Chapter 27 - The Farm in Irttat
Chapter 27: Lament of the Deep Sea 03
This voyage to sea would be extremely dangerous. They needed to prepare thoroughly.
Lily took out two strings of shell necklaces. Lucita created spaces in each shell, half filled with dry bread, half filled with fresh water.
The cufflinks on their clothes also had spaces created. Lucita loaded a hunting knife, while Lily took out her long-abandoned harpoon.
Also magic potions.
They prepared two life potions for Sylvette.
To be safe, these two potions were distributed between them. One person had one bottle.
……
The sun had moved south. The shadow on the sundial quietly shifted angle.
The six boats from the previous night were still docked on the beach. The morning tide had washed over their hulls, leaving scattered shells along the shore.
Stepping on the moist sand made it sink slightly beneath their feet.
They came to Lily's private sailboat.
It was a small three-masted vessel. The canvas had already been replaced once, but it still looked worn, faded by wind and sun. The surface had been coated with tung oil again, and faint mottled traces from the previous layer could still be seen beneath it.
For a private fisher like Lily, her own sailboat was very different from the town's communal boats that could be built with the entire town's resources. A boat could be passed down from a grandmother's generation, and repairing it three or four times was common.
Lucita didn't have time to examine it further. Lily had already untied the mooring rope. The morning breeze filled the square sail, and the boat slowly left the shore.
They sailed toward the horizon where the seagulls disappeared.
The small boat did not linger in the shallow waters. After sailing straight for the entire morning, by noon it had entered the unknown deep sea.
By this time, the morning mist in the shallow sea had long since dispersed, but the surface of the deep sea was still shrouded in haze.
Lucita squinted: "Is it foggy?"
Lily shook her head gravely.
After entering the deep sea, their speed slowed down.
A stretch of silence.
Lily suddenly said: "The seagulls stopped calling."
After speaking, she turned to look at the completely oblivious Lucita and remembered she couldn't hear.
Lily licked her somewhat dry lips and looked at the thick fog before her.
This was a rainy night.
Grandmother pushed open the courtyard door and came in. She wore a straw raincoat. Raindrops pattered against the grass surface, making rustling sounds.
Rainwater flowed into a curtain on the brim of her straw hat.
She stopped under the eaves and knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock.
"Grandmother's back!" Little Lily rushed to the door on short legs like a firecracker and opened the door.
Thunder rumbled, lightning illuminating half of Grandmother's face.
Her wrinkled face showed a kindly smile. Her voice trembled slightly, sounding somewhat unclear: "Lily, didn't you ask Grandmother to take you fishing a few days ago? Let's go now."
Was that so?
Little Lily tilted her head in confusion.
It seemed so. She had pestered Grandmother a few days ago about fishing...
"But Grandmother," Little Lily opened her eyes wide: "It's raining outside. Can we go tomorrow?"
Grandmother waved her finger in front of her and gently shook her head: "Only today's fish are the freshest. If Lily doesn't go today, she won't be able to go later."
Little Lily still hesitated: "But it's nighttime now."
"No, the fish are most abundant at night."
Seeing Lily still hesitating, Grandmother seemed somewhat sad: "Does Lily not like Grandmother anymore?"
"No!" Lily hastily shook her head: "I like Grandmother!"
Grandmother sighed: "Grandmother really wants to go fishing. Lily won't even accompany me."
"Don't be sad, Grandmother. I'll go with you!" Lily patted Grandmother like a little adult and stepped out the door.
Splash—
"Lily!"
Seeing Lily somehow suddenly about to jump ship, Lucita quickly grabbed her arm.
Lily was startled awake. Opening her eyes, she saw herself hanging suspended over the boat. Lucita gripped her tightly. Her arm ached from the strain.
Lily looked down, then immediately got goosebumps all over.
Several merfolk surrounded her on the sea surface. An unknown song lingered around them. That sound was extremely low yet wouldn't dissipate.
Their red hair was dull. Hair mixed with green algae and unknown moss looked like it hadn't been groomed in a long time. The scales on their lower bodies weren't like ordinary fish, shining with a bluish light. Looking carefully, it was sunlight refracting on the scale edges.
Those scales looked extremely sharp, just like the two rows of sharp fangs in their mouths.
They all stared at her uniformly. Their smiles looked as neat as if measured with a ruler, making Lily's skin crawl.
This scene was familiar.
Except last time when she woke up, she was in the sea. This time she was hanging half off the boat, her feet not yet touching these merfolk's teeth.
Lucita was very strong. Her face was now red from holding her breath, slowly pulling her up bit by bit.
Lily cooperated. Both arms finally grabbed the gunwale.
Lifting both feet, Lily grabbed the entire gunwale and rolled into the boat.
Lucita quickly came over to support her: "Are you okay?"
The merfolk's mental enchantment had failed. They gathered together below the boat, creating a strange commotion, as if discussing something.
After a moment, probably having reached a conclusion, they gathered at the bottom of the boat and surrounded it completely.
The two hadn't yet stood steady when the boat suddenly began to shake. The shaking amplitude grew larger and larger.
They quickly grabbed the gunwales on either side, trying to stabilize the boat, but obviously with little effect.
"It doesn’t look good, Lucita! If this continues, the boat will capsize!"
Lily shouted, then remembered Lucita couldn't hear. She immediately sighed in despair: "Heavens!"
She thought again of Sylvette, made up her mind, took out the harpoon, and tried to stab downward below the boat.
The fork met resistance. Lily seemed to hear the sound of stabbing into flesh. Then a shrill scream came from below the boat. A cloud of red spread to the sea surface.
That sound was rough and trembling, piercing straight through one's eardrums, not like something a human could produce.
Lily suddenly felt relieved.
This cry bizarrely reduced her empathy for "killing the same kind." Probably she suddenly realized they and she were no longer the same species, while Sylvette was.
While Lily could use the harpoon, the hunting knife Lucita brought was somewhat miscalculated.
The hunting knife was too short. It simply couldn't reach below.
Lucita's mind raced at high speed.
When Lily was bewitched just now, Lucita had also heard something. The merfolk's secretive, low song had made her irritated and confused.
The reason she maintained consciousness was because the song from inside the pocket watch was more powerful, more penetrating, suppressing those noises that irritated her and stabilizing her spirit.
Below the boat.
After the merfolk's shrill scream, the boat's shaking amplitude suddenly increased. Slightly salty spray splashed on their faces.
To maintain stability, they lowered their center of gravity as much as possible, almost pressed against the boat surface.
Seawater poured straight in with splashing sounds, soaking through their clothes and bodies pressed against the boat surface. Lucita even tasted seawater.
Salty and bitter.
Finally, a wave crashed over. Lucita watched helplessly as her instincts screamed a warning.
When the boat capsized, she reached out to grab Lily, caught nothing, only grabbed Lily's pocket watch, tearing off the watch head and gripping it tightly in her hand.
"Lily!"
Lily had no time to answer before falling into the water. Merfolk swarmed over.
Lucita also couldn't spare attention for herself.
Fortunately, neither of them feared water. After swallowing several mouthfuls of seawater through nose and mouth, they both resurfaced.
Their tied-up hair had come loose. Strands clung to their faces. Part of the long hair tangled around their arms, part floated and sank in the seawater, very annoying.
Lucita felt for her cufflinks and shell necklace. Fortunately, they were still there and hadn't been lost.
The merfolk giggled as they circled them, clapping and singing. The eerie song mixed with innocent laughter was deeply unsettling.
Everything was just as Lily had said.
That song was like maggots in the bone, lingering in their ears.
Fortunately, with the pocket watch's song suppressing it, Lucita's spirit was relatively stable. She wasn't dragged into dreams by the merfolk.
Lucita rubbed her arms and drew out her hunting knife, facing the surrounding merfolk.
But this was a group of mad creatures. How could they fear her hunting knife?
Moreover, the merfolk had numbers on their side. Their teeth and scales were as sharp as blades. In a real fight, she would definitely be at a disadvantage.
She silently stared at the merfolk before her, showing no fear in her eyes, but her mind raced frantically.
There must be a way…
Until Lily suddenly sank down, then floated up on the sea surface, drifting away with the waves. Only then did Lucita realize something.
She wouldn't fall for it, but Lily would!
This time there was no suddenly awakened merfolk to save her life.
If Lily wasn't awakened soon, she would simply sleep herself to death in the sea.
Lucita anxiously swam toward Lily, but how could a person's speed catch up to the waves?
Lily had already fallen asleep. The merfolk all targeted her, crowding tightly around her. Chaotic songs poured into her ears.
Even with the pocket watch, Lucita felt waves of dizziness.
Realizing these merfolk seemed somewhat slow-witted and uninterested in direct combat, she put away the knife, gripped the pocket watch tightly, and forced her way through the swarm.
Not knowing how long she chased, the wind gradually calmed. Lucita grabbed Lily's calf and pulled her over.
She wrapped around Lily's body, urgently slapping her face, then pinching her nose, shaking her shoulders—trying every method.
"Lily! Lily!"
Lily's red hair clung to her face, highlighting the faint red freckles on her skin. Her clothes were soaked and heavy as lead.
Her eyes were tightly closed. No matter what methods Lucita tried, she didn't move.
Lucita was at her wit's end. She could only wrap around Lily's body, catch her breath for a moment, then raise her head to look around.
They had drifted to who knows where. Vast seawater on all sides. Forget land—not even a reef was visible. They could only rely on the sun to barely distinguish direction.
Although she didn't know where she was, this sea was to the east of the small town. As long as they kept swimming west, they could go home.
Lucita had space and brought enough food and water, so she wasn't very anxious.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened.
Probably because a ray of sunlight reflected on the sea surface was too dazzling, she hadn't noticed just now. Behind that water light, something was faintly floating.
That was—the wreckage of a boat!
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