10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Oct 16 - Reversal

(Prompted - " A pirate switches bodies with a mermaid.")

He stared out over the ocean, frowning in his sorrow. He had lost everything when the dice had rolled snake eyes. His wife had abandoned him long ago, taking the child with her. The ship had sunk many moons before. His friends had abandoned him with cruel laughter, the clinking of his gold - his gold - echoing in their coin bags. He growled and stood up, storming off towards the rocky beach with a face that could scare Poseidon himself. The pier was usually empty at this time of night, save for the few half-drunk guards stood conspicuously under the flickering lamps. He sighed as he saw his boat - well, it was his no more. She wasn't a mighty vessel by any stretch of the imagination, bearing only one mast and two dozen souls, it sat dark and still in the pier. As it would for a long time now. He had to force himself to look away, resuming his downtrodden march to the dim beach. Only the moon showed him pity, emerging from a bank of clouds to light his path. He looked up at it, his grimace finally softening. The gentle roar of the tide and the crunch of the pebbles beneath his feet told him he had arrived.

"Back here, hey..." he mumbled, staring out over the ocean. "Back where it all began with my dear Charlotte..." he looked over the ocean at the dark horizon. "I promised her the world, you know." He spoke louder, talking to the moon. Nobody else would listen to him. "I said I wouldn't bring her the horizon, but I'd go beyond, get her whatever laid there. She couldn't resist, so we sailed for a bit..." he grew quiet. A second bank of dark clouds drifted in front of the moon, bringing with it a gentle misting of rain that grew stronger fast. "Aye, you can guess what happened." he continued, looking up. Rain didn't bother him on land. "I got a crew, managed a bit of success but got captured. Bartered my release but I was a marked man, and tonight I lost it all. Didn't as much as stand a chance with odds like that."

"What happened next?" A voice asked. Feminine. He looked around, startled. A brief splashing sound fought against the hiss of the rain.

"God blind me, what the devil was that?" he looked around, hand snapping for a cutlass that wasn't there. "If you've followed me out here, Felicia..." he looked around, squinting to try and pierce the darkness. He couldn't.

"I, um... sorry..." a voice murmured, barely audible above the rain. It definitely wasn't Felicia, it was coming from the ocean and the beach was empty before he arrived. He looked again. "I just... I was enjoying your story..."

"Who the devil are you, lass?" he added a bit of a growl to his voice. Best to keep in the pirate mood.

"I'm... I'm Mica, sir..." she mumbled. He frowned.

"Ain't no name I've heard before. Where are ya?"

"I'm here... mind your step!" the voice panicked briefly, making him look down. Not too far from where the waves met the shore laid a woman of beauty unlike any he had seen before. He couldn't help but stare for a moment, but soon realised. It wasn't a human. Mermaid.

-----

"Well, shiver me timbers, you're really what I think you are, aren't ya?" he chuckled. He hadn't drunk that much, had he?

"Y-yes... I could hear your story and came to hear the rest..." she sat up as best she could, but it was clear she was as close to the land as she could come. "I... I have an idea for you."

"And that would be?" He squatted down, looming over her now. She covered her chest self-consciously, using the other arm to support her.

"I... I want to know the human world. You seem like you want a fresh start."

"..." he frowned slightly, but an intrigued spark in his eye told her the truth and gave her courage to continue. She brought up a shell, the remnants of a clam.

"If I put my power into this... we can swap species... you could enter the water and I could see this city."

"And what's your promise that you'll come back, hey?"

"I... I don't have any way to prove my promise, I just..." she put the clam down to adjust her balance. "I'm going to have to ask you to trust me."

"Trust, huh? There's no man alive I'd trust right now, not after what happened."

"I..." she frowned slightly, sorrow evident on her face. "I understand..."

"Hold on, lass, I didn't say no." he grinned toothily. She blinked and looked up in confusion.

"But... didn't you say you couldn't trust me?"

"I said I couldn't trust a man. You're no human."

"S-so you'll do it?" her eyes lit up and a beaming grin adorned her face.

"Aye. I need out, you want in." he spat in his palm and held it out to her. She stared at the hand for a moment, but soon spat in her own hand and held it out in kind. He laughed briefly and grasped it firm. "You've got yourself a deal, little missy."