For What It's Worth: Part Two

Part One: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/work.php?id=13...

Please enjoy! ^^

Glissander woke in the morning to a man outside yelling,

“All hands on deck! All hands on deck!” Hastily, he rolled over and shook Lomytion awake.

“Wha-?” Lomytion stared at his partner, bleary-eyed, until he could process that he wasn’t asleep anymore. “Aa!” He leapt out of bed and fumbled to pull aside the curtains blocking the small porthole window. Light flooded into the room, illuminating Lomytion’s tanned, naked body. Glissander slid out of bed as well, yawned, and undid his messy bun. He grabbed a silver comb off of Lomytion’s crowded desk and rapidly pulled it through his hair, until it surrounded him like a shiny cape.

Glissander tugged up his drawers and breeches, tying the twine tightly to keep them in place. Next came the giant boots. He was about to put on his tank top when he felt Lomytion’s fingers brushing against his back in a light, feathery touch. They ran over the slivers of wings left there a single time, and then the contact was gone. Glissander waited a moment, and then put on his tank top and vest. He buckled the belt and took in a deep breath, before letting it out slowly.

“Ready?” Glissander asked Lomytion, and looked over to see him dressed in gray breeches and a loose canvas shirt. As usual, no shoes were on his feet. He always said that footwear was slippery at all the wrong times, and that he “couldn’t trust them.”

“Yep. Just one more thing.” Lomytion picked up his large, red embroidered coat. “You’ve been looking cold lately. Here, wear this.” Glissander gave him a small appreciative smile, and put on the thick article.

“Thank you,” he murmured, and stepped towards the door. Glissander held it open for Lomytion.

On the deck, the crew was all crowded to the starboard side. Confidently, Lomytion strutted forwards and parted a path through the mob. Quietly, Glissander slipped into the group at the back.

“What is this?” Lomytion asked. Glissander stood on his tiptoes to try and get a glimpse of what everyone was staring at.

“It’s a merman. He got caught in the nets that Clarin forgot to pull in last night. A happy accident, huh? It’s our lucky day.” Although he couldn’t see him, Glissander recognized the ship captain’s thundering voice.

“What do you mean, ‘lucky day’?” Lomytion questioned, his tone unreadable. The captain chortled.

“We can make a lot of money selling his parts.” GLissander’s heart froze. He pushed through the crowd to the front. Lying there, tangled up in a heavy net, was a beautiful merman. He flapped his orange and black tail weakly, but he was clearly running out of energy. Brilliant cobalt hair was splayed all over him in waves, rippling whenever he moved.

“Sell his parts?” asked Lomytion softly. “Seems cruel, don’t you think?”

The captain looked to Lomytion, his first mate, annoyed.

“Perhaps. But we can make a lot of money off of him. I say we take this oppurtunity. What say you, crew?” The excitement in the crowd rose as people shouted out which parts they thought should be harvested.

“Peel off his scales!”

“Slice off his ears!”

“Chop off the hair!”

“The teeth! The teeth!”

“Settle down, settle down.” The group became hushed, and the captain continued. “We probably won’t get anything, because my first mate over here is more concerned about morals than turning a profit.” Some people on the crowd booed and jeered. “Alas, I must respect his judgement. No fish blood will be spilt today.” Moaning and complaining rose from the pirates. Glissander let out a sigh of relief.

“However.. There’s no blood in hair. Or that gold.” The crew cheered, and the captain grinned greedily. Glissander’s heart began pounding in his ears. Panic rose in his system as he stared at the helpless form. He didn’t know if the merman could understand human speech, but the creature’s large-pupiled golden eyes were full of fear. The gills on his slender neck were flapping heavily, and his mouth was wide open as he struggled to breathe. Glissander wondered how long he’d been stranded on the deck, hoping his weak human lungs would pull him through.

“Jeane, go and get the gold off of him,” the captain commanded. A tall, muscular man stepped out of the group and walked over to the merman. The creature tried in vain again to pull himself free, but he was to tangled in the bulky rope. Jeane snatched the mer’s delicate wrist and yanked it through one of the spaces in the net. He wrenched the golden bracelet off, and then dropped the glistening arm. He held the chunky piece of jewelry up for everyone to see. The dark sapphires inlaid in the metal sparkled and glinted in the sun.

“GIve that to me,” the captain demanded. He clearly wasn’t taking any chances with pickpockets. Jeane reluctantly forked over the bangle. Next, he grabbed the merman by the hair through the net and pulled him into an upright position. Not bothering to unclasp it, Jeane yanked on one of the huge black pearl earrings. A ripping sound and a hoarse scream immediately followed. Jeane displayed the earring to the crowd. The shiny, opaque jewel had a splotch of blood on it.

“Hey, no spilling fish blood, remember?” the captain reminded Jeane, amused.

“Sorry boss.” The burly man handed the captain the adornment.

The merman reached up and gently touched his ear, which was steadily dripping blood. Horror took over his face. When Jeane returned, the merman tried to wriggle away, but couldn’t. Jeane pulled the mer closer and turned his head so that he could unlatch the second earring. His meaty paws couldn’t get the clasp open. In a panic, the merman reached up and took the earring off himself with shaking hands to avoid further injury. Jeane took the giant pearl jewelry and delivered it to the captain. He came back, and began sawing a hole in the rope net to fit the mer’s head through in order to remove his circlet. He pulled the merman’s head through the newly widened opening and slipped off the gold band.

With a sinking feeling, Glissander came to realization that this wasn’t an average mer. This was a prince. Jeane yanked the merman’s lengthy hair from under the net, which looked like a cape around his frame. Jeane then walked back over to the captain and handed him the circlet. He gestured to the terrified mer.

“How much do you want?” he asked. The captain grinned.

“All of it.” Glissander intook a breath sharply through his nose. This scene was dreadfully familiar.

“Mikael, go fetch the shears we use for rope,” the captain instructed a pirate who was wearing a red bandana and missing an eye. Mikael nodded and headed off to the supply chest below deck. The captain stroked his grizzly beard while he waited, his piercing blue eyes filled with greed. Glissander looked to the merman, and recalled something. He couldn’t let them do this, but he was finding it difficult to summon the courage to say what he needed to. He tried to look to Lomytion for support, but he had his arms folded and was looking away, a slightly disgusted look on his face.

Mikael returned, holding the shears, and Glissander gulped before taking a deep breath to prepare himself. Jeane had the scissors passed to him and was gripping a handful of electric blue locks when he heard,

“Stop!” He looked up to see Glissander, his face flushed pink. Lomytion gaped at his partner in alarm.

“Why, if it isn’t my first mate’s little doll!” the captain called, laughing in a mocking tone. The crew joined in, and Glissander’s face turned crimson. With a heavily beating heart, Glissander said,

“Please, listen to me. You can’t take his hair.”

“Why not?” the captain interjected. Glissander glanced over to Lomytion, whose eyes were filled with fear and concern. He returned his gaze to the captain.

Because… Because in mer culture, hair denotes rank. If you cut it off, he’ll be shunned and could be removed from his status,” Glissander nervously made out. The captain glared at him with an aggravated demeanor.

“So? Why should I care?” he asked. Glissander was silent. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want anyone else to go through becoming an outcast from their society. He couldn’t express how much pain he felt when everything was stolen from him.

“Um.. It’s the right thing to do?” Glissander tried. The captain chortled.

“I’m a pirate. Doing right thing doesn’t usually include a ton of money for me.” He rolled his eyes and motioned for Jeane to begin harvesting.

“Wait!” Glissander cried. Jeane paused again, a tress positioned in between the scissor blades, and an angry look on his hard features. “Take- take my hair instead.”

“Why would I want your hair? Human hair is worth a quarter of mer hair,” the captain stated, frustrated.

“Because…” Glissander bit his lip, and saw Lomytion shaking his head and mouthing “no” in terror.

“Get on with it!” demanded the captain.

“Because I’m.. I’m.. a fairy,” Glissander confessed. The captain’s aggravation became mixed with amusement.

“Interesting. And I suppose I’m a flying purple squid that breathes green flame.”

“I’m not- I’m not lying.”

“Really?” The captain stepped closer. “Prove it,” he challenged.

Glissander tucked back his bangs so that the captain could get a good look at his ear.

“The tips were cut off,” he explained quietly.

“Hm.” The captain looked unconvinced. “Any human could have scars on their ears. Doesn’t prove anything.” Glissander sighed, and removed his belt. He was about to pull of his vest when Lomytion ran to his side.

“Please, you don’t have to do this,” he begged. “Once he finds out that you’re a fairy, he might capture and sell you.” Glissander searched Lomytion’s eyes.

“Yes, I do, he responded.

Lomytion didn’t say a word as Glissander tugged off his vest and tank top. He turned to the captain could see his back, and pulled his hair over his shoulder. The captain examined the tiny remnants of wings left there skeptically. He moved closer to inspect them, poking and prodding and feeling. Glissander shivered in revulsion as he felt the captain’s hot breath on his back.

“Someone already took these, eh?” Glissander breathed deeply and tried not to think about that night.

“Do you believe me now?” he asked calmly in a hushed tone.

“Yeah,” the captain admitted grudgingly. Glissander turned to face him, hiding his fear deep within himself.

“Fairy hair is worth twice as much as mer hair, so just take half of mine, and it will cover the cost.” The captain nodded, his shifty eyes looking between Lomytion and Glissander.

“Jeane, forget the fish and come over here. Mikael, grab rope and a chair. We don’t want him to back out at the last second.” When Mikael came back with a chair that looked like it had been pulled from the remains of a fire, Jeane tied Glissander to it and yanked his bluish-black hair free.

“Great. Now that he can’t escape- Lomytion, cut it all off,” the captain ordered deviously.

“Me?” a wide-eyed Lomytion asked. “And you said- you said only half before!”

“Well, I lied. Now, let’s see who you are more loyal to: your captain of eight years, or your little bedmate.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

To be continued,,,?