User blog:VictressAgilis/This Ship, cont.

A continuation of my earlier scylla fic, ‘cause you guys wanted it so much!

“Augh, *cough* *cough* damn,” I sit up suddenly, expelling an alarming amount of water from my lungs. My gag reflex lurches, and I also regurgitate my lunch. Great. What else could go wrong? I think, looking around at my surroundings.

“Whoa,” is all I can say. I’m nowhere near where the Gangut had been when I had been thrown overboard. Instead of ice floes and chilling winds, I’m sitting on a warm, sandy beach. In fact, I’m sweating with all the layers I have on. I quickly shed my gloves, parka, overcoat, undercoat, light weather jacket,  thick heavy duty pants, and steel toe boots until I’m in my filthy tank top and long johns.

I stand, feeling the warmth on my bare feet. Then I realize that my clothes are dry. How long had I been asleep for? And, a more important question, where are the scylla?  I look around, but there’s nothing but clear, inviting water to my front, beach stretching infinitely to the sides, and a lush, green forest behind me. The only place the scylla could be is the sea, so I immediately turn and head into the forest.

The trees are plentiful, and they look relatively hard to cut down, but I have to signal a ship. I don’t want to be stuck on this island forever. The best idea right now is to see if there are any tall landmarks to look from. I grab a low-hanging vine and start climbing, glad that I had paid attention in the lesson on pirate raiding. The vine is slippery, but I make do, wrapping my leg around it and slowly but steadily head to the top.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">When I get to the top, I can see a massive expanse of trees, all eerily the same height. Nothing taller than the tree I’m in is visible. I can’t hear any birds or insects, even when I climb back down. Silence invades my head, and I punch a nearby tree to settle my thoughts. “GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” I roar, trying to cover up the absolute quiet, but to no avail.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Breathing heavily, I sit at the base of the tree trunk, facing the sea. The sea is calm, nary a wave in sight. <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I’m going to go crazy here, <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I realize. And then, the silence is broken by a single word.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">“Hello.” I freeze. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I slowly turn. The hand is coming from the tree. “Gyah!” I scramble away from it, watching it warily as it contracts back into the tree. I see its surface bubble, and from it comes a humanoid torso. She has long, bright green hair, and a kind face. “Who the hell are you?” I ask bluntly. She doesn’t seem offended, however, and speaks. “I should be asking you the same thing, sir. I was making love to my husband when you knocked the poor man out.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">That was way more than I needed to know. Wait, husband? In the tree? I voice my concerns, and she laughs. “Of course, silly! I’m a dryad, so I can’t leave this tree, so instead I have my husband live with me,” she replies nonchalantly, as if it isn’t a big deal. She looks behind me and smiles. “Looks like you have a visitor.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I turn and see the one thing I’d rather not see. The scylla from my battleship. <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Of course, <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I think. <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">As if it couldn’t get any worse. <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">The scylla stares at me from the water, beckoning with a tentacle. I pretend to ponder this, then bolt back into the forest, dodging the dryad’s arms.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I’m lashed by vines and weeds, but my resolve is solid; escape the monster who had taken me here. The noise I’m making is like the battleship’s engine room, so I don’t hear anything else until it’s too late. Suddenly, I trip over a root sticking from the ground, seeming to fall in slow motion.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">“Urgh.” I groan and stand back up. My head hurts like hell, but I’m still alive. A <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">crack <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">resounds throughout the forest from up above, and I look up. A shadowy figure drops down in front of me, staring intently. The first thing I notice about her is the shock of brown hair on her head. Then I notice the rest of her. She looks relatively fit, with fur on her legs and arms. She’s scantily clad, gold bands around her wrists, ankles, and head. Her breasts are covered by white tufts of fur, and a barely visible matting of fur coats her nether region. Other than that, she’s stark naked, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">“Uhh,” is all I can utter. The monster slowly inches closer to me until we’re nose to nose. I don’t back down, casting an intimidating glare. I anticipate a fight for dominance, maybe even a mutual agreement.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What I don’t anticipate is several other monsters of the same species dropping down around me. I glance at them, but keep my eye on the initial monster, assuming she’s in charge. She steps closer, sniffing the air around me. Something must’ve struck the wrong chord with her, because she immediately backs up and lets out a loud shriek. I hear rustling, and I know that there are even more monsters up in the trees. <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">That’s my cue.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I break into a dead run, back the way I had come. It only takes a second for the monsters to notice my sudden disappearance and chase after me. Without pause, I leap into the sea, hoping that these monsters can’t swim.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">The one in the lead sees me in the water and beats her chest menacingly. The effect is made slightly less menacing by way of her breasts bouncing around, but the anger is visible on her face. As one, the pack sinks into the forest, and the silence resumes once more.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I sigh and stand up, planning to gather driftwood for a fire. As I stand, however, I reveal the scylla latched onto my torso. We both stare at each other comically for a few seconds. Then two things happen almost simultaneously. First, I immediately wish that I had thought out my actions before jumping back into the sea. Second, the scylla swings herself, not unlike when she did it on the <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Gangut <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">, out to sea, dragging me with her into the warm water. I try to fight it, but my traction in the sand coupled with the scylla’s innate movement in water easily makes it a battle lost from the start.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.884;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'CourierNew';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I can only watch as the last air bubbles trickle from my mouth and breach the surface. Then I fall into a deep slumber.