Mermaid Pirate Dispatch

Arwa’s forearms tensed and she began to sink as her tail went rigid. Mara reached out for one of Arwa’s balled up fists and pulled her back up toward the surface of the water as a gentle wave rushed toward the shore. Up above they could see the warbling, dancing image of the angry sailor as he waved his fishing pole about and glared down at them.

“He’s not all that different from us in that sense,” Mara said, shrugging.

“It’s vicious and cruel,” Arwa said, yanking her fist free. “If he wants fish, I’ll give him fish.” The words seeped out in a low growl through gritted teeth.

Mara leveled with her sister and looked into her eyes. “I know how you feel about hooks, but aren’t we all just trying to hook something, in a sense?”

Arwa stared blankly into the distance. A small school of guppies swirled around the pilings that held the fisherman’s pier aloft then darted between the sisters leaving a small trail of bubbles.

Mara sighed and stared up at the sailor. “We finally got him to notice us and all you can focus on is his hook? Can’t we have just a little fun with him?”

Her sister’s shoulders slouched a little. Arwa’s dark hair caught a few stray shafts of sunlight stabbing down through the slats of the pier overhead. The muscles in her arms softened. She looked her sister in the eye and for a moment her own eyes sparkled.

They both smiled together. “He wants fish?” Arwa repeated deviously. “Let’s give him some fish.”

The call radiated out silently from their flukes as they began swimming around each other in tight, orbital rings. Fish from all around the peer came to investigate, their huge round eyes locked onto the two sisters as they joined in the scaly vortex.

Mara could still hear the sailor stamping his feet overhead, shaking his fist at them as he leaned over the edge of the wooden platform and peered into the dark ocean waters. She looked around her at the growing taurus of fish and her heart blossomed and radiated joy. She loved this dance, this communion with ocean life. Tuna and guppies together, all of them swirling about to the tune of their ocean sisters’ melodic call.

After a few moments the rotating mass of muscle and scales had become a graceful flurry of thousands of fish and hundreds of species. A couple of squid darted about in the mix along with a lone octopus and a few curious dolphins. These in particular smiled at the mermaid sisters with their bright, intelligent eyes. They knew when mischief was afoot and they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Mara locked eyes with her sister at the far end of the toroidal vortex. Arwa nodded and smiled. Together they spiraled out and guided the mass into a single long snaking entity that swept under the pier casting an ominous shadow on the sandy sea floor below. They arced wide and dove deep before guiding the collective beast skyward. The dolphins rushed excitedly to the head of the pack and whistled loudly as they all broke through into the cool morning air, launching straight at the bewildered sailor.

The poor man stood stunned, locked in place as the mermaids and dolphins soared straight for him. He ducked in a panic, throwing his arms over his head for protection. A dolphin’s flipper caught him on the arm and threw him off balance. Arwa flicked her tail at him as she sailed by, knocking him back onto his feet as a writhing, flickering hoard of fish began slapping and thumping against him. He stumbled and slipped, frantically fighting to remain upright in the onslaught. The sound was deafening. It was a thunderous spray of seafoam and muscle. For every fish the sailor deflected three more smacked him in the face, the crotch, and the gut. He staggered back across the pier, dropping his fishing pole. His hat flew away, possibly caught deliberately in a dolphin’s teeth.

Mara and Arwa splashed back into the water and guided the group in another wide arc around the tip of the pier and back down for another leap, but before they broke the surface again they saw the sailor plunge into the ocean, his arms reaching desperately for the surface. The squirming, twisting schools of fish around him continued knocking against his chest, pounding him deeper and deeper with each successive impact. A large marlin near the back of the parade nearly skewered the poor sailor, but instead it just flicked him hard with its powerful tail before scurrying off.

The girls ceased their fish call song and the various schools of fish quickly coalesced into their respective groups and dissipated back into the sea. Mara watched the man as he continued to drift down toward a cluster of coral. Her heart pounded. She’d never been this close to a man in the water before. She glanced at Arwa whose gaze was also fixed on the man.

After a long moment of silence the man hadn’t moved. He floated down until he was resting against the sharp coral. “Do you think he’s dead?” Mara whispered.

Arwa looked at her and half shrugged. “Not yet,” she said firmly, and kicked her tail to head over to him.

“Wait,” Mara called, dashing after her. “We’ve done enough, we don’t have to…” She held her breath.

They looked down at him together. His eyes were closed, his face relaxed. Tiny clouds of red floated away from the back of his head and thin slits in his cheek. He looked soft and delicate, a far cry from the seething, loud monster he’d been moments earlier.

Mara reached out to touch his face, but Arwa’s hand quickly grabbed her by the wrist.

“No,” Arwa said softly. “We’ll just leave him.”

Mara glared at her sister. “We can’t. He’ll die.”

“Good.”

Mara shook her head slowly. Her golden hair swirled off her shoulders and floated against her cheeks. “It’s not right,” she said. “We’re not sirens. We lured him into the sea, we had our fun, now we need to set things right.”

Arwa’s grip on her wrist loosened. She took a deep breath, her chest heaving gently in the shimmering shallows. “Fine,” she said, releasing Mara’s wrist. “Let’s get him to shore, but I’m taking his fishing rod.”

Mara smiled. “Alright.”

Together they hoisted him off the sand, each holding an arm, and they dragged him to the surface. They rode a shallow wave onto a nearby beach and squirmed their way out of the reach of the water. After a moment his subconscious seemed to realize he was safe and he coughed and sputtered, belching up a gush of seawater. As his eyes blinked open the sisters flung themselves back into the surf and rushed to the pier. Mara helped propel her sister up onto the wooden planks so she could grab the fishing rod, then they disappeared into the depths laughing and chattering all the way home.

[Reddit Post]