I felt tired, but I did not slow or stop as long as the Atlantic sisters continued. Until I dropped, I was honour-bound to show them that a child of the Indian Ocean had as much stamina as any of theirs.
After an interminable swim that lasted 'til the sun set, Elder Sophia called a halt.
I felt bone weary and glad to rest.
The Elder's voice was gentle for the first time. "What is your name, child? I do not remember."
"Laila," I replied dully. Even my tongue felt exhausted. "Child of the Black line, daughter of Elder Cantrella of the Indian Ocean Council…"
"Laila," she said with a smile. "I know the rest, child. Perhaps more than you. I will tell you as much as I dare whilst I have you. I am Elder Sophia and these are my daughters, Priscilla and Salina." Each girl nodded at the sound of her name. Both had dark hair like mine, but Priscilla was smaller than I, whilst Salina was the same height, though rounder in the tail. All three had a silvery cast to their tails, marking them as descendants of the Silver line.
"I am honoured, but I do not understand…" I began, hesitantly. In strange waters with strange sisters, my words stuck in my throat. I was afraid to say something wrong.
Elder Sophia patted my arm and I shrank back, still shaken at the memory of so many Elders touching me whilst I was forced to stay still. "I will help you to understand, Laila, but I cannot change your fate." She looked sad.
"We are far enough away that we may rest properly until it is light. Salina, will you watch?" Elder Sophia did not wait for an answer. She swam to the surface and spread herself out between the waves.
Salina smiled at me and pointed upward. "Sleep, Laila. I will watch so no harm comes to you."
Still I hesitated. "I have trained as a Watcher. I should…"
Salina's smile grew broader. "And I am not a Watcher, but I will watch for you and you will be safe. Rest."
Reluctantly I complied.
When I woke in the morning, the sunlight shone full on my face, reflecting off waves and the occasional flying fish.
"Good morning," Priscilla greeted me. "We must be under way."
And we were.
We followed the currents to the north, 'til the swirl of the sea drew us to shallower waters where steam rose from the seabed.
"The fields of fire, a ridge that runs the length of our ocean," Elder Sophia explained, pointing from north to south. "They spew more rock now than ever in living memory or historic record. We fear the worst, but if it means great change, the humans will suffer more than we. When our city sank beneath the waves, it was the humans who died, not the people of the ocean's gift. When their cities sink, we will emerge stronger still." She smiled, not the slightest bit sad at the thought. She looked at me. "Do you like humans, Laila?"
I shook my head as quickly as I could, my eyes on the red and orange flow beneath me. "No. No, I don't like humans at all. I've never met one and I don't want to…" I broke off before I could speak of my desire for disobedience.
"Nor do I," Elder Sophia said softly. "They have killed too many of my friends."
She swam away from the steamy waters, heading still further north. I followed her, with her daughters trailing behind me.
At a place that seemed no different to any other, she stopped and pointed down. "There they lie, on the seabed."
Together, we dived deep, until I could discern human artefacts strewn across the sand.
"The humans killed my friends and I will not lightly forgive their treachery." Elder Sophia's eyes blazed in the deep water.
I could not fathom how humans had done such a thing, given the secrecy that shrouded our people. "I don't understand," I whispered. "How could humans have killed our sisters? They do not know of us…"
Salina approached. "Did the Council tell you what happened to the last of the Black line here?"
Elder Sophia shook her head before I could answer. "No, they were vague and did not say. The Black line challenged the humans and died for their pride. I survived, but at a price." She looked at the debris below us with bitterness.
"How?" I asked.
Elder Sophia gently curled an arm around my shoulders and I did not shake her off. "Have you heard of submarines, child? I have sunk two in my lifetime and I hope never to see a third…"
I listened.
23. Joe
The wedding was a blur. I stumbled down the aisle beside Vanessa to the altar, I stammered through my vows and I didn't let go of her hand until I had to put a ring on her finger. The fog in my head lifted a little when the priest told me I could kiss her and I felt her cool lips on mine. Then the priest said something about Giuseppe and Vanessa Fisher, everyone clapped and cheered, and we had to walk back out of the church. We did it. Beautiful Vanessa is my wife. I couldn't keep the beaming smile from my face. I must have looked like an idiot.
My family came up, hugged, kissed and congratulated us both. I couldn't tell you what any of them said.
I remember hearing Vanessa humming at the edge of hearing and I turned to find out why. Dean stood there, looking stunned as he gave Vanessa a hug. I heard her whisper, "Mermaids don't exist and you will not remember me."
Mermaids don't exist. For a moment, I believed it, but one glance at Vanessa told me otherwise. How can I ever forget my wife with her sexy tail?
Dean's eyes grew huge and blank, but Nessa smiled and laughed as if it was nothing, before turning to one of my cousins, who was next in line.
Dean shook my hand, for the first time in his life lost for words. "Shit mate, where did you find her? She's hot!" he managed to get out, before stumbling off.
We went to a beach for photos and it wasn't as hard as the photos before the wedding. All I had to do was look at my new wife and I couldn't keep the smile off my face. When it was late afternoon, the classic Jaguar we'd hired for the day took us to a reception place right on the water, the sunset lighting up the windows as they served pre-dinner drinks.
I barely tasted the food and grinned like an idiot at whatever my family had to say. There were speeches, there was food, and at some point I ended up on the dance floor with Vanessa. How does a mermaid learn to dance? I wondered as I stumbled around the dance floor with her.
Marina fell asleep under the bridal table, her head pillowed on a stuffed fish. Mum and Dad took her home and the other guests started to say goodbye and leave, too. Vanessa guided me out of the reception venue to the hotel.
A blur of check-in counter, key card, short lift ride, carpeted corridors and a plush hotel room with a huge bed.
The door closed. All was quiet and we were alone. Husband and wife.
24. Laila
"Raimunda was always reckless, epitomising the Black spirit more than most. So when the humans started venturing deeper beneath the water, she was furious. How dare they invade our domain? She took the submarines as a personal affront, an attempt on their part to seek and destroy us. She was a Diver, one of those who looked for human technology beneath the surface and attempted to understand its function. The humans destroyed many submarine and surface vessels in their wars and it was several years before she felt she could destroy her own submarine vessel.
"I climbed aboard the first one with her, under cover of night. The vessel Thresher was cramped inside, so we hid in the rooms where the humans stored their weapons and power generation devices. The vessel ventured beneath the waves with us aboard. Each night, we took a human to join with, singing him to a state where he would not remember us.
"When the vessel attempted to reach the surface, Raimunda put her knowledge of its inner workings into practice, damaging some of the power generation equipment so that the vessel was destroyed. When water flooded in, we made our escape.
"She was not fertile, but I was and I gave birth to Priscilla nine months following. She agreed to wait for another raid, assembling a team of younger girls whose time it was to do their duty and those who, like her, craved a challenge. Her anger spun through the water like coral spawn in the curre
nt and from the youngest child to the Facilitator of the Elder Council, we all wished to show the humans that we would NOT have our territory invaded by them again, for they could not survive beneath the surface.
"When Priscilla was weaned, we struck again.
"Raimunda's strike team this time consisted of her own daughter, Onyxia, and a child of the Gold, Ava. They boarded the vessel by night as it lay on the surface in a human port in the Mediterranean. Ava was to sing the humans into submission and let the rest of us aboard once she had control.
"She was a powerful singer, as all of the Gold line are, and her control was complete. She called us aboard and we chose our human companions. Onyxia favoured a human who worked with the larger weapons and she plied him with questions on how such weapons worked.
"She placed one such weapon in a firing tube, in readiness to fire, then joined with the human on the engine room floor. She laughed as she told me she wanted the humans to go out with a bang, as was fitting.
"The weapon exploded within the vessel without warning and it flooded quickly. I swam out, for I was close to a breach whilst not near the explosion, but I was the only one. No others emerged. I waited and called, but I did not even hear their voices. My friends and so many children…dead, because of the humans. I searched and I called, but none had survived. Only I and the new child I carried.
"The Scorpion was the end of the Black line, for it took Raimunda and Onyxia, little Ava and so many others. So much sorrow for what was supposed to be a breeding event. It was almost thirty years before enough of our younger children were old enough to breed, and we went looking for dragons to renew the Black line."
Elder Sophia lapsed into silence, her head bowed as if under a great weight of water.
"Dragons?" I ventured. "Are there dragons still?"
Priscilla and Salina laughed.
Elder Sophia's smile was sad. "We found none, though we searched all oceans including your own." She gave a sigh. "How much do you know of your own ocean, child?"
I shook my head. "Nothing of dragons."
She touched my arm, reassuring once more. "Then I must tell you this, too."
25. Joe
We looked at each other for a second and then Vanessa was in my arms. I didn't care if I kissed off all her lipstick or messed up her hair.
I unfastened her pearls and dropped the intricate net on the table by the door. I pressed my lips to her neck, struggling out of my jacket and loosening my tie.
"Um, Joe?" She sounded apologetic. "Can you please help me out of this dress? And please, please, don't ever ask me to wear a long dress again. There's nothing I hate more than long skirts. I feel like I'm drowning with every step, and I'm not even in the water. I've worn it all day for you, but now I want nothing more than to get out of it."
I stared at her, almost lost for words. "You hate long dresses and you still wore one today, just for me?" I dropped the jacket and tie on the floor.
She laughed. "You're the only person in the world I'd do this for. I'd rather have gone naked all day than wear this."
I closed my eyes, mesmerised by the thought of marrying her naked. We couldn't have done it in front of my family, or a priest. There would have been heart attacks all round. I opened my eyes again. Nope, she wasn't any less beautiful clothed.
"You looked so beautiful today. Hell, you still do." I just looked at her and drank her in. How can she look so perfect, all day and all night?
Her breath hissed through her teeth. "I bought new underwear in the hope that I might still look beautiful with the damn dress off. Now, can you please let me out of it so I can show you?"
I kissed her again, letting my hands slide down her back. She guided my hands this time, to the complicated knot just above her bottom. "It's a bow, on top of a double knot," she murmured.
The bow came undone easily, but the knot was tighter and harder to deal with. In the end, I had to get down on the floor behind her so I could see what I was doing. Once the first knot was undone, the second was easy. She tugged on the strands a few times, before the whole dress slid down into a puddle at her feet.
Instead of the filmy blue and white fabric, I came face to face with a small strip of blue lace bisecting Vanessa's sweet arse.
I stood up slowly and she turned on the spot to face me. Vanessa was wearing what looked like a lace swimsuit, with no straps on her shoulders and cut very low in the back. I'd never seen a woman wear anything like this in real life – this was like something out of a porn film or a men's magazine. Or an explicit fantasy. Her smile was wicked. "Do you like this more than the dress?"
"Oh God yes," I breathed. I wanted to touch her, everywhere, and kiss her again. I wasn't going to last more than five seconds if I didn't take this slow.
Her lips firm on mine, she started undoing the buttons on my waistcoat, then my shirt. She slid them down my shoulders and my arms, so I had to let go of her to drop them on the floor. When I held her this time, her lacy boobs pressed against my bare chest. She started to undo my pants.
"I bought new underwear, too," I told her shyly.
Before I knew it, she had my pants around my ankles and I kicked them away. Her hands were warm on my arse through the black silk of my boxer shorts.
"Where do we start?" she murmured.
I reached down and slid my fingers under the blue lace and inside her. My other arm held her close to me. "I want you to come first, so you'll be really wet," I told her.
It felt like no time at all until she gave a shudder in my arms and a wordless cry, muffled by the fierce kisses I gave her. When she finished, she started pushing me toward the bed, before tipping me over onto my back. My shorts were gone and she undid some buttons low on her tummy. She dropped something lacy on the floor and crept onto the bed on top of me. The touch of smooth, wet skin against my groin was all I needed to understand. I plunged deep inside her as her hips ground against mine.
That night, I came inside my wife for the first time and I lost count of how many times she came for me. Hell, by dawn I'd lost count of the number of times I'd had sex with my wife and I didn't care.
Life doesn't come any better than this.
26. Laila
"When my daughters came of age to do their duty, I led them and the other children on an expedition to find the last Black dragon, if Dubhan still lived. Our party searched our own ocean, but we then headed to yours, around Africa the way the humans' ships had travelled in pursuit. History held that dragons could live far longer than the rest of us and we held out hope…"
I found myself laughing. "We told stories as children about dragons. That they could change the colour of all of their skin, live for centuries, fight off a hundred humans and they were legendary lovers. Dragons don't exist, my teachers told me. They were just what humans called our kind when they saw us…"
Elder Sophia looked sad. "Our histories tell us there were dragons and even their names, but the legends may have been written by the dragons themselves, so who can say how much was elaborated? Perhaps we wished to idolise them, too, embellishing them into legends when they were just like us. I read them all and followed the tales to the Indian Ocean, around the south of Africa and into the Roaring Forties, where the sailing ships had gone.
"But there was no sign of dragons, though the bones of ships lay on the seabed, broken and scattered. We followed the shipping route east and north.
"We searched the small islands and called to whales and dolphins, singing Dubhan's name so the waters rang with it. Our delegation visited the Indian Ocean Elder Council, requesting permission to continue the search and it was granted. Your mother was not part of it then – the Council was led by a powerful woman of the Gold line named Sirena. The Black line would still survive in our ocean, had our Council the strength of a single Elder like Sirena. I believe all the stories about the power of dragons in a heartbeat after one look at her."
I felt a smile lift my lips. "Elder Sirena leads our Council still. She frightens even
my mother. But she can't be a dragon – she can't change colour. She is always the shimmering shades of shallow water on sand."
Elder Sophia's eyes were narrowed. "And yet she permitted you to accompany your mother here, as the only members of the Black line."
"Elder Sirena would not have permitted it. Mother made her request for me when Elder Sirena was on land, passing for human as she lived among them." I closed my eyes, wishing Mother had waited. "We left before she returned."
"Ah." Elder Sophia's single word of reply held a great depth of feeling. She stayed silent for several minutes before she spoke again. "Did she warn you about Alexandre?"
I shook my head. "No, I do not know that name."
Her eyes were sad. "We searched for the Black dragon. Every island, reef and undersea cave. Our girls were eager to be adults and we had all but given up hope of finding the Black dragon when we crossed the path of the Alexandre. A large ship with humans aboard over deep water – it was as if the Indian Ocean had granted us a gift, to make up for swallowing our dragon. We boarded the ship and the girls joined with the crew.
"As dawn approached, the girls were tired and they had exhausted the humans. I ventured into the engine room of the vessel and used my knowledge of their technology to ensure all evidence of our visit was destroyed. I took to the water after the girls just as an explosion sank the ship. We were lucky."
I wanted to ask more about the ship and the explosion, but the two girls approached and Sophia's eyes went to them instead of me.
"Did you tell her what the Council will command her to do?" Priscilla asked.
Elder Sophia's eyes were closed as she shook her head.
"What?" I asked, looking from one to the other. "What will they make me do?"
"You must breed, as we did in your ocean. Our Council will command you to provide them with children, to ensure the future of the Black line in the Atlantic Ocean." Salina sounded sad.
Ocean's Infiltrator Page 7