While Ruby dance-spun her way around the side frog, it was the one from the top that actually connected with the red-scaled beauty. Driving its bde squarely into the top of her pistol arm, Ruby screeched much like a lobster about to get boiled. Twisting his bde to cause more damage, the frogman made the mistake of giving Ruby time to recover.

  Burning pain shot down Ruby’s spine and her arm tingled for a few seconds before it went limp. Deprived of being able to use the arm, also made it where her hand dropped the speargun. Initially fearful that the frogman would tch onto her neck with its wide maw, Ruby knew her attacker made a fatal fw by keeping its bde in her cvicle. Her dagger flipped down and in its combat position Ruby swished her tail and darted right, giving herself a bit of space between her left side and the frogman. It was an agile stab that hit the frog in its rib and not only heavily drained blood, but the handle of Ruby’s encrusted dagger audibly broke its ribs.

  Coughing and croaking in the effort to try and regain the upper hand, the frogman reached for its dagger and one of the sharks swam by and cmped its teeth into its meal and dragged the frogman from Ruby’s view.

  {“Shit. Shit. Shit….Nerice I need to fix this, I can’t move my right arm.”}

  {“Calm down Tanya. This is more like an alchemy b, there are a few potions here and I think we can get you patched up with ground-up cmshells and this fishpaste…good news, I found the spell that summoned the creature.”}

  Pulling the bone dagger free of her shoulder, Ruby grimaced and did the best she could staunch the blood draining into the water by plugging the hole with two of her fingers. Moments ter, a dolphin swam under the wounded mermaid and wedged itself under Ruby’s good arm and sped off towards the opening in the tower where Nerice floated with the means to patch up the injury.

  {“You are a mess. How did you let that frogman get to you, Tanya?”}

  {“You saw exactly how. I didn’t move fast enough and got cocky from the first one.”}

  Once the dolphin dropped Ruby off, it was within arms reach of Nerice who was floating at the edge of the tower opening. Turning so that Nerice could grab her good arm, Ruby felt herself getting dizzy and light-headed.

  {“Ner-Ner?”}

  Ruby heard her mind stop trying to communicate and her words scattered into the free flow of silence in her mind. Disturbing her peace, Ruby felt a punch to her stomach and her hazel eye opened with a visibly angry look in it.

  {“Tanya…wake your ass up, and keep your hand right where it is.”}

  Nodding with what Nerice said, Ruby shook her head and forced her eye to stay open. It was when Nerice got close to her wound with her gills that Ruby found herself able to eke out a few broken words in her mind.

  {“What…Ner-Ner…stinging…”}

  A second after she sent her thoughts across to her dymate, Ruby felt the world spinning and water rushing through her long bck hair. Suddenly Ruby felt herself falling through the air and nded hard on a stone floor knocking the wind out of her lungs. Pain and the inability to breathe, brought the beautiful back to her senses and once she sucked in a deep breath Ruby rolled onto her back, cursing. “Ow!..Shit, Shit…Ner, what in …Neptune’s name just happened?” Ruby looked around desperately through her blurred vision and attempted to sit up. “Why can’t I move, Nerice!”

  Watching as her blue belle transformed into her hybrid mermaid form, Ruby’s concern grew the second she felt her fingers jerked out of the wound. “Ner…what the..”

  Nerice kissed Ruby’s forehead, “Shhh, don’t talk. I will take care of it. You focus on breathing and keep your damned eye open.” With a punch to Ruby’s dead arm, Nerice smiled when she heard her dymate scream once again and questioned Nerice’s sanity. “Tanya, would you just shut up, I did that to keep you awake.”

  Gring her hazel eye at her lover wickedly, Ruby purposefully disobeyed Nerice. “Would you care to tell me why you are ADDING to my hellish pain?” Twisting her head enough to watch Nerice drink a white-blue liquid that reminded her of clear ice on a sparkling ke, Ruby quieted down when the magical effect turned Nerice’s scales a deep and rich navy blue. Not wanting to miss anything her lover was about to do, Ruby shook her head and blinked rapidly which sent the fog that permeated everything to the back of her mind.

  Pcing her palm on Ruby’s damaged shoulder, Nerice sang a few words in her light magical voice and her hand began to pulse a deep orange. Satisfied when the spell began flowing from her hand, Nerice spoke and expined the entire issue. “Tanya, love. Just keep breathing and keep your eye on me. I had to suck the water close to you through my gills in order to determine what happened.”

  A cleansing rain seemed to echo in Ruby’s mind and it made the fog dissipate, clearing her mind and fixing enough that she could feel her fingers on her dead arm once again. “Where did you learn this? It feels mind-expanding.”

  “That’s the kyanite diffusing the poison, love.” With an orange-green fir, the spell discarded its power in a small cloudburst and brackish water nded on the gray stone floor. Breathing steadily as her power faded, Nerice sniffed the still-bleeding wound. “The dagger had that tadpole poison on it, Tanya. I don’t smell it now.” Nerice knelt and mixed the concoction that she’d promised before she was forced to neutralize the poison. “This will plug the wound and once in the water, should solidify and create a barrier that will be as strong as an oyster shell. You’ll be fine.”

  Once Nerice closed the hole and it finally stopped bleeding, Ruby flopped onto her back and covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t even think about poison.” She half-chuckled and flexed her fingers to get the pins and needles out. “Thank you, Ner-Ner. It’s powerful stuff, I can attest to that.” Ruby muttered as she slowly moved her arm. “We have roughly fifty of the pods…or sacs to use.”

  Laying out a set of empty oyster shells, Nerice pointed to the growth lines on each shell. “I was right. It was their mage that summoned that kraken up there. If I am reading the shells right, this is his or her documentation on why.” Nerice crawled over to Ruby and straddled her hips and pyfully bounced on her lover’s red scales. “Too many ships coming in and destroying the town down there.” Nerice ran her fingers across Ruby’s tummy until she heard Ruby give a pleasing murmur. “The mage summoned big squiddy up there when this tower got ripped apart by a galleon’s…what do you call the line of wood that makes the center?”

  “It’s the keel, Nerice. That’s where the term keel-hauled comes from.” Ruby gushed when her lover began paying attention to her wounded body. “Ner-Ner…I love the enthusiasm nut we aren't alone.” Ruby slipped her good elbow under herself and leaned to kiss Nerice and stopped just as soon as her luscious partner’s lips puckered. “Why now?” Ruby grumbled and rolled so that Nerice popped to her feet. “Love, I think I found your mage, and she doesn’t look particurly happy right now.”

  “Shit.” Nerice clicked her tongue to gain her bearings and helped Ruby to her feet. “Shit.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Nerice. Shit.” Ruby rolled her eye and drew her dagger once again. “Let’s get this over with.”