Kingdom of Salt and Sirens

by J. A. Armitage

  Of course, I wanted to. Not just for me but for Hayden and for Astrid too. Whatever was going on in my mother’s head was all about me. I was convinced that it really had nothing to do with Hayden at all.

  When the stranger told me the plan, I could barely believe the audacity of it and yet anything was better than the alternative.

  I ran my fingers down his face. The plan meant that not only would Hayden and Astrid be happy, but I would be too. I looked at him, my stranger and wondered if the cost was too great.

  His green eyes glistened in the shaft of light, and his hair looked almost blue. He was so strange and so beautiful, and yet, I didn’t really know him. All we’d shared were a few snatched hours and a kiss here and there. I didn’t even know his name. In all the time we’d spent together, I didn’t know what he was called. More importantly, apart from that first time when he’d rescued me from the sinking ship, I’d not heard his voice. Not really. Since then, he’d communicated to me through his mind.

  “What is your name?” I asked, winding a lock of his hair around my finger.

  “Ari,” he replied. “Ari-El”

  “Ari,” I repeated back. I’d never heard a name like it before in Trifork, but then he wasn’t from Trifork. He was from another world entirely, a world that I wanted to explore.

  I wanted to know more, to know everything about him, but more than that, I wanted to keep this feeling, to just be with him.

  I inched my way down the beach, easing my way into the water of the underground lagoon. I loved how warm the water was and how I felt, moving my body effortlessly through it. I floated backward, my arms and legs spread out.

  I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of floating and the thought that my problem was going to be solved. I knew I needed to get home to face the music, but I wasn’t going to rush. I heard a splash, and then I was pulled under the water. Ari swam around me playfully. Now, that light filtered in through the ceiling, I could see the whole of the underwater world, a whole living ecosystem under the rocks. I watched as Ari swam around me, showing off, and yet touching base with me every few seconds so I could breathe. He held my hand and swam me around letting me play with the fishes and try swimming by myself.

  If Ari’s plan panned out, I’d be able to spend as much time as I wanted getting to know this underwater world, and no one would be able to stop me.

  He took me out to the open sea where we swam for miles. A pod of dolphins joined us, diving in and out of the water. The sun sparkled off the water’s surface sending shimmers of light down into the depths. We swam so far out, I could barely see the coast anymore. All my troubles were back there. Out here, I was as free as I wanted to be. Out here, I could do what I wanted as long as Ari was beside me. Out here, I was happy.

  It was the perfect day, or it was until the sound of the water being chopped up on the surface spoiled the tranquility.

  “What’s that?” I asked in alarm, looking up to where black shapes blocked out the sun.

  Ari had seen them too. He pulled me quickly downwards to the seabed as more light was blocked out.

  He put his arm around me protectively, his face set in a grimace. “It’s ships, boats. It’s your people. They are looking for you.”

  I knew that my parents would want to find me, but I was surprised at the lengths they were going to, to do it. There were so many boats above us, I could barely make out the gaps of sky between them. As I watched, a diver jumped into the water with a splash, quickly followed by two more. Everywhere I looked, people in diving gear were hurling themselves from the boats.

  “We need to get out of here,” I blurted, trying to swim away from the people. They were everywhere now, hundreds of them.

  Ari didn’t answer, he didn’t have to. Instead, he pulled me through the water quickly, keeping to the depths in the hope that we wouldn’t be seen.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as the water barraged past, leaving me almost blind with the speed we were going.

  He stopped for a second and faced me. I could see him clearly now that we were away from the boats.

  “I have to ask you something, and I’d like you to be honest with me.”

  I nodded, fearful of what he would ask me.

  “When I first met you on that beach, I knew instantly that you were someone special. When you asked me to kiss you after I gave you CPR, I wanted to. I also knew that you were someone special to other people. The fact that so many people were out looking for you told me that. I don’t know much about the land dwellers, but I knew enough to know that the people searching for you were palace guards. I recognized their uniforms. When I left you, I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”

  “I felt the same way about you,” I interrupted. He smiled at me and then continued.

  “I spent hours watching the palace, trying to figure out a way to meet you that wouldn’t terrify you. It was then I saw that there was to be a ball for your birthday. I came onto the land, stole a suit, and after putting it into a waterproof bag, I swam around to the back of the palace and sneaked in. Maybe I was hoping to get you out of my system. I don’t even know.

  “When I saw you in that dress and saw you blush when you saw me, I knew you felt the same way I did. Dancing with you was the singularly most exciting thing I’d ever done. No, scrap that. Kissing you afterward was the most exciting thing. If I’d gone to the ball to get you out of my mind, I’d completely failed. I knew I wanted to spend more time with you. I guess I knew earlier because I’d already written that note and left it in my pocket, hoping you’d find it.”

  My heart was thumping madly with the things he was telling me. I wanted to tell him that he excited me more than he could ever know, but I knew I should let him finish what he had to say. I wanted to listen to his words. They echoed my own feelings so completely.

  “It took you so long to find it that I thought that I’d made a mistake and gotten it wrong. I was so happy when you came to me. Of course, by then I knew you were a princess. The heir to the Throne of Trifork, no less.”

  “Yes, so?”

  “So, that makes our relationship difficult.”

  “I don’t see how,” I replied although that was a lie. The hundred or so boats we’d left behind told me that much.

  “I just want to know if this is worth it for you. We barely know each other. Being with me is going to make your life so complicated. Mine too in ways I didn’t think about when I went to your palace that night. I’ve been ignoring it for days, too caught up in just being with you, but as you can see, it’s caught up with us.”

  “What are you asking me?” My heart was threatening to thump right out of my chest. I never felt cold in the water with him, but a chill was running through me now.

  “I’m asking if you really want to do this...to be with me. I could easily take you back to the boats. They’ll pull you up, and you’ll go back to living the life you were supposed to.”

  I didn’t even need to think about it. “This is the life I’m supposed to lead. Here with you. I can feel it. It’s not even just you. There’s something about the ocean. I feel like I belong here.”

  His expression changed then. The serious face he’d had when talking to me softened, and I could see the relief in it. He wanted me, and I wanted him, and for that moment in time, that’s all I cared about.

  “In that case, we need to get you away from here. For now, at least.”

  “I will have to go back at some point soon if we are going to put that plan of yours into action,” I reminded him.

  “Soon,” he replied, “but not just yet!”

  Ari took my hand, both of us knowing that our plan, our decision would change the course of the history of Trifork, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t care. Trifork would carry on as always, and in a few years, no one would remember the royal wedding. At least, I hoped not.

  We swam through the water, leaving the boats behind us. Well, Ari was swimming. I was doing my best to kick my legs, so he wasn’t
doing all the work.

  Ahead of us, rising up from the ocean floor, a great underwater city loomed. I hadn’t put much thought into where Ari lived before now. I guess I was expecting some kind of underwater utopia where beautiful mermaids sat on coral beds, brushing their hair. What I didn’t expect was a real city. A place with streets and buildings and people going about their business in much the same way as the people in Trifork did. Huge living monoliths of coral, mud, and bits of flotsam and jetsam from passing ships came together to create buildings, real buildings with windows and doors. Sea flowers bloomed everywhere, on the streets and on the sides of buildings, painting the whole town a riot of living color. Schools of prettily colored fish swam in and out of the buildings, and sea creatures scurried along the floor. To top it all off, sun glinted off the buildings making the whole place sparkle. It was as if the whole place was its very own ecosystem, which I guess in fact it was.

  “It’s beautiful,” I whispered in my head, in awe of the spectacle before us.

  “It’s Havfrue. It’s my home,” replied Ari simply.

  We swam through avenues of salmon pink coral as other merpeople went about their business. The few that did catch sight of us together either dashed away nervously or gave us disapproving looks as we passed. Just like I hadn’t really thought much about the town, I’d not really put much thought into the other merfolk either. Unlike above land where most people were either dark-haired or blonde, down here the merpeople’s hair was every color of the rainbow. I’d never thought how rare my mother’s and my red hair was before, but now, seeing this, I realized that the shade of red both our hair shared would not look out of place here at all. I’d never actually met anyone before now with quite the same shade of red—not ginger, not strawberry blond, but flaming red hair. Here in Havfrue, I spotted a number of people with the very same shade. In the distance, loomed a building or a series of buildings, it was hard to tell which; but it was huge, towering over the whole city.

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the monolith in the distance.

  “That’s where the king lives. I’m not going to take you there. The king would not be happy to know there was a land dweller here in Havfrue. He believes land dwellers to be our mortal enemy.”

  I must have looked nervous because he added “He won’t find out if we keep to the outskirts. Here we are.”

  In front of us, was a small building made out of the most beautiful blue-purple coral. Small orange and black fish darted in and out of the entrance. Inside, was a small room with no furniture. Light poured in from the window illuminating the dramatic colors of the place. Apart from a few shells on the sandy bed, the whole place was empty. Ok, not quite empty, in the corner, was a small octopus.

  Ollie! I opened my mouth in surprise and got a mouthful of water. I needed to remember not to do that again. The small creature swam over to me and swam over my fingers.

  We spent the morning playing with Ollie, hidden away from the world in Ari’s small room. I wanted to stay there forever. If I had any choice in the matter at all, I might very well have, but I knew I’d have to go back to the shore to face the music sooner rather than later. Ari’s plan wouldn’t work if we lazed around all day in the water, no matter how much I wanted it to. When the sun was high in the sky, I decided it was time to go back.

  As we swam closer to the shore, I could see the sheer amount of guards out combing the seafront, waiting for us. Hundreds of small sailing boats bobbed around on the water by the coast waiting for me to come home.

  “You can’t come back to the shore with me,” I said, using my mind to communicate with Ari.

  “How are you going to get back without me? You can’t swim remember?”

  “I can,” I insisted, tugging my hand from his. After attempting a couple of strokes and barely keeping my head above water, I had to admit it was a lost cause. I’d drown long before I got near the coast. As I cast my eyes along the line of small boats, I spotted one I recognized. With a yellow stripe around it, I knew it belonged to Hayden. So, he was out looking for me too.

  “That’s Hayden’s boat,” I said, this time speaking aloud. I pointed to the boat with the yellow stripe. “If you can get me to him, you should be able to swim away with no problem. Hayden won’t hurt you when I tell him who you are.”

  The yellow striped boat was not the closest, nor was it far from the other boats which would make things harder, but with Ari pulling me along underwater, we were able to get to it undetected. I reached up and grabbed the edge, keeping the rest of me underwater so I wouldn’t be seen.

  “Go!” I said in my mind. “I’ll stay underwater as long as I can so you can get away.”

  He kissed me briefly then turned, swishing his tail behind him and churning up the water. When I could hold my breath no longer, I pulled myself up to the surface and gulped in great breaths of air.

  “Hayden!” I shouted up to him, but it wasn’t Hayden’s head that appeared over the side of the boat. It was my mother’s.

  A huge pair of hands came over the side, and I realized they belonged to my father. They must have known I’d go for Hayden’s boat. A man I didn’t recognize sailed the boat, and Hayden was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where’s Hayden?” I asked defiantly as my father hauled me over the side.

  My mother’s face was contorted in fury, but there was something else there too. She was genuinely scared. I glared at her, expecting her to shout at me; but instead, she moved towards me, bringing me into a hug. Her body shook with sobs as she held me close to her. What was going on? One minute she was angry, the next she was fearful. I looked to my father who remained stoic, keeping his eyes on the coast. He gave the command, and the captain turned the small boat around and headed for land. As I looked around me, the other boats followed.

  “Promise me you’ll not run away again,” my mother said, tears in her eyes. “Promise me you’ll have the wedding to Hayden. He’s been so worried about you. He thought you might drown.”

  I nodded my head, completely confused by what was happening. It was a promise I only half intended to keep.

  That night during dinner, when I’d bathed and dressed, my mother informed me that Hayden was now under house arrest. Even though he’d tried to stop me from leaving and had absolutely no idea about Ari, my mother didn’t want him running away any more than she wanted me to. Because of this, both us were confined to our rooms in our respective houses for the next three days. Knowing what I knew, being stuck in my room didn’t bother me. I spent the next three days being the perfect, obedient daughter and princess. By day, I attended dress fittings, tried cakes, and watched the palace staff decorate the great hall where not only the reception was due to take place, but the wedding too.

  I offered my opinion of bridesmaid dress colors even though I didn’t really have anyone I cared about enough to be a bridesmaid. If Astrid was still around, I’d have chosen her. But as she wasn’t, I had to make do with my two younger cousins who lived at the other side of the kingdom and whom I barely knew.

  Nighttime was another matter. I spent endless hours sitting on my balcony, gazing out to sea, watching the moonlight shimmer over calm waves. In all the time I spent out there, I didn’t see Ari, and for three days, I couldn’t communicate with him. However much I tried speaking to him through my mind, he never replied.

  The day of the wedding arrived all too soon. My mother woke me early with a cup of coffee and a breezy smile on her face.

  “Good morning, good morning,” she trilled as she flung back the curtains. I doubted she’d feel the same when the day was over. I took the mug from her gratefully and took a deep gulp, enjoying the caffeine hit as it went down.

  “Get yourself in the bath quickly,” she said, ushering me out of bed as I gripped the mug handle tightly so as not to spill the coffee on the bed.

  I headed out onto the balcony as my mother turned the taps on in the small en-suite bathroom. The day was shaping up to be beautiful, the weathe
r perfect for a royal wedding. A single, white cloud flittered across an otherwise perfect, blue sky, and the sun warmed my cheeks.

  “Your bath is nearly ready,” my mother yelled from my bedroom. “I’ll send someone up with your dress.”

  I thanked her, praying she’d leave me alone. This was going to be one of the most important days of my life, and I wanted to enjoy it...or get through it in peace.

  As my balcony looked over the ocean behind the palace, I had no idea just how many people had turned up to see me. I was pretty sheltered here, although I could see a number of boats out on the sea, no doubt with journalists and photographers trying to be the first to get a photo of me in my wedding dress. Well, they weren’t in luck. Having just gotten out of bed, I was currently wearing a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms that had seen better days. That might have been newsworthy in itself, but from the sea, my bottoms would be hidden by the balcony railings. I downed my coffee with a sigh, waved at the people on the boats and headed inside to my future, whatever that was going to be.

  I washed my hair thoroughly and towel dried it, knowing that my mother had hired a professional to style it. Wrapping the towel around my waist, I headed to the bedroom, wondering what exactly I’d find there. I’d been measured for the dress, but with so little time to have a dress fitting, I’d not actually seen the finished thing. Had this been a wedding I really cared about, I might have been upset that I’d not chosen my own dress, but as it was, my biggest concern was whether it fit and how quickly I could run in it.

  On the bed, was a dress cover with a coat hanger at the top. I knew my mother had style, she was famous for her dress sense, so I knew whatever I found in there would be pretty spectacular. I unzipped it and pulled out a beautiful white dress. It had a love heart neckline and nipped in at the waist before billowing out in a skirt of the slightest hint of pink. On top of that, delicate lace flowers cascaded down the entire length of it. It was not what I would choose for myself, but I couldn’t deny that it was beautiful.