The first night he heard her, was nine days after he had just barely managed to escape the Shah and the sadistic Khanum. He was sitting on the deck in the moonlight, enjoying the fresh air and the dark sea in peace. Night time was the only time he could leave the confines of the crate he was hiding in during the day. No one came into the storage room which only held crates of spices, various nuts and gunpowder. Though the Daroga had promised that the men on the ship were reliable, Erik knew that the Shah had spies everywhere.
At first he thought that he had died and that an angel had come to claim him. He was dehydrated and hadn't eaten nor slept for days, so death wasn't unlikely. But he quickly dismissed the idea of an angel coming for him. He didn't truly believe in God, along with heaven and hell, and if he did, he knew that he would never gain entrance to heaven.
Then he realized that he must've gone mad. Somehow that calmed him. He could handle that, especially if it granted him the pleasure of hearing such a voice. He lay on the deck and listened for hours to the rise and fall of solemn melodies floating through the night air. He couldn't understand the words, though it was clear to him that it was a language, but it didn't matter. The pain and loneliness expressed in the songs mirrored his own.
After an hour or so he noticed that the voice was getting farther away. Or more precisely: The ship he was on was sailing away from the source. Despite his conviction that his mind had imagined the voice, he couldn't handle the thought of never hearing it again.
He ran to the bridge and after a brief moment of understanding the steering gear, he turned the ship around to sail back towards the voice. When he was sure that he was as close to it as before, he memorized the coordinates and turned off the engines. But it wouldn't be enough. He ventured into the steam engine room and disconnected every piston rod. It would be too easy for the sailors to reconnect them, so he hid all the screws he could find on board.
Finally he could head back to the deck. Sadly the night had grown late and he saw the first signs of sunlight in the East. The voice silenced without finishing the song. It frustrated Erik to no end when something was left incomplete and his voice filled the vast ocean around him to end the song as it felt right.
Suddenly he heard a loud splash to starboard. He ran over and looked over the railing for a sign of what made the noise. It was dark, but his eyes were used to it and he saw everything almost as clearly as in sunlight. It was there he saw her: A young woman in the large waves, staring up at him. Her naked upper body were covered by wet golden, curly locks. Her face was round, her nose like a button and her eyes the clearest blue he had ever seen.
She gasped as their eyes locked for a moment. Then she dived head first into the ocean and he caught a hint of her green-blueish scaly tail as she swam away.
A mermaid! A real mermaid with the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard. He knew that he had to see her again.
Despite his incredible discovery, he actually slept that day in his crate; filled with peaceful dreams for the first time in his life. He dreamed of swimming in an ocean of blonde curls and hearing nothing but beauty around him. But even his dreams couldn't imitate her voice to perfection.
As expected the ship hadn't moved, though notes, he found on the bridge the next night informed him that help was coming. They had sent an SOS to ships nearby, claiming that their engines had broken. It was probably better than telling the truth: That there was a saboteur on board.
He knew that he had to find a more permanent way of staying near the mermaid, but his thoughts halted when he heard her again.
Her song sounded different this evening; it was like a calling. She would sing a verse, then pause before starting over. He realized that she must be calling him. The fourth time she called him, it was with desperation in her voice. This time he didn't hesitate; he answered her calling with his own, creating his own song from her melody.
Elated, her voice came closer then and soon he saw her in the surface of the dark water by the bow. Without giving the repercussions a thought, he tied a rope around the railing, with the other end around his waist and under his buttocks, and jumped overboard. He rapelled down the side of the ship until he reached the water surface where he had seen her. But she was gone now. Had she left?
Once again he sang to her, despite the difficulty he had when he was hanging by a rope. But his efforts paid off when she resurfaced right in front of him, taking his breath away so literally that he ceased singing.
She looked at him curiously with huge blue orbs that seemed to burn into his soul and he wondered briefly if she could see how many deaths he had caused. But she smiled at him; a smile brighter than the sun. His chest swelled at the sight and he had to let go from the rope with one hand to ensure that his heart wasn't actually jumping from his body.
She reached for his free hand and with wide eyes he let her take it. She lifted it to her cheek and leaned into his palm, humming as his cold touch met her warm cheek. How could she be so warm in the icy water? When her hand left his, he continued to cradle her face, then moved carefully to reach for her blonde coils. Her hair was wet, yet it felt as soft as dry hair. He marbled at the impossibility of her existence.
Her own hand lifted to his face and though his first instinct to stop her, he knew that she wanted to feel him as well. He closed his eyes as she touched his mask cautiously. He hoped that she would believe that it was a real part of him and as her hand cradled the leather cheek, he exhaled in relief. For once his face wouldn't be in the way.
He was so relieved, in fact, that he didn't notice the way her fingers quickly found the edge of the mask and when he grasped her wrist, it was too late.
Her breath (because she did breath, like him) hitched and whatever anger, that had flared to life, died out immediately. He opened his eyes in resignation, expecting to see her eyes filled with fear, but instead he saw her smile.
She put the mask on for a moment and a heavenly laugh left her mouth. Then she threw it into the sea and took his face between her hands. Staring into his eyes, he saw something in her that he had never hoped to see: Acceptance.
How ironic that the first person to accept him couldn't even live on land.
But her laugh was infectious and soon he was laughing with her, hearing an unknown sound of happiness leave his mouth. Their voices rose in song; in perfect tune, despite not knowing what the other would sing, and it was glorious. He saw the same elation, he felt, in her eyes.
The rope burned into his thin pants under his bottom, the cold ocean water splashed against him and his mask was floating away, but none of it mattered, expect for her.
All too soon the first rays of the dun painted the East red and orange. Her eyes and her song turned sorrowful; as did his own. He didn't know why, but she had to leave as well.
Was she hiding from the rest of mankind? Was she alone? Perhaps they weren't so different. If only he could follow her into the deep ocean.
They stared in silence at each other before she dived down, leaving him in his loneliness once more. He knew that he should hurry inside before the sailors woke up, especially with his mask gone. He would be recognized and thrown overboard or worse: Brought back to Persia.
Suddenly the waves before him broke and the female appeared again. She pulled him closer to her and placed her lips upon his. He gasped as warm lips willingly offered him the first kiss he had ever received. Tightly gripping her shoulders, he pulled her closer and returned the adoration and - dare he say it? - love that she gave him.
All too soon she drew away, pointed to the sun and smiled sadly before sinking into the deep again.
He sat in shock for a few moments until he heard the sounds of sailors on the deck. Begging that they wouldn't notice the rope, he crawled up the side and managed to stay out of sight until he reached the storage room once more.
That day he didn't even contemplate sleep. He paced the room, aware of the risk of being discovered when outside his crate. But he couldn't sit still. He thought about the implications of falling in love with a mermaid; someone he could never have. He still felt her touch and his body vibrated with the wonder of being accepted; of having his face accepted. Of being kissed! But how could they ever be together?
He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the sounds of another ship nearing them. It wasn't until he heard the steam engines start up again that he realized someone had managed to repair them and that soon he would be far away from his beloved.
In desperation he looked around for a mean to stop the engines. And he found it: Gunpowder. Barrels of it that they had foolishly stored under the engine room. With a single match he could stop this ship permanently.
Of course it would be stupid to blow it all up, so he swiftly rolled all but one barrel to the other side of the large room. He quickly found his box of matches among his supplies, lit it and dropped it into the remaining barrel.
In his food- and sleep-deprived state of mind he hadn't thought about the storage room's location at the bottom of the ship and when the gunpowder blew up the engine above, it also tore a hole in the ship. In his haste he had doomed everyone on board, including himself.
Water began flooding the room faster than he could exit. His only chance of surviving would be to swim out the hole, hoping that he could swim against the pressure of water emerging. He took a last breath and dived in with a hope of seeing his mermaid again.
He regained consciousness in her arms. They were on sandy shore where the air was cold and the sand dark, delivering him a promise that he wasn't anywhere near Persia. The ship's map had located them near Greece when he had rigged the engines.
He saw her tail clearly in the water's edge flapping like a fish out of water. Because she was, at least half of her. He struggled to lift his hand to touch the dark turquoise scales and smiled at the way his touch made her shiver pleasantly. She didn't seem unnerved by his touch like normal people was.
But her smile was sad and he understood why. Her scales were drying; he had felt it. She leaned down to kiss him again and it felt like a kiss goodbye. Tears fell from their eyes and mingled on his thin chest.
"I will find you," He willed her to understand as she let go of him and crawled into the ocean. "I will!" He yelled desperately as her golden locks disappeared into the waves, leaving his mask floating towards the shore.
If he had the strength, he would've followed her.