The Little Mermaid (Faerie Tale Collection) (11 page)

With his hands full, nothing could halt the soldiers from stepping around the shouting woman and grabbing hold of Keel’s arms, of course. And they tried, multiple times. But even collectively, they could not stop him from moving, and so he progressed purposely forward through their shouting, dragging them along behind him. All the while, the old woman beat them with her fists and the cup.

It would have been very comical if the situation were not as dire as it was.

His movements were still just as determined, but slowed slightly as he approached the ocean and the amazed men gave up, allowing him to enter. He hoped the landfolks’ shock and fear of the water was enough to buy him a few minutes’ time as he waded out several feet into the cool, crisp ocean. Even Ruby stayed away from the shoreline.

Keel relished the feel of the delicious water against his skin and knowing how much Pearl’s body must be craving this right now.

Gently, he lowered her into the sea, face up near the outcropping of rock where they had been before. As soon as her feet touched home, her eyes flew open and connected with his.

“I love you,” she whispered as a slight smile formed itself.

He released her to sit down and then began to remove the bandage around her head. She sighed peacefully as he slipped the back of her head into the water. Her soft, moaning song had stopped for the moment, and it gave him hope. When she winced and clung to his arm, he grinned. Good. It was healing her. The fact that she could register the sting of the saltwater meant that she was now fully conscious as well. Good. Good. Good.

He reached over and collected the antidote hidden within the rock. Popping the lid, he held it up to her mouth to drink. “Here you go. You shall be home soon. To grow your fins back does not take even a fraction of the time it takes to grow legs. And it is not nearly as painful.”

She nodded and took the potion.

“There is a collection of healthy seaweed growing below us and to the right a bit. Remember what we ate when we first got here? Make sure you partake of it once you have transformed.”

When Pearl nodded again, he sighed. There. She might live yet. Now to take care of the prince and his army to guarantee that they did not interfere this time.

As he released her arm to stand, he suddenly felt a piercing pain in his back, and strong arms wrapped themselves around him, dragging him to the water.

KEEL SANK BELOW THE surface. He saw a flash of metal and then felt another stab of pain as it collided with his side. He spun around in the water, very aware of the cloud of red following his movements as he did so.

Coming face-to-face with Drake was no surprise. Neither was the knowledge that the man waited until he was caught unawares to begin his attack. It proved more than ever how cowardly his species was.

Keel took the heel of his palm and jabbed it forcefully under Drake’s jaw, causing him to hurl back and release his hold on Keel’s arms. Glancing over at Pearl, he quickly rushed at Drake again, determined to take this fight away from the changing mermaid and out into the open.

Keel got his footing and began to flee out of the ocean toward the beach. He made it about twenty feet before Drake lunged at him from behind and they both went spiraling down into the much shallower waves. Keel grabbed the hand that held the knife and kicked at the prince with his feet, attempting to dislodge the weapon completely from his grasp through the momentum of being forced backwards. It worked.

Had Keel been a savage, bloodthirsty human, he would have held on to the knife and used it against the man. But he did not. Instead, he tossed it behind him as far as he could just moments before being plowed into by the angry prince again.

The man shouted and raged and dragged Keel up on his knees by his hair to feel the sting of a blow of a fist to his eye. Flying back, Keel sputtered as he registered the different weaknesses shown by the rash prince. As the man lunged at him again, Keel held up his arm to ward off the blows, this time yanking the prince’s shirt and flinging Drake over his head.

For quite some time, the men brawled and battered each other out in the ocean, their fists and legs and arms and heads doing much more than mere child’s play. They were both angry males out for the same prize—Pearl.

When he finally got Drake into a submissive position beneath him, Keel was panting hard. Drake’s head rested upon the sand some several yards away from where the attacked started as Keel held him down, determining if the man deserved to live. If he allowed the prince life, there was no guarantee the merpeople would ever be safe from him. Though they lived far away, Keel was positive Drake would continue to hunt their kind for as long as he lived.

“He—he stabbed you!” came a choked whisper from behind him.

Keel whipped around to see Pearl in her mermaid form holding the knife in her hand. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

She was trembling. “He stabbed you with this. I saw it! He tried to kill you.”

“Yes, dear, I know. But you are not well. You must go back to the rock and wait for me.”

“No.” She shook her head, and for the first time, he noticed the rage in her eyes. “He almost killed the man I love so he could abduct me. He is a monster!”

“Yes, he is.”

She moved onto the beach, revealing her tail.

Several gasps could be heard around them, and it was then that he noticed the gathering of royal guards too frightened by the mermaid and the large man who spoke in the mermaid tongue to approach. Instead, as he looked up, many of them stumbled even farther away from them. Only Ruby remained, completely transfixed by Pearl.

“I want to kill him.” Pearl raised the knife with one arm above Drake’s beaten face.

“And what will that make of you?” Keel asked her quietly. “You may kill him if you wish. In their land, by the human rules, he would deserve to die for what he has done to us. But what of your land, your rules? What would such actions do to you?”

Her hand trembled. “I do not know. I do not care. I only know that unless he dies, we may never truly feel safe again.”

Drake lurched beneath him, and Keel gave another sharp, strong blow to his face. The man went unconscious. “There. He is yours if you wish it. But Pearl, you do not have to.”

With her arm still raised menacingly over the prince, he tenderly captured her face with his palm and caught her intense, venom-filled gaze. “My dear, you will always be safe as long as there is breath in my body.”

Slowly, her eyes began to spark to life. She broke contact and glanced down at the sleeping man before them. He watched her hand tighten around the handle of the blade before tossing the thing far out to sea.

“I cannot do it. I cannot kill him. Though it would mean our freedom, I am too weak to do it.”

“Nay, dearest.” He ran his hands through her hair, careful not to disrupt her wound. “You are stronger than your instincts. The man attempted to kill you. You had every right to defend yourself, but you were stronger than the rage within. And I fear that rage would have destroyed you. I know your gentle, loving soul. It would have been too much.”

Her lips began to quiver. “Thank you. Thank you for trusting me and loving me enough to find myself, to give me the decision to make my own mistakes and realize who I truly am.”

“And what have you realized?”

“That you were right all along. There is not kindness here. None.”

“Shh . . .” He kissed her. “Nay, it was you who was correct. I believed no one was kind, yet you proved me otherwise when Ruby came to help.”

“Ruby?” Pearl looked confused.

“Yes. Just there.” He nodded toward the smiling woman, still too unsure of the ocean water to come closer.

“Was she the one who was singing to me?”

“Yes.”

“I do not know what magic she was speaking, but it did wonders with my healing. I could feel my whole body relaxing. Then once I made it into the water . . .” She sighed. “It was bliss.” She waved at Ruby, touching her forehead and heart in a gesture of thanks.

“Would you like to stay and chat with Ruby a bit longer? Perhaps get to know her?” Keel’s chest clenched in dread, but the older woman had bravely protected them. He would allow Pearl this much. To visit with a human who was kind.

“No.” Pearl shook her head.

“Are you sure? I can stay here and hold the prince so he does not harm you again while you talk with her.”

“And what would we speak of? Neither of us would have much to say.”

“Ha. Very well, then what would you like to do?”

She closed her eyes and laid her head upon his shoulder. ”I want to go home now.”

“And where is that?”

“Anywhere that is with you.”

THE LITTLE MERMAID AND her handsome merprince left that monstrous human on the beach to be fretted over by his fellow brutish kind and withdrew from the world of humans for good. But not before Pearl left her beautiful dress on the sand and motioned for Ruby to take it as a gift.

Keel and Pearl swam slower during their journey home, allowing Pearl to recover fully, and took a chance to seal their union in a simple vow exchange ceremony between themselves that was custom amongst merfolk, knowing full well her family would throw a much larger splash and they would have to go through it all over again. But for now, it was worth it.

On their impromptu honeymoon, Keel and Pearl went ahead and traveled to the South Seas, as they had told everyone they would. During their journey, they continued to bask and grow and learn the greatness of their love together. For once Pearl had found herself, she realized she was so much more like Keel than she ever could have imagined.

Pearl and Keel ended up having a school of merprinces and merprincesses to raise and take care of and help grow and develop and have adventures and find themselves all on their own.

They developed a kingdom even kinder and more understanding and forgiving than her parents’ had been. Though no one ever asked, it was greatly thought throughout the shared kingdoms that Pearl had altered so very much in her views of the human species that many believed she must have encountered one once. It was her secret, one Keel had vowed never to tell.

For how does one with such a sweet and generous heart explain the true story of the Little Mermaid? It was not to be. And so Pearl and Keel’s story remained locked within their own memories, and each looked upon it as the day when she truly found herself and the love of her life.

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