The Brave

The Braves Adventure

As the years went by Bubbles and Cordelia's bond was inseparable. Bubbles knew about Cordelia's full past. Cordelia and Bubbles trained their skills daily. They visited several outpost, fought beasts and humans, and met several kins. The two never settled, they kept traveling to the next outpost, to their next adventure.
Cordelia -Age 14-
I steer the wooden ship. It trailed behind Bubbles as the kin jumped in and out of the water. Bubbles was leading the way to the next outpost. We bought a map from the last outpost that lead us to this one. This outpost was a large stretch of woods that humans call Gytrash. These woods were a hideout for kins and beast of all kinds. The shores of Gytrash connected to a large cove that had an island at the mouth of it. Bubbles splashed sea water as she swam past the island. The island was wide and flat. It was made of wet brown rock. There was parts of the island where the land sloped down and made stone nests. Suspicion filled my blue eyes as I looked closer at the island. Something about it was off.  Bubble lets out a scared neigh. I look to the front of the ship and I don't see her surface.
"Bubbles!" I shout.
I run down the stairs, unsheathe my sword, then jump into the water. The blue salty water clouds my vision. I blink my eyes and quickly come to my senses. There was mermaids everywhere. Bubbles was surrounded by mermaids who had sparkling tails and green hair. They held no weapons and there sharp teeth were stained red with blood.
Blood from fish? Will they eat us.
I haven't had an encounter with mermaids again in years. I grip my sword.
I won't let them hurt us this time.
Though they seemed friendly. The mermaids clicked and purred at Bubbles. Two mermaids circled me, looking at me with interest. There eyes were pitch black.
"Cordelia! What do we do?" Bubbles said.
I try to think of a plan but I couldn't grasp one. I shake my head. Air bubbles rise above my head. A mermaid went closer to Bubbles. Bubbles swam back in fear and touched a mermaid with her tail. The mermaid then grabbed ahold of Bubbles. Bubbles shrieked and yellow magic swarmed around her. When the magic cleared away Bubbles was replaced with a dolphin.
Mermaids are Bubbles weakness.
"No!" I shout, air leaves my mouth.
I shove a mermaid away and start swimming for the dolphin. Bubbles as a dolphin was being held by the mermaid. Bubbles looked tiered and weak. As soon as I touched the mermaid to shove it away it grabbed me and started pulling me down into the dark depths. Mermaids swam up from the darkness below holding a net. The mermaids frog-like hand had a strong grip on me. The mermaids hands glowed black.
She's using her magic!
Weariness washes over me. The mermaid drags me deeper down. The other mermaids put the net around Bubbles. I swing my sword at the mermaid who grabbed me but the sword was slow. The mermaid easily pushed the sword away. I feel more of my energy get drained. I use my magic to force my lucky coin to my side. I control it to hit the mermaids that were surrounding Bubbles in the head. Each mermaid fell asleep and drifted downward. I groan as the second mermaid uses there magic on me. My eye lids grew heavy. I sheath my sword. I saw Bubbles turn back into a Hippocampus. She quickly shook off the net. The mermaids hissed at her.
I signal with my hand for her to run before I fall into a cold sleep.
——
My limbs feel numb. My lips were chapped from the salty Sea. My sea blue eyes were closed. I felt my pink hair plastered against my boney face. My face was pressed up against rough sandy stone. I cough, gulping for air. I try to move my arms but they wouldn't budge. I felt as if I could sleep through a blue moon. I crack my stinging eyes open and see a crab walk not far from my face. It's blue body shined in the sunshine. I try again to make my arms move, but I could only twitch my fingers. A spear splits through the air and sliced through the middle of the crab. The crab immediately went limp. A mermaid crawled over to the crab. Her green hair was wet and her bones showed through her skin. She had blue-green scales along parts of her legs and back. She bent over the crab and tore it apart. She started devouring the crab while making clicking sounds. I watched the revolting sight.
I have to get out of here!!
I try to get my muscles to move but I could only move my hand. The kin snaps her attention to me. Her eyes were pitch black and her mouth was covered in crab guts. She licks her lips and crawls over to me. She hisses and looks as if she's about to pounce on me. I try to will myself to move but my limbs were too tired. I hear a pebble get moved behind the mermaid. The mermaid snaps her attention to where the noise came from. A merman stood there with a spear in his hand. His eyes were also fully black and he had scales all along him. He eyed me then he spoke to the mermaid.
"She hard to catch."
The mermaid looked confused.
"You catch?"
The merman nods.
"We will feast. Gather everyone." He says.
The mermaid makes a few clicking sounds before crawling off the rock island into the water. The merman then turns his attention towards me. I struggle to get up.
"Let me go." I say through clenched teeth.
The mermaid watches me struggle with amusement in his dark eyes. He comes closer to me and hits my spine with the wooden end of the spear. My past scars burn and my spine radiates with pain. I tremble and fall back to the sandstone ground. A whimper escapes my mouth.
"You fed us well. We eat you."
Not if I can help it.
I breath in shallow breaths.
"It's wrong to eat me. We are both kin. Feast on the fish or humans." I mutter.
The merman kneels in front of me.
"Humans stop coming. To many mermaids. To little fish."
The mermaids were starving. That explained why they looked so bony, and why they fought so hard to catch me and Bubbles.
Bubbles!
I struggle to get up again. I was able to move my arms. I lift myself a bit off the ground before the merman forced me down with his webbed hand. I narrow my eyes at him.
"Where is me friend?" I growl.
The mermaid looks bored by my question.
"Hunters find her soon. We wait for her."
They haven't caught her.
I needed to get out of here. Why couldn't I move?
"Why can't I move. What power did ye use on me!" I commanded.
The merman smirks. He puts his hand near my face as black magic wraps around me.
"Sleep Manipulation. Want to try it?" He says.
I try to answer but I couldn't open my mouth. My limbs grew heavy. My eyelids slowly closed.
————
Heat pressed down on my back. I was moving. I could feel my hands rub against sandy rock. I grunt as my head collides with something. I open my eyes to see that I was getting dragged. Two mermaids were dragged me by my feet while the merman walked behind them. They dragged my light body with ease across the stone floor. My hands moved across the rough stone. My head felt heavy with tiredness as it was drug. I forced my fingers to move. I tried to have them grip onto any hold they could. A dip in the rocks came and I gripped onto it. The dragging stopped immediately. I look up and see the merman shaking his head at me. He makes a few clicking noises then slams the end of the spear onto my hands. I yelp as pain overtook me. My hands immediately let go and I get dragged once more. I realized that I must get more awake before I can try to escape. I close my eyes and let my limbs relax. I listen to my surroundings. The merman and mermaids make several clicking noises. I get dragged for a while longer and then they stop. I feel myself being lifted off the ground. I open my eyes just in time to see me get thrown in the middle of a circle of mermaids. I landed on a pile of seaweed, crab guts, and fish scales. I gag at the smell. Mermaids surrounded me, all looking at me with deep hunger in their eyes. I feel all my tiredness drain. I look and see that the merman was distracted.
This is me chance to escape!
I look for an opening but I couldn't find one. I would just have to shove through a group of child mermaids. I make sure all my limbs could move, then I jump up and ram into the little mermaids. They squeal with alarm and one manages to wound my leg. I run faster than I ever had before. The island dipped so I could see the sea.
Would Bubbles get to me in time?
I look behind me and see several mermen with Spears chasing me, but they were much slower on land. I jump into the water and quickly splash out of the shallows. I start swimming as fast as I could. I keep swimming as the mermen reach the shallows. They transform into their mermaid forms. Bubbles surfaces in front of me. I swim myself onto her back.
"Swim Bubbles!"
She takes off as the mermen follow us. Once we got far enough from the island the mermen stopped and turned around. I let out a sigh of relief. Bubbles nudges me.
"Are you okay? Let's go to the shore over there to heal you."
Once over there I put my hand in the water so she can heal me and I tell her about all that had happened. She starts telling me about how she escaped.
"I was swimming next to your ship when several mermaids appeared out of nowhere and surrounded me."
Bubbles magic wraps around me as she talks. I felt soothed as her magic healed my cuts and scrapes.
"Then you came down and got surrounded to. I asked you if you had a plan and you shook your head no. I decided that you would figure something out to help me."
I used my magic to make my lucky coin come back to me as Bubbles spoke.
"Then one of the mermaids got closer to me so I swam backwards, causing me to touch another mermaid. That's when I learned that mermaids are my weakness. I lost my powers and I felt so much pain, as if I was being split in two. My magic circled me and I turned into my Earth form, a dolphin. You shouted and the mermaids started  grabbing me. I was so exhausted that I couldn't fight back. I saw you getting dragged deeper into The Sea. I started to struggle but they put a net around me. Then you figured out what to do. Your coin put the mermaids that were surrounding me to sleep. I escaped. I was going to try to help you, but you signaled me to swim away, then you went limp. I was so worried about you. I kept using my magic to sense where you were. But when you were on the island I didn't know where you had gone. Once I felt you in the water again I raced over to get you."
I look at Bubbles. I felt such a strong bond with her. I let a tear fall down my eye.
"Thanks for sticking with me Bubbles. I thought for sure that I would be dead. It seems that those mermaids are starving because humans don't come here anymore. There magic puts you to sleep. I felt trapped, every time I woke up I was put to sleep again.  We need to get back to Blueberry and pass the island as quickly as we can." I say.
Bubbles nods in agreement.
"Yes Captain."
We go back to the ship. Bubbles swims ahead of me as I steer the ship. We soon pass the island and  enter a vast fog covered cove. I anchor the ship and close the sails. Bubbles and I agree to rest for today, then explore the outpost tomorrow. After eating some food that I had onboard and showering the crab guts out of my hair, I lay down in my hammock. My hammock gently sways as the waves rock the ship. I close my eyes and drift into a peaceful sleep.
My dreams were haunted by my near death experience with Ahab.
——
I was falling. Ahab was below me, we were both falling into the grumbling sea that had pointed stones jutting out of it. Words screamed around me in Ahabs voice.
Mutant! Prisoner! Evil! Monster!
The dark stones grew closer and closer. Wind whipped my face. I scream as I come in contact with the sharp stone. Everything went black.
I wake up. My heart was beating fast but I remained calm. As I sit up I feel pain in all my limbs. I was sore and bruised from the mermaids. I go to the restroom to freshen up. When changing I see the black M that was permanently on my arm and the scars that ran along my back. I put on a white shirt that covered my scars, black castaway pants, my blue pirate trench coat the hid the M on my arm, and I put on back boots. My cutlass hanged at my side and my lucky coin was in my coat pocket. My pirate hat that was growing small was on my head. After catching a fish for breakfast me and Bubbles follow the map to the outpost. We swam towards an abandoned dock. I felt for magic in the water on our way there. I felt many clusters of magic flowers and a few small magic creatures. When we arrived at the dock the map said to go north until I reached the outpost. Bubbles waited at the dock as I walk through the forest known as Gytrash. The forest was thick and full of noises. I felt uneasy as I walked forward. My hand stayed on my sword. I wasn't paying attention to where I was stepping so I tripped. My leg got wrapped around a thorny vine. I gasp and my eyes grow wide as I feel extreme amounts of pain. I felt as if I was getting torn apart. My golden magic swirled around me. My pink hair turned brown. I felt as if I couldn't breath. Then I felt lost. My powers were slipping away from me. I tremble as I am left with the feeling of being weak and pitiful like a human. I gasp for air. The thorny plant is my weakness, but I felt to weak to take it off of me. I couldn't move. I twitched my fingers and pain spiraled across my body causing me to scream in agony and pain. Tears fall down my face. I hear the crunching of leaves.
Someone was coming.
I couldn't move. The pain was to great. I look to the woods as I see the bushes tremble. Someone was pushing through them. Someone was trying to get to me.
——