The Mermaid And The Beast

by Walleye

  “Any minute now, Milady.” Sir Rathbone warned her.

  Maryellen gripped her boar spear even tighter and was wondering when the prey would show itself when two yearling pigs covered with coarse brown hair burst from the brush at the entrance to the gorge and trotted rapidly down into the canyon.

  “Wait for it. The sows and piglets should be next.” Sir Rathbone cautioned. He was proven correct as four sows surrounded by small satellites of nearly hairless piglets who swarmed around them squealing in their excitement poured into the gorge and fled below them.

  There was an angry snorting and a large boar weighing about two hundred pounds and covered with black hair stood at the entrance facing back towards the beaters. He whirled around and charged down the gorge.

  “Mine!” Yelled the Beast. He spurred his draft horse forward and drove the spear head deep into the startled boar just above its hump and deep into its heart. The boar squealed and made an abortive lunge up the spear at its killer but it fell dead before it could reach the Beast.

  “Good job, John!” Elliot called out but her eyes never left the grass at the entrance to the gorge. This was not the time to be distracted.

  Another boar came charging out of the grass and ran down into the gorge. It was solid black and was bigger than the first. “Mine!” Sir Rathbone shouted as it was on his side of the gorge. He spurred forward and his spear plunged through its hump.

  Unfortunately this was not as complete a kill and the maddened boar charged right up the spear until it struck the boar guard where it struggled to reach the knight.

  With a shout Sir Rathbone leaped from his horse, drew his sword and still gripping the spear, drove the sword deep into the side of the boar.

  The boar screamed and flailed about wildly until it fell dead at his feet. Sir Rathbone raised his sword in triumph.

  “Good kill, Milord.” Johnston called to him.

  Both Elliot and Johnston got a boar each. After this quiet fell as the last of the wild pigs stampeded out of sight.

  “Four boars. Not bad.” The Beast declared proudly into the silence.

  He was working his spear back and forth to get the freshly killed boar off of the end of his spear when the bushes behind him shook and a giant boar strode out of the brush, snorting his fury.

  The huge, over-muscled boar was covered with silver hair and was nearly four feet at the shoulder, his tusks were nine inches long, and he weighed nearly half a ton. His glowing red eyes focused on the Beast and he roared his rage to the skies.

  As he bellowed a sickly green glow surrounded him, announcing to all that he was a creature derived from magic. He didn’t wait an instant but charged right at the Beast with his head lowered. In that moment Maryellen kicked her horse forward and aided by the fairy magic she kept her seat as her horse ran down one side of the shallow gorge and up the other.

  The Beast discarded his worthless spear and drew his sword but before he could strike the magic boar was upon him. The creature’s razor sharp tusks punctured and lifted the squealing draft horse so high that it fell kicking on its side.

  Before the horse struck the ground the Beast flung himself from the saddle but he knew he’d never get to his feet in time as the raging giant hog with its glowing red eyes bore down on him. Elliot rode her horse close and swung her sword at the beast but it only glanced from its huge hump and it lowered its head to skewer the Beast on its nine inch tusks.

  It was at that moment that Maryellen’s spear drove deep into its side and the impact of her horse behind the spear sent the magic boar stumbling away from the Beast.

  The impact also dispossessed Maryellen from her saddle. Thanks to the fairy’s magic she landed on her feet and before she even could articulate the thought the magic sword was out of its sheath and in her hand. She strode over and stood in front of the Beast as he scrambled to his feet and interposed herself between him and the boar.

  “Thanks.” He said as he lifted his sword. “But I can handle this. You would’ve been far better off if you had stayed back.”

  Maryellen didn’t answer with words but just glared at him.

  Cousin Elliot rode forward, leaned down, and struck the boar again with her sword to no better effect than she had had the first time she had tried. She cursed in frustration and then cried out as the boar twisted his head around, caught her horse under its belly and hurled her and the horse away from him.

  A boar spear slammed into the monster’s side as the head of the castle hunters spurred his horse forward. The boar ignored this pin prick and attacked the Beast again as the spear popped back out of its side.

  The Beast shoved Maryellen aside and struck the boar with his sword. The boar grunted and caught the Beast on its tusks and hurled him backwards. He fell to the ground with a groan as red blood spread across his shirt.

  Maryellen scrambled back to her feet and readied the magic sword. She strode once more between the wounded Beast and the snorting boar who was pawing the ground with its hooves and she waved her sword at it.

  The boar glared at her, snorted its contempt, and then lowered its head and charged, sounding like a steam engine. Maryellen instead of chopping at its head lunged forward and plunged the sword deep into the monster’s neck. The sword sank in up to its hilt just as the boar’s tusks slashed deep into her sides.

  There was an explosion of conflicting magic and a gaping hole was torn in the boar’s neck from which red blood fountained. Maryellen was flung backwards by the boar’s tusks and crashed to the ground with a red stain spreading across her shirt.

  Morgin fed power into her boar creation. The magic sword had nearly broken it down but since she was linked to it, then it would be very hard to kill.

  The boar shook its head as the power fed into it and the wound closed. It swept its head and tusks down to finish off this woman pest lying at its feet.

  “Noooo!!” The Beast shouted as he charged the boar, paying no attention to his own wounds. His paws fastened around the boar’s two nine-inch tusks and held them in a grip of iron as he forced it back and braced his legs so that he could keep it away from the wounded woman.

  The boar shook its head savagely trying to dislodge its attacker. The Beast planted his feet even firmer and began to exert great his strength to twist the monster boar’s head slowly to the right. The boar grunted and began to exert force in the opposite direction to the Beast, trying to break its attacker’s grip.

  In response the Beast’s shoulder muscles bunched and he grunted as he twisted even harder. As a result his coat split at the shoulders as he strained against the stamping and struggling boar. “You killed her and now you die.” He snarled.

  The Beast put a supreme savage effort into his twisting and once more the head of the boar began to rotate in his grip. This was too much for the boar as its neck was starting to break.

  With a squeal the boar fell on its side, but the Beast now stood on top of its thrashing body as he kept on twisting. There was one last squeal before the neck already wounded by the magic sword snapped with a retort like a dry branch breaking.

  The boar kicked its legs once, shuddered, and finally fell still. There was a sizzle as the magic that had animated it dissipated. This was not a good result for the Sidhe Morgin as the backlash of the broken spell threw her across the clearing and into the woods where her body impacted an ancient oak tree. With a moan she slid unconscious to the ground.

  The Beast sprang to his feet and thrust the boar’s head aside as he hurried over to Maryellen’s side. He felt his heart start beating again when he saw she was still breathing. Sir Rathbone who still had an uninjured horse rode up.

  Neither one saw the extremely scared fairy flying around, trying to feed magic to save her friend. The fairy was weeping to herself as she felt Maryellen fading away.

  “Put her on my horse, Sire.” Sir Rathbone requested. I’ll get her back to the wizard. Maybe he can save her.”

  The Beast reluctantly agreed as his body was not built f
or speed and he certainly couldn’t outrun a horse even with his magically enhanced muscles. “Take her and save her.” He ordered just before he kissed her unconscious forehead.

  I’ll do my best, Sire.” Sir Rathbone replied as he held his arms out.

  The Beast lifted Maryellen up into Sir Rathbone’s arms. Sir Rathbone cuddled her against his chest and snapped the reins with his free hand to get his horse into a movement which turned quickly into a gallop as he exerted force with his legs.

  Johnathan’s gaze never left the galloping horse until it vanished amongst the trees. He turned back to his thrashing draft horse. Its guts were twisting like snakes outside of its abdomen and it was crying out in pain.

  There would be no saving it. With regret he took his sword and ended its struggles by cutting its throat. He then started to direct the preparation and movement of the carcasses back to the butchery but his head kept turning back towards the castle.

  “Go on, Cousin.” Elliot told him with a look of understanding on her face. “I’ll take care of things here.

  “Thanks.” He turned and began to run.

  Back at the castle Belle and her two sisters were inspecting the rose garden which had caused so much trouble when they heard Sir Rathbone shouting for the wizard. They ran to see what had happened.

  Belle gasped when she saw Maryellen being handed down to two of the guardsmen. There was so much blood. “We have to stop the bleeding. Do you have any compresses?” She asked one of the soldiers as they lowered Maryellen to the ground.

  He shook his head no.

  “Well, we’ll make do.” Gwen knelt by Maryellen and with a pair of scissors cut the shirt away and peeled the bloody pieces apart to reveal the pair of ragged wounds in Maryellen’s abdomen which were bubbling red blood. She looked up. “Give me your apron, Belle.”

  Belle tore her apron off and handed it Gwen. Gwen folded the apron up and pressed it against the wounds. “I need your help, Belle. We need to have more pressure to stop the bleeding.”

  “Of course.” Belle knelt and joined her hands beside those of her sister and pressed down on the apron.

  Gwen knew this was a stopgap at the best. She looked up at her other sister. “Ella, locate that damn wizard. If he doesn’t get here quickly, then she’ll be gone.” She ordered.

  Ella nodded and used the magic locator spell that the leprechaun had gifted her with when she had hunted for Belle and Gwen inside the greedy king’s castle. An image came instantly to her mind. “He’s making out and playing around with one of the new maids down in the back kitchen.” She declared angrily, not realizing that the magic had responded to her wishes in a new way.

  Marshal Falk who had just arrived and overheard this grabbed one of the gawking soldiers. “Get your butt down there and get that amorous idiot up here right now.” He gave him a shove to send him into a stumbling run.

  “How is she?” He asked the two women.

  “It doesn’t look good.” Gwen told him. “She’s bled a lot and fever usually follows wounds like this even if we get the bleeding stopped and the wounds sewn up. With wounds like this the person is usually dead within three days.”

  Belle nodded her head in agreement as a tear trickled down her cheek.

  Unseen by the men and women a weeping little fairy hovered over her wounded friend and poured all her magic and heart into healing her. Why hadn’t that damned Toby given her enough power to fix this? Hadn’t he seen this coming?

  “I’m coming, damn you. I’m coming.” Garland the wizard came into the room practically being hauled by the arm by the soldier. He looked down and took in Maryellen and her wounds with blood saturating the apron and blanched.

  He held a hand up holding his wand and stared at the magic glow he found there. He looked down and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but it’s too late for her. It would take too much of my power. I’d be useless if I even tried and she’d still die.” He turned away, wanting to get back to his companion down in the back kitchen.

  Thistledown found herself consumed with rage at his refusal to even try. Buzzing like an angry hornet she sped right up to the wizard’s neck, grabbed his shirt collar in her fists and jerked upward so hard that he was staring right into her angry eyes while his feet dangled a foot above the courtyard floor.

  “Heal her now or I’ll turn you into a worm.” She snarled.

  The wizard thought to use his magic against her but thought better of it when Thistledown began to glow and angrily proclaimed. “You resist me and I’ll take all your power and absorb it into myself and heal her.”

  “Who are you?” He managed to gasp out.

  “Your worst nightmare, you selfish cretin, a very ticked off fairy. You combine your power with mine and we’ll heal her and I won’t feed you as a worm to the fish.”

  The wizard Garland gulped. “If I do it, then I’ll have no power for weeks.”

  “That’s better than being fish bait.” The angry fairy snarled. There was a high-pitched whine as her power began to rise.

  Wizard Garland reluctantly nodded that he would do what she wanted. What choice did he have he realized.

  The fairy dropped his shirt collar and wizard Garland as his feet hit the floor saw that everybody was staring at him in shock as they couldn’t see or hear the fairy. “On second thought I can save her.” He proclaimed. “But it means I’ll be powerless for a while.”

  He knelt down beside Maryellen and gestured for the blood soaked apron to be removed. He lifted his hands and magic sparkled around them. He brought his hands down and power flared around him as he fed it into the wounded woman. Just above the wound a small fairy fed all her heart and love into her power to heal her friend.

  A red glow sprang up and the wizard shuddered as he felt his power draining away. Maryellen’s body jerked and shivered in response as the bleeding stopped and the blood in her body cavity reentered her veins.

  “Live, Maryellen. Live.” Thistledown chanted as she fed her power into the slowly closing wound. The ripped and torn intestines became whole and rejoined. At the same time all the dirt and corruption sped out of the wounds and dispersed in the air. In response the edges of torn skin and flesh met the opposing edges and joined together.

  As the last wound closed the wizard could be seen sweating like he’d just run ten miles in the midday heat. A final surge of power sped from his hand into her body as her blood levels were restored and the wizard fell backwards where one of the soldiers caught him in his arms.

  A small and very weary fairy fluttered down and laid her head on Maryellen’s stomach. “We did it.” She whispered. “We did it.”

  Just then the Beast came staggering through the door, breathing like a steam engine. He took in the scene and asked. “Will she live?”

  “I think so.” The wizard managed to gasp out. “I wasn’t able to completely heal her. She will need bed rest for at least two weeks.”

  The Beast turned to Marshal Falk. “Take the stretcher and put her in one of the bedrooms on the main floor. See that she gets the best care we can give her.”

  “Very good, Sire. Which one do you want us to use?” The Marshal asked.

  The Beast didn’t hesitate as he wanted this brave woman close to him so he could check on her. “Use my Mother’s old room. It is four doors down from mine. I owe her my life and I’m going to see that she recovers.”

  Two of the soldiers picked up the stretcher and gently lifted it and bore Maryellen away.

  “Who will be caring for her?” The Marshal asked. “We don’t have a doctor for women and the wizard is too weak.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Belle said as she got to her feet. “I have been a nurse one time or another for either of my sisters when they were sick.”

  Gwen interjected. “And we two have done the same. We three will take turns caring for her until she’s better.”

  Ella added. “We’ll be glad to do it.”

  “Very well.” The Beast replied as he gave them a bow.
“I will be eternally grateful to you three.”

  The dinner that night was a very somber affair as the near tragedy was on everyone’s mind. It was Belle who asked with a raised eyebrow as she poked her fork at what looked like a large snail sitting in gravy. “”Pardon me. But what’s this?”

  The Beast peered at the strange concoction. “I don’t know.” He looked up and shouted. “Cook!!”

  The cook who knew this was going to happen stepped out of a doorway right behind Johnathan. “You called. Sire?”

  The Beast almost jumped a foot off his seat he was so surprised. He turned around and pointed his fork at the large snail on his plate. “What is this?”

  The cook smiled. “Escargot. It is a very French dish. Highly desired and sought after over all the civilized world.”

  “I believe they call it cooked snails.” Sir Rathbone said as he scowled at the cooked snail on the tines of his fork.

  “Snails!!” Roared the Beast. “How dare you serve my guests garden pests?”

  The cook just shrugged. “You told me to scrounge food for dinner tonight and I did so. Tomorrow night we’ll have roast pork but tonight it is escargot and truffles with a baked apple pie for desert.”

  “Maybe it won’t be so bad.” Cousin Elliot declared. She picked up one of the snails on the end of her fork and sucked the body out of the shell. “Hmm. They taste just like baked clams.” She declared.

  “Really?” Belle said. She picked one up on the tines of her fork, bit in to the flesh and chewed. “I think it’s more like chicken.”

  Sir Rathbone chuckled. “Everything tastes like chicken if someone has never eaten any of it before.”

  Belle’s sister Ella smiled at that and then she tried one. “I think that it is more like whitefish.” She declared.

  Her father stared at his plate with the snails floating in gravy just before he shoved it away. “Forgive me, but I’ll pass.”

  Ella giggled and poked his well-rounded stomach. “A good idea, Dad, as you’re starting to look like you are pregnant.”