A Love So Deep: Chapter 6 (Patreon)

“I saw what you did there.”  The Mistress whispers.  “I appreciate that.”

I contain a frightened shudder as it hits me how close to this massive woman I was, two of her great crimson tentacles flowed around either side of me.  It was so unnerving how her ‘dress’ continuously shifted and writhed under its own power.  I give her a bow of my head, like I had seen Haali do, and with my arms swim back away from her again.

“Appropriately respectful.”  She says.  “I appreciate that as well.”

I take up my place back at the table and it isn’t long before these ‘others’ begin arriving, each one knocking before they entered.

Like a shadow at sundown through the door stretches a long serpentine creature whose skin was so dark it more appeared like a slice through this environment into the inky void of space.  It was a woman, similar in some ways to Haali but with enough differences that told me she was of a different race entirely.  A lithe humanoid upper body transitions down into the long flexuous lower body of a great eel.  There were no fins on her head, it was smooth with two round gray eyes and a too wide mouth.  As her lips curl back in a grimace I see a row of small but sharp teeth top and bottom.  Her nose was the most human-like I had seen yet though.  She wore a tight vest, also black, with various pouches and pockets.  Around her waist was a snug belt, on one side I saw the handle of a dagger and on the other a holstered item that looked distinctly gun like.  Like a silk ribbon undulating on the wind she slowly slinks over to Nanea.

“What is this?”  Her eyes narrow in suspicion and loathing, her rasping words drip with ice cold venom.

“Stheera.”  Nanea says with surprise.  “I did not know you were in.”

“I have just now returned.”  Stheera says as she swims up and around the much larger Nanea to come to hover just over her shoulder, her gaze locked on me.  “Is that what I think it is?”

“She is human, yes.  She will be staying as our special guest.”  The Mistress put the emphasis on the word ‘special’.

“Understood.”  The eel-woman studies me for but a moment before saying.  “We must talk Mistress.  I have news.”  The urgency in her voice was palpable, urgent enough to turn the topic away from me.

“Of course.”  Nanea assures her.  “After this.”

The next to arrive were a pair of mer-people, one an elderly man and the other a woman that appeared around forty by human standards.  The man, hunched and swimming stiffly, more necklaces and bracelets than I could count and his ear fins were pierced in a dozen places where chains and baubles hung.  Stones, shells, bits of coral, and glowing gems bedecked the ancient merman.  His barbels were much longer than Haali’s giving him the appearance of one of those old kung fu masters.  Slightly milky eyes and a dullness to his scales were indicators to his age.  The woman was…rotund, to put it mildly.  She had the same carp like features as the others of her race I had seen but with the build closer to an inflated puffer fish.  A good part of that girth were her two enormous breasts that were covered with a loose short sleeved purple polka dot blouse that nearly matched her pale lavender eyes.  She had no mustache like barbels like the men of her race and her round friend face was softer in its features.  Instead of one fin down the center of her head she had two parallel ones either side of center.  Her glimmering scales had a pretty prismatic mosaic design that was definitely not natural.  Some sort of make up?

“And WHAT have we here!?”  The woman exclaims the moment the pair were through.  “By the spirits, it is hideous!”

“A human.”  Stheera sneers from her Mistress’ shoulder.

“I see that!”  She reaches up to grab her flaring head fins.  “Spirits!”

“Oisandaera, Draevys, this is our special guest.”  Nanea says.

“Yes Mistress.”  They both say at once.

“Fascinating!”  The old man says, his eyes squinting hard.  While he didn’t wheeze his voice still had the familiar frailty of age to it.  “Alive no less.  Have the humans discovered us?  Where ever did you find such a thing?”  As he gets closer his gaze switches from me to the torque around my neck.  “Haali.”

“Haali.”  Nanea confirms.  “This is one of his experiments.”

“Haali went to the surface!?”  Draevys’ jewelry rattles as he shutters with anger.  “That fool boy!”

“I know, I know.  Against my better instincts I’ve agreed to harbor her.  She will be only here for a short time.”

“This is bad.”  He shakes his head slowly.  “This isn’t allowed.”

“Well I think this is fantastic!”  Oisandaera chirps as she shimmies closer, her tail only able to move her mass so fast through the water.  “A rarity.  A one of kind.  This could be used.”  Her suddenly scheming and calculating eyes narrow.  “There may an angle to play here.  The only living human in all of the Expanse?  There has got to be a way to leverage this.  Even just monetarily.  Alive she could be worth a fortune to the right buyer.  Even dead…”  She rubs her chin.  “I could make inquiries.”

I did not appreciate being talked about in such a way but I remain silent.  It’s not like they would understand my protests anyway.  Besides, I wanted to hear how they talked about me to learn what I could about them.

“Daera, she is Haali’s and she is our guest.”  Nanea says firmly.  “Haali is a friend of ours.”

“Yes Mistress.”  The big woman bows.

“Besides, the fewer that know about this the better.  I am not in the business of trafficking humans.”

Just then comes the next pair.  After knocking the door swings wide and an enormous merman swims boldly through with a strange smaller fish at his ‘heel’.  The man’s fish parts were more akin to a shark than a carp and his intimidating proportions dwarfed all but Nanea herself.  His skin was a sort of camoflauge pattern of steel gray and white stripes.  The human looking portion had the chiseled physique of a Mr. Olympia, though the musculature was different in a variety of ways.  I could tell this because he was shirtless.  It also gave me a view of the vibrant geometric tattoo that covered one pec, one entire shoulder and halfway down his thickly muscled arm.  Across his beefy body was a strap that held a rather wicked looking barbed spear behind his back.  He had a thick belt around his waist with a couple of pockets and a sidearm much heavier than the one I spotted on Stheera.  Like a shark his eyes were jet black though the rest of his face, surprisingly, had a rugged handsomeness to my hominid eye.  Blocky chin, strong features, a squarish nose, but no ears beyond small holes at the sides of his head.  Two rows of razor sharp teeth can just be seen between his partially opened lips as he scowls my way.  Staying right next to him like some loyal bulldog swum an odd little creature.  It was a yellow and brown speckled fish of sorts with an extremely stout body, two huge bulging eyes, and an enormous mouth which ran across the entire width of the thing.  It looked to be more head than body!  When it swam it’s whole body wiggled back and forth.  It was actually kind of cute in a hideous sort of way.  Through my ears I hear a sort of glurk, glurk, glurk sound as the thing bobs up and down.  Was it barking at me?  The big man silences it with a gesture.

“Mistress.”  He bows low, though his gaze stays locked on me, then rises swiftly.  “This was the package that Haali brought with him?”   He asks, already knowing the answer.

“Yes.  She will be our special guest for a time.”

“Prisoner?”  He slowly glides up next to Oisandaera.  There seemed a special familiarity between these two.

“Mmm, more a guest.”  Mistress says.  “I would rather not cage her if I don’t have to. She has done nothing against us.  Keep her inside, keep her a secret, and make sure she cannot get her hands on a weapon.  Otherwise treat her well.”

“The cage would be easier.”

“She is not our enemy Zuko.  She is scared and a long way from her home.”

As this was happening the little dog…fish…thing had slowly started to swim closer to me.  A wide tongue lolls out from it’s huge mouth.

“Frob!”  Zuko’s deep booming voice rings out, to which the thing darts back to its master’s side to nuzzle against one of the big man’s pelvic fins.

“Where is Kelrak?”  Nanea says with growing impatience.  I had noticed that whenever they had a moment she and Stheera would whisper back and forth.  Daera had noticed it too and looked concerned.

As if on cue through the door scuttles a crab-man with Ellerie following close behind.  Like all the other intelligent races I’d seen it had a humanoid upper body and the lower half of a sea creature, in this case the shell and many chitinous legs of a huge crab.  Its rearmost legs looked oarlike, probably for swimming.  Of all of them he was the most alien.  Even the more human bits of him had plates of spiky mottled jade and moss colored shell and just below here his belly button would be there was an extra pair of tiny human looking arms, like the arms of a doll hands and all.  It’s head was roughly triangular with a single helmet of spiny shell that covered its forehead, the back of its head, and down around to cover the cheeks.  If that wasn’t enough to take in the creature had at some point suffered a horrible injury.  All long the left side of its upper body the shell was misshapen and scarred bone white.  Its left arm was gone entirely as was the left eye.  Its right eye, glossy and iridescent green, stuck out from its head on a long stalk.  Its good hand was a hand, and not a crab’s claw, though the pointed fingernails were thick and claw like.  He was about my height though much wider.

Falling to the ground it grovels, not in fear but in awe.  “Mistress!”  It’s creaking voice had a very unsettling echo to it that reverberated around my mind longer than was comfortable.

“Get up silly.”  Ellerie laughs as she tugs on its good arm.  “Look at our new guest.”

“Rise Kelrak.”  Nanea says.  “This is our special guest.”  She details the keeping me inside and keeping weapons from me stuff then says.  “She will be staying with for a few months.  Put her in the servant’s chamber next to my room.”

“Yes my Mistress.”  Kelrak grovels a bit more before rising to his feet.  

My mind still struggled to believe what my eyes were seeing.  All of these deep sea beings stared back at me with their strange eyes.  A more motley and monstrous crew I had never seen.  This disparate lot united under the controlling tentacles of the Mistress.  Looking around to all of them she announces.  “She is to be kept hidden here.  Keep her from the tavern or any other public areas, and obviously she cannot go outside.  If others must become involved use your better judgment.  Secrecy, not safety, is our primary interest here.  She will be treated well but if she strays from our…hospitality, bring her to me immediately.   Or kill her if you must.”

I let out a gasp at the sudden reminder of my dire predicament.  The others all bow their head in obedience.  Zuko and Stheera looked a bit too eager on hearing that last bit.

“I trust you will keep your sounds under control.”  She says as she raises a finger like a scolding mother.  “No more screaming.”

It takes me a moment to realize she was speaking to me.  I nod quickly then bow my head.  “Yes Mistress Nwyne.”

There is a murmur among them at the vibrating sound of my voice and the clear demonstration that I could understand them.

“Good.”  Nanea grins, her golden hourglass eyes linger on me before looking away.

“What…does it eat?”  Kelrak asks.

“That is for you and Ellerie to discover.”  Nanea says, I catch the hint of a smile play at the sides of her lips.

“What?  Me!?”  Ellerie points at herself.

“Yes.  You.”  Nanea says, the others glancing about at each other with either worry or similar little grins as Nanea’s on their faces.  “I am leaving you in charge of our guest my dear.  It is far past time I started giving you more responsibility.”

Ellerie’s cute face lights up like a Christmas tree.  “Yes Mistress!”

Chapter 7