Royal Pride

by Zelda Knight

  “Captain Bailey?” Kaia asked timidly.

  “Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?”

  “I found a box that I think might have fallen off your ship. It had ‘Seagate’ carved into it.”

  “Ah, yes. I believe that belongs to my first mate, Smalley. Smalley! Can you come over here a minute?”

  A short and stocky young man set down a crate and headed over to them. “Yes, Captain?” he said as he smiled at the lovely girl.

  “This young lady thinks she might have found your box. That special-order ocean rock you were transporting?”

  “Oh, really? That’s great! It’s for Delmar, the baker’s assistant. He ordered it, although I’m not sure what it’s for. My suspicion is that it’s for a lady. Supposedly, it’s a beautiful and rare ocean crystal. Course, the box was locked, so I never got to see what it looked like. I was hoping I could see it when I delivered it.”

  “How long will you be in port? I don’t have the box with me, but I could bring it in the morning.”

  “Sure! Yeah, we don’t push off till day after tomorrow.”

  Kaia asked, “Would you mind if we went with you when you delivered it? I’m curious to see it, too.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  Samuel shook their hands, “Thank you both. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Once the captain and crewman had gone, Kaia turned to Samuel. “The baker’s assistant! That must be why he was acting so strange. Did you notice that?”

  “I did. And I think you’re right.”

  “I need to go to the cavern and get the box. Meet me here in the morning at, say, nine?”

  “I’ll be here. Don’t have to walk far.” He pointed to the Dreadnought just down the way. Samuel took her hand. “Let me walk you to the cliff.”

  As they walked, he squeezed her hand. “Hey, when this is all over, do you…”

  “Yes?” she asked quickly.

  “I mean, would you like to … what I’m trying to…” He couldn’t seem to get the right words out. “Kaia, may I court you?”

  She smiled brightly. “Yes!” And she hugged him tightly. Then she kissed him. Unfortunately, they were in the middle of town and were gaining attention from the townsfolk.

  One townsman yelled out, “Hey, get a room! The inn’s right over there!”

  The couple broke as they laughed together. Samuel offered, “He’s just jealous!”

  He took her hand and walked her the rest of the way to the cliff. He gave her one more gentle kiss, and then she turned and jumped into the sea. Samuel waved to her and she waved back. He turned to leave. It was the sound of her scream that made him turn back. She was being attacked by a man he’d never seen. Kaia was desperately pulling away from him. Quickly, Samuel jumped in after them.

  As he swam to the struggle, the man scoffed at him. “This is none of your affair! Go home, human!”

  Suddenly, Samuel was struck by a large tail. Then the man grabbed Kaia and dove below the surface. Was this the merman Kaia had spoken of? It had to be. Still dazed by the tail’s lash, Samuel swam back to shore. What could he do? He couldn’t go after them, that was certain. As he thought back to his conversation with Kaia about her clan, he got an idea. He just prayed it would work.

  He rushed back to the Dreadnought, hoping they had some sweets on board as the bakery was closed. Luckily, the food and drink on the ship had been replenished. He grabbed all the cakes, pastries, and cookies he could find and headed out to that one particular shipwreck in a dingy boat. He hoped they would be there again. If the mermaids had already stripped the site clean of anything of interest to them, they might not have returned. Again, he prayed his plan would work.

  Chapter Four

  Marinus

  Down they swam as Kaia struggled to get free.

  “It’s no use, Kaia. You know that I’m stronger than you are,” Marinus chided.

  ‘But he isn’t smarter,’ thought Kaia. She had to come up with a plan. She had to get that box back to the Seagate and hopefully save her sister.

  They reached his aquatic chamber. “Who was that human you were with … and kissing, no less?”

  “That isn’t your business!”

  “I’m making it my business! You’re going to be my mate!”

  “No, I’m not! For the last time! How many times have I said no? Plenty of other mermaids are groveling at your feet!”

  “It’s you I want.”

  “Too bad!”

  “It’s that human, isn’t it?” He grabbed her by the arms and shook her. “You know the bylaws of the merfolk clan forbid being with a human! Why would you want to be around those deplorable creatures?”

  “The only deplorable creature I don’t want to be around is YOU!”

  He slapped her, knocking her back into the coral. As she looked at the coral, she said, “How can you take me off the search to save Coral? If she dies, it will be your fault! Do you want that? You have to at least let me go back long enough to find the antidote and save her. I’m close! I found the ship! The box was ordered by the baker’s assistant! I’m supposed to bring it to them in the morning. Then I’ll come back and save Coral.”

  Taken aback by her statement, Marinus thought for a moment. “If I could save Coral, would you agree to be my mate and not return to the surface?”

  “But you can’t save Coral.”

  “If I could, if I found the antidote, would you agree to be my mate?”

  She hesitated, then quietly said, “Yes.”

  He went over to a seashell on a table and pulled out a little glass vial. “This is the antidote.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “This is it. Pour this in Coral’s mouth and she will recover.”

  “H-how can you have that?”

  Slowly, Samuel approached the site of the shipwreck, the one where the mermaids had attacked him. He tied the dingy to one of the rocks. Before he had a chance to pull the pastries out of the crate, his boat began to rock back and forth.

  “Look, girls! It’s our little friend from the other day!”

  He turned around and realized that he was surrounded by mermaids, smirking at him.

  “Yes, he was stolen from us by Miss ‘Human-lover’ Kaia.”

  “Kaia’s such a kill-joy!”

  “But she’s not here now!”

  “That’s right, she’s not here to save you!” said one of the mermaids as she grabbed the side of the dingy and rocked it dangerously.

  Samuel stuttered, “B-but if you tip the boat, you’ll ruin all the pastries I brought for you.”

  “Nice try, dingy boy! We aren’t that gullible! You think we…”

  “Wait! Did he say ‘pastries’?”

  “Ha! Have him prove it. Then we can toy with him!”

  Samuel opened the crate and removed a basket full of raspberry tarts. The mermaids swooned. One of them grabbed the basket from his hands.

  “Hey, you have to share that, you cow!”

  “Yeah! Give it!”

  “Ladies! I have more.” He produced an apple pie.

  “MINE!” A pretty redhead was reaching out for it when, suddenly, a brunette mermaid burst out of the water and grabbed the pie right out of her hands. The pair immediately began fighting, smacking each other with their tails and pulling each other’s hair.

  “But wait, there’s more!” Samuel said as he pulled a large basket of cookies and hurled its contents into the air, in the direction of the mermaid gathering. He felt like he was watching a school of piranhas attack poor, defenseless prey. Then came the pièce de résistance: a large, magnificent chocolate cake, complete with chocolate-covered strawberries on top. All the fighting stopped immediately. The water around him was eerily calm and silent. The mermaids all stared at the cake, mesmerized by its beauty.

  In unison, they chanted, “Chocolate!”

  They all rushed the boat. Quickly, Samuel threw the cake into the chaos just before they capsized him. The fighting was worse, and all
the tails were thrashing. There was biting and hair pulling and clawing.

  “Ladies! There’s plenty more where that came from.”

  Suddenly, all the mermaids stopped and looked at him.

  “I just need you to do something for me, and I’ll get you all the sweets you can eat!”

  He had their undivided attention.

  Marinus threw an arrogant smirk at Kaia. “I have the antidote, because I’m the one who ordered the poison. You’re not the only one who goes to the surface.” She wore a confused expression as he continued. “I ordered it for a merman in a neighboring clan. The baker’s assistant is a merman.”

  ‘I knew there was something fishy about him,’ Kaia thought. “Why?” she asked.

  “Delmar wants to poison the baker so he can take over the shop. Then all of us merfolk will get unlimited pies and cakes and pastries forever. Sweet deal, right?” He laughed at his joke.

  She shook her head in disbelief. “Why don’t you just buy the sweets with all the gold we find in the sunken ships?”

  “Buy it? As in giving those humans payment? I’m not giving those deplorable creatures anything! Not gold, not anything!”

  She was fuming. “So you let my sister lie in a coma and possibly die while you had the antidote the whole time?”

  “I couldn’t let the clan know I was involved with Delmar’s plan.”

  “Coral could have died! I don’t even know if she’s still alive!”

  “She is. And if you agree to be my mate, I’ll give this to you. You can wake her up and even take all the credit.”

  Kaia was so stunned at what Marinus had just disclosed, she was speechless. She tried to make sense of it all.

  “Come on, Kaia. It won’t be so bad. You’ll be bonded to the best of the mermen … yours truly. You won’t be sorry.” He grabbed her and kissed her. Disgusted, she whacked him with her tail, causing him to lose his grip on the vial. Kaia grabbed it as it began to float away.

  “I’m already sorry!” she yelled to him as she rushed out of his chamber and toward the main cavern where her clan was keeping watch over Coral.

  “I’ve got it!” she yelled as she approached her unconscious sister.

  Kaia leaned into her and poured the thick, jelly-like substance into her mouth. Then she waited. Marinus entered the cavern but said nothing. He couldn’t confront Kaia here in front of the clan.

  Finally, Coral’s eyes began to flutter, and she moaned.

  “Coral, it’s Kaia. You were poisoned, but you’re going to be alright. Can you hear me?”

  Coral nodded. She still couldn’t quite talk, but she would fully recover. The other merfolk cheered and rejoiced.

  Kaia stood to address them. She waited until the noise died down, then offered, “This was Marinus’ doing.”

  He stepped up. “Kaia, hush. That’s an order from your mate!”

  “You are not and never will be my mate!” She turned back to the gathering merfolk. “Marinus ordered the poison for the baker’s assistant Delmar, a merman from a neighboring clan. Marinus had the antidote the entire time! He could have saved Coral right away! But he was too worried about himself, as usual.”

  One of the mermen leaders stepped up. “But why would Marinus want to help another merman poison someone?”

  Kaia turned to him as she glared at Marinus. “Because it was for the baker. Delmar was going to poison the baker so he could take over the shop and the merfolk would have unlimited sweets. Never mind that he could have just used the gold to buy it. He is too prideful to bargain with humans.”

  “Marinus, is this true?” asked the leader.

  “Of course not. You know you can’t trust these silly mermaid cows. They make up stories all the time just to get attention.”

  “Then where else would I have gotten this vial? I just came from your chamber after you kidnapped me!”

  “Hey,” offered one of the other mermaids, “is that the other clan you mentioned when you said you could get us some sweets?”

  Marinus stammered, “W-what? No! I never said that!”

  “Yes, you did!” said another mermaid, who approached.

  The leader motioned for his bodyguard. “I think we need to investigate this allegation. In the meantime, Marinus, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we’ll need to hold you until the investigation is complete.”

  The bodyguard put shackles with a chain around Marinus’ wrists as he protested. “Hold me! You can’t do this! You can’t put me in chains! You can’t put Marinus in chains!” he yelled as they hauled him away.

  One of the mermaids approached. Kaia couldn’t help but notice that she looked a little scratched up. “Kaia, a human at a shipwreck site offered us sweets if we rescued you from Marinus. He said he’d have more in the morning if we brought you back with us. Do you know who this human is?”

  Kaia smiled to herself. “Yes. I know who he is and you can trust him. I’ll go with you in the morning and we’ll get all the sweets you want.”

  The mermaids swooned and giggled and chattered. Kaia sighed in relief. Her sister would be alright and she was free of Marinus. The only thing left to do was go to her cavern and get the box. In the morning, she would go with her sisters to the surface. Her heart fluttered at the thought of seeing Samuel.

  Chapter Five

  Soul Mates

  That evening, Kaia went to her private cavern to retrieve the box, then hid it in some bushes at the boat docks. The next morning, she and a group of her mermaid clan headed to the shipwreck site. She giggled as she noticed a few mermen tagging along, hoping to score some free sweets.

  Samuel didn’t disappoint. Rather than being in a dingy, he had brought the Dreadnaught ship and all of its crew. As the mermaids surfaced, Captain Von Horne’s jaw dropped, as did those of the rest of the crew.

  Samuel laughed. “See, I told you. Mermaids line up for sweets.”

  Suddenly, Kaia surfaced. Samuel’s breath quickened.

  Roger yelled, “Hey! Isn’t that the girl you introduced me to at the docks?”

  “Yes, it is,” Samuel replied, his eyes never leaving Kaia’s. He climbed into a dingy boat with many crates and lowered it into the water. Kaia immediately swam to him, jumped up, and kissed him.

  “Eeeewwww! She kissed a human!” exclaimed one of the mermaids.

  “Don’t knock it till you try it.” Kaia smirked as her eyes stayed locked onto Samuel’s.

  “Alright, we brought you Kaia. How about those sweets?”

  Kaia whispered to Samuel, “Actually, Marinus is no longer a problem. But I thought I’d humor them and make good on your deal. Maybe it’ll help to soften the relationship between mermaids and humans.”

  Samuel spoke out to the mermaids. “Help yourselves, ladies!” He began throwing whole crates of sweets into the sea. Immediately, the mermaids, and the mermen, began opening them and scarfing down the sweets before they had a chance to get soggy in the ocean water. The captain and crew began handing down crate after crate of sweets that Samuel then threw into the sea.

  Finally, the merfolk’s ravenous appetites began to abate. One mermaid vomited into the sea and finally dove under the surface. Another one said, “I don’t feel so good.” Then she, too, dove under the surface. Some of the mermen tossed a few of the mermaids over their shoulders and headed below after the maidens passed out from pure sugar crashes.

  Once no other merfolk were left, Kaia asked, “Shall I meet you at the boat docks so we can get the box to the Seagate?”

  “Yes,” Samuel replied. He handed her a bundle. “This is a new dress for you. It’s wrapped in some of the baker’s special paper, which will help to keep it dry until you can get to land.”

  Her eyes twinkled her love for this dear and thoughtful man. “Thank you. I’ll see you shortly.”

  As the crew pulled up Samuel’s dingy, he said to Captain Van Horne, “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  Kaia found Samuel waiting for her near the Seagate. She was a
dorned in the new outfit that he had given her and was holding the box with the rock.

  They found crewmate Smalley, and all three headed to the bakery.

  The baker offered them some breakfast sweets and smiled brightly at Samuel. After all, he had spent an exorbitant amount of money that morning at her shop. She had been busy replenishing her supply ever since.

  Smalley held the box. “We’re looking for Delmar.”

  “Hmm … I haven’t seen him yet this morning. Strange, because he’s never late.”

  Just then, the group heard a rustling in the back.

  “Delmar, what are you doing? You didn’t tell me you were here,” exclaimed the baker.

  They found him quickly grabbing items and shoving them into a bag, as if he was in a hurry to leave.

  “I-I was just, um…”

  “Going somewhere?” Samuel folded his arms.

  “I believe this is yours. You weren’t planning on leaving it behind, were you?” Kaia asked as she took the box from Smalley and offered it to Delmar.

  “That’s not mine! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  Smalley looked confused. “You’re Delmar, right? You ordered this box with some type of rare rock inside. I’d like to see it.”

  “So would I!” Kaia smirked. “Here, let’s take a look!”

  When she opened the box, the baker cooed, “Oh! It’s beautiful! I’d love to have a rock like that to add to my collection!”

  “You’re in luck because he ordered it for you.” Kaia turned and thrust the box at Delmar.

  “Get that thing away from me! You want to kill me? I-I mean … that’s not mine.”

  Samuel pointed at the man. “A-ha! That sounds like an admission of guilt to me!” He turned to the baker. “Delmar ordered this rare rock for you, but it’s poison.”

  Kaia spoke up. “My sister found it and touched it, and it almost killed her until we found the antidote. Delmar here wanted to take over your shop and was willing to murder you to do it!”