A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 36-Crafty Humans

Point of view is third person- so no one gets confused.
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As night fell, Madame Costa watched as the ragtag group of Mer, hunkered down in the front room of her cabin. It was a familiar sight to her, for almost every week a young Mer lad would stay the night, before continuing his journey to the other nearby islands. Thus was her job to tend to her water affiliated guests, and in exchange the Mer would pay in gold and gems. Recovered from sunken ships that no human could possibly reach.

But in all her life, she had never seen a female Mer. Much less three of them, all tall, gorgeous, and unnervingly intelligent. However, the one that worried her the most was Elias's daughter. Now sharing one of the two couches with the wild haired Adila. There were so many similarities with young Corintha and her sire. The blood hued hair for a start, her sharp features, and the ever present predator like quality in her brown-green eyes.

A beauty that Madame Costa had noticed Ares to be quite enamored with. All evening they both glanced back and forth at each other under her watchful eyes. They were not the only ones the perceptive woman thought to be involved. Arcus and Adila constantly bickered back and forth about fishing nets of all things. While Zola and Octavia had their heads huddled together, as they looked over the maps they had spread across her parlor table.

Nevertheless, Madame Costa put the thoughts of these odd courting couples to rest. In favor of finding out what her contact in Port Valor has been up to, and if he could determine if Captain Norzem had arrived on the island. With quiet steps, the old woman maneuvers around the three male Mer asleep on her floor. Silent as a ghost, she slips out the door and with a whistle, calls a brown speckled eagle to her.

The branches above shake as the eagle swoops down and lands on a nearby pile of chopped logs. After feeding the bird a strip of raw meat, Madame Costa ties a leather tube to the bird's ankle and tells it four simple words.

"Take this to Drago." With a flap of its wings the eagle takes to the air, heading north over the towering palms.

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The eagle flew amid the warm columns of air, soaring over the canopy of leaves, limbs, and vines. Its all seeing gaze picking out the many topical birds nesting among the trees. The subtle glow of firefly colonies, forming small haloes of yellow light to illuminate the giant forms of the surrounding trees.

The cries of jungle beasts, echoed from below. Harsh growls and piercing human like shrieks. Still, the bone chilling noises did not deter the powerful hunter from its task. On it soared, flapping its wings and scaling through the tropical wind of sand, salt, and sea. Until the towering trunks gave way to dirt tracks, carved by the wooden wheels of carts and human footsteps.

Trails that wind towards the walls and houses of the great Port Valor. Darkness shrouds the angled roofs and windows of the fine houses upon the hills, while down near the docks the lanterns illuminate the night with their fiery glow. Laughter and shouting, flow from the opens doors and windows of the dockside taverns.

The almost mournful cry of a fiddle, droning out into the night. While the creaking of wagon wheels add to the banging doors, stomping feet, and vulgar cursing from the late evening revelers. None of this disturbed the eagle in the slightest, not even the foul smell of refuse, manure, or the smell of dozens of bodies sweating in the humid air.

The eagle was solely focused on one thing in particular, a man sitting on the edge of an abandoned dock. Not far from the boisterous voices and keening music of the taverns. With a wooden fishing pole in hand, a dripping hat on his brow, and a jacket riddled with patches and holes. On silent wings, the eagle glides down and settles itself on the dock post to the man's left.

"Aye, she be wanting a favor eh?" the man chuckles, rubbing his scraggly beard with hairy ringed fingers. "Best give it now, don't want the ol'woman rapping me on the head when I pay her a visit."

The eagle flutters its wings in the man's direction, irritated at the human for insulting his mistress. "Oh easy there Mordeu," the man croons, slowly bringing up a calming hand with a piece of jerky in his palm. "Ol' Dargo didn't mean it now, just some witty banter is all little friend."

Satisfied with the offered treat and the sufficient beseeching from Drago, the eagle takes the meat and allows the man to untie the leather tube from his leg. With quick hands, Drago retrieves the rolled parchment and reads the message under the weak light of the greasy oil lanterns.

Listen up and listen well
The lads and lasses have arrived
So now I will need your eyes
Find the Nightmare and the bastard demon
See if he hold's Elia's son
The one with hair of blood

"Ugh, mermaids," Drago mutters, tearing the parchment and chucking it into the watery brine.
"Why is it always mermaids with this woman?"