Chapter 76: The Shark queen, throne of the bay

He stepped forward to the ship’s rail, making himself visible to the Queen below, and raised his voice to carry across the water.

"First of all, I would like to greet Queen Mershala. And regarding the disturbance, allow me to explain."

Jake knew that if they initiated an attack, the shark-people would slaughter them. Their numbers alone made that painfully clear. For now, retreat was the wiser choice. It was what they needed most at the moment.

"The mermaids attacked us without provocation," he called out, his tone respectful but firm.

"We were searching these islands for someone else entirely—a surface criminal operating in these waters. When your servants surrounded our ship and began climbing aboard with weapons drawn, we defended ourselves. We meant no invasion of your territory and had no knowledge we were trespassing in claimed waters."

Queen Mershala’s black eyes fixed on him with the flat, assessing stare of something that had evolved to hunt in deep water, where visibility was limited and movement was everything.

The spear striking continued its rhythmic pattern while she considered his words.

"You bring shadow-magic," she said, and there was something in her tone that suggested this was a more serious transgression than simply killing a few mermaids. She had recognized the one who used shadows, and she stared at Jake when she said that. She knew about his abilities, which made Jake frown.

"Old magic. You are that hero’s blood. The deep remembers when such power walked the surface and threatened the ocean kingdoms."

Jake felt his blood pulse in response to her words, recognizing something in the mention of old magic and ocean kingdoms that connected to history the system hadn’t fully explained yet.

He pushed that curiosity aside for later examination and focused on defusing the immediate threat.

"We defended ourselves with what we possessed, nothing more."

The Queen was silent for a long moment, the only sounds the continued striking of spears and the gentle lapping of waves against Windrunner’s hull. She knew that Jake belonged to that man’s lineage and even though he had left this realm, she didn’t want to offend the son of that man. She clearly remembered what sort of man hero was and coming from his lineage, she thought Jake must have been strong like him, seeing how he could abilities similar to his father.

She thought long and hard, as she had lost many of her mermaids.

Then she raised one clawed hand and the spear-striking stopped immediately, the army going silent with disciplined precision, which was very unusual for their race.

"Serpent King," she repeated, and something shifted in her posture that might have been recognition or might have been wariness.

[THE SERPENT KING HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED]

[QUEEN MERSHALA RECOGNIZES YOUR AUTHORITY]

"The deep remembers the lord hero. They kept their word when they gave it."

She paused, her massive frame moving slightly as she considered.

"You will leave claimed waters immediately. You will not attack marine creatures again unless they attack you first. If you return to Skun without permission from the deep kingdoms, my army will not be so patient as to listen before striking."

It was as close to acceptance as Jake was going to get, and he took it.

"We will leave," he agreed.

"And we will remember this boundary."

Queen Mershala nodded once, a sharp downward motion of her shark-like head, and the platform began to sink. It descended with the same steady precision it had risen with, the army of shark-humanoids standing motionless as the water rose around them, and within two minutes they had disappeared completely beneath the surface as though they’d never been there.

The water settled back to normal.

Windrunner floated in the evening quiet with a bloodied deck and an exhausted crew and the knowledge that they’d just narrowly avoided a fight that would have ended very badly for everyone aboard.

Maureen let out a breath she’d been holding.

"You handled that really well," she said quietly.

"I was preparing for combat when you started talking. I mean, I didn’t think that we would survive against an army of shark men, but they wouldn’t have let us leave quietly."

"Combat would have killed us," Jake said.

"That platform could have sunk the ship just by ramming it, and the army was large enough to overwhelm us even if we’d fought perfectly."

"I think we should leave quickly before they come again."

"I know, I know. Let me and my men take a breath."

Nailer sighed and moved towards the deck.

They returned to the port town of Baenil as the sun set, Maureen bringing Windrunner down to the landing platform with more care than usual because the ship had taken damage during the mermaid attack—scratches along the hull where claws had found purchase, cracked railings where bodies had impacted with force, and blood and ichor staining the deck that would need proper cleaning.

The crew set to work on immediate repairs while Maureen arranged lodging at a local inn, deciding that attempting another search in darkness after the day they’d had would be tactically unsound.

The ship was their livelihood, and taking care of it took priority before their injuries.

The inn was called the Sailor’s Rest, a three-story building near the port’s edge with the worn but well-maintained look of an establishment that had been serving travelers for decades.

The common room on the ground floor was busy with the evening crowd—local fishermen and the few traders still operating in the bay despite Elizabeth’s interference, all of them talking and drinking with the particular energy of people who were grateful to have survived another day in dangerous waters.

Jake and Maureen took a table near the back and ordered food that arrived quickly—fresh fish that was probably caught that morning, bread that was still warm, and ale that was cold and exactly what Jake’s body needed after hours of combat and magical exertion.

They ate in comfortable silence for the first few minutes, both of them too hungry to prioritize conversation over food.