250 Words: The Merlion (Part Twenty-Nine)

Before long the new order was fully established, the former captain becoming Council leader.  All Merlions suffering from the sickness had been cured by the open sea, shedding their long coats never to return.

Quickly, too, came time for other changes.  Several Merlions, including the Merlion of Singapore and his soon-to-be wife, returned to Singapore to relieve those left on guard and to see how the wounded were. 

And there they stayed, a permanent presence to keep pirates away and to begin a new period of interaction between human and Merlion.  About this the boy was overjoyed, happy he would spend many more of his days with his Merlion friends.  Later he would live by the water and become a fisherman, and the Merlions swam alongside his vessel, always lending a hand.

The Merlion himself began a much happier existence in the waters around Singapore, roaring and splashing with his girlfriend, those who’d opted to stay and, later, their children.  

Before long Merlions began to travel between their island and Singapore, the Merlion getting to know his parents and siblings very well.

And so, from then on, the Merlion population began to grow once more and they spread out from the two islands, eventually helping keep ports far and wide safe from intruders. 

Even as far away as Portsea Island off the southern coast of Britain a colony of Merlions would one day live and work- and in conjunction with Merunicorns too.  But that is a story for another time.

250 Words: The Merlion (Part Twenty-Eight)

Just as the gathered Merlions thought all was lost, just as they were on the point of absolute despair, they heard a commotion come from where the tunnel exited into the lagoon.  They looked up and saw a growing pack of Merlions.  All cheering and whooping and happy as could be.  Partly because they had been in the open sea but also because one had seen the returning heroes and passed word around. 

Soon the island’s entire population had appeared and begun to swim across the lagoon.  Once he had reached the beach, the young Merlion greeted his kin.  “You’ll never guess what’s happened,” he challenged them and begun to tell his tale.

After talking to the Merlion’s father, the councillor had had a long think then gone out and actually spoken to many a Merlion, discovering their reactions and feelings to recent events.  

He had tried to speak to his fellow council members but had gotten nowhere.  He tried his soldiers instead and found they had become disheartened  by the desertion of so many, including their own colleagues; who they did not fancy fighting again.  

And so the council was overthrown by the remnants of its own army (who had been forced out to sea as prisoners but soon re-found their youth and became willing volunteers).

This the young Merlion related and the returning Merlions told their tale in return.  An impromptu party quickly got underway, every Merlion on the island pleased that everything was going to be okay.

≤140 Characters, or Tweet Repeat: 19

The Bridge Troll's strategem was sound and good. It's just that the Billy Goat Gruff's was much better.

250 Words: The Merlion (Part Twenty-Seven)

When the renegade Merlions returned they were cautious, knowing there could be a fight waiting for them.  On finding the seas around the island clear, their fears turned to the tunnel and the fact it could well hold a trap waiting for them to enter.

The former captain of the Council’s Army had volunteered to go first and reconnoitre the tunnel but most had refused to let him, knowing his importance in any potential battle.  Instead they drew straws and a Merlion was selected to go ahead and assess the situation.

The rest waited in collective silence, and with baited breath, scared for what might happen to their scout, what he might find within the tunnel or at the far end.  Finally, after an interminably long time, bubbles appeared on the surface of the sea, followed soon after by their scout. 

“It’s all clear,” he announced, “Let’s go!”

The Merlions followed him through the tunnel, exiting into an empty lagoon.  This was as far as the scout had been and together they swam slowly across the water, looking out, around and below, for signs of a trap or an ambush.

Neither came and they reached the far side where the beach was empty of souls.  They split into small groups and searched for Merlions around the lagoon and in the jungle but found none, only deserted homes.  Together they began to fear the worst once more and their hair began to grow ever so slightly.

Until they heard a noise…

100 Words: In the dry forest

I would often walk through that dry forest, the light dappling my skin, the sun an intermittent strobe, never enough warmth leaking through.  I would sit or lie in the bends the trees made.

And wait for my love to come to me.  And when he arrived, warmth would come through the leaves and he would cradle me as the trees had done.

And soon the forest would no longer be dry, seemingly half dead, we would wake it and give it life.  For those years, for that time.

Now I return and it is dead to me once more.

---

Written for Friday Fictioneers, in response to this photo:



An InLinkz Link-up

250 Words: The Merlion (Part Twenty-Six)

The young Merlion continued, “Then listen to this old ‘lion.  The population is against you, virtually every one.  Soon members of your council will start to die and we will replace them because the Merlions next in line are with us.  Even some army trainees are.  The council will eventually be formed of renegades, what you are doing now will not last.  It will be better if you give in now, welcome back your son and start to return us to our former glory.  Because it’s going to happen anyway. 

“And you know how many of us are ill, sir.  To go on as we are will kill us all.  If they return they will return to a graveyard.  Don‘t kill us off.  Let us live.”

He said this with great conviction because he knew it to be true.  So many Merlions had been going down with the sorrow disease since the renegades had departed and this was why so many Merlions were keen to overthrow the current Council and create a new one.  

The older Merlions could remember how things had once been and the younger ones could see it would be better.  And so this young Merlion had come before the Merlion of Singapore’s father to make his appeal.

After making his speech the young Merlion left immediately, leaving his words ringing in the ears of his audience, whose face had looked shocked the last he saw of it. 

All the young Merlion could do now was hope.

250 Words: The Merlion (Part Twenty-Five)

The young Merlion’s task would be easier said than done.  Although he had mass support, the Merlions left on the island were all either too young or too old to successfully take on the remnants of the Council’s Army.  

He therefore decided on a different strategy.  That is, he would try and turn the Merlion’s father around- for he thought that he was the key to the plot: not only was this Merlion widely believed to be the weakest of the council members but he was in charge of its army.  Indeed he had formed it. 

The Merlion’s mother had been trying since the meeting with her son but he was obstinate and it would take the audacity of the young Merlion to make him see.

The young Merlion snuck into the home of the Merlion’s father and caught him unawares.  Understandably the young Merlion’s target was angry but he managed to calm the Merlion’s father and stop him from summoning help, begging to be heard out, that the council (or at least one of its members) should listen to the masses as represented by him.

“Fine,” the Merlion’s father said testily, “Spit it out if you must.”

The young Merlion began by appealing to the council member’s heart, reminding him of The Dream, that he could get to know his son, who was otherwise lost to him and needn’t be forever.  “My wife has tried this.  Clearly if it didn’t work for her, then it won’t for you, boy.”