PDARPG Boss Fight Entries: Laguna 2: Fight/Freeze! (Prompt 1/3)

“Your brother?” Eltanin coughed, still scrabbling ineffectually at the mermaid’s arm like a cat who’d just knocked over some onions. “Mer-miss, I barely know who you are.”

 

“Don’t you dare act the fool, you Paperdemon prevaricator. My spell spanned the Paperverse in search of his latent energies, and you were absolutely radiant with it.”

 

Wait… that shiny, silky hair, those sweeping curved horns, and the delicate shimmering tail…

 

“Ronin?”

 

“Is that what he calls himself these days?” she huffed, and her grip loosened for just a few seconds. Eltanin reached into his coat and felt his fingers curl around a lacquered wood handle.

 

The mermaid shrieked as he stabbed the knife deep into her flank. The resonance of her siren’s song rattled his skull as she reared back, spraying green ichor in her wake, but he still found the wherewithal to roll sideways and scramble to his feet. He flared out his wings– damn, soaking wet!-- okay, he snapped his fingers for a spark of fire– nope, you guessed it– and then another wave of seawater crashed down on top of him and pulled him backwards into the swell.

 

“Surfacer rat,” she snarled, waving her staff to direct the currents to her will as Eltanin struggled to keep his head above the water. “You want to die to defend him, be my guest. But at least hear my side of the story first.”

 

“I’d rather…” he gasped, feeling the cold water start to seize his muscles,  “not die, thanks. I’ll hear you out.”