Salveran Tides Ch. 01

Chapter One: Fortune Favors the Cruel

The surface, my children, holds many a fantastic sight. To behold the sun winking off the waves, to see the great creatures of the earth moving through their territories on islands and continents. But you must be wary, the both of you. For there are beings up there of great power, whose very nature it is to bend the world to their will. They are not divine, not gods. They bleed as much as we do. They are called humans, and you must always watch them with great care. (A warning given by Her Highness Setrion Myrmidion, Queen of the Oceans, to her children when they were young.)

The sound that touched Leona’s ears was not one she had ever heard before.

It was water, that much she knew, but she had never known water to have such a variety of sounds possible within its depth. To her, water was simply the environment around her, a space she could move through easily. Its sounds were muted, heavy, often distant. When you swam through the crushing depths of the deepest parts of the ocean, it barely made a sound. But this, hearing it crash and burble, was like nothing she’d ever heard before. It was spellbinding.

Leona opened her eyes.

A blinding light flared in her vision, and she groaned and screwed her eyes shut. Everything felt heavy and hot. Her head lolled against something solid behind her. She tried to move, and found that she couldn’t move her arms. She wiggled her body, feeling roughness scrape against her scales. She knew what sand felt like, but its bite was always lessened by it being at the sea bed.

Her eyes snapped open. Leona dipped her head away from the blinding glare, blinking until her eyes adjusted to the light. She’d never seen such a brilliant glow, and it took her a moment to make out the faint ball form it was radiating from and realize that it was the sun. She’d stuck her head above water to behold it in its full radiance before, but she’d obviously been out of the water for some time, because her entire body was dry and itchy.

What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was that she’d been swimming through a rock formation far below the surface. She’d seen something move in her peripheral vision, and then everything had gone black. Now she was here. But who knew where here was, exactly?

Leona looked down, taking stock of the situation. Her arms were pinned to her sides by thick lengths of rope, not the kind made out of seaweed like her people used but the rough, fibrous kind surface-dwellers made. She twisted her head around, and found that she was bound to a tree. In front of her, the ocean waves ebbed in and out in a gentle rhythm, the water chuckling against the rough sandy beach.

“What in the-” she mumbled, tugging at her bonds. Lucidity was coming back to her, along with the perfectly natural compulsion to free herself from her bonds. Nobody else seemed to be around, but the fact that she was bound meant that someone would return soon. It would be best, then, to wriggle free and get to the water while she could. The waves almost taunted her with how close they were, promising relief from the dryness that prickled her whole being. There wasn’t even enough moisture between her legs for them to suction together, and she felt vulnerable at how splayed out they were. She looked around, trying to find something that she could saw at her bonds with.

Footsteps sounding behind her, the sound of leaves snapping and plants breaking under heavy strides. Leona forced herself to relax, and faked that she was still passed out. She kept one eye carefully cracked open as the sounds grew closer.

The figure that emerged from the unseen point behind where she was bound was a human woman. She was tall, with skin the color of bronze and hair a shade of red that looked like the last light of the sun coloring the sky as it sank into the horizon line. Her body was lithe, muscles in her arms and shoulders contrasting with the pinch at her waist. She was carrying some manner of animal carcass over her shoulder, a bird of some kind, a sharpened length of wood through its neck. She wore clothes that had seen better days, a shirt that had once been white and pants that were cut off at the knees. The woman set the bird on the ground, then looked at Leona. Her eyes were two different colors. The left was a shade of green so bright it almost seemed to glow, while the other was a warm gold. Cutting down across her gold eye as a long-healed scar, a line that began at her hairline and slashed diagonally down to the middle of her cheek. Another scar was cut into the line of her mouth, pulling the left side of her face back in a way that made it look like she was always smirking.

Leona tensed, waiting to see if the human would peg her as being awake. But she simply grunted something that sounded like words and turned to her prey. She pulled a knife out of her belt and set about preparing the carcass. The feathers came loose with sharp tugs of her hands, tossed to the side unneeded. That done, she set about fileting the bird with sharp, quick motions. Leona noted the precision of her movements - it reminded her of the palace guards drilling in the courtyard with their long spears. Was this human a warrior of some kind?

With the meat separated and speared onto sharpened sticks of wood, the human built a fire, and roasted the pieces of bird until they sizzled and popped. Leona had never had bird in her life, as her people were built to consume raw ocean life and plants. But the smell of the cooking meat triggered a response buried somewhere deep inside her and made her mouth water. It also sent pangs through her stomach, and she wondered how long it had been since she’d last eaten. She didn’t even know how long she’d been out.

Time passed. Leona figured out that it was midday as she followed the trajectory of the sun downward through slitted eyes. The human remained by the fire, not looking at Leona at all, merely staring out to sea with the breeze fluttering her long hair. Leona thought the human had fallen asleep for a moment, until she shifted and saw that bright green eye looking in her direction. It was a careful, observant gaze, not quite hostile but not relaxed either.

The human got up with a smooth motion, like an eel emerging from its hiding place. She looked at Leona fully now, a suspicious look on her face. She yanked the knife free of the sand where it rested and moved over to Leona. She tensed. Was she about to be harmed? Her options were limited with her arms bound and her staff nowhere to be found. She could still kick hard if push came to shove, but the human moved with predatory purpose. Leona fished around with her left hand, out of the human’s view. It came into contact with something solid, small enough to fit in her palm. Better than nothing.

Her newfound weapon escaped the human’s notice as she drew close. Up close, the lackadaisical smirk on the human’s face now seemed to just be her default expression, not the fault of the facial scar at all. She got close, full of confidence because of Leona’s bound state. She said something that Leona couldn’t understand, but even if she couldn’t understand the words she picked up on the tone: smug, confident, self-assured. Whatever her designs for Leona were, they couldn’t be good.

Leona came to life in a surge of motion. She flicked the rock at the human with a sharp motion of her wrist. It flew true, nailing the human right between the eyes. The human yelped and reeled, dropping her knife out of sheer surprise. Leona grabbed it with her other hand, and brought the sharp edge to the rope around her. She was prepared to cut through multiple times, but it turned out that the human had only used one long rope to bind her rather than several. The whole of her bonds went slack after her first cut, and she pushed forward with all her strength. The rest of the rope snapped, and Leona got her feet under her. Water was there, right there, all she had to do was take about ten steps and she’d be home free.

She only made it to three before the human tackled her from behind at the waist. They fell to the ground with twin heavy grunts. Wet sand squished under Leona’s webbed fingers, and she desperately tried to claw her way into the shallows with the human latched onto her waist. Despite her small stature, the human was strong. Wicked strong. She hauled back on Leona’s body with a grunt of effort, and Leona felt herself lift off the ground for a second. She shifted her weight, making the both of them crash back to the sand about where they’d started scuffling. The human’s grip loosened, and Leona tore herself free.

She didn’t get very far. Hands closed around her ankle, and the sudden pullback caused her to wind up facedown in the sand. Leona scrabbled for purchase, but the sand gave way under her fingers. She was hauled back up the beach, the water receding from view. “No!” she cried.

A weight slammed down on her lower back, knocking the breath from her lungs. The gills on the side of her torso scraped against the sand, pain flaring up her flanks. The human wrapped her arms around Leona’s neck, pulling back with her forearm across Leona’s throat. She struggled gamely, bucking with all her might, but the human hung on like a lamprey. Leona reached up and wrapped a hand around the human’s wrist, trying to pry her arm loose.

She stands alone atop a wall of stone, staring out at a world she survives in yet does not live in. Her life is not her own, everything she does is for them.

The human pulled back harder, flipping them over and locking her legs around Leona’s waist. She said something, tightening her grip as Leona struggled.

There is fire, and smoke, and blood. So much blood. A lot of it is hers. So much more of it isn’t. The sword is heavy in her hand, her fingers all but fused to the hilt from the dried, caked blood. Heat suffuses her whole body; the flesh on the back of her palm pops and sizzles.

Leona flailed, trying to drive the point of her elbow back into the human’s face. Whether the human realized it or not, her legs had clamped down on Leona’s flank gills, cutting off her air supply for real. She gasped and wheezed, thrashing like a cornered animal as empathic images flashed through her mind.

She didn’t know legs could bend that way, her heels hooked up on the broad shoulders of a beautiful, built man. Few times in her life before had made her feel so vulnerable. She was bared to him fully, not a thing hidden, but he didn’t care. HIs thick cock spread her wide with slow strokes. She was many things in that moment, but oddly enough, what she felt the most was anger. Anger at those who had denied her this, who had taught her that this was to be avoided at all costs. How could something this good be a sin?

“C’mon, bloody fish,” the human snarled, still holding on. “How much longer before you tap out, eh?”

Leona realized she’d been latched onto the human long enough to pick up her language through empathic osmosis just before she passed out.

When she awoke again, she was tied to the tree again, much more securely this time. The sand around her was turned up, all debris and detritus moved away so that she couldn’t use it as a weapon. The position of the sun told her it had been an hour or so since the scuffle. A heavy ache throbbed in her neck from the human’s efforts to subdue her, and her gills felt inflamed from all the grit that had rubbed against the sensitive membranes.

The human was still there, watching her like a hawk. She tensed as soon as Leona moved, wrapping a hand around the handle of her knife. Right between the humans eyes was a purplish-yellow bruise from where the rock had struck. Leona allowed herself a small measure of satisfaction at having inflicted that amount of damage at least.

“Right,” the human said. “Learned my lesson with you. Never underestimate the fish.”

“I am not a fish,” Leona snapped back, finding the human language easy enough to articulate.

That actually made the human look surprised for a moment, her mask of cool smugness vanishing for a split second before reappearing a moment later. “So you do speak Salveran, do you?” the human said.

Leona’s natural instinct was to explain that of course she could, she could absorb information from living things at a touch. It was a special talent inherent to the Altaean royal family. Then her pragmatic side reminded her how valuable that information was, and that she really shouldn’t give it out willy nilly. Especially to someone who had just choked her unconscious. “Of...course,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “I’m a scholar of your people.”

The human tilted her head. “Didn’t realize the fish were so interested in our little dry world up here.”

“I am not a fish!“ Leona protested. “It’s quite rude to refer to us like that!”

“Well then, fish, you got a name?” The human stood up, folding her arms. That smug look on her face grew more pronounced, and Leona was already beginning to dislike it. “Otherwise you’re just going to be ‘fish’ to me so long as we’re together.”

Leona looked up at the human. “If I offer mine, will you tell me yours.”

“Sure as the tide, my briney friend.”

Definitely do not tell her about being royalty, she thought to herself. Go with the scholar lie, and figure out the rest as you go. “Leona,” she said.

The human arched an eyebrow. “Just Leona?”

“Just Leona.”

“Very well, Leona.” The human made a grand bow. “I’d tip my hat to you if I still had the bloody thing, but most of my effects have been misplaced for now. You can call me Scarlet, Scarlet Rydell.”

It was a strange thing to Leona - she’d never met anyone who named themselves after a color. “Very well, Scarlet.”

Scarlet cocked her head. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

Leona narrowed her eyes a fraction. “Should I?”

“Eh.” Scarlet waved a hand. “It’s of little consequence. Our association on this beach shall be brief, Leona, therefore I won’t press the matter.”

Leona’s eyes flicked to Scarlet’s knife. “Meaning?”

“Well, see, it’s like this.” Scarlet gestured with the point of the knife to the island around them. “Picturesque as this little slice of land is, it’s not where I usually berth myself. Matter of fact, I am not here by my own volition. A group of...let’s call them insects shall we? A group of insects thought they were very smart to take things that belong to me and abscond with them.”

Leona seized on the chance to find out more. “What things?”

“Well, my bloody ship for one thing.” Scarlet ticked off on her fingers. “And all the fortune contained within its hold, plus a very, very dear friend of mine. They plan on forking him over to someone who has some very un-fun designs in store for him, and then thought it would just be hilarious to maroon me on this little island.” Though Scarlet’s face was neutral, Leona didn’t miss the tightening of her hand around the knife hilt, hard enough to make veins stand out against her bronze skin. “Well, I’m not laughing. Because when I get off this island - and that’s when, not if, mind you - there will be nowhere on land or sea they can run and hide from me.”

Even though she had no idea of whom Scarlet was referring to, the pure venom in Scarlet’s voice made Leona realize that her intent was deadly and her will was indomitable. Whoever had marooned her would regret it, she was certain. “How can you know for certain that you’ll get off this island, though?” Leona asked.

“Ah, see, that’s where you come in.” Scarlet’s face snapped back to smug joviality. “You’re my ticket off this island, Leona.”

Leona scoffed. “What, do you expect me to swim across the ocean with you on my back? The woman who’s choked me out twice?”

“Oy, easy, I only choked you out the one time,” Scarlet said. “When I found you yesterday you were out of it, lying on the beach like a lump of seaweed. Thought you were dead at first until I saw those gills of yours fluttering. Either way, you’d be useful to me.”

Leona’s head spun. How had she gone from deep underwater to the beach of a deserted island? Had the tide carried her? Or had she been moved on purpose? “How?”

Scarlet walked backwards a few paces, then stamped her boot down on the ground. Rather than the soft thump of boot on sand, there came a hollow thunking noise. “Those idiots can’t even do a marooning right,” Scarlet said. “They dumped me on an island used by the Ribald Syndicate for their smuggling operations. And if I read the ledger down there right, they’re due back any day now. You’ll be my bargaining ship to them for passage back to the Main.”

Leona made a strangled noise. The indignance of it all! Her, Altaean royalty, being used as a cheap bartering ship. “And what makes you think I’ll go through with that?” she said.

“Uh, taken a look at your situation there?” Scarlet said, gesturing with the point of her knife. “You don’t have much of a choice there, missy.”

Leona hissed, straining at her bonds. “I won’t allow it,” she growled.

“Sorry love, that’s how it is.” Scarlet walked over to the smoldering embers of her cooking fire and sat down with her legs crossed. “I dunno what misfortune brought you into my path, but I’m not going to look a gift like you in the mouth.”

Leona paused for a moment, trying to figure out what the expression meant. Her brain was playing catch-up, trying to fully compartmentalize the entire Salveran language that she’d absorbed. It took a moment before she realized what Scarlet meant. “You don’t know what you’re playing at, human,” she said.

“You’re right, I probably don’t,” Scarlet said, surprising Leona with her frankness. “I’ve never really had a long conversation with one of your people, though I’m sure I’ve glimpsed your kind in passing. But neither have many others, and I’m sure there are many who can think of a myriad of uses for you. Best case scenario you wind up as a pet or something in some rich twat’s aquarium. Worse case, you wind up in many different pieces in jars at the Bismark Institute.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me.”

It was at that moment that Leona realized how precarious her situation really was. Scarlet truly didn’t care about what happened to her in comparison to her own wants. Her mother’s warnings about the capriciousness of humans came back to her. Over time such cautions had seemed trite. Her mother worried about everything these days, with the Forsaken gnawing at their borders. Paralyzed by fear, the Altaeans were going nowhere. It was why Leona had ventured out of Riesla into the wider oceans, in search of a solution to their problems. But now she found herself in a dangerous spot with no foreseeable way out. It would take a miracle for her to avoid imprisonment...or worse.

Hours passed by as the pair of them lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. At least, for Leona it was uncomfortable. Scarlet didn’t pipe up to say she was kidding, or offer her an alternative way out. She just sat by the coals and stared out at the ocean, the wind tossing the locks of her hair away from her forehead. Leona tried to pick out more information about her from examination. Scarlet’s left hand was wrapped up with a bandage of some kind, but Leona’ couldn’t see any discoloration from blood on the dressing. Her eyes moved higher. The top two buttons on the human’s shirt were undone, exposing a bit of cleavage. Leona spotted a black tattoo of something peeking out from inside, along the line of her collarbone. At a distance, it looked like words, but Leona couldn’t make out what it was.

As she tried to make it out, Scarlet stirred. A smile spread across her face as she stood up in a fluid motion. “There’s my ride. Oy!” She waved her arms.