Tidal Waves

I can hear them muttering to themselves about what to do with me. They've spend years hunting me, trying to lure me into the cove with coins and gems found in their drying mines. I am not a pig that obediently follows the thought of a carrot, however.

Nonetheless, they ignore me in the dark corner where I slump. I search for the moonlight, seeing it as a privilege my captors have come to underestimate, but also as the only constant factor in my life before and my life now.

It reminds me of home.

"....I've had enough, Elaria! I want it killed by morning."

Their voices wail through the heavy stone walls. I don't recognise the male, but the defensive shouts of the female make me think. Her sound is small, young, but confident and proud.

Royal and privileged, probably. She thinks that she will save my life; that she can challenge Fate and force my undying loyalty.

She overestimates herself.

There is a slam of the main door of the dungeon, and silence returns until I hear Elaria sigh. I hold my breath while I imagine her figure coming down the crooked stone hallway. I can just make out her standing outside the iron bars that trap me here.

I listen to her contemplating; perhaps she thinks me asleep, unaware of their earlier discussion.

"...I brought some water, if you'd like it."

I feign sounds of stirring and stretch in my cramped corner of shadows.

"Sorry..I couldn't tell if..." She trails off, and I hear her unscrew a waterskin and take a sip. "Please have some, I know being on land for so long can take its toll on you, especially in the summer months."

I suppress a snort. Yeah, no shit.

"I'm sorry that they treat you so horribly...If you need anything or..."

She doesn't hear me pull myself over to her outstretched hand, I realise, because she flinches away from the bars. I sniff the liquid, just in case. From what I can tell, it's free of poisons, though I doubt a human princess would know how to kill someone, let alone someone of value to her.

I drink, and am surprised at how quickly I had forgotten the cool sting of water in my throat. Three days here and my memory of my birthplace, my blood's truest essence had begun to fade. I am grateful for her kindness, but I know there is always a price.

"What do you want from me?"

My voice is crystal clear again; I made sure not to speak much in order to preserve what water I could, so my ability to communicate must be a shock to her.

"Nothing, please, I hate their cruelty to you." Her eyes dart around as she speaks, unsure of herself. The moonlight casts an eerie light on her face while somehow leaving mine in complete darkness.

I spare myself a moment to laugh, deep and chesty. My gills flutter with the thrill of emotion.

"Don't humour me, Princess. We both know there's something you want that only I can provide. No one helps a Siren because they hate cruelty."

A beat. I see her straighten, harden her jaw and with narrow eyes, the innocent girl vanishes into the moon's memory. She looks right at me, features harsh and cold as she smirks.

Then, she speaks.

"You're right. Of course you're right. You've heard what my brother wishes to do to you. He wants you killed to send a message to the rest of your kind. You are unwelcome pests, and to be honest, I would have ended you right now if I hadn't been informed of our new experiments."

She stalks closer.

"You see, there's something incredibly curious about your voice. It appears from our research that you have inherited a particular kind of magic that could...assist us."

"Enlighten me." I snarl.

"Gladly. You are connected to moon magic. This is rare in itself, but what is more interesting to us is that you have the ability to not only charm people, but continue to control them in death."

I have two options, I realise.

1) To charm her, get her to release me and go straight back home, or

2) Find out what else she knows about my magic, and somehow convince her to make a deal.

Risk my life, my freedom, in hopes to understand a power I had no idea about?

Not today.

I scream, the sound shrill and petrifying for even my own ears. But it represents my anguish, the pain of being trapped here for almost a month. Tested, and trialled by so many "scientists," all in an act to control my people.

The princess' howls harmonise with my own. I am subconsciously using her own water heart against her. You see, even humans are connected to my world, which is why my power wounds them so deeply. I could charm her, force her to drown herself or even get her to commit arson and crown me Queen.

But those things are of no value to me.

So I continue, now standing and morphing myself so I can step through the bars of my prison. She has sunk to her knees, withering under my power and the weight of death's suffocating grasp. I levitate down the hallway until I reach the dusky lights of the village. Tranced and weakened, she follows.

Other humans have not heard my wailing, such is the intricacy of my voice. I selected a frequency unique to only us, since she clearly possessed more siren knowledge than many of the townsfolk. We are more alike than she realised, and that is dangerous.

These people do not notice as I drag their princess across pebblestones. They give no second glances in the darkness as I become unholier than their fables and myths led them to believe. I am without form, only power and water, glowing with the reflection of stars and the wisdom of the moon.

She does not struggle as I hold her underneath the waves that advance willingly. And I do not care to stop the kelp leaves that come to bind her wrists and pull her toward their rocky prison.

Before I follow into the early morning hours, I pivot to observe the town for the final time.

I might return, but they will not remember me. I let out a whisper of a tune, just enough to enter the sleepers' dreams, the morning workers' memories. A warning, to not challenge the guardians of the great ocean's secrets ever again.

And then I am gone, my footsteps' mark on the sand replaced by the Siren's symbol; a trident.

~