by Eric Vall
“I can’t hold it anymore,” Ariana gasped, and as the bubble came down, the sharks shot forward. The redhead immediately sprang into action and struck out with her trident again and again, and she speared shark after shark in the eyes.
Meanwhile, Jessamine slashed their throats with scimitars as Cienna stabbed into their heads with her longsword.
I tried to attack the beasts with Genie’s Wrath, but it seemed like I could only hit one at a time after the major strike I’d managed earlier with Cienna and Jessamine’s help. The spectacular lightning effect that marked the sword’s previous performance just wasn’t working right now, and I snarled in anger. I wanted nothing more than to rescue the princesses and get the hell out of the Pirate’s Boneyard, but we were still totally surrounded by the hideous animals. We destroyed them one at a time, and it held them at bay, but what we really needed was an escape route.
The water around us was soon thick and sticky with orange blood, and I gagged a little as I caught a bit of a coppery taste in my mouth. As it grew harder to see around us, I had to rub the goo from my eyes, and I saw the princesses were doing the same.
The current tried to push us out of position, but we somehow managed to stay in place. We were in a holding pattern until Cienna cast her time magic for just me and her, and she stared into my eyes with desperation as she clenched her hands into fists.
“I know we’re strong enough to beat these bastards, but how?” the blonde asked me, and I nodded my head with exasperation.
“I know what you mean,” I grunted. “These are one of the weaker enemies we’ve fought, but we’re so outnumbered. Jessamine hasn’t cast her magic yet, though, so she should still be pretty strong.”
“Alright, let’s talk to her,” Cienna said with a shrug, and time rushed back into motion. “Jessamine, can you transform our way out of here?”
“I don’t know!” my dark-haired wife shouted as she killed sharks left and right with her scimitars. “I was thinking I could make us invisible so we could swim away, but they’d still smell our blood!”
“Here’s another bubble!” Ariana yelled, and we all gasped in relief. She’d had to make the protective sphere smaller this time because the glowing orange monsters had gotten so close, and my heart pounded in my chest as I stared at their teeth, which snapped out into nothingness as they tried to reach us.
“They’re closing in!” Cienna groaned. “I’m going to freeze time again so we can think, but doing it for all four of us hurts a little. I have to concentrate as hard as I can, so figure something out!”
Cienna cast her magic, so the sharks were frozen in mid-chomp for the time being. Ariana continued to focus on maintaining our bubble, and I felt relatively safe for the next few seconds, so I turned to Jessamine to help me come up with a plan.
“You’re still at full capacity, right?” I asked her. “You think you can still cast a spell for us?”
“Damn right, I can.” Jessamine nodded, and whenever she swore, I knew the black-haired princess meant business.
“I know you can’t transform us, but what about them?” I suggested, and her face broke open into a grin.
“Hero, you’re a genius,” Jessamine replied, and I knew she had a plan. “I can make the closest sharks into smaller fish, and we can destroy lots of them at one time.”
“Perfect,” I said, and then I saw Ariana was struggling.
“Time… to… fight!” she grunted, and the bubble was gone.
“Jessamine, you’re on!” I shouted, and the dark-haired princess was able to shrink the sharks almost instantly. They still maintained their disgusting appearances, but they were about one-tenth their former size.
“Fucking yeah, team!” Cienna screamed, and she skewered several of the now-smaller beasts on the end of her blade before shaking their corpses off and repeating the action, over and over.
Now that the fish were smaller, I was able to kill several at a time with one blast, and it seemed like all I could see in front of me was purple sparks and orange goo. As the little sharks got barbecued, I could see a tiny purple flame rush through them before they flipped over onto their backs, and after the attacks there was little left of their bodies but guts dripping off skeletons. I’d never used Genie’s Wrath like this so many times in a row before, however, not to mention the energy I’d expended from my previous large attack, and the sparks seemed to be getting weaker.
“Do it again, Jessamine!” I yelled to my wife, and another ring of orange sharks shrank. We continued to attack them, but they were seemingly endless in number.
Then Ariana cast another bubble, but she was panting now, and her cheeks were bright red from exertion.
“I wonder if Eudora’s behind this,” she gasped. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, even down in the Boneyard. I think these sharks are enchanted, and I’m not sure how many more bubbles I can cast.”
“I’m tired from casting my spells, too,” Cienna admitted as she listed into me. “I can kill little fish with my sword all day, but I’m not sure if I can stop time again for a while.”
“How are you holding up, Jessamine?” I asked my other wife.
“This is actually an easy spell because the sharks are so stupid,” the dark-haired princess told me, and she shrugged, “but it’s not really making them go away so we can escape.”
“I know,” I said with a grimace. “I think the answer has to do with Genie’s Wrath, because that’s the most powerful magic we have right now. But I’m just not sure what to do with it…”
And then something crazy occurred to me. As the weary princesses continued to destroy legions of miniature sharks, I thought about the little bottle in my pocket and the way its colors matched my sword. I wondered what the connection was, and if the strange potion could help. I knew we needed it to save Marinus and protect Ariana’s underwater kingdom, but I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
“Ariana!” I shouted. “What about the potion?”
She stopped spearing sharks for a minute and looked over at me.
“I don’t know, Joe!” she screamed back over the roar of the water. “I don’t know what the effects will be!”
I wasn’t really one to experiment with strange potions, but we were running out of options.
If I was going to play Alice in Wonderland, now was the time.
So, I pulled the small vial out of my pocket and stared at it. It still glowed purple in the cloudy water, and I stared at its golden stopper and tried to work up the nerve to open it. I felt like once I pulled it open, there would be no turning back.
“Three… two… one…” I counted down to work up my nerve, and then I uncorked the tiny bottle. Purple clouds of smoke drifted upward through the water from its opening, and I braced myself one last time before I dipped my pinky finger into the bottle and removed the tiniest drop I could manage. It was clear the potion was magic when the small, purple droplet beaded up on my finger and didn’t float away in the current. It didn’t burn my skin, however, so I decided I had to move forward. “Here goes nothing…”
I touched the finger holding the purple liquid lightly to my tongue, and for a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then I looked up at the princesses, and I noticed they were staring at me. Their faces seemed to be glowing, but I couldn’t make sense of anything yet.
“Joe, look at Genie’s Wrath!” Cienna gasped, and I glanced down at my sword.
To my shock, the entire blade was gleaming bright gold in the dim, watery depths, and the light illuminated the princesses and all the predators around us, who now surrounded us for as far as the eye could see.
“I have never seen such a thing,” Ariana breathed, but I couldn’t reply, because I suddenly felt a huge burst of energy rise up from the soles of my feet, surge powerfully through my groin, and seemingly blast out the top of my head. I felt like my entire body was made of the same gold as my blade, and, for the moment, Genie’s Wrath and I were as one.
“Fuck you, Eud
ora!” I roared, and I spun out and away from the princesses until I was surrounded by the demonic sharks. I held my blade up into the air, and a huge purple shower of sparks rained down through the water onto the awful creatures.
As I watched, each disgusting fish exploded into a puff of purple smoke and orange sludge. The princesses and I were soon covered in the gruesome liquid, and the rotten smell and metallic taste in the water were both overwhelming. Each of the princesses was trying to squeeze orange goo out of her long hair, and I couldn’t help but notice it was the same consistency as shampoo. Nonetheless, we had escaped the sharks, and we stared at each other now with a mix of horror and exhilaration.
“Joe, I think you did it!” Cienna tried to wipe herself off in the seawater before she swam over and threw her arms around me, and Jessamine embraced me, as well. Ariana floated shyly a few feet away from us, but when I looked over at her, she flashed me a happy grin.
“I don’t know how to explain that effect, but you saved us,” the redhead said, and a brief, meaningful glance passed between her bright aqua eyes and my own. Then she flushed bright pink and turned away, but I knew the moment had been real.
“The potion saved us,” I tried to correct the princesses. Suddenly, I felt completely drained, and I had an overwhelming urge to rest even though we were still so far away from Ariana’s palace. My head still tingled from the sensation of the power blasting through me, and I wanted to lie down on the seafloor and sleep.
“I think it was you, hero,” Jessamine assured me and kissed me on the cheek, and I held onto my wives for strength.
“I can’t wait to go back and tell Marinus!” Ariana exclaimed. “I can’t believe we actually found the potion, let alone what you did with it!”
“I… I think I’m gonna be alright,” I told the princesses as my head started to clear.
“We knew you were, Joe,” Cienna said in a comforting voice.
“That was really fucking intense,” I said as I marveled at the thought of what had just happened. “It’s a good thing I didn’t chug the whole bottle.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Jessamine replied with wide eyes. “I’m just glad those nasty things are gone. I can’t decide if that was scary or plain disgusting.”
“This probably sounds strange considering we’re in the middle of a body of water,” I said with a shudder, “but I would really love a bath right now.”
“Don’t worry, Joe,” Ariana responded, and I was shocked when she briefly reached out to stroke my upper arm. “There’s a hot spring that rises up under the palace, and I’ll show you all later. Let’s hurry back now so we can talk to Marinus and rest.”
I couldn’t wait to leave the murky depths of the Pirate’s Boneyard and bid farewell to the Serpent’s Curse forever, even if the ship had led me to my newfound power. Luckily, as frequently seemed to be the case, the trip back to Ariana’s palace seemed shorter than the way there. It didn’t seem like long before we saw its huge white spires off in the distance, and I knew we were all relieved to have survived our little excursion.
When we returned to the palace and made it back safely under its shield, my wives and I followed Ariana back to the infirmary. The redhead pushed on the door to open it, but it was locked.
“That’s strange,” she remarked, and she knocked on the shiny mother of pearl surface. Ariana waited for a moment, but we couldn’t hear anything coming from inside the chamber, and its thick kelp curtains were drawn. When nothing happened, she banged loudly on the door. “It’s Princess Ariana, and I demand you open up now.”
Suddenly, the door swung open, and the same nurse we’d met earlier swam in front of us. Under her silver brows, her eyes were full of tears.
“Oh, Your Highness, I’m so sorry,” she said, and I could tell she was trying not to start sobbing. “He’s weakened considerably. I’m not sure he’s going to make it… ”
I looked at Ariana, and her face hardened into a resolute expression.
“Not today, Marinus,” she growled, and she pushed past the nurse and into the chamber. “Come on, Joe, bring the potion.”
I followed her into the chamber where Marinus rested with his eyes shut. His complexion had gone completely gray, and his breathing was raspy.
“I don’t think he has much time,” the nurse wailed. “I can’t wake him up!”
Ariana gazed at the nurse for a moment, and then she looked at me.
“Joe, I want you to give Marinus the potion,” Ariana informed me with a grim expression.
“Me?” I asked. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t want to waste any time,” she said in response. “Please, I’ll explain more later.”
I pulled the small vial from my pocket and swam over to the dying merman. Like I had done before, I dipped my little finger into the vial, but I tried to extract a larger purple drop.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, and I touched my finger to Marinus’ lips.
The princesses, the nurse, and I were silent as we stared at the sick man, and I held my breath. Nothing seemed to be happening, and I turned to the mermaid princess.
“I’m so sorry, Ariana,” I said quietly. “I wish--”
Suddenly, Marinus sat up and gasped. Then he licked the remainder of the potion from his lips and looked around the room in confusion.
“What… happened?” the merman mumbled, and Ariana rushed over to his side and grabbed his hand.
“Joe saved you,” the red-haired princess breathed, and she looked over at me with intense gratitude in her eyes before she turned back to her advisor. “I think you’re going to be alright. Please lie down again and rest some more.”
As he leaned back onto his bed, I noticed the color had started to return to his cheeks.
A moment later, the chamber to the door swung open, and a mermaid with black hair in a bun and a stern expression bustled into the room.
“Doctor Delphine!” the nurse exclaimed. “I think we just witnessed a miracle.”
“It wasn’t a miracle, it was the hero,” Ariana told her, and the way she looked over at me sent prickles down my spine.
The doctor made her way over to Marinus and placed her hand on his forehead.
“His fever seems to be gone,” the serious mermaid announced. “I need to run more tests, but there’s no doubt he’s in better condition.”
“Thank the gods,” Ariana sighed, and I saw that her eyes were now red from tears. Then I looked over at Jessamine and Cienna, and their shoulders were both shaking with silent sobs.
“Your Highness, I need to spend some time with the patient,” Dr. Delphine informed Ariana. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“It’s… it’s a long story,” the redhead answered, “but we managed to find some medicine.”
“It must be very powerful,” the doctor answered as she swam around the room to grab her instruments. “We can discuss it after I’m sure Sir Marinus is going to recover, but I wouldn’t worry too much about him from here on out.”
“Thank you so much, doctor,” Ariana replied, and I saw her shoulders slump with relief. “Joe, Cienna, Ariana, let’s go back to my chambers for the moment. I really need to talk to you.”
My wives wrapped her tightly in their arms as they swam out of the hospital room and up toward her private chambers, and I followed close behind. When we reached Ariana’s room, Cienna led her over to her bed and helped her lie down. She pulled a blanket up around the mermaid to tuck her in, but Ariana leaned up on her elbow instead of relaxing back onto her pillow.
“Thank you so much for helping me, Joe,” the mermaid began to speak. “But it’s clearer than ever to me now that I need to strengthen my powers as soon as possible.”
She turned away from me, but not before I saw her face was so red she looked like she was going to explode from embarrassment. Between the charge I’d gotten from the potion and Ariana announcing her intentions, I was feeling pretty hot myself.
“Yes, I agree,” Jessamine repli
ed, and her face was solemn for once.
“I-I would like you all to come sit on my bed with me.” The redhead scooted over a little bit so there was space for us, and Jessamine, Cienna, and I flipped the switches on our weighted armor so we could settle onto the mattress.
“Ariana, I have a question for you,” I said to the mermaid. “Why didn’t you want to administer the medicine to Marinus?”
“I-I--” Ariana stuttered before she began to sob.
“What is it, Ariana?” Jessamine asked, and she ran a gentle finger down the mermaid’s face to wipe a tear away.
“Wh-When Prince Aaron died… right before he died… he was brought to me in my palace,” the red-haired princess managed to choke out. “He’d been above the surface on a ship, and I think I told you I hadn’t cast mermaid’s kiss on him. He liked to sail a lot, and everything usually went fine, but a-an unexpected storm struck the ship. He’d basically drowned already, and he was unconscious, and the mermen who had found him brought me his body. I thought maybe I could save him with my magic… but it was too late. So, Joe, I couldn’t bear to try to save someone again and fail. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, Ariana,” Cienna said as her voice broke. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too,” Jessamine agreed, and she reached over to stroke Ariana’s back.
“I need to give you the potion,” I told the redhead, and I pulled out the small bottle from my pocket.
“N-No, Joe, that is for you,” Ariana replied. “What you did back there with it with the sharks, and the way you saved Marinus… it’s clear this potion is meant to be with a hero.”
“You need it more than I do.” I pressed the vial into her hand. “Your kingdom needs it. I want to save your people.”
“J-Joe… I don’t know how to thank you,” Ariana stuttered. “Well, maybe I do. Th-this is really hard for me to talk about, but I think I want to get married again, t-to you. To all of you. I’ve seen some horrific things over the past couple days, and I need help. But it’s even more than that…”
The mermaid trailed off, and Cienna smiled at her.
