Tails of a Sailor

As a fore warning I haven't had this looked over so please bare with me on some parts. Also this story is supposed to take place a couple hundred years prior to current Felaryan time frame. I'm open to critiques I cant get better with out comments. I only ask that if you wish to point out spots of improvement you at least find one thing that is decent even if it has already been said (I'm easy that way). So again bare with me and please enjoy the show err story.

Chapter 1 The Families all Together

The sun rose over the sea gleaming off it with its bright rays of life giving sunlight. The sea was calm and the waves gently came and went with no fanfare spraying their shimmering glory into the air with each crashing wave. Then slowly a cruise liner came cruising thru the sea with its passengers up out on the deck of the ship. Tropical music playing over a speaker system making everyone believe they were on a tropical island resort. The people were enjoying their day on the various activities on the ship from the onboard pool to rock climbing to simply sitting out on deck sunbathing. But for one man this was just another day on the job and was glad to have this as his job and still have his family with him.

“Daddy over here!” a little girl giggled near a railing as a man in his late twenties early thirties walked up to her.

“What is it honey?” The girl’s father asked walking over to here

“Have you seen mommy anywhere? I want to play!” she pouted causing the man to chuckle at his daughter’s question

“She should be up here in a minute sweetie. So do you want to play with me until she does come?” he asked her squatting down to look her in the eyes. The same green eyes as her mother

“Okay!” she shouted and jumped a little

“Follow me!” she said grabbing her father’s hand and leading him to the front of the ship laughing

“Look daddy over there!” the little girl laughed pointing to something out in the distance

“What’s that?” she asked climbing onto the first bottom part of the rail while leaning over to get a better look at the object in question holding a hand over her brow shielding her eyes.

“That is our destination sweetie. Coalno’ir its to be our new home here Marisa where you me and mommy will get a chance to live without having to worry about being chased by bad men anymore.” The girl’s father said running a hand threw her hair playfully

“Daaad!” she cried shaking her head trying to make him stop. She never did like it when her father did that to her hair.

“So we won’t have to worry about moving no more?” Marisa asked looking up to her father after getting off the rail

“Nope not one bit.” He said looking out to where the city Coalno’ir was at

“Marisa there you are. I thought you were going to wait for me?” called a woman the same age as the girl’s father.

“I was but daddy wanted to play with me as well so I played with him some!” the little girl said happily and smiled towards her mother

“Really did he now?” the little girl’s mother asked stopping by her husband and looking him in the face with the same green eyes her daughter inherited

“Well… what can I say? I’m a sucker for green eyed lovelies.” The man said with a laugh rubbing the back of his head grinning sheepishly

“Well at least you kept her entertained Amarus. So what is it you wanted to show me honey?” she asked after kissing Amarus on the cheek

“That mommy!” The little girl said pointing back to where the city Coalno’ir was

“What is it honey?” the mother asked

“Daddy said its our new home and that were going to live there now and never have to worry about bad people again!” Marisa cried pointing towards the city

The mother turned towards her husband and looked him in the face. With concern written all over it.

“Amarus are you sure about that? That we won’t have to worry about… them” she asked

“Yes, Miskiena I am sure about that. The Shimmering Sea is so far away from Negav and the Ps'isol magiocrats and the Vishmitals that not even their Isolon Fist will be able to reach us out here so far from the safety of Negav.” Amarus said wrapping an arm around his wife

Well, I am definately curious about this lot. I can't wait to learn why they are on the run.

It's starting nicely
you already made the reader curious about what they are running from

Thanks guys I hope that the reason they are running is enough to earn your attention. But I will warn you now I wont be telling it till later so just to give you sorta heads up.

Chapter 2 Going out for Fish

“Alright Amarus you ready to get back out to see?” asked a man who was built slightly more then him

“Yeah I’m ready Froes. Just let me tell my family good bye.” Amarus said turning to face his daughter Marisa who was standing beside her mother tears in her eyes

It had been several months since Amarus and his family had made it to Coalno’ir and it would seem that he would be able to keep his promise to his daughter that everything would be better now. As he had managed to reunite with an old friend of his from Negav who had retired to Coalno’ir from the hustle and bustle of the large city to this slowly growing one. Together they had put their earnings together to fund a small fishing vessel and crew and began their new careers as fishermen. With Froes as the acting founder and Amarus as the CEO of their small group.

“Okay Marisa I have to go now. Are you going to be a good little girl for mommy while I’m gone?” Amarus asked her kneeling in front of the little girl who turned six only last week

“But daddy you said you wouldn’t leave any more! I thought you would stay with us forever!” the little girl cried

“There now it’s going to be alright I’ll be back. Besides someone has to look out after Froes.” Amarus said with a smile giving Marisa a hug

“Promise you’ll be back for me?” the little girl asked holding her father tightly

“Of course I will why wouldn’t I be?” Amarus said with a smile before letting her go and standing back up and looking at his wife.

“Amarus remember to be safe out there. We both know how dangerous the waters can be I don’t want to lose you.” Miskiena said looking her husband in the eyes as unspoken words of previous events passed between them.

“I will be.” Amarus said leaning forward and giving her a kiss before turning to board the ship with his friend.

“Come on Amarus you know they’ll still be there when we come back. However the fish will not. Come.” Froes said waving Amarus onto the boat.

Chapter 3 Worries of a Sailor

“Are you sure you saw something on sonar?” asked Amarus as he stood next to one of his fellow crewmen

“Yes I’m sure I could have sworn I saw a Mermaid somewhere out there but it’s no longer within range sir.” The sailor told him

“Alright I’ll inform Froes. Good work and keep an eye out in case it comes back. We don’t want any surprises this early into the fishing trip.” Amarus said leaving the bridge to find his friend

“Ahaha and then I said to him what the hell do you have that for? A gun isn’t going to do a damn thing to a mermaid you idiot!” Froes laughed telling another one of his tales to one of the crew men in the ships mess area

“Telling stories about our time back in Negav are we Froes?” Amarus asked with a smile on his face

“Yep. You should sit in as well. Besides I already drank enough rum I’m not sure I can get it all right.” Froes said laughing

“Maybe next time Froes.” Amarus said with a smile

“Fine now why did you really come here for? I can see it in your eyes so come on tell me.” Froes said

“We might have an issue sonar believes it might have got sight on a Mermaid within our area of the water. I told them to keep an eye out for any further activity while the ship continues to search for the fishing grounds. Might I suggest we put the ship to a higher alert just in case?” Amarus suggested to his friend

“You told me you had the guys down in sonar keep an eye for any more activity right? But the fact you are here warning me tells me that this mermaid has left us alone. So why bother worrying about something that’s not even near us when we should be having a good time? Come on man loosen up a little you’re going to turn into an old man worrying like that so much!” Froes said laughing and clapping his friend on the back handing him some rum

“Old? Looks who’s talking! You’re old enough to have been the father of old man Graves back Negav!” Amarus smiled passing the rum back to Froes

“And someone has to be sober enough to run the ship.” Amarus said leaving Froes

“Fine suit yourself more rum for me!” Froes laughed and downed the rum as Amarus shook his head and left

Chapter 4 Anomalous Readings

“God damn it where the hell did this storm come from!” Froes shouted up on deck helping the rest of the crew get the fishing nets back on deck after spending the day catching the fish in the water.

“No idea! Then again we are in the Shimmering Sea!” shouted Amarus helping as well

“Captain! We have something on sonar! It looks big really big!” shouted a crew man from the bridge as all the blood drained from Amarus face as thoughts of mermaids attacking the ship came to mind

“It’s not a Mermaid is it!” he hollered

“No but it is huge! And it’s no further than 200 fathoms down sir!” the crewmen shouted

“Froes you have this under control up here?” Amarus asked turning towards his friend

“Yeah I got it go see what the hell there blabbing about now! Alright men heave on three ready! Heave!!” Froes shouted as Amarus nodded his head and rushed to the bridge

“Show me.” Amarus said rushing to the crewmen who had warned them

“Here sir. I don’t know what to make of it.” The crewmen said pointing to a spot on map of the sea

“Well can you get a picture of what it looks like?” Amarus asked looking at the spot

“Hold on let me just… there that’s the best I can do sir.” The crewman said pressing a few buttons as a video feed of the site came up on a screen next to him. It was poor quality yet from the looks it seemed to be the wreckage of an old ship. A very large old ship by the looks of it.

“How did you even find this here?” Amarus asked looking at the picture wishing it were to have come in better than it did.

“Sir, I’m not exactly sure why but the size of this wreck was simply large enough to trip the sonar into making it out as an unknown object.” The crewmen explained piquing Amarus interest

“Alright let’s get the rest of these fishing nets on deck and we’ll see about the wreck later tell the diving crew to get ready I want to see if there’s anything worth having down there.” Amarus said leaving the bridge he wanted to find out what that thing was but the fishing nets needed to be dealt with first

“Froes!” shouted Amarus as he joined the rest of the crew on deck as they brought up another net of fish in this wild storm

“What is it!” He yelled back heaving with the rest of the men to get the net up on deck

“It looks like they found a large ship wreck down there. It might be something worth exploring once the storm has passed!” Amarus yelled as a wave crashed on deck spraying the men with water.

“We still have to get up these nets! Get the rest of them on deck and then we shall see if this storm lets up. If it doesn’t let up soon were going to have to leave and return to port the ship can’t stand these seas fir long!” Froes shouted never stopping in pulling the large net up on deck.

Amarus nodded then joined the rest of the crew in hauling up the last of the nets onto the ship. Each one filled with so much fish that everyone knew they were going to be getting a pay bonus for this haul. But little did they expect how big a bonus they were actually going to get. And what it was going to cost them to get it.

Chapter 5 Dive!

“Amarus you sure you want to do this? We do have the diving team to look into this thing remember.” Froes said trying to talk his friend out of risking his life

After they had managed to get the last of the fishing nets back up onto the ship. Everyone buckled down and waited for the storm to pass, the several hours between when they got the last net up and the time from the storm’s abatement were long and tumulus as even some of the more hardened and veteran sailors felt weak to their stomach as their ship was rocked by the waves and the storm. But when it finally did let up all that was left was still pouring rain and clouds yet the sea seemed to have calmed down a lot. Which and against Froes better judgment Amarus got together a diving team to go explore the wreckage while they still had a chance.

“Don’t worry I got this under control as long as the guys have the sonar up and running we’ll have plenty of time to escape should a mermaid try to come for us!” Amarus said suiting up

“I’m not worried about the mermaids Amarus all that equipment you had installed on here should keep us well aware should one show. It’s the weather that has me worried the most I haven’t seen storm clouds this fierce since the time me and Graves served on the same ship in the Topazial Sea. And that little bout with nature didn’t turn out to well for anyone in the end.” Froes told him remembering an abnormally large storm that he had served on in an earlier part of his life.

“For the last time don’t worry! Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious and keep away from the rum for an hour or two and everything will be fine!” Amarus said clapping his friend on the shoulder finished getting his suit on

“Now wish me luck!” Amarus said as he and five other guys fell back into the water and began diving down into the deep.

“I wish I could yet I can’t shake this feeling something bad is going to happen.” Froes said looking at the sky above him and watched as the clouds above moved and turned slowly in a circular motion.

Now is when things start to get interesting. And as a forewarning next couple of chapters will be longer so hopefully no more short chapters Wohoo!

Chapter 6 Some Large Bones

Down at the bottom everything was alive from the krill fish large cousins to Bass seen back at home to the seaweed the swayed gently in the sea currents. Amarus and his group swam to where the sonar guys had marked the location of the wreck on their diving masks HUD. So far they only had a few more yards to go before they could see the wreck yet they still couldn’t see it not threw all this damn seaweed.

“Froes are you sure were near that wreck? All I see is seaweed around me!” Amarus said into his mike

“From the scans you should be on top of it in about another minute Amarus” Froes answered him

“Understood” Amarus replied as he and his small diving team continued on

They didn’t have anything really in the way of weaponry for if anything tried to eat them down here they were already out of luck as when there was one predator close by more were bound to show. However as they broke through the seaweed they saw a sight that left much to the imagination and reminded them of the size difference between humans and Felaryan animals. As what was supposed to be a ship wreck before them was not an actual ship wreck but rather the remains of something big really big.

“Froes I think we might have a problem here.” Amarus commed in upon seeing the sight

“What what is it?” Froes asked

“This isn’t a ship wreck Froes. But rather the bones of some long gone creature of unimaginable size…” Amarus started but as they swam further across the light from their face piece hit upon something bright that shimmered as their light swept over it briefly.

“Hold on I think we found something down here.” Amarus said swimming towards it to get a better look

As Amarus swam closer to the glimmering object he could hear Froes breathing heavily threw the mike and could have sworn he heard the man whisper “Be careful Amarus” but then again Amarus was to entranced by the shinny object much like a raccoon would be to a shinny object.

“Froes I think we’re going to be need a bigger boat.” Amarus said into his mike as his eyes widened larger then dinner plates

“What is it Amarus what did you find” Froes asked confused

“That or were going to have to dump our catch in order to get all this up onto the ship.” Amarus said as he and the rest of the diving team moved the seaweed to reveal what lay before them

A small field of treasures of all shapes and sizes laid before them. All of them strewn about in between giant upside down arches. As they swam closer and got even better look over what they had found they saw gold, diamonds, and even large Ascarlin imbued objects. There was simply no limit to the amount of treasure simply lying about the sea floor. The other divers who had come down with Amarus were already swimming towards the treasure. However Amarus stayed back confused by the amount of treasure and rare items that were present and nothing near them to protect them.

Well, they are interesting pieces. Aside from a few minor spelling errors and missing puncuation marks, the only problem I see is the lack of length of each chapter. I feel hypocritical for saying that given my miniscule attention span.

Mhh I have a bad feeling about that XP
The story is going well, I'm curious what will happens next

Alright Another Chapter up yay! Sorry took a while but hit a mental block as normally this crap comes to me. So I apologize if some of this sounds forced so yeah... critiques please?

Chapter 7 Treasure at What Price?

“This is easy… way to easy.” Amarus thought watching the men swim over and even pick up some of the treasure he tuned their com shatter down low as they were still loud enough that he could hear them regardless.

“Froes are you guys getting anything up there?” Amarus called up

“No nothing. Everything is quite down there movement wise only thing we got picking up is you and some school of Krill fish swimming around you. So what is it what did you find?” Froes asked again

“Either the largest lost treasure ship. Or the remains of some long dead giant creature with a habit of eating anything it sees. There is literally a field of treasure down here. Enough to keep us and every man on the ship well off for the next several years.” Amarus told him

“You have to be joking. Send us a some video footage.” Froes told him excitement in his voice

“Transmitting” Amarus said as he turned on his HUD’s recording device

At first there was nothing but silence on the other end as all within view of the sight being transmitted by Amarus returned to those on the ship left every one speechless. Until one sailor finally broke the silence.

“So who else is thinking of ordering Michelle’s Fish Raman when we get back? Guys? Uh Guys what’s? Woe…” said a cook as he noticed the screens down in the mess provided for the crews entertainment.

“Amarus get whatever you and your men can grab and return to the ship immediately.” Froes ordered with apprehension in his voice

“Already on it.” Amarus replied swimming towards and grabbing a handful of the treasure and giving his men the same order to return to the ship

*Pong*

“Sir! We have contact on a large creature coming inbound at a high rate of speed!” warned one of the men watching the sonar

“How far out!” Froes yelled

“Sir about twenty miles and closing fast!” replied the sailor

“Amarus you had better be on your way now! We got an incoming mermaid at about 20 miles you got at best five minutes before it reaches you!” Yelled Froes panicking

“Were right under the boat be out in two.” Amarus replied terror evident in his voice

“Come one Amarus hurry don’t make me the one to have to Miskiena that you were turned into mermaid food.” Froes worried as the Pings kept coming faster as the mermaid came ever closer.

“Froes get the ship moving now! Me and the men are on board try and get us as much distance as possible before that mermaid over takes us!” Amarus shouted into his mike once on board the ship

“You heard him get this ship moving. Get this thing to its top and fast we wont have long until it gets to us.” Froes ordered walking across the bridge

“Aye sir max speed hard to port and away aye!” replied the helmsmen as he and the rest of the men on the bridge went into their tasks of getting them the hell out of there

Slowly at first the small 150 foot vessel turned to its left. Its crew running threw out its interior trying to get to their stations as they knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against a mermaid should one attack their boat. However this small boat had a few extra adages to it courtesy of a few remaining contacts in Negav that Amarus and Froes knew. The engine system was completely overhauled and upgraded from your normal fishing vessel so that instead of the normal 15 knots high running speed of most commercial fishing vessels. There’s now ran at something close to 35 knots though at a risk of overheating the engines and creating a fire in the engine compartment that would be as much a danger to the ship as any mermaid could be.

Another add on to this vessel was its depth charge launchers. Which acted more as a deterrent then as an actual weapon but when used correctly could cause serious injury to any unlucky mermaids or whatever happened to be close by when it went off.

“Froes sound the collision alarms and get the depth charge teams set up were going to need something to buy us time!” shouted Amarus in his mike as he raced threw the ship towards the bridge

“Already way ahead of you.” Froes replied as outside several brave individuals ran out to man the three depth charge launchers on on each side of the ship and one on the aft end of the ship

"How much longer do we have!" Amarus yelled arriving on the bridge

"One minute! We should be seeing its outline in a couple of seconds. Recommend launching the depth charges sir." answered the sonar control man

"All stations begin launching the depth charges!" Froes ordered as the three stations began launching the charges into the water with decently sized splashes

"Ten seconds till detonation!" reported the station monitoring the charges

"Nine... Eight... Six..."

"Sir mermaid is at one thousand feet and keeping distance!" warned the sonar controller

"Every one brace!" shouted Amarus as the charges went off

Now there are quite a few different types of depth charges in the Felarya all designed to serve a different purpose. These were designed to warn off and stun any caught in their blast. As when they detonate under water they still explode and displace large quantities of water but they also send a loud sonic boom in the water which due to how much faster sound travels threw water is carried farther then it would normally above in the air.

"Sir! The mermaid is falling behind it must be feeling the effects of the charges!" reported the lookout atop the ship

"Good now get us the hell outta here!" Froes ordered

"Uhm Sir you might want to see this..." warned the sonar controller

"What is it now?" Froes demanded turning towards the station

"Sir it would appear we must have warned the whole neighborhood we have multiple contacts inbound." warned the sonar controller

"Son of a... Froes I think now might be a good time to turn tail and run fast as possible." Amarus suggested

"I know that! But in order to reach maximum speed we'd need to dump our entire catch!" Froes cursed

"Its either the fish and us. Or the fish and we escape Froes. I think you know which is the better choice." Amarus said sadly

"Yeah yeah I know. Dump the cargo hold of everything. And damn those mermaids for making us do this. One we could avoid using the depth charges but with that many there's no way we'd make it before we ran out." Froes complained

"Look at the bright side at least we got some treasure and know its exact location so we can come back later and collect it. Then well be richer then we ever could be off this run." Amarus mused as he tried to cheer up his freind as a loud noise was heard threw out the ship as two large panels opened under the cargo hull and dumped out their entire catch back into the sea

"Helm get us moving. And have the depth charge stations begin launching their charges at regular intervals. And hope we can get back home safely." sighed Amarus as he left the bridge

As Amarus made his way to his own room he was suddenly flung forwards onto his face as the ship came to a sudden halt. Alarms began to go off all threw the ship as the screeching sound of metal coming upon something hard was also heard drowning out just about everything else. Slowly getting up Amarus felt as if he had been hit with a hammer in the head but immediately got up and rushed towards the bridge when he heard the hull of his ship start to groan as something put pressure on it.

"Report!" Amarus shouted racing onto the bridge

"Sir! A Giant Chlaena has gotten a hold of the ship and is already beginning to cause serious hull damage due to the strength of its tentacles!" shouted one of the injured bridge crew

"Where the hell did it come from! I thought our sonar could pick up anything!" Froes shouted picking himself up off the floor

"I don't know sir but if we don't do anything quick its going to..." the bridge officer stopped as another alarm went off

"Uh sirs we got another problem!" cried the bridge officer

"Froes I think now might be a good time to ready to abandon ship." Amarus suggested

"No! Not after having lost so much already! Damn it some one turn off those damn alarms! I know what they mean!" Froes shouted moving about the bridge trying to get more information on the situation from the different stations

"Sirs?" the bridge officer questioned trying to get their attention

"What!" they both shouted

"Sir. The mermaids from earlier are closing in on our position and I got a total number of five mid-sized mermaids and the one giant one we stunned earlier!" the bridge officer warned

"Can this day get any better?" Amarus said with despair

"Also it would seem as if another large storm is brewing as the sea state is also getting worse as well." the bridge officer added