Pirate's Tail

Chapter Ten

Ace's face was baking. He felt the fire on his skin. It felt as if he were slowly cooking in an oven. He lay there, feeling the warmth all over his body. Ace didn't want to open his eyes. He knew he'd be dead after his kiss from the mermaid. The warmth could only mean one thing, the thing Ace least wanted to accept. Having no other choice but to face what was on the other side, Ace took a deep breath and with brave resolve, opened his eyes.

Ace was blinded for a moment and couldn't see anything around him. His eyes adjusted, and he became even more startled by what he saw. Instead of the fires of hell, he found himself lying on a beach. As he sat up, a few crabs ran away from his body, and he noticed a small flock of birds near the water's edge. He looked out into the emerald-green water that spread to the horizon. Unlike the day before, the waters were calm. At first glance it appeared the sea was made of glass. Ace turned around and found that the beach was bordered by large white sand dunes. The sand on the beach was so white that it had temporarily blinded him. It reminded him a bit of the snow he'd encountered in Jayoria.

He was alone. There was no one else on the beach, no ships on the horizon, and no sign of the mermaid. The beach was pristine. There were no tracks, aside from the ripples in the sand that had been made by the wind. Ace couldn't figure out how he'd gotten where he was if no one had helped him get there. He knew that if the mermaid had rescued him from the sea, then there would have been tracks from dragging his body from the ocean. There were none. Maybe he'd imagined the mermaid and just washed upon the shore. Or maybe he'd died and was in the afterworld.

He turned to his right and saw a large cliff face that jutted above the sand dunes. It was the highest point Ace could see, and he decided that his best plan of action would be to climb to the top to better visualize his surroundings. Perhaps the knowledge of his surroundings could help him escape, or at least figure out where he was.

Ace looked down at himself. He seemed to be okay. Aside from some minor scratches he had along his chest, stomach, and hands from the barnacles on the catamaran, he was in top fighting shape. His blue sailor's shirt and yellow vest were torn from the barnacles, but the rest of his effects seemed to be intact. Ace was shocked when he realized that he still had his dive knife in his boot. It felt like it was so long ago that he'd used the knife. He emptied the water that had accumulated in his boots and set off toward the cliff.

The cliff was only a short walk away, but it was blistering in the heat and the sun. Ace was forced to walk with his eyes squinted, because the reflection off the white sand was so fierce. He stood at the base of the cliff and looked up. It was tall, but not impossible. There were plenty of handholds, and he knew he had the strength to climb it.

He touched the rock and immediately jerked his hand back. The sun had baked the rock of the cliff so that it was nearly untouchable. Ace knew he could never climb to the top if the cliff was that hot.

He removed his boots and dunked himself, fully clothed, in the ocean. His theory was that the wetness of the water would drip from his clothes onto his hands and body and keep him cool for his climb.

Ace's strategy worked, and shortly thereafter he emerged on top of the cliff. The waves were breaking more violently at the cliff than they were at the beach. The ocean had carved out a small cove in the rock, which the cliff dropped directly into. Ace didn't know much about currents of the ocean, but it looked like the small cove in the cliff was full of them. The water traveled quickly in strange directions it seemed. Strangely, however, the catamaran that had been there during the storm was still there, unmoved. It floated on the sea, unaffected by the rough surf and the currents.

Ace looked out at the surrounding land. The island was hilly; beaches surrounded a forested area of palms, and there appeared to be a lake in the center of the forest that eventually emptied into the ocean. The lake in the center was of good size, and Ace noted that there was a small fleet of ships docked. He scanned carefully over the lot of them, hoping to identify the F.S.M. Visp, but to no avail. The ships must belong to the pirates Captain Alphs mentioned. Even from his vantage point, Ace couldn't see any ships on the horizon. The Visp appeared to have fled without him.