Chapter 7: Expedition

POV: Seyari

A month. We’d set out from Inolza a month ago. Cavenze was now thousands of kilometers away to the southwest. I didn’t particularly miss the region, but I did miss being able to get away from Miss Perfect and Mister One-Track-Mind.

I looked out over the railing at the blue expanse, dotted with tufts of green on the line between the dark of the ocean and the light of the sky. A view like this always calmed me. Open sky and true freedom, something you’d only be able to find on the sea.

“Hey Sey!” A shrill voice shattered my illusion of peace. “Salvador said that Korzon Island’s just up ahead. We’re almost there! Isn’t that exciting?”

I heaved a sigh and turned to face the source of my annoyance. Lorelei held her excited face only a foot or so from mine and I flinched before forcing a smile. Her blue eyes were lit up and wide.

“Oh come on, Seyari, don’t be so glum! I know you’ve gone exploring before, but this has to be exciting, right? Korzon Island’s supposed to be super cursed and home to Lost Era ruins! We’ll get to clean up monsters and recover forgotten knowledge!”

Despite her annoying expression, she was right in a way. “I can’t deny I’m looking forward to the ruins. If they exist at all,” I forced a smile. “But could you step back a bit? And maybe tone down the volume?”

“You’re always such a downer, Sey!” Lorelei did at least step back. “But what about the monsters? What if we get to fight a demon?”

“I sure as shit hope we don’t fight one.”

“Why? We’d be making the world a safer place!”

“Yeah, if we lived,” I put extra emphasis on the word.

“That’s what you have me and Markus for! I’ll keep everyone alive, Markus’ll kill the demon and you can fire your little wind arrows and help us!”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“No problem! Not everyone can take on demons, but I’d be happy to help you learn how!”

I gritted my teeth behind my forced smile. Miss High and Mighty probably didn’t even realize how condescending she was being. Lorelei just thought that she and Markus were better than everyone else, and we should feel lucky we get to accompany her on this expedition. Still, I’ve seen her and Markus fight and they definitely have the chops to back it up. But godsdamnit did it grate on my nerves.

“Helloooo, Sey? You in there?” Now the red-haired menace was waving a hand in front of my face.

I resisted the urge to swat it. “Yeah. Just thinking about landing and setting up camp.”

“Great! You and Sal can take care of that. I’m going to see if the captain’ll let me borrow his spyglass again.”

I watched her in her pale green sundress flutter off to go bother another poor soul.

My heart goes out to you, Captain Ojed. Better you than me though. Gods, why did I even join this stupid expedition?

I slumped against the railing and stared up at the empty sky. Of course, I knew why I joined this expedition: I couldn’t afford to pass it up. Not if I could finally find out-

“Seyari.”

A deeper voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked back down and to my surprise saw Salvador standing a respectful distance away. The ranger had the same olive complexion and dark hair typical of someone from Cavenze. He was wearing more dark colors and more clothes in general than I’d consider normal in this heat.

“What, Salvador?” My tone came out harsher than I intended and I saw the man flinch lightly.

“I came to speak with you about making camp. And about the dangers of the island,” he paused. “But if you are not well, I can go.”

“No, I’m fine,” I sighed. “We need to talk about this anyway.”

We spent the next several minutes going over the plan. Salvador, as always, was professional. Something that I didn’t think I’d ever appreciate, but had been growing on me the whole trip. From what little was known, there should be a sheltered harbor for the ship to anchor. The bay might be rocky or shallow, so we’d take a smaller boat in with supplies over two trips. He and I were to scout and forage, keeping within easy hearing range of each other when we moved inland. According to our employer, the ruins would be on the north side of the island in a network of caves. I’ve always hated caves, but the sheer amount of equipment Salvador had presented took the edge off my apprehension

The fourth member of our expedition, Markus, came up on deck looking ready for war. The walking tin can kept his armor on all day and only took it off to sleep. I’ve no idea how he could stand it, but I guess he’s prepared if nothing else. He gave a nod before walking over to the prow and resolutely looking straight ahead.

A few minutes later the island came into view only slightly off our bearing. First, the dark blot of the top of the volcano peeked over the horizon line before the green of the rest of the island came into view. Lorelei with her spyglass was perched next to her large armored friend by the prow.

The ship drew closer and I could see a cove ahead, terminating at one end in a massive rock jutting out of the sea. Smaller sea stacks arced out from the arm of the bay in a line.

“Look!” Lorelei pointed excitedly.

I followed the annoyance’s outstretched arm to the big rock. A second or two of nothing and then a bright red streak shot up into the air above it before detonating with a flash.

“See that! Someone needs rescuing!” Lorelei’s excitement made her voice even shriller.

Well, she might not be wrong.

I walked over to the prow and Salvador followed.

“Perhaps. We should be cautious,” Salvador spoke from next to me.

“I thought no ships came near here except pirates,” Markus finally spoke.

Salvador started, “Exactly­­—"

“Not all pirates are bad people, silly! Besides, now we can add rescuing castaways to our accomplishments on this adventure!” Lorelei interjected.

“Isn’t the island incredibly dangerous? Who could wash up here and survive?” I asked Salvador.

He shrugged and Lorelei answered, “Maybe it’s some accomplished pirate crew and they’ll be in our debt since we rescued them!”

“Or they could jump us and try to take our ship,” I countered.

Another flare went up, bigger this time.

“There’s at least one competent fire mage,” Markus observed.

Lorelei compressed the spyglass. “We should signal back! Sal, you have a thing for this right?”

“Yes,” he paused for a moment as if to decide. “One moment and it will be ready.”

Salvador walked quickly belowdecks. A third flare went up. Around us, the crew who had mostly been idle sprung to work as we angled toward the bay. The ship was aimed to pass between two sea stacks covered in bird droppings.

Salvador returned with a tube-like contraption stuck to a handle. He loaded a paper canister and lit the fuse with a flint lighter before aiming the tube up at the sky. With a whistling sound, a red streak shot out of the end up high into the sky before fizzling out.

The ship passed between the sea stacks. Even with twenty meters clearance on either side, the rocks looked imposing and dangerous; a reminder that the crew had their work cut out for them finding a safe path through.

Another few seconds and two flares lit from the top of the massive stone pillar. I took it to mean they saw our signal back.

“Did you see that! They know we’re coming to rescue them! Oh, let’s hurry up and go meet them, I want to see who could survive on a place like this!” Evidently Lorelei thought the same about the two flares.

Of course, for all her bubbly act, she was at least patient enough to not comment on the pace of the ship. I imagined much to the relief of the crew.

A hundred or so meters past the sea stacks, the crew dropped anchor. Salvador, Markus, and I loaded the rowboat. With a crew member to help us through, we set out toward the beach.

We had to row around rocks and sandbars. Even Lorelei was helping to spot while Markus and Salvador rowed. The tide helped carry is in. Soon we were half-rowing, half-pushing our way to the shore.

Ahead, on a beach streaked with black volcanic sand, a figure was running out of the trees and toward us, waving with both arms. Lorelei waved back. The figure, a human (or close to) with messy black hair and tanned skin stopped by the waterline to wait for us.

We continued to row closer, and when we were about a dozen meters out, the person spoke.

“Y-You’re here to rescue me, right?” The voice was feminine, but rather deep as she shouted to our approaching rowboat.

More importantly, the voice was speaking Ordian, a language I was familiar with but that I did not know if the others spoke.

“We are! Want to help our expedition? Wait, were you the one who did the mage flares?” Lorelei responded in fluent Ordian, which answered my internal question.

“What did she say?” Markus asked to the rest of us.

Rowing next to him, Salvador seems to have also had at least some difficulty understanding from the way he also looked to me and Lorelei. Our group knew I spoke Ordian passably, and a few other languages besides.

“She asked if we were here to rescue her,” I replied and then continued. “Lorelei invited her to explore with us.”

Salvador’s face grew thoughtful and Markus responded in Cavenish, “Lor, you can’t just invite them. They’re dangerous.”

“Of course I can! I’m the expedition leader after all,” Lorelei responded proudly.

The figure on shore, now only a few meters away spoke up again, “I cast the flares, yeah. What’s in the boat? I thought you saw my signal and came to rescue me. Were you coming here anyway?” The figure, now clearly visible to be a human woman, looked at our laden rowboat with curiosity and confusion.

She had wild shoulder length black hair, a deep tan, and was wearing a too-small blouse and trousers that looked like they had seen far better days. She had no shoes on and looked to be in very athletic shape.

“I can’t tell you exactly why, but we’re here to look for some ruins and maybe kill some demons if there are any around here,” Lorelei responded as the prow of the boat dug into sand.

The woman looked surprised for a moment, then her brow furrowed, “And you want me to join?”

“You can cast useful fire, so if you want in, you’re in.” Lorelei hopped off the boat and walked toward the woman before Salvador or Markus could call after her. “Do you need anything to eat? We have plenty of—whoah”

Lorelei stepped up next to the woman who turned to her with a smile. I hadn’t noticed without a point of reference, but this woman was tall. Exceptionally tall in fact, probably a hand taller than Markus and he was a big lad. She had to be over two meters and next to Lorelei’s not quite 160 centimeters, she looked positively giant.

“How are you so tall?” Lorelei gawped.

The woman, who also seemed surprised by the height difference, struggled to respond.

“Hey Lorelei, cut her some slack, will you?” I stepped off the boat and left the others to start dragging it up the beach. “I’m Seyari, and the annoying one is Lorelei.”

Despite the friendly greeting, I didn’t stick out my hand to shake.

The woman paused for a moment, “I’m Renna.”

“Alright, Renna, so how did you survive out on Korzon Island? Also, how did you end up here anyway?” I asked her brusquely as the men started unloading our rowboat.

The woman seemed to have to think for a moment before answering. If it bothered Lorelei like it bothered me, well she didn’t show it.