UP UNTIL NOW, we’ve had inklings of the great powers of ‘our’ mermaid Salacia (Elzahn Dorfling) , in Martyn le Roux’s serialised podcast, Die Soutwaterheks, but nothing beyond what could easily be seen to amount to party tricks and complex mystical theories, really. In episode 18, you get a taste of the creature’s wrath that puts clarity into the traditional terror of the mermaid: she can cause lost men to come to grief.

And grief is certainly what Belinda’s abusive bloke Richard (DJ Muller), meets at Salacia’s magical bidding and under her hand. It’s a strange episode about love and war, abusive and mind-reading which takes the story into Francois’s bedroom as the evening progresses, but it is one in which the clarity of the mermaid as a cipher for doom, emerges.

Salacia’s not just an unusual girl with pointy ears and webbed fingers. She’s not just someone capable of insinuating herself into the thinking of anyone and pushing a reluctant situation to its obvious conclusion. She’s a sister, a powerful advocate for an end to woman abuse, and something which unequivocally distinguishes good from evil. And she has the tools for the later, and is not afraid to use them.

It’s here where Richard, the abusive boyfriend in question, meets his nemesis, but also here where what has been obvious between Francois and Belinda for some time, is eased up a notch or two, romantic platitudes aside.

Die Soutwaterheks has 25 chapters: Watch this space for consecutive reviews! Recorded and released independently online, in both MP3 and MP4 formats, in Afrikaans with bits of English, this tale, told in individual episodes is accessible through various links.

• Die Soutwaterheks: Episode 18 “Ontmoet jou Nemesis” (Meet your Nemesis) is written by Martyn Le Roux. Directed by Martyn Le Roux, and featuring technical input and sound research by Arné von Molledorf and Martyn Le Roux, and music by Yolanda Strauss and David Muller, it is performed by Francois Coertze, Elzahn Dorfling, Annette Havenga and DJ Muller. It is available here.