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The sea is filled with a myriad of wild, dangerous beasts,but none more dangerous than the ruthlessmerfolk.At least,that’s the rumor.As the sailors aboard a trade ship catch sight of a shadowy form just below the ocean’s surface,one thought races through all their minds: Could this be a mermaid?
There’s flurry of activity on the deck,with their excitement growing at the thought of seizing a creature no one’s ever captured be-fore.Mulligan,a crewmanmade rough from years at sea,leads the other sailors forward.
“More harpoons!”he yells.“Ready the nets,men!”Several sailors crowd the ship’s railing,hoping to catch a glimpse of the mer-maid.A barbedspear is launched down through the water.It narrowly misses the crea-ture.
Meanwhile,Eric stands high up on the rigging,looking far more like an average sailor than a prince.He has always felt more at home on the sea than on land.Out here he is free from the judgment and constraintsof royal life.He’s lost in his own world as he furls the sails to prepare for rough weather.
The commotion below grows louder.“I say kill her before she comes aboard!”cries Hawkins,an old deckhand.The others chant in agreement as they prepare their weapons and nets.Who knows what a live mermaid could do!
Eric pauses as Hawkins’s comment,fol-lowed by the splash of a weapon hitting wa-ter,catches his ear.He glances down just as another harpoon is thrown.It misses its targetagain.
“Ahh,she’s a fast one,”Mulligan says.He gestures toward the harpoons.“Give me an-other!”
Horrified,Eric swings down from the riggingand pushes his way through the crowd.“Move!Get back!What are you do-ing?”Eric grabs Mulligan’s arm an instant be-fore the sailor throws another weapon.
“It’s a mermaid,sir!”Mulligan says,his voice full of fervor.
Seriously? Eric inwardly groans.“A mer-maid?Use your eyes!”
The prince gestures to the water as the sea creature majestically breaches the surface.It’s a dolphin.It does a little spin in the water be-fore swimming away.The sailors all fall silent.
“What were you thinking?”Eric folds his arms as he looks at the crowd with disappoint-ment.
It is clear Mulligan isn’t sure whether to be brazen or sheepish.“Well,these are dan-gerous waters.”
“And this is a dangerous time,”Hawkins adds.“Tonight is the Coral Moon.”He pushes his way closer to Eric’s side as the prince starts reeling in the ropes attached to the harpoons.Hawkins lowers his voice be-fore continuing.“They say this is when the sea king calls his mermaid daughters together to lure men to their deaths.”
“Is that what they say?”Eric frowns.He remembers hearing tales from his mother about the cruel,perilous merfolk.Even when he was a child,that idea had seemed so farfetched to him.
“Aye!”Hawkins cries,his voice rising once more.“With siren songs so sweet and pure that not even the strongest can resist their spell.”
“It’s just an old lore,”Eric says. And a silly one at that, he thinks.He grabs on to the railing as a gust of wind causes the boat to lurch.“All right,back to work!”
The men start to disperse,but Hawkins is still vexed.He follows Eric across the ship, convinced that any unsteady movement is proof enough of a nefarious sea king—not to mention the mermaids.The next rock of the ship sends Hawkins stumbling.
“You see there?”Hawkins calls to Eric as he attempts to catch his balance.
“Crosswindgust kicked up the chop, that’s all.”Eric pauses to help a crew member tie some loose netting.
Hawkins scoffs.“The sea king would pull us under himself if he could.”
Eric notices a spritsail that has caught the wind and gotten tangled on the bowsprit.He starts to make his way toward it,but Hawkins catches his arm.
“Andmermaids?Heartlesscreatures.They say they have no tears.”Hawkins points to his own eye for emphasis.
“Well,”Eric says,managing to shake him-self from Hawkins’s grasp,“I suppose they must feel everything that much more deeply.”
Withthat,hestridesaway,leaving Hawkins to mutterunder his breath.In truth,Eric doesn’t know whether he believes in mermaids or any of the many creatures of lore.If they do exist,he can’t imagine them to be the horriblebeings his men describe.For all his mother’s descriptions of cruel and heartless creatures,her stories also mentioned traditions and celebrations and families.If anything,mermaids are probably misunder-stood.At any rate,this isn’t the time to be wasting resources shooting at dolphins.They’re starting to hit rough waters and need to be prepared.Eric shinnies onto the ship’s narrow bowsprit to free the spritsail rope.He nearly loses his balance when the ship lurchesagain,but he manages to catch himself.
“Eric!What are you doing out there?Get back here at once!”
Looking down,Eric grins when he sees Sir Grimsby,the prime minister and his men-tor.He looks a little green,but the expression of combined worry and exasperationon his face is one the young prince is all too familiar with.
“You ought to stop worrying so much about me,Grimsby,”Eric calls to him.
Grimsby raises an eyebrow at the prince’s light tone.“Call me selfish,but I do not want to tell the queen that her son fell over-board on my watch—and on his birthday,of all days.”
Something in the distance catches Eric’s eye before he can respond.A thrill goes through him.“Hey!Looks like there’s a ship out there headed toward the mainland.We could follow them to port,see what they’ve brought to trade.”The prince jumps back onto the deck and makes his way toward Grimsby.He takes a spyglassfrom Grimsby and raises it.
“Our ship is loaded to the gills as it is!”Grimsby argues.“We’ve risked our necks out here for seven weeks already.We’re going home—tonight!”
But Eric isn’t focused on Grimsby’s words.He’s already envisioningall the wonderful things out there to learn and explore.An en-tire world.Grimsby may be done after seven weeks,but Eric could never have enough time out on the sea.He leans over the railing for a better look.Grimsby,unimpressed,snatches the spyglass from his hand.
“Eric,please!Pay attention,”he chides him.“I need you to be more careful— Ohhh! ”The ship is rocked again by a heavy wave.Grimsby loses his balance,and the spyglass slips from his grip and falls overboard.
It sinks beneath the surface and winks out of sight.Eric sighs.He supposes it’ll be some-thing for the mermaids to enjoy now.
