Blackstone - The Green Sea of Darkness

Out to Sea

Okay, here's the thing. Survival at Sea is all about the mental game. As a Blackstone Ranger I had been trained to swim for hours without getting tired. I remembered at the Forge when Carrie, Thomas and I had come in first in the Alpha Company swimming competition, so I wasn't too worried about keeping my head above water. I just had to keep going until help came.

I thought about what Princess Doria had said. I imagined that if she wanted to kill me she could have done it by now. I expected to see shark fins at any second. I ignited my Etheric Knife just to feel the warm comforting feeling of Dragon Fire in my hand. If the good princess and her Tiger Sharks wanted to play some more then I was going to be ready.

At least the sea was warm. I still remembered the cold ocean that David and I were plunged into during The Temple of Trials. I thought back to that time with David and smiled. I knew that he would come looking for me as soon as possible. We had been through too much together. I knew he wouldn't let me down.

The hours passed slowly. I didn't even know what time it was. I just tried to focus on the moment. A pale half moon rose in the sky and illuminated the night sea. All around me luminescent plankton lit up the ocean. It was like I was swimming through a carnival of light that sparkled the water like it was the middle of the day.

Suddenly, I saw a fin cut through the water just off to my left. I turned and brandished my Etheric Knife. It looked like the good princess Doria had returned to have some more fun. Well, I was tired of being toyed with.

"All right, Princess. You want to dance then let's dance," I shouted.

Just as I suspected more fins appeared, but I noticed that these were different fins. They weren't the straight fins of a shark but the curved trailing fins of...

Dolphins!

Over a dozen dolphins appeared around me. I remembered the myths of Dionysus that Uncle Paul had read to me at bedtime about how dolphins were the saviors of those lost at sea. Well, I wasn't about to turn down any help that I could get.

One of the dolphins swam by me and nudged me with his bottlenose.

"What is it?" I asked and then immediately felt foolish for expecting an answer.

The dolphin skirted away and went back to circling around me.

More time passed. My dolphin escort, that's what I was starting to think of them as, stayed with me until the rose fingers of dawn graced the eastern sky. To conserve energy I flipped onto my back and watched the sun come up. I didn't know how much longer I could tread water, but it didn't look like I had much of a choice in the matter.

"Guys, if you could just direct me to the nearest 7-11 then I would appreciate it," I said to the dolphins. Without my Razor Phone then I would be forced to make an old school collect call on a pay phone. I wondered if Michael Ross would be okay with accepting the charges.

"I'm sorry but we don't have any 7-11s on Oceania. Is there something that I can help you with?" another soft melodious voice said.

I flipped around to see who or what had spoken to me. I really wasn't in the mood to mess around with any more mermaids. I had just treaded water for a whole night and I was tired.

Sure enough, there in front of me was another mermaid. She was beautiful with curly copper red hair and a statuesque curvy body with long legs. She rested on what looked to be a long angular hover board that floated effortlessly above the ocean. I wasn't shocked to see that she was almost naked. I knew a little bit about mermaids and their culture. But was this a mermaid or something else? The mermaids that I was familiar with were beings of the Summerland - ugly hags that had faces like prunes. They specialized in drowning hapless sailors and were nasty pieces of work. I had fought them during my training with Mary and was suspicious of them. In my experience they weren't to be trusted.