Anisha was going to come with him, able to breath water herself as a scaleon descended from a water dragon, but the Kahtir had needed her elsewhere dealing with a problem in a cliff face community that only she had the flying skills to really get to in the first place since their bridges and walkways were taken out during a recent disaster.

Matsu swam leisurely, tail sweeping back and forth gently as he made his way through the darkened waters of the Berian oceans of Cumenah. He hadn’t seen anything strange, watching the regularly scheduled ships passing by gently overhead, their caged off propellers spinning serenely.

Mostly, it was just quiet, and Matsu allowed himself to enjoy the quiet as the ground below began to slope down and away, the kelp farms fading into rocky outcroppings and small pastures for crab like creatures. Out a little farther, and even those pastures disappeared as the bottom became too far away to see. This was where people were going missing.

Matsu pulled himself out of his serene state and put himself on alert, feeling out the currents for any creatures or machines moving nearby as he swam out farther, lazily and slowly, it seemed, like he was just enjoying himself or perhaps just looking for something.

He felt the currents above him shift and look up to see a ship, set to pass right above along side him.

He swam a bit quicker to make sure they wouldn’t pass too close to him, but the ship changed course just enough to stay in line with him.

“Gotcha,” Matsu muttered to himself, pleased. He reached up to his throat where he had a communications band and touched his thumb and forefinger to the stones on either side of his wind pipe. “This is Matsu to home base. Possible suspect has been identified. A fishing ship at coordinates-”

Pain pierced through his torso and overwhelmed his senses as he screamed and let go of the comms band. He grabbed onto a cold metal rod that had been shot through his side and gasped, his damaged gills fluttering and twitching around the metal as his muscled cramped, trying to heal around the intrusion.

He felt along his other side to find what had pierced him and felt barbs on the other end. Barbs that sank into his skin as the harpoon was pulled on hard, dragging him up through the water and putting extra force on his wounded body.

His vision vanished for a moment as pain dragged through his torso and side where the barbs bit into his rib gills, his throat gills fluttering urgently as they tried to keep up with his demand for oxygen. With great effort, he pulled himself from the edge of unconsciousness and grabbed for the smooth end of the harpoon, latching onto it to take some pressure on his gills. He could feel the wounds where the harpoon’s hooks had slid through healing around the pole and hooks, his gills repairing a little, but the pain still shot through his insides like lightning as he held onto the harpoon and tried to make himself more aerodynamic so he wouldn’t be dragged so harshly.

The surface was approaching quickly now that he’d grabbed the line and turned himself to glide through the water and quickly broke the surface.

He chose not to switch to his lungs, still able to breath with his gills as long as they were wet. He knew for a fact that the harpoon had pierced his lungs and breathing might actually make him pass out.

“We got ‘em!” a loud voice called as a huge net was scooped under him to help haul him out of the water.

Matsu tried not to writhe, holding onto the rope, desperate to keep the harpoon from moving, but as he was dragged over the railing, the harpoon jolted out of his grasp and levered up through his organs, causing him to spasm as he was dumped onto the ship deck.

His gills flapped as he tried to collect himself, fighting the urge to have his legs back and breathe through his lungs.

“He’s a pretty one,” someone said, grabbing his finned ear to check out the patterns there. “Too bad he’s dead. He would have-AUGH!”

Matsu snapped his pointed teeth deeper into the woman’s fingers, determined to take a finger for his trouble.

Something hard smacked painfully into the top of his head, causing him to let go of the finger as his vision spun again, pain rippling through his skull and chest.

“He’s still alive! Wait, look at that.”

everyone went still and quiet, watching Matsu as he regained his senses, grabbing onto the smooth side of the harpoon, and just waiting for the strength to come back to where he could try and push it through and cut the rope.

“He’s healing,” someone breathed and Matsu stiffened, snapping his head around to look at the man. His eyes, changed to manage sight underwater, weren’t quite adapted to out of water and he could only make out the blurred colors of brown skin and hair and a bright blue jacket.

“Crap, look at the markings on his arms! Isn’t this one of the Adventurers?”

Matsu’s heart sank. Being caught out as one of the adventurers was not a good thing usually. It typically meant he was about to be bound up and sold on the Darke Market, or he was going have to wriggle out of an attempt on his life.

“It is! Crap! He’s going to tell them we’re here. We need to get out of here!”

“Cut the rope!” someone called as blue jacket grabbed his hair and forced his head down, turned away to where he could only see feet.

He tried to shove the harpoon through, but someone grabbed his wrists, binding them together behind his back as his headband and carack, a cape-like mer-shirt, was torn off of him, his bags undone and tossed away and his comms band cut off his throat, the scissors cutting harshly through his throat gills in their haste.

He choked, his drying out gills already having a hard time keeping up with the demand. He coughed, a small amount of liquid trickling out over his gills to help with his breathing as they finished stripping him. Two people grabbed either end of the harpoon, someone hooking their arm through his elbows and another grabbing his tail and he was lifted up off the slimy deck, set on the railing, and shoved over the edge.

He writhed, trying to dive gracefully into the water, but he smacked into it on his upper back, leaving him disoriented as bubbles went up around him.

By the time he regained some semblance of his senses, he realized that he couldn’t control his decent. The harpoon was too heavy for the movements he could manage while cosplaying as a fish kebab and all he could really do was to try and direct himself. It was going to hurt when he hit the ocean floor.

He looked down, writhing as he shot for a higher point of the sea floor, and curled up just in time to hit it.

The harpoon knocked into a rock, stirring his guts again, causing Matsu to gag and go blind with the pain. He lay still on the sand and rocks, gills flapping gently as the ones on his neck healed up.

He finally lifted his head, coughing through his gills to get the small particles of sand out after they’d been stirred up by his crash landing.

He clicked softly to himself as he gently twisted and tested the range of his movement.

After several gently maneuvers, he got himself on his stomach, the sand tickling his gills as he reached for the smooth end of the harpoon. With his hands bound behind his back, he was able to get a hold on it, but he wasn’t able to push it through.

Undeterred, he reached to the other side, trying to catch the rope on one of the hooks on the harpoon to cut the rope, but of the two rows of hooks, the tip hooks were too small and far away to reach, and the closer ones were buried deep in his flesh. He tried to pull or push it out a little, but once again, he couldn’t get enough leverage to do so.

He finally relaxed, laying his cheek in the sand with a little groan.

He took in his surroundings. His hit off of that rock had rolled him closer to the cliff that led down deeper in the ocean. He could actually peak out over it if he stretched his head a little.

He did so, looking down into the depths as his flesh cramped and grew around the harpoon, sending twinges of pain through him. He didn’t see anything moving down there and wondered how long it would take for the team at home base here on this planet would find him. Hopefully not too long. Or maybe he’d find a sharp rock to cut the-

Matsu startled as something moved under him, an unhappy flat bottom feeder fish who was tired of being laid on.

It moved again, tickling along Matsu’s ribs and making him lash out with his tail. Unfortunately, he tired to escape the sensation in exactly the wrong direction and he yelped as the sand slipped out from under him and he went down over the edge, the harpoon happily dragging him down again.

He had a lot more time to position himself for impact, turning himself onto his back to keep the harpoon from hitting anything first, though it was a constant struggle to hold the position as the hooked end was heavier than the other side.

Finally, the ground met his back, hard knobs of rock meeting Matsu’s spine as he landed heavily.

Matsu gaped, gills flapping in confused shock as pain shot up and down his spine. He held very still until he was certain his back wasn’t broken before he tried to move.

The water weight on top of him was extremely noticeable now, as he was laying at the edge of his depth limit. His gills fluttered and worked harder against the weight on top of them, and every movement sapped more from him.

He finally fell still once he was laying in a slightly more comfortable spot, looking up at the dim light that filtered through the water. If he had his pack, he would have liked to light a glow stick to make it easier to find him, but as it was, all he could do was lay there and hope he would be found. This far down, he knew his red and orange skin wouldn’t be seen that well, with red and orange light waves being unable to penetrate as deep as he was now.

He waited, dizzy and tired, occasionally keening at a frequency he hoped would be heard by rescuers or by a friendly motherly sea creature. He knew there were quite a few around here.

As much as he wanted to stay awake and make sure no predatory fish took their chances with him or smaller bottom feeders had a nibble, the weight of the water and the difficulty breathing lulled Matsu to sleep.

………………………………………….

Matsu was found by home team and thanks to his healing factor did not suffer ill effects. In fact, he commented on how good that deep sea nap felt and was perfectly capable in directing home team to the pirates who had been killing and selling mer. Local police forces could take it from there to track down the people who facilitated this market while Matsu went home and treated himself to several massages and expensive potion ingredient shopping.

Thank you for reading!

Standing invisible on the wall, the girl had sunk back into the memories of Ka’hairel’s older brothers, chasing her, netting her, shocking her. The slightly raised skin around her neck twitched as she stood rock still. 

Given their break from studies and new toy, it was no surprise when she trailed the trio onto a shuttle that touched down near their training center. 

The girl slid into the brush, landing on the outside of her thigh. The center had a wide variety of biomes to choose from to better train their conquering elite. She knew the game already, starting in the desert got boring fast for them. As had keeping lower settings on the net. 

Icarek explained that it was basic psychology; slaves were prone to laziness, so they needed incentive to not be lazy. The girl could have pointed out that running across sand dunes in bare feet could have been the reason for her slow pace but the thought didn’t occur to her to speak out. 

Remaining muscle spasms buckled her knees as she crept through the bush, trying to keep low and still. A twitch tossed her to the right, waxy green leaves rustled as she fell into the dirt. 

Birajuu. The girl shoved to her feet to try to run but the weighted net was already flying in her direction. 

Her head thumped the ground with bruising force as her limbs got tangled in the tight wiring. 

The air pushed out of her lungs and prevented her from preparing a breath. 

Burning, piercing pain tore through her body and her mouth tore open in a desperate attempt to scream, to gasp for air. Across every limb, over her face. 

Her muscles collapsed as the shock disappeared, face rolling into the dirt. Segar’s boots nudged her over, unhooking the net from underneath her. 

“How many points for that?” He yelled back, scooping the net up off the ground. A boot tip shoved into her, motivating the girl to find her limbs and lever herself off the ground. 

Light stabbed through her head as she trailed Segar back. 

Ka’hairal didn’t spare her a glance, grabbing the net back from Segar before resetting it. The girl was grateful for the moment that they spent arguing the rules of their game, pulling more air into her lungs. 

Hiding quietly wasn’t going to work again. Her brain was just coming back online before she caught Ka’hairal’s order. 

“Run” 

She aimed for the trees, waiting until she was out of sight before throwing herself up one. Callused feet helped her grip as she propelled upwards into the leaves. Carefully, the girl shifted higher in the branches, trying to rest her weight fully before transferring her step. 

The forest was quiet but the girl stood tense, waiting for any noise. Hearing some shifting from her left, she tried to move to the right side of the tree. Wrong move. The branch crashed under her weight and she let out a shriek as her legs dropped from under her. 

A bare second into dangling, the weight of the net crashed into her and sent her tumbling.

Air knocked from lungs. No breath to scream. Tears leaked from her eyes as the shock paralyzed her body and in turn the tears burned as the netting crossed over her face. 

It was over. Icarek won that one, digging a knee into her back intentionally as he unrecalled the netting. It was surprising to see her scraped palms, considering she didn’t feel the sensation. One leg fell out from under her on the way back but she dragged it behind her. 

Ka’hairal looked pissed. The girl understood. He hadn’t had a turn with his toy yet. 

It was a small enough arena that they would find her eventually if they stayed in place. She resolved to run this time. 

“Run.” Her master barked. She obeyed. 

Her breath rasped in her chest and she threw herself through brush and trees, fully aware of the trail she left behind. Her leg buckled but she was prepared, slamming herself into a trunk to keep upright and using it to propel herself in a different direction. 

Forest floor debris tore into her feet but she kept moving. Finding a wall in front of her, instinct took her left. 

Five steps into the new route, the increasingly familiar weight of the net slammed into her, 

No respite. Stabbing, stabbing pain pierced her core. Her eyes burned, her mouth was dry. 

Had it stopped? She shivered before rolling over to see Ka’hairal closing in. He yanked back the net and the girl clamped her mouth shut from crying out as the metal whipped across her skin. 

His face was still thunderous, though the glimmer at the back of his eye scared her even more. Terror gripped her stomach as tremblingly she pushed herself upwards. Unlike the others, he stood still, watching her with his upper eyebrows raised. 

Bad sign. 

Her master had the grace to wait until she had both of her feet under her. 

“Run.”

The girl flung herself into the brush. Her vision was blurred but hands in front of her, she scrambled away. One shuttered breath. Another. 

The net slammed her to the ground. 

Her mind splintered. It was too much. It lasted forever and for a second. 

A boot rammed into her side before she noticed the submission net was deactivated. She gulped for air, shaking on the ground. Ka’hairal stood above her and the boot caught her shoulder this time, rolling her onto her back. 

The girl panted. Her limbs wouldn’t listen. She struggled to roll herself over onto her side, pressing shaking limbs into the ground. 

“Run.”

The girl tried to turn to see Ka’hairal’s face, taking a moment to clock that he was in fact serious. 

Kra’tash. 

Like a varren, she dug her hands and feet into the dirt, hopelessly with no air to propel herself forward. 

The weight crashed down. Agony. Something beyond pain. Her skin burned. Acrid. 

There was a pause and she wheezed, twisting like a trapped animal. Her heart pounded in her ears and she feared it would burst.

“Run.”

No.

She was still in the net. She knew she had no change, but still she thrashed. It was clear what he wanted. 

A game he would win. 

Pain. Blinding pain. When it stopped, she could see his face as he bent down beside her. 

His smile had returned. 

Pain. 

He kept asking her to run. Her limbs jerked uncontrollably. 

“Run.”

The girl was sure she had drooled all over herself. 

“Run.”

Her eyes rolled back into her head. 

“Run.”

It was nice to hear him laugh. It was a harsh laugh. But it meant he wasn’t scowling. 

Somewhere the girl registered being lifted off the ground, her bruised face thumping against his back. Her leg kicked out in a spasm and he threw her off onto the ground instead. 

All pain was numb. She struggled for breath that wouldn’t come as she bumped along, dragged by her shirt’s collar. He laughed as her body caught on thorns, switching hands intentionally so she flopped through a mud puddle.