Mermaid origins (Complete)

Chapter 15

This is actually starting to come together. 

Which surprising since I'm pretty sure I didn't plan any of this... Anyway

Mitch's POV

I was still confused. Bryan had dragged Mario into the infirmary, in case that he reopened a wound, before any of us could even start asking questions. So we were stuck here. I was leaning against the mast, occasionally moving to help the crew, but for the most part, I was glaring at everyone.

Finally the door to the infirmary opened. Mario and Bryan walked out and were instantly assaulted with dozens of questions from each sailor.

I looked at David, hoping he would step in, but he looked just as curious as the rest of crew, and was also asking questions.

Of course. I have to play bossy. Because someone isn't being a great captain. I sighed

"Hey! Give em space, would ya?" I shouted pushing them away from the two alarmed mermen. I heard Bryan sigh in relief and I quickly smiled at him, letting the smile drop off my face as I turned to face the crew. I also chose to shoot a glare at David, who merely looked down at his feet, before looking up and smiling sheepishly.

"We're going to do this one question at a time, now, are there any suggestions?" I looked at the crew as they started shouting their questions at me instead. One was repeated the most. I turned to the mers, still standing behind me.

"What are Flesh Drinkers?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at them. "Bryan, you've never mentioned them before."

"W-well. Flesh Drinkers are pretty scary, and I don't know much about them... so uhm" Bryan was looking at the floor.

Mario sighed and started explaining. "Flesh Drinkers, or as most humans call them, Sirens are the most horrific example of magical experimentation of ruler power on living mers. They were created to kill humans and destroy boats. Their teeth can tear holes into even the strongest wood. Recently, as less boats have passed our waters, some have become less... wild and become more sane and civil." He paused, thinking and continued.

"The tamer ones are kinda like a watered down version of a mix of your ideas of vampires and wendigos, they don't have to drink mer blood, but it helps better than fish blood." He took in a breath and winced, something I noticed him doing whenever he breathed deeply.

"Does that make sense?" He asked looking around.

The sailors seemed satisfied for that answer, at least for now.

"Good. Now y'all need to get back to work! The ship may still be intact, but it still got damaged! Let's go!" I said gesturing for them to get moving.

As they did I turned back to Mario. He raised an eyebrow, probably sensing a question still on my mind.

"How many times did they hit the boat? It's like we just went right through a nasty storm up here, and down below is worse!" I asked, finally letting the concern I'd been bottling up seep into my voice.

"Only a few times, but their tails are insanely powerful. Imagine mine and Bryan, but nearly twice the size, with more fins, and more spikes. You, we, actually got kind of lucky, they were well not nice, but not awful. They agreed to tell any other Flesh Drinkers in the area to not attack the boat." He said.

"So we won't have to deal with that again?" David cut in, stepping forward.

"Probably not, but we really should not bring the boat to much deeper into the kingdom. The king may release the chained if he notices a boat. Maybe another two days of sailing then we should find a place to stop" Mario said.