Princess Leia and the Merman, Part 7

Leia, Luke, and their dogfish friend found themselves in a glowing garden of sea crystals and colorful sea glass. Everything shimmered, from the rather slippery floor to the jagged ceiling. The glass rippled into strange shapes as they passed.

“I like this one,” Leia said as she passed a long green glass. “It makes me look taller.” Indeed, she looked nearly as tall as Han in his human form. She couldn't resist putting the injured hand wrapped in seaweed on her hip and posing.

Luke laughed at a wide glass. “This one makes me look fat!”

The dogfish admired his face in a bluish glass, turning his head this way and that. He reached out to touch the similar creature before him, thinking it was another dogfish. The twins giggled when he growled and fussed at other fish in the mirror.

Leia patted him. “Silly boy. That's just your reflection. It's not another fish. It won't hurt you.” The dogfish snorted at the glass and gave it a smack with his tail, just to make certain.

“Luke,” she began as they continued around a corner filled with sharp white and orange crystals, “how did you end up down here? We haven't heard from you since the night of the storm that sank the Twin Sunset. And how can you breathe underwater? You're not a merman.”

“I don't...know.” Her brother closed his sky blue eyes, trying to remember. “Went down...crew was in a life boat...something turned it over. Sharks...took us away. Master...” Luke rubbed his head. “Master had drinks...could breathe...” He groaned painfully. “Nothing else.”

“Damn that Jabba!” Leia cursed as she swam under a low-lying ceiling made of delicate white quartz. “I wish I could turn him into a pig, or worse!”

“He is Master.” Luke looked worried. “You must watch for him. He has many tricks.”

“Oh, I'm wise to his tricks now.” They were now swimming across a bright, sparkling valley of white and lavender rocks that glowed like jewels against the deep blue of the ocean. “After what happened with those nasty creatures he sent after us, I'm ready for anything...hey!”

She wasn't looking where she was going and had swum right into something solid, but...slender. Crab traps and fishermen's nets were anchored on the crystal or hanging just under the surface. No sooner did Leia cut herself free from one net than another seemed to take its place. The dogfish was trying to bite its way out. Luke writhed like a fish desperate to avoid ending up on a dinner plate.

Leia was about to cut Luke free when another net was thrown over her. This one glowed gold, like the light of the sun. The moment it touched her, she vanished.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The princess appeared in the most beautiful room she'd ever seen. It wasn't a shipwreck. It looked like an underwater ruin, perhaps the remains of an ancient temple or castle. Leia wondered if it was the fabled original home of her Skywalker ancestors, which was said to have been swept into the sea after an especially violent hurricane. The room she was in must have been an ancient ballroom or dining hall at one time. She could see the remains of once-fine tapestries and flags. Rusted swords and shields hung on the walls.

An enormous meal was laid out before her on a long wooden table that was in excellent shape for having been underwater for likely hundreds of years. Everything the sea could offer – shrimp, plankton, seaweed, sea cucumbers, scallops, fish, even some vegetables, along with a covered pitcher of pure water – was laid before her on the table. It was even cooked, boiled on a thermal springs, perhaps.

That was when she saw herself in a mirror on the other side of the room. Her gown draped around her like lacy kelp, clinging to her shapely legs. The plunging neckline was covered in pearls and white crystals, with soft, puffed foamy short sleeves. The color looked like the sea at twilight, when the setting sun made it shimmer. She even had a delicate tiara made of coral that wound around her head. Her thick brown locks were down around her shoulders, entwined with tiny pearls. In fact, she looked rather like the traditional mermaids seen in fairy tales.

“Forgive me, Your Highness,” said a familiar voice, “but you are the most beautiful mermaid I have ever laid eyes on. You look more like an enchantress.”

She gasped and turned around in delight. She knew that voice! It was...to her disappointment, it wasn't Han. It was a merman. Hair flowed around his arms like a golden river. His full, pink lips were curled into a slight leer. He had very tan skin and a yellow tail that glittered like the treasure from a pirate yarn, with wide emerald-green fins. His broad chest was barely contained by a fine sailcloth blouse with abalone buttons.

“Ahh, Little Beauty,” he said in a familiar gruff voice, “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.” He kissed her hand. “You're most exquisite jewel in my collection.”

“Thank you,” Leia said, “but...who are you? I know your voice, but I thought it belonged to Ha...to someone else.” She frowned. “And you're not the first creature I've heard to call me 'Little Beauty.'”

“My name is Jab...Jasper, my lady. I'm the lord of this castle. All of the merfolk in this area work for me.” He gazed into her eyes. His eyes were the only part of him that weren't unnaturally beautiful. They were a rather unattractive shade of mustard-yellow, a great contrast to his ruggedly handsome face. “Shall we eat? My people have worked to provide us a very fine meal. It would be a shame not to do it justice.”

“Well, all right.” Leia sat on a boulder that had been carved into chair. It was quite comfortable, for a rock. Jasper clapped, bringing mermaids and merman rushing in to fill their plates. “You have a very fine home, Jasper. I've never seen anything like this.”

“It's an old castle, my lady.” The golden merman sat next to her, leaning close enough to breathe in her ear. “I'm glad I found it. It's full of romance.” The deft fingers reached into his meal, slurping the seaweed and shrimp rather rudely. “This was once a great manor house, but the cliff it was on was washed out to see in a storm. It's mine now.” He put a great big hand on hers. “And yours. Yours if you'll be my queen. Stay with me forever, Little Beauty.”

The princess pushed him away. “How could you ask me to marry you? You don't know me!” She squinted at him. “There's something...familiar...about you. We've met before, and it wasn't pleasant.”

“Nonsense!” The gallant merman bowed. “Forgive me if I'm being forward, but your beauty has taken my breath away. I can't help myself around you.”

She tried to concentrate on the food in front of her, but a sour feeling was gnawing in the pit of her stomach. “You're trying too hard to impress me. I don't need all this.”

“Of course.” His thigh brushed her half-clad leg. “I could give you the one thing you don't have.” The muscular, tanned fingers gently stroked her hip. “You don't have a good man to take care of you.”

She tried to pull away, but he wrapped his arms around her. “I don't need anyone to take care of me. I can take care of myself.”

Round yellow eyes gazed into hers. “No, Little Beauty. Someone will have to help you rule your father's kingdom when he's gone. That someone should be me.” Perfect lips breathed into her ear. “You like the sound of my voice, don't you? It calls to you.” His grin became even wider...and more evil...as she nodded in agreement. “You're too beautiful to cover in algae. I'll take your voice and your legs, and you'll be my most prized pet. A dainty little angelfish intended to be seen, but never heard.”

She was too busy listening to notice his fingers softly stroking the back of her neck. Her head drooped slightly. “What...” she murmured, “what was I doing?”

Jasper swept her into his arms and onto his lap. “You were going to kiss me, my love.”

Wide brown eyes were as cloudy as polluted water. “Yes...” The murmur was tempered by a giggle. “My head feels so light...”

He nibbled on her ear. “It's because you're in love with me.” She opened her mouth to talk again, but Jasper covered it with his fingers. “You must kiss me, and then say you love me. I want to hear those words. They will be your last.”

“I...” Her head swam, caught in the pool of his strange yellow eyes. “I can't...I don't...”

He leaned her back, his right fingers running through her long, waving brown hair. “You can't help yourself. You, like your brother, are now mine.”

Just as Leia opened her lips again, a brown-spotted blur crashed through the wall. Sharp teeth bit down on Jasper's shoulder. He let out a noisy screech and ducked away. A slightly greenish hand smacked his. The lavender shell floated back onto the table with a small thump.

Luke held a long, sharp piece of driftwood at Jasper's back. “You leave my sister alone!” He hurried to Leia and shook her as hard as he could. “You can't tell him you love him. He'll take your soul, just like he took mine!”

She shook her head, trying to clear the chowder in it. “Luke...what happened? One minute, I was eating dinner, and the next...”

“He stole a merman's voice and used it to lure you into a trap.” The small blond youth glared poison daggers at the larger merman. “I know that voice. It's the last one I heard before something yanked me out of the lifeboat and into the water. Next thing I knew, I was covered in algae and and bringing plankton for some ugly slug.”

Leia seized the merman by his white blouse. “Who are you, what did you do to my brother, and why are you talking with another merman's voice?”

The merman's eyes drifted down to her hands on his chest. “You know, I enjoy a little foreplay, but this really isn't what...urgh!”

His siren's call was cut off by a chain Leia had taken from the wall and thrust tightly around his neck. “Tell me how you got Han's voice, or I'll take it from you bodily. And get your mind out of whatever the nautical equivalent of the gutter is. I'm not interested.”

“I can...see...urk!” His face was beginning to turn a shade of blue considerably darker than the water around him. “You'll ruin Solo's voice...if you keep doing...this...”

“How did you get that voice?” Leia yanked harder at the chain, her eyes lit with angry fire. “Tell me!”

“That's...for...me...to know.” The merman's hands grabbed at the lavender shell. “I'm not...really...” he gasped “...hungry...right now...anyway.” His fist shot out and managed to hit Leia in the arm. It was enough of a distraction for him to pull the chain from around his neck. He took off into the castle before anyone could stop him.

Luke put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok, sis?”

The princess nodded. “I'm fine. In fact, I'm even better.” She threw her arms around her beloved sibling. “Thanks to you, brother.”

He gave her one of his sunniest grins. “Hey, what are twins for?”

The dogfish swam over and wrapped his wide fins around both of them. Leia hugged him back. “You too, boy. You and Luke really got me out of a tight spot there.” She gave the shark a kiss on his nose and swore the skin around his mouth turned bright red.

She gathered the chain and swung it over her shoulder. “Might be able to use this.” Her laughter echoed in the hall. The two were busy gobbling the remains of the banquet. The dogfish had plowed through all of the plankton and most of the shrimp. Luke was slurping up seaweed. “Come on, you two. Let's get to the center. We have a merman to rescue!”