The Siren Read online

  Having finished her negotiations, Hortense looked the Princess up and down thoughtfully. “Now let’s get on with the show,” she trilled. “I think we’ll go with the Bubble Burst Expulsion.”

  One moment Ottilia was opening her mouth to ask what the heck a Bubble Burst Expulsion was and the next she was encased in a giant bubble and being blasted at dizzying speed through the water.

  As Ottilia struck the choppy surface of the sea, her bubble burst. In the same moment, she discovered her strong mermaid tail had gone and been replaced with a pair of weak, human legs. Immediately, she started to sink beneath the waves. She battled back to the surface, fighting the ocean currents which threatened to pull her under.

  Propelled into the dark, cold waters of the sea many, many miles from land, Ottilia found herself helpless and alone and terribly afraid of what she had done. Her arms and legs quickly began to ache with the effort of staying afloat and keeping her head above the surf.

  That wily old sea-witch had won before the challenge had even begun. In a few moments more, the sea would claim her and the witch would seize her body as her own. What a fool she had been!

  Another huge wave battered Ottilia’s tired body, taking her down yet again. She resurfaced, coughing and spluttering. She managed to ride the next wave, allowing it to carry her high onto its crown - and that was when she saw it. A ship! Close enough for her to see the men tying down the sails. Using what was left of her depleted strength, Ottilia desperately waved her arms in the air and cried for help.

  She thought she heard a shout but it might just have been the next wave. It walloped her from behind and pressed her back under the water. Before she lost consciousness, her last thought was to lament her stupidity and to hope her family would mourn her passing.

  Chapter Four

  Something made Gabe stop what he was doing and look out across the sea. He spotted a flash of silvery-white and grabbed his telescope.

  “What the h…?” He bellowed urgently to the nearest deckhands. “Lower the jolly!” He saw the silver head disappear beneath the waves and started stripping off his jacket. “Arik!” he shouted, throwing the telescope to his second-in-command, “Call the orders, I’m going in.”

  Arik shouted instructions to the helmsman to steady the ship and then to the men who were untying the boat. He took another look through the telescope and spied the silver head which was now barely above the surf. “Christ! You’ll never make it time. Captain!”

  “I have to try!” Gabe shouted over the noise of the wind and grabbed the rigging. He swung himself up onto the bulwark and looked towards his Commander.

  “The winds are with you!” Arik shouted and pointed in the direction Gabe needed to swim. “Try not to drown your sorry arse!”

  “That’s the plan!” Gabe replied. He took a second to relocate the splash of silver, braced himself against the cold of the water and dived in. Arik watched for his Captain to surface and shouted “Windward!” in case he had become disorientated in the huge waves. Gabe lifted his arm in acknowledgement and struck out in the direction he had last seen the woman. Had he been battling the wind as well as the waves, he knew he would not have made it. As it was, with the wind in his favour, he was able to ride the waves, which gave him speed and a higher point of view so he could keep his direction true. Even so, the large muscles of his arms and legs began to feel the strain as he pounded though the surf. The salt spray tore at his face, blinding him and filling his mouth each time he took a breath.

  Every few strokes, he would have to stop and check back with Arik who was watching from the ship’s deck. Gabe couldn’t hear him over the wind but followed the direction his Commander pointed. Then he would lower his head and pound through the choppy sea before checking his course again.

  The ship’s boat was in the water now and the oarsmen were rowing frantically towards their Captain who was already just feet away from the drowning woman. With the waves crashing into them on all sides and the bow of the boat lifted high out of the water, there was a real danger of smashing onto him if they weren’t careful.

  Paddy stood at the stern, anchored to the boat by a rope, and shouted commands to the sailors.

  “Hard a’port!” he shouted, pushing the tiller hard right. The sailors eased a little on the oars as the Paddy steered them away from the Captain and then took up the pace again once they had circled wide of him.

  Gabe reached Ottilia. “I have you!” he shouted, though he knew at once she was unconscious. Her frozen body would not last much longer in the cold water. He snatched the girl around her waist and pulled her into his chest, hoping that some of his residual heat would warm her. He swivelled around, looking for the boat. “Over here!” he yelled.

  The sailors struggled to hold position next to their Captain. Paddy’s strong arms reached out for the woman and lifted her into the boat. Then he half-lifted and half-dragged Gabe into the jolly and the tired crew started back for the ship.

  “Paddy, give me your jacket,” Gabe instructed. Quickly, the first mate stripped off and handed it over to his Captain who wrapped it around Ottilia and covered her frozen, naked body as best he could. He stayed at the bottom of the boat and tried to warm her in his arms, Meanwhile, his men struggled back to the Manatee, battling the very same winds that had aided them on the way out.

  The storm was still blowing strongly and, despite their best efforts, the crew could not prevent the small vessel from banging against the timbers of the ship. More than once, the boat’s occupants were nearly tipped back into the sea. Crouched down by the centre thwart, Gabe tucked his charge close against him. Slowly, slowly, the deckhands hoisted the jolly above the ship’s railings and fought to pull her on board.

  “Bring blankets!” Arik yelled above the wind and, moments later, Pip, the cabin boy, hurried over.

  “I have them, Sir!”

  “Good lad! Now find Stitches and tell him we have a patient on her way for him.”

  “Alive?” Arik asked as he looked at the tiny, young woman Gabe was cradling in his arms.

  “Barely,” Gabe replied. “Put that blanket over her and I’ll take her below.”

  The sailors had gathered round and were staring in awe at the beautiful, silver-haired creature.

  “D’ye think she be the one Prince Sebastian has been seeking?” Jeb asked - and the men’s eyes widened in alarm. Gabe shot a quelling look at the old man.

  “No!” he snapped. “And I’d better not hear a man jack of you say otherwise! Are you hearing me, Jeb?”

  “Aye, I hear you, Captain. Old I may be but I’m not deaf.”

  As Gabe stared sternly around the deck, every member of his crew suddenly made themselves busy. “Anyone who thinks he has something to say can say it now - to me,” he challenged. “This ship is small enough as it is and there’s no place on it for idle talk or mischievous making.” Gabe understood - as his crew understood - that such talk could so easily turn to unrest.

  “Keep them busy,” Gabe ordered Arik. Gently, he lifted Ottilia up and carried his still unconscious burden to the sick bay where Stitches was waiting.

  Ottilia didn’t understand what was happening. Her body felt strange, as though she were swimming in tropical waters, but it didn’t feel pleasant. Her body hurt too, with an ache permeating every inch of her. She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot on the sand but there wasn’t one.

  “Easy!”

  She stopped thrashing. Who was that? The voice, deep and commanding, strangely soothed her. She drifted back to sleep.

  She woke again. How long had she slept this time? She tried to open her eyes but they felt too heavy to lift and the effort too great for Ottilia to attempt for long. She turned her head towards the voices.

  “Will she live?”

  Ottilia forced herself to stay awake and listen to what they were saying, though the effort cost her greatly.

  A sigh, long and drawn out: “I’m no physici
an, Captain, but she seems like a real little fighter to me.”

  He had called him ‘Captain’! A smile tugged briefly at the corner of her lips as she remembered slapping the Captain of the Manatee with her tail.

  “She’ll need to be: the fever is taking its toll.” Despite the strange words, the Captain’s voice reassured her. Ottilia was slipping away again when Captain asked, “How does Prince Sebastian fare?”

  “His fever has abated but he remains unconscious,” the man who was no physician said worriedly. “The knock to the head is the culprit, I suspect.”

  “The Prince?” Ottilia murmured and fought weakly to picture his face - but it would not appear. She tossed and turned, trying to bring that beloved face to mind.

  “Did she say ‘Prince’?”

  “She’s delirious,” she heard the Captain say and wondered what that meant. A cool hand touched her head; it was large and soothing. She settled and her worries about the Prince slipped away as sleep reclaimed her.

  Chapter Five

  Ottilia noticed the dryness of her skin first. She felt her arms, noting their softness; no salt adhered to her skin. She took a breath and filled her nose and lungs with the air of this new world. Then she wriggled her tail - and images flooded her mind: her angry Father; the Cave of Disobedience; Hortense - the sea-witch!

  Ottilia snapped open her eyes and bit back a gasp. What was this place? She tried to sit up but the effort was still too much for her and she fell back. At that moment, the cabin door opened and a dark-haired giant entered, completely filling the room with his presence.

  “You’re awake?” he said. Then, seeking to reassure her, added, ““You’re on the Manatee. We pulled you out of the water. It’s all right; you’re safe here,” the man soothed. “No harm will come to you.”

  Ottilia looked at him in confusion. The Prince: where was he? If she was on the Manatee, then it was he who should be here.

  “What is it?” the giant asked. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Ottilia stared up him, wondering who he was. As though reading her mind, he said. “My name’s Gabe. I’m Captain of the Manatee. What’s your name?”

  “The Prince?” she said, her voice croaky.

  There was a knock at the door and a smaller man with a kindly face and a mop of greying curls entered the cabin.

  “Our patient is awake at last!” he said happily, “and looking a mite better too, I might add.” He laid the back of his hand against her forehead. Ottilia shrank back. “There now, I’m just checking to see if the fever has gone.”

  Gabe gestured him aside. Ottilia saw the Captain glance over his shoulder at her. Quickly, she closed her eyes and feigned sleep. “She seems to be having trouble understanding what I say. Do you think it might have something to do with her fever or maybe the accident?”

  “It could be anything, Captain,” the man said, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. “She could be foreign or hard of hearing or … well, a simpleton.”

  “No, not that surely?”

  “They come in all shapes and sizes Captain. Just ‘cause she’s pretty doesn’t means she’s not ninepence short of a shilling.”

  Gabe knew well enough how little a pretty face meant but still he didn’t think she was damaged in that way. “More likely, whatever happened has shaken her up,” he said.

  “Of course, she might just be that mermaid your cousin’s been looking for.” The older man chortled as he caught sight of his Captain’s fierce expression.

  “Don’t you start, Stitches! I have enough of that crap from Jeb,” Captain growled. “I’d just as likely believe her a sea unicorn as a bloody mermaid!”

  Stitches laughed. “That’s as maybe, Captain, but the crew are a superstitious lot and they are going to want to know how a naked woman ended up in the middle of an ocean with no ships in sight.”

  “They’re not the only ones,” Captain said contemplatively. “The main thing is that we get her back to shore so she can be properly cared for and returned to her people.”

  “Aye, women were not meant for ships,” Stitches agreed. “Particularly ones as pretty and mysterious as this one.” He looked down at his patient. “Sleep is probably the best thing for her just now.”

  Ottilia felt the covering being tucked around her and then the sounds of the two men leaving. Once she was sure they had gone, she opened her eyes.

  So the Prince had been looking for her? Where was he? She had to find him before Captain Gabe sent her away. From what she had heard, neither he nor his crew wanted her on the ship and, worryingly, they seemed to take a particularly dim view of the possibility of her being of the Mer. Under the circumstances, that was more than a little awkward. Once she had located the Prince, though, Ottilia reassured herself, and once she had introduced herself and the falling in love stuff had happened, the crew and Captain, would simply have to get used to her being there. No doubt the Prince would tell them to like it or lump it!

  She wriggled her toes and smiled - because she had toes to wiggle. Her whole body felt different now. She could feel the sleeping platform beneath her; something she would never have been able to do through the thick scales of her tail. She wriggled again, this time testing her new bottom for comfort and size. Was a big bottom considered favourable on a human, as it was on a Mermaid? This one felt distressingly small. And what about her legs?

  A terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. Suppose Hortense had deliberately sabotaged her efforts to win the Prince by giving her a pathetically small behind and a pair of shoddy legs! Ottilia whipped back the soft fuzzy covering and stared down at them. They did look rather small and pale. There was nothing about them which would lure a handsome Prince, the way her shiny, silver tail would have done. She ran her hand up and down them. Unlike her beautiful scales, they were soft to the touch just like her arms. The important thing now was whether they worked. She expelled an anxious breath: she was going to have to find out.

  She wriggled to the edge of the platform and pulled up the soft billowy garment which covered her all the way down to her brand new knees. She slid to the edge of the sleeping ledge and lowered her feet to the floor. For a whole blessed second, Ottilia remained upright and then the legs gave way and she fell and hit the wood plankings with her soft, new backside.

  Letting out a loud, anguished cry, she slumped on the deck with tears streaming down her face. It was exactly as she had feared: the witch had given her faulty limbs!

  Gabe was sitting at his cousin’s bedside when he heard the cry. He hurried through the narrow gangway to his cabin, threw open the door and stopped short when he saw Ottilia lying on the deck with her shapely derriere stuck up in the air. And then he realised she was crying.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked. Ottilia hiccupped and pointed in the general direction of her bottom half. Gabe examined her behind but, other than a small, red mark, it looked fine to him. Very fine, in fact, he thought. Then he remembered himself and pulled Ottilia’s shirt down to cover her.

  “My legs!” she wailed.

  Gabe checked them over too but found no sign of injury there either. He hoisted her into his arns. “You’re still weak from the fever,” he said. “You need to stay in bed until you regain your strength.” Gently, he placed her back onto the bed and drew the blanket over her. She looked so small and vulnerable lying there and Gabe wondered, not for the first time, how she had come to be out in the ocean, miles from anywhere and with no other ships in sight.

  “What happened to you?” he asked. She gazed at him uncomprehendingly. “Was your ship wrecked?” She shrugged and looked down at the bed again, rubbing the blanket with her fingers. Gabe studied her, trying to work her out. He knew she understood him and he knew that she spoke his language, though her accent was one he had not heard before.

  “What’s your name?” he asked and saw a flicker of - something - cross her face.

  “I can’t remember,” she said. She did not m
eet his eyes.

  “Do you at least remember where you are from?” he asked. Keeping her eyes downcast, Ottilia shook her head. Gabe stared at her, noting the way her fair, silvery hair hung around her face like a gossamer cloud. She looked more like an angel than a blasted mermaid. He shook his head in irritation at such fanciful thoughts. If he wasn’t careful, he would start to sound like Sebastian with his flights of whimsy and his poetical love of nature.

  “Do you remember mentioning the Prince?” Gabe asked. Ottilia’s head shot up. She looked as though she were about to say something and then changed her mind. She shook her head and stared at her hands instead. Of one thing Gabe was certain: she was not, as Stitches had suggested, ’ninepence short of a shilling’. In fact, if anything, he would put a wager on her being up to something.

  “Well, we’ll have to call you something,” he told her, “and so I think we’ll call you ‘Florin’.” Ottilia glanced at him with a puzzled frown. “On account of your silver hair,” he explained, “and the fact you are more than the full shilling.” Seeing her non-plussed look, he smiled. “Never mind. It’s as good a name as any until you remember your own. Are you hungry?”

  She gave him a long, thoughtful stare as though he had asked her to solve an ancient riddle. “Yes,” she answered finally with a regal nod of her head. Surprised by her haughty manner, Gabe raised his eyebrows.

  “Then I shall fetch Your Highness something from the kitchen,” he said with a mocking bow. He turned abruptly and headed towards the galley where Colbert, the cook, was preparing the noon meal. “What have you got that I can give to our guest?” he asked. With the ship well-stocked from their last island stop, feeding an extra mouth wouldn’t be a problem.