A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 44-A Discovery from the Past

"Well, that's one way to take the rubbish out," Zola smirks, quickly earning the piercing stare of Captain Odessa.

"Everyone leave this room immediately," Captain Odessa orders, straightening his shoulders as the humans all scurry towards the door.

With detached calm, I watch each terrified looking human leave while the barmaids scuttle out the side door. The females don't dare meet my eyes, all of them sinking their heads like scared measly rodents. While the males cast cold glances upon me, ones of wonder, fear, and want scuttling across me and over to Octavia and Adila. One pointed look from Ares makes the males move faster. Rushing away like rats jumping from a ship, bound for the bottom of the ocean deep. As the door closes with a bang, Captain Odessa swivels his all seeing gaze, back to me.

Lucas bares his teeth as Captain Odessa draws up to me, leaving a foot of space between me and the human. I don't move, I don't even flinch as the human gets closer to me with an unnerving gaze that sends prickles up my arms. I eye Ares, wondering why he has not jumped between us yet. All I find is my self proclaimed betrothed still and motionless. His arms crossed as the human examines my hair, until Lucas steps between us with a growl of rage, forcing Captain Odessa to step back.

"Keep away from my sister," Lucas says, venom warping his young voice into an inhuman hiss.
"No one touches my sister and gets away with it."

Heat fills my cheeks from his words, unbiddenly I look over at Ares with murder in my eyes. In that moment, he coughs into his hand as a knowing look appears in his gaze. Hurriedly, I look back at my brother, and Captain Odessa with his hands behind his back and satisfaction in his eyes.

"I wouldn't dream of it young man," the human drawls, rubbing his chin as if pondering his next attempt to come close to me. "It's just I've never seen such a creature with hair like hers, and yours as well. But tell me, truthfully, what is she really? Who is the sire of you and your sister?"

Lucas glares at Captain Odessa, the fresh bruise on his face twisting as his lips peel back. Instinctively, I pull my brother back by the battered leather of his vest. Shoving him behind me, before my foolish sibling guts this human of importance.

"I am Corintha Dorem," I begin, giving Captain Odessa a cold maniacal grin. "My sire is Elias Dorem, long since gone these past three years. Known for his strength, noble nature, and his so called god marked hair. Known by those who fear him as the Red Menace of the Great Southern Seas."

"I don't need to tell you what I am, for you already know. Don't you, little human Captain?" I drawl, taking a step closer, watching with fascination as the muscle in his jaw twitches slightly. A sign of his anger, or the hidden fear that I can faintly taste from the sweat shining on his forehead. It makes me shiver in pleasure at the very thought of this human, quivering in fear of a female Mer that barely meets his chin. His frame, taller than even Arcus, is a feature that is strangely not possessed by other humans I've seen so far.

"Yes I do, little Mer," Captain Odessa replies, matching my smile of calculating cruelty that draws my attention to the slight wrinkles on his skin. "You are just like your father, all bark with a ferocious bite to boot. No wonder Norzem wanted your brother, and you."

Time draws to a stop as a feeling of wrongness enters my blood. My mouth goes dry, my limbs numb, and my world tittering on its axis yet again. "What do you mean about Norzem wanting me?" I ask, my voice dry as bone and harsh as a hurricane. "He could have taken me with him when he captured Lucas. So why didn't he?"

Captain Odessa meets my gaze, stoic and unrelenting as an iron spear. I can't read anything in his eyes, but my gut tells me it can't be anything good. "Norzem is a man driven mad by tales of the ocean's past. Of stories told late at night of creatures divine, demonic, and deadly. He has spent his years drawing men into his cause of hunting down every legend written in lore, and every symbol carved into temple halls."

"But the one thing he craves most of all, is to posses the power of the Siren's Call. The power you, your brother, Ares, and the rest of your companions possess. A power that can be acquired through a barbaric ritual that he alone holds the knowledge of."

"What ritual?" Octavia cuts in, pushing away from the bar and hurting over to my side. "I have read every book of Mer lore, and I have never heard of a ritual to give humans the ability to use the Siren's call."

The sound of bottles crashing onto the floor, makes us all turn towards Adila and Arcus scuttling after Norzem's father, Marvin. The old man snarls and bats away Adila's hand grasping a blood spotted cloth. "I'm alright ya couple of ninnies," Marvin huffs, grabbing a barstool and sitting down before taking out a cloth and tying it around his bruised wrist. Cinching the knot tight with yellow crooked teeth. "I've gotten to this age without a bunch of nanny goats trying to nurse me every time I get into a scrape."

"And as for you, little Miss Know It All," Marvin adds, making Zola's face darken as Octavia flushes bright red. "The reason why you have not heard of it, is because it is not in Mer lore but in the chronicles of the Old Southern Empire. A human Empire that spanned across the Southern Seas and what is now Dakar."

"A vast metropolis known for its great libraries, that held the knowledge of all things imaginable. Ships that could fly, weapons that could kill with a single push of a hand, and the ability to transform metals, plants, and living things into another form. A feat that can only be done with the rarest of ingredients, and only at the most specific of times."

Something clicks in Octavia's mind, Marvin's words finding their way into her head faster than mine. Realization widens in her ocean blue eyes, as her skin pales so much, that her veins seems to become more prominent in the lamp light.

"He seeks the Rite of Transiton, Una Forma para Otra, One Form for Another," she begins, glancing towards me with frightened tears. "He seeks to change his human body into that of a Mer, and the only way to do that is to sacrifice something in exchange."

"Which is?" I ask, dread filling my stomach as more tears stream down her cheeks. "Blood of the young, heart of the maiden, flesh of the warrior," Octavia answers, her voice trembling slightly as Zola comes up to her and wraps his good arm around her shoulder.

"Octavia, what does that mean?" I ask, grabbing hold of her hand with my own. "Tell me, we have to know so we can stop him."

Sucking in a shaky breath she does, and it is an answer I had never expected to hear. "He must sacrifice you, Lucas, and a warrior of your direct bloodline. But that could only be one Mer that is not even alive, unless he had cut off that patch of scales we found himself."

"You mean?" I whisper, as a shard of weak lighted hope flows into my heart. "Yes," Octavia nods, grabbing hold of my shoulders as tears spill down my cheeks. "Your father is alive, and we will find him, together."

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🤣😅 I'm horrendously evil, but there are worse things I could have wrote. Except, I need to be nice.
✨Comment any theories y'all have, let's see if we can guess where dear old dad might be.
Till then hope y'all have a fabulous week and stay tuned.😎