WIP Wednesday: Lost Lord of a Dead Sea

 

Coming 2024

“You’ve got to be quiet," Breton hissed “we’re going to get caught and as always father will blame me.”

“It’s my idea,” his twin brother, Dylan, replied stubbornly.

“It’s almost always your idea,” Breton said, “but you’re his favorite so no one ever blames you.”

“Father has no favorites, he loves us both equally. You would see that if you would cease butting heads with him at every turn,” Dylan shot back as he skulked along the edge of a tall ridge of coral.

Fifty feet above them, dangling precariously over the edge of the crumbling rocky shelf, was the battered remains of an old wooden ship, half rolled on its side and sunk deep in the muck and mud after several generations on the ocean floor. Barnacles covered almost every inch of it and coral stretched across its bow, giving it a spooky air of being alive and yet not.

Fish teemed in and out of the gaps between the boards while a large eel snaked through a huge fissure. Skidding to a halt to avoid crashing into his brother, Breton watched as Dylan’s eyes widened, Adam’s apple bobbing as they caught sight of the haunting scene. The hue of his brother’s scales shifted from vivid plum to pale lilac, his motions cautious and tense.

“Come on,” Breton grumbled. “You wanted to do this so let’s get it over with so we can get back home before our tutors realize that we’re missing.”

“Maybe we should forget about going inside. Hasn’t Father warned us repeatedly about the dangers of being trapped in a shipwreck? He’ll be furious with us if he finds out and didn’t Old Niviss say that something large made its home here?”   

“It can’t be that large. Look at the bow of the ship. It isn’t very spacious. I think Old Niviss just exaggerated the size like he exaggerates every other story he tells. Come on, don’t be a coward. I think Father would like that even less than a son who always argues with him.”

It almost brought a smile to Breton’s face to see Dylan’s eyes narrowing as he propelled himself forward with a powerful flick of his tail, cutting through the water as they raced towards the ship. They reached the ledge and thrust themselves a bit higher, peering through the murky sea to get a full glimpse of the wreck.

Breton gasped as he floated beside his brother, balancing himself in the current by his tail.

“Small huh?” Dylan chided, diving down to skim over the top of the ship. Breton followed reluctantly now, his bravado fading the closer they got. It truly was an ancient vessel. The fine craftsmanship of old was still evident despite the silt, kelp, barnacles, and seaweed. The ship had broken apart on its descent, though the largest of the gasps seemed to have occurred after it came to rest on the ocean’s floor. It was into that gap that Dylan swam, mindful to keep his body away from the jagged boards.

Trailing behind his twin, Breton kicked himself for chiding his brother into coming up here. He should have listened when Dylan first suggested they turn around and go home. Now, every shadow seemed more ominous, every fish that flitted past left him paranoid and on edge. Feeling a prickle of unease, Breton turned, glancing about frantically, but all he could make out was seaweed dancing in the tide.

“All right, we’ve seen it, we should go,” Breton commented, bobbing near the hole they’d just entered through.

“Now who’s being a coward?” Dylan taunted, taking off again, his red and silver tail flashing through the gloom as he propelled himself deeper into the ship, leaving Breton with little choice but to follow.

Half-buried in the sand at the bottom of the vessel they found cannons and an old saber, chipped and green, peeking out from between the battered casks. Breton ran his fingers over the crushed shells and silt, encountering something solid and rocklike. Pulling back on it revealed a rusted chain, rising slowly from the silt. He followed it around the side of the ship and when he pulled, it revealed a skeletal foot, and the ankle bone the chain was attached to.

Breton dropped it as if it had scalded him and backed away with a frantic flick of his tail.

“Why would humans leave someone chained to a ship to die?” he asked his brother.

“Maybe they were unable to save themselves, let alone their captives,” Dylan replied, shrugging. “Besides, they’re humans, who knows the reason for anything they do? You’ve seen them when they send their metal whales down here. They’re always searching for something they can steal or destroy.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Breton urged, turning and seeking the hole they’d entered through. The dark places and thick growth made for a jumbled web of wood and vegetation, disorienting him in the sediment their tails kicked up.

“Sure you don’t want to stay and search for treasure?” Dylan teased him as he fell into place beside his brother. A wave of relief flooded Breton at not having to chase behind him any longer. With each passing moment, his uneasiness grew, until it became something oppressive that had him flinching at every sound.

Dylan paused and contemplated his brother. “Father would be pleased if we were to find something of value from the surface world, wouldn’t he?”

“By Poseidon’s beard can we just go…?” Breton exclaimed, even as his brother turned in the opposite direction to explore deeper into the ship.

They hadn’t gone but a few feet when the current around them changed. There was an intense press of water against their sides as if something had disrupted the flow into the room. Glancing around, neither could make out anything but sand, sea grass, and a migrating group of crabs scuttling across the floor.

Then it came again, a rush of water, a flash of silver, this time from the other side. The pair stopped moving and bobbed, feeling the pressure coming from every direction. They were being circled.

It was Breton who caught sight of the dark shape off to the left and turned his panicked eyes toward his brother.

“Swim!” he hissed, already beginning to propel himself away as fast as his tail could carry him.

“What is it?” Dylan asked, whirling to follow his brother.

There was a roar that drowned out all other sounds, including Breton’s answer. The panicked twins swam back up unfamiliar corridors, desperately searching for a way out with a large shark hot on their tails. They swam together, then broke apart, hoping to confuse it. Breton’s gills struggled to keep producing oxygen as they flared open and closed. He wasn’t sure if the shark was following him, but he was too scared to slow down and look. Wood dug along his back in jagged lines. The knowledge that blood in the water would only further enrage the creature, propelled him to swim harder, zigging and zagging until he popped through a hole in the side of the ship barely big enough to squeeze through. Only then did he stop and take a moment to look around him.