Book 2: Chapter 104 (1/2)

As they approached the land, the Fangs of Capitis became more and more tensed. The rhythmic chanting sent shivers down their spines, and Gale and Breeze had been reduced to quivering limp blobs lying on their raft. Abel clenched and unclenched his sword’s hilt as he stared at the shore. Hundreds of fishmen were positioned in neat rows in the shallow waters, harvesting seaweed from ropes underneath the surface of the water.

As the leviathan skeleton and raft got closer and closer, the chanting gradually stopped, and the fishmen paused their work to stare at the approaching vessels. Charlotte shivered and said, “They look soulless, but they’re definitely not skeletons.”

A big red fishman swam out into the ocean and treaded water in front of the Fangs. “You come from across the ocean?” he asked. “Do you understand me?”

“We’re from here,” Charlotte said. “We just ended up in the ocean due to a botched teleportation.” An image of a girl with horns flashed into her mind, but she shook her head and it went away. “We don’t mean any harm.”

“Oh,” the red fishman said and nodded. “No harm. Follow me; I’ll guide you away from our farms.”

“I’ve never seen fishmen operate in such large numbers before,” the Fang with the axes said as the leviathan skeleton drifted towards the shore. “I didn’t know fishmen farmed. Weren’t you supposed to be hunter-gatherers?”

The red fishman nodded. “We were,” he said, “until we were enlightened by the mistress’ teachings. She is our savior. Look at all the food we can grow.” He gestured around in the water at the masses of seaweed. On shore, beyond the sand and on the grass, hundreds of fishmen were gathering plants while planting seeds. Some were spreading gooey pastes onto the ground. “We no longer need to depend on luck to survive. Agriculture! That’s what our savior’s messengers call it.”

“Who,” Charlotte asked as she looked around, “is this savior? Or mistress, as you call her. We heard your chanting from quite some distance away.”

“You heard our chanting?” the red fishman asked, his face cramping. “All the chanting?”

“The bloodthirsty bits too,” the Fang with the axes said. “You’re very fierce for farmers. For a while, we thought you were undead.”

“Undead?” the red fishman asked.

“It was their comments,” the Fang with the axes said and pointed at Gale and Breeze.

“Oh,” the red fishman said. “Well, I’m very much alive, as you can see. All of us are.”

“What about the mistress?” Charlotte asked. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“The mistress is, uh, the mistress.” The red fishman nodded. “She’s symbolic.”

Charlotte tilted her head. “Um, okay? What about her messengers? Were they also not actual people? How did you learn these methods then?”

“The messengers came to us in our dreams,” the red fishman said. “Yes, our dreams.” He cleared his throat before Charlotte could respond. “Ah, you five look very strong. Are you famous, perhaps?”

“We’re the Fangs of Capitis,” Abel said, sticking his chest out while crossing his arms. He faced the fishman and waited.