The Mermaid and The Beast
Chapter 11
Narcissus eyed the street warily, making sure there was no other merfolk around., he couldn't be seen making a transaction like this. He was supposed to prevent these types of business, in fact. He had not come to this neighborhood for years, since his childhood. HE was gratified to see that the place he remembered was still there: the rundown little apothecary's he had never dared to enter as a child. The faded sign, the low roof, the crumbling plaster on the wall al marked it as a failing place, the abode of a poor merman. And, being poor, Narcissus would bet that here was a place would sell the poisons outlawed in Atlantica beneath exile's threat. Desperate poverty would outweigh the dread of law. Narcissus had not needed poison when first he had drawn those conclusions, but now he did and was glad of the place.
He pushed the worn-out coral door and, in absence of a bell, shouted, "Hey! Apothecary!"
"Who shouts so loud?" the gaunt and aged merman, with a gray tailfin and white hair,, shuffled out of the back room. "What business draws you here?"
"Concern yourself with your own business, leave me mine," Narcissus replied. He ran a hand over the herbs displayed in the dirty window. "Rosecoral, that's for the heart, yes? And gupssies are for blood?"
"They have their purposes," the apothecary admitted nervously. "Do you wish a potion to treat a heart illness?"
"No, I have something else in mind," Narcissus's put a string of opals onto the counter. "I shall take these, and a certain potion I believe you have in the back, requiring Rosecoral and gupssies and other things perverting their intending effect. A potion of murder one might say: Shark Tears."
The apothecary blanched, shifting from one hand to another, "Such perilous drugs I have, but Atlantica's law forbids the sale of them."
"Narcissus smiled, laying out a fat purse of gold coins upon the table, "Here's a hundred coins for Atlantica's law. Will obeying it make you so rich? I know you need this money."
The apothecary hesitated, his eyes alighting with greed, and he laid his hand upon the gold.
"Good shark…" Spark gulped, fear in every fiber of her body, slowly approaching the Albino, who was eyeing her suspiciously, "Just let me try it…"
Ariel nearly gasped when the shark started to growl menacingly, baring his teeth, bubbles blowing out of his gills. She had insisted on trying to speak to The Albino and befriend him, but Jake had stopped her. He told her that those sharks, while docile to Sharkanians, had been trained to rip merfolk apart, and taking into account that her hair was the color of blood wouldn't help either.
When Spark was by the shark's side and was about to climb on the saddle, the Albino realized what her intentions were; he violently smacked her in the waist with his tailfin, and would have gone after her had he not been tied.
"Spark!" The mermaid was quickly dragged away by Jake and Ariel before the Albino could break loose and tear her to pieces for attempting to occupy his master's place.
"It's no use," Spark whispered inaudibly, "He won't budge. He'll never let me get on his back," she turned to look at Artemisia, "Are you sure your father won't help me?"
Artemisia sighed, "No, he won't. He said 'if she wants to ride my Albino, she'll have to do what I did to earn the right to ride him'."
"Seriously?!" Bluetail snapped, "She's going to get killed! I think we should call off that stupid bet!"
"No way!" Spark snapped, "If I call it off, Mandy will never stop talking about it! Actually, she'll call me a coward!"
"Can I try?" Ariel held up her hand and glanced at the Albino, "Maybe I can get him to soften up a bit."
"No, Ariel! He'll eat you!" Flounder tried to get in her way, but the red-head simply pushed him aside gently.
"What did I just say about them being trained to tear merfolk apart?!" Jake cried out in dismay, before turning at Bluetail, "Does she ever listen whatever is said to her?!"
The swordfish sighed, "You have no idea…"
"Come on, Flounder. It's like when I rode Stormy, remember?" Ariel grinned
"Stormy was seahorse!" Flounder replied, fear-stricken, "That's a shark!"
Warily, the Albino narrowed his eyes as the redheaded mermaid swam closer to him, wanting to see if her intentions were the same as his caretaker's.
"There, there, boy, it's okay," she soothingly spoke to him, before holding out a hand, "I'm not going to hurt you."
However, the shark, instead of attacking her, like he had done to Spark, simply swam back, giving her a warning glare, baring his teeth and making his scariest growl. Ariel did not give up, however; the rest of the group had their hears in their throats every time Ariel tried to place a gentle hand on the shark's snout, just for the Albino to swim back and snapping at her, each time growling louder.
"It's no use, princess!" Sky cried out for her, "He has the sensibility of a rock!"
"Well, at least he is not snapping his teeth at her," Jake commented, "You should have seen Princess Artemisia when she was six."
Artemisia blushed deeply, "Don' t remind me! Daddy grounded me for a week, and I couldn't even get to spend two minutes on the Albino's back!"
Sky examined a slip of paper Artemisia and Jake had made with the methods of convincing the Albino to let Spark ride him, but none of them had actually worked. The methods they had already tried were crossed out, plus a few comments made by them.
1-. Sympathy. Him? It's like asking a human to breath underwater!
2-. Fear. Not likely.
3-. Greed. Greed for what? He is a shark, for Kua's sake!
4-. Vanity. It's not like he's that pretty, is he?
5-. Revenge. Almost worked, but he caught on in the end.
6-. Bribing. We don't have seagull meat right now.
7-. Blackmailing. As if!
8-. Begging. Not in a million years! I'm not begging at that monster, if that's what he wants!
9-. Negotiating. He would have to be incredibly smart for that, and I doubt he reaches that level of intelligence!
10-. Break him in – ONLY IF DESPERATE!
"Bad news, Sparky," Sky sighed. "There's only the tenth option left."
"I'm dead fish," the mermaid whimpered, "Bluetail, if I don't survive this, you can keep Sharky."
Jake suppressed a laugh.
Just what she needed! Would Emperor Shaga be mad if he learned she had broken in his shark? But then again, he had said she would have to do what he had to do… and what else could it have been?
Gulping, Spark snuck up behind the white shark, waving her tailfin as less as possible, so that he would not hear her. Ariel gasped, Bluetail started nibbling on his fins, Jake's heart was beating so hard he was sure it would burst out of his chest at any moment, and Artemisia stared nervously as the mermaid approached the shark from behind- Jake had previously taught her the customary way of taming a shark should they have to use the tenth option of the list.
Sneak up on the shark, quickly swim to his back without getting too close to his teeth, and then cling to his back without falling from his back.
"Okay…" Spark gulped for the fifth time in that day, "Here I come…"
Before the Albino could react, the mermaid swiftly swam to the monstrous shark's back and clung to his saddle. When the white shark realized what was going on, he let out a screeching roar and started whipping and twirling around, intending to shake the mermaid from his back. The others swam away in shock, watching as Spark struggled to even keep her hold on the saddle.
The Albino was completely outraged; the other sharks, knowing that when he was angry he didn't hesitate to kill whatever he had in front, attempted to get free of their binds to swim away. It was the first time Ariel and the others (minus Jake and Artemisia) had seen a shark afraid of something.
Spark desperately attempted to keep her hold on the saddle, but her hands were already slipping, and to her horror, she soon saw the pole in which his reins were tied was breaking…
Finally, it snapped in two, freeing the white shark from its bindings.
Sky fainted due to all the stress upon seeing the pole snapping, but Bluetail and Flounder caught her as she floated down.
Jake and Spark prayed the Albino would not realize he was free, but fate wasn't looking favorably at them; The Albino realized he was free and, grinning maliciously, he quickly swam away with the speed of a harpoon being thrown at full force.
"Well, that was quite a show…"
The group nearly got a heart attack when Jaskket's voice joined their conversation; Artemisia gave him a small glare.
"Commander!" she snapped, "Don't do that!"
"How much time have you been watching us?" Bluetail added, pointing an accusing fin at him.
"It's been a while now," Jaskket chuckled, "I can't believe that girl had the guts to actually attempt to break The Albino in."
Artemisia sighed in dismay, "My father sent you to keep an eye on us, didn't he?"
"Yes, and no. Emperor Shaga told me to watch and inform him what happened with the girl, but I decided to watch a little more when I saw what you were up to."
"Can we talk later?!" Jake yelled, earning everyone's attention, "Spark was carried away by that… monster!" Jaskket stared dumbfounded at him, "Yes, I'm offensive!"
"Come on, Jake," Jaskket simply said, "That girl's apparently been through worse situations. What could possibly happen to her… besides being teared to shreds?"
"Albino, stop!" Spark cried out in desperation, "You're going too fast!"
The white shark, of course, did not listen. He was pushing himself at the extreme, swimming at his top speed, leaving a trail of bubbles behind him. Instead of simply shaking the mermaid off, like he initially intended, he decided to scare the heck out of her as a warning.
Spark could feel her hands finally giving away, her arms were aching like never before in her life, and she though her fingers would start to bleed due to the pressure in her knuckles for trying to hold onto the saddle. She panicked when the Albino leaped from the surface of the ocean, drilled through a giant wave and then dove back into the waters, swimming deeper and deeper.
"How could Emperor Shaga actually tame you?!" the mermaid cried in exasperation, "He'd had to be incredibly strong back then!"
Her terror began when the shark started shaking and twirling around again to make her fall; this time, however, her fingers finally gave away from their aching, and she was literally thrown from the Albino's back and into the ground, knocking her head against one of the rocks. Before everything went black, the last thing Spark saw was the Albino swimming menacingly towards her, a murderous glint in his crimson eyes. She was sure he would devour her.
The Albino grew worried when the mermaid knocked her head against one of the rocks and lost consciousness; he swam closer to her and nudged her arm softly. There was no response. He nuzzled her shoulder, but she limply fell to the sandy ground. He had not meant to hurt the girl, he just wanted to scare her and give her a lesson. However, he did not like her a bit, no sir. He just didn't want to lose his newest caretaker… again. Although his master never showed signs of anger when the Albino injured or devoured the caretakers he deemed 'unfit' for himself, he never liked stressing his master out.
Letting out a breath, the Albino carefully put his nose under the mermaid's waist and lifted her from the ground; he then pushed her into his back, and after making sure she would not fall from the saddle, he turned around and swam away in the direction of Atlantica.
The group had set out to search for both the Albino and Spark on Jessop and Jaskket's shark, Sherkana, with the Commander accompanying them. Artemisia had not been allowed to go, and Sky had to return to the Orphanage to finish her work and chores. It was only Jake, Ariel, Flounder, Bluetail and Commander Jaskket.
Ariel and Flounder were riding with Jaskket, but she was nervous wherever the female shark gave her a glare; the only reason she had allowed her and Flounder on her back was because that's what her master wanted. Bluetail was swimming by their side, a worried look on her face.
"When I find them, the first I'm going to do is to kill that shark!" Bluetail snapped in frustration.
"Count me in," Jake muttered under his breath.
"Careful with your tongues," Jaskket warned them, "It's Emperor Shaga's mount you're talking about."
"I don't care!" Bluetail replied, "If he laid a fin on Sparky, I'll add him to my black list!"
"Commander, I don't mean to complain, but…" Ariel was hesitant on speaking, "Why couldn't I have brought a seahorse? It's not that I doubt your skills as a rider, but I don't feel comfortable on a… shark."
Jaskket simply rolled his eyes, "Unless you wanted to see a massacre, I think you should not even think about it."
"What's that?" Flounder pointed at something, or rather someone, in the distance. It seemed like something was swimming towards them very slowly; Jake narrowed his eyes, trying to identify the creature.
Ash-white color.
Scars all over its back…
Very large…
IT could only mean something…
"SPARK!"
Jessop, at his master's command, swiftly swam towards the approaching Albino, soon followed by Sherkana and Bluetail. What they saw shocked them.
The Albino was carrying Spark.