Dark Water

Chapter 7

The pub was quiet as Mihris sat down, and Mr. Gulliver slid a cup of coffee over to her. She knew some of the others were looking at her, and Peggy slowly came and sat down next to her.

"You doing alright Blue?" She took a sip of her coffee as he spoke, massaging her temple with two of her fingers. She had an odd headache that refused to go away to the point where Mr. Gulliver wasn't sure of how to help her with it.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." She had been depressed for the last few days, Gulliver's story spinning in her mind in circles. He noticed her necklace, slinging an arm over her shoulder and whispering in her ear.

"I know about your friend. I promise I'll keep it a secret, none of the others will know."

She looked at him her eyes wide.

"The first time you fell in. I saw the marks on your head and knew. I convinced the others that time, and I'll do it again, I promised your mother that I wouldn't let them find out." She tensed up at his words, looking at him, eyes filled with a mixture of emotions.

"You knew her?"

"Come to my home and we can talk more about this. The group can't know anything." before she could respond, a sailor came bursting through the doors.

"There's a gathering in the town over something, it's causing a stir." The other sailors including Mihris went outside and to the town square, trudging through the snow. Mihris let out an exasperated sigh as she saw Arlid and his group, standing atop a wooden table they had no doubt stolen, shouting out to the crowd about their usual rubbish.

"Those monstrous sea creatures are the seducers of men! the eaters of harmless children!" Mihris furrowed her brows.

"What a bunch of stupidity," She mumbled under her breath, turning to leave. Arlid caught her in his line of sight, a smirk playing on his lips.

"They have hair the color of the sea, just like that one!" He pointed out at her, and she furrowed her brows turning to look at him. Peggy tried to stop her as she walked up to him, the crunching of her boots heard in the snow as the crowd was quiet.

"You want to bring up why my hair is such a strange color? How about we bring up how unfaithful you are to your wife?" She shouted out to the crowd, and gasps were soon heard.

"Your son thinks that I'm a whore because of you talking about me to your wife. You couldn't even pay me in the finest gold to ever lay in the same bed as you, you disgusting rat. You're no sailor either, you can't even catch enough fish to sell for a pound in the market. The only thing you're good at is blabbering that dirty mouth of yours and stirring people up." She turned and began to walk off, Peggy and Mr. Gulliver going with her.

"At least my mother didn't jump into the sea after having me!" Mihris froze at the comment, hands shaking as she clenched her fists. She quickly turned around, heading straight for Arlid, seeing red. Peggy quickly grabbed her, holding her back.

"Mihris it isn't worth it!"

"I'll knock the rest of your teeth out, you bastard!" She spat at him, as Peggy and Gulliver hauled her away. They took her to Peggy's cabin, where she punched a dent into the wall and had to have her hand bandaged.

"Your mother came to land after she fell in love with your father. She went back to the ocean after she saw what happened to Orliantha's young," He lit up his pipe as he spoke. "She thought that it was safer if she wasn't there with you. She never thought that she looked human enough and after seeing what happened to Orliantha, she didn't want it to happen to you and her too."

"So, she faked her death to keep me safe?"

"Yes." Mihris sat and thought about Peggy's words.

"So, she's still alive out there?" Gulliver's face darkened at her response.