17 A Drunkard's Tale

Beer and rum splashed around the table as the crew chuckled and joust with each other. With the boat calm before a storm, most of the men didn't even notice when Venus slipped through the door for her dinner. Among the men that notice, one looked among his older comrades and sneered, "aye, do you remember the first flat tail we caught men?"

"Aye aye! It must've been before our little baby cap'n started, about 25 years back?" Another joined in noticing how the temperature in the room shifted as she sat down across from Scotty. The two were talking amongst themselves as the man proudly jeered, "the sage tail we cut off of that thing made us men, fellas." They crashed their cups together in hurrahs and snickers as they looked for Venus' reaction but was instead met with Scotty.

"You lot should watch your tongues! She's a guest of the captain and should be treated as one."

Venus stood up to the men while pulling Scotty back and told them, "I'm proud of who I am and who we are as a species. Thousands of years more advanced than any smut found on the deck of a rickety boat such as this one with more class and careful tongue than a man raised in the middle of nowhere, born to war and jealousy." She sat down at their table making them all jump and demanded, "now, tell me why you decided it was a good idea to start killing us in the first place."

The room went silent as some men quivered in their seats while others scooted back not knowing what to say. Before she could ask again though a man from the other side of the room spoke up, "well we've all had the stories past down to us from our parents and grandparents. We just assumed you knew already."

She stood u and sat next to him and confessed, "all I know is that one day my people started to be murdered mercilessly for no rhyme or reason by the humans, no matter how you g or old. Please, I'd like to know why this started." She waited earnestly for him to speak.

The man just looked around to his comrades before taking a deep breath, "no one really knows when this all happened but most people circle it all back to two different moments: The city of Baia being drowned out and an Arlanian naval ship being burned carrying precious cargo."

The men around him all agreed while another continued, "around the time before Murila and Arla were still one empire, there was a city named Baia that was just on the border of the emperor's territory. They were known for their fishing skills and architecture made by the eastern mages. It was a glorious city until one day when a storm struck, a hurricane to be more precise."

"There were so many people there that day because of the festival," one of the men that were hanging on to Scotty took a long swig of his beer and sighed thinking of the day as if he were there. "It's easily one of the most horrific moments ever recorded in our world's history."

"That and the eastern king's genocide on the holy land…" another man added with a scoff.

The men kept talking amongst themselves as Venus, Scotty and another crewmate kept talking about the question originally at hand. "So why were the sirens blamed for a storm they couldn't control, sir…?"

The man perked up, "aye! I almost forgot. The names Pierson and this guy here," he slung his arm around a slender silver-haired boy next to him, "his names Samuel. Not much of a talker, ma'am." The young boy named Samuel nodded his head as his red eyes shined without any intention of speaking to her for a while. Pierson continued with his explanation, "anyways, back to what we were talking about. During the hurricane, there was a festival going on for the founding of the city of Baia. There were thousands of people that traveled there just to get a piece of their culture. But as we've been taught, the sirens used their powers to create a storm big enough to wipe out the town from of jealousy. Instead of helping the people of Baia, they drowned them with their music and took the city for themselves." Samuel nodded along without showing any signs of what he really believed.

"That's ludicrous! We begged Poseidon not to drown the city but Zeus ordered a punishment on the humans! We tried saving those people but Poseidon prevented us at every point he had because of his brother. Whether it was making the waves to high to handle of the rain pelt down like hail..." She trailed off remembering the dozens of people she dragged to shore that tragic night as her father ordered their people to save as many as they could. "Who would say something like that?" she asked dejectedly.

Samuel shrugged his shoulders while picking at his rice. Pierson sighed, "it's been passed down by so many generations that no one really knows who said what in the first place. Especially with everything that's been happening in the world, not many people care to ask."

Scotty patted Venus on the shoulder as other crewmates whispered around her. She did her best to ignore it as she remembered, "then what about the ship being burned down? When did that happen?"

The room went silent as heavy boots tapped against the wood floor. Looking up, Venus came face to face with Caspien again as he sat down at the table with them. The voices around them slowly came back from silence to whispers then to semi-civilized conversations. He turned to Pierson and nodded for him to go on but he just sat their awkwardly. "Well?" Caspien asked.

"Cap'n…"

Samuel shook his head as his captain asked, "you won't say it either will you?"

"She just wanted to know what other people believed, not what the crew knows," Pierson attempted to reassure Caspien. "I think it'd be best so that she can understand where people are coming from Cap."

"No," Caspien demanded. "She needs to know the truth!"

Venus slammed her cup on the table and countered, "no. I want to hear why people killed the sirens. Then I'll hear the real story. I don't want to be swayed by the truth before even hearing what you humans grew up being told. It wouldn't be fair."

"Well," Pierson started, 'Cap'n was actually on the ship that was burned down. He was part of the nine people that survived that wreck. The king was sending Cap back home to Arla after being invited to Murilia for a treaty meeting when, told by the survivors, over a dozen sirens began singing a mysterious song. As they sang, the boat went up in flames making the gunpowder go off in the storage, making the front half of the bat explode."

She gaped as she asked, "how did the men survive?"

Caspien gave her a confused look, "what do you mean? You were there." He placed his hand over hers and admitted, "you saved me that day."

"That's not what the rest of the kingdom was told though," Pierson butt in. "Our king didn't want to base the whole ordeal off of the words of a kid so he told everyone that they swam to the shore of driftwood themselves."

"Which is why, when I bring you back to Arla to the king himself," Caspien smiled, "everyone will know how amazing and caring sirens really are. I'm sure the only reason your people fought back was that you were forced to. You were being slaughtered without knowing why. It's understandable."

A loud bang was heard from across the room as a man stood up and yelled at his captain, "you can't seriously be praising those monsters!"

Caspien stood up and grabbed the man but his collar and threatened, "yeah? And what if I am? Doesn't mean you get to say shit about it. Her being alive and well is proof that what I said happened that ay really did happen and if you have some problem with my story then you can just swim your way back home. Do I make myself clear?" He let the man's collar go as he pushed past him out the door. Caspien pushed his brown hair back in frustration then turned back to Venus, Scotty, Samuel, and Pierson. "Basically, that bastard king sent the whole country after sirens on his own accord without thinking of what would really happen!"

Samuel shook his head while Pierson cut in, "listen, Cap…"

"No you listen," he snapped. "No one believed anything I had to say that night when we came to shore! Those men that survived were cowards to the truth!"

"How do you know I saved you, it could've really been a hallucination becomes of the smoke, Captain." She slouched in the chair and mumbled, "I think I would've remembered something like that…"

Caspien rolled up his sleeve and slammed his arm on the table. Determination flashed through his words, "this. This right here, you and I escaped that day together! You can't tell me you forgot your own near-death experience!"

She scratched the back of her neck before shaking her head, "I'm sorry but I don't remember." She went to leave but was pulled back down by Scotty. He whispered for her to listen to Caspien's side then. She didn't ask why nor refuse but instead sat down and watched him as he took three deep breaths before explaining his own memory of exactly what happened the day he claimed to be saved by her on a burning boat.