There was a single silent moment. The perfect sea was only a stretch away. The thing she had been hoping for was within reach. Then, chaos.
She was once comfortable in chaos. But this was horrible.
She heard the clanging and the sharpness of the land tools around her. Fear ran its course through her veins, and she had nothing to do with the adrenaline. What was happening across the sheet, mere inches away? Was she being stabbed in the back, brought to her salvation as a cruel joke? Or was the oil-eyed man actually helping, but they were both being overtaken?
There was nothing she could do but wait and see.
She only knew the plan had been foiled when she began rolling back to the deck. She screamed and sang and swallowed her panic. But the attackers didn't stop for her music. They must've found a way around it, something that wasn't luck like the deaf man.
Soon, the slow rolling of sand underneath became chunky movements of wood again. She was back on the deck, and in any moment, the sheet would be lifted so her buyer could see her.
But they didn't stop. The ground became smoother, but slightly bumpy, and after minutes or hours of laying at the bottom of her tank, she felt the cage stop. And the sheet was removed.
She stretched herself out as proud as she could. She wouldn't forget her lineage now, when surrounded by land-walkers.
The cage was surrounded by men, dressed in shine and slick. But there was one man, dressed in a dark cloak, that was different than the others.
He had hair that seemed to be gray, but his face was far too young. It was odd, but something even more so, was that he was wearing an Neridoran amulet. It was a minor mer kingdom south of an archipelago to the east, key term being 'was'.
"And how much did you say this specimen was?" The man whispered to a nearby guard, and the number meant nothing to the mer and the deaf man in the cell next to her.
Something else caught her eye, namely being the second figure shrouded in darkness in a nearby doorway. The two men were peculiar, but even with the distraction of being bought, the queen couldn't help but notice the body language between the two.
They were opposites in the way they stood, years of training made Athena notice that. The man speaking was calm, or was pretending to be calm. The one at the doorway, however, was filled with nervous energy. This was confusing, since they were obviously here for the same reason.
"-She'll be perfect for the male we came into possession of last year, don't you think, brother?"
Queen Athena let slew a string of mer curses, not limiting to any parameter. Of course, this only got a chuckle out of the man, who couldn't understand her. So it was a stolen amulet, then. Not surprising.
"Look at that, she can't even speak! How quaint, I am quite excited to teach her. Think of it, brother! This little beauty, singing us to the sky! We'll be rich!"
"How dare you, insolent little wharf roach! You thief of beings, you aren't even worth the silt from the sand! I'll have your throat for that, useless little biped!"
Her throat hummed with one of the older songs. He wasn't worth her own, so an ancient one would have to do.
There was little more than satisfaction watching him inch forward to her tank. But, her voice raised higher, and as did her pride. She was the Queen of the Sea. And who was this little human, anyway? A procurer of souls? Bah! Athena had met worse in her teen years than this man.
But, before he could climb the clear walls and join her in the waters, he stopped. And he smiled. And her heart sank.
The power of a mer's object was only rumored to be enough to drown a siren song. And, apparently, the rumor was true.