Marker 10328reads and 907 votes
[Published March 7, 2019]

Summer 1970

Orca's flaming red hair emerged from behind a small rock that sat next to our little island. She pulled herself up onto that very rock so that her upper body and only part of her deep blue tail showed.

Orca was the third oldest of all the sisters and was not a merperson to be messed with, especially when it came to hunters. Way before my time she had lost her husband to a band of them in a brutal attack.  She had hunted down every signal one of them and had drowned them all.

"Why have you brought a human here?" she said, her gray-green eyes focused on Elizabeth, then they flicked to me. They evaluated me in the green light, "Well it's safe to say that Marina doesn't appear to need any medical attention anytime soon, so why were you wailing for all the seven seas to hear that Marina was dying?"

"She was already here when I arrived with Marina and she was the one that healed her so at least for now, Marina isn't dying."

Elizabeth groaned, "How many times do I have to say it? I was swallowed by a sea dragon and it regurgitated me onto this rock. Other than that I have no idea how I ended up in this place, heck I don't even know where this place is.  I poisoned your sister with this knife I've had in my family for years. The knife's poison takes away all your senses until all you're able to do is lay there while your body slowly wastes away. Some forget that they even exist," Elizabeth looked down at the knife in her hand wistfully, "Too bad I didn't get a chance to stab all of you with it."

Orca snarled at Elizabeth, "Watch your tone, human. You should be speaking to the more superior species with respect and gratitude. It is only by our mercy that you are still alive.

Elizabeth's face remained passive, but something flickered behind her eyes. I had a feeling if she wasn't under my sister's spell she would have thrown herself at Orca with her knife raised. She would have met her end  soon after of course, when Orca turned that knife on her and dragged her down to the depths of the ocean never to be seen again.

"I say we drown her before father gets back," Orca said. "Who knows if he would believe her story, I certainly don't. And I don't want to be blamed for taking a human, let alone a huntress in here."

"So you don't believe your sister is powerful enough to put me under a spell? Honestly, I'm flattered," Elizabeth chuckled. "She turned to Delphine, how does that make you feel? Your sister is basically calling you weak."

"Human, I order for you stop showing such disrespect!" Delphine said sharply and Elizabeth jerked her head in her direction, just as Orca launched herself into the air.

Orca collided with Elizabeth with a loud thump and they both went tumbling into the water.

"Orca!" I streaked but Delphine was already in the water before I had time to finish her name.  I ran towards the edge of the rock and peered down into the water, I was desperate to see what was happening.  I could see Orca's red hair thrashing down below, while she struggled with Delphine.  A short time later she emerged with a coughing Elizabeth in her arms.

Orca broke the surface right behind her, and immediately tried to pry Elizabeth out of Delphine's grip.

"Orca, I order you to stop!" Delphine was yelling. "As your future queen, obey me!"

Orca clenched her jaw together in a snarl. "You ain't my queen yet, so good luck ordering me around witch." And managed to grab Elizabeth's ponytail and gave it a yank.  Elizabeth let out an angry scream, but she did not fight back. My sister's spell prevented her from doing so.

"Um, I'm here with the healer..." All of us turned to see Isla's pale blonde head peering out from the same rock Orca had been perched on moments ago. Behind her was a merman with pearly white hair and dark eyes.

Isla smiled cheerfully at us and extended her hand towards the merman beside her. "His name is Fluctus, he's a dear friend of mine and he just so happened to be near our stretch of ocean and heard our calls."

A look of relief crossed Isla's face upon seeing me standing on the rock. "Marnia, thank goodness you're alright!" she looked at the merman in the water behind her."Thank you for coming with me here Fluctus, but Marina isn't sick anymore, so I guess you can go."

Fluctus shook his head at her and turned his face towards me. I spared him a brief glance, but my eyes were too focused on the events unfolding in the glowing pool below me, to pay him much attention.

Despite Orca's repeated attempts to drag her back under the water, Delphine had managed to return Elizabeth to the rock.  Elizabeth pulled herself up the rough black surface and as far away from the water as she could get. I saw that she had managed to keep the knife in her hand during the struggle.

"Stay there and don't you dare say anything else," Delphine said sternly and shot Elizabeth a pointed stare.

Elizabeth gave her a thumbs up before she laid her head down on the rock, but she did not take her eyes off Orca's flaming red hair.

"We need to kill her!" Orca said loudly. "Now move so I can drown the sea rat!"

Delphine spun on Orca, "For once in your life Orca, calm your flippers. This is a delicate matter, one which needs to be handled with care. Thinking before one acts is the best way to handle something like this."

"So you want to still exam her?" I head Isla say loudly.

"Exam her?" Orca said, her attention now on Isla and the healer. "She looks perfectly healthy to me, you, on the other hand, Isla, heal your sunburn for whale's sake."

"I'm sunburned!?" Isla replied, her voice rose in alarm. "I didn't even realize!" with that, she proceed to examine her slightly red arms, all the while muttering in disbelief.

Delphine nodded at the healer.  "I think it's a good idea that we have Marina examined. May I remind you Orca that your husband died of his wounds from a hunter's knife, the day after he was deemed fine by himself and you."

A dark look crossed Orca's face, and her red hair abruptly disappeared from sight beneath the waves.

"Delphine! Why do you mention that!? Now she's going to be sad all day!" Isla cried.

"Because Orca seems to forget that she is not above the forces that beat against us in this word, and neither are any of us, her sisters." Delphine turned towards the pearl haired healer. "Go on examine my sister."

The cave was quiet other than the continuous musical pings, from the water dripping from the ceiling into the pool, while the healer swam over towards me. He did not say a word, he simply made a motion for me to come closer to him. I lowered myself onto the rough surface of the rock so that my feet were dangling into the water. 

The moment my toes touched the water my body switched back to its original form and he ran his hand along my purple scaled tail serval times. While he did his examination,  he remained completely silent. His figures finally paused mid-tail, and he looked at Isla and so sort of communication seemed to pass between them. Before, he looked back up at me. He nodded his head.

"There's nothing wrong outwardly wrong with you," Isla explained, "or at least with your tail so that's good.  He does want to do a more intense examination to the rest of your body, though," Isla explained.

"I would like it if he examined me further, but why isn't he speaking to me directly?" I asked, I was growing uneasy at the healer's continued silence.

Isla looked from Fluctus to me, and her lips turned up into a sheepish smile. "Fluctus only chooses to communicate to those he trusts. Don't be offended if he doesn't decide to talk to you at this moment, it took twenty years of friendship before he decided to finally speak to me, and he only does so through telepathy.  That being said, he'll keep the secret about this place and he is kind of a healing genius!"

"Why's the fact that he a healing genius a bonus? That should be da main trait!" I replied dryly.

There was a strong tug on the lower half of my body and I let out a yelp of surprise, while the rest of me was dragged into the water.

Fluctus was upon me in the next moment. He took my arm and began to run his fingers up and down my arms, before they moved to my stomach, all the while he hummed a melody, that I myself did not recognize, under his breath.  Whatever it was sounded complex and was most certainly some kind of healing magic. I felt the same soft touches as the ones from my sister's healing song, but this time the sensation seemed to be inside of my skin now, instead of on top of it.

Those touches continued to probe at my skin, while I squirmed uncomfortably under his grasp. When he was done, he turned to Isla.  A long moment of silence stretched between all four of us

"Well, what does he say is the problem!?" I demanded, unable to bear the silence for another second.

"Um..." Isla began and her voice faulted. "He says the poison is still in your body and it can potentially come back and reinfect you because it has an underlying curse embedded within it. And...." She turned back towards Fluctus. "Are you sure you're  right?"

Fluctus bobbed his head.

"Okay so how do we stop it!?" I asked.  It felt like an eel was wiggling inside my inners at the thought of experiencing that numbness all over again.

Fluctus gave Isla another look.

"You know a small part of me respects you for only communicating with the people of your choice, but it doesn't really win you any points in the bedside manner department."

Isla frowned. "He said whatever needs to be done to improve my condition, needs to be done for an entire moon cycle.  And treatment needs to be done but the person that inflicted the wound. Usually, thats how it works with poisons when underlying curses are involved. This daily treatment needs to be completed daily till the moon has completed its rotation."

"But the daily treatment is me being stabbed five times by the Huntress! Are you kidding me!? I'm going to have to be stabbed five times, every day for an entire moon cycle!?"

"Which means we have to keep the Huntress  for an entire moon cycle?" Delphine's said, her voice was laced by stress.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Elizabeth sit up straighter on the rock.

Isla looked and Fluctus who bobbed his head once more.

"Which means one of us is going to have to stay in this cave with her to keep her under one of our spell, and that'll be mostly you, Marine. This is your mess to clean and you will need to be treated by the hunter anyway.  Do you object to this?"

"Of course I object!" I answered, but a very small part of me didn't object at all, and that frightened me even more than being stabbed five times a day did.

"Well isn't that a shame," Delphine said. "I shouldn't have even asked that question. You don't have a choice. Let this be a lesson to you, come on Isla, bring your friend with you. We're leaving. And Marina, collect as much information as you can from her, might as well use her if we have to keep her alive for this long. There is sure to be other hunters near by and we can use her to figure out where they could be.

"Sorry Marina,"Isla said, "Come on Fluctus."

Fluctus gave me one final glance, before three of them disappeared, leaving me alone with Elizabeth.