Mermaids Don't Have Souls...

Mermaids Don't Have Souls & Pirate Captain Will Burton's Meeting With Kerillia, The Treacherous, Seductive Mermaid Queen...

      Mermen have snouts like pigs and wiggly whiskers like catfish, maybe why mermaids lust for human men.  Memaids are, almost always, very lusty and very dangerous.  (We all were unforgettably educated about this in "P.O.T.C. : On Stranger Tides".)  Mermen are supposed to be kindly.

                      

Merpeople live under the sea in magnificent palaces that are studded with jewels and pearly shells.  On sunny days mermaids like to sit on rocks near the shore and comb their long and lovey hair which is usually wavy and either red or pale blond.  They are much more beautiful than any human woman, but it is a cold beauty.

                

     The merpeople age very slowly until they are mature; then they are immortal.  They are said to be the children of the great Irish sea god, Manannan Mac Lir, who, some think, is the same deity as Neptune.  Manannan is an enormous and fearsome god who brings storms at sea.  His beard and hair are pale silvery green and his eyes are completely white, like big gleaming pearls. The merpeople have the ability to control weather at sea, which might be one reasons why there were so many mermaid figureheads on old ships; sailors are a superstitious lot.

     The merpeople don't have souls...

               

...  Tsk, tsk...  [In spite of the fact that Serena loves Phillip in "P.O.T.C.: On Stranger Tides, above she's sitting on a rock, unconcerned, while that ship in the background burns.

  And, of course, mermaids have the total unpredictability of faeries, really, being of the water fey.  Mermaids can be very vain, jealous and very spiteful.  But, they can see into the future and grant wishes that will always, always come true.  Sometimes, a mermaid will form a bond with a young girl child; the mermaid will be the child's guardian until she grows up.
                 
                       

     Merpeople are known in folklore all over the world. To the Germans they are Lorelei; to the French - Morgens, to the Danes - Maremind, to Icelanders - Marmenill, to the Irish - Merrow.  In Polynesian folklore Vatea, a half porpoise, half human god, was the father of humans and the gods.  In Africa there are legends of a mermaid named Yemaya who has lovely, flowing green hair and shimmering shell jewelry.  Perhaps, she is related to the Hispanic goddess of the sea, Yemanja, or is the same.

     Below is an excerpt from "THE BLEEDING RUBY", the first sequel to "PIRATE HEART".  Pirate captain Will Burton meets secretly with the queen of all the merfolk, Kerillia, The Splendor...

                        

    Kelrillia, the stunningly beautiful high queen of the merpeople,  ran her tongue around her lips as she smiled.  Her teeth were small and had the true iridescence of pearls, each one very pointed.  “Careful your wee choppers dinna cut that pretty pink ribbon,” Will whispered, one corner of his mouth going up.

     He passed her a big goblet of Madiera, wary of Kelrillia’s silvery blue claws which were showing a bit from their sheaths.  “And, here, have some mussels drizzled with lime butter, scallops poached in white wine and this rice cooked in the ink of baby squids.  Mister Clary made these delights special, as I asked him, just for you.”  He winked.  “They be all the most delicious o’ aphrodisiac foods, me gorgeous sea sirena.” 

     Kelrillia pouted her lips.  Then, she swiftly quaffed the wine.  Her kelp green eyes snapped with anger.  She leaned forward like a female moray eel sticking her nose out of her coral nitch, looking as if she was going to bite.  The queen of all the merpeople was very formidable, as big as Will, as big as all her kind.       

     Will moved back a bit.  “Mayhap, a bit o’ this sweet, but also most pleasantly tart blood orange?”  He passed her a crystal dish containing wedges of bright salmon colored fruit.

     “No!  No!  NO!  I don’t want any!”

     “You be most testy tonight, me magnificent queen.”

     “Will, I’ll do my best, but I’m very upset and my uncle Manannan is positively livid!  You know he’s very old fashioned and a stickler for protocol!  Whatever possessed you to throw the leavings of your body, --- ugh, your hair, into the sea?  What a disgrace!”

     “Kelrillia, I swears I dinna know ‘t was a gross insult.”

     “That makes no difference NOW!  DOES IT?”

     “You will use your influence to me behalf?”

     “Humph!  I’ll do my best.”  The long dark green eyes flashed seductively.  She wound a spiral of her vivid red hair around her forefinger.  “You know I never do favors without rich payment.”

     “You have nay changed, your Splendidness.”

      “Don’t be snide, Will!  Be nice or you will pay for more than your mistake!”  Kelrillia raised her arm twirling it rapidly.  Thunder claps sounded over the dark waves and lightning split the night sky.  “And, you can give me back my necklace, you miserable thief!”

     Will’s black eyes were sad and soft.  “I lost it, to me great, great shame.”

     “What?  How dare you be so careless!  That was an heirloom of my family, eons old!”

     Accidents happen all the time, me lovely, even to the most meticulous o’ pirates..”

     Kelrillia scowled and more thunder threatened, followed by fiercely rolling clouds.  She tossed her head.  “There are other necklaces…”

     “Oh?…”

     “Yes, wonderful necklaces, bewitched by my uncle Manannan.”

     “Where are they?”

     Kelrillia smirked.  “Hidden under the sea, where you’ll never find them my handsome, greedy pirate!  Of course, my maids make other pieces of jewelry which we sell to mortals, tinkley necklaces and bracelets of little value, but they are rather pretty and get us coins we can use when we grow legs ashore…”

     More thunder.  Will looked up at the charging dark gray clouds edged with brightness.  “Mayhap, we should go to me cabin rather than sitting here on deck.”

     “No, no, any walls make me uncomfortable.”

     “Aye, I knows...  When I heared the dolphins singing that you wanted to visit me I knew I could nay refuse.”

     Kelrillia crossed her legs, smirking.  “Excellent.  I’m so glad I taught you the dolphin’s language of melody, Will.”

     “The language of the sea turtles been harder to learn.”

     “That ridiculous clicking and clacking!  But, you have a most marvelous gift for tongues, my thrilling and devilishly handsome pirate!”

     Will made a half bow.  “It dinna bothers me to admit you scares me mightily, your Majesty.”

     Kelrillia laughed, full throated and joyously.  “I adore your respect!  Most humans consider mermaids to be only lissome fishy whores!”

     “Verra foolish o’ them.”

      Kelrillia giggled.  “Yes, they find out differently if they have any dealings with us!”

     “The females o’ the merfolk be some o’ the most powerful warrior witches I ever comed across.”

     “What?  You dare to name us witches?”

      “Dinna deny it, me queen; ‘t is nay becoming.”

      Kelrillia flirted her magnificent deep green eyes again.  “I let you get away with more crass speech than I have ever allowed another man!  Now, about my payment, such rare and wonderful payment which only you can give me.  You can easily row us to the sand.  Then, you will walk, carry me through the shallow water.”

     “So you won’t get wet and start that bothersome painful business o’ growing a tail again?”

      Kelrillia ran a finger around the edge of Will’s neck.  Her claws emerged fully their sheaths as she raised her upper lip from her teeth.   “The pink sand is as cool, soft and fine as face powder,” she purred.  It was almost a growl.

      “Nay possible.  We be far from those blushing Bahaman beaches.”

     “If I say the sand is pink it will be so, --- if just for tonight!”  Kelrillia’s eyes snapped dangerously.  Then, she softened. “You are the most singularly spectacular man I’ve ever met, Will!  I remember our nights together as we frolicked, the moonlight touching our bodies so gently, so lovingly!”

      “Unforgettable times, me Splendor, positive unforgettable...” --- Copyright 2021 by Antoinette Beard/Sorelle Sorcere.