A Mermaid's Tale

Chapter 10

The Captain hopped up out of his chair. Someone was pounding on his door, but it didn't sound like one of his men. Usually they didn't bother to knock at all. They just shouted whatever they came to say and were gone by the time Arthur opened his door. Sometimes they even opened the door without asking if it wasn't locked. Whoever was at the door wasn't a crew member.

Arthur fully expected to see Christov when he opened the door, and the only reason the first mate would bother him was for something important. Worry and annoyance quickly replaced the anguish Captain Kirkland was feeling just moments ago as he unlocked the door and pulled it open. He wasn't expecting nobody. The Captain poked his head out the door for a better look, but there was no one in sight.

"Bloody pranksters..." he growled as he began to close the door. If he ever found out who was responsible, they would pay dearly for disturbing him. That's when something grabbed his boot.

"A-Arthur..."

"Holy Mother of-" The Captain leapt away from the doorway with a string of curses. It took him a moment to understand what he saw. "(Y/n)?"

"Hi," she said sheepishly from the floor. Her face was unusually pale, and her hand shook as she waved. "C-can I come in?"

"You're not supposed to be here," Arthur answered as he set his face in what he hoped was a stern expression.

"Uh huh." The mermaid slowly pulled herself up from the floor into a sitting position. She already looked a little stronger than before. "I wasn't originally planning on coming here, but you forced my hand."

"Me?" Arthur shot her a confused look. "What have I done?"

"I don't know, but it hurts like crazy so knock it off." She got up onto unsteady feet and braced herself against the doorframe. "Who tore your heart apart?"

Captain Kirkland couldn't keep from flinching at the mermaid's words. The pain from before started to seep back into his chest as his thoughts returned to his late mother. He clenched his fists.

Before he could say anything, the mermaid collapsed to her knees and hunched over as if in severe pain. Arthur was so surprised he couldn't even react. It took him a moment to clear his head and remember how a gentleman would act in such a situation. He quickly knelt next to the girl and gently touched her arm.

"What's the matter, (y/n)? Are you hurt?"

"No, but you are."

Arthur became more confused than ever by her response. "Excuse me?"

"Just think about rainbows and ponies and cake or something. Think happy."

"Happy?" Arthur furrowed his brows. What made him happy? Well, there was gold, rum, fairies, unicorns, and spirits. Not that he would ever admit those things.

"Much better," the mermaid said with a sigh. She looked up with watery eyes and a strained smile at the pirate captain. "Maybe I should explain a few things before you try to kill me again."

It took her about a half hour to explain to Arthur how the heart connection works. Apparently her mermaid magic had bound their hearts together physically and emotionally. If either one of them died, so did the other. If one of them felt a very strong emotion, so did the other. Arthur didn't know whether to believe her, but it didn't seem like she was faking the pain she was in earlier.

"So, if this is real, aren't you making a really big gamble?" he asked with narrowed eyes. "What if something happens to me?"

"That's always the risk," she answered. "I didn't want to do this, but you gave me no choice. I wasn't about to be sold as cargo."

She said it with such vehemence that the Captain was starting to understand what she meant. Or maybe that was the heart connection giving him these feelings. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to think anymore. This whole situation had spiraled so quickly out of his control that he felt like a helpless lad just learning to live on his own, and he didn't enjoy the feeling one bit.

"Well, what do you suggest we do to get out of this mess? I have to help you since you'll die if I don't, and I don't know about you, love, but I'm not too keen on dying any time soon."

"Ojigwa said I should go home," she responded almost wistfully.

"And where is that, exactly?"

"Um..." The mermaid chewed her lip thoughtfully. Arthur found the gesture to be kind of adorable, but he would never say that. "It's hard to explain."

"Great." The Captain stood up and tuned away from the girl as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "As if things couldn't get any bloody worse, you don't know where we should go."

"It's around here."

"What?" He turned back to see an empty doorway. While he was preoccupied, the mermaid had gotten to her feet and made her way over to a wall with a large map pinned on it.

"I think it's around here, but I can't say for sure."

Arthur joined the girl at the map and looked where her finger was pointing. It was right off the coast of an island in the southern portion of the Sea of Hess. That was at least a week's worth of sailing from their current position.

"There? By Illiam Island? Are you sure?"

"I think so. If I'm reading this right. I've never seen a human map before. Is there really so much land?"

The Captain thought it was odd that she thought there was a lot of land when most of the map was the ocean, but then again she had never been on land before in her life. He could see why she would think there was a lot of it. She seemed so amazed by the smallest things sometimes, but he wondered what crazy things she has seen in the depths of the sea.

"This is where we are now," Arthur said as he pointed to a landmass in the top left corner of the map. "We call it the Northern Continent, or Herdhold by the natives."

"What are they like?"

"Big, strong, blonde, and pale, especially in the north." He pointed to a large dot on the map. "The people in Berd are some of the tallest you'll ever meet. Must have something to do with the cold."

"What about this one?" she asked with her finger on a different continent directly south of the first.

"That's the Western Continent, or Vanhold. We caught you around here in the Sea of Hess, and then took you to Wend, here." Arthur pointed to another dot. "The people there aren't as big or pale, but they have fair skin and hair for the most part."

"Ohhh." The mermaid's eyes seemed to light up. "Then the Isle of Mermaids is right where I said. It's by that island full of weird pale people."

"Sounds like Illiam," Arthur said with a roll of his eyes.

"What about here?" she asked as she pointed to a continent in the opposite corner of the map from the Northern Continent.

"What is this, a geography lesson?" The Captain sounded annoyed, but he actually enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the known world. "That's the Southern Continent, or Agbalhold by its people. Its marshes are dark like the people who live there."

"Is that where Ninya came from?"

"Yes, most likely."

"That's so far away..." She traced a line from the Northern Continent to the Southern. "How sad."

Arthur felt a twinge of sadness as well, but he attributed it to their connection. "You should worry about yourself. You're pretty far from home too."

"I suppose..."

The sadness in the Captain's heart intensified tenfold, but he ignored it and pointed to the last continent instead. "That's the Eastern Continent, or Cashold. The people there have a strange magic and culture. They believe in spirits and dragons and other such nonsense."

"You don't believe in those things?"

Her question caught him off guard. "I believe in hard work, good rum, and gold. What else is there to believe in?"

"That's a little sad." The look on her face was enough to twist his heart. He was about to say something back when a loud bell rang outside.

"That's the dinner bell," Arthur said matter of factly. "Guess it's time to eat."

"What's for dinner?"

"No clue. Let's go see what the cook made."