by J. J. Egosi
“I’ve finally found you guys. About time.”
The girls looked at him in stunned silence, wondering how the man they were searching for had found them and in such a desolate and misbegotten region.
“Where the fuck did you come from?” Alexa asked.
“And how did you manage to find the ship?” Julianna cut in.
“It’s kind of a long story if you could believe it,” Michael said with a laugh. “I was taken to this city.”
“A city?” Ursula raised her eyebrow.
“Yes, and it looked like it had seen better days. It was mostly ruins when I arrived.”
“Wait, did you say ruins?” Julianna asked.
Michael nodded and wiped his mouth clean. His voice carried a peculiar slur, and the girls wondered if it had been due to stress he might have endured.
“So, after being taken there, I was”—
“Just hold on a minute,” Isabella asked.
“Yeah, something wrong?”
“Are you drunk?!” Isabella said, noticing the redness in Michael’s face.
“What, drunk? Me, never!”
Michael had a hazy recollection of binge drinking and festivities with the merfolk of Atlantis. He couldn’t remember many faces; only supple female bodies and enchanting voices.
“I think you have me mistaken for another”—he broke mid-sentence with a hiccup and a giggle—“Another archangel named Michael.”
“Damn it. How could you just throw your sobriety out the window like that?!” Isabella screamed.
“Even after I tried to help you with that potion!” Julianna snapped.
“Potions? I don’t need any potions. Not after what she gave me. I can breathe just fine.”
“You won’t be once I get my hands round your neck!” Julianna said.
He sloppily climbed out of the ship and fell over into the water. He laughed awkwardly, then picked himself up and trudged toward them.
“Besides, why would I ever drink when I’m drunk on you ladies?” He fell in Isabella’s arms. “That’d be so silly.”
Alexa rolled her eyes. The others were just as disparaged by the state of Michael.
“Flattered as I am by what I’m sure is supposed to be a compliment”—
“The greatest compliment for the greatest of ladies,” he interjected.
Alexa sighed. “It’s clear that wherever that mermaid took you, there was drinking involved.”
“Yes, I can smell the liquor in his breath from here,” Julianna said.
“I can’t believe Michael went having fun with another woman like that,” Isabella said.
Ursula scowled. “Pig.”
“Agreed. That mermaid must have left shortly after to deal with her unfinished business,” Julianna said.
“But not without ruining his progress in sobriety. Talk about insult to injury. That fucking bitch.” Isabella sneered.
Michael continued to giggle and mutter things to himself.
He intensely stared at Alexa’s face as if concentrating on every detail of her face. Alexa stood back, growing uneasy from the sudden and close contact.
“You’re really pretty. I want you to know that,” he said.
“That’s neither here nor there,” Alexa replied with a blush. “You need to sit down and get some rest. You can hardly walk; let alone fight in this condition if we needed you to.”
“Fight? I’m not a fighter. I’m a lover. And a damn good one, too.” He cuddled against Alexa’s arms. “Just you wait and see.”
“I must say drunk Michael is quite the affectionate sort,” Ursula said. “I could get used to that.”
“Idiot, don’t you get it? Michael’s drunk. And you know what that means?” Alexa snapped and pushed him away.
“Oh, right,” Ursula replied with anguish in her tone. “Sorry.”
“He should be sorry. He made all this progress just to throw it away.”
“What exactly do you think happened?” Ursula asked. “What could have made him do such a thing?”
“We’re not going to get any answers out of him like this.” Julianna watched him stumble about and giggle.
“So, what should we do?” Isabella asked, watching his eyes spin across the cave, as he goofily smiled at everyone.
“Like I said, he needs rest. We can chew him out later.”
“I suppose collecting payment will still have to wait, once again. Shit.” Isabella took a deep sigh.
The girls looked at one another, remembering what they came here for, in the first place. The endless obstacles drained their energy and enthusiasm but they were determined to complete the task.
“Yes, it seems that way,” Alexa replied, laying him down in the sand.
“How long can we wait, though?” Ursula asked.
“It’s only a matter of time before more merfolk arrive.”
Julianna gazed at the merfolk she killed still leeching onto the shore in seaweed. The bubbles forming on the shallow water left her feeling uneasy; the others shouldn’t have been too far behind.
“That’s very true. Luckily for us, he managed to find my steamcraft.”
The battered state of the steamcraft gave Alexa a speck disappointment, but she was still pleased to have it back.
“It must have sunk its way into the city where he arrived,” Isabella said. “I bet he used it to make his way back here.”
“Despite being intoxicated, he’s really quite resourceful and thinks fast on his feet,” Julianna said.
Michael began rolling back and forth in the sand. Drool poured down his reddened cheeks as he laughed in his sleep.
“I think you’re all missing the headline here,” Ursula said.
“We aren’t,” Alexa said sullenly. “His two weeks of cleaning up his act are gone. Now, he has to start over.”
Julianna and Isabella couldn’t shake the disappointment, knowing how hard he’d worked for those two weeks of sobriety.
“That’s not what I mean, actually.”
“What do you mean, then?” Alexa asked with a raised eyebrow. “What could be more pressing?”
“This city he was taken to. Do you think it could be”—
“You girls are so loud. Please stop screaming,” he said as he creaked his eyes open. “Where am I?” He examined his surroundings.
“Hey, he’s waking up!” Isabella said.
“Guys…” Michael quickly sat up, frantically looking around the cave. “What’s going on? How’d we get here?!”
“Hey, just relax for now. Are you alright?” said Isabella.
“Yeah, I guess. I have this throbbing pain in my head, though. It’s like I got ran over by a horse or something.”
“Do you remember anything about how you got here? Maybe a face you saw or something you did?” Ursula asked.
“Not really. Sorry.” Michael rubbed the back of his head and grimaced in pain. The girls looked the other way, entrenched in sadness.
“What is this place?”
“That’ll take too long to explain. Right now, we need to find the merchant so we can collect our earnings,” Julianna said.
“Alright… any idea where that merchant might be?” Michael asked.
The girls all looked at each one another, unsure of where to start.
“Well, Ursula might know. She can read the writings across these walls. Maybe she can find some clues to their whereabouts?” Alexa said.
Ursula reluctantly nodded. “I suppose I could try that.” She looked over at the writings and studied the many lines of scriptures as the others nervously hung over her shoulders. She then pointed down a tunnel. “There. The writing here says that tunnel should be able to get us where we need to go.”
“She can’t read a spellbook, but ancient texts like this are no problem for the jungle girl,” Julianna said.
“Please don’t call me that.” Ursula pouted.
“A tunnel, huh? It looks a bit strange.”
Michael noticed a speeding current
within a large gaping hole in the cave wall. It looked more like a whirlpool than a passageway.
“Yes, inside it is a current. It’s a bit complicated to explain, but I remember merfolk traveling—I mean, I would use them all the time as a kid to get to my destination faster,” Ursula said with a nervous laugh. “They really help you escape those lizardmen in a pinch.”
“Nice save,” Alexa said with a dim-eyed glare.
“Well, if you say so,” Michael said.
“Before we do anything, I’m not going to leave my ship behind for a second time.”
Alexa trudged through the water with her infinity bag in hand. She opened it wide and performed a spell. In moments, it began to suck in her steamcraft into the opening; condensing it until the whole thing fit inside the bag.
Alexa smiled as she looked over at the astonishment on their faces. “What are you looking at? Come on.”
“Follow me,” Ursula said.
The group nodded before walking up to the current’s whirling entrance.
“Well, here we are,” Ursula said, looking down into the fast-flowing waters.
Isabella gulped at the enclosed space and the bottomless rush of water.
“Are you afraid of narrow spaces, too?” Julianna asked with a smirk.
“No, I just don’t know how I feel about this. A dark tunnel filled with a raging current.” Isabella’s anxiety grew as she stared deeper into it. “Maybe there’s another way to get out of here. We do have the ship back, after all.”
“We can’t go anywhere in the state it’s in,” Alexa said.
“But, maybe”—Isabella paused. She began shaking at the hypnotic movements of the water and sounds of rushing rapids into oblivion.
“Sounds like you need a push.”
Julianna shoved Isabella in. She let out a violent scream followed by several expletives.
“Told you.” Julianna shortly followed. Hopping in and blocked her nose with her fingers.
“That really wasn’t nice at all,” Michael said.
“That reminds me.”
Alexa rummaged through her infinity bag for a moment. A look of frustration built up as she struggled to find what she was looking for. Michael waited curiously until she found it: a small cubic tablet from out of a little drawstring bag.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“It’ll allow you to breathe under water.”
“Seriously? Is that how you’ve been able to get around here so far without the steamcraft?” Michael asked.
“And without the help of a whorish mermaid.” Isabella crossed her arms and flashed a judgmental glare.
“Right.” Michael gulped and nodded.
“Yes. You’ll do well to take one of these unless you want to get taken into the lair of another mermaid again.”
Michael vaguely recalled the look of her beautiful face turning into a pale apparition whose singing now sounded more like a shriek. He nodded with a nervous gulp before taking the tablet.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Alexa smiled. “Now, get your ass in there. We don’t have all day.”
I’m positive he was there, Ursula thought. He was taken to the now lost city of Atlantis. It really is a shame for so many reasons they got him drunk. I doubt he could recall a single detail if we asked him.
“Ursula, are you ready, too?”
We’ll find out what we need to soon enough, I’m sure. The legacy of such a civilization is inescapable.
“Ursula!” Alexa patted her back. She nearly jumped out of her skin in shock. “Did you hear me before?”
“You were saying something?”
Alexa sighed. “It’s your turn to climb in. We haven’t the time to waste.”
“Right. Sorry.”
Ursula nodded and climbed in. She held on to the upper walls as if on a circular slide and launched herself in with her legs.
I wonder what was on her mind before, Alexa thought. She’s not one to look so contemplative. Could it have to do with where the mermaid took him? After all, it did sound a great deal like Atlantis. What could this mean for us? What does that mean for him if he was taken there?
Her mind filled with horrifying scenarios of him stumbling onto the ashes of past cults and rituals—of being tormented and even led astray to join them. In her mind, he was a deceiver leading those he once loved astray.
“Alexa?” Michael called with a puzzled look on his face.
Alexa was startled by his voice. “Oh, sorry.” She nodded with a nervous smile. “I guess I’m the one dozing off now.”
“Looks that way.”
Alexa smiled. She knew he had a mistake to go drinking, but she found relief in her belief that it’s the only mistake he had made.
Almost tearing up, she proceeded to climb her way into the whirlpool. She looked at him a final time before diving in.
Was she crying before?
He didn’t know what to make of the look on her face. All he could do was shrug off the feeling and follow the others down.
He stared into the coursing waters, unable to see anything beyond a foot or so. He took a deep breath.
“It’s now or never.”
The moment he slid down, he was overcome by a rushing sensation. He moved down the winding tunnel at an incredible speed. He could feel his eyes watering as the current pulled him in every direction with each turn the tunnel took.
Screaming all the way to the end, he fell straight onto a cold blue marble floor. He picked himself up and looked around, confused by his surroundings. He wondered where he’d been taken.
“This looks like a king’s hall.”
To his right, he noticed the girls dusting themselves off. It was a relief, knowing they had safely made it. They looked over at Michael and smiled.
“So, how was your experience traveling through the currents?” Ursula asked.
“It was different, to say the least. Where are we?”
Michael noticed the extravagance of the room. If not to a king, it certainly belonged to some form of royalty. The room was grand in size with worn tapestries of finned knights hanging from either wall.
“This place reminds me a bit of where the mermaid took me.”
Ursula’s eyes widened. She turned toward him so fast she startled him.
“What do you remember about where you were taken?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” he replied, with a nervous gulp.
She leaned in, anxious to hear his response. The others slowly did the same.
“I just remember the tables being made out of this same material. The decorations were similar, I think. The people had gills.”
“Well, how many cities could there be down here, do you think?” Isabella whispered to Ursula.
“I’m honestly not sure. I only visited the one.”
“So, you aren’t aware of how immense the influence of the cult is?” Julianna asked.
“Sadly, no.”
“What are you girls talking about?” Michael asked.
“I mean, he seems fine. If anything worse than drinking had taken place, the signs would be more obvious, wouldn’t they?” Alexa asked.
“That would be an understatement,” Ursula said, recalling the sight of the merfolk turning into a beast that day.
“We were very lucky nothing did. More importantly, so was he.”
“Uh, any chance I could be told what you’re discussing?” Michael interjected.
The girls nodded and smiled at him.
“Sorry, we were just talking about the different ways we’d like to spend our earnings once this quest is over.”
“You could have included me, you know. I don’t need much—if any—but I would have like to participate.”
“Our apologies,” Alexa said with a nervous laugh.
Michael stared with suspicion, suspecting they might be hiding something. He then noticed something at the end of the hall: a treasure chest on a round table. The unattended, d
azzling sight filled him with wonder, and he smiled.
“Well, it looks like your money plans won’t have to wait for very long.”
Michael pointed toward it with eager eyes.
The girls looked in the direction he pointed and were just as pleased and shocked.
“That looks to be about the amount we were promised,” Ursula said with a smile.
“Yes, it’s quite large. I think it’ll take all of us to carry it,” Isabella said.
“No problem.”
Michael rolled up his sleeves and made his way toward the chest, ready to house it off the table.
“Wait.” Julianna put out her hand in front of him. “It could be a trap!”
“That’s a good point,” Alexa said. “We have the money promised by the merchant, but no merchant.”
“Maybe he’s busy?” Ursula suggested.
“Believe me when I say I still feel the sting of that run-in with a shady merchant. If this one isn’t even here to make the exchange, you know there’s an ambush waiting in the wing.”
“That may be true, but you’re forgetting there’s five of us and only one of him, wherever he is,” Alexa smiled.
Isabella smiled, too. “That’s a good point. We’ve got our magic back and we can breathe under water. We definitely have the edge.”
“I hope you’re right,” Julianna said then gulped as Alexa walked toward the chest.
Suddenly, a thud above the room brought them to a standstill.
“What the hell was that?” Julianna asked.
“No idea,” Alexa said.
They all stood in silence, sweat rolling down their faces they looked around the chamber for the cause of the noise.
A humanoid creature morphed with the features of a fish fell from above them and splashed into the shallow water and stood between them and the chest. It then pointed its jagged golden scepter directly at Alexa with contempt in its eyes.
“A merfolk…” Alexa said, staring down its weapon and into its slimy gilled face. “Just stand back, Michael. We’ll take him.”
“Yes, the last thing we need is for you to get into any more trouble,” Ursula said.
Alexa stepped forward. She had her mallet at the ready and shadows seeping from the head like a cloud. She was eager to strike.
“Trouble? He looks pretty weak,” Michael said. “Maybe I can”—