Rory flinched so hard he nearly toppled over the side. He grabbed the rail and regained his balance before cautiously peering at the water again.
The blue bastard was still there. His silky silver hair fanned around him as he bobbed on the waves. Rory couldn’t read anything in his expression except for the same arrogance that had been present in his greeting.
‘Are you going to try to drown me again?’ Rory retorted, surreptitiously glancing to theStar’sonly life ring by the prow. He wondered if there was anything onboard he could use as a weapon.
‘Certainly not. Why would you think that?’
‘It’s what you mermaids— I mean, mer…folk? It’s what what you’re known for. Drowning sailors and the like.’
‘Really?’ A grin twitched at Fionn’s mouth, like the thought pleased him. ‘I didn’t know humans thought anything about us at all.’
‘Mostly we think you don’t exist.’ Rory inched his way along the deck. There was a long pole in the cabin with a hook on the end used for fishing rope out of the water. It might do in a pinch if he needed to defend himself. ‘How many of youdoexist, by the way?’
‘Our kingdom is some two thousand strong within the Minch, though there are others who range over farther waters.’
It was a much higher number than Rory was prepared for. Two thousand? That was more than the entire population ofUllapool! And they were all swimming around down there, going about their business undetected?
Fionn swam closer. ‘I wish to board your boat.’
‘Fuck no,’ Rory spluttered. He darted to the cabin and grabbed the pole. Scrambling back to the side, he pointed it at the merman’s face. ‘Don’t even think about it.’
‘That’s a poor weapon,’ Fionn said doubtfully, looking it up and down. Then he inexplicably brightened. ‘Are you trained in combat? I am quite proficient with a spear.’
‘What?’ Rory felt he’d been knocked off-balance again.
‘Wait for me. I shall show you mine.’
The blue man disappeared below the surface. Rory froze. For a split-second his maritime instincts urged him that the guy was in trouble. He stared intensely at the spot to see if Fionn had come up for air.
He has gills,Rory reminded himself, while still not quite believing it.
He dropped his pole then hastily threw the last creel into the sea and didn’t hang around to watch it sink. Rory ran to the cabin and gunned the engine, turning theStararound.
He’d only travelled about three hundred yards towards the coastline when a metallicclunkresounded off the hull. Torn between stopping to check the noise and continuing to run the fuck away, Rory caved in to a sense of responsibility.
‘Please don’t tell me I’ve hit a merman,’ he muttered under his breath as he slowed theStarto a crawl.
There was another clatter right behind him. Rory turned slowly on the spot.
The blue merman finished hauling himself over the side of theStar’srailing. He bent to pick up the spear that he’d evidently thrown onto the deck, and then met Rory’s frozen gaze inside the cabin. ‘I told you to wait for me.’
Rory backed right against theStar’sconsole. ‘What do youwant?’
Fionn advanced on him, brandishing the spear. ‘To show you this.’
He held it up to the light. Rory couldn’t have taken his eyes off it if he’d tried. The shaft was made of some greenish-gold metal and the long, leaf-shaped blade was cut from transparent crystal. It scattered rainbow rays over the cabin as the merman turned it for Rory to see.
Rory held his breath. Quite apart from the beauty of the thing, it was also verysharpand far too close for his liking.
The merman appeared to be waiting for him to say something.
‘Very nice,’ Rory said hoarsely. ‘Very shiny.’
The merman nodded. ‘It is of the finest quality. Minch-forged brass, crafted by one of our premier royal artificers. The blade is fortified quartz. I have killed a whole pod of orcas with this weapon.’ Fionn faltered, like he suddenly wasn’t sure about boasting of orca-killing. Rory believed him, anyway.
‘Very nice,’ Rory repeated. ‘Can you… take it away?’
The merman stepped back into the sun. At first Rory thought his eyes were playing tricks, but in the light it was clear that Fionn’s skin had changed colour. Now he looked like any other sun-shy Scotsman. The swirling blue tattoos that stretched from his right shoulder to left hip were suddenly much more striking against this paler backdrop. He also wore a kind of harness that followed the line of these tattoos across his body, with all sorts of tools strapped to it.
