A Tale That Could Not Be

Just a little longer. A few more minutes, that’s all I need.

Eric held on to a floating piece of wood with as much strength as his weak body could muster. The gigantic crocodiles were swimming nearby, feasting on the large rower that had been taken overboard. They rolled over and over, ripping chunks of flesh off of the man’s body with expert efficiency. The rower had once struck an imposing figure but he was nothing more than floating pieces of meat now. Eric assumed the crocodiles would come for him next after they finished with his shipmate. It wouldn’t take them long to finish feasting on him and even less time to feast on Eric’s own scrawny body.

So this is how I die, he thought dismally. He had once entertained thoughts of escaping Pan’s clutches and finding refuge in some city or village where he would marry a beautiful woman, raise a family, and live the rest of his life in peace. Now all that awaited him was to be torn in pieces.

Why even hold on? he asked himself. There was nothing left to live for. He might as well give the crocodiles an easy meal and die quickly. Shifting his gaze to the side, he eyed Pan’s ship anchored in the distance. He was too weak to swim that far and even if he tried the crocodiles or sharks would get him before he ever reached the ship. The toothy reptiles lay between him and the shore thus that way, which was much closer, was closed off to him. The only way left was down.

So Eric let go.

His body sank quickly, devoid of any buoyant fat that might keep him afloat. The sky turned to water, dancing and shifting in glittering fractals. The sun was poking through the clouds, Eric noticed. Perhaps the gods were offering him a farewell. Closing his eyes, he let the water surround and embrace him in its ever-intensifying grip. The temperature dropped and light soon vanished. He felt a pounding in his head and before long his ears popped and the water wrapped about him like a cold blanket that continued to squeeze him harder and harder. It would not be long before he’d be unable to hold his breath and have to let it in, where it would fill his lungs and kill him. It wasn’t the most painless way to die but it was an effective one nonetheless.

The pounding in his head grew so severe and painful that he lost all strength. Here it is, he thought. His last thoughts were of home, before his parents lost everything and he had gained foolish dreams of grand adventures on the sea. Eric opened his mouth to allow death’s hand to flood in.

Instead, soft skin slapped over his lips and he felt a smooth arm wrap around his waist. Eric opened his eyes, curious and confused, but the water was too dark to see anything. His body seemed to be rising, which made no sense, but he didn’t fight the sensation. As far as he knew he was already dead and the gods were taking his soul to their kingdom in the clouds.

Within a few moments he could see the surface of the water, high above, with sun glowing on its surface, shining and glinting like moving glass. His lungs ached and his head still pounded painfully but just before he blacked out his face broke the water’s surface and the hand keeping his mouth closed slipped away.

Automatically, his body gulped in huge breaths of life-giving air and his eyes adjusted to the light. The clouds were steadily floating away and the sun was beginning to conquer the sky, making the ocean appear like liquid diamond. Eric glanced to the side in the direction the hand over his mouth had gone to and momentarily forgot to breathe.

There, bobbing in the water just a foot away, was an intensely beautiful woman with long brown hair, round yellow eyes, pouty lips, and a slightly upturned nose. She eyed Eric warily, as if preparing to flee and yet fighting herself not to. Movement caught his eye and he looked down, where he noticed the naked woman’s legs were instead a scaly fish’s tail.

A mermaid!

A mermaid had just saved his life. Eric’s mind was full of so many questions that it took him a few moments to say anything. Pathetically, all he managed to mouth was, “Thank you…”

The mermaid dipped lower into the water at the sound of his voice, as if startled, but she did not swim away. She appeared as curious about him as he was of her. Eric didn’t want her to leave as he had never set his eyes on anything so beautiful before.

“You saved me,” he said to the mermaid, not entirely certain if she even understood what he said. “Without you I’d be dead. I owe you my life.”

The mermaid’s eyes narrowed slightly and her body slowly rose a few inches higher out of the water, her long hair veiling her bare chest yet failing to conceal its attractive contours. “Sssss…..” the mermaid said through a tightly clenched tongue.

“Yes, saved me! Saved me! That’s what you did!” Eric glanced back, suddenly remembering the crocodiles, but saw nothing. The huge reptiles were gone.

“Ssss……ayyyyy….”

“Saved. You saved my life.”

The mermaid seemed to be enjoying the challenge and managed a brief smile that made Eric’s soul explode. There was something about this mermaid that captivated him completely. He never wanted to leave her side.

“Ssssayyyyyvvvvv….”

“You can say it! Keep going! Saved!”

“Ssssaaaved. Saved! Saved yyyyou!” The mermaid’s eyes bulged as huge as saucers and she slapped the water with glee. She laughed, a sound that gave Eric energy and strength, and spun in circles, squealing in happiness.

“You did it!” Eric said with a great smile of his own. “You talked!”

“I talked!” The mermaid gasped and slapped her mouth in shock. “I…I…”

“You did! You talked!” Eric barely knew this mermaid yet he enjoyed being beside her. It wasn’t the fact that she had rescued him but more of a strange yet powerful pull that he felt from deep within. He had never felt this way about anyone but his heart was pounding, his body was pulsating with warmth, and his soul was on fire.

The mermaid’s eyes were locked on his and were sparkling like orbs full of trapped stars, the brightest in the universe. She smiled and Eric couldn’t help but smile back. He gently reached for one of her hands and to his surprise she let him take it. He then placed it on his chest and said one word. “Eric.”

The mermaid studied the hand and chest for a few moments before gazing at his eyes again. She smiled again and then grabbed Eric’s hand, placing it on her chest softly.

“Ariel.”

The day wore on with no other appearance by Tarzan. At one point the girls and Pan had to hide behind some boulders as a huge reptilian creature with a large snout, protruding teeth, small arms, and thick legs walked by, sniffing the air. Selvina could hardly believe it but the creature looked like a dinosaur, a T-Rex to be exact. She didn’t know much about dinosaurs but she knew quite well what a T-Rex looked like and the animal certainly resembled one. Fortunately, it never detected them and walked deeper into the jungle without any incident.

At one point they crossed an old swinging rope bridge that spanned a chasm of sharp rocks. Selvina and Rapunzel took the longest to cross, both of them uncertain of their balancing capabilities. Despite a few planks breaking on them, they managed to cross, albeit both dehydrated from all the terrified sweating.

It was late afternoon when Pan finally allowed the girls to rest for a while. They stood on a rock ledge hundreds of feet high, overlooking most of the island below. Jungle, rocky hills, rivers, lakes, canyons, and wide valleys stretched out before them. Far in the distance, little more than a thin line, was the ocean and though Pan’s ship was in the other direction it was a small comfort to know that they were still in Faeryum. The island was like an entirely different world on its own and the ocean reminded them of how they got there and that there was still a way off.

Rapunzel removed her light shoes and rubbed her aching feet, whining in disgust at the blisters on her delicate skin. “I don’t know how much more of this walking I can take… My feet are ready to fall off.”

Selvina fared no better and she wrinkled her nose at her beaten and battered feet, both sporting a few blisters of their own. The ledge was hard and covered in moisture but was she given the chance she’d gladly lie down and sleep on it. She glanced at Pan, who hovered in the air above them all. “Are we almost there?”

“A few more miles, or kilometres, or whatever,” he replied with a shrug. “If we don’t take another break after this one we should arrive just as the first stars pop up in the sky. Are you getting tired?”

“Of course we are!” Goldilocks spat. “Are you daft? I may have enjoyed a few forest hikes but never anything like this. Do any of us look like bloody adventurers to you? Some of us are wearing godsforsaken dresses, you twat!”

Pan laughed. “I can see that losing an ear didn’t make you any less quiet. I wonder what losing two would do to you?”

Goldilocks snarled and stared daggers at Pan but said nothing. Her head was wrapped in cloth from strips of Wendy’s skirt but the earless side continued to bleed and needed constant redressing. Before long, if no proper medical aid was found and administered, Wendy would be naked and Goldilocks’s wound would get infected.

“It wasn’t very smart for you to cut her ear off in the first place,” Wendy said to Pan with a frown. “This woman you’re taking us to isn’t going to give you much of a price for her now that she’s injured.”

“Oh she doesn’t care about stuff like that, mostly just the hair and the head itself. As long as I haven’t beheaded or scalped her I’ll get my full price, hahaha! Would you like me to prove my point?”

Defiant Wendy turned around and said nothing, surrendering to Pan’s threat. Selvina watched Pan grin proudly and fought the urge to throw something at him. He may not have any chains or ropes on anyone but he had each and every one of the girls shackled anyhow. She glanced at the edge of the ledge and assumed that even if one of them tried to take their own lives Pan would only fly down and catch them before they hit the ground. Running was useless and fighting Pan was out of the question. Selvina could defy him but she wasn’t fond of the idea of losing limbs or ears or any part of her body. Snow White was gone, but whether she was in better hands or not was up for debate. For all anyone knew she could already be dead.

Snow White wasn’t dead, however. She was very much alive and was following her injured savior limp through the jungle with a branch of bananas in one hand and his stone spear in the other. He had said a few short words and made hand gestures to urge her to follow him and considering he had rescued her she decided to do so.

It had taken her many minutes to realize that he had saved her in the first place, though. After taking her away from Pan she had tried to escape his presence but he always caught her and begged her to stay. He had never been rough with her and seemed to show genuine concern for her safety thus Snow White had eventually remained tranquil and did as he asked. After a coconut half filled with water and some delicious fruit had been brought to her she had calmed down considerably. Pan had never been half as kind as this jungle man was and Snow White appreciated it fully.

“I can carry the bananas,” she uttered after a while, hoping to help. He was bleeding from the stab wound in his chest and though he had stuffed the wound with some strange herbs he still looked pale and weak. Snow White was utterly lost in the jungle without him but any request to help had been denied. Yet it didn’t stop her from trying.

The jungle man shook his head of long, brown locks. “No. Tarzan carry. Girl follow…”

“You can barely carry yourself! Let me take the bananas at least. Why are they so important anyway?”

“Payment. King needs payment.”

“King?” Snow White thought back to Wendy’s tale of the sailor and his crew coming across a huge ape-like creature on this island and it suddenly all made sense to her. Tarzan was taking her to the ape and was offering it some bananas, possibly as a bribe so it didn’t attack him. Snow now thought she knew the reason for her capture. Tarzan wasn’t saving her. He was just taking her to the ape as a sort of gift. Considering the ape had attacked and killed sailors for no other reason than trespassing she shuddered at the thought of what it would to do her. Images of dismemberment and disembowelment flashed in her mind and she shut her eyes, hoping to chase them away. Instead, they increased in intensity.

What should I do? she asked herself. She could try and run away and Tarzan would probably be too weak to chase her but where would she go? Snow didn’t know her way around the island and she’d mostly likely end up in the clutches of some hungry beast. Yet that is exactly where she’d end up if she continued to follow Tarzan. She decided to try and reason with him, hoping she’d get somewhere despite his limited vocabulary.

“Why are you taking me to the king?” she asked shyly.

“I go to king, you follow,” was his reply.

“I understand that, but why? Why do you go to….king?”

“King rescue me. He help.”

“Rescued you? From what?”

“Death.”

Snow sighed. “Of course from death… But why?”

“King good.”

“He saved you because he’s good? That’s the only reason?”

Tarzan shrugged. “Tarzan save daughter from trap. King repay Tarzan.”

So he saved one of the ape’s offspring, Snow reflected. Hunters must come to the island form time to time in an attempt to trap or kill the ape king or any number of the other animals in the strange jungle. At one point Tarzan rescued one from a trap and since then the ape king repays him…somehow. That still didn’t explain what her part played in all of this.

“Why me?” she asked him. “Why do I follow?”

“Tarzan rescue you. Pan evil. You no fear him no more.”

“Are you going to help me get off the island?”

Tarzan stumbled on a fallen log and collapsed on all fours, wincing in pain as his wound reopened and began to bleed again. Snow bent down and helped him get back up, nearly getting crushed under his weight. He was all muscle and heavier than he looked, she soon painfully discovered. She also grabbed the bananas and held them in her arms. When he reached for them she backed away and shook her head. Tarzan waved his hand toward himself, urging her to give him the bananas. Instead, Snow backed away further.

“Keep walking, Tarzan,” she said, adjusting her grip on the dozens of fruits. “I’ll carry them.”

Tarzan grunted and narrowed his eyes at her but eventually acquiesced. Snow White let him walk ahead a few steps before following behind him, keeping a wide gap between them both. She knew that he’d try to take the bananas from her if she walked too close. After a while he slowed and stopped to gaze at something up a tree. Snow White couldn’t make out what he saw so she walked a little closer to him, hoping to get a better view.

That was when Tarzan turned around and reached for the bananas.

Snow hopped back, smiling. “No! You stubborn oaf! Just keep walking! I can carry them!”

Tarzan lunged but Snow hopped back again, shaking her head of white hair wildly. “You’ll never catch me!”

To her delight, Tarzan smiled back and tried to grab the bananas a third time. Snow hopped back into a tree and the jungle man caught up to her. His hand grabbed the stock of bananas but Snow held on tightly.

“Let go! You’re bleeding for gods’ sake! Let me carry them for you!”

“Tarzan carry! Tarzan no want make girl work.”

“I’m not working! I’m doing this because I want to! Now let go!”

“Tarzan—”

“Tarzan can stop being a big baby and can listen to me for once! I am trying to help you, you mule-headed chunk of muscle. It’s the least I can do for you saving my life.”

“Tarzan no mule… What is mule?”

Snow chuckled. “It’s an animal that’s almost as stubborn as you are.” Tarzan fixed his blue eyes on Snow’s and studied her closely. He neared his face right up to hers and she leaned it away until it hit the tree behind her. He smelt of sweat, leaves, and carried a strangely pleasing musky odour. He sniffed her like an animal and eyed her white hair for a few moments before stepping back. He let go of the bananas and looked her body up and down with a bewildered look on his face.

“Girl mule?”

Snow laughed, finding his confusion amusing. “No! Not me! I’m Snow White.”

“Snowite?”

“Snow. White. Two words.”

“Girl Snow White. Me Tarzan.”

“Yes, I know you’re Tarzan. How about we keep going before you bleed out and die?”

“Snow White carry bananas?”

“Yes! I will carry them.”

“King need bananas. No leave them.”

“I won’t leave them. I promise.”

“What promise?”

“It means that you can trust me. I will not leave the bananas behind.”

“Trust… Tarzan trust Snow White?”

“Yes, you can trust me.”

Tarzan studied Snow White for a few more moments before suddenly clutching his chest and wincing in pain. “Tarzan…need hurry. King help…”

“Then go! I’ll be right behind you.”

“With bananas?”

Snow White groaned and rolled her eyes. “YES with the bananas!”

Tarzan nodded, apparently pleased with the answer, and continued his journey through the jungle. Snow White shook her head in disbelief and followed, the dozens of bananas in her arms.

The sun was touching the horizon when Tarzan and Snow White walked out of the jungle and onto the sands of a wide beach. To the left, far in the distance, Pan’s ship floated at anchor. This immediately confused Snow White. Why would Tarzan take her to the beach? Wasn’t the ape king deeper into the jungle?

“King already here!” Tarzan cried out with glee. He walked as fast as he could toward the ocean, using his spear as a cane.

Snow White looked beyond him and almost dropped the bananas at what she saw. At the edge of the water was a tall man, as muscular as Tarzan, with a golden trident in one hand and shining pearl in the other. Atop his head of long, white hair was a crown of coral and braided in his extensive snowy beard were various shells of different sizes and colours. What was most surprising was that the lower half of the man was a scaly fish tail. The man was in fact a merman, something Snow White had only read about in books.

Tarzan gave the merman a bow and gestured for Snow White to hurry forward with the bananas. She gulped down her rising fear and trepidation and walked toward the towering figure. He eyed her curiously as she approached, which made Snow’s heart beat faster.

“Who is this, Tarzan?” the merman spoke in a voice so deep Snow White could feel it in her feet.

“Girl Snow White,” Tarzan replied. “Tarzan rescue her from Pan.”

The merman nodded and then stuck the pearl he held in one hand on top of one of the protruding spikes of coral through a tiny hole in its bottom. He noticed Snow White watching him intently and gave her a small smile. “The pearl shines brightly when Tarzan is in urgent need of me. I am King Posanos, Lord of the Oceans and Master of the Depths.” He gave her a nod of his head to which Snow White dropped the bananas and fell on her knees, bowing with great respect.

So this was the king Tarzan was talking about! He didn’t mean the ape king. He meant the king of the oceans! Snow White knew nothing about him but he seemed far more reasonable and less dangerous than the raging wild animal from Wendy’s tale. “It is a great honour to meet you, King Posanos. I…I am humbled…”

“You may rise, Snow White, and if you don’t mind passing me the bananas I would be most grateful. There are no bananas beneath the sea and Tarzan knows just how much I enjoy them.”

Snow White did as she was asked and offered the great king of the oceans her stock of bananas, which he hung on his trident. After peeling a banana and savoring every bite of it, he focused on Tarzan. “Thank you for this, Tarzan. Now, before you die on me, I shall tend to this gruesome wound of yours. It is why you came, after all.”

Snow White watched as King Posanos leaned down and rubbed the fingers of his free hand together. A greenish glow steadily brightened between his fingers and he then touched the wound on Tarzan’s chest, which began to glow with the same light. Within moments, Tarzan’s wound closed and colour returned to his face. He stood straighter, flexed his shoulders and then gave the king a sweeping bow of gratitude.

“That’s what Tarzan meant by you being good,” Snow White said with a great smile. “Did he really save your daughter too?”

King Posanos nodded. “That he did, Snow White. She was caught in a fisherman’s net that had washed up on shore and because she was out of the water I could not sense her. This pearl is special as it tied with Tarzan but I have no such pearls for my daughters. Had he not removed the net from on top of her and pushed her back to the ocean she would have perished. We merfolk do not last very long outside the sea’s nourishing embrace. Since that day I have taken it upon myself to aid this man as often as I can. I get some bananas with every visit so I really do not mind it.”

Snow White chuckled and eyed Tarzan in a new light. “He really did save me, then.”

“Pan is known to us merfolk. He is as wicked as they come and you are far safer being away from him.”

Snow White pointed at the ship anchored in the distance. “That’s his ship! Surely a king as powerful as you can at least sink it or something.”

“It is a tempting offer, I admit, and I have sunk Pan’s ships on numerous occasions but I have learned that doing so only incites his wrath. I have lost more than enough brothers, sons, sisters and daughters to him already. We merfolk do not reproduce quickly, Snow White, thus a loss of a single life is a terrible blow to our people. As powerful as I am, Pan’s evil is not something I wish to face again… I am sorry…”

“He’s just one man, though… How strong can he be?”

“Far stronger than you realize. Were I you I would remain close to Tarzan. He is capable of at least holding him off long enough for you to flee to safety.”

Snow White took a deep breath, feeling her skin begin to crawl at the thought of how terribly powerful Peter Pan must be to make the King of the Oceans fear him. “Thank you for your help, your highness.”

King Posanos nodded. “I truly would engage Pan directly but I must think of the safety of my people first. If I died in battle there would be no one else to stop him from slaughtering all merfolk.”

“I know… I will take your advice and stay with Tarzan, at least until a way off this island can be found.”

King Posanos gave her and Tarzan another nod before turning around and submerging completely. He gave his tail one powerful flap and was gone from sight. Snow White stood and stared at the ripples of his departure, fighting back the urge to scream.

“Mermaid,” Tarzan said a few minutes later, a note of surprise in his voice.

Snow White glanced to the side and noticed what Tarzan meant as there, bobbing in the water several dozens of feet away and swimming toward her was indeed a mermaid. Beside her, swimming as well as he could, was Eric.