A Pirate’s Life For Me:

Melanie Wilson

“ELIJAH!” Queen Alice had better things than yell at her daughter for once again sneaking out of the castle to go gallivanting with her stable boy. She was turning sixteen in a few days, the royal ball was still far from complete and she needed to be officially crowned heir to the throne. There was no time to be endangering herself to those two-legged killers. “this is the third time this week. When will you grow up?”

“You mean ‘when will I be the perfect Princess you want me to be?’ Let me think….never.” Eli glared at her mom, blue eyes stared into one amber eye filled with defiance and loathing. Alice knew how much her daughter hated being confined with all these rules, she was to much like her father. Yet she was the only heir to the throne, and Mediterranea was not going to fall due to a silly thing as being without a queen.

“Elijah, you need to be more carefull, you out of everyone should know that.” It sounded like a caring statement, but Eli knew better, the guards were most likely outside the door listening in though. Her mother was a good queen, anything happened to her subjects and she would drop everything and swim there as fast as she can - bubbles left in the wake of her tail. Her daughter on the other hand, well let’s say Eli had more of a connection with the guards than her own Skin and Scales.

“At least I’m not the one to scared to go out of the city walls without a squad of guards.” Eli scoffed. “Dad understood. He didn’t care about the dangers if it meant finding out new things.”

“And look where is got him.” her mother’s eye flitted to the shelf on the wall with a picture of a man with platinum blond hair, kind amber eyes, and a fiery orange tail that could take him places. She turned back to those familiar amber eyes, and frowned as one was covered by a milky white film and a scar running down ruining the delicate features of her daughter’s face.

“At least he wasn’t biased.” Eli gnashed her teeth, pointed white teeth bared at her mother in intimidation. “All you know about the humans is that a few of them have killed us. But there’s a bunch of land up there, and that means a bunch of people. How do you know they’re all bad?”

“Because nothing good comes from above.” Her mother let her temper flare, like an eel electrocuting an unsuspecting victim. “You will not go out of the city walls again. You are not aloud to go near the surface again, this is an order.” The coral pink doors slammed shut, rattling the surrounding walls, the picture of the late king Oliver Quinn fell off it’s mantel, smashing the glass on the ash brown sandstone floor.

Eli took a deep breath through her nose, taking in the oxygen through her inner gills at the back of her throat. She swam done a tried to pick up the picture, but it only broke at her touch. The glass was in multiple pieces, like the frame and the picture was swept up by a sudden water current rippling through the room. She caught it before it floated out the open window to the streets below.

The city was a striving one, like most. Normal, none royal Mer’s were outside taking care of their business. Kids played in the streets while adults were at work or getting supplies for their everyday life. It was the kind of life that Eli scared away from. Even the life now was too mundane, she wanted to be an adventurer like her dad. She wanted to explore not only her world, but the human’s too. She wanted to be the first Mer to learn all she can about the creatures who live in the air. She just needed a way to get to the humans.

That’s when she spotted it, a dark blotch dipped down in the water. It was far off, but it was unmistakably a ship. A ship that she needed to get on. All that was needed to be done was to get there.

“And how do you expect to even survive in the air? We’re Merfolk, we can’t really breath above the water for very long.” Her best friend/partner in crime - Metro Gale - chidded. It took a few hours to get him in her room without a guard noticing. and the light was already fading from the water making it chilly.

“Remember that thing that my dad gave me from the Delta plains?” Eli pulled out a purple gem necklace with a small flame carved into the rare stone. “See I found a cave a few months back to hide from my mom. When I stepped out of the water…..I stepped out of the water.” Metro’s face went slack, jaw falling open in awe. His dirty gold eyes twinkled, not quite believing his best friend. “And my gill’s closed up, like gone.”

“Y-you turned human? That’s so cool.” He sighed, having a far away look on his face.

“Right, now I just need to go to the ship.” Eli felt bubbles tickling through her body, barely contained as she imagined herself getting away from this life ruled by her mother and out in the actual world. “Once the light is gone, I’m leaving.”

“Guess this is goodbye then? You ever gonna come back?”

“Maybe.” Truthfully Eli didn’t know if she would. She just didn’t know. That’s when the last of the light faded, leaving the city of merfolk in the dark. With one last hug, Eli sped out the window to the ship making sure she wasn’t being followed.

It took longer than she thought to be captured by the crew of pirates. Actually it was only until morning that the iron net swooped down and swallowed her up. She made sure to stay away from the barbed edges, knowing full well what the things can do, her eye being proof of that. As the net carried her above the surface of the water, her bright orange tailfin, one that was almost identical as her father’s, was filled with the feeling of a million sea urchins rolling their spikes back and forth on her. In seconds instead of one appendage, she had two long tan legs.

“I didn’t know Mermaids could do that.” The new voice made Eli jump, looking down to the top of the boat where five people crowded around. Water dripping on a few from the excess on the net and herself. “Well get her down. And get her some clothes.” His dark lively brown orbs didn’t move away from her eyes, locked in equal curiosity. Brown hair fell into his face and a kind smile made his features all the more astounding. The net was lowered onto the dark - almost black - wood, white sails shaded their view of the sky. Crates, boxes, barrels, and other carrying things were piled all around the ship. Ropes were coiled around giant pillars of darkness jetting out to the sky.

“What can I say? I’m one of a kind.” Eli smirked at the pirate boy as a girl with sunshine yellow hair, a few inches taller than ELi, handed the princess a pile of clothes consisting of a too large green frayed jacket with too, a white shirt and a pair of jeans. Eli picked up the jeans and inspected them, they looked easy enough to put on.

“What’s your name, miss.” A man with a stubbled jaw line, and a black hat that was about the size of his shoulders in length, asked. “Turn it around.”

“Oh,” Eli said, her cheeks becoming a dusted shade of pink, switching the way of her pants and then shimmying up them. “I’m Elijah Quinn, at your service.”

“Captain Fitz,” The man with the hat said, as he patted his hand down on the beautiful eyed boy. “And this is my first mate, Alex Johnson. The girl who gave you clothes is Cindy Waverly. The two men over there with the mops are Ted and Todd Winchester, troubled ones they are. And Lost but not least the old man is our cook, Mitts.” Eli gave a curt head nod to them all, gaining a mysterious smirk from Ted and Todd, one she was known for giving Metro when she wanted to explore.

“Very nice to meet you, can you take me to the shore now?” Eli looked in the dark eyes of Alex, staring him down, only to look around when the people started to laugh. “What?”

“You came on the wrong boat for that, little miss.” The old man, he did seem old, just older than the others, he had a few grey hairs and his side tooth was missing. Though he stood strong without wrinkles like many old Mer would get with age. Eli wondered if only fish got wrinkles, but pushed the thought away. “We’re pirates, wanted by the king of England and many others. They see the Lapis coming to shore and they point their weapons at our throats.” Mitts dragged his finger across his neck, making a moist crackling sound at the back of his throat. “It will be awhile till we come to a place who doesn’t want our heads.”

“Then you can take me to  different ship, who can take me to show without sounding like a drowning pelican.” Eli raised an eyebrow at the man.

“Only if you want to become the most human looking sushi. Other ships would have just speared you in the ocean.” Cindy scoffed, rolling her perfect blue eyes.

“Oh, never mind.” The mermaid let out a deep breath. Well her plan went south, so instead of being stuck in the water, she was on the water.

“Why do you want to go to the shore anyways?” Alex asked.

“To learn about humans, to prove my mother wrong, to…. what?’ All the strange looks made Eli shut up. What was so wrong with her dream?

“I mean, most mermaids attack the boat if they survive long enough to be placed down, others run away as fast as they can. You - you actually seem like you want to be here.” Captain Fitz said in honest confusion. “In all my days as a pirate, I’ve never seen a mermaid who wants to actually live on the land.”

“Like I said, I’m one of a kind.” Eli smirked. Metro would always laugh about if he ever found another of her, he would swear the seas were going to boil over.

“You don’t say.” Captain Fitz shook his head back and forth, as if trying to force the pieces of information in place.

“You don’t need to go to shore to learn about humans, we can take you around the world, of course not the place we can’t go, but still.” Ted said jumping in the conversation, he looked almost exactly like Todd, expect he had three freckles, for the three letters in his name, on his left cheek. The both had sun-bleached red hair that went in every direction and upturned noses with crooked smiles. They were lean but lanky at the same times.

“Oh yes, and maybe since we have you, those assholes on the Black Tide will run to their mothers.” Todd cheered, the two boys slapped their hands together above their heads.

“I guess you can stay with us, Elijah Quinn, mermaid in disguise.” Alex wiggled his eyebrows at the princess, making the heat on her cheeks make an unwelcome reappearance.

“Guess I will Alex Johnson.”

Unbeknownst to the crew, below the blue surf, Queen Alice had rallied her troops. She had lost her husband, she won’t lose her only daughter to such savagery. The humans have just made the worst mistakes of their lives.

“War against the humans? It is unheard of.” Her most trusted guard, Gerad Gale. He was her husbands best friend.

“And yet they take us like minos on the banks of rivers. There is no rules to my daughter, I will have her back.” Alice growled, her teeth sharpening into deadly points. They never needed them now a days, but their ancestors used their teeth to intimidate and rip the throats out of unlucky sailors. Though those were the Sirens of the old, and it was illegal to be caught doing so.

“I will alert the guards then, Mi’lady.” The general of the Mediterranean military saluted his queen and swan out of the throne room, making sure to shut the coral pink doors making echos pound through the halls. Alice sighed, looking at the many portraits of her ancestors, landing on a man she so wished she could see for real again.

“I’ll get her back, Oliver, I promise.”

~~~

“I AM NEVER GOING BACK! -umf.” It had been about a week since Eli had been ‘captured’ by the pirates. And in that week she has learned a lot. Like being a princess, pirating had rules too, and some of them were the same. For example, one must never show their face in public unless they want to be caught. For more success, you must blend in, which is learning a bunch of cultures and languages. She also learned that a crew stayed together. She learned that humans were much like Merfolk too, just not the fish part.

“You ok, Eli?” Alex asked, concern dripping from
+ his voice, as he heaved Eli up onto her feet. She couldn’t help but notice their closeness as he tried to steady her.

“Yeah, one question, why do humans hate their feet?” The turned human asked, looking down at the shoes that lifted up the back part of my foot on a tiny wooden spike painted red, like she had just killed someone with it. And the cobbled stone underneath the spikes of walking death wasn’t making her feel any better about this new area.

“Well this is France, and French women can somehow defy death.” Cindy gasped, she wasn’t doing to fair either, like Eli, she was wearing a tight dress meant to stop breathing, and multiple layers of clothing meant to cook their bodies in the heat, and probably a few other torture devices/clothing that Eli couldn’t place.

“What are we getting again?” Eli asked as she dusted herself off.

“We need our Princess to distract Lord Poofy-wig, cause we’re runnin’ out of money to get more booty.” Captain Fitz grinned at his joke while Ted and Todd bumped shoulders. “Now, remember, you’re the Princess of Atlantis, not Mediterranea.”

“Ei, Ei, Caps.” Eli said and walked with Cindy to the front of the royal gate. Cindy acted as her maidan, and the last time it had went well. That was in Italy though.

“News goes fast around royals these days, so Lord William may have already heard of you.” Cindy said, bowing to a few people and motioning Eli to do the same. It didn’t take long for them to be ear pressed against large oak doors, listening in on the Lord’s meeting with his knights.

‘How can fish declare war on humans?’ A haughty voice laughed.

‘But sire, they have, all across Europe. Crews will go out, and only boats will return. One survive stated he was attacked by grey fleshed people with razor fins and knife like teeth.’ Another voice spoke, muffled through the thick doors.

“What are they talking about?” Cindy hissed into Eli’s ear, making the mermaid cringe as spittle flicked in her ear.

“Sounds like Sirens to me, but it’s illegal.” She whispered back, only to receive a raised eyebrow and a frown in return. “I’ll explain later. Oh look, our cue.” A fire broke out on a nearby clothes vendor. Cindy and Eli had agreed that French Women needed less death traps anyways. “Come on, before they leave us.”

The two girls raced out of the halls, not even getting an audience  with the Lord of Paris. Not that the man wouldn’t receive his gift from them. The ‘sailors’ of the the Lapis met up at the deck, with large grins, and their tithings. Mitts had more ingredients for the kitchen, while Ted, Todd, Alex, and even Captain Fitz had burlap bags stuffed with gold and expensive things. Eli couldn’t stop smiling as they climbed aboard the dark ship and quickly set sail away from the docks of the France.

Her smile slid off of her face when she saw a teen, with black hair and deep blue eyes, as dark as his tail fins. He gave a sheepish smile.

“Your -uh- mom is looking for you.”

“Metro? How did you get up here? You could have gotten hurt.” Eli yelled, not noticing the sour face Alex was making beside her. “I mean - is that why the Sirens are attacking ships?”

“Yeah, Queen Alice decided to rage war on man-kind, you know the normal, ‘let's kill everything, ‘cause my daughter went missing. Agraga-ag-ah’.” Metro put on a snobbish face.

“....Yep, that’s my mom.” The two Mer’s busted out laughing. “Oh, this is my friend Metro Gale.” Alex let out a breath of relief, but Eli didn’t think much of it. “And these are Captain Fitz, Alex, Cindy, Cook Mitts, and Ted and Todd.” She pointed out her new friends to her old one. “These are my friends.”

“All of them?” Metro looked pointedly at Alex.

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing.” Metro didn’t stop looking at Alex, as if they were having a silent ‘guy’ confersion. Eli just shrugged the feeling off. Before the silence got to uncomfortable Metro looked back at Eli. “And eyepatch, very Pirate-y.”

“Oh, yeah, we got it at Spain. It’s near the west farm lands.” Eli explained, rubbing the black strap that covered her sightless eye. “What are we going to do about the Sirens?”

“First off, what exactly is a Siren.” Captain Fitz interrupted.

“A mermaid who turns into a monster and lure sailors with enchanting songs, then slaughter them with their teeth and claws.” Metro explained to the humans, he didn’t see how bad they were, Eli was still alive, and didn’t seem hurt, so that was good. Not that he had been following the boat since she left.

“So their, savage mermaids. Can’t you kill a mermaid with a bronze knife or something to the chest?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah, you can kill anything with a stab to the chest.” Eli snickered, before she became serious. “No, I need to talk to my mother. Make her understand.”

“The last I say her was a few hours ago, coming this direction, so she will be here soon.” Metro confessed.

“Your mother, she doesn’t happen to have...uh - a red-ish tail with light brown hair, and a bunch of well built half naked men-fish?” Ted asked, as he looked behind the group of friends. “If not, can you tell those people to leave.” His voice was shaky, and everyone turned away from Metro to look at what Ted just had described.

“Elijah, wh-what have they done to you?” Her mother cried, anger - no fury - was like flames blazing in her eyes. The heat of her glare right at Alex, making Eli’s stomach churn. “You look like a - a KILLER!”

“No mom. Yes, there are killers up here too, but look at what you are doing. Sirens? Really. You stooped low, killing people who didn’t even do anything. These people, they helped me learn what I wanted ok? Who’s the killer now?” Eli stepped in front of her friends.

“What would your father think?” Alice hissed, her sharp teeth elongated.

“My father would have never done what you are doing.” Eli replied. “You are becoming one of them, mom.”

“You are one to talk Elijah, all around Europe with men. It is repulsive. I am doing this because of you.” With that Alice's’ skins and scales turned a sickly shade of grey, slime and pus dripping off of her body. Her fingers stretched and sharpened into talons, her eyes growing red as she jumped to Alex, slashing at his chest.

Everyone stood in shock, not knowing what was going on. Alex yelled in pain, bringing Eli out of her thoughts, she grabbed Captain Fitz’s sword and drove it into the back of her mother, because it wasn’t her mother any more. It was a ferocious beast attacking good (semi-good) people. Her mother screeched, wailing in a high pitched, ear shattering volumes until she keeled over and stopped breathing.

“Gerard, go back to Mediterranea, call off the Sirens, and stop this war.” Eli said, looking at Metro’s dad.

“You’re not coming with me, Princess Elijah?” General Gerade asked.

“No, I’ll stay up here.” She nodded to the crew of men behind her. “I still have a lot of things to do here. Make sure Mediterranea is safe.”

“I will do my best, Princess.” Gerard gave one last bow and went to pick up Alice’s body.

“No, leave her.” Gerard nodded and took the guard's back to the underwater kingdom. Eli turned to her mother’s lifeless body. Tears prickled at her eyes as the beautiful woman was once again visible.

“So what are we going to do with her?” Cindy asked, standing next to her friend. Elijah took a deep breath, she knew what to do. She kicked out her leg, pushing her mother off the Lapis. The water stilling for just a second as the once Queen drifted to the bottom to lay in peace.

“Now we go.”