A Love So Deep: Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Author's Note:  Based on the likes I'm not sure this one is hitting the mark.  I'll give it another chapter or two and see where it's at.

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The merman produces a hook with a bladed inner edge and I instinctively draw away from it.  He hooks it into the wrappings starting at my shoulder and begins drawing down along the side of my body. I feel the bindings loosen one wrap at a time, which I can see now is some sort of thick fibrous seaweed, until he makes it to my ankle and sets me free.  I push the bindings away from me and spread my legs to free myself completely.  I look down at my hands and chest to see that I am unharmed.  I still had my clothes on though the weights had been removed.  I lay a moment, taking big gulping breaths of water and thanking the heavens above and hell below for still being alive.  I didn’t know which was responsible but right now I didn’t care.  I kick out and over the struts that held me in the center of this bed-table thing and fall to hard rough textured floor below.  There…I break down.

Curled up on the floor I huddle against the piece of furniture I had just come from, cover my face, and weep like a babe.  All of the terror and stress of everything that had happened between the deck of that cruise ship and here coming out in a tsunami of emotion.

“Get up human!”  Haali urges me.

“Leave it be.”  The woman says.  “Give it a moment to grieve its old life.”

“Fine.”  He replies.  I startle and let out sobbing yelp as his hand feels along my neck.  I do not resist him though I did not welcome his clammy touch.  My eyes tightly closed I tremble in fear.  “If it shows any difficulty breathing be sure to send for me at once.”

“Of course.”  She says.

“I’ll need it alive for maybe a month or two.  I’ll come by whenever I can to check on it and perform my tests.”  His hand was gone but I knew he still hovered over me.  Despite this communication not being sound based it behaved like sound.  Voices got louder and quieter based on distance and tone, and even the turning of a head reduced the volume slightly.  

“And then what?”

“Then what?”

“After your month or two.”

“Mmm.  I should be done with it.  The enchantment will fade eventually.”

“Fade?”

“Yes.  It’ll be long enough for my purposes though.  I can get a new subject when I am ready for further experimentation.”

My fate was only on a reprieve then.  I curl up tighter, cry harder, and cover my ears, though it did nothing to stop their voices.

“I see.”  Nanea says coolly.

“Gah!  I still cannot believe it worked first time.  I am a…genius.”  

“So humble too.”

“And what incredible luck!  A human!”  He strokes my shoulder causing me to turtle up more as I pull from his unwanted physical contact.  “I cannot thank you enough Nanea.”

“You are correct there.  You cannot.”

“So what are you thinking?  You say two years isn’t enough.”

“Two extra years on top of the three you already promised me after your apprenticeship, and a favor.”  She says flatly.

“A favor?”

“Yes.”  Her tone made it clear that she would hear no argument.  “A favor of my choosing.  At a time of my choosing.  It may be soon, it may be many years from now, but I will ask a favor of you and you will do it.  No questions asked.”

“If my Master finds out that you and I…”  His voice fades off.

“You came to me.”

“Fine, fine.  You’ll have me.  Just…be reasonable.”

“I will not ask anything of you that you cannot provide me.”  She says.  “In the meantime you’ll be covering expenses.  Twenty silver shards a day…”

“A day!?”

“I cannot keep it in the common rooms now can I?”  Her smooth powerful voice is calm yet with eddies of darkness swirling just beneath the surface.  “You came to me through the back door, not the front.  And it is secrecy you want.  This means it is Clutch business.  That does not come cheap.”

“Of course.”  He sighs.  “That is nearly half my allowance.”

“Good thing you are so committed to your craft.”

“Fine, fine, yes.  Twenty a day.  But I have access to it whenever I want.”

“Within reason.”

“Within reason, sure.”  He says.  “I can leave sleep serum, although until I do more tests I really don’t know how much is needed.  The thing keeps waking up.”

“I do not think that will be necessary.” She replies, I could feel her alien eyes on me.  “It appears harmless enough.  It’s been searched for weapons?”

“It had nothing but the weights on its limbs, the clothing, and a pendant.  The weights I took off for the trip.  The pendant isn’t magical or technological.”

At the mention of my grandma’s silver necklace I feel at my neck to find it indeed missing.  The only thing I feel is the half inch wide metal ‘torque’ that I surmise is the thing keeping me alive.

“You have it?”

“Back at the lab.”

“Bring it with you the next time you visit.”

“Why?  It is just a trinket.”

“Because I wish it.”

Another pause.  “Very well Mistress.”

“How long have you had it already?”

“A day and a half.”

“Have you fed it?”

“Um…no.”

“Do you even know what it eats or what it needs?”

“Well…no.  Not precisely.”

“Spirits below.”  She sighs.  “I should have left it with you.  Your negligence would have surely finished it.”

“The enchantment aids with hydration.  I’m not sure if it’s enough though.  One of the many things I need to find out.”

There is a silent moment, I could feel a slight waver of motion through the water.  “I’ll take care of everything from here.”  She says.  “If it stays here it is by my will.  This arrangement gives you no special access or privileges.  You are not one of us yet Haali.”

“Understood.  Great.  Agreed.”  He says.  “Oh Nanea!  This is so…exhilarating!”

“Only for you, genius.”

“This magic could make me a very wealthy man Nanea.  I won’t forget my friends along the way.”

“Indeed.”  Her dubiousness sang through that single wry word.

“I have to get back.  Master returns today.”  He says.  “And I have so much reading to do before I even begin with this.”  He touches my foot and I recoil from him with a frightened whimper, continuing to fold in on myself as I try in vain to block all of this insanity out.  I keep telling myself that this can’t be happening even as it did.

“Go then young Haali.  Just drop off your problem at my doorstep and run along.”

“Thank you!”  He says, completely missing her sarcasm.  “Thank you great Mistress.  I will never forget this.”

“You really are leaving already?”  She says, half flabbergasted and half amused.  “Unbelievable.”

“I have to.  Master will be expecting me when he gets home.”  He says.  “If it does manage to remove the torque or get itself killed hold onto the body for me at least.”

“If the Swarm come looking for it I will give it to them.”

There is long pregnant pause before he says grimly.  “I know.”

“I will harbor it for you.  I will keep it secret and do my best to keep your involvement quiet.  But I will not put my people at risk for you.”

“Understood.”  He says.  “It’ll be fine.  Nobody knows its here.  I’ll be back in…two days.  We can discuss this more then.”

“Very well.”  She says.  “And Haali.”

“Yes?”

“If you ever undermine me or try to use Ellerie to manipulate me again…”  The unspoken threat hangs over the room like a pall.  It chilled me to the bone and it wasn’t even directed my way.

“Of course.”  The apprentice mage says in deference.  “My apologies Mistress.  Forgive me.  It will not happen again.”

I open my eyes in time to see Haali bowing low and kissing the woman’s hand.  Mistress Nanea commanded the center of the room, an office or study of some sort, with a majestic presence.  From my place on the floor she appeared as a towering titan.  It was hard to tell from my angle but she looked to stand close to seven feet tall and that was with much of her height slithering along the floor in eight serpentine appendages.  Like Ellerie her bottom half was that of a great cephalopod.  Her long writhing crimson tentacles spread out from her waist like some living grand ball gown.  She was grotesque, she was terrifying, she was intimidating, and she was enchanting, each in equal measure.

She lets Haali pay his respect to her then reaches back to pull a rope that hung down from the ceiling.  At first nothing seems to happen, but just a few moments later a knock comes to the door.

“You may enter Ellerie.”  Nanea says.

The door opens and in swims a glum looking Ellerie.  When she sees me huddled on the floor but still alive her sullenness turns to curiosity.  Meanwhile Haali had returned to the table and was collecting up the cut bindings and apparatus that kept me centered on the table’s surface.  “Now you be a good little human.”  He says to me in a tone one might use with a child.  “And I will be back to see you very soon.  We’re going to get to know each other oh so well.”

“Haali is leaving.”  Nanea tells Ellerie.  “See him out and return to me.”

“Yes Mistress.”  She bows her head once.

Haali gives Nanea one last flurry of thank yous and assurances then hurried takes his leave.  The door closes leaving me along with this massive monstrous creature of the deep.

Chapter 5