The Little Rose

Protecting What's Mine

When the boat capsized, I felt my self being flung into the water and Orion’s warm, strong hand grasping at my arm, but at the same moment something wrapped around the opposite wrist and began pulling me down, towards the dark and cold abyss that was the ocean floor.

I tried to holler for Orion even as something wrapped around my free wrist, yanking me harder downward into the blackness below us.  I could feel my tail now fully transformed and tried to use its power to push up, back towards the surface but it was no use, my captors were stronger, at least together.

“Princess!  Calm down!  We’re trying to save you!”  I heard the voice clear as someone talking to me, but that wasn’t how sound worked in water… was it?

I turned my head to the side, towards where I hear the voice come from.  As I blinked my vision brightened and adjusted to the darkness around us.  There, beside me in the water, with one hand shackling my wrist and one around a long gold rod, was a tall man.  Though the large and powerful looking tail under him told me her was a merman.  His hair was long and straight and floating through the water around him like a green cloud surrounding his upper body, dry his hair to be at least as long as mine, reaching his waist.  His chest and stomach were completely exposed and covered in tattoos of varying shades of blues, greens and yellows, matching the colors of the scales in his tail and his glowing yellow and blue eyes.

“Odette, why are you fighting us?  We’ve been your guard since you were a guppy?”  Came a voice on the other side, making me whip my head around towards him, I saw my multi-colored braid float around me, slashing through the water with my quick head turn.

There, with his hand securing my other wrist was another merman, this one had shockingly white hair just as long as his companion, but his was braided to his head and in braids floating on the water.  Where’s the other merman’s skin had been pale like mine, this one’s skin was dark, like the bark on the trees on the island, a major contrast to the white tattoos all over his abdomen, chest and arms.  His tail was white and iridescent, like a pearl, with this odd almost jelly fish like tentacles floating from it, giving him a very royal like appearance.   But his most shocking feature was his eyes, white and metallic looking, seeming to take on the colors around him, now they were reflecting my purple, blue and pink hair, set in such a dark face they really stood out.

“What are you talking about?!  I don’t know either of you!  Release me!  Now!”  I shouted into the water, shocked when my voice actually sounded like words even through the water, must be a special mermaid talent, was all I could think.  I tried yanking my hands out of their grasps, but they just help me tighter, and a look between them showed they were frowning at each other, both clearly confused as to what to do next.  “I said release me!”

“I’m sorry Princess Odette, but that’s not possible.  You were in danger; we can’t let you go back to it.”  The green haired Merman said, swimming down, away from the surface and my Orion.  I pushed my tail back and forth, pulling against them, as I pushed up, head turned towards the surface, and tried yanking my arms from their grasp.

“Odette, stop!  Why are you fighting us?”  The dark merman demanded, yanking on my arm and pulling me towards him, his arm not holding me coming up to cup my cheek in his palm, his eyes searching me.  “Odette, what has happened?  Has he done something to you?”  His eyes narrowed dangerously as he glanced back towards the surface.  “If he has done something to you I will kill him.” 

“What?!  No!”  I shouted fighting harder, pulling against them with everything I had.  They couldn’t hurt him, they couldn’t touch Orion, he was mine. 

“Nullar, I don’t think she knows who we are?”  The green headed merman said from beside me.  Nullar glanced at him, and his brows drew down low over his eyes in frustration as his white gaze flickered back to me.

“Odette, is Xalter right?  Do you not recognize us, my love?”  At Nullar’s words my eyes grew wide, and I yanked my face away from his touch, backing away from him as far as his hold on my wrist would allow.

“No!  I don’t know either of you, my name is not Odette, it’s Roisin!  I am not your love; I am Orion’s, and he is mine.  Release me!”  I snarled, glaring at him as I attempted to yank my hands out of his hold.

“Nullar, what do we do?”  Xalter asked unsure from beside me.  I turned to glare at him and yanked my arm against his hold for good measure.

“You should let me go!”  I demanded.

“There’s Siler, maybe we should ask him?”  Xalter added hesitantly, seeming to shrink back when Nullar turned his white eyes on him, narrowing dangerously.   “I’m sorry your highness, but this isn’t exactly normal.”

“Hey, the human isn’t a human at all!”  Came a new voice from above us.  I looked up and watched as a third merman swam down to us before pulling to a stop in front of us, his glowing red eyes wide with worry.  “He’s a wolf.”

Siler was as tall as Xalter and Nullar, with long crimson hair that was braided back from his face in one long, thick braid that floated around him like a rope.  His skin was as pale white as my own with red and gold designs decorating his muscled abdomen and chest, his tail’s scales were the same colors, golden and crimson red.

“Why would a wolf capture a Siren?”  Xalter’s tone was laced with a mixture of worry and curiosity as he looked between the other two mermen with him.

“He didn’t capture me, he helped me.  He’s mine and I’m his.”  I repeated stubbornly.  “Let. ME. GO.”  I demanded again putting an emphasis on each world and glaring at each in turn.

“Wait, she’s fighting against us?”  Siler asked in surprise, his eyes going to the other man’s hands still on my wrists.

“Yes, she keeps saying she doesn’t know who we are, and she wants the wolf.”  Nullar spat the last word like a curse, clearly, he wasn’t a fan of wolfs.

“Well clearly she means more than breathing to him, look.”  Siler said as he pointed back towards the surface.  All four us turned towards the surface watching as what I assumed was Orion pushing through the water towards us.  My heart squeezed as I watched him risk his life to save me.

“Good, I won’t have to break the treaty and kill him myself.  Let’s go, we’ll get Princess Odette to the healers, they’ll fix whatever that wolf did to her.”  Nullar said as he dove down once again, pulling me deeper and further away from Orion. No, they couldn’t do this, my place was with him, I knew it deep in my heart.  My very soul cried out for him.

“I said NO!”  Screaming the words as I felt electricity flooding through my blood stream, shooting from my wrists and into my captors, causing both to cry out in pain and push back through the water, away from me.  Looking down at my hands I saw electricity jumping from one hand to the other. “That’s new.”  I whispered.

“Odette!  You’ve never used your powers on us before.”  Xalter sounded shocked and hurt as he rubbed his palm, pouting, as if I had been the one trying to drag him away against his will.  Glaring at him I lifted my right hand to face him, watching as his eyes grew why and he moved the gold rod in his hand to face me, seeming to take on a defensive position.

“I am not Odette, I am Roisin, and I will use any means necessary to get away from the likes of you!”  Snarling at him I focused on pushing the power I felt in my veins through my palms.  A bolt of what looked like lightening flew from my hand and straight at Xalter’s chest, but his rod was already spinning, cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter and reflected the bolt up, towards the surface.

“Princess!  Don’t’ made us use force!”  Nullar shouted from my side, but I turned my left palm on him and shot a second bolt, which he barely avoided.  “Damn it, Odette!”

“Just let her go!”  Shouted Siler, backing away from me, not that he had a thing to fear, I wasn’t going to attack the one who was willing to let me go.

“No!  She’d my fiancée, I’m not just going to let her go back to that animal, he could kill her… or worse.”  Snarled Nullar to the other two, who shared a worried look but nodded their heads in agreement.  “Now, we need to subdue her.”

Oh hell no.  I lifted both of my hands to wards Nullar and shot bolt after bolt at him, nicking him twice out of 5 shots, slowing him down and making him leak a white fluid from his tail.  Siler and Xalter rushed to him, giving me a wide breadth.  While they were distracted I shot towards the surface, as I neared it I saw Orion floating unmoving in the water.

“Orion!”  I shouted as I flew into him and pushed his weight towards the air, breaking the surface I hoped he’d take a breath, and when he didn’t, I frantically began searching for the boat.  When I caught sight of it, I swam over and attempted to push Orion into it, but it was almost impossible, I didn’t have the strength.  Just as I was going to break down and lose it, I felt something nudge me in the back.  Spinning around I was scared that the mermen had caught up to me, but instead it was Adrella.

"Why do you care for this land walker?"  She asked, nodding her head towards Orion.

"Because he is mine, and I am his.  I can't explain Adrella, and I don't have the time to now.  I have to get us out of here, they will kill him."  I rushed, trying again to push him up into the boat.  "He protected me because I was his, now I must protect him because he is mine."

“I can help, lay him out in the water to float, I’ll push up one side, you push up on the other.”  She said to me, before turning around and talking to another dolphin who’d come up with her this time.  They looked almost just alike except for the scar that stretched the entire length of his body from his blow hole to his tale.  “Rinus, you and Leema go around and brace the boat from the other side.”

“Thank you so much Adrella.”  I told her, tears in my eyes as we stretched Orion out the length of the boat.  I cupped one of his cheeks in my palm and leaned down to press my lips to his in a quick kiss before me and Adrella managed to push him into the boat.  “Thank you, all of you, so much!”  I told them even as I moved behind the boat to push us towards shore.”

“Anything for you, Princess.”  Adrella said happily, Rinus and Leema nodding their heads in agreement.

“Why do you and those mermen think I’m a princess?”  I asked incredulously.

“Because you are Princess Odette, daughter of the great God of the sea, Poseidon.”  Adrella said, before pushing out of the water and grabbing the rope tied inside the boat in her mouth and dragging it into the water.  “Rinus, grab the other side, we’ll pull, Leema, stay behind us and inform us if they get close.  Let’s go Princess, if you want to be with this human then that is your choice.”

With that I was pushing the boat, my powerful tail cutting through the water just as easily as the dolphins helping me get the boat to the beach, and help for Orion.