Seascape Read online

  “Oils, yeah,” she muttered. “I have no food or shelter, and he offers me hair oils.”

  “I offered you food, good food,” he retorted. “But you threw it back at me.”

  “Have you noticed, Einstein,” Elanna snorted, “I lack those sharp, pointy little teeth that you have in your mouth? Let alone the tools to clean and cook fish! Why not hand me an oyster and tell me to get to chewing!”

  Storm eased his hand from his pouch because he was indeed about to offer her an oyster to nibble on.

  “I see your point,” he sighed, then looked almost as defeated as she did, but only for a second. He hid his emotions well.

  “So now I guess it’s a race to see if I’ll starve to death, or if I will die from exposure.” She looked up at the sun, dropping rapidly in the sky, and shook her head in defeat.

  “I would not let you die, Elanna,” Storm sighed. “I am the one who saved you. Therefore, I am the one to see to your needs, at least until someone comes along to help you get back to where you belong.”

  “And where is that?” she asked. She could remember the dumbest things. For instance, she remembered all about her education and that she loved tomatoes, but she couldn’t remember where home was, or how she’d landed in this predicament. How had she ended up here?

  “Don’t you know?” he asked, looking a bit confused.

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked!” She laughed. And laughed.

  Anything to keep from crying.

  “All I know is that you fell out of the sky and landed almost on top of me.” He felt a strange emotion for her, not exactly pity, but something close to it.

  “And landed in paradise,” she quipped as she shook her head sadly. “There is nothing you can do to help me, Storm, unless you have a ready supply of human food on hand and the things I need to make fire.” Fire? Was that the answer?

  Elanna hopped up on her feet and ran around gathering stones.

  “What are you doing?” Storm asked. One moment the woman was near tears in her misery, the next second she was up and tearing around the island.

  “Stones, rocks! Flint and iron pyrite! All that I need to start a fire, Storm! A real fire!”

  Storm watched as she discarded stone after stone, finally selecting two that seemed right.

  “Now they need to be dried.” And having neither towel nor cloth to do the trick, she ripped off a piece of her skirt—hey, it was ruined anyway—and quickly checked the stones for moisture. They were dry, having been near the water, but not close enough to get splashed.

  “Tinder! I need tinder! Where is there dry wood on a tropical island?” But the few dried pieces of grass and the torn bit material in her hand would be perfect.

  Gathering her collection together on the beach, she dropped to her knees and laid out the kindling on a relatively smooth bit of sand, tinder first, then began to strike the stones together.

  Storm watched curiously as she banged two rocks together (a futile effort if you asked him), but he never missed a detail as she labored.

  “Come on!” she muttered as several sparks flew, but none strong enough to ignite the materials. “Come on!”

  Finally she was rewarded when a large spark flew and landed on the edge of her tinder.

  Bending low, her bottom straight up in the air, she blew gently on the spark, just like in science lab.

  “Yes!” she hissed as the spark flared and the dried grasses caught fire. “Success!”

  She sat up, and Storm gasped, amazed at what she had accomplished with two rocks and some grass. She had made fire! It was enough to draw his attention away from the round curves of her butt he had been enjoying!

  “See?” she crowed to Storm. “I may not die! I might just live to see tomorrow!”

  “But that was so hard!” Storm said as he watched her face light up in pleasure at her accomplishment before she gathered more tinder.

  “Nothing worth doing is ever easy!” she quipped as she ran to add a bit more dried grass to her small fire.

  “But the powder is much easier,” he insisted.

  “Powder?” she asked absently as she tried to decide what to cook first. Hmm, that could be a bit of a problem, seeing that she had nothing to cook. What would she eat now that she had a fire? Well, she would just have to put in a few requests with her fishtailed friend.

  “Yes, powder,” he said and he reached into his waist pouch and withdrew a small bit of powder. Easing closer to the shore, he sighted a palm frond that she had abandoned earlier. Now taking a pinch of the purple powder, he dropped it in his palm and blew, his gentle breath becoming something much closer to a finely controlled gust of wind. That thin, strong stream of air carried the power to the palm frond, where it immediately exploded into a ball of white light!

  Elanna gasped, falling on her bottom, as the flash caught her attention. She watched in shocked horror as the green palm frond exploded into a strong, steadily burning flame.

  She turned wide eyes to her Fish Boy, noticing the calm look on his face.

  “You did that?” she asked.

  “Powder,” he replied as he again flicked his tail to wet his skin.

  “Well, then, why in the hell didn’t you tell me you could do that?” she cried, disgusted with him for not telling her sooner and with herself for that bit of bragging that she had indulged in. He was obviously more intelligent than she gave him credit for.

  “You never asked,” he responded as he sighed in pleasure, the water drenching him once again as he splashed.

  “Argh!” she screamed, then took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

  “Elanna?” he asked, wondering what was bothering her now.

  “Go,” she gritted out. “Go and get my fish. And this time, clean them. You probably have fish-scaling powder in that bag!”

  “Clean them?” he asked, smiling that he still had the upper hand in making her react. For a moment she had scared him with her smug routine, but now she was back to her old prickly self.

  “Go get my fish, clean them and bring them back here, please, so that I may eat and forget that this day ever happened!”

  “Your wish,” he replied before smartly turning around and diving beneath the surface of the water. No, he wouldn’t leave Elanna just yet. She was too entertaining! His day of rest was turning out to be fun after all!

  “I wish,” she sighed as she looked between her small fire and the blazing inferno he had made with his powder. “I wish I knew where I was, where I belonged, and how to get back.”

  Then dropping to her knees to add more grass to her fire, she closed her eyes for a moment and let the waves of fear thread through her. “I wish I could remember.”

  * * * * *

  “I wish I could remember why I decided to save that female,” Storm sighed as he took a deep breath and dove to the darker depths of the sea. He sighed with pleasure, as the water became cooler and his body temperature dropped. It was hard being of the sea and trying to exist on land too. Although he and his people were capable, it was draining and something not often done. There were too many horror stories passed around to Merchildren when they young to make them not wish to go to land often.

  “I gave her fish in the first place,” he said, then chuckled as he remembered her face when he used fire powder to ignite that palm frond. That was definitely worth spending a few moments baking in the hot sun!

  A few large sea bass swam past, and in a blinding flash of speed, he reached out and caught the hapless fish by the front gills.

  “Sorry,” he grimaced as he held the struggling fish, then saying a small prayer to the Creator, he quickly snapped its back, painlessly ending its life.

  “And she wanted it cleaned too,” he sighed as he pulled a small blade from his pouch and began to gut the fish, leaving the entrails to float to the bottom to feed the scavengers. There was no fear of sharks, because he had issued a death warning to any that trespassed into his waters, and they were smart enough to know he meant what
he said.

  So the scavengers were fed, the sharks steered clear, there was no waste, and all was right with the world.

  The summons caught him just as he turned to swim back to the private island. It was delivered on the waves, carried like so many whale songs, but set to a frequency that he understood.

  The bitch queen had awakened and wanted him. He was being royally paged.

  “And I thought I had the day off,” he sighed as he placed the fish into his pouch beside the oysters he still had. After checking to be sure the expandable material could hold its load, he made a swift decision then continued on his way to the island. The queen could wait a bit longer.

  Chapter Five

  “Where is that blue-haired idiot?” Amadala raged as she floated in her private cavern.

  Who needed grand palaces when the sea provided a wealth of hidden caverns of such beauty they boggled the mind?

  Her chambers were studded with crystal and shells that picked up the color of her pink scales and hair and reflected that hue a thousand times over in the small room.

  She paid no attention to this beauty, as she angrily swished her lower fins back and forth.

  Her hair floated on a soft cloud around her bare upper body, exposing and hiding her well-developed arms and her full breasts crowned with matching coral nipples. Her eyes were a shade lighter, and she took pains to show off her perfect coloring.

  But then, she was the queen, by right of blood and muscle…and the ravings of a madman.

  When the mantle of leadership first passed to her years ago, every Merperson in the sea had a right to challenge her. At the end of the seven-day battle, she had stood alone, victorious. She also became the chosen of the people when she let the maidens who fought her go free, without any harassment from the new queen. It showed she had compassion and brains. After all, who would want to follow a queen who would do away or punish her best warriors out of spite? That would be too human!

  “Where is that man?” she continued to rage out loud. “I sent for him hours ago!”

  “With all due respect, Lady,” a deep voice said from the entrance of the cavern. “Maybe he is busy.”

  Amadala turned to face the man who had spoken to her so harshly, then sucked in a deep swallow of water as she viewed the Merman swimming towards her. She resisted the urge to bite her knuckles and groan as she caught sight of him. And there was a lot to see.

  Physically, he had to be the largest man she had ever seen, larger even than Storm, and that was saying a lot!

  His hair was black with just a hint of deep midnight-blue swimming in its depths. His chest was miles wide; his muscular arms were crossed as he lazily swam in her direction. And his tail! Mercy!

  His tail fin was solid black and shiny, absorbing and reflecting the colors of her own pink hues and separating them into a thousand rainbows. It was wide and full, complete with a delicate-looking clear fringe, though she knew it to contain several sharp spines. Storm had also been born with such an adornment, yet he exposed it only when necessary, the modest idiot.

  “And who are you to enter my cavern unannounced?” she demanded, trying to remain regal and in control.

  “I go where I please, Amadala. And I choose to be here.”

  “Well, who are you?” she asked. She had no fear that he would harm her. One cry from her lips would bring armies to her rescue. But she was curious.

  “You may consider me the master of all I survey, and I am seeing you right now, woman.”

  As she moved closer, she saw one of his eyes was heavy-lidded and sensual, the other covered by a small dark shell. His lips were full and his teeth sharp as he gave her a small smile. There was also an intriguing cleft in his chin. Very sexy.

  “No one masters me,” she said, returning the smirk. “I am queen of all that I see here, and no one can take that away.”

  “I’m not after your title, woman. It is of no consequence to me. I am after something more substantial.” His one eye examined her from flowing hair to delicate fin with its matching pink hues.

  This did not look good at all, Amadala decided, before she spoke again.

  “Then I’m afraid there is nothing here for you,” she said, trying not to nibble on her lip as she attempted to figure out the hunk of muscle’s intentions.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he said as he moved within touching range. “I wouldn’t say that at all.”

  “Of all the…” Amadala began, but was cut off.

  “I am Sting, woman. And I have come to collect my bride.”

  “Bride?” she asked.

  “You!”

  “Storm!” Amadala closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could, on that idiot’s frequency!

  “Scream all you like,” he snorted. “It will avail you naught!”

  And he was right!

  The council that gave them their powers, which oversaw all of the legalities within the Merpeople, had finally decided.

  They were ready for her to reproduce the next queen! They had chosen her a mate!

  * * * * *

  Storm ignored the loud wailing in his ear and smiled.

  This would really get the old girl’s fins up. He laughed as he made his way to the island and Elanna.

  He would answer her, he was loyal, but it was his off day and he needed a break from her royal bitchiness.

  Not that Amadala was a bad queen; she just needed to work on her Merpeople skills.

  One sure way to get your main advisors to avoid you was to keep bothering them with inconsequential matters!

  In one week, she had him chase a pod of dolphins to get their latest gossip, and a pod on the move was fast! Then she had him collect the oil of anemones, to make her fin shimmer. After that, he had to wait on her as a host for her challenge day, when all the Merfolk came to complain about unfair practices and air grievances.

  He was not her mate, so why was he always called upon to be an ornament on her arm? But he knew the answer.

  His coloring set off hers the best.

  So instead of seeing to his patients or the warriors under him, he spent a lot of tine just swimming around and looking cute.

  He would be glad when the council decided on a mate for her and got her out of his hair! It was time for her to start breeding the next ruler, and he just felt sorry for the man who was tricked into taking her on! She was almost too much for words.

  And now, with having to deal with Elanna, how much was a man supposed to take? He needed a vacation, especially now, since his one-day rest period had been interrupted.

  Surfacing near the island, he slowly swam near the beach where she had been last, hoping to sneak up on her again and make her angry.

  It was fascinating the way a little red had leached into her brown skin. And her hair! It was beautiful and soft looking, and so different from what he was used to. He hoped to get close enough to her to touch it, just to see how it felt.

  He knew her human legs were no match for the beauty of a well-turned fin, but they were shapely and seemed to fit her body.

  “I wonder what she looks like naked?” he asked himself as he drew close to the site where they both had started the fires.

  Oh, that was cute, too! Seeing her run around, her skirt rising up as she bent low to pick up rocks.

  Rocks! Who would have believed it? It was a story for him to tell his children too, if he ever got free long enough of crazy women to actually find a mate.

  It would be nice to see her naked, he thought. For medical purposes only. If the people he treated thought he wasted time on something as perverted as human couplings, then he would lose all…

  She was naked.

  Well, almost.

  She was wearing some thin kind of garment over her female reproductive organs and more white cloth over her breasts, but that was about it.

  And her skin was brown all over, a perfect golden brown that seemed to shimmer in the sun.

  She was on her knees, apparently washing her torn
garments, even though he could fathom no reason why!

  It was a warm day, and humans needed warmth. The cloth coverings were just a hindrance against her and the sun. Why did they cover up their skin as if they were ashamed?

  Well, if he had no tail fin and had those funny looking…feet…at the ends, he would cover them up too, but legs and feet were normal for her kind.

  But then, humans were never considered all that bright to begin with.

  She reached around her back and the material hiding her breasts fell off.

  For the first time in his life, Storm breathed in seawater and choked!

  Her breasts were full and round! They had dark coral-colored nipples that seemed to draw his attention. Never had he seen a Mermaid with such a delightful coloring. Or bouncy breasts!

  They bounced!

  His eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw her jerk her head up at his cough. Her breasts bobbed as she squeaked and reached for that abandoned piece of material.

  “Who do you think you are?” she screamed as she scrambled back from the water’s edge, leaving her garment to float away with the next passing wave. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “I am The Storm!” he called indignantly, trying in vain not to watch as her muscled body scrambled back from him. She felt safe, apparently, on dry land. “And I brought fish!”

  “Fish?”

  “As you ordered, female. Caught and cleaned.”

  “And what were you doing staring at me?”

  “Staring? I was just observing…humans in their element!” he defended.

  “You were peeping!” she replied, with a sniff.

  “I was not! I was just… What?” he roared as his name came hurtling out at him on a wave.

  “I’m asking the questions here, Fish Boy!” she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

  “Not you, her!” he retorted as he turned his gaze back to the water.

  “Her?”

  “I have to go, Elanna,” he said on a sigh. “I am being summoned.”

  “By who?”