Siren Song Ch. 09

The End

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Epilogue

"... for air any more." The athletic raven-haired woman in the black bikini lowered the tablet computer in her hand and raised her head. "Honestly? A fuckin' happily ever after?" She straightened from leaning with one knee raised on the almost horizontal palm tree reaching across the beach and sat on it with her legs dangling down. "I don't buy it. That's not how my world works, ever. I know what happened to all the hidden folk in the 1800's when magic ran out. Must've been ugly."

The tree trunk between her thighs trembled as the chunky mermaid giantess lounging in the weak surf of the lagoon rolled over. Her container-sized breasts flattened on the warm sand. She leaned in. Her three yard head blotted out the sun.

"Believe what you want. That there on your magic scroll thing is true to the tale I told your," she licked her lips, "surprisingly juicy servant. He wrote it down faithfully."

The girl crossed her arms. "And, given a few weeks for recovery and half a gallon of meds, he might be able to string words into sentences and that annoying grin will fade from his face. Another month, and maybe we can unshackle him from his bed. Could've warned me about that before, you floating aphrodisiac. Cha'gura of Red Coral Reef, if that even is your name, you're testing my patience. Don't make me angry. You being here in this open lagoon and not locked away in some fish tank is just a courtesy of mine. You're in no position to make me put up with your shenanigans."

"Oh dear, is the puny human girl annnnnoyed?" teased the giantess. "Be glad I don't single-handedly flatten you into a beach pancake where you sit."

"I'd like to see you try, you bloated tadpole, if only to see that smug grin disappear when I go through your palm like a hot knife through butter." She flexed her fingers into a fist. Black oil welled through her skin and turned her hand into glistening metal with violet veins wandering like electrical discharges. Then she stretched her digits, and the coating disappeared as fast as it had come.

"Awww, you'd really hurt a mother-to-be?" Cha pouted and cradled her enormous paunch that floated in the waters of the steep drop just after the surf.

"If necessary," was the cold reply. "We have no idea what's going to pop out of that hot-air balloon of your belly, apart from the hypothesis that you've stuffed your swarm, all transformed into eggs, up that cavernous crotch of yours to winter the dearth of magic. Some of my staff are really eager to slice you open to make sure it's not some squid god you're brewing in there."

The girl pinched the root of her nose, closed her eyes and exhaled deeply before she continued, "I just want to know why. Why now, and why here? For all I know, before I dragged you here, you've been asleep in some underwater abyss for more than a hundred years, and even before that, there have been no sightings of a giant fish woman. And believe me, even if you crushed each boat that ever laid eyes on you, word gets out. Word always gets out."

"The truth? I woke because I started growing again. Wonderful, wonderful growth. Our witch told me, once I begin to swell, it won't be long. It'll all be like it once was."

"Like it once was?"

The mermaid sighed. "Are you daft, dirtwalker? The magic. It's coming back. It's all coming back."

"Not if I can help it."

Cha'gura's eyes turned into two slits. "You can't. You think you can stop it? Magic's everywhere, and it's growing stronger with every moment. I can feel it. I feel it raining down on me, even in this sunshine. It's the only reason I'm here. Soon it'll be strong enough and we'll once again have a Seeder, a Feeder, and all the oceans to ourselves."

"The world has moved on. We can't have magic running rampant. Oh, I don't mind the odd creature every now and then, if I know where to find it and if it doesn't chew a path through any major city. So — behave and enjoy your stay." The young woman jumped onto the sandy beach and started to walk towards a footpath into the jungle.

Cha'gura laughed after her. "Amanda! Amanda DeSaphin! You think you're ready? You're not! You have no idea what's waiting out there!"

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That's it for now, but the World of Altaerna will keep on growing ... sooner or later! (And, if you can spare another minute, why not drop some comment into the form below?)