By the Light of the Silvery Moon

by Joe McCauley (mccauley@davesworld.net)
Copyright (c) 2002 Joe McCauley

     "Daddy, would you stop it?  I'm late already!"
     "Don't you take that tone with me, young lady.  A father has a 
right to ask questions, especially when it involves his daughter 
spending the night with a merman."
     Trina waved her tail impatiently, creating ripples of current in 
the water.  "You make it sound like something scandalous.  I'm going to 
be with his whole family."
     "We know darling," said her mother Nora, "but your father is 
right, so please show him a little respect.  Still," she continued, 
turning to Mylam, "she does need to be on her way."
     "Okay," he sighed.  "Go on, Trina.  Have a good time, and behave 
yourself."
     "I will.  Thanks, Mom and Dad.  See you tomorrow."  And with that, 
she gave them each a quick hug and swam off in the direction of the 
reef that her boyfriend's family called home.  The late afternoon sun 
was casting long shadows from the trees on the nearby shore way out 
into the water, creating shimmering patterns of light on the sea floor 
unlike any other time of day.
     "I don't know, Nora," he muttered as they watched her swim away.  
"Borl and Koki and their kids are nice enough, but something just 
feels... odd about them."
     Nora gazed at him and let the current guide her around to his 
side.  "Not to dismiss your hunches, but you WERE harassing your 
daughter.  Do you have any idea what it might be?"
     "Since Borl and Koki arrived in this community he's talked about 
things that happened when they lived in Brooks Harbor, the Tricodian 
Archipelago, the Kaeea Atoll...  I counted up all the places he's 
mentioned living, and there were eleven I could recall.  Eleven!"
     "That many?"
     "And we don't know how many more he hasn't mentioned.  It's not 
normal.  When a family is happy someplace, they usually settle down and 
stay there."
     "I see what you mean.  But I'm sure there's a perfectly good 
explanation.  Have you asked Borl about it?"
     Mylam shrugged.  "Yes, but I didn't get much of an answer out of 
him.  Something about seeing more of the world.  Have you noticed 
anything odd about them?  Anything at all?"
     She thought a moment.  "Only the time I went looking for Koki 
about a month ago and the whole family was nowhere to be found.  The 
next day they were back like nothing happened.  I didn't think anything 
of it."
     His tail swayed uneasily.  "It probably doesn't make much sense to 
you, but I can't help being worried for Trina.  I'm going to go and 
follow her for a bit."
     Nora thought he was being overprotective and wanted to object, but 
knowing her husband it probably wouldn't do any good to try to stop 
him.

     "Thank goodness you're finally here," said Kam, perched on a rock 
as she pulled herself up from the water beside him.  They hugged, but 
he broke it off much sooner than she would have liked.  "We don't have 
much time."
     More than half of the sun had already slid below the horizon.  
"I'm real sorry.  My Dad kept lecturing and asking questions.  It took 
me forever to get away.  Where's the rest of your family?"
     "We'll go meet them in a bit.  I wanted to talk to you alone 
first."  Kam looked into her eyes and took a deep breath.  "There's 
something I need to tell you about me."
     She returned his gaze and put a hand on his shoulder.  "You know 
you can tell me anything."
     "I'm not sure how to say this..."  He paused, but as he was about 
to speak again, suddenly his face contorted into a grimace, and his 
breathing became uneven.  "No time... (gasp) to... (gasp) explain..."
     Trina gazed at him in horror.  "Kam!  By the Great Ones, what is 
happening to you?  Your face..."
     His face seemed to be twisting out of shape, and something was 
happening to his hands and his chest as well.  "You'll just (gasp) have 
to (gasp) trust... me...  Please..."   He couldn't get out any more 
words after that.  
     Trina wanted to ask him more questions, but seeing what was 
happening to him, all of her instincts were telling her to get away 
from him fast.  But he wanted her to trust him.  As her warring 
impulses battled, she froze, and then it became moot as his actions 
decided for her.  Taking her around the waist, he hauled her into the 
water.  She was afraid.  Afraid of what he was becoming.  Afraid of 
him, yet afraid for him.  Afraid he would spurn her if she didn't trust 
him as he had asked.  He had held her many times before, and his grip 
was firmer than usual, but not painfully so.  She could probably get 
away if she tried.  She didn't.

     Mylam had arrived only in time to hear the last part of their 
conversation.  He only saw a little bit of the change that came over 
Kam before he unceremoniously grabbed her and swam off.  He followed, 
or tried to, but the light from the setting sun was fading quickly and 
the water was dense with algae in that area.
     He cursed himself for losing their trail so quickly, and began 
performing a methodical search of the area.  Where would they be most 
likely to head off to?  Were they really going to join the rest of 
Kam's family or was that just a ruse?  Not likely.  Most of all, was 
his daughter in danger?  She and Kam had spent a lot of time together 
since his family's arrival three moons earlier, and Mylam and Nora had 
never doubted that Kam was a well-behaved young merman, but after what 
he had just witnessed he doubted everything he thought he knew about 
him.
     It was soon too dark to search underwater visually, so reluctantly 
he returned to Nora to report what was happening.  "I'm extremely 
worried about her.  I've searched almost everywhere they might have 
gone..."
     "Almost?"  she replied.
     "I haven't looked in Windchime Cove yet," he explained.  "I'd 
hoped I wouldn't have to, but it appears I have no choice."
     Nora shuddered at the thought.  "She's my daughter too.  I'll go 
with you."
     "No, please stay here.  If I'm wrong, and anything happens, I want 
you here for her."
     A brief argument ensued, but in the end, he prevailed.  "Be 
careful," she told him as he swam away.  Nora was too afraid for her 
husband and daughter to feel any relief at not having to go to that 
dreadful place herself.

     Windchime Cove was so named for the eerie sounds that could 
sometimes be heard coming from it, particularly on nights when the moon 
was full as it was tonight.  All of the area merpeople feared the place 
because of the terrible beasts that according to local legend lived 
there, preying upon any merpeople or other sea creatures that were 
unfortunate enough to stray into the cove.  A few said the legends were 
nonsense and proffered one theory or another, such as that the sounds 
were made by the wind blowing through the rocks jutting out from the 
cliffs surrounding the cove, but none were brave enough to go and find 
out.
     Mylam swam on.  The sounds were especially loud and eerie tonight, 
chilling him to the bone.  He hoped and prayed that the legends were 
false, but there was no way the gentle breezes he felt when he surfaced 
could be the cause of the sounds.  He wanted more than anything to flee 
this place, to be away from the terrible beasts, whether real or 
imagined.  But then he thought about Trina.  He swam on.
     The water became shallow and brackish as he entered the cove 
through the narrow inlet.  He moved slowly and stealthily, making all 
his movements gentle to minimize any vibration that the water would 
carry.  Gradually, carefully, he progressed, and once he was sure he 
was well into the cove, he found a cluster of rocks he could use as 
cover.  Judging the direction of the sound, he positioned himself on 
the opposite side and raised his head above the surface.
     The sound was not only louder but also much clearer here in the 
cove than it was from the sea, and Mylam realized what it was at almost 
the same instant as he saw its source.  Wolves.  There were about a 
dozen of them standing on the shore and howling at the full moon that 
was climbing above the eastern horizon.  A few yards out in the gently 
rippling water were two more wolves who appeared to be sitting in the 
water.  Looking around, he saw Trina and Borl, along with Nyoti, Kam's 
younger sister, sitting on a shallow sandbar a safe distance away from 
the wolves.  They appeared to be relaxed and engaged in casual 
conversation.
     Seeing that Trina was in no immediate danger, Mylam rested a few 
moments to catch his breath and allow his heart slow down.  Danger or 
not, the situation was decidedly odd.  They had brought his daughter to 
a place that everyone else in the area feared and avoided to watch a 
bunch of wolves howl.  And where were Kam and Koki?
     He studied the wolves some more, paying particular attention to 
the two in the water to try to figure out what was so odd about them.  
From behind the rock it was hard to get a good look at them in the 
darkness, even with the full moon.  Then he saw something splash behind 
one of them.  His first though was... but no, that was impossible.  How 
could they possibly have..?  It splashed again, and this time there was 
no mistaking it.  His initial impression had been correct.  These two 
wolves had tails like merpeople.
     And suddenly, it all made sense.  What he had seen happening to 
Kam earlier, the full moon, their family moving so many times.
     Kam and Koki were merwerewolves.
     Another chorus of howls arose from the pack.  
     Once he got over the initial shock of this realization, Mylam 
decided to get closer to Borl and Trina to see how much of their 
conversation he could hear.  There was a smaller rock closer to them, 
and if he swam carefully and kept his head low when he got there' 
they'd never know he was there.
     When he got there, Borl was the first one he heard.  "...happens 
every full moon, just like this."
     "Do they ever hurt you?" Trina asked.
     "No," replied Borl.  "They still know who we are.  Besides, 
they're merpeople most of the time and would never harm one of their 
own, not even when they're in merwolf form."
     Nyoti spoke up.  "I think Mom is funny sometimes.  She licks my 
face and tail.  She says she does it because she can't hug me with wolf 
arms."  
     "Actually she could," said Borl, "but to a wolf, licking is the 
way to communicate the same thing."
     There were more howls from the wolves.  "What about them?" Trina 
asked.
     "I wouldn't get too close to them, at least not when there's this 
many.  They don't swim very well compared to us, so as long as you stay 
in the water you're pretty safe.  Koki and Kam mingle with them and 
they handle themselves just fine.  Don't worry about them.  They've 
tried to explain the social signals between wolves, but their minds 
just work differently than ours and they say unless you've been one and 
experienced things the way they do it's impossible to explain."
     "That's got to be so weird," she exclaimed.  "Kam is fun to swim 
with in this form.  At least he was until..."  Her voice trailed off.
     "I know.  Happens with me and Koki too.  Once the canine chorus 
arrives, they can't help but want to interact with their kind.  But 
don't worry.  Once they get a few howls out of their system, they'll be 
back and forth between us."
     "Does anyone else around here know?"
     "You're the first to find out.  Wherever we've lived before, once 
word got out, others saw as freaks, devil spawn, or just plain didn't 
want anything more to do with us.  We were ostracized and had to move 
on.  More than once we literally swam for our lives as we were being 
chased by an angry mob of merpeople."
     "That's terrible."
     "No kidding," said Nyoti.  "I've had to leave a lot of friends 
behind."
     "And you say they've never attacked a merperson?" Trina mused.  
"Sounds like there are some who deserved it."
     Borl shrugged.  "It's been very tempting sometimes, but if we want 
others to believe they're not a threat, the last thing we want to do is 
hurt or kill anyone."
     Mylam reeled.  The whole situation was just too weird.  He decided 
that if everything Borl said was true there should be no harm in 
letting Trina remain with them for the night, but he would keep his 
vigil over them just in case.  He could talk to Borl and Koki later.  
Trina, as attached as she was to Kam, certainly wouldn't want them to 
be forced to move on, and frankly, he didn't see any reason why they should 
have to, at least not as long as nothing happened to change that 
impression of them.  First, however, they would have to make it through 
the night, so he kept up his vigil.

     Mylam, worn out as he was from the night's adventures, had told 
Nora good night and gone off to sleep, but Trina was still up talking.  
"Dad must've missed the part of the conversation when we talked about 
how good a merwolf's sense of smell is.  You should've seen the look on 
his face when he found out."