The Mermaid's Tale
The Mermaid’s Tale
By D J Owen
Amazon Edition
Copyright November 2015 D J Owen
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Table of Contents
The Mermaid’s Tale, Jessica’s Story
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
The Mermaid’s Tale, Serena’s Story
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Excerpt from Petal’s Awakening
Excerpt from Peony’s Temptation
Connecting with D J Owen
Also by the author
The Mermaid’s Tale
Jessica’s story
Jessica wandered along the shore line as the sunlight began to filter through the dark grey storm clouds that had encompassed her world this past night. Indeed it had been a wrathful night, full of angry lightning and shouting thunder. It had rattled the walls of the little shack that she lived in, keeping her awake for most of the night until she finally managed to doze in the early hours of the morning when the storm broke and rain began to fall.
For all the violence of the storm and the damage it could do Jessica looked forward to these displays of nature’s ferocity. She knew if she was lucky enough that the morning would bring the storm stones. Melted sand carved by nature into wondrous figurines where the heavens struck the shore. They could bring quite a high price in the local village for they were rare and prized by magicians and wise woman both.
Still it was a lonely life for the young woman. Her mother had died in childbirth and her father was thought dead at sea and so with no one to care for her she had been left to rot. It was a cruel thing to do but the tiny village she had been born in struggled for survival daily and no one had the time or resources to care for her. So at the age of twelve she was abandoned and left to her own survival.
Jessica had survived by begging in the small villages she had come across as she wandered the land searching for a home. Fate saw and took pity on the small girl and as she walked along the shoreline Jessica came across a little shack. Small but sturdy and exploring it she found it deserted and abandoned. True it was in need of some care but it was a place she could finally call home.
Five years she had been in the shack and now at the age of eighteen Jessica knew her life would not be anything special. It was not that she was not beautiful for every time she went into one of the villages within a day’s walk of her she had to fend off male attention. She was lithe and toned from her diet and tanned from her days walking the shore. Long blond hair fluttered in the wind and her brown eyes were soft. It was just that she knew the cruelties of life and the ways of the world and doubted anyone would ever be able to make her forget how bad life could be.
So Jessica took what she needed from the sea and the sea provided. Full flavoured meaty sea fish and delicate shore living shellfish provided her with food. Wood washed up no doubt broken from some poor fisherman’s boat and on cold nights it burnt with a salty tang that made her think of the deep sea. For other things, blankets, implements, medicine, she bartered with things she found. There where strange seaweeds that the wise woman could use or huge discarded shells that the traders liked for the inner cities. Everything she needed was provided by the sea in one way or another.
When it was light enough Jessica, tired though she was, went out and walked the shore. She knew that the tide would soon come in and wash away any chance of finding a storm stone or anything else for that matter. It was still cold though and she pulled her wrap tightly around her as her long blond hair blew in the wind, salt spray making it stiff and stringy. Her soft brown eyes never left the sand as she walked the sand banks and the shore, looking for the tell tale sign of the storm stone.
The rain kept falling and Jessica felt miserable. The water crept closer and closer with each passing moment and she had found precious few things she would be able to make use of. Certainly the one thing she wanted, the storm stone, still eluded her capture. Sighing she pushed her wet hair back out of her eyes and kept walking. It was going to be a wet walk back to her hut but she had become practised at ignoring the weather so her eyes kept scanning the sand back and forth like a hawk.
Jessica knew how much she needed something to trade. Her one good knife had become blunted and with no way to sharpen it herself she needed the services of one of the villages. With precious little to trade at the moment though she had to keep going for the one thing she was determined to never trade was herself. The opportunity had certainly presented itself but she knew, deep down, she was more than just a good to be bartered.
Jessica found herself running out of shoreline as it turned into craggy rocky boulders. A little ahead of her she knew would be a sea cave, carved into the race of a sea cliff. If she got trapped in there it could well mean her death she knew. The sea neither forgave mistakes nor was lenient with those who made them. There would be no storm stones in the cave, but something equally precious may have been caught up in the storm and deposited there.
Watching the sea for a moment Jessica nodded to herself. I have time she thought as she set off for the cave. Moving over sand and pebble until she came to boulder and looming stone she knew scrambled forward until she found the cave entrance. It was dark and gloomy but the burgeoning daylight allowed her to see a little way in. A quick look at the sea confirmed she would have to be quick and then she moved forward.
Entering the cave she let her eyes get adjusted to the light. It was dark yet still there was enough daylight seeping in to allow her to see and so she picked her way over the rocky floor. She went fast and yet carefully as her eyes roamed the cave for anything that may be of use. A few shellfish for diner and some seaweed that when dried would be useful for burning was all she found and she turned to leave the cave.
Out of the corner of her eye Jessica saw something sparkle. Turning she watched and saw it again, something sparkling in the gloom of the cave and Jessica carefully made her way towards it. As she came closer she gasped. Lying there, in a rock pool lay a stone the size of her fist. It was the deep blue of the water it lay in and as the sunlight struck it, it glinted and shimmered sending a shiver of excitement through Jessica.
Reaching out slowly Jessica picked it up and cradled the stone in her hands. It was a deep blue and yet she could see glints coming from inside it. Fascinated she decided to move into the light and as she did Jessica could swear that she saw water move within it with every step she took. The longer she looked at it the more the stone seemed to draw her in and it became the most fascinating thing she had ever found. She was so engrossed that Jessica missed the telltale sound of stone moving and then a rock, made precarious from the storm, suddenly shifted with the wind and fell hitting Jessica on the head.
Jessica fell to the floor her head covered in blood and sand and her vision swam in and out before blackness took her. Her arm fell next to her and the stone she had been holding was flung to one side. The blue stone hit the cave wall with such force that it cr
acked upon impact and shattered into two.
Jessica lay on the sand as the sea relentlessly got closer and closer. The sea reached her arm, swirled around it caressing it with its watery fingers and Jessica lay there still. Finally as the sea splashed against her face she groggily came around. Her visions swam in and out and she felt weak as a new born calf. More water splashed her face and she struggled to her feet, nearly falling over with dizziness and feeling nauseous every time she moved.
She looked around for the stone as the sea swirled around her feet. She couldn’t see it and cursing her luck Jessica took stock of her situation only now realising she was in very real trouble.
She pushed her way towards the entrance to the sea cave, fighting against the tide and the current. Dizziness conspired with a wave and she felt her legs go from underneath her. Falling to the ground Jessica instantly became submerged in the rising water and panic set in. As the current receded she tried to get to her feet once more but it was to strong and as the wave withdrew it took Jessica with it.
Even though Jessica had lived by the sea for five years she was not a strong swimmer. Instinctively she distrusted the sea for had it not taken her father? She struggled in the churning waters desperately fighting the current with everything she had but injured as she was it was a fight she could not win. Panic lent her strength she did not have and she kicked and fought for minutes more but eventually it was just too much and she slowly sank beneath the strong churning waters.
Jessica closed her eyes as the stinging sea water closed over them. Her body continued to fight for life but inside, she felt a peace she had thought lost as she gave in to the idea that she would die. As she slowly sank she thought of the mother she had never known and if now she would finally get to meet her. She sank under the waves and danced in tune to the currents song no longer caring if she would see daylight.
A hand grasped her wrist, impossibly strong and pulled her upwards. Jessica startled opened her eyes against the stinging water and saw a young woman, naked and lithe in the water pulling her upwards towards the light. Hair dark as night streamed behind her as her body swam upwards, moving through the water effortlessly. Something brushed against her side and Jessica looked down, saw what had brushed her and her mouth opened in a gasp that let a lungful of the deadly water into her body.
Her saviour from the waist down had the tail of a fish. It glittered in the submerged sunlight and moved in powerful strokes sending them ever upwards towards life. Jessica felt her last moments of life begin to slip away as the water she had breathed in surprise at the sight burned her very insides. Then with one last stroke of her mighty tale the pair broke through that watery barrier and Jessica coughed up water before gasping a huge lungful of air.
The pair bobbed in the sea, Jessica to stunned and weak to move and the other using her tale to keep them both afloat. Every time Jessica felt her strength leave her the strange woman would be there to keep her stable, keep her safe, giving her time to recover, to gain her equilibrium back. Every now and then the strange woman’s tail would brush against her leg and in the water it felt, strange but not entirely unpleasant.
“Thank you” Jessica managed to whisper through chattering teeth. The nearness of death took its toll and the coldness of the sea had found its way into her bones. “You are welcome” the woman said. Her voice was musical but quiet like she was not quite used to talking and the pair stared at each other for a moment longer. Jessica not quite knowing what to say looked around and could only just see the beach. The thought of such a swim dismayed her and she groaned. Instantly the young woman was next to her, her arm around her back keeping Jessica afloat.
“I have to get to the beach” Jessica whispered, her throat raw with sea salt and her near death experience. The young woman cocked her head to one side as if she did not understand and Jessica pointed to the beach “There, I have to get there” she said again. The young woman came closer and Jessica felt her body press against her own. Even though she was wearing clothes, now waterlogged and heavy, the nearness of this naked woman made Jessica blush and nose to nose she stared into the young woman’s sea green eyes and whispered once more “I need to get home. Please.”
The young woman flicked her tail and swam around Jessica with a quickness that surprised her. She felt an arm snake around her chest and her breath quickened at the touch. Even here in the middle of the sea with a creature out of dream and so close to death she felt a powerful yearning. For what she could not say but she felt it nonetheless.
Her saviour began towing her towards home. Jessica lay still with the young woman’s arm puling her along towards the beach, water flowing by her effortlessly as she watched the tail flick just under the water. As she watched she saw muscles bunch and flow effortlessly and Jessica thought of the power this creature had in her tail. This close to the sun she could see the scales shimmer in rainbow colours. It was beautiful.
The strange woman pulled her along in the water as they headed for the beach and despite her near death Jessica felt inexplicably safe with this woman’s arm around her. Her own hand reached down, grasped that arm feeling the strength in it and the silky smooth skin under her fingertips. Then the shore was close enough and Jessica could feel sand under her feet. She was suddenly let go and stumbled before regaining her feet. Turning so clumsily in water compared to her saviour, Jessica felt an irrational pang of loss as they parted.
“Thank you” she said. The young woman smiled, then darted in quick as a fish and pressed her lips to Jessica’s before breaking off and turning back out to the sea. Jessica stood stunned for a moment as she tasted the tang of the sea on those lips, fresh and energising and again she felt an irrational pang of loss. The woman ducked under the sea and then Jessica had one last look of that tail as it flashed out of the water before plunging back down and she was gone.
Jessica pushed herself towards the shore, determined to find her way to ground that was familiar to her. She had it in her mind that she would have to fight against the current but the sea seemed to part for her and she made it easily to the sandy beach. Once she was out of the water however she fell to her knees as weakness returned and her head began to ache once more. Water foamed around her but she could see her shack in the distance and Jessica knew she was safe.
Stumbling to her feet she turned, desperate to see the young woman who had saved her life once more. However she could not see her but she refused to move. Minutes past and her body began to protest at the abuse it had suffered that day but she still refused to give up her vigil. Eventually and only when she felt she was going to faint did Jessica turn and drag herself towards home.
*****
Once she was home Jessica threw off her clothes and wrapped herself up in her blanket. The salt from the sea would make the clothes stiff and scratchy and they would need cleaning before she could use them again. She had another set she could wear, slightly better in quality for when she needed to go to town to trade but she knew she could not really go searching in them. So soaking her usual clothes to get rid of the saltwater stain was urgent and yet she simply sat and stared at the fire in a daze.
Images flashed through her mind. The scintillating deep blue fire of the stone she had nearly died over. Sunlight that streamed downwards through the water like soft fiery lightning as she sank slowly lower and the face of her saviour as she pulled her towards safety. The light brown skin of the arm that had pulled her and the nakedness of the body that cleaved to hers as she was pulled through the water towards safety and the tail, the tail of the woman who had saved her and its beautiful opalescent colours and its fearsome power. They all swam in front of her eyes as she fought to come to terms with what had nearly happened.
There was more though. The scent of the mermaid hovered in her nose, clean and fresh even above the tang of the sea. The feel of that arm as it snaked around her and the swell of the waves that were easily conquered by her saviour. These feelings and memories came and went in her mind in wa
ves, eerily mimicking the motion of the sea that had nearly killed her.
Afternoon moved to evening and then into night and Jessica still sat thinking, remembering her encounter. Fear gave way eventually to self recrimination as she scolded herself over her own stupidity. The biggest recrimination though was the fact that she had not even got the mermaids name. With no desire to eat and no one to share her life with Jessica pulled herself towards her bed and curled up on it.
As total darkness took her shack Jessica lay listening to the waves as they crashed against the shore. Tossing and turning she still felt the nearness of death and nothing she could do eased the chill in her bones. Would anyone really miss me she thought to herself and knew sadly that in all likelihood she could have died and no one would have even known. Tears came and rolled down her face at that thought. Loneliness was nothing new to her but tonight, after such a close call she felt it all the more. Under her blanket Jessica sobbed until she could cry no more and finally drifted off into a deep forlorn sleep.
She was jerked awake in the morning hours by what sounded like singing. The voice was crystal like in its sound with little softness to it. There was Jessica thought a forlornness to it, a despair that swam in the songs undercurrent and only occasionally raising its head. Jessica lay listening to the song wondering who could be out there singing like this. The mermaid who saved me flashed through her head and she jumped up and ran to the door not caring that she was naked. Throwing the door open Jessica looked out into the dawns eerie darkness but saw nothing. The singing had stopped when she opened the door.
Jessica stayed in her door’s frame, her eyes searching out the darkness of the night. The wind was too fierce though, the darkness too oppressive and she took a step back before shutting the door. As she moved back towards her bed she thought she heard a whisper of the song beginning again but it was too far away now to hear properly. Crawling back under her blanket Jessica desperately tried to get back to sleep.