Between Scylla and Charybdis - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

(This part had me grinning from ear to ear. I fucking love Scylla. She's such a brat. And Diz is a trooper for taking it as well as he does. XD)

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Scylla never felt like the gods smiled down upon her before. Not until today at least. But it looked like her luck was turning.

How he’d managed it, she had no clue. Nobody had ever found any of her many hiding spots, not the guard, not her mother. Not in her twenty years of life. If she willed it, she was invisible to the rest of the world. It was the only solace as the child everyone looked to as being the future of the pod.

This male though, whoever he was, somehow managed to track her into one of her smaller, best hidden dens. At first she’d felt nothing but annoyance at the intruder, like he’d somehow bested her by finding her hiding spot. Like he was peacocking before the trial had even begun.

Look how worthy I am? I managed to track you when nobody else could. That sort of nonsense. Surely that sort of thing would earn him brown-nose points with mother.

But then…

‘What’s your name, Darling?’

Scylla did a double take. Looking the male up and down. Didn’t he know her name? Surely this was a joke? This was just him being polite, right? Then again, this one acted with none of the nervousness, anxiety or downright fear that most males usually adopted in her presence.

‘Darling? Confident aren’t we? I take it you’re not here for the soon-to-be Matron then?’ Scylla turned her voice to silk as she feigned ignorance. Surely this would rattle him to the bone? The male threw her a sideways smile.

‘Hmm, I had every intention of going after the Matron welp, but I highly doubt she'd ever be as lovely as you.’

Scylla fought back a cackle. Oh dear. It seemed this one was an idiot. She let out a short chirr, pretending to be amused by his non-existent wit.

‘Such flattery…, save some for the trials, stranger.’ Just how easily could this guy be manipulated? Time to find out.

Scylla lowered her head so the male could look down at her backside. A submissive gesture that showed off the intricate patterns adorning her spine and dorsal fins. A blatant flirtatious move on her part. You’re right, I am beautiful, you don’t even know the half of it. One flutter of her eyelashes and she struck her mark.

‘So you will take part in the ritual then?’ he mumbled, now with a subtle strain in his voice. That’s more like it, outsider. Tremble for me.

The male followed her every move as if captivated. This idiot would fit right into her plan. As she swam past him, Scylla trailed her eyes along the edges of his frame, taking note of the nicely contoured muscles in his chest and arms. The way his black markings framed his collarbones up to his jaw, striping down his spinal chord and curling onto his tail reminded Scylla of a very rare type of dolphin. His appearance was… unusual to say the least. Not the type she’d normally go for. Scylla was used to catching the attention of her mothers warriors, and a warrior, she was certain, this male was not. Still, his exotic appearance was enough to make feigning interest in the male easy.

‘That is non-negotiable I am afraid. It appears quite a few Merfolk will be disappointed if I don’t.’ Particularly my mother.

Her gaze locked on the wall facing her and before the male could respond, Scylla shot forward towards a well hidden opening between two rocks. She could hear the male gasp behind her, but kept on going, piercing through the adjacent tunnel with ease. The male let out a growl as he started his pursuit, struggling to wurm his wider frame through the opening in the rocks. At least he was following, albeit slowly. Scylla took one turn after another with a clear goal in mind. She knew these tunnels like she did her own scales, just a little bit further.

By the time she reached the point where several tunnels intersected towards the main hall, things had gone awfully quiet. Her ears darted back and forth, where had he gone? Did she actually lose him? What the heck? Just how slow was this guy? It took a bit of backtracking, but she found the male looking lost at a previous bend. She made sure he spotted her, giving him a toothy smile before continuing leading the idiot down a path towards his doom.

This time she didn’t lose him quite as easily. As the tunnels grew wider, the male gained speed, whereas her short tail only allowed for her to go so fast. She wouldn't be able to stay ahead of him for much longer. Luckily, they’d almost reached their goal. Scylla pushed herself off of the cavern floor and into a crack in the tunnel ceiling, letting herself get swept up into a natural current that connected this tunnel to one of the larger halls. Scylla knew this current would be wild, but it was the shortest way to the main hall from here, and if she was correct, the ceremony was about to begin…

With a burst of bubbles she shot out into the main hall, where all the other mers had gathered. A wave of unsettled gasps and groans rippled through the crowd as her momentum forced her head first into several unsuspecting males at full force. Tumbling and flipping, scylla came to a halt upside down and on top of one of her mother guards.

‘Everything okay, Memron?’ The male let out a low grunt, slowly raising his head and nodding.

‘Scylla!’ her mothers shrieking voice echoed through the cavern. ‘What in Leviathan's name are you doing?!’ The matron came swimming down, flanked on either side by more guards, and she did not look happy.

‘This is not how I raised you! Rushing through the den like a five year old,-’ It was precisely at that moment that the outsider made the same sharp turn, the current launching him along the very same trajectory as Scylla only moments before. Only he did not have her mothers guard to cushion his landing. For half a second, it looked like he’d collide head on with her mother, unfortunately, one of the guards noticed the incoming threat and managed to forcefully pull the Matron to safety. Mothers eyes went wide as the male shot past, flipping out of control and coming to a complete and painful stop as his back hit the far side of the cavern with a deafening thud.

Scylla watched as his body sagged down to the floor, falling limp. Oh gods. Please move. Get up! Did she get him killed? She got him killed.

The stranger finally let out a string of curses and clawed upright, his face contorted into a painful grimace. One of his arms dangled loosely besides his chest.

‘Stupid fucking female! Piece of krill, when I get my fucking claws on her…’ With one swift motion, the male took hold of his shoulder and pushed. His arm made a loud popping noise, causing a couple of the nearbymers to wheeze in unison. A shiver ran up Scylla’s dorsal fin. He didn’t even flinch…

‘If you get your claws on her, you’ll do what exactly?’ her mother stepped in, glaring thunder and hail at the male. The outsider glanced up at the matron, then continued picking at the pebbles stuck in his scales but completely froze only seconds later.

‘Agathis…’ the male sputtered. Scylla’s gaze shot towards the male. There were members of her own pod who didn’t even know what her mother was called. How could an outsider possibly have that knowledge?

The Matron looked upon him with matching suspicion.

‘Do I know you, outsider?’ The male recoiled and quickly assumed a submissive position, wrists raised upwards towards mother with a slanted down head, exposing the nape of his neck.

‘No, majesty. I have merely heard wonderful things about you and your pod. You would honor me by giving me a chance to become part of it.’

‘Is this why you are chasing my daughter around like a maniac?’

‘Your dau,-? Your daughter!?’

Scylla swam towards her mother and gave her a quick nuzzle, before turning towards the outsider and flashing her pearly whites. The males eyes shot between Scylla and the Matron, finally seeing the similarities. The same markings, the color of their scales, many a mer often commented how mother and daughter were each other's mirror image. Finally, the vuagest stench of fear arose from him, he was either very brave or very stupid for it to take this long.

‘Your daughter…’ He repeated one final time. His gaze accusingly fell on Scylla. ‘Of course.’

If she didn't know any better, Scylla could have sworn she saw a hint of anger glimmer in his eyes. Now that simply would not do.

‘We were merely playing around, mother. Nothing happened.’ she mewled.  ‘After all, for anything to happen, he’d need to catch me first and that wasn’t going to happen.’

Things grew deathly quiet in the hall. The Mers who had gathered for the meeting all looked like they’d rather be anywhere else.

With one well aimed comment, Scylla managed to piss off both her mother and the male. Mother couldn’t afford to question Scylla’s innocence in public, and the male? Well, the male knew who was in charge by now. The best part was, neither one of them could do anything about it if they wanted to save face.

‘What’s your name, stranger?’ Scylla purred at the outsider. She was met with a cold and distant stare. Over and over again, the male  clenched and unclenched his fist, claws piercing the insides of his palms until the faint smell of blood wafted into the surrounding waters. Quite a temper on that one…

‘Diz of the black sea, your highness…’ Once again, the male exposed his wrists and lowered his head, but this time there was a slight delay, as if he was defying her somehow.

‘Diz…’ She repeated after him. ‘I look forward to seeing your efforts in the ritual, Diz of the black sea. I pray the first trial will go better than the meeting today did.’ It sure as hell can’t go any worse…

That last part rang silent…