The Maidening Ceremony

Chapter Twenty - Scene 3

"Let her go!" Finley shouted, leaping with such strength from his seat that the golden coil around his stomach and hands snapped and disintegrated.  The entire length began disappearing. 

Mermaids and mermen were freed and pushed up from their seats as well. Chaos erupted. The entire crowd began talking at once, some disparaging Finley and Arilya for going against the Council's wishes and others lashing out at the Council for the new iron fist rule. Finley zoomed for the stage, for Arilya, who was still shrieking for help.

"Stop Japhet, I do not want to. Get off!"

I could not see over the swarm of merpeople heading towards the center of the arena and the coil had yet to release me or anyone on the row where I sat, but Arilya's painful cries told me the mating had begun.

"Arilya!" Finley called out.

"Finley, please hurry!"

"This is out of control," the young mermaid beside me whispered as her bonds were released. She darted behind me to the exit. The thick coil dissolved around me, finally, and I struggled to push through the throngs of merpeople clamoring to lay their complaints at the tails of the Elders. I wondered why William and Elizabeth had done nothing yet to soothe the masses, to restore proper order, but as far as I could tell, the Council remained planted on the stage where Arilya and Japhet's mating continued amidst Arilya's screams.

"Ahhhhh – noooooooo!" came another, but this time was more pain, more urgency. Heartbreak almost.

"No! No! No no no no no no..." Arilya's cries were so loud they drowned out the murmurs and shouts of the crowd. The despair in her voice was so heavy it spread over the assembly and calmed the pandemonium. The merpeople stopped swimming and stared at her; she was pushing on Japhet's chest with both fists, straining her back trying to pull her tail away from his and gawking at the floor of the stage with such sorrow, my heart knew exactly what I would find when I reached her.

I was right, but never in my life had I more wished to be wrong. Lying there, silent and still, on the cold hard floor of the ocean, was Finley, a hunting knife jabbed straight into his heart.

I rushed to Arilya's aid; William and Elizabeth saw me coming and swam around to block my path. "Get out of my way."

"Was this your plan all along, Mills? Mayhem? Disorder?" Elizabeth angrily asked.

"My plan? You are the two geniuses who decided to hold the entire Community captive. How did you pull that off?"

"You were going to rise a revolt against us; we were prepared!"

"Where did you get that idea?"

"Mills, please help me!"

I gave up my argument with the twin evils and tried again to get to Arilya, but it was like they anticipated my every move. I could not manage to get past them. "Let her go!" I screamed.

Elizabeth laughed. William grabbed my arms. "Give up unless you want to end up like him." He flung an arm down and pointed at Finley's lifeless body.

"Why did you kill him?"

"He disturbed the fear – they cannot be controlled if they do not fear us." Out of the finger pointing at Finley came a stream of white light. William focused it on the knife in Finley's heart and the corpse rose off the ground.

"What are you doing to him?" Arilya shrieked.

William guided the body high, over the heads of everyone in the arena. "This young merman was a traitor. He was disobedient. He caused a panic. You see what happens to those who go against me?" Finley's body did a half-turn so that his head was facing up and his tail pointed at the crowd. The knife in his chest was sickeningly visible. Arilya's sobs echoed throughout the vast arena.

"I do not care about any of your lives," William continued. "I am sure you already know this. Individually, you mean nothing. I could just as easily dispose of you as I disposed of him." A flick of his wrist, the light disappeared and Finley's body sunk agonizingly slowly. I took the opportunity while William engaged in his delusional dictatorial rant and Elizabeth worshipped every word he spoke to flee to Arilya and help pull her away from Japhet. The moment she was free, her tail kicked fiercely and up she went, catching Finley in her arms as he dropped.

She cradled his head to her chest and wept. It broke my heart watching hers shatter.

"Oh, Finley," she muttered. The crowd was no longer paying attention to William; they were watching Arilya. He noticed the shift in concentration and followed it.

"You stupid girl! You have been nothing but trouble your entire life." William stormed at Arilya, but she was in her own world, oblivious to anything but the agony in her heart. "Listen to me! Look at me!"

But she did not. "We should have killed you from the first moment that tail of yours turned red. I was too easy, I allowed myself to be swayed. Never again."

He turned and bellowed at the crowd. "I swear the next red tail I see will be killed on the spot."

He flung back around and grabbed Arilya by her hair, yanking her head up and holding it level with his own. "You think you are special. You are NOT special. You are pathetic. Weak. A disgrace to this Community. And you are banished – let the sharks have you." He threw her head back and sauntered forward.

I moved to comfort Arilya, but before I could reach her, I saw madness flash in her eyes. She spun around, latched onto the handle of the blade in Finley's chest, jerked it out and hurled it at William. It sank into his neck, blood poured; he desperately clutched at it for a few seconds before his life expired and he floundered to the ocean floor.

Arilya's mouth fell open, eyes wide, hands palm up and shaking – she could not believe what she had done. Several Elders lazily got up from their seats and leaned over William's body. Elizabeth's admiration seemed gone the second William was.

"Enough excitement, everyone back to work." She yawned, heading for the exit. After a few stunned minutes, the crowds began to follow.

I went to Arilya, took her hands and guided her to the floor. "What did I do?" she asked.

I hugged her.

"Mills, how could I do that?"

I reached up and undid the fasteners in her hair, letting it flow freely in the water.

"I am... I am a... a... mur..murderer."

"No, you are not."

"I am!"

"You did it to protect yourself, so you would not be banished."

"No, I did not. I do not care if I die. I did it for revenge. He killed Finley, so he deserved to die. Oh, Finley!" She flopped her body over his and wept again, her fingers stroking his hair.

"He was evil, Arilya. You saved the Community from him."

She was not listening. She would take no comfort or support. Her love was dead and she had become a killer, the worst possible fate for anyone. She would never be able to reconcile her actions with the means. There is nothing which can justify the act of murder, she knew it in her soul. William's murdering Finley did not even justify her murdering him.