“This person they call the Guardian, must have made a mistake,” Ben thought. “Denzel should have been sent instead of me.”
With the decision to return to earth made, Ben fell asleep.
*************************
Meanwhile on an island a fair distance away, near the top of its single mountain, a large creature similar to the one Ben had seen in his dream was also having trouble sleeping. The creature’s dreams were disturbed by the sobs of a woman with brilliant green eyes. The little conscience that remained to the creature was troubled.
6 return or Stay
Ben woke to a knock. He was still trying to recall where he was when the door opened and in barged Brina. Ben looked at Brina with bleary eyes still heavy with sleep.
“Rise and shine. And if you can’t shine, it is still time to rise. You don't want to miss breakfast. The Watcher will want to see you right after breakfast.”
Brina pulled a curtain that covered a bright patch of light- emitting rocks. Then he grabbed the blanket and ripped it off the bed. He picked up the clothes that lay scattered on the floor and threw them at Ben. Pants, top and socks flew through the air. It wasn’t until a shoe came down with a thud on his head that Ben sat up. “Hey, stop that.”
“So sorry,” said Brina with a chuckle.
Ben was truly awake now. He sat up in bed and pulled on his clothes.
Brina led him along the ledge overlooking the pool and practice field and through an archway into a large dining hall. There were a number of mer sitting at tables. Most had transformed from legs to tails, which they rested on a large central beam that was part of the underside of each table.
“Why do mer transform when they sit?” Ben asked.
“It is natural for us. It takes energy for us to maintain legs.”
Brina led Ben to a table near the kitchen to pick up his food. One look at the food told Ben that breakfast was a repeat of what was served the night before. He took some eggs and a little sea cucumber. Brina led Ben to the nearest table and introduced him to a mermaid named Shirl who was about Ben’s age. Brina left after asking Shirl to take Ben to Lea Waterborn’s office after breakfast.
“How do you like it here at Fairwaters? Is it much like your school?” Shirl asked.
“I haven’t been here long, but there are similarities.”
“How many students are at your school?” Shirl asked.
“There are fifty eight,” Ben responded. "How many students are here at Fairwaters?”
“There are only twenty-one actual students. Any mer who can transform is brought here, but not everyone is a chosen.”
As Ben looked around the room he saw a small group of young mer at a table sitting with legs rather than a tail. He pointed them out to Shirl, who said, “Those students must spend the day without transforming. This happens several times during our training. The first time is short, but the time is increased until we can spend a week without returning to our natural form. It is hard for us, but necessary, if we are to be chosen to go to other worlds. Those who cannot last a week will never be chosen. Their training comes to an end. To fail is a great disappointment, not just for the student, but often for their family, as well.”
Ben was quiet for a moment as he thought of his own father. Where was his father? Did his father go through a portal? The times when his father left home on business was he on one of the other five worlds? Had his father been a chosen all along? Ben felt sure that he had. Miss Templeton said something about Ben following in his father’s footsteps. It struck Ben that his father would be disappointed if his son refused to try to help the people of this world. If his mother and grandmother were still alive they too might be disappointed.
“How many students from your school go through the portal in a year? Shirl asked.
Ben responded, “I don’t know. I knew nothing about Watchers or the Guardian until yesterday.”
“That is a surprise,” Shirl said, “I am going to Earth in eighteen months and I’ve spent a lot of time studying everything about Earth: its countries, people and creatures. What I am really curious about is a Venus Fly Trap. Have you ever seen one?”
Shirl asked all kinds of questions about Ben’s school, his family and his world. Ben answered her questions to the best of his ability. Shirl would have asked more but a bell rang. “Come on, Ben. We must go. Class is starting and I must take you to Lea Waterborn first.”
Before Shirl left Ben, she said, “I hope to meet you again when I come to your world. It will be an honor to be able to serve your world as you are now serving mine.” Ben remained silent. He did not tell Shirl that he planned to return to earth. Ben turned sadly away and knocked on the office door. He waited until he heard the watcher invite him to come in.
When Ben entered Lea Waterborn’s office, he was surprised to see a human boy a couple of years older than himself there. His first thought was that his replacement had already been sent. Ben was surprised when the Watcher did not introduce them. “Have you made your decision?” she asked Ben.
Ben was surprised to hear himself say, “Yes, I’m going to stay.” It seemed like there was nothing else he could say. As he said it, he knew it was the right decision, the only decision he could make. He could go back, and if what Lea Waterborn said was true, he would forget ever being on another world. Perhaps his father would not be too disappointed; however, he knew he would never be free of his own sense of disappointment in himself. He might not remember, but Ben feared that he would always have the sense that his life was not what it could have been.
“Good,” said the Watcher. “I anticipated your response. Therefore I have made arrangements. Akca and Osch will go with you. As will Brina.”
Lea Waterborn then spoke to the boy, “Brina make sure you stay to the west of the caves of Chard…”
“Brina!” Ben exclaimed.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“I would have never guessed,” Ben said.
“Good!” Brina exclaimed.
Ben looked carefully at the boy beside him. Brina was wearing contact lenses. The eyes looked human, not mer. He was wearing baggy shorts and a woven shirt that pulled over his head. The spiky hair had been shaved close to his scalp. On earth, he could easily pass as an ordinary boy.
“As I was saying,” Lea Waterborn continued, “stay to the west of the Chard Caves. There is a human community beyond the caves that you will need to avoid with a war about to begin. Hopefully you will not meet any mer, which is another good reason to stay away from the caves. There may be mer gathering there for a battle with the humans.”
“Where are we going?” Ben asked.
“The information I have tells me the source of the problem is likely Spencer Island. About eight months ago there was a change on that island. I noted that the natural order of things on the island was disrupted. I sensed the change through the bond I have with my world as its watcher. My connection to the island became fuzzy. It was like it ceased to exist for me.”
When Lea Waterborn saw the puzzled look on Ben’s face she added, “Watchers have a connection to the world they serve. Through our bond with the Guardian we know things about our world without being told. We usually know when and where there is a problem. We can sense where evil is building up and where people cry out in pain. We know when the natural world is in distress. I should have some sense of how things are on Spencer Island, but I don’t. What I do know is that the tregs from that island have started acting strangely. They pick up things they had never shown any interest in before. Things like the Mer King’s crown.”
Ben looked from one worried face to the other and said, “I’m glad Brina is coming with me, but I thought you said Brina could not be one of the chosen on his own world?”
“That’s true,” responded the Watcher, “he is simply going with you as a guide. The only gift Brina takes with him is the ability to transform and walk on human legs.”
“By the time I get back to Fairwaters, I won’t think of i
t as a gift.” Brina interjected.
Turning once more to Brina, Lea Waterborn said, “Brina, unless you have no choice stay in your human form until you are back at Fairwaters. I do not need to tell you that it would put both your lives in danger if you were seen transforming. I wish I had a boat to send you on. It would be safer than traveling on our fish friends. There will be awkward questions if you are seen riding our friends. However, the last storm destroyed the only boat we had. It was so rarely used that I have not been in a hurry to replace it.”
“I don’t understand,” Ben said. “Don’t the chosen use boats?”
“No, almost everyone comes with the ability to breathe under water. However, this experience has taught me that it is important to have another one built. One last thing, be back within the week whether you have the crown or not. And Brina try to spend part of every day in the water if you can. It will help you remain in human form longer.”
“Right,” Brina responded, clearly pleased to be chosen to join Ben on this quest.
“Are there any questions before you leave?” Lea Waterborn asked.
“You mean we leave right now?” asked Ben, his voice pitched high.
“Yes,” said the Watcher emphatically. "The matter is urgent. The crown must be back in the Mer King’s hands before the week is out or there will be a war.”
“I don’t understand why he would think a hunk of metal is more important than lives,” Brina stated.
“His pride has been wounded. He will keep his own sons and daughters away from the battle. Those close to him will make sure that no heartbroken mother or father gets too near to disturb him with their tears. It will seem like nothing more than a game to King Somos and his closest supporters.”
With that Lea Waterborn stood and led the way. They stopped briefly at the pool where Akca and Osch waited. The Watcher gave them last minute instructions in their language before they disappeared from sight.
“It will be good to have you with me, Brina,” Ben said fervently. He did not want to be alone with Akca and Osch in a world full of water.
The Watcher led them through the corridors that Charla and Ben had traveled the day before. When they emerged from the cave the Orcas were by the steps. The Orcas were both outfitted with a harness that would hold the boys in place on their backs. A student stood waiting beside the steps with a small backpack in each hand. Attached to each backpack was a short spear.
“Inside your pack there is a small amount of food. Fish should be your diet as long as it is available. The food should be saved for when the journey takes you to land, where there may not be food available.”
The student handed a backpack to each of the boys. He also handed Ben a leather knife belt. Ben buckled it around his waist. Brina already had one like it around his own waist. Brina climbed on Osch’s back and strapped himself in. Akca waited for Ben to climb on, but Ben stood frozen to the spot.
Ben tried to move his feet forward but they would not work at his command. His mind came up with many different excuses to get him out of this situation. He spoke none of them aloud. Lea Waterborn, Brina, Osch and Akca were all staring at him. He made his right foot move and then his left. His body was visibly shaking by the time he put a leg over Akca. His hands were shaking so badly it was hard to strap himself in. The Watcher shook her head when she saw Ben’s fear, and wondered, not for the first time, if the Guardian had indeed made a mistake in choosing Ben.
Lea Waterborn had serious concerns about sending the two boys to Spencer Island. It had a well-earned reputation as a dangerous place. Brina was well aware of the dangers. The Watcher had made sure of that. Ben had not been told about any of the dangers, he was frightened enough already. Lea hoped that the knowledge she had shared with Brina would provide the protection needed to bring Brina safely home and send Ben back to his own world. The only thing she had not told Brina was the rumor that a dragon had been seen several times in the sky above the island.
It was not just what Lea Waterborn knew of the Island that caused her concern, but it was also what she did not know. She did not understand why her connection with the island was lost. Lea Waterborn had agonized over whether to send them into unknown danger, but in the end decided that the Guardian knew Ben’s abilities and the situation he was going into.
As Ben and Brina rode out of sight, the Watcher muttered to herself, “I wonder if I should have told them about the rumors. I can’t see how they can be true and yet something strange is going on. Something is causing the tregs to behave in an unnatural way.”
Lea Waterborn assured herself that there could not be a dragon. If there was a dragon, an inexperienced boy would not have been chosen by the Guardian. The Guardian would have sent someone with experience, preferably someone from Zargon who was dragonborn. But perhaps there was no one from Zargon to send. Lea Waterborn had not seen anyone from that world for a long time, and she had lost her connection with the Zargonian Watcher.
The Watchers of each world had a connection with one another through the Guardian of the Six Worlds and they were able to receive impressions and thoughts though this connection when they opened their minds to one another. Through her connection with the Watcher of Earth she sensed Mariah Templeton’s anxiety for Ben. She could normally sense each of the other watchers if she chose to, but now the Watcher of Zargon seemed to be missing from his post. Something was not right on Zargon. However, even if things were not right on Zargon a dragon could not have come through the portals without her knowledge even though they were creatures of great power and cunning.
“No,” the Watcher muttered as if trying to convince herself, “The Guardian would not have sent an inexperienced boy if there was a dragon. Certainly not!” Yet Lea Waterborn felt more anxiety than she had ever known in her three hundred years as the Watcher of Lushaka.
She stood watching the two boys ride off until they could no longer be seen. Her anxiety kept her from noticing that another pair of eyes watched as well. When the boys were out of sight, Lea Waterborn turned and walked slowly back to her office. It was not until later in the day that she sensed that Charla was absent from Fairwaters.
7 A change in Plans
Osch and Akca swam side by side. The fish conversed with one another and sometimes with Brina in their high pitched whistles. As the day wore on Ben and Brina had ample opportunity to share the story of their lives and discuss their respective worlds. Ben learned that land was rare on Lushaka. There were isolated islands, but few humans lived on them. Most lived on the lily pads and in the trees that grew up from the bottom of the sea. They even raised livestock on the lily pads, feeding them with sea grasses.
Ben learned that up to 50 years ago Fairwaters had human as well as mer students. A war in the world outside Fairwaters, between mer and Humans, divided the students. Most of the mer and all of the humans were expelled from the school.
While almost every other student was the child of parents with the ability to transform, Brina was the son of non-transformers. When he was young, his mother had taken him to see a nearby Island. Brina was fascinated by what he could see and reached out to touch a flower just beyond his reach. Brina was unaware as he did so that his tail disappeared, to be replaced by two very human legs. His mother cried all the way home. She never took her young son near land again. Over the next year she made some discreet inquiries that led to Brina’s enrollment in Fairwaters.
They stopped about midday and rested atop a cork lily pad that floated on the water. Akca and Osch disappeared. They soon returned with fish, which they tossed onto the lily pad at Brina’s feet. Brina took out a knife and filleted one of the fish, which he held out to Ben. Ben just stared at it.
“Don’t you want it?” Brina asked.
“What for?” responded Ben.
“To eat, of course,” Brina replied. “Don’t you eat fish on your world?”
“Yes, but not raw…at least I don’t eat it raw,” said Ben.
“Suit yourself,” Brina repli
ed as he bit into the raw fish. Ben rooted around in his backpack for something to eat. There were eggs and dried sea cucumbers wrapped in seaweed. Ben ate two eggs. He was about to eat another, when Brina said, “Lea Waterborn told us to save the food she gave us for when we are on land.”
Ben wrapped the remaining eggs in the seaweed and returned them to his backpack.
After eating, they climbed aboard Akca and Osch and resumed their trip. In the afternoon they saw tregs more frequently than they had in the morning. Ben guessed that was because they were getting closer to the island where the birds nested. Twice they had to dive down to avoid the tregs. The second time it was a close call and Ben heard the bird shriek in frustration as the orcas dove under water, taking Brina and a terrified Ben with them. The treg’s shriek of frustration sent chills deep into Ben’s bones.
The treg’s third attack came from directly behind the two companions and caught them completely by surprise. Brina was the lighter of the two, and it was Brina the treg chose. The bird tried to lift the mer up and carry him away, but Brina was attached to Osch. The bird could not lift the combined weight of Brina and Osch, yet it was unwilling to let go. Brina tried to pull his knife out from the belt around his waist, but the harness connecting him to Osch broke, and the knife got tangled in it. Ben sat helpless, wanting to do something, but not knowing what he could do as he had no way to communicate with Akca and tell the Orca to move closer to Brina and the treg. So he screamed at the bird as Akca swam in circles. The treg lifted a struggling Brina up into the air. The bird’s triumphant shriek mingled with Brina’s terrified cry.
Ben the Dragonborn Page 5
