Chapter 1

White moonlight streamed across the calm ocean, and while the waves rolled, drops of saltwater, splashing against the several outstretched docks and boats gently swayed in place in the Thybørn Harbor, where a black-cloaked figure crept along in search of her target. Dressed in beige slacks and armed with her two favorite twin daggers, Serene Anker headed straight toward the enormous chestnut wooden ship. It had only anchored moments ago. All the sails were larger than a fisherman's boat stretched from one end to the other. The ship was fit for a king. Or, in this case, a crown prince actually. Yes, in fact, her target was none other than the next monarch of Orstrøm.

Nearly half the night, Serene wasted away waiting for the arrival of the royal ship, Black Eagle. The prince had been away for almost six months and was scheduled to arrive tonight. Within her cloak, there was a pocket where she stuck her fingers inside, tapping and clinking some of the gold coins together. Roughly two weeks ago, a lanky, tall man in an expensive velvet robes spoke to her about something called "the cause." Serene paid little to no attention to such things. Politics weren't her shot of whiskey. So, she thought to walk away. But when he grabbed her by the wrist and dropped a small bag of coins on the table, she quickly changed her mind. It was only half the financial cut, and she'd earned the rest if the prince was killed within a month. That was practically impossible. She needed more time to study how he went about his days. She wanted to be prepared for any and all circumstances, especially since her employer wanted it to appear like an accidental death.

Unfortunately, not long after she had been assigned to this task her target had thought it was a splendid time to take a trip to Orstrøm's neighboring kingdom Hjadalr. So, for the past week and a half, Serene spent her days slaving away at her day job delivering and bargaining for the best price of the fish caught earlier that day. It was hell and no matter how hard she scrubbed at her skin the wretched fishy smell never came off, making her deadly allergy to any containing saltwater another impossibility to avoid. Apparently, a year-old, Serene, tried to feed the fish, but she stuck her hand into the saltwater. It irritated her skin to the point she broke out in a rash that almost killed her. But it's not like she stopped being around water. Everywhere she looked was water. Her daily route consisted of the damn stuff, handling and gutting freshly caught fish. Wearing thick gloves while she dealt with fish was a rather annoying task, and she always smelled of the dead sea creatures.

In fact, if she took a whiff of her peachy flesh at this very second, it was guaranteed to reek of fish guts and piss. Once she had finished with fish skinning early this evening, Serene had maneuvered her drunk of a fisherman father into the house and undressed him from his clothes, which, of course, smelled of a fine mixture of alcohol and piss. Then she slung his overweight, oily ass onto the bed, which he had handcrafted for himself, for the night before appearing at the docks where she currently awaited the prince's arrival.

Serene yawned as she leaned against the ship's cold wooden surface. Didn't victims realize some assassins have day jobs?

Voices were heard from the top of the ship. Like sharp, Serene paced at the side of the vessel and until finally found her victim. Standing alone at the back end of the ship was a young man of nineteen or twenty dressed in what she thought looked nothing like royal garb. Instead of a tailored suit, the prince wore brown slacks and a plain white tunic, the same as any other crewmen abroad. Though Serene made to admit, he had looked rather stunning with his bare chest appearing through the low cut tunic... and the way breeze swept through his black curls.

Ahh. What a shame such a handsome man would choke on his own blood in a matter of minutes! Oh well, she'll learn to live with it. Just as she had with the others.

But the prince wasn't alone. Guards and plenty of the ship's crew walked all about the deck readying themselves to step back onto land. Some of the crew had already stepped foot on the dock and took part in unloading the ship. However, one man in particular stood and spoke to the prince in confidence.

Too many witnesses. Desperately she searched the docks for something, anything that could distract their attention to another part of the ship. Spotting some wooden barrels the crew had recently placed down, she rushed toward them, hiding her petite body behind them with ease.

Then she calculated what her next moves needed to be. An idea struck, she needed these barrels to plummet into the water, giving her the opportunity to climb up the boat fast enough not to be seen.

She pulled at cloak closer and inhaled the familiar scent of musk and booze. It was her father's old cloak. Each time she was nervous or excited, that smell had been a reminder of what drove her forward to murder people in cold blood. Why did she do this? She took one last sniff of the fabric and readied herself. Freedom.

With as much strength as she could possibly muster, Serene backed up forced the barrels off the side of the deck and quickly scrambled closer into the massive ship's shadows as louder authoritative voices could be heard. Large splashes of water rose and smacked against the top of the dock.

Author's Note:

As I have learned through my many writing classes, I decided it was best for me to begin a story with action. Here I have Serene preparing to assassinate the crown prince of the private docks of the royals. These docks are located on the far right side of the castle. I tried to place this description without taking away from the story. My story takes place in a fictional city in Denmark called Thybørn Harbor. There will be some folklore tie-ins between Celtic and Scandinavian.

Even though she is an assassin for hire, I tried to make Serene as sympathetic to the reader as possible. This is why I added a small view into her daily life, for example, her drunker father drunker and the alcohol smell of the cloak. I want others to see how my main character murders people, but she isn't as evil or sadistic as you might think.

Serene's allergy is actually a sign of her birthright as a mermaid because she is half human and half mermaid. Some of the folklore I will be including will be her mermaid half, which will be a combination of merrows and sirens.

Bibliography:

Hans Christain Andersen, The Little Mermaid (1872).

Image Information:

Gif by u-are-my-sun-shine