Markus
The lake of the town Lamia was still and quiet, and according to the town’s leader, it had been that way since one of the local girls was nearly dragged under the surface by an unseen creature. Since then, everyone had avoided the lake, the driving force to their local economy. Water creatures were the greatest fear in Kokabel, and until it was dealt with, no one was willing to risk their lives.
When Markus and Wilhelm pulled up in Wilhelm’s carriage, the rest of the Lamia fell quiet as well to marvel at the sight of them. People stood on rooftops and hilltops to watch the pair from a safe distance, warned in advance by a pair of lycan that the princes must not be disturbed on their most noble of investigations. Other than the little girl’s father, who had been with her at the time of the incident, all others were instructed to keep a good distance from them so they could focus on their task. This was common practice whenever Markus was sent to a destination to keep the thoughts of others out of his head as much as possible.
Though Wilhelm gave him an annoyed look, Markus still kept a short distance between himself and the man at the water, staying by the carriage, just within earshot of the conversation being had between the fisherman and the increasingly frustrated Wilhelm.
“It had claws on its fingertips.” The fisherman supplied at Wilhelm’s prompt.
Wilhelm’s face tightened at that. “Where else would they be?” He asked in a snotty tone. “What else made you think it was a Nix?”
“Well…” The fisherman scratched at his face. “It grabbed my daughter by her foot and pulled her halfway under the water. Not for long, but enough to give her a good scare.”
“Sound like something mermaids would do. Nix aren’t known for letting things go once they get a good grip.”
“Well...it’s not usual for them to be here in the warm months.”
Wilhelm’s expression soured instantly. “But there are mermaids here?”
“Yes?”
“Is that a question?” Wilhelm asked right back.
“I, uh, yes. There are sometimes mermaids here.” The fisherman said after a thought.
Wilhelm crossed his arms over his chest and gave Markus a withering look over his shoulder before he turned his gaze back to the fisherman. “How do you know it isn’t a mermaid that caused this ruckus?” He asked in a sharp, annoyed tone.
“Well...there hasn’t been a sighting of one since that bad lightning storm about thirty years ago.” The man said. That particular storm was very well known to Markus, as it was the one that saw his three eldest aunts born, as well as a good portion of the countryside burnt away by the resulting wildfires.
“Then you are well overdue for another sighting,” Wilhelm said in a dry tone.
The Fisherman’s face darkened. “Overdo isn’t the word I’d use. Seeing a mermaid is a very bad omen. If we were to see one, it would mean something horrible was soon to occur, so it would be best if we didn’t see one.”
Wilhelm gave him a blank look. “Right." He said, unconvinced. "But it could have been a mermaid.”
“It’s more likely to be a Nix.” The fisherman said firmly.
“It’s actually more likely to be a mermaid,” Wilhelm said back.
The fisherman stared at him for a long moment, his expression hardening. “No.” He said firmly. “It’s more likely to be a nix.”
Wilhelm’s face tightened, his cheeks turning red in irritation. “Why don’t you go for a swim and find out, then?” He grounded out. “Go on. Walk right over there to the water and dive in.”
The fisherman jolted and turned on his heel to begin walking to the water’s edge. “Wait-wait-wait!” He said in a rush as he fought against his feet, “It could have been a mermaid!”
“A what, now?” Wilhelm called in a monotone voice, his eyes on his glove covered fingers, examining the needlework there at the tips with a frown.
“It could have been mermaids!” The fisherman cried out as he frantically swung his arms, his back arching backward in a wild attempt to go in the opposite direction his feet were taking him.
Wilhelm huffed. “Then I release you.”
The fisherman stumbled away from the water’s edge and hurried away from them, going down the path without a second look back. Once he was fully up the path, Markus joined Wilhelm at the lakeside.
“Oh, look who has come to join the investigation! Have a nice break, then?” Wilhelm asked in an irritated tone. When Markus did not react, he scowled, putting his hands on his hips. “Well - whatever it is, we need to find it.” Markus nodded in agreement. “If it’s a mermaid, we’ll let it live - their presence will indicate there are no nix, as the nix would have killed them to establish territory. If it is nix down there instead, it must die.” Wilhelm said grimly, Markus nodding again in agreement. A long few minutes passed between them before Wilhelm clicked his tongue impatiently. He gave Markus a look before he made a wide motion to the water. Markus looked between Wilhelm and the water before his gaze settled back on the prince. “Well I’m not going in,” Wilhelm said, aghast. “I can’t swim.”
Markus frowned but nodded before he turned to go down the pier and approach the edge, looking down into the dark waters.
He could sense the thought of a creature deep under the waters, many miles under the earth, a pair of them. They were thinking of food and of chasing each other, a playful thought. Childish innocence.
Markus glanced back at Wilhelm, who waved him off with an impassive look. He then looked back to the water to suck in a monstrous breath, diving off the pier and into the water, kicking at it violently to descend rapidly, counting the seconds and mentally calculating his distance.
In the water, Markus was at a disadvantage. He had a limit on how long he could hold his breath - only about two minutes, less if he was actively swimming. If he exerted himself, he had a solid minute before he had to resurface. The colder the water, the slower he was and the more difficult it was to hold his breath.
The depths in which he could dive also varied. Before, when he was young and hunting for treasure on the order of his grandfather, he could dive quite deep, down to where the sunlight didn’t reach. Since he injured his chest during his collision though, he hadn’t been able to dive nearly as far before the air in his lungs began to hurt bad enough that he’d have to resurface. If he descended too fast, he’d get sick and he’d hurt an awful lot, but he’d recover as long as he kept moving for several hours after resurfacing again. Ascending, however, had been his biggest problem since his accident.
The lake though was warm, which was good for him, but quite deep, which was problematic.
Nearly twenty seconds deep, something larger than a fish moved in the water and he stopped his descent, twisting as he pulled out his sword to trace its movements with an unblinking gaze. Something else swam around him and he whipped around to come face to face with the bright eyes of what was very clearly a young mermaid, smiling at him brightly with flat, human-looking teeth and wrapping her long, glittering pink tail around one of his legs. He relaxed instantly. Mermaids were not threats. Troublesome, but not threats.
A warm hand touched his shoulder and he turned his head to see an even younger mermaid holding onto his shoulders, reaching around him to curiously touch the gold on his eyes, carefully to only touch him with the soft pad of her fingers and not the neatly manicured claw there. She pulled her fingers away to see they were gold stained and she showed it to the other, both looking surprised and awestruck.
The tail around his leg tightened as Markus hit the one minute mark, his gaze flickering up before he looked back to the mermaid in front of him. She brushed her fingers across his eyes before she dragged them over her own to smear some of the gold there, the smaller one on Markus’ back giggling as she petted his hair.
He looked around, gazing down into the darkness of the deep before he wiggled his leg free of the pair.
Deciding that there were no nix present, he began to move to swim away, but was grabbed by the younger one, who wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her tail around his legs as she squealed in delight, her grip strong - very strong - but not nearly as strong as any of his sisters.
As Markus was pulling her arms off of him, he saw the other mermaid making a motion with her hand, like something was swimming through the water. Puzzled at it, she continued, the little one reaching around him to make the same motion with her hand. Another bubble escaped his lips and the elder reached around him to pull the younger to her, Markus seeing they were clearly sisters.
The elder made the motion again, pointing up and then down. Her thoughts were his own image, mirrored back to him.
He shook his head and she frowned as the little one grabbed at her own throat and made a show of throttling herself before giving him a pointed look. He continued to shake his head slowly and the first swam down to position herself under him, grabbing his ankle to yank him down further while the little one pushed down on his shoulders, both insistent.
He hadn’t the slightest clue what they were trying to communicate, but decided it had nothing to do with the nix, so it did not concern him. It was likely a game.
A very weird game, but creatures could sometimes be very weird.
As he was preparing to surface, his lung burning, the elder swam in his path to take his face in her hands, her thumbs tracing over what little gold was left there. She closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose in concentration. She was trying to convey her thoughts to him, likely having just caught on that he was a mentalist and able to read her mind.
Markus frowned and slowly began to close his eyes as well -
A sharp jab from a curious little finger to the scar on his collarbone, where one had never quite healed right after being shattered and was the only spot that he was easily able to feel pain, and he let out a pained yelp, releasing what little air he had left.
He jerked free from the mermaid and hurried to the surface, kicking wildly as light exploded behind his eyes from lack of air. When he broke the surface he immediately swam to the pier and pulled himself up to lay there on his back.
Markus screwed his eyes closed as tried to suck in a breath, but found he couldn’t. It burnt severely over his heart and he reached up under his chest plate to hold his hand there. He coughed, sucking in his breaths frantically.
Minutes felt like hours before he was finally able to begin to feel any relief. He shouldn’t have surfaced so fast, but he hadn’t had a choice. He rubbed at his chest and continued to cough, gasping as he rolled onto his knee and dry heaved, sucking in breaths.
“What in God’s name is wrong with you!?” He heard Wilhelm hiss over the roar in his ears.
Markus shook his head, coughing hard, rolling his shoulders and forcing himself to stand and shake out his legs and free arm before he dragged his other arm out from under his chest plate to shake it as well. He couldn’t remain exposed like this for long - allowing himself to be open for an attack could spell disaster, so he forced himself to push through it like he always did. He had never been allowed to take the time to recover, and didn’t intend to do that now.
Wilhelm looked bored as he watched on, his gaze trailing over to the water to eye the pair of mermaid watching them, the younger on the elder’s back. The smaller one splashed her tail at them in greeting while the elder looked on with a worried look on her face, her mouth twisted into a frown.
The other prince clicked his tongue. “That’s what I thought.” Wilhelm violently smacked a wrinkled out of his coat. “Nix my arse. Let’s move on. We have another town before we can put this matter to rest.” He turned and went back to the carriage, Markus trailing behind him, coughing and gasping. “Are you riding in the carriage or are you going to run alongside it like a dog?” Markus waved a hand signaling the latter. “That’s fine. Now that I think about it, you’re dirty now from the lake. I wouldn’t want you inside anyway.” Wilhelm said snottily as they approached the carriage.
It was better to run anyway. If he kept moving, he’d recover faster...maybe.
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