by Melody Rose
“That’s how I prefer it,” Hannan said with a cheeky smile.
My face flushed red and only deepened when I hear Julei’s giggle from her spot on the log. Freja wrapped a gentle hand around Julei’s mouth to silence her. Still, the young, immature girl shook with chuckles.
“Alright then,” I said, not knowing how to respond to Hannan’s obvious flirting. I could only think of getting on Monte’s back and moving forward. I held out a hand for Hannan. “Are you coming then?”
Hannan asked Monte for permission to fly on his back, which the dragon graciously gave. Then, he pulled himself up using my offered hand. Graciously, the caretaker sat behind me and let me lead. However, he wrapped his hands around my middle, still keeping his hand on mine the whole time.
Heat rocketed up my spine, and I tried to ignore the tingles of having Hannan so close to me. It was the nearest we’d been physically since that night atop the hill. I took in a deep breath that was timed perfectly with Monte’s ascent into the air.
The ride passed by in silence. It was surprisingly comfortable and not awkward like I thought it might have been. Hannan and I were known for our conversations so that rarely we spent any time together in quiet. However, I relaxed a little and let myself enjoy the company of being so physically close to a kind man with a good heart.
I allowed myself to muse on the life Hannan talked about before. Him being Lead Caretaker and I being on the king’s council or working the Menagerie. As I told him before, I didn’t really like making plans, but there was something fun about planning the future. It never occurred to me what I would do once Reon was defeated, and everything returned to normal.
That wasn’t my normal, though. Ever since I landed in this world, it was all threats, training, and discovery. Would I be content when I wasn’t fighting off the world’s most evil creature? Would I be happy in this extraordinary world with an ordinary life?
I chanced a glance over my shoulder at Hannan, who smiled brightly at me. He looked so handsome with the wind blowing back his long brown hair. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose in that adorable way. I thought I could be happy with him. It was certainly possible.
Could be and were, though, were two entirely different feelings. Something told me that I needed to consider all of my options when this journey was over and done. I did not know the type of person I would be or what the future looked like. Right now, it was silly to muse on something more than the present.
“You are fretting,” Monte interrupted my thoughts.
Though it was a welcome interruption, I still huffed a little. “I thought you couldn’t read my thoughts unless I intentionally let you.”
“That is true,” the dragon confirmed. “However, when you feel strong emotions, like worry, I do sense it. That and you are gripping my body so tightly with your legs that it might leave a bruise.”
I relaxed my legs and shook them out at my sides a little. Hannan noticed this movement and asked, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, infusing too much cheer into my voice.
Hannan gave me a kiss on the back of my head, and a shiver went down my spine. “Does Monte know if we will be there soon?”
I leaned over the side and looked down. Below us was a sea of blue. It stretched for miles in all directions and was intimidating as hell. However, everything was so calm. Eerily still, more like a lake than the powerful ocean. We were looking for warring waves that always went in different directions.
“Anything yet, Monte?” I asked aloud so Hannan could hear the answer.
“Not yet,” the dragon replied. “We are heading due North, however, so we should run into it soon. I hope.”
“There!” I called out with a sharp point down below. “It’s the first signs of movement I have seen from the water.” I cocked my head to one side, unsure of what I was seeing. “Do those waves look like they are making an ‘x’?”
Hannan took my shoulders in both hands and leaned over to match my body movements. “Yes… it does,” he confirmed even though he sounded surprised and unsure.
Below us, the water flowed together in a crisscrossed motion. It wasn’t obvious, but against the rest of the still ocean, it stood out like a red blinking light. We descended slowly until Monte could hover above the waves. The closer we got, the louder they roared. We circled around the spot that marked the entrance to the mermaid kingdom.
“Now, what do we do?” Hannan shouted to be heard over the crashing.
“Jump?” I offered, unable to think of anything else.
“That seems dangerous,” Hannan said, his voice still loud but shaking.
“Do you have another idea?” I questioned.
I readied myself by swinging my leg over on the other side. I sat sidesaddle on Monte, who balanced out by flapping his wings up and down. With my hand, I took Hannan’s arm and pulled him closer to me.
“We have to stay in contact the whole time, you understand?” I locked eyes with him and made sure he understood the seriousness of the situation. “I will make it so you can breathe underwater, but we have to stay connected.”
Hannan nodded but gulped out of nervousness. He held out his hand for me to take, and I did so. I squeezed it tightly as a sign of reassurance.
“I’m going to count down, okay?” I told Hannan. “One. Two. Three.”
Together, Hannan and I slid off the back of the dragon and down into the tumultuous waves. We fell together, hand in hand, into the water. We splashed feet first into a wet cold that shook our bones. It pierced through our skin and iced our blood. I felt as though my lungs froze as we tumbled further and further into the depths of the ocean.
I tapped into Myels’ gift. Air re-inflated my lungs and pushed warmth through my veins. I squeezed Hanna’s hand tighter to let him know that air was coming, life was on its way.
The momentum from the fall slowed, and we floated in the water, suspended between the rocks below and the surface above. Our vision cleared as the white water dragon’s gift flowed into me.
The once-cold water wrapped around us like a heavy blanket. As with the first time that I used Myels’ gift of breathing underwater, the colors brightened and sparkled. Everything had hard edges and a clarity that the ever-moving ocean shouldn’t have been able to give.
We still couldn’t see the ocean floor. The waters delved deep below us into a darkness that even my enhanced sense of sight couldn’t decipher. However, as we gazed into the scene around us, we did see a rock structure in the distance. Hannan pointed enthusiastically.
I responded with a nod, and we swam towards the rock structure. As we approached, the building loomed into a gate. It stretched into a coral archway that stood on a hill. On either side, two mermaids bobbed in the water. Both of them had bare torsos and bald heads. Their faces were shaped to an almost creepy proportion. Even though neither male had facial hair, they looked intimidating and manly. Their bottom halves were sculpted with thick silvery scales that branched off into two smooth fins.
When we got closer, the two guards turned their spears, made with sharpened coral tips, towards us. Hannan and I held up our hands in the air in surrender, yet our hands were still linked.
“What are you doing here?” one of the mermaids asked with a gruff voice. No air bubbles appeared near his mouth when he spoke, yet the words reached us with absolute clarity.
I opened my mouth to do the same thing, hoping I might be able to speak to him. No sound came out. Only water surged in and forced me to cough and jerked backward. Hannan kept hold of my hand while I flayed about.
The guards didn’t wait for me to recover. They looked to one another and shared a knowing glance. “They are human,” one reported.
“Yet they seem to be breathing,” the other said, his voice more high-pitched than the other mermaid. “How strange.”
I realized that we had a huge problem. We hadn’t thought about communication when we jumped off the back of a dragon and into the ocean.
When Myels and I first went underwater, we were able to communicate via our mental link. I never questioned that I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone else underwater. Now, we were stuck down here without the ability to tell the mermaids what we wanted.
Shit.
“What do we do with them?” the guards continued their conversation.
I squeezed my hands in frustration. As a last-ditch effort, I projected out my thoughts to the guards, as if I would have talked to Myels or Monte.
“We’re here to see Lorisis,” I thought. “He has something we need.”
“You cannot just request an audience with the king,” one of the guards responded without moving his mouth.
“Holy shit, that worked!” I responded, elated but unthinkingly. Seizing on the opportunity, I continued in a rush. “We met with Opala, Lorisis’s lover, and she led us here. He has a gift that was given to him by Queen Irena, and we need it to help save Andsdyer from Reon.”
The buffer of the two guards, the one with the lower voice, blinked in response. The leaner one showed no sign of surprise or reaction at all.
“Who are you?” the leaner one said with a voice of indifference.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m Sir Eva, and this is Sir Hannan,” I responded, using the less formal introduction method that was common with mermaids rather than the full title of Andsdyer. Sir was also gender neutral in their society and used to address anyone with authority. I swallowed, my impatience making an appearance, but I continued out of politeness. “And you are?”
“We are Hynry and Waldrus,” the buffer of the two said, labeling himself as Waldrus. He turned to his companion. “I recognize those names.”
“Calem knows them,” Hynry answered monotonously as if reporting a fact.
“Yes!” I exclaimed excitedly. “Yes, Calem and Bewe helped us before. They know both of us. Are they here? They will vouch for us.”
Hynry grunted, but Waldrus gave his fellow guard a jab with his elbow. “They have traveled a long way. We should honor their request.”
“We are to guard the gates, Waldrus,” Hynry argued, “not let in anyone that requests it.”
“How much evidence do you need?” I asked with gritted teeth.
As if he could sense my growing irritation, Hannan squeezed my hand and rubbed my skin with his thumb. I took a deep breath and then restructured my strategy.
“The Queen of Dragons requests an audience with the King of the Mermaids, Lorisis,” I announced, pushing the most nobility into my thoughts that I could. “It regards the safety of our kingdoms and the continued threat of the false king, Reon.”
“Sir Eva,” Waldrus said with a small bow of his head. “Follow me.”
“Waldrus,” his companion warned by putting a hand on Waldrus’ chest.
The guard gently removed Hynry’s hand. “I do not want to be the one to reject a queen to our kingdom.”
“We do not know if she says who she says she is,” Hynry challenged. He swam in the way of Waldrus, blocking the guard’s path.
“You can take my word for it, Hynry,” a female mermaid with moonlight-colored skin said as she swam up to the entrance, the water rippling up along her. Her tail waved beautifully as she approached. I recognized her well-proportioned face immediately.
“Bewe,” I said a little too excitedly. Hannan squeezed my hand, and I lowered my voice and tone. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”
“Likewise,” the female mermaid said as she straightened up and put her hands behind her back. “I observe some of those changes we discussed.”
My brain raced to keep up with her comment. I thought back to the first time we had met and the last words she and Calem left me with. They told me my powers could not be contained and that they wanted to see changes with results inside me. Well, I hoped that bonding with multiple dragons, becoming Queen of Dragons, and successfully healing various people from the contaminated constituted some significant changes.
“A lot has happened since we last saw one another,” I said, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t want to hash out everything in front of the two guards.
“So I see,” Bewe said. She turned to Hynry and Waldrus, and her tone changed to one of authority. “You will permit Sir Eva and Sir Hannan entry into the kingdom. I will escort them to the king.”
After Bewe made the command, both guards floated aside. Without wasting another minute, Hannan and I ventured forward. We followed the mermaid through the coral gate and into the home of these wondrous creatures.
It was a beautiful community. Homes were constructed from coral and shells. Mermaids of all kinds, with a variety of fin and skin colors, swam about. Some structures were built into the ocean floor, but there were no doors on any of the buildings. Mermaids just came in and out at will.
Little orbs of light illuminated the water around us, stuck in the holes of the coral. It was like looking at a bunch of unconnected Christmas lights. Some mermaids carried the orbs of light around their necks, like pieces of jewelry. The water fractal'd around the lights to create a puzzling array, almost like an optical illusion.
Bewe led us to one of the more elaborate structures. It was decorated with a peach-colored coral that stretched up to three tiers like a crown. We floated down into the base of the castle and were met at the door by another set of guards.
“There is a lot of security for such a seemingly peaceful kingdom,” I commented, projecting my thoughts to Bewe.
“We have had some fear of the contamination,” Bewe answered. “It stretches out from Andsdyer each day and threatens to infect our borders. We are worried that Reon would send some of his companions down to plague us like he did with the Coast of Teine. So far, we have managed to stay hidden.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said, trying to be sympathetic.
We entered only with the permission of Bewe and the guards. She led us through a series of hallways, all coated with coral. It was magnificent architecture, still rough and full of holes, but with a great design. The hallways also had the glowing orbs, spaced out every so often so we could see along the way.
Finally, we were led to an open space where a chandelier of orbs curved up into a cone shape as it hung from the center of the room. The chamber was circular with a marble table in the center, reminiscent of King Arthur’s round table. Sitting on the far end, away from us, was a large mermaid with bulging muscles that protruded off him intimidatingly. Unlike any of the other mermaids, this male had a mane of black hair that waved off him in the moving water. It was tied in many braids, fishtails, and other assorted styles as if he let his young daughters play with his hair.
However, his hair only distracted me for a moment. Because as I looked up and down King Lorisis’ bare torso, something else caught my eye. Hanging around his neck was a leather cord and looped through it was a half-circle with one jagged edge.
For the first time, I laid eyes on half of Queen Irena’s key to Rictorus.
29
“Queen Eva,” the male mermaid said as he floated into an upright position. He placed his palms on the marble table to help him rise. His fingers steepled into triangles as if to steady himself. “It is a pleasure.”
“The pleasure is ours, King Lorisis,” I responded in kind. “This is my friend, Hannan.”
I gestured to Hannan with an open palm. Even though Hannan could not hear our communication, he got the message and nodded in reply.
King Lorisis pointed one finger in Hannan’s direction. “Can he not understand us?”
“Not to my knowledge, no,” I answered. “If there is any way to fix that, I would be grateful. I trust Hannan with my life.”
“As he trusts you with his, I see,” the king said as he acknowledged our joined hands. “I take it you are the one who is helping him breathe beneath our waters.”
“Yes,” I confirmed. A suspicion formed in my chest, and I narrowed my gaze at the mermaid. “I take it we are safe down here by some sort of diplo
matic immunity?”
“Indeed,” Lorisis agreed. He put a hand to his chest, right over the key, and bowed his head. “I do not believe the dragons would take it well if I harmed their queen or her companion.”
“Too true,” I confirmed with a half-smile.
“Let us ensure your friend can join in the conversation, yes?” Lorisis swam over to us and held out his thumb in a thumbs-up gesture. He approached Hannan, getting close enough to the caretaker to kiss.
The king raised his thumb and swiped it across Hannan’s forehead with one smooth gesture. Hannan remained remarkably still throughout the procedure as if he knew the importance of this action. The king ran his thumb back the other way in one complete motion and then retreated a few feet back.
“Welcome to the conversation, Hannan,” Lorisis greeted.
Hannan’s body jerked a little bit at the sound of the mermaid’s voice in his head. I smiled reassuringly at my friend and then spoke to him as well.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We figured out a way to talk to them.”
“Well, thank you for including me,” Hannan said a little wistfully. “I was starting to feel left out. This whole experience is incredible. Your kingdom is beautiful.”
“Thank you,” the king said with his own bright smile. His teeth were surprisingly straight and white. “May I offer you a seat?” Lorisis held out his hand to one of the dozen chairs around the table.
“I don’t think we’ll be here that long,” I said, testing the waters. “Or at least, I hope not.”
“You seek something from me, as I understand it,” Lorisis replied, catching on to my sense of urgency. He tapped the key around his neck with one finger. “Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re quite right,” I confirmed as I widened my smile. “Do you know what you have there?”
“Something quite valuable if it warranted a visit from the new Queen of Dragons,” Lorisis said as he returned to his own seat. He plopped upon it, without making a sound, and lifted his fins on the table arrogantly.
“Queen Irena never told you what it was?” I wondered, thinking that was unlike the former queen to withhold information from her allies like that.
