Escape

Inside the burlap sack, Juri lay shivering. She was right back in the same situation and remembered the horrors of her first time in captivity. Juri cursed her stupidity that got her into this messy situation, she never learned from her mistakes.

She was relieved when hands brought her out of the burlap sack. A young man who seemed to be clearly following orders ignored her for the most part. As he worked fast to undo the bindings on her feet, then removed the cloth from her mouth but the ropes on her hand remained fastened.

"Does anybody aboard this ship speak English?"

"Look no further, young miss, I can understand you quite well."

"Take me to your Captain," she pleaded with him.

"I am the Captain."

Skai was shocked, since he was shorter than her in height. Nothing remarkable about him, crooked nose like it had been broken a few times, mediterranean features, stubby black hair.

His skin was leathered like he got burnt by the sun alot and shrewd black eyes that watched every move she made. The Captain was very hairy and reminded her of a sneaky rat with his baggy trousers and matching black shirt.

"My master, he cares for me and he will pay handsomely for my return. Just take me to him. I swear."

The man laughed heartily and did not heed her words. The Captain was already deeply engrossed in thoughts. Admiring the excellent prize his men had brought to him, pity she wasn't a virgin but as a half breed she would fetch an excellent price on the market.

He finally addressed her showing sparkly white teeth, the only part of him that wasn't dirty. He was a half breed too so like recognized like the only reason why he continued to breathe was because of his value to the Prince.

The moment he stopped being of value his days would be numbered. It didn't hurt that he was butt ugly too and had no superpowers other than the rare premonition and the ability to sense other supernatural creatures like himself.

"Now listen up young woman, your fate had already been decided the moment you were born a half breed. Now I finally have something worthy of Prince Kuval and he will reward me handsomely for my efforts. You will need some work but after I'm done with you, he will be ecstatic that such exquisite beauty can be added to his harem."

Juri unconsciously flinched at his words, "Half breed? Exquisite beauty. Surely you have me confused with someone else?"

Not only was the Captain an imbecile but clearly his eyesight was going too.

"You're the only female aboard my ship right now," the Captain smirked. He rubbed his hands together, "If I didn't need to continue to be in the Prince's good graces, I would keep you as a mistress for myself, such a feisty wee thing you are. Nevertheless, you'll be worth your weight in gold and-"

"Not if Marino rescues me sooner than you think," Juri interrupted with her loud shouting, "mark my words Marino will make you pay for even staring at me too long. You don't have a clue who you're messing with. I'm the only child of my parents Denise and Winslow Lohan. You can go to hell for all I care asshole."

"Your parents are fake sweethearts, have you ever stopped to consider that you look nothing like them, inherited none of their skill sets and no matter how hard you tried you could never fit in amongst the humans, you're just like a changeling."

By the perplexing look of astonishment in her eyes, it was clear that she wasn't aware of her true parentage. He wasn't surprised when a Merman mated with a human in most cases births someone dies, either the child is born still born or the mother dies or both.

If the child succeeds in surviving childbirth it was normally killed by the King's men if discovered because the King considered them all abominations. While he could control the merfolk with his powers, the halflings were immune to them and that made them a threat to his rule and to be eliminated at all costs.

She slowly backed away from him until she was leaning against the railing. The captain didn't think much of it because her hands were still bound. He had only removed the bindings from her feet because he had been too lazy to carry her and he needed her to walk around.

The Captain wanted her looking tanned and healthy for the Prince Kuval's arrival. He never in a million years suspected what she would have done next. Juri practically leaned as far backwards as she could and backflipped into the deep blue sea.

He stood in amazement for a few seconds before reality set in, the Prince would be here shortly and if he didn't have his gift he would punish him severely for wasting his precious time. The Captain shouted orders for his men to go after her.

His first mate came up to him and asked, "why do you care so much about such a stupid female who would prefer death over being pampered for the rest of her life."

"She's like me, a half breed and the Prince is on his way to fetch her."

"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Not waiting for an answer he too stripped off his unnecessary clothes and deep dived off the railing to give chase after the woman. She could not have gone far if she wasn't food for the sharks by now.

He was the only one aboard the ship that knew the Captain's secret. The Prince might be handsome and lovely to look at but his impressive visage hid a cruel streak and a wicked temper. He would not just kill the Captain for his perfidy but all his men as well.

They needed to recover the girl as quickly as possible. Deep down inside, the Captain felt a deep sense of foreboding as if any second his whole life could fall apart. The kind of misgiving that made him wish he had never laid eyes on the woman in the first place.