They were almost in the edge of the forest when Gia finally had to stop. She had to pee so bad, she was going to wet her pants if she didn"t go."I need to stop," she said, darting towards a tumbled pile of rocks.
"Oh, thank goodness!" said her mother, darting after her.
"What"s going on?" asked Tom, standing still as Carla left him.
"We never had a chance to use the bathroom," said Gia, dropping her bag once she was behind the boulders and fumbling with her belt.
"How big was the giant?" asked Vonn, studying the looming forest in front of them.
"It could have eaten me in two bites," said Gia, trying not to make a sigh of relief as she finally emptied her bladder.
"And you say it had a spear in its head?" asked Tom.
"Yeah, it looked like it had been attacked by a dwarf, and managed to escape. I thought it was going to kill me for sure, until the very end when it waded into the river with the spear to fish," she said, tightening her belt and grabbing her bag.
Vonn took her hand, when she got back and smiled. "I"m glad you"re safe. Let"s get going again. We"ve already used up two days of our rations, and the trip was supposed to take two weeks."
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She smiled back at him before checking over her shoulder to see her mom linking arms with her dad. Mikey was waiting impatiently, leaning against one of the boulders and kicking rocks to see how far they would go across the ground. One of the rocks skittered all the way to the water, making a soft plopping sound.
As they all went to start walking again, there was a loud splash and a shout.
"Who"s throwing rocks at my babies!"
Gia"s head snapped around to see a naked woman sitting on the side of the water, staring at them angrily. Her hair barely covered her bare chest. Gia noticed green scales on her arms. Was she wearing some kind of sleeves and no shirt?
"I beg your pardon?" asked Tom, since everyone else seemed too stunned to talk. "I"m afraid I don"t know what you mean, ma"am."
"You of you must be the person who threw a rock at my precious eggs and I demand an apology! They could have been hurt!"
Gia turned to look at Vonn and saw his eyes were dilated. He had a far away look in them that scared her. Looking at her mom, she saw her mom glance at her in concern, pulling Mikey back against her. Mikey had the same glazed look that Vonn had.
"I"m very sorry my brother kicked the rock. We didn"t know you had eggs in the water," said Gia. "We"re new to this area and are only pa.s.sing through."
"Hmmph!" she said, still upset and angry. "I demand an apology, or else!"
"I already apologized," Gia said uncertainly.
"Not from you, from him!" said the woman with a slow, evil smile, pointing at Mikey. "If he doesn"t apologize, then I get to eat him!"
Gia"s eyes widened in shock as she saw the sharp pointy teeth in her mouth. This was no mere woman! She must be a water monster!
"What are you?" asked Carla in horror, holding Mikey even harder.
"I am a mermaid," said the creature, flipping her hair back and exposing more green scales covering her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. As she shifted her weight, her long green tail rose out of the water.
Gia had heard about mermaids. They were supposed to be beautiful women with the tails of fish. They would lure men underwater and drown them.
"If you try to run away, without giving me an apology, then I will tell all my kin. You will never be able to step into a body of water ever again, without worrying about us."
"I"ve always wanted to be able to see a mermaid," said Tom wistfully. "I"ve heard you are very beautiful.
"You can"t see?" she asked, a sneer replacing the creepy smile she had before.
"No, unfortunately. My sight was taken from me before my first child was born. I"ve never seen their faces. Perhaps I was the one who kicked the rock near your children? I certainly would not have seen the rock to know. If so, I do hope you will accept my apologies. I would never wish harm on another person"s children!"
Gia glanced at her mother, wondering if it would work. They both knew it was Mikey who had kicked the rock, but with him in the trance, and the mermaid not having seen who did it, there was a chance she would believe him.
"If you kicked the rock, then why did she say her brother did it?"
"I do recall hearing my son kicking at the ground, but whether or not any of those rocks ended up in the water near your eggs I"m afraid I couldn"t say. I do know that I accidentally kicked some rocks as I made my way through this area."
The mermaid sat there fuming for a moment and Gia hoped that it would be enough for her to allow them to leave. The slow smile that came over the mermaid"s face made Gia"s stomach start to churn in panic.
"It must be so hard, living life without the ability to see anything," she purred, the sound of her voice wrapping around them all and causing muscles down low to clench.
Gia gasped and felt Vonn move forward a step. Pulling on his arm, she was able to keep him back, but her mother was having a harder time. Mikey was squirming to get away from her, to go to the mermaid. Tom"s face had gone slack and he had turned more towards the mermaid.
"Why don"t you come to me, so I can help you," the mermaid said in a honeyed voice that promised all sorts of pleasures.
"Vonn, no!" cried Gia, trying to hold him back as he lurched towards the monster sitting at the edge of the water. He paused, but didn"t turn towards Gia.
"Tom!" cried Carla. She had her hands full holding Mikey, but nothing stopped Tom from making his way slowly towards the mermaid.
Tears gathered in her eyes, as Gia knew she had to make a choice. It was a choice she didn"t want to have to make, but she couldn"t save them both. Rushing forward to grab her father"s arm, Vonn started making his way towards the water"s edge.
With a cry of pain, Gia grabbed for his arm, and for a moment, she held both of them back. Tom was held by her left hand, and Vonn by her right.
"Please, don"t do this!" cried Carla to the mermaid.
"Raising children is hungry work," said the mermaid softly, in a singsong voice. "These two will feed them for quite a while!"
"Dad! Vonn! Please!" sobbed Gia as her hands began to slip against their constant pull.
"They are mine!" said the mermaid, preparing to pounce.
BOOM!
A boulder hit the ground, inches from the mermaid, causing her to scream and dive back into the water. Vonn and Mikey both stopped their struggles, standing there dazed, rubbing their faces. Tom stopped moving forward as a confused look came over his face as well. Gia looked where the boulder had come from, and saw the giant standing there with a look of hatred on his face.
"No hurt friend!" he roared, throwing another boulder at the river and sending a splash of water all over the sh.o.r.e.
Gia was just able to pull her father back, before he got wet, and he stumbled and fell with a cry.
"Are you alright?" she asked, helping him back to his feet. "I didn"t want you to get all wet!"
"Thank you," he said, turning back to where Carla was with Mikey. "I don"t think I have the same image in my head of mermaids. I thought they were beautiful."
"Oh, she was gorgeous," said Carla softly. "Sometimes, things that are beautiful, are more trouble than they"re worth."
"Friend hurt?" asked the giant, coming up to them with several large steps.
"No, thank you," said Gia, giving him a smile. "The mermaid said there were eggs in the water there," she said, pointing where the boulder lay half submerged.
"Eggs?" he said, curious. Turning away from her, they all heard him say, "Eggs good to eat."
Not hesitating to see what happened when he stepped into the water, they all turned and hastily dashed for the forest. Tom stumbled several times, and Vonn took his arm to help him keep his feet. From the cover of the brush in the tree cover, Gia watched as there was an intense battle in the water. There was a lot of blood, that she didn"t want to think of where it came from, and then the flash of something that looked like a big purple egg with dark blue veins running around it, before there was another large splash and then silence.
"Come on, Gia," said Vonn carefully. "I don"t really want to know who won that fight."
Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he guided her away, and she went willingly, wrapping an arm around his back, under his backpack, and laying her head on his shoulder for a moment.
"I almost lost you," she whispered.
"Never," he whispered back, tickling the hairs on her neck. "You"re worth too much to me."