As he did so he lifted his once beautiful, but now broken face to look at me, his ruined mouth curling into a grimace of a smile.
I lifted my wide horrified eyes from the mouth that had shared breath with me and kissed me with such passion and tenderness, to look deeply into the eyes of the man I loved.
My vision tipped and spun as vomit forced its way violently out of my mouth to spool around me in strands of revulsion and horror.
How he was still alive I wasn’t sure. There wasn’t any part of him that wasn’t injured in some way. He drifted in the current, straining against the chains, the strength it had taken to lift himself off the sand telling in his eyes as they dulled a little.
I leapt to help him, swimming against the netting that surrounded me and trying with all my strength to break free from the Miengu who calmly held each corner of the net, while I threw myself at it.
Neith nodded and two beautiful women swirled from where they’d been watching the little drama play out.
“No,” he groaned, the sound cracked through with the pain he tried so bravely to hide from me.
Their faces were full of compassion as they placed gentle hands on his arms, closing their eyes as they did so.
Within moments his wounds began to knit together again, soft new skin closing over his muscles and the exposed bone. His fingers straightened and his ruined face healed before my eyes.
The whole process only took a few minutes and the whole time it was happening he was watching me, his eyes narrowed in agony.
“This is the tenth time we’ve done this,” Neith told me conversationally.
His expression was bemused as if he were discussing a partially interesting fact.
“It’s been quite useful to test our abilities on your Merrick. And we do have so many that still need testing, if you continue to refuse to be part of our wonderful plan, well, that testing will just need to be arranged. I’ve decided to give you a tour of the talents we hold here, to…motivate you further, to create shall we say an imagination of what is to come for your love. I wouldn’t want you to be in the dark as to what is happening with him.” He laughed cruelly as he nodded to the Miengu who lifted me off the floor and drifted after him over the groups of Oceanids pulling me along with them in the net.
“Over here we have our Aseet pod.” He indicated the group of Oceanids who’d just attacked Merrick. They preened and nudged each other as Neith spoke of them. “They are quite amazingly talented in attack. Today we only used the razored Aseet on him. There are of course also other wonderful Aseets in the group who have the gifting of heat and shock and even poison.” He smiled cruelly at me. “We’ve been testing various combinations to see what inflicts the most pain.”
I threw myself at the net, howling in rage.
“Now now, behave!” He casually backhanded me, the slap making my ears ring and black spots blossom in my vision.
“We have other Oceanids to introduce you to. I’m sure you’ll be very interested in how we plan to practise on Merrick.”
Some of the Oceanids snickered, others refused to meet my eyes, shame and horror reflected in their faces.
He pulled me along until we hovered over the wildest looking Oceanids I’d seen so far. They were all relatively tall and slight and instead of the elegant flowing gowns and trousers the other Oceanids wore, they were dressed in brief swathes of seaweed, the women adorned in glittering shells and pearls.
There was a harsh animal air to them, all of them casting frightened darting glances around them as if the confines of the room terrified them.
“These are the Mami-Wata,” Neith informed me, showing his teeth at them in a menacing smile as they all started and turned to look at him, mistrust and fear glinting in their eyes.
“They are able to speak with and control the creatures of the sea. Your run-in with the...” he rattled off a liquid word, “wasn’t supposed to happen, the relevant retribution will be distributed.”
One of the Mami-Wata rose in the water, confronting Neith angrily.
Neith remained motionless for a few moments before darting through the water, his jaw dislocating as he went swirling around the Mami-Wata. A few seconds later ribbons of skin floated away from the doomed Oceanid and his body went rigid with the poison from Neith’s teeth.
Other Mami-Wata began to rise from the sea floor to help him, but Neith barked, “Anyone who saves him will forfeit another younger member from their pod.”
The silence seemed amplified by the muffling of the water as every Oceanid dropped their eyes from the still jerking and writhing Mami-Wata.
Neith turned back to me, smoothing the frown from his face with effort, seemingly pleased by the horror that must have been etched onto my face. Anger bubbled within me at his cruelty and the hopelessness of our situation. I didn’t know why any of the Oceanids would allow him to lead them but I understood very clearly that none of them would risk fighting him.
“Next we have the Sebesség,” he continued, indicating a group of athletic Oceanids, every muscle defined beneath skin that glowed a faint gold. “Their talent is speed and some of them have sonar location too. I must say we have had a very interesting time with Merrick, haven’t we?”
They didn’t respond, their faces drawn tight in determination as they avoided looking at me.
Neith laughed. “Yes a game of…how do the humans say it?…cat and mouse?”
He drew in beside me conspiratorially. “You see we let him go. And he swam for quite a while until he was very tired actually. It’s a good thing Qinn got caught in that net, because had you been a bit more alert I suspect you would have caught his scent. That much blood is hard to contain.”
He laughed. “Fortunately for us you didn’t and you gave away your weakness, all in one go.
“You see, Alexandra,” he continued, pulling me onwards to the next group of Oceanids, “you really have no choice but to join me. The fact that you have made so many mistakes so far and you’ve only been in the ocean twenty-four hours, must be weighing on your mind. With me and my resources…” he spread his arms grandly including all of the Oceanids beneath us in the gesture, “we will enforce change effectively and efficiently and then you and your partner can do as you please, live where you like, land or sea.”
He turned to me, obviously expecting a response.
I glared at him, willing the surge of hatred into any talent that would help me annihilate him and anyone else who stood between Merrick and me.
Merrick groaned and I snapped my head round to look at him. His face was a mask of agony.
“What are you doing to him now?” I growled at Neith.
He laughed. “Nothing. It’s what you are doing that is so painful.”
“I’m not doing anything. Let me out of this net and then I’ll show you what I can do.”
I struggled uselessly, rage and frustration and fear flooding through me.
He pretended to think about my suggestion.“A tempting offer, but no, I’m not sure your motives are in the right place just yet.”
“Why are you following this monster?” I screamed at the Oceanids beneath us, “you don’t have to be a part of this. He’s going to lead you all to your deaths.”
I tugged uselessly as the net, turning so that I could look as many of them in the face as possible.
“How can you stand aside and let him torture and kill your own? Where is your courage?”
None of them answered me, although I did see a spark of fire in one or two of their faces.
Neith took me roughly by the arm and yanked me upwards before he turned back to the Oceanids we hovered over.
“Will none of you tell our naïve little Alexandra why you insist on fighting for me?” They dropped their eyes from him.
“They won’t fight me, Alexandra, and they will follow me, because I have the one thing that makes the Oceanids so weak, so vulnerable and stops them from doing what they should have done a long time ago.”
I didn’
t like the sorrow in the face of the Oceanids as they listened to Neith.
“You see, for fear of upsetting the humans who might harm their children, Oceanids have become ridiculously apathetic…now I will use that same reason to galvanise them into action.”
“You have their children?”
He grinned. “Smart isn’t it?”
“Sick.” I replied.
“Come, Alexandra, you must now see the prize of our army,” he said, as we moved on to another group of Oceanids.
They were gorgeous, each one delicately proportioned, with almost elfish features. They were dressed in richly provocative robes that flowed and moved and transformed in the fluorescent light as they sparkled.
I’d been examining them skeptically, trying to work out why Neith was so pleased with them, when two of them turned their exquisite faces and grinned wickedly at me.
Aerowen and Indra, the two Russalka who could control thoughts and erase memories. They had betrayed the pod and joined Neith, and now they preened at his praise.
Neith was watching me as I recognised them.“As a group they are known as the Påvirke or influencers. They have varying talents. Some like Aerowen and Indra can erase memory, as you already know. Should you continue with your stubbornness, you will experience firsthand just how pervasive their talent can be.”
I turned to gape at him while he continued.
“Once you have no memory of Merrick it will be relatively easy, with the help of some of the others, to influence you through your dreams.” He indicated a couple who clung to each other in the middle of the group. “And then we can also implant very specific thoughts.” He swept his hand lazily towards five of the Oceanids within the Påvirke pod.
An instant headache formed behind my eyes as a foreign and horrible idea wormed its way forcefully into my brain. How easy it could be to implant the idea that Merrick was the enemy, that he threatened my survival and the survival of everyone I loved. The idea that he should die. The idea that if I were free of the netting…I should kill him.
7. Monster
I had curled myself into the tiniest ball in the corner of my cell. Fear kept me from sleep although I was desperately tired. I mulled over the last few minutes of the gathering searching for anything I could have done to rescue Merrick, and trying to find a way out of this mess.
Neith had given me an ultimatum. I had until dark to join him. If I didn’t Merrick would be taken out into the middle of the volcano to face the monsters that rose from the deep with the night. Even as I’d been led away, Merrick had shouted “Fight! Fight this madness, Alex, it’s what you were born to do. Don’t let him use me against you, my life isn’t worth the millions he’ll take to ensure he wins. Fight, my love…”
Neith had backhanded him into unconsciousness and had me quickly led away.
I’d been in my cell for an hour and the light continued to bleed from the water as the sun set too quickly and my heart warred with my head. How could I watch them torture him again? How could I allow…no…condone Neith’s torture of the only man I’d ever loved, my friend, my future… And then an image of my mother or my friends, Josh and Luke, or even strangers walking the streets would pop into my head and I’d wonder how I could so easily throw millions of lives away and condemn humans to certain annihilation. No matter which course of action I took I was a monster. The reality was I couldn’t choose and that frightened me because Neith would force my hand, we both knew it.
The only way out of the decision was to escape from Ferengren. If I could somehow get away, I was pretty certain Neith would keep Merrick alive as bait, knowing I would come back for him at some point. The problem was, I was helpless in the net, which drastically reduced the chances of me escaping, but I also knew that I wasn’t going to be able to watch Merrick being tortured again without compromising my plan to peacefully save the Oceanids.
I knew they wouldn’t kill Merrick, not yet. Once tonight was over they would heal him and then they would erase the love I felt for him from my memory and in its place plant seeds of hatred and murder.
I toyed with the idea of agreeing to help Neith, throwing up a façade and then attacking him once we were free. I knew Merrick would see it as complete betrayal but if it enabled his freedom, surely his anger and disappointment in me would be worth it? But could I fool Neith?
I was still dithering about what to do when the door to my cell flew open. I pushed myself into an upright and protective position as a figure tumbled into the room and smashed into the opposite wall as the door slid shut behind him.
“Merrick!”
I hurled myself into his arms, relishing the strength of him as he curled around me and pressed my body along the length of his before pushing myself free to examine his face and chest and arms
“Are youOK?” I cried, tears bleeding from my eyes as I looked for any physical sign of the torture he’d just endured. There wasn’t a single mark on him, but the evidence of it was visible in the slight pallor of his normally ruddy skin and the exhaustion in his eyes.
He smiled gently at me, his eyebrow quirking upwards at my dramatic response.
“I am…physically,” he replied before. burying his hands in my hair, tilting my face up to his and kissing me through the netting that covered my head.
“I’m so sorry” I cried between kisses.
He shook his head and continued to cover my face in kisses. “This is not your fault, Alexa,” he murmured against my lips.
“I shouldn’t have come here alone, now Neith will hurt you until I give in.”
His eyes were anciently sad as he gazed into my face. He didn’t try to argue with me.
“You must stay strong, Alexa, millions of lives depend on you. They won’t kill me, my love…not yet.”
“Merrick, I can’t watch you being tortured again, I’m not strong enough.” Panic rose in my throat.
He shook his head. “Alex you have always been stronger than you think you are, you can do this.”
I was shaking my head even as he was speaking, tears melting into the salt water around me. “Could you do it if it was me?” I asked him.
His eyes were desperately sad and denied the words he spoke. “If it meant saving millions of other lives…I…” He sighed and shook his head, pulling me into his arms and burying his face in my hair as it swirled around us.
“No, Alex, I couldn’t. You must know that I can endure the physical pain as long as I know Neith isn’t changing you, as long as I know you can withstand his attempt to turn you into a murderer.”
“I can’t guarantee that, Merrick,” I whispered before telling him of the awful thoughts that had squirmed their way unwelcome into my mind.
“The only way I can think of beating Neith at this is to pretend to join him and then find a way to get us out of here.”
Merrick shook his head. “You’re not going to be able to just say things to Neith to get him to believe you. He’ll want to…test you.”
“You mean I’ll have to kill someone?”
Merrick nodded. “So far every Oceanid that has come into Ferengren has had to prove their loyalty to Neith by destroying humans.”
I felt sick at the magnitude of the evil we faced.
“You have to get out of here Alex.”
“I know, that’s what I’ve been thinking too, if we can escape we’ll be fine…but how?”
“Neith sent me in here to remind you of how much you love me, but if you use your powers, we can escape the Miengu. Neith knows I’m not strong enough to do it alone, but you could…”
I shook my head and explained my helplessness in the net.
Merrick was horrified. He took my netted hand in his, gripping the fine mesh with his fingernails and pulling until blood oozed as his nails began to tear loose from his flesh.
“Stop,” I gasped in horror. For all his efforts he’d made no progress at all other than to hurt himself.
He made a guttural low scream of frustration, winding his hands
into his hair and clenching his fists until the whites of his knuckles showed before he let them drop to his sides, his eyes clenched tight for a few minutes.
When he opened them again they’d hardened with resolve.
“Alex, you have to stop Neith.”
“I agree with you, Merrick, but in case you haven’t noticed I’m kind of helpless here.”
He shook his head. “You can’t afford to think like that any more, my love, you are the fortieth generation Gurrer, you are the only hope humans and Oceanids have of peace. You’ve seen how fanatical Neith is, he’ll stop at nothing.”
“Exactly, Merrick, he’ll stop at nothing including killing you.”
Merrick shook his head. “He wants your power, Alex, with you he is completely assured of victory, without you…he’s not as confident.”
“So how does that keep you alive?”
“I think he thinks that you will do whatever it takes to free me, and therein lies our only tactical advantage.”
“Meaning?”
“Neith is expecting you to behave like any other Oceanid, to be unable to deny your genes, to be unable to resist the pull I have on you.”
“Merrick, I don’t want to leave you,” I replied, having already guessed where he was going with his thinking.
He didn’t reply.
“It’s our only chance isn’t it?” I whispered.
He nodded.
“If you leave me, you will remove his only hold over you.”
“But then he might think that I don’t love you, that you have no hold over me, and then you become useless to him...”
Merrick was quiet for a while. “It’s a risk we have to take, Alex.”
I shook my head, beginning to cry again.
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me very softly at first, his mouth growing more urgent and desperate before he pulled me into a tight hug. When he released me there was a settled determination in his eyes.
Fire (The Mermaid Legacy - Book 2) Page 5