igneous - lava

CH.3 - caught

[lowercase intended]

CH.3 - caught

something big was coming.

kai hold his breath as he tried to stay still, still hidden inside the big bundle of algae. he hadn't seen a ship that big - or even something else that size - for almost his whole life. as he let himself sink deeper into the floating green vines around him he could hear faint shouting, distorted by the water. his eyes widened at the shadow falling over him and a shiver went down his spine as the mershark tried to not be seen. his breath hitched at the sudden coldness of the water caused by the hidden sun.

frozen in shock and slight fear the male didn't notice the fishing net engulfing his hiding spot. his heartbeat even faster when some of the rope at the bottom grazed his fin. panicking, kai attempts to bite through the ropes at the bottom by using his sharp teeth as the net gets lifted up. he quickly covers himself with the algae, planning on concealing his presence and making a run for it as soon as the net gets taken away from who he hoped were only fishermen. as the net and its contents leave the water the male curls up and makes himself as small as possible, not wanting to risk being spotted.

"I hope you know what you're doing, zane. these... vines don't seem very edible..." kai heard a male voice say.

"these are algae, they are very healthy. as the cook, I have the responsibility of keeping the crew strong and full of life. we can not just eat fish all day" another voice said, the mershark figured that this was the landgoer they called 'zane'.

the net was now lifted over the railing, and roughly let down on the deck. footsteps approached kais hideout and started untying the net. he carefully peeked through some of the algae to locate the railing and his way to freedom. to his misfortune, the bundle was placed directly in the middle between both railings, making it even more difficult for kai to flee.

"this is even more than I had ever imagined! we'll be able to live off this for the whole week!" the guy called 'zane' said proudly, already taking some of the algae and storing them in barrels. this was kais cue to leave, in the blink of an eye he stretched out his tail against the wooden ground, shooting himself almost all the way to the railing.

the two 'fishermen' yelled in surprise, voices rising from all over the ship: "there's a hobgoblin!", "no, you bilge rat!! that's a mermaid!"

thoughts were racing through kais head: 'I'm almost there!', but as he lifted himself up on the ceiling a pair of arms were gripping the end of his tail. not looking back, he swung his fin which was now situated directly in the face of his assaulter. a slap could be heard and his tail was released again. falling forwards towards the sea, kai was already believing it was over. oh, what a fool he was.

while he was struggling with his escape, many men had gathered on deck and were shouting commands: "don't let it escape if you wanna keep yo heads!" a deep voice bellowed, milliseconds after kais tail was caught again, this time there were multiple pairs of hands.

"heave-ho!" he could hear them chanting, while the mershark desperately tried to grab onto something and attempting to hoist himself into the sea again. it was true that kai was stronger and more athletic than average by mershark standards, but compared to humans the mersharks were slimmer and lighter in general. it was effortless for this many men to not let kai escape.

'no..., no, no, no, no, no, no!' he shut his eyes in despair as the rest of his body was pulled on board.

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

the young pirate had not expected to ever lay eyes upon a real mermaid. his father had always told him stories from his days on the sea, ranting about all the hard work that had to be done and how he almost lost some teeth or his leg. cole never really listened then and rather daydreamed about sailing the ocean himself, fighting the redcoats and witnessing the great wonders of his time: mythical creatures like sea-serpents, hobgoblins and, of course, mermaids. but the... thing he saw on deck was far from what he imagined a mermaid would look like. the grey and blue-ish skin as well as the sharp teeth, pointy ears and webs between his fingers did not contribute to his image of mermaids: fair-skinned, silky and long hair and light-reflecting scales covering its tail. the creature that was in front of him wasn't screaming for help, but instead fighting and scratching against the poor crew members trying to hold it in place. the unusually huge tail that made out two-thirds of the creatures whole body was also thrashing around, wet slaps echoing over the deck. even more members of the crew came running and throwing themselves on the tail restricting its movements.

"dry him out, you scallywags! those damn animals dry out quickly. bet that one never even set foot on land!" the captain barked. people rushed to get dirty rags and ripped off their shirts. a man yelped in pain as the razor-sharp teeth of the captive sunk into his arm. but it would not be able to keep the fight up for long, its torso, arms and tail being held in place while being dried by various pieces of fabric. everyone stared in shock as the creatures' tail transformed into a pair of thin legs. cole now ran towards it too, holding one of its legs in place, even though he knew the being was already drained of energy and no longer able to fight back. their eyes met for a heartbeat and cole could see hatred and a hint of fear in the creatures' eyes. his friend zane now came with a thick rope, tying it around the mer-creatures torso making it unable to move. it had not spoken until now as it hissed at the cook while being pushed into a kneeling position, barely being able to keep its balance.

the captain slowly approached him and everyone went dead silent, only the sound of his peg leg on the wooden floor could be heard. he crouched down next to the mer-creature, grabbing its short brown hair (which cole thought was an odd colour for a creature) and pulling it back making it face him.

"well, well, well. if it isn't a mershark. haven't seen one of you scoundrels in decades" his dark eyes staring right into the creatures- no, into the mersharks eyes.

"I'm a scoundrel? you're the filthy burglars ransacking every ship they see. pathetic-" the mershark spat with a raspy voice, earning a punch into the stomach. he coughed and gasps for air as its eyes started watering. it went quiet again, the only sound was the hoarse panting of the sea-creature on deck.

"this," the captain started: "this is one of the glorious mersharks from your bedtime stories" he smirks as the whole crew started laughing at his sarcastic undertone.

"you, my friend, you will prove yourself very helpful in the future" the laughing dwindled to snickering as he spoke towards the mershark: "when we sell you for our next barrels of rum!"

as everyone started jeering and howling again, the captain turned to zane and cole, motioning to their captive and saying: "move that bilge rat to our other prisoner, we'll have a feast tonight!"

- 1,274 words