by Nikki Dean
She watched, ever wary, as Lahni swam slowly to the surface, then began to speak to whoever was up there. Then, to Celeste’s horror, she disappeared into the boat.
Chapter 5
Celeste
Rage flowing through her soul, Celeste sped to the surface, intent upon ripping the little boat apart with her bare hands. I will not allow him to hurt her! I warned her that he was just like the rest, and would betray her! How many times do I have to repeat myself before she finally listens to me?
She gathered strength as she went, summoning the water around her to coalesce, thickening until she knew she could smash the little vessel with a flick of her wrist. Not that it would have been difficult to begin with, but there was something so satisfying about being about to decimate it at will. Coming to a stop below the hull, Celeste stretched her arms out wide, preparing to bring her hands together as two waves grew on either side of the craft, quickly growing taller than it was. Her hair flowed around her, fanning out around her head as the currents took it, playing with its length.
“Celeste, no! Stop! I’m fine!” Lahni’s shouts barely penetrated the haze of anger that had possessed her.
“Celeste! Don’t kill him!” Even Lahni’s feeble attempt at using her ill-developed Voice barely registered.
He is the enemy, and I will destroy him. He will regret ever laying a finger upon her.
It was only the sight of Lahni tumbling back into the water, swimming down to her as fast as she could, all the while screaming “No, don’t hurt Sam!” that made Celeste pull back. The waves quivered, sloshing water into the bottom of the boat as Celeste’s determination wavered.
“Don’t do it!” Lahni sobbed as she gripped Celeste’s shoulders and shook her. They twirled through the water together as they sank, neither of them trying to swim toward the surface at the moment. “Please don’t kill him, he’s my only friend! I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt him too, Celeste!”
Too? Who else does she think that I’ve hurt? The waves fell in on themselves, crashing back into the ocean with huge splashes. Lahni felt the percussive boom travel through the water to them and hugged her older sister tightly, overcome with gratitude.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you Celeste, I knew you wouldn’t really hurt him!”
Yes, I would. Celeste didn’t say the words aloud, but the mere fact that Lahni was here, in the water, unharmed meant that the fool human hadn’t done anything stupid and was undeserving of her wrath.
This time.
Lahni sped back up to the surface, determined to speak with her friend. She dragged Celeste along behind her, urging her to join them in the boat. Celeste shook her head.
Perhaps I should surface just to make certain that he is alone, she told herself. Just because he let her get away once doesn’t mean he will do so a second time, especially if I’m not threatening him.
With that thought in mind, she allowed Lahni to pull her up, her teeth bared and a growl escaping her lips as she broke the surface. It never hurts to remind him who is in charge, even if he is alone. Especially if he is alone, so he never dares to think of touching her.
He blinked in surprise, then smiled. It started slowly, building in intensity the longer he looked at her until it was as though his face were shining from within, leaving little crinkles of warmth around his lips and eyes. His brown hair, the color of an urchin’s spines, fell down close to his green eyes as he looked at her.
What’s wrong with him? Why isn’t he afraid? She hissed at him for good measure, earning a fascinated tilt of his head. He was entirely alone, aside from them.
“Hello again,” he said gently, as though he were trying not to startle her. “I’m glad you came. I never got to thank you properly for saving my life.”
What does he consider a proper thanks? The thought flitted through Celeste’s mind and nearly out of her mouth before she could hold it back. Thank the stars she managed, for she had no interest in encouraging his nonsense, or Lahni’s. Already annoyed, Celeste slipped back under the waves to keep watch, ensuring that the inky darkness didn’t bloom around his little sailboat without her notice.
Although she had no idea what she would do if it did, especially since Lahni was in the boat this time.
“I’m getting in,” Lahni said underwater, having stuck her face back in to talk for a moment. “I think you should too, since you were paying more attention to the details, but he needs to hear about what we saw. He might even know what it was.”
“Or he may have conjured it himself,” Celeste shot back. “You know better than to suggest that I speak to him. You shouldn’t do it, either.”
“I don’t think I can hurt him,” Lahni replied with a glance toward the hull. “For once, it’s a good thing that I’m a terrible siren. At least this way I won’t accidentally make him drown himself, or something awful like that.”
“All the more reason for you to stay in the water,” Celeste retorted. “As soon as we get back to Rylos, you are going to your room and going to bed. I’ll explain things to your father and tomorrow? Tomorrow you are going to begin learning how to defend yourself. Especially if you plan to keep meeting this Sam.”
Her petulant expression at being told that she was being ordered to bed like a recalcitrant babe dissipated. “You’ll allow me to see him again? You swear it?” Lahni’s exuberance, regardless of the tragedy they had so recently witnessed, caused the water to vibrate around her, giving Celeste pause.
Perhaps she does have a little power, at least. She needs to hone it, and learn to use it to her advantage. She made that small current that hit me earlier, too. Celeste didn’t say anything else, and that was apparently all of the approval that Lahni needed. She grinned before surfacing again, and with a flick of her strong tail, launched herself back into the boat.
Sam said something, the deep richness of his voice muffled by the air, not carrying the sound down to her like water would have. Celeste was unreasonably annoyed by this, and allowed herself to float upward, trying to catch their conversation and possibly discover what he knew about the disappearing ship they had seen.
Lahni laughed at whatever he had said, her little girl voice tinkling with forlorn humor.
“I didn’t think that you would come back, after the whales attacked us and you almost died,” she said, just loud enough for Celeste to hear. The gratitude in her voice rubbed Celeste’s scales the wrong way, and not for the first time, she vowed to help her little sister make some friends. Some appropriate friends.
“Of course I came back,” Sam replied. “I had to be here in case you needed me again, although I’ll admit that I had to convince myself that you and your beautiful companion were real. It took me almost a week to convince myself that I hadn’t simply gone mad, and that you and your beautiful companion were real.”
Celeste froze. Beautiful? He thinks I’m beautiful? She’d been called many things in her life, but beautiful was entirely new to her. Terrifying? Yes. Demanding? Absolutely. A good warrior? Without a doubt. But beautiful? No one had dared.
He must be lying, trying to put Lahni at ease. Humans look entirely different from mermaids, and I’m no stranger to my face. It’s all sharp angles and teeth, meant more to terrify than inspire sonnets. But I’ve heard the stories of how the first sirens would swim to the surface and lure sailors to their deaths in revenge for what the sailors did to them. I suppose the humans thought them beautiful as well, but why? We are so very different from them. It bears looking into.
“She is beautiful, isn’t she?” Celeste heard Lahni’s voice in agreement. “I tell her so too, but she doesn’t listen to me.”
That’s enough of that. I didn’t agree to this so they could talk about me behind my back! Celeste thought in anger as she sent a stream of water up over the side of the boat. She felt a rush of satisfaction when Sam began sputtering.
Unable to resist a quick peek, she surfaced and nearly choked, herself. Lahni was sitting close beside him in the little
boat, much too close, as she leaned against him to look at whatever new bauble was in his hand. His arm was around her, holding her steady as he coughed, rocking the small craft.
Lahni looked over and caught Celeste’s feral little smile of satisfaction, and answered it with a glare of her own. She pulled her hand back and began to hit Sam on the back several times.
He flinched on the last slap, and Celeste had to duck back under to conceal her laughter. He’s so weak that even a helpful pat from a child makes him flinch. What could she possibly see in him that is so appealing?
That thought in mind, Celeste surfaced once more, determined to figure out the riddle that lay between them. Luckily, it was dark enough that he couldn’t see her, and Lahni was no longer paying attention. Her focus was entirely upon a small metal disc that Sam held between them, pointing at the glass dome that covered it.
He had a solid enough frame, she supposed. No extra blubber to slow him down, but none to keep him warm, either. Celeste occasionally felt her own lack of padding when it came to swimming in the ocean’s deepest caverns, but a true warrior had little time to think of such things. Sam’s shoulders and arms looked slim when compared to the few males among her species, but she had overheard that the royal guards in Rylos were among the largest mermen to be found, although she had no idea why. They were so rare that she honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from an average male, and could not deny that Sam’s slender, whip-like frame held a certain appeal for her. She imagined it was like comparing a shark to a whale, and found herself wondering if his personality would match.
She hoped not. Lahni had experienced enough viciousness in her short life, mainly due to having the misfortune of being her younger sister, the prophesied Destroyer of their people. And after her mother had passed into the great current of life, their father had likewise drifted from Lahni’s side, throwing himself into ruling his people instead of comforting his daughter.
Sam’s face was perhaps the feature that interested Celeste the most, wider than most mers, and with a short beard liberally coating his firm jaw. His lips were fascinating as they moved, speaking to Lahni with an ease that few others displayed. Celeste couldn’t tear her gaze away, and thought for the first time that perhaps she understood a little of why the early sirens might have lured sailors into the water, aside from their angry revenge over the humans’ maliciousness.
A blossoming awareness crept over her senses and she cursed, quickly tearing her eyes from the human man. Her mind instantly replayed all of the warnings she’d heard from her old nursemaid, telling her that she should not spend so much time with the male guards, lest they inspire a needing.
“What’s a needing?” Celeste had asked one of the few mermaids she could speak freely with.
“Oh, child.” The look her nursemaid had given her was a little too all-knowing for Celeste’s tastes. “A needing is when a pretty, young siren such as yourself physically awakens, and her body demands that she find fulfillment with the male that she desires. Take care that you do not accidentally stir the impulse, or it will not let you go for quite some time. It usually only happens when a mermaid has been around her chosen partner for an extended period, although I have heard stories of it striking in an instant.”
With these words playing in her mind, Celeste narrowed her eyes and surfaced again, determined to prove to herself that she was fine, and not drawn to Sam at all.
“The arrow always points north,” he was saying quietly. “Humans use them to tell which way we are going, so we can navigate the open seas.”
Ahh, a compass. She looks interested, at least. More interested than any of the lessons I’ve tried to give her on weapons, or geography. Perhaps this human could be useful, after all. It sounded like an excuse to keep him around, even in her own head.
“It’s only the top of the ocean that looks the same like that,” Lahni replied. “Down below there are piles of rocks taller than even the biggest ships, and deep holes in the sea floor. The bottom slopes and rises, sometimes rough and sometimes the smoothest sand that is hardly ever disturbed. There are currents to carry you along and you know where you are depending on which direction they take you.”
Sam couldn’t take his eyes from her as she told him about their world, lit with a curiosity that rivaled hers. It radiated from the inside until his excitement was nearly palpable. Celeste found it fascinating. Why is he so interested in our world? Does he mean to explore, or invade? Learn or profit? She couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, this human was one who would value what he saw beneath the ocean’s glittering surface, instead of trying to abuse it. He hadn’t made any aggressive moves toward the young princess sitting in his boat, but who knew how long that would last once she informed him of the reason behind their meeting.
“I wish I could show you,” Lahni said sadly. “The waves up here are nice enough, I suppose, but they are nothing compared to what’s beneath.”
“I’ve read so many books about it,” he replied, almost in yearning. “The ocean has called to me since the first time I saw it. I’ve seen sketches of dragonfish, eels, rays, sharks and a thousand different fish, read about a hundred different coral reefs. But nowhere did I find any mention of you, or Celeste, except as monsters that lured men in to their deaths. Why is that, do you suppose?”
She looked away, toward the dark waves that were ever rising and falling. “The answer is simple. Humans created us, with their cruelty and superstition, and for a long time, mermaids did exactly what you said. They killed the sailors who tried to destroy them.”
Chapter 6
Sam
“What?” Sam breathed the word, fascinated by her story. “How did humans create you? You’re so different from us.”
“According to our legends, human men are the monsters, not us. Terrible creatures that would kill one of your females on a whim, at any time. They considered women to be bad luck on the ocean, and any time they found one on board a ship…”
“They tied her legs together with weights and threw her overboard.”
Lahni recoiled. “You know of this?”
“It’s an old legend, like you said. No one does that now, and I honestly thought it was nothing more than a story meant to keep stowaways off of the boats. I had no idea it was true, or that it had resulted in such amazing creatures as mermaids. The world truly is a strange place for such beauty to have come from such evil.”
“Don’t let that fool you, Sam. We aren’t just a bunch of pretty tails and shiny seashells.”
Sam choked a little, completely taken aback to hear such mature words coming from such a young girl’s mouth. She can’t know what she just said, or what it means on land. Surely she’s too young for such things, but how would I know? They must have merbabies, or whatever they are called, somehow. Hell, she’s is hardly more than a babe, herself. Perhaps that would be a conversation better suited for Celeste though, if she would ever speak to me.
“Celeste wears something other than just shells,” Sam replied, desperate to turn the conversation away from the awkward subject of pretty tails, even though he was dying to know more about how human legs had become them. “Why is she dressed so differently? Because she’s older?”
“No, because she’s my guard. Her armor has to be light enough to swim in, yet able to protect her from the sharpest teeth. It’s made of these tiny metal rings, all locked together. We found it on a shipwreck a long time ago, and now the armorers make copies for all of the guards.”
Her guard. I wonder why she needs one? This girl must be important, but doesn’t want to say anything. Not that I can blame her. Still, that means Celeste is important too, since she’s her older sister. Why would the older sister be a guard, instead of having her own? “Ah, chainmail. Our soldiers wear something similar,” he replied, peering over the edge of the boat as he tried to find Celeste. “It’s a good choice for flexibility and movement, but I would imagine it to be heavy to swim in.”
“She�
��s a lot stronger than you think.”
Sam thought of how quickly and easily Celeste had darted around the killer whales, faster than them and twice as agile. She had worn a glittering shirt that he could somehow see through, revealing the shells that she wore over her breasts and her smooth skin beneath. The shirt tapered to points that hung heavy over the front and back of her fin, ending around mid-thigh, if he had to guess on a human woman.
“Yes, I imagine that she is.” The subject safely changed from all talk of “pretty tails and shiny seashells,” leaving Sam to wonder about Celeste, and what she was doing out right now. She’s out there somewhere. Waiting, most likely watching us. But why, when she clearly despises me? He tried very hard not to let these thoughts distract him as he caught sight of the little girl’s expression, her eagerness for him to tell her more about the objects he had brought her.
So he had no choice but to go back to showing the little fish-girl how a compass worked, and more importantly, why it was so useful. He still didn’t know what to call her, even though she knew his name, and now he felt like they were too far beyond the point of familiarity to ask.
It was awkward. Most of the time people introduced themselves nearly every time he saw them, or at least those worth remembering did. In his experience, it was the individuals that assumed you would immediately know who they were that were the most easily forgettable. Oh, they typically had some sort of standing within the kingdom, some vague sort of importance to them, but kindness or consideration? Not usually. And thus, they weren’t high on his majesty’s list of priorities.