Heart of the Kraken (Tales from Darjee) (10 page)

"Then they are fools," he whispered, his head close to hers.

She stroked a hand down the side of his face and searched his grey eyes. She would know this man and the pain that lurked behind his gaze. He was unlike any other landwalker she had met. She pulled his head to hers and tasted his lips that spoke to her of the ocean. She sighed against him as she licked at the seam with her tongue, teasing, prying.

His arm snaked around her and he yielded to her play and pulled her into a deeper kiss. His firm lips took control as he plunged into her mouth and their tongues touched and explored each other. Fire awakened in Ailin for the first time and raced through her limbs. She gasped as desire stirred and stretched within. Just as she pressed against him for more, Fenton pulled back and his arms dropped to his side.

She released him and frowned. Such warmth beneath his skin but now he projected the cold of the Bantea Artic Ocean. "You do not like my kiss? Did I do it wrong?"

He held himself rigid at her side, his spine stiff but so close to her his breath danced over her face. His eyes became storm clouds hiding turbulent thoughts. "We cannot do this, we are not the same, you and I."

"Are we not both prisoners of the captain? Do we not both suffer aboard this ship?"

"You are a temptress who would wield her seductive powers over me." He looked away but his words were thick as though he held himself in check as he spoke.

She shook her head. "No. If I sought temporary amusement there are many feeble minds on this ship. But you are like a rock that cannot be influenced by the ebb and tide of shallow glamours. I have no desire or interest in those with weak minds. You, Fenton, pull at me like the deepest ocean. Like a calm harbour, you shelter me. Near you, I am safe." More words bubbled in her chest but she held them down. His touch awakened things she never thought to feel.

He huffed but still wouldn't meet her gaze. "You are right in that I am not like the others, but do not think to dally with me."

"I would know you," she whispered. "I would know what makes you furrow your brow in such a fashion. I would know what you seek to hide from me." She reached out for his hand but he snatched it away.

"You waste your time, there is nothing worth knowing here." He rose and stalked away.

Ailin slapped her tail to the floor. He was wrong. Mermaids were sirens but that didn't mean they were promiscuous. Seduction was a look, a tone of voice, or a gentle touch. Mermaids seduced to escape, not as a sport to amuse themselves. When she leaned over to kiss Fenton, she had no ideas of escape or seduction. An undercurrent pulled her to him and if either of them played the siren to spellbind the other, it was him. He dominated her thoughts and wove a net around her. Locked in her prison, she saw only his face in the dark, smelled only his scent around her and heard only his voice. She touched her lips, they still tingled from his kiss and part of her cried for more. A need emerged to feel his lips on other parts of her form while his hands unlocked the secrets of her kind.

He did not return that day and strange crew came and placed her back in the crate. Their hands strayed over her body as they exchanged lewd comments as though she were deaf and dumb to them. She tried to curl up into a ball, but she didn't have sufficient space.

That night, Ailin dreamed. For the first time, her mind soared free and cast off its imprisonment. She swum in the ocean, playing with another. Laughter bubbled in her chest as she darted among fish and flashed between outcrops. At first, the one who chased her was only a shadow, but the shadow formed into the creature who made her heart race and her flesh burn. Fenton.

Except he was different, not the landwalker. He came to her dream as a marine creature. He navigated her world, gave chase and caught her in a strong embrace. Their forms entwined as they danced to the tune of currents unseen by man.

Chapter Ten

That night, Fenton trod a near silent deck to the captain's large cabin at the rear. As usual, a few of the higher ranked crew gathered for dinner. Dining with Reis came with many benefits, including their meal served on metal plates instead of wooden and the bread was weevil free. Tonight, Reis held his own council over the meal while the other men talked. He had a way of looking at a man that said he was assessing your value, either as a worker in his hive or as live bait. Time and again, Fenton caught the captain watching his every move.

Did Reis know he kissed Ailin? That his body ached to satisfy a need he knew was impossible to quench? Would the captain laugh and make a joke about Fenton not being able to find a hole to pick his wick in the barrel?

He finally spoke over the cheese and brandy, his black gaze fixed on Fenton. "I want our fish to search for the Curiosity. It found one scale, who knows what else is down there."

He nearly choked on the mouthful of liquor in his mouth and swallowed it down with a gasp. "An impossible hunt, surely? Assuming the stories are even true, you want to find one small vessel in an enormous ocean? The odds of Ailin finding its hiding place are astronomical. You might as well wager on the Lady Alise sprouting a heart and a conscience." As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to call them back. Here was an opportunity for Ailin to swim free, for them to look for an escape route, and he tried to shut it down before they even heaved her over the side.

"Why settle for one fortune in gold when you can have two? We have nothing to lose by letting it search and everything to gain." Reis' fingertip stroked his goblet. Something still preyed on his mind, it showed in the carefully chosen words and the gaze drilling into his first mate. "But we need to make sure the kraken understands his assignment. I don't want him going rogue and letting go of the chain. I will retain the gold and Sunshine lounging in my cargo hold. I will not lose that fortune while seeking another."

Fenton stared at his drink and watched the heavy amber liquid catch the light. "The kraken follows your command, captain. Has he ever given you reason to doubt him?"

Truth was, it had run through his mind. All the kraken had to do was let go of the dainty chain and Ailin would be free. So easy and yet he didn't have the stomach to give the order. Reis' wrath would be lethal if he lost the mermaid. Did that prove his burgeoning desire for Ailin was the result of the siren's lure? Surely if he had genuine affection for her, he would stand against his captain's anger on her behalf? He took a long sip from his brandy and let the warmth spread through his gut and perhaps, in that amber liquid, he might also find a tiny fraction of courage.

***

Ailin's eternal darkness ended as Fenton opened her crate the next morning. His muttered good morning was perfunctory as he moved to flick across the covers on the portholes. A distance sprang between them since she kissed him. His gaze darted around the room and barely rested on her. He fidgeted like a child told to stay in one spot who immediately wants to wander off.

Ailin tracked his tall form as he paced, muscles bunched and released under the linen shirt as he swung his arms. "Will you tell me what troubles you or am I to play a game and guess?"

Fenton stopped and clasped his hands behind his back. "The captain wants you to find the Curiosity. The kraken is to swim with you while you search for it."

She laughed, his idea was fanciful, not to mention impossible. "The vessel from your tale? An entire ocean lays beneath this ship, does Captain Reis know the scope of what he asks?"

Fenton went back to fidgeting. "Yes, but he sees only the pile of gold. The scale you found makes him think the vessel has passed this way sometime recently. "

"Landwalkers are never satisfied with what they have." At least she could stretch and swim. The kinks would work loose from her body and the ocean would embrace her however brief her time below. Thought of the kraken no longer froze her blood with fear, it carried a tiny part of Fenton's mind. Terror was overridden by curiosity about the creature bound to him.

"We are not all obsessed with material things." He stared at her, his gaze so lost.

Her heart ached in her chest, if only he would confide in her, she was sure they could devise a plan to free both of them. Perhaps if she learned more about the kraken, she could help Fenton.

"When am I to begin this pointless search?" At least she wouldn't be alone in the sea. Perhaps while swimming with the kraken, she could imagine it was Fenton and not just controlled by him.

"Reis wants you to go now, you can swim ahead while we follow our course." He lifted her and held her close.

She held back her smile. Even though he accused her of laying a glamour upon him, he still wouldn't allow another man to carry her to and from the hold. The warmth of his chest seeped through to Ailin as she nestled against him, her face pressed into his neck. She breathed in his scent and his arms tightened around her when she exhaled. She couldn't help it, instinctively her lips brushed his skin and she was rewarded by the shiver that ran through him at her kiss.

Up on deck, he placed her close to the railing. He nodded, the lines of his lips tight as he spun on his heel and left to command the ocean terror. High above, Timmy looked over the edge of his eyrie and waved before returning to gaze at the horizon.

Reis approached and fastened the chain around her waist, the blue light sealing it into a continuous loop with no end or beginning. "Do you know your task?" His eyes narrowed as he stared at her.

She swallowed, hating the sense of vulnerability as she laid at their feet. "Yes, to search for any sign of the Curiosity."

Reis nodded but wasted no more words on her. He turned and placed his hands on the railing as a roar announced the arrival of the kraken. The monster rose up next to the Razor's Edge, his bulk nearly the same size as the ship. Tentacles waved in the air as he waited for his companion. Reis held out his end of the chain and the kraken pinched it between two claws.

A laughing Dinger and a sombre Yusuf picked Ailin up and threw her into the water. She sliced into the sea's embrace, holding her breath for the seconds it took for her gills to open and her body to adapt to water instead of air. Above her head, the ship bobbed on the gentle swell of the ocean. Ailin dived, confident the kraken would follow. Down, down she spiralled as fast as she could go. The gentle pull around her waist told her when she outran the mighty beast holding the other end of the chain.

The pirates set her free in a deep part of the ocean, the harsh sunlight filtered to a mere trickle through the water. Her pupils dilated fully to make use of the scant light to guide her. She flicked her tail with slow, wide strokes to propel her body. Ahead dark shape loomed, it sucked in light and spat out dark. She came across an outcrop with secret nooks and crevices that might hide another scale from the Curiosity, assuming the strange vessel ever traversed this part of the ocean.

Fish sprinted over the rock, the shoals turning and ducking as one. Ailin explored for a time but found nothing of interest. Floating on her back, she eyed her captor. The kraken drifted above like an enormous umbrella. Its tentacles spread out over her head, apart for the one holding aloft its end of the chain. She rolled and swum closer. If the beast wouldn't hurt her, would it help her?

It recoiled as she neared, as though for a moment it feared her. She stopped and waited for it to settle. Then she stretched out a hand and stroked a tentacle as thick as her torso. Soft pink suckers clenched on the underside, they flexed and released as her hand skated along its thick hide. The eye rolled back as it tracked her movement.

"Please, let me go." Ailin tugged on the chain so it bounced against the black claw.

The eye swivelled from the tentacle holding the end back to Ailin.

She swallowed, did it hear her? Was it even capable of understanding or did it operate only on a primordial level? No, she reasoned with herself. It had the capacity to understand. Fenton said it wouldn't hurt her and it acted true to his words. The way it watched over her suggested inside in its monstrous form lurked some type of intelligence, a tiny spark gifted to it by Fenton. If only she could reach it, make it understand the fact that awaited her.

Her hand tightened on the tentacle, the hide rasped under her fingers. "Let me be free, before they kill me."

It turned its head slightly as though considering.

"I beg you, please," she whispered on the tide.

The saucer sized eye blinked and then the claw retracted and the metal floated away from its grasp.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She was free. The dainty chain drifted on the current and slivers of light played along the length.

"Thank you." On impulse, she hugged the limb and kissed the leathery skin. A smile broke over her face and she swam as fast as her tail could go. She wanted to get as far away as possible from the ship before Reis realised she had slipped her leash. One thing stabbed through her chest, she would never have the chance to say goodbye to Fenton or to tell him what his company meant to her. To never taste his lips again. She was free and yet part of her yearned to be held captive by him.

She shook her head, there was no place they could ever be together, landwalker and mermaid. He thought she used glamours to manipulate his response to her, she hadn't. His every reaction was true and driven by him alone. In her twenty years she had never met another creature who made her body shiver like the smallest brush from Fenton. More than something physical, her mind cried out to know his. To know why he picked each poem he read to her. Her heart tore apart, what if he were the other half of her soul? Now she would never know. Perhaps, over the forthcoming years, the sharp pain in her heart would dull.