The Castle on the Water

2. Lost

I can't believe I'm doing this! Princess Moani thought as she breached through the surface of the water, only far enough that her eyes were exposed.

She spun slowly, taking in the details of the world outside of her own.

Her eyes stopped searching once the castle had caught her attention. It was massive and beautifully built. Ancient but sturdy.

It has character! Moani thought.

Her tail slowly swayed and glided her through the water, toward the castle. Her hair flowed in seemless ways as she moved, enchanted by the buildings beauty.

She had come to a stop, just under a hundred feet away from shore, as four guys come stumbling out of a trail through the bush, toward the left side of the castle.

Even from this distance, Moani could tell that something terrible was happening.

One man was shorter than the others, he didn't have much height on him at all. He travled while screaming and shouting, arms being held by a guy on each side of him. The two men that grasped the shorter one were both wearing armor that rattled with every step. The fourth man was leading the way toward the rocks that seperated the sand from the castle grounds.

They pulled the pleading man along further until they all stood just beyond the sand bar.

Three of the men adorned armor of some type, a dark deep gray color that made them look intimidating and dangerous.

Moani didn't like the sight of them.

"Kneel!" The leader of the armored men shouted, his voice thundering and strong, carried on the wind over the water and made Moani shudder.

The man being controlled begged more, asking the leader of the armored men to show mercy.

"Please.. Please spare me. I don't have the money that you want!"

"Well," Says the leader. "That ding your son put on my sword when he stole it, is really gonna cost me. But why should I be the one to pay?"

"My son picked your sword up because you unbuckled your belt when you were having a drink at my pub, and went around with a couple of women. You left it around. He did not steal it from you." The man tried, sighing as if he already said this before.

But the lead guard didn't like his words. He shot his boot-cladded-foot forward and hooked it around the mans leg, only to harshly throw the heel of his boot into the back of the man's knee, making him kneel in water, now bringing it waist high to the shorter man.

The man yelped with pain and bowed his head toward the lapping of ocean water against him.

"Please.. My son.. Didn't know any better.. Please.. My son.. He's only five. He needs his father.. He needs a man in his life."

The leader squatted lower into the water, the sight of him getting closer to the pleading man, only to give a nasty smile, made Moani shake with anger. "I'll gladly take care of your son. I'll make sure he grows up to be a good and successful man... Unlike you."

The leader stood and gave out an evil laugh. "I'll take care of your wife, too. May-Rose, isn't it? It won't be hard to bed her."

"Ah!" The pleading man was now electric, a live wire dancing and fighting in the arms of the other men holding him down. "Don't you touch her! Leave my family alone, you sick bastard!"

"A sick bastard would watch you die!" The leader screamed, turning and facing the man with hate-filled eyes. He then smiled once more, that sick fake smile. "But me? I'll turn my back."

He fixed his armor, cupped a bit of ocean water, and ran it through his thick black hair, letting out a sigh before nodding and walking away.

The other two guards began to shove the pleading man's head into the water, keeping him down as Moani felt the vibration of the struggle and screaming from where she was.

She ducked down under the surface and worried over the dangers she would be risking if she helped.

But she couldn't let this happen. Not in front of her.

She tipped herself toward the current and rode in quickly, but the time was ticking for the man. What if she couldn't get there fast enough?

Hurry hurry hurry, she chanted to herself as she sped through the water.

Figures appeared through the shallow murky-sandy water soon enough and she bolted through the men standing, knocking them into the water. She shoved herself between them as the man who nearly died coughed for air, the noise sounding painful but he was alive.

"Hey!" The leader from before shouted from the rocks, unsheathing his sword and coming back toward the water.

Panic set in at the sight of him and Moani began to push the short man toward deeper water.

"Swim!" Moani shouted, her accent heard through that one word as the leader came barreling through the water. She began her trek away, her hand reaching toward the man as he coughed and tried to speak. The weight of another slowed her down, especially when he wasn't helping in the swimming at all.

"I-! I can't swim!" The man gurgled.

Moani didn't have time to have a second thought before pulling him closer to help keep him floating toward the surface.

Too slow, too slo- Moani thought before her fin was grabbed in rough hands. The leader, now in water that reached his chest, began pulling them both back toward the shallow.

Her tail flicked hard but she couldn't shake the man, especially with the other one hanging on for dear life. He couldn't reach the bottom here and he was frightened.

Suddenly, a sharp pain between her scales made her scream in a pitch that matched an animalistic frequency.

The leader's dagger jutted from her upper tail and she couldn't even focus on the fact that the short victim lost his hold on her and she had lost him to the water, as she was hbeing forced toward the other men she had knocked down before.

"I think this mermaid just committed murder." The leader man said as he threw Moani over his shoulder, the metal of his armor cutting into the skin of her stomach and chest.

She shrieked in pain.

"And I think she wanted to eat our dear friend, the pub owner."

"Punish her." One of the other armored men snarled.