by Exley, A. W.
"Storm's coming in fast," someone shouted. Small peaks formed out in the harbour as the breeze turned into wind and whipped the water. Boats rocked back and forth on the growing swell. People on the beach moved to their homes to close shutters and take in washing that threatened to blow away on dancing lines.
Sailors rushed down the pier to climb into long boats and dinghies to row back to vessels starting to pitch with the lapping waves. No boat from the Edge was left, but the two lads sat in their dinghy and raised their gazes to the darkening sky.
"Come on boys, one quick run out to the Edge and then you can tuck up inside." Fenton plastered an encouraging grin on his face and held out a gold coin.
Hard cash overrode their reservations about the weather. "All right, gov," one said.
The one with mechanical legs took up his position draped over the stern and as soon as Fenton's arse hit the seat, the lad kicked out with all his strength. They powered through the water faster than any sail, as his friend guided the dinghy toward the Razor's Edge.
They bumped against the larger vessel and Fenton grabbed the dangling ladder. The boys tried to hold the little boat steady in the growing toss of the sea. No sooner had his foot secured the lowest rung than the two boys headed about and powered back to shore, not that he could blame them. The clear blue sky turned bruised within a short half an hour, the summer's day disappeared under broad brush strokes of black and grey. The sun hid and premature dusk settled over the island. The wind grew stronger and tugged at Fenton as he climbed up the side. By the time he reached the deck, a shaft of lightning shot across a silent sky and lit the underside of the clouds a brilliant blue.
He stepped over the railing into organised chaos. Storms could be fatal at sea but everyone knew what to do. The ship would stay in the relative shelter of the harbour while the brunt of the tempest hit the open ocean where waves rose up high enough to swamp a vessel, or a powerful downward crash could split one it two. Lightning could snap a mast and send it crashing to the deck below. Nature had many ways at her disposal to dispatch sailors.
"Lash down the sails, lads," Reis yelled as he strode over the deck. "And double check everything is secure." His black gaze turned to Fenton. "I do hope this is none of your doing."
He held his ground and met Reis with a steady gaze. "I unleash the kraken when told, I'm not a weather god, Cap'n." He just hoped no one noticed that the storm originated from the volcano's peak and spiralled out across the heavens and harbour from that central point. Even the lightning shot from the island's tip.
Reis froze, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword. The captain's black gaze cut through him but Fenton remained standing. The other man's hold over him now as insubstantial as the grasp of a ghost. Reis grunted and turned back to watch the incoming storm.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll go check your retirement fund is secure and won't come to any harm in the storm." He took his leave of the captain and exercised all his control to walk calmly across the deck.
At the yawning entrance to the hold, he jumped down the steps, bending his knees to absorb the shock as he hit the ground. Ailin clung to the side of her crate but all her attention was fixed to the small porthole and the light show beyond. Each flash lit up the dark hold as full night gripped them in the middle of the day. Water sloshed back and forth around her form as the ship began to pitch higher. Soon, the water would tip from her prison with each roll. Other vessels in the harbour remained in relative calm as though the gusts of air attacked only the Edge.
"Nancy?" she asked, her eyes gleamed bright.
He leaned over and picked her up. "Yes, his storm is coming in hard. The ships are all safe in the harbour but it's time to set you free. No one would be fool enough to brave this in a small boat to pursue you."
She took his face in her hands and kissed him. Hard and desperate. Their tongues twined for what he knew was the last time. He drank in every piece of her but his soul stood in calm. Finally he did the right thing.
"I will not go without you. We trust Nancy and do this together," she said. Small lines feathering from the corners of her eyes as she frowned at his silence.
He hesitated, the lie on his tongue tripped and fell back down.
"Fenton?" she breathed his name and a tear shimmered in her gaze. "Please?"
He swallowed. "We will both be free, I promise you."
She shook her head as her hands clung to the fabric of his shirt. "We must trust Nancy, he will find a way."
He kissed her again and silenced her protest as the lights flickered off and the storm plunged them into night. When he walked, his body swam through molasses. Each step placed with precision in the dark. He didn't want to drop Ailin or stumble. He waited for a flash to illuminate his way as he took the stairs slow as the vessel rolled under his feet. Up on deck, men worked to rope down anything left unsecure. Sea spray splashed over the sides and wet the timbers, turning them slick and dangerous.
He tightened his grip on Ailin and walked toward the railing. Men turned from their tasks to first stare, and then encircle him. He held a fortune in his arms. Their fortune.
Reis blocked his path, the lightning lit him from behind and revealed the armed men behind him. "Stop right there, Mr Fenton. What do you think you're doing?"
The air grew hot and close as the clouds dropped and sweat trickled down the back of his shirt. "My intent has always been obvious, I am releasing Ailin." He swallowed but kept his eyes on the white tips of ocean, beckoning, promising to hold Ailin as safe in the watery embrace as he would.
Hands moved to weapons and still they circled closer, predators closing in on their prey. Eyes glowed with each flash from above. Teeth were bared. None would let him proceed without a fight.
"You don't have to do this," Ailin whispered against his ear. "They will hurt you. Take me back to the hold, please." Her hands curled in the linen of his shirt.
Still her concern remained for him and not what they would do to her. The captain condemned her to die in a week's time but she worried the crew would draw their weapons against him. What had he done to deserve such love? He knew what he had to do. He would free her. Now.
Yusuf stuck out a long leg and raised an arm. Fenton dodged but failed to see the boot and stumbled. He went to his knees and tried to protect Ailin as she lay on the deck at his feet. Men reached for her and tried to drag her from under him. He grabbed his sword and struck out while trying to keep her safe.
A man gripped her hair and tried to pull her away. She screamed and Fenton wheeled, slashing at an arm. A deeper cry replaced hers and a hand lay on the deck as the man retreated. Overhead thunder cracked as the very heavens shrieked.
"You'll not touch her," he yelled, standing over her. She wrapped an arm around his leg and curled her small hand into his. "I love her."
Reis laughed over the building storm. "I knew you had gone soft, but I didn't realise it had rotted your brain so thoroughly."
Crew laughed with the cackle of hyena, their eyes glowing in the artificial dusk.
"Take him down, boys," the captain said.
He fought and tried to stand guard, but was no match against over fifty enraged sailors. Sailors grabbed Ailin's tail and pulled her backwards along the deck. Blades slashed Fenton's body, fists connected with flesh and his vision distorted as pain took hold and blood leaked into his eyes.
"Leave him be," Ailin cried, her arm outstretched. She thrashed in the rough hold of three men.
Reis laughed. "Oh how poetic and so fitting. The fish is trying to defend you. You were never a real man, were you Fenton?"
"Don't Ailin. It does not matter." His head dropped forward as he lolled between the men holding him upright. Blood soaked through his clothing and dripped onto the deck. His breath heaved in his chest as he tried to mute the pain. This was good, Reis played his pieces as he anticipated.
"I wonder, does the cold fish return your affection?" Eyes turned to drill into Ailin.
She tilted he
r chin and set her jaw. Never once did she shrink under their hard regard. "I love him and you cannot keep us apart."
More laughter. "We don't have to try to keep you apart. Let me explain it to you." Reis pointed to Fenton. "Man." Then he pointed to Ailin. "Fish."
For a mermaid trapped on a deck at the feet of sailors she somehow grew, her disdain for Reis palpable. "It does not matter to me what form. I love his true self, you are incapable of understanding that."
Fenton's heart swelled at her words, but he would destroy that love she held to save her.
"Is that so? Shall we test that hypothesis?" Reis only whispered the words for like magic the wind dropped. Lightning flickered over the clouds but did not strike. Silence fell over the deck as nature herself waited, holding her breath to see what would happen next.
"What does he mean?" Ailin tried to drag herself to Fenton but a sailor grabbed her tail and hauled her back.
Fenton raised his head to stare at the captain. "You wouldn't dare, not here in front of everyone." His lips pulled in a sneer, daring the man who wielded control over him. He caressed his last piece on the board. He couldn't win this match, but he could make the other man lose.
"Oh I rather think I would, if only to disillusion our fish and show it you most certainly are not the man she thinks you are. I control you. I dictate the form you take." He leaned in with each word, his hand caressing the large brass switch in the middle of the gauntlet. With the last syllable, he flipped it down. A blue flash raced up his arm and into his torso and then a pulse washed over the deck. "Let us show it the true monster you are."
Fenton's body went rigid and then he screamed. An agonising noise that made his back arch and bow in the hold of his crewmates. The tattoo on his body writhed as it struggled to be free. Above the storm broke, the clash of thunder met with the heavy rain that pelted the deck, just as an inked tentacle ripped his skin apart and reached upward, shredding the linen of his shirt.
"You're killing him," Ailin cried out.
Reis shook his head and laughed as those around him sought shelter from the driving rain. "I'm showing you his true face. Let's see if you still want to take him in your arms."
The sailors dropped Fenton and he tore at his clothing as the tattoo heaved and lifted from its fixed place and then wrapped around his shattered body. Blood spilled over the deck to be washed to the side by heavy droplets from above. His skin tore off in hunks and still he screamed.
A sob welled up in Ailin's throat as Fenton's shape contorted and grew. A shadow fell over him and rippled outward. Men stepped back, no one wanted to be in its path. Except Reis, he stood his ground and watched the change unfold.
For one moment, Fenton looked up and met her gaze. Pain distorted his features. I love you, he mouthed and then fell to his hands and the shadow devoured him.
Chapter Nineteen
Tears streamed down Ailin's face, as from the darkness the demon arose. It undulated across the deck as it took form, rising up and up. The laughter choked in the throat of the sailor holding her as the beast struck out with a tentacle and knocked him sideways. He skidded along the wet deck on his arse and didn't stop until he hit the side.
"See what he is," Reis said, facing her. "All this time, the kraken hid inside his human form. The man you claim to love is just a mindless monster."
"No," she whispered and shook her head, her gaze riveted to the gigantic cephalopod that flowed over the entire deck. Tentacles hung over one side, its head turned to Ailin and the eye fixed on her.
"Down boy, the show is over," Reis yelled and flicked the switch on his gauntlet. The kraken screamed as the pulse shot across the ship and arched through its body. Another tentacle snaked out and wrapped around Ailin. It lifted her high into the air and then tossed her overboard.
"No!" Reis hollered.
The last thing Ailin saw before she hit the water was a tear in the kraken's black eye as Reis screamed, pulled his sword and then plunged it into the monster's hide.
No. Not a monster. Fenton.
Fenton was the kraken, his form manipulated by Reis and his gauntlet. That's why he pulled her to him like the tide to shore. The landwalker exterior hid an aquatic creature and her heart knew all along. Merfolk mated for life and her body recognised her mate in Fenton.
Lightning flashed as thunder tore the air apart. The kraken tossed her far from the ship and the storm vented its anger on those below as the ocean embraced her. Down she swam, to the bottom of the shallow harbour. The tears floated away from her and mingled with the salt in the water as she tried to think. She could not help Fenton on her own and needed some way to reach Nancy.
The volcano, he said. If she ever needed help, she was to trust him and swim for the dark land mass. Her natural instinct for self-preservation baulked, it was crazy to swim too close to shore in the storm where the rising water and fierce waves could toss her up the sand. In her mind, she held the image of the sword driving into Fenton. He needed her. Using his name on her lips like a talisman, she headed toward shore as her heart pounded in her chest, terrified men would wade out from the beach and drag her in. As she neared she noticed a dark patch of sand and the tug of a current. Swimming closer to the dark shape, the bottom of the harbour dropped away sharply and revealed the mouth of a tunnel.
She cast one glance up and over her shoulder. The lightning showed the hulls above, even in the height of the storm, some men thought to secure a fortune and nets were thrown overboard from the ships as they sought to catch her. None came this close to shore though, the sailors certain she would head for the narrow gap in the sea wall and the open ocean beyond.
"Trust", she whispered. I will trust the landwalker.
She plunged into the dark. The water around her calmed as though the effect of the storm raging beyond could not enter with her. On and on she swam in the dark. At least the walls of the tunnel were smooth when she brushed against them. The rock sanded or worn so that nothing jutted out. Gradually, light filtered through from up ahead and the tunnel slanted to the source.
She broke the surface of a large pool in an underground cavern. Far overhead, tiny lights twinkled embedded deep in the rock. A small jetty stuck out over the water and she paddled to it. White sand sparkled along a short stretch of beach. Trees in the jewel tones of emerald and lime crowded at the edge of the sand. A pair of enormous turtles munched a pile of leaves and an old man sat at the end of the pier.
It wasn't Nancy.
This man looked of a similar age with lines etched in his face but instead of a long ponytail, his white hair was closed cropped to a pink scalp. Where Nancy was thin and short this landwalker was wider and taller, although he wore the same long silk robe, his in tones of brown and caramel.
"Hello," she said, floating nearby. If this man dwelt in Nancy's hidden cavern, she assumed he was friendly, not that she had anything left to lose. "I need to find Nancy, he has to save Fenton."
The man gazed down at her. "Hello, Ailin. Nancy said we should expect you and to tell you not to worry about Fenton."
"He will be all right?" She swam closer to gaze up at the stranger who knew her name.
"Yes, Nancy said he will free him from the ship. Until he arrives, you are safe with us."
Us? Only now, close to the jetty did she notice the other creature mostly submerged in the water. In length it was bigger than the kraken, but narrow like an arrow and its hide shimmered blue and green like her tail. Her brain couldn't determine if it were a strange creature or a type of vessel. Ailin gasped. Her gaze shot to the old man and understanding crashed into her mind.
"You're Weston."
He nodded and a sad smile touched his lips. "Yes."
She pointed to one side. "Which means that ship is the Curiosity."
The lips twitched this time as though she touched an old joke. "She doesn't like being called that, her name is Sahara."
Ailin didn't understand, part of her brain still worried about Fenton bleeding out on the dec
k of the Razor's Edge and it was slow to process the man's words. "That is the ship's name?"
"Sahara is Sahara's name." His eyes shone when he said the name, his tongue caressed the syllables as they passed his lips.
These ore-mancers talked in riddles. The strange vessel drew her, the gleam on the scales so similar to her own but so much larger. She swam closer and ran a hand over the side. She expected cold metal, but this was warm and something else…
She drew her hand back with a start. The ship pulsed under her hand. It breathed. A slight in and out motion caused a tiny ripple in the water at its sides.
Weston stood and walked down the jetty, keeping abreast of her movement through the water. "You are safe here, only those invited by Nancy can access the caverns."
She laid her hand back on the large scales. "The vessel breathes."
He nodded. "Yes, Sahara breathes."
Ailin wished she could understand, there was a meaning here that skated close to her love for Fenton. If she could understand one, perhaps she could save him. "You made the ship to save the woman you loved."
A tear rolled down his face. "I could not live without her. Selfish, I know. The ore-mancers would have turned her into an automaton and forced her to work in the mines of Unus Talamh until her parts wore out. I would not sentence her to such a fate. Our love caused her injury, I had to try and save her. Trying was the only thing that gave my life meaning."
Ailin frowned. "It was never your fault. That lays with those who tried to keep you apart. Your love sustained her."
The vessel rippled under her hand and Weston laughed. "That's what she says, to stop beating myself up over it. It happened long ago and what matters is that we found a way to be together."
Ailin smiled. She liked this vessel. "Females are often the smarter of a species."
Weston gazed at the strange ship and a smile lit his face. In that moment, Ailin glimpsed the truth he held inside.
"You still love her," she said. It radiated from him as unchanged as the day he first saw her over fifty years ago.