by J E Feldman
ROWEN
Rowen woke as a large blue fin slid into the water and long brown hair followed. He stared after it, trying to focus and unsure how he had made it to dry land. Last thing he remembered was the creature snatched him from his ship. He blinked once and turned his head back to the sky. Rowen had heard of the merpeople in the deep, even fought and killed one or two, but he also knew they were blood thirsty and ready to kill. This one being so close made him nervous, if that was what it was? In his current state, his mind could not be trusted. Whatever he had seen, he was lucky it was high tailing back to its home. Though if his hunch were correct, this one had saved him. What did it want in return? He heard a guttural cry and the current situation pushed at his mind.
He sat up gasping and stared in horror as his ship sank and his men screamed their dying words. He stood, but the pain in his head caused him to slide back to the ground with a groan. He fisted his large hand in his hair and pulled at it, furiously wanting to follow his men into the deep depth, but knew that would be a moot point, especially if he wished to avenge them.
Rowen watched as his man-o-war sank while the storm raging around him began to break and the creature that had attacked them slid back into its watery home. Rowen took a deep breath and fell back to the sand. He would think and explore later, but right now the thumping in his head called to him as did blessed sleep. He would mourn in the morning and avenge them if he could or perhaps walk into the water to join his men.
His skin felt alive with tingles and the hair on the back of his neck rose. He kept his breathing even as a conscious thought filtered through his mind that he was being watched. He stayed still, refusing to open his eyes in case it was a predator. If it began to poke at him, he would rise. His survival instincts warred with his self-preservation. Finally, he cracked an eye open and met aquamarine eyes set in a pale blue face, long brown hair falling around the siren’s shoulders.
His lips parted as he stared at the otherworldly beauty. He raised a brow as she quickly backtracked, eyes wide with fear as he sat up slowly. He groaned as he clutched his head and the dull ache there. He met her eyes once more and his gaze traveled down her well-built torso wearing a scaled swim top and her body slimmed into a pale blue tail, but the bottom was looking a little pink. He wondered at it, but before he could speak or even find something to defend himself, she opened her mouth and the voice that came from deep inside caused his chest to ache. Her words swirled around him like magic and Windsong, memories of childhood and his mother pushed at the edges. He shook his head like a dog, forcing himself to focus on her words rather than the melody with which they were given.
“I’m sorry, are you hurt? I tried to save more of your men, but I was too late.” She made a soft noise in her throat and pulled at her hair.
Rowen frowned and stared at her because he had never seen a mermaid act this way. The few he had seen were brutal and deadly, killing countless men. He had returned the favor and used his favorite cutlass on many of them.
He snorted. “I don't believe ye, sea witch. Ye be a daughter o' Calypso 'n therefore chaos. Ye wouldna care fer me scallywags. Yer kind scuttle me kind.”
The merwoman looked up and blushed, her cheeks growing a brighter blue as her bright eyes quickly filling with tears. The bottom of her tail grew pinker and he raised a brow.
“My kind do kill your kind, and so does your kind return the favor, but I did not want this. I do not want men and women of both kinds to die. It is not right. I may be a daughter of Calypso, as you call her, but I am not of the chaos.”
He shifted and leaned back on his hand, warring between finding something to bash her head in or listen because he saw no ill intent in her eyes. Only quiet grief. Suddenly she shifted and his muscles tightened, but she simply pulled a pile of seaweed from beside her. He stared at it strangely until he watched as she opened it like a rucksack and began to pull items from it.
She set them in front of him: flint, tinder, weapons, fishing line, and most things he could use to survive. She pushed it shyly toward him and looked at him behind her lashes.
“I saved what I could. I am afraid the angler beast ate your men though. I tried to save a young one, but he was far too injured. Those that I couldn’t save, I pulled them over that way.” She lifted her chin and pointed to the right. “I thought you may want to bury them or…or I can make wraps for them and allow them to go below the ocean.”
Rowen stared at her and tilted his head. “Wha’s yer name, sea witch?”
She lifted her chin higher and he saw the proud tilt to her head along with the flash of anger in her eyes, but she nibbled at her lip, holding back what she originally wanted to say.
“My name is Attina, and I am not a sea witch. I am a mermaid. What is your name, pirate?”
Rowen chuckled and shook his head. “I prefer sailor. Pirate be wha' th' lawmen call those o' us they canât catch. I only loot from those who deserve it. But me name be Rowen.”
The mermaid tilted her head and nodded. “Well met, Rowen. Do you need anything else from me?”
Rowen frowned and tried to find anything to blame the siren for, but all he saw was an eagerness to help and a gentle soul. He growled low before he spoke.
ATTINA
Attina waited with bated breath as the sailor studied her and chewed on her words. She itched to return to the water since her tail was starting to thrum and soon it would hurt as it split. She did not wish the human to see her turn to one of his kind, but she was also loathed to leave him all alone in the middle of nowhere on an abandoned island.
“Do ye make it a habit t' save sailors 'n leave them t' thar own devices? Most o' yer kind scuttle mine. Wha' makes ye so different? Why should I trust ye will nah return 'n murder me in me sleep?”
Attina gasped and glared at the large sailor. She curled her hands to her waist and squeezed tightly, trying to keep calm.
“I would never kill someone I first saved. I only would ever harm anyone in self-defense. I have done you a favor and this is how you behave?”
The sailor gave her a droll look and shifted his weight. “That was one o' yer kind’s creatures, wasn't it? So do ye blame me fer thinkin' th' worst, sea witch?”
Attina was rankled. She snorted once and with a quick flick of her tail and body, she pushed herself back into the water.
“I was here to save you, pirate, not kill you. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it. That is not one of my creature’s. My king’s, yes, but not mine. I mean you no ill will. I even brought you things to survive. Now it is up to you.”
Attina slammed beneath the water’s surface, not even waiting for him to answer. She swam away with swift strokes of her fins as anger and something else raced around in her head. She hated to leave the man, but he was so surly and rude. She had saved him and this was how he behaved?
She began to slow as doubt began to creep into her mind. He has every right to be angry, doesn’t he? After all, my people have been killing his and vice versa. How can I expect him to trust me so easily when if it were me, I would not trust him?
She sighed and swayed side to side in the sea. She looked around for a place to settle in for the night. There were not many things beneath the waves that could harm a mermaid, especially when near a village. But for a lone mermaid, there were many things, especially an enemy of the king. She was definitely an enemy now because she had saved too many humans. Attina pushed through a pile of seaweed into a cave. She looked around and with a sigh, laid her head upon the nearest pile and curled her arms around her body. Her tired mind circled back to the pirate and she realized she was lonely.
ROWEN
For three sunrises and sunsets the sailor had sat on the beach and stared at the cove where his men lay. He had chanced upon them one time, seeing the siren had indeed kept his men’s bodies safe. He sighed and ran his hands through his long black hair. He had waited for the mermaid to return to help him with cloths for his men since sand did not make a good bu
rial plot, but she had never returned. It was his own fault. He had chased her away. And though he would never admit it, he missed her bright gaze and the way she snapped at him when he took his bad mood out on her.
It was not often Rowen found himself with thoughts on another person, especially not a woman, but this one who wasn’t even human had sparked a curious thought deep in his head and warmed his heart. The fire she showed gave him a smile.
He looked one last time over the water before rising and making his way to the cover. Rowen stared at the seaweed that had washed up on shore and began gathering it. As the sun grew higher in the sky, sweat poured from his forehead.
He swore softly when his stomach growled and with a soft noise of disgust, he stood and headed further inland where he hoped some game would be present or fruit. Rowen walked further into the cool shade of nearby trees, but a sinkhole trap abruptly opened up and Rowen fell to the bottom, yelling as he hit the hard ground. He lay on his back and stared up at the blue sky while he took stock of all his limbs, moving each one to make sure of its mobility. Rowen stood and scrambled up one side of the pit, only to fall further down in. He tried to run and jump, and he missed the top by mere inches, but he continued trying.
Finally, he sat down and buried his head in his hands, exhaustion setting in heavily. He would never make it out of this one. All his men were dead and the mermaid couldn’t come on land. He closed his eyes and settled in. He would wait for death, whether by starvation or dehydration, he wasn’t certain. Slowly he drifted off to sleep.
Rowen was woken as stars winked up above and he stared up at the pretty face that looked down at him. He blinked, trying to place it because she looked familiar, but he just shook his head and growled out.
“Ain't anythin' but a mirage. Leave me.”
A soft chuckle reached his ears and he opened his eyes again and stared at the woman above him.
“Give up so easily, pirate?”
Her words settled around him and his mouth opened of its own accord as the melody of her words swirled around him and eased his aching heart.
“Sea witch?”
Confusion colored his words and he stood. The siren smiled and nodded. He studied her in the waning moonlight. Her eyes looked different and the color of her skin was not as dark as it had been. Before he could ask anything more, she disappeared, and he cried out. He reached up to dig at the sides of the pit, but he slid back down. With a soft thud, rope landed beside him and he tucked it around his waist. Using the sides as leverage, he lost his step a few times as the sand gave away, but sooner than expected he was on flat ground again and he lay there, his cheek pressed into the sand.
He looked up and studied the woman that had rescued him as she lay panting near a tree, the rope wrapped around it and her own waist. He stood and walked over, looking at her while she gazed up at him with her sea-colored eyes. His eyes traveled across her face and waist, but what sat below it caused him to stare agape. Where a blue fin had been before was now full of creamy white legs and hips. Rowen licked his lips once and then spoke through parched mouth.
“Sea witch, ye 'ave some explainin' t' do. Make it fast afore I lose me mercy 'n forget ye saved me 'n murder ye fer lyin'.”
ATTINA
Attina balked at his words and pushed herself to her feet, swaying once on the legs beneath her, still not used to them. She frowned and pointed at him.
“You would kill me when I saved you for a second time? I did not lie to you. I have been up front with you since I met you and pulled your sorry hide from the ocean. I am swiftly regretting my own mercy.”
She swayed again on noodle-like legs and with a cry, she fell into his large chest. Expecting him to let her go, she was surprised when his hands found her waist and he anchored her against him. When she glanced up, she was surprised to see everything but anger there. A small smile even danced around his lips, but he quickly cleared his throat and backed up, pushing her to steady on her own feet.
“Explain, siren.”
Attina frowned and crossed her arms quickly. “My legs were a gift. A gift I did not squander or use for ill will as my kind did. And I am not a siren! I do not use my female wiles or my singing voice to lure the hearty to their deaths. I am not like that. If I were, why would I have saved you?”
Attina growled at the pirate’s face as he studied her. She huffed and started walking back toward the water.
“I shouldn’t have come out again. I should have left you in that hole to rot.”
She was thrown off balance as a strong hand grasped her arm in an iron-like grip and pulled her back toward him again. For the third time in as many days, she was pressed against him and looking up into his brown eyes.
Rowen growled at her. “Wha' sort o' gift, sea witch? 'n why was it given?”
Attina swallowed thickly and pulled from his grasp, rubbing her hands across her arms while she spoke.
“Merpeople were given a gift because we were the great goddess Calypso’s favorites and we were good and kind. She gave us the ability to walk on land and swim in water if we were worthy of it. Most of my kind have lost it since they have murdered humans, another of the god’s favorites. I have not harmed any unless they were intent upon harming me first and I never ever killed if I could help it. I was able to keep my gift, unlike the others.”
Deep shame slid throughout Attina as she thought of her people and what they had given up. All for a personal vendetta from a king. She stared up at the pirate and was thrown from her thoughts from the deep growl in his stomach. She stared at him fearfully and spoke.
“What are you changing? Are you turning into a monster?”
As he laughed, the hair on the back of her neck to rose and she couldn’t hide the smile that lit up her face at the hearty sound.
“I be starvin', sea witch. Me stomach growled. That be all.”
Attina wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t you get food? I gave you the tools to do so?”
“Yer stomach doesn't growl when ye're starvin'? I didn' 'ave much time t' hunt fer grub. I was restin' me wounds 'n then today, I was tryin' t' send me scallywags below t' Davy Jones.”
Attina blushed and shook her head. “When I am hungry, one of my sea friends brings me food. I have never been…er…starving. And I can help you with your men. I made some seaweed cloths to bind them. I thought it would be better to send them to the deep than to bury them.”
ROWEN
Rowen stared at the curious creature in front of him. Deep down he knew most of his men and he would have murdered the sea witch in front of him. However, she had saved his life twice now, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about her. A little petite siren that could grow legs and get insulted just like a red-blooded human woman.
He watched as she looked around in curiosity. “What do priates and humans eat? I eat fish, clams, mussels, and seaweed salad is good, but…”
Rowen held up a hand hiding the smile on his face. “I saw some coconuts afore ye liberated me.”
Leaving her to watch, he slid into the nearby forest, giving the pit of hell a wide berth before he slowly climbed the tree to gather the milk fruit above him. As he tossed it down and followed behind it, he found Attina staring down at it strangely, questions clearly written on her face.
Grasping the hatchet, she had given him, he slowly opened it and handed her half.
“Drink first 'n eat th' flesh next.”
The mermaid took a small gulp of the coconut and Rowen chuckled at her look of wonder and delight. Grasping it, she pushed the supple flesh of the coconut into her mouth and he laughed at the slivers of white that covered her cheeks. He was shoved back into reality as he saw her shiver.
“Ye aren't use t' th' weather, are ye?”
She shook her head. “The water is not cold to me, but this air is with human legs. I need to return soon. If I am not careful, I will stay this way.”
A deep-seated curiosity stuck in his craw. “Would ye ever give up yer fins,
sea witch?”
Attina gasped and looked at him before she frowned in thought, the middle of her forehead creasing. “Maybe, I suppose...but nothing less than love. I haven’t spent much time with humans. You being the only one. I do not know if one could keep my interest. You seem so fragile.”
Rowen threw back his head and laughed. “Do I seem fragile t' ye, wee one?”
Attina gave a small snort of laughter. “Well, not you, but others I have met. You humans can’t hold your breath and creatures of the deep scare you.”
Rowen shifted closer and touched her arm. “I don’t scare easy, mermaid.”
Attina gave a nod and shivered again. “I’m getting colder.”
Rowen nodded and motioned for her to follow him back to the beach. She held tight to the back of his shirt, finding her way slowly in the dark behind him. Rowen bit back another smile and as she slid into the water and disappeared beneath the surface, he couldn’t squash the small pain in his chest.
Early sunrise had him rising to the sea witch as she slid from the ocean and settled behind a nearby rock with a strange bundle of cloth in her hand. Rowen watched as her face grew pained and she sighed softly, gritting her teeth. A strange popping sound had him looking around before Attina shifted and stood with a bundle of clothes in her arms.
“What is the plan today, Rowen?”
Rowen smiled and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Today we start buildin' a ship, wee maid. Aft we give me scallywags thar last rites.”