Does he really need the love of a mermaid?
Queen of the sea
Desmond couldnt sleep. He tossed from side to side on the narrow bunk. The mermaids song was in his ears. It seemed to emanate from all the walls of the captains cabin and even from the low ceiling.
When he closed his eyes, he could see Merediana sitting on a fancy throne of shells.
Captain! Wake up! The young man who had entered the cabin shook him by the shoulder.
Whats the matter? Is it a riot over a mermaid? Desmond was already awake. He sat up on his bunk. Is the crew so superstitious they want to throw me overboard with the magic cargo?
No, something worse has happened, the youngster was very shy and hid his eyes.
He cant be trusted, Desmonds mind flashed. The ships boy was not long ago the Crown Princes page in Mirid. He should have brought him along for nothing. The boy, accustomed to the luxury of royal palaces, dreamed of adventure, but being in a sailors cabin on a pirate ship might change his mind.
Do you want to go back to Mirid?
No, Im fine here, but the fleas are biting me, he flicked a creature off his sleeve that looked more like a tiny scorpion than a flea. They must have gotten to me from the skipper. But I didnt come to you about fleas. And I didnt come to you about a riot.
Then what do you want?
I found this in the helmsmans things.
You went through the helmsmans things?
I didnt mean to, but it was like a mermaids voice called me and you know how it is, you hear a song and you do something you didnt mean to do.
It is nonsense! Desmond was careful to hide the fact that he himself had fallen under the mermaids spell. He snatched a piece of paper from the young mans hands. It turned out to be a wanted notice.
I didnt know they were going to catch me and hang me like any pirate!
Take a closer look, insisted the young man. The reward for you is very high 1,500 gold coins. Thats a fortune. With it you can buy your own estate with plantations. For an ordinary pirate, you get a hundred gold pieces at most, but no more.
So I dont remember doing anything outrageous to be valued so highly.
Or maybe its your past. The text at the bottom of the ad says that youre being rewarded by the Mirids government, and that you must be captured alive.
Youre so damn literate! Desmond crumpled up the wanted notice. It looked like the helmsman had turned out to be a spy sent from Mirid. Hed saved him for nothing. The case had almost solved itself when the helmsman had almost died on the voyage. Now hed have to kill him anyway. Too bad the sea creatures tentacles didnt finish the job.
In the morning, well have to see if theres anyone on board who can replace the helmsman. With the last one injured, it wont raise suspicion.
Do you think your father has a reward for your capture? The young man inquired cautiously.
Desmond could only laugh deafeningly.
My father put a bounty on my head.
But it says you must be caught alive.
Its a figure of speech. Pirates prefer to be caught dead.
The coins he took from the morgen fell out of the chest on the shelf. The ship must have swayed, so they fell out. The gold glittered dazzlingly.
It is sea gold! The young man saw the crests with the kraken, crowns and mermaids. Theyre talismans, not money. You should drill a hole in them, string them on a string and wear them around your neck. Theyd make excellent sea magic charms.
The ships boy picked up one coin, and the skin on his palm from contact with the sea gold immediately began to turn blue and rot.
Ouch! The kid dropped the coin. How can you even keep them in your house? Anyone else would have died of seasickness by now. Its like youre enchanted!
It must have been Cassandras amulet. Although it seems he took the gold from the morgen long before he got the amulet as a gift.
Desmond followed the young mans advice and made a necklace out of the coins. It was easy. Someone had already drilled holes in them. All that was left was to string them on a string.
Didnt you go down into the hold? He asked the ubiquitous young man.
No, the door was locked.
Have you heard any suspicious noises from down there?
I always hear a song without words, as if the mermaid is humming something under her nose, admitted the young man. You say she is in the hold now? Can I see her? I didnt even see her when they dragged her on deck. There was nothing to see behind the backs of the older pirates.
Grab a lantern and lets go! Desmond found a shard of mirror in the chest and quickly combed his hair with his fingers. Somehow he was worried about how he would look, as if the sleeping mermaid could see him.
Youre not as handsome as you were at court, but you still look good, the young man praised. Youre not so dapper anymore.
Desmond could see that he looked bad himself, but once he had been considered the handsomest boy in Mirid. His golden hair had recently been trimmed with a dagger blade, but it was almost shoulder-length again. The ends were curling, and there were no scars on the skin of his face yet. Could a mermaid like him? Earth girls liked him. But what is mermaid flavor? Is it true that mermaids can only like drowned guys? Or was it all a sailors fiction?
Desmond threw on a tattered camisole and followed the young man carrying the lantern. The watchmen were asleep that night. This was not usually the case, not even during a feast. Just because it was night didnt mean the ship couldnt be attacked. Pirates were not allowed to be careless. Had the mermaids presence suppressed their will?
Nothing had changed in the hold. Barrels of rum, ale, and wine, taken from merchant ships that had crossed The Triumphants path, were piled around. Bales of cloth and spices were piled nearby, to be sold in Pion or Arcades. Only the container with the captured mermaid had changed location. It stretched to the ceiling. The mermaid was no longer lying down, but straightened up to her full height, as if she were floating on ice. In this position she seemed even more beautiful.
Wow! The young man whistled. We have a sea goddess in the hold!
The wax from the candle in the lantern dripped on the symbols on the floor, left by the morgen, and melted them. The ice inside the vessel immediately began to melt. The mermaid wiggled her fins. She woke up instantly, as if the magical protection that made her sleep had been removed. She was no longer motionless. Her webbed hands pressed against a thin partition that had not yet melted. Desmond even thought it was made of glass, not of ice. Or was it still ice? He ran his fingers along the partition. His fingers immediately felt frosty cold.
The mermaids purple hair fluttered in the water like a scarlet storm. The open eyes were iridescent. They flashed alternately with different hues. The pearls growing in her skin also glistened and shimmered with pearlescent hues.
Merediana! Desmond whispered breathlessly, as if making a prayer to a goddess. Her eyes mesmerized him.
The mermaid was pounding against the partition, demanding.
Let me out! Let me out!
How could he hear her voice through the water? And why hadnt the top layer of the tank melted? Desmond looked around for something to break it with. He hadnt brought his saber. There were plenty of boarding hooks in the hold, and a harpoon among them.
Dont! The young man was afraid. What if she storms when you let her go?
We cant keep her here like a fishbowl.
But you used to keep captives from foreign ships, who were sold as slaves in Pion, the young man said reasonably.
The mermaid is prettier, and she is magical. You cant treat her disrespectfully.
Do you want to lose the King Opals favor? I hear he wants to marry one of the sea queens, perhaps her.
The King of Opal wants to marry a mermaid? I doubt it. That sounds more like gossip.
But in exchange for her, the King of Opal will give you anything you want. You could ask him to magically alter the Mirids Almanac. Then you can get even with all your enemies and reap the benefits. The King of Opal is rumored to be capable of all kinds of magical wonders.
He didnt care about the King of Opal. Desmond swung his harpoon and shattered the magic cage. Ice, sharp as glass, shattered into shards. A suspiciously large amount of water spurted to the bottom of the hold, as if a hole had reappeared in the bottom of the ship. The water level was rising.
Merediana shook her purple hair. Up close, she appeared so beautiful it took Desmonds breath away.
Just dont cause a storm to flood my ship, Desmond asked her. He was no fool, and he knew that the bubbling water was not flooding the hold by accident. It was already up to his shoulders. Cassandras amulet glowed alarmingly scarlet. It meant danger was near.
Merediana swam up to Desmond. He couldnt resist touching her, and his hands slid around her waist and into her sharp scales.
Who is more valuable: the whole ship or one captain? Merediana ran her webbed fingers through his hair. Youre not a typical pirate captain and you wont drown.
She noticed the amulet.
How romantic?! Merediana tried to rip the amulet from Desmonds neck, but couldnt. Her fingers burned from contact with the amulet.
It is nasty Earth sorceresses! The sea beauty cursed. Her arms wrapped around Desmonds shoulders and held him captive. Desmond felt he could not move. All he could do was obey the mermaid. She pulled him with her into the water, and then under the water. A hole formed in the bottom of the ship, out of nowhere. Meredina dived into it, dragging Desmond as if he were a slave on a leash. In her embrace, Desmond could not think clearly. He did not even immediately realize that the mermaid was dragging him as a prisoner to the Underworld.
Mermaids captive
It was dark underwater. Then a light glimmered in the distance. Merediana was actively raking the water masses with her fin. Clumps of algae and coral grew all around. The mermaid swam between them as if through a tunnel.
The swim had been going on for about an hour. Desmond would have to drown. He did not immediately realize that he was living underwater against the laws of nature. People suffocate here. And hes still alive. Do we have Cassandras amulet to thank for that? Or was it the embrace of the Princess of the Sea? Until Merediana releases him, will he not suffocate?
The mermaid hummed a song on the way about the pleasure of drowning handsome boys.
How I love to drag someone handsome to the bottom, hug and kiss him and watch him suffocate and then become a skeleton on the bottom.
Is she kidding? Cant she see that Desmond isnt drowning?
Merediana laughed. She pressed her lips against her captives for a moment. The kiss brought unexpected pleasure. Desmond was taken aback. Was the mermaid trying to give him artificial respiration or was this a kiss of love?
Yes, you wont drown, Merediana concluded. There are strong people. They have a harder time than the weak.
On the way they began to meet flocks of motley fish. All of them, seeing Merediana, gave way to her. Even fish are afraid to swim close to her, but Desmond fell into her arms. The mermaid fluttered him like a doll, dragging him behind her, and he could not resist her. His whole body felt as if it were restrained. He was neither alive nor dead. What a trap hed fallen into! Hadnt he been warned how dangerous Merediana was!
The bottom appeared below. Plantations of seaweed stretched across it. In their thickets glimpsed the bones of human skeletons. Were all the drowned men victims of Merediana? Among them there was a chest full of gold. Here was a pirates dream of sunken treasure, but there was no way to retrieve it.
Desmond was a little disappointed in the sea kingdom. Where are the palaces, temples and various wonders? Its just an ordinary, dreary bottom. It doesnt look like a fairytale sea kingdom at all.
There was a surprise ahead. The shining gate, decorated with bas-reliefs in the form of heads of magical creatures, turned out to be the entrance to the real Underwater Kingdom. It turned out that the dreary thickets of seaweed were only the suburbs of the sea paradise. Beyond the gate stretched fabulous underwater gardens and pyramids of pearls.
Merediana swam up to the golden heads on the gate.
I have brought a prisoner, let us both through!
The golden faces suddenly came to life and gave the mermaid smirks that made Desmonds blood run cold.
Be careful, Merediana! They look too predatory! He wanted to warn, but all he got out of his mouth was a gurgle. The water bubbled with bubbles.
He is a prisoner! It is another one! The faces sang out. You have too many amusements! Leave them outside the gate when youve had your fill. Prostitutes are no good to anyone here.
This is a corsair and a mermaid kidnapper! A violator of the law of the sea! He will be judged by the sea king himself, for he has kidnapped the Princess of the Sea.
Wow! The faces whistled, and winked at Desmond, saying, in their opinion, he is a hero for daring to do such a thing.
You dont know whats going on the surface! Merediana was angry. Are you blind?
The eyes of the golden faces were monochrome and golden, but they could not be called sightless. They seemed to see even more than they should.
We dont like to observe the surface. There are bad memories there.
It is not there, but in the sky!
The sky stretches right over the sea. How can you look at the surface and not see it?
I respect your grief, but the fall was a long time ago. Stop moaning and open the gate!
The gate creaked reluctantly. Merediana sailed through the narrow gate and dragged Desmond through.
Ouch! one of the faces tried to bite his arm. Desmond was surprised to find that his voice could now be heard under water.
They are biters, Merediana nodded. I dont like them, but you cant swim into the Underworld without their permission.
She waved her fins more vigorously. The gate slammed shut, catching a piece of Desmonds sleeve. If Merediana hadnt swim at double speed, the pirates arm would have been elbow-deep in the teeth of the living faces.
The golden heads snorted in displeasure.
You havent fed us! You havent paid the tribute for the passage to the Undersea Kingdom or sacrificed to us! We will report you to the Sea King Seal!
Merediana turned around and flashed her tongue at them. Desmond flinched. Her tongue was a bifurcated stinger.
Theyll report me to my father! She pouted capriciously. My father will punish them himself! I am his favorite daughter after Yasmin.
Merediana frowned.
Its strange that until Yasmin went to live on the islands of the Between Worlds, I wasnt the foremost of the sea queens. The first seat in the sea court was only vacated by a pirate in Yasmins care, thats the only reason youre still alive, Merediana shook Desmond like a toy. I respect pirates. Without them, I wouldnt be the most important of all the sea queens.
And by far the strongest! Desmond was horrified at how much physical strength lay in the graceful mermaids frail body. Merediana could crush not only him, but his entire pirate crew with one fingernail. She could crush a ship and an entire fortress with her hands. Only magic can make a slender mermaid stronger than a giant. Surprisingly, with such strength, Merediana could not free herself from either the cube or the rune-stained chest.