my hand. "It was the way she carried herself. She carried herself like no one in this world could ever stop the mission she was on."

"Impressive, Captain. The question remains if she's worth the trouble, time and effort we're putting into her though. We're already running low on resources when we anchored near her ship the first time and now you have us racing across the country to kidnap her again from pirates no less," Gunnar takes a bite of his food.

"I'll worry about the resources. If anything, we can dock on the other side of the canal and get supplies in town. We've stopped there plenty before and it wouldn't hurt to check the hotels to make sure that Ace and the woman aren't there." Dismissing Gunnars worries about supplies I can't help but wonder what that woman's name is. While she may have heard my name from my argument with Ace, I never caught hers, which is disappointing enough.

"Ace isn't going to stop in a town like that. He has hiding spots that are closer to the smaller villages where he gets his supplies. He'll take refuge in one of his hidey holes and wait until the night after tomorrow. I'm sure that he's done nothing but rush to one on the other side of this straight. Yes, we need supplies, but it will also slow us down enough we won't be able to catch up to him. Our best bet will be to catch him during the day while they are resting and unsuspecting. We can send a small crew with the lifeboat to get supplies and bring the rest of the crew with us to capture Ace and the girl," Gunnar says between his bites.

Food is something that we sometimes struggle with getting so we always make sure the crew eats first. Gunnar and I have gone to bed hungry countless times while our men laid above us with full stomachs. It's important to us that they are strong and remain strong during the times we're at sea. Between being able to row and fight against pirates and other enemies, if we have one man who's weak and unable to fight, he's just bringing us down.

"Sounds like a good plan, but I don't want one crew to go ashore, I want all the lifeboats to head inland, and I want everyone to go except you, the rowing crew, and myself. There's only two of them and I doubt they have time to reach Ace's crew before we can get to them. Last intel we got about them, they were docking on the other side of the Starry Sea," Getting up to take the chef my plate, "This conversation is over. We will continue with plans in the morning before we set down. Tell the men to ensure all the lifeboats are ready to take off in the morning and to make sure that they grab enough supplies for a month if possible."

Gunnar nods, cleaning his dining area up as well before he walks out to room to go fulfil the orders that I had just given him. I handed my plate to the chef before following Gunnar out the door and back to the captain's chair. I sit down as I watch Gunnar bounce between the rowers to let them know the plan for tomorrow and then make his way below decks to let the other fellows know. Knowing that he has this, and I won't need to do anything in the next coming hours, I sit back in my chair and stare off into the distance. I think of how she had felt in my arms and how I long for that feeling again. She may have been a stranger, and she was definitely not from this world, but I would do anything to have her in my arms forever.