#malsey

Being captured by pirates was not in Daud’s plans for this week—or ever.  He had just joined a fishing crew, in the hopes of bringing in enough coin to live comfortably for a while—then pirates had hit their boat.

At the suggestion of one member of the invading crew, the pirates had taken him hostage to ransom rather than killing him outright—but it was probably just prolonging the inevitable.  Daud wasn’t an idiot; he wasn’t that important.  The only way the pirates would get coin was if they ransomed him to his little brother.

Daud straightened as he heard a loud boom; what was going on out there? There were several more booms, then the ship shook.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Daud mumbled.

It wasn’t; about ten minutes after the ship shook, water entered the room.

Daud let out a long string of curses; he yanked at the chains holding him in place, but, of course, they didn’t give.  He was going to die here.  The ship was sinking, and he was going to drown here, he was never going to see his brother again—

The door suddenly opened; it was the same pirate who’d suggested keeping Daud for ransom.

(What was his name again? Jaime or something, wasn’t it?)

“Hey,” he said.  “Um.  It’s my fault you’re here, so…”

He bent down and unlocked the chains holding Daud.

“I’m sure you’ve figured it out, but the ship’s going down,” Jaime said.  “It’s only fair if you get a chance.”

Daud didn’t need to hear any more; he raced out the door and into the hall.

“Hey! Who let the prisoner out?” a pirate shouted.

“Shut up, Sharif, the ship’s sinking!” Jaime shouted back.

Daud just kept running.

_______________________________________________________________________

Up on deck, things were in chaos.

People were jumping overboard, and others were locked in sword fights; multiple things were on fire.

From the looks of it, the pirates had met another group of pirates, and it had ended badly.

“Hey! The prisoner escaped!” the captain shouted, but Daud didn’t care.  He ran to the edge and jumped overboard.

Daud splashed into the ocean below, and tasted saltwater; he kicked up, and met air.

The danger was far from over; cannonballs were still flying, and, fairly often, landing in the water with a splash.  All around him, wooden debris was falling.

He needed to get out of here, and, looking out, there was a shore up ahead.  Daud kicked, and propelled himself away from the ship.

He didn’t get very far before his leg snagged on something, and he was dragged down.  Saltwater flooded his lungs; he opened his eyes to roped tangled around his leg.  The rope was caught around a dark blob Daud couldn’t quite make out.

He tugged desperately at the rope continuously pulling him down, but to no avail.  He couldn’t make his fingers work properly.

His lungs were on fire, and black dots were on the edge of his vision.

He was going to die—for real this time.  He was never going to see his brother again, he was just going to drown here, and his body probably wouldn’t be washed up.  No one would ever know what had happened to him.

As he lost consciousness, the last thing he felt was something grabbing him.

_______________________________________________________________________

Air suddenly rushed into Daud’s lungs; he immediately started coughing and hacking, spitting up saltwater as he did so.  He blearily opened his eyes, and the face of a dark-skinned woman swam into view.

She was very beautiful, he noticed.

“Oh!” the woman exclaimed.  “You’re finally awake!”

Daud pushed himself into a sitting position; as he did so, he noticed the woman only seemed to be partially human, as the lower half of her body was a bright blue fish tail.

“Careful!” she said.  “I just managed to revive you.”

“You’re a mermaid!” Daud exclaimed, excitement rushing through him.  “That’s so cool! My little brother’s never gonna believe this—I was captured by pirates, then I was in the water, and now I’m talking to a mermaid—wait.  How did I get out of the water?”

“I was swimming by when I saw you,” the mermaid said.  “So I saved you, and brought you on land.  And resuscitated you.  I—wasn’t sure it’d be enough, honestly.”

“You saved me!” Daud cried, pulling the mermaid in for a hug.  “I thought I was done for, but you saved me! I’m Daud bin Ahmad, by the way!”

He suddenly let go, rather embarrassed.  He shouldn’t have done that; that was hardly appropriate.

“Michelle,” the mermaid said after a moment.  “Michelle Esparon.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Michelle!” Daud said.

A smile crossed Michelle’s face.

“Likewise,” she said.  “You know, we merpeople don’t usually show ourselves to humans.  My parents would have a fit if they even knew I was talking to you.”

“Why not?” Daud asked.

“It’s dangerous,” Michelle said.  “You know what those sea-faring humans would do to us if they knew we existed?”

“Sea-faring…? Oh, you mean pirates,” Daud finally said.  She was right, he knew.  Given the kind of things pirates were capable of, he was lucky that they were just going to try and ransom him back.  “If it makes you feel better, I’m not a pirate.”

“Yes,” Michelle nodded.  “I noticed you were dressed differently from how they usually are.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “But—um—do you know where we are?”

“Oh, this is the coastline of the Malayan Peninsula,” Michelle said.

Relief swept over him like a tidal wave.

“Oh, thank goodness,” he said.  He would probably be able to find his brother—and looking around, he spotted Malacca in the distance; so he probably didn’t live too far from here.  “Wait, how did you know this is the Malayan Peninsula?”

“I go up to the surface more than I should,” Michelle admitted.  “I really wish we didn’t have to hide away from humans.  They’re not all bad—you seem nice!”

Daud felt himself blushing slightly.

“Oh—you know,” Daud said, trying to play it smooth.  “I’m always nice.  Especially to cute people.  Just ask my brother.  Actually, don’t.”

His brother did have a habit of teasing him, after all; he’d rather Michelle didn’t hear that.

(Of course, his brother wouldn’t believe him if he told him about Michelle; which begged the question of how he was going to explain what had happened since getting captured by pirates a month ago.)

Michelle giggled.

“You really think I’m cute?” she cooed.

Daud felt himself blushing again.

“I—uh yeah, of course you are!” he stammered.

So much for playing it smooth.

Michelle smiled again, but looked out at the sea.

“I should probably get going,” she said.  “Bye, Daud!”

She headed towards the shore.

“Wait!” Daud burst out.  “Will I see you again? I’ll probably be around collecting sea cucumbers on the shore, you know.”

Michelle gave him one last smile.

“Maybe,” she said.