---Orion's POV---

"Are you sure about this?"

I nodded, eyes focused on the island ahead, jagged rocks and cracks revealing a cave entrance that lead deep underground. A cave that was partially submerged and that would probably have different entrances deeply under the water.

Unavailable to humans, as the winding trails and random turns would confuse them, leading them to get lost and drown deep within the murky depths of the caves.

But Elijah and I were not human. We didn't drown if we stayed underwater for too long.

Which meant we could infiltrate deeply within the slavers den. The only risk was the fact that Cain and the others had to remain on their ship.

If they were to approach too closely to the island, they would be spotted. And while the slavers might think it was just a ship passing by, even they would become wary of a random ship that dropped anchor several miles away from their shoreline.

Worst case scenario, the slavers would send out a crew to inspect Cain's ship while we were trying to find a way inside.

Speaking of the captain, he was looking at me , worry clear in his gaze. "What will you do when there's no underwater entrance?" He questioned, giving voice to the very realistic possibility that there was only one way in, one way out.

"Well...there is another alternative but..." I drawled slowly, watching as Cain's frown deepened before he shook his head.

Realization flared to life in his eyes before he snarled, "No. Absolutely not." He took a few steps forwards, as if prepared to physically restrain me.

Elijah huffed and gave me a pointed look. "I told you he'd throw a fit." The mer motioned towards Cain, who glared back at Elijah before turning his enraged gaze back to me.

"Look, the only way anyone can get in there without immediate suspicion, and without us being able to slip in from the ocean, would be if you brought us in as slaves."

Cain started pacing, muttering under his breath as Archer stepped closer. "He's got a fair point there, Capt'n." The quartermaster added, making Cain glare at him in response.

"Do you have any idea what these fiends are capable of? Not to mention that I can't just sail in there without expecting trouble."

Elijah hummed at that, fingers dancing along the banister before he paused. "So announce yourself. You know of the slavers that frequent this area and you also know that we're going to destroy every last slaver in there."

"Which means," The mer continued, "that there will be nobody left to validate your story. Tell them that you've heard of this place from a fellow slaver and that you're eager to drop off some goods for training. Hell, you can even pay more than what they ask."

The merman shrugged lazily before smirking "It's not like you're not getting the money back." He motioned to the island that was just barely at the horizon. "The second your little princess sings, everyone is subdued."

Cain scoffed while I sighed, shaking my head. "Not to mention, neither of us are human. I can stand my ground in a fight against humans and Elijah, well..."

I didn't even need to finish my sentence. Elijah simply smirked, baring razor sharp teeth before he slowly licked his lips.

"No. Eating." Archer reminded Elijah with a stern look, making the mer grumble before tugging the quartermaster closer by his beltloops. "And you're scrubbing your teeth the moment you're back."

Elijah stuck out his tongue in mild protest before yelping when Archer's teeth latched onto it. The quartermaster didn't look one bit surprised when Elijah yanked him closer to deepen the impromptu kiss.

Cain cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to the situation at hand. Meanwhile, preventing a certain situation from getting out of hand.

"Go over the plan one more time." Cain stated, making Elijah sigh, disentangling himself from Archer after one last nip to his lips.

"We're swimming to the island and explore its edges for any underwater entries. If we find them, we'll see how far they get us into the slaver's lair." Elijah sighed with a roll of his eyes.

I continued where he left off, adding," If we get deep enough, we'll sing and sedate both slavers and slaves." Licking my lips, I glanced at the island with a worried frown.

"If there are no entrances, we come back, dress up in rags and have you deliver us to the slavers for training. Elijah will make a distraction and I'll dart further into the cave and sing with the same results."

Cain gritted his teeth, averting his gaze. "Still don't fucking like that idea." The captain complained, making even Archer sigh before pointing between us two.

"With all due respect Capt'n, these two are the best to send over there. They can handle themselves better than any of our men, even if they were armed to the teeth."

Obviously the man knew that, but that didn't mean he had to agree with the notion. Still, after a few minutes of debating and lack of better plans being proposed, we proceeded according to our first plan.

Elijah and I dove down into the depths, giving a quick scan of our surroundings to make sure there wouldn't be any merfolk pods nearby.

We had already checked if this was anywhere near merfolk territory and were lucky to realize none of the known pods were settled near this cave.

Pumping my tail to pick up speed, Elijah effortlessly glided through the water beside me.

"Nervous?" He questioned, probably sensing my eyes on him. I swallowed thickly before giving a quick nod.

"A little bit. I'm not prone to start a fight but..." I motioned towards where we were heading, making Elijah hum in understanding.

The water was clear enough to give us a decent view of our surroundings, the sunlight above glittering over the surface and trying its best to illuminate the depths below us.

"Think of it this way; if we don't do anything, those slavers will hurt hundreds of people. Men, women, children, they don't care. For them, it's easy money in their pocket."

Elijah darted around the coral, spooking several fish into hiding while a single lemon shark darted for safety. A few moray eels curled further into their dens, mouths sucking in oxygen rich water as they eyed our path across their homes.

I felt a little better reminding myself of that. After I've heard some of the horror stories that Cain had told me, my opinion of slavers had been on an all-time low.

"Hello...what do we have here..." Elijah crooned as the cave entrance came into view. The cave was wide and deep enough to allow ships through, which also meant it was deep for us to hide from the poor eyesight of the humans above.

Humans we could clearly hear speaking with one another, several hulls bobbing on the motions of the ocean. "Now's our chance, high tide will give us the best opportunity to reach as far as possible." I murmured, following Elijah as he took the easiest path ahead, using the cover of the boats above.

"Indeed. At least these humans were smart enough to not pick a cave that overflowed during high tide. Wouldn't want their precious cargo to drown, I reckon." Elijah sneered, motioning to the boats above.

Venturing deeper and deeper, we were lucky to find a few twisting caverns deeper into the cave. Eventually we came to a dead end at a deep pool.

And my stomach sank as I spotted a few decaying bodies in the water, chained up and weighted down by a rock tied to their feet.

Even worse were the voices overhead, two men laughing and the screams of someone fighting for their very lives. Luckily, our eyes were adapted to seeing through the refractions and reflections of the water.

What I saw made my blood boil.

A woman, fighting to get back to the other side of the room, where one of the slavers was attaching a small child to familiar shackles, a roped up rock lying in wait for what was to come.

The mother was being held back by another slaver, who was laughing and mocking her feeble attempts. Elijah and I shared a pointed look when both men started to drag the woman and her chained child to the edge of the water.

"You wanted mercy, didn't you? Well, I'll give you mercy alright. I'll let you watch as your brat drowns. Perhaps I can even make you feel better afterwards, sweetheart. You only need to stay the word." The man drawled disgustingly, laughing along with his partner.

The pair laughed as the woman cried out in protest, screaming for help. Trying to escape the grip of the man as he dragged her closer by the hair, her manacles grinding over the cave floor.

She managed to slap him across the face, drawing blood as the man's lip welted. "Aight, I was trying to be nice but perhaps I need to teach you a lesson right here." He snarled, shoving her down as he grabbed for his trousers.

As the slaver beside the kid turned to watch the show, we moved in unison. Effortlessly lunging out of the water, I grabbed a hold of the man's ankles before yanking him backwards in the unforgivable depths before he could scream.

Beside me, Elijah had already ripped the slaver's head off before his target hit the water. "You deal with the humans. I'll just-" The mer took hold of the flailing slaver beforeyanking him further towards the bottom and simply rested there, holding him by the ankle and watching his aimless struggles.

Shaking my head, I sighed before softly emerging from the surface. Pressing a finger to my lips at the wide-eyed woman, who was holding her daughter against her chest as best as she could.

"Stay calm. Help is here." I murmured, letting a hint of my powers slip into my voice. The woman blinked, ebony curls bouncing gently as she nodded once. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head shakily. "N-nay. Th-there are more, other slavers." She said, pointing a finger towards a darkened hallway.

"Orion." I turned before catching the key twirling through the air as Elijah surfaced behind me. He dipped down again and I shook my head, knowing he had just given the slaver false hope by letting him go.

Only to be dragged back to the depths seconds before reaching the surface.

Swimming to the edge of the pool, I softly heaved myself out of the water before motioning the two closer.

The woman hesitated but when neither of us showed any sign of aggression, she allowed me to undo her chains and those on her daughter.

"There wouldn't be any clothes nearby, would they?" I murmured, knowing that if I shifted my tail, I would be left nude in front of a woman and her child.

That made her blink before she smiled despite the situation. "Anna, stay here sweetie. And stay quiet." She whispered, making her daughter nod before she hurried across the room to a set of crates.

She soon returned with ratty pants but that was better than nothing. I quickly shifted and dressed, tapping her on the shoulder afterwards.

"How many slavers and how many slaves are there in the cave?"

She seemed ashamed before shaking her head. "I... I cannot count, ser."

Nodding in understanding, I didn't blame the woman in the slightest. Most slavers refused to impair their slaves with knowledge they didn't need.

Still, even if I knew the numbers, it didn't change anything about my task at hand.

Closing my eyes to focus, I slowly started to sing. Allowing the sound to bounce off of the cave walls and reach every twist and turn of the cave.

Focusing on the slavers, I forced them to safely, kindly gather all their slaves while undoing their manacles along the way. Letting my voice reach further, commanding everyone in the cave.

Meanwhile Elijah popped out of the water, placing his arms on the shore with a smirk on his lips. Pushing out and shifting, unashamed as he knew no mortal would remember anything currently happening as he strolled further into the cave.

"Make sure the slavers undo any traps and such. I'll go see if there are any merchants present as well." He said over his shoulder, making me nod as I walked along.

Soon enough, we came to a room where all the slaves stood on one side and the slavers with a few merchants, on the other side.

"Now we just need to figure out how to give Cain the all clear... We kinda forgot about that." Elijah stated, making me sigh through the song before rubbing over my face.

We need to plan things out better next time.