Hellooo~ Thank you to everyone who is still reading! and thank you for the reviews, faves and follows as well :)
Someone asked if Merlin had magic in this story, and the answer is no he doesn't, I switched out his magic for his mermaid-iness :) although he does have the bond with the kraken, so I guess that could be considered magic, but apart from that he doesn't have his regular powers, I hope this doesn't stop you wanting to read the story :)
Anyway, on with chapter 2, hope you enjoy :D
Merlin's eyes widened in shock as he realised Arthur was planning on using him to hurt others. He stopped struggling so he could glare up at the captain through the net, he was ignored however and soon Percival was hauling him up onto the ship and into the captain's cabin. Although Merlin was angry and confused he still looked around in awe at the craftsmanship of the boat, seeing it all in good condition, rather than smashed and rotted at the bottom of the ocean. He still had his curiosity after all.
He was soon brought back to the present as Percival removed the netting. Merlin saw his chance and immediately started to move away from the man, as Percival was still holding the net. Percival raised his eyebrow and Merlin realised that compared to the human with legs he didn't have much of a chance of actually getting across to the door first, opening the door and crawling across the deck, over the rail and into the ocean, and Percival knew that too. He sagged a little as he realised he wasn't going to get out of this easily. Percival walked over to another corner in the room picking something up and bundling it in his hand. But while his back was turned Merlin had picked up a small candle holder that had been in his corner and as Percival turned back around Merlin threw it with all his might towards the man's head.
Percival just managed to dodge it and it glanced off his shoulder instead. The pirate didn't even seem to care, he had a small frown on his face but that was the only reaction Merlin could detect. As Percival came back over Merlin flinched, expecting a blow in retaliation but all the man did was take both of wrists and pull them behind Merlin's back, tying them together with some rope and then tying the end of the rope up and around a beam across the ceiling, well out of reach of the mermaid, giving enough slack so that Merlin could still happily sit on the floor, even move about in a small area, but couldn't get close to the door or the captain's desk and hammock. Then Percival left without even a glance his way and Merlin was alone.
Merlin sat and blinked slowly as everything sunk in. It just didn't seem real. He'd actually been captured by pirates. His mother had always warned him his curiosity would get him in trouble, but he never imagined something like this would happen. He knew that he could call the kraken, Kilgharrah, through their bond when they were out in deeper water, but could he really call the Kraken knowing the death of these humans would be on his hands? He knew he wouldn't be able to control Kilgharrah to do any less than destroy the ship and everyone on it, the kraken was a wilful beast, and Merlin's control over him was still developing, he wasn't strong
enough to fully control the kraken yet. Could he really call Kilgharrah knowing the consequences? ...he thought not.
But on the other hand he couldn't allow these pirates to kill others of his kind, admittedly some mermaids had been cruel to him, and excluded him in the past, but some had also shown kindness, they were innocent and none of them deserved death. Of course he wouldn't just tell the captain where the mermaids were and how to find them, but he didn't know what these humans could do, how far they'd be willing to go to kill other mermaids. Would they starve him? Would they torture him? Would they leave him here alone until the glands by his gills stopped working and his gills would stick together, leaving him to suffocate slowly to death?
Merlin could feel his panic rising. He'd already been out of water a fair amount of time, since he'd been breathing the air while hiding in the shallow water earlier, so he guessed he'd been out of water for about half an hour now. He'd been out for slightly longer in the past, to watch a sunset on one of the first nights after he'd left Ealdor. But he didn't know how long he could stay out of water before the glands stopped secreting liquid. He was already finding it difficult to breathe, although that was probably due to his panic, not his gills closing.
He pulled at his bindings slightly frantic, but soon realised he was only hurting himself by making the rope chafe against his wrists. Gradually he calmed down, taking in deep breaths and stopping his struggles, a few minutes passed and his breathing finally evened out. He couldn't do anything for now, he'd just have to wait and see what would happen. He just had to stay focused and not panic. He would find a way out of this. Merlin closed his eyes and lay down on his side, sighing as he waited for the pirates to make their move.
"So captain, what's the plan?" Gwaine asked when they were all sat together back on the beach, sitting facing the ship so they would see if their hostage tried to make an escape. They were all working on carving the wood to replace the foremast, while holding an impromptu meeting at the same time.
"We continue on our route to Gaius, I'm sure he'll have some useful information, if the mermaid refuses to speak. And even if the mermaid does speak I'm sure Gaius would be interested in a live specimen. His island is a little out of the way, but after all he's done for us, what with giving us a base and healing our injuries in the past, I think it's the least we could do."
There were murmurs of agreement and a few nods from the rest of the group as Arthur finished speaking.
"And you're really going to use this mermaid to find its brethren?" Gwaine spoke again, looking slightly displeased for whatever reason.
"Yes, of course, why else would I keep him? He's already a burden, another mouth to feed."
"What do you plan to do to him?"
"Whatever I have to do to make him talk, Gwaine. Did you expect anything less?"
Gwaine frowned, "I don't agree with torture. He feels pain, he feels emotions. You just had to look at his face to see that, you could read him like an open book! It's wrong to torture him. You know I have different views on mermaids to you, captain. I do not believe they are all evil."
"Then you are a naive child, Gwaine."
Gwaine's anger sparked, "And you are an arrogant prat!"
"So you'd disregard me as your captain? You would go against me? For the sake of a mermaid?!"
Gwaine let out a sigh, his anger quickly abating, "you know I trust you as much as you trust all of us, and I know you are the true captain. That doesn't mean I agree with everything you believe, but I will always be loyal to you, Arthur."
Gwaine turned away, taking his piece of wood up onto the ship and continuing to work there, not wanting to continue an argument with his captain.
"And what of the rest of you? Do you agree with him?!" Arthur questioned the other three men. Elyan gave an awkward cough and all of them looked down or away. The answer was clear then. Arthur felt anger coil in his gut and let out a huff of exasperation.
"Fine! If you're all so worried about the creature I'll go and check on it right now." Arthur stood and walked onto the ship, breezing past Gwaine without acknowledging him before sweeping into his cabin. What he found was not what he expected.
Merlin lay on his side, breathing hard. He'd been alone for a long time now. He'd already been breathing air for half an hour before coming in here and since then another hour had passed, presumably the men were outside planning what to do, or maybe doing something with all the wood they'd collected. Merlin didn't really care what they were doing though; he just hoped one of them would come back soon. After an hour and a half up on land he felt he was reaching his limit, the air felt thick and his gills were starting to stick together, the glands were producing much less liquid now, and he was sure the gills would stick completely together soon and he would be cut off from his oxygen supply.
Merlin closed his eyes, trying to relax and keep his breathing under control when the door opened and the captain swept in, only to step back in shock as he saw the mermaid lying on the floor looking pathetic, breathing heavily with his eyes fluttering closed. Merlin hardly reacted; he really did feel weak now. The captain stepped towards the mermaid again, reluctantly using the toe of his brown leather boots to prod the hostage in the ribs.
"What's wrong with you? You look terrible." Arthur said without a shred of sympathy, he was still irritated that his crew had disagreed with him.
Merlin struggled to speak but finally managed, "can't breathe...need...water..." before his head lolled forward onto the floor.
Arthur reacted almost immediately, taking only a second to get over the fact that the mermaid had spoken its first words to him, his irritation gone as he realised that the mermaid was in serious danger of dying.
"Gwaine! Get the largest container we have and fill it with sea water, quickly!"
He heard a reply of confirmation, knowing Gwaine would obey him due to the tone of his voice.
He reached for the canteen at his belt and unscrewed the top, moving over and pouring some of the water over the boy's neck, letting the gills soak in the liquid.
This immediately seemed to perk the other up slightly as he heaved in a great breathe and opened his eyes.
Seeing that the boy had at least regained some of his senses, the Captain bent down and untied the mermaid, picked him up and walked out to the deck, finding the other four men manoeuvring a large crate filled with sea water between them. The crate was about one metre wide by two metres in length and one metre in depth. It was large enough for the supplies they often carried, but it was rather cramped for a mermaid. It would have to do. The crew gently lowered the crate onto the deck and Arthur let the mermaid slip from his grip and into the water.
Merlin let himself sink to the bottom of the crate, revelling in the water as it caressed him in its embrace. A few minutes passed and he felt a lot better. His gills were working once more and he could finally breathe properly. He looked up through the water to see the crew staring down at him and he couldn't help but feel like a specimen about to be examined. He rose to the surface and popped above the surface, leaving his neck underwater.
The captain soon stopped watching him and instead gave a few orders to his men "I want this crate taken through to my cabin, it needs to be enlarged too, it's too cramped at the moment. I'll leave the details to you Gwaine; get Percival to help you. Leon, Elyan; we'll continue repairing the mast. Understood?" A few nods were given and Leon and Elyan followed Arthur down onto the beach to continue carving the wood. Merlin was left with Gwaine and Percival.
They both bent down to pick up the heavy crate and soon realised it was far too heavy to lift more than a few centimetres.
"Alright mermaid, you're gonna have to get out for a sec." Gwaine said, as the crate was placed back on the floor. Merlin startled as he realised it was him being addressed, but complied with the man's wishes, cautiously leaving the water to breathe air again, and pulling himself over the side of the crate onto the deck.
"Right let's get you into the captain's room. Wouldn't want you escaping while we move the crate." Gwaine picked Merlin up as he said this, chuckling as the mermaid glared at him, and took him into the cabin, carefully placing him down on the floor.
"Now, do I need to tie you up again or will you be good and stay here?"
Merlin paused, he realised he couldn't really go anywhere, Gwaine and Percival would take less than a minute to bring the crate in without his extra weight pulling it down and considering they would be using the doorway, they could easily stop him if he tried to leave.
Merlin hesitantly replied, "I'll stay..."
"Great, we'll be back in a sec" the man smiled down at him before he walked back out to the crate.
Merlin sat still as he said he would and waited for the men to return, listening to their footsteps as they moved about on the deck. It was strange that Gwaine had smiled at him. Gwaine didn't seem to mind him at all, while the others seemed fairly cautious around him and the captain seemed to hate him. But did he really? After all, he didn't hesitate to help him when he was suffocating. He even asked to have the crate enlarged because it was slightly too cramped at the moment. Why would he bother if he hated him and was possibly going to torture him? It didn't make sense.
Merlin's thoughts were interrupted as Gwaine and Percival re-entered the room, carrying the crate between them. They placed it down and then left again, presumably to get the tools and wood needed to enlarge the crate. They returned a few minutes later and started working. It didn't seem that there was too much to do, the wood they had brought in easily fitted together to form another crate the same size as Merlin's at the moment. The crates could be easily taken apart and put together again as they were used for supplies and then taken apart to conserve space on the ship.
Merlin watched as the two worked, they seemed to make a good pair, working quickly and efficiently together, while still being able to talk and joke with one another. Soon the two crates were attached, they just had to remove the side of the crate separating the two sections and then fill it with more sea water and it would be done.
"Hey, Percival? Think you could carry a barrel of sea water up here by yourself? I'll remove the last side of the crate while you do it."
"Yeah, sure." Percival got up and left while Gwaine removed the screws holding the box together, lifting out the side to let the sea water flow into the newly attached crate and standing back to admire his handiwork.
"So, what do you think? Pretty sturdy huh?" Gwaine patted the box as he turned to Merlin.
"It's...fine" Merlin replied, a little shocked that Gwaine was conversing with him again.
"Fine? Is that all? I'm the best carpenter you'll find for miles around here; I think it's better than that!"
"We're on a deserted island; there is no one else for miles around."
"Damn, you got me!" Gwaine winked and smiled as he crouched down to Merlin's height, were he was sitting on the floor. "So, how are you holding up?"
"Why do you hate me?" Merlin replied with a sudden question of his own, making Gwaine pause as he considered an answer.
"...well I don't, and I'm pretty sure Percival, Elyan and Leon don't hate you either, they're just not sure about you, and Arthur, well Arthur's got his own problems, but don't worry, he's just a prat really. He won't... I won't let him harm you, alright?"
"I wouldn't speak of the captain like that if I were you, Gwaine." Percival interrupted as he entered, struggling with a heavy barrel.
"Well, he knows that's what I think; it shouldn't change much if I say it out loud." The dark-haired man grinned and got up to help his friend, lifting one end of the barrel to allow the sea water to pour into the crate.
"And we're done!" Gwaine and Percival put the barrel down and Gwaine walked over to Merlin, picking him up and placing him in the enlarged crate that was now a two metre by two metre square, still only a metre in depth, but it was better than before and Merlin smiled slightly as he stretched out his tail.
The two men turned to leave, but as they reached the door Merlin called out, "Wait! Um...thank you."
Both men smiled before Gwaine replied "you're welcome" and they left.
Merlin sank into the water thinking over what Gwaine had said, that they didn't hate him, but Arthur had his own 'problems'. He was surprised that the conversation had flowed so smoothly with Gwaine; he hadn't felt so much like a prisoner, but rather an equal. It was nice. And he finally knew the captain's name. Arthur. It sounded right, the name fitted the man. And Gwaine had said he wouldn't let Arthur harm him. Did he really mean it, or was he just trying to get Merlin to open up to him and give him information? Merlin sighed, feeling worn out from the day and he pushed away all the thoughts spinning in his head, letting himself sink into sleep, the comforting darkness closing around him as his eyes shut.