Ashsib and the Cat Beast

Chapter Three

"Hey! Are the two of you-?" Calder, gallant as always, ran forward to help.

"Stay back!" Namere growled, her eyes flashing a warning in case her words were not heeded.

Calder had learned enough about Namere to listen to her commands. He heeded, he heeded instantly and obediently. That her pointed face looked more alike to her twin than usual helped, also. It took Calder a minute to figure out why the similarity was so astute. Her lips were painted red, but not with lipstick. Ashsib had landed on top of her, the two meeting just about ground level. Namere hadn't time to catch him, though she appeared quick enough when Ashsib fell out of the crow's nest, and it had cost her some physical damage. She was doing something to him now that didn't look like first aid. She had a hand on his chest, restraining him, and Ashsib... Ashsib was...

"What the hell is he doing?" Bretta asked.

"Flailing?" Calder guessed.

"It looks more like writhing to me." Bretta responded.

"In any case, it's not very Ashsib-like." Calder looked away when the cabin door opened. The rest of the crew, summoned by Bretta's scream, rushed to the prone Ashsib. "Stay back." Calder held out his arms.

"What is going on?" The Captain asked.

"I don't know-" Calder began.

"Then move." Quinn pushed forward and began demanding answers from Namere, "What is this? What has happened? What are you doing?"

Ashsib lashed out, scratching the distracted woman across the face.

"I'm sorry." Namere said in that flat tone of her's before, by all apparent angles, leaning down and kissing Ashsib.

His writhing intensified a moment, the stunned crewmates surged forward, but she released him just as quickly. Namere rolled away as Ashsib went limp.

"What have you done to him?" Just about everyone present asked accusingly.

"Stay back!" Namere said yet again, her voice muffled by her hands.

"I will not be ordered around on my own ship." Quinn grabbed her shoulder.

In unison, Calder and Vel pulled their Captain away. Namere was looking like her sister again, this time because of the black fur growing across her cheekbones. She was writhing like Ashsib had been, her grit teeth sharp fangs. Unlike Ashsib, she seemed to fight it better, though she spat up blood in her distress. The fur retreated slowly, her eyes began to haze, and it ended, as Ashsib's struggle had, in unconsciousness.

The stunned silence heaved just as the ship did in a swell. Reality had broken aboard the Triand Mermaid.