by Emma Hamm
“Captain!” he shouted. “Captain!”
“Get down below deck, boy!”
“No!” He pulled himself hand over hand, up the railing and stairs to the captain’s side. He flung himself onto the wheel of the ship. “You don’t know what it is you do!”
“I do, boy! We sail towards riches.”
The rain lashed against the captain’s cheeks, but he didn’t seem to feel it. He stared with blank, dull eyes into the heart of the storm. His coat flapped in the wind. Fabric cracked against his side with harsh smacks, but he did not react.
It was as if he were under a spell.
White with fear, Manus held the wheel still. “You'll kill us all.”
“It’s just a small storm. We can get through it.”
“We can’t without faerie protection!”
“Who says we don’t have that?” The captain’s eyes moved a fraction, settling on Manus. “We have one of faerie blood to keep us alive.”
“Me?” Manus shook his head. “You think they care for a drop of faerie blood in an ocean of human?”
“It’s more than any of us.”
“It’s only enough to tempt the sharks.”
Lightning cracked again, flaring so bright Manus thought he would never see again. The mast creaked in warning and fire spread across the sails.
“It's an omen!” he shouted. “We must turn back!”
“Just a bit further.”
“No!”
The captain wasn’t listening. He stared through Manus as if he didn’t exist at all.
What had happened?
Manus let go of the wheel and raced towards the back of the ship. There were lifeboats there, he could gather as many men as possible, toss them into the dingy and….
And what? Where else could they go?
The waves swelled, spilling water over the edge, causing him to slip and slide across the boards. His heart thumped in his chest, a terrible feeling, foreboding and dark. Would they die here?
Arturo poked his head out from below deck. His eyes narrowed as saltwater sprayed in his face.
“Get out!” Manus shouted. “We have to get off the ship!”
“Why? We’re safer here!”
“No one is safe in this storm!”
A deep bellow echoed, sending vibrations travelling through his feet and deep into his chest.
“What was that?” Arturo asked, his expression grim.
Manus wanted to tell his friend it was likely nothing. A whale, the groan of churning ocean waves, thunder on the horizon. But it was worse than that.
Much worse.
“Go!” he shouted, sprinting towards the lifeboats himself. “Run!”
He didn’t have enough time to take even a few steps. A wave larger than the ship swelled beside them, arched overhead, and crashed down upon the deck.
Salt water pounded down on him, throwing his body to the planks and rolling him into darkness. Wood cracked against his ribs, splintering the bones. Pain ricocheted through him until Manus couldn’t tell what hurt. Everything felt shattered.
He hit the ocean with a sharp slap that ruptured his eardrums and sent his senses reeling. His lungs burned, but he didn’t know which way was up and which was down. Was he even swimming?
A bolt of lightning struck the surface of the water, illuminating the carnage underneath the waves.
Men floated in the sudden silence between muffled cracks of thunder. Their arms hung limp at their sides, hair billowing in almost graceful tendrils. Manus peered at their faces, recoiling at the vacant expressions in their eyes.
They had drowned. And there were so many of them.
Lightning struck again, and this time he stared straight up into the sky. Swimming to the surface was nigh impossible. His arms ached, his lungs squeezed, and small dots of darkness obscured his vision.
He burst into the air with a gasp. Coughing and choking, he called out, “Arturo! Arturo, can you hear me?”
A groan echoed in the air, so loud that Manus was certain it was a beast of the waves. But it wasn’t. He stared in horror at the burning mast of the ship which tilted down… down…
Swearing, he set his body into motion and swam. The burning wood barely missed him as it crashed into the water sending ripples and waves splashing over his body
He inhaled, coughing so hard he dipped underneath the surface again. Manus was a strong swimmer and even he was having a difficult time finding his bearings. Swimmers needed to be calm and let the ocean do the work for them.
And yet, it felt very much like the ocean was working against him.
Hands grasped his ankle, and he shuddered. Had the faeries come? He had known they wouldn’t allow humans to enter their lands without retribution, but he hadn’t expected them to be so cruel.
To sink a ship needed magic. And there were only a few creatures in the ocean with magic strong enough for that.
The hands clawed up to his thigh, his chest, and then a head burst out of the water. Dark hair plastered to his skull, his beard stuck over his mouth, but Arturo was alive.
Manus grabbed onto him, forcing Arturo to stay above the waves. “You’re alive!”
“Not for long. Look at the ship.”
He had seen the ship. The crumbling pieces, the burning sails, the hole in the side which hadn’t been there before.
“What could have caused this?” Arturo asked. “What madness lives in these waters?”
“No madness,” Manus replied. “Just the Fae.”
“The faeries did this?”
“I tried to tell the captain to turn around. There was only one way for this to end.”
And now they would all face the mercy of the sea.
He cursed the captain and his foolishness for thinking he could enter faerie lands and steal their cursed riches. What had possessed him to think he could claim it?
“Manus,” Arturo gasped. “Manus, what’s the plan?”
“Plan?”
He didn’t have a plan. He might like the ocean as his mistress, but he didn’t want to rest in her arms forever.
Manus glanced around, finding a small bit of debris within reach. The plank wouldn’t float forever, but it would ease Arturo’s exhaustion. He pushed the other man up onto the board and tried to grin.
“See? We’ll be fine. I’ll get you back to your wife in no time.”
“If I don’t make it—”
“I won’t hear it, Arturo.”
“You have to find my wife—”
“Stop talking.”
“Tell her I love her and that the child would have meant more than the world—”
“Enough!” The shout was too harsh, too ragged, but he couldn’t listen to his friend plan his own death. “We’re going to live, Arturo.”
“We’re in the middle of the ocean with a ship that’s slowly sinking. I’m not going anywhere.” Arturo shook his head ruefully. “But you? With that faerie blood, you might stand a chance.”
“You know better than to put trust in rumors.”
Faeries didn’t care if he was the bastard son of a bastard son. They didn’t care there was a drop of their own kind in him.
Still, it wasn’t the time nor the place to dash Arturo’s hopes.
Manus nodded. “Aye, I’ll tell her.”
“Good.”
“But I’m staying with you until we figure out what we’re going to do.”
Arturo’s teeth chattered. His expression said he didn’t believe Manus for a second, but he gave a firm nod all the same.
There had to be something they could do. The mistress of the ocean took away their ship, and she would give them something in return. That’s how it always worked.
Manus just had to find what she had exchanged.
“Manus?”
“Yes, Arturo?”
“Do you ever see shadows in the water?”
“Sometimes.”
“Large moving shadows?”
He stilled as cold fear trailed
down his spine. “How large?”
“Bigger than a ship. Bigger than a whale.”
He’d only heard of such things in myths and legends. Old sailors whispered of creatures so large that the ocean could barely contain them. Creatures that patrolled the faerie waters and removed any who did not belong there.
A guardian.
Swallowing hard, he patted Arturo’s shoulder. “Stay alive, sailor. I’ll take a look.”
“You be careful.”
“Faerie blood, remember? I’ll be fine.”
He likely wouldn’t be. Manus couldn’t imagine what a guardian would do to him, the stories never went that far. The sailors always said they had seen the beast but couldn’t describe what it looked like. Or even what it really was.
Just a faerie in the water who was larger than life. Not exactly helpful.
Manus took a deep breath, ducked underneath the surface, and opened his eyes. The murky darkness revealed no secrets, no oddities, no guardian. The burning sails fell and landed not too far away.
Whale oil spread across the surface of the ocean, carrying with it orange light. Spears of fire sank beneath the waves and bounced off the surface of an ink dark hide.
He followed the line of the body that floated near the wreckage of the ship. It was like a whale in texture, smooth, supple, no scales to deter from the sleek body. A large hand shifted. It reached through the water and grabbed the remains of a lifeboat.
His stomach clenched. It was big enough to palm a lifeboat?
Smaller shadows moved all around the strange creature. Sharks? Beings it had at its beck and call?
The guardian paused, hesitating for a moment before he realized it had a head. Not just a whale head, but a human head. She wasn’t a beautiful thing in the slightest, with hair shaved close to either side of her skull and lacking a nose. But those eyes were eerily human, and they were staring directly at him.
Manus gulped and kicked to the surface. It had seen him. The guardian had seen him, and now what was he going to do?
He looked over at Arturo with fear racing through his veins. “I’m sorry, old friend. I don’t think I’ll be taking that message to your wife after all.”
“What is happening? Manus, what did you see?”
The image of the guardian seared into his mind for all time. What could Manus say? That he had seen a beast which lurked in the depths of the ocean? That this creature shouldn’t exist, shouldn’t be possible, yet it had stared back at him with eyes as black as hell?
No. He couldn’t tell Arturo any of that. Not when he felt the waves lapping at his neck and knew the guardian was coming for them.
Humans had no place in faerie waters. They should never have come here, and though it hadn’t been their choice, the guardian wouldn’t care. There would be no reasoning with a creature meant to hold the gates of faerie oceans closed.
He gulped. “Think of your wife. Picture her face in your mind and don’t let go of her image.”
Arturo licked his lips. “We’re going to die.”
“It’ll be quite a story to tell if we survive.”
The wave swelled and crested over their heads. Manus tumbled beneath their weight, shoved deeper and deeper into the dark depths.
He threw his arms wide, pushing and punching against the wall of water until he stilled. Floating far beneath the surface, he stared up at the meager light. It disappeared as the guardian passed overhead.
She paused and stared down at him with an eye so large he saw his entire torso reflected in it. Spots danced in his vision as she swam by. With one flick of her tail, she pushed him even farther down into the heart of the sea.
Saoirse held her breath and watched as the ship sank. It was a rare sight for a merrow. Ships rarely traveled into faerie waters.
Especially unmarked ships.
Her heart clenched as she saw her sisters dart through the waters, grabbing the bodies of fallen sailors who hadn’t known any better. The humans didn’t understand that yellow was a soothing color to the guardian who then would allow them to pass. Why didn’t they know to paint the hulls for smooth passage?
Another merrow swam past, her tail flicking aggressively as she swarmed with the others. They would take the bodies of the sailors to their homes. Humans made good food for the bottom feeders, and they would help keep small fish and snails alive.
She understood why they needed to die. Humans were the ones who had chased the faeries out of Uí Néill long ago. They only knew how to fight and rage at the world.
They didn’t look like the rage-filled creatures of lore as their limp bodies drifted with the currents.
Saoirse could easily picture her father’s livid expression when he found out she had come with the guardian. She was supposed to be searching for a husband, speaking with all the merrow men who were interested.
There were less than her father had expected.
She knew she shouldn’t feel pride in that, but she did. Saoirse wanted to be an old maid. She wanted to live on her own, in peace and quiet, passing her days in the grotto with her tree.
Why was that so hard for him to understand?
The guardian sang out, her melancholy song marking the end of their battle. Not that it was ever a battle when a guardian was involved. No one could stop the sheer power her dearest friend wielded with a blithe smile.
Merrows flashed by. Their scales glimmered in the dim light, feral smiles on their faces as they dragged their prizes down into the depths. They called out for Saoirse to follow them, but her gaze caught on a dark shadow.
A silhouette hovered in the crystal-clear water, suspended above slowly sinking planks and great swaths of sails.
She bit her lip. The guardian swam overhead and traced a gentle finger down Saoirse’s spine. She knew what the message was.
Go home, little merrow. Back to safety and family.
Angry thoughts bubbled in her head. If she were to marry an ugly, mean creature who wanted to beat her down with a heavy hand, then she would do as she wished while she was still free.
Casting a defiant glance at the guardian, she swam towards the man. He floated, long dark hair billowing like ink around him. It was sad he had died. He was handsome.
The current shifted his clothing, lifting his shirt to reveal ridged bumps that trailed down his stomach and disappeared under the fabric of his pants.
She cocked her head to the side. His legs weren’t as repulsive as the merrow men’s, although she still found it strange that he had two. They weren’t as frog-like and they certainly weren’t scaled.
He was handsome, in a chiseled kind of way. A long nose, strong jaw, and dark piercing eyes all melded together to create a pleasing face. His skin was burned to a dark, earthen color by the sun.
Saoirse reached up and marveled at her pale skin in comparison. She looked like the moon, silver and pale and shimmering with an inner light, whereas he was dark and swarthy, like the night sky.
Temptation’s song was too much for her to ignore. She touched the high peak of his jaw, her expression softening. He felt just like she did, soft and warm.
Her brows drew down. Warm?
The man’s eyes snapped open, staring directly into her dark gaze.
She flinched back, swinging her tail up to cover her face and vulnerable torso. But he did not attack as she had expected. Instead, he lifted a hand towards her. Then, his entire body jerked. The spasm rocked down his entire frame and his eyes rolled back in his head before he went limp.
Saoirse pressed her hands against her mouth. He was alive! How was it possible that the guardian had missed him?
Or had she? Perhaps the guardian hadn’t wanted Saoirse to go back at all. Perhaps she wanted the tiny merrow to meet a human for the first time.
Resolve settling on her shoulders, she surged forward, slid her arms underneath his body, and swam to the surface. Her strong tail propelled them; his added weight was nothing in the water.
Would he like that? Would he be
frightened of her because she could hold his weight? She knew nothing about humans.
They broke into the air with a wild splash. Saoirse tilted his head up, cupping the back and helping his body float.
He wasn’t responding. Weren’t they supposed to do something other than lie there?
“You’re supposed to breathe,” she whispered. “Humans are supposed to breathe.”
She pressed her hands against his cheeks, patting gently. His head lolled to the side and dipped beneath the surface before she could grab it.
“No,” she groaned. “It’s not supposed to be like this. Wake up! Please wake up.”
Water bubbled between his lips, frothing over his cheeks, and then he coughed. Coughed so hard he slipped from her arms, but she quickly yanked him back to the air.
“That’s it,” she encouraged. “That’s it!”
His body curled away from hers. Each wracking cough sounded painful to her ears. Was he hurting himself? Could humans do that with such a simple thing?
Saoirse panicked. She didn’t know the first thing about human anatomy. What if he coughed himself to death?
She shivered, pulled him close to her chest, and swam. There was an island nearby. Small, nothing that would sustain a man for a lifetime, but enough he might live for a little while.
Her father would be livid if he heard about this, so she would need to keep him secret. Her human was still weak, and no one needed to fight with a merrow man when they weren’t well. And her father was a very large merrow man.
The man’s body scraped against her scales. Saoirse winced as a few wiggled loose and floated on top of the waves. They would grow back, but she hated the itchy feeling as they healed.
He slowly stopped coughing, but his body fell limp again. She hovered a hand over his mouth to make sure he was still breathing. Strong gusts of air buffeted her palm.
Good. He would live.
Setting her jaw, she turned her attentions to the faint outline of an island far away. It wasn’t Tir na nOg, even she wasn’t foolish enough to bring him to the realm of the Seelie Fae. Nor was it Hy-brasil, she didn’t want to imprison him with the unruly prince.
No. It was a quaint little place with only Lesser Fae to bother him. She would bring him food, scoop fresh water from the depths of the ocean and bring it back to him. He would stay alive.