Princess Master 2

by Eric Vall

  The merman’s eyes opened for a brief moment, and he managed to get out three words.

  “Serpent’s Curse, help,” he rasped, and then his eyes rolled slightly back into his head before they closed again.

  “Come on.” Ariana gestured over to me and the princesses. “Marinus can rest, and we can plan for our mission.”

  We exited the chamber, and the three of us looked to Ariana for direction. The red-haired princess swam in place with a determined look on her face, and I thought I would be happy to accompany her wherever she needed to go.

  “So, when do we leave?” Jessamine asked. “As we spoke in there, we are fully committed to helping your kingdom.”

  “Thank you,” the beautiful redhead sighed and bowed her head. “I wish we could leave right now, but I know it’s getting late, and the depths of the sea can be a dangerous place in the dark. Plus, we should probably rest for the evening as well. I will be able to put you up comfortably in one of the palace’s chambers, and then we can leave in the morning.”

  “Sounds good.” I nodded. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”

  “I just know we don’t have much time,” Ariana sniffled and looked back at the chamber we had just left. “Marinus is already so sick, and I can only ask the gods to look over him while we are gone. My dear advisor, I promise to do everything I can for you.”

  Jessamine and Cienna tugged the red-haired mermaid in for a hug, and I could hear her quiet sobs through their interlocked arms. After a long moment, Ariana pulled away, and she began to swim up toward another one of the palace’s multitude of towers. When we reached a room with another shell-encrusted door, she pushed it open to show us what was inside.

  The room was ornately decorated, but the only bed appeared to be a large hammock woven out of the colorful kelp we saw everywhere.

  “Is that where we sleep?” I asked Ariana.

  “I’m happy for you to sleep wherever you’d like, but this is technology we developed specifically to support the human sleep process,” the mermaid princess explained. “Many humans find it to be comfortable to be buoyant while they are sleeping, and they enjoy being strapped into the hammock.”

  “Hell, I’ll try anything once,” I told the redhead, and I looked over at my wives. “What do the two of you think?”

  They both shrugged doubtfully, but then they each smiled at the mermaid.

  “It looks wonderful to me, Ariana,” Jessamine assured her. “We sincerely appreciate your hospitality.”

  “And… the three of you always sleep together, correct?” The mermaid’s cheeks turned slightly pink.

  “Yes,” said Cienna with a nod. “This will work out perfectly for us.”

  “Then, I think I will leave you for the evening, if that’s alright,” Ariana sighed. “My visit with Marinus has left me very emotional, and I’d like to spend some time in my chambers with Callie.”

  “Of course,” Jessamine replied, and she shot the redhead a comforting smile. “We will see you in the morning.”

  The redheaded princess flashed a weak smile in return before she swam out of the chamber and shut the door behind her, and the three of us looked at the kelp hammock for a moment.

  Then we started to laugh.

  “I didn’t want to say anything, but I really don’t know about this contraption,” I snickered.

  “Did she say we needed to be… strapped in?” Cienna managed to get out as her cheeks flushed with mirth.

  “All I know is we need to try to make love in this device at least once before we leave this kingdom,” Jessamine giggled. “We already know Joe likes straps…”

  “That’s enough,” I snickered. “But like I said, it is true I’m up for anything. Now, how the hell do we get into this thing?”

  The three of us managed to swim up toward the colorful hammock until we were directly over it.

  “One… two… three…” Cienna counted off. “Quick, grab the straps!”

  Jessamine and I picked up the thick strands of kelp that seemed to make up some sort of weird seatbelt, and we pulled ourselves down on to the hammock. Then I reached out a hand for Cienna to lie down with us, and I quickly fastened the buckle on the device.

  “This… is really strange,” I remarked. “I wonder how well we’re actually going to be able to sleep.”

  Unfortunately, we soon found out it was going to be a long night. I laid between the two princesses, but they kept rolling over onto me from under the thick strap.

  “I’m not sure this hammock was made for three people,” Cienna groaned and accidentally dug into my side with her elbow. “I really miss my feather bed right now, or even my ship’s cabin.”

  “Me, too,” I replied. “Just, no one tell Ariana how much it sucks. We’ll be able to figure something out.”

  “Of course not, Joe,” Jessamine reassured me. “We would never be impolite to another princess.”

  After several hours of rolling around in the water in a tangle of arms and knees, the three of us finally decided to get up.

  “I hope they have caffeine down here,” I yawned. “That was brutal.”

  “Yes, it was,” Cienna sighed. “I think I’ll try weighing myself down to a more… regular bed for tonight’s sleep, if you can call any of this underwater furniture regular.”

  “Should we go look for Ariana?” Jessamine suggested, but before we could respond, there was a knock on the door to the chamber.

  Cienna swam over to pull the door open, and we were greeted by a tall mermaid who wore a maid’s apron over the front of her tail.

  “I beg your pardon, but Princess Ariana has requested your presence in her chambers,” the maid informed us as she bowed at the waist.

  “Thank you.” Cienna nodded, and then she looked over at me and Jessamine. “Should we go?”

  “Let’s do this,” I replied, and my wives and I followed the maid back over to Ariana’s tower.

  We knocked on the door, and the redhead quickly pulled it open.

  “Good morning,” she said with a small smile and a nod. “I hope you slept well.”

  “Yes, Ariana, everything was great,” Jessamine lied.

  “Oh, good, I was worried,” Ariana sighed with relief before she turned to lead us into her room. “I know it can be strange sleeping underwater for the first time, so please let me know if I need to alter your accommodations in any way.”

  Cienna and I made eye contact, and she shook her head.

  “We’ll figure it out later…” the blonde mouthed, and I nodded.

  “So, I’ve been mapping out the route I think we need to take to get to the Serpent’s Curse,” Ariana explained as she gestured down to a piece of parchment in her hand. “I think it’s going to be a long journey, and you need to be prepared to travel far below the depths where the sunlight reaches. If you think it’s dark down where we are, just wait.”

  “How will we see?” Jessamine wondered as she wrinkled her nose.

  “I have a lantern that works with the same technology we use to light up the kingdom as a whole,” the redhead informed the three of us. “The lights stay on almost indefinitely with no additional power source needed.”

  “Wow, that sounds pretty cool,” I admitted. “We could definitely use something like that in my world.”

  “Yes, the technology is fairly impressive.” Ariana nodded. “Let’s eat a quick breakfast, and then we can set off.”

  She gestured to a platter that held slices of brightly colored raw fish, and I thought it was a good thing I was into sushi. I could tell my wives were slightly grossed out, but they were as polite as they usually were and grabbed a couple of pieces from the plate.

  Once we finished eating, Ariana took one last glance around her room.

  “So, we all have our weapons, right?” the redhead asked as she slipped her trident into a sheath strapped around her waist, and I patted Genie’s Wrath on my belt.

  “I never go anywhere without these,” Jessamine said in a grim tone,
and she flashed her scimitars.

  “We have you covered,” Cienna reassured Ariana.

  “Yes, I’ve definitely seen your strength,” the redhead responded, and she flashed us a weak grin. “I just want to warn you that you will see things in the depths of the sea that are very… unusual. The creatures aren’t like they are up here, and we need to be prepared for attacks.”

  “We always are,” I said. “So far, we’ve fought zombies, wizards, pirates, a giant eel… am I forgetting anything?”

  “I think she gets it.” Cienna smiled. “Should we depart now?”

  Ariana put her map into a small, scaly pack she threw over her shoulder and grabbed her lantern, which emitted an eerie green glow. Then the redhead led us out the chamber door and lifted the palace’s magic shield so we could swim through the water in the direction of the farmhouse that had been destroyed the day before. We passed over many flat acres of fields before the sandy seafloor started to slope down away from us. Ariana led us down toward the ground, and we needed her lantern more and more.

  As we got deeper and deeper, the water felt like it was pressing down against my body and making it harder to swim. Although the mermaid’s kiss magic was obviously still working, I found myself growing more and more out of breath.

  “Be careful here, there’s a strong undertow!” Ariana shouted in warning, and she suddenly reached out to grab Cienna’s hand.

  Cienna grasped out at me, and then I reached out for Jessamine so we could all make a chain to pull ourselves through the water.

  The water around us grew darker and darker except for the green sphere of light created by Ariana’s lantern. I could see schools of fish pass through the glow, and they seemed to be getting stranger and toothier. It was impossible to distinguish between the animals and the seaweed that brushed up against my bare feet and torso, and I cringed a little every time something especially slimy touched me.

  “Creepy,” my dark-haired wife muttered, and I squeezed her hand harder. “I wish I was wearing a full suit of armor so nothing could touch me.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling,” I said with a grimace. “I’m scared something’s going to bite me with its fangs.”

  We paused for a moment so Ariana could pull out her map. She examined the parchment carefully in the dim light, and then she folded it up and put it back into her pack.

  “We need to keep heading east,” the redhead informed our small party. “We’re almost to the place they call the Pirate’s Boneyard. Many, many ships have gone down here over the centuries from battles at sea, storms, and even trouble from Eudora. She’s been menacing sailors for as long as the history of the sea has been recorded.”

  “Well, we’re going to end that soon,” I said, and when Ariana turned to look at me in the light, I grinned at her.

  “Th-thank you, Joe,” she responded, and I could tell she was blushing from the tone of her voice. “I’m sure a great hero like you will be able to help us.”

  It was easy to forget about the clammy leaves winding their way around my legs when a beautiful princess called me a hero.

  “I think she wants to complete the ritual,” Jessamine whispered into my ear as she poked me in the side, and I poked her back.

  “I think you want to complete the ritual again,” I whispered back to my raven-haired wife, and I bit her on the earlobe.

  Jessamine kicked me playfully, and then I slapped her on the ass. There was nothing like a little friendly horseplay to help me forget we were headed somewhere called a “boneyard.”

  The fishy smell of the water was even stronger this far down, and a deep chill rattled my bones. The current pressed back against my cheeks, and for the first time since mermaid’s kiss had been cast on us, the water began to burn the inside of my nose and lungs a little bit.

  “How much deeper?” Cienna gasped. “My body hurts.”

  “We’re almost there,” Ariana announced, and I had to admit I was relieved. She held the green lantern down toward the ground, and I saw the seafloor dropped at least another couple hundred feet.

  And there, in the valley, were what looked like hundreds of sunken pirate ships.

  “How are we going to find the Serpent’s Curse when there are so many wrecks?” I wondered.

  “Early this morning, I visited my palace library,” Ariana answered, “and I began to do more research about the vessel. The book I read said the Serpent’s Curse was way larger than other ships, and the masts were decorated with the bones of the Sea Dragon's prisoners. The Sea Dragon was said to be so rich from his plundering that he had the ship’s deck encrusted with rubies, which made the sails glow blood red in the light of the setting sun.”

  “Got it.” I nodded. “We’re looking for bones and rubies. Well, even more than pirates usually have.”

  Jessamine squeezed my hand tightly, and I squeezed back.

  It looked like we were heading into the Pirate’s Boneyard whether we liked it or not.

  Ariana led us down into the valley and over the ships, and I could catch glimpses of some of the names written on their hulls. I noticed the Salty Demon, the Bloody Knave, and even Eudora’s Curse. The blank eyes of the ships’ figureheads seemed to be staring at me, and I shuddered at the sight of the carved, bare-breasted mermaids and strange, winged demons. I even thought I saw a unicorn represented, and I suspected a Medusa-like figure was based on the image of the snake-haired sea witch I’d met yesterday. The carvings reminded me of the creatures on some sort of haunted carousel, and I longed for the comfort of the surface.

  I hadn’t been cold since we’d reached Ariana’s kingdom, which I also suspected had something to do with the mermaid’s kiss magic, but a deep chill was now running through my bones. When we paused for a moment to survey the wreckage below us, I pulled Cienna and Jessamine tight to my body for a moment, and I noticed they both were shivering.

  Ariana looked over at us, and a strange expression that was almost like jealousy flitted over her face. She quickly recovered, however, and started to apologize.

  “I should have warned you it would be colder down here,” the redhead said as she looked down and away from me and my wives. “I know my magic doesn’t work as well the farther away I get from my palace, for some reason. I brought Prince Aaron down here once, and I know it was hard for him.”

  “It’s okay, Ariana,” I responded in what I hoped was a reassuring tone. “We’re tough, remember?”

  “Tougher than him…” the mermaid princess muttered to herself, but I smirked with satisfaction when I heard her remark. Then she addressed us again in a louder voice. “Alright, let’s start our search. I don’t want to stay down here any longer than we have to.”

  We began to swim again, and I hadn’t thought it would be too hard to spot a ruby-encrusted deck, even among all the other ships, but I had to take into account that centuries of wreckage were buried here. Detached masts were stuck downward into the ground, and I could see the dead eyes of piles of skulls gazing into nothingness.

  “I suppose we have to get closer,” Jessamine said doubtfully, and Ariana nodded.

  The fish that swam through our circle of light had started to look like something out of a horror movie, with faces that seemed like they were sculpted from spiky bones and strange lanterns hanging from their heads. When a school of slithery eels with glowing skeletons swam between us, I had to bite my tongue not to scream out in horror.

  “Holy shit, could that be it?” Cienna suddenly pointed to a vessel directly below us, and I could see in the faint edges of the glow from Ariana’s lantern that the ship’s mast seemed to be bleached white with a skull at the top. “You said the mast was covered in bones, right, Ariana?”

  “Yes,” the redhead confirmed.

  I summoned my bravery and swam closer to get a better look.

  “This doesn’t look like it’s encrusted in bones, it looks like it’s actually made of thousands of bones glued together,” I said with a shudder. “In fact, all of the ship’
s masts look like that. Ariana, can you shine your light down toward the deck?”

  She swam down toward the deck and raised her lantern, and we all gasped at the same time when we saw it.

  Thousands of glittering gems, which sparkled a strange brown color in the greenish light, were embedded into the ship’s deck.

  “I think we actually found the Serpent’s Curse,” Ariana breathed with wide aqua eyes. “I-I can’t believe it, ruby deck and all. I believed in Marinus, of course, but to be honest, I was a little worried about this mission.”

  “I wonder if we can get into the captain’s cabin,” I mused. “If you were a magic vial of potion, where would you be?”

  “Let’s go look in there,” the mermaid replied, and the three of us followed her over toward a rotting door on the deck. When we swam inside, Ariana’s lantern revealed the remains of mahogany furniture. There was also a whole human skeleton nailed to the wall, and I shuddered as I imagined the terrible Sea Dragon lying in bed as he tortured his enemies.

  Cienna was rapidly pulling open drawers and opening cabinets, and I could tell she wanted to get away from the creepy ship as quickly as I did.

  “I don’t think it’s in here,” the blonde princess informed us. “Come, let’s go look in the crews’ berths. I suppose it could be anywhere, but let’s start there.”

  We headed down to a large, open room littered with ancient bottles of rum and skeletons in the corners. It seemed like the Sea Dragon had liked reminders of human carnage in every part of his ship. Other than the trash and the bones, though, the quarters seemed largely empty.

  Ariana swung her lantern around to reveal a series of portholes, and then Jessamine grabbed me by the arm.

  “Joe, everyone, there’s a door over there,” she said as she pointed toward a small opening I hadn’t noticed before.

  “Nice one, Jessamine,” I congratulated my wife, and we swam over to take a closer look. The door was only about waist-high and almost totally obscured by the paneling on the wall, so I was especially impressed she had seen it. “So, who’s going in first?”