A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 38: OverSHOT the Goal...*Sob*

The sea bobbed the boat up and down as I lay haphazardly across the ropes, tangled so well that I wouldn't fall down. My head lolled against my shoulder as it rocked, and I felt uncomfortably warm.

I moaned as the sun touched upon my face again, not willing to feel Glaedis for another moment. Saedli, as cold as it made the shadows in the dock, was more welcome right now. It had been a hot night, one that woke me up from my sleep at least three times. It was night and day and that whole irritating pattern once again as I slept for days on end. I let go of the mana that made my cloak, not wanting it anymore.

Then, I heard a loud noise. It was the sound of a racking shutter as it was pulled up.

I didn't react and just continued to sleep, unable to truly care at all.

I faded in and out as dawn rose, noises around me getting louder and louder as I fought to stay asleep. There were large clashes and metal clangs, the sound of taut ropes straining and sails flapping open. The boat and I were no longer rocking, but smoothly gliding.

Hm? Gliding?

Then, I heard men's voices starting to pick up, sluggish and obviously not wanting to be here.

"Hoist the sails, we've got a long day ahead of us!"

"Aye, Sir!" Many voices called back with barely mustered vigor.

"Make sure to steer clear of the calm seas! There's been the makings of a storm past Severo these past few days!"

"Aye, Sir!"

These types of callings went back and forth, till I got sick of it and halfheartedly imagined earbuds of mana. They worked really well.

I got comfy again, the clouds blocking out a lot of the suns' rays as I calmly breathed in, and out, enjoying the feeling of being almost completely motionless.

I faded back into sleep again as certain activities started picking up around me. I didn't notice a thing.

Then, a fishy smell started to reach my nose after the sun shone down on us way more intensely than before. It felt like I was being baked in a fire, and since I was over the sea, I immediately assumed that it was dead fish being cooked by the sun.

But wait, you can't smell fish that are in the sea. You smell them when you are out of the sea.

This boat must've had fish left on it and not taken out yet, then.

However, there was something wrong with that theory. Why would fishermen leave their catchings out in the open where they were bound to go bad? Wouldn't they store them? Also, why hadn't it stunk this badly when I was in the dock? It was a closed space where the smells were bound to crowd together and make a huge army trounce upon my undefended nose.

The ropes around me started shaking and shivering as I felt something climbing them. It was not the wind, that was for sure.

My eyes refused to open, and I obliged to their wishes. Five more days, please.

Then, I felt myself being lifted.

What?

No.

I forced my eyelids to pry themselves back as I found myself in the arms of a person. I couldn't see much, just the edge of a shirt and a neck. Over the shoulder there was the sea, an expanse I didn't want to see for a long time even as a former Japanese.

Said person was climbing down the ropes while holding me close to their extremely flat chest, which made me think, "Male."

A man was carrying me.