A Short Story

 The Siren’s Wail                                                     

Nerisa slapped her scaly black tail against the surface of the water. White spray danced in the sky. Using her momentum, she dove deep. The chill water rushed past her ears, pushing her jet black hair behind hair. She laughed in pure delight, an eerie, haunting laugh that sounded similar to a heartbroken cry.

The snow white moon sat above the rippling waves, looking down at the young siren with a yellowish gleam. Nerisa gave a mighty kick and emerged above the dark waves. Her bare arms and chest shook from the sudden cold. Snowflakes wafted down, like small clouds falling from the heavens. With her webbed hands she pushed back strands of loose hair from her face. Her sharp claws brushed gently against her ashen white skin. Her deep black eyes peered up at the glimmering stars, and her lips curved into a smile, displaying her row of pointed bone white teeth.

A loud, mournful cry resounded over the water. Nerisa turned her head, searching for the source. It was a feasting wail. Nerisa dove back down, the black spikes that lined her back pierced the surface of the water for only a second before the sea became as still as it had been a moment before. The icy abyss around her soon gave way to burning planks and sinking sails. Nerisa’s mouth watered at the crimson sea. 

Feasting sirens swam all around her. She spied a young man flailing wildly, a cabin boy by the looks of him. She took her chance. Kicking with massive strength, she made her way to him. Grabbing his ankle, she pulled him down. He kicked and thrashed, desperately trying to free himself. She extended her claws intending to cut his throat. She hesitated. His eyes met hers, and she could tell he was a youth, only a little older than herself. He was terrified. Kill! Kill! Her thoughts screamed at her. She didn’t know why she didn’t; she’d never hesitated before. She clasped his wrists and pulled him above the waves. Finding a floating plank, she set his hands upon the wood. He was gasping.

He gazed at her, half conscious and confused. She held his life in the palm of her hand. She could kill him and eat well. Nerisa pulled the plank away from the feeding frenzy toward the nearest shore. What was she doing? She looked back at him and she flushed. What’s wrong with me? She wondered. 

The beach, with waves gently rolling to shore, soon came into view. The young man climbed to shore as the sun rose, then he flopped onto the golden, wind chilled sand. Nerisa followed. She wriggled her slimy, scaly body onto the shore and lay her head down on the sand. The wind was still horribly cold and goosebumps grew livid along her arms and torso. The pirate’s chest heaved and his wet hair permeated with frost. He’ll freeze! She thought, alarmed. She dragged herself to the bank, grabbing dry grass and twigs. She filled her arms then struggled to the young man’s side. 

She scratched her head. How to start a fire?  She grabbed a rock  off the sandy shore and struck it against her claws. Nothing happened. Nerisa groaned her annoyance. The young man’s eyes fluttered open and he looked at her, and then at the small pile of brush. He moaned and sat up. Cocking an eyebrow at the stone in her hands, he rose to his feet. Nerisa was alarmed, why was he leaving!? She yelped and tried to follow him.

“Oh…wait, I’m coming back.” he said, holding both hands out in front of him, his palms open. Human’s speak! Nerisa realized, shocked. The things they said underwater always sounded so unintelligent. 

“You don’t understand me do you?” the man said with a tilt of his head, “but all the same, you saved my life. I should at least help you light a fire.” 

“I can understand!” Nerisa declared, pleased that he’d return. He jumped back, and then grinned. 

“Oh…uh, sorry.” he said, then turning, quickly disappeared into the long dry grass. The minutes ticked by, to Nerisa it felt like an eternity. When he returned he was carrying branches in his right hand and in his left he held two stones. Quickly, he reassembled Nerisa’s pile of brush, putting it under her branches, which he set up like a cone. He placed a small bit of brush on the ground before him and hit his two stones together, rapidly. 

Sparks flew from the stones landing on the brush. He picked it up in his nimble fingers and blew gently on it. A small flame grew and danced as it devoured the kindling. Nerisa gasped. The flames illuminated the young pirate’s happy, successful face. His green eyes gleamed with his smile at the growing flame. Carefully, he set it into the other kindling beneath the sticks. It quickly caught the flame and the man lay back down, his hands rested under his tousled, chestnut hair.

Nerisa watched the fire with keen interest. She’d seen fire when burning ships began to sink, but never this close up. She watched with undivided attention. The flames waved, leaped, and spun as if filled with some irrepressible glee that they simply had to show the world. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Nerisa said with a smile, “it seems so happy to simply exist that it just has to dance!” the young man opened his eyes and grinned.

“You’re odd,” he proclaimed nonchalantly, “what’s your name?” 

“Nerisa, and what’s yours?” she asked, breaking her gaze away from the fire.

“Vaylian.” he answered, sitting up. Taking hold of an extra branch, he prodded at the flames. Yawning, Nerisa lay down on the sand; her hands beneath her head. She watched him through the fire till, at last, she slept. 

The sunset stretched over the ocean when she woke. Vaylian was awake with eyes wide. There could be little question why. The wailing of sirens reverberated off the waves.

“What does it mean?” the young man asked, a slight quiver in his voice. 

“They are calling for me.” Nerisa replied. The mournful wail filled the air, yet despite how loud it was she knew her kin could be miles away. “I have to go.” she dropped to her belly and flopped to the waves. 

“I need to find a village.” Vaylian said, rising to his feet. Nerisa nodded as she wormed her way along the sandy beach. When her fingers touched the water she turned back to Vaylian. He was gone. Nerisa moaned softly, then, with a last heave, pushed herself into the open ocean. The waves frothed as they slapped against her thin frame. She hurried out into deeper water, leaving behind the beach. 

When she reached her kin they were delighted and stunned to see her. In the chaos from the previous night, they’d assumed she had been hit by a burning plank and had sunk with it into the sea’s abyss. Her mother cried for pure joy, kissing her cheeks and holding her tightly in an embrace. When all were reassured Nerisa was well, life resumed its typical current. Nerisa, her parents, and her brother returned to their home in the kelp forest. The great trees of coral reached nearly to the water's surface. The kelp was really more of a garden. Nerisa swam through the watery entrance to her home, which was the sunken part of a shipwreck. It was because of the danger to ships in the coral beds that the sirens had chosen to inhabit this spot. 

Nerisa floated down to her seaweed bed and let her mind wander. Her cheeks flushed as an image of the young man, Vaylian, flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes and without meaning to drifted back to sleep.

The next day passed in a haze for Nerisa. Her thoughts went ever to the beach. She left her home early each day, heading for the shore. The smoldering remnants of the previous day’s fire were charred and abandoned. Vaylian wasn’t there. Disappointed, Nerisa returned home. She returned to the beach everyday for the next week with similar results. She didn’t quit and at last her persistence was rewarded. 

“Vaylian!” she cried as she approached the sandy bank. He lazed on the sand, snowflakes gently fell and settled on his face. He lifted his head and peered around, smiling when he saw her. 

“Nerisa, hallo! I wanted to come back here sooner, but when I found a village I had to get settled and get a job. Only after I had could I leave.” 

“What about your family?” she queried, pulling herself onto the shore. He shrugged.

“Don’t have one.” A twinge of sadness penetrated his calm demeanor. Nerisa wiggled up beside him. Vaylian’s grief washed away and he laughed. “We need to find a better meeting place. One closer to my work that doesn’t require you to leave the water.” Nerisa grinned. A siren out of water probably did look comical. 

The two spoke of the past days events as an unlikely friendship blossomed. It was agreed that Nerisa would swim upstream so that she was only four miles from the city, and they’d meet everyday after dinner, except for Sundays. Night fell. Nerisa and Vaylian said their goodbyes and returned to their homes. 

The night past; Nerisa and Vaylian met as planned. The days leapt to weeks, then months. Winter fled, and spring peaked out her head through the massive waves of settled snow. Nerisa was sitting atop a rock, picking at barnacles that had latched onto one of the spikes on her arm while she waited for Vaylian. 

“I’m here!” he called at last, hurrying over a large hill that hid the village from view. She smiled a toothy smile as he came to her. He sat down at the edge of the river and the two talked merrily of the day's past events. 

Meanwhile , in the village, the old woman, who ran the boarding house Vaylian lived in, was angrily speaking with her husband. 

“Every day, that wretched boy shirks the chores I give him and disappears! When he returns he’s filthy!” she cried. Her husband, who shared her dislike for children, replied with little emotion. 

“It’s foolish childishness. I’ll beat it out of him soon enough.” He stroked his salt and pepper beard. Vaylian was employed by the man, helping with farm labor. The man set out with two other farm hands, hoe and shovel in hand, not for any particular reason just because they forgot to put them down. The man had no intention of waiting for the boy to return home. He was going to find the boy now. Heading toward the stream that the boy often headed towards, the man mused about all the ways he’d work the childishness out of the youth. He stopped dead in his tracks when he neared the stream. There was Vaylian with a siren! 

Foolish boy! The man thought. Doesn’t he know how much siren scales are worth! Brandishing his hoe like a spear, he charged at them. The others followed. Nerisa cried out in horror and Vaylian turned. 

He leapt to his feet, hoping he could protect his new found friend. Nerisa grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the water. The water exploded into froth and foam as he was yanked backward into the water. Desperate to save her love, Nerisa pulled him out to the ocean, heedless that he lacked gills. His grip on her wrist weakened and at last gave out. Panicked, Nerisa pulled him to a rock that penetrated the surface of the sea. When she turned him over his face was white as hers. It didn’t look right on a human. She felt for a pulse. There was none. 

“Vaylian!” she cried, tears stinging her eyes. In her desperation to save him, she’d killed him! She buried her head in his chest and sobbed. 

Her people honored Nerisa’s fallen love and buried him in the siren graves. Black kelp was woven through Nerisa’s hair. What could have, should have been another happy day turned into a day in which she filled the ocean with tears. She looked, filled with grief and shame, to Vaylian’s grave. Her wailing was so great that some sirens say it was her tears that made the ocean so salty. 

By: Abigail

    Sorry that this post was a little late. I try to post ever Saturday. If you liked this story, then please join my reading list and comment down below.