Sea Talker

By Alex F. Fayle

This failure to bond with his supposed predestined soulmate leaves sixteen-year-old Mercaj alone in a world of pairs. Exiled for his overt loneliness, Mercaj discovers a power long denied his people: the ability to talk to and manipulate the Sea. But it's a power that comes with a price. The more Mercaj uses it, the more he's filled with rage and desire for cataclysmic destruction.

Rejected and exiled by the world for being different and alone, the temptation to take revenge grows hand in hand with his ever-increasing powers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alex F. Fayle
• Release date: Jan 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311580870

Alex F. Fayle

Want to know more about me? Well, for one thing, not long ago, I lived without my soul.You see, when I was twelve years old, I made a decision to live in Europe and write fiction. So off my soul went to find that dream, while I went to school, got a job, and bought a house in the city.And so my soul got lost on the Someday Sea, waiting for me to catch up to it.Then one day, I woke up to the ache I felt where my soul should have been. So, I walked away from everything: from a budding career as a Professional Organizer and as President of Professional Organizers in Canada, from my house, my cats, my friend and from my family – all to go find my missing soulI found it, as well as my writing dream and love in northern Spain, where I now write for a living, as I always wanted to.But you know what? That’s not enough. I’m so amazed at how fantastic my life is now that I’ve gotten rid of the word someday from my life, that I decided to go back out on the Someday Sea to hope others cross it.Because yes, there are others – maybe you? – adrift on the Someday Sea, people who want to change jobs, change countries, change spouses, write a book, run a marathon, or run for office. People who don’t know what they want, just that life isn’t quite right.Maybe you don’t even know you are adrift on the Someday Sea at all, thinking that you’re stuck in a rut, swimming against the current, spinning your wheels, or trapped in a cage.And so armed with a cure for Someday Syndrome, I help people just like you cross the Someday Sea safely and live your dream life, just you’ve always wanted.As for the “why the heck should I listen to this guy stuff”? Well, I have a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto, I was President of Professional Organizers in Canada from 2004 to 2006, and I’ve followed through on my dream and have had my fiction published in an anthology of short stories and online.

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Sea Talker

By Alex F. Fayle

Copyright © 2014 Alex F. Fayle

Aia Publishing at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Cover illustration by Lucy Portsmouth

Copy editing by Erin M. Hartshorn

CHAPTER ONE

Mercaj walked down to the water's edge with his friend Tronae, trying not to let jealousy and loneliness ruin the moment. Tronae's parents wouldn't leave her alone while Mercaj's parents hadn't even shifted themselves from behind the pile of work the Headpair had given them. He hadn't expected anything different from them, but it still hurt. The accounts they worked on day and night held much more interest for them than their only child. Perhaps if he had spoken to them in numbers instead of words they might have understood him, or even wished him well. Then again they probably hadn't even remembered that he was turning sixteen tonight.

He shoved the pain aside. This was the best day of his life, the day he was going to meet his other half. He pretended the Headman and Headwoman with their over-the-shoulder sneers didn't bother him as they all made their way down the cliffs.

Tronae's parents had of course remembered their daughter's birthday. They almost clung to Mercaj's best and only friend, both of them stumbling from the tears in their eyes. Tronae let them blubber for a bit then pushed them off with a laugh once they reached the beach.

Enough with the crying, Tronae said. I'm coming back. There's no way I'm going into the Sea. I'm going to live on top of the waves, not under them.

Mercaj envied his friend's confidence. He felt no such assurance. The Headpair wished Tronae luck in cold tones. They didn't much like her rebellious attitude, but given that, just like Mercaj, Tronae planned to become a trader and get off their well-ordered island, they were at least polite to her. Not so with Mercaj who, for a reason he had never understood, they had always wanted dead.

May the Sea swallow you whole, the Headwoman hissed at him.

Finally, we'll be rid of the abomination of your existence, the Headman added.

As the latest in a lifetime of insults and maltreatment, he paid their comments little attention. He wouldn't focus on anything negative on the last night of his childhood.

Ignore the stupid squids, Tronae told him after they had left. As soon as the night's over we'll each get married to our other halves and within no time at all we'll be off this island forever. The four of us circling the world. I doubt the Headpair have ever been farther than Council meetings on Greater Tanuj. I feel sorry for them, really.

Mercaj laughed. Tronae was so vibrant, so sure of everything. He wondered sometimes why she was even friends with him, he was so opposite, sure of nothing. The only things they had in common were their birthdays and their desire to get off the island, Tronae because one island would always be too small for her, Mercaj because he had no other option. They had spent their childhood down in the port, harassing whichever trader was around to teach them about boat building and trading. They shared everything and had helped each other build the two boats that would take them to their new lives.

Now, go away, she said, not willing to share this one thing with him. I'm going to strip down and get into the water. Don't forget to put your clothes somewhere dry. And stay away from the south end of the beach. That's my territory.

She undid the fabric wrapped around her wrist and used it to tie her long black hair in a knot. Mercaj hoped his other half didn't have straight hair like Tronae's or like his own. He did, however, hope that she had Tronae's dark coloring. His own skin was too much like the sand on the beach, too pale to be beautiful.

And smile! Tronae added pulling at his ear like she always did when his thoughts had taken him somewhere. It's not the end of the world, you know. It's the beginning of our lives!

Without waiting for a response she turned and dashed off. A soft cough from behind made Mercaj turn to see the two Priests of the Sea waiting for him at the water's edge. Other than Tronae, they were they only two islanders who seemed to care about Mercaj. If his parents hadn't come down, at least the Priests had remembered.

Whatever plan the Sea has for you, Father Tshuf started.

Trust in Her decision for She covers the world, Mother Walue continued.

And She knows infinitely more than any pair of us, Father Tshuf finished.

They both kissed his cheek, and Mercaj surprised himself by feeling tears come to his eyes.

It'll be all right, the priest finished, Your life is just beginning.

Hours later, Mercaj clung to the rock pillar watching the tide lap at his feet and decided he had chosen the wrong place to wait. With high tide reaching its peak he would soon run out of pillar and be left swimming against the tide between submerged columns that would conspire with the waves to kill him. He looked around him. Could he could get to the next highest one without hurting himself? Not likely. The moon didn't offer enough light to see well, and he would likely smash himself against a pillar rather than succeeding at climbing one. And he didn't feel like dying, not tonight, not on his Vigil where he was so close to meeting his other half. Tonight would decide whether he would go into the Sea forever or bring his other half out of the waves where they would go sail the world together.

A wave interrupted his internal whining, almost knocking him off the pillar. He scrambled to regain his hold and managed to scratch the palm of his hand and his belly on the rock surface.

Sucking the saltwater and bits of stone out of the scrape on his hand and doing his best to ignore the stinging on his stomach, he looked up at the moon. Where was she? When would she come? He tried peering out into the dark waters but he couldn't see a thing. What if she was late? What if she'd been eaten by a shark along the way? Maybe that's why he'd picked a short pillar. She was destined to die and therefore so was he. No one ever lived if their other half died before their first meeting. She should have arrived by now.

No one wants me, he muttered, not even my other half.

That wasn't the way to think. He needed to focus on the positive, like on the children they would have together who would all grow up happy and loved. Children who would laugh with Tronae's confidence and never feel Mercaj's insecurity.

The water was now up around his ankles and it was getting more difficult to hold on. The waves were doing their best to push him off, but at least perching on the backside of the pillar protected him from the worst of the waves. He glanced back at the island, its rocky peaks poking out like the hair of the giant it'd been named for. The silhouette of Greater Tanuj stood to the left of the island. He and Tronae and their new spouses would go there soon, their first stop on a tour of the perimeter of the Empty Sea, not returning to Lesser Tanuj for at least a year. He probably wouldn't even leave the port when he did come back. It wasn't as if there was anything here on the island for him. Why dwell on bad memories?

A wave snuck around the pillar and almost knocked Mercaj off the tiny ledge.

Shells! he swore as his already tender stomach rubbed against the ragged stone. Are you trying to kill me? he asked the wave as it receded.

No, wait. Maybe that was supposed to happen. Not the killing him part, but knocking him off the pillar. Maybe the waves where trying to tell him to let go, to just drop down and swim out to find his other half. Maybe she was waiting for him out there. And here he was hanging out on a rock like an idiot.

But where would she be? No one ever talked about what was supposed to happen. The priest and priestess declared the Vigil a holy mystery, and no one ever talked about their own experiences. The one time he had asked his mother about it, she had shushed him, blushing as if Mercaj had said something embarrassing. You just went down to the shore, swam into the water, spent a night there and either came back paired for life, or you disappeared forever, going to live under the waves.

But what if it was as Tronae said, that the people who never came back became sacrifices to the Sea who demanded payment for providing land dwellers with husbands and wives?

That wasn't fair, though. Mercaj wasn't going to get himself drowned just so that others could find their other half. He was going to find his other half, and he was going to do it now.

Not giving himself any time to reconsider, he pushed himself off the rock pillar he'd been clinging to. A dark wave swallowed him up, and he lost his sense of direction. He couldn't tell which way was up so he went limp and let his natural buoyancy carry him to the surface. When he felt air blowing across his back, he lifted his head and started treading water. Of course, he couldn't see his pillar or anything else. In his brief time in the water he must have drifted away into an area of low pillars, ones already covered by water.

He shivered but not from cold which surprised him enough that he stopped moving his arms and legs, and he started to sink again. Why wasn't the water cold? It'd been freezing when he'd arrived at sunset. It couldn't have warmed up. Perhaps it was a sign. He was going to go live under the Sea. He would become a seaman and spend the rest of his life travelling the world underwater. His heart raced with excitement, and for a few moments his worries vanished.

Then his lungs started to burn, demanding air and he realized he'd just been fooling himself. He wasn't a seaman. He was just used to the cold water. Pushing his way to the surface, he looked around for a new pillar to cling to, or for an idea of where the shore was so that he could head back to the beach to rest. To top it all off, clouds had rolled in blocking out the moon and he couldn't see a thing. He felt something strike his forehead once, twice, then in a steady rhythm.

Great. Rain.

It didn't matter which direction he went. He'd either find his other half or drown trying so he started swimming trying to gauge which way the tide was going. Within seconds he got into a good rhythm, surging forward with the tide and pushing against the undertow.

He got into the flow of swimming, using the change in strength of the waves to guide him away from submerged pillars. He didn't need to worry about his other half. She'd come. She had to. No one was ever without their other half. The world just didn't work that way.

Then he swam right into a rock pillar and knocked himself out.

Waking to the feel of sun on his skin, warming the chilled flesh, he stretched and smiled at the heat. This wasn't the first time he had slept on the beach, often doing so when he wanted to get away from his parents or hide from the Headpair and their constant insults. His arms stopped moving mid-reach and he snapped open his eyes. This wasn't like other times, though. He drew his right hand up to the side of his head where it encountered a bump that throbbed and a crust of dried blood that meant he had cut himself maybe deeply, but that wasn't what hurt. He was alone on the beach, the day after his Vigil. That shouldn't have happened. He should be in the water or with his other half here beside him. His heart clenched in a grip that eclipsed the ache of his head wound.

He had missed meeting his other half. Could he be any more useless? Who knocked themselves senseless the night of their Vigil? He would have laughed at the absurdity of the idea if it hadn't been real. It couldn't be real. Everyone found their other half. If he was here on the beach it meant that his other half had to be out there looking for him. He only had to look around and she would be there, wondering when he would wake up so that they could start their life together.

He turned his head one way then the next, taking care not to move too quickly. He didn't see anything, so he tried to sit up but the movement made his head spin and his stomach flipped over, forcing him to vomit sea water onto the sand. His stomach went into spasms and he started to retch, which turned into sobs. He was alone. He was sixteen and he'd spent the night in the Sea. He was supposed to have found his other half during his Vigil, but instead he found himself still alone.

How could this have happened? Should he even be alive?

Drawing in deep breaths he calmed both the sobs and the retching. He curled up on his side and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

What was he going to do? Should he go back into the ocean and let the tide take him away?

He shouldn't have left the pillar. That had been his mistake. He'd knocked himself out, and his other half hadn't been able to find him. She had to be frantic, swimming in circles, thinking that he'd died and that she was going to die as well. Adrenaline surged through his body, and he heaved himself to his feet. He had to find her! If he was on land, she wouldn't be able to reach him. He lurched forward fighting the nausea that the movement generated.

Halfway down to the water's edge he stumbled and fell to his knees. The jolt set off his stomach again and he fell to all fours hacking up stomach bile. Acid burned the back of his throat and filled his mouth. It also seeped into his heart, burning a hole in his chest.

Get up, you idiot, he scolded himself. Get up and go find her. Now.

He didn't have the strength to stand, so he moved forward on hands and knees. When water started flowing through his fingers he looked around. Rock pillars surrounded him, growing in height and getting closer together behind him until they merged with the island's cliffs. He recognized their configuration. He knew this part of the beach. Only a few more lengths and the beach dropped off. Once there he'd end it, either by finding his other half or by swimming until exhaustion sank him under the waves. Whichever. He didn't care any more.

Mercaj!

Tronae. Looking for him. He continued crawling forward unable to face his friend. What could he tell her? What would she do when she found out his other half hadn't come?

Mercaj! she repeated, a note of urgency in her voice.

A new thought entered into his head. Maybe the same thing had happened to her. Maybe she'd not found her other half either. Mercaj would never have wished something like that on his friend, but if it had happened to both of them then it wasn't just him.

He stopped moving and rolled over, sitting waist-deep in the water. He scanned the beach for his friend, his head pounding so hard his vision pulsed.

When he saw the boy running behind Tronae on shaky legs his vision blurred completely. He blinked to clear the tears, but couldn't muster up the energy to wipe them away.

As Tronae and her other half approached, Mercaj felt a moment of anger. Tronae had her other half and he was beautiful with tight black curls around a dark-skinned face, a male version of what Mercaj had always pictured for himself. How could Tronae do that to him? How could she take Mercaj's wife?

Then reality came crashing back around him. If the boy had been meant to be for Mercaj, he would have been a girl. The bump on his head was making him even stupider than usual. Each person had their other half and no two were the same. There was always someone for everyone.

Except for me, he said out loud.

Tronae came running forward, pulling her other half forward by the hand. They were both smiling. Tronae wore just a tunic shirt and her other half was squeezed into the trousers she had come down to the beach in the night before.

Mercaj felt sick again, the added embarrassment of being naked making it worse.

So? Tronae asked, her eyes darting all over the place. Where is she?

Mercaj didn't answer. What could he say?

What's wrong with you? Tronae's other half asked.

I- he said, and his stomach heaved again, pushing bile out of his mouth which trickled down his chin. He wiped it away and started to cry.

By the Sea! Tronae said, noticing the gash on her friend's head. We've got to get you home. Where's your other half? Has she already gone for help? She knelt down beside Mercaj to examine the wound.

She's not anywhere, Mercaj muttered.

What's that? Tronae asked pulling away.

I don't know where she is! Mercaj snapped back. I never found her! I messed up!

What are you saying?

I'm alone! I don't have an other half. I'm completely alone!

Tronae flinched as if Mercaj had hit her. She stood up and took a step backwards.

But that's impossible, Tronae's other half said. Everyone has another half. You can't be alone.

So where is she? What happened to her? Why isn't she here? Mercaj got to his knees and crawled over to the boy. He grabbed at the hems of the boy's pants. Where is she? Do you know?

Tronae pulled her other half out of Mercaj's reach and put herself between them.

Stop that, she said. You know he can't tell you. No one ever remembers their life in the Sea.

Mercaj slumped down into the water. The tide was coming back in and it was now up to his armpits.

But I can't be alone, he said.

Tronae took a step backwards guiding her other half away from Mercaj.

I, um, we'll go for help. You stay here. She grabbed the boy's hand again and dragged him off at a run, the newly made human stumbling along behind her. He glanced back at Mercaj once, his face a mixture of fear and horror.

Mercaj let the water surge around him, now almost covering him. He dipped his head backwards into the water, feeling the saltwater sting his scalp, then he heaved himself to his feet, controlling the desire to vomit yet again. Without knowing why he didn't just continue his earlier journey into the Sea, he started shuffling back towards the shore and tried to ignore the fact that Tronae had chosen to run away rather than help him. When he got above the tide line he dropped to his knees and collapsed onto his back.

No one wants me. He closed his eyes against the beautiful morning.

Wake up, boy!

We said, wake up!

The sharp words worked their way into Mercaj's dreams and he opened his eyes blinking against the full sun on his face. How long had he been lying asleep on the beach this time? Who was telling him to wake up, and why didn't they just leave him alone? He rolled over and closed his eyes again, but a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him onto his back. The movement caused his head to throb and he groaned.

Why didn't you just die? the Headman asked above him.

It's as if even the Sea doesn't want him, the Headwoman added. What is going on here? Where is his other half? Of course she didn't ask about the head wound. Why would she care? She and her husband only ever wanted him gone. Death would be as good a way as any.

Lerlaj and I found him like this, Tronae said from somewhere out of Mercaj's limited line of sight. After we woke up this morning we went to look for him and his other half and we found him alone in the water, his head all bloody and looking terrible. He nearly attacked Lerlaj. He says his other half never came.

Anger surged through Mercaj's body hearing her voice. Some best friend, running away instead of helping him. And she had brought the Headpair, the stupid squids that she had always made fun of. A tear trickled out of the side of his left eye and he squeezed both of them tight to stop any more from coming.

With his eyes closed, his ears took over and he heard the gasps and shocked conversations around him. Wonderful. Not only had Tronae brought the Headpair, she'd brought the whole village down to witness his shame.