I somehow convinced Kradr to leave me behind a thick grove of bushes for privacy. Realizing that I still had a long rope attached to me like I was a pet on a leash, I wound it up and wrapped it around my waist wearing it like a belt. I wasn't going to run. There had been plenty of opportunities for me to leave the barbarian behind, but my knowledge of the world outside the sea was minimal. If I had somewhere to run, I would. I was certain I would.

I didn’t know whether to thank Kradr or start begging him for mercy. He planned to trade me into the Zaqwar to get his brother back. I didn’t blame him. Family was everything, and in this world, everyone needed someone. I was right about my pending fate. Either way, I would end up with the Zaqwar barbarians.

By the time I finished, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. I looked at the vast stretch of land from where I stood at the top of a valley. Thick fog began to rise from the lower plains, and soon the entire Quag would be covered with it. I'd heard the tales about men who go missing in the forest when the fog settled in. Like Kradr had said, deadly animals and beast roamed here too.

I crept up the hilltop to get a better look at the landscape. I rose on my legs and looked on in astonishment at the miles and miles of land and vegetation down below. It was beautiful. I imagined walking through the green valleys for hours and never getting tired. I was enjoying moving about on my legs. I almost didn't remember what they looked like.

I caught sight of something red beside my feet. Kneeling down, I plucked a petal from the familiar looking flower. Shielding it from the rain, I placed it under my nose and sniffed. I knew the plant. There were berries nearby.

My feet moved on their own accord, and I followed the vines to a row of thick bushes. At one point in time, it looked like someone had purposely started a garden of some sort here. I made out the ruins of a shed or small hut of some sort. Whoever had been here was now long gone. Years of limb and vine growth stretched across the area and trailed up a deteriorating wooden gate. Someone had abandoned this place. I picked some of the berries and plucked a handful of leaves from a medicinal plant and pulled up some moss growing on a boggy patch of earth.

I stiffened when I heard footsteps pounding toward me. Only when Kradr appeared out of nowhere did I realize that I had walked far away from the den.

“Are you trying to run?” he grunted.

“No, I just—”

“What are you doing?” he grunted, lifting me up by the arm and looking at the plants in my hands.

“I found these. See. And berries.”

He looked at me suspiciously.

“Your wounds. You missed some on your back,” I said. “This will help. It’s from the source. Not diluted. You’ll heal faster.”

His expression softened for only a moment, and then he said, "It's dangerous here. You'll get lost."

“I’m sorry. I’ve just never seen anything like this before.” I pointed down toward the green valleys I spotted earlier. “Do people live down there?”

“Yes. Now, let’s get back.”

Before I could quiz him anymore, it began pouring down rain again. Hard.

He pointed back in the direction of the den. “Go. That way.”

After slipping my finds into a small pouch hooked to the waistband of my skirt, I walked back to the den with my barbarian captor right behind me.

Back in the den, I began peeling off my wet garments near the warm, blazing fire.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Kradr blurted.

I spun around and spotted him standing in shock near the entrance. But that wasn’t all, his attention was fixed on my naked body.

I held up my wet garments. “I need to dry these.”

Kradr sighed.

“It’s different in and near the ocean,” I started, trying to explain. “When I have my scales and when I’m in Mer form, I can regulate my body temperature. In human form, I can’t. Eventually, I will. My body will adapt. I have to learn to be…human.”

Kradr ran his fingers through his hair, but it seemed he couldn’t stop looking at me.

“I…” My gaze dropped to the rising bulge under the piece of cloth that covered his manhood. “Oh….oh?” I blushed. “I’m so sorry.” I ran to the opposite corner of the den, grabbed the blanket I’d used to keep warm the night before, and wrapped it around me.

"It's okay," he said. He came by the fire and rubbed his hands together. His body was angled slightly, but the outline of his erection was clearly visible and massive, creating a tent with his loincloth.

I grabbed the medicinal plants I had collected earlier and went to work making a salve.

“What are you making?” he asked.

“It’ll help you heal. It has to be applied while warm. If the wounds open up again, they could get infected,” I told him, as I muddled the leaves with a rock. When I looked up again, he seemed skeptical. “You can drink it too if you don’t want me to touch you, but it works better when applied directly.”

“How do you know so much if you spent most of your life in the sea?”

“We read from stone scrolls. We go to Mer school. We’re required to. My people have been studying modern and ancient medicine since our existence. We have our own plants too under the sea which are better, more potent, but these will work just fine. Do you have clean water?”

He collected some rainwater in a canteen and brought it back to me. After making the salve, I sat near the fire with the bowl in my hands. Several moments of hesitation on his part passed before he gave in and took a seat in front of me, bending to give me access to the wounds on his back.

First, I cleaned his skin with a cloth dampened with warm water. My stomach growled as I worked and I wondered if he heard it. I'd need some protein soon, or I'd get really antsy and nauseated, but I didn't want to complain. Kradr seemed to have developed a way to subdue hunger. I wondered if this was somehow ingrained in his DNA since he was a direct descendant of humans who had survived throughout The Epidemic. In the ocean, Mer ate from a never-ending supply source. I knew it would be different once I got to land. The food choices were limited, but I'd heard that the Zaqwar were carnivorous, bringing down big beasts to feast on for days.

He hissed and moaned when the first bit of salve hit the open spear wound near his spine.

“It stings at first,” I said. “Later you won’t feel a thing. It’ll be numb until the wound heals. We should apply more later tonight.”

“No time. Later tonight, we will leave.”

“In the rain?”

“It will stop soon.”

“You know, on someone like me, those spearheads would’ve gone deeper.”

“The skin is thicker. A trait from my Zaqwarian father.”

I placed the bowl down beside us and traced his skin, running my fingertips along the planes of his muscles. I had never touched any man like him. I was fascinated and intrigued all at the same time. In the process of letting my fingers glide across his skin, the fur blanket fell from my shoulders and landed around my body, leaving me exposed.

Kradr’s breathing became uneven, but he made no attempts to stop me.

I was aroused. My sex pulsed and my nipples beaded.

“Celeste…”

It was the first time I heard my name on his lips.

I picked up the bowl and crawled to the front of him. I didn't bother with the blanket. My flesh had grown too hot, and he'd already seen me naked either way.

Before I could apply the salve to the wounds on his chest, he caught my wrist.

“What are you doing to me?” His translucent blue eyes swirled with lust.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’m not in heat, so I don’t know why I’m like this.”

He licked his lips as his gaze dropped to my breasts.

“I can help you, if you’d like,” I offered.

“Help me?” he croaked.

My attention dropped to the lengthening erection hidden behind his cloth. “I know what you need. You’ve been…like that…since we came back inside from the rain. It’s big. It hasn’t gone down.”

“It won’t go down unless I ejaculate.”

I swallowed.

"It is ingrained in my DNA to reproduce. The very reason why human subjects were sent to space before The Epidemic was so that they could return to their native planet and build again. This project ensured the continuation of the human race. Earth remained unstable for longer than the scientists anticipated and the subjects were led to mate with aliens. The offspring were known as Zaqwar. They abandoned the planet, but the DNA in their genetics was indestructible. Zaqwarians are still driven by their need to reproduce. Even hybrids, like me."

“You are different…” I added, noting the perfection of his physique.

“I can control my urges, but there’s something about you. I don’t think it’s a spell.”

"No, it's not a spell. Let me help you." I reached out and lifted the cloth away, gasping as my eyes fixed on the hardest, longest cock I'd ever seen. I had never seen a man's cock before, let alone a barbarian's. For being as tall and big as he was, a twelve-inch cock was befitting.

“I can do it myself,” he said.

“No, let me,” I replied, grabbing his cock with both of my hands.

Pure pleasure replaced the uncertain expression on Kradr’s face. The shaft was heavily veined. As he grew harder, the veins appeared a deep jade in color. A thick bead of pre-cum leaked from the tip. I stroked upward and glided my thumb against the velvety-soft head.

He moaned.

“Am I doing this right?” I asked, pumping him up and down.

He nodded, eyes glazed over in ecstasy.

“You’re so big,” I whispered. “Do your partners like you this size?”

“I…” His balls tightened against my fist on the downstroke. He grunted.

“How does it all fit?” I continued. “Do you take your women slow…or hard? Do you push it all in at once?”

“Oh…”

He spoke in a language I didn't understand but never answered my question in English. I figured that he loved me talking about his cock and the way he mated his women. Either way, they were lucky women. All I could do was just sit here and imagine how good something this big and thick would feel pumping in and out of my wet pussy. My sex watered just thinking about it, and my juices coated my thighs.

I gripped him tighter, gauging his pleasure by his facial expression. His thigh muscles flexed and his hips came up off the ground.

“I’m going to ejaculate,” he rasped.

“Please. I want to see it.” I licked my lips, fixing my gaze on his cock head as it thickened and expanded. I’d never seen anything like it before.

“Celeste! Ahhh.”

Ropes of semen exploded out of him like a geyser. Beads of it landed on his torso, thighs, and my hand as I milked him to completion. Another round shot out of him, landing on my lips and chin. I licked my tongue out to catch some of it, tasting the sweet and salty liquid.

Afterward, his cock pulsed slowly against my palms and no longer spurted seed. He opened his eyes. As I licked my lips, I met his gaze. His nostrils flared and he looked down at my sex. I knew that I was soaking wet down there, but I kept my thighs closed.

He looked me up and down. “Have you been with anyone before?”

I shook my head, but he didn’t seem surprised at my answer.

“A Merman? Anyone?”

I swallowed and shook my head again. “Will you show me how?”

“I…I can’t.” He frowned. “I can’t take that away from you.”

“What if I choose to give it?”

He leaned forward and stroked my face, letting his palm glide across my cheeks. His touch ignited something deep inside me and I sighed. His fingers slipped through my hair. “You’re meant for someone else. Someone worthy.”

Technically, he was right about one thing. I was sold to the Zaqwar.

“You are worthy,” I replied.

The distance between us melted away, and my lips were mere inches from his. Suddenly, something crashed down near the den, literally shaking the ground beneath us.

“What was that?” I jumped and huddled against Kradr.

He shielded me with his arms and body as we both stared in the direction of the noise.

“Stay here!” he ordered as he jumped up and pulled the makeshift door away to look outside.

He rushed back to the center of the den and started tossing stuff inside his bag. “The dam broke. We need to get to higher ground. Quickly. Grab your things.”

As I was putting on my clothes, rain started flooding into the bottom of the den. I wasn't afraid of the water, but the threat of being trapped inside seemed like a significant enough risk to Kradr.

We rushed from the den, away from the berries and medicinal plants, and away from the valleys that seemed to bloom with life.

I didn’t know whether we were traveling north, south, east, or west, but my heart told me that the sea was now far behind me.