The Song of the Sea

3. Lumpy Porridge

A shuffling noise woke Jacob from his sleep. The early morning sun was shining through his cabin, giving him a perfect view of the cage in the corner of his room.

The Siren, Raephier, was moving around restlessly, stretching out each of his limbs one at a time, clearly suffering from being kept in such a small cage.

Other than opening his eyes, Jacob had not moved, so he knew that the Siren had no idea he was being watched. As Raephier stretched upwards, making his ripped clothes expose his bare chest, Jacob momentarily forgot he was pretending to still be asleep and sat up in surprise.

Because the body that he saw, was definitely not the body of a young boy.

As he sat up, he placed himself momentarily into the path of the sunlight streaming in through the window and shielded his eyes. By the time he'd moved and was looking at Raephier again, the Siren was sitting still, staring at Jacob with those big blue eyes, looking like a teenager once again.

Jacob got up and walked towards the cage.

"I could have sworn you looked older a second ago," Jacob said, rubbing his eyes.

Raephier just tipped his head to one side.

Jacob bit back a smile. The boy was cute, there was no denying that.

"Don't give me that look, Raephier!" he said sternly, and his words had the desired effect as he watched the Siren's eyes widen before he turned his gaze away from Jacob and began to fidget uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," Raephier said, his head hung down low.

Jacob frowned. "Sorry for what?"

"Sorry I didn't answer your questions yesterday."

"Hmm," Jacob said, pacing up and down the room in an attempt to maintain some level of authority, while still in his nightgown. "I'll let that pass, as long as you agree to answer my questions today. Is that fair?"

"Yes Master," Raephier said, looking up again at Jacob with those big blue eyes.

Jacob faltered slightly in his steps on hearing the word 'Master'. He understood that some men got a kind of thrill out of being called that. But he didn't.

"You can call me Captain," he said, making the Siren frown.

"But aren't you my Master?" Raephier asked, looking confused.

"If you mean am I the one who bought you, then yes I am. But I have to confess that although I knew I was buying a weapon, I wasn't expecting it to be alive. I've seen the effects that slavery can have on a man, and I swore I would not be part of it. Now it appears that I have unwittingly bought myself into the very thing that I despise. I may own you on paper, but I don't want to be your Master."

"But...but, I don't understand," Raephier said anxiously. "Are you going to sell me again? Do you not want me?"

Jacob's heart began to beat a little faster at the worried look on Raephier's face. He mentally chastised himself for upsetting the boy, realising that he did not understand what he was saying.

Jacob sighed.

"Raephier, if you want me to be your Master, for the time being I will, but what I want is for you to realise that you don't need a Master. Once you are comfortable with that, then I can become your Captain."

Jacob watched as Raephier thought over his words. He looked calmer, but still a little confused.

"And what is the difference between you being my Master and you being my Captain?" he asked.