THE MERMAID TREES By C

Once, long ago, there lived two especially lovely mermaid sisters: Snow White and Night Black. Down to the groin, both were beautiful, full-breasted women; further down, they had powerful dolphin-tails. It was their hair that marked them off from each other: Snow White had, as you might guess, luxuriant tresses of white, as dazzling as snow in the midday sun, with an equally dazzling little V beneath her navel. Night Black had tresses and V the color of polished obsidian.

They had started life in the great Ocean, but had grown bored, for they loved the blood of human men, and only a few ever ventured over the vastness of the sea and into their grasp. So the two journeyed into the system of marshes and lagoons that covers the land of Baltil, and there they had a fine time, luring lonely fishermen.

Sometimes they let themselves be caught. This was risky, for one day they might meet a fisherman who actually knew how to deal with mermaids; but that risk only enhanced the thrill. And what a thrill it was! A net enveloped them, or hooks snagged them by the hair. Then, after struggling enough to make it all believable, they gave up and let themselves be pulled weeping and trembling into some fool's boat.

When they'd convinced the poor dunce that these were helpless females completely at his mercy, they complimented him on his fishing skills and made him an offer. Each would give him one wish--whatever he wanted! Or, just as good, each would give him herself! He only had to swear an oath to let them go . . . let them go . . . let them go. As they spoke, and as they fixed his eyes with theirs, he fell under their spell, and soon they had him. He would untangle them from the net, or remove the hooks, or whatever--then just sit unresisting while they punctured his throat with their teeth. It was great fun. One day, they were lounging beneath the dark surface of one of the lagoons, when they saw, not far away, the flat keel of a mid-sized fishing boat. They began looking for hooks, when--strangely enough--the hooks found them. Each girl felt a tug at her hair and discovered she was snagged, and with no effort on her part. Nothing they could do would untangle the sharp metal from their locks; and the strong lines leading back from the hooks to the boat were unbreakable.

This was what they'd been aiming for, more or less, so they took off, as fast as they could go. Usually, they'd tug the fisherman and his boat for a good distance before giving in. Now, however, they found they could make no headway. The fisherman, whoever he was, must be very strong, for he was rowing against them, and, despite all their efforts, he was the one gaining ground. For the first time, their thrill was seasoned with real fear.

They pulled and pulled until their energy was spent. Then they broke the surface and looked back toward the boat. Its occupant was very big and powerfully muscled--handsome, too, in a rough, raw sort of way. Snow White and Night Black raised their hands in surrender. Still gasping with the effort, Snow White said: "You . . . you win! You caught us! We give up!"

"I'm going to bring you into the boat now," he said, and so he did. He laid them out in the hold, their big breasts still heaving with the ordeal of their unsuccessful flight.

"You're . . . you're quite the fisherman," said Night Black. "I mean . . . hooks that do your hunting for you. We're . . . certainly . . . impressed."

"Just a little magic my granther taught me," said the man. "Say, you really are mermaids, aren't you?"

"Of . . . of course," said Snow White. "I'm . . . Snow White . . . and this . . . this is my sister . . . Night Black."

"Pretty names for pretty ladies!" said the man. "I need to tie your wrists now." And with surprising speed, and no apparent effort, he turned them onto their tummies and bound their wrists tightly behind them. As with a few other subjects, their hypnosis was taking some time to work on this one.

"Could you turn us back over, please?" said Night Black.

"Oh I'm sorry. Here you go." Effortlessly, he once again put them bottom down.

"We . . . we've told you our names," said Snow White. "How about . . . telling us yours?"

"Tom. Tom, Son of Jim, Son of Joe, Son of Tim, Son of Biff, Son of Bob, Son of Buford, Son of Bo . . . ."

"You don't say?" Snow White interrupted. "As you've already figured out, we're . . . (whooh, still out of breath!) . . . we're mermaids, and we'd love to do something for you."

"For me?"

"Yes," said Night Black. "But we'd need you to do something first."

"Yes?" said Tom.

"We'd need you to swear to let us go."

"Well that's interesting," said Tom. "What would you do for me if I did?"

"Well, we can each give you a wish for whatever you most want," said Snow White. "Anything at all: treasure, a kingdom, beautiful women. Or--and we only do this for the handsomest fishermen--we can be your girlfriends for a whole month. But you'd have to swear first to let us go; and you mustn = t break your oath, or else . . . you'd be cursed."

"Cursed?" said Tom, looking alarmed.

"Yes," said Night Black, "cursed. If you make a mermaid a promise and don't keep it, you're cursed big-time. And the same thing happens if you try to, uh, have your way with a mermaid against her will. There's definitely no honey, unless you agree first you'll let her go." At about this point, both girls were wondering: how much longer before he's under our spell ?

Instead of falling into any obvious trance, Tom said: "You know what, girls, I'm going to give you an answer, but I've got to take you home with me first."

"You mean," said Night Black, "out of the water?"

"Sure. It's pretty clear to me you girls can breathe out of water . . . ."

"Well yes, but . . . . "

"I'd tell you sooner, but there's something I want to show you. You know what they say: one picture, a thousand words?" With this, he began rowing again, powerful strokes that moved them across the lagoon and to the shore in no time at all.

When they'd come aground, he moored the boat securely and then slung the mermaids, facing backwards, over his shoulders. He then strode inland, one hand planted firmly on each girl's bottom.

Snow White looked over at her sister, who appeared ready to cry, and whispered to her in Northern Mer: "It's all right, sweetie; he's a hard case, but we'll have him."

"How will we get back to the water?" asked Night Black, trying hard not to bawl.

"We'll crawl the whole damned way if we have to."

He brought them into a clearing and said: "Here we are! The old homestead! Have a look around!" Then he dropped them, a little roughly, on the ground.

They did look, and they saw, first, a nondescript shack, framed by two big oak trees. But it was the trees that caught and kept their attention. Hanging from the boughs, their hands bound behind them, nooses 'round their pretty necks, were six, seven, eight . . . no, ten mermaids! With their heads down, and their groins unprotected by a decent covering of water, they almost looked ashamed to have been caught. When the sisters realized what they were seeing, they cried out: "No! No! Dear Devil, no!"

"I'm afraid it's yes, yes," said Tom. "Funny thing about hanging a mermaid. She can live for days, and after she's dead, her body stays fresh for a week or so, till one day: poof! It disappears in a little puff of smoke. These girls are pretty fresh." He went up to an achingly beautiful green-haired mer and gave her a sharp swat on her behind. Snow White and Night Black thought she must be dead, but her tail began to thrash and her breasts to heave. She made a sound somewhere between a choke and a sob, and two big tears squeezed from her closed eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Tom stroked her tummy and said: "That's a good girl. You're almost done."

Snow White mastered her shock and horror enough to say: "W-what is this? W-what are you?

"You girls are mighty pretty, but you're a little thick. I'm Tom the Mermaid Hunter. That's the trade I inherited from all those ancestors I mentioned before. The lagoons around here appeal to mermaids, which doesn't make the fishermen too happy. So they pay me good money to do what I'd gladly do for free."

Snow White and Night Black had heard of humans who hunted mermaids as a vocation, but they hadn't really believed such creatures existed. Tom, it appeared, was terrifyingly real.

"Look, uh, Tom sir," said Night Black, "w-we weren't lying about wishes before, or about giving you some time with us. Wouldn't that be a lot more, uh, productive than what you seem to have in mind?"

Tom laughed. "As you may have noticed, ladies, your magic doesn't work on me. It's something all the men in my family inherit. So--and I'm sad to say it--you can't give me any wishes." He didn't look very sad.

"But we can . . . we can be your lovers!" said Snow White. "That doesn't take any magic!"

"Girls, girls," said Tom, and as he did, the smug little smile that was already on his face turned into a broad one. "Look a little closer at your friends. What do you see, about mid-body?"

They didn't want to look any closer, but they did, and with vertiginous horror they realized what he meant: each genital slit was dabbed with blood.

"You see, mermaid curses don't work on me either. I'm going to kill you, but first I'm going to fuck you, and you can't do a thing about it." And with that, he unzipped his trousers and took them off. His erection, like the rest of him, was huge. It was all too much for the two sisters, who let loose one shrill scream after another. He started with Night Black, who didn't think she

could scream any louder until Tom shredded her hymen. Her cry then was a long, ear-rending wail of agony, shame, and despair. Most shaming of all: she started to come! When he'd satisfied himself with her, he turned to Snow White, who was broken and shrieked her despair in much the same way as her sister.

Then he slung them over his shoulders once again and took them, sobbing now and bleeding, beneath the nearer of the two trees. "Tsk, tsk," he said, "you're getting blood on my shirt." As he brought them close, they saw several empty nooses, already in place. He balanced Night Black on his shoulder while he held Snow White up to a noose and fitted it around her neck. Then he let her drop. The noose bit hard, so that all she could utter were little choking, whimpering sounds. Her breasts trembled violently, her tail snapped back and forth, and a mix of urine, blood, and honey spurted from her slit. She thought: This is what it really means to be caught! Dear Devil, this is what it really means! Then it was Night Black's turn. As she suffered her ordeal, she said to herself: All our beautiful wickedness destroyed! Ohhhhhhh . . ., why can't I stop coming? The girls would struggle, writhe, thrash, and come for three days before their bodies at last grew still. Then they hung there for five more days, their heads down, their cunts exposed for all the world to see, before turning into smoke. Like their companions beneath the trees, they almost looked ashamed to have been caught.

In the meantime, Tom fitted out his boat and again plied his trade.

THE END