Hadama had been too busy fleeing to notice the drylander on the sand, but he noticed when the orca failed to sink its sharp teeth into his tail. The animal was surprised by the pain of the stinging lash; it was likely the first burn it had ever felt in its life, and it twisted in the water to get away from the source, losing momentum in its chase.
The merman swam a littler farther before turning to see what had happened, and caught sight of Maeve. He nodded grimly to himself and then reversed course, swimming back towards the orca - but also towards the woman with the weapon.
The orca wasn't hurt badly enough to be distracted for long, especially when it didn't see anything close enough in the water to have hurt it, so it immediately turned its attention back to the mermanta and made another lunge that Hadama tried to avoid with a violent twist through the water. Teeth grazed his rotating flank but failed to catch and hold before he was past and heading for the shallow water near where the woman stood.
The merman swam a littler farther before turning to see what had happened, and caught sight of Maeve. He nodded grimly to himself and then reversed course, swimming back towards the orca - but also towards the woman with the weapon.
The orca wasn't hurt badly enough to be distracted for long, especially when it didn't see anything close enough in the water to have hurt it, so it immediately turned its attention back to the mermanta and made another lunge that Hadama tried to avoid with a violent twist through the water. Teeth grazed his rotating flank but failed to catch and hold before he was past and heading for the shallow water near where the woman stood.
