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lizard-shifter-noms · 10 months

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Wayward Waters Chapter 13

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Hello everyone! Chapter 13!

things (and chaos) picking up!!

this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read.

have fun reading!

and as always Reblogs are appreciated! (Also ASK’s are open so feel free to bother me!)

AO3 Link for those that prefer the layout there;

AO3 Wayward waters

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The next time I woke up it was to something knocking on the round window of the room.

This was a ship, who or what in the fuck could knock on the outside?

Imugi apparently, she was tapping at the wooden ring around the window with her beak like a curious parrot.

“I'm up, I'm up, you can stop putting dents in the wood!”

She whistle-clicked and the shadow of her head disappeared.

Slowly getting up and stretching I noticed loud singing from outside.

It was pretty catchy actually, and with how it sounded nearly all ships must be singing it right now.

What do we do with a drunken sailor?

Early in the morning

Way, hay and up she rises

Early in the morning

Shave his belly with a rusty razor

Early in the morning

Way, hay and up she rises

Early in the morning

Put him in a longboat 'till he's sober

Early in the morning

Way, hay and up she rises

Early in the morning

Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom

Early in the morning

Way, hay and up she rises

Early in the morning

Give him a dose of salt and water

Early in the morning

Way, hay

Oh way, hay

Oh, early in the morning

That's what we do with a drunken sailor

Early in the morning

Way, hay and up she rises

Early in the morning

Whether it was for team building,

intimidation or just fun was beyond me though.

I found myself humming along as they started up again,

still pretty unfamiliar with the text as I walked out onto the deck,

still very much half asleep.

I was handed a bowl with scrambled eggs by Yamet,

who hastily wished me a good morning, which I ate while all of them fought with the sail that had apparently become a bit loose.

Judging by the sun it was not yet midday, but not early morning either.

Maybe around ten or so.

Shoveling pieces of egg into my mouth I looked over to the myriad of other ships,

noticing that the giant vessel Call Of The Damned was still to our right with the Revenants Vestige Nowhere to be seen but looking around I spotted the Bleeding Moon at least,

all the way at the end of the very mismatched convoy of ships.

Smart, having his ships at these positions made it probably easier to give out orders.

Though it was rather daunting to see how much the little Halcyon was dwarfed by the colossal ship.

Where the fuck did one even get wood big enough for something this size?

Not to mention the steel ‘ribs’ that hugged the wooden frame like a corpse.

Yeah the name for it was very fitting, and I counted twelve of those ‘Ribs’ on this side alone.

So twenty four in total, just like a human.

Yeah that was so done on purpose.

Hearing a rapid tap tap tap I turned around to see Jamie walk fast towards me.

I had enough foresight to quickly shove the rest of egg into my mouth and then hold the bowl out of harm's way as Jamie ignored personal space and climbed up to perch on my shoulder.

“Are you a parrot now?”

They shrugged.

“Nah, but you do make a good perch, Ronan just falls over and Imik’s shoulder are to narrow”

So the only other ones they could perch on were Yamet and Akeem,

and Yamet for sure would not let them from what I've seen thus far.

“I have no idea if that a compliment or not, but for now i'm choosing to take it as one, also good morning”

“Morning! Also you should go to the Call Of The Damned!

There is a surprise for you!”

A surprise? What?

Would I finally get a useful map to find back to Kamerasca?

Why the fuck did i need to go on another Ship fro that?

Was Cassidy just wanting to see my face when I got it? Maybe.

Also how the fuck was i supposed to get there?

“Uh, Jamie how the fuck am i supposed to get on there?

The Call Of The Damned is like five times as tall as your entire Boat!”

Laying a plank would be awfully steep, if not unclimbable.

Jamie hopped down from my shoulder and walked towards the railing, making a whistling noise that made Images head pop up.

“They got some sort of pulley system, Imugi can just toss you in the basket and they'll pull you up”

Huh, convenient, well a ship that size probably needed something like that.

Imugi whistle-clicked and put her head on the deck, but before I could try to climb on, Shalimar had rushed past me and clambered on top of Imugi’s head, which meant that I had to hold on to the topmost spike.

“I'm coming with! Gotta annoy my dad a little!”

Yeah sure, whatever, as long as she didn't push me off that was fine.

So, holding on for dear life Imugi brought both of us over to the Call Of The Damned where they had already let down a platform to climb on.

Though getting off of Imugi and onto it was a bit difficult as the ocean itself crashed against the ship like the tide against a wall.

Looking up it also seemed to stretch on to the sky nearly forever now that I was so up close.

Someone with magic MUST have helped build this.

Slipping a little, Shalimar grabbed me by the back of my shirt and dragged me onto the platform before giving Imugi a little Kiss as a thank you.

I thanked her for the help as the platform was slowly pulled up, swaying dangerously at some parts.

Going up slowly I wondered how many floors this ship even had, with how big it was surely a few at least.

Also how was it staying afloat with the big metal ‘Ribs’ anyway?

Getting near the top Shalimar did not wait and just scaled the wood, climbing the last few meters and hopping over the railing, which up close was fashioned after bones as well.

They really went all out with the theme didn't they?

Looked scarily real too and I decided not to take a closer look.

Hopping over the railing after the platform was level with it, I was greeted by Cassidy himself.

Who had Shalimar trying to steal his sword so he had to keep her an arms length away by grabbing her head.

“Hello! I hope the ride up wasn't too bad, and excuse my daughter she- Augh! Shalimar stop!”

Shalimar had managed to snag his sword and elbow his side only to run under his arm away to the ladder that led up the middle mast.

“Hell, no wonder her mother left her with me!

Anyway, as i was about say-”

His sentence was once again interrupted by a shrill scream.

“DONOVAN!”

There was only one person that could shriek like that, and turning around there was indeed a familiar redheaded form,

barreling straight at me with no regard for anything in the way.

“ROBIN!”

What was he doing here?

Nevermind, hug first questions later!

He slammed into me and I wrapped my arms around my best friend, slightly lifting the smaller up off the ground.

He squeaked and clung tightly to my neck, refusing to let go.

“I'm so glad you're okay!”

“So am i! Is everyone else also okay? Are you okay? Is Rikaad okay?”

He nodded and muffled something into my chest.

“Mhm, I'm fine! And Rikaad is like always”

Thank fuck everyone was okay! Wait where was Rikaad anyway?

“Where is he anyway? And where is the Victory Rose?”

The little Ginger reluctantly let go of me and pointed to the other side of the ship from which I had come from.

“The Victory Rose is towed to some other ship!

I think it's called Revenant's Vestige?!

And Rikaad is in a Cabin with Nemas and Leon”

Ah, so he was probably planning what to do now with Nemas,

and Leon was probably the captain of the Revenants Vestige.

Robin Grabbed my arm and started Dragging me towards the back part of the ship.

“He's gonna be so happy to see you're okay!

He slept even less than normal!

And he was always looking through a telescope to try and find you!

Well until the ship's Doc told him if he kept staring at the reflective water he'd damage his eyes!”

He did? He’d shoved aside as much time as he could to look for me?

Well, at least he might have learned to delegate tasks now?

“Really? I hope i didn't worry you all too much then, i know i worried about you a lot”

I really had, even though I had tried my best not to think about it.

Robin slowed down and stopped not far from the door he had aimed at, for a moment not looking at me.

“...I- when I saw you fall overboard I thought the worst, but Rikaad assured me you'd be alright,

that you're too sturdy to let that keep you down, especially as Ardua.

I'm not sure how much i believed him, i mean i did see the mast crash onto your head and then you were gone and you didn't resurface, i was just afraid id never see you again”

“You know, I also thought I'd never see you again, After all, when I fell over the storm was still there and I worried a lot on whether or not the ship had sunk.

Ronan had to assure me quite a bit that a big ship like the Victory Rose was unlikely to sink.

Also that mast gave me a nasty bump for sure”

He finally smiled again, hugging me again.

“Who's Ronan?”

Oh right, Robin had absolutely no idea.

“Ronan is the guy that fished me out of the water and then threw an electric eel at me to wake me up”

Robin just stared confusedly.

“He what? Why?”

“Quite frankly? Not sure but i guess waking me up other ways failed, now lets go tell Rikaad im back!

I wanna see his face when he sees I'm alright!”

The little Ginger nodded and knocked on the door before opening it.

“Rikaad! Look! Donovan is back!”

The room was dimly lit, only thanks to a window and Rikaad himself sat at a table with the Captain Nemas of the Victory Rose and someone who didn't look over nineteen and was currently playing with a piece of the table that had broken off, sharpening it with his nails.

Definitely not a captain, and pretty unhappy looking, maybe a captured Pirate?

Rikaad stood up as he saw me, walking towards me and awkwardly standing there for a moment before giving a quick and rather stiff hug.

“I'm glad you're okay, everything still in place? Now i know why Captain Cassidy told us to come onboard and have the Victory Rose towed out of sight on the side here”

Oh so Cassidy did all that just for this to be a surprise? Those guys sure were something else.

“So they did all that, maneuvering ships and not telling me exactly why to get on here aside from some ‘surprise’

just so the Surprise of seeing each other was bigger?”

Rikaad nodded.

“I did suspect he already knew where you were from the way he acted when we asked if anybody had seen you, but i decided not to anger potential allies”

Oh right, the pirate thing was still on, and the main reason we were here anyway.

Suddenly the piece of broken table was flying at Rikaad, who caught it in one hand shortly before it embedded itself in his shoulder without so much as flinching.

I stared at the one that had thrown it, the short haired young man who if I recalled correctly was named Leon was baring his teeth and his face was distorted in an unhappy grimace.

“Do we get to kick ass anytime soon or are we just gonna sit here and yap about it! The longer we wait the less accurate our information gets!”

Something about this young man was off, and then I noticed it, slightly pointy ears, still short and round enough to pass as human, and teeth that had canines just a tad too pointy with weirdly pale brown eyes, nearly beige.

Huh, so Fae blood could get diluted to that point? Interesting.

Also information? I looked at Rikaad.

“Ah yes you don't know our new acquaintance here, This is Leon of Synef, Leon this is my dear friend Donovan Verney.

Leon here is so nice to help us fight the pirates, by giving us a scroll with their plans he had stolen in some harbor”

“Eh, i just wanted some supplies and didn't have money, i took that bag cuz the owner talked shit about me and kicked a cat, so i say deserved”

He Leaned back and put his boots on the table, earning a disapproving look from Nemas.

I decided to ignore the rudeness of this Leon guy and instead be thankful that we had any information at all.

Suddenly Robin piped up again after staring confusedly at Leon.

“So what now? Do you think we could get all our People from the Victory Rose on this ship? I mean it's still partially broken!

Especially after that seamonster took a bite out of it”

What.

“You were attacked by a sea monster? Are you all okay?

What the hell happened while I was gone???”

I wasn't even gone that long! A week at most!

Robin Nodded and then pointed at Leon.

“The seamonster bit a piece out of the railing and then Leon whipped it right in the eye with a rope, and then stabbed its nose with a piece of the broken railing”

Leon let out a loud and humorless laugh.

“Stabbed is good! I bet that thing still swims around with a piece of wood way up its nostrils!”

Well, if it kept the thing from attacking more that was good?

“Ouch, hearing that makes me realize that the run in i had with a Sea Serpent went way better, then again Imugi is tame”

Shame she was probably the only one so friendly.

Robin's eyes went wide at hearing that.

“You met a tame sea Serpent? Where? I wanna see that!

Of course he did, then again who wouldn't?

“Yeah! Her name is Imugi and she actually helped get me on this ship! She's probably back at the Halcyon now though, most of the time she's towing it”

Thinking about it, and the fact that the crane they used to have didn't look like it was made for too heavy things, not to mention on the other side of the ship from where i had been, Imugi must have been the one to drag my soggy ass on the deck when they first spotted me.

Huh, maybe I ought to send her the best crabmeat I could when we were back in Kamerasca as a thank you.

“Can I meet her? I'd love to see a friendly Sea monster!

Ohhh do you think I could pet her?”

Well so far Imugi had seemed to adore any sort of positive attention so she'd probably love it.

“I don't see why not, though we can't exactly get her on the deck here, it's way too high up”

Well, maybe we could ask if they'd let down the platform again, but doing it just because someone wanted to pet a sea serpent was probably unnecessary.

Besides we could always do that later, and then he'd get to properly meet the guys that dragged me out of the water too.

Hopefully they'd go along with each other!

Then Rikaad piped in.

“We will do that later, for now we have a set course, apparently Cassidy already has a plan, which involves having to get ahead of the pirates and leading them through two narrow cliffs and shooting at the walls to get them to collapse”

That sounded incredibly dangerous.

“Are you sure that's a good idea? What if someone misses?

Or they shoot back and make it collapse on us instead?”

They could just as well do the same to us when we got there.

Rikaad slowly nodded.

“I am aware, and i will talk to Cassidy about it once more, i'd rather none of us would get injured”

With that he left, business as usual.

I did wonder why the usually very talkative Nemas was so quiet but glancing at him now that he had his head turned it was clear part of his jaw was swollen.

Was that from the sea monster attack? Ouch.

Then Leon put his feet back on the ground and sprang up, storming out as well with a scroll in his hands.

Probably the one containing the information, Did Rikaad forget it just now? Didn't seem like him.

Or maybe he just didn't need it right now.

Probably the latter.

Nemas just gave a thumbs up at seeing me and then turned to sort stuff back onto the table that someone seemed to have thrown off.

Probably that Leon guy.

“Come on, I wanna see the ship you ended up on!”

Robin dragged me out of the door again onto the deck, where I then had to steer him to the side so I could point at the Halcyon.

“There, you see the smaller boat with part of the railing missing?

That's where i ended up”

Sadly Imugi seemed to be currently underwater and out of sight.

“Ohh, where's the Sea Serpent? I don't see it”

He leaned forward over the railing and I fumbled to catch him as he slipped forward.

“Careful! And i guess Imugi is underwater right now,

i mean that IS a SEA Serpent and not a land dweller”

Also she was probably towing the ship right now even if it was hard to see from the deck of the Call Of The Damned.

“Aww, what color is she? Maybe I can see her later?”

“She's some shade of blue with a paler underside and dark blue back spikes, oh also she's got a pale bony beak as well, but i don't think you can see her underwater”

He seemed disappointed at that, which was understandable, but I'd make sure Robin got to meet Imugi at a later point.

“Don't worry, when this is over i'll just ask if you can pet Imugi, i'm sure nobody will mind”

His eyes went wide.

“Really? Oh that's gonna be so cool!

Did you touch her before? What's the texture like?”

“Texture? Uhh, smooth but also slightly bumpy, also just slick with seawater but that's a given for a marine creature”

There really wasn't anything remarkable about it, it wasn't exactly like fish scales either, more like a turtle if anything.

Well, Imugi did have some turtle like features, namely the beak and the weird flippers.

Sea creatures were weird.

“Sounds nice! Hey now that Rikaad got a new plan do you still have to shift to scare the pirates?

I mean we got like fifty ships now, AND a sea serpent!”

Good question.

“I have no idea, i’d better ask but i'm sure as soon as Rikaad is done thinking everything through hell tell us”

Maybe I wouldn't even have to do anything.

“Mhm, he's always trying to get a hundred percent in anything, but i wish he'd be more open to accept help”

That i had to agree with the little Ginger.

“Same here, i think he just feels like he failed when he cant do stuff himself”

“Well that's stupid!”

Suddenly there was a commotion down at the halcyon, with Imugi jumping on top of the reinforced deck and letting out loud clicking noises.

Ignoring Robin who ‘ohh’ed at the serpent I tried to see what was wrong that could have caused her to react like that.

Ah, Dolphins, so nothing really bad.

No wait, while those things had the same size and color as dolphins they appeared to be something else, and currently climbed up the side of the Halcyon while Imugi tried to smack most of them down again.

The slick body was distantly reminiscent of an otter, with bigger claws and a weird finned tail as well as antennae on its head.

One of them snapped at Imugi and Akeem went between the two, taking the full brunt of a bite.

Thank fuck he was stone!

“Fuck! What are those? Do we have something we can throw?

No wait my aim is bad i’d just hit Imugi”

Robin hid behind me at the sight, half horrified, half fascinated as the strange sailor with the big ass Rooster showed up behind us, nearly completely hidden by layers and layers of fabric.

They held up the Rooster, who was pretty much as big as my own torso and gave it a light poke on the skin flap on its head.

The thing crowed louder than any normal Chicken i had ever heard before and strangely enough the creatures attacking Imugi all let up and jumped back into the water, seemingly quite disturbed by the noise.

“I hate Afangi, they gang up on anything they can”

The Chicken holding sailor spoke, who was probably male? Maybe? And gently set the chicken on the railing where it shook itself before settling down.

Up close something akin to a clawed thumb was visible on its wings and it seemed to have teeth as well.

“Afangi? What? The hell are those things?”

The sailor shrugged, at least it appeared so as the maybe hundreds of layers obscured nearly everything.

“Sea beasties, though they can't stand a Roosters call, so i usually have my feathery friend with me”

They picked the oversized Chicken back up, holding it like a cat even, and walked to the other side of the boat.

“So a Rooster call scares them? Interesting”

“Yeah, I just wish it hadn't been so close to my ear!”

Robin was scratching at said ear and looking over the railing at Imugi again, who now refused to go back into the water.

“Fair, that was probably the loudest chicken ever, if that even was a chicken, i'm pretty sure it had teeth”

“It did? There are a lot of strange creatures here”

Oh there definitely were, and apparently most would fuck you up.

“Yeah after this is over i'm going to avoid the ocean for a bit, fuck im going into the woods for a few days even!”

That made him laugh.

“Can I come with you? I'm tired of smelling like salt!”

“Of course! Hey, is that Rikaad?”

It indeed was, and he did not look enthusiastic, to be fair he never did but now even more so.

But that meant he was done planning right?

“Ah there you two are.

After talking to Cassidy and some other captains we have come up with a plan.

We are not going to sail between the cliffs, but apparently Cassidy knows another good ambush spot and will lead us there.

I wanted to ask you two to go on the ship Donovan was previously on, since they have a sea serpent towing it they can retreat even if the wind is against them and you are probably safest there”

I’d better not mention to him that Imugi wasn't exactly the bravest, besides it didn't really matter what ship we were on but he did have a point with the wind thing.

Also no doubt Robin wanted to get closer to the Sea Serpent.

“Sure, if we manage to get on it from here i don't mind, might as well introduce all of them”

Rikaad nodded and sent us back to the moving platform while Robin watched the smaller ship with wide eyes.

“You think they'd let me pet her?”

Oh for sure, and if we got on the halcyon the same way I left it he'd make even bigger eyes.

“Ask Ronan, he knows Imugi best”

Catching the dark blue fin out of the corner of my eye I had to fight not to smile.

That ought to be a surprise.

As the platform stopped a few feet above the water Imugi’s head surfaced and she whistle-clicked at us while clacking her beak a few times.

“You are so pretty! That's such a nice blue!”

I had to hold the back of Robin's clothing to avoid him falling into the water as he leaned forward to try and pet her.

“Calm down! She's here to get us on the Halcyon! You can pet her later!”

Imugi clacked her beak and did her best to hold still as I helped a starry eyed Robin climb onboard while going back to hanging off the back spikes myself again.

Imugi brought us over quickly and since the Halcyon was so much smaller we could just slide down onto the deck where Jamie was currently using Akeem as a perch again, leaving the other three to manage the sail that had come loose again.

I could hear Imik chewing out Ronan for letting Shalimar help with the rope or something.

Well if her ability to to tie knots corresponded in any way to how she had tied her vest and belt it was no surprise that didn't go well.

“Ayy whos the redhead? Imugi seems to like him!”

Jamie crowed from their perch on top of Akeem's shoulders and I turned around back to face the ocean.

I could see Imugi softly pressing her head Into Robin and making chirping sounds.

Robin himself had the time of his life as he petted the big sea creature.

“Thats Robin! He's my friend,

Rikaad is also my friend but he's still on Cassidys ship”

Both Jamie and Akeem looked up to the ship.

“Yeah i cant see shit, why the fuck did i think i could”

Akeem shrugged, sending Jamie tumbling off with a curse.

“We should focus back on going forward, we are gradually getting slower with the sail locked in position and Imugi hanging onto the side”

He shooed the sea serpent back into the water to the disappointment of both her and Robin but offered to show the ginger how to put the towing harness on.

I hadn't actually seen that yet either, aside from the time Ronan had to adjust it so i followed as well.

Akeem wordlessly went through the motions of putting it on with the ease of someone that had done this a thousand times before leaving again.

Helping Robin sit on the bowsprit, and keeping a good grip on him so he wouldn't fall, he ended up telling me what had happened since he left.

In at least somewhat chronological order too, probably.

He told me how that perpetually angry looking Leon guy got onto their ship and that he'd tried his best to take a first aid course and could now remove fishing hooks out of skin.

Pretty useful, though I doubted that would be common as soon as we were home.

He also told me that the ship's cat, Smokey, was still alright and had taken to sleeping in my hammock for a few days after I was gone.

Huh, so the poor feline HAD recognized that I had tried to help, nice.

He then told the rather harrowing story of when the sea monster had attacked, which apparently had looked more like a weird eel than anything.

When the thing had bitten at the railing Leon had grabbed a big splinter of it and shoved it up the beast's nostril before whipping it with one of the sturdy ropes meant for the crates.

Huh, pretty badass, also apparently the reason why Nemas had a swollen jaw wasn't because of the monster attack but because Leon punched his face ‘for talking too much’.

Ouch, while he DID talk a lot just telling him to shut up would have been nicer.

After he was done it was my turn to tell what happened, simply stating that when they found me Ronan had tossed an electric eel at me and then skipped over to him falling into the eel pit and having to be rescued.

I left out the part where the Halcyon got attacked by Pirates and I nearly drowned with Jamie, not sure if that would upset him or not, or maybe even make him jealous for letting Jamie in my pouch?

Whatever the case, I left it out and instead went to the treasure diving thing, with the found bracelet still in the hidden compartment.

I really needed to remember to get that before we went back home.

And then of course I told him about Kariba island, and what little I had seen of it.

His eyes were wide as plates as I told him it was mainly inhabited by nonhumans.

“Ohhh, I wanna see that! You think we could talk Rikaad into-” His sentence was interrupted by a very loud shout, coming from the Call Of The Damned and was louder than any other Human i had ever heard.

The one yelling was Nemas, apparently having gotten over the swelling in favor of talking again.

“-CRAZY? CASSIDY THAT GRAVES KEEP!

YOU ARE LEADING US TO A DEATHTRAP!”

I looked confused at Robin, who in turn looked confused at me and then we both looked at what we were heading towards.

It was a giant island, barren aside from a few dead trees and seemed to have the form of a nearly ring shaped sickle moon with the thinnest part just about big enough to let the Call Of The Damned trough about four times next to each other

The island itself was made of dark gray jagged rocks and seemed oddly threatening.

And we were sailing right towards it.

Turning around and looking back I could see a fleet of ships that wasn't ours.

Nymra had been off by quite a bit seeing as there were over two hundred Pirate ships close behind instead of just a hundred.

“Oh Fuck”

NEXT / PREVIOUS / OVERSIGHT

#sstc #lizards writing #vore story #giant/tiny #sea serpent #sea monster #Sea of Barmea #ship #ocean #Boat #nsx vore

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