“Come quickly, it has breached the southern wall.” my assistant told me. I had been in the middle of coming up with a plan for combating the monster, but now it seemed all planning was useless. I swam towards the southern side of the building sword in hand. As I moved, I could hear the samurai rallying behind me.
For the last two days the outlying farms had been ravaged by one of the monsters of the deep, the Devil Crab. The monster had lay dormant for centuries before being awaken by the human drilling oil. Now it was threatening Laut Cota, the southern city.
I raced with my building forces to the southern wall. He hovered above us ready to come down on the city main at any second. I knew the city was lost if we did not act fast.
“East wing, attack the legs near the joints, West wing, help the citizens out of the city.” I told them. All but my good friend Eel took their orders.
“Miss Naga, what are you going to do?” He called to me as I swam towards the creature. I looked back and winked at him.
“Something very brave.” I shouted. He bowed to me as I swam towards what would most likely be my death.
“Maple, I think I can see the town up ahead.” Terry said, snapping me back to reality. I looked forwards, and there it was. As we swam you could see how it got its name, Cloch Airgid, or silver stone in welsh. It stood closer to the surface than most settlements and the watery sunlight made it look like it was built out of the precious metal. We swam into town, getting some nods from the townsfolk. We swam into the Inn and I rang the bell on the desk, orchid swam up to greet us. Terry was floating about two feet behind me as not to intrude on our conversation.
“Oh Maple, you are looking ravishing as always, and your traveling companion isn’t bad looking either.” She said, hugging me and winking at Terry.
“He’s new, he drowned near my cave, I made sure his transformation was comfortable.” I told her. She nodded.
“Thats, why you are going to the council meeting. I was wondering what could drag you of solitude. I’m not sure if you want to show that one the city though, it might be better just to keep that piece of tail all to yourself.” She said. I laughed.
“You know I can’t do that. I’m a law abiding citizen.” I said. We both cracked up.
Orchid and I had become friends when she had bumped into me a few years back. She had left Atlantis in favor of a simpler life, and I brought her to Cloch Airgid. I helped her steal the in out from under the original owner, an ornery merman with half a tail who hated guests. After that we had been good friends. She was the one who sold my wheres in the market and sent me supplies.
“But I do have to report him to the council. That is the second law of the sea, and i don’t want to break one of the big three.” I said. For a second she looked sad.
Another reason Orchid left Atlantis was because she had come dangerously close to breaking the third law, never fall in love with a human. She had met a greek fisherman and he stole her heart. She left to keep herself from going up on land and forgetting who she was. Since Cloch Airgid was so far from land, it was unlikely that would ever happen again.
“Well your room is upstairs, you and him will be right next door to each other.” She told me, handing me two keys. I gestured for Terry to follow me and we went up to our separate rooms. I changed out of my sea glass bra and into a soft kelp top. I thought about my presentation tomorrow and I hoped nobody from the south Pacific was there. I didn’t want to be branded as a coward in front of Terry, it would break my heart. I heard a knock on my door and Orchid came in.
“Are you sure you want to do this Maple?” She asked me. She knew about my past and why I didn’t want to be presented with Terry in front of the council. I nodded. I had found him, so I had to present him.
“It’s my duty as a citizen of the northern Pacific. I have to do this.” I told her. She nodded and we sat together, catching up. She said that Terry was the hottest merman she had seen in a while and that the rather homely mermaid in one of the outlying farms had been trying to catch her attentions and was failing miserably. I told her that if you knew she was trying to be noticed, then it worked. She laughed and told me the town news before retiring for the night
