Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

52.) A Knock

For a week I held them and cared for them using my memory of my first. I made sure to wash off the protective fluid from their eyes. I kept a bucket by the bed but wasnt as sucessfull at waking up before they relieved themselves. The swelling in my stomach went down. Not back to where I was before the bregnancy but it was easier to crawl out of bed. The girls claws were like cat scratches over my skin, Itchy but not deathly as they once might have been.  Their claw marks healed after a day. I did my best not to leave the house. Only for getting water for drinking and washing and to check on grandpa tree. In this cold weather he suprisingly grew rapidly and was nearly as tall as me.

I stared at them alot. When i ran my fingers over their tiny pale tails, they tried to coil around my finger. So sweet. They were awake briefly to eat and look around with their dark pink eyes before going back to sleep. The smell the top of their heads made was amazing, I could smell them all day and not be bored of it. I cuddled them closer in our nest of a bed, when I was interupted.

A hesitant Knock.

Followed by two more knocks.

My ears hadn't caught the sound of someone approaching and the smell of blood. Leaving the girls in the bed, i immediatly got to my feet and crouched low. I listened intently to the other side of the door. In my chest a swirling feeling arose, protecting my girls consumed me.

A wildly beating heart and the shuffling of light weight feet. I loosened from my crouch.

"Pale?" I called. Tilting my head.

"Its me!" She called.

I stood up straight and walked to the door before opening it. What was she doing up here with the weather so icy. I found a small wet creature at my door, shivering in the cold. Mud was on her knees, arms and back. Pieces of plants in her messy hair. Looking around there was no one with her. Only her muddy foot prints and mine were in the yard.

Seeing the state she was in I immediatly grabbed her and pulled her in to the house. She cried out with a yelp but it from swiftness and the suprize of motion instead of pain. Hauling her into the house i put her by the fire only a few step lengths from the bed and began to pull off the somewhat stiff muddy clothes and tossed them in a corner.

"Warm up by the fire." I told her. I went to the shelf and pulled down a large section of leather i had put away. Folding it in half i used a clawed finger to cut out a triangle of leather. At the top of the triangle i made a single slit from the point, roughly the length of my hand.

Goind back to Pale i pushed the leather down over her head. Her head popped throught the empty triangle with the neck being a little more open from where the slit was cut. Equal lengths of leather covered her front and back down to her ankles.

"Put your arms out like a bird." I showed her.

She followed the motion putting her arms strait up from her sides. The leather was a bit big but cutting a hide when she was still this small would be a waist, especialy since if we didn't cut she could use it later as she grows

I found the shirt I had been using as a dress from the shelf and pulled it down as well. I tucked the front piece of leather in at her waist and pulled the back piece forward covering it.

"Put your hands on your hips for a moment where mine are." I told her. She followed my instructions quickly. Her lips were quivering and the color almost gone from them. I wrapped the arms of the shirt around her waist and tied them in the back to act as a belt, leaving the torso in front of her. 

When I stepped back to see my handy work she looked like a little mother getting ready to make some bread. It would be very cute if her hair wasn't dirty. The smell of blood still lingered on her muddy clothes piled in the corner. Now that she was out of immediate danger I calmed down.

"Now then what are you doing up here?" I asked her.

Her lip continued to quiver. Her eyes seemed red and I could smell the salty scent on her cheeks.

"They're gone. They're all gone." She whispered.

"Who's gone?" I asked.

"Everyone." She said. He face contorted into a grimace and tears rolled down her face. Pale began to cry in big sobbing breaths. Falling to her knees.

"Shhhh shhhh shhh." I said bending down to hug her.

"They're all gone!" She wailed.

"Your allright. Everythings going to be all right." I soothed her. Her crys woke up the two sleeping in the bed and soon the house was filled with wails.

"Shhh lets all calm down." I said rubbing the girls with one hand to let them know I was there while trying to hug Pale with the other.

Pale realized she and I weren't the only ones in the house and became starled from the realization. For a moment she was relieved of her sadness from the shock of seeing the baby dragonesses in the bed.

She looked back in forth between me and the babies.

"You had the baby.. babies." She said suprized.

"Mmm." I agreed.

Her eyes were wide in suprize. Pale swallowed visibly.

"Is this why you didn't protect the town? You were giving birth to these?" She asked.

"What do you mean protect the town?" I asked.

"We've been over run by monsters. They killed everyone." She started to cry again. I stood up immediatly. If red eyes had infested the town I needed to know. It was likely if they were close by the girls and I would be targeted due to our crystaline content.

"Put your shoes back on quickly!" I told her. I went outside to grandpa tree.

"Grandpa! Have any red eyes passed by your other vessels? I shouted. A faint grumbling sound came from under the hay at the base of his trunk.

"Grandpa are you up?" I asked again pushing aside the dry grass to better talk to him.

"No Red Eye have come this way." He disagreed.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course im sure. Those things tend to gravitate towards me if they come close enough. The brutes often attempt to strike at me when they come into my radius. If they had tried to passed by me I would have known."

"Pale said that the village has been massacred by monsters. If its not Red Eye what was it? I asked.
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