*Sorry for not submitting anything for a while, I have been suffering from a pretty bad case of writer's block recently. I foresee two more chapters, but there may be three.
Please enjoy, and rip it to pieces in the comment's section.
all characters are 18+*
Adriel and Christopher were oblivious to the strange and terrible things that happened in the town that night. They were too far away. The Merlee king, who had exiled his mistress and illegitimate son once before exiling his bastard to the mainland, was not responsible for the attack on Windward.
The Merlee who had orchestrated that attack, was a young female with a name unpronounceable, and even unable to be written by humans, so we will call her Shia.
Shia had been in love with a young exile. She had defied her mother and father to go out and be with him. She had followed him and hunted with him for over a year. They had gone onto the sand-flats out of sight of the mainland and made love countless times under the brilliant night sky.
Then her lover, we call him Theo, left her in a heartbeat for something forbidden and perverted.
Shia was heartbroken, and then enraged.
Shia was a beautiful and powerful Merlee of an ancient powerful line. She had gone up to several young males to enlist them in her cause, and they followed without complaint.
Shia knew that Theo must have been tricked and misled by that perverted little bastard. And now, Theo's body had been picked bare by sand fleas and crabs, while that little bastard was alive, and fucking a human. A human man!
Her head was still sore from the blow that the bastard had given her, and with the very float that had kept him alive. Shia and her gang had been separated and guarded on that day. The little traitor was to be given his chance of survival that day.
Shia knew about humans. She had swum up their rivers and watched them curiously where the royal guards couldn't persecute her. She was disgusted and fascinated by their dark hairy bodies. By the strange pink markings on the men's chests. The women had them to, on the tips of strange pendulous bags of fat. Shia shuddered, disgusting. Merlee laid eggs, and did not lactate. Shia, and all other females of her race had no breasts.
Shia knew human's fear of the unknown, so even after she had missed her chance at snatching the little traitor, she stayed in the uncomfortable, shallow, and dirty water of the harbor, two or three of her dedicated following by her side and she shrieked all night long.
She was screaming promises of revenge. To the townsfolk of Haven, it sounded like the gateway to hell had been opened.
In Haven, the livestock went mad. Deep fear was bred into them from the days when Merlee had stolen cattle and goats and sheep that wandered too close to the shore. Passive sheep screamed like dying women and battered their bodies against the fences until either the fence broke, or their ribs and skulls. Gentle cows gave soured milk and tore up their stalls with their horns and feet. Horses screamed and broke their legs trying to kick the stall doors down.
Cats became wild and aggressive, attacking dogs, livestock, other cats or humans. Dogs whined and moaned with fear, cowering in their houses, or in ally-ways if they were strays. Land-dwelling birds like robins and crows fled the shoreline. Only the seagulls were unaffected.
In the cacophony of shrieks of frightened and maddened animals, humans cowered in their homes. Bitten and kicked and scratched. The whimpers of their frightened dogs and children filling the air.
In the home of Bertha, the plump wife who had flirted with Christopher, she was tending to her children. She had four. Becka, the oldest was six and she had a broken leg from being kicked by the placid old cow. The Spaewife was too busy, and Bertha hadn't been able to find her, so the flustered woman had just bound it herself and given the screaming little girl a gulp of her husband's moonshine liquor to calm her.
Josiah was four, and had been bitten by a sheep on his shoulder, clumsy bandages and a gulp of liquor for him as well. Elsie was two, and had been badly clawed by the cat. Ingrid, the baby had bin bitten on her feet and knees by two huge rats, right in her crib.
Bertha was weeping and terrified. Her husband would be one of the fishermen that wouldn't return that night. Shia's gang would sink four boats, and his would be one of them. All she knew was that all of her children were crying and injured, her baby was now missing two toes, she had been forced to kill her cat with a chunk of firewood, and her husband was three hours late. Underlining the chaos on land, was a high-pitched demonic shrieking that came from the water.
Bertha cried, rocking frantically on the chair that her husband, Harold had made for her after Elsie was born. Harold, who would never see the new fifth baby he had planted in her stomach.
Her children were sleeping or crying in blankets spread on the floor around her, afraid to go to their beds in case of the rats that had mutilated the baby. The brown and white mutt that herded their sheep was whining and trembling at her feet as she rocked faster and faster, holding her screaming, whimpering babe tight.
"It's that boy," She whimpered. Her face was a hard-set snarl of fury and terror. "It's that fucking witch-boy from the sea."
Inside every house, the thought was pretty much the same.
---
Christopher was at his hut, and the trembling exhausted Adriel was lying in his bunk.
Adriel's face was grey and his eyes were haunted. "I did not... understand. Did not understand that she... that she try hurt us."
Christopher was worried sick about him, Adriel was terrified of those things that had attacked them, and so was Chris, but he was more worried about Adriel, and he felt safer now that they were on land.
Chris didn't understand why Adriel was still scared. They were safe now, weren't they? Chris went up and kissed Adriel gently on the cheek.
"We're going to be okay Adriel. I wont take you out again, and we'll be okay, trust me."
Adriel gave a weak smile, but looked unconvinced.
They both jumped when banging came from the door.
"Hey Chris! You aren't ditching out on me again are you?"
A huge smile nearly split Christopher's face in half. He tucked the covers around Adriel's body and ran to the door. He flung it open and saw Max and Anna. Anna was holding their new baby girl in her arms, wrapped in layers of soft white cloth printed with yellow flowers. The baby was gurgling and staring cross-eyed at her fingertips.
First Chris hugged Max in a big bear-hug, and then hugged Anna more gently because of the babe in her arms. Max had a huge picnic basket slung on his elbow.
"The boy, his name is Adriel, he is sleeping right now. I took him out in the boats and the villagers exhausted him. They keep asking him questions that neither of us know!"
