They eventually reached the beach and Gordan let the cat creature jump off of his arm and walk around looking at all the area, and exploring around. It made Gordan smile slightly at the curiosity of the creature, the other members of the group emediatly began to ready the boats while the child closely watched the cat creature from a respectful distance, so as not to seem rude toward the strange creature which seemed to be close with the guardian.
Gordan smelled the sea air and sighed, he liked water well enough and was even a proficient swimmer but that was more for combat reasons than anything else. When the boats were ready there really wasn't any room for Gordan to ride on them due to his size and weight, so once everyone else was ready to take off he picked up the cat creature gently and placed it in the small child's arms before walking into the ocean.
"Well then, lead the way. I can follow in the water so don't worry about it."
The ones in charge of each boat nodded and pushed off without hesitation. Gordan was glad that there weren't any unnecessary complications and silently dove under the water disappearing from veiw. He was able to keep tabs on the group because of the cat creature so he didn't have to worry about keeping up with them, or making sure to keep a close eye on them. After a few seconds of being under water he opened his eyes and a thin invisible film covered them protecting them from the water and enhanced his sight. His gills began working and his ears suddenly became aware of the sounds around him. He looked around and saw a world that took his breath away.
The people on the boats rowed in silence for the first while, but since there boats were close together a conversation eventually started up among them.
"What were you thinking? Lily was supposed to be the sacrifice, she had been prepared for this. Now how is she going to even see her parents without shame."
Lily looked down at the floor of the boat trying not to listen to the conversation which was heaping on the realization that she had been given a chance to prove her worth and she had lost it. The cat creature in her lap looked up at her and stared deep into her eyes. The blue of the creatures eyes seemed to bring her some comfort as she remembered that now she was not the same person that she had been before. The sickness that she had known all her life was now gone, and she would be able to live her life like the others.
"She, is a child. And what problem would the village have if I was out of their way? Isn't that what all of you want anyway?"
The others looked back to their work and once more the silence filled the air. The only sound was the oars against the water. The cat creature hopped out of the girls lap suddenly and jumped up to the end of the boat looking into the water intently. The girl looked over the edge to see what the cat creature was so interested in. The water began to bubble slightly and a red cloud filled the water and the head of a large fish floated to the surface. The girl decided to ignore the head and look out to the other side of the boat where the other end of the fish suddenly emerged blocking their path. The oars emediatly stopped as the people saw the creatures corps in front of them. There was something quite eerie about the cuts which were completely clean from one end to the other of the fishes throat which was four feet across. Suddenly bubbles began to form on the surface of the bloody water, and after a couple of seconds Gordan's head surfaced and the film over his eyes peeled back and his gills closed up as he took a breath of air. The sight made everyone quite uncomfortable becouse he still had bits of skin in his teeth from where he had apparently ripped the creature apart. He pulled the skin out of his mouth and threw it over his shoulder before taking the the head and began eating it without paying the ones in the boat, who were growing more and more uncomfortable. he only ate the meat and fed the skin to the stone on the back of his neck which seemed to be as ravenous as ever. Gordan found that he was also very ravenous and rather wondered if it had anything to do with the mutation of his body eating away too much energy. While he had been fine before eating, as soon as he took a bite the hunger had set in like a title wave. He pulled off a piece of meat and swam over to the boat giving it to the cat creature who gobbled it up happily before licking its chops in anticipation for another snack, which Gordan readily supplied.
The fact that all of this was taking place while they were still sailing, since they had let the sails down after the giant fish had appeared, made the situation all the more uncomfortable for everyone present. Except that was, for the two who were happily munching down on the fish meat. In under ten minutes the fish had completely disappeared and Gordan dove back under the water to get more food to eat.
Once he had gone the people let out a sigh of relief and continued on with their journey, the winds were taking them at a steady pace and they didn't need to worry about rowing until something changed. After traveling for several hours in silence the sky began to darken and rain began to pour down. The two ships pulled in their sails and began to row towards an island that they had sighted earlier on. The waters were growing increasingly choppy and the groups began to row with all of their might toward the island which was still in their sight. The boats began to rock back and forth, a large wave came sweeping over the side of one of the boats sending Lily flying overboard with the cat creature in her arms. As soon as he saw this the half-breed jumped over the side of his own boat into the water after her.
He opened his eyes under the water and saw in the darkness of the water, Lily falling further into the depths with the cat creature looking incredibly calm. Behind them the half-breed saw a large sea snake coming up on them with an open mouth ready to swallow them whole. He desperately swam towards them and reached out trying to grab them, when he felt a sudden pain in the back of his neck which made him let out the breath in his lungs and start to lose consciousness. He saw a flash of darkness which reminded him of a thick fog which enveloped the sea snake who's crys of pain were lost in the silence of the sea. As his vision faded he saw the fog move on leaving nothing but empty sea were the serpent had been just seconds before, the fog then changed its direction toward Lily and the cat creature. He wanted desperately to go to them and protect them but he could no longer keep his eyes open. His arms felt like they were burning but he continued to fade out until all that was left was darkness.
In the darkness a dream came to him, of things that he had not seen in years. He had been an oddity all of his life, and for the first half of his life he never had things easy, the end of the war saw to that. He was not exactly welcome in either the humans realm, or the monsters realm. He had met Lilly's mother at his lowest point in life and had been saved, given another chance and even a place to stay. The village tolerated his exsistance at first becouse of the one who had saved him, and he did his part to help the village as a whole. But then the mother had grown sick and quickly faded after having her final child, Lily. On her death bed, he was charged with the protection of the child as a last favor to an old friend. He spent all that he had to take care of the child, and she had been given a decent life even with her constant sickness. When he had come back from hunting and heard of what happened he had rushed to the island with reckless abandon, one of his friends came with him to help with the boat and the travel, and now he was in a contract with the guardian who seemed to be extremely dangerous.
"Hey, you need to get up now, the others have already started back to the village."
His eyes fluttered open and he looked around to find that he was on the shore of the island where the village was located. He sat up suddenly and saw that the guardian was sitting on a stone beside him stroking the cat creature's fur while looking out to the sea.
Don't worry about the child, she has already gone back to her family, and I cleared things up with the others who were quite understanding about the change of contractor, so don't be so worried about it."
He felt the back of his neck witch was incredibly sore, he felt like he had gotten hit by a mast or something.
"Man I was so shocked when you guys jumped into the water. I know that it's beautiful but seriously you should know that jumping off of a ship in the middle of a storm can cause the one other person that was in your boat to capsize."
A realization dawned on him and looked around to see if his friend was anywhere in sight. But they were the only ones on the beach which was completely tranquil. He saw that the shore was close to the village, infact this was the same beach that the pirates always attacked from.
"Are they fine?"
Gordan nodded and the person sighed with relief.
"Anyway, I have been wondering for a while, but you never bothered to tell me so I guess I have to ask. What name to you go by here? When I was pulling you out of the water I couldn't help but notice the mark on the back of your neck."
He froze after hearing that, the mark on the back of his neck was something that no one should know about, unless they also had one. But it was obvious that the guardian was not one at all.
"How do you know about that?"
Gordan looked up at the sky and smiled a bit.
"Someone I met long ago told me about it. He was also one of you, a real crazy one he was, but he was a good friend none the less."
The person was quiet for a second and then looked up the sky as well. There would be no way to make him tell more than he wanted to so he just sighed.
"My name is Bjorn."
Gordan looked down at him and the cat creature did the same. A small chuckle escaped him and the cat creature looked like it was laughing as well.
"So, a dragon kin half-breed is named bear? The group that is hostile to both of your lineage, and has been for centuries. Excuse the the chuckle it's just a bit suprising."
It was an odd name for him to have, but that was the name that he had been given, and he didn't have a problem with it. Suddenly he looked to the sea as he heard the sound of a ship coming close to the shore. He saw that it was the pirates coming to port once more.
"Well, looks like it's time to work."