Polochon has a minion!

Jack Ketch the Vile Water Imp

Merena's blessing

We were twins, Raseyna and I. She, by far the more fair, was a creature of grace, gentleness, though as mischievous as the wind on the water. I was no better, and through our childhood years I would bring her into all the pranks my young fancy could create. We soon became the scourge of Riverside valley, though most of our neighbors did not suspect that we were to blame. For our parents had trained us to be respectable, and in their eyes we were. Raseyna, in her flowing white gowns trimmed in pink rose patterned lace, and I in dark blue suits tapered just enough for me to stand tall, looked the picture of innocence. However, we both knew how to escape the great stone courtyard behind our home, and had the run of the laundry room while the washer woman was flirting with the coal boy. Soon our respectable cloth was traded for peasant garb, and we were free to break flower pots and raid gardens to our heart's contents.
However, these revels could not last forever. We grew, and with this growth our exploits and adventures became more checked. We no longer ran down back alleys in peasant garb, though we did not cease to be reckless and cunning. We became resigned to warding off my sister's many suitors and climbing the roof of the cathedral at midnight to watch the stars and talk of life. My sister, matured far beyond me in body and mind, had become more tame as the years went by. I had become more hot blooded and wild. She tamed me, I goaded her on. We were like two sides of the same coin.
It was decided shortly before our eighteenth birthday that we were to be blessed at Shinwa's temple. This was not done because of any worship on our parts, though our parents were loyal patrons. Rather, it was due to the longstanding tale that this blessing would cause an evening of the tempers in twins that we were to take the trip.
Our parents had planned laboriously to ensure that our trip would be festive, arranging for games at the Carnival upon our return and a sword fighting contest to satiate my annoyance with the ordeal. We were loaded onto the ship on the day of our birthday. Raseyna at my side, our parents standing proudly behind us as local priest said a blessing in our honor before we set out. As we watched our small town vanish in the distance, I was struck with the idea that I was not going to return. I dismissed this premonition, however, and joined the sailors below at a game of cards. My mistake, I see now, was not dismissing the premonition. Instead, it was leaving Raseyna's side.
That night the winds picked up violently, lightning crashed over head. I ignored the storm, preferring to continue my hand of cards with the few invalid crew men that lingered below deck than to be flooded with questions from my mother about our safety. I wish now that I had run to her.There was a splitting crack, following by a rush of water. I do not remember much of the accident, other than that I ran for the stairs only to have the floor shatter beneath me and to be sucked into the water.
My eyes blurred from the salt brine, I made out the white form of Raseyna being dragged down into the depths. My heart constricted. I tried to beat against the waves, my own hands too heavy to move. My lungs burned. In a last moment of consciousness I made a single request."My life for hers," I thought, "Merena, take me." There was an earsplitting screech from the depths and my world went dark.

"You slept long, servant," a cold, smooth feminine voice said, her words crawling under my skin. I cried out, the slithering pain entangling my body and dragging me deeper into the darkness. "Our bargain is sealed. You are to be mine."
I woke, gasping, to find myself on the floor of a stone chamber. The walls, carved magnificently long ago, were cracked and faded. The lighting came from small tentacled creatures bobbing in glasses along the wall. They watched me with their dozens of eyes. There was something oddly familiar about them that made my skin crawl. I tried to clear my eyes, gazing around the finely furnished cove. A woman cleared her throat loudly.I turned to find a large fish-like tail taking up the other side of the cove. From the waist up, a blue skinned maiden with long black hair and devil's horns was presented to me. She was scantily clad, and, in my embarrassment, I blushed. She looked me over, licking her lips. "Welcome." She said, her voice more cold than before. "Your sister is safe."
"I-" I began. Her eyes glowed like coals.
"You are not to speak in my presence. You are mine now, for eternity. You are to serve on my ship as the captain, as you are competent enough with giving orders. Or you will be, soon enough." She paused, running a finger over her scales. “Your sister has reached the shore now, her body safe. Her mind, however, is gone. Your fault, unfortunately. If you had left her she would have survived. However, your request for saving her and her alone let the others die. A dire cost to protection on such a level. Pity.” She smiled at me. I felt my mind clouding, my heart clenching for one last second before it went out like a wet log. My frame stiffened as my conscience left me. I looked down at my dark webbed hands. “Serve me well, Polochon, or you will suffer the repayment.”

…I leaned back in my chair, my left leg over the arm rest, my right hand clasping a gun. I licked my lips, my eyes glancing over the prisoners Kiahl had set before me. Kiahl, my trusted mate, leaned against my chair, her mouth in a crooked grin.“You dare attack a ship of Merena?” Kiahl asks, her smooth voice dangerously cruel. The prisoners keep their eyes to the floor. All but the leader, a thick minded man who stares brazenly at me, his eyes full of defiance. I glare back, my blue eyes cold. This alone deters even the most bold solider. However, the leader merely turns his gaze on Kiahl.
“We did not attack,” the leader says. Kiahl looks at me, her mouth parted, her eyes lusting after violence. I cock my gun and shoot the nearest sailor through the knee without turning my eyes at him. His screams fill the cabin. The leader's jaw tightens.
“Be cautious in your tale, Sir,”I say, my voice a whisper. “It could cost your men.” The leader looks at the sailor, just out of his reach. “I will allow them off this ship if you were to join Merena.” I whisper. The leader looks at me, his eyes pained. “Or, I can hand you over to Mistress Kiahl, and her instruments of choice. And take my world, good sir, you will not die. Not by Kiahl, though you scream through your parched and blood filled throat for the end, you will not die. You and your soldiers and their families.” I crack a smile, showing lines of pointed teeth. The leader looks me in the eye, his body erect.
“I will join her,” he says, his voice cracking but his form resolute. I nod to Kiahl, who picks the leader up and forces a silver chain around his neck. The man doubles over, the poison of Merena seeping into his blood. It is over in a moment, the last glimpse of his morality leaves his body and he is left a Hydra, like Myself and most of my crew.
He blinks, awkward on his own finned feet, before his stature returns. I wave my gun at Kiahl. She picks the sailor's up by their ropes, her own slender arms barely flexed, and walks towards the deck. I follow, my arm around the leader's shoulders. He walks, his own body unawares of what orders him. I keep him by the edge of the ship as Kiahl binds his men in cloth like the dead. Their shouts fall on deaf ears. Kiahl finishes each sailor with one stitch through the ear. Then, as if on cue, she kisses the top of their head and throws them into the sea, their thrashings dying down after a moment as they vanish into the depths. The leader shows no remorse at this, though I know he feels it. I have long ceased to feel it. I turn him around so he is staring at his own ship.“Sink it, Kyphrin!” I order, my voice catching on the wind. Kyphrin, my master gunner, shifts her feet, looking at me with a half-smile and holding her arms awkwardly about her body. I turn on her, my face hard.“Sir, we have yet to loot it,” Kyphrin stammers. Kiahl nods, looking at me and licking her bloodied fingers. I sigh.“Very well, finish and sink it to Merena. We are in need of a new fleet to serve Our Lady Bloodwake,” I run my hand over the edge of the ship, my claws leaving slight indents along her edge. I smile, looking over the ocean. I feel no regret, and it is the most freeing sensation in my life.

story by Dauntless2007 February 17, 2007 – February 6, 2008 Fire Pig

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