The Emerald Flask

The boy in front of Captain Eric was downright pitiful. A rank combination of seawater and sweat matted his overgrown curls to his forehead, barely allowing his earnest blue eyes to peer through. The boy’s mouth was set in a firm frown, tugged upwards only by a pale scar on the left corner. Though only moments ago his hands had gripped a rusted sword in a fruitless show of bravery, they now shook at his sides in balled fists. The sword— rusted and useless as it was— had been tossed overboard.

Graphic by. Alyvia Taylor

“So,” the older captain began again, his crew having been— finally— temporarily quieted, “you dare board my ship, eat my food, drink with my men, and hunt the seas in my name only to defy my command in the name of—”

“Love,” the boy interjected, his chin jutting stubbornly. A gaping wound on his exposed collarbone dripped crimson blood on his clothes, further staining the boy’s cotton shirt and scuffed boots.

Eric’s crew lost it. An ugly roar of wheezing laughter and jeering taunts erupted, sending a flock of seagulls into the sky in a nervous flurry.

Eric’s own stomach twisted at the boy’s confession. He had been about to say foolishness, but the boy had cut him off only to shoot himself in his own foot.

“Boy,” Eric sneered, unable to keep the contempt from his voice, “you’re a fool if you think the bond you share with this creature is love.”

“You’re wrong!” the boy shouted, triggering another onslaught of taunts thrown his way. The captain couldn’t help but roll his eyes, an exasperated sigh breaking through his cracked lips.

“Do tell,” he drawled, waving one scarred hand through the air lazily.

The boy seemed surprised to have been given the floor so suddenly. Those gleaming blue eyes widened suddenly in shock, his mouth opening and closing silently for a moment. Finally, he found his words. “What you’re doing to these creatures is wrong.”

Another roar of laughter overtook the crowd, but, even as ridiculous as the boy looked, Eric couldn’t be moved to participate. Nay, the knot of hatred in his stomach throbbed with too much rage.

The hatred was not for the boy standing in front of him. In fact, the boy reminded the old captain thoroughly of himself in his own youth. Like the boy, he’d risked everything for a love unrequited. He’d nearly died for his foolish love, just as the boy would if he didn’t learn to keep his mouth shut and value his own life. Before the years and bitter elements had worn the vibrancy from his body, Eric had even had the boy’s jet black hair and those eyes as blue as the sea.

The hatred was for the creature the boy loved… or rather, for all of her kind. She hung over him now, suspended in a massive net above his head.

The creature resembled a beautiful human girl, for the most part. Long, auburn hair tangled around her limbs as she thrashed against her restraints. Eric knew how it would look in the water, the way it would fan around her head in silky, billowing clouds. Dark eyelashes batted against cheeks rosy with rage, and long, slender fingers worked their way between the gaps in the netting. Her lips opened and closed with silent cries for mercy.

The rest of her was not so human, a hideous abomination borne to the sea.

Her smooth, pale skin gave way to wine-red scales around her waist. They trailed down her body, and where she should have had the graceful legs of a human girl, she instead had a thick tail. The tail tapered gradually into a wicked fin at the end, adorned with glittering crimson webbing. She whipped her powerful limb against the netting now, but the more she struggled, the more stuck she became.

“The next person to interrupt the boy gets thrown overboard.” Eric’s voice was near-silent, but a hush fell over the crew as soon as the words left his mouth. The sea below churned with angry sirens, desperate to reclaim their captured sister. Powerful tails slammed against the hull, but the ship held steady. Nonetheless, to be thrown overboard would be a death sentence.

The boy swallowed nervously before continuing. He still trembled, but his voice rang steady through the air. “You hunt these creatures day and night as though they are no more human than the fish you bring up in your nets.”

“They aren’t. They’re malicious creatures, more cold and cunning than even the worst of humans,” the captain drawled, his voice rough with annoyance.

“You’re wrong,” the boy argued, defiance in his eyes. The captain’s crew looked at one another nervously, but no one dared say anything.

“Do tell,” the old pirate dared the boy. This wasn’t the first time someone had questioned the ethics of his trade. Indeed, the hunting of these deadly creatures was not for the faint of heart. Even if one could overlook the uncanny resemblance to a beautiful woman, the cries of the creatures as they died were deceptively human.

Normally, when someone challenged Captain Eric as the boy was now, he would have them skinned alongside the creatures. Their bloodied carcass would be thrown overboard, the scent of fresh man’s blood drawing the remaining creatures from the depths of the sea. The rest of his crew would watch as the creatures swarmed the man’s remnants, his innards bloating the creatures’ bellies and his blood staining their teeth as they feasted on his bones.

The men would scream profanities at the creatures. Some would vomit on the deck. The creatures, in turn, would look up and see their skinned sisters hanging from the mast. They would dive beneath the waves where their voices could be heard and screech with such raw pain that the weakest of the crew would fall to their knees with tears in their eyes. Eric had even seen men hurl themselves overboard, driven to madness by the heartache in the cries.

But today, Eric humored the boy. Perhaps it was because he’d been a valuable addition to Eric’s crew before he’d been corrupted by the creature’s beauty, or perhaps it was because Eric had once been exactly where the boy stood, his own heart twisted by false illusions of love. Perhaps the old captain was simply feeling placid off the warm wine he’d downed not an hour before, the heat of the afternoon sun having gotten the best of him.

“You’ve driven them nearly to extinction,” the boy began again, tears in his eyes now. “You’ve torn families apart. You’ve slaughtered mothers in front of their children, left orphans 

defenseless for the sharks to eat. And for what? Money? Is that really all life is worth to you?”

The old captain laughed, but the sound was empty and humorless. “I’ve killed merfolk for less than money, boy. Their tails may fetch a pretty penny, but their pain is all the payment I need.”

“She’s more human than you’ll ever be,” the younger boy cried out defiantly, pain echoing in his voice. “And the love I have for her is real.”

“Then you’re a dead man already,” Eric growled with narrowed eyes.

The boy’s shoulders had begun to slump, his proud stance growing more fragile by the second. Defeat haunted his voice. “Please, sir. I beg of you. Hear their cries as I do. See the needless pain you bring them and understand that they are capable of a love as authentic as yours or mine.”

“These creatures feel no love, boy,” the old captain spat. “She would sooner watch water flood your lungs than tolerate your touch.”

“Your heart is as cold as the sea,” the boy snapped, exhaustion in his voice. “You’ve never loved anything but your gold, nor have you loved any person but yourself. If you can’t see that, then so be it. Kill her if you must, but you’ll have to kill me first. I won’t live without her.”

The bitter wine on the old man’s breath proved the boy wrong. Eric had loved another. And then he’d loved the drink. Now, he loved the blood of merfolk.

“Let me tell you a story, boy,” Captain Eric growled, lacing crooked fingers in his lap and leaning back in his proud, wooden throne. The seat certainly wasn’t a conventional one, but the old captain liked to feel the sun on his face as he watched his men work. “If it doesn’t open your eyes to the true nature of the beasts, then so be it. I’ll grant you your death, but you’ll kill your creature first. She will die by your hand one way or another.”

* * *

A powerful bolt of lightning ripped the air apart somewhere to my left, but the ensuing thunder was muffled by the water and debris that separated my head from the blackened sky. Angry waves buffeted my body, punching me with a force so powerful I feared my ribs would crack like the wood planks that swirled around me.

My head broke through the surface suddenly, but just for a moment. I sucked in a quick breath, only for saltwater to flood my lungs as I was thrown back beneath the waves. My chest screamed, but I refused to let any bubbles of air from my lips as I was spun head over heels, weightless against the water’s demand. 

Another crack of thunder split the angry skies above, but I couldn’t make out the lightning through the cloud of debris that swallowed me. Pieces of my father’s ship pummeled me from every angle. Bruises erupted on my pale skin. I failed to notice; my only concern was kicking to the surface for another quick gulp of air.

My boots seemed to have other ambitions. Filled with water and salt, they began to drag me down. I tried kicking, but my limbs moved as slowly and clumsily as if I were encased in a tomb of porridge. My shirt— which had once been fine linen, a gift from a neighboring kingdom— billowed around my chest and arms. I thought I must look like the remnants of our once grand sail, which floated past me now, dragged to the depths of the sea forevermore. 

Suddenly, as the sky crashed angrily again, I found myself surrounded not by splintered debris, but by hair as red as a sunset. Skin smoother than the water itself brushed against me as a beautiful maiden wrapped me in slender arms and began to pull me up, towards the flashing sky.

I remember having been too close to death to be surprised at her brilliant emerald tail, which churned the sea below and propelled us upwards.

My head breached the surface, sending rope and planks drifting away. I inhaled the most glorious breath of air I’ve ever tasted, thankful for my life. The bodies of my crew floated past. I knew then that I was the sole survivor. Even my ship had fallen victim, reduced as it was to a wide pile of floating garbage.

The girl stayed with me for a moment, her eyes wide with curiosity. I think she believed me to be dead. After that initial breath of air, I could do no more than lay limp on a buoyant piece of wreckage she propped me up on.

She’d gently brushed my hair from my forehead, her touch as soft as the finest of silks. Her eyes— gray as the quieting storm already fading into the distance— met mine, and I was once again enamored by her beauty. I was so entranced by her swirling crimson hair and slender limbs that I didn’t even care about the tail below. Indeed, I even found the glittering emerald scales beautiful.

When she saw I had defied death and now laid watching her, she fell back in a panic. Within a half a second she’d shot through the water as effortlessly as an eel. She’d sunk up to her eyes, now, and I nearly lost her among the floating garbage.

“Wait!” I cried hoarsely, every word a burning ache in my throat. “You saved my life! You must let me thank you.”

She moved no closer, but her gray eyes crinkled with a soft smile as she sank a little lower.

“At least tell me your name,” I begged, knowing I was about to lose her forever.

She sank beneath the waves, then, but the wind seemed to whisper a single word as it danced over the now-calm sea:

“Ariel.”

“Ariel,” I repeated under my breath as my eyes became heavy and unconsciousness threatened to take me. “I owe you my life, Ariel.”

* * *

“You understand, then!” the young boy shouted excitedly, reanimated by hope.

Captain Eric nodded his head, beads clicking amongst his matted black dreadlocks. “I understand better than you think, boy. It’s you who doesn’t.”

The boy could sense the battle was slipping from his fingers once more. “No, please. Think of Ariel, the girl you once loved. She showed you a kindness you were never able to repay. Spare my Athalia now and your debt will be repaid. Please, do it for Ariel if not for yourself, if not for me.”

“I am doing this because of Ariel,” Captain Eric snapped, his words softer now. The boy’s eyes had only to be opened. Then he would truly understand.

“You did love her, though?” the boy asked, surprised the captain hadn’t sneered at the assumption.

Captain Eric didn’t respond right away, lost in thought as he was once again.

“I did,” he answered softly. “I did love Ariel.”

* * *

The food sat on the table in front of me, distinguished from the array of untouched meals from days past only by the smell. There was lamb, chicken, pears, bread, grapes, wine, duck, and any other delicacy one could think of. Most peasants would never even be able to dream of the feast in front of me. I, however, hadn’t touched any of it. My mouth no longer watered and my stomach no longer ached despite not having eaten in days. My body belonged only to the maiden in the sea.

I sat in front of the expanse of glass that composed an entire wall of my chamber, glad that it faced the sea. Immediately upon having been rescued from the waves and returned to my palace I’d dragged a chair to the window and hadn’t moved from it since. I knew that somewhere beneath the serene blue waves beyond was a maiden to whom I owed both my life and my heart.

Everyone from my parents to my advisors to my old hunting companions worried for me. They brought me food, but I would not eat. They brought me gifts— fine linens and silks from the bordering kingdoms— but I would touch none of it. I could think only of my Ariel.

Eventually, an old friend of mine brought me news of a creature they’d pulled from the sea unlike any other creature we’d seen before: half sea creature and half woman. He begged me to accompany him to the wharf in hopes it would raise my spirits to see such a beast. I think he hoped I would slaughter the creature and have it mounted as a trophy. As I’m sure you can guess, I had other motivations for venturing from my post.

By the time we arrived at the wharf, a sizable crowd had gathered. They parted before me as I approached, though, whispering awe at the sight of the supposedly ill prince.

“Where is she?” I asked no one in particular.

“Here, Your Highness,” one of the peasants responded, pointing me towards a spot on the deck of an anchored ship that the crowd seemed to have gathered around. They parted before me as I approached.

The creature in the center of the gathering was indeed half woman and half sea creature, though she wasn’t my Ariel. Nay, I remember thinking it a crime to compare this bloated, ugly beast to Ariel as I watched it thrash in a net.

The human half of the creature resembled a decrepit old woman. Her skin was pale and bloated, so transparent in places that the blue veins beneath gave her an almost purple hue. Great, heaving mounds of flesh buried her elbows and flopped against the deck as she struggled. Her chin flapped from one direction to another with a wet, squelching noise; I couldn’t help but recoil at the flaky, scabbing scalp on prominent display beneath the wispy tufts of white hair that dotted her head.

The truly stomach-churning part of the woman was below her swelling mass of a stomach, though. As grotesque as the hideous purple-veined skin was, the smooth, slimy black tentacles she had in place of legs were infinitely worse. They flopped and writhed beneath her bulbous body. The large, throbbing suckers pulsing on each tentacle oozed some sort of slime that coated the deck beneath her.

“Shall we slaughter it, Your Highness?” my friend asked, an eager note to his voice. “I’m not sure even the dogs will eat it.”

“No,” I commanded without hesitation. The crowd murmured in surprise. “We’ll let her go. She’s committed no crime against us, nor will her murder benefit us. As you pointed out, Comrade, even the dogs would not eat her. We free her at once.”

A ripple of shock passed through the crowd, but no one dared defy a direct order from the prince. The fisher who had pulled her in immediately employed the help of several surly onlookers and set about rolling the creature back into the sea. She landed with a splash that towered higher than the ship’s deck.

The moment her head disappeared beneath the waves, an ominous laugh echoed from below. The crowd— including myself— rushed to the edge of the ship and looked down at where the creature had last been seen. Her bulbous face was still visible only a few inches beneath the surface. She met my blue eyes with her own black ones, a smile so wide and red upon her face that I feared for a moment she’d died and her skin had already begun to warp.

Then, she began to speak with a voice far richer than I’d expected. “You’ve saved my life, Young Prince, and for that I shall grant you one wish, one remedy for your poor, unfortunate soul— which aches for that which it cannot have.”

I swallowed nervously as the crowd of onlookers murmured nervously amongst themselves.

“Sire —” my friend began, clutching at my arm.

“My heart belongs to a maiden I fear I may never see again!” I called to the creature below. Her grin stretched impossibly wider.

“Indeed, it does,” she purred. “My favors come at a cost, though.”

“I don’t care.” I could only think of Ariel, of the way her crimson hair tickled my skin and her tail sparkled beneath the waves.

“As you wish it,” the creature whispered, disappearing into the shadows below.

For a moment, I felt nothing.

Then, fire erupted in my throat. My chest heaved, but air would not enter my body no matter how hard I strained. The deck boards rushed towards me as I crumpled to the ground, thrashing against the agony in my body. My legs were tormented by a searing pain, but after another moment I found myself immobilized by the pain from the waist down. There wasn’t even enough air in my lungs to call for help from the crowd, which had cleared around me and stood back now, pointing in terror.

Finally, driven by some unknown instinct, I managed to roll myself overboard. I fell through the air for only a moment before crashing beneath the icy waves below. Cold saltwater flooded my lungs, and I found I could finally breathe.

Well, in a sense.

Every breath burned like fire in my lungs; it felt like I was inhaling a cloud of glass shards. My legs, too, had not ceased their aching. In fact, they were fused together now, a coat of scales steadily emerging from my skin to engulf them. I opened my mouth once again to cry for help, but found that no sound would emerge as I sank further beneath the sea. The sun eventually became a distant prick of light, and the wharf faded from view.

* * *

“You were one of them,” the young boy murmured in awe.

“No,” Captain Eric sighed. “I was an abomination. The witch gave me the means to find my Ariel, but she did so only to satisfy her own cruel nature. She may have given me a tail, but she took my voice in turn. She left me silent and disfigured, cursed to roam the oceans in search of a love that could never be.”

“You never found Ariel, then?” the boy asked.

Captain Eric laughed. “If only, boy, if only. Nay, I found my maiden. I did more than that, even. I found a way for us to be together.”

* * *

My fingers sank into the squishy flesh of the witch’s throat. Her eyes bulged and her fat fingers clawed at my grip, but it was no use. She may have been four times my size, but the water rendered us both weightless.

“What’s the matter, little prince?” she cackled, each word a pitiful wheeze in her throat. “Can’t you find the words to beg?”

Rage flared inside me, burning my core. How dare this witch mock me as I crushed the life from her throat? How dare she ruin my body and play with my heart after the kindness I’d shown her?

My mouth opened in a silent roar of rage. The witch continued to cackle, but I could see the fear in her eyes. Her fat tongue began to swell in her mouth, and a bruise erupted beneath my fingertips. One of her eyes started to twitch as a blood vessel erupted. She would die by my hands, gasping for air beneath the waves just as I was cursed to for the rest of my life.

You’re nothing more than empty promises and tantalizing words, I wanted to scream at her. She’d stolen my voice, my chance at love, and my life on land. Now, I would take her life.

The witch seemed to realize she’d gone too far. “Wait!” she gasped, still pawing feebly at my locked fingers. “I can’t undo my gift, but I can offer a loophole.”

I pressed my fingers even deeper against the witch’s throat. The fragile tendons and ridged windpipe buried in the flesh threatened to fold in any second. All I had to do was dig a little deeper, press a little harder—

“All she has to do is say your name,” the witch gasped. The words were raw in her throat. “The water will cease to burn your lungs and your bones will grow used to their new shape. All she has to do is say your name.”

* * *

“Did you kill her?” the boy asked, accusation ringing sharp in his tone. “She obviously gave you what you wanted. Clearly you’re no longer in pain and you have a voice.”

“I released the witch,” Eric responded, ignoring the question. “She’d given me what she promised the first time, so I knew she was a creature of her word.”

“How did you find her?” the boy asked, muted curiosity shadowing his words.

“Don’t bother looking for her, boy,” Eric growled. “She once made a habit of frequenting nearby docks, purposely getting herself snagged in the nets. Poor, unsuspecting fishermen would reel her in and she’d offer them twisted deals in exchange for freedom. It was a game to her, and she delighted in her victims’ distraught once they realized they’d been fooled and had to live the rest of their lives in misery. The witch corrupted every wish she granted.”

“I need only wish for the right thing,” the boy argued stubbornly.

Eric rolled his eyes. “The witch is dead, boy. She may have ruined many a life above the water, but beneath the surface she was just as slimy and pathetic as any other fish.”

“But thanks to the witch, you did find Ariel, didn’t you?” the boy pressed. “Isn’t that exactly what you wanted?”

The old captain’s eyes became as dark as the sea on a day pummeled by storms. “Aye, boy, I did.”

* * *

Years had passed since I’d begun my search, but I’d finally tracked my mermaid. I watched her now as she spun circles around a dizzy crab. A trail of bubbles escaped her mouth as she giggled at the sight of the poor creature spinning helplessly through the water.

Ariel was every bit as beautiful as I remembered. Her scarlet hair billowed around her in a silky cloud, framing pale cheeks and cascading over small shoulders. This far beneath the surface, her eyes were not the stormy grey I remembered, but rather a pale blue, like the water that surrounded us. Bits of sunlight filtered through the gleaming surface of the ocean above us, illuminating the glittering scales that trailed her slender tail.

My own build was a monstrosity in comparison. Ugly, gray, and misshapen, my tail blundered through the water without grace. Inflamed gills marred my neck, and purple fins lined my spine and forearms. I knew my eyes to be permanently bloodshot from the salt.

I approached Ariel anyway. I’d thought long and hard over the years about how I would teach her my name. I’d start with the hope she knew English and simply write it in the sand below. If it became apparent she communicated via some other means, I would learn her language and teach her to speak my name.

She started a little upon seeing my ugly form approach her. The crab scuttled away. After a fleeting second, though, recognition graced her features. She swam to me, wrapping my deformed body in her slender arms. In that moment I forgot the pain of the last several years. I was finally in the arms of my love, the maiden I’d devoted my life and title to. Indeed, even if I returned to land, I doubted I could regain my princely status. Too many years had passed; I had abandoned my people in the name of love.

It didn’t matter to me, though, so long as I had my Ariel.

She brought her lips to mine, and I swear I’ve never tasted anything so sweet. Happiness bubbled through my body just as literal bubbles floated from my gills.

She pulled away from me, swimming back a few inches so as to look at me in my entirety. Even as hideous as I was, nothing but adoration filled her wide eyes. One of her slender thumbs brushed against my cheek, and I found myself leaning into her touch.

Suddenly, I remembered the glass in my lungs and the fire in my bones. I tugged her earnestly to the sand below, sending a school of brightly colored fish scattering. She swam in happy circles above my head as I searched for something with which to write.

She seemed to realize what I was doing and found a large hunk of coral to bring me from nearby. I took it gratefully, ignoring the nervous bubbles in my stomach. Smoothing out an area of sand below, I began to write:

E R I C

I looked quickly to Ariel’s face as soon as I’d finished. She smiled, and I could see understanding in her eyes.

Say it, I begged with silent eyes.

She swam to me, taking both my hands in hers. Up close, I could see her teeth were not the blunt teeth of a human, but rather the pointed canines of a predator. They gleamed as brightly as the pearls that festered in clams. Undeterred, I gestured to my writing in the sand once more.

She nodded, her happy little smile growing to a grin. The grin— plastered so eagerly as it was to her face— revealed even more wicked teeth. The expression seemed off-putting on her beautiful features, almost as though it were empty of any real joy. Nay, whatever she was feeling was something far darker, something akin to cold, curious glee.

Releasing my hands, she drifted slowly backwards, never tearing her eyes from mine. She slowly brought one finger to her lips, making the unmistakably human gesture for “shh.”

Please, I begged wordlessly, but it was no use. The innocent joy in her eyes had been replaced by malice. She swam lazy circles around me as the agony returned to my body. I knew she relished in my pain.

* * *

“But you’re human now,” the boy pointed out. “She must have said your name eventually. You must have gotten her to love you.”

The old captain shook his head. “I made myself a new loophole. For the next several months I hunted the witch tirelessly. Luckily, she was not hard to find. Apparently she had learned nothing from our encounter. I found and killed her at the same wharf she’d cursed me at all those years ago. Within seconds I was returned to my human state.”

“Just because Ariel was cruel doesn’t mean all merfolk are,” the boy argued stubbornly. “My Athalia is different. She loves me.”

“Does she love you, or is she using you?” Captain Eric asked the boy. “Once you free her from her bonds, will she lure you beneath the waves and delight in your suffering as she holds your head beneath the water? Or will she relinquish her life with her sisters for you? For a love stuck between two worlds, between land and sea?”

“She loves me,” the boy said again, but his voice wavered now.

“You’re willing to bet your life on it?” the old pirate asked the boy.

The boy didn’t answer.

“I’ll tell you what, boy,” Eric began with a sudden feverish resolution, leaning toward the boy earnestly. “You follow your heart. Lord knows at your age no one could have convinced me otherwise. Hell, I mutilated myself for love.”

The boy didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at the old captain. His eyes were glued to the beautiful creature suspended over his head.

“If you choose the creature, so be it. She’ll either kill you or leave you so hopelessly lovestruck you’d be better off dead. In fact, I’ll set her free and toss you in after her. One way or another her true colors will be revealed.”

The sea creature writhed over their heads, baring sharp fangs at the old captain.

“Or,” continued Eric, unphased, “if you choose us— your own kind, your crew, yourself— I’ll promote you to first mate. Plunge your dagger into the creature’s heart and we’ll know where your loyalties lie.”

“Sir…” the boy began, but there was nothing left to beg for. He pulled the dagger from his belt and looked from his captain to his maiden with uncertainty.

“Cut her down,” the captain instructed, waving towards the creature.

One of the men cut the rope that suspended the creature, and she came crashing to the deck below. She let out a silent yelp of pain when she struck the hard planks.

“Go on then, boy,” Captain Eric urged the young pirate. The crowd of onlookers yelled encouragement for both choices; coin passed from hand to hand as bets were placed.

The boy lowered himself to his knees beside the beautiful creature. His features softened as he met her terrified eyes, and the dagger trembled in his unsteady grip. He raised it now above her head, just outside her field of vision.

Please, the creature mouthed silently. Captain Eric remembered a time he’d begged the same word of his love.

In the flash of a second, the boy’s eyes became resolved. Something deep within him snapped into place. His jaw tightened stubbornly and his grasp on the dagger tightened. In one smooth, confident arc, he brought the dagger down.

The net fell off the creature, its frail knots severed by the dagger. She pulled herself free, climbing into the embrace of the kneeling boy.

“You’re wrong about them,” the boy whispered through the auburn hair that tickled his mouth, meeting the captain’s eyes. The dagger lay abandoned next to him. 

“I did try,” the captain answered, and was surprised at the sadness that burdened his old heart suddenly. “A pity you’ll have to find out as you will.”

With that, the captain gestured to his crew. The men surrounded the embracing figures and pulled them apart, shoving the maiden overboard first. They hesitated a moment before tossing the young boy over a moment later.

Captain Eric closed his eyes and brought his flask to his cracked lips. The emerald scales that adorned the container were faded and soft against his fingertips, worn as they were against his touch. He could hear the chaos that erupted in the water below, but he kept his eyes shut firmly against the gruesome bloodbath. He’d seen enough men ripped limb from limb by the sharp teeth and glittering eyes of the merfolk to know what a feeding looked like.