11. The Kraken
I have rowed couple hours now when I see Willl stirring out of his sleep.
''Morning sleeping beauty,'' I say to him even though it's most likely close midday by now. Will looks at me for a while and tries to hide his yawn but fails miserably.
Will reaches his hand to the oars but stops suddenly and grabs my hands instead. I try to pull them back but Will's crib is firm. He looks a moment my makeshift bandages and then removes them. I can see his eyes widening at the site. My hands are now covered in blood and the cuts have been aching really badly for the last couple hours so they must be infected of something.
''Why didn't you say anything?'' Will asks. I can hear the anger in his voice.
''There wasn't any time to worry my cut hands. If you didn't notice there is a pirate ship on out tail and we had to get out of there as fast as possible. And you were too tired to row so I had to do it despite my hands,'' I say and finally pull my hand out of his.
I take the old bandaged and soak the in the sea water and put them on my hands.
''No don't,'' Will says.
''Why not?'' I ask as the pain starts to fade away. The water feels so good against my skin.
''Sea water has salt in it and salt is not good for cuts,'' Will says.
''Will stop worrying about me and start rowing since you don't let me do it. We have to find a ship or land or something if we wish to survive,'' I say even though I meant that will would survive.
Apparently Will gets it and starts rowing.
A while later we see a ship and row to it. They help us on to the boat and gives us some warm to drink. The crew takes us to the captain's cabin.
I sit next to Will who is anguish to get out of here.
''Strange to come upon a longboat so far out in open water,'' captain says.
''Just put as many leagues behind us as you can. As fast as you can,'' Will says.
''And what are we running from?'' The captain asks. Trust me you don't want to know, I say in my mind as I take a sip from my cup.
Then Will gets up and looks at the dress on the chair. It looks like something Elisabeth would wear. But it looks too fancy to be just a regular dress. A wedding dress maybe?
Then it hits me. Is that Elisabeth's wedding dress? No wonder Will looks like he recognizes it.
''That dress. Where did you get it?'' Will asks.
''It was found aboard the ship,'' the captain says. How is that even possible? ''The crew thought it was a spirit bringing some omen of ill-fate,'' he continues. I snort at my cup when I hear that. Are me actually that stupid?
''That's foolish,'' Will says as he takes the dress in his hands.
''Oh, yes. Exceedingly foolish,'' the crew member says.
I quietly rise up and leave the blanket and my cup to the chair I was sitting on and leave the cabin not wanting to see Will looking dreamingly at the dress like it would be Elisabeth herself.
I walk to the deck and look at the sea that used to be my home once a long time ago.
I then look at further to the sea and see a ship. Oh no. It can't be. I then see Will running next to me looking at the ship.
''You don't thinkā¦'' I say
''Yes,'' Will confirms my thoughts.
''I was afraid you would say that,'' I say.
''I've doomed us all,'' Will says.
''We've doomed us all,'' I correct him. Then suddenly the ship lurch suddenly. Will tries to hold me so that I wouldn't fall down my fails and both fall down.
I rise up and help Will up too. Will then climes up to the mast to look. I run to the edge of the ship to look what happened. But I don't see anything. So why a have this terrible feeling in my stomach.
The crew starts to run around the deck to get the ship moving. But then we see a huge tentacle rising from the sea and pulling it back in.
''Kraken,'' I whisper. Back when I lived whit my back I heard tales about the sea monster that one man could control. And it always scared the crab out of me.
The crew starts yelling Kraken and running around. I just slowly back away from the edge. The crew tries to fight of the tentacles but it's no use.
I can only look at it. I may not be afraid of many things but it's probably in our blood but every mermaid I terrified about the Kraken.
Then the tentacle start to land on the deck and I have to start moving. I try to move out of the way but I'm too scared to do anything useful. The tentacles take many men and throws them off board and drowns them.
I look up and see Will looking down at us. I look at him hoping he would be alright. I then didn't see one of the tentacles coming at me and it throws me in the water. I can feel myself spinning not knowing where the surface was.
My air starts to run out and I don't see any other option. I make myself turn into mermaid. I can feel my clothes disappear and my legs melting together. I then see my familiar tail. I break the surface and see how the ship is sinking.
I try to find Will desperately hoping he would still be alive. I then see him sinking to the sea. I dive in and see that his leg has been tangled to the robe and it's pulling him deeper to the sea.
I swim to him and see his eyes closed. I untangle his leg and help him to the surface. I look and see a wooden board and take him to it. I see his eyes trying to open but closing one time after another.
'' 'No don't give up. Just hold on, I will get you to safety. Just hold on, please,'' I yell at him like the first time when we met.
Will opens his eyes and closes them again and opens them and then he looks at me in disbelief.
''I was you,''
