A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 21-Bringers of Bad News

Barely five minutes later, we pass through the lagoon entrance and arrive at the sandy shore. As we emerge, I spy Octavia and Adila running over. Their dresses having been hastily put on, and in each of their hands lies a single large towel, while my dress hangs down across Octavia's shoulder.

"Corintha, are you alright?" Octavia asks, briskly wrapping me up in the towel while Adila just throws hers at Ares.

"Yes, I am, but you should see the other Mer," I tell her, earning a frightened look from my friends.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Adila cuts in grabbing my shoulders and checking me over for wounds.

"No but he was close," Ares says, forcing us to glance over at him in confusion. "Close enough that if she hadn't got him with her tail, I would've had to take his head off." We are stunned into silence as he finishes, as he secures the towel round his waist.

"But now that that's over, we need to report this encounter," he adds, before turning on his heel and heading back to the village, leaving us dumbfounded at his abrupt departure.

"We better follow him," Adila mutters, striding off as Octavia hastily helps me dry off and tosses me my dress.

Pulling it over my head, I make to follow them but I remember something important. Something that should be tied round my dress. "Wait, my father's knife!" I shout, quickly turning around and running back to the water.

Just as I near the waterline, a black haired Mer appears making me skid to a stop in the sand. I start to run away from the dark skinned male, but Octavia arrives and grabs my wrist before I can go any further. "It's okay, it's just Zola," she croons, patting my hand before heading over to the water.

I watch, curious and wary as my friend converses with the young male barely older than us. His dark eyes flickering with mischief, a few strands of coiled hair heaped with dark green beads, the same color as his slim tail. A powerful attached to a thin and lithe upper body.

"Did you get it?" Octavia asks Zola, while Adila joins me by the shore.

"Yes," he replies, swimming up to her and placing my father's knife into her outstretched hand. "Try to be more careful, and next time let me join you so I can stand watch." Zola pulls himself up to her face and swiftly kisses her cheek before diving back into the water.

"I knew it," Adila crows, giving Octavia a playful punch to her shoulder. "And you said he wasn't the affectionate type."

"Well not usually," Octavia replies, rubbing her shoulder and blushing fiercely.

"Whatever," Adila grumbles, rolling her eyes and grabbing my knife from her hands. "First one to the square is a beached whale!" Adila swiftly takes off, leaving us to be showered by sand in her wake.

"Hey, that's mine you cheat!" I holler, starting after her with Octavia hot on my heels.

We trample through the jungle, pushing aside branches and leaping over bushes and fallen trees. I feel alive, running through the undergrowth, breathing the humid air ripe with the scent of flowers and citrus. I gain on Adila, pushing myself to go faster just as she reaches one of the foot paths.

Abruptly, she stops just as Octavia and I reach her at full tilt. One by one, we crash into her and go sprawling on the ground. Turning into a bundle of twisting limbs and giggling shrieks as Octavia starts mercilessly tickling Adila, while I finally retrieve my father's knife. Unbeknownst to us, someone else appears on the path and we only notice them until they are right in front of us.

"Well look who it is, little Corintha all grown up," the Mer utters, making us jerk our heads up and me nearly dropping my jaw in surprise.

A male I know to be twenty summers, with lanky brown hair, crooked teeth, and a single long scar trailing down from his brow to his jaw. Impossibly tall, he gazes down at us with an amused grin on his sea worn face.

"Arcus!" I shriek, untangling myself from my friends and wrapping my arms around my cousin. Laughing, he drops his pack on the ground, before picking me up and spinning us around. I hold tight to my cousin, and I have not been able to hug him for three long years. Ever since his grief over my father's death had him taking to the seas. Exploring and trading with the other islands of Southern Mer.

"When did you get back?" I ask, as he sets me down while my friends pull themselves up from the ground.

"Just now cousin," he says, picking up his pack and slinging it over his shoulder. "I've come back because the other Southern pods have reported sightings of Northern Mer hunting parties. The chief must be told, for if the reports are right they are headed directly for Isla de las Madres."

I feel the blood drain from my face, and in a shaking voice I tell my cousin my own grim news.
"Arcus I think they are already here," I utter, cautiously taking in his quickly darkening face.

"I believe one of their scouts had been hunting a shark, before attacking me. I managed to get away with the help of Ares, but the Mer is still out there unconscious and alive."

Without a word he grabs my arm, and starts towing me down the path. My friends follows us as we hurry toward the village, of which upon our arrival is in an uproar. Armed males are circled round a bound male, while the females, elders, and children stand to the side as Ares stands next to him fully clothed, and holding the male by his hair with a knife to his throat.

I recognize him immediately, the male that attacked me must have come out of his paralysis and came ashore. I feel my breath stop in my chest as everyone turns to stare at our small group. Including my attacker, his hungry eyes finding me, his tongue languidly swiping across his mouth with blatant desire.

"At last morsel, welcome to the party," he grins, quickly hissing at Ares as he presses the knife deeper against his neck.

"You are lucky for your position in your pod," Ares growls releasing his hold and letting the male fall to the ground. "Adila, Arcus, Corintha, Octavia, good to have you. We were just about to bring this invader to my father, but unfortunately we can't kill him."

"And why not?" Arcus cuts in, walking towards Ares with us hot on his heels. "What makes this heathen that attacked Corintha exempt from proper punishment?"

"Believe me my friend, I wish I could beat him to a bloody pulp," Ares replies, walking past the guards and stopping before my cousin. "But it would not be wise to kill the prince of the Great North."

Gasps sound from the pod, and children quickly hide behind their parents legs. "You don't mean, he can't be," I mumble, my legs quickly growing weak, forcing Arcus to catch me with his strong arms.

"Believe it precious," the Mer drawls, jerking up his head. "I am Drikar, son of Ivan the Merciless, Prince of the Northern pods. While you all gape at me, my warriors are circling this puny island awaiting for my return. Unless I'm released, I can't stop them from killing everyone and everything on this pathetic piece of rock."