“Mermaid Lagoon,” one man whispered breathlessly as the ship cut through the flat, blue water.   “We’re bloody doomed.  No one goes through these waters and lives.”

“Those are just rumours and myths.  This is the shortest way to get to Tyre; we’re cutting a three-month journey in half by coming through here.  Besides, I thought mermaids were supposed to be beautiful creatures with long auburn hair and bright, shimmering tails," his companion scoffed.

“Yeah, to lure sailors to their deaths!  Haven't you heard the stories?  I don’t know about you but I have a wife and three children at home!  And a new boy on the way.”

“Then you should arrive in time to see him born.”

“I’ll take arriving home at all, thank you very much.”

“Stop bickering and get to work!”  The disembodied voice of their captain jarred them from their positions slouched over the railings, but not before a faint glimmer flashed over the still water just a few miles ahead.

“Did you see that?” asked the first man as he clutched his crew-mate’s shoulder.  "There's something in the water.”

“Stop trying to have a go at me.”  The other man turned to walk away.

“There!”  The first man cried triumphantly, pointing to where the otherwise seemingly smooth surface rippled a mere foot away from where the first sparkle had caught his eye.

“It’ll be a fish or something," the second man said, but he stayed at the railing a few moments longer. He was about to give it up when the sun flashed across the bright copper scales of a huge tail that erupted out of the water before flickering under just as fast. “Was that…a fin?”

It wasn’t long before there were more vivid streaks of colour: green, black, red, white, gold, purple, silver, and copper again.  Then a smiling face of one of the most beautiful women the men had ever seen emerged out of the water.  Her bright red hair glinted in the sun’s light and her pale skin seemed to shimmer like moonlight.  “I’m sorry for my friends are shy, it does no good to wonder why," she crooned at the sailors before turning to chastise her ‘friends’.  “Come up to where you can be seen, it does no good to stay in the green.”
Immediately a dozen or so heads popped out of the deep; brunettes, blondes, redheads: all beautiful, all giggling together and all smiling at the sailors.
As one they began to speak in the sweetest tone imaginable.  “Here many sailors have hit rocks and lie deceased, but do not worry for we believe in peace.  We will guide you through the hidden rocks, and carry you safely to the docks.”

Then they turned their heads and swam away, pointing out the rocks and coral lying just below the surface.

The crew was divided, two or three men were desperately calling for the captain to turn the ship around, but the rest had already become enchanted by the melodic voices and ethereal faces of the mermaids.  And so the ship continued on, further into the lagoon until the crew spotted a narrow mouth of a river, surrounded on both sides by mountainous cliffs. 

“Please, do not fear you brave men; soon you will be home again.  Back with your child and loving wife, who must now be burdened with terrible strife.   Yes, we will come and take you home again, and what stories you will have to tell them.”

It was a tight fit, but the merchant ship managed to squeeze into the river, but as the boat travelled into the shade of the cliffs surrounding it on either side, the air itself seemed to become chilled, hostile.  With a glance the men knew their premonition was indeed correct.

Clumps of matted hair now clung desperately to the mermaid’s caved in faces, their flesh peeling away in strips to reveal the bone underneath.  Their lips torn and bloody, their eyes nothing but bloody sockets, gouged out by their own taloned fingernails.  Their tails were no longer an interlocking artwork of shimmering scales but bloody legs tied together with rotten rope so that they were forced to dolphin kick to stay above the waves.  Tied to the rope that bound their legs together were bones bleached by the sun and small signet rings of wealthy merchants.  Their voices sounded raspy with bitterness.

“Now you see us as we are,
With each bruise, every scar,
Cursed to swim the sea thus,
In the image that you made us.

You found us as stowaways,
Decided you would make us pay,
Dragged us out, bound our legs so,
And threw us into the sea below.

Cursed, cursed, cursed, cursed,
As women we would curse the ship,
Cause the weather to violently flip,
And strengthen the storm’s tight grip.

That’s what we all heard you say,
As the ocean took our life away,
And the salty water strangled our speech,
As we thought of the home we’d never reach,

But the ocean gave us one last chance,
To make good of this happenstance,
For you have homes and families too,
Who have already seen the last of you.”

With that the mermaids converged on the ship, clutching the hull and with super-human strength guiding the boat into the rocky cliffs.  Then the mermaid’s started to climb the wreckage, too impatient to wait for it to sink on its own accord.  One man screamed as a red-headed fiend dragged herself across the deck to sink her talons deep into his ankles.  The ship lurched and they were both sent, tumbling, into the water.  Time slowed as the man saw her with her teeth barred- spindly, yellow canines filled her gums, more than should have been humanly possible, with rotted flesh still wedged in-between them.  Then the water exploded around them and he was dragged down, down, down.  Until the water filled his lungs and darkness filled his vision.