The Salt Grows Heavy (Dark Fantasy Mermaid Shit)

 

Killer, bathyal mermaids, and an androgynous, reanimated corpse acting as a plague doctor certainly makes an interesting story. In Cassandra Khaw’s novella The Salt Grows Heavy, a familiar fairytale is revisited with a gory and introspective twist. What do you do with aquatic beauty with sharp teeth, bewitching eyes, and iridescent hair? You remove her tongue and feed it to her under the guise of medicine, and if her children end up being just as homicidal as their mother, you really can’t blame them since she did warn you…before the autosarcophagy. A relationship such as this can only last so long until you and all that you built goes up in flames or rather is eaten by the murderous brood you helped create. Khaw has a somewhat flowery writing or excessive use of adjectives in her prose, which does cause some dragging, but at times it’s just the right thing to bring the images to life.  

 

“I rear upwards, mouth distending. My teeth close on the hinge of the surgeon’s jaw and bend. They perforate the underside of his mouth, impale his tongue. He gurgles a screeching objection and pinwheels backwards, hands slapping at the air. I follow, dragged by his momentum; sinew gashed to rags, skin torn, viscera slopping free of their containment. Something in me pulls taut. Something snaps.”

 

The mermaid and plague doctor form an unlikely bond over their mutual nonconsensual operations. It’s decided that they’ll venture somewhere else where they may belong and not be subject to the treatment they had previously experienced. Only one night into their journey they find themselves being led into the heart of a rural village home to immortal and murderous children. This village gives major Children of the Corn vibes, especially in their unwavering loyalty to men they deem to be gods and in the ritualistic slaughtering of each other. There is something deeply unsettling in reading about a pair of entities who are capable of defending themselves, but not knowing if that will be enough to save them in the end. As the story progresses, the violence only escalates until everyone is dead except the mermaid, who then spends an undetermined amount of time trying to resurrect the plague doctor. In the last couple of pages, it reads as more of a love story which I am not the biggest fan of, but prior to this is much darker and even horrifying at times. After the acknowledgements, some copies of the novella contain a short story that details the mermaid’s captivity under the prince. This part might be more triggering for those who have been in abusive relationships, but the ending is cathartic. 

 

Cassandar Khaw Official Instagram

Written by Caroline, Murderess of the Swine

The Salt Grows Heavy (2023)
Cassandra Khaw (writer)
Cover Art: Unknown
4 / 5