Dark Depths

Chapter Two: The Beauty of the Tide

(A/N): Thank you all for the great response to Chapter One. I love comments, and I'm glad to have so many faithful readers. I'm truly a blessed author. Onward!

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Chapter Two:

The Beauty of the Tide

1

The morning sea was smooth and calm with hardly a wrinkle. The treacherous rocks were easy to spot beneath the light of the sun. So was the wreckage. Several eyes surveyed the mess from the deck of a ship—His Majesty's Loriletta—until there was only one thing to be said about the vessel that had been claimed.

"Just pirates." This came from the mouth of the crown prince himself.

Thaddeus Archibald Ellister III observed the scene calmly, smoking from a hand-crafted pipe. He was a sensible man at thirty-two, well-educated and liked by the people in the seaside nation of Solaris. Even if he had not been the eldest child of his father, he still would have been the pick of the litter as heir to the throne.

Since he had been a young lad, with such freedoms common to a prince, Thaddeus had made it his business to secure the seas that surrounded his father's kingdom. He wanted to rid the waters of their monsters—a list including villainous pirates as well as creatures of the deep. His biggest concern, however, had always been the flesh-eating deep sea nymphs. Only a select few knew what drove him, but they kept that information to themselves, knowing better than to open their mouths.

For now, Prince Thaddeus surveyed the stray, floating chunks of human flesh with a skillful eye.

"It's not the work of sharks, but that's what we'll tell them," he said in his eloquent voice. He puffed from his pipe. "This was certainly the doing of our vicious female friends of the depths."

"At least it was only a pirate ship this time, and not one of our own," mentioned a middle-aged attendant next to him. This man was one of many, fully interchangeable to Ellister's thinking. "That's at least a point on our side."

The prince was not interested in this. Thaddeus turned away without a word, stepping across the deck in his fine, polished boots which seemed to clomp with authority.

"I want to know why we did not already have this position marked," he said. "These rocks were perfect for the creatures' use. They should have already been found and netted."

Thaddeus did not look at any of them as he spoke. His voice was so calm that it sent chills throughout those around him. The tone was smooth, like the sea, but in an instant it could rise up and swallow them all. They all groped for an answer, but a short, portly man—Mister Browning—spoke up first.

"Please understand, Your Highness. The seas are not fully charted. They change with the rise and fall of the tide. It is not negligence. Please believe that we are doing our best for you."

Bold words, spoken in a timid, reverent manner. Ellister liked that the man felt completely inferior to him. He knew his place, and it was far beneath where the crown prince was. Ellister was so appreciative of this that it put him in a lenient mood. He removed the pipe from his mouth.

"I want this kept quiet," he said, as if to refresh all their minds, "and see that nets are dropped here so that this mistake does not repeat itself."

"What of the remaining bodies?"

Ellister looked out over the water once more, noting the shimmering texture of the ocean but gazing impassively at the pale, lipid blobs that had been left behind after the feeding frenzy.