"Those? Those are seagulls." He hopped down to the sandy beach and walked over to the waters edge, where I sat deeper out.
"See-guls? They are strange looking!" I watched them for a while longer.
"They are birds. Don't you come to shore much? You must have seen them."
I shook my head. "It's dangerous to come to shore to often. Your people like to catch our kind, and they're never seen again. Plus, the water is warmer here. It feels much better down deep in the ocean, where it's cool."
Ambrose sat at the waters edge, I wished he would come farther out. "Is that where you live? Deep in the ocean?" I nodded. "There's a story, that Poseidon has a castle on the oceans floor, and that his mer-people live there with him. Is that true?"
Why did he like to talk so much, it was incredibly boring! I turned on my back and lay on the sandy floor, moving my tail this way and that to splash water on my self. It was very hot here. "Sometimes. Sometimes I live there, sometimes I find caves and live in those. I can live where ever I want, really."
"And doesn't anyone come looking for you? Doesn't anyone wonder where you are now?"
I turned on my belly again, letting the water cool the side of my face. "No. We are a very free people, we come and go as we please. We do what we want, really." I looked up at Ambrose and he seemed to be deep in thought. "Let's play now!" He looked up. "Play?" "Yes! For two days I've done what you want, now lets do what I want!"
"What do you want to do?"
I thought for a moment. "I'll race you around the cove!"
"You'll win, we already know that." He pointed to my fin, and I shook my head. "That's not the point!" "What is the point?" "Fun! The point isn't who wins or looses, the point is you have fun. Who was that woman yesterday?"
"I told you, my fiance."
"Yes, but WHO is she?"
"She's a merchants daughter. My father... my father arranged for me to marry her some years ago."
"Do you love her?"
"WHAT?"
"Do-you-love-her?"
Ambrose thought a moment. "I suppose."
"That's no fun."
"Huh?"
"You don't love her, but your going to marry her. That's no fun. How can you have fun stuck with a person you don't love?"
"I didn't say I didn't love her."
"But you didn't say you did."
Amrbose sighed, sounding very tired. "A game. Ok, here's a game. Go to the bottom of the cove and get the prettiest shell you can find, and I'll go down too, and see if I can get a shell that's prettier."
My tail flashed with excitement. "Can I keep the shell you find?"
Ambrose laughed a little. "Yes. Ok, you ready? One, two, three!" And he dived into the cove, and I did the same. My search was a little easier I think, because I didn't have to return to the surface for air every few moments. I found lots of pretty shells and rocks, and odd trinkets that humans must have dropped in the cove, but none of them seemed pretty enough. Finally, I found a very old shell, longer than my finger. It was a very ivory white, but it looked blue under the water. I grabbed it and swam back up to the little beach where Ambrose waited. I handed my shell and he eyed it.
"That is pretty. I couldn't find any shells pretty enough, it was too dark down there." Dark? But it wasn't dark at all.
"But... you promised I could have the shell you found."
Ambrose thought for a moment, then reached into a pocket in his clothes, draw out a gold disk. "It's a fake coin. It's supposed to be gold, but it's too hard, it's just gold colored..."
"It's beautiful!" I reached for it and he gave it to me. It was so pretty, it shone in Apollo's light.
"I should be getting back, before my family begins to wonder where I've gone. Will I see you tomorrow?"
"If you come down here. I'll be waiting." I was still admiring the gold disk, thinking of all the pretty things I could make with it. Ambrose stood to leave and I looked up to him, I didn't want him to go again! "Ambrose!" He turned back to me, confusion on his face. "Don't forget." He nodded, "I won't," and climbed back up the rock face. I remained there for the longest time, admiring my gold disk. Then I heard someone arguing on top of the tall cliff's, but I couldn't really make out what they were saying. I slipped back into the water and out the cove. I collected a few more shells, and a string, and turned my gold disk into a lovely necklace. I tied it around my neck, I couldn't wait to show it to Ambrose tomorrow!
As I said, the next day, I couldn't wait to show Ambrose the necklace I had made with his gift. I wore it proudly, and went into the cove a little early to wait for my darling. I waited a long time. I climbed atop a rock and looking up the cliff face for any sign of my love. Where could he be? Suddenly, there were voices all around me, human voices, and a net was cast over me. I dived into the water, but to late! The more I tried to swim, the more tangled in that cruel net I became. Still I struggled and thrashed. Hands were grabbing me, dragging me through the water. I fought them off, I hit, bit, and scratched every hand I could grab. One human grabbed my tail, and I kicked it up right between his legs. He fell into the shallow water moaning; served him right! But by this time, I had been dragged onto the sandy beach, I was at a great disadvantage. Clever, stupid humans. They had hid behind the rocks around the cove until I had emerged. How had they know where to find me? I continued to bite and thrash around as much as I could, but then someone brought a rock down upon my head and my body fell limp. I slipped into a deep, restless sleep.
When I awoke, my head hurt, my muscles ached, my skin and tail were so dried out, I thought I would itch to death. But I couldn't scratch my parched fin, I was tied down to a platform at my wrists, and across my torso and fin many times, so I could not thrash or really move at all. The platform I was on was thankfully covered from Apollo's harsh light, but it moved in such a away, I thought I was going to be sick. I prayed to Poseidon to save me from this terrible predicament, but no answer came. We travelled for a long time, I was sore and tired, sick and itchy, and finally, finally the moving stopped. I was so grateful, I wished they would put me back in the water. Words outside my tent were exchanged, and we moved again. I heard strange noises, the rush of human feet on a floor, a large dog barking very close to me, doors opening, and then, blessedly, the sound of water falling. I was set down and the tent was pulled aside. I looked up into the faces of my captors. They untied my bonds, but held me so tightly I could not fight. I was to sick and to weak to anyhow. They lifted me awkwardly and placed me in a pool, at first, I was grateful! The water was cool on my hot flesh, but when I went to take a drink, the water tasted foul and stagnant. Fresh water! They had placed me in a fresh water pool. One with a stone bottom, and man made fountain that poured water from a space in the wall. It was terribly small, probably 5 dolphin lengths in diameter, and round. Shallow too! only 2 dolphin lengths deep in the center, and gradually the floor rose to ankle depth around the edges. I was in a cage!
The rest of the room looked much the similar. Smooth white stone made up the wall, and there were several doors but I could not see any land or sky, or more importantly, ocean beyond them. Just more walls and doors and human things. I swam/crawled on my belly to the edge of the pool where the water fall supplied the pool with more terrible fresh water and sat under it, let it sooth my itchy, parched skin. I heard voices outside the pool and looked up from my waterfall, and saw a woman had joined my captors. She was dressed much differently. The men wore tattered things the color of earth or straw. This woman wore pure white and sky blue, and she was adorned with a large amount of jewlery, the likes of which I have never seen. She didn't wear any shells, but gold disks and glass beads, around her neck, wrists, waist... nearly anywhere she could wrap one! There was a particuarly large gold crown around her head, similar to the one Poseidon wears, except his is beautiful, and made of coral and pearls. Her's was made of more gold and brightly colored, shiny stones. She was staring at me in a peculiar way, I didn't like it at all. She stepped closer and I crawled for the deeper center of the pool. She stood at the edge, when one of my captors spoke up again.
"Careful, me lady. He's a bit frightened, that one. Animals can be a bit violent when frightened."
Animal?
"How much do you want for the beast?" That was the woman. Beast? Animal? I'm a merboy! Not some cow or dog.
More gold colored disks were exchanged and my captors left, leaving the woman staring at me. She made me very nervous, so I sank to the bottom of the shallow pool. I saw a bare foot slip into the pool and I thrashed and splashed, and the foot was withdrawn. The woman left me alone for the rest of the day after that. I curled up on the floor of the foul watered pool, and wept for someone to come take me out of this terrible situation.
"I will not hurt you. Come back." She took a few steps toward me, and I crawled backwards on the bottom of the pool, less than waist deep in the water. "Your very beautiful, the most beautiful jewel I've bought yet." Jewel? I was a trinket? The woman reached forward and touched my fin again. I thrashed again, crawling farther toward the edge of the pool, and the woman withdrew with a cry. Hefty men in little clothing, all wearing white same as the woman, came stomping in, carrying spears and knives. The woman held her hand before her, astonished. I had cut her finger with the edge of my fin. Served the woman right, she shouldn't have touched me, she shouldn't leave me here, in this terrible cage. The woman yelled a command, her voice now as scary as any of the thunder storms over my missed ocean. "He'll have no food until he learns some manners!"
All the other men, I suppose they were gaurds, nodded and turned their steely gaze on me. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to hide on the sandy bottom of a very dark pool. I wanted to be anywhere, but here. The terrible woman left, and with her, her gaurds. The next few days proceeded the same as the first. The terrible woman, I learned her name was Queen Doreen, attempted several times to pet me while I was unaware. While I was sleeping, or relaxing under the waterfall, but always I would struggle to get away from her. She tried talking to me, but I would say nothing to her. I would do nothing that would bring her pleasure. I got so hungry, I lost a lot of weight, and my muscles cramped from long exposure to tightly cramped space (there really wasn't enough room to stretch and swim in that tiny pool), my scales also began to fall off, or peel away. I supposed that had something to do with the fresh water.
One night, I couldn't sleep, I was so hungry! I was sitting along the shallow sides of the pool, petting and mourning over my tail, that was slowly going to ruin. I heard a noise, like the scraping of cloth on the floor, and my heart jumped into my throat. Maybe it was that horrid woman again, trying to sneak up on me. I saw a light approaching a door and watched, listened, waited for that woman to appear in the doorway. But she never did. Instead, there was a tiny boy. He was clothed in white, same as everyone else here, but his clothes were much to large for him. His hair was shaggy and blonde, his eyes were blue, and somehow, for some reason, he reminded me of Ambrose. Perhaps thats because he was the first one to look at me with something other than curiosity or contempt. He looked a little nervous, and he tiptoed closer to my cage. In one hand he held a candle, in the other, a bowl. And the nearer he got, the better the bowl smelled. By now I was so hungry, I would eat fish heads, I didn't care!
The boy stopped just as the small circle of light from his candle hit me. He looked like he might have turned around, no, don't turn around, bring that bowl here! But thankfully, he did not turn away. He tiptoed, even slower than before closer to my pool. I back away when he had almost reached the edge. He sat his candle down and knelt by the edge of my pool. He placed one finger to his lips and made a soft "shhh" sound. He also put the bowl down, and he spoke quietly to me.
"Don't make any noise, I'm not gonna hurt you. But if the Queen finds out I'm here, she'll surely whip us both!" I saw the boy shudder. His voice was so soothing, so caring. I crawled a little ways back toward him and his wonderful smelling bowl.
"I brought you food, please, don't tell anyone. And eat it very carefully, if the Queen see's proof that someone fed you... just be careful, ok?" The boy reached into the bowl and pulled out a red little ball with a green leaf on it. He pulled the leaf off and passed the thing to me, timidly. I let it fall in my hand and stared at it a moment. It was redder than coral, odd shapped, with little seeds all over it. The boy urged me to eat it and so I placed it in my mouth. What a wonderful explosion of flavor! If you've ever gone without food for a few days, and then have your first experience with a strawberry, the effects are breath taking! I begged him for more, eatting berry after berry faster than he could remove the leafy part on top of it. It was so wonderful, I wanted to cry when he said he had no more. Then I spoke to him, the first time I'd spoken in days.
"Can you bring me more?"
The boy gasped. "You can talk! Um, I don't know. I'm not supposed to, I'll get in trouble..."
But I convenced the boy to bring my food nightly. He always brought so little, I stopped loosing weight, but I didn't gain any back. All day I would wait anxiously for night, and the boys return.