Berganashio - Chapter 14

Deep under the sea waters, on the sea floor, in Tilly’s bunker house, the four merfarie children enjoyed singing all sorts of songs. Cotton was delighted to hear them, as they had stayed at Tilly’s home for several days. All the while, Tilly continued to collect the luscious plants and feed them carefully through the transporting tubes to the other bunker houses. The tubes were only one-way, used to send whatever messages Tilly thought were important at the moment to the other seahorses.

The four merfarie children sat in a half circle around Cotton.

Cotton sat on his back two legs. “I’ve never had such fun in all my life!”

Pori smiled. “You are special. I’m glad we found you when we did!”

Tilly eyed Cotton and said, “In all my days… I never expected a sea-wolf to be in my very own cozy-comfy-squeaky-clean-bunker-house! I had my doubts and haven’t slept much since you’ve been here if I’m honestly-honest… but you seem alright after all!”

Bry started climbing all over Cotton. At this point, Cotten was quite accustomed to being a playground of sorts. Bry slid down Cotton’s back like it was a slide. “Weeeee! Hurray!”

Villi and Larkin started practicing their sword fighting skills with each other, except they were using flower stems as swords.

“Hiiiyaaa! Take take Larkin the loser!” Villi sliced at Larkin’s neck with her flower stem.

Larkin pretended to fall in defend, closing his eyes. Then, he did a backflip roll and charged at his sister wildly. “I shall not sleep in death. I rise again in victory and might,” he swung his flower stem through the water with quick energy.

Pori sat lounging. She watched the sword fight but then she’d look back at her other brother Bry who seemed to have endless energy as he yanked on Cotton’s ear for more attention from him.

All of the sudden there was a ground shaking boom. The merfaries, Cotton and Tilly all froze.

“What was that?” Larkin was the first to ask.

“An earthquake?” Villi questioned.

Bry screeched. “Eeek!”

Pori hopped up, grabbing Bry. “Whatever it was, it was intense,” Pori said worriedly, looking upwards.

They all stared up at the ceiling.

“It’s probably those evil sea-wolfs up there in their rotten ship!” Larkin sniffed.

“Oh, the blasted booms scare me out of my own sea-skin sometimes!” Tilly quickly piped.

Villi looked at Tilly closer. “You mean it’s happened before?”

Tilly nodded. “Ah yes, reckon several times in the last couple of months. It makes me jump every time. You’d think I’d be used to it now. But no…” He feverishly shoved another message through the tube system for the other seahorses.

Larkin kept thinking about the ship above them, floating on the water surface. “That ship has gotta go!”

“The ship isn’t the problem,” Pori answered.

Villi nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s the sea-wolfs that are destroying everything, not the ship.”

Cotton shifted, listening intently to the children. “I assure you, I hate what they do. And they have plans to eat or destroy all of the other creatures throughout the whole land. They are bloodthirsty and ruthless through and through!”

Tilly shuddered and felt his heart rate quickening at the thought of the sea-wolfs and their dastardly plans.

Cotton continued. “They were planning a land raid near where the meerbird burrow lands are. They wanted me to come on the raid… in order to ‘prove myself’ as a real sea-wolf.”

Bry climbed up Cotton’s front leg. “You’re the realest sea-wolf ever and my best friend now!” The littlest merfarie smiled joyfully.

There was a lull of silence, but then Larkin excitedly said, “I have an idea!” He started looking around the room. As he desperately searched the bunker house, he reasoned aloud, “The ship is not the problem exactly… but it does serve the sea-wolfs and their plotting and evil plans to destroy the other creatures. Right?” He glanced at his sisters. Not waiting for them to respond, he continued. “If we can destroy their ship, then we are also destroying their plans too!”

Pori had a reserved look on her face. “But Larkin, our parents didn’t send us on a mission to attack the sea-wolfs. He let us leave, knowing we were coming to visit Tilly.”

Larkin nodded, while still searching for something. “Right, we have visited Tilly, helped restock the food supply here, but there’s even more for us to accomplish on this trip!”

“We gonna burn the ship down?” Bry asked, feeding off his big brother’s energy.

Pori hushed Bry, “But Larkin the timing of it all…”

“The time is now!” Larkin said with fiery intensity in his eyes.

Tilly was starting to become annoyed because Larkin was groping through the rooms, looking through his stuff. “Stop! What ever do you need?”

“A makeshift battering ram!”

“What in tarnation-creation do you mean, you curly-headed-flighty-maniac?”

Villi stopped swimming for a moment. “Wait, what?”

Larkin nodded slowly. “Instead of burning the ship, we sink it!”

Suddenly, enlivened by the idea, Villi narrowed her eyes, “For once in your life Larkin… I think you’re brilliant!”

Pori glared at her sister, “Villi! No, this is just way too risky… And how would we have the strength, or force to ram something into the ship? What if it doesn’t sink? Don’t you two see that there are a lot of questions here? What if it doesn’t work?”

“Or, what if it does?” Larkin asked back. Looking at Cotton, “Besides, we aren’t just four merfaries, we have a massive sea-wolf on our side now, with brute strength!”

Cotton wasn’t sure whose side to take at the moment. He paused and then stated, “I do know that one side of the ship happens to be a lot weaker than the other due to some rotting parts of the old wood…” Cotton was feeling bolder by the moment. He understood Pori’s concerns as well though.

Larkin grinned. “It’s time we attack…instead of idly waiting for a perfect moment for who knows what.”

Villi agreed. “If it doesn’t work, then we can just sneak up and fly away. I just always remember that sea-wolfs are fast but they can’t fly like us.”

There were metal poles barring one of the windows in the bunker house. Larkin and Villi saw the poles at the same time and then they pulled them down. The ends were even sharper than they would have expected.

“Perfect!” Villi said.

“Tilly, these will be our battering rams,” Larkin stated without asking for them.

Tilly felt frazzled from all the noise and activity. “Eeek-squeakerton! My house! My protection!” He shook his head, but then stopped. Though he was grateful for the food supply the merfaries brought, he wanted his peace and quiet back. “Umm, yes, please take them! Consider them your parting gift, from me to you! Anything for you, for a good cause that is, or for wartime strategies… or for whatever on earth you like you’re gonna do with those poles! And Godspeed!”

The merfarie children grabbed their few items, Cotton carried the makeshift battering rams, as they were quite heavy. The five of them quickly exited the bunker house and wished Tilly a farewell. Tilly shut the door feverishly. He started working on sending an important message update to his fellow seahorses that he was just itching to send.

Read chapter 15 via the following link: