Death at Sea

King's Sirens

Every part of me wanted to run as i saw the king looking at me. His black eyes were almost like lifeless depths that churched due to the amount of evil that gathered at the bottom of the sea. His black tail reminded me of that of a lionfish, and, even though scary, strangely beautiful. Like most mermen, he didn’t wear anything to cover his chest, but his biceps were covered in tattoos.

Other mermaids and mermen were lined up, obviously waiting for their turn to be inspected. Some looked bored, others too tired to deal with it. All wore body armor, making me feel a little underdressed in my simple t-shirt. Their tails were anything from octopi to seals, orcas to jellyfish. again, i felt "underdressed". I was a simple gold betta mermaid, and my fins had not yet grown to their full potential. How was i to lure in humans if i wasn’t even ready to go to the outside world?

The king gave me the same treatment as the others. He looked at my eyes, checked the length of my tail, and asked me what i preferred to sing. I won’t lie and say that I breathed a sigh of relief as he moved on to the next person who came in after me. He was attractive, no doubt every female there wanted to see if he would give them some time alone. But the wild look in his eyes is what made me not interested. There is no way that I could even stand to be in the same room alone with him if I had to. 

"My fellow subjects," The king called out. "The time for battle is nye. The humans are going to the bottom of our oceans soon, looking for the Black Juice. If we hit them before they even reach their destination, then we will have the upper hand. The longer they go without it, the less likely they are to survive their world. Then, once the humans are gone, the merfolk will be able to be free forever more! There is no reason why the bastards should rule the planet, especially when their territory is a quarter of what we have, no, they have a sixth now! Why should we bow to their reign?" 

He looked at all of us, in the eyes. "So tell me, why do we have to be punished for their mistakes? Why are we, a race that has only been mentioned in the tales of legend that no one believes. So, my brothers and sisters, will you help me get rid of the ones who believe that they are superior? Will you bring up arms and call yourselves Sirens? Join me, and the world will be ours!"

Applause broke out, to which the king bowed. I could see why he was so popular, despite his insanity. He was definitely charismatic. The king bowed some more, then was ushered out of the room by his guards. 

"Listen up, crab cakes!” A merman, obviously a commander, saluted us. His dark skin looked like the oil that humans had searched the oceans for, centuries ago, but his eyes were blue. His tail looked like a blue goldfish’s, simple but powerful. He too had tattoos on his shoulders. “It’s time to get going. We attack tonight, when the moon rises. The humans have their boats parked on the pier that looks over the great reef on the coast of Australia, and it is only a matter of time before they discover the base there. We must do this quickly, and efficiently, as your training has given you all your lives. Let’s make the king proud, shall we?”

The cadets saluted, their left fists over their hearts. “Sir!”

“Dismissed!”

*  *

“Meri! What happened to you? You look as if you’ve seen a sea serpent!” My brother grabbed my arm as soon as I exited the briefing room.

“I’m fine, Luca. Just let go of me.”

Instead of letting go of my arm, he pulled me to his chest. “It’s too damn bad. There should be no reason why you weren’t sent to join the med corps. You excelled at all your studies, and yet you’re a stupid soldier. It’s all wrong.”

I could only relax in his arms. Despite all the things that were happening, it seemed he was the only thing that remained constant. “I go to war tonight.” I whispered. “They say that the humans are going to attack the base off Australia, and if we are to survive, we must attack tonight.”

“Too damn bad. Stage a stomachache. I will not let you go to war. You haven’t trained enough, what is the king thinking?”

“I have to go. It’s essential to our survival, even though I don’t believe so. All the other cadets are excited. This will be the first time ever that we are fighting for real. If I don’t go, they’ll revoke my permits and such, and I’ll be banished. I can’t let that happen to you and Mom, not after what happened to Dad.” We lost my dad to a harpoon, right after he told his commanding officer that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, fight to kill innocent lives. Even after 50 years, we still haven’t been able to get over his death, especially not Mom.

“Be careful then. If you see… him, don’t even try to get close, or let the others know. They’ll kill you both.” Oh gods, him. If it happened tonight, then everything would fall apart. They say that most merfolk who visit the surface for the first time find their soul mates. Mostly, the soul mates were of the same species, but there are exceptions, like my parents. Dad found Mom on the Final Mating night, and Changed her to one of us.

“Goodbye, little sis. May the gods bless you tonight.” Luca kissed my temple and let go, his green eyes sparkling. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Little did I know that I was saying that for the last time for a very, very long time.