Black Hearted

Part 26

Sean swam around the floor of the pool. He was having a great time with Mark. He never wanted it to end. Skimming over the warm white sand, Sean stopped. There was something shiny half buried in the sand that caught his attention. Swimming closer to it, he dusted it off carefully with his fingers. It was a metal armband of brass with weird writing around the circle and it had a fin in the center. Curiously, Sean took it and rose to the surface. He wanted to show Mark. Maybe he could read it. As he slowly crested the surface, Sean's heart sank. Mark was half in the water, staring into the barrel of someone's flintlock pistol. He couldn't see who it was, but he saw their arm. The man was wearing the same weird brass band on his wrist. Mark stared up at the man fearlessly, asking him loudly. "You must have a death wish. I'd lower that if I was you. Before my crew sees you threatening me." The man didn't lower his gun, choosing instead to ask sternly. "Save your threats, pirate. What are you doing here in this sacred place?"

Sean's eyes fell on the pile of clothing just in front of Mark where his necklace was. He couldn't turn back without it. Mark never took his eyes off the man, answering bluntly. "I didn't know that. I'm not from these lands." The man's voice turned dark as he sneered out. "I know... You pirate's value nothing but bloodshed. It sickens me. Since you have arrived, I have felt the islanders become restless. They ask for guidance and I'm answering... Leave this place. You do not belong here, outsider." Sean started to inch closer to Mark, when movement caught his eye on the other side of the shore. There were more of them. One approached the shore, his eyes locked on Sean's with an emotionless glare. Sean twisted in the water preparing for a fight. They looked like pirates themselves. They wore only grey pants with a leather gun holster crossed over their muscular bare chests. Some of them had visible scars, while others were flawless. Even the scrawnier members were muscular.

The one thing they all seemed to be wearing were those weird brass wristbands. As Sean tensed up, he watched the new man's eyes go from a grey color to a solid black. Sean's guard deflated. They weren't human. Panicking, Sean shouted aloud. "Mark, they're not human!" Mark's attention whipped around to him just as the man across the shore dived into the water. Sean couldn't breathe as he watched the man disappear under the water. Mark snatched his gun from the pile of clothes, training it on the water where he last saw the man. He didn't get a shot off, before a group of them on the shore sprang in on him, yanking him out of the water and restraining him across the ground. Sean's eyes widened in horror as something cut up through the surface of the water in front of him. A large grey dorsal fin. Sean dived beneath the surface to put some distance between them. At the entrance to the cave, Sean glanced back and took in what exactly was chasing him. It was... A merman. Only his body wasn't like his. This man's lower half was like that of a tiger shark. Between his shoulder blades sat his large dorsal fin and unlike him, this man had gills along his ribcage.

The man's tail thrashed through the water like a predator that was going in for the kill. He even went so far as to flash him his jagged shark teeth! Knowing what he was helped Sean brace himself confidently for the impact. He didn't think he was as strong, or as fast as this one, but he had an advantage on him. He didn't have gills. Which meant that he could drown him if he got a few hit in along his ribs. The man raced up to him and Sean dropped the brass wristband he was holding in order to raise his hands up for a fight. When the man was within striking distance... He suddenly veered off back where he'd come from. Sean stayed still in case he was going to come back, but saw his upper half breech the surface at the far end. Rising slowly from the water, Sean perked his ear fins up to listen intently. The man was chatting with the others on the surface, telling them in a gruff voice. "It's fine. That one isn't human. I'd say from the look of him that he comes from up north." Another Merman reached out to take his arm, pulling him from the water as he chuckled out loudly. "Did you make him piss himself? You know the others don't remember much about our kind."