The Sea Stag

[Kikuyu_Black_Paws]

The sound of crashing sea against the prow beat like heavy drums through the beams. Iridescent dolphins played near the surf, racing the front of the ship, jumping up and out of the water as they chattered to their compatriots. The creaking of lines and the flapping of the sails added to the cacophony of the sea. An emerald flag with a prancing reindeer flapped in the wind atop the crows-nest. The sun gleamed warmly, turning the ocean green-blue and glittering like a precious jewel. Along the side of the dark-wooded ship ran the name Stag.

 

A young man stood at the prow, his wild eyes as dark as the wood of his ship, glittering and reflecting the dazzling light flashing off of the waves. His long brown hair whipped around his face, sprung free from its tie in the heady winds. Firm jaw, sharp nose, and high cheekbones marked him as a high-standing fellow among his peers, if not in family name. A long jacket of leather flapped behind him, his long white shirt as clean and crisp as the sails above him. The open chest of his shirt revealed a circular black tattoo with an antlered dolphin swimming through its oblong shape. Long-fingered hands gripped sea-soaked ropes as he moved out onto the flatter, slipperier, more dangerous part of the prow.

 

The man at the wheel grinned ruefully as he looked at his captain, now moving out onto the farthest reach of the prow, where no ropes aided his hands and feet to caution. A young boy, the newest cabin lad to be taken aboard, stared with wide eyes at the wild and fiery captain playing like a spring deer with the elements. "Does he always do that?" the boy asked in wonder.

 

The first mate nodded from nearby, his green eyes glittering with mischief. "You picked a good ship to come upon, boy. Ne'er a sea-dog has more fun and adventure than on the Stag!"

 

The wind slacked slightly and the captain leapt down from his perch, his clothing and his hair salt-flecked. Panting slightly the man came to stand next to his first mate and the cabin-boy. "I haven't felt such a wind in six months!" the man crowed, winking at the cabin-boy. "It will hold us steady 'til we reach Barbados."

 

The cabin-boy ducked his head, shy of his master and unwilling to tangle his feet in the currents of such a dangerously wild man. He was startled by a hand clapping on his shoulder. "Oi, lad, what's the matter?" The boy looked up into the black eyes of the captain. The boy gulped and wrung his kerchief in his hands. "I heard you're a sea demon," he whispered, eyes wide. "That you turn into a sea-deer at night and drink the blood of dolphins and boys, and that you know where the mermish live and that you..." here the boy blushed a deep red and hiccupped.

 

The captain laughed, throwing back his head. "Aye, I've heard the stories. If you were so afraid, though, why did you come aboard?"

 

The cabin-boy looked down at his feet and wiggled his bare toes in the warm air. "Only ship that'd take me," he muttered gruffly.

 

The captain grinned at the boy, baring all of his teeth. "Don't worry, lad. I'll make sure not to drink any dolphin blood around you." He strode off laughing, his sauntering gait giving him easy sea-legs on the heaving ship.

 

The cabin-boy gaped after the captain. "The rumors are true then?!" he gasped.

 

The first mate laughed as strongly as his captain. "Nay, boy. He was joking with you. Now, why don't you go find some lunch for us up here, eh?" The cabin boy scuttled away quickly, leaving the first mate still laughing at his post. The laugh soon faded from his lips as the boy wandered out of hearing-range. A thoughtful cast appeared in his gaze and the set of his jaw, and he stood steering the ship in cautious silence for a few moments.

 

 

The moon rose high over the still ocean as the ship floated quietly in the stagnant summer midnight. A few guards roamed the deck, their lanterns casting a golden glow in contrast to the silver and blue of the ocean night. Silvery wisps of clouds floated through the sky, floating past the stars.

 

The captain wandered out on deck, eyeing the ship quietly. The guards nodded to him and looked away quickly, making their way to the opposite side of the ship, purposefully avoiding their captain's gaze.

 

The captain reached the side of the ship and pressed his hands on the rail, kicking off his boots. He stared deeply into the depths of the sea, his eyes growing wider, his pupils expanding until they covered his whites. His eyes glittered blackly, like a seal's eyes, or a deer's eyes, and he leaned forward, stretching in his skin, to plunge over the side of the ship.

 

The cabin-boy yawned as he made his way onto deck, his bladder having woke him rudely in the night with an urgent request. There was no sign of the guards. The absence of human activity on the ship sent a chill along the boy's flesh, but did not connect with anything in his brain.

 

The sight of water and his captain's boots on the deck made the cabin-boy's eyes snap wide open. "Captain!" he screamed, rushing to the side of the ship, clutching the rail in his hands, searching the water desperately for the fallen man. "Captain, are you down there!? Captain!!"

 

The water lapped gently against the side of the ship, sighing with the faint wind of the night. The boy was about to go back to bed, convinced he was dreaming, when a large fin slapped the water beneath. The boy jumped, eyes wide with horror. The fin had been too big to be dolphin, and all spiny and delicately finned like a dragonfly wing. The scales had been every color of the sea, blue, green, purple, even gold and silver. The boy leaned over the edge, eyes wide as he searched for any sign of the fish he had seen.

 

The water began to boil and churn as a body emerged.

 

The boy began to hyperventilate with horror, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open as he gasped for air that seemed too unwilling to come to his laboring lungs. The water pressed upwards, lifting the shadowed figure. A pale, bony, sharply clawed hand clutched the rail, emerald green webbing between the fingers slipping and dripping water onto the deck. The hand pulled the rest of the body up. A partly human face bared sickle-sharp teeth that glimmered silver in the moonlight. Totally black eyes glared moistly at him, reflecting his own terrified face back at him. The face was thrust forward and elongated like a stag's. The hair was thick and black, intertwined with seaweed and sea muck. A proud pair of sweeping antlers, curling back from his brow, poked through his hair and hung dripping with limp sea grass and bits of beaded string. The bony ribs protruded from the skin, the torso covered in a shimmering layer of scales and silver fur that dripped and stank like seaweed in the sun. A long, sharply finned tail was attached to the lower half of the man, long spines as sharp as daggers arching along the spine of his back and tail. In the curve of its chest was an antlered dolphin tatoo, warped by scales. The sea-stag arched forward, its mouth yawning open, breath of rotting fish tainting the air around it.

 

The boy could no longer breath. He did not feel the long fingers, cold and clammy as a fish's sides, cutting off his air. He could only see the gaping maw coming closer and closer, the scent of decaying fish and the sea heavy in his nostrils. The long, sharp, silver teeth took up his vision, and a circle of black rimmed his vision. Then all went dark.

 

 

The captain slept late that following morning. His first mate appeared in his private cabin about noon to shake him awake. The captain reeled, blinking rapidly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?" he murmured.

 

"Noon," the first mate said grimly.

 

The captain shook his head and ran a hand over his face. "It was a long night," he started to explain.

 

"Aye," the first mate said quietly. "I can imagine. The cabin-boy is dead. They found his body floating alongside the ship. It looks like he hung himself in the ropes off the starboard side. But the curious thing is, he's got no more blood in his body."

 

The captain froze, staring ahead of him at the maps of the seven seas. "Shark?" he whispered hoarsely.

 

The first mate shook his head. "No wounds big enough for a shark. There's a single tear along his throat. The men think that perhaps he was slashed when he fell."

 

The silence stretched between the two men as the captain stared at his maps. His eyes were fixed on a symbol in the islands of the Americas: that of a rearing stag with a dolphin's fin. "We tell this to none on shore," he said softly. "He was never here."

 

The first mate nodded. "Aye captain." As he walked towards the door, he paused. "A good night then," he said.

 

The captain finally turned to look at his first mate. "Aye," he whispered, fingering the tattoo on his chest. "A very good night."

[Degorram]

You know, even though she made me read this at 10:00 at night, I still enjoyed it.

 

And no Kikuyu, I did not get nightmares.

[Ran Yoko]

very rich with descriptions! found this when I was browsing, and it left me wondering more about this mysterious captain. gonna write more?