The Pirate and the Mermaid

Chapter 3 – Journey to the Surface

After the funeral, Erma was shaken. Never before in her life had anything so terrifying happened. Her mind reeled with questions. When she had tried to talk to the chief, all she had gotten were vague platitudes about the gods working in mysterious ways, and that she should feel blessed to have seen Voldire’s servants. This was in no way satisfying.

Erma and her cousin stopped at the doctor’s cave in order to receive treatment for the burns. Her cousin was much worse off than Erma, and even after hours of treatment the doctor couldn’t get rid of the scars. Her arms were covered in bright red handprints.

After making sure her cousin got home safely, Erma had to go. She didn’t really care where she went at that moment, she just had to swim. She needed to clear her head and so there was only one place to go – the surface.

Questions and scenarios filled her head as she swam as fast as she could, paying no mind to her surroundings. After a quarter hour of swimming, she burst from the water shooting several feet into the air. She landed with a painful slap against the surface of the water, and allowed the crisp, cool night air to wash over her.

Swimming lazily along the surface of the dark water, Erma found her previous cacophony of thoughts had slowed down and she was able to think things through in some semblance of order. She remembered the terror she had felt as the burning hands had been reaching for her seemingly blindly. Were those really servants of Voldire?

Whether they were or not, Erma couldn’t see herself voluntarily serving that role in a funeral again. She would probably do her best to be as far from a funeral as possible in the future. Her heart ached for her poor cousin, having to not only deal with the heart-ache of losing someone so important but also having to deal with the terror of Voldire’s servants on her mind.

Erma was shaken from her quiet reflection when she heard an alarmed shout in a language she didn’t understand. She looked around for the source but she didn’t see anyone around her until she looked behind her. A massive red brown wall had suddenly appeared behind her. She reached her hand out tentatively to touch it when she heard the same alarmed words coming from within the wall. Echoed by many voices.

She looked up just in time to see a woman falling feet first towards her. Erma was immediately enchanted. The woman had vivid red hair that waved through the air like an eel swimming. Her ears were long, and she was wearing strange clothes like the man her cousin had fallen in love with.

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The woman hit the water with a tiny splash and quickly resurfaced a short distance from where Erma floated confused. It seemed to Erma that she swam very strangely. Instead of the lithe, flowing movements of the mermaids, the woman flailed her many limbs seemingly chaotically. Erma was stunned that the woman was even able to make any progress like that.

The woman was shivering and trying to talk to Erma, but of course she had no idea what was being said.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” she tried to tell the woman, but given the quizzical look the woman gave her, Erma guessed she didn’t understand either.

The woman looked around and tried to hand her a strange loop that looked to be a rope but not made of seaweed like the mermaids used. She grabbed the rope with a nervous smile but dropped it quickly. It was extremely rough.

The woman seemed to misunderstand Erma dropping it, and started wrapping the rope around her waist.

“Wait. That’s not necessary,” Erma started to protest. The woman’s eyes went blank as she spoke but she quickly shook her head and started talking again. To Erma it seemed like she was asking questions, but ultimately she didn’t know what the woman was saying.

“I can’t understand you. I’m sorry but I don’t really want to wear whatever that is.” She shook her head to emphasize her point and thankfully the woman seemed to comprehend. Erma slipped under the water and began to swim away, though a part of her really didn’t want to. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving but there was no way that the woman was interested in her in the same way.

Erma was startled when the woman began to swim after her in her own flailing way, so Erma paused and let the woman catch up.

“Was there something else?” Erma asked hopefully. A small glimmer of hope that maybe the red-haired woman had felt the same spark that she had. It was then that Erma noticed the rope tied around the woman’s waist, and the many faces staring down into the water. She heard alarmed voices and then the woman winced in pain as she was being pulled away by the rope. Maybe she was trying to escape those people on the wall?

“I’ll help you!” Erma cried and rushed forward. From the waistband she always wore she pulled out her stone knife, and began sawing at the rough rope. It was surprisingly tough so it took a few minutes of dedicated cutting before the woman was free. The woman seemed surprised that Erma was helping her, but didn’t resist.

“Now that you’re free we can go to my village,” Erma explained excitedly, “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe there, and far away from those people. We don’t have much but you’ll be welcomed with open arms.”

She blushed as she continued, “And maybe we can get to know each other.”

Erma didn’t notice that each time she began to speak, the woman’s face went blank, followed by confused blinking, and a brief shake of her head.

Erma, hand in hand with the enchanting stranger, began to pull her down to the safety of her village.