A face hovered mere inches from her own. With a shriek, she tried to scramble away. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that she no longer had legs. A violent flick of her tail sent her crashing headlong into a wall.
When the ringing in her ears died down, she heard a male voice asking, "Are you alright, miss? Sorry if I gave you a bit of a fright."
To her chagrin, the mermaid detected a bit of suppressed laughter in his tone. Looking up, she stared at the merman in front of her. He was an older gentlemanly type, with a nicely trimmed beard and an experienced look in his gray eyes. She could tell he was a guard by the uniform he wore as well as the spear in his left hand. With his free hand, he reached out and lifted her away from the wall.
"T-thanks," Joan mumbled, rubbing the sore spot on her skull. Looking about, she could see that they were in some sort of tunnel. A rectangular hole in the ceiling served as the entrance. The mermaid guessed that she had drifted in once the current had released her.
"The others said to expect you. They saw you following them all the way from the human's territory. It took you awhile to come down, though. I almost thought you'd changed your mind."
"I did, but that damn hole sucked me in," the mermaid said. "I just wanna get out of here, wherever here is."
"That won't be happening just yet, I'm afraid. Right now, I must insist you come with me." Grabbing Joan's arm, the guard placed a gold-colored metal bracelet around her wrist. "In following our arresting officers against their direct warning not to, you must now be charged with interfering with an arrest and aiding a criminal. You must be brought in for questioning." Letting go, he swam down the tunnel. Just then, the mermaid felt an overwhelming compulsion to follow the merman. With a flip of her tail, she shot off after him.
"What is this thing?"
"It's required for prisoners. With that manacle on, you're compelled to follow and obey whoever has the corresponding manacle," the guard answered, holding up his own wrist to display said manacle. His expression turned sympathetic. "My apologies, miss. You don't seem like the criminal sort, but this is standard procedure."
Desperate to be let go, she tried to reason with him. "Look, I hardly even know Urma, okay? I just followed because I was worried about her. She said she'd be executed, and I well, I just couldn't let myself do nothing."
