Cresting Tide (4 page)

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Chapter Four

The big orange ball that was the sun sat low in the sky above the tropical waves that caressed the black sands of the shore line. Pale pinks and yellows were splashed with deeper shades of red and purple as if the gods exhaled the colors into the sky so they could reflect their beauty onto the surface of the sea. Peter sat, his bare feet sinking into the wet onyx that was the sand, and gazed at the ever changing rainbow on the glass like surface of the sea. The white froth swirled, ebbed, and flowed at his feet, but Peter was oblivious to the stark contrast.

Long after the sun set, Peter sat and waited for the sea elf to return, but finally had to admit that the elf was not coming back to him; at least not this day. With a sigh, Peter stood and stretched out muscles that he had not even realized had stiffened while he held vigil on the beach. He walked deeper into the cove and quickly had a small fire ablaze.

Peter's thoughts began to wander as he lay by the minimal light and surprisingly his first thoughts were not of the sea elf. He thought of his parents and his siblings and could easily imagine his twin Paul gambling the night away much to their parent's dismay. Peter grinned as he remembered the last time their brother Jacob had to retrieve them from the "den of thieves" as his father called the shambling tavern where Paul liked to gamble. It was storming that night and when Jacob appeared soaking wet in the door with two of the palace guards at his back, he was drenched and fit to be tied! He took one look at Paul and a moment later his twin was pulled from his seat, feet dangling, and shook like a child instead of an almost fully grown man. It took everything Peter had to keep from laughing at his brothers, but he knew that he would be next should he even so much as break a grin.

"I expect this from him," Jacob shook Paul once more for good measure. "But you, I expected more from. You should know better," his older brother glared at him from over Paul's shoulder. Of course it was expected of Paul. He was the wild and adventurous twin unlike Peter who spent most of his time with his nose buried in old tomes.

"Home. Now." Jacob ordered as he set Paul down and shoved him toward the still open door of the tavern. Paul just grinned over his shoulder at their older brother and the guards that fell into step behind them.

Peter continued to grin at the memory and had to admit that if he missed anything from his old life, he missed his twin the most. Paul would be furious at him if Peter ever saw his twin again. Furious that he'd gone on this adventure and left him behind, but when Peter decided that he'd had enough of the palace, the court, and all of the politics that swirled around the place like a tornado, he couldn't tell his boasting twin that he was leaving. Paul couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it and Peter was not going to put his own life in Paul's hands no matter how much he loved him.

Peter's grin turned into a frown as he remembered the day he was called into his father's study to be told of his impending doom. His stoic father sat as imposingly as always behind his huge desk and his regal mother stood next to him, gently resting her hand upon his shoulder. It was a pose that Peter had seen hundreds of times before when his parents dealt with dignitaries and it did not bode well for him.

"Your marriage has been arranged to Lady Pricilla and will be held during the Yule festival," his father proclaimed and Peter could only sit in stunned silence. "Lord Haniss will be arriving at the palace for the harvest feast and you will become familiar with his daughter, chaperoned, of course. That will be all."

Shock melded into anger which in turn became his plan for escape. At sixteen, the last thing he wanted was a wife, especially when said wife was twenty plus years his senior. The thought of it all made him shiver on the warm sand and when he finally drifted off to sleep it was filled with dreams that turned to nightmares as the Lady Pricilla and his father hunted him down.

Peter awoke to the breaking dawn and moved down to the shoreline to begin his sea elf vigil. The colors of the rising sun were no less breath taking than they had been the night before when the sun set. As the minutes passed and the sun began its climb higher into the sky, Peter feared the sea elf would not return.

His tension faded as he caught sight of the sea elf slowly rising from the shallow cresting waves. The stunning colors of the morning sun sailed along the waves playfully and shimmered over the sea elf's body making Peter's breath hitch. He watched as the elf moved toward him only to stop once his shoulders were above the waves. A wave larger than the rest pushed the elf forward slightly and it was not until the same wave made its hasty retreat back to the sea that Peter understood why the sea elf came no closer. Peter caught a brief glimpse of the gill plates he had felt under his arm the day before. Dark red gills glistened as they fluttered against pale green scales, but the sight along the sea elf's ribs was soon covered once more by the sea.

Peter stood when the elf raised one arm from under the waves. In the claw tipped webbed hand was an old tattered piece of net and within the net Peter could see shellfish. Slowly, Peter entered the water until he stood once more within arms reach of the sea elf. He could not take his eyes from the alien beauty that stood before him. Long kelp like hair hung over the elf's thin but muscular shoulders and framed a face that was too round to be confused as human. The large lidless eyes returned his gaze and sat above high sharp cheekbones. Only the sea elf's mouth appeared human in its shape while it hid those rows of sharp teeth and just like the day before, Peter could see no sign of the trident that was strapped to the elf's back on the day of his rescue.

"For you," Cuke told the human and gestured with his hand that held the sea's bounty.

Peter heard the strange click and wished he could understand the elf but he did not need to know the words to understand the meaning of the elf's gesture.

"Thank you," Peter replied as he accepted the gift.

Cuke continued to stare at his human and when he made no move to eat the meal, Cuke wondered if the man did not understand that it was food. He gestured toward the net full of clams again then to his mouth.

"Eat." The human looked from the net to him and back again before he removed a clam the size of Cuke's palm. "It is good. Eat," Cuke tried to encourage his human.

Peter listened to the chirps that sounded bird like to his ears as he watched the sea elf gesture at the net and his own mouth again. The clam in his hand was solidly closed and Peter did not want to return to shore to find a way to get to the meat inside. Instead he held the mollusk out to the sea elf. Long clawed fingers accepted the clam and Peter watched as the elf brought his other hand from beneath the waves. In a very human like manner, the sea elf held the clam in one hand and used a clawed finger like a knife to shuck the clam. With an effortless flick of his wrist, the elf opened the clam and held it back out to him. Peter lifted the half shell to his lips like a tankard of ale and swallowed the meat whole.

Cuke silently chided himself for this thoughtlessness in providing his human with food. He should have remembered his human's clawless hands would be useless for gaining access to the succulent meat of the clams.

"Let me," Cuke told the man as he held his webbed hand out for another clam.

Peter smiled at the clicks and handed another clam to the sea elf to open before half turning back toward the beach. He should share something with the elf as well but feared the creature would disappear again if he left the water.

"Wait here?" Peter looked back to the elf. "Please?"

Cuke tilted his head and accepted the clam but when his human started to back away toward the shore; he reached out his clawed hand to stop him.

"Don't go!" Cuke exclaimed.

"It's okay," Peter placed his own tanned hand atop of the elf's and smiled. "I'll be right back." He used his other hand to point to himself then used his fingers to mock walking before pointing to the beach and then his return to the water.

Cuke understood and nodded his head though he did not release his hand from his human, but instead let his human slip out from beneath his grasp. He watched as the man left the water and went back to where the light appeared at night. The man picked up several things from the ground and returned to wade back out to him.

Peter was not sure if the sea elf would or even could eat the fruit, but he had to at least make the gesture. He took a bite from a papaya then held it out to the elf. When the elf exchanged a clam for the fruit, Peter smiled before swallowing the mollusk's meat.

Cuke knew his human had offered him some sort of food but he was hesitant to taste the land fare. The food smelled strange to him and he looked at it doubtfully until he heard his human speak again.

"Go ahead, try it." Peter encouraged the elf by moving a papaya to his lips and taking a bite. The tang of the fruit mixed pleasantly with the bitterness of the clams.

Cuke watched the human eat another piece of the land food and raised his own to his mouth. The food was so soft that it felt like his sharp teeth had passed through air when he took his bite. The texture was different and the taste was strange in his mouth, but he was not sure if he liked it or not so he handed the land food back to his human.

Peter watched the elf try the papaya and could not tell if the elf enjoyed the fruit or not. He exchanged the returned fruit for another clam and by the time the elf opened the clam, he had finished the papaya. When the elf offered the opened clam to him, he held out the star fruit for the creature to try.

Again, Cuke held a strange piece of land food in his hand and he watched his human eat another clam. His eyes were drawn to his human's neck as he swallowed and it made him think of how his human tasted the day before.

"Try that," Peter said as he continued to smile at the elf.

Cuke took a bite of the land food he held and it was not like anything he had ever tasted before. "Mummm," he took another bite and felt the smooth meat of the food glide over his tongue and down his throat.

Peter chuckled at the high pitched noise that the elf made as he took bite after bite of the star fruit until it was gone. "So, you like star fruits. That is good to know." Peter held out another clam for the elf to open before continuing. "I'll get you some more."

Cuke did not try to stop his human when he turned to make his way to the shore this time. He knew the man wanted him to open the clam so he knew he would return. It was only a few moments before his human was standing before him again and they were trading the open clam for another star fruit.

The sun was high in the sky when they finished their meal and Peter's skin was already past the pruning stage. He wanted to stay in the water with the elf, be near him, but he knew he needed to dry out. Peter turned toward the beach with a sigh and when the elf laid his clawed hand upon his forearm again, Peter gave it a gentle squeeze.

Cuke knew the human could not remain in his watery world for long periods of time. Already he felt the change from smooth to wrinkled skin on his human's hands and even though he wanted his man to stay, he had to let him go ashore for awhile.

"I'll be here waiting for you," Cuke told his human when he felt his man's hand atop his own. "Go on," Cuke told him.

Peter heard the clicks and whistles of the elf and once again wished he could understand. Instead he just nodded his head in agreement before slipping away and making his way to the shore. Once out of the water, Peter stretched out, face down, parallel to the sea and continued to watch the sea elf. The elf mimicked him by lying on his stomach in the water and Peter's last thought before he drifted off to sleep in the warm tropical sun was that he wished the elf could lie next to him.

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Chapter Five

Peter awoke to the sun set low in the sky but the level of the sun was not the first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes. Sleepily his gaze looked out to sea and when his eyes settled upon the shimmering pale scales of the sea elf, he smiled and rolled onto his side. The front of his body was dusted with the black grains of sand, like glitter, making him appear much darker than he normally was. He lay on the warm sand, arm bent and holding his head in his hand as he watched the sea elf floating upon the tide. The elf was further out than before, but Peter could still see that the elf watched him and if it were not for the setting rays of the sun gleaming off of the elf's scales, Peter would not have seen the creature at all.

Cuke had watched his human sleep the day away as he floated along the gentle swell of the waves. His man was so different from anything he had ever known. So pale and smooth, so fragile. How the humans survived without the protection of thicker skin, he did not know. Maybe that was why they always covered it up. Cuke's eyes never left his human as he rolled onto his side then eventually stood. As the man entered the water, Cuke gave a smooth kick and swam toward him.