Mirror

Sometimes bein’ the daughter of a sea god is more trouble than it’s worth. An annoyance, at any rate.

Me and the old man never quite got along, on account of how he treated me mum. Fairly standard though, isn’t it? He made me and then jaunted off back to sea leaving her to raise me alone.

Now I’m grown, happy where I’m at, and with me own pub! Quite proud of it, I am. Content with feet on land.

Thanks to me da though, I’ve an unfortunate habit of controlling water . . Or ale. I’ve got no mastery over it. It just happens.

Nothin' ever spills in me pub, that’d be a loss of profits after all.

Unusual, that is, and folks have started takin' notice. The locals haven’t yet got it into their heads to burn me as a witch but people are talkin’. Can’t blame ‘em too much. It’s what people do. Eat, drink and talk each other to death.

But, it is likely the gossip-mongers I can thank for my predicament now. Trussed up in the back of a wagon, gag in my mouth and me fumin' mad.

I should be scared, I know that, but I cannae get there through the anger. The cart is jostlin’ and the ropes are twingin’ and I’m just angry.

The cart stops and three men pick me up by the rope and carry me in like a pig to the slaughter.

They take me onto a ship and drop me in a chair in the captain’s quarters. The gag is pulled from my mouth and I’m left alone with the captain.

Seated at his desk across from me, he stares. “You don’t look like much,” he says.

I imagine he’s referring to the fact that I’m short and stocky and not at all the type of woman that sends men dreaming. I don’t reply.

“In the interest of saving time, I know who your father is,” he says.

No point beating around the bush there.

“So what do you want, then?” I ask.

“Just your help acquiring a certain item. After which you may return home, significantly richer I might add, and resume your life however you please.”

This wasn’t the draw that he thought it was. “I don’t need any more money. I’ve got enough. So if that’ll be all, can you have your young lads just carry me back home? I’ve got a stew on.”

“You are coming, whether you agree or not. Just your presence on the ship is enough. You are required when we arrive and in the interim you’ll hardly allow the ship to founder while you are still on it.”

He didn’t know me or he’d have been less confident of that last statement. (A contrary, capricious nature is another thing I get from me da.) I was startin' to let my curiosity get the better of me, though. Why was I required? But I only asked, “What is it yer lookin’ for?”

“Have you heard of Selene’s Mirror?”

I hadn't just heard of it. Some said it's magic, but I’d seen it. It belonged to me mum, long ago. She threw it into the sea when I was but a child. Later she wished for it back. “Aye,” I cleared my throat, “It’s just a bit of old sea glass. What could you be wantin’ with that?”

“It’s not me that wants it. It’s a job. I hand it off and everyone gets paid.”

“And just who are you handing it off to?” I asked, deciding that didn’t really matter.

He smiled and said if I wanted to know the answer, then I’d better just come along quietly and find out for myself.

Poxy bastard.

I went.

How else could I steal the mirror back for me mum?

————

He took us south. 21x21 or somesuch. I’ve never learned the intricacies of sea travel. Never cared.

I didn’t mean to, really, but I kept the ship sailin' smoothly even in the midst of storms. I just didn’t care to be knocked about and me wish turned itself into reality.

When we arrived at the captain’s destination we were becalmed. For two weeks we sat still, usin' supplies, singin' sea shanties to pass the time, and not movin' at all. The captain didn’t seem concerned but he never did. Level-headed in a crisis I’d imagine.

In the third week, the water began to ripple, gently at first and then with more force, and my presence did nothin' to stop the unnatural sickenin' swaying. I knew what this was, the slow arrival of Poseidon, dear old da, and he was just being dramatic about it.

He rose up out of the water, a giant face next to the side of this ship. I rolled my eyes and yelled out to him, “So what’s all this about, then?”

He raised a giant hand from beneath the waves and nestled in the center of his palm was Selene’s Mirror. “Be a dear,” he said, “and take this to your mother for me.”

“Seriously? This whole trip just for me to be yer little errand boy?”

He said, “Well, I could keep it,” and started to withdraw his hand.

“Oh knock it off, da! You know I’ll take it but you could have just sent it her by post.”

“By post?”

“Washed it up on shore at her place? Like a message in a bottle? Don’t try to act like you don’t go in for that romantic nonsense. There was no need to get me involved. I’ve got me own life!”

“I know, I know. But I do like to see you from time to time.” Can a giant face of sea water pout? “You never come out to sea.”

“Hmphm.” Nor was likely to again for quite a while. I snatched the mirror from him and he chuckled as he disappeared beneath the waves.

Well, at least now I’ve not got to worry about stealin' the mirror back.



Prompt ▼

Were you to travel to latitude/longitude coordinates 21N,21W or 21S,21W you'd find yourself in the Atlantic ocean. Were you to travel to 21N,21E you'd be near the border between Libya and Chad. 21S,21E takes you near the border between Botswana and Namibia.

Write a story or poem about traveling to one of those locations in search of something.

Be creative! Are you looking for the lost city of Atlantis? A crashed alien ship? The treasure hidden by an ancestor whose journal you've just found? The rift opening upon a dimension of Lovecraftian horror? The location of the last radio transmission of your true love? Etc.

One of your genres must be Action/Adventure.