The Little Water Elf

4- Dark Magic

「⠀ "But if you take my voice," said the little mermaid, "what will be left to me?"

⠀ "Your lovely form," the witch told her, "your gliding movements, and your eloquent eyes. With these, you can easily enchant a human heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Stick out your little tongue, and I shall cut if off. I'll have my price, and you shall have the potent draught."

⠀ "Go ahead," said the little mermaid. 」

The sky was clear and blue, rays of sun creating rainbows of light through the water. Rayla darted to and fro on her way to the border, hiding behind rocks and patches of seaweed as she made her way out of the city.

She could already hear Runaan's angry greeting for when she returned.

"Why weren't you at elf practice?"

The thought made her giggle.

As she exited the city, she began the swim down to the rift, crossing the deep trench without a second thought.

The thought of seeing him again made her giddy with joy. A human prince, she was an idiot.

But why did he have to be so perfect?

When the sea floor began its slope upwards she began looking for her usual rock, one that was situated a few hundred feet from the shore. She pulled herself from the water, peering over the rock only to find — with disappointment — that there were no humans playing around in the sand.

Her joyous mood diminished, just the slightest bit. Maybe they would appear later?

Too late she noticed the shadow slowly approaching through the water. A human seemed to shimmer into existence on the shore, looking directly at her.

Without a second thought, she dived back into the water, adrenaline suddenly very prominent in her veins. Too soon the energy began to fade. Her breath caught in her throat, and she found that her gills were unable to filter in any water.

Her vision blurred, and the last thing she remembered was a thin, wire net wrapping around her tail before everything went dark.

• • •

When Rayla awoke next, the air around her was thick and cold. Her shoulders hurt from some kind of binding, and her wrists stung from where they were tied up, out of the water on some kind of metal circle drilled into the stone floor.

Her vision was blurry, and it took several moments for Rayla to realize it was because of the absence of water to keep her eyes damp and clear.

Oh please no. She'd been captured by a human. A human. And now she was probably going to be used as a subject for one of their cruel and evil "dark magic" endeavors. She wanted to cry, but held back her tears. They only held more magic, and there was no way she was going to bless the human who'd captured her with something as magical as a mermaid's tear.

After a quick scan of what she could see from her bound position — torso pulled up and out of the water, a grainy edge of stone cutting into her stomach where the water ended — and saw that no human was in the room. It appeared to be one of the towers of the seaside castle, and a thin layer of dust seemed to cover everything. There were shelves lining the walls, and a desk in a corner. It took her a minute to realize that the shelves were lined with dead creatures of magic, mostly aquatic ones.

It was the only thing in the tower, the walls stretching far above her and very few windows lined the dark stone.

Her observations were cut short when she heard a large squeal of what must've been an old door opening. It slammed shut, and she flinched, panic filling her body as she began desperately struggling against the rope that kept her out of the water and unable to flea. Could she even leave? She knew the water she was in had to be salt water due to the texture and scent, so it had to be connected to the ocean, possibly through an underwater cave.