Chapter 10
"Yeah, you're a good boy Cassim!" Sanne hugged her little dango as she looked at the pretty waterfall. It was actually quite easy to travel towards it once she had realized how thirsty she was. She walked towards the cool, blue water, when she suddenly felt like she was missing something.
"Oh, right" she murmured, then screamed "Myrthe! Myrthe!"
"Whoa, what's wrong?" Myrthe said while running through some small, prickly bushes. "Ouch, ouch, geez, must everything hurt around here?"
"Mi-chan! We made it! We're finally free!" Sanne said while running around, Cassim on her heels.
"Yes, we made it," Myrthe said while blowing her messy hair from her face, "But we're not free… at all. They are close, so we have to create an escape plan."
"Party pooper" Sanne pouted, "I was just a little happy!"
"I told you not to call me that!"
"But you are!"
"Am not!"
"Am too!"
Myrthe sighed. "Alright, let's forget about that for now, go ahead and drink some water."
"Myrthe?" Sanne asked, a smirk playing around her lips
"Hmmm?"
"Did you run into a tree again?"
"What?!" Myrhthe tsked, "No... I… No... That would be, you know, stupid!" Myrthe said, knowing that Sanne would not believe her.
"Your hair is full of leaves." Sanne said with her eyebrows raised, the smirk still on her face.
Myrthe looked up and saw a couple of leaves stuck in her hair.
"I can't help it! Those trees pop out of nowhere, I'm telling ya!"
"Yeah right!" Sanne said, while laughing and walking towards the water to drink some.
Myrthe was thinking of a plan while plucking some leaves out of her hair. She didn't know how much time they had. The Samurai could sense their presence, but she didn't know from what distance or if they could always sense them. Even if they couldn't sense their presence, it was probably best to keep moving. They would guess that the girls would go to a familiar place since they didn't know anything or anyone. Another thing that she was worried about were their survival chances. Being the city girls that they were, it was pretty hard to survive alone in a forest with, probably, dangerous animals. Maybe she shouldn't have reacted to Sanne's sudden impulse. Ah well, what was done was done, they just had to work with it now.
Myrthe sighed before plucking out the last leaf.
Sanne was thinking about how beautiful the scenery was and how she would love to go swimming in this water. It looked so blue, so clear, so inviting. The dango was already playing in the water and she wanted to stay here forever and enjoy playing with him. And she would of course make sure Myrthe would join them eventually. She laughed while thinking about that, ignoring their situation, before Myrthe snapped her out of it.
"Sanne, I think it's best if we traveled even further."
"Party pooper" Sanne said again, even though she knew Myrthe was right.
"Sorry." Myrthe said apologetic having seen the smile on Sanne's lips.
Suddenly the dango ran out of the water, barking in the direction of the cool blue waterfall. Myrthe pulled Sanne back, whom was just looking why Cassim suddenly caused a commotion.
The water started moving and Sanne and Myrthe stood back a little, expecting a big fish. But instead, a horse's head came ashore.
"Well….that's…odd." Myrthe said dryly.
The horse started swimming in their direction, when they suddenly saw another head. A head of a girl, sitting on the back of the horse.
It was a girl with long black hair, and deep green eyes. She wore some sort of tiara on her head, which surrounded her whole head, with in the middle a big blue, clear stone. Two feathers, made of iron, decorated the tiara at the sides, pointing towards the sky. When she and her horse came closer and higher above the waterline, Myrthe and Sanne saw that she wore nothing. However, her upper body was covered in colors and patterns, giving the impression she wore decent clothing.
When she was close to the shore, she smiled with an almost seductive smile towards the girls.
"Whoa, what are you?" Sanne asked while hiding behind Myrthe.
"Well hi." the creature said playfully yet serious at the same time, while a huge tail emerged from the water behind it, causing a small wave.
"We're going." Myrthe said while already turning around.
"Ah no, wait. You don't even know me," the girl started, and after a small pause, "but I know you two."
Myrthe became suspicious and looked at the girl and her horse. "You believe you know who we are?"
"Yes." she said while looking at her hair and casually playing with it.
"Oh?" Sanne asked, "That's cool and all, but, who are you?"
She looked up in Sanne's eyes, "I'm from the mermaid people" she said while smirking.
"Mermaids?" Sanne asked in disbelieve.
She stopped playing with her long hair and grabbed the grass, pulling herself up upon the ground. Her upper body was covered in green, blue and a hint of red vivid colors, making it look like beautiful clothing even though some scales were still visible. When you looked further down, you saw a giant fish tail. She was moving her deep, dark blue tail around, while looking amused at the two shocked girls.
After a few seconds of silence, Sanne suddenly bursted out "Whoa! That's so awesome! You're a…mermaid! A real one!"
She was already running towards the creature, when Myrthe grabbed her clothes and pulled her back.
"You know us?" Myrthe asked her, ignoring the fact that there was a real life mermaid in front of them. And ignoring the now coughing Sanne who wanted to run towards the creature.
"Yes" the mermaid answered, "we've been waiting for you."
"We?" Myrthe asked suspiciously.
"There are more?" Sanne asked while squealing.
The mermaid smirked while humming a little song. The horse, whom was still swimming in the water also came ashore. When its front legs found some grip it jumped on the grass. Only to fall down immediately. He fell, because his bottom was also one of a fish.
The horse's upper body was completely white, but his tail was blue, the color of the water.
It lied down on the grass, huffing a bit, when it started to change. His fish tail slowly disappeared, and a pair of legs replaced it. On its head, a small horn began to grow.
Myrthe and Sanne just looked in amazement at how the 'waterhorse' started to change into a unicorn. A real life one.
Sanne squealed with big eyes, next to Myrthe. "Myrthe! Myrthe! That's a freaking unicorn! A unicorn!"
"Yeah, I can see that" Myrthe said, also in amazement, just not showing it.
Sanne shaked Myrthe's hand off her shoulder and ran towards unicorn whom was now standing up straight.
"No wait!" the girl said, her hand raised "He doesn't like being touched by strangers."
Sanne immediately began sulking, as Myrthe walked forward, now standing next to Sanne.
"However," she began, "if I sit on him, he'll probably allow it."
Sanne's face brightened up at that statement.
The mermaid took a quick look over her shoulder back to the water before starting to hum again. The unicorn now began to bow. The girl grabbed his back and pulled herself up. She sat on his back with her tail on the side of the unicorn.
The unicorn stood up again and watched the two girls suspiciously.
"Go on" the mermaid said, while taking a quick glance over her shoulder again, "but do it very slowly."
Myrthe didn't trust this girl, who was so eager to tell them that she knew who they were, only to then move the attention away with her awesome unicorn. She probably had seen the hard-to-miss amazement on the two girls faces.
Then again, Myrthe barely trusted anything in this world, seeing that everyone they met up until now had wanted something of them, so she was probably just being paranoid.
Sanne was looking at Myrthe with big puppy eyes, making her snap out of her thoughts.
"What?" Myrthe asked.
"I'm afraid he might hurt me." Sanne said.
"Then don't pet him" Myrthe said simply.
Sanne shook her head. "No, you have to pet him" she said, still with the puppy eyes.
"What? Why me, you're the one who wants to-"
"Please! Please!" Sanne cut her off, "You're good with these things!"
"What? Where did you get that idea from? It's okay if he hurts me?"
Sanne thought about that for a second, then bobbed her head up and down. "Yes."
Myrthe sighed before walking forward. "Let's just get this over with then."
The girl on the unicorn looked strangely at them.
"You two are strange." she said with her head slightly tilled.
"Oh we're the strange ones." Myrthe murmured sarcastically "You're a fish."
"What was that?" the girl asked.
"How do you even know us? We haven't even met a lot of people, so it sounds fishy to me." Myrthe answered
Myrthe started laughing, and looking at Sanne, "You see what I did there?"
"Really now Myrthe, just pet the cool unicorn."
"Fine." Myrthe said.
As her hand reached the soft fur of the horse, her eyes caught some movement in the water. When she looked closer she suddenly saw a lot of horse heads in the water and a lot of riders sitting on them. And all of them wore a tiara just like the girl in front of them. Cassim started growing and growling towards the water immediately.
The girl looked at Myrthe and then to the water. She smirked while saying "We have someone we would like you two to meet."
"Really?" Sanne asked curiously, "Who?" still not seeing all the people in the water, just petting the awesome unicorn.
Suddenly Sanne heard Cassim's deep, friendly voice talking to her. "We must go."
"What? Why?" Sanne answered, while only now noticing the group of people and their horses swimming towards the shore. "Well hi!" Sanne yelled while waving.
She gave Myrthe an elbow and whispered "be nice Myrthe, this is awesome!"
"Master Sanne, we really should leave." Cassim said. Myrthe suddenly heard his voice too and looked strangely at the now enormous wolf.
Some mermaids were now sitting on their horses, while all the others jumped on dry ground too. The same changes as they just saw with the unicorn standing before them happened to the rest of them.
Myrthe started pulling Sanne back. "Sanne, I don't think they are friendly."
Sanne looked at the faces of the mermaids. They were looking at each other with strange, evil smiles. The kind of smile Myrthe would make when thinking or doing something evil.
"Oh dear, oh dear!" Sanne yelled while climbing upon Cassim's back as fast as she could. "Go Cassim!" she yelled, and Cassim started running away immediately.
"Don't think you will escape us, little princesses!" the mermaid yelled. She let out a war-scream, the kind you would hear the Indians yell in movies, while charging forward.
"Hey!" Myrthe yelled towards Cassim and Sanne. "Don't you two freaking leave me here with these fish! I'm in bad water here!" Myrthe couldn't help but smirk at her own joke again, even in this situation. The smirk left her face fast though when she saw a giant spear landing next to her and the ground beneath it turn into ice. "Oh dear, that's not good…" Myrthe said while looking behind, only to meet the eyes of a lot of angry mermaids, "Sanne!"
Sanne who was just sitting on the back of Cassim, only remembered that she should save her friend too, when Cassim told her that Myrthe was left behind.
"We'll go get her then." Sanne said, with fear in her voice. She didn't like those mermaids or the spears that they threw at her and Cassim and yet she turned around to save her friend.
"Myrthe, what did you do? Stop playing with the mermaids!"
"Playing? -huff-, I would like to see you in this, -huf-, position!"
When Sanne almost reached Myrthe, she saw that a spear scratched her friends arm. The arm of Myrthe turned blue, reacting to the spear.
"Don't let the spears hit you!" Sanne yelled.
"Oh, -huff-, you think?" Myrthe yelled back sarcastically.
When Sanne reached Myrthe, Cassim bent so Myrthe could get on him. Myrthe climbed up as fast as she could and they ran away again. The unicorns however, were very, very fast. They were catching up bit by bit.
Myrthe and Sanne saw that if the mermaids threw their blue spears and they missed their target, (which were Sanne, Myrthe and Cassim right now) it vanished and reappeared in the hand of the one who threw again.
Cassim talked to the girls while running away, and Myrthe could still hear him. "The mermaids with the tiara are soldiers of their kind. The spears aren't their ultimate weapon, the unicorns are. They are the ultimate warhorses, able to move in both water and dry land with great speed. The mermaids give them strength. In order to beat them, you have to separate them. The mermaid will be left vulnerable and ready to take out."
"Okay," Sanne started, "and how are we supposed to do that?"
"That is what you two should know or figure out." Cassim answered. "I could outrun them if I had only my own master on my back, but I haven't."
Sanne looked accusingly towards Myrthe. "Myrthe! This is all your fault!"
"What? How did I cause this? I wanted to run away immediately when I saw that tail!"
"No Myrthe, no excuses, get your own pet!"
Just when Myrthe wanted to answer sarcastically, she saw that a mermaid had caught up and was now riding next to the girls and Cassim. Cassim however slowed a bit, going towards the running legs of the unicorn, making it back away from the giant wolf.
"I can take out a few of them, but not all," Cassim said, "So start thinking!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Myrthe answered, "Come on Sanne, think of something."
Another unicorn came closer and Myrthe decided that she didn't like this one bit. And so, when the mermaid threw her spear in the general direction of the two girls, and it threatened to hurt Sanne, she caught it, with the idea in the back of her mind to throw it back at her. Just like in the movies!
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Myrthe yelled. The spear was so cold that she immediately got frostbitten. "Stupid mermaids, why isn't this going like in the movies!"
"Myrthe! Stop playing with spears and start thinking of a plan!" Sanne yelled.
"You're welcome!" Myrthe yelled back, while avoiding some more spears.
Myrthe started to put her arms around Sanne's neck, while kicking all the mermaids away. At least she tried. She good a few good hits, but not enough to make them fall off their unicorn.
Said Sanne, was protesting loudly at the abusing of her neck.
Even though they were trying to defend themselves, the mermaids caught up, and soon they were totally surrounded.
"It is now or never, either leave behind Myrthe or become a prey of the mermaids." Cassim said towards Sanne.
"Leave behind Myrthe!" Sanne yelled on a first impulse. Then thought for a second, "Wait, no, I can't do that! She has to stay with me!"
"Geez! Thank you!" Myrthe yelled back
"Teehee" Sanne said.
All the mermaids suddenly attacked at the same time, knocking Cassim over and the girls got thrown off his back.
Cassim stood up immediately and ran towards Sanne, to stand before her in a defending position.
Myrthe was lying about seven meters away from them, alone on the ground.
"No don't worry about me!" Myrthe yelled. While being surrounded by the mermaids. "Ha, you got me alright, but I won't go down without a fight. I eat fish for breakfast!" Myrthe yelled.
"You hate fish!" Sanne yelled
"I know that, you know that, but now they do too, thanks!"
Sanne was sitting behind Cassim, yelling towards him, "Yeah! Go Cassim!" while Cassim was growling and biting towards all the mermaids and unicorns.
Myrthe was already punching them here and there, but received more punches herself. She did manage to avoid a few spears thrown at her, mainly because she slipped on the wet grass where she was standing on.
"You are brave." One mermaid said towards Myrthe.
"Ah, thanks, I don't suppose you could let me off the hook because of that?" She said with a big grin, partly because she made a fish joke. Again.
The mermaids smirked evily and were ready to throw their spears again. Cassim was already hit a few times, and two of his paws and half of his face were frostbitten.
Sanne saw that her beloved dango was about to be hit with a spear again and raised her hand with a "No!" And somewhere, somehow, the ground reacted to her. Vines with leaves rose up from the earth and the spear became entangled in the leaves, stopping it from hitting Cassim's head again. It also didn't disappear again. It didn't move an inch.
Sanne was looking in amazement at the leaves when suddenly swords flung through the air. Strange colors were cast upon the mermaids and the spears disappeared in the same strange colors, or broke into multiple pieces as swords, katana's and various other weapons broke them incredibly fast.
Five samurai were standing in front of Sanne (mainly because they knew for certain she was a princess judging from her animal companion.) and two were standing in front of Myrthe.
"Sake! Goemon! Hanzo! Munenori! Musashi!" Sanne yelled happily with her hands up in the air. "Did I ever tell you I love you guys!?"
"Evil-guy! Doc!" Myrthe yelled towards her saviors, "It's so good to see you gu-" She shut up however when she saw the extreme angry look on Evil-guys face.
"Oh dear, we're in trouble now…."
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Moonlight Phonex101: Aaaahwww! You really are so sweet! And we genuinely hope that you keep on liking this story! We also think it's really awesome that you give us some ideas, because secretly, (or not secretly) we use some of them :D And not to worry, a very serious problem WILL BE SOLVED in the future with rock, paper, scissors. Hehe.
And Myrthe's companion will also come somewhere in the future(oh you already guessed that?;p), so look forward to that. –wiggles eyebrows.
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