The Vengeful Tide Ch. 03

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.

*****

By the time my mother and I returned home, the moon showered the island with its luminescence. I opened the door for us. She walked inside and then I followed. The creaking sounds of the floorboards hit my ears as we made our way through the room.

I placed the materials we had gotten from my exchange with The Witch of Draegnar on a table and turned on the rusty light hanging over the kitchen area. "Mother, bring me your old medicine. Once that's done you can do what you like. I'm going to start making this new one now," I said.

"Yes, Eric." I heard my mother say as I pulled out a dull knife from the drawers. I could hear the floorboards creak behind me which indicated that my mother was moving herself down the hall to her right. I did not plan on doing anything important with her old medicine aside from storing it for later. Though it was useless to my mother, it was still worth enough to catch coin, or save anyone else I deemed worthy of having it. No pirate throws away items of monetary value.

I turned on the stove and took a beaten pot. I filled the pot with water and set it on top of the stove. I grunted to myself. So many broken or busted things in this house, my house.

When my thoughts lay back to what I had in my previous life, it fills me with anger. It fills with anger at myself that I allowed myself, and my mother, this barely functioning ship a rat calls a home.

I exhale. I reached into the box and pulled out the 10 pounds of citric grain that I had purchased. As mother had said previously, citric grain was a noble's commodity. It was not something a commoner interacted with outside of toiling under harsh labor in select mines around the world.

The reason citric grain does not come to most commoners is because there is not a lot of it. Even while I was famous, Ilzahold was the only person I knew who kept a steady supply of citric grain. The properties which lay inside it are capable of naturally strengthening the body.

Imagine an archer with this grain. Sight would be strengthened, hearing would be heightened, strength of bow would be hardened, and body would be quickened. Even a few ounces of the grain could turn a scrawny bookkeeper into a man or woman worthy of knighthood if they took it over a 6-month period. If a commoner came across even 1 ounce of citric grain, they would not have to worry about the rest of their life in terms of money if they sold it. It is the perfect base for many a great warrior to begin.

Additionally, citric grain takes many years to form. I do not remember the process by which it is created, but I do know that some could go on for a lifetime and never see it take shape. This one of the reasons why it's most prized by nobles. They can afford the investment of waiting. They have the family structure for it. Common families do not have this. There have been many wars over such grain, and there will continue to be more. If one gave this grain to someone who was already formidable, then it be a scary thought for any normal person.

Now, perhaps I be needing to explain if this means a person will only get stronger and stronger the more grain they take. Unfortunately not.

Besides the lack of steady supply of grain to keep one going that way, there is also a problem with the grain. If not properly prepared, it will kill the heart in ten years or so from constant exposure. I don't know why this is so, but the end cause was enough for me to avoid it until I could prepare it myself.

I poured three ounces of the grain into the boiling pot. I watched the dented cookware grumble angrily. I then took out one of the Tilo Flowers. I cut off a clove from it and placed that clove in the pot as well. As I was moving on to the next items, my mother came to me.

"Here, Eric," she said. She presented me with a small vial. I saw that only a small portion of it had been consumed. I still did not forget the troubling thought that my mother would take her own life just so I would continue to survive. I do not know how these signs evaded me, but I be daft to have them avoid me again.

"Good. Thank you, mother. You may go rest," I said taking the vial and putting it away. She then turned around and left without another word. I figured she might be interested in the process by which I created her medicine, but apparently, this be not the case.

Once the pot boiled for about five minutes, I then took out one of the jade shells and the celtic pill. I would describe the nature of these items another time. With my powers of the sea, I fashioned my finger into a lethal blade of water. I sliced a piece of the jade shell off. I dropped that into the pot as well. Soon the water started to take an odd color. It turned into a dark green liquid that nearly rose over the lip of the pot. However, I quickly forced the liquid down with my power over water.

It was a tad frustrating trying to cut the celtic pill with one hand, but not much could be done about it. I cut a small corner of it and threw that into the pot as well. I then released my restraint of the overflow of liquid that would have come had I not intervened. It still boiled, but there was no fear of it running over anymore.

After about ten minutes, I took a spoon and began stirring all of these ingredients that I had, quite literally, risked my soul for. No doubt Ilzahold was working through every spell she could think of to find out more about me. That was fine. I welcomed the challenge.

I took a large cup and poured the contents inside. I then threw the used pot into our sink. I packed up the materials I had used and turned out the lights. I proceeded to our bedroom and opened the door.

My mother was seated on the bed, the light of a candle by her side. By her attire, she was ready to sleep. She turned to me and noticed the cup I was holding. "Drink this, mother. All of it," I ordered.

She took the cup from me and stared inside. I watched her face crinkle in disgust. "It smells...unpleasant," she told me.

"All medicines do, mother," I replied, a hearty laugh from my throat.

My mother's fingers moved around the cup for a couple of moments, yet she did not move it close to her lips. I was about to order her once more, but she spoke before me. "Eric, I...I need to say something," she told me.

I raised an eyebrow. If she needed to say something, then I wondered why she chose now and not while I was preparing the medicine. Nevertheless, I nodded and allowed her to speak.

"You're the head of the house. I can't fight you on that anymore. I don't know what you're planning, but I can't stop you. Whatever you say goes, but all I ask is that...you don't question me about your father. I would like to talk about him in my own time," she told me. Her voice held no defiance. She merely looked at me and waited for my reply.

I chuckled to myself. Sometimes I forget just how crafty a woman my mother might be. It was obvious she knew I could ask about him and, if I were my past younger self, I might have done that. Unfortunately for her, I did not care to know my father. I was not some troubled street rat that spent sleepless nights dreaming about the type of person my father was. As far as I be concerned, my father is a nonfactor.

"Very well, mother. I'll agree to that," I told her. Now that I have said this, I suppose my mother's insistence on keeping my father a secret should have spurred my curiosity, but I'd be lying if I said it did.

My mother searched my eyes for any hints of a lie. She found none. "Well, at least you're giving me that," she replied. She then put the cup to her lips and began drinking the medicine I had crafted for her. I tell you that I released a hearty laugh at her disgruntled face with each swallow that she took. It reminded me of those days that I took medicine from our ship's doctor. I knew what she was going through.

Soon, my mother placed the cup on her stand. She made no comment about how it tasted. Instead, she grabbed the sheets of her bed and flew into them. Her head on her pillow, she turned over to go to sleep. "Isn't there something you should be saying to your son who tried to make you medicine?" I asked, a bit of cheek in my voice.

"Thank you, Eric." My mother said through a very tired, and annoyed, yawn. I didn't fault her for that. I had done enough to her for one day.

In the meantime, I took a quick shower. I was also aware that I hadn't eaten all day, but there was most likely nothing that I could have without waking my mother so I decided against it. Instead, I returned back to our bedroom and put on the rags I used for sleeping. I then made my way to my hammock before I stopped.

I turned to my mother.

She was fast asleep on her bed, and a mischievous smile took hold of me. I moved away from my hammock and blew out the night candles which lit the room. I opened the sheets of my mother's bed and slipped into them as well. Unfortunately, the bed wasn't so great that it didn't make noise. It stirred my mother, but I was already inside.

"Eric, what are you...,"

"Shhhh, just go back to sleep, mother." I told her. I snaked my hands around her frame and pulled her into me. I felt one or two nudges of resistances before I gently pinched her thigh. That was all it took for her to no longer fight me. She settled into the embrace I made for us and within seconds she was back asleep.

I was no different as the sound of crashing waves lulled me to slumber.

-x-

The slowly rising sun pierced the sky the next morning, and I stood at the lowest level of Draegnar. I stood on the sandy beaches. I watched the waves crash themselves until they collided with the earth my feet touched.

I smiled. I smelled the salt of the water. I heard the cry of the gulls. Out there is where I belonged. I belonged where there laid countless adventures and treasures. I be fit to sail the mightiest seas, and tackle the roughest storms. All my years as a captain, I found no home and no teacher greater than the tides.

I clench my right hand into a fist. I then raise it up. By my command, the waters explode and burst upwards. I shove my fist down. The waters crash back down into themselves.

I throw my left hand to the left. Three waves turn against the tide to follow my command. They be not big waves, but I did not want them to be.

Using both my hands, I raise them into the air. A large sphere of the sea comes from below. I wave my hands in separate directions. The sphere explodes into ten blades. They crash back into the waves with striking force. Naturally, I made sure no one saw me doing this. As capable as I knew I was, I did not need my name spreading through the masses just yet.

I stepped into the sea. I kept walking until it completely submerged me in its depths. Once I am fully beneath the waves, I open my eyes. There I see the splendor of the great seas. I see fish swimming in schools. I see reefs which teem with the life of the isles. Down here is where adventure is to be found. Down here is where I feel most comfortable. Down here...is where I feel most powerful.

Yes, the irony is not lost on me that I died underwater. I do not need to be reminded.

Perhaps while I begin with what I had assigned myself for today, I should further explain my powers. More precisely, I should explain what they aren't. Unfortunately, control over water and the seas hasn't changed the structure of my body. I cannot breathe underwater, I do not have the ability to communicate with the life down here, and I do not bend the animals to my whim. As welcoming as those abilities might be, I do not have the fortune of acquiring those.

However, what I can do is swim faster than the average human by decreasing the natural resistance my body feels to the ocean below. It makes me quite fast when I need to be.

As I swam through the oceans below, I saw schools of fish going about their day. On Draegnar, fishing is perhaps one of the few honest means of work that one can have for themselves. Aside from working in a tavern, or becoming someone's errand rat, one could make a decent living from fishing. The downside is that...it is not steady income, nor is it safe.

Waters here be treacherous, and even the calmest tides hold the greatest dangers. Draegnar's waters have always held a strange vibe to them. Hell, they do even now to me. It seems bountiful one day, and barren the next. It teems with life one week, and it seems like life can't be sustained the next week. One of those reasons...swims just out of my field of view, but I know it's there from the sensations I feel in the sea against my body.

I turn my head and I see a large shark passby. It must not have noticed me since it kept swimming away.

Yes, Draegnar has a lot of undersea predators, and many of them have been the demise of many a great fisherman. I remember the days mopping the docksides watching as skulls and boned rested at the edge of the planks. I remember seeing blood stain the face of the sea, another victim taken by the beasts below.

Many do not fish in Draegnar unless they are certain to be free from danger, or they are just that stupid. It be honest work, but it be unsafe honest work. Granted, there is always the lucky son of bitch that goes after these undersea beasts and cashes in a greater profit. Most fish in Draegnar are sold at about 2-10 silver. This usually depends on time of season and quality of catch. However, predators such as sharks can run you 30-50 silver depending on how big they are.

Some brave bastards try to make a living calling themselves Shark Hunters. They don't last very long. They are also...not me. I am fully aware that without my powers I could not undertake this task, but a true pirate uses all means at his disposal. This is no different.

I turn towards the shark. I clench my hands and throw them in its direction. Soon the waters obey my command and swirl around the shark. It senses danger, but it doesn't matter. It makes a sharp turn to escape, but there is no where for it to go. In a water prison, I keep it contained. It swims frantically, but it will not escape me. I condense the water so that more water will not be added to its body. I then send it towards the surface with a great blast from the sea. I arrive up for air just in time to see the shark flopping on the beach.

I doubt I had to worry about anyone trying to steal my catch so early in the morning, so I flew back down. I took a blade and gently cut my shoulder. Blood streamed out and into the ocean. If sharks be looking for a meal, then they probably just found one, or so I let them assume.

An hour passed me by and I threw seven more orbs of water containing my prizes to the surface. I wanted to go for two more to round my total catches to ten, but I don't think there is too much need. Plus, I can see the sun floating up even more. Soon the docks will be full of life, and I will not have my stuff stolen. Now comes the last fun part of the morning.

I exit the sea, and if anyone were there to see me, then they would have seen the jaw-dropping sight of me carrying about 200 fish in a living ocean sphere. I have to say that now that it occurs to me, the food expenses that I had for my ship were relatively low since I caught our meals. Naturally, the added tribute was there for me in that regard as well.

I dropped the ball full of water and fish to the beach. They flopped around amusingly before settling into their gasping notion. Now, the only question was...how do I transport eight shark bodies, and over 200 bodies of fish to the merchant section of the town?

Thankfully, I found my answer when a man with a horse-drawn cart pulled up on the beach. I mean no ill will to the bastard, but I was not so nice a man that I would not look opportunity when it came.

It was easy to knock him out and load up the cart. He must not have owned the horse for long because it showed no amount of loyalty to him. Instead, it started moving as per my directions back into the town along with my assortment of undersea life.

I suppose now I should say that I enjoy the feeling of shock on people's face when they see a raggedy Draegnar rat such as myself hauling such a deep sea catch as the one in my cart.

I pulled up to the island's Butcher Market Guild. It be one of the island's community of butchers, meat distributors, and food processors. They handle the selling and buying of land and sea animals. They commonly commission farmers or fishermen to grow or catch the meats they need.

I stepped out of the cart and opened the door. I quickly notice how many fancy dressed worms walk about the inner lounge. I decide not to waste my time. I quickly head for the receptionist.

"How can I be of...oh, it's you. What do you want, Drakclaw?" a hairy man asked.

I didn't so much care about the disrespect. I'd been around here a few times, and caused more than my fair share of headaches for the guild.

"I be looking for no trouble this time, Croas. I just want to sell some fish and sharks that I caught this morning," I told him. The man gave a hearty laugh.

"HA! You, a shark hunter? I might fancy meself a shot of ale every now and then, but I be not so drunk that I can listen to so tall a tale. Business be conducted here, brat. I don't have the time for your fibs," He responded back to me.

I grin. "No fibs, you stubborn fart. Grab one of your men and check them over. We'll find out how much of a fib I am. You can at least rest easy knowing I'm not selling Pete's fish," I answered back to him.

The hairy bastard looked like he had stared death in the face before a shiver came over him. "Well, I guess you got a point there. I'm surprised that old sea urchin's shit doesn't do him in itself. Fine. I got ten minutes to spare. Show me what you got, boy," He told me.

And show his ass I did. The man who checked my cargo had claimed I must have used witchcraft because somehow I had caught the fish, and the sharks, without injury. Each one was in more seasoned condition than the last. I don't mean to blow smoke up my ass, but we also started to draw something of a crowd. Croas didn't stand a chance of defying me any longer. I sold him and the Butcher's Guild each shark for 60 silver. I don't know why I was paid the extra ten silver per shark, but I did not complain.

Next came the fish. It was counted to be about 225 fish. There was nothing too extraordinary about these aside from the fact that those were without injury as well. In the end, I sold all the fish except ten for eight silver a piece. The ten I kept would be for the coming dinner tonight. I then found myself leaving the guild with over 2000 silver. It's not anything to jump in the air about, but it fits my needs well.

The first thing I did with this money is buy myself some new clothes. These were nothing fancy, but they were enough that I could throw the rags I used to wear in the garbage. I then made my way to some crafting shops. I picked up new cookware and tableware for my mother and I. Whatever we needed at the moment, I bought it.

By the time my little adventure was finished, I had about 1500 silver left over with some added bronze coins. It was a hassle getting all of this stuff home without the help of my abilities, but I counted it towards exercise for my body. This younger form did not have the physical capabilities as I remembered in my previous life. I would have to gain that back.

After I finished dropping off the supplies at home, much to my mother's shock, I left just as quickly as I had arrived. I entered the streets again with a determined look on my face. I knew where I would like to go next.

I stood in front of a weaponsmith's shop. A shiver of excitement rushed through my body. It be rather funny. I haved lived a life full of gunpowder, but there is always a thrill in purchasing a new firing weapon for yourself. Well, technically these are old firing weapons, but I believe the point is made.