For those who missed Chapter 1, you can find it here.
Chapter 2. Exodus
“To stay here another season will bring untimely deaths to all of us,” Tas said, speaking slowly even though his pulse raced, certain his father, Chief Henning, would disagree if he sounded too anxious. More than once he’d been warned of making decisions based on emotions.
“We have to leave these waters. There are ships everywhere. Men are killing us. Those who don’t perish by harpoons will suffocate. We can’t even surface for air without fighting through the emissions of the ships.”
“Where would we go, son?” his father asked.
“North.”
The chief’s caudal fin curled along the upper shelf of the blue reef. Slow to move, Henning’s age showed in the number of mussels that clung to his body. He stayed near the surface, as did many of the other aging mers, where the journey for air was not as laborious.
“There are heavy currents north of here with strong waters and many storms,” Henning said, his eyes surveying the congregation lingering in the crevices of the rocky atoll. Kindermers clung timidly to their mothers’ fins.
They listened intently to the chief as though his words were law. When the old merman’s gaze rested on his eldest son, now wrapped tightly in kelp, the wound an ugly reminder of what might lie ahead for his pod, he shook his head. “Some of us are capable of the journey north. Some of us aren't. I trust your judgment, Tas. If that’s what you propose, then I will instruct our clan to follow. But I will stay behind.”
“No!” Tas' aunt protested. “Your father is old, Tas, Think of what you’re asking of him. A long trip north could kill him and the other elders.”
Henning quieted her with his raised hand. “Tas, tell us all so we'll know your reasoning. Why north?”
Tas had no desire to harm his father. Still, the clan needed a safer home. He had to convince them this was the best move. “I’ve seen the dolphins dancing as if they were beckoning me to follow them.”
“Did they hover and wait for your attention?” his father asked.
“Yes. We all know how dolphins help us in times of danger. Even Mother mentioned seeing them when she was alive. She said they were trying to steer her away from the coral reef. Maybe they'd have saved her life if she had heeded their warning.”
Henning’s moan rippled through the water reminding Tas of his father’s grief. “Please, son. Don’t talk of what might have been. I still mourn her passing.”
“I’m sorry.” Tas sunk back against the rock, surveying the pitiful scene before him. Mermaids hid in the shadows, mermen listened, saying nothing.
The clan, which had once thrived peacefully along the southern coast of Talbatha Island, was now a remnant of what it had once been, barely large enough to form a school. Sameri Cavern had been their clan’s home, a grand and beautiful cavern where hundreds of magical pools gave both healing and life to the mers. That was years ago and only the elders remembered the charms entrusted to the merpeople—how they once could change form to walk on land or swim to deeper waters with the dolphins. Without the pools, they had become stagnant and the joy of life was absent from their daily lives.
But the cavern, located at the tip of the island, had been discovered and invaded by men and had become a tourist attraction, luring so many visitors that the merpeople couldn't hide any longer and were forced to leave. They divided into three groups and swam in different directions in hope that one of the pods would find a home and send for the others. Sadly, Tas’ clan failed to discover any magical pool and no word ever came. Hence, more members of the clan died than children were born. If they didn’t migrate to enchanted waters soon, they all would perish.
“I’ve seen the dolphins.” Bella, a young mermaid said. “Some of us should swim along the coast and explore. Maybe there are other mers farther north.”
“It’s possible.” Red agreed.
“I think we should all leave, not only a few of us. There's no time for scouting.” Tas found it hard to quiet his angst. Even his father’s closed eyes would not still his heart. “Today men attacked. They know we’re here. They’ll hunt every last one of us until we cease to exist. Look!”
He pointed at Tama. “Is that what we want for our children?”
Of course, no one would argue. They’d been living in fear for a long time. Caution had become an obsession with them, and they were imprisoned by so many uncertainties, never knowing if they were swimming into a band of divers with harpoons, or would be cut by the spinning blades of a boat.
“We can carry you, father. I’m sure if we school together, we’ll generate enough strength for even the weakest mer to make it to the quiet waters of the northern bay. If the legends are true, if indeed we are descendants of the dolphins, they’ll come and help us. We have to try,” Tas pleaded.
“There's a chance Tas is right. We could very well happen upon spring waters,” someone suggested. Confirmations and chatter continued to ripple through the cave until Tas’ father opened his eyes again.
“Very well, we’ll travel.”