6.
“I am Albert Fenner IV, the current heir to the family heirloom.” The man who greeted Sherlock was a frail looking man shrouded with the cloak over the face and seated by the fireplace. The hut was furnished with bare fittings but the grocer box was adequate to be seated on.
“I saw you with the others down there.” Albert spoke from behind the cover of the cloak. “Why are you here? Was it to look for the other stranger? He was here some days back and then left.”
“Did he find you? The stranger?”
“He has a name. He was called Leroy and he met me. We spoke like what you are doing now. He was keen to know on the fishermen and the Siren tales. I am sure you are too.”
“Yes, I am. I have a number of questions.” Sherlock leaned over to study the man with the cloak. “Tell me of Albert Fenner.”
“I would but have a cup of tea with me.” Sherlock was offered the tea in the pot by the fireplace. There was a cup there. “That is the only cup I have. Please have it. It's clean.”
Sherlock picked it up and saw the cup was old with the stains of tea on the inside but it looked clean. He was not to refuse the offer of tea.
“It’s the normal tea served here. Strong and bitter but enjoyable.” Sherlock saw the man was not going to pour the tea so he did it himself. He held the cup and smelled the tea. It was not the same like the one that Mrs Hudson made. He took a sip and then sat down.
“Its good.” Sherlock looked at the man with the cloak covering from head to toes. “Are you not going to join me?”
“I am okay. I will now tell you of Albert Fenner. You will not only hear but see of the man. Soon after that you will remembered only glimpses of it.”
“Glimpses? Why….” Sherlock was cut off then and saw he was no longer in the hut but on the boat with the cloaked man. He was standing at the helm and held a wooden staff. Sherlock looked at the others on the boat. There were three others and were dressed casually like fishermen. He saw the other boats around the one he was on. He counted about a dozen with various designs and sizes.
“Wizard, tell us how far are they?” The man was next to Sherlock and held a pike in his hands.
“Not far. I can hear them.” The cloaked man called the wizard replied. “You won’t be affected for I blocked their songs to your hearings.”
Sherlock looked beyond the boat and saw they were approaching the same rocks that he had seen earlier that day but at that moment on the beach were the swarms of mermaids that were seated there.
“I see them. I am ready.” The fisherman with the pike stood up.
“Sit down, fool. They are not the Sirens. We will see them soon.” The wizard replied and then he pointed to the sea. “They are coming.”
The sight seen there were the breaking waves and the sight of the huge fishes that was headed to the boats. The fishes were huge and with dark shade on the top with the fin with the white belly but their opened jaws displayed serrated rows of fangs. There were some figures on the back of the fish holding onto the fin and it was feminine. As the fishes approached the boats, the sound of singing could be heard but it was only melodic then.
“Sirens!” The fishermen on the boats called out.
“Hold your hands, Seaman. We will have them among us before we kill them.”
The fishes reached the boats and swam below the boats but the melodic singing went on. The men were not affected then for they held fast to their pikes and hooks. Then without a warning, a fish surfaced from beneath one of the smaller boats with three fishermen. The fish slammed the boat at the keel and took it off the surface. The fishermen were tossed high and then one of them fell into the path of the opened jaws of the fish. The fisherman was snapped into two parts by the fish’s jaw.
It then started the battle of the fishermen and the fishes. The pikes and the hooks were tossed and retrieved bloody or not, to be tossed again. The surface turned bloody with more boats rocked or overturned but the fishes were also affected by the trained killers of their kind.
Sherlock saw then the cloaked figure raised his hands and called on some spells with words that he did not understand. The storm came and the waves went high with the fishes caught by the currents thus exposing their white bellies to the fishermen. The boats that were afloat rocked with the waves and handled by the experienced fishermen they took on the task as of they were out for a fishing expedition.
Then all stopped, and surface calmed once more. The sea was bloodied but the carcasses were seen to be drowning including the dead fishes. Only a handful of boats were floating and a dozen fishermen with the wizard stood there. From the surface of the sea, a huge fish appeared with its eyes red in shade. On the back of the fish was the lady seated there, nude to the top and held fins on the bottom.
“Wizard, you have travelled far to battle us.” The lady spoke yet the mouth was closed. She was a beauty with the silvery long tresses of hair that spread out behind her like the opened hand fan.
“I have, Lady Siren. I have come to assist the fishermen on their waters. They have fished here for centuries and yet you have renegaded on their arrangement with the sea. They are allowed to fish while you may swim among them but harm comes to no one.”
“A trust we had for we went only for the errant boat or the passing ones with bad tidings. They were faithful to the cause but they renegaded when they took on my companions.” The lady patted the fish there on the back. “We did what needed to balance the unjust.”
“The fisherman who did that was punished and his body fed to your fishes.” The wizard replied. “Yet you came for their catches.”
“It won’t be denied for we were upset that an arrangement of generations was disrupted. Now that has been balanced with your intervention, we will abide by the old cause.”
“And I will be your guardian to see all is done in balance.” The wizard replied. “I wish to state that the fishermen needed more than your assurance. The waters here are now with many outsiders.”
“Then the marks of the Siren will be on them. They will be spared from harm.” With that the tattoos appeared on the arms of the fishermen. “Leave it on for your generations.”
With that Sherlock found himself back at the hut.
“Now you know, stranger.”
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