The Silent Sailor
“First, I want you to take a look at this.”
The knight flipped through the pages for a moment, then pa.s.sed over Duke Elmond’s journal, but the siren didn’t reach other to take it.
“I can’t read*… What does that have to do with anything?”
The elf received the journal, looked at where the knight had pointed to. It was about a year ago, on the first page of the journal.
“December 23rd, received ‘real mermaid’, supplier: Shark, 30.”
Written in a different colour below was a line, the elf also read that out.
“The sailor’s case caused a large commotion, resulting in unexpected trouble, must be more careful next time.”
“I don’t understand.” The young siren said dully.
“a.s.suming ‘mermaid’ refers to you. I believe ‘he’ was not ‘Shark’, so that person did not betray you.”
“What difference does that make? If it was not him, how did they find me? How would they know that I would not be able to resist, if they waited a few days?” The youth’s voice rose, his face showing a sharp pain, “Just because he didn’t have the courage to do it himself!”
“It was when I was still a paladin, the winter more than a year ago.” The knight just started to narrate, as if he had not heard the question.
“A corpse was found in an abandoned well in the lower city. This sort of thing was normally dealt with by the local magistrate and his soldiers. But the abandoned well was near the church’s area, the cause of death was also a little unusual, like some sort of strange religious ceremony. The magistrate thought it might be some evil cult’s protest. Therefore, the Paladin Order in the lower city, being us, took over the following investigation.”
“Of course, It wasn’t any sort of religious ritual. Just that the magistrate was from a n.o.ble family, having never seen something like that.”
“It was torture, very cruel torture. The victim had whip lashes and knife wounds all over his body, all non life threatening, but would cause the most pain. His nails ripped out, the bones in the fingers and feet were broken one by one, eyes removed, even the ears were cut out.”
“The result of the investigation was, that the victim suffocated in his own blood, he had bit his tongue. that was a very painful way to die, but at that time, he had already lost all ability to move, so that was the only thing he could do.”
“Everyone who partic.i.p.ated in the investigation was shocked, and curious at the same time. — What did the torturers wanted to find out from him? He suffered the torture for a long time, when he finally felt he could not withstand anymore, he chose suicide. What was the secret, that was worth it for him to do that?”
“No identification could be found on his body, we could only determine that he had been out at sea for a long period. So, among the paladins, we called him ‘the silent sailor’.
“The case became a tale, spreading far and wide in the marketplace. From then on, having been inspired by that, many fictions and legends appeared. Finally, this even reached the Queen who was still a princess then. Perhaps it was out of recognition for such acts, she ordered the search for the culprit to continue, and especially allocated funds to bury the dead.”
“But, with almost no clues the investigation reached a dead end, with no one recognizing the person, the investigation ended with nothing. He was cremated, his ashes buried in the graveyard behind the church.”
“Only one piece that could be considered as evidence remained. The paladins found, in the stomach of the victim a small accessory, a sh.e.l.l on a chain.”
The siren’s eyes suddenly widened in shock.
“It was very strange, a sh.e.l.l would normally be melted in the stomach acid. But that seemed to be special, when it was taken out, it was still perfectly whole. Upon pressing on the switch it would open. Inside on the wall of the sh.e.l.l, a word was carved.”
“You never told us your name,” the knight said, “but now I know, that was one of the ‘silent sailor”s secrets.”
“– Sh.e.l.ly. Maybe it is as you say, that every human has a price. As long as the price was high enough, anything can be a chip.”
“But, ‘price’, isn’t gold as you had thought. Labor, body, soul, emotions, promise — humans can also use these in exchange for something other than gold.”
“To ‘that person’, your safety was worth him giving up his life in exchange. Even if he couldn’t protect you in the end, but at least, he had already done all that he could.”
The siren stared at the knight not saying a single thing, then large translucent beads of water started to fall from his eyes. Upon being exposed to the air, it glowed a ghostly blue, and quickly evaporated, creating a thin white mist in the room.
“Don’t be like that.” The knight came near a little embarra.s.sed, “I didn’t say that for… oh a hundred gold, it’s not good to waste it.”
Ignoring the knight’s stiff joke, the boy slammed forward, burying his face in his chest, and started to cry loudly with abandonment.
The knight could only place his hand on his head, whispering meaningless comforts.
In the s.p.a.ce next to him, a translucent image started to appear.
A young man dressed as a sailor, with a gentle smile he reached his hand out, his hand overlapping with the knight’s.
“Can I go see his grave?”
After a long while, the boy lifted his head, asking with a hoa.r.s.e voice.
The graveyard behind the lower city’s church, it was not large, liked with graves. The people buried here were not n.o.bles, but in common terms, they were ‘well off’, or, civilians who were somewhat wealthy.
‘The silent sailor”s grave was situated further in, surrounded by dried flower wreaths.
Between the wooden crosses, this humble stone monument was somewhat unexpected.
When they reached it, a pair of lovers were carefully placing a flower wreath on top.
The siren’s eyes brightened, running towards the two people.
“Excuse me, did you know him?”
It seemed that being called out by strangers, caused the two to become fl.u.s.tered, then the woman spoke first.
“No, that’s not it. We just heard that if you prayed here, then you would receive a blessing.”
“It seemed that there are more and more versions of the legend.” Cain shook his head.
“Blessing?”
“We’re about to get married,” this time it was the man dressed as a sailor that replied, “Originally we wanted to ask the bishop to officiate. But… I could not afford the fees. — I, I have no parents, her father thought that I was not suitable for her, so he would not give us his blessing. So I thought, at least…”
“If he knew, he definitely would.” The siren closed his eyes, saying softly, “Wish you happiness.”
“Thank… Thank you.” The man lowered his head to the boy gratefully.
“If you don’t mind, there are other clergy members who could do this.” The elf said suddenly, “Right, mister Holy Knight?”
“Eh?” Cain shook his head on shock, the elf only winked at him smiling.
“Ellen, you want me to officiate their wedding?” The knight was gently pushed forward by the elf, shaking his head desperately while whispering his protest, “First lets not even talk about how I’m no longer a paladin, even if I was I don’t have the –”
But he didn’t finish speaking, because the lovers had already rushed forward to surround him in excitement.
“Thank you! Sir Knight!”
“The legends were true, you must be messengers from G.o.d!”
Seeing the enthusiastic gleam in their eyes, the knight couldn’t say anything to refuse anymore.
He froze for a moment, then finally decided to accept his fate.
“Sh.e.l.ly, background.” He coughed officiously, waving a hand at the young siren.
In a moment the small graveyard path became a carpeted marble floor.
The sky above disappeared, looking up it was possible to see a giant white dome.
In the gravestone’s position was now a giant floor to ceiling window, multi-coloured gla.s.s joined together to form a cross shining in the sunlight.
The lover’s simple clothing disappeared, replaced by a black tuxedo and pure white wedding gown. The two looked at each other in shock, as if their gazes could no longer leave each other.
The knight thought for a moment, taking something from his pocket to place in the woman’s hands, under the siren’s illusion, it looked like a bouquet of flowers.
“What else? Ah right… ring. — Ellen you still have hat bronze ring, the type for hand protection**.”
The knight asked for their names.
“Paul Garcia, do you accept, Molly Clark, as your wife? Do you swear to hold true to her for poorer or richer, in sickness or health, to love and honor her for all the days of your life?”
“I do.” The man who had been a bit shy up to this point, now looked at the woman with clear eyes. Raising her hands.
“Molly Clark, do you accept this man, Paul Garcia, as your husband? Do you swear to hold true to him for poorer or richer, in sickness or health, to love and honor him for all the days of your life?”
“I do.” The woman smiled gently, eyes welling with tears, watching as the man placed the ring on her finger.
“Then, in the name of G.o.d. I p.r.o.nounce you husband and wife. Groom, you may now kiss the bride.”