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At the brink of dawn, seagulls made a calamity of laughs and crows. They brushed their feathers against the ebony silk hair of a fair Irish maiden. Her eyes followed the birds to the brightening blue horizon. She took a deep inhale; a salty, humid musk filled her lungs. She blinked and exhaled, the ocean crashing its elegant waves on the shore, much how a flower's petal rides against a breeze to the Earth's soil. She lay against a rugged boulder a few feet out of the ocean floor. The flat surface eroded from many years, the first few inches beginning to be corrupted by sharp, tiny barnacles. The maiden lay against the top, tanning her pale skin, her torso barely covered by brightly orange colored scallops held together by Celtic woven seaweed. She soaked in a few more moments of the summer sun, diving into the cool waters of Galway Bay in the North Atlantic.
She spread her golden fins to help her glide and navigate through the waters, arriving in her home of Taltasin. It was the city of her kind - mermaids. She flicked her golden tail to slow down, picking up a silver tiara, and an emerald stone in the middle of it. The mer-people swam out of the way, smiling and greeting her.
"Hello Princess." They all chanted, bowing their heads.
The princess blissfully greeted them back, slowly heading to the castle holding her family's name and honor. She placed a hand gently on a column, heading up the royal path. She felt it was her own paradise; the story of Atlantis is what the surface dwellers called it. She flicked her eyes around her home, waving at passing people. She opened the doors, swimming over to the King. “Hey daddy, have the people been well today?” She inquired sweetly genuinely sympathetic of the King's old age.
The King smiled, “Inyx, how are you my dear?” He hugged her close. He looked into her soul-piercing blue eyes. He let her go. “Where have you been? We had so many people looking out for you.” He looked at her with a sincere concern.
Inyx licked her lips, cowering. Should I tell him the truth..? She thought, looking at her dad. “I took the morning for myself…” She said with confidence.
The King snarled with his Irish accent thick. “Every time ye take a mornin’, you wee lass be up at the surface!” He glared his stale gray eyes in hers.
Inyx groaned in annoyance. “Dad! I never get to do what I want! Yes - I went to the surface! I just want to get out of the castle every once in a while. Stretch my fins out. Take a risk to find myself. Is that too much to ask!?” She looked into his eyes, petrified.
The King stopped himself, calming down. “Inyx, go to ye own room. Leave me be for my thoughts.” He ushered her out, sitting on his throne, a silver engraving saying B E R N A R D underneath his throne.
Inyx grunted in frustration, flicking her tail to spin around and went into her room. She screamed into her pillow, releasing her bottled aggravation. Why can’t he just listen!? I only want a bit of freedom! She sat on the bed, sorrowed. I just want to find myself… Why couldn’t I be human? I want to be known as Ireland’s greatest Queen! Just like Catherine the Great… Just for Ireland. She looked at her books, reading them again, reading the human history, folklore, and tradition. They’re just like us… Just they’re on the surface, and we have tails…
Inyx huffed, put her book down, and swam out of her opened window. She surfaced and trekked back to her own boulder. She peered around the darkening horizon of an array of purples, reds, and oranges. Her eyes halted into a curious peer at a far off ship being pushed towards the shores of Ireland near her home.
The ship was from Great Britain, holding multiple crew men, including the British prince, Isaac. Inyx hid, staring intently at the English Nobleman. Isaac stood at the bow, looking about as the crew was scrambling to fill their duties the captain yelled at them to do. Inyx noted Isaac's luscious blonde locks flowing in the wind. His ship, “Fiona”, was too far for her to tell his eye color. “Fiona” was an entirely wooden ship, sailing to take the land of Ireland for British motherland.
Inyx dove back down to Taltasin, tried to sneak back into her room, and yelped at the sharp yell of her name thundering behind her. Oh no! No, are you kidding me? Out of all the things that could have happened today, it had to be that Dad found out that I sneaked out of the house? Now I’m going to die… I’m going to DIE!
“Inyx!!!” Bernard looked straight at her, "You haven't been at the surface again, have ye?" His thick Irish accent sneered as back as the stale ale stench on his breath. He glared at her through his dark green eyes; his gray-highlighted brunette hair roughly curled down to his shoulders, accompanied by a grisly beard.
Inyx softly whimpered, slightly cringing in a coward's pose. "Yes I was... I saw a British ship with this man-"
"Stop it now, Inyx! You shall not go near any humans! Especially a male!" The King's voice thundered in the room, making the castle quake beneath their tails. "Am I clear?"
"Yes daddy..." Inyx said in sorrow, swimming to her bedroom.
Inyx thought, pondered, and planned about her escape. Should I even do this? I already disobeyed my dad twice today and I don’t want to know what would happen if I did it a third time… She looked up; Bernard attached a jail bar over her window. Are you kidding me? A jail bar! He wants me to perish in this room alone forever! She looked at the sky. It’s about four or five hours until dusk… Dad should take his bath and everyone should be busy in an hour or two…
After what seemed like a thousand years, Inyx had moved swift but quiet through the castle. She left from the castle doors; Bernard was distracted by his leisure bath. She dodged out of view, going through a hidden royal path to have a precaution to a premonition of Taltasin’s downfall. She kept low and in the shadows to keep her golden tail from giving her location easily. She followed it until she was out of the Kingdom’s territory, but heading to the abyss instead of the surface.
Inyx went to the darkest depths of the abyss, known as Morte's Pit – or Death's Pit. As she slowly looked about the darkness, a witch's evil cackle rang through the princess's ears, only to be greeted by the snap of a sea serpent wrapped on the pale woman's arm.
"Princess..." The witch spoke in a hushed, delighted, and cynical tone with a complimentary smirk. "What brings you to Death's Pit, my dear?" She snapped, luminescent animals of against the walls lighting up around the two, but just enough to show the features of the beautiful, alluring woman in front of Inyx. The witch’s tail was a scarlet, matching her nails and flaming hair. Her purple eyes practically were amethysts in a pile of rubies and diamonds, her pale skin caused by the lack of sunlight. Deep navy scallops caressed the witch’s bosom, blending with the dark background of the pit.
Inyx tensed as the Sea Krait slithered and coiled at her neck. "I want to be human, Kittie. I will do absolutely anything!" She shivered softly, the water colder and causing an all-too-human chill up her spine. She coughed, trying to hold her breath by the distinct and putrid odor of decaying organisms on the ocean floor.
Kittie the witch laughed with a malicious shrill of pleasure. "Ah... Well, princess... That silver comb you are fond of shall be your demise. If you go human, you shall be a banshee by night. Should you kill anyone for the comb, you will be known as Lorelei, a killer mermaid in exile from home forever more!" She grinned.
Inyx relapsed, considering her options. She nodded, gave Kittie her comb. The woman took the comb, letting out a shriek of sadistic delight. She started to speak quickly in Greek, the comb lighting and shining from the spell. Kittie put Inyx’s comb between her hands, clasping them and swimming up and toward the shoreline. The comb began to burn and sizzle the water around it, but it didn’t put a single mark on Inyx. Inyx screamed in complete pain as the last word shot a sharp pain through every single nerve cell in her body. Kittie caught Inyx, placing her on the beach where the tides shouldn’t reach her, rolling back into the water and disappearing into her home pit.
Inyx coughed out water as she woke up, groaning in her unaware state of mind. She looked down, seeing her human legs. She began to rise; her knees slightly buckling from the unknown pressure of gravity. She slowly wandered, getting used to the fleshy biped life, feeling the sand pushing between her toes. Isaac hopped onto land once "Fiona" was anchored. He stopped; his deep, emotional brown eyes captivated Inyx.
"Hello fair maiden... I'm Prince Isaac of Britain. And who are you, delightful creature?" Isaac's voice serenaded Inyx into a speechless gape. Isaac shut her mouth gently. "Hello?"
"Umm... I-Inyx.... I'm Inyx... A princess." She smiled sheepishly.
"Princess? Do tell..." Isaac took her arm, walking down the beach with her.
Slowly as time progressed, Isaac and Inyx fell madly in love, got married, and began a happy life between the two of them. Inyx was alone after their date night, set herself in bed and smiled. How is it that I got Isaac? He’s so perfect… He is making my dreams become a reality!
However as their relationship became intimate, things began to change for the couple. Inyx faked amnesia, avoiding her past at all costs. She faked her human life, staying out all night to prevent her harming Isaac.
One day, Inyx began combing her hair, smiling. She put the comb down, looking to the red sunrise.
"Red morning... Sailor's warning..." Inyx whispered to herself. She placed the comb on her desk, going to the Captain's Room. She told the Captain of the red morning, and where the nearest place of cover was in case they didn’t make it to shore. She wandered about the ship, lingered in the masses, and communicated with the other crew members to brighten their days.
Inyx had returned to see Prince Isaac playing and throwing her comb about. Inyx's eyes went to a Navy blue, growling. She shrieked, and her fingernails grew. Although Isaac’s howl for help typically deteriorated her attacks, it didn’t make Inyx even flinch. She lounged and attacked the prince, leaving only a bloody mess of what used to be Isaac. She gasped, looked at Isaac’s remains, and threw the comb in the deep waters. She jumped back into the water; her feet changed back into fins, her tail as a mermaid returned, scarred and tattered with a smoky gray color instead of her beautiful, golden tail.
Inyx left Ireland's shores, haunting sailors as the name of Lorelei. She was to be said singing a melancholy song while hiding behind a set of rocks, luring sailor's to their deaths. Her silver comb can be stolen, but only if you get out of reach of the killer banshee.
So, a word for all sailors:
Fear the red mornings. They are your forewarnings…