8: Troubling Seas

http://mgefanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Flodoomable/The_Adventures_of_The_Travelling_Ranger_(Link-Hub)

Troubling Seas

=Chapter 1: Greed brings guilt.=

Florandus Vindivicus came to a seaport laying on the border of the ocean that separated an island called Zipangu from the main land. It was in this city the ranger hoped to find a ship that would take him across the wide waters that reached all the way into the horizon. Walking to the docks he could see many large ships that could easily house over a hundred men, yet there was only one smaller ship that had men transporting goods off of. A dark bearded man saw the young hooded figure stare at the ship and passed the sailors hauling kegs and crates. The ranger was met by the bearded man who seeing from his attire could easily have been the captain, the man inspected him with a curious look. "Why is one eying my ship when he could be chasing game in the woods? You seem twice the hunter than a sailor." Florandus switched his view between the boat and the man. "It is not a sailor's life I seek, merely passage. For a port there is little activity here, why is that?" The bearded man chuckled as he motioned the ranger aboard. "Ya know lad, I like you. An honest man would have introduced himself, but an honest man is a gullible one. Most ships won't leave because of the increasing attacks on boats" A few of the crew stared down the two men as they walked to the helm, a hand was reached out at the sea. "This ever moving land is not your own, yet you seek a guide to help you through it. Where would you go if one would offer his boat as your trusted raft?" Florandus peered out into the water and then at the cargo that left the ship. Hearing the way the man talked the ranger couldn't help speak in a similar manner. "Have you heard of a land called Zipangu, I wish explore its lands and meet its people." The man grumbled under his breath. "You'll more likely meet the people of the sea before reaching that monster infested island.." The ranger stared at the man who now noticed he was heard, he stood up right and faced Florandus. "Lad, Don't give me that denigrating look. I'm a capable captain. If you can pay, I can sail." Before the man could name his price Florandus one of his smallest pouches filled with gold against the man's chest who took it with a quick hand. His face seemed to weep at seeing the gold, yet his hand greedily held onto the pouch as if to never let go of it. "I see.. A trip to Zipangu it is then. Give me a day, I might as well ask around for cargo that could double my pay for this trip. Why don't you join me till we set sail?" The ranger complied so that he would not wake up in the morning with his ship gone.

=Chapter 2: Just to be sure..=

As they walked along the dock they came to a group of men standing around a half emerged young girl sitting on a rock. The Captain pointed to her from behind the crowd. "Hey lad, let me tell you about those sea people you heard me talk about. See that girl there, she's a mermaid praising the word of Poseidon god of the sea. Her god is the one we pray to and thus that girl is known as a sea bishop." Florandus nodded at his friend before he pushed the sailors aside making the men and the sea bishop stare at him confused. The ranger took two gold pieces from his other pouch and placed them in the hand of the sea bishop. "Will this be enough?" He said with a kind smile, behind him the captain expectantly started to share his expression. The sea bishop looked him in the eye and then at the coins. "enough, enough for what?" The ranger stroked her beautiful long hair and closed her hand with the coins in them. "Once when I was young my father told me a tale about giving a sea bishop a golden coin as a token of thanks after guiding a boat across the sea, protecting its sailors from all that lie below. She had many a times prevented the boat from being sunk by a creature of the deep and its crew taken away by water dwelling creatures. Now I humbly ask you to show me that the tale was not just a tale." The sea bishop blushed heavily as she placed one coin with her other possessions and gave the other one back. "I never heard of such a tale, but I know it must have been beautiful to the ears. I will gladly make your fathers tale more than a dream to you." Florandus and the captain happily thanked her and went back on his way with the second coin, leaving the sailors perplexed in their wake. Entering a trading warehouse the captain turned to the young man before talking to the trade manager. "Say lad, I would have never guessed your father being a sea captain. Is it true what you told her?" The ranger smirked. "My father never even so much saw a port, let alone the sea for all I know." The captain started laughing loudly as he could not hild his amusement, it took a short while before the bearded man was calm enough to converse in a conversation with the trade manager. After the negotiations the captain had found a contractor who would let him transport his cargo, they now had everything they needed for the voyage.

=Chapter 3: A light in the fog.=

It had been a short night as the sunlight bathed the tavern room in which the ranger slept. He got up and stammered out of bed like any would do and went dressed in his gear to the bearded man sleeping in a bed next to him. Florandus was about to wake him up when the captain nearly jumped his own bed swinging a scimitar around. "Shameless mutinous dogs, I'll have ya for.. dinner?" The captain stopped looking sleepily around himself and then at the ranger, noticing his alarmed face the bearded man quickly put away the sword. "ah, sorry lad. I'm not a morning person and I don't like getting stabbed in my sleep.. No hard feelings." The two walked outside of the tavern not long after and returned to the ship where the sea bishop was already attracting everyone's attention. Seeing the ranger she cheerfully waved at him, happy to see his face again. "Um.. Is this your ship?" The ranger nodded while the captain spewed insults at the lazy sailors who quickly returned to work. Coming aboard the ship the captain motioned one week on sea to the young lad, Florandus nodded and went to the front of the ship. Peering over the edge he could see the sea bishop securing her stone tablet to the side of the ship as if she were to strangle it and swim around excitedly at noticing her audience. "Hey mister, what is your name?" The ranger smiled at her and called back. "Florandus is the name." The sea bishop made a graceful leap from the water and grabbed onto the side of it almost directly where the ranger was leaning, it wasn't a large ship making the tip of her tail connected to the water. "I'm Corea." She blushed heavily as her face had almost met with Florandus by her unexpected breach of water. The young man felt the amused stare of the captain in his back. "Will you be keeping me company during this trip? Corea averted her eyes with a big smile on her face as she shyly replied. "I-If you want me to.." Florandus layed his hand on her cheek and turned her red face to him. "Of course I want you to, I'd get lonely otherwise." At this the holy mermaid's head nearly cooked as she interpreted it wrong. "I-I'm not a light snack for your loins. I will guide you safely through the waters, b-but nothing else." Corea went back to the water slowly swimming around holding both hands to her chest while the water could be seen boiling around her. Behind the now confused ranger the loud voice of the bearded captain shocked over the ship. "Alright you bunch of lazy sea dogs, it is time to sail for new shores. Zipangu will be our next destination, cast us off. A loud racket was heard as the ropes where loosened and the Anker lifted, The sails where unrolled and a gush of wind took them forward. Looking over the edge Florandus could see the sea bishop swim about twenty meters ahead of the ship and disappearing underwater. If it wasn't so that the stone tablet was still on the ship, Florandus would have thought the sea bishop had left them. Feeling good about the ship and the sea bishop guiding it the ranger relaxed at its front, seeing the land behind him get smaller and smaller.

=Chapter 4: Sharing is caring.=

Three days would be spent looking at the waves that formed around the ships edge and a story or two was told by the captain about his youthful ventures at sea. The man had apparently lived through more mutinies than woman all his life and seen more than a handful of good friends get swept away by creatures of the dark blue. While telling his stories his expression would always grow darker and colder when nearing the end. "young lad, let me tell you about the sea." He would say, before starting another story. Nearing the midday of the third day they came to a small island with a castle and a port on it. The captain patted the ranger on his back. "How do you like it, feel like exploring the island called Zipangu?" The ranger looked at the small island and turned to the captain with an unamused look. "I'm eager, yet I don't see the mountains of Zipangu." The bearded man chuckled and calmly steered towards the island. "It was worth a try, This is where we are supposed to drop off the cargo. A Castle in the middle of the sea, I told you about secluded mamono nests didn't I? Don't let them bite your neck while we're here." They could see a young woman wearing a cloak like the ranger, yet her's was black and covered her face too. Two red eyes locked sight with Florandus from under her hood, her hand motioned to her right side where a sign stood "Place cargo here". At the same time they noticed Corea breach water and sit on the edge of the peer, expectantly looking around at the island. The captain yelled out again, this time with some hesitation in his voice which was easily noticed by the whole crew. "Men, you can see where the lady is pointing. Place the cargo there and don't explore the island, I'm not paying you to go sightseeing." He then turned to the ranger with a worried face. "Go up there and play for security will ya lad? You'd have no Idea how helpful that would be." Florandus complied, walking onto the docks with the stream of cargo carrying sailors nervously following behind him. The young man stopped, standing between the young lady and the cargo drop-off point. The ranger noticed the hooded figure suddenly standing much closer to him, her hand covered up by a velvet glove gently stroke over is cheek. The red eyes longingly locked on his, he saw the figure uncover the mouth showing a pale girl trying to press her lips to his. Florandus started to feel his anti-charm necklace burn on his torso, making him back off from the girl. The red eyes girl gave him a look of disbelief when she noticed his necklace. "Your captain is a smart man.." She quickly pressed her lips against his and pushed a bag of gold in his hands, after that she practically fled back to the castle leaving the ranger to feel his lip to notice it was bleeding. A bit away from him Corea's mouth hung slightly open as she pressed both hands back down on her chest again.

=Chapter 5: The moon above the horizon.=

When the young man came back to the captain to give him the gold a scimitar was once again aimed in his direction by the captain. "Hold it right there, before you can get back on the ship I want to ask you a question lad! What did that girl tell you just now?" The bearded man instantly found his answer as the blood ever so slowly dripped from Florandus lips. "I see, you're her new pet are ye?" The ranger looked at him slightly irritated as he grabbed the blunt part of the sword and the captain's right foot making him fall to the floor. Stabbing the sword into the wooden planks and dropping the bag next to it. "I'm not possessed if that's what you're thinking." At this the ranger walked back to the front of the ship, peering back at the ocean. Strangely at ease the captain greedily grabbed the gold bag and pulled his scimitar from the wood. "At least there won't be a mutiny getting us stuck on this rock, that's the worst that could happen here." A veteran sailor came to the captain. "Captain, we are missing some of our men. They might have been taken by the hooded figure.." The bearded man regained his depressed expression and hopelessly returned to his steering wheel. "We'll leave them, there isn't anything us mortals can do about it." The sailors that had sailed with him on previous voyages nodded and directed the perplexed new sailors back to work as the ship once again set sail with the sea bishop in front of them. Later that day when the sun had disappeared the quartermaster took over the steering wheel from the captain who then walked over to the ranger. "how are ya holding up lad? Did that bloodied lip close up yet?" Florandus glanced over to the bearded man, then back at the sea before him. "You where prepared to kill me over a bloodied lip, how do you think I am?" The captain chuckled slightly. "It's healed up enough to blabber around I see, let me tell you why my steel was pointed at you.. Your lip, it showed me that that girl had bitten you. She's not some crazy cannibalistic landlubber, no. She, was a vampire." The ranger turned to him surprised. "here, in the middle of the ocean?" The old man gazed back at him. "Aye, out here are no other land monsters to meddle in their affairs. If a cargo ship reaches them, It will lose a few of its crew to them. We ourselves have six missing sailors, but it would have been much more had you not acted as bait." The ranger smirked. "You and your honor." The captain ginned widely. "Can ya blame me, a man in such a line of work?" He showed his hand that still greedily held onto the gold bags. "The more one gains, the more he must repay. It's the will of the gods apparently.." Florandus looked up at the cloudless night sky. "Indeed it is." The captain went back to his bed to rest after he tolled the young man one more thing. "My name is Grendil, thought you should know."

=Chapter 6: So close, yet so far.=

By passed another 2 days of seeing nothing but sea around them and ranger was getting bored from hanging at the front of the ship, scouting for the sea bishop which had not said a word to him sins they left that port the first day. A few hours passed before a sound was heard from the top of the crow's nest. "Land ahoy! Land ahoy!" The crew suddenly seemed to stir from their half-awake slumber, men where shouted at, ropes where tied and untied, deck scrubbers started working three times as hard. Then out of nowhere a shock rocked the boat as if a baphomet had tried an explosive spell beneath them. At the front the sea bishop panicingly jumped onto the side with her stone tablet in her left arm. "Florandus, something is coming!" The ship was again rocked by the shockwave coming from underneath the ship. The ranger made a dash for the mast and climbed up it, followed by the captain. "Lad, I know you have something in mind and you're not leaving me behind!" The sea bishop fled back into the water as they noticed the ship started turning around it's axel. The captain recognized it and yelled at all the men. "Whirlpool!!" The sailors started to panic as more and more climbed the mast. At the same time huge tentacles appeared from both sides of the ship, tearing apart its top side. "Kraken!!" another sailor yelled in the blind panic while the ship was being coiled up in the tentacles. One of the sailors ran towards the front of the boat "We are to close to get sunk now!" He leapt off the boat, only to be grabbed out of mid-air and screaming as he did be pulled into the deep blue. as the ship was torn in two the mast holding the ranger and ship crew was suddenly tilted making most of the sailors hands slip and canoneer them onto the ship deck below them. The ship was slowly dragged under water by the whirlpool and torn apart by the kraken as multiple selkies came from the water and abduct the fallen sailors. Grendil screamed with tears in his eyes as all his men where taken. "No! You demonic beasts!" In a moment of desperation Grendil leaped off the mast to one of the kraken's tentacles with his scimitar about to stab it as a wave washed over them and both Grendil and the tentacle where gone. One of the tentacles then broke the base of the mast making it crash down like a sawn down tree. Florandus decided to go for an alternative of clashing into the waters far below him. It would be dangerous from this height, but he had no choice. The ranger ran to the falling tip of the mast and dived into the water, He lost his consciousness as soon as he hit the water.

=Chapter 7: An impossible love.=

Florandus slowly opened his eyes to see through his woozy eyes that the sea bishop sat atop of him performing some kind of ritual. He felt the sand of a beach on his back and the connection his lower half made to Corea's lower body. He was shocked when he saw his right hand change color and grabbed Corea's stone tablet out of her hands. The sea bishop yelped from the surprise and saw the ranger's hand turn to normal. She panicked and tried to reach for the tablet. "Florandus, no! You can't stop the ritual, You will stay human if you do!" Hearing her moaning while they struggled mattered not to Florandus who now threw the tablet onto the dry sand. "Corea, I don't want to become a man of the sea!" The holy mermaid had tears in her eyes as she felt his motivation in her go limper. "B-but I saved you! why would you throw such a gift away?" She began to move, franticly to convince the young man. "Stay with me, I beg of you." Florandus used his returning strength and consciousness to push Corea over and push into her, stopping her pleading with a kiss. Her face was bright red, yet she stopped all effort of convincing the young man as he was now taking her. Much earlier than anticipated the sea bishop felt a wave of warmth gush into her making her moan louder. Florandus then pulled out after pleasing her and stood up righting his soaked clothes. "listen.. I know you want me to be with you, but I can't. I'm a man of the land, I feel best when running through the forests with my arms outstretched, or the thrill of climbing a mountain. Being stuck in the sea would only make me unhappy and that would make you unhappy too." He picked up the tablet, placed a hand on her stomach and caressed it gently while laying the tablet beside her. "Take what I have given you and remember me by it. I want you to be happy." Corea looked at Florandus. "Are you sure?" The ranger kissed her passionately, nodded and walked away.

Before he left Florandus turned to her one last time. "Also, what happened to the captain?" Corea blushed and looked at the sea. "He and the kraken are happily married now."

Florandus Vindivicus now found himself on Zipangu and was confiden to explore it.