A Mermaid's Tale

Chapter 23

A wolf whistle sounded beside them as a few crew members walked past. "Nice catch, Cap'n!"

Arthur pulled away and blushed fiercely. The mermaid just laughed, her previous unhappiness gone. "Oh, Arthur!" She laughed some more.

He couldn't help but smile despite his embarrassment. "I'm just glad you're smiling again, princess." Her smile grew. "You haven't finished your story yet."

"Oh...well...after all that I ran to grab this...whatever it is, and I went back for you. On my way back to you they must have found the body because that's when all the screaming started."

The Captain softly chuckled. "You clever girl."

She shrugged. "Still. Let's never do that again."

"Agreed."

"Now, to get this back to Yao," she said as she held it up.

Captain Kirkland narrowed his eyes. "He better have a bloody good explanation for all of this."

~000~

"Ai-yah! You really did it, aru!" Yao held the golden object up to admire. "I didn't think I'd see you again, aru."

"And why would that be?" Arthur asked with narrowed eyes. I could tell his frustration was growing.

"Every group I sent out never came back," Yao answered. "But now I have what I want, aru!"

"Um, what is that exactly?" My curiosity had gotten the better of me, and I couldn't help but ask.

"It's an idol of the ancient god of everything cute!" he replied as he rubbed the object adoringly against his cheek. "The god Shinatty, aru! I have a scroll over there, see?"

I looked at the scroll hanging in his small office and clapped my hands. "So this is why it looked so familiar! That's exactly what the carvings inside the ruins looked like!"

"The ruins full of cannibals," Arthur growled.

Yao must have felt the sudden chill in the air because he stopped adoring the golden Shinatty in his hands. "Er...I didn't know they were there...honest, aru."

Arthur placed his hands on the shorter man's desk and leaned in close. "We got what you wanted, so tell us how to get through the fog."

"Well, I don't actually know-"

"WHAT?!?" Arthur grabbed Yao by his collar and forcibly pulled him up out of his chair. "You sent us to our deaths to get you some silly trinket, and then you tell us you don't know anything?!?"

"No...wait...I can...explain," Yao gasped as he tried to pry Arthur's hands away.

"I'm done with your excuses! I should kill you right now! They'd find your no good, lying corpse on the ground with that stupid trinket shoved up your-"

"Arthur!"

The pirate let go of Yao, who fell back into his chair and coughed for air. He adjusted his mussed collar and leaned back as if nothing had happened. "Not so tough with your girlfriend around, I see, aru."

In the blink of an eye, Arthur had his revolver cocked and pointed at Yao's head. "Say that again. I'd love to have an excuse to blow out your brains."

"Ahhh! I was kidding, aru!" Yao tried to move out of the way, but his office was too cramped for him to get far.

"Then tell me why you said you knew how to get through the mists."

"I-I have a relative, aru. North of here in Zenos. H-he knows, I s-swear."

"Why was I told you know if you don't?"

"Well, I do in a-a roundabout way, aru." Arthur moved the gun closer to Yao's face. "I-I told people that so they would find Shinatty for me!"

"Coward." Arthur lowered the gun and disarmed it before slipping it back into his coat. "Zenos is at least three days away. We've wasted enough time on this continent as is."

"And whose fault is that, aru," Yao mumbled under his breath.

It seemed to me that he didn't want Arthur to hear. Unfortunately for him, the pirate did. That's when all the depths of the ocean broke loose.

~000~

"Ouch! That hurts!" Arthur swatted my hand away from his face.

"Well, maybe if you held still it wouldn't hurt as much!" He crossed his arms stubbornly, and I went back to dabbing at the gash on his face with a damp rag. "It's your own fault for starting a fight."

After hearing Yao's comment, Arthur had jumped at the smaller man and began punching him with gusto. The commotion had attracted some attention, and soon three more much larger men had arrived to help Yao. At first I thought Arthur was done for, but he actually did pretty well on his own. We were kicked out of the tea shop eventually though. The funny thing was that the four other men were in much worse shape than Arthur. That wasn't to say he got away completely unscathed.

Arthur snorted. "That git was getting on my nerves. He deserved exactly what he- Ouch!"

"Sorry, sorry." I moved the rag away from his face as he winced.

"Can't you be a little more careful?"

"I'm trying! I don't enjoy watching you in pain you know."

"Sometimes I wonder..." he mumbled under his breath.

I narrowed my eyes and jabbed the cloth none too gently at his face. He howled in pain. "I enjoyed that one."

Arthur snatched my wrist and leaned in so close that our noses touched. "That hurt," he growled.

"It's your own fault," I replied.

His hand around my wrist tightened. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd throw you overboard right now."

"Well, it's too bad that I'm-" I paused mid-sentence as his words sunk in. "W-wait...what...did you just say?"

He pulled back and looked away just as a bright red blush appeared on his cheeks. "Well...er...I didn't...nothing...I didn't say anything." His blush intensified.

I was speechless. No one had ever told me anything like this before. I was complete stunned. "A-Arthur?"

He didn't turn to look at me, but I heard him mumble, "What?"

I pulled my wrist back and wrapped my arms around his sturdy chest. The smell of something musky and masculine wrapped around me, and I breathed in Arthur's scent hungrily.

"I love you too."

There was silence at first, but I soon felt him return my embrace. Something pressed softly onto the top of my head, and I knew it was his lips. His warm, perfect lips. My cheeks heated up from the intimacy of this moment. I could feel something fluttering in my stomach, and I tightened my hold on the pirate. Everything was so warm, so wonderful. I didn't want it to change.

"Are you going to finish fixing me up?"

"Hmm?"

"There's still blood dripping down my face you know."

"Oh!" I jumped back in time to see a thin trickle of blood slide down Arthur's cheek and drip onto the floor of his room. "Sorry! I'll get back to work."

I wiped away the blood with my rag and carefully pressed it against the wound. Cook had made some kind of poultice to be put in the gash, so I moved the rag away long enough to spread some into the cut. Arthur hissed in pain, but didn't protest otherwise. His emerald eyes weren't focused on me, but they sparkled like the jewel that shared their color. I was content to stare at them forever.

The sea was calm, and the two of us stood there without disruptions as then Queen Lady sailed north to Zenos. Everything was as it should have been.