by Starla Night
“Fly him in now,” Bella urged.
Ciran frowned. “No warriors are injured.”
“The Sons of Hercules are more determined than you realize. I underestimated them, and I don’t want you to make that mistake. If you pop up together, you will make an irresistible target.”
“We will not clump together like a bait ball,” he said, still serious. “We will take the recommended precautions of the new security team Dannika has contracted.”
“That’s not enough.”
He straightened and puffed his coffee-and-evergreen-scrolled chest. “We are warriors.”
“You’re literally fish out of water. How can you defend against an enemy you can’t see?”
“Bella is right,” Balim affirmed. “Beneath the water, we see raiders. But on the surface, the enemies are eels hiding within sea grasses. It is impossible to identify the poisoned strands until they are stabbing you in the chest.”
Ciran nodded. “Balim, you will review the health of the warriors in case we proceed as planned.”
“We will follow,” he promised.
She held Balim back. They hadn’t finished discussing how they would resolve the issue of the poison vial.
Ciran shouted over behind him, “And prepare, Queen Bella, for the welcome ceremony!”
The trio of warriors flew out to await them.
Her heart squeezed again. “Balim, I can’t let them welcome me to this city.”
“You must.” His gaze glowed with certainty. “This is your home, Bella. You drank the nectar. The sap of the Life Tree flows in your veins.”
“But the poison—”
“Must not touch the Life Tree.” He entwined her in his arms and kicked. His feet unfurled into long fins and crossed the courtyard with a single stroke. “You will find another way to defeat your enemies.”
“I want to believe you.”
“Believe.” He flew down the long, green entrance canal through the wall of the castle and exited into the city beside Ciran and the others. “And develop your queen powers.”
The other warriors overheard his vibrations because they beamed—except Ciran, who remained serious, but seemed less frowny.
“Meet the other queens.” Balim released her outside the Life Tree sanctuary beside Elyssa and Lucy playing with their children. “They will teach you what you need to know.”
He flew to a growing group of warriors a short distance away.
She tried to smile at the women while her mind turned over the problems.
A poisoned vial. A missing child. An elusive cure.
How would she escape this mess? Without hurting Atlantis, Jonah, or Balim?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Balim kept Bella in his field of vision while Second Lieutenant Ciran led him to the assembled warriors.
He did not think of it often, but Ciran had come from Undine as well. He had always kept a distance from Balim, like all citizens, but he had never taken part in the cruelty. He had never blamed Balim for his role in the deaths of the prince or his father.
Since he had left the city only a short time after Balim and also joined Soren’s ragtag army to free Kadir from the All-Council prison and found Atlantis, clearly he’d held many of the same values and reservations.
They had never spoken of their old home. Balim because it was too dark, and Ciran…the reason was unknown. He kept the serious mien of a scholar and represented his origin city well with his serious logic. Although aware of emotions, he did not let passions rule him. He was a true Undine.
Unlike Balim.
Now, Ciran made a strong second lieutenant. He signaled Bella’s guards. Iyen made brief eye contact with Balim before flying to Bella’s area and spreading between the warriors assigned to Queens Elyssa and Lucy. Gailen saluted and twirled after Bella.
She was so well-guarded, and yet…
Balim struggled with his concentration.
She had been so close to death. The painful fears swirled up around him. He’d almost lost her. The shock, the spasm, the dulling of her gaze and the slipping away of her soul. He choked on the memories. Not Bella. Not his Bella.
Second Lieutenant Ciran glanced back at him. “Healer Balim, are you unwell?”
“No.”
“But your soul…” Ciran noticed the dangerous fluctuation of his soul light. “Do you also question whether your bride is your soul mate?”
“My Bella is still upset by the loss of her son’s cure.” Balim reassured the listening warriors beyond Ciran. “She must acclimate to the mer world. Her confusion and distraught emotions are natural. My unsettled soul reflects this because we are united.”
Ciran’s brow smoothed, and he nodded his understanding.
Crisis averted.
The queens—Elyssa and Lucy—played with their young fry. The twins romped, and Prince Kael trailed.
Their giggles echoed in the city center, warming the hearts of all who heard the glad noise and filling the waiting warriors with smiles.
Queen Elyssa waved at them. “Bella, come over! We’ll practice fins. Tory and Yrun will show you how it’s done.”
“Healer Balim.” King Kadir, with silver lightning bolts, floated with him beside the gathering of warriors. “Ensure these warriors are at their peak of health.”
A shadow under the king’s rib cage caught Balim’s eye.
He turned and inspected the king’s chest. “You have stopped taking on weight.”
King Kadir locked his hands over his ribs. “Queen Elyssa likes this slender form for me. Turn your eye on these warriors, healer.”
Balim obeyed, muttering to himself about patients deciding they were well with no evidence, and began his inspection.
The warriors stiffened and moaned when he taped up minor scratches no matter how he reassured them small injuries would not disqualify them from arising. He understood their fears.
Nilun held his hand behind his back. “I am fine.”
“Then show me your hand.”
The fiery warrior growled. “I have shown you all you need to see.”
“Warrior Nilun, you will not surface until I have inspected you.”
“I will fight you if you say I am unhealthy!”
Balim felt his eyes rolling back in his head. “Even I could win if you cannot use your weapon.”
Nilun’s teeth gritted. Balim had stumbled upon his true fears.
“Just show me your hand,” Balim said, irritated. “You are slowing the other warriors.”
Nilun looked over at the others and jutted his hand. A skin lesion covered the back and thumb, arresting his ability to wield a trident.
Balim inspected it. No bleeding, smooth rather than ragged edges, a pinker center… “You have been hiding this.”
“Because!” Nilun gritted his teeth. “I must avenge Pelan.”
“The shooter is imprisoned by human justice.”
“But not his leader. I must find the enemies who injured Pelan and repay their attack!”
From the Life Tree sanctuary, Pelan’s bride paddled out and stretched.
She smiled at Bella and the other queens and watched the warriors with interest.
Zoan also floated at the edge of the gathered warriors. He and Nilun were the closest friends of Pelan, although Zoan’s teasing was the opposite of Nilun’s hotheaded impulsiveness.
Balim had never made such close friends.
“You must allow me to surface,” Nilun continued, issuing his request as an order without a hint of asking. “I must exact my vengeance.”
“You may surface.” Balim unrolled his tools and spread healing paste on the lesion while Nilun hissed at the pain. “I would not forbid a warrior to surface who has an infected water flea bite.”
His jaw dropped as his chest vibrated. “Water flea?”
“This reaction is rare. Djullanar has warmer water fleas. You are unfamiliar with Atlantic water fleas.” He bandaged the paste with seaweed and pressed it neatly to make it adhere. “
But you will not avenge Pelan. Keep this injury wet until the bandage falls off, and you will avoid a scar.”
He tried to flex his hand. “I cannot grip.”
“Correct. And keep the wound wet so it will heal.”
“How can I keep the wound wet? The air is dry.”
“There is water on the surface,” Balim reminded him. “Ask for a bowl of water.”
His face blanked. “You wish for me to keep my hand in a bowl of water? How can I move or pursue or wield a trident?”
King Kadir floated forward. “Warrior Nilun, you will surrender your weapons at the platform. It is our treaty with the Americans.”
Emotion worked his face. He looked back at Zoan, who shrugged, and then into the sanctuary, where it was impossible to see Pelan. “But I must avenge him. That is my whole purpose for surfacing.”
“Consider serving your race as well as your king and search for your soul mate.” Balim turned to the next warrior.
But he could not keep his mind off Bella and the vengeance they would face if anyone knew about her vial of poison.
She must develop her queen powers to destroy the poison, save Atlantis, and find and cure her son. Here, with Queen Elyssa and Queen Lucy to guide her.
Before it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bella lingered at the side of the playing area where the three young children zoomed between their moms. The sight made her heart squeeze.
Elyssa’s child, Kael, was a year and a half maybe. He romped after Lucy’s two-year-old fraternal twins, girl Tory and boy Yrun. Pumping their stubby legs and already-impressive fins, they flew from Lucy, avoiding her tickles, to Elyssa and back again, giggling and squealing.
Behind Bella, Pelan’s bride watched with her arms crossed, her human toes dangling. “They make it look so easy.”
She spoke with a dry, familiar tone to Bella even though this was perhaps the first time they’d ever talked. And she flexed her toes, twisted her ankles and jiggled her knees.
“You’re practicing,” Bella noted, returning the cool observations. “Any luck?”
“Not yet. I think I’m getting somewhere and then nothing.” Her lips flattened, and she massaged her toes with her hands. “The sooner I’m independent, the better.”
Bella would ask about that but a ruckus interrupted her.
Yrun, looking behind him and giggling, flew into Kael with a cry. The two tumbled against Tory. Elbows and knees smacked into soft tissue. Little wails crossed the city, and everyone stopped except Balim and King Kadir, both of whom homed in on the injuries.
“Ouch,” Pelan’s bride said, and drifted back while everyone else leaned in.
Kael flew into Elyssa’s arms. She kissed his head. “There, all better.”
King Kadir reached them a moment later and enveloped both of them in his arms. “I shall also perform the kiss.” And he did. Then he brought out a small treat from the seaweed pouch all mer carried. “To sweeten your tongue.”
Prince Kael’s wails faded to a whimper, and then he stuck out his lower lip, trembling, but otherwise calmed. He took the small bit of fruit and chewed on it with his few baby teeth.
Elyssa smiled at her husband.
That closeness, that instant support, was something Bella had never experienced. Yet here, now, she could experience it with Balim. He would be an attentive father.
Bella’s throat tightened.
Lucy gathered her darlings, soothing and kissing them. They cried and rooted urgently until both latched on and peace reigned.
The warriors remained on alert.
“Warlord Torun will return to support you shortly,” Ciran informed Lucy.
“What? No, don’t interrupt his research. It’s only a playground tumble.”
“He must know the condition of his young fry.”
“And they’re fine.” Lucy insisted. “We’re fine. Nothing a hug from Mom won’t cure. Right, Balim?”
Meanwhile, Balim examined Kael—only a tiny scrape, which he soothed with gel while Kael watched. Then he examined the twins—who had older bruising, but which Lucy assured him was normal.
Bella could stay here, make her fins, join the mer world, and never rise to the surface. Not only Balim, but the women and the warriors would give her support. If it took a village, this whole village would be devoted to her children. It would no longer be her as a single mother and her child against the world…
Only when everyone was proclaimed fine did the warriors relax, and, with a meaningful look to Bella, Balim returned to his examination of the assembled warriors. King Kadir left them a moment later, and then Elyssa had to convince Kael not to go after his father, but that was a losing battle, and the brave prince took off after his very willing father.
“He’s so independent,” Elyssa sighed and cast her eyes on Lucy. “I miss that stage. I thought we’d nurse for longer, but as soon as Kael could swim, he became his father’s little man.”
“I keep thinking mine must be done.” Lucy gazed on her children with fullhearted love. “They’re only two years old. I spent a lot longer grieving I’d never have my own before the Sireno Life Tree healed me. I just have to hug them close for as long as I can.”
As if on cue, first Tory and then Yrun wiggled free, satisfied with their tiny snack and energetic again.
“And they’re off,” Pelan’s bride noted, still crossing her arms. She’d drifted away with the talk of the kids; they did not hold her interest.
Lucy folded her hands, smiling, as her twins darted and danced like little underwater jumping beans, never still, always bright-eyed and bumbly and active. “You know how fast this stage goes by, right, Bella?”
“I formula-fed,” she confessed before anyone could think she had a special contribution to their weaning discussion. “I never had time to fit nursing around my career.”
“The mer have formula.” Elyssa frowned as she searched her mind for the specifics. “Some combination of fish protein, blubber, and plant fiber.”
“Torun offered to make it for me.” Lucy stretched and leaned back on her elbows, floating lazily. “But you know, it’s way easier to nurse even twins when you have endless maternity leave, you’re already totally naked all the time, and an entire city of fit warriors is waiting to serve you like a queen.”
That made Bella smile against her will. “Yes, that might have changed my priorities.”
Elyssa’s optimistic smile flickered, and she rested her hands across her belly. The area grew quiet.
Everyone knew about Jonah. They wanted to be careful of her feelings, and Bella appreciated their sensitivity even though it would be easier for her not to think about him at all.
Sadness welled in her throat. It choked her, not like when her body was rejecting the elixir and the transition to mer, but like a normal painful sadness that made her choke back a cry.
Across the field, Balim caught and held her gaze. He always knew. Silently, he asked—could he help her?
No. She swallowed and searched for a better topic. Something to channel her sadness at her failures and focus on the future.
“How did you make that ball of light from your hands?” Bella asked Lucy, changing the subject. “It was amazing.”
“I channeled my queen powers.”
“How?” Pelan’s bride asked her, interested again.
“Well, I think about how much I love Torun and then ‘pop,’ out they come.” She demonstrated, kicking her human toes multiple times. Nothing happened. “Oh, come on now. Come on…yes! There they are.” Her fins unfurled.
“It doesn’t look easy,” Pelan’s bride commented with dismay.
“For me, it’s not.” She huffed and rubbed her dark hair. “Look at my kids, though.”
Tory flexed her feet, imitating her mother and popping them back and forth and back and forth, fins and toes and fins and toes. Beside her, Yrun picked at his lips. One foot flexed to fins and the other held toes.
Bella calculated the
ir abilities based on her memory of Jonah. “They were born underwater. They can’t be great walkers yet.”
“They’re not bad. We practice surface-time with Mum-Mum and Grandada every few weeks. They’re better than toddlers, but maybe not quite ready to run a relay race.”
Hmm.
“Every woman finds her inner power differently,” Lucy said, and Elyssa nodded in agreement.
“I think meditative thoughts.” Elyssa crossed her legs in a yoga pose, closed her eyes, and hummed. “Ommm.”
Then she stretched into an underwater Downward Dog, and as she straightened her body, her fins emerged, flowing like a long dress.
Beautiful.
“So you have to find your own way,” Lucy finished. “First, make your fins. As you gain confidence, power will flow.”
Pelan’s bride closed her eyes and tried the meditation route, but she didn’t have much luck.
The women chatted about their powers. Lucy sheltered others with a shield; Aya, Elyssa’s cousin, pushed warriors away, and Elyssa healed. Other queens who had descended to the second rebel city, Dragao Azul, possessed similar powers.
“What we used to think were separate queen powers are the same,” Lucy continued, “but everyone has a natural talent for one power over another. That’s why the more women marry into the city, the more we work together, the stronger we are.”
“Do you have to marry first?” Pelan’s bride scrubbed her face. “It’s not enough to be a mermaid?”
“So far as I know, you have to drink the nectar of the Life Tree blossom, not just elixir, and that means joining with your husband,” Elyssa answered. “I don’t know of anyone who’s developed their powers independently.”
Pelan’s bride ground her teeth.
“Don’t worry. Balim is a great healer. Pelan will wake up soon, and then you’ll know that he’s the one for you. You’ll drink the nectar, we’ll teach you how to make your fins, and you’ll embrace your queen power.”
“Yeah,” she muttered, unconvinced, and drifted back into the sanctuary to Pelan’s side.
Bella’s spine tightened.
She had to ask Balim how they would get the blossom away. Could she just ask? The mer treasured young fry. But if Pelan’s bride needed to drink it to heal Pelan, how could Bella steal away his health on a risky hope she’d defeat the Sons of Hercules?
