The youth changed positions, using his legs to support the efforts of his shoulder, trying to shift the heavy net to one side and get a better view of its contents. Once he did, the flesh inside turned, revealing its face. There, framed within the heavy wet ropes, in a net he and his father had just dragged from the depths of the sea, Vasilis gazed upon a woman. She was naked, or at least as far as he could tell from the waist up, and was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Looking at her, the motion of the ocean beneath the vessel felt almost like a lullaby, soothing his nerves and tempering his earlier enthusiasm. He seemed almost mesmerized by looking at her, her beauty even more striking than the statue of Aphrodite back at their village. Her long hair, jet black, seemed to resist penetration from the light, its dark color like that of a shark. Vasilis cautiously began to untangle more of the net from around her body, wanting to carefully remove her from the net, when suddenly she let out a loud cough. A large splash of water fell from her mouth, and onto the floor of the boat.
 
6001 words (MF, fantasy)
 
Cover art by Anthony Sturmas
www.asturmas.com