The southerners will fight to protect their income. The Tazkars will fight to protect the religion around their obscure gods. The theocracy protects the religion of the goddess. Dalka protects its royal family. Mazurio protects the demon lord. The north protects whatever cult they are in. The damn greenskins protect their shaman. The undead protect whoever dug them out of their graves. We don't even know what the elves really protect. Honestly, everyone and their mother protects someone or something. Even here in the Empire we are no exception, of course, but why the hell are there so many attacking forces in a world of protectors?
-A quote of a forgotten imperial soldier, immortalized as poetry within the army
Organizing a small expedition of combat mermaids was rather easily done. According to Lychta we have been getting mermaid migrants from the enclaves recently. Many of them being younger combat trained types that joined looking for a chance of wealth and glory. Most mermaids are now also equipped with crossbows and rapiers. Our planned expedition path is meant to take us right to the beating heart of the Empire.
"Ship spotted ahead, lady Esstrey. It is flying scavenger colors."
"Move close to identify, they might know something about activity in the region." A small group of mermaids shoot off towards the ship. I surface close to the ship and see a familiar face.
"Ah! If it ain't the missus, Esstrey! Just the woman I be lookin for!" Nosk greets me jovial as ever.
"Is something wrong?" If he was looking for me, it cannot be good.
"Aye, that it be. Dalkans have finally gotten sick of a certain raiding merm' redistributin' some much needed riches to the masses. They sent themselves a batch of bounty hunters to deal with ya. Merm' hunters is what me crowsnest says. Their ship is close an' I was plannin' on trackin' them ti'll ya showed up. I would help meself, but money been tight see? Got me some brand new magic cannons and a bigger ship." He says all this while showing off engraved cannons of his brand-new cruiser.
"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out together. How about two gold per mermaid hunter found dead if you help? Along with the usual salvage rules, of course." The base price for assassination is roughly one gold per head. With mermaid hunters being specialized in underwater combat, and not ship to ship combat, this price is more than fair.
"Generous as always! I do so enjoy workin' with tha merms'." Nosk answers happily as we head in front of the ship.
Once we get close enough for every sailor to see the ship, I start hearing the yells of the pirates getting to their stations, I signal for my squadrons to start encircling the enemy ship as the cannons start firing.
The men aboard the hunter ship haven't noticed the mermaids below them as they enter combat with the pirate cruiser. The ship itself start moving close to board, but this has no use as Nosk isn't interested in a melee. The mermaids below get noticed as we all start circling the hunter vessel fast enough to cause waves. A few of the hunters don gear and jump into the water, partially to engage us, but mainly to get away from the pirate cruiser.
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As I watch a few men descend into the abyss equipped with lightning weapons, and air amulets, some of the mermaids start suffering burn wounds. I quickly signal them to take distance, and the rest to focus on the ship itself. They will have a hard time ascending back to the ship if there is no ship. The ship itself was threatening to get in boarding range of the pirate cruiser starts slowing down as a whirlpool forms below it. One of the sailors tries to shoot his crossbow at the mermaid below, but gets hit directly by a cannonball for trying. His corpse falling into the water below.
As his corpse touches the water, a new smell hits my nostrils. I know this smell. It is blood. Sweet, delicious blood invades my sense, but I don't want to eat his corpse. I simply want to smell more blood, so I rip apart his corpse to spread it. Some mermaids are looking at me strangely, and I sense something new. Emanating from me is a sort of signal that feels slightly like me. As the signal comes into contact with the mermaids, they start twitching and send the signal out as well. All touched by the signal go into an enraged frenzy, wanting nothing more than the blood of my enemies.
"Blood! Blood! Blood!" The chanting starts with the mermaids closest to me, but as more get infected, soon every mermaid is chanting.
"BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!" The chanting breaks the surface, and soon the remaining mermaid hunters stand watching over the edge in terror.
Until I jump one of them in a massive leap. I grab onto the victim and drag him down, but I don't kill him yet.
"She's got Jacob! Fuck!" Another man jumps after him, and more men follow the first to jump. Their terror blinding them to the truth of the situation, making them fall back to their training.
These men aren't so lucky as the first few who jumped. Mermaids are already chewing at some of the jumpers, their situation deteriorating further the more blood fills the water, further terrifying the men, and invigorating the mermaid swarm.
BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD. I rip apart a man, and use his corpse as an effigy to further terrify the others. They try to fire harpoons that are easily dodged in their state of terror. The water grows red as the last mermaid hunters die off, but the fight isn't over yet. The sailors on the ship running around in terror as the hunters they escorted are now a bloody patch under their vessel. I am not sure what they tried in the end. As the whirlpool grows stronger, and starts breaking the ship apart.
Captain Nosk fires his cannons into the spinning ship, accelerating its demise. The sailors onboard hold on to the ship in a desperate attempt to stay away from the waters. It's no use as the vessel breaks apart, and soon all sailors join the red patch along with the hunters. I quickly lead my mermaids further into the depths to hunt down the ones who jumped first. They were brave at first, but as they see the large cloud of the ripped apart corpses of their colleagues, that bravery vanishes. They are easily picked apart, and I feel the signal finally weaken.
That must have been magic. From what little research I was able to do it is largely instinctual, and dependent on the person. For Mazurians it is often tied to them on a genetic level. So the magical frenzy was most likely a response of my body.
"L-lady Esstrey! What in the seven hells was tha'!? Ye bloody ripped em apart!" I surface near Nosk on his ship, and notice a decapitated ear stuck to me.
"Some sort of magic. Don't worry too much about it, I was just heading to the imperial capital to go get this magic thing checked out."
Nosk roars in laughter at my words. Clearly entertained at my words. I don't mind him, as I have one of the mermaids fetch his pay while others salvage the ship.
"Only ye would treat magic like scurvy lady Esstrey! And seeing what yer did there, it's a damned nice thing ta know. Travel well, mad princess!" He waves as my entourage sets course for the Reiter river.