The merman and the pirate

She stopped in the middle of a step. "other pirates? What are you talking about?" She asked as she turned to look at the merman again, her eyes cold and emotionless face. They wouldn't get more cannon balls before they reached Barba and they barely had any gun shots left. If they were attacked by pirates at this time then they wouldn't stand much chance. Had he seen another pirate ship? Or was he bluffing to get out of there?
 
He shrugs, " look south east, they're flying without a flag. I can smell a ship. I've been debating on what to do for awhile now, but you know you really pissed me off now. So move out of my bloody way before I stop being so nice "
 
A tch escaped her lips, last time she checked they had still not seen a single ship. But it wasn't impossible that there was one somewhere close.

"Captain" A man ran down to the cellar. "A ship has been spotted, they don't have a flag though, we don't know what kind of ship it is yet." Mary looked at the man.
"It's probably pirates, as it is now we can't defend ourselves if they would catch up. Tell them we're going North, it's to dangerous to meet anyone at the moment. We'll have to take a longer way to Barba." She told the man whom immediately went off to tell the orders.

She looked back at the merman, "Why did you tell me about the ship? If they would come onto our ship and find you they would either take you as a prisoner or kill you, it would be no difference from me having you a prisoner here."
 
" ah but i did tell you. I'm not an angel, you're starving my girls right now because you wanted some money? You deserved to get caught by other pirates, as you said nothing would change for me. But guess what human I told you. So move out of my way. I need some sea water. I'm having a hard time breathing your air"
 
"I'll cut you head off if you try to leave this cell.." She started but got interrupted when a big crash suddenly was heard and the ship started to shake.

"What the fuck happened?" She screamed as she ran up the stairs from the cellar, not even thinking about closing the cellar door first.
"Captain, we're under attack, they had two ships, they hid one of them behind the small island and we couldn't spot it before it was too late." The crew men told her. They had two ships, the one that had attacked was much smaller than the other one but it was only made to stop the enemies while the other came closer to finish the attacks.

"Get all the ammunition we have, we need to get this over with quickly or else we won't be able to see tomorrow." Mary ordered and people started to run around trying to find every little bit of ammunition and cannon balls they had left. Another cannon ball hit the ship and they started to take in water. As she noticed the water she remembered the merman, he couldn't walk that fast, he could barely stand so if he tried to get to the water now then he must still be in the stairs. She could still stop him from getting out. But even if she locked him up if the ship would sink then she wouldn't be able to reach him anyways and he would just starve down in the sea for not getting out of the cell. She just had to try and force him to stay on the ship and hope the ship didn't sink.
 
" then cut my head off you idiot" he growls and shoves past her, survival instincts pushed him to walk and he launches into the water and scouts the ships, damnit why does he bother. He talks to a few whales and they bump the ships just as he promised and if she looks real hard she could see his scales flashing, after all this energy though he begins to feel faint. The lack of food was getting to him and he fell to the ocean floor, this time though the whales would protect him. He was no ones food. Of course he wasn't going to live long anyway
 
Mary saw how the merman jumped into the water. "SHIT" She exclaimed, how big was the chance that she would be able to catch him again? But for the moment she didn't have time for that, she had to make sure they took care of the enemies. Suddenly whales started to bump into the enemies ships, was it the merman that had done it? It didn't matter.

"We have to get away from them as fast as possible." Mary shouted to the crew.
"We can't, the ship is sinking, we have to abandon it." A crew member screamed from across the ship. But if they abandoned the ship then they would be much more vulnerable when the other pirates attacked. Either they would be taken prisoners or be killed. If they stayed on the ship though then they would die.

"Make sure everyone gets into the life boats, I'll stay and try to hold them here or fence them away so you can escape. Leave a life boat to me and I'll take it before the ship has sunken." She told the crew. They didn't want to leave their captain but they knew that she wouldn't change her mind so they left.

Thanks to those whales she were able to keep the other ship on a distance and as the other ship came closer and her own were about to sink she decided to leave the ship and try escaping in the life boat. Her crew was already far away so the only life she had to worry about was her own. She jumped onto the last life boat and sank it down into the water and started to row, hopefully she wouldn't get caught by a pirate. As she rowed she looked into the water to see if she could get a glimpse of the merman, it would be impossible to catch him without the ship. "Tch, guess I'll just have to return when I get a new ship" She grumbled to herself
 
He gasps and wakes up and rubs his eyes and eats the krill the whales bring him rubbing their sides, he looks up to see the boats and rubs the whales side, " thank you my friends" he gets up and swims seeing the captains life boat... He grunts, no doubt she wouldn't care he just saved her hide. " my babies!" he darts so fast his top fin hits her boats bottom and he's clearly in a panic
 
Suddenly the life boat started to wobble, something had hit it. She almost fell out of the boat but were able to save herself in the last minute. She looked down into the water and saw the merman swimming in panic down there. As if he were trying to find something. Even though she wanted to catch him she had to survive first. She had to find an Island a bit away and wait until the pirates had left so that she could try and find her crew again. On the other hand they would probably go to Barba when they got the chance, so she could try to get there and then they would meet up again.

"I am going to kill them if they aren't there when I arrive." She said to herself while rowing. It was a pity that she had missed the chance to get a real merman, but maybe she would get a new chance in the future.
 
His tail flicks and he swims faster then her ship sailed making it home in mere hours he barges into his coral home and smiles when he sees his three and two year old sisters hiding in the closet, " my little ones!" he scoops them up and cradles them, " you must be starving let me feed you" he goes and gets the krill he caught and they munch on it, he was dazzling but they... They could make someone's heart stop. They were his jewels. He snuggles them and takes them to bed. He kisses them and they are crying, they had been so scared... But he was home.


He wakes the next morning and brushes his fingers throughbtheirbhair. The ships captain would starve. They were in the middle of the ocean. If he left her as she was she would be dead
 
During the days it was hot like in hell out on the ocean but during the night it was ice cold. Mary forced herself to stay awake threw the night so she wouldn't die because of the cold. As the sun rose she was exhausted and hungry out in the middle of the ocean. Who knew how long it would take before she found land. Her men had been able to pack food with them at least, she weren't able to do that before she had to jump into the life boat. What would take her first? The cold, the sharks or starvation?

"So this is how it will end, oh well, at least the others are safe." She talked to herself, it made her feel less alone than if she stayed quiet. The only thing that could be worse would be if a ship found her, if it were the government then she would be hanged and if it were pirates then she would either be killed or sold on the black market. "It can't get any worse than this."
 
He sighs and takes them to her boat keeping a close eye on them and his head appears above the water while the little ones cling to him, " what food can you digest? Hurry up. I still dont like you and my little ones are scared" he looks at her, he could get her food...
 
She turned her head surprised, what was that merman doing there? "You are really weird, trying to help someone that you don't even like. I can digest anything that isn't poisonous. I'm not certain what there is in the ocean that I can actually eat, I guess you can just bring me some different things and then I hope that it won't kill me." She suggested. She had no idea why he would even want to help her but if it kept her alive then she wouldn't complain. She hated people who gave up and she would never give up herself. It was just to do what it took to survive.
 
He nods and disappears under the water and she can hear the little ones follow after him. He gets fish, krill, seaweed, and oysters and brings them up, " there. I was not sure what you'd eat. We can eat all of this, but this is not what you tried to feed me on your bloody ship" with that he turns to go not wanting to endanger the girls
 
"The most human food comes from land except some fishes so of course it's different. Plus, we cook our food with help of fire which can't be made under water so even the fishes aren't the same after being cooked." she said as she took up the seaweed. If fish and other animals weren't cooked then it could make a human very sick, which meant she should only eat those if she really had too. She wasn't certain how it was with seaweed though, she had heard stories about people eating seaweed without having any reaction to it while others had died. It was only to try and hope she didn't get sick of it.
 
" you're three days from land" he says softly, " keep north and you should be fine. My girls and I need to go. Stay out of my waters" he meant where he was caught and she knew it
 
"Three days, which means at least two more nights. I will have a fantastic sunburn and be frozen half to death when I reach land. I don't promise that I won't pass by once I have gotten a new ship, this is a perfect fastest way to the best pirate islands after all. But I shall try not to fish close to here. I may be a blood thirsty and greedy pirate but I return favors. A life for a life, neither I or my men would have survived without you yesterday so I won't bother you." She told him as she tried to eat the seaweed. It was hard to chew it but it worked somehow.
 
He nods, " good. We have nothing of warmth to offer you. You'll have to make do" one of the little ones, the you get one sticks her face up and her eyes widen looking at the human, " Rai get back under there" she looks at her brother and blushes her tail flashing as she goes back under
 
Mary watched the little mermaid get up a bit over the waters surface and looking at her. Selling that little thing would have given her money enough to live in luxury for the rest of her life. It was a real pity that it turned out as it did. "Only weaklings die by cold and heat anyways, if you decide to stay alive then you will keep living. I won't die if it's only three days. Hopefully I can reach land where the government won't hang me as fast as I put a foot there." She said mostly to herself, it was so many dangers with her being on her own. Without a crew and being wanted by both other pirates and the government would make it risky to show herself when she got to land. But she wouldn't be in the best condition when she got into land and would need fresh water fast because of dehydration. She just had to figure it out when getting into land.
 
He shrugs, " sounds like you have troubles ahead of you. If I didn't know you wished my family harm I would feel bad for you, Merfolk are compassionate people until you try to sell us and starve our families" with that he dives under the water his little ones following after him, he was angry at her, he easily could have cut two days off her journey by pushing the boat