Mythical Fiction
2 min
The Sea Goer
Jaimi Wacksman
Sprinting down slick, slimy, mud coated streets, with a small brown bag clutched to her chest she heard "Stop thief,"echo through the streets. "Catch me if you can!" Lila laughed in response. She rounded the corner and jumped on to her ship.
As the faint shadows of Carthage faded into the distance, Lila plopped down onto the deck and spilled the contents of her bag on the floor. Five small stones spilled out. She smiled to herself. Not just stones, seeds.These seeds were magic, blessed by Ceres, capable of growing any food needed.
A few months ago, Lila's little town was struck by famine. Unable to sit while her village starved, Lila set out to request food from Rome, but when they refused, she sought out the myth of the Seeds of Ceres.
"Thank you, Lord Mercury for this successful trip," she prayed, "I will always be in your debt." The ship was silent but for the creaking of boards and the quiet whisper of the waves. She had the feeling she had forgotten something but even so, she still drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
She awoke to a loud crash. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw a frothy churning world of black. Sharp white sea spray slapped her face. Lila's dark hair was whipped about by the howling wind. With an ear splitting crack a wave crashed down on the mast of the ship, snapping it like a twig.
The seeds rolled about the deck like scattered bugs, one tumbled overboard with a plunk into the waves, followed by another, and another. The last seed balanced on the edge of the fractured boards that once resembled a ship. And finally, it fell. The seed hit the wave with a plop, barely audible over the sound of the storm. It sank deeper and deeper into the endless sea, hidden forever.
A booming voice called through the storm " Child, do you think I, the great Lord of the sea, grants passage to those who are ungrateful? Safe passage is a gift, for which gratitude must be given. You shall never lose sight of the water, where you will always be at my mercy."
The echo of the fading storm seemed to laugh at her tears. The wind carried them far, far, away until they reached the ears of Mercury, patron of thieves. He pleaded on her behalf to Jupiter.
"I can not change Neptune's curse, but I can offer only this; that Lila be changed into a winged creature."said the Lord of the sky. "In my realm she will be safe from my brother, so long as she stays near land."
Still drifting on her tiny patch of wood, Lila felt a warm tingle. Was she getting smaller? And, were her arms growing feathers? Minutes later she was soaring through the air, rising high above the grasp of the Earth Shaker.
Local Romans began to see white birds, always on the coast. Lila and her children after her continue to search for the seeds to this day, spreading far and wide, never ceasing the search for the seeds, but ever afraid of leaving sight of the land. These locals referred to the birds as sea goers, but today you probably know them as seagulls.
This was an entry for a writing contest held in conjunction with Center for Fiction and The Decameron Project
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