An excerpt from 'On the Legends and Lore of Adelais':

Atlantis and the City of Mermaids

...Although the supreme Goddess of Light, Dai Celesta, is most often credited for the creation of the mermaids—and, indeed, this is what the mermaids themselves have been led to believe—the truth is that these elegant and dangerous women of the deep were evolved from the hands of a mortal. This fallacy is not, as might be supposed, a gratuitous attempt on the part of the Apostles to preserve the command of their Goddess' name over that of lesser creatures; rather, five hundred years have led to a scattering of facts, misinterpreted scrolls of old tongue, and a sea of confusion. The sands of time shift quickly in the wake of a dead language.

Let it be known, without any cause for misinterpretation on the part of you or me, that the mermaids were the conscious and evolutionary tangent of the Dark Lady Sorena—though the mermaids, ignorant by their own creed, would claim a much more divine origin by the Goddess whose name is not slandered with images of blackened death. The mortal enemy of the mermaids—their sister race in the clouds, the bird-like sirens—are considered to be denizens of Sorena, by all races but the sirens. This telling of history, however, is also riddled with inaccuracies and the cause of a needless war that has persisted since the days of the Last King...

-------------------------

"Are you sure you got that one?"

"I'm sure."

"Those stress lines in your face are telling a different story."

"Would you shut up and take this thing already?" Fayrelin grunted, slowly buckling under the weight of the massive crate on her shoulders.

Finished with the knot he was tying, Malkav reached over and grabbed the crate by its handles. "You know, we don't expect you to carry everything."

"Just the heavy stuff, huh?"

"Hey, it was your decision to be so wonderful."

Tossing the crate on the back of the boat with the rest of the cargo, he dusted his palms, knelt down, and extended an arm towards the long-haired pygmy. She graciously took his hand.

"Have you seen Blackthorn?" he asked, once his companion was safely on the ship.

Fayrelin jerked a thumb towards the end of the docks, where a pirate with the face of a bulldog was nestled between his greasy beard and a few stacked barrels of shrimp, fast asleep. An empty bottle of hooch was in his hand. He belched once upon hearing his name, scratched his lower back with the rusty hook he had for a second hand, and rolled over, revealing a well-tattooed behind to the world.

"Well, there's a sight I wish I hadn't seen," Malkav said.

"Yeah."

A moment later, a chubby monk in a brown robe appeared at the starboard side of the boat. His face was partly hidden behind the bag of bread and cheeses he was bear-hugging in an attempt to lift it over the boat's railing.

"A little help, guys," he squeaked.

"Oh, look..." Malkav said, swiping a loaf of bread. "Food." He broke off a small piece and handed it to Fayrelin.

"And a talking bag," she said, receiving his offer.

"I guess this is the day for surprises."

The robed man pulled the bag away. "You guys really aren't that funny. And I wish you wouldn't touch. It's my lunch.."

"Oh, calm down, Adam. I don't want your food." Fayrelin patted him on the head and stuck the chunk of bread in his mouth when he started to object. Then she relieved him of the bag and stored it with the rest of the supplies while Malkav helped the monk on board.

"Good morning, pal," Malkav said.

"Good mornings don't start at six o'clock," Adam said, removing the bread out of his mouth.

"Do I have to remind you of the bird and the worm?"

"Not if you want me to keep down my food."

Fayrelin stretched out on the crates, put one leg over the other, and let her silky auburn hair flow out behind her. "You can't keep it down anyway. Three years in these waters and you still don't have your sea legs."

"Well, I guess some of us are just born with better legs than others."

She ignored his comment until she noticed both Adam and Malkav staring at her lower parts. Then she rolled her skirt down.

"Yeah," she said, looking away.

They grinned and the conversation died for a while, but not for too long. There were at least twenty other ships loading at the docks and some of them were already getting ready to set sail. They would have to make haste if they wanted to be on time.

Malkav knew that and sighed. "Somebody's going to have to wake up Blackthorn."

"I did it last time," Adam said.

"Yeah, with your snoring."

"Hey!" Adam went to push him, but he was too slow. Malkav easily sidestepped the attack and drew a loaf of bread from the bag next to Fayrelin.

"Engarde," he said.

Adam lowered his arms. "Oh, come on, Mal. That's for my lunch."

"Then why do I have it?"

Adam sighed and made a weak attempt to grab it, but Malkav outmaneuvered him again.

"You're going to have to learn to get aggressive one of these days," he said, bonking the monk on the back of the head.

"Just give me my food so I can eat in peace."

"Here," Fayrelin said, joining in the festivities by tossing Adam a stick of bread.

Adam fumbled with it for a moment. "Why, thank you, Fayrelin. At least some of us understand food was not meant to be played with... I mean, we're not Women."

She rolled her eyes. "Hello, and what do you think I am?"

"Um...I was under the impression that you were a pygmy."

She looked at him, a little irritated. "...Adam."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Sorry."

"Bah..." Malkav dropped his makeshift weapon. "You guys do what you want. I....ahh!" He had started to walk away, but immediately collided into something behind him and jumped back. "Exthame!" He caught his breath. "Geez, man. When did you get here?"

The man smiled. He was an enigmatic figure with silver hair and that smile was unique because his lips were the only part of his face that his companions could ever read. To mask the rest of his features, which were indescribable at best, he wore a long and buttoned-up trench coat, his collar popped and tightly wrapped around his neck, and small black spectacles that covered the whole of his eyes. It was no secret that he was blind, but what lied behind those shades was a mystery because he had never taken them off. He once said that his glasses were actually a part of his face, as attached as an eye or ear would be, and staring into them was like looking into the wrong side of a one-way mirror, at night, while being cloaked in an invisibility spell. You would have a better chance of looking through a wall of steel and stone.

"Tell me about the weather," the mystery man said, giving a twitch of his chin, followed by an ever-so-slight arc in his left eyebrow. That was his trademark nod.

Fayrelin tilted her head all the way back. "Gray skies as usual."

"Ah, well... At least it never rains here, eh?"

They were all silent for a moment. That much was true.

"My friends—you act solemn, but I meant that as a good thing," he said, walking past the crew and over to the railing. He carefully wrapped his fingers around the wooden beam, one at a time, and took a moment to feel the heartbeat of the ocean that had replaced the solid earth underneath his feet.

"You put yourself at the mercy of the waves every time you step onto waters like these," he said. "From the very first time, you learn that you must trust your other senses and pray them to guide your way. But rain, for all the good it brings to this world, is most notorious for leading sailors into a dark fog... I thank the Priestess that we don't have to worry about this. We are indeed Fortune's children."

"I'm glad he thinks so," Adam whispered. "I'm going to go eat my breakfast now."

Malkav nodded, but that was the last thing any of them said for a while. Exthame stood like a statue on the side of the boat, staring off into the hazy, white horizon that peeled out across the sea like a giant dome. A cool breeze whistled through his hair like a dove dipping through a silver meadow.

"...Okay, I'm going to wake up Blackthorn," Malkav said.

Fayrelin looked up at him from the bed she had made for herself on the crates. "Nobody's stopping you."

"I wish someone would."

His wish was soon answered.

"HEY, LUBBERLIPS!" a tipsy voice bellowed from the pier they were docked at. "SEAMAN MALKAV WANTS YE ON THE SHIP! *hic* GET YER LAZY BONES ON BOARD BEFORE WE USE YER GOOD HAND FOR FISH BAIT!" Then, after stumbling around like an old fool, a man in an open doublet with no undershirt, velvet breeches the color of rotten breath, and an oversized captain's hat started climbing aboard the ship.

"I wish you would stop calling me that,'" Malkav said.

"What?"

"'Seaman Malkav.' I don't like that name."

"I have no idea why that bothers you,*hic*, but that's why I shall keep on doing it—har har har!" The drunk laughed so hard that he tumbled off the ship.

It took both Malkav and Fayrelin to pull him up. Even then, the captain was hardly able to walk without grabbing at Fayrelin the whole time for support.

"Help an old seadog to the helm, lassie," he said, a thick slur in his words, as he seized a handful of the dame's cloak in his mouth.

Fayrelin resisted the urge to walk him off the ship. "You really do need to stop this."

"Again, I have no idea what you're talking about," he mumbled.

"Do you even know where you at?"

"The city of angels!" he cackled. Then he twirled around, slapped his palms against Fayrelin's cheeks, and pressed his nose against hers "Am I close, doll?"

"Too close," she said, shoving him against the wheel. "Just...get ready to cast off."

"Aye-aye, captain!" the drunk hiccuped. "Ah, right. I'm the captain of this ship. Captain... Jargon..." He whistled and hummed a pirate melody to himself as he rocked the wheel.

Blackthorn was the last to board the ship, but he did so without fuss or remark, and took his seat at the oars. Adam soon joined him at the other end, with his bread and cheese in a bucket next to him, and they were ready to set sail.

-------------------------

After about twenty minutes on the open waters, Blackthorn's grogginess began to wear off and he started telling tales about his younger days as a pirate. Nobody but Jargon could vouch for him, for the others were too young to have been part of his crew at the time, but they were both so stupid and drunk that it was impossible to believe them anyway.

Blackthorn finished his latest tale with, "...And that's the captain and I pillaged the village to its very last coin, rescued the nymph, and saw the mating of an owl and a bear!"

"I'm pretty sure that's not possible," Adam said.

"What are you talkin' about, boy?"

"There are no such things as owlbears."

"I saw it with me own two eyes, I did!" He scratched his armpit. "Terrible creatures, believe me. I don't know what could be worse."

Suddenly, they heard cries coming from their left. They stopped rowing and looked over just in time to see a fin shoot out of the water and slap against the side of another ship the way a tidal wave might slap against the side of an unsuspecting cliff. The sailors on board yelled commands to each other. But just as their vessel began to tip, another fin appeared out of the water—this time from the other side—and slammed into the ship's lower deck. The crew was sent flying in one direction and then the other. Then, with a force just as strong as before, the first fin struck the ship's hull once again. Back and forth, the ship rocked, never quite reaching the threshold of being completely overturned, but always leaning far enough to one side that the flailing sailors had to grab hold of the ship's mast or brace themselves for a cold entry into the sea.

Within seconds, at least a dozen sailors were treading water. They stared up into the dim sunlight, trying desperately to keep their heads above the swirling waves, and saw the horrible fins towering over them and arched back, like two sea serpents about to devour their prey. The Men held their breaths, despite how much it ached their chests to do so, and swam nearer each other. The water pounded against their faces As frightened as they were, their senses were enhanced and they could make out every colorful crack and groove in those fins as they drew closer. Then, without warning, the fins became erect and slipped beneath the waves in a flicker of blue, green, and gold.

Silence followed. The sailors stopped thrashing. As the ripples that were left behind in the wake of the attack began to scatter, they turned to each other, their eyes widening as their fears slowly began to shrink.

"...We're still alive," one of them whispered.

His voice had startled them all, but he spoke too soon, for he was the first to vanish beneath the hungry waters. A great shadow of something resembling a fish appeared beneath the Men's kicking feet and replaced the missing sailor's body with a giggling stream of bubbles.

It wasn't long before another of them was taken under. He barely had time to curse the gods.

"No—Captain Ludwig!" one of the remaining Men shouted. He and another sailor lunged forward and swam to the spot where their captain had been swallowed by the sea.

They were almost there when a beautiful golden mat began to rise to the surface. A few strands snagged their legs. Before long, it was everywhere. The brave sailors split apart and tried to swim out of it, but the mat was rising too quickly and they found themselves caught in the yellow brambles that had formed a net around them. Soon after, a brow of flesh appeared out of the water, followed by two blue eyes that matched the sea.

The sailors tried to wriggle free of their prison, but to no avail. The wet knots constricted their every movement so much that their limbs were basically pinned down as the mat closed into an amber cascade of vines. They were swept up and out of the water. As they contemplated chewing their way free, two pillar-like fingers plucked them from the tangled mass and sent them bouncing back to the other drowning sailors like a couple of skipping stones.

"Hey, Nerin," the golden-haired mermaid said. "What do you call a Man in the ocean who doesn't have legs?"

The other mermaid had already surfaced and was grinning at the bodies of Men that were floating between her and her friend. "I don't know, Selena! What do you call a Man in the ocean who doesn't have legs?"

Selena opened her mouth to reveal the still-living body of Captain Ludwig She gently pinched his head between her fingers, started to pull him out of her mouth, and then bit down on his waist at the last second. With a small twist of her wrist, she ripped off his legs and dropped him in the water.

"Bob!" she proclaimed.

Nerin burst out laughing. Neither of them seemed too concerned about the grizzly old sea captain who wasn't able to stay afloat because his lower limbs had just been painfully extracted from his body. He began to sink, cursing at the young women, until his lungs filled with water and his eyes turned black.

His two friends quickly dove under, locked their arms with the limp arms of the captain, and pulled the old man to the surface. Together, the three of them drifted in the water between the bodies of the mermaids, gasping for air.

"A hex upon you and your entire race!" Ludwig shouted up to the mermaids, when the last of the water had left his lungs.

"Legs are overrated anyway," Selena said. "You Men are born with two of them and they can't even do the job of one fin. Imagine that." She wiggled her tail at them.

"I don't know," Nerin said. "I think the legs give them flavor."

Selena continued to chew the meal that was in her open mouth. "Hm... Well, they're certainly the meatiest part."

"Hey, Selena."

"What?"

"Think fast!"

Nerin lifted her dazzling green tail out of the water and slammed it down next to the sailors. Many of them, including the captain and his close mates, were swept under, but four of the sailors were jettisoned into the air and headed straight for Selena. She didn't have time to react as three of them smacked against her face and another flew straight into her gullet. She laughed and choked a little.

He tasted much better than the first one.

"Okay, my turn," she said. She brought her tail forward and out of the water. In doing so, she was able to scoop up a handful of the Men that were still underwater, and hurled them into the air. Then she dove under, swung her tail across the air, and batted two sailors towards Nerin.

Nerin snatched one easily between her lips, but the other had flown too high over her head to catch. She did a quick back-flip into the water.

As the sailor somersaulted through the air, he was able to look down and follow the mermaid's shadow as it glided through the water. Just as he was making his descent, he saw the color return to the shadow as the mermaid began to surface. She threw back her head and he said his final prayers. Nerin's lips parted, her body shot out of the water like that of a dolphin, and the sailor and his shipmate, who was still being held captive in the mermaid's mouth, were washed down her throat before she even touched the waves again.

Selena clapped and batted two more sailors at Nerin. The green-tailed mermaid didn't miss either of them this time, jumping first to one side and then to the other to catch their flying bodies.

Two of the three Men who had made contact with Selena's face had managed to find something to hang onto. One of them was clinging to one of her golden bangs, just over the bridge of her nose, and the other had found a useful handhold on the side of her head, dangling from the thin flap of skin on the bottom of her left ear.

The third Men hadn't been so lucky. He found himself in the water at the mermaid's waist, where her smooth skin turned into the scales of a fish. Having been spotted by Selena, it wasn't long before he was eye-level with her naval, then her seashell-covered breasts, then her neckline, and finally her chin.

"Bottoms up," she whispered when her lips were just above his body. She continued to sink a little further, until her lower lip was just under the water, and then she opened her mouth. A current that was impossible to fight carried the unlucky sailor into the pink cavern she had opened for him. He was soon engulfed.

Once inside, a stream of warm air blasted his body and the sailor found himself gagging and white-faced at the mixed smell of fish, clams, lobster, and his fellow Men that filled the depths of these cavern walls. But the mermaid's tongue was squishy and provided a soft platform that he could stand upon. He did so, pushing his palms against the ceiling of the cavern to keep it from shutting, and began working his way towards the exit. On the other side, through that narrow slit of light before him, he could see the vast blue ocean and Nerin waving to him with her tail fin.

Then the ocean and Nerin disappeared and all he could see was gray sky. The slope of the tongue became too steep to climb and he started to fall, a victim of gravity. But he held on, buckling his knees into his chest, and dug his hands into the pink meat that was the mermaid's tongue. He threw his spine hard against the cavern ceiling and, using the walls for support, began scaling his way to the top. With every push of his legs, the light drew closer. He could almost touch it now. He grunted, but his arms ached. Treading water for so long had left him in a weakened state.

Suddenly, a whiff of the toxic air around him clogged his senses, and, in a sudden dizzy stupor, he nearly slipped. But he refused to go down. Not that way. No way.

Breathing through his mouth, he pressed on. He reached the tip of the tongue just as his limbs were about to fail him. Knowing he was still far away from a victory, he grabbed onto the mermaid's teeth and used his free hand to pry the mermaid's lips apart. His crew would be waiting for him on the other side. If he could just...

Selena swallowed. Twice. There was something fighting back, but she banged the object against the roof of her mouth with her tongue until it was too dazed to resist. Then it slid down her throat easily.

"Mmm, tastes like fish," she joked.

"You got some on your face," Nerin said. She pointed to her forehead so her friend would know where to look.

Selena turned her gaze upward and glared at the sailor dangling above her nose. He cowered and buried his face in her skin, as if it would make him invisible.

"Get...off..." she said.

When he only responded with a series of muffled sobs, she spoke a little louder.

"Now, you little shrimp scampi!"

"Please..." he cried, tightening his grip. "Please, beautiful lady... I've never wished anything bad upon you. I love your people. I don't want to die."

"And I don't want you on my hair," she said. "You're getting it wet."

"Um, wasn't it already wet?" Nerin asked.

The sailor cried even harder. "Please, just have mercy. Take anyone else. Just let me live. Please. I'll do anything."

"Ugh..." Selena said. "I hate it when they do this."

Nerin lifted her tail out of the water. "I can swat him, if you want."

"Ha, nice try! I'm not falling for that again."

Her friend giggled.

The sailor continued to cry until Selena couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, fine," she said to the parasite on her forehead. "If you get back in the water, I'll let you live and kill the rest of your friends in your place."

He stopped whimpering. "Are...are you serious?"

"Uh, sure," she said. "I mean, I let one of you go and get to eat all the rest. That sounds fair."

The sailor tried to smile, somewhat ashamedly for the deal he had just made, and wiped his eyes clean. "Thank you. Thank you so much..."

"Just get off me, you pesky urchin."

The man did as he was commanded and let go of her hair. He slid down her nose and braced himself for the long fall into the sea, but that fall never came. Instead, he dropped down maybe three or four feet, and then landed on something wet and plushy—but it wasn't water. He put his hands on it and started to look down, but he didn't realize it was the mermaid's tongue until it was too late. By then, he had already been inserted back into her mouth and swallowed alive.

"You failed to get back in the water," Selena announced to the sailor working his way into her stomach. "You didn't live up to your end of the bargain...but don't worry. I'll still kill all your friends."

"And I'll help!" Nerin said.

Selena looked down. The other sailors left in the water were legless Ludwig and the two sailors trying to keep him afloat. She watched them with a growing smirk on her face. "What's wrong, guys? Never learned how to swim?" She leveled her body with the water and swam in circles around them. "How long before you all drown?"

"About as long as it takes you to grow some stones, sea cretin!" Ludwig barked.

"I know you didn't just say to me." Selena looked up at Nerin. "Did he really just say that to me?"

Nerin shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't even know these things could talk." Then she spotted something moving on her friend's ear, reached over, and grabbed the squirming sailor between her fingertips. After rolling him into a ball, she popped him into her mouth and chewed on him while Selena continued to stare down the audacious old captain.

"Well, I think he did," Selena said. "And for that, I want to eat him."

"You always want to eat them," Nerin said.

"That's not true! I don't want to eat his friends."

The eyes of all three Men stared at her. Only the eyes of the one in the middle were scowling.

"You're lying," Ludwig said.

"Nope, it's true," Selena said. "I was simply touched by the way your friends saved your life. If I was them, I would've let you drown."

"Maybe we're not like you," one of the sailors said.

His friend backed him up. "Yeah, maybe we have a heart!"

"Fair enough... Let's see if you have a brain, too." Selena waved her hand. "Let him go."

"No."

"Let him go and I'll spare your lives."

"That's what you promised the last guy."

"He didn't do anything heroic. He would rather have had me kill off every single one of you than to lose his own life! You should be glad I finished him off."

"So...basically, you want us to do the same thing."

Selena frowned. "Look. Your loud-mouthed friend is going to get eaten. If you're still attached to him at the time, then all I can say is that I hope you love the smell of fish."

"I sure do," Nerin joked.

Ludwig shook his arms. "Let me go, boys."

"We can't do that, captain," one of them said.

"Dammit, I command you to release me! We don't all have to die to these ill-bred wenches."

"I'm sorry, captain, but we're not letting you go," the other said. "We've been with you through more dangerous situations than this."

"Eh, you boys must have inherited your craziness from me."

Selena was less than amused. "...Nerin."

Nerin raised her fin and slapped it down on top of the Men, pushing them deep into the ocean. She held them there for nearly a minute, giggling at their struggles to break free, and then moved her tail out of the way. Almost immediately, one sailor surfaced, and then another, not soon after. Ludwig was the last to poke his head out of the water, having only his arms to swim, and his face was as white as the shells shielding the mermaids' breasts by the time he was breathing air again. He gasped and went under a second time.

Before he could black out, though, his wrists were caught by the weary sailors and they pulled him to the surface one more time.

The captain cursed and screamed at the pain that plagued him.

"No more, boys!" he cried. "Leave an old man to his fate."

But the sailors held tight. They weren't about to lose their captain to this sea or its inhabitants.

Selena's face was cold now. "...Do it again."

With her tongue prodding the side of her lips in meticulous concentration, Nerin raised her tail, steadied it above the heads of the bobbing Men, and then slammed it down as hard as she could. A jet of bubbles squirted up after them.

She held them under even longer this time, feeling their frantic scraps against her tail. She counted the seconds aloud.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine..."

When she at last let go, only one of them surfaced. It was one of the sailors and his face had been cut up by the the mermaid's scales. But after he gasped a few times, inhaling in short, quick breaths, he dove under and came back up with the captain in tow.

Nerin checked the bottom of her tail and found the other sailor's body snagged in the sharp grooves in her scales. His head surfaced not soon after.

"One down," she laughed.

Selena didn't share in her amusement. Her eyes were locked on the sailor and the captain, thrashing about in the water like a fish on land.

"It's over!" the captain howled. "Let me go. Let me go—dammit! Let me die with some dignity."

The sailor grabbed him from behind and began frantically paddling towards the nearest ship. Two, three, four times they went under—but every time, the sailor would stare up at the glittering white light overhead and summon enough strength to break through that surface again. His heart raced against what he knew were impossible odds. He never looked back, never cared to see if the mermaids were chasing him or not.

"Throw down a rope!" the sailor cried to the ship before him. He swam closer, dragging the captain behind him, and began coughing more than he was breathing.

The sailors on board didn't move. They didn't even acknowledge the man who was pounding against the hull of their ship.

"What's wrong with you!?" he shouted. "Give us a rope!"

Suddenly, the ship was blasted about thirty yards away and nearly tipped over.

The breathless sailor looked at it and then turned his head in the other direction, where Selena was rearing back her tail for the second time. He didn't have time to dive under. The tail snapped too quickly, sliced across his face, and sent him flying. In the midst of it all, he lost his grip on the captain.

"Captain Ludwig!" he screamed.

The old man's body was thrown away from him. He tried to grab for it one more time, but was met with a sharp pain to the side that sent him spiraling back towards the ship.

"Catch him!" Nerin yelled, lowering her tail.

The sailor tried to wipe the blood from his eyes. Fortunately for him, he was never able to, and never had to see what was coming for him. Selena caught him between her teeth and bit down on his neck, swallowing his head like a tiny fish egg, and then flung his lifeless body across the sea. It skipped at least ten times before coming to rest.

She grinned and felt a burp coming on.

"Do you want the old one?" Nerin asked. She was staring down at the grizzly captain, who was sputtering out obscenities at them as his arms began to weaken in the rocking waves. "He's already been in your mouth."

Selena swam back over and was about to say something when they heard shouting coming from behind.

Nerin looked over her shoulder. "Uh, oh. It's the patrol."

"Figures..." Selena's tail sank. "So much for skipping class today."

"We better get going. I don't want to get in trouble again."

Nerin disappeared under the water.

With a frown that didn't hide her disappointment, Selena looked at the mermaid patrol that was swimming towards her and then glanced down at the sinking captain. Her frown turned into a nasty little grin.

"Come on" she said. "I'll teach you how to swim." Cupping her hands together, she jumped into the crest of an oncoming wave, wriggled her body, and smacked the captain with her tail as she dove under. Bubbles marked her laughter as she carried him down with her.

But the motion of her tail, as she coiled her body in the direction of mermaid school, freed Ludwig. He floated lifelessly for a moment, as if he was a rock in space, and watched Selena swim towards a great white-walled castle in the distance. A hundred other mermaids just like her were playing in the water. They didn't pay any mind to the captain drowning in the depths of their home. Why would they? The sandy bottom was littered with the remains of his kind.

The captain closed his eyes. Then he opened them, stared up at the water's glassy surface, and gritted his teeth. He surfaced once more, coughing and bleeding from the stumps that used to be his legs, and swore revenge against them all.

The mermaid patrol swam over stopped only a few feet away from him and lowered the conch-shaped whistle that she had tied around her neck. She was an older mermaid, with hair the color of raisins but none of the wrinkles associated with such things, and she shook her head in the direction of the mermaids, but she didn't give chase. After all, she had been their age once. She knew what it was like, and she smiled fondly upon such memories.

She hadn't seen Ludwig yet. In fact, it wasn't until she turned around that she even noticed the fleet of Men who had stopped rowing to witness the horrible scene that had just taken place. None of those Men, however, appeared to be petrified or nervous or even startled by what they had seen. They just stared blankly at the mermaid law enforcer, as if they were chickens in a slaughterhouse and were waiting their turn in line.

"Whatever happened here is over now," she said. "Get moving or I'll see to it that every last one of you becomes an appetizer at the Queen's next banquet. Is that understood?"

When nobody moved, she looked down and saw the captain floating in the water.

"Look what your people did to my men," he sputtered. Blood trickled out his mouth. "They killed my men—a dozen of my best men. A dozen of your best workers! I will see to it that the Queen hears about this." He paddled towards the mermaid and tried to climb onto the fleshy mound of her shoulder that was floating just above the water's surface, but it was too slippery to get a decent grip. He tried again and failed, feeling a new dizziness overtake him. The loss of blood was too much.

He exhaled and felt the life inside of him begin to wither and slip away.

"You're holding up your crew, captain," she said indifferently.

"I can't swim, you blasted cretin of the sea," he breathed. "They...killed my men. Don't you see? And they took my legs." Once more, he tried to climb onto her arm. But this time, he was met with a pair of teeth around his chest. They snapped shut, pulled his flailing body out of the water, and then opened just wide enough and just long enough for him to drop into the cavern of the mermaid's mouth. There, he was torn apart.

"You're useless to us then," she said, spitting his mangled body onto the deck of his own ship. "Elect a new captain for your vessel, or a new one will be appointed at the end of the day. The rest of you—move along! Now."

She slapped the flat end of her fin against the water, creating a wave that helped to propel the ships forward, and swam off in the opposite direction. A tiny trail of blood followed.

Nobody said a word for a moment. Then, with a shrug, Blackthorn dipped the oars back into the water.

"Lucky bastards," he said. "They never have to deal with these monsters again."

"You could've joined them, you know," Malkav said.

"Mind your tongue, boy. If I wanted to go the way of the mermaids, I wouldn't do it like that. I'd take out as many of them as I could."

Captain Jargon, still standing at the helm of the ship, leaned his head over the railing and spit. "Blast it all. I need a drink."

"You always need a drink. Filthy drunk."

"Captain Ludwig was a good man!" Jargon snapped.

"Aye. I know he was, you crusty old barnacle. That doesn't change the fact that he just went belly-up like a damn fish."

"No..." Jargon returned to the wheel. "No, it doesn't."

Fayrelin soon appeared with a case of rum and handed a bottle to Jargon. "Cheers. Let's hope our captain doesn't share a similar fate."

Jargon bit off the cap with his teeth and began chugging.

"I think we can all drink to that, little lady," Blackthorn said, grabbing two more bottles. He tossed one to Malkav, who opened it, took a long swig, and stared off at the gray sky that was getting bigger and bigger. Before long, they had reached that dull-colored horizon, at the place where it touched the water's edge, and passed through the stone walls. A glass tunnel allowed them to see the whole city of Atlantis above, below, and all around them. Its dazzling, artificial lights twinkled like a million bright stars and would have blinded them if they weren't so used to it and one of them wasn't already blind.

Malkav looked away. This was always the worst part of the trip—having to look at this horribly wondrous place through walls that could never be breached. He tightened his grip on the bottle's neck and wanted to vomit.

Fayrelin watched him from behind. Then she offered a bottle to Adam, who refused and retired to the ship's lower deck in silence. Sighing, she stepped over to Exthame, put her elbows on the railing next to him, and cracked open the bottle.

"...I'd offer you a sip," she said, "but, after sailing the seas with you for so long, I can safely say I know what your answer will be."

He smiled, but told her anyway. "It dulls the senses."

She nodded, put a hand under her chin, and handed over the bottle.

He took it and drank more than a little.

-------------------------

When they at last arrived at their destination, about an hour later, they disembarked from the ship and began stacking a rail cart with their supplies. They did so in silence because they were under the constant watch of mermaids who were perched on the large boulders surrounding the cave. At the hips of those mermaids were the decaying bones of sailors who had decided to talk when they should have been unloading their boats.

When they finished, Blackthorn seized the handle of the rail cart and began pulling it along the track. Jargon pushed the cart from behind while Malkav, Adam, and Fayrelin followed alongside him. Exthame trailed the pack, guided through an ancient cavern by the footsteps of his companions, making muddy splashes against the earth, and the squeaking wheels of the rail cart as it wobbled down the rickety trackway.

They waited until they could hear the rushing of water and the scent of salt trickled into their noses before they spoke again.

"It's imperative that we keep a low profile for now on," Malkav said, keeping his voice hushed in case there were any mermaids patrolling the underwater tunnels of the cavern. "We don't want to draw any more attention to ourselves than is necessary."

Fayrelin gave him a harsh glare. Even though the cavern was dark, there were occasional lanterns hanging from the ceiling like glowing bats, allowing just enough light to make out the faintest details on each other's faces. And she had seen that grimace on his face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked. "I've been a rogue for a lot longer than you, Malkav. I'm practically a shadow around this place."

"You are not. Your popularity is becoming a threat to everybody here, and, more importantly, to the mission."

"Well, excuse me for being a girl."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

He grunted something inaudible.

"Hey." Fayrelin seized his arm. "Don't forget. I'm taking all the risks here. If something goes wrong, you can always pull out—no questions asked. But I'm as good as dead if that happens."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not going to let anything happen to you, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, it is." She released him.

He rubbed his arm. Her fingernails were a lot sharper than she let on.

"I'd feel better if you said we have a mutual arrangement," he said.

"We do," she said, a bit too quickly.

"Glad to hear it, Fay..." He eyed her in the dark before they continued through the tunnel.

"The seaman has a point," Jargon said. "You're getting a little too friendly with those pygmy friends of yours."

Fayrelin rolled her eyes. "Oh, so now I'm not allowed to hang out with my own kind? You guys are really something."

"Nobody said that," Adam said, in a weak attempt to comfort her.

"I did," Jargon said. He and Blackthorn snickered.

Fayrelin's face turned so red that it was radiating more than the lanterns overhead.

"And you guys wonder why I don't want to be seen with you," she hissed.

"They don't mean it," Adam said. "They just think that you should...you know...spend more time with us, so that you don't...um...like..."

"Adam, shut up."

"Right."

"...Look, you need to make a decision," Malkav said. "You were fine before, but I need to know if you're in or out. I can't wait until the last minute for you to decide whose side you're on.."

"You don't need to," she said. "You know my decision."

"I want to hear it from you."

"Words are cheap, Malkav. I'm a woman of action."

"I thought you were a pygmy," Adam said.

"You better decide what you are, Miss Fayrelin," Malkav said as they came to the final bend in the cavern. "I don't care what side you pick, honestly, but you're going to wind up dead if you get caught in the crossfire. I hope you understand that."

"Look," she whispered. "I have been many things in my life, but I have always known what I want. Jargon owes me money and a ship, so I traveled with him to collect. And you, Malkav—you are carrying something on your person that will allow us to find the greatest treasure this ocean floor has to offer." She shook her head, partly out of disgust and partly out of disbelief in the lack of trust around her. "I think of all of us here, I have the most reason to see your little plan come to fruition. Don't kid yourself; I want that treasure. And once I have my share—and Jargon's share, because he owes me that much—I am done. No more ridiculous high-sea adventures or underwater capers for Fayrelin. I'm packing my things and going back home to live happily ever after with my new-found fortune, so don't you screw it up for me."

All Jargon heard was that he wasn't getting part of the treasure and he threw down his hat.

"Now, hang on, you little filcher," he said. "If it wasn't for your grand idea to go after Gravy Bone's treasure in the first place, I'd still have my ship and we wouldn't be trapped here!"

"It was my ship," Fayrelin corrected him. "And it's not my fault that you sank it. Now you owe me another one."

"Why, I oughta slap you silly, you ungrateful pyg—"

"Do it." She pushed him, or at least tried to. "You want to pick a fight with me? When the mermaids catch us, I'll be picking up trash for a week—and your bones will be picking the teeth of the mermaid that just gobbled you up. That's your future here, captain. That's the future of you all if you don't start trusting me."

He huffed and nearly exploded. "If I still had my ship, you'd be walking the plank right now, lassie!"

"If you still had your ship, then you wouldn't have to pretend to be captain of that stupid ferry you shuttle us in every morning."

"Shut up—both of you," Malkav said, stopping the cart with his foot. "...Captain, Fayrelin is right. She's the only one of us with any sort of protection in this place and we need her if we want the plan to work. If she decides we aren't worth helping, or if she decides to bail on us, then we might as well start covering ourselves in tartar sauce and do the tango right onto a mermaid's plate."

Fayrelin grinned at Jargon. "That's right. Little Jar-Jar would make some mermaid's belly very happy, mesa thinks."

"And Fay..." Malkav seized her arm and dragged her into a dark corner of the cave, where they would be out of hearing range of the others. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

"I don't like it here," she said.

"Well, neither do I. That's no reason to make jokes about us getting eaten. You know how...sensitive those guys can be."

"Jargon knows I'm only kidding," she said, and then she raised her voice so he could hear her. "He's too disgusting to make a decent meal anyway!"

Malkav squeezed her arm harder until she began to wince.

"I know you don't care about anybody but yourself," he whispered into her ear. "I know you're selfish and want all that treasure for yourself. I also know that if wasn't for this, you wouldn't have had any reason to bring me along this crazy expedition of yours." He unbuttoned the top of his shirt and revealed one of the four pieces of the legendary Scarab of the Elements, glowing a bright shade of green, that was dangling from a chain around his neck. "But unfortunately for you, the Scarab of Earth only responds to me. That's why you need me."

"You're hurting me," she said.

He didn't loosen his grip. "You know... We've been in this underwater hell for three years now. I honestly can't remember what my life was like before I met you...but I do know that, ever since that day, my life has turned to shit... And I've done a lot of thinking."

"Yeah?" Fayrelin flinched. "About what?"

"About you. I've done a lot of thinking about you."

"Ha, I should be flattered... Anything good?"

He laughed a little and looked up, as if he was trying to recall some faint memory. "You know, I remember when you first told us about the treasure of Gravy Bones. You said it was buried somewhere in Atlantis and we were just supposed to...walk into their city under the ocean and take it. Just like that."

She smiled, though the pain was making her arm numb. "Maybe I omitted a detail or two."

"A detail or two? Oh, that's funny." He twisted her arm around and pinned the side of her face against the cavern wall. His forearm was being used as a brace against the back of her neck. "See, I realize now that it really wasn't too hard to reach Atlantis. I mean, all you needed was a ship and a crew—Jargon provided you with both of those, because he's a bloody alcoholic and easy to trick into anything—and this." He held the scarab near her face so she could watch the glittering amulet swing back and forth. "Now, somewhere in Gravy Bones' treasure trove, amongst the piles of gold and jewelry and priceless gemstones that lesser Men and pygmies have killed for, there's a tiny piece of a beetle that looks something like this. Only it's blue. And it's the Scarab of Water."

"Everybody knows that piece was buried with Gravy Bones," Fayrelin said. "We just don't know where to go."

"Ah, that's right. But then...if you carry one of the other pieces of the scarab with you, finding another piece isn't so hard. The pieces speak to each other. And do you know how many nights I've had to lie awake in this prison, listening to the Scarab of Water call out to me? It's damn close, Fay. The scarab wants to be put back together."

"That's not my problem," she said. "I already said you could have the scarab. I just want the shiny stuff and I'm through."

"How did you expect to get it, Fay?"

"What?"

"How did you expect to get the treasure of Gravy Bones?"

"With your help, dummy!" she laughed. "I saved your life for one reason, and that was helping me to locate that treasure. You were my answer to an early retirement." When he didn't respond, she studied his face and tried not to make her oncoming smile too noticeable. "Come on. You can't be surprised that I've been using you."

"No," he said. "I've known that since the beginning. What I can't understand is how you expected to get out of Atlantis once you got here. Even if we found the treasure of Gravy Bones and all your dreams of gold and diamonds came true, the mermaids aren't going to let five Men and a pygmy walk out of here." He paused. "But then...they might let the pygmy go, if she had something to offer. Because, after all, pygmies and mermaids have a lot in common, don't they?"

Fayrelin's face got very serious.

"I am not a Woman," she said, "and I most certainly not a mermaid. I would prefer you not to associate me with such things, Malkav. I take a lot of pride in my pygmy heritage."

"I just wonder, Fay, if you had any intention of leaving this place with the same people you came here with."

Her eyes narrowed.

"It's a good thing our plans have changed, isn't it?" he asked smugly.

"That's enough. Let my arm go, Malkav. The mermaids are coming."

He released her without verifying her claim and buttoned up his shirt. "...Like I said, I've done a lot of thinking about you, Fay. And no, most of it is not good."

She glared at him and brushed off the dust that had accumulated on her shirt. "Then what part of it is good, Malkav? Huh? That you haven't been dinner for the mermaids yet? That I haven't stabbed you in the back like the liar and thief and horrible person that I am?"

"No," he said. "It's that, despite all you've done to ruin our lives, I've somehow fallen in love with you."