Page 1 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 1
Igazed out into the utter blackness of the ocean and waited for the lunar eclipse to end. The sea wasn’t like land, where they built bonfires and celebrated the eclipse. Total darkness was when the nasty things from the depth of the sea came out to hunt. My people were fierce warriors, but we knew when not to fight. Those things lived in utter blackness. Their home was where not even the mermaids would explore.
I’d gone to the very edge of their domain, but never in it. I should have been home with my family, but my hunt took longer than I expected. I was taking shelter in one of the many ships that littered the ocean floor. For a time, the mermaids and sirens sank plenty of them until an agreement was made with the land people to keep their filthy boats out of this area of the ocean.
The sea was plenty big enough that they could do their exploring and fishing without disturbing us or ensnaring us in their nets. It was bad enough when they took mermaids, sirens, and sea witches from their homes, but they didn’t seem to get we had our own world down here. Some of the sea beasts they only wanted for their fins were sacred to us.
My people expected us to look the other way that they were engaging in that in other areas of the sea. Frankly, I thought none of them had tails, tentacles, or the ability to breathe underwater and should just stick to land where they belonged.
Some of the other mermaids were fascinated with the sunken ship graveyard out here. They swam through all the ship skeletons and stole things that were unfamiliar to us here. My younger sister was particularly curious about the land dwellers. I only bothered coming out here because the things we ate were abundant in this area, and it was good hunting.
Seira was always my weakness. My little sister was just such a gentle soul. She was everything I wasn’t. I wanted to preserve that and keep that sweetness in her forever. But, it was just so uncommon in the sea folk. Mermaids were territorial and killed anything that came into their homes. Sirens killed people because they liked it. Sea witches were just nasty in general and always trying to rope anyone into deals.
I was okay with her coming to the ship graveyard if I was with her. I’d happily swim the perimeter with my abalone spear while she explored to her heart's content. Then, I’d take her back home with the haul she chose to bring back with her and humor her with conversations about what those things might have been meant for.
I was stuck in one of those ships waiting for the eclipse to pass. We all had pet anemones we used for light. I chose mine personally from an entire field of them after asking its permission to become my companion. They didn’t communicate in the same way we did, but they were still intuitive beings. We were safe in this ship, but mine had hidden herself in a box in case anything dangerous swam by.
This wasn’t my first eclipse, and every little mermaid had been trained on what to do if you hadn’t made it home before it started. Seira and my parents knew damned well I could handle myself just fine, but I was still going to be due this massive lecture when I got home.
The big nasties that could see in the dark retreated back there before the eclipse was over, and the fight started to get fair again. This wasn’t just drilled into me since I was a little mermaid. I’d been caught out in a lunar eclipse before. They always came out of hiding, but the eclipse never lasted long enough for them to catch what they truly wanted.
It was already ending. There was a stunning coral reef out here surrounded by ships and the skeletons of men who drowned trying to hunt in my home. I thought it was way more beautiful than anything found in those ships. I always found it beautiful when the moon shone through the water and made it glitter.
It was no different now because it meant I could finally leave this stupid ship. I had a bag full of Seira’s favorite spiny lobster and the best seaweed in this area. Her birthday was tomorrow, and I wanted her to have the best meal possible.
As soon as the moon was back, my anemone came out of her box and started glowing. I swished my tail and propelled myself out of the hole in the bottom of this ship. I was in a good mood. Seira’s birthday was going to be special. I didn’t just find her favorite food. I visited one of the sirens who made beautiful jewelry from coral and treasure from sunken ships. Seira would love it.
A lot of sirens loved to make trinkets and pretty things. They’d always trade for them if you had something they wanted. I visited that particular siren not just because her jewelry was beautiful but because she was one of the few sirens that didn’t make their trinkets from the bones of men they had killed. I would have worn it, but it so wasn’t my little sister.
Something was wrong. I could feel it the closer I got to home. It was like this irritating feeling of barnacles scratching against my back. I’d never felt this before, but I’d heard about it. Someonedaredbring a ship into our home. I propelled my tail faster. I needed to call for backup so we could sink it.
This wasn’t an accident. Arrangements had been made with every supernatural species on land to avoid this area. Humans were superstitious. There were enough legends among their kind of beautiful women that sunk their ships. They went around this area entirely. Everyone knew better.
The irritating sensation of something scratching my back became almost painful the closer I got to home. There was blood in the water, but the sharks hadn’t come. Sharks were highly revered by the merfolk. They didn’t attack us, but they always came if there was blood. Blood meant battle and food. The sharks came to protect us if blood was ever spilled. Something was wrong if there was this much blood in the water and not a single shark.
I saw the ship at the surface. What had they done? One of their terrible nets broke the water's surface and unleashed all kinds of horrors into the sea. The corpses of several magnificent sharks started falling to the ocean floor, trailing more blood in their wake. Some of those sharks had been alive a very long time.
They had been mutilated. Their beautiful fins had been cut off, and their bellies sliced open to harvest their organs. This was the first time I’d personally experienced a ship in my home. They made the agreement before I was born. I knew exactly who did this. There was only one race on land who liked to use the parts of living things for magic.
I was about to send a sonic pulse to my parents and every surrounding house we needed to sink a druid ship when I saw the unthinkable. It wasn’t just sharks. That was bad enough. There were two arms and a head making their way down to the ocean floor. They had killed one of my people, and if it was done in this area, then I knew them.
There was this horrible feeling in the pit of my gut. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Everyone knew better, including the druids. This wouldn’t go unpunished. We might even go to land for this.
I stopped dead in the water when I got closer to the mermaid parts falling to the ocean floor. That wasn’t some friend. That was Seira. Why had she swum outside during the eclipse? She knew better. I blamed myself for this. I entertained her notions of those ships being interesting. I took her to the ship graveyard when she asked and let her bring things back.
I didn’t call for backup to sink the ship. I needed to see the captain of that ship. I wanted to hear them say who sanctioned this because someone would pay for the mutilation of my gentle sister and all those sharks.
That vast net was still dumping horrors into the ocean. I avoided it and swam to the other side of the ship. My head broke the surface, and I just listened.
“Did we get enough?”
“It has to be. We need to get out of here before they realize we are here. We got what we came for. The king wanted this for a reason. Let’s get out of here before we all die.”
The king of the druids ordered an attack on my home because he wanted parts of sentient beings that lived here? My sister never hurt anyone, and some of those sharks were my friends.
We could sink that ship, but I had this feeling there would be more. No, this required a unique approach. I’d never wanted to before, but mermaids could have legs on land. So could sirens. We just chose not to because why? The ocean was just so much more superior.
This required legs. They thought if they could just get the ship back home, they wouldn’t pay for this. They thought they could come intoourhome and kill us without repercussions.
I dipped my head under the water and let out a sonic pulse only the sea folk could hear. Let’s see how they liked it when someone invaded their home and started killing. The king was mine.
He killed my sister for her parts. I had just the siren in mind to decorate my room with trinkets made from his bones.
