The Search for Aveline

by Stephanie Rabig

  "No. But she is kin from the distant past."

  Harry looked down at the unconscious girl. She wore a dress-like garment woven from tough green fibers—kelp, she realized belatedly—and there was a string of pearls and polished seaglass draped around her neck. The captain lifted the hand she had been holding and examined the fingers. The nails were unusually long and sharp, and the fingers themselves were—

  "Webbed," Jo said aloud, looking up from the submerged feet. She reached over and brushed the girl's jet-black hair back from her slightly-pointed ears. "And gills behind the ears."

  "She's a siren?" Katherine demanded, crouching down. "I thought sirens healed from anything short of cannon fire."

  "Humans didn't do this to her, at least not entirely," Harry said with conviction. "Her own kind must have done this. Another siren cut out her tongue, made her drink something corrosive."

  "Yes, I believe so," said Kaimana. "I did not see and hear everything, but I think I caught enough. A sister pulled her to the railing of the ship and put her to the knife. She said it was a test of her sincerity. That it would 'seal the deal'."

  "Utterly barbaric," Wil echoed Agnessa's earlier horror. "And people say intelligent species are 'enlightened' and superior to dumb animals. I don't see the beasts of the field torturing and murdering each other out of greed."

  Miss Euphemia edged closer. "We should clean the poor dear up. Bundle her up warmly now. After such pain and shock, she should be kept warm."

  Harry glanced at Kaimana. "Is that alright? Or should she stay here? I confess to knowing nothing of sirens, so I defer to you on this."

  "The potion has taken effect. The best thing for her now is to sleep, and this matron is right: she should be taken somewhere warm. Take this," he held out a rough box made of shells. "Put this salve on her lips and where the rope burned her wrists. And," he added as Katherine bent to gather the slim girl up in her arms. "Someone should stay with her. Many someones, if possible. She will need community when she wakes, else she may will herself to die."

  "Poor chick, poor thing," Miss Euphemia murmured as she and the others followed Katherine back to the camp.

  "Jo, can you please check on Maddie for me?" Harry asked.

  "Are you—"

  "Yes. Please, Jo. I just want a moment."

  Harry sat on her heels and brushed the back of her hand across her forehead. Now that the initial shock and fear had broken, her skin felt too slick and hot, as if from the after-effects of a bad fever. The breeze skimming inland over the ocean now was chill and sharp, and she turned her shoulder to it. "You saw the ship she was on?"

  "Yes."

  "Did you see the name on its prow?"

  "I cannot read human tongues," Kaimana said, "but I would recognize the vessel again, and some of the humans on it."

  "Was there a skeleton carved on the prow? A hooded skeleton with a scythe?"

  "I do not know what a scythe—"

  "A curved blade on a long pole."

  "Yes. This is the craft."

  "Did you see a man with a patch over his left eye and a black coat? With a scar across his forehead and cheek?"

  "Yes, I did. Their captain, I believe."

  "Of course," Harry said quietly to herself. "Of course it was."

  "You recognize this ship? You know this man?"

  "I thought I knew him, up until two weeks ago when he almost shot me in the back. His name is Wrath Drew. He captains The Charon."

  "He has a black, slick aura," Kaimana said, his distaste audible. "Like oil over water. A contaminating force. I think he must rot everything around him, for his crew had tainted auras, too. And the siren who did this terrible thing—I saw hers darken even as she drew the blade. Evil is a corruptive influence."

  "You saw all that?"

  "Yes."

  "Wish I could see things like that. Would make it a helluva lot easier to know who to trust and who to steer clear of." Harry paused, looking at him appraisingly for the first time in the dying light. "Is that why you've been leaving us gifts? Why you brought her here and trusted us to help her? You could see our auras and knew we were decent?"

  "Yes." He was returning her appraising look, utterly unabashed. Not that he had anything to be embarrassed about. He had just saved a girl's life, after all.

  "I thought you were a mermaid," Harry said. "I mean, I've never seen a merman before. I've heard stories, but I thought they were just fairy tales. I didn't think your species had males."

  "There are as many males as are needed," Kaimana said, as if it was something that should be obvious. "We are not vital to a pod's health, not as matrons are, so there are fewer of us. Is this not the way with humans?"

  "No, that is definitely not the way with humans. You haven't met many humans, have you?"

  "You are the first I have actually spoken to," he replied, "but I have watched many ships that have sailed past."

  "You speak remarkably good English."

  "I was taught by my matrons. I know how to speak many human tongues—many pods have adopted human tongues, and communication is important when traveling across territory lines."

  "Pods are like... tribes? Crews?"

  "Yes. Like your pod." He gestured toward the camp, smiling.

  "And where is your pod, Kaimana?"

  His smile faltered. "Gone."

  "There's no one else here? Just you?"

  "Yes."

  "How long have you been here by yourself?"

  "I cannot be sure," he said dismissively with a shrug. "My people are not so accurate in the measuring of time. Have you enjoyed the gifts?"

  "Yes, we have, thank you," Harry said, shaking her head slightly. "I'm sorry, my manners are awful. Agnessa's the one with perfect manners."

  "Well, the last gift I brought you was somewhat awful," he said. "You have every right to be upset."

  "And I don't know if I ever said, but my name is Harry," she added awkwardly. "Though I'm sure you already knew that, since you've been watching us."

  "The one called Jo does not trust me because of that," Kaimana said. "I am sorry to have caused her worry. But I was always warned that humans were evil. I had to be sure of you before I revealed myself."

  "Kaimana, I understand completely. Plenty of humans think the same of merfolk."

  "You may call me Kai, if you wish."

  "Alright. Kai."

  He looked to the horizon, where the moon was beginning to rise, huge and milky white. "Perhaps we could speak further in the morning? I will come to the beach, if I may, and see how the siren is doing."

  "Of course."

  "Thank you, Harry. This did not go exactly as I had planned," he added dryly, echoing his first words to her. "But you cannot plan for everything."

  "No, you cannot," she said, as he turned and swam away.

  *~*~*

  It was a subdued crew around the fire, most still shaken by what all felt would be the siren's final scream. If she survived the night after all she had been through, it would be a miracle. But Harry, usually the most doubtful of atheists, found herself daring to hope. The girl clearly had a strong will to live, else she wouldn't have lasted this long. And there had been something in her eyes, something unspoken but still eloquent, that told of a burning need.

  Such fires were not easily put out.

  Miss Euphemia and Agnessa had stationed themselves on either side of the siren in the tent they had converted into a hasty medical bay. While the older woman sang quietly and gently sponged away the blood on the girl's face and neck, Agnessa was smoothing the cream Kai had given them over her raw wrists.

  "How could anyone do such things to someone?" Agnessa said, biting her bottom lip.

  Miss Euphemia's song faltered. "Every heart has its share of darkness," she said after a pause. "Some hearts carry more than others, and those hearts crack easily, spilling out the darkness until it festers. The people that do these things, child, do them because they've rotted inside like a sick tree. They're hollow
, and they like to fill that hollowness with someone else's suffering. Some say they only kill and maim for profit, but that's a lie. It's because they're hollow and dead inside. Greed's just another word for the darkness."

  She squeezed the sponge in her wrinkled hand, watching the red water drip into the bowl dispassionately. Then she looked back at the slack, unconscious face between them. The almond-shaped eyes, the skin that had a touch of gold to mellow the sharp planes of her cheeks and chin. "My, but she's a beauty," she said softly. "Almost as beautiful as my girl was. Skin just as smooth."

  "You have a daughter, Miss Euphemia?"

  "Had, dear. Esther. Died of a fever when she was eighteen. I sat like this by her for a week. Until the Lord reached down and took her by the hand." She brushed back the inky hair plastered to the siren's forehead. "I wonder what her name is."

  "She can't tell us. She'll—she'll never speak again," Agnessa said.

  "Other ways of telling a body something," said Miss Euphemia. "If she hasn't the knowing of writing, I'll teach her. Just like I taught Maddie."

  "What should we call her until then?"

  "I'll leave that to you, dear." She picked up the thread of her song, humming the melody as she washed the still face clean.

  "Silence," Agnessa said finally, tending to her blistered lips. "Because sometimes a woman's silence can speak volumes."

  *~*~*

  The next morning, Harry set off down the beach at dawn. She had explained everything to the others before retiring, and they would follow in their own time. For now, she was hoping for a few more minutes alone with Kai to properly get her bearings. And she had set out so early in the hopes of beating him to the rendezvous.

  But he was already waiting for her at the tide line. He was stretched out in the shallows, arms crossed behind his head and eyes closed against the sun. She slowed her pace, strangely taken aback by the sight of him in full light. He seemed larger than the night before, and this was her first real glimpse of his tail: vibrantly scaled in blue, gold, and green. The scales mostly ended where a human's waist began, but it wasn't a strict line delineating fish from man; there was still a faint smattering of blue and green scales across his stomach and up his sides, a few dotting his arms the way freckles spotted human skin.

  His unscaled skin was a tawny brown and liberally marked with black tattoos: small triangles covered his left arm from elbow to wrist in a repetitive pattern that mimicked the scales of his tail, and there were whorls and spirals over his shoulders. His hair was long and dark, small braids visible in the loose, tangled mass, and he had a short beard and mustache. A white scar bisected one thick eyebrow and he wore several necklaces; some were metal and others of braided rope, from which hung a number of carved shells and animal teeth.

  "I promise I will not bite," he said suddenly, lifting one eyelid and arching the scarred eyebrow.

  "I know," Harry said quickly, trying not to look as though he had startled her. She bridged the last few feet between them and dropped down into a casual cross-legged seat. "The siren made it through the night. Miss Euphemia and Agnessa say it looks like she'll pull through—she woke up once, drank some water, and went right back to sleep."

  "Sleep is good. The best medicine for her." He pushed himself up and picked up his net bag, which Harry hadn't even noticed lying beside him. "Though I do bring more medicines. This will help with the pain, and this with the burns in her throat and mouth. Tell me when she needs more of either—or I could show one of you how to make them. They are not hard to brew. After a couple of days, she should be able to eat solid food again."

  "You know a lot about treating these kinds of injuries?" Harry said, intending it to be a joke.

  "Yes," he said calmly. "When merfolk go to war, they aim for the throat and tongues as often as the fins. Taking away our fins is a killing blow, but taking away our songs cripples us. Such tactics are often used to incite fear and punish acts of rebellion. The liquid the siren was forced to drink was probably coral snake venom and crushed lionfish barbs—such a potion will not kill us, but it does scar the throat forever."

  "And artists think your people are sweet and romantic," Harry said.

  "We are that, too," he said, suddenly breaking into a huge smile. How did he get his teeth so white? Maybe merfolk chewed on coral the way some humans rubbed their teeth clean... "I see that your ship's repairs have been completed."

  "Yes. I suspect you're partially to thank for that."

  "Only partially. Does this mean you will be leaving soon?"

  "Do you want us to leave?"

  "No, I do not," he said readily. Harry was beginning to wonder if it was actually impossible for him to lie or dissemble. He'd be terrible at cards, she knew that much. "I was hoping you would stay for some time. This is a beautiful place, isn't it? There is still a lot I could show you."

  "Did you get any sleep last night?" Jo's voice interjected. Harry turned to see most of the crew approaching, Maddie yawning and rubbing her eyes.

  "Don't mother hen me so much, woman," Harry replied.

  "I wouldn't have to if you'd stop acting like such an impatient child," came the sharp retort. "So, you're Kai."

  "Yes."

  "And you've been spying on us since we got here?"

  "Yes."

  "And after watching us for nearly two weeks, you left a shiny sword for Harry?"

  "Yes."

  "What were you thinking, man?" Jo demanded, sitting down beside Harry. "It should only take a glance to see that this woman has poor impulse control. And you hand her an even longer, sharper sword than the one she already had. That's like giving a pair of scissors to a five-year-old boy and challenging him to a race. Just begging for trouble."

  "Those are mutinous words, Josephine Duveau."

  "You just try to challenge me to a duel, missy, and I'll tan your backside with the flat of my blade."

  "Do you want to spark insubordination in the ranks? When a crew hears its first mate talk back to their captain in such a fashion—"

  "You saved Silence yesterday," Maddie said suddenly, looking at Kai. "First from drowning, then from bleeding to death. Thank you."

  "Silence?"

  "That's what we're gonna call her, until Miss Euphemia can teach her how to write and she can tell us her real name.

  "So what were you two discussing so earnestly?" Jo demanded.

  "Whether we'd be leaving soon or not. Kai wants us to stay a while longer."

  "Oh, Kai does, does he?"

  "And I had actually decided, before the madness last night, to suggest that we make this place a regular berth. Take some of that treasure, stock up on supplies, and make a couple permanent fixtures on the beach and the ridge. I was gonna put it to a vote."

  "That would be alright with you?" Agnessa asked Kai. "You'd give us permission for that?"

  "Yes, but why must I give such permission?" The merman was visibly confused.

  "Because this is your island," said Katherine.

  "I do not own it. It is an island—it cannot be owned by anyone. It has become part of my territory, yes, but I gave you permission to stay here long ago. The gifts," he explained. "And if I am to be a part of your pod, obviously this territory is now yours as well."

  "Part of our pod?" Maddie said.

  "He means our crew," clarified Harry.

  "So you want to join the crew?" said Zora. "That may be a little tricky."

  "Owning a pair of legs isn't a requirement to sail with The Sappho," said Harry.

  "Or a womb," chimed in Franky. "I vote to let him join up—it'd be nice to have another bloke to talk to."

  "But it would be a bit awkward, wouldn't it?" said Zora. "He can't exactly help out when we're boarding another ship or in the middle of a fight."

  "Plenty of other pirates have deals with merfolk," Wil pointed out. "They can get up to enemy craft without being seen and pick up information, sabotage hulls, scout ahead for naval ships and dangerous reefs..."

  "We
all have our specific jobs," said Agnessa, her clear voice cutting through the babble. "Zora, the Captain doesn't tell you to steer the ship because that's my job. Wilhelmina isn't expected to scale the mast and serve as lookout in the crow's nest because of her leg, so she works in the galley instead. Katherine mans the cannons rather than Miss Euphemia, because Katherine's the strongest. So on and so forth. So why can't a merman be part of the crew?"

  "Perfectly put, Nessa," Harry said with a smile. "From the way I see it, Kai's already proven himself a strong addition. That gold you've all been so pleased about? Wouldn't be in your pockets if not for him. And that girl would be dead if he hadn't brought her here."

  A chorus of nods and murmurs of agreements met her words.

  "So we put it to a vote: all in favor of giving Kai a chance, raise your hand."

  It looked unanimous—and then Katherine stepped out of the group.

  "I'll say yea on one condition," she said solemnly, arms crossed over her ample chest as she stared down at a wide-eyed Kai.

  "Yes?"

  "You give me a tattoo like that one," she pointed at a tentacle-like swirl over his shoulder, made entirely of dozens of tiny dots.

  "When would you like it done?"

  "I'm free now," she said. "And I'd like it right here." She lifted up her shirt, eliciting a splutter of laughter from Maddie and grins all around.

  "I'll go find a few urchins," Kai said, rolling over and into the water.

  "Oh, yes, I like him," said Franky. "Didn't even bat an eye!"

  "A shame he has a fish bottom," Katherine said thoughtfully. "He's a very handsome top half."

  "You really are desperate, aren't you?" scoffed Zora. "Cap'n, when are we sailing?"

  "Dawn tomorrow. That should get us to Bogo in three days, if the wind fares well. But I'll need a volunteer or two to stay behind and look after Silence. She can't be moved, and we can't leave her alone."

  "I'm sure Miss Euphemia will want to stay with her," said Agnessa, speaking on her behalf. The old woman hadn't left the tent all night, not even once.

  "I'll stay," said Wil. "I'd like to keep studying some of the plant life, anyway."

  "And I'll stay," Maddie volunteered, only a second before Franky offered, "Me, too."