To An End

“That is a terrible plan.”

“Will you hear me out?”

Merric’s fins fanned out  in his anger as he glared at her. “You know, you’re right. It’s not a terrible plan. It’s idiotic! Are you insane?!”

Risala pressed her back to the thick cave wall of volcanic stone where they hid to avoid sinking remnants of ships. Roars echoed down from above, and debris clouded the waters as the dragon thrashed and devoured the fallen in it’s rage. “Apparently!” she snapped, swiping back billowing red hair from her eyes. “Do you have a better plan?”

Merric hissed viciously, and pointed his spear at her. “We just lost a dozen of our kin, and you’re wanting to sacrifice two more!”

Quick to duck between them, Daella reached to gently push the merman’s spear aside. Ghastly pale, and weak from her wounds, the blonde, older mermaid forced him back several feet. 

“She is right. This has gone on for too long. We three will not be enough to hunt down the beast if it moves on. You’re the only one who can take him down, Merric. Ris and I will distract him.”

“Daella!”

“You don’t have to –” 

Daella turned, clamping a hand over Risala’s mouth as the dragon’s tail slammed into the ocean floor just outside of their hiding place. Tense silence persisted for several excruciating moments as they waited to see if they had been heard.

“… I have suffered too much for our magic to heal me,” Daelle continued in a whisper, “and Risala’s — she will be reborn if she is killed.”

Merric looked as if he were on the verge of ripping his hair out. “You are both mad. We can try healing you again! And Ris! You don’t know if you really will come back at all!”

Risala cautiously peered out of the cave, then cast a dark grin back into the shadows at the merman. “What better way to find out? And at the moment I cannot think of a more exciting way to die.” She met Daella’s knowing gaze, and caught the spear that the mermaid tossed to her. “Ready?”

Daella swam to hover beside the younger maid, the merman joining them a moment later to watch the dragon claw up unrelenting waves on the human shore. “If you live I want my body left in a lake.”

“Any lake?”

“Any lake,” Daella replied with a nod. “Preferably by a monastery.”

Risala chuckled at the thought, switching her grip on her spear as the metal began to glow. “If you live I want you to see if I actually do come back.”

Daella scoffed. “You’re a handful as an adult. I have no desire to have you assigned as my ward.”

“If you two are done –” Merric grumbled through grit teeth. He opened his mouth to speak, but Daella cut him off with a kiss.

Risala kept her gaze above as she grinned. “If you two are done –” She could feel the fear creeping into her arms as she allowed her companions the time for their farewell. Clawed hands gripping the spear more firmly, her heart slowly beat faster within its cage. She’d lived so carefully the first few decades, but what was living without a little reckless abandon? And now she would find out the answer to all the questions she had been too afraid to ask. Long tail fanning out beneath her she gazed up as the dragon’s coils swept down too close over the top of the rock formation.

Daella reappeared at her side. A hand on Risala’s arm, the water around them suddenly thrummed with magical energy. Their weapons sparking, the two maids bolted out of the cave, jetting up towards the surface, narrowly avoiding the dragon’s grasping claws and thrashing body. There was no doubt that Merric was already moving to make the most of the anticipated opening. Energy from the sea whipping around them, Daella and Risala exploded out of the water, the waves rising up like mighty blades to drive into the monster.

Hateful eyes bore into the pair illuminated by the storm. Risala drew back her arm and with a great shout the mermaids hurled their gleaming spears into the monster’s glowing throat, then were lost as it’s jaws snapped shut in a crash of thunder.