Jared's injury proved to be a problem. He would have to stay behind while he healed. Apparently, this would be easy for their healers to fix. Unfortunately, we would have to wait for him to heal up at a human's pace. In the meantime, I helped him get dressed. Jared, Jeremy and Jesse had assumed that I would let one of them drown me by now. I told them that it was not going to happen. Jeremy pointed at the merman lying down. "How is he going to convert anyone!? He can't even stand up now due to his injury!" I shrugged and said "Will it really kill you guys to just wait a few weeks?" What!? I can't possibly need that much time!" he snapped from where he was. I just shrugged. "Your bones have to settle in place and stay still so they can fuse back together as best they can. I'm not a doctor, so I can't ensure they do so properly. Your healer might even need to rebreak them if they are not properly aligned when you get back to your tribe." Jared winced in pain and sighed. Jude sighed. He reached into a fold in his tunic. "Here is a potion. I am friends with the healer's new apprentice." he said.
After drinking the potion, Jared was back to full health and any sign of his injury was gone. I looked at the new merkin halfway in the water. "What are you going to do with them?" I asked. They did not seem to care too much for them. "We are to make sure the balance of merkin is maintained. That is why we convert humans. This month's coming of age is the most dangerous period of our lives. We can be captured or killed at any point." Jared said with a cough. "They may live as they please wherever they want. If they really want to, we can take them to our tribe." Jesse added. Jude nodded and said "We can breed with them and grow our numbers." That sounded fine. I guessed that it was winding down for them. Hello! DCPD! Is anyone out there!?" came a voice from the shore. "Fuck! It's the police. The human authorities. We have to hide them, or they'll get taken away." I said Jethro, Joel and Jude got in the water and swam the converts further inside. 2 police officers came and asked us what we were doing. I said "We heard about a party, but it must have ended."
The cops shined their flashlights up the cave, and we all saw nothing. "Let's hope you are right. Otherwise, we are going to be carting bodies out in the morning." one officer said. "Kyle! Don't be so crass." the other officer said indignantly. Kyle scoffed and said "Look at the cave, Mark! You can't be in there in high tide. It fills all the way up. If anyone was in there, they either got out in time before the tide came in or they are dead. We'll have to check tomorrow to see what's what." He began to walk away from us. Officer Mark tried to apologize, but Jesse punched him in the face. "Oof! What the fu-" was all he got out before he was thrown in the water. Officer Kyle heard that and came back to us. Seeing the state of things, he pulled out his baton. Jesse smirked and drew his trident. Kyle ran in and engaged him. Jared, Jeremy and I just watched as Jesse used his warrior training to beat the cop senseless. It was not even close. Every move that was made with the baton was parried and countered. "Too slow! Is this the quality of guard this settlement has!?" Jesse mocked. Officer Kyle was pissed.
Still there was nothing that he could do. Jesse was simply too strong and well trained. He then made use of his superior upper body strength to supplex the fat cop and knock him out. Jesse dragged his body to the water. Kyle just woke up in time to be face first in the water. The pain of drowning woke him up, but it was far too late for him. Jeremy had already finished off Officer Mark. It seemed as though he was new to the town as he had not learned to swim. That made him easy prey for Jeremy, an opportunist if nothing else. When they were done drowning, the mermen converted them. Jared was the last one to do so. That was when a kid came by. He looked a bit like Officer Mark. "Dad? Are you done yet?" he asked nervously. Jared pounced and grabbed him. The boy kicked and screamed, but it had no effect on the merman warrior. He was immediately drowned and converted as well. All 6 of them had managed to convert a human. The other members of Goldtail Tribe returned to the mouth of the cave. After a round of celebrating, Joel and Jethro approached me, still in merman form.
