The voyage

Naajim

Prince Tyler was not happy. In fact, he was rather moody ever since the four of them departed from the port on board of the Sea Siren. To make things worse, the prince was forced to dress like a vagabond, with a dirty white crumpled shirt, overused leather boots and dusty pants just so that no one would recognize that he was a prince. The only thing that gave him away as a warrior was the large broadsword strapped onto his back. Much to Naajim's surprise, the prince was able to suppress his noble aura and actually act like a commoner.

'You really are good at blending in,' said Sapphire to the prince, 'Unlike someone I know.'

Archie shot a glare at the girl and back towards the sea, watching the land disappear under the horizon as the ship sailed away to the east.

'That bastard just wants to get rid of me,' muttered Prince Tyler.

'Don't care,' Sapphire grinned, 'This is my first time on a ship!'

'And I am stuck here with a bunch of children!' the prince snapped, much to himself.

Naajim on the other hand, was rather excited about going back to his home kingdom. But he was feeling rather nauseous ever since he stepped on board the wooden horror. The feet under him swayed and there was an endless stretch of blue all around him. It made him feel suffocated. Unlike the desert, you can drown in it.

'Are you feeling alright?' asked Archie.

Naajim nodded before retching over the rails of the deck.

'Just perfect,' mumbled the prince before retiring to his cabin room underneath.

'I've heard smelling something sour can help,' said Sapphire. Naajim shook his head. He was pretty sure all of his breakfast was gone. There was nothing else to regurgitate. But it was still uncomfortable. Even his head started to ache. A nearby crewman walked over to them and handed him a pouch.

'Just swallow them sour berries mate. It will make ya feel better.'

Naajim nodded in gratitude before reaching into the pouch. Inside was a dried berry. It was unpleasant to look at, but he stuffed it in his mouth anyway. It was very sour. But after a while his stomach felt better.

'I'd better watch over the prince,' said Archie, turning away, 'Who knows what he might do?'

'Is it a good idea?' said Sapphire. 'For all I know, he could even decapitate you if he gets too mad. He's a soldier. They have very short tempers.'

'He's a general. If he behaved that way, he won't have survived long in the battle field.'

'He's very arrogant!'

'I've heard stories of him,' said Archie. 'He's not a simple character as you think.'

With that, the boy left, leaving Naajim and Sapphire to stare at the view. It was still mid noon. The journey to the port took the whole morning. They even had to scourge the area just to find a desert merchant ship to take them to Ivory Port. Prince Tyler, fortunately, was not as hopeless at the children expected and dealt with the sailors. It was hard to bargain a trip, especially for four people. An adult and three children were conspicuous. The prince has to make up a story saying that he was traveling with his two siblings and a friend.

The story had a lot of holes in it, but it got them a ship to travel on even if they had to pay quite a hefty price for it. The voyage was a three day journey. Naajim wondered whether he might still be alive by the end of it.

Crew members of the ship started to fill up the deck, tying ropes here and there while someone yelled from on top of the mast. Sapphire felt uncomfortable and wanted to go below deck, even if she were dressed like a boy. Eventually, the children retired to the cabin. Since the ship was only a small merchant ship, they all had to share the same cabin. Otherwise, the captain said that they could even stay in the storage area, even if the man was not quite keen on letting them stay. When they entered, Archie was fixing the string of his bow while the prince was studying a map.

'Good,' said the prince, 'You came.'

He laid his map on top of his bunk bed. There was only two, so there was quite a problem. But everyone decided that it was problem only to be encountered when they were going to sleep. Also, they could not let their guards down. Someone had to stay awake at night.

'We will reach Ivory Port in three days if the ship runs smoothly,' said the prince, 'Storms could take it off course and then it might take longer.' He pointed at a bay at the end of the Berumian Strech that separated both Oblivion and the two Knight Kingdoms. 'We can gather our supplies here. I hope desert boy here knows what we need.'

Naajim nodded.

'There are two routes to Dhahabi. One is a path through the desert planes. It's a longer route that goes around the Masakh range. Then there is path that cuts direct through the Masakh range. I've heard it's quicker. Also, we won't have any problem being noticed since no one uses that path.'

'Wait,' said Sapphire. 'Don't you think there is a reason why no one uses that route?'

The prince shrugged, 'They say there are monsters there.'

'Monsters?'

'Probably rumors.'

Naajim frowned. He had heard of the tales. But it was definitely not rumors. Archie noticed his change of face and asked, 'They are not real? Are they?'

'It's home for desert beasts,' said Naajim.

Prince Tyler sighed, 'Look. I know that you folk are all superstitious and all_'

'Have you seen a thoobak?'

'A what?'

'Thoobak. Big serpent. A lot of teeth. Swallows full man. Buries under sand. Very dangerous.'

'No I haven't. Have you?'

The boy nodded. 'There are lot of desert beasts. All hide from the sun. They hunt at night. Masakh range is their home... not home... where they make eggs.'

'A-a breeding place?' said Sapphire.

'Lot of caves. Good for babies. Not only thoobak.'

'Wow,' said Prince Tyler who held up his hand, 'You are telling me that this range is a place where all beasts that lives in the desert mate and breed?'

Naajim stared at the prince, not fully comprehending his words.

'They have babies? All beasts?'

For that, Naajim nodded hesitatingly. 'Not all...'

'And it's not a story?'

Naajim shook his head. But he looked up, trying to remember something. 'But not also dangerous sometimes...'

'So it means there is a breeding season,' said Sapphire. She sat down on the bunk next to the map. 'We should have searched about this earlier.'

No one could deny that. Even the prince had a grave face, 'Still. It's quicker. The quicker we do this the better. There is a chance it might not be the breeding season.'

'There is also an equal chance that it might be,' said Archie.

'My luck stinks,' said the prince, 'So it's probably the breeding season. Anyway, depending on the looks of the size, it might take only a day if we start out early in the morning. You said they hunt at night, right?'

Naajim nodded.

'Don't you mean a day if we ride a war-cat?' said Sapphire.

For this, the prince sighed. 'Yes. I forgot that.'

'There are hyasa, or veerai' said Naajim.

'What's that?'

'To ride.'

'It's settled then,' said the prince, standing up. 'We ride whatever the creature he says and we get this done with. And someone, help him with his vocabulary.'

Fortunately, Naajim did not understand that last part.

But the rest of the children looked at each other in doubt. No one wanted to mention it, but everyone had a bad feeling about it. But by looking at the map, it was clear that it was the quickest route. The alternate path was longer and went all around the range. But they had no time to ponder too much on it since they were called out for lunch.

When night dawned, the ship was lighted up with glass-lanterns. Everyone was careful with them since they could burn the whole ship if one gets knocked off. Inside the cabin, Prince Tyler continues to study the route of the map under the light of the lantern while Sapphire laid asleep on one of the beds. She fell asleep soon while Archie and the prince took the turn to watch out for the night. Yet, Naajim did not trust the bunk. He had a fear that he might fall off if the slept on one and decided to sleep on top of a rug on the floor. The prince gladly took the bunk while Archie sat with the door with a dagger right next to him, just in case.

The ship was silent, except for the sound of the waves and the creaking of the sails and bumping objects. Sailors never slept completely in the night. You could never be sure whether or not something might go wrong. Archie sat on the corner, listening. The prince gave up studying the map and snuffed out the light.

Darkness consumed the room.

No matter how dark it was, Naajim could still see. He could clearly see all corners of the room, as if the moon had shined its light on them. There was not much colour, be he could still see. The prince as promised didn't sleep, but simply sat on the bunk, awake. Underneath them, the ship swayed to and fro while Sapphire rolled over in the bunk. Eventually, Naajim fell asleep, only to be woken in the middle of the night to take turns in the shift. Sapphire was widely awake by then.

Naajim stayed awake until morning dawned. Then, he fell asleep once again.

The next day passed by without incident. Well, except the time when the ship almost bumped into a giant horned fish that was the size of a small island. Naajim panicked at the size of it. The captain simply laughed it off, saying that the creature was harmless unless provoked. While the ship journeyed across the sea, the sailors fished on top of the deck. The food provided by the ship was not something to look forward to. Gruel, bread and cheese were not something anyone would eagerly wait for. It's then did Naajim start to miss the palace food. At least then, he had a good fill of good food. Yet, since they had a good catch, the whole crew had a good meal of grilled fish.

'It's weird,' said Sapphire as she poked at her half of a fish during dinner. They caught a group of very large fish, all of the same kind, 'Can you fish while a ship is sailing?'

'It's easy to catch these,' said one of the crewmen, 'They take sea-vines as bait and have a habit of chasing after fast swimming fish. They usually hunt green-eals. Green-eals are fast swimmers. It's easy to mimic their speed on board of a ship.'

It was truly indigenous in Sapphire's eyes. The sailors simply hooked a long stand of sea vines onto a long rope and tossed in to the sea. They only had to wait until something tugged their line. And it seems, sea-vines were easy to find under the hull of the ship and besides, since they grew attached onto surfaces like rock or wood.

But on the third day the ship got caught up in a storm.

The sea rages whole evening and so bad that even the children and the prince, who were not sailors, had to help the crew to stabilize the ship. The captain was at frenzy has he tried to stir the ship without taking it much off course. Fortunately, the sea calmed down at night and everyone had a good rest.

Naajim had never been so terrified. He had spent most of his time pulling onto the ropes of the sails while he prayed to all of the gods and spirits he knows so that he won't end up in a watery grave. Even Sapphire, who had been jubilant throughout the trip, had a pretty terrified look on her face at the end of it all. Only Archie and the prince remains rather impassive to what had happened.

That night, Prince Tyler was the last to enter the cabin at night.

'I spoke with the captain,' he said, 'We will reach the Ivory Port tomorrow afternoon.'

It was good news to Naajim. He was starting to hate the sea. They had spoken little about what they might do after they land on the port. The port was a part of a large trading city, so there might be no trouble in finding supplies. No one spoke about the route. Eventually, everyone made up their mind to themselves that they had better had the route.

'Whatever omen that's in the sky might even disappear if we don't get there quick,' the prince reasoned.

And it was pretty much a good reason enough.

The Sea Siren set sight on land the next day a few hours past noon.

'Land ahoy!' yelled the crewman on top of the mast. Most of the sailors got busy, handling the sails while the children scrambled unto the deck to have a view. In front of them, a dark line stretched over the horizon while peaks and domes rose up from the middle. Naajim could even see birds circling around the structures. The closer they got, the nearer the city became. They met a few ships and fishing boats along the way.

'Pack your stuff,' said the prince. Sapphire nodded and ran back under the deck. Naajim only had his dagger with him, so he didn't bother.

It took a while for the ship to safely dock on the port and once it did, Naajim was the first to get off. Even Prince Tyler had to admit that it was funny to watch the boy run from the ship like as if it were a monster. Sapphire came back out with a backpack and a short-sword dangling down his hips and Archie with his quiver and bow.

'Do you even know how to use that?' asked Princes Tyler from the girl.

Sapphire simply huffed and walked down the plank onto the pier. They children thanked the captain for the journey. The captain simply laughed, patting the prince's shoulder while saying, 'Any time lads, anytime. If you ever wanted to be a sailor you can always join our crew. You have good muscled boy! Your scrawny brothers too! But what's with all the weapons? Are you mercenaries of some kind?'

The prince froze at the question. He pretty much didn't think through everything.

'Ha ha... very funny captain,' said the prince with a fake grin, 'You can never know what we might meet. Heh...'

The captain frowned. 'Oh well, it ain't my business. Well then, have a safe journey lad!'

Sorry about the short two chapters before. I sort of forgot the usual word count. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will update soon so wait a bit. 

Yours sincerely, 

Angelina Colbe