Mrythdom: Game of Time

by Jasper T. Scott

  The vestals began filing from the dining hall with their baskets full of dirty dishes, heading for a dim corridor which lay to one side, all but hidden by an overgrowth of glowing red and blue coral. The corridor gradually descended, eventually bringing them to a stairwell and some old, broken elevators. A pair of broad viewports flanking the elevators distracted Aurelius with a startling view. He walked up to them to admire the fields of purple Cachota sprawling out from the base of the city far below. The city itself seemed to be built upon the sea bed and rose monolithically from there, sparkling in all the colors of the rainbow from the coral reefs which had overtaken it.

  Eventually, Aurelius followed the last of the diners into the stairwell, carrying his own basket full of dirty dishes. He turned and caught a glimpse of Reven carrying two such baskets, while Gabrian struggled along with a smaller one. They descended over ten flights of stairs, and by the time Aurelius saw the men at the head of the group leaving the stairwell, he was panting from the exertion. The basket was heavy and he hadn’t expected to have to carry it so far. The landing at the bottom of the stairway opened out into a large room that was roughly octagonal with dark corridors arcing off at various angles. The room was airy, but close from so many people crowded into it. Aurelius couldn’t even see past them to venture a guess at what purpose the room might serve or why they’d stopped there. Soon he began to hear splashing sounds, and he pushed to the front of the crowd to see what was causing the sound. He tried to ignore the irritated looks he received as he shoved past.

  When he reached the front of the group, Aurelius saw what they were doing there. More than half the room was flooded, and it appeared to have been some type of corridor junction before it had flooded. The vestals were busy submerging their baskets of dishes in the water and leaving them there, weaving back through the crowd to the stairwell. Aurelius followed suit and frowned. They didn’t really expect the dishes to clean themselves did they?

  Perhaps the maidens would come to clean them later. Or maybe the vestals would return to do it before the next meal. Just as Aurelius was about to turn and leave with the others, he caught a ripple of movement across the surface of the water. He squinted and saw a low wave rippling out from the branching corridors to greet them. When that wave washed up over Aurelius’s boots he saw all the tiny, tentacled creatures it had brought. Two stayed on his boots and began crawling higher. He hastily kicked them off and backed hurriedly away from the water’s edge. There were thousands of them, finger-sized and wriggling their way into the baskets. Aurelius watched with horrified fascination.

  Cardale appeared beside him and said, “Grupees. Hungry little blighters, but don’t worry; they’re harmless. The little ones, anyway. Come on, we’d better get washed up before tonight’s challenge. Will you be joining the other vestals at the top of the ring?”

  “Ah, I’m not sure,” Aurelius said, following Cardale back up the stairs to the dining hall. “The princess asked me to join her earlier, but I think I may have offended her, so we’ll see what happens.”

  “You offended the princess?” Cardale asked, turning a worried look over his shoulder. “What did you do?”

  Aurelius was about to blame it all on her, since she’d practically tried to rape him with her pheromones, but he held his tongue, remembering that Cardale was technically her half-brother—for all he knew maybe even her full brother.

  “We had a disagreement,” he said, and left it at that.

  “Well, be careful. Lasha is used to getting her way, and it’s usually better to let her have it.”

  Aurelius frowned in the darkness of the stairwell. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  * * *

  Aurelius was just drifting off to sleep on a reasonably comfortable couch in his quarters when a knock sounded at the door. He roused himself with a groggy sigh and went to answer the door. He pulled it open with a groan of stubborn hinges, and there on the other side he saw Lashyla, flanked again by her two guards. She was wearing a sunny smile and not much else. Aurelius had grown used to her revealing attire, but his gaze still lingered where it shouldn’t. Her smile broadened knowingly and she took him by the hand, caressing his fingers between hers.

  “Hello, Aurelius.” She went on caressing his hands, and he felt a spreading warmth and ease. Some distant part of his mind recognized it for what it was and he hastily tugged his hands free of hers.

  “Princess,” he said, forcing his eyes to stay above her neck, but even her face was seductive.

  “Are you ready to watch tonight’s challenge?”

  Aurelius turned to defer the question to the others, but Gabrian and Reven were already walking toward the door. “Seems like we are,” he said, turning back to Lashyla.

  She frowned. “Dressed like that?”

  Aurelius turned his gaze down on his black flightsuit. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “You cannot go as you are.” Her gaze skipped to Gabrian and Reven. “Any of you. There will be appropriate clothing in your closets. Come.” And with that, she strode into their room and led them to a closet. Aurelius frowned at the ropy green material of the clothes that were handed to him. They didn’t look or feel very comfortable. He emerged from the bathroom in his new vestments with a grimace; the clothes were loose-fitting and strong, but not comfortable at all. The rough fabric chafed against his skin as he moved. Lashyla admired him with a critical eye, then nodded and smiled. “It will do.”

  “I feel like I’m wearing sandpaper.”

  “Sandpaper?”

  “Paper with sand stuck to it.”

  Her smiled changed to a grin and she walked up to him to rub the material between her fingers. It became smooth and glossy. “They will get more comfortable as you wear them.”

  Aurelius frowned. “I hope so.”

  “Let’s go,” she said, looping her arm through his. On their way out they met Gabrian and Aurelius in the living room, both already changed into matching green tunics. Reven looked even more uncomfortable in his, and he’d split the front of his shirt open while trying to get it on, leaving his hairy chest to poke out in defiance.

  Aurelius cast Lashyla quick glance, then pointedly gazed at her arm where it was looped through his. He’d expected her to still be angry that he’d rejected her before dinner, but somehow she was ignoring that little detail and spreading her pheromones in a hazy cloud around him once more to make him forget it, too. He wanted to ask her what she was doing, or if she was even aware that she was affecting him that way, but before he could say anything, she said, “Mermaids have a strange effect on men. We can’t control it. I can no more stop attracting you than I can stop being attracted to you. The two are one and the same.”

  Aurelius raised an eyebrow at her. “Then you’re not doing it on purpose?”

  She turned to look up at him with a sweet smile and shook her head. “No, of course not.”

  “Well, I guess I can’t blame you for what you are, but I still wish you’d be . . .”

  She regarded him with wide, curious blue eyes until understanding dawned and she nodded. “You want me to be less forceful.”

  Aurelius smiled and lifted his arm where it was entwined with hers. “In my culture we’re not so . . . affectionate with strangers. It makes me nervous.”

  At that, she un-looped her arm from his, and Aurelius was abruptly afraid that he’d angered her again. He remembered Cardale’s warning about letting the princess have her way and he almost reached for her hand to reassure her. But then he felt a little of the haze in his mind lifting now that she was no longer touching him, and he settled for reassuring words instead. “Lashyla . . .” She turned to him with a blank look. “I’m sorry. Our cultures are just very different.”

  She smiled broadly, her beautiful cheeks dimpling and adding to the effect it had on him. Her hand found his upper arm and squeezed affectionately. She held his gaze a moment while they walked, her eyes somehow full of warmth despite their frosty color. “Aurelius, you are unlike
any man I’ve ever met! For you I think I can take the time to learn something of your culture before we agree to mate.”

  Aurelius’s eyes widened. Her hand lingered on his biceps and his mind grew thick and pleasantly fuzzy once more. He felt a surge of goodwill and desire toward her, and he shook his head to try and clear it away. Thankfully her hand fell from his arm before he needed to say something about it.

  Her expression turned oddly sad, as though she could read his mind to see that she was still making him uncomfortable with her advances. “Perhaps we can take the best of both our cultures and meet in the middle,” she said.

  Aurelius offered her a genuine smile. “That’s the best suggestion I’ve heard all day.” Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t believe that it had been only that: one day in Meria.

  Talk about culture shock, he thought.

  Chapter 23

  Aurelius knew they’d reached the ring by the crowds lined up and patiently waiting. There were thousands—maidens and their entourages of men and children. For every maiden Aurelius saw as many as five or ten others in her family. The children were almost always boys, and there were several mates, all of them clothed in white tunics which matched the white their maidens wore. Aurelius noted that only a scattering of men wore green, and they were usually clustered together with no maidens in their midst. When he thought back on it, he realized that green must be the clothing of the vestals, while white was for married couples. If they could even be called couples. Some of the more beautiful mermaids were surrounded by dozens of mates and children. Closer to the front of the line it became hard to pick mermaids out of the crowd, and it was very rare to see a young mermaid with her family, adding support to Cardale’s statement that mermaids grew to maturity very quickly.

  Now that Aurelius thought about it, he had to wonder how old Lashyla was. He cast her a sidelong glance as they walked by the crowds of people. To look at her, she was in her early twenties, but with what he now knew, she could be as young as two. . . . or younger.

  Aurelius’s eyes widened with sudden comprehension. She had to be younger if she didn’t yet have a mate. Cardale had said that the maidens were cast away if they couldn’t steal another maiden’s mate before they reached their second birthday.

  Lashyla noticed his scrutiny and turned to give him a curious look. He took the opportunity to ask her, “How old are you?”

  Her ruby lips parted in a sly grin. “How old do I look?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “But you’re not, are you?”

  She batted her eye lashes at him. “What gives it away?”

  “One of the vestals told me that mermaids grow to maturity quickly.”

  “That’s true.”

  “He also said that they must steal a mate before they’re two or they’ll be exiled.”

  Lashyla gave him a guarded look. “Who told you that?”

  “Does it matter?”

  She sighed. “Aurelius you must understand, there are many things that you will find strange, even horrible about us, but we have been living like this for centuries.”

  “That doesn’t mean you should go on living that way.”

  “And what would you have us do?” she asked, her eyes suddenly flashing in the dim light. “Meria is only so large. There was a time when the ring didn’t exist. A time when mermaids and their families were welcome here no matter how beautiful they were.”

  “What changed?”

  “I wasn’t alive then, but some who were still tell stories of that time. They noticed the headaches first. Then they found that they were always tired, always out of breath. When the first few died in their sleep, we fled, fearing the city was cursed.”

  Aurelius frowned. “It sounds like they ran out of air.”

  Lashyla nodded. “The maidens fled to the sea, for they could breathe from the water as men cannot, but they were helpless to save their families as they slowly suffocated to death. The city was uninhabitable for a time, and when we returned, there were laws established to limit the number of people who could live in Meria. Those who did not meet the requirements could not stay here, but at least some of us could.”

  Aurelius shook his head. “There should be another way.”

  “But there isn’t. Better that a few can live in luxury and ease than that none can.”

  There didn’t seem to be anything more to say to that, and a recriminatory silence fell between them as they walked past the remainder of the throngs waiting to enter the ring. They reached the open doors to the ring where a pair of guards stood barring the way with tridents crossed. At the sight of Lashyla they bowed and uncrossed their weapons to let her past.

  The ring itself was just that, a massive stadium shaped in a rough circle. The ceilings were very high, clustered with glowing clumps of coral and barnacles, with dark squares of glass peeking out in between. The glass ceiling seemed a pointless waste when the water beyond was too dark to see anything. The center of the ring was filled with patchy golden sand, broken by rising mounds of colorful coral. Aurelius didn’t like to think why the sand was patchy.

  They walked through the empty stadium until they reached a large podium built up and over the edge of the ring on cement pillars. It looked like ramshackle construction, but sturdy enough. On top of that podium were dozens of chairs, all clearly scavenged from different parts of the city. More than half those chairs were already occupied, and as they drew near, Aurelius recognized the beautiful woman seated high on the largest chair by the crown of pearls she wore on her head.

  Lashyla led them up through the stands until they could walk out onto the podium. They stopped before the queen and followed Lashyla’s example as she bowed low to her mother. Aurelius noted how the men and children surrounding the queen seemed to look on her with reverence and awe, and he felt something of the same emotions welling up inside him, as though her very presence commanded adoration.

  “How lovely to see you again, Aurelius,” the queen said with a smile. He felt a reciprocal smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Please,” she gestured to a row of empty seats behind her. “Make yourself comfortable. The challenges are about to start.” Aurelius nodded, inclining his head respectfully, but he said nothing. He was afraid he wouldn’t know how to properly address the queen and be thrown into the ring for some perceived slight.

  Lashyla led them around the queen’s throne, conspicuously avoiding the slightly smaller armchair which stood empty to the queen’s right. Aurelius supposed that was Lashyla’s seat, but rather than sit there, she found a spot in the row of mismatched chairs behind the queen and sat down there. Once seated, she patted the chair beside her and sent Aurelius a beckoning smile. He felt physically drawn to sit there beside her, while a more distant part of him absently wished he could keep his distance. Once they were all seated, the queen signaled to one of her guards, and he took up a shell-shaped horns and blew two short blasts. This seemed to be a signal to the guards at the entrance of the ring because the crowds began pouring into the stadium a second later. The stands filled up very quickly and soon the stadium was buzzing with noise.

  Aurelius tried to make himself comfortable, but he found himself gripping the armrests tightly, bracing himself for the gruesome spectacle he felt sure they were about to witness. Looking down on the patchy sand, he felt his apprehension rise and turned to Lashyla to distract himself.

  She was more than amply suited to distract him. Looking at her lithe, supple figure, all curves and soft, flawless skin, he wondered why he tried so hard to resist her advances.

  “And why is that, Aurelius?”

  Startled, he blinked twice quickly and frowned. “I’m sorry?”

  She hesitated, sent a sidelong glance to the back of her mother’s throne, and then softly replied, “Why is it that you look at me as though you’ve never seen a woman before, and then when I offer myself to you, you resist?” She cocked her head. “Perhaps I have answered
my own question. You don’t know what to do with me.” She looked away, satisfied with the answer she’d given herself.

  Aurelius’s frown deepened. “You think you’re the first woman to throw herself at me? I’ve had . . .” he trailed off. What was he doing?

  She turned to regard him with an innocent smile. “You’ve had?”

  “Never mind.”

  She reached over and patted his hand with hers. “It’s okay. Inexperience is nothing to be ashamed of, not when it is voluntary.”

  Aurelius gritted his teeth and let his ire pass. She was goading him. Anger and passion often ran the same course. If she could enrage him, he’d lose his self-control just as surely as if she’d seduced him. Changing the topic he said, “How old are you really? You didn’t say.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  “No.”

  “I turned one year a month ago.”

  Aurelius gasped and jerked his hand free of hers.

  “Does that frighten you?”

  “Of course it does! I almost . . . you’re just a baby!”

  Lashyla scowled at him. “You’re a baby.”

  “How can you be so young?”

  “How can you be so old?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry, it just takes getting used to. . . .”

  “We age differently, as you already know.”

  “Then . . .” He looked around him to all the exquisitely beautiful maidens now seated in the stadium. “Why aren’t there any older maidens?”

  Lashyla cocked her head curiously; then her eyes lit with understanding. “We age more rapidly, but then we stop.”

  “You don’t age at all after you’re fully grown?”

  Lashyla shrugged. “It is a very slow process, and not at all like that of your people,” she said with an accompanying frown in Gabrian’s direction. He didn’t appear to notice.

  “Then why aren’t you trying to steal a mate?”

  Lashyla shrugged. “I have a whole year to do that. Besides, I need someone to fight the challenge for me before I can steal a mate.”