Seas of Affliction

Two Years Later

The sea had never felt so foreign to me. The water lapped over in lazy waves of foam, I looked beyond them though. The sensation was one I hadn’t felt before, not ever in the 230 years I’ve been alive. When I had agreed to this, I thought without question that it was the right choice, that it was my duty. Now that it has happened, my mind was not as sure as it once was.

“Six months, not a moment longer.” Priscilla spoke. The sea witch who was older than the sea itself sometimes, the one with tricks and deals. One that I had called my alli for a little over 100 years, someone my father didn’t trust.

Oh, my poor endearing father.

My mind made itself up again. “Of course. Not a minute longer.”

“This isn’t going to be easy. You’re instinct will not be reliable anymore, they only know of what they’ve rooted into.” Priscilla stretched scaly arms out to me to take, the blackened roots of her scales and the deep marooning tips winked at me in the sunlight.

“I never expected anything less.” My new legs collapsed under me immediately. “I have no other choice, I fear.”

“I as well.” She kept a sturdy hold on me.

“My father would’ve of disapproved feverently.” I mused, the center of my chest and the dark corners of my gut still twisted in grief.

“He would’ve not even thought to love you any less though.” Priscilla’s hands slid down my arms slowly, my legs shaking like rotting wood ready to break.

“In return, what is it you ask?” No matter how fondly Priscilla thought of me, she rarely gave anything for free.

“The blood of a dying man, an honest liar.” Priscilla spoke and my brow perked in confusion.

“A contradiction? I don’t understand.” An honest liar? Is there such a thing?

“When the moment presents itself, it’ll all be clear.” Priscilla offered.

“How vague.” I flatly replied, trying to take a step forward but stumbling slightly.

“One foot in front of the other, dear.” she advised.

“I’m afraid that’s easier said than done.” I muttered in concentration.

“It’s like your tail but split in two.” Priscilla grimaced when I fell once more.

“I need to be able to walk, Priscilla,” I huffed as I got back up onto my shaky legs.

“You will, in time. You mermaids are notoriously stubborn. The only additive I can grant is that mermaids naturally hold much more strength in them, I cannot take that energy from you. As you learn how to cope with your new form, your strength will be exponentially better than any other human.” Priscilla let go of my hands. I stood just barely on my own.

“But I must heed warning once more, I’ve transformed many of times, your sea tail, humankind legs, serpent tails. Heavens, I’ve had eight tentacles before at one point, I’ll never do that again. Terribly tricky to operate.”

I didn’t respond as I tried harder, taking everything she had said into consideration. Once, twice, thrice. Each time I fell, each more frustrating than the last. “Can’t you just give me the ability to walk? That would be the real deal.”

“Things aren’t suppose to be easy, Florence. Work at this a little more and it’ll come to you as easy as flicking that tail of your’s.”

I sighed in exhaustion and sunk down in the saturated sand, imprinting further with each passing wave. I needed a small break, these infernal limbs were already starting to ache. The feet nauseatingly sensitive. The intake of air was light and confusing. All of this was one bewilderment after another.

Things had to be like this though. I had to act, be the leader I was left to be. To go out and sacrifice myself into the unknown. Do exactly as my father had. His downfall was his age. He was much too old to be doing what he was doing, he couldn’t swim as fast as he once could. A searching harpoon was the tip of his life, the serration of his tail his death.

I’m still reeling from the simplicity of it all. Twenty years ago he would’ve seen the harpoon coming, would’ve have felt the hunter’s eyes boring into him like hot coals. And for the cost of his life in a way that it is cemented into our minds from a young age to avoid, I can’t entirely blame negligence, only a tired body. And now it was left to me. Everything.

“Good job,” Priscilla stood back watching after I had given things another chance, “almost a full two minutes now on your own.”

“You’re mocking me.” I narrowed my eyes at her, taking a tentative step forward.

“Only a little.” she smirked.

“Back to this blood of a man for a minute though, while things are going smoothly.” Priscilla hummed in response.

“Does his dying have to be at my hands or some action that was on his own? Does this honest lie have to be as impractical in reality as it is in theory?”

“Is it your turn now to be mocking me?” Priscilla responded, leaving my inquires unanswered.

“Not unless you have a part of your mind that finds it something to be mocked.” I fell once more.

She tisked. “Now, Florence, you know I don’t have the answer for the future but only what it needs. This is something I need for my own future and someone else’s, you’re just the middleman, my dear.”

“Ah, so the truth come out.” I walked three steps firmly. “I’m just fish caught in your trap, then?”

“The future can tangle its fingers around anything in reach, who says that this isn’t something your future needs as well?” Priscilla suggested knowingly.

“I do not like this new development.” I stood still, no longer walking.

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Priscilla gave me a despondent look at my response. “Think good things, the possibility of an all is well future.”

“I doubt that is in the books, Priscilla. Not with my clans and their extending families and kinship's being maimed alive and the remains of their hopeful spirits bloodletting into rusty pans below them for profit. I will not have a future if my people cannot. I will not allow it.” I walked for thirty seconds uninterrupted but wavering.

“Then you’ll take things in stride.” Priscilla chuckled at herself.

I scoffed. “With jests like that I may as well just give up all hope now.”

Priscilla turned rather serious suddenly. “Excuse me a moment, deary.”

She disappeared into the water, leaving me alone and slightly concerned. The look she wore on her face was never good, always something dreadful. In the suspense of it all, I started to pace in a small circle. This must be what the action I’ve witnessed so many times felt like, to not be able to stand still, to only be able to control the thing that is your own. Sure, I’ve swam in circles and moved in tension filled ways. This is a particular habit of the humankind, something up until a few days ago I wouldn’t think to ever experience.

I could see the water shift with movement below it, exposing Priscilla to the surface, the water smoothly sliding from her scales. Her expression was no different as it was before she had left me.

“What is it?” I asked with bated breath.

“I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of some heinous news.” Priscilla was now the one pacing. “I could feel the absence, the missing link and the lightness that death leaves behind.”

“Priscilla, please. I must ask you to get to the point.” I already knew though what had happened, what has been happening.

“The Valian clan, the one with that friend of yours-oh goodness, what is her name?”

“Colette.” I swallowed hard. An admirable friend, a fearsome loyal ally.

“Yes, Colette.” Priscilla was lost in thought for a moment before continuing. “They’ve been captured, I’m afraid. I can feel the absence, it is a great one.”

“All of them?” I was again in the sand but not out of weak legs but a weakening spirit.

“I can’t be sure.”

“Bastards.” My fingers gripped tightly into the sand in fistfuls. “What right do they think they possess over us? Why must they always take and take but never give or think anything in return?”

“An ever growing greed, Florence. But not all are as corrupt as you think.” Priscilla reminded but I refused the thought.

“I have yet to meet such a thing.” My face was full of fury, I climbed to my feet. “But I will be ready when I do.”