The Mermaid Daughters of the Mountain Lake Kingdom

by S McCoy

  Slick and his gang finally arrived at the old hideout lake where they could lay-low and hide from the law until they could figure out where the secret lake full of gold was located. They unpacked their things and built a small campfire out of wood from the forest and placed their sleeping bags around the campfire. They decided to wait until the morning to go fishing, so they could fish next to the underground river and catch as many fish as they could. So, without fish to eat that night, Derby made another portion of his famous bean soup that the trio had been eating exclusively for the last several days. As expected, the convicts again had another explosive and somewhat stinky night sitting around the campfire planning and scheming their next move.

  Slick asked Jimbo if he had any idea how close the secret lake might be. Jimbo, seem to think they were close to it, probably somewhere further up the mountain as there were many lakes nearby and they were all connected by mountain rivers. He knew that because the fish always swim up the rivers to the upper lakes to lay their eggs. Then Slick asked Jimbo, “Where do you suppose this underground river from this lake goes to?”

  Jimbo replied, “I don’t know, nobody could know.”

  Slick leaned back, pushed his hat back, and scratched his head to think then said, “Very interesting, if nobody knows where it goes, I think that would be a good spot to hide tressure, if I had some to hide, don’t you think Jimbo?”

  Derby, chimed in, “Yep! that would be a great place Slick for sure! If we only knew where that lake is that underground river went to… I bet yah, those fish know where it is Slick! Now if only those fish could talk!”

  Jimbo shot back, “Yeah Da-Da-Deeerby, if only those fish could talk...” Then Slick and Jimbo, broke-out in laughter at what Derby had said. Derby was a little embarrassed realizing what he had said didn’t sound so smart, so he pulled his hat down tight because he was upset, and then went back to eating more bean soup alone.

  Chapter 5

  Meanwhile early the next morning before the fish were awake, Mamie was becoming more and more curious about the gold jewelry in the lake and the underground river. She thought to herself, that maybe her father was wrong about the fish tunnel and Mary was wrong about the jewelry being just fish lures and fish traps. Finally, curiosity got the best of her, and she swam up to the entrance of the underground river and looked in the rocks as far as she could down the river, and she could not see any danger. It looked like a big water cave to her, and she did not understand how this could be dangerous. So, she swam back and forth in front of the cave entrance and was thinking to herself. She thought, what could be the harm with just swimming a little way in the cave to check it out, and if it got too dangerous, she would just simply turn around and head back. After a few more nervous laps back and forth in front of the entrance, she decided to go for it and started slowly swimming down the underground river.

  At first, there were no problems at all, and the water seemed very calm and peaceful, so she swam a little further down the tunnel. It was getting darker and darker as she went further down the river, and it seemed like the water was getting faster. She still did not see any danger and decided to keep swimming further down the river. However, what she could not see because it was dark was the walls around the river were getting closer and surrounded her like a funnel. Mamie started to get a little nervous as the water seem to be really picking up speed. She thought, I will go just a little bit further, I want to see for myself what “The Great Barrier Chasm” looks like.

  All of a sudden, she could feel the walls of the river surrounding her and the water was rushing as if pulling her down faster, and faster. She tried to turn around, but the walls were too narrow now, and she could not turn around. Then, she started to panic because the water was going too fast and the current too strong and she could not stop. Just then she saw it! Straight ahead of her was a great chasm and she was heading right towards it. It was too late there was nothing she could do, so she put her head down and swam straight at it as hard as she could! Then she was shot out of the river tunnel like a canon and flew over “The Great Barrier Chasm,” and unto the other side and she splashed down safely into a wide slow running underground river that then slowly carried her down through a cave opening and into a new unfamiliar lake.

  It was just breaking dawn, as Mamie swam into the new unfamiliar lake, and she wondered if this was the lake in the Human Kingdom that the fish talked about. She was very unsure of her surroundings, so she swam very cautiously staying below water as not to be seen. Mamie was scared and started to cry a little, she realized what her father had said about “The Great Barrier Chasm” was true, and there was no way she could go back that way, the chasm was too big. She thought, how could I ever get back home? And home felt so far away from where she was. This made her even more sad, and the tears rolled down her face uncontrollably.

  Then she thought maybe there was another way out of this lake and another way home. So, she wiped the tears from her eyes and started to investigate the lake looking for another exit. She swam around the edges of the lake for what seemed a very long time, but unfortunately there did not seem to be another way out, and even worse was the lake was not full of gold jewelry like the fish had said. She was very disappointed and because she had no success underwater, she tried looking on the surface. As she slowly peaked up through the water, she could make out images of two men standing on the edge of the lake. One man was very big and looked like a giant to her and the other one tall and skinny. They were both wearing hats and had wooden tree branches in their hands with a string attached that was running into the water. Mamie was curious about where the strings led to, so she went back underwater for a closer look.

  As she slowly approached the string, she could see a small shiny coin attacked to the end of it. She quickly reached out to grab it, and then she felt a sharp poke on her hand! She pulled her hand back and noticed there was a metal hook stuck in her hand. Even though it hurt, she quickly pulled the hook out of her hand and swiftly swim away from the string and the coin. She thought to herself, that was a fish lure and a fish trap just like Mary had said. This made her sad again because she realized she lost her own lake kingdom to come here and find nothing but untrue fish stories and fool’s gold. She decided to swim further around the lake until she had completely circled it. The lake was very deep and there was no other way out, except the underground river that only fish could swim through. She felt very discouraged, and her situation seemed hopeless.

  Chapter 6

  As evening approached and the sun was setting over the King’s Lake, Mary was back talking to her father, and they were both waiting for Mamie to arrive back with her census report. As they continued to wait the King became concerned as to why Mamie had not returned with her report. He requested Mary go again to “Lake Mamie” to retrieve her sister, so she swiftly swam off to find Mamie. She searched and searched the lake but was unable to find her.

  She asked many of the fish that lived there if they had seen Mamie today, and they all replied, “No, and they had not seen her at all today.”

  Mary became very concerned that something had happened to her, and she hoped that Mamie had not swam down the underground river that she kept talking about. So, she immediately swam back to the King’s Lake and told her father she could not find her and told him she was worried her sister may have swam down the underground river that she was talking about yesterday.

  The King was now very, very concerned and summoned all the lake creatures, the land animals, and the birds of the air that lived in his Kingdom. He requested that they search high and low and every square inch of his Kingdom and report back to him if they see Mamie, and they all did immediately what the king had requested. After a furious search of the Kingdom throughout the night, all the animals sadly reported back to the King his daughter was nowhere to be found. At the news, the King was so sad and heartbroken, and tears started to roll down his face, because he knew what Mary
had feared was probably true, that Mamie had gone down the underground river and crossed “The Great Barrier Chasm.”

  The King summoned the strongest, most honorable, and most trustworthy Eagle in his Kingdom, and at his word, this mighty magnificent Eagle approached the King. The King requested him to go on a special mission for the Kingdom. He asked the mighty magnificent Eagle to leave the Mountain Kingdom and fly to the Human Kingdom, to the lake of human outlaws and fool’s gold, the lake that had only one way out through the forest trail! He then requested the Eagle find his lost daughter who he greatly loved and lead her home through the only land exit that was still available, the forest trail. The mighty magnificent Eagle nodded proudly in agreement to the King’s request and immediately took flight to find Mamie and complete his mission for the King.

  Chapter 7

  Meanwhile the next day, Marshall McCoy was getting closer and was hot on the trail of the convicts and the secret lake. He usually worked alone, but this time he thought it would be wise to get help locating the escaped convicts from an old friend that lived nearby, who was very familiar with this area’s mountain trails and the surrounding crystal-blue lakes. So, he pulled off the trail of the convicts and started following a big beautiful fast-moving mountain river for a few miles which eventually led to a majestic and massive waterfall. On the other side of the waterfall just down the river, was his old friend Braveman.

  Braveman was from a great and noble indigenous tribe of Native American’s that inhabited the valley lands near the mountain passes, and not only was Braveman Marshall McCoy’s good friend, he also was the Chief’s son. He was very tall and strong, and he had long black flowing hair and he was in charge of security for his tribe. He received his name from his father the tribal Chief because of his great bravery and strength. He rode a beautiful multicolor Paint horse with big brown and white spots, and he called his horse Bear. He had known Marshall McCoy for a longtime and he also knew he was a good and noble man who kept his word. Therefore, and on occasion when trouble making outlaws would pass through the tribal areas, he would help him bring those troublemakers to justice and by doing this also ensuring his tribe would remain safe from the outlaw’s schemes.

  Braveman was very happy to see his friend, and it had been a long time since he had seen him last. He invited him to stay for a meal and had his horse Buddy attended to with cold water and fresh hay. Over the special prepared warm meal, Marshall McCoy explained to him about Slick and his gang of convicts he was tracking. He went on to explain, about the wagon full of dynamite that the gang was riding in, and about the strongman that bent the bars of the jail cell to free Slick and Derby. He warned him that he thought these men were very dangerous and asked him if he would help locate these convicts. Braveman immediately agreed to help find them.

  After, he went on to tell Marshall McCoy about a report from one of his scouts that had followed some deep wagon wheel tracks to a secret lake in the mountains near them. The scout did not follow them to the lake because there is only one way in and one way out and he did not want to be detected. The scout went on to say there was smoke from a campfire and he thought there may be a few outlaws in their group, so the scout headed back here to warn the tribe.

  Marshall McCoy quickly jumped up and said, “I am sure that’s them! The deep wagon wheels tracks are the same ones that I have been following, will your scout take me to that secret mountain lake?” Braveman agreed and additionally he decided to bring twelve of his best and strongest warriors with them to make sure they brought these dangerous convicts to justice.

  Chapter 8

  In the meantime, at the secret outlaw lake, as sunset was approaching and the convicts were around the campfire, Slick and Jimbo were busy teasing Derby because he stunk so bad and that there were flies around him again. Derby thought to himself, when was the last time he had taken a bath and then he realized it had been several weeks. So, to stop the teasing from Slick and Jimbo, he decided to go take a quick dip in the lake to rinse off.

  At the same time just before dusk, Mamie had just finished swimming around the lake in hopes of finding another water exit, but she had no success. She decided to take a break on a rock close to shore and stretch out for a little nap because she was exhausted from the day’s events.

  When she did, she suddenly noticed some leaves rustling on the shore behind the trees and thought maybe it was one of her land animal friends, so she looked on hopefully. However, and much to her surprise it was not an animal, it was a human! She had never seen a human up close before, but she knew what they looked like from the fish descriptions. They had two legs and stood upright and primarily stayed on land, like the two men she had seen earlier with the fishing lure. Her father had warned her not to talk to humans, but to hide from them. So, she quickly hopped off her rock and into the water to hide and then peaked out at the human from behind the rock.

  Derby had heard a big splash and thought wow! That must have been a big fish jumping out of the water. The big splash startled him a little bit and he thought twice about going in the lake for a bath when it was getting dark. So, he just decided to sit on the lakeshore and put his feet in the water instead. He started taking off his boots when he saw what he thought was a woman peeking out from behind the rocks and staring at him.

  He called out to the woman, “Hey there! Who are you?”

  Mamie, realizing she had been seen and was scared so she went further behind the rock. She started thinking to herself, that maybe this human could help her get home. Besides, he looked much smaller than the other human men she had seen earlier, and he really did not look dangerous.

  Again, he called out to her, and this time Mamie came out from behind the rock and replied, “I’m Mamie, what’s your name?”

  He said, “People just call me Derby. What are you doing here, out in the middle of nowhere?”

  She thought then replied, “I am lost and far away from my home, would you be able to help get me back to my home?”

  Derby pulled his hat off and scratched his head as if deep in thought and said “Slick won’t let me help no one, I mean, I can’t help you right now! We are about ready to pull off an important job. I mean, I’m working, and I don’t have time to help no one.”

  She was sad and replied, “Okay.” and then slowly started to swim off.

  He called out to her again as she was swimming away, “Where’s your home anyways?”

  She stopped swimming and turned around and swam closer towards Derby again and thought she would ask him for help one more time. Then she started telling him about her home, the Mountain Lake Kingdom, and about her father. He looked confused and asked her what she meant by the Mountain Lake Kingdom.

  She said, “Derby, I’m a mermaid and I have my own lake now.”

  Still confused he replied, “Wait, what’s a mermaid, anyways?”

  She thought for a moment then said, “Mermaids have a single fin and no legs, and we live in the water, See!” Then she splashed him with water as she showed him her mermaid tail.

  He jumped back from the shore shocked and then he started rubbing his eyes as he could not believe what he was seeing. Now he was more confused, and he did not know what to do, but he thought Slick would know.

  He said “Wait here for a minute, I need to go get my gang! I mean my friends. I think maybe they’ll want to go to that mermaid kingdom. I mean, I think they’ll help you get home. Just stay here a minute, I’ll be right back.”

  She nodded in agreement and then Derby ran off to get his gang.

  Chapter 9

  Derby ran back to the campfire out of breath, and he was so out of breath he could not talk at first!

  Jimbo shouted, “Hey Derby you forgot your boots!” and he started laughing.

  Derby finally caught his breath and was able to talk, then he started trying to explain what he had seen and what Mamie had told him.

  Jimbo
, started laughing at him again and said, “A talking fish? Derby, you lost your mind and have gone crazy!” Then he started laughing at Derby even harder.

  Slick jumped in, “Wait a minute Jimbo, Derby did you say this fish was half-woman half-fish?”

  He replied, “Yep! That’s what I said Slick. She said she was a mer, a mer, a mer-something or other,”

  Slick replied, “Do you mean mermaid?”

  “Yep, that’s it Slick, mermaid! She a real-life mermaid and her father has a Mountain Lake Kingdom she said!”

  “Lake Kingdom? Derby, I think you did it! You stumbled unto away for us to find out where that outlaw treasure is and the secret lake! Remember how the story goes, the outlaw treasure is in a lake surrounded by fierce wild animals and protected in the water by half-fish and half-men?”

  “Yeah Slick, I do, but this here is a half-woman and half-fish I said.”

  Slick called Derby over to him closer with his finger and asked him for his hat, so Derby gave it to him, then Slick hit him over the head with his hat.

  Then he said to him, “Her father, Derby! Her father! That’s the lake where the outlaw treasure is you knucklehead! Take me to the mermaid, I got a plan.”

  So, the trio grabbed a torch to light their way and ran off to the lakeside to find Mamie.

  They found her on the lakeshore stretched out and waiting for Derby to return, Slick and Jimbo looked shocked at first, because they had never seen a mermaid before and had only heard stories from sailors about what they looked like. Slick talked to her about her home lake and where it was located, he also asked about her father’s Kingdom. Thinking Slick was a friend and was trying to help her, she told him everything about the Mountain Lake Kingdom, the many lakes, the crystal peak, and her father. She also said she was not sure how to get there from where they were currently, but once she found the lake that looked like a horseshoe, she could get home from there because that lake was very close to her own lake. Slick took it all in and he was now convinced that Mamie could lead the gang to the outlaw treasure, once they found the lake shaped like a horseshoe.