AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Several wheezed with amusement.
“Pity she’d bite your pecker clean off,” said another one.
All roared with laughter this time, Riella’s head pounding as she struggled to suppress her anger.
Never in her life had she been forced to swallow her rage. She had always had an outlet. Singing. Fighting. Swimming. Polinth had completely neutered her. All because he wanted some amulet that may or may not exist, and to find out what happened when you magicked away a siren’s tail. If only she’d heeded her friends and not troubled herself with human affairs. She’d be with them right now, safe and whole, having celebrated Thera all night.
“So what do we do with her?” asked one man.
“Take her down to the brig.”
“Are you kidding? Those bars won’t keep a siren. She’ll rip a hole in the hull trying to get outta there, and sink us.”
“You got a better idea? Captain’ll be back soon, and he won’t want to deal with this. Not when?—”
“Brig it is, then.” The man knelt, well outside of the striking distance of Riella’s talons. “Can you walk, little fishy?”
Picking up the chain attached to her wrist, she flung it at him. He seemed to be ready for it, though. He ducked out of the way, the chain lashing the deck instead.
“Pass me that sail over there,” he said to one of the other crew members. “Help me grab her.”
With the voluminous sail in his hands, the man came at Riella like she was a wild animal. Tangled in the net, she couldn’t fight off the pirates when they descended on her. They wrapped her in the thick fabric while she wailed and thrashed. Grunting and swearing at each other, they hauled her down a narrow set of stairs.
Below deck was dark and humid and smelled like the sweaty, unwashed bodies of male humans. Riella retched from the stink as they dumped her on the floor. She wriggled partway out of the sail, glaring up at the three men eyeing her warily. They’d brought her to a cell with iron bars, and the gate was open. She could still escape.
“Don’t even think about making a break for it,” said a man with red hair and a scruffy beard. “Be easier on us if we slit your throat, and that’s exactly what we’ll do if you don’t stay calm.”
A dilapidated mattress stuffed with moldy straw was the sole furnishing of the cell. There were no portholes, and the only light came from a few sputtering candles and a lantern held by a bald man with beady eyes. The lantern swayed in time with the rocking of the ship, causing the shadows in the cell to do an eery dance.
“Here, put this on,” said the red-haired man.
He removed his shirt, a cotton long-sleeved garment that perhaps one day had been white, and threw it at her. She grimaced, making no move to pick it up. Better to be naked than to wear a pirate’s smelly shirt.
“She needs pants, too,” said the third man, who was tall and wiry and wore a large silver hoop earring. Riella felt the intense urge to rip it out.
“Yeah, go get her some pants, Berolt,” said the bald man, his eyes on the siren. “I ain’t giving her mine. How about you?”
The red-haired man shrugged and plodded up the stairs, leaving her alone with the other two pirates. They gave each other a long look while seeming to silently debate something between themselves. A chill of premonition came over Riella, and she twitched the cotton shirt off the floor, after all.
She pulled the garment over her head and body, feeding the chains through the oversized sleeves and letting the hem fall. The ballooning fabric covered her body to the knees. Riella had never worn clothes before, and she did not like it. But she disliked the sick, uneasy feeling these men evoked in her more.
The bald man took a step toward her. He held the lantern aloft, emphasizing the cragginess of his face. The tall one glanced at the stairs, before huddling next to his friend and bearing down on Riella.
“I ain’t never seen a siren with legs before,” said the bald man while leering at her body. “Have you, Lovel?”
“Nah, Terrick. Me neither.”
Riella tensed, readying herself for a fight. Weakened or not, she would not tolerate foulness from these men. But her legs buckled when she tried to stand and she fell painfully to her knees. Were these limbs faulty? Or was she just not used to them?
Terrick leaned in closer. “Show us a look between yer legs, why don’t you?” he breathed. “If you’re shy, I’ll be a gentleman and show you mine first.”
Riella grasped the lantern, ignoring the scalding heat of the glass, and smashed it into his face in a blaze of orange. He shrieked, trying to put out the flames with his flailing arms. The fuel from the lantern doused his clothes, his frantic movements making the fire spread.
As the other one, Lovel, lunged at her, she ripped out his stupid earring. Blood spurted across the cell wall and she cackled, despite herself. He bellowed in pain, groping at the handle of the dagger on his hip.
Before he could seize it, she slammed him bodily into the iron bars. It took a considerable amount of her effort, and he had not died on impact like she’d expected. She was shocked at how weak she was now—she was nearly as weak as a man.
Terrick stumbled from the cell to where a pail of water caught leaks from the deck above. He upended the bucket on his head, shouting in relief as the flames went out. Red welts covered his face and neck, his skin steaming.
