Song Of the Sea
Chapter 2: The Road to Peril
"I won't marry him!" I screamed at my brother, Salih.
"You need to marry him," he shot back, furious that I would dare contradict him. The azure eyes that had always shone with warmth now became like the color of the sea as a furious storm whipped at the waves.
"But I will not have the faithful husband that is bound to me through the law and faithfulness!" I screamed back, tears sliding down my cheeks. Our heads were above the water, so my tears could be seen, and not swept away by the sea, which hated to see her children cry and always wiped our tears from our eyes.
"Cease your crying woman!" was the answer I got for my tears. Then, leaning in close so that our foreheads almost touched he said, "Don't think that your false tears will change my mind, because they won't."
I jerked back, never seeing this side of my brother before. Something had replaced the love that had once been there. It was something that was almost like greed, but not quite.
"Why do you not care for my heart brother?" I asked in total fear.
"Look at mother. The king cared not for her heart, but married her, and she is happy."
"But I would forever be cast aside by my husband because he is a man whose interests are in the most willing maid in the room."
"You will be a queen!" he reasoned. "Forget your heart and rule as a queen."
That was the last straw. Obviously, the love my brother once had for me was now lost in his zeal for his throne. I was now just a pawn to ensure his station.
"If you care not for me, then I will throw myself up onto the land and leave myself to the mercy of the men on the land. Surely they will care more for me than you do!" I screamed, wanting desperately to have the old Salih back, the one that would talk me out of committing this suicidal act.
"What do I care what you do?" he roared. "Let the humans take you, maybe you will be treated better than this merman!" He glared at me. "Go on, do it!"
Too hurt to think of the severity of the action, I swam through the moonlit water and headed to the nearby beach. Once there, I let the water carry my up onto the sand, exposing my silver tail. I felt my tail disappear and human legs appear, because I was able to walk on land when I chose to. There I wept, wanting my brother to come and drag me back into the water.
The tears streamed down my face as I waited. But I sat there the entire night, him having left me to the humans. I had refused to become the wife of the person who might usurp his throne and tie him to his kingdom, so he had left me, disowning me as his sister.
Dawn came slowly, the golden fingers of the sun slowly stretching over the horizon. It was beautiful, but I was too lost in my sorrow to notice it. Gradually, the golden warmth banished the icy chill of the night air, but it didn't take away the coldness I felt in my breast.
Too lost in my self pity, I never heard the footsteps that came up behind me. Before I knew it, a black sack had come over my head and my hands were tied. I screamed, but that was met with a fist to my temple, and after that I knew no more.