The three Fates behaving badly.

The tree Fates, of Greek myth, are feeling mischievous.

In a dark, dank cave at the edge of time reside 3 sisters. The maid, the mother and the crone, who decide the destiny of gods and men. The sisters spin a thread that begins each life. They  manipulate the thread, influencing decisions. They cut the thread at the time of death. Their decisions final.

"I'm bored" sighed Clotho as she spun rainbow threads into the birth of a sun.

"Remember what happened last time you were bored?" Snickered Lachesis, as she braided a thin strand of lost patience. 

"There was a war and a hero." Giggled Clotho, "it was fun."

"You mooned over that hero for centuries." Replied Lachesis.

"OH, but what a .hero, eyes of a hawk, hair of spun gold, shoulders broad and hips.

"OH hush you two! No use swooning over a dead hero, like a milk maid." Grumbled Atropos as she snipped a red glowing string.

"Achilles was no ordinary hero!" Said Clotho as she placed a new born sun at the edge of a black hole.

"No he was not. Are there no heros since the ancient Greeks?" Replied Athropis. She snipped several crimson, aqua, amber threads, watched them fade to ash and die.

"Just work, spin, weave, cut repeat. No fun, no heros, even the gods sleep."  Complained Clotho.

"That is a long, long, long time sisters. Maybe just a little joke? What use is it to waste all our power over life and death?" Stated Lachesis

"What do you suggest?" Asked Atropos.

"Earth?, " suggested Clotho, " three wishes?"

"A moral decision?" Suggested Lachosis.

"A women, I won't have you mooning for centuries. We can help her once." Commanded Atropos.

Clotho spun the thread. Lachosis braided the thread. 

A female child was born on planet earth.

Ocean waves caressed the shore. Silver diamonds sparkled, dancing on the surf. A  bundle of aqua and crimson lay in the sand. Squaking seabirds peeked at it. A lone man stumbled, balancing himself with a cane of driftwood. He approached the bundle, scattering seabirds.

"What gift is this? The sea gives me today." Smiling he poked the bundle, with his cane.

Small arms waved, the bundle rocked, it screamed.

"Oh my! It is alive. Not gold or silver or even a meal, but it is a gift, from the sea. It is not wise to refuse a gift" 

Topsy, turvy, balancing himself with his cane, he strapped the protesting infant to his chest. 

"There, there now you noisy creature. I'll take you home to my wife." 

He leaned down and entered the driftwood hut, where he and his wife lived. His wife leaned over the fire cooking. Her long black hair unbound glowed in the firelight. She added wild herbs to a fish stew. The infant cooed. 

"Halie, see what I brought you." He cautiously told his wife."a gift from the sea."

She stirred the stew. "What is it this time? A shell, a rock, a piece of wood for the fire."

He pinched the infant, it giggled. " no this is a gift from the sea, it is not for the fire." He announced.  He handed the child to his wife.

Halie took the infant. She unwrapped the cooing bundle. She cuddled the infant, tears flowed. 

"It's a girl" she exclaimed. "A tiny healthy child. She wears a silver necklace two crescent moons surrond a moon. What is the meaning?" She rocked the infant. "I'll name her Doris. Zale get me a goat, she needs milk."

Zale smiling left the hut in search of a nanny goat.

Doris was a mystery wrapped in an enigma.  If Halie looked away for a second, Doris quick as a dragonfly was in the sea. When her parents searched for her dead lifeless body, sure she drowned,  she would return riding on a dolphin. Doris would sit in the sand for hours, singing to seabirds. She waved at the moon, giggled at the sun and played with hermit crabs. In the village, wide eyed, quiet, she hid behind her parent's legs. Thumb in mouth, she crept, never looking anyone in the face. Only in the firelight, at storytime did she gaze into the eyes of a storyteller. She listened until sleep took her to dreamland. 

She grew into a young women. Her hair shone like copper in the sun. Her eyes teased with the depth of the ocean. She was not beautiful, but her body gladed like a soaring bird on an air current. Men were enchanted. Rumors of her grace spread. When she sang in the village, at night, all sorrows ceased.

Zale sat, in his hut, by the fire, stroking his long grey beard. "Doris, do you have a sweetheart? "

Halie "what kind of question is that?" 

"One that must be asked." He sighed.

Doris served her parent's fish stew. "Yes the sunkissed beach, after a spring rain. The moon spreading diamonds in the surf. Crickets singing, owls hooting, mermaids playing flutes. The smell of an ocean breeze. There are many things sweet to my heart." 

"Yes, but is there a man, who is sweet to your heart?" Zale questioned.

"No, I know little of men, except they look at me strangely." Replied Doris.

Halie appraised her daughter, "dose anyone wish to marry her?"

"Marry! Why would I marry?"

Zale, "no man, not yet but soon."

"Greetings" remarked a giggling women's voice, from outside the hut.

What a guest? In all the years Doris lived in the hut no one visited. "Shoo" she signaled to her parents. She looked outside, the new moon shed no light. The stars cast no shadow.

"Greetings, are you ignoring me?" 

Doris stepped into the  night. She smelt a floral scent, perfume? All she could see was an outline of a tall person, with a walking stick.

"Hello, are you lost." Stammered Doris. 

"Could you help me? I'm searching for a sunken ship."  

"There are 2 sunken ships, but there on the bottom of the sea." 

"Oh just point the way.."

Zale, "take her to the ships! Please excuse my daughter's manners." He  humbly spoke. 

Doris lead the odd women to the edge of the sea. She gave directions in the language of the dolphins.. 

The women understood. She opened Doris's hand, a light the color of a maiden's first kiss, entered her skin. "I grant you 3 wishes, use them wisely. The women turned into a fish, leaped into the sea.

Doris sprinted to the driftwood hut. She told her parent's what happened.

Halie hugged herself rocking, "a god here, why would an immortal be here?"

Zale shaking," an immortal? Will do as she pleases."

Doris starred at her hand. It looked the same, she felt the same. A god, 3 wishes?

Screams filled the night. The smell of smoke, clogged the air. Doris looked outside the hut. Flames licked the sky. 

"Wake up, now ? She commanded, slapping her parents. "Wake up."

"OH no raiders! Run Doris hide." Halie ordered.

"Come with me" begged Doris.

Zale," save yourself, leave us. We're to old to run" He shoved her out the door. 

Doris fell to the ground, shaking, her body would not obey. Like a statue she froze.

A raider picked  her up. "Look what I found" foul decayed breath caused her to gage. Steel hands enclosed her wrist. He set her home on fire.

The raider knocked her out.

Day dawned, like any other day,  sun warmed the golden sand, surf lapped the shore, birds sang, but the smell of smoke lingered.

Doris woke up in a pile of bodies stacked like firewood. She heard strange male voices. A women cried. She forced her eyes open. Smoke lazily drifted, over burning embers, the remains of huts. Dead bodies littered the ground. Strange men, carrying swords and spears poked thru the ashes.

"Not much here," grumbled a male voice, "load the ship."

The maidens,  some young boys, a pair of hogs and a goat we're shoved onto a wooden ship.. The men rowed the ship away from the shore. 

Doris watched her home disappear. The reek of sweat and fish, filled the air. Filth covered her body. 

A man grabbed her. He stroked her copper hair, groped her neck. She slapped him. He smiled reveling rotted teeth. 

" no no no" screamed Doris. The man hit her and rubbed her chest.

Doris shook, wiggled tried to jump off the ship. It was in vain, the man to strong.

The immortal,  the wish. She cursed. "Grant me revenge, sink this ship." 

A volt of lightning, out of the clear blue sky, struck the ship. The ship split, sunk. The men weighed down by armour drowned. The hogs and goat swam to the shore, but the maidens tied together, were drowning. 

Doris cast her second wish. "Save the maidens please."

A trumpet wailed. A rainbow glow encircled the maidens. Their legs and feet shivered and shook. The maidens grew gills, they grew scales, they breathed salt water.  Their legs turned into fins.  They swam like fish. Doris looked at the maidens and herself. What had she done? They were alive, but was it worth it? What were they?  They had human heads and arms but the bodies of  fish. The music faded, the glow disappeared. The maiden fishes moaned.

Doris swam back to her home. All that remained  smoke and ash, death. With a fish tail, she could not even bury her parents. She pounded the sand and screamed, in vain. The only reply bird song. The fishy maidens surrounded her.

 "I want revenge. Grant me my third wish. Give me the power to destroy men." 

On the shore a tall dark figure waved a walking stick. She chanted. "Your wish is honored. I give you enchanted voices. Just sing men will follow you anywhere."

To this day, Doris and her maidens live in the sea. They set traps and wait for ships. They sing to the sailors, giving them immense joy, until their ship crash on rocks and sink.

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Reviews

[RKB]

What a fun story! I thought it was whimsical and well-structured. There were some minor grammar issues, but they didn't detract from the story too much. I wished there was more sensory details regarding the Fates and other things, but overall, I enjoyed reading this story.

[Carrie]

Thanks for the review. This helps with editing