Merman - Romance

Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

“It’s brighter up here,” Tetlo muttered after several hours of swimming.  “You think it’s because of that fire ball?”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’ll go up first; if I melt you’ll know not to come,” Ridec advised.

“Cool, sounds like a plan,” Tetlo said ungraciously and Ridec punched him.  They laughed.

“Okay, wait here,” Ridec whispered not able to suppress the slight tremor in his voice.  He had made his mind up and if he didn’t act immediately he just might be tempted to change it.  He swam forward quickly and burst through the surface of the water.

It was bright.  There was a large ball burning in the sky but it didn’t seem to hurt.  In fact although it was bright Ridec remembered that he had seen lights below in Merland that were much closer than it was and brighter too.

“It’s okay.”  Three minutes later Tetlo bobbed up beside Ridec.

“Oh gosh.”  Tetlo’s mouth dropped open.  “This is beautiful!”

“Look at those plants!  We have nothing like those in Merland; they must be nearly thirty feet tall!”  Ridec was smiling brightly; everything was so beautiful and big.  They could see in the distance large trees and on the ground at the water’s edge was littered with specks of golden sand.

“Wow.  A piece of any of those will mesmerize all of Merland indeed,” Tetlo muttered.

“I’m going in, I’m sure to find one of those flower things out there,” Ridec said.

“Ridec.”  Tetlo gripped his arm.  “Are you sure?”  He looked nervous.

“I’m going to win Jessell’s hand in marriage; even the queen will see I am the best choice for her,” Ridec said determination written all across his face.

“I don’t know if she’s worth it, I mean, it’s not like you won’t get any girl if the Princess doesn’t chose you, any mermaid would be honored to marry either of us, after all, we were the top choices of the princess and we can afford to select the second richest girl in Merland.  In fact whichever one she doesn’t select is eligible to marry the princess’ sister.  We can’t lose on this deal Ridec,” Tetlo explained shaking his head warily as he stared across at the land.  “Neither of us needs to take foolish chances.”

“I don’t care about marrying into royalty, I only care about Jessell.  She’s worth this risk and much more to me.”

“The words of an innocent,” Tetlo grunted.

Ridec didn’t respond he jumped high into the air, splashed back into the water and started his swim towards the land.

***

It was more difficult to swim at the surface, there was more turbulence and the sea seemed to want to control where you were going.  Ridec swam on determined not to allow doubts to enter his mind or challenges to make him turn back.  His plan was simple; go to the big plants and seek out a flower more beautiful than any in Merland, pick it and head back to the safety of the sea.  In and out; it would be as easy as one, two and three.

It was strange how distances seemed so different on the surface, when Ridec glanced behind him Tetlo seemed so very far away.  Ridec raised his hand and waved at him and he waved back, seeing Tetlo seemed to give him a sense of comfort.