Change of Pace

I follow closely behind Bella over to the collapsed cave entrance. As we approach the Hippocampus becomes skittish. Bella stops and looks at me expectantly. I glide slowly forward cooing softly trying to comfort it. The animal begins to calm and stares at me, in those eyes I can see she is scared.
“There now, it’s going to be alright.” I say softly.
The Hippocampus just whines in pain and I move my hand forward slowly to stroke the side of its head. It leans its head into my hand and calms down, breathing heavily but slower.
“We’re here to help.” I say softly. “Can you tell me your name girl?”
“My name is Melousa, but my everyone calls me Mel.” I hear her whinny.
“Hello Mel, My name is Meredith and this is Bella” I say in my most kind voice.
Bella Squeaks her hello and I continue to calm our new friend.
“Now, let’s see if we can get you out of here. Does that sound like a plan?”
She nods and I look down at the lower half of her body which is covered in rocks. I check above her to make sure that more rocks won’t fall after these are cleared. Seeing everything is stable I signal for Bella to Keep Mel occupied while I begin removing rocks. She begins chatting away with her new friend while I get to work.
Two squeaky stories later I have cleared all small rocks and inspect the bigger offenders. There is a quite large boulder that would have crushed Odette’s tail without the lack of gravity that comes with the sea floor.
I turn to Mel, “Okay, I’m going to have to use a bit of force to clear these away. Ok girl?”
Her distraction being gone, a look of fear returns but she just nods.
“Alright, just stay still and calm and it will be over before you know it. Everything’s going to be fine.”
I blast the last of the rocks with a jet of water and they roll down the ravine freeing the hippocampus’s tail. Mel, feeling her freedom, zooms from the cave entrance. I watch as she zooms back and forth, flipping and twirling, happy with her new freedom. Then she slows and returns over to us happy as a clam.
“Thank you for your help. I am forever in your debt.” She says insistently.
To be honest I never thought I would befriend a hippocampus. They always seem disinterested and unfriendly when we interact. So when Mel says this I welcome a little more myth in my life.
“Oh please, it was no biggie.” I explain and turn to inspect the cave opening. “Now then, let’s see what’s in here. “ I say to both of them and pull out a chunk of celestial bronze. Through the past few years chunks of the stuff have floated up from the underworld. I admired the faint glow it always gave off, like a safety net in the dark.
The walls of the cave are smooth and round, normal for most underwater caves I have seen. We swim through the darkness for a few minutes until I see a faint yellow glow at ahead. I tell myself it’s just an opening in the ceiling and push forward.
We come to an opening and I stop dead in my tracks. So fast that Mel and Bella almost slam into my back.
“What’s wrong Mere? Oh-“, Bella stops as she lays eyes on what I’m staring at.
The cave opens up into an huge ravine. But what catches my attention is the enormous amount of treasure filling every surface of the ravine floor. Everywhere are piles of golden, coins, chalices, crowns, and various objects. Towards the back of the biggest pile I see a giant warship that looks like it was plucked right out of Xena: Warrior Princess. We begin to explore the treasures and I’ll admit I’m amazed at the glow coming from this much gold.
I’m drawn towards a pile a little further back. In the center Is an object with a slightly different glow I recognize as celestial bronze. I realize it’s a trident, a long thin staff that comes to three points on the end. I pick if the lean weapon and it feel right, balanced in my hands. On the other side I notice writing along he handle. It looks like an ancient language but as I look it starts to change and rearrange. It is now written in English clear as day.
“Guys come here I found something!” I motion to my friends and they hurry over.
“Whoa cool.” Bella says excitedly, “What does that writing say?”
I read it aloud, “This trident may be more than it seems, only to the guardian of the sea…”
I look at the others and they’re staring at me. “What?” I ask, knowing what they’re thinking. Bella looks like she’s about to burst.
“Look,” I say “there’s no way this is for me, that’s too crazy.” Although to be honest crazier things have happened to me, tail included.
Bella starts rambling about how awesome it is and I ignore her, turning back to the glowing trident. It is completely balanced in my hand and has small, swirly, intricate designs etched into the metal of various sea creatures and waves.
Bella’s rambling is cut short by a loud thump. I strap the Trident on my back with my bow and the rope and I turn around to look. In her excitement she has knocked down one of the bigger treasures. A giant chest filled with shiny gold objects. There’s a loud crash and burst of bubbles as it lands at the bottom of the ravine.
There’s a silent moment as we wait for the bubbles to clear and I recognize a low sound, a growl. Bubbles continue to rise and I am just about to turn to bella and suggest we leave when there is an explosion of gold. Something about the size of a blue whale is rising out of the piles of treasure.
What rises out of the mess is what I can only describe as an underwater dragon. The body resembles a seahorse. It has no legs but large fins in place of wings followed by a long curling tail. What it does not have in common with a seahorse is the giant snapping jaws that are now staring straight at us.
I turn and tell them to run and blast a strong jet of water at the monsters face to distract it. The monster, confused, backs up a little and my friends get our through the entrance. I am right behind them when I feel something big and heavy hit my back and I begin to sink to the bottom of the ravine. The last thing I see is a wave of gold consumes my vision before everything goes black.

Notes