Headed by a Snake

High-Captain Lang Hai mentally recounted his words. What did he say? Fleet Admiral Chantal was staring at him like he was a blue reefclaw... but he still got the sense that she wanted to shoot him.

Oh.

Ohhhhhh.

"WORK!" Lang Hai slammed her desk with both of his hands, his face as red as a normal-colored reefclaw.

That's what he was supposed to be talking about! He began gasping for air as if his chest was being crushed by the watery depths of the abyss. Sweat was pouring out of every surface of his body!

Where was his heartbeat? Did it stop? Was he dead?

"A WORKING-- a working relationship. With you. Grand-Capitaine," Hai proclaimed, flailing his arms.

Lang Hai stepped back and glued his eyes to the shiny wooden flooring. He poked his two index fingers together, "Y'know, we sail the ships. We beat the bad guys."

"Doot, doo! Doo!" Hai made little cannon shooting noises. He had retrieved one of Chantal's model ships displayed on a wall mantle.

"Crshhh," he voiced a little crashing sound of a second ship getting hit by cannon fire.

Lang Hai had gotten ahold of a second model ship and was demonstrating, "Oh noes! Sea Wolves have boarded the ship! All us bad guys are gonna die!"

"Behhhhhhhh," a groaning death-rattle. He pantomimed the second ship sinking beneath the waves.

This was how Lang Hai had to explain some missions to the Marines and Sailors under his command. It worked far better than explaining normally. And Eilean and Rico always praised him for the sound effects he made.

Lang Hai was a man of many talents.

Chantal clicked her pistol safety back into place and holstered the weapon. Eh? Was Hai not going to be killed? Whew. It took a lot of effort to impress the woman, but Hai was glad that he had developed his theatrical skill to such a high rank.

She snatched back the two ships Hai was holding, "I can't bloody believe you, Lang Hai. First, you embarrass me in front of my guest and now, you blatantly disrespect the ships of previous Grand-Capitaines-- To. My Face?"

Hai felt very small, his face burning with embarrassment.

Chantal groaned, grinding her teeth in frustration, "Get back. Go... Just-- sit down."

Hai plopped back onto the backless chair. He did as he was told. He knew how to take orders. He'd been doing it for years. The only reason he'd replaced his predecessor, High-Captain Langqiang, was because he listened to orders and he managed to outlive the old bastard.

Chantal was livid, her voice deep with indignation, "On the mantles of these walls are the *sacred* ships of privateers and voyagers that have devoted their lives in service of the Kingdom."

Hai grit his teeth and crossed his arms so he wouldn't lash out at the Fleet Admiral. He was being scolded like a child. Chantal didn't shoot him, but with the humiliation he was enduring, he would have rather she did.

Chantal carefully returned the two model ships back on their mantles, "The Darktide Fleet has a proud history... but we're all just pirates to you-- aren't we, Lang?"

Hai pouted. He didn't see what the big deal was.

Stomping over to Hai, she drew her pistol and smashed its handle atop his forehead, "You have no place besmirching their honor with your fingers."

"Owww!" Lang Hai held his head with both hands, stifling a growl. He felt his skin bruise. And he felt the scalding warmth of his Abyssal Wolf blood pulsing to immediately heal the injury.

"If you're here for a treaty between your people and mine, as Fleet Admiral, I'll grant it." Chantal glared. "But I will *never* forgive you or your precious Marines."

"No point to a treaty, Chantal," Hai grumbled, his words dripping with annoyance.

The woman raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms, "Did I give you permission to speak?"

Lang Hai felt the mana rush into his eyes. His entire body trembled and ached. He was beginning to lose control. He felt the sclera of his eyes turn black, a blurry haze clouding his vision.

"As offended as you are that we exist... As long as the Kingdom's ships sail, men exist to protect them," Hai spoke through clenched teeth. His words were slow and measured, trying and failing to reign in his emotions. "Your own 'sacred' ship included."

Chantal scoffed, "We don't need you. According to the illustrious history of our Royal Navy--"

"--The Marines have existed far longer than your sailors. Who did you think protected your ships while they were being built?" Hai felt his bones cracking and growing, his teeth elongating to needles and his skin hardening into smooth scale. His body instinctively forced his transformation when his anger grew and he was quickly forgetting why he cared to stop it in the first place.

Hai swiped his hand in a cutting motion, "I do not care for the actions of my predecessors. I do not care to judge between privateering or piracy. Nor do I care whether you're the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom or across all the realms, combined!!"

With a feeling like wood screws drilling out of Hai's back, four thick bubbles on the skin broke, viscous blood drenching his coat. Four long-spined tentacles emerged and fin-like spines erupted from his skull. In his human form, Hai stood a head shorter than Chantal. Completely transformed into a hybrid Abyssal Sea Wolf, Hai glowered down at her, nearly twice the long-legged woman's height.

"WE serve the Kingdom. WE are sworn to duty and bound by honor. We are Marines!!" Hai's voice took on an inhumanly low gargle, that of a monster imitating a man, "Every Sailor in your charge is under OUR protection! MY protection!!"

Hai looked down at his massive claws, now webbed, thin and knurled, and reached it down towards Grand-Capitaine Chantal. He tilted the woman's flawless face up to gaze into the glassy black-sclera of his eyes.

"And if the enemies of the Kingdom so dare to touch a single hair on your head, I'd charge into the deepest depths of the Abyss to rescue you."

Chantal narrowed her eyes, hesitating... "If not for a treaty, then why are you here?"

Hai sighed deeply, shuddering and subconsciously allowing a clicking noise to emanate from his gullet.

"Slavers. They've taken my people-- people protected by MY Kingdom. They seek refuge in Darktide waters. They think they've outsmarted me. They think they're safe."

He growled, wheezing the salty air, wondering why. Why would they dare? Why couldn't he crush them, chew them up, tear them apart?

"I don't care how many they've taken, how long they've been doing it, who they're protected by... One single child taken, Chantal, and I will not rest until I drain the blood of a thousand."

He felt the thrumming of his insides. He turned his head upward, raising the fins on his head, back, and arms, and loosed a guttural rattle. Why couldn't he set sail right now and kill until he was satisfied?

Hai gazed his glossy eyes at Grand-Capitaine Chantal, misty and distorted without the seawater. As he stared at her, even in his monstrous form, he felt his heart shudder.

It was her. Yes, he feared her. He fought and struggled against a desire to obey her every whim? But why? It made no sense.

"I don't need your permission to sail your waters, Chantal."

Hai curled his lips back, revealing a wicked maw of rows and rows of needle-like teeth, the transformed musculature making him unable to smile or frown. He was pissed. He was indignant. He was afraid. He was vengeful. Hai didn't know how to feel, and he was glad for once that his cursed face couldn't show his emotions.

"I'm telling you that my Sea Wolves are going hunting."