Todlich Unterwasser Gefahr (Deadly Underwater Danger-Pt. 11)
18:10 Aug 21 2010
Times Read: 621
Chapter 4 – Dip Into Darkness
“Again,” the steel growl of his tormentor’s voice sang. “Again, what are you waiting for? The tide will turn before you get this right and I was looking forward to going back home before long.”
“Perhaps I don’t wish to be left alone any longer,” Neil griped. He twisted the strange medallion he had woken with restlessly as he looked around.
They were certainly under the surface of the water. This bastard had been his only company for far too long to remember. The days kept slipping past without freedom or any sign that other life existed. Who the hell did this stupid Mer think he was chaining him to a damn rock and running off every night? He would leave him an ‘assignment’ and go home to his wife and kids. His tasks were never easy to fulfill either. They were ridiculous.
“I can’t take you from this spot. Chrisim has forbidden it,” the Mer stated softly. “Look, just finish your task on your own. I will come again in the morning.” Neil started to call him back, but the damn fish swam away too fast to say anything to him at all. Great...
“What the hell is this thing anyhow?”
Neil brushed his hand along the coil of ropey, scaly something that he was supposed to be tying around him in a form of makeshift harness. It moved. Neil screamed and ended up flat on his backside with sand shifting and settling in the water around him. A thing that seemed to be some odd variety of eel slithered up from the spot where the rope harness had fallen.
“He has had me playing with a sea creature all day? The bastard could have told me it was alive before we got started,” Neil swore as it circled him curiously. “I am not one to hate things very often, but if you bite me…we are going to have an issue.” The thing settled closer to him and wrapped itself into the harness he had been trying to tie for hours. It immediately became an inanimate object instead of a sea creature. “What the heck? Is this thing enchanted, or something?” Instantly, more eels began to swim in from the dark water around him and circle slowly.
It was the oddest sensation he had ever felt watching them. They were long and thin with dark hanging tissue that made them look as if they were rotting, but their eyes were bright and electric lights in the darkness. The fins looked dangerous, but when one brushed against him all he felt was soft and feathery. It turned to look at him afterward.
What were they doing? Neil had the feeling they were judging whether or not he was worthy of them. The harness was a thin, supple rope that hummed and glowed in almost a silvery metallic fashion. It was pulsing with energy against his skin. When he slid his palm over it, it glowed brighter.
The strange creatures swimming around him pulsed with electrical charges and darted off. Neil swore suddenly worried that the one on his chest would electrocute him. That certainly explained why they thought he should tame the damn things.
A bubble of air began to rise from the sand beneath him. Chained as he was to the rock, Neil could only wait for it to grow around him. A dark shape swam up to the distorted edge of it when it encompassed him. It looked like the Mer had returned.
Only it wasn’t his tormentor, Neil saw in surprise when the creature grew legs and walked into the air pocket as naked as the day he was birthed. It took him a moment to drag the hair inside. It was dark black with shades of midnight blue, sky blue and baby blue highlights in it. His casualness about the lack of clothing was interesting and Neil could not help noticing that he had nothing to be ashamed of. This Mer was nicely proportioned if thin-boned and tall. He was definitely not proportionate with the item dangling down from his groin. He was huge. As preoccupied as he was with gathering his hair into the circle, he didn’t notice Neil’s attention had wandered to his anatomy. When he was done, he tapped the edge of the water and air. It solidified into ice.
“Sorry, I didn’t want anyone to hear me talking to you. I appreciate that you didn’t give me away,” the Merman stated softly. “Don’t shout and the ice will muffle the sounds. Why are you down here?”
“Because an idiot stabbed me and threw me into the lake,” Neil stated grumpily.
“Chrisim has expressed an interest in you. He is teaching you about the tai’men.” The Mer pointed to the harness. “Only rare creatures can manipulate them. They were created by Lo’Kai…Prince Loquar, but most people call him Loki. They sting deeply and are highly poisonous, but also very loyal.”
“What happens if one stings you?”
“You die,” the Merman stated bluntly. “Only a few are able to pass the poisons out of their bodies. I would be surprised you were touching that one without it getting aggressive if I hadn’t seen you calling it.” I must have looked confused. “You were pulsing with electricity. The tai’men love that. Energy manipulators are not exactly a dime a dozen. What fool would try to kill you?”
“A vampire,” Neil answered without thinking about it. The Mer nodded silently. He moved closer as if he had been invited to a simple tea party. Neil didn’t get any funny vibes about him, so he sat down on the rock and allowed the Merman to sit on the sand at his feet as the air began to warm up around them. “What are you doing here? I am not complaining, or anything,” Neil hurried to explain when the Merman’s brows rose in surprise. “I just got the impression Chrisim didn’t want anyone being near me. I take it he is pretty important down here.”
“Chrisim is one of Loki’s spawn, so yeah…he is pretty important. He isn’t the oldest or most powerful Mer around here, but no one ignores him when he says something.” The Mer’s eyes were dark blue with traces of white lights shining up within them. He was pale white, normal white. His lips, though, were like Chrisim’s. They were black with that dark blue in the centers tracing out like chapped lips when they turn colors from lack of moisture. “Kri’sier, but you can call me Sierre,” the Merman stated holding out his hand politely.
Without thinking, again…Neil reached out to clasp the offered hand in friendship. It yanked. He ended up with sand all over him, clinging to the dampness of this clothing and flesh as he hit the ground and turned to get himself into a more comfortable position. “Thanks, I needed that,” Neil growled grumpily.
The Mer chuckled. “Sorry, I hate it when people lord themselves over me. Let me help…” He touched Neil on his face and there was a sensation. It was like being wrapped in a warm bath that was moving over your skin leisurely. It was intoxicating and comforting. He shivered when it receded. “Better?”
Neil cleared his throat glad that one of them was wearing clothes. “Sort of…” The sand was no longer an irritant, but the creeping awareness in his groin was irritating. The Mer hid a grin and looked a little surprised by his gruffness.
“Mer don’t really find other males attractive, you know,” Sierre stated softly. “I think of it as a compliment, but it is…a little strange.”
“Trust me, I am harmless. You are too damn big to interest me in that way even if I did decide to test the theory.”
Sierre’s eyes got wider. “Really,” he drawled thoughtfully. “How much smaller would interest you? Mer also have the unique ability of changing their…ah…size down there when not walking around with legs. Not that I am suggesting you try it, but I have always been curious myself. Did you know a Mer can breed eight female simultaneously? Just an interesting fact…and now you will be wanting to see me all turned on in fish tails,” he teased. “If you have never seen Mer breeding, it is something you will never forget. I promise. Of course, it might gross you out. You are after all a lander.”
“Did you just come here to see if I would let you fuck me?”
Sierre shrugged. It reminded me of a spoiled, rich kid with too much time and too little to entertain him. “I came because I was bored and you are forbidden...I am bit of trouble myself. I never like being told what to do…or not to do."
"Won't you get punished if you are caught here? I mean, if I am 'forbidden' that kind of means someone will do something to you if you are caught, right?" I was wondering if he thought himself so important the punishment would never happen. If he was, then I was in serious trouble myself simply for having attracted his attention.
"I thought you might be up for some fun. Chained to that there rock being taught to jump through hoops isn’t much of a bright future. Is it?"
"Not really," I sighed. "I am getting sick of it."
"I can help alleviate the dullness if nothing else," Sierre offered looking sweet and innocent. I knew I was in for more trouble than he would be worth, but what else did I have to do? Jump through hoops? "You never know," Sierre said softly as if he wasn't really paying much attention to me, but I knew he was. "You help me out and I might find a way to help you too.”
Help me how? I wanted unshackled from this rock, but at this point nearly anything out of the usual endless tedium would be a welcome godsend. “Okay, what do you want? You ask and we will see.”
“I already asked a question. What size would a lander find ‘interesting’? I had not realized I was big enough to scare one with legs,” Sierre stated with a pleased smile about that idea. “I wouldn’t be happy about that if I couldn’t change to a smaller size, but as is…” He shrugged smugly.
“Ah, I don’t know. All of us are different,” Neil stated softly. “I guess you have to start out as small as you get and work your way up until you found your answer.” The new Mer looked thoughtful.
“I don’t like that idea. What if the lander thought me small and wouldn’t allow me to find that spot that was perfect for them?”
“Do you a particular lander in mind,” Neil asked curiously, “because now I know we are not discussing my ass,” he teased lightly. “I would be perfectly happy to let you find it slow, because I don’t like the idea of being hurt by that big an…item,” he finished lamely.
“Well, yes,” Sierre mumbled. “There is this girl…”
“Should I warn you that if she is my race and virginal she is off-limits unless she is your mate?” Sierre shrugged. “You already knew that. Great, then…Ask her. Let her see you and ask her if she wants you to shift and use a…smaller appendage…until you find the right size to suit her. That way she knows just how big you are, and that you can change it at will. That should impress her,” he added dryly.
“It impresses you,” Sierre stated with a happy little purr of delight. “It sounds like a good idea. Should I use my magic on her? You liked it.” Neil shrugged a little embarrassed about being reminded. “Yes, I think I should.”
“What else interests you?”
“Well, I want to know why Chrisim has adopted you into the clan, but I don’t suppose you know the answer to that. I would like to know how you can use energy and be so young, but I doubt you know that either. You are not a well of information, you know?”
Neil narrowed his eyes in irritation. “Neither are you…”
“Really,” Sierre asked with a curious face. He looked so innocent to have a mischievous, devil-may-care attitude. “What do you want to know?”
“Much the same as you do,” Neil answered sullenly. “You are curious just because you are. I am curious for a whole different set of reasons.”
“Oh,” Sierre mumbled thoughtfully. “I didn’t think of that. I guess if I were you, I would want to know.” He nodded. “I will try to figure it out. I would have anyhow, but now I have more motivation and I will tell you what I learn. Does that sound good to you?”
“Not if you go and get caught,” Neil warned. “They might not punish you, but I don’t think they would be so kind and considerate where I am concerned.”
“Why do you think they wouldn’t punish me?”
Neil shrugged again. “You don’t seem very worried about consequences?”
Sierre studied him for several minutes and nodded solemnly. “I won’t get caught. If I do, I will be careful not to think of you at all. Chrisim has never been able to read me well. A fact that drives him insane, I promise you,” Sierre added with a smile. “Out of the clan, only he can try. Unless Prince Loki returns, you are safe.” The cute little Mer rolled onto his stomach hiding his back and half of his ass in that mass of glorious hair. “Of course, if Loki returns…you are not safe at all. You do realize he would assume immediate ownership of you and do with you much as he pleased. I hear he is never very pleasant to outsiders, landers least of all.”
“Great,” Neil sighed. “How often does he come back?”
“Not very,” Sierre grumbled sullenly. “I never see him anymore. I can’t leave here to go looking for him either. They won’t let me and they say he would not be happy if he heard I wanted to do such a thing. He protects us, but he is never here. It sounds like stupidity to me. How can he protect what he won’t even visit?”
“Are you well…acquainted with your prince,” Neil asked warily.
“We all know him,” Sierre stated vaguely watching Neil’s face. “He has a son here. Did you really think I wouldn’t know him? I might not if I was several years younger. He has been gone away too long. I barely remember him at all,” he growled angrily. “Why should I obey someone who never even comes here anyway?”
“Because he protects you,” Neil suggested softly. Sierre snorted in derision. “Not good enough, I see. Okay, because he is millions of years old and can beat your ass senseless if you don’t do what he tells you to do when he tells you to do it?” Sierre gave him morbid eyes. “Hey, I don’t make the rules. I just try to survive by them.”
“Do you have some old ass dictating rules to you back home?”
“I used to,” Neil stated softly. “I am almost missing him. At least, I had company.”
Sierre nodded. “You have me now. I can come see you every night. No one pays attention to my nightly jaunts these days. They all know I am too restless to sit still,” he added unhappily, “and too smart to take off alone.” He sounded resigned to hell. Neil could understand that. He didn’t have much choice in the local either.
2009, (Jenna Karro). All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.
(Do NOT copy any of my journal without my permission!) Jenna Karro
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