Sirens

Part Two (Abbadon)

"STOP!” shouted one of the Oceanid soldiers behind me.

I just kept swimming keeping my eyes open for some place to hide while they passed. I was far ahead of them and getting further, but Oceanids have always had better stamina than us Sirenians and I knew that I would need to stop and rest very soon. Hopefully it would be in a cave or reef far away from the Oceanids territory, but that would have just been wishful thinking.

“THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ENTER OUR TERRITORY, ABBADON!” another soldier screamed, spitting my name like a curse word, which it most certainly wasn’t. True, I was trespassing but that didn’t mean that they had to practically mince my name. I suppose that is just what happens when you have been in a war for so long.

The war has been going on for as long as most can remember, I myself was quiet young when this war had begun. Sirenians and Oceanids have always had such long life spans, our elders being thousands of years old. This fact didn’t make us any harder to kill though and a lot of lives on both sides have been lost.

Looking behind me I could only just make out the dots that were supposed to be the Oceanid soldiers sent to trap me, unfortunately I could feel myself growing more tired while I knew they could go on for hours longer. I seriously needed to find a place to hide for a while, just as that thought past through my head I spotted a cave. I don’t know how I managed to see it because it was hidden among a growth of seaweed and seemed to camouflage well within the rock formations entangled within the vegetation.

Beating my tail hard I gained a burst of speed, hoping that the Oceanids behind me would lose track of me for the precious seconds that I needed to enter the underwater cave without being seen. Diving headfirst into the cave I swam straight, it was then that I realised that the cave seemed to be longer than I first thought. The deeper I swam into the cave the darker it became, until I could barely make out the rough shape of my hand right in front of my face. As I continued to travel through the intense darkness I began to hear one of the strangest noises, dripping.

Drip, drip, drip

It was so bizarre, why can I hear dripping when I am underwater? Following the noise I saw the reason why I could hear dripping, just ahead of me I saw the illuminated walls of an air pocket which continued on to the rest of the cave. Pulling myself out of the water I was forced to wait for my tail to turn into two legs so I could walk on the cry floor of the cave. Changing was a painful process; sparks of pain would shoot up from your tail and along your spine from the bones rearranging themselves. A few minutes later I found myself covered in sweat and gasping in pain but I still had two legs.

Shakily climbing to my feet, I stumbled further into the cave. I was no longer hiding from the Oceanids; in fact they were the last thing on my mind because now all I was thinking of was my curiosity. I want to know what could be at the end of this tunnel.

I was brought back to my childhood before the war had started, I would often find myself exploring the area around the Sirenian cities and towns my parents would drag me to while they worked and sent messages back and forth from the gods to their people. I would quickly grow tired of watching my parents talk to the many people they were acquainted with and would explore around the cities and make up my own adventures to occupy myself.

Now I was stumbling through a cave on two legs, just trying to contain my curiosity which seemed to be growing with each step. As I drew myself further into the cave the dim light further ahead became clearer, I didn’t even think that any caves could be this long or an air pocket so large.

Finally entering the cavern at the end of the cave my eyes were drawn to the luminous crystals embedded within the walls that seemed to be what provided the light in the cavern. They glowed with a faint blue, almost green, hue that reflected on the walls and ceiling of the cave. As I continued to look around at the beautiful sight I spotted a lone figure huddled against the furthest wall of the cavern.

Being unable to contain me curiosity I drew closer to the figure, perhaps it was just my imagination and I was actually looking at some strange rock formation. But as I drew closer I realised that there actually was someone in the cavern besides myself.

Stumbling over on unsteady legs I found myself looking at a girl. Her hair was a dark brown that was almost black in colour and her body was quite lean.  As I observed her silently so as not to awaken the girl I noticed a mark along the inside of her wrist, it was a bronze intricately designed butterfly. This was the mark of a Sirenian Royal, one who had the blood of our gods and was practically immortal. I myself had one on my lower back in the same bronze colour, each person had their mark in a different place so no one could impersonate another like some had attempted in the past.

Kneeling down slowly so as not to fall on top of the sleeping girl. I reached my hand out and brushed my knuckles along her cheek, her skin as soft as silk; it was at that moment that her eyelids began to flutter and I stumbled back and crashed onto the floor behind me out of surprise. Keeping my eyes on the girl as she stirred and slowly awakened I began to worry that maybe coming so far into this cave hadn’t been such a good idea, if I had stayed near the entrance until the Oceanid soldiers had past I could have made a clean break for home. Now I was stuck in this situation wondering if the girl I had just accidentally awoken was dangerous and would try to attack me.

If she did attack what could I do? I was almost useless with two legs. Besides I’ve always had trouble fighting girls anyway, my parents taught me better than to attack a fragile girl. Stuck in my over reacting mind I forgot to keep my eyes on the girl who was waking up. If my parents saw me now I would be in for a long lecture about keeping your guard up and not getting lost in thought, in fact I cursed myself at my own stupidity under my breath.

Looking back to the girl I could see that she was fighting just to keep her eyes open, and what pretty eyes they were. Her eyes were a sparkling gold colour that I had never seen before and my attention was immediately captured by the dark haired beauty in front of me who was looking at me with a fearful look in her golden eyes.

Clearing my throat, trying to get her attention off of me, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, “You have very pretty eyes.”