His mer-tail flopped against the deck.
Cap’n Shaw be claspin’ her hand. “I forgot to tell ye! That witch be cursin’ me too! I be so pleased to see yer curse broken I be forgettin’ about mine! I was meant to bring that camel to the scallywag witch a’fore the sun rose, or I be turnin’ into a merman!”
Aerwyna stood on her two fine legs and said, “I need to be finding that camel then!”
Cap’n Shaw grabbed her ankle a’fore she could walk away. “No, lass! This is a task fer me and me crew! Ye need to be keepn’ safe below decks!”
Aerwyna shook her head. “You broke my curse! Now I’m going to break yours!”
“Ye don’t even know where the beast be!” Cap’n Shaw said.
“True,” said Aerwyna. “He could be anywhere, but my father has a rival named Thomas who’s always been jealous of my father’s herd. I’ve never met him, but my father talks about how greedy he is. There’s a good chance my father’s camel is there. Even if Thomas didn’t steal him, camels are herd animals. They don’t like being on their own. He’s probably on Thomas’s farm impressing all the lady camels. If you take me to port I can get to the farm before breakfast time. It’s not very far inland.”
Cap’n Shaw studied Aerwyna and let out a disgruntled breath. “Fine. But I be stayin’ by your side till we get there and once we do, ye be stayin’ back. I’ll have four of me men go in and filch the camel. It’ll all be fer naught if ye get hurt or taken.”
“Give me a sword,” Aerwyna replied, “and you’ll find that I can protect myself just fine. My father was rarely ever around, so I was raised by a kind widow woman named Elmira. Elmira’s late husband was a blacksmith and he taught her how to fight before his passing. She gave the skill to me.” She smiled proudly.
A slow smile creeped up Cap’n Shaw’s face, then he bellowed to his crew. “Well ye heard the lass! Get her a sword! We’re goin’ in for a grab. Once we be getting the camel we be heading out!” Then he leaned in to Aerwyna “The more I learn about ye, the more I be glad that ye be me wife!”
Aerwyna blushed. “We’re only half married,” she said. “You never finished your vows.”
“I be finishin’ them here and now!” Capt’s Shaw said, struggling to remain sitting upright.
Aerwyna shook her head. “I’m going to break your curse first.”
Already the ship was turnin’ and headin’ for land.
“Too bad we ain’t bein’ mer folk together!” Cap’n Shaw said. “We could buildin’ and underwater kingdom, and startin’ a mer family.” He winked.
Aerwyna chuckled. “You need to be getting into the water before you dry out like a beached whale.”
Cap’n Shaw sighed. “Ye be right.” He hauled himself across the boardwalk and onto the plank. He threw his jacket on the deck, and flipped off and into the water with a splash.
Black Book pointed at Cap’n Shaw’s pants that had been left behind. “Now that the Cap’n be givin’ up his own pants, I be wantin’ mine back.”
They pulled into port a short while later, Cap’n Shaw swimmin’ alongside the ship, just wearin’ his black tail, which suited him well. The lass could see a tattoo on the back o’ his shoulder but couldn’t make out what it was.
As the crew walked down the gangplank and tied the Blithe Drifter to the dock, Cap’n Shaw called out, “Black Boot! Be fetching me a barrel and be fillin’ it with sea water!”
Black Boot frowned. “If ye be thinkin’ I’m goin’ to be carryin’ ye inland, ye be touched in the head!” Without lookin’ back, he marched inland.
Aerwyna gave the Cap’n a sorry shrug, sheathed the Cap’n’s own sword, and followed.
“Wait!” Cap’n Shaw called. “Ye can’t be leavin’ me! I be the Cap’n! I be the most a’feared pirate in all the seven seas!”
“I’m sorry!” Aerwyna called over her shoulder. “But you’ll only slow us down!”
Cap’n Shaw slapped the water with his tail as he watched his lass and crew disappear into the market ashore.
Fishermen and merchants were settin’ out in their boats fer the day, and Cap’n Shaw had to dive underwater to avoid bein’ spied by the likes o’ them.
He swam back and forth beneath the dock, waitin’ fer his crew to come back. The more he swam the more restless he became.
“I be no barnacle-bottomed sorry sea dog! I be Cap’n Shaw, the most rugged and afeared pirate in all the seven seas! And I be provin’ meself to me wife!”
He looked around for a way to prove himself and saw a shark gliding along the floor o’ the ocean.
“I be catchin’ that there creature with me bare hands! The crew been eatin’ crackle fruit and hard tack all week. Some fresh ocean candy would do ‘em some good. And then no one be sayin’ I be slow or lilly livered!” He darted forward, his mer tail fast and quick.
But before he could dive down and give the shark a fight, a fisherman’s net be scoopin’ him up. He thrashed about as the net was lifted into the air.
“Ho ho!” A man’s deep voice called out, hauling the net into the boat. “Look at the size of this here fishy!”
Cap’n Shaw twisted around to face the fisherman who gave a start.
“I be no fish, ye rotten-timbered shark bait!” Cap’n Shaw said. “I be Cap’n Shaw, Cap’n o’ the Blithe Drifter that ye see yonder!”
“It speaks!” He was a big man with huge arms and no hair on his head. “You don’t look like no captain to me. You look like a wee fishy!”
“What have you got there, Marty?” Another fishing boat pulled alongside the one Cap’n Shaw was tangled in.
“I caught a fish man!” said Marty. “I bet he’ll fetch the best price I ever got for a haul!”
Cap’n Shaw glared at the man. “You’ll be returnin’ me to the sea this instant, or I’ll be asking the witch that lives on that there Sea Scourge island to be cursing ye into a mer folk too!”
The fisherman laughed deep in his belly. “You can’t tell her nothing if you’re hung out to dry with the rest of my catch!”
“Thunderation!” Cap’n Shaw swore. “If ye be startin’ a fight with me, ye be swimmin’ with the fishes a’fore it’s o’er!”
“Looks like you’ve already been swimming with the fishies!” said Marty, slapping his leg and letting out a howl of laughter.
Cap’n Shaw reached for his sword a’fore rememberin’ that Aerwyna had taken it.
Marty the fisherman was already rowing ashore. He dragged the net onto the sand and Cap’n Shaw flopped about swearing and cursing the whole while.
“Cap’n?”
Cap’n Shaw looked up to see Black Boot lookin’ at him. Aerwyna stood behind him holding the harness o’ a fine lookin’ camel, and the rest o’ the crew stood behind her.
Cap’n Shaw felt heat creepin’ up the back o’ his neck. “I be right ready to catch us a fine lunch,” he said, “when this worm riddled rascle be decidin’ to pick a fight with the likes o’ me.”
Black Boot snorted. “It looks like he be winnin’, Cap’n.”
Aerwyna drew the Capn’s sword and stepped forward, pulling the camel with her. “Let him go or I’ll skewer your gizzard you scurvy scum!”
Black Boot whistled. “You’ve made a good pirate o’ her, Cap’n!”
The fisherman frowned. “Now, now. I’m not wanting trouble!”
“Then drop the net,” said Aerwyna, “before I slice it open! Then you’ll be next!”
The fisherman looked between the Cap’n and the lass, then dropped the net and put his hands in the air. “There’s something mighty strange going on here! I want no part of it!”
Aerwyna brandished the sword at the fisherman and he turned and ran back to his boat, shoving it into the sea and scrambling aboard.
“Ye be handlin’ that like a true man o’ the sea,” said Black Boot, slapping Aerwyna on the back.
“Indeed!” said Cap’n Shaw. “Thank ye darln’. But me thinks me could have taken him! I be known’ a few more fightn’ tricks than a fisherman!”
“Too bad ye didn’t know the trick of how to be gettn’ out of a net,” Black Boot retorted.
Aerwyna laughed before handing off the camel’s harness to Black Boot and hurrying forward to help untangle the net.
When the crew and camel were on board the Blithe Drifter and Cap’n Shaw was cooling his hot face in the water again, they struck out once more for Sea Scourge Island.
Aerwyna sat on the plank and dangled her legs over the sea.
“Did ye have to fight yer way through to the camel?” asked Cap’n Shaw from the water below.
Aerwyna shook her head. “We met Thomas and he was very kind. When I told him who I was, he gave us the camel straight away. He hadn’t stolen it at all. He was planning to return it when my father got back from sea. In fact,” she said, settlin’ her elbows on her knees, “he didn’t seem at all like the greedy thief my father made him out to be.”
“That be odd,” said Cap’n Shaw.
Aerwyna nodded. “He seemed so happy when he found out who I was. He even hugged me!”
Cap’n Shaw splashed in the water. “He not be fancyin’ ye!”
Aerwyna laughed. “No, of course not! Merchant Thomas is as old as my father!”
Cap’n Shaw raised an eyebrow. “Just be rememberin’ that we be half married already!”
Aerwyna smiled. “I look forward to the other half of our wedding, Cap’n.” She blew a kiss down to Cap’n Shaw.
As Sea Scourge Island approached, the crew put down anchor. Aerwyna had to enlist Black Boot and several others to help her coax the camel into the creaking rowboat before the crew lowered the boat into the water. The camel be just barely fittin’ in the row boat, so Aerwyna, not wantin’ to be sat on by the fine camel, dove in and started treadin’ water.
“Ye don’t have to be doin’ this fer me,” said Cap’n Shaw. “What if that witch curses ye again?”
Aerwyna scowled. “I won’t let her.”
Cap’n Shaw be pushin’ the row boat toward land, swmmin’ behind it. He be able to move the boat with ease and be hopin’ that Aerwyna noticed.
When the boat scraped the sand, Aerwyna be climbin’ out o’ the water and takin’ hold o’ the camel’s harness, coaxin’ it out o’ the boat. It be lookin’ wide eyed ‘round the island like it could smell the danger there.
Cap’n Shaw admired how fierce Aerwyna looked with his hat and sword.
“Show yourself!” Aerwyna called.
The wind stirred, but nothing more.
“We have with us the finest camel,” Aerwyna said, “just as you asked! Now free Captain Shaw and leave us in peace!”
“Is it-? Can it be?” a high voice asked.
Cap’n Shaw and Aerwyna both gave a start. The old sea witch appeared between two o’ the craggy rocks.
“Aerwyna?” the witch asked. “Is that you?”
The lass took a step back. “We have your camel. Now free my Captain!”
The witch walked toward Aerwyna with a hand outstretched. The lass glanced at Cap’n Shaw.
“My darling,” croaked the witch. “I thought I’d never see you again!”
Aerwyna flinched but held her ground as the witch put her hand to Aerwyna’s cheek.
“Don’t be touchin’ her!” Cap’n Shaw said.
There was a flash of light.
“No!” yelled Cap’n Shaw.
When the light faded, Aerwyna was unchanged. But instead of the old wrinkled witch, a beautiful woman stood before her.
Aerwyna gasped.
“What be happenin’ to the scallywag witch?” Cap’n Shaw asked.
The woman began to cry. Her hair was streaked with gray and she had dark circles beneath her eyes. But she was smiling through her tears as she looked at Aerwyna.
“My daughter!” she said, and pulled Aerwyna into a hug.
Aerwyna stiffened.
“Yer daughter?” Cap’n Shaw asked. “If she be yer daughter why ye be cursin’ her?”
The woman let Aerwyna go and wiped her eyes. “Chatwin made me!”
“My father made you?” Aerwyna asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I had no choice. You see, I was cursed too. But in a way, I was hopeful that the mer curse would bring you back to me, and so it has!”
“Why were you cursed?” asked Aerwyna.
“I never wanted to be a witch at all,” the woman said. “I used to be a sorceress. My name is Viola and I was known throughout the land because I used my magic for good!”
Cap’n Shaw said, “I ain’t believin’ a word o’ it!”
“It’s true!” said the woman.
Aerwyna asked, “What happened?”
“When I was young,” the woman Viola said, “about your age, Aerwyna, Chatwin came to court me. He was odious, and I had no desire to wed him.”
Aerwyna nodded.
“Especially,” Viola continued, “because I was in love with another -Thomas.”
“Oh.” Aerwyna looked at the camel next to her and back at the woman.
“Thomas and I decided to run away and be secretly married,” the woman said, “rather than risk Chatwin’s wrath. But when Chatwin found out, he threatened Thomas’s life and even my own life if I didn’t leave Thomas and mary Chatwin instead.”
“That’s awful.” said Aerwyna.
Viola closed her eyes. “By the time Chatwin found out about Thomas and me, I was with child. I couldn’t bear to be parted from my dear Thomas, but even worse would be to have a man such as Chatwin for my child’s father!”
Tears began formin’ in Aerwyna’s eyes. Cap’n Shaw swam as close as he could, almost beachin’ himself to be near her.
Viola said, “Thomas and I tried running for it, but Chatwin tracked us down. He found us the night my baby was born - a precious little girl.” She looked into Aerwyna’s eyes.
Aerwyna mouth hung open in shock.
“I didn’t like doing curses but I knew how. I tried to curse Chatwin so that he was confined to an island and wouldn’t be able to hurt me or my child. But he must have suspected I would try to curse him. He studied quite a bit of dark magic, and unbeknonst to me, he knew how to make my curse backfire.” The woman looked around at the island. “I’ve been trapped here ever since. The backfiring magnified the curse so that, not only could I not leave the island, but I became a part of it. Our life forces were connected. Every time a plant or animal on the island died, I could feel the pain of it. If I left, I would die.”
“I’m so sorry!” said Aerwyna, reaching out and taking the woman’s hand.
Viola’s eyes filled with tears once more as she looked at Aerwyna. “The island has been slowly sinking, and I would have gone down with it, had you not broken my curse!”
“But, how did we break it?” Aerwyna asked. “We didn’t even know you were cursed!”
Viola smiled. “The curse I created was meant for Chatwin. I wasn’t cruel, and I knew it was possible for him to mend his ways. So I made a way for the curse to be broken if he ever touched a person that he truly loved.”
Aerwyna looked down at hers and the woman’s interconnected hands. Tears rolled down Viola’s and Aerwyna’s cheeks now.
Cap’n Shaw be on land now, only the tip of his tail bein’ covered by the ocean waves as he be watchin’ the two o’ them. Though the woman’s hair was streaked with gray, she and Aerwyna had the same dark curls. They had the same deep blue eyes and straight noses. They even cried the same with tears running down their matchin’ cheeks.
“Well, don’t that beat all,” said Cap’n Shaw. “She’s yer mother, Aerwyna!”
Aerwyna began to cry harder and the woman pulled her into a hug.
“Don’t still be cryin’!” Cap’n Shaw said, alarmed. “Ye heard her! She ain’t a real witch!”
Aerwyna laughed and hiccuped through her tears.
“And I suppose Thomas, that ye be stealin’ this here camel from, is yer real father.”
The woman looked at Cap’n Shaw over Aerwyna’s shoulder. “Did you say you got this camel from Thomas?”
“Indeed!” Cap’n Shaw said, straighten’ and pullin’ his sholuders back.
“Does that mean Thomas is alive?” the woman asked.
Aerwyna be wipin’ her cheeks and noddin’. “He’s alive, mother. Oh, this is all so much to take in!” She hugged Viola again. “Is Merchant Thomas really my father?”
Viola nodded. “Indeed Aerwyna! Indeed!”
Cap’n Shaw said, “I knew yer mother must be somethin’ special!”
Aerwyna turned her head, and gave him a watery smile from her mother’s arms.
“I be waitin’ on the ship,” Cap’n Shaw said, startin’ to swim away. “Er, next to the Blithe Drifter since I not be bein’ able to climb aboard with this here tail!” When neither of the woman responded he said louder, “It sure would be nice to have two strong legs again!” He splashed his tail for emphasis.
“Oh!” Viola said. “Of course!”
There was a flash o’ light, and Cap’n Shaw’s tail be disappearin’, replaced with his own fine legs and feet again. Cap’n Shaw gave a shout o’ joy and went to stand, but then be realizin’ he not be wearing his trousers no more.
Aerwyna blushed and looked away. The woman gave a small laugh and waved her hand. A sturdy pair of trousers and a fine white shirt appeared on Cap’n Shaw.
He dipped his head. “I thank ye for restorin’ me dignity in front of me wife.”
“Your wife!” Viola looked at Aerwyna.
Aerwyna smiled. “Half wife. His fishtail interrupted us in the middle of our wedding.”
Cap’n Shaw walked ashore, drippin’ and lookin’ more rugged than ever a’fore.
Aerwyna took his hand and the woman looked back and forth between the two o’ them, her smile so wide that Cap’n Shaw couldn’t remember her ugly witch face any more.
“Well, let’s not let anything keep you from your wedding any longer!” the woman said, embracin’ them both.
After a few more tears and smiles, they set sail for the mainland to retrieve Thomas and restore him to his long lost wife and daughter. Viola performed a protection spell to keep Chatwin from returnin’ to their land. And then, amid the happy reunion of Aerwyna’s family, Cap’n Shaw and Aerwyna finished sayin’ their weddin’ vows.
Everyone celebrated into the wee hours of the morn’ but none of them be rememberin’ it real well since they all be a bit squiffy on the rum.
And they lived happily ever after!
Yo-ho-ho!
The End
Listen to the narration of this story on YouTube: Art In Chancing
art by Rachel Murphy
Her Website: www.ArtInChancing.com
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