Stranded

I know I didn't make it clear in the last chapter, but this story is set in the past, in the 1880's.

A couple of you have told me that you don't like Erik so far. Heh, I have to agree. Bit of a dick, huh? I guess I should have warned you that Erik is going to be pretty bitter for the first part of the story. You would be too if you were used to sharing a bed with someone every night and then having to wait three months! He also has a history that we'll all learn about it due time. But you never know what a woman can do to someone…

Chapter 2

With a deep sigh and one last look at the approaching ship, Christine dove back underneath the water, her tail moving her as fast as she could go back to her kingdom, her home. She had become an expert recently at making her way back undetected. After all, it wasn't too hard, considering that everything was open-air (or, as it so happens, open-water) and that everyone could swim as far away as they wanted. There were no penalties or laws about how far away a merperson could go from the kingdom. In fact, if they so desired, they could just leave altogether.

However, there were rules against going to the surface. There were no set laws against it, and therefore no official punishments. Although if a youth got caught going anywhere close to the surface, the parents usually took it into their own hands in the matter of punishing the child.

The only person Christine knew of that came to the surface was herself... and she knew it was selfish, but she liked it better that way. It felt like she had a secret of her own to keep. She knew what the sky looked like and others didn't. She knew what it felt like to breathe air, to feel the wind on your face, to not be constantly surrounded by water, and others didn't.

She had never felt land, though. Anytime she had completely removed herself from the water was just when she was laying out in the sun on a rock. She had never gone to the shore of the island, simply because she wouldn't have been able to go very far just relying on the strength of her arms before she would have had to retreat back to the water.

Just as Christine was entering the kingdom, she felt a strong hand wrap about her upper arm and pull her behind a large building, sheltering them from prying eyes.

"Christine, you know you're not supposed to go to the surface. And especially now, with that ship approaching! You know what happened to your mother! Do you want that to happen to you? Do you know what that would do to the King, to your father?"

Christine snatched her arm away from him, glaring her childhood friend through narrowed eyes. "You don't have to tell me what happened to my mother, Raoul, I know. And besides, when she was killed, she was right against the edge of the ship. From where I was, you couldn't even see the people on board. I could barely make out what color the sails were. I just wanted to know what a ship looked like, that's all."

"That's all? You know that's not all, Christine. You want to know what humans look like. You're going to let them get closer and closer until one day they're going to spot you and kill you! Or, worse yet, capture you and take you to a… a… freak display or something! You're only seventeen, and you're too pretty to die young, Christine."

Christine sighed, crossing her arms across her chest. "You forget that I have something they don't have." She turned from him, swishing her tail a few inches from his face to create bubbles. "If they try to come near me," she continued, beginning to swim away, "I'll just swim away."

Raoul groaned, running his hands over his face before turning and swimming back to his home. He had known Christine since the day she was born, and they had always been best friends.

He had been just three when Christine was born, and, naturally, the entire kingdom was welcomed to come and meet the newborn. That had been the first time Raoul saw her. He would watch after her while she was still a baby whenever her parents were busy, and they quickly came to love Raoul as much as Christine did. The two of them spent most of their time together as children, dashing through the kelp fields and hiding amongst coral. They were still friends now, although to Raoul, Christine seemed to be growing distant recently. He could only hope that she would not do anything stupid.

As Christine swam away, her mind was calculating how soon it would be before the ship reached the island. It had been fairly far away, but depending on how strong the wind was going, they could reach the island by nightfall. She had no choice but to sneak to the surface again later that night to check their progress. She knew she was being silly, but this could be her one and only chance to ever see a human up close. That was one opportunity she wasn't willing to miss out on.

It was about 11 when Christine snuck from her chamber, silently moving through the halls of the great palace and then outside, moving quickly through the kingdom until she was on the outskirts, then began her long journey up. The ship had gotten much closer during the day. Although she had told Raoul that she was keeping her distance, she surfaced very close to the ship. It seemed some sort of party was going on, for there was much laughter and commotion above on the ship.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she found herself drawn to the boat. To her surprise, she found a small ledge on the side of the boat that gave her the perfect view. She rested her arms on the wood, peering inside at the scene.

There were men everywhere, some whose feet were very close to her face. This was closer than she had ever hoped to get to one human, let alone this many! While she knew she should be frightened, instead she was in awe at the sight of all of them

There were a few men in the center of the deck, dancing about and laughing. Off to the side were a few men with instruments, laughing as well and providing the music for the dancers. Everyone seemed to be laughing and drinking and singing, save for one man, almost directly across from her, leaning on the rail of the other side of the ship. At first, she feared he would see her, but then she figured that the angle of the ledge she was leaning on would keep her hidden, although she could see him perfectly. While he was not singing or dancing or making himself look like a fool like the others, there was a large smile on his face. His broad arms were crossed across his powerful chest, that Christine could see a bit of thanks to his white shirt that opened at the top.

But that wasn't the most interesting thing about the man. No, what Christine found the most intriguing about him was the stark white mask that covered half of his face. He was incredibly handsome even without the mask, she would say that, but the mask seemed to add to his mysteriousness. He gave off a vibe of power and control, and the mask only helped enhance that vibe. Christine found herself drawn to him, and her eyes were locked on him until the party finally died down, about an hour or two later.

Just as she was reluctantly pulling herself away from the ship, she heard something that would most certainly help her tomorrow. She heard a man that she could only assume was the captain tell someone else that they planned to sail just a bit closer tomorrow, and then possibly row in a little later, around evening. Even though Christine had told herself that one look at the humans would be enough, she knew now that it would not be. She would come tomorrow and watch as they rowed in and explored her island (for all the merpeople thought of the island as their island, since no one else knew of it), and soon they would be gone once they discovered that it was deserted.

Christine pushed away from the ship and hurried back to her kingdom, realizing that she had been away far longer than was originally intended. She found her mind wandering to the masked man. What was hiding beneath that white mask? Or did he wear it simply to add to his mystery? She was desperate to find out, although she knew she never would. Theories were already forming in her head of what might have happened to him. Burned by a falling rafter? Hot oil thrown on him by a previous lover? Crazy ideas were spurning in her head, ideas that she easily found herself believing.

She needed a little excitement in her life. It had been boring the past seventeen years, save for a few moments, both welcome and unwelcome (such as the death of her mother). This much excitement, she knew, would be enough to last her at least a year.

She settled back into her shell, pulling the lid shut. Everyone slept in these oversized clam shells, to keep them from floating away as they slept. As the darkness came over her, Christine's mind was filled with mystifying images of a strange masked man…

Darkness was just beginning to fall, and whispered curses could be heard throughout the ship from the captain. There were treacherous looking clouds looming in the sky, and a storm right now could be extremely dangerous, considering how close they were to the island, and, especially, to the rocks he knew were acting like a halo to the island.

A storm was the last thing he needed right now, especially since most of the men on the ship, including himself, were still hung-over from the night before.

Most of the men onboard were already asleep for the night, even though it was barely evening. A few stayed awake, whether to keep watch or just because they didn't feel like sleeping. Destler was one of the ones that just didn't want to sleep.

He was leaning against the edge of the ship, his eyes scanning the island up ahead. How was it that there were no docking stations? Was it such a remote island that they would have to row in? It was barely eight o'clock and still, he could see no one on the shores of the island.

Perhaps this was just the dud side of the island. Besides, he could see rocks close to the shore, so that was probably why there were no docks on this side.

What he didn't know, however, was that those rocks came out further then anyone believed.

In fact, although they were still a good half mile away from the island, they were beginning to get dangerously close to some deadly rocks.

And if that weren't bad enough, at that exact moment, a lightning bolt lit up the sky.

Immediately, shouts could be heard from everyone that was awake, and preparations for a storm began. All the sleeping crew were woken up and they, too, began helping, while the captain started to shout orders over the chaos. A growl of thunder sounded, and quite suddenly, the rain began. It was slow at first, a few droplets here and there, but it quickly escalated into a full out downpour.

Erik was running around, securing cords and barking orders to those who were doing essentially nothing to help. Storms at sea could be fatal, everyone knew that, but storms this close to the island and to the rocks could mean certain death to them all.

As he turned, he cursed under his breathe him he realized that the sails were still full. "Take them down, take them down! Now! NOW!" His shouts were, however, drowned out by another roar of thunder and a massive wave overtaking the ship.

Then, the unthinkable happened. A sudden strike of lightning hit the mast, and the force was so powerful the large wooden pole cracked and split from the ship, falling onto its side. The lightning caused a fire to start, despite the rain and wind. The flames spread quickly, and as Erik looked around, he could already see several lifeless bodies on the deck of the ship. The captain was shouting orders to abandon ship, to lower the lifeboats and climb aboard those.

But Erik couldn't leave until he was sure that the ship was empty. Fighting his way through the flames, he made it to the sleeping quarters, checking for any that were hiding or, somehow, still asleep.

When he was satisfied that the ship was empty, he left the sleeping quarters, only to be faced with a bigger fire than before. It was taking over the entire ship, and the only way to the sea was through some of the flames.

Just at that moment, a severe wind blew out the glass behind him, and one of the shards cut across his side. Destler groaned, his hand flying to his side. He cursed as he noticed that the cut seemed to be rather deep. He made his way through the flames, trying to hop to spots that did not have much fire, until he was by the side, getting ready to hop off and climb onto the lifeboats with the crew.

Thanks to the storm, the ship had been thrown way off course. Too late did Erik notice the rocks behind all the tiny boats the men were in. They were thrown against the rocks violently, and all went beneath the water. He could only hope that they would be able to surface again.

As he was preparing to jump ship, one of the two remaining standing masts snapped. Erik didn't see it until the last moment. It hit him across the head and he felt himself falling off the ship, darkness coming over him.

Christine knew even before she neared the surface that a powerful storm was happening. She swam to the surface as quickly as her pink tail would take her, praying that everyone was safe.

What she saw when her head came above the water was frightening. The main mast had already broken and was laying on its side, and the entire ship was going up in flames. She could see boats nearing the rocks that carried the crew. Oh, thank goodness, they were all safe! Her eyes scanned them all for the masked man, but to her dismay, she could not spot him. Perhaps she was just skipping over him?

She saw the rocks before the boats hit. A small gasp could be heard and, forgetting all cautiousness, she dashed to the boats to warn them to watch out. She didn't make it in time.

The boats were smashed violently against the rocks, and even over the whipping wind, the pouring rain, and the crackling fire, she could hear cracks amongst the rocks. She swam towards them, looking for any moving bodies… but there were none.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a falling figure from the debris. Turning, she saw a splash in the water, and as she dove under, she saw the masked man… bleeding, motionless, and sinking quickly.

But something in her told her to save this man. He could not possibly be dead, not from that cut in his side. Christine dove under the water, making a mad dash for his sinking body.

As she neared him, she did not hesitate to wrap her arms about his shoulders, and beginning to tug him to the surface. He was heavier than she would have imagined, so it took a bit of effort. Thank goodness for the storm, or else all of the blood could have possibly attracted sharks.

It took a good ten minutes to reach the island. The storm seemed to have just gotten worse. Lightning and thunder were very close together, and the rain was harder than it had been before. Christine did her best to drag the stranger onto shore, even though at one point she had to let him go and use her arms to drag her further up onto the shoreline, before pulling him up farther.

Even then, his feet were still in the water. He was laying out in the open, and Christine knew he needed shelter and for someone to look at his wound, to make sure it did not get infected or that he did not lose too much blood.

One look down at her tail and Christine knew what she had to do. But could she? How did it work? She had never done this before… and no one had exactly explained how it worked…

So she closed her eyes and imagined herself with legs, willing everything she had into giving herself legs. Suddenly, an excruciating pain began to spread, from the tip of her tail and moving up to her waist, where the tail ended. She felt as if she were being ripped in two, like there was a fire raging in her tail. A scream left her lips, and she buried her face in her arms, lying motionless on her stomach. It took a few moments for the pain to become bearable enough to begin to move again. As she lifted her head, she was amazed at what she saw.

Where there was usually a pretty pink tail and fins were now two legs. Legs! They seemed incredibly long to her, and strange looking, with weird things at the bases that she believed to be called feet. A sort of skirt that cut off at her upper thigh covered her lower half, and while it looked like a skirt to anyone else, underneath were a type of shorts that connected so that she would be able to move more freely and not completely expose herself.

Christine could not take time to admire her new legs for too long, however, for she knew she had to do something to save this masked man.

Her hands found the sand and she slowly pushed herself to her feet, only to wobble helplessly and have to grasp a tree for support. Now, how well could this work? Thankfully, she noticed that she would not have to build any sort of shelter. From where she stood she was not getting wet, and as she looked up, she noticed the sort of canopy that these short trees provided.

Mustering all her strength, she moved to sit on her 'knees' and grabbed the man from underneath his arms, pulling him up to be in the shelter of the trees.

The wound in his side only seemed to be getting worse, for by this point, practically his entire shirt was covered with blood. With nimble fingers, she pulled his shirt from his trousers and pulled it off his arms, lifting him up as best as she could so that she could get the fabric underneath him and make a type of bandage, one that would suffice until the rain subsided.

Once upon a time, she knew that people used to live in a village that was further inland. It was deserted now, but Christine had a hunch that there would still be supplies there, supplies that she could go and get once the storm had passed.

For now, all she could do was wait. Her new legs still hurt from the transformation, and she knew that she wasn't near ready to switch back to a mermaid again. Besides, he was going to need her help, he was going to need food and water and medical supplies once the storm died.

Christine laid down on the dry sand, letting her eyes close. Although she had not intended to fall asleep for fear that the human would wake before her, within minutes, she had slipped into the dark peacefulness of sleep.