Chapter 133: Chapter 1
Lying on Riftan’s chest always made Maxi feel as though they shared a soul. The gentle breathing above her head or the pounding heartbeat beneath her ear felt like her own. She sometimes had the lone, despairing thought she would not be able to live without him. Her heart burned with the desire to have him all to herself.
It was like a newborn chick blindly following the mother hen. Yet, the time to send him off was inexorably approaching.
“Stay inside the cabin tonight,” Riftan said with a grim expression when he returned from his short trip up the deck to talk to the captain.
Maxi, who had been reading a book on the bed, responded with wide eyes.
Riftan went straight to the armor stand and donned the protective gear he had not worn in a while.
“I-Is there a problem?” said Maxi, alarmed.
“No. We are merely taking a precaution.”
“A precaution... for what?”
Riftan paused from tightening the straps of his breastplate to turn to her with his brow furrowed. He sighed and caressed her pale face.
“We will be passing through siren territory soon. If we’re unlucky, we may have to fight them.”
Maxi gulped through the lump in her throat. Sirens were notorious for causing shipwrecks by luring sailors with their magical voices. Having unconsciously assumed that they would be safe while at sea, Maxi froze in fear.
“W-Will everything be all right?”
“Yes, everything will be all right. They might not bother to come after the ship. Try not to worry, just get some rest.”
Riftan buckled his sword belt tightly around his waist and left the cabin. All alone, Maxi anxiously leafed through her book, then looked out the porthole to the sea. Out of the silver horizon, a fog-shrouded island gradually came into view.
Is that the sirens’ habitat?
A steep, ivory rock face topped with lush greenery rose from one side of the island. Peering out of the porthole, Maxi felt a chill run down her spine for no reason in particular. They got closer and eventually passed by the rock, and no sirens appeared.
Maxi relaxed and returned to reading her book in bed, but the words were impossible to keep in her head. After flipping through the book of folktales she had gone over twice already, she felt the need to relieve herself. She slipped out into the passageway.
That was when she heard the faint sound of someone singing.
Maxi stiffened, worried that it might be the siren’s attempt to lure them. Her shoulders relaxed when she noted the gruffness of the voice. It must be one of the sailors singing a sea shanty.
Maxi hurried down the passageway to the privy and, after relieving herself, was about to return to her cabin when she heard the song grow louder.
Unable to resist her curiosity, she crept up the stairs. The boisterous song rang out across the deck that was bathed in the reddish light of sunset.
The sailors sang the chorus and rhythmically stomped their feet as they marched about the deck. They hoisted large barrels of water or pulled at the lines, adjusting the sails.
Way-hay, way-hay, pull on your oars
Sailing through waves like mountains, to the end of the sea we go
To where the sun falls asleep
At the end of the glorious horizon lies Adrina’s Paradise
No storm shall stop us
Way-hay, way-hay, pull on your oars
To the end of the sea we go!
Maxi listened to the deafening voices with a bewildered expression. A fully armored knight who had been pacing nearby noticed her and strode over. It was Jack Breeman, one of the younger knights.
“Lady Calypse, you must not wander about the ship on your own,” he said with a somber expression.
“I-I am aware. I... heard th-the singing... and merely wanted to know... w-what was happening.”
The knight glanced at the sailor and furrowed his brow.
“This is apparently the best way to prevent the sirens from beguiling the sailors into wrecking the ship on the rocks. We were told that they will continue to sing through the night until we are a safe distance from the sirens’ habitat.”
“Th-Through the night?” Maxi asked, wide-eyed.
The knight gave her a bitter smile. “I know it is loud, but please bear with the noise. Nothing matters more than safety after all. Singing loudly like this allegedly keeps the sirens and the mermen away from the ship.”
“I-I see.”
Maxi gazed over the red sea that shimmered like gold. The sonorous song of the men echoed above the swelling waters. Indeed, the enchanting songs of the sirens would be hard to hear over such blaring noise. Feeling a little reassured, Maxi returned to her cabin.
The sailors continued to sing even when the sun completely sank below the horizon. Maxi listened to their songs as she ate the food brought to her cabin. Although it was a stretch to say that the unsophisticated tune was pleasant on the ears, the sailors’ boisterous voices felt like a reassurance that everything was well.
Maxi’s anxiety gradually faded, and she lay on the bed and tried to fall asleep. Despite her best efforts, however, she only felt more alert as the night grew deeper. After tossing and turning all night, Maxi ran up to the deck at the first bluish hint of dawn.
The sailors were still singing, this time to the tune of a shawm and a mandolin. Their voices no longer sounded as vivacious as yesterday. After quietly listening to the melody gently resonating through the darkness, Maxi made her way around the deck to the stern.
A group of sailors sat in the middle atop cargo crates arranged in a circle. Around them, a few knights stood guard at the railings with longbows slung across their backs.
Maxi spotted Riftan and rushed over to him. As if sensing her presence, Riftan glanced over his shoulder and scowled.
“Why are you not in the cabin? It’s not safe for you to be out yet.”
Maxi clung to his arm. When she peered into the darkness, she could see the rockface that rose above the rippling waves appearing and disappearing behind the fog.
“Shouldn’t... we be safe now... a-at such a distance?”
“We can’t be sure. They sometimes chase after-”
“Don’t be so rigid, Commander,” interjected Hebaron, leaning against the railing. “Even if they do come after us, we only have to block out their voices, no?”
Hebaron gave a loud, undignified yawn and shot Maxi a mischievous smile.
“I’m afraid listening to gruff voices all night has given me a headache,” he said. “Would you please say something, my lady? I would like to cleanse my ears with your pure voice.”
“Quit your blather,” Riftan said coldly through clenched teeth.
Hebaron remained unfazed. “Don’t be so petty, Commander. A man should have a heart as big as the sea.”
“Shut your trap before I toss you into the sea.”
...
Riftan placed a hand on Maxi’s back and led her to where the sailors and knights were gathered.
“We were having meat stew to replenish our energy. You should have some as well while you’re here.”
They stopped before a large cauldron full of thick, steaming soup. A sailor filled a bowl and handed it to Riftan. Maxi accepted the proffered meal and lowered herself onto a barrel.
Returning with his own share, Riftan sank down next to her and began gulping his soup. Maxi followed his lead and began eating heartily as she scanned the faces of the sailors. They all looked haggard from singing through the night. Those who still had energy to spare were gathered near the stern, humming the shanty.
The young mandolin player abruptly called out to Riftan. “Good sir, may I play a tune for your wife?”
Maxi blinked at the young man’s unexpected request. Riftan paused in wolfing down his soup to turn to the sailor.
“She must be tired of listening to the sea shanties...” the sailor added. “If the lady has a song she wishes to hear, I’ll do my best to play it.”
Riftan regarded the young man for a moment, then turned to Maxi. “Is there a song you wish to hear?”
All eyes were on her. Maxi shook her head. “N-No...”
“I may not look like it, but I can recount most of the ballads, my lady. You need only to name the song.”
The young sailor looked at her with such anticipation that Maxi was unable to refuse him outright, and her expression grew troubled. Although she had listened to countless songs from the bards at Croyso Castle, now that she was put on the spot, she could not name a single one.
...
As she looked up, trying to think of a song, she suddenly remembered the one she had heard during the spring festival in Anatol.
“I-I do not know the title... but it is a song I heard during a village festival...”
The sailor cocked his head as Maxi finished her vague description.
“Do you know the lyrics, my lady?”
Sifting through her memories, Maxi hummed to him parts of the song she remembered.
The sailor smiled brightly. “Ah, that’s Adelian’s Poem. It’s a ballad all the way from the time of the Roem Empire. I’m quite fond of it myself. I’ll do my best to put on a worthy performance, my lady.”
He straightened and began to pluck at the mandolin. The melody that wafted out was slower and more mournful than the one Maxi remembered, but a slow smile spread on her lips as she listened to the nostalgic tune.
Soon, the young sailor’s charming baritone resonated across the stern.
The knight kisses the earth
And rises to the heavens
His beloved oak tree
Alone on a hill
Waves slender branches in the wind
Oh Dragon, I beseech thee
Take his body, broken and battered
To where he may rest
Go, oh dearest beloved
Far, far away from this turbulent land
Oh,
I shall love thee
Until my dying breath
The delicate tune of the mandolin faded out. Maxi lay her head on Riftan’s shoulder as she savored the lingering mood on the deck. It had not been so long ago that she had danced in the fields, and yet, it now felt like a distant memory.
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com