(sadly, I have no idea where this story is going to take me. I know the beginning but not the ending.)
(And this isn't quite perfect yet so feel free to point out errors!)
PREFACE
Beneath the
surface of the wide vast ocean, there is life that thrives in the nurturing
waters. Though the way is harsh, life gives way to death and death feeds new
life.
Sometimes those who are not of the sea, come to hunt the bounty of life, but sometimes they’re motives are darker than others.
Sometimes those who are not of the sea, come to hunt the bounty of life, but sometimes they’re motives are darker than others.
CHAPTER ONE
Brill
Brill
struggled with the fishing nets, her arms too weak to move the heavy netting.
She tugged and pulled but no amount of strength would get the nets out of the
water. She lightly climbed off the jagged rocks and into the water. She soon
found the source of the problem; a loop of the netting had caught on a rock and
was holding it fast. She frowned and produced a knife carved from granite.
She
found the knife from an abandoned ship; it had seemed the humans were attacked
by their own kind – the kind that sailed with the black flag marked with bones.
Brill thought of her last knife as she cut the ropes. It had been made of a
shiny sharp rock, but it had rusted so easily in the water. She’d been
disappointed when it snapped from the rust; it had been so pretty.
As
she hacked at the seaweed rope, the water behind her bubbled and a man with
red-ish blonde hair rose out of the water, his waist down still submerged. He
laughed heartily as Brill struggled with the rope; his dark green eyes
twinkling. Brill jumped at his laughter and lost her footing. He reached out
and caught her before she touched the water.
“Lovemate,
you’re doing this all wrong.” he held her until she got her footing back. He
nodded to the frayed net, “You need to get between the rope and rock.” he took
the knife and slipped it between the caught loops and rock and jerked hard. The
loop popped loose and the net floated freely in the water.
Brill
stuck her tongue out at him and then laughed, “Redfin, what are you going
here?”
“Well my dear, I came to inform you that your lovely mother would like your presence.” he did a bad imitation of her nanny and then laughed again. Brill laughed lightly. “Very well then, take the nets for me and I’ll be there soon.”
“Don’t take too long!” he did another imitation, “She doesn’t like your daydreaming.” he grabbed the nets and then disappeared under the water with a flick of his orange and red Koi patterned fin.
“Well my dear, I came to inform you that your lovely mother would like your presence.” he did a bad imitation of her nanny and then laughed again. Brill laughed lightly. “Very well then, take the nets for me and I’ll be there soon.”
“Don’t take too long!” he did another imitation, “She doesn’t like your daydreaming.” he grabbed the nets and then disappeared under the water with a flick of his orange and red Koi patterned fin.
Brill sighed deeply
once he was gone. She climbed back up on the rocks and looked out towards the
sea. The setting sun made the water glow like fire, gently licking the sides of
the rock she sat on. It reminded her of her first time surfacing; she had risen
from the water just as the sun was setting, and she thought it was the most
beautiful sight.
The whole sky had looked like gold, while violet and rose-colored clouds, which she could not describe, floated over her; and, still more rapidly than the clouds, flew a
large flock of wild swans towards the setting sun, looking like a long white
veil across the sea. She had tried to swim towards the sun; but it sunk into
the waves, and the rosy tints faded from the clouds and from the sea.
Brill’s second
time surfacing; she had seen far off ships, looking like giant sea gulls
floating on the water. Ever since then, she’d been fascinated by the funny
looking Elves that her people called Landers. Night fell quickly, the waters
getting rough as the moon rose to replace the sun.
Brill let herself
slide into the water, her powerful legs and webbed feet propelling her through
the waters. She dived under the uneven surface and the gills around her ribs
opened, allowing her to breathe the salty water. As she swam, a giant shadow
passed over her, and something moved the water to send her rushing forward.
Panicking, she dropped down even lower and spun onto her back, floating to see
the hull of a lengthy ship slicing the water above her.
A Landers ship!
With excited curiosity
Brill swam along the side of the ship, hoping to get a glance at the Landers.
She leapt up and grabbed a low outer beam. Brill pulled herself up and looked
up to see the strange creatures rushing about the wooden deck.
They wore
strange clothing; nothing like the shells and seaweed her people wore. They
wore things on their feet that thumped the wood when they walked, and bands on
their heads, similar to the coral crown the queen wore. They had strange
instruments that made alien sounds, but the sound wasn’t bad she thought, it
sounded just as nice as the singing clams down on the ocean floor.
Brill smiled
widely, watching them roam and move oddly. They moved in a way unknown to her;
they jumped and kicked out their legs, moving in time with the weird music. She
nodded her head to the music, completely loosing herself in the music until the
water below her bubbled and a fishing net quite similar to her own burst out of
the water. It rose, filled with fish and the Landers above her pulled and
shouted out, “Heave! Heave! Heave!”
Brill watched it
rise and watched the men pull the rope mesh out of the water; their muscles
bunching and straining. To her horror, a sea turtle was entangled in the nets. Brill
understood their need for fish but not the sea turtle. Unthinking, she jumped
from her spot on the side of the ship and onto the net. The men faltered with
their pulling. A man rushed to the edge.
Between and
jerk, she thought, copying what Redfin had shown her earlier. She slipped her
knife between the sea turtle’s shell and the rope and jerked up. The knife
severed the net, dropping the fish and the sea turtle back into the water.
“There’s a girl
down there!” the man yelled. Brill looked up at him startled; her brown hair falling
away from her face, displaying her turquoise eyes; bright as the sea on a sunny
day.
He froze when he
saw her. Brill stared at him, studying his features, while his own brown eyes drifted
over her body, his eyes lingering over her finned feet and the fins protruding
from her calves. His short black hair curled softly around his face and his
skin lightly tanned from the sun. The Lander, the very handsome Lander reached out to her with a strong hand.
She felt an odd
attraction to him. Instead of being repulsed, she wanted to take his strange un-webbed hand and have him touch her.
Brill put her hand out to him slowly, memorizing his face in awe.
Thumping of boots broke her reverie as the men
approached the side of the boat. Brill quickly dived down into the water, her
heart pounding; that was the closest she’d ever gotten to a Lander. She floated
just below the surface, watching as other men joined the handsome Lander.
“There was a
girl!” he cried. The other men gave him a strange look as they searched the
water.
“Aye lad. Of
course there was. You’d better go sit down and rest a bit. The sea air must be
getting to you.” he chuckled with a couple of the other men.
MORE TO COME
© Copyright 2011, AK Alexander
MORE TO COME
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