Between Scylla and Charybdis - Chapter 10. (Patreon)

Charybdis hated these mer. He hated their stupid nonsensical customs. He hated that spiky bastard in particular. He hated the body he was in, despite it being modified to suit his needs better. He hated the crowd for their “Ooh’s” and “Aah’s” every time blood was drawn.

When he noticed Scython rushing towards him, it was as if time slowed down. He’d noticed the danger a mere second before Scylla did, but it was enough to buy himself some time. The way he saw it, he had a choice. He could save himself, get himself out of harm's way, leaving Scylla smack dab in the path of that quilled bastard to fend for herself. Or…

Or he couldn’t.

One option was remarkably more appealing than the other. Why was he even considering this? His sense of self-preservation flared up, his body screaming for him to move.

Charybdis pulled Scylla into an embrace and curled around her. His mind exploded into searing hot pain as his back got torn to shreds. Then everything turned dark.

When he awoke again, it was still dark, but not unnaturally so. Cold stone surrounded him, stalactites and stalagmites protruded from above and below. A trio of green crystals vaguely illuminated the room. He was inside. How did he end up back in the cavern? While raking his mind, Charybdis tried getting up, raising his body weight on his arms.

That small movement was enough to make the muscles in his back scream in agony. He instantly dropped back down, letting out a tormented moan.

A small silver colored female with spotted fins poked her head from around a corner, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

‘You are awake! Barnacles, that’s quick.’ She rushed towards him, carrying an assortment of bundles wrapped in seaweed. Charybdis tensed. He couldn’t move and the mer came straight at him, all his instincts flared up and he let out a rumbling growl originating from his chest.

‘Stay the fuck away from me.’ He hissed with a hoarse voice, his claws sunk into the brittle rock beneath him. The female halted, but only for a second.

‘You need these.’ She gestured towards the bundles pressed against her chest. ‘For the pain. I’m not done yet.’

‘Done with what?’ his throat was parched so the words came out as a wheeze.

The female advanced forward, pointing at his back. ‘Removing those.’

Charybdis did his best to turn and look, but all he could make out were shapes of black sticking out of his flesh. Some memories came rushing back.

‘That bastard.’ he grunted.

Scython had cheated. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Charybdis furrowed his brow and tried getting up again. More pain seared through his back and he plopped back down with a short defeated thud.

‘You’re not going anywhere until we remove all of those I’m afraid. I had hoped to get them while you were still unconscious though.’

The female started unpacking the different bundles, placing them by his side. He eyed them with no small amount of suspicion.

‘I’m Gaia.’ She introduced herself.

This female was even smaller than Scylla, Charybdis didn’t think that was possible, but it was true. An itch krept up his throat as he watched her trail past one of his clawed hands. It would be all too easy to grab and subdue her, even in the state he was in. He could force his wounds to close if given enough energy. He entertained the thought for a moment, carefully reaching for the female's wrist as she unpacked what looked to be salves.

‘Scylla asked me to treat you.’ she gleefully continued, unaware of the immediate danger she was in. ‘We grew up together, she’s a year older than me, but we’re thick as thieves.’ She grinned. ‘It’s rare for her to make friends. From what I gather, she quite enjoys you as well.’ Gaia leaned in front of his face so he could see and coily rolled her eyebrows at him. He was unfamiliar with the gesture, but something about the female’s behavior gave him pause.

‘You’re Scylla’s friend?’ He whispered. Gaia nodded.

‘Yup, I am also the best healer this pod has, so hold on to your eggs, bucko, cause those nasties have to come out.’ She pointed at the quills still lodged in his back with an apologetic grin.

-

After the fight, Scylla had been trailed by a flock of excited mer. They meant well, but really their attention served mostly just to annoy her. She was tired, sore and overall, pretty much done with today. Only after she bumped into one of the guards, the older one who was the first to obey her back in the pit, was she finally able to get rid of them. With his help of course. The male flared his fins in a threat display and they dispersed as fast as they’d gathered. Thank Leviathan for that. She didn’t ask him what they’d done to Scython. It was no longer her concern.

Scylla could hear Diz before she saw him. Telltale green crystals lit up the cavern’s low ceiling. These crystals only appeared in this area of the cave complex and you could follow them all the way to Gaia’s cave. Following Diz’s yells would have worked just as easily.

Scylla turned the corner and was met with a surprising sight. Gaia straddled Diz tail, as he laid belly down on an elevated platform. Her claws wrapped around a particularly nastly looking quill that was wedged between Diz’s shoulder blade.

‘You need to lie still’ Gaia tried to hush him with her usual soothing tone of voice, the same one she used to hush the young.

‘No, you need to stop torturing me. Just yank the damn thing out already!’ He growled as his jaw tightened.

Gaia took a deep breath, gathering her composure.

‘For the tenth time, they are barbed. If I just yank, as you so aptly put it, there is a good chance you won’t be able to use your arm again. Would you like that?’

Diz's response was an incomprehensible grumble.

‘That’s what I thought.’ Gaia smiled, digging her claws down and nudging the quill some more. Diz twitched, but stayed quiet.

Scylla cleared her throat to announce herself. Gaia continued her work undisturbed, but Diz’s face slowly trailed towards her. His face brightened a bit when he saw her, that alone was enough to make Scylla’s heart flutter again.

She lazily swam over to the platform.

‘I see you are still at it.’ she smiled at Gaia. ‘How is it looking?’

‘He’ll live.’ She smacked her lips. ‘Some of the smaller puncture wounds are already healing actually. It is remarkable, I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Scylla couldn’t help but notice how Diz tensed as Gaia spoke, but he remained quiet, letting the petit female continue her work.

Without warning, Gaia plucked the quill loose. A shudder shot through Diz’s body, his back muscles rolled underneath his scales.

‘Fuck!’ he roared. ‘I thought males were supposed to be mated before a female is allowed to torture them?!’

Scylla grinned. ‘Nope. That’s nonsense.’ She glanced over at her friend and nodded towards the entrance. Gaia tossed the quill on top of an amassing pile, the ample amount of them turned Scylla’s stomach. Removing the one she’d jabbed into her tail was the worst pain she’d ever felt. She could only imagine what Diz was going through.

Her friend nodded and pushed away from Diz’s back.

‘I don’t know about you, but I need a break.’ She rolled her head along her shoulders and stretched out her arms. ‘I’ll be back in a bit to remove the last ones. Don’t move.’

Scylla was grateful for her best friend. Most of the time, there was no need for words between them. Gaia had a knack for sensing people and was a good judge of character, she could read the room better than anyone and most importantly, knew when to make herself scarce.

Scylla sat herself down besides Diz, her tail curling up next to her on the platform. He broke the silence first.

‘Your friend is evil.’ He growled.

Scylla grinned. ‘I think she likes you. Usually she’s a lot more polite to newcomers.’

A faint grunt escaped Diz’s mouth as he tried to pull himself upright. Pain shot across his face in an instant. Scylla in response pressed a hand on a relatively unmarred part of his back and pressed him back down.

‘Don’t…’ she cooed. ‘You need to heal.’

His body stirred for a bit, but he eventually obeyed and sank back down.

‘I’ll be fine once all those blasted things are out.’ He paused as his eyes fixated on the ground before him. ‘Judging on the state of me, I gather I lost, huh?’

A sense of pride kindled within Scylla’s chest. ‘No, you won.’

The males ears shot back and forth. ‘Be a darling and explain that to me, did he spontaneously keel over after barreling into me or something?’

Scylla chuckled as she carefully considered her words.

‘Scython cheated, so I kicked him out.’

‘Oh, so I won by default. Wonderful.’ Diz visibly deflated, his pride was clearly hurt.

‘No, you protected me from a mer who tried to do me harm. That’s why you won. That’s worth way more.’ There was a brief silence.

‘Yeah well, I like your face better without quills sticking out of it, Darling.’

Scylla’s gaze followed the trail of Diz’s spine, all the way up to his shoulders where a cluster of tentacles draped over his neck. Only a couple quills remained, but the skin around them looked angry and inflamed. Scylla grabbed one of the salves and started tentatively applying it around some of the nastier wounds. A small shiver ran down Diz’s tail.

‘That’s not necessary, it’ll heal on its own.’ He uttered swiftly while trying to turn over.

‘But it’ll go faster this way.’ she hushed. ‘Allow me.’

He stilled again, his breathing evened out as Scylla applied more of the salve. Some of the marks on his back really were already beginning to heal, new pink hued skin littered across the lower side of his waist. Scylla marveled, turning towards his face and looking for the cut underneath his throat. It was gone as well.

Mer were known to heal fast, but the fight was only half a day ago. This was extreme. She continued her inspection, pulling away some of the tentacles from his scalp to look at the cuts on his shoulders.

As she trailed a clawed hand past his neck, Diz let out a faint moan. Scylla paused, rather enjoying the response that got out of him. With a tug of her tail, she scooted forward, repeating the gesture again. It had a similar effect, but this time Diz stirred.

‘What are you doing back there?’ He huffed while angling his head to the side to look at her. A mischievous grin snuck onto Scylla’s face.

‘Males don’t usually lie still like this.’ Another claw traced up his neck to follow the edge of his jaw. ‘I can’t let the opportunity to pester you a little go to waste.’

Scylla pushed off the rock and circled around to Diz’s face. His gaze was fixed on her with an expression that bordered between suspicion and curiosity.

Though Scylla loathed fighting, watching Diz and Scython tear into each other had been a sight to behold. They’d fought for her, that alone was enough to kindle a strange sort of satisfaction. What happened the previous night also remained etched clear in her memory. Looking at Diz now, illuminated only by the lights of the crystals, Scylla couldn’t help but yearn for him a little. She remembered the feel of his lips against hers, of his tongue invading her mouth, but those memories weren’t half as vibrant as the reel thing.

Her chest ached, gasping for the breath she’d been holding as she stared at the male. With a shake of her head, Scylla forced her attention elsewhere. Her hands settled on either side of his shoulders as she leaned forward a little. Immediately the male jolted.

‘Don’t do that again!’ He hissed. A strange sort of panic hidden in his tone of voice.

‘Do what? What are you talking about?’ Scylla looked up, his eyes were wide and his lips turned upward into a snarl.

‘The humming. Whatever you did before that knocked me out.’

Did he mean her thrumming?

‘You didn’t like it? That’s strange. It’s supposed to be comforting to mer.’ She cooed. When Diz didn’t relax, she continued. ‘I wasn't going to do that again.’

A flick of his ear and  a raise of his eyebrows told her he wasn’t buying it.

‘You have my word, I really wasn’t!’ The pitch of her voice shot up.

‘Then what?’ He growled almost inaudibly. Scylla’s fins ruffled as looked down upon the male. It was normal for him to be prickly. He was in pain, tired, immobile. Still his lack of trust in her stung a little bit and needed to be rectified.

‘You did well.’ she mumbled. Heat rose to her cheeks. ‘In the fight I mean.’

‘Don’t sound so surprised. I told you…’ Halfway through his sentence, Diz halted.

‘Oh wait.’ His head bobbed sideways in feigned shock. ‘Are you complimenting me?’

This male knew exactly how to infuriate her.

‘Enjoy it while you can, I’m not going to repeat it again.’ she hissed while turning her head aside in a stubborn pout, only for her gaze to soften a bit later. ‘You did spare me from a miserable existence with Scython. So, thanks for that.’

The look of satisfaction on the males face was equally infuriating.

‘It brings you one step closer to a miserable existence with me though.’

Scylla couldn’t help but flinch a little at his chutzpah.

‘That’s not certain yet.’ she replied a little too quickly.

‘No? Who am I fighting next then? Your mother? Leviathan himself?’ The amusement slowly drained from his face as she remained deathly quiet.

‘Or perhaps you take a similar stance as your mother and would prefer me gone along with Scython?’

‘Miserable…?’ Scylla tested the word as she leaned her head from one side to the other. ‘Questionable definitely. Uncertain maybe. I'm hoping for tolerable, but definitely interesting.’

‘Interesting is the best I get?’ The males eyes darkened a little.

‘I’ll grant you mysterious.’ Scylla smiled. ‘After all, I know just as much about you now as I did two days ago. Which is nothing.’

Diz tensed, his eyes downcast.

‘There isn’t much to tell.’

In one smooth motion, Scylla draped herself from the edge of the platform. The pectoral fin on her flank rested against Diz’s shoulder as she leaned over his back. In the back of her head, she was vaguely aware of the inappropriate closeness, especially after Diz’s arm brushed against it, sending a shiver down her tail. She chose to ignore it and concentrate on something else entirely.

‘There has to be something. Who was Diz before sauntering into my pod and destroying my mothers fragile inner peace?’ It seemed she wasn’t the only one aware of their closeness. The male writhed uncomfortably underneath her touch.

‘I live by myself. Keeping the company of mer tends to be,- problematic for me.’

That tracked. Outsiders rarely came together if it wasn’t to hunt or fight. They were either in exile by choice or were outcasts of their pod. Either way, they weren’t exactly known for their cooperative spirit. Scylla wondered briefly which of the two applied to Diz.

‘No daring adventures in your past?’ She snickered. ‘Ever fought a whale? Get stuck in a storm? Escaped a sea monster?’

‘That’s what you consider to be an adventure?’ Diz turned on his side as much as the wounds on his back allowed.

‘Oh, pardon my lack of imagination. Please enlighten me as to what you deem to be ‘A worthy adventure.’

It took a moment, but after careful consideration, Diz replied.

‘I got caught by pirates once.’

Scylla froze. Alright, that was instantly more interesting than any of her ideas.

‘Do tell.’ She leaned in, trailing a hand up his side. Diz groaned, straining to pull his gaze away from her encroaching hand and continued. ‘It wasn’t as much ‘getting caught’ as it was swimming into the nets on purpose.’

‘What? Why?’ She gasped in disbelief. ‘How did you get away?’

‘It wasn’t as exciting as it sounds. They locked me up whilst arguing on whether to sell or eat me. I took a few beatings and played dead for a couple of days. After a while they took me into the belly of their ship and once they weren’t looking, I made a hole in the bottom.’ A sneaky grin curled on his lips. ‘They sank in minutes.’

‘Humans can’t swim well, can they? Did they survive?’

His reply wasn’t immediate, Scylla could almost feel the hesitation push the words back down.

‘Perhaps one or two did. I didn’t stick around to find out.’ The subtle change in his tone of voice indicated a lie. Either none survived or he did stay to watch. Maybe both.

Scylla didn’t harbor any love for humans, they tended to only cause harm to merkind. Going near them was considered reckless. A death wish.

‘So why risk it?’ She questioned after another long pause.

‘I was bored.’

‘Is toying with life your usual response to boredom?’ Her voice but a whisper.

‘Don’t tell me you are feeling sorry for those humans? That’s unexpected. They were scum if it makes you feel any be—’

‘I meant your own life.’

Diz turned away and crossed his arms. The question lingered between them and it became clear he wasn’t going to answer her. Perhaps she hit a nerve. Sensing the atmosphere turn melancholic, Scylla diverted her attention back to the pattern she’d been unconsciously drawing in Diz’s back. Trailing the different blemishes on his skin from one side to the other in a never ending loop.

Could he eventually grow bored of her as well? What insanity would he throw himself into then? Brushing the tentacles that draped his neck aside, Scylla lowered her lips down to the back of his neck. Slowly she trailed down to a nastly looking puncture wound, licking the jagged edges.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Diz gasped and his head lifted from the platform.

Scylla traced her tongue past another wound before pulling away.

‘It’ll help with the pain.’ She explained while smiling innocently from underneath long lashes. Before he could protest, she was on him again, gently trailing her lips over his skin. Tending to wounds this way was…intimate. Probably more so than was permitted at this point. She didn’t really care.

Scylla focussed on the new wound, the one Gaia was in the process of tending. A sharp tang of iron coated her mouth as she cleaned the blood from the edges, careful to not miss a spot.

The mass she’d been leaning against shifted, causing her to roll aside as a hand curled around her chest and pressed down.

‘Stop that!’ Diz’s hand slid past her collarbone and pinned her between his chest and the platform. His face lingered above her, sternness and pain coloring his expression. ‘It’s beneath you.’

A sense of disappointment wafted over Scylla at the rejection, until she noticed the faintest glimmer of lust in his eyes. Emboldened by the sight, she tried again.

‘Didn’t you want another reward?’ She teased. ‘I figured you wouldn’t settle for a kiss again this time so I tried something else.’

The male shuddered on top of her.

‘You tried something e,-?! Hmmpf!…I’d never ask anyone to lick my wounds, thank you very much.’

Scylla smiled, flashing a pearly white fang.

‘You don’t have to ask. I’m offering.’ Without wasting a breath, she went for the bump at his throat. It bobbed up and down. Trailing her tongue from where the cut below his throat should have been, all the way up to his jaw, Scylla relished the feel of soft skin underneath her lips. She spent extra attention when passing his gills, as she’d discovered the day before, he was quite sensitive there. To her surprise, he allowed her fangs near his throat, a behavior generally reserved for mated pairs.

She eventually drew a deep unbridled moan from the male. The sound was satisfying to say the least and stirred something at her core. Though she couldn’t see his face from this angle, it was clear he enjoyed her attention. That was all the reaffirming she needed.

He wanted her. Scylla grinned to herself like a content cat.

‘Are you trying to skip the final rite or something?’ Diz muttered as he took hold of her cheeks and pushed her mouth away from his skin. His eyes had darkened and the little gimmer in them had turned into a raging fire. ‘Cause if you keep this up, that’s what will happen.’

Common sense would have Scylla recoil at that statement. After all, wasn’t the plan not to mate at all? The mere thought should have repulsed her.

Should have.

There was definitely something instinctual going on here. It clouded her brain, putting her in this addled state, but she almost felt… eager. She wanted his hands on her, to feel the press of his body against hers. To taste more of him.

Diz’s nostrils flared, he turned his face away while mumbling a series of colorful cuss words.

‘Your scent isn’t making this any easier, Darling. Tell me now, cause I'm no longer sure what’s allowed in this damned place and you’re sure as hell not making it any clearer.’ Each word came out more strained than the one before.

Scylla came down from her pheromonal cloud just long enough to consider his words. If they mated here and now, the act itself would be considered illegitimate and void. Scylla would forever be considered sullied and Diz… well Diz would probably be banished if her mother didn’t flay him first. If that wasn’t enough to kill the mood, nothing was. She let out a defeated sigh.

‘Going any further is ill advised.’ The words came out costing more effort than Scylla cared to admit. She scrambled upward. ‘Unless you want to be separated from your skin.’

Diz stilled, his face turning into a stern scowl.

‘Can I consider it for a minute?’

Scylla raised an eyebrow at him and threw him her best ‘No, you can’t face’, as she moved to push him away.

He didn’t budge. A jolt of electricity pulsed through Scylla’s veins as she met his eye. Deviousness as well as anticipation coloured his irises. Slowly but surely, they began to reflect her own.

‘I still want my reward.’

And as she had guessed.

A kiss wouldn’t be enough this time.