Insignificant

Juri sighed, she had made a spur of the moment decision to jump off into the unknown. Her body was not prepared metally for the unexpected dive and it hurt like hell when she hit the waters.

She ignored the pain and kicked her feet as fast as she could. Even with her hands tied she was going at a speed she never thought herself capable of before.

No one was behind her and felt free for the first time since she had been caught.That was until she swam right into them.

The man she would later come to know as the Prince and his crew of bodyguards. She bumped right into the Prince headfirst and strong muscular arms from his men pulled her off of him and hauled her far from his side.

She knew she would never get another chance to escape since she was brought right back to the ship. Too exhausted from swimming at a ridiculous speed she lost the will and energy to fight them.

They left her alone in a dark room while the Prince and the Captain negotiated and conducted their other business; she was as good as sold under the sea. The Prince had told them to remove the ropes from her hands and the Captain complied.

He had such self assurance about himself that Juri was just another weak human that could easily be subdued and do nothing to harm him. Right now in her tired state she couldn't but once she regained her strength she was determined to make another break for it.

For now she tried to stop shivering as she still had on her wet garments and she hunkered in a corner of the room. Where she would easily be awakened should anyone at a moment's notice choose to slip through the door.

The Captain had chosen this room well for there was nothing she could use to turn into a weapon. The room was completely devoid of furniture. She began shivering and her mind went frantic with thoughts of raper as she curled herself in to a ball.

Exhausted she slept when she woke up she was being carried on the back of a merman as they swam to their destination. They were going at a fast inhuman speed that seemed like a blur to her eyes.

She didn't even want him to know she was awake, it felt like they were in the middle of the ocean. Such was their ferocity that even great white sharks stayed clear of the mermen as they went about their mission.

Juri wished she had paid more attention to fantasy and fairy tales when she was younger. She never thought a lack of such knowledge would come back to haunt her in her adult life. Juri had little to no knowledge of mermen.

Even now her mind was still unable to grasp the fact that her whole life had been a lie and they truly existed. When the mermen seemed to reach their destination and came to a complete stop.

Juri slid off her ride's back immediately, she felt awkward, her legs felt numb. She would have fallen to the ground had the merman not caught her and helped her to stay upright. Finally she focused on her surroundings and was shocked at the translucent glittering waterworld.

This must be their home. It looked like a tropical paradise as they walked through the landscape she saw merfolks of all sizes and shapes. She resisted the urge to stare at them like the freaks of nature they were.

She hated the fact that everyone seemed to be staring at her like she was the oddity when it was the other way around. Her eyes huge with fear and trepidation, her skin flawless, her tawn gold eyes and matching brunette hair that now hung waist length she hadn't trimmed it in ages.

She had hips and legs that could wrap around a merman's waist. Many had never been fortunate to leave their home and they openly admired her, that's not to say that the detractors weren't there.

Especially those that hated humans or heard horrible stories of merfolks being caught by Toppers and experimented on or put in a carnival water tank for display and treated worse that a pet fish.

She was a prize and would be worth a bloody fortune on the merfolk market. The fact that the Prince owned her raised their impression of their noble prince to higher standards, he could do no wrong in their eyes.

The only seer in the merfolk kingdom frowned, he knew why the Prince bothered with dragging a lowly insignificant human to his homeland. This one was different every ache in his old bones told him so.

"Abomination," he muttered.

"What was that?" A nearby merman asked.

The seer ignored him and fanned him off, the merman watched the old fart move away muttering incoherently to himself. Was the prophecy about to be fulfilled, he was often ignored and his predictions often never came to pass.

Many laughed and jeered at him, saying it was a miracle as to how he managed to fool the King into believing that he had the gift of sight. The king told him to ignore them and saw to his every comfort because only they knew the whole truth.

The seer would keep this news to himself for now and continue to watch as things unfold. The world as they knew it now was going to rapidly change with the girl's presence in the merfolk kingdom.