Merman - Romance

They're Back... Part 61

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Chapter 61

Jessell glanced around her feeling rather pleased with herself.  There were almost three hundred Mermaids following her to the surface.

"You're bringing a man?"  One of the mermaids asked.

"Trust me, Ridec is no ordinary Merman," Jessell responded with a grin.  "In fact you might be glad we have him with us when we reach the surface."

The girl shrugged.

"Forgive her your highness but it is just not our custom to endanger our mates," Arina put in.

"We need Ridec," Jessell said firmly.  "He understands better than anyone else in Merland how the cure works, how much we can distribute into the air and it still be effective."

"Of course; I am just concerned for His Highness' safety," Arina explained.

"As I will always be," Jessell said.  "That is why he stays beside me with my sister."

"I'm not sure if I'll be much help," Catina put in nervously.

"Your muscles won't become any stronger if you don't push them," Jessell said firmly.  "Look at Ridec.  He left Merland barely able to take care of himself but was forced to use muscles he never even knew he had.  He came back stronger than even many of my Mermaid squad."

Catina nodded her agreement.

"I trust you sister.  Perhaps I should have brought my husband Tetlo with me," Catina said but Jessell smiled.

"No; one mountain at a time."

"We're almost reaching the surface My Queen," Arina said.  "Some of the scouts that have gone ahead are reporting movement on the beach."

"That's not good," Ridec muttered.

"Usually zombies try to stay away from the seashore because of their aversion to salt," Jessell explained.

"Should we abort the mission?"  Arina asked.  "Some of the Squad are a little...nervous."

"No," Jessell said firmly.  "Follow me.  We'll go as close to the shore as we can and make an assessment as to if this is a good shoreline to come up on or if we should go further along."

"Yes, My Queen," Arina said as Jessell swam off with Ridec close behind her and the other members of the squad travelling close behind.

"Follow me in," Jessell said as she reached the surface and found the scouts a distance from the beach staring onto the shore.

"Of course," they chorused.

"Be careful my love," Ridec said into Jessell's mind.

"Be brave," Jessell responded and headed towards the shore.

She stopped a few feet away from the beach at the sound of laughter.

"That's something you don't hear very often on the earth," Jessell said.

"Look," Ridec said pointing.  "That's something you don't see very often either.  It looks like a group of children playing around some kind of statue.  None of the children look like zombies."

One little girl turned suddenly and caught sight of them and started to squeal with delight as the host of them walked onto the shore having changed into their human form and their fighter shawls wrapped around their body to cover them.

"Mama, Mama," she yelled.  "They're back, the fish people are back."

The little girl came racing towards them not appearing to be in the least daunted by hundreds of strange people suddenly appearing out of the water.

"You know of us?"  Jessell asked coming to stand in front of the little girl and signaling to the troop to keep its distance as more humans came racing into view onto the beach.

"They all came out of the water just like the story said," the little girl said with a great deal of excitement in her voice.

"The story?"  Ridec asked.

A woman hurried forward and pointed to the large statue on the beach.

Jessell walked over to the statue with Ridec beside her and then stared at it in awe.  It was the statue of a beautiful woman with long hair and a large orange mark on her face and she was being held in the arms of a tall handsome man with hair that seemed to glitter and the lower part of their bodies were entwined tails.

"It's us," Jessell muttered.

"Governor Rick said that you singlehandedly saved the human race at your own expense," the woman said too excited to contain the story.

"Why are there no zombies here," Ridec asked.  "We were coming back to create a mass distribution cure, a cure for everyone."

"You already did that," the woman sang out happily and then a man cut in.

"The cure you made created some kind of anti bodies in everyone who received it.  It turns out that the antibodies were powerful enough that if those persons were bitten again the one who bit them ended up getting cured.  So the more the zombies attacked us the more of them became cured.  The cure spread just like the virus did in the first place."

Ridec laughed and wrapping his arms around Jessell he kissed her soundly.

Jessell laughed too.

"Look at the inscription My Queen," Arina said.  "It may not be well written but you can see what they meant to say."

"Indeed," Jessell said.

Arina read the words out loud.

"Dedicated to the brave Queen Jessell and her most loyal servant Ridec – the father of the new world."

Ridec rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes.  Who would have thought that a poorly thought out mission would end up in the saving of the world?

"You did well," Jessell said slipping her hand into Ridec's.  "You did very well."

Arina bowed to Ridec.

"All Merland is honoured by your accomplishments."

"And yet the job isn't over just yet," Jessell said waving Arina away as she tried to stop a brave little boy from stealing the opportunity to touch Jessell.  "Earth has been under attack for hundreds of years and all their structures and systems have been destroyed.  Merland will need once again to step up and send teachers and builders and historians in an effort to put some of the structure back in place.  We must also send teams to various areas to ensure the entire world benefits from this cure."

Ridec agreed a huge smile still on his face.

"Do you want to hear something stupid?"  He asked Jessell.

"You get to say anything you want to," Jessell responded with a smile.

"I think of every thing I have heard today, all the kudos that have been bestowed upon me, I believe what makes me most happy is that the world knows that Ridec is the most loyal servant of Queen Jessell and most definitely will always be."

Jessell laughed.

"No matter what we go through Ridec," Jessell said playfully.  "I believe you will never change."

"Not in a million years," Ridec said firmly and wrapped Jessell into his arms just like the statue and received a rousing cheer from the excited crowd gathered around them.

THE END