Snippet #2534604

The tables were turned. Mr. Barnabus didn’t have to see the man’s face to know that he was nervous. The man was cornered and he was certain that he would be getting his pet back. Pinching the curled corner of his moustache between his index finger and thumb, he rubbed it as a victorious smirk quirked upon his lips.

“Why would you want to runaway? I gave you a nice tank to swim in and you have fresh fish to eat every day. Now you’ve gone and wasted this man’s life thinking that you could escape me. How far did you plan on getting with those legs? You haven’t used them in years.” Mr. Barnabus dropped his hand and breathed a sympathetic sigh. “I forgive you, my pet. After I put this leper out of his misery, you can tell me all about how I can improve your living.”

The shark posted his hands out before him and his fingers curled into the dusty earth as his body trembled with exertion. Baring his teeth in his effort, his back arched and arms extended as the pops and crack of loosening tendons and shifting bones were heard from under him as he curled his left leg. He planted his foot flat upon the ground and raising his chin, began to shakily stand. A few of the thieves, even with their weapons drawn, stepped fearfully back once the monster found his feet. The way he seemed to tower over most of the killers there and with how his devilish-black eyes settled on them made them wonder if Mr. Barnabus’s pet had actually been a demon.

Mako stood with his broad shoulders back and stature rigid with defiance as his amber eyes settled on the businessman’s bothered face. His lips rolled back, parting about large rows of triangular teeth that filled the man with dread. He could have probably eaten him alive with those teeth or left him with half a face—and that wasn’t all…a second row of teeth converged over top of the other pair, coming together into a wicked and eerie smile.

“Ima’ come back for ye,” the shark threatened on a deep chuckle. “Ima’ be gettin’ mine.”

I know more than evocation…

Thank God. The shark didn’t know how long he could keep up his intimidating front. His legs were so numb and weak that standing might have been all they were good for at that moment.

The wrapped man conjured a spell of darkness that blackened the area about the tent. It had become so dark that not even Mako with his nocturnal vision could see anything. He could hear people shouting in startle and confusion until they suddenly fell silent. For a moment, the shark felt alone until Dorian’s voice rang through the silence:

A brick of gold and five diamonds for anyone who brings me the head of Mr. Barnabus.

The businessman felt his heart skip in terror for a second before he tried to shout in his defense, but no sound left his throat. Magic. The leper had been a wizard!

The shark hissed when he felt a hand grasp his wrist, and defensively both of his rows of teeth parted as he near attempted to bite the stranger’s hand right off. It had been a split second decision to resist, his body tensing as he restrained himself and felt the harmless pull, leading him wobbly through the darkness and out of the tent into daylight.

The sun stung his retinas, his eyes unused to its exposure. It had been a long time since he had seen it, and he knew what evil it could do to a fish. Keeping up with the human proved difficult as he walked a little stiff legged and tried not to let him get too far ahead or he’d surely cause him to fall. As they fled through the market and down the back alleys, Mako couldn’t help but regard the human and how passionate he had been about freeing him. He was willing to risk his own life for him. But why? They hadn’t known each other but he wasn’t about to ask the man why he had freed him. Freedom was freedom.

They stopped nearby a fortune teller’s shop and the large man bent over with his hands upon his knees as he panted in exhaustion. He was so out of shape. His body had leaned out and was slightly slim, his muscles smaller than what they had been before. If he had spent a few more years in that tank, he surely would have gone belly up from atrophy. Sweat rolled from his pale-blonde brow and dripped from his chin as the gills at his pits huffed another breath of stale vapor.

I hope you have no problem riding? By the way, did I ever catch your name?

“I never ‘ad a problem. It be the ‘orse that ‘ave the problem wit’me,” the shark explained with a smirk. “I be Mako…s’all ye need t’know ‘bout me ‘uman. I don’t know why ye gone risk yer life trynna’ save me, but I owe ye. Ye get me to the sea, an’ I’ll repay ye somehow—in blood or favors.”

He glanced up to suddenly see a horse. His brows came together in brief confusion before he remembered that his new unsaid friend was a sorcerer. He gazed at the hand held out to him and grasped it within his large, clammy one, while his other grasped the back of his saddle. With a grunt, Mako climbed onto the back of the saddle mostly on the horse’s backside than in the seat, and already he could tell that the horse was magic for no normal equine could bare his weight without buckling. Even while malnourished, the fish was still pretty heavy.

“I jus’ need t’fill me gills wit’ fresh sea water again and me belly with fish.” The Mercos had ropes of drool descending from his lower jaw just thinking about it. “I miss ‘ow they used t’wiggle all the way down. I can’t wait t’get me strength back.”