A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 27-Gain and Loss

Upon greeting the sand with our bare feet, Ares lets go of my wrist and readies his bow. Following suit, I wrap my other hand round my spear and charge after Adila and her sisters. The tang of blood and salt, fills my mouth and nose. The cries of gulls overhead, mixing with the screams of the enemy and the moans of the dying.

Smoke plumes from my right, shrouding the beach in a haze of gray. However, it's not enough to hide us from the Northerners streaming across the beach. Knives, clubs, spears, and harpoons held in their grasps, while their pale hair is ruffed by the wind.

I'm not even a couple yards down the sand, before one of them strikes. I grind to halt as he lunges at me, knife drawn and howling a war cry. I bring him down swiftly with a single blow from the end of my spear. Sand plumes around his body, just as one wielding a club comes at me. I raise my spear, hoping to impale him on its sharp point. However, just as he brings himself close enough, a single arrow plunges into his throat.

I swivel my head, and find Ares with an evil grin on his face. I bare my teeth, and continue down the beach, throwing a knife into the side of a Northerner that has pinned down Arcus. On and on I go, breaking through the line of Northern Mer, earning a few slashes to my arms for my troubles. Twice I find myself cornered by the males, their eyes flashing with anger and lust, and twice my foe was felled by a well placed arrow.

Now I'm back to back with Octavia, with three Northerners licking their chops in anticipation. Sweat dribbles down my forehead, but I don't dare wipe it off. These Mer have us both watching every twitching muscle in their arms, and the slant of the weapons in their hands. Three times I've taken my gaze off of the two in front of me, and three times I've barely managed to stay unmarked.

"End this little flower," the older of the two snarls, clenching his club in a white knuckled hand. "And we won't hurt you and your friend. Well maybe a little bit."

I tune out his jabbering, and instead plant my feet into the ground as the other Mer dives in with his knife. It's a mistake that costs him dearly, for as he barrels for my side, I twist my spear and sweep his feet out from under him. In that same moment, Octavia blocks a strike from a harpoon, as I turn around towards the first Mer and stop the club from bludgeoning my skull.

He bears down on me, forcing me to dig my heels into the sand. I need to gain some ground, for in the corner of my eye, I see his friend slowly start to stand. As if answering my silent plea, a pair of nimble brown hands appear, and swiftly secure a garrote around my opponent's throat. I lunge back, watching with silent glee as he drops the club and grapples for the wire cutting into his neck.

A growl of rage draws my attention back to the battle at hand. The knife wielder springs back up, and lunges at me with his bare hands. Those same hands grab hold of my spear, trying to wrench it from my grasp. I hold tight to the honed wood, digging my heels into the sand as I push back against his iron like arms. We drag each other around, away from Ikari with her blood covered bracelet and Octavia, driving home the iron spike of her spear, into her opponent's chest.

"Give up witch," the Mer hisses at me, in our deadly game of tug a war.

"Not a chance," I grin, panting as sweat beads on my arms and back. "You should never have come to our shores."

I let go of the spear, and twist my body under his outstretched arms. Plucking one of my knives from my belt, I drive it into his gut and spin away as he collapses onto the beach. I retrieve my spear from his boneless grip, ignoring the way his face turns pale as a corpse, and the blood that spurts from his body as I yank out my knife.

Suddenly, another roar from Morzan's cannon rips through the screams of battle. I throw myself to the ground, and watch as an iron ball slams into the water. Crashing into stone and sending fragments into the bodies of the few Northern Mer gathered in the water. They are dead within seconds, blood turning the water crimson that soon paints the battered rocks.