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  Having changed into beach shorts, Aaron and Zavier made their way down to the narrow pier that jutted out from the rocks that lay in front of the beach house and climbed aboard the wooden vessel. The men were just as strong and impressive in their Human forms as they were in their horse forms. Zavier was a very attractive and distinguished silver fox of a man. He was in his early forties with beautiful blue-grey eyes; he was of fit and muscular build, but he was smaller in size as a Human than you would have imagined him to be. You see, his huge shire horse form was not reflected in his Human physique but instead, it was reflected in his great strength of leadership and wisdom.

  Aaron, however, was just as you would imagine him to be in Human form. He was a very large, muscular black man, in his late twenties; every muscle in his body was pronounced and extremely well defined. His black afro hair was cropped short and his eyes were dark and sultry. He was a dark and moody hunk of a man with a bolshie temperament.

  Lettitia and April made their way down the pier to the boat. Aaron stretched out his hand and pulled Lettitia aboard. Then he reached out his hand, offering it to April. The feisty eighteen-year-old pushed it aside, saying, “I’m perfectly capable of getting on without any assistance from you, thank you very much,” and then she assertively yet gracefully sprang aboard.

  April was a pale beauty. Her hair was white with black streaks. Her eyes were dark and mysterious. She had a slightly gothic style about her and was very independent in nature.

  With them all safely onboard, Aaron untied the boat from its mooring and they set off on the tranquil ocean, to find Pelagia.

  Meanwhile, Tobias was gathering firewood from the wood pile, which was kept in the stable, and taking it to the fire pit on the beach. Chester was perched quietly on the unlit fire, watching the fifteen-year-old busy at work. Tobias was a very handsome youngster. He had a faux hawk hairstyle which was dark brown with a splash of white to one side. His thick, dark eyebrows framed his dark eyes. He was a very trendy teenager and loved to shop for new clothes whenever he visited the Human world. The Halfses would often visit the Human world to gather supplies. They were excellent carpenters and would sell their handcrafted wooden ornaments to provide themselves with an income, allowing them to buy anything else that they might need from the Human world. They also used their carpentry skills to build homes and bridges throughout the land of Liberty.

  “There,” said Tobias, standing back and admiring the fire that he had built. It was so large that it would probably provide heat for all of Liberty. This was typical of Tobias. He was a young and naive teenage boy who was always trying to compete with the older males in the herd and prove himself a worthy member.

  “Hey, Chester pal, do you mind doing me a favour?” Tobias asked.

  “Depends what the favour is,” Chester replied.

  “Fly over to the beach poppy bank, the one which borders with the east side of the meadow and see if the Fire Fairies want to come and dance for us.”

  “Sure,” replied Chester.

  “Great. Thanks, dude, meet you back here in half an hour and we will have this baby roaring by the time the others get back,” said Tobias.

  Chester flew off toward the meadow to find the Fire Fairies and Tobias went to the house to find out what the girls were preparing for dinner.

  Jazmine, the bay arab horse, had transformed into a beautiful Arabic lady. She was in her late twenties with long, dark, wavy hair and seductive, dark, smouldering eyes. She had an attractive air of confidence and maturity about her. She was busy preparing a salad to accompany the Arabic pizza mana-eesh that she was making for dinner.

  “Hiya, good lookin’, what ya got cookin’?” Tobias asked.

  “Mana-eesh,” replied Jazmine, smacking Tobias’s hand as he stole a tomato out of the salad bowl.

  “Hey, Hazel, check out my fire,” he called across, as Hazel filled a jug with apple juice to accompany the meal. She glanced out of the kitchen window to look at the fire that Tobias had proudly prepared. “Oh no!” she cried and she ran out of the house before the others had a chance to ask her what was wrong.

  They instinctively stopped what they were doing and followed her outside. As they made it out onto the veranda, Hazel was already running down the wooden staircase towards Ezekiel and Francis. Ezekiel appeared to be injured. He stumbled and fell to the ground, transforming into a Human as he did so. Lying exhausted, face down in the sand, his injuries became apparent and there were deep lacerations running down the tanned skin of his mid-back and onto his buttocks.

  “It was the Nomeds,” explained Francis. “They were at the gate, two of them. Fala did this to Ezekiel! If the gate’s defences hadn’t managed to restrain Fala in a web of roots, brambles and ivy, we probably wouldn’t have made it out alive. I did try and camouflage us both, but what with keeping the Giant Horse Chestnut tree and the woodland creatures hidden, my powers were depleted more than I would have expected and I was not strong enough to hide us both as well.”

  “You said there were two of them!” exclaimed Hazel. “What happened to the other one?”

  “We don’t know,” replied Francis. “It was Adramalech, I’d know his fiery orange eyes anywhere. One minute he was there, then Fala attacked us and Adramalech was gone.”

  “GONE WHERE?” asked Hazel urgently.

  “That’s just it! We were under attack so we didn’t see if he retreated back to the swamp or… or… if he exited via the gate,” said Francis. “And worse still, when we arrived, the gate was already ajar; it is possible that other Nomeds may have escaped before we arrived.”

  “OH NO! So Adramalech and possibly other Nomeds, too, may have gotten into the Human world!” Hazel cried.

  “I’m afraid so,” replied Francis.

  Hazel caressed Ezekiel’s face, tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she looked lovingly into his.

  “Tobes, help me carry him inside,” she asked.

  Tobias took off his shirt and wrapped it around Ezekiel’s waist. At first, he attempted to lift him alone, but although Ezekiel was a lot more lithe and athletic than Zavier and Aaron, he was still extremely heavy. Hazel helped by supporting his legs and they carried him inside and laid him on the couch. Jazmine gathered some antiseptic solution and warm water, then gently began to cleanse the wounds.

  “JEEEZZZ!” screamed Ezekiel. The sting of the solution caused him to regain consciousness.

  “Oh, thank God, you’re okay,” said Hazel, still caressing his cheek, then she offered him her other hand to hold. “Here, hold onto me while Jazmine finishes patching you up,” she said.

  Ezekiel took her small hand. It was dwarfed in his, his tanned skin emphasising the paleness of hers. Hazel was very fair-skinned, almost white, but her pallor did not make her appear tired and pale; instead, she was mesmerizingly beautiful, her rich, warm, golden hazel-coloured eyes glowing brightly against her paleness, captivating anyone that looked into them. Her hair was pure white, in a bob style with a fringe that framed her golden eyes; she had a velvety soft face, and soft, pale pink rosebud lips. Unlike Jazmine and Aaron, Hazel and Ezekiel weren’t in a relationship with each other. Both in their early twenties, they had grown up together and had the most beautiful of friendships. They were always there for each other, no matter what.

  “There you go, all done,” Jazmine said, as she stuck down the last corner of the wound dressing. “Stay here and rest. Hazel will sit with you and I’ll come fetch you both when dinner is ready.”

  “Thanks, Jaz,” said Ezekiel.

  Then the exhausted man slumped his head back down on the cushion, closed his eyes and promptly fell fast asleep.

  * * *

  Chester returned to the fire with a whole swarm of Fire Fairies. The Fairies loved to dance and while Tobias was telling Chester all about Ezekiel and Francis’s return, the Fairies danced within the mound of logs, transforming the lifeless dead wood into a blazing display of dancing sparks and flames that snapped and crackled, the true beaut
y of which would become more apparent after sundown.

  Chapter 11

  Starlight

  The calm ocean lapped gently at the sides of the fishing boat. The sun was beginning its descent in the west and there was a cool and gentle breeze building. April was on board the boat deck, using a rope to lower glass containers that looked like fish-bowl-shaped lanterns over the side and into the ocean. When the containers were approximately three quarters full with water, she pulled them back on board and placed them in a line on the deck. Zavier and Aaron were swimming in the shallows of the sand reef, collecting starfish from the seabed, putting them into satchels that they wore strapped across their bodies and then placing them inside the fishing net that they had earlier thrown over the boat’s bow.

  Lettitia had swum into the deeper depths of the ocean that lay beyond the reef in search of Pelagia and had been submerged now for over ten minutes. April was beginning to worry.

  “Hey, Zavier, I’m getting a little worried about Lettitia, she’s been under for a while now,” she called out, as Zavier swam toward the boat with another batch of starfish.

  “Lettitia will be fine. She’s like a fish in the water. I’ve known her to hold her breath for around fifteen minutes before now,” he replied, tipping his catch into the net.

  Aaron, too, returned to the net with his satchel full of starfish. April threw the rope ladder out for them and the men climbed back on board the boat. They began to winch the net containing the starfish up the side of the boat and onto the deck. Then Lettitia appeared under the water close to the net, her shimmering, sun-kissed face breaking ripples in the surface of the calm water as she emerged. Her wet hair was scraped sleekly back off of her face and as she opened her aquamarine eyes, they sparkled even more spectacularly than usual. She was at her happiest and most vibrant when she was in the ocean.

  “No luck,” she called out to the others, then climbed the ladder and joined them on board, just as the last of the golden sun disappeared in the west. But instead of darkness, the golden glow of the sun was replaced with a new brightness. The starfish that had been collected in the net began to shine brightly and as they looked out across the reef, the sea bed was dappled with hundreds of the beautiful, glowing creatures.

  April began taking the starfish out of the fishing net and then very gently she placed them into the water-filled, fishbowl lanterns. “There you go, little fellas, don’t worry, we will return you to the ocean as soon as we can,” she said, with a reassuring kindness in her voice.

  Lettitia, having caught her breath, was preparing for one more dive.

  “Okay, Lettitia, one last shot. If you can’t find Pelagia this time, we will have to leave it and start the search again at sunrise. We need to rest. The past couple of days have been a drain on us all,” Zavier said.

  “Don’t worry, Zavier, I have a good feeling about this dive. I’m sure I’ll be able to find Pelagia tonight, then we can continue on with our journey in the morning. Besides, this time I’ll have a little help,” she replied.

  “What do you mean?” asked Zavier. “None of us are able to hold our breath long enough to be of any assistance to you on your dive.”

  “I know, but he can!” Lettitia replied, pointing out into the glowing, starfish-lit, turquoise ocean.

  A mysterious shape was rapidly rising up through the illuminated water. His tail fin propelled him at great speed and then, with a sudden rush of water, the bottlenose dolphin soared into the night sky.

  “Hi guys, long time no see,” he said, before gracefully slipping back into the ocean.

  It was Mateo, one of Serenity Sunrise Ocean’s inhabitants. He was a young and exuberant bottlenose dolphin that could read minds.

  “I came across Mateo on my last dive. He looked into my mind and then, having seen the urgency of our task and the need to find Pelagia, he offered to help us. Mateo told me that because of the increasing threat from the Nomeds, Pelagia and his warriors have been patrolling much nearer to the shore. He said Pelagia can usually be found near to the old wreck just off of Shipwreck Reef, so that is where we are going to look now. Hopefully, we will return with Pelagia just in time for dinner,” Lettitia said. She placed one of the glowing starfish into a small, netted bag and tied it to her bikini bottoms. Then she climbed onto the side of the boat, stood on her tiptoes, raised her arms above her head, turned to give the others a reassuring smile and then elegantly dived back into the ocean.

  The others looked out across the enchanting starfish-lit ocean, watching Lettitia and Mateo swim off together before disappearing into the darker water that lay just beyond the reef. The faint glow from the starfish that was tied to Lettitia’s waist gradually faded as they descended and all that the others could do now was wait and pray that they would soon return to them, accompanied by the ocean’s Berthold, Pelagia.

  Chapter 12

  Pelagia

  More than one hundred years earlier, the Halfses’ elders had suffered a great loss. A furious battle with Nicor had resulted in the sinking of a grand ship that had been used by the Halfses to explore Serenity Ocean. During this battle, many of the Halfses that had been on board the vessel lost their lives. This grand old ship had found its resting place on a ledge around twenty metres below the reef. The ship lay on its side, partially embedded in a layer of sand. Its huge masts, which had once towered proudly above the ocean waves, were now broken, tangled in seaweed and lying horizontally across the sandy floor of the ledge, their tips jutting out into the blackness of the unknown, deeper darker ocean that extended beyond the reef. The ship’s hull remained virtually intact except for a hole on one of its sides. As Lettitia and Mateo reached the shipwreck, a group of playful sharks that had been hiding inside the ship’s hull rushed out of this hole and then, just as quickly as they had appeared, they disappeared, swimming off into the ocean’s blackness.

  Lettitia had decided to look for Pelagia inside the ship’s hull and, using the same hole that the sharks had swum out of, she swam in. The starfish that she had tied to her bikini bottoms provided enough light to partially light up the inside of the wooden vessel, but many of the ship’s corners still remained hidden in the darkness. Lettitia had never seen Pelagia. Very little was known about him; he was probably the most mysterious Berthold in all of Liberty. She was a little apprehensive about what he may be like when, or indeed if, she did find him. As she pondered this and navigated her way through an eerily dark and narrow corridor, she felt a sudden rush in the water and a large, dark, shadowy figure suddenly appeared in the corridor in front of her. It rushed past at speed, knocking into her, its force pushing her violently against the side of the corridor, tangling her long blonde hair around a piece of the ship’s broken wooden structure. Startled by this encounter and completely unaware of what this dark, shadowy figure was, Lettitia’s natural instinct was to gasp and as she did so, she involuntarily inhaled some of the ocean’s water.

  Mateo was searching for Pelagia outside of the ship when he saw the large, dark creature swim out of the hole in the ship’s hull. It was a shark that had been left behind by the earlier group. Mateo thought nothing of this. Sharks were gentle creatures and this one had not intentionally startled Lettitia, it was simply shy and had accidentally collided with her in a rush to be reunited with its friends. The shark was completely oblivious to the danger that it had placed Lettitia in and it swam out into the ocean’s darkness to find its friends. Mateo was also unaware of Lettitia’s predicament and he carried on with his search for Pelagia outside the ship.

  Meanwhile, Lettitia was frantically struggling to free her hair from the ship’s structure and for the first time in her life, the ocean in which she usually found peace and happiness, had now become a treacherous and life-threatening place to be. Failing to untangle her hair and having already inhaled some water, Lettitia suddenly realised that not only might she not return to the others with Pelagia, she might not return to them at all! Having held her breath now for over fifteen minutes
, the urge to breathe was overwhelming. As she battled with her urge to breathe, the pressure within her body was building and becoming unbearable. She felt as if her head was going to explode. The urge to take in a breath, to fill her lungs with air and replenish her body’s need for oxygen to nourish its tissues, was becoming impossible to resist. However, she knew that if she gave in, if she succumbed to this urge to take in a breath, she would not fill her lungs with the air that she desired, the air that she craved to support her life, but she would instead fill them with water, sealing her fate and that would be that! She closed her eyes and prepared herself for her death; surrendering herself to the ocean that she loved and respected so much.

  A tug! And another! What’s that tugging at my hair? she thought. She opened her eyes and as she looked around, she saw nothing there, but somehow the tugging continued, until eventually her hair was freed. Then, still with no one anywhere to be seen, but feeling just as if someone had picked her up, her body was cradled and she was lifted through the water and out of the ship. Then, with incredible speed, her cradled body surged upwards, rushing through the ocean’s waters to the surface. Once this surface was broken and she was out of the ocean, she gasped, filling her lungs with the nourishing night air and for the very first time she was able to see her saviour. The unseen entity that had been cradling her was now visible. His body was formed from the ocean’s water, his white hair and full beard were formed from the ocean’s spray. Then, just as a wave would surge towards the shore, Pelagia surged forward, carrying Lettitia back to the fishing boat, where the others were anxiously awaiting her return.

  Pelagia was godlike, he was a part of the ocean. With immense strength and fluidity, he was able to change his size, shape and form at will. Berthold of Serenity Ocean and Beach, commander of the ocean’s Water Warriors, a truly magical and mystical being!