Her Soldier, His Warrior

Fish Out Of Water (Part 2)

"Guys I got us a room!" The two boys hear Soren yell as he approached them. "So, what now?"

"Oh...well the nice lady told us of this guy who claims he's seen a...you know what in the ocean." Callum says as he points to the woman. "No one believes him apparently."

"Wait, has the man described this being?" Soren asks, turning to the woman. "Like what does it look like?"

"Caspian has claimed this being of the sea looks like a human from the waist up, but has fins for ears and a long flowing tail for legs, even claims some of them have long flowing blue hair that moves like it has a life of its own in the water." The woman responds with a scoff. "Pay no mind to him if you see him, he's drunk half the time and his descriptions tend to change a lot but the one I gave is what he's often consistent with if he's sober enough. What, are you boys looking for a sea folk too or something?"

"Uh...well you see-" Soren was cut off when a loud high pitch sceam pierced the air, coming from the docks.

"Ha I got it! Told you all I wasn't crazy!" They hear a man yell over the screaming. "One half fish woman and you all thought I was insane!"

"Oh no, what did he snag now?" The woman mutters as she turns her cart towards the docks as the three boys followed. "Caspian I swear on our mothers watery grave you better not have caught some poor girl in your fishing nets- oh my gods!"

Wriggling and screaming like an injured dolphin was an all too familiar mermaid, hanging from a large net that was hoisted over the water as she tries to break free.

"Enya!" The boys yell as they rush forward and push through the crowd of onlookers.

"Let her go!" Ezran yells when they get to the front. "Don't hurt her!"

A large middle aged man who stood at the edge of the dock looked at them annoyed. "This ain't a human boys, this here is a dangerous sea creature who has been tormenting me for the past several years and been stealing my fish and destroying my nets! No one believed me when I told them about it, and now that I have proof I'm going to mount and stuff it to show I'm not a drunk and crazy fisherman!"

"Ez, now would be a good time to put your king title to use!" Soren says as he grabs the net to drag it from the dock and yanks his sword out. With one quick slice, Enya falls out of the net and onto the floor, gasping and wheezing as Soren takes her into her arms and she clings to him.

"Y-you..." She manages to say and he gave her a small smile.

"You saved me, now it's my turn." He says as he carefully picks her up and turns to his friends. "Guys, we need to move her somewhere safe."

"Now hold on just a minute brat, that's my catch and you ain't taking it!" The man snarls as he steps forward before Ezran and Callum get between him and Soren. "Move brats!"

"As king of this kingdom, I declare this mermaid to be under my protection, so you can't hurt her without facing punishment!" Ezran snapped and Bait growled in agreement. "If we put her back in the sea, you will just hurt her."

"Get rid of it!" Someone in the crown yells as the rest of the townsfolk start yelling.

"Why are they mad at me?" Enya asks softly as she hugged Soren tightly. "This is my home, what did I do wrong?"

"Shh, no it's okay, we're...we'll take you out of here." The teen assures her as he hugged her close to his chest and glares att he older fisherman. "This girl is under the protection of the Katolian crownguard and king Ezran, anyone who harms her will suffer great consequences!"

"Y-yeah, what he said!" Callum yells as Soren rises, still gripping the sword in one hand as he held Enya close with his other arm. "Wait we need to keep her wet Soren! She said her scales would dry out if she's out for too long!"

"We'll figure something out! First off we need to get her out of here!"

A sizeable crowd had gathered around them, everyone staring at the mermaid in horror or disgust as Soren hurried towards the wagon and holding his blade in front of him, Callum and Ezran hurrying behind him. Once they reached the wagon, Callum hopped into the back and helped Soren pull Enya in with Ezran's help, hastily wrapping her up in a blanket as the mermaid curled herself up in a corner.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Ezran tries to assure her as thy drive off from the port. "We'll just take you back to that beach we found you at weeks ago!"

"She can't stay in these waters anymore, if we take her back to that stretch of beach, she'll be hunted down again." Callum points out. "And we have to take her somewhere with water but far from here. And we better do it fast."

"Well what can we do? And where can we even take her?"

"Katolis." Both boys look to the front of the wagon where Soren sat before he looks back at them with a serious look. "We take her back to Katolis with us, maybe have her live in the river surrounding the castle to keep her close."

"I don't care where I go...I need water..." Enya mumbles loudly. "Please...it...hurts..."

"Let's stop by that beach we found her at to soak her scales, and once we do that we could talk and discuss stuff."

They soon arrived at that stretch of beach where the drop off was at, where Soren quickly carried Enya out and helped her slip into the shallow water. She swims several feet from the shore before turning back and layed herself out in the shallows.

"Okay Soren, what's your plan for taking her to Katolis?" Ezran asks as the three boys remove their boots to sit down in the sand and stick their feet in the water, Bait crawling to the edge of the water to join Enya with his head and nose peeking out of the water.

"Well I thought we could wrap her in a blanket soaked with water until we get somewhere with a river, but the blanket may dry out after some time and we don't have big enough water skins to replenish that." Soren says as he starts doodling random lines in the sand. "Maybe we could stop by that weird inn from earlier and buy a water basin or tub they have and refill it? It won't be salt water, but she could survive in it...right?"

"Well salt water fish don't do well in freshwater, they choke and don't live long." Callum points out. "But Enya doesn't have to keep her gills submerged, right?"

"I think she does, she mentioned staying out of the water is fine for a time but afterwards it hurts to breathe." Ezran points out and points to where their new companion was laying. "We need something big enough to hold her so she could curl up in and stay submerged."

"Well if we have a small basin she could sort of fit in, we could buy a bigger one in whatever town we get to on our way home."

"Okay, whatever we're gonna do, we have to be fast." Soren says as he gets up. "Pretty sure some of those people at the port decided to follow and hunt our mermaid friend down, so we better scram and fast."

Once on his feet, he wades into the water where Enya laid and dipped a hand in to gently touch her cold cheek. Enya immediately sat up and shook her head, sending water flying before craning her neck back to look up at Soren.

"Ar we leaving?" She asks and he nods. "How are you going to keep me damp?"

"For now, we'll soak some blankets and wrap them around you so your scales won't dry out." Soren says as he squatted a bit, not caring that the water was soaking his legs. "We might get a basin and fill it with water, will you be okay with that?"

"For how long?"

"A few days, we'll stop at every lake and pond we come across to let you soak while we refill the basin until we get there. Once we arrive at our destination, we'll take you to the moat surrounding the castle and that will be your home. Will you be okay with that?"

Enya was quiet for a bit before nodding and holding her arms up so Soren could scoop her out of the water, earning him a startled gasp from the mermaid before she flung her arms around him and gave him a shy look.

"Sorry..." She manages to mumble.

"It's okay, you're not used to being carried but I am used to carrying people. I'll carry you everywhere from now on, oaky?" Soren assures her with a smile as the mermaid blushes a bit. "Okay you boys help me get her into the wagon, we've got a long way to go and have to think of an excuse to come up with when Opeli asks why we have a mermaid on our hands! To Katolis!"