by Starla Night
All the other warriors murmured, “A warrior and his queen. She is a real queen.”
Second Lieutenant Ciran’s words returned to him. You will accomplish more work as an ambassador by traveling together than by any plot or argument.
“Hey.” She gripped Lotar’s wrist and eyed the blade. “Where’d you get this?”
He jerked his head at the warriors clustered around the king.
Her jaw dropped. “You stole it off the king? What happened to negotiations?”
“They took too long.”
She snorted and rested her head on his shoulder. “And people call me the impulsive one.”
The king finally swam to the front of the gathered warriors. “You threatened my life. We punish such treason by death.” His gaze shifted to Hazel. “You saved the city. We owe you our deepest gratitude and highest honor.”
“If you combine the two, you’re back at neutral,” Hazel suggested. “Which is good because we’re a package deal.”
“Yes.” The king frowned at Lotar still holding his daggers. He waved forth a lower-level warrior burdened with Lotar’s weapons. Lotar returned the king’s daggers and rearmed himself.
Now, they were starting on true neutral ground. The warriors could chase him and Hazel from the territory.
Or…
“It has been a long time since a warrior has visited us on the All-Cities Gyre.” The king still looked pale, but he persevered. “By tradition, I welcome you—”
“Both?” Hazel pressed.
“—both to Newas.”
Newas was pretty nice after that.
The feast was great. “Finally, a city that appreciates lobster,” she told Lotar as warriors handed her a basket of claws and tails. “This is a high-class meal on the shore.”
“We understand queens enjoy feeding the house guardians.” The Newas warrior pointed out a cute little brown octopus that “walked” across the courtyard on two of its arms, seeming to strut with importance.
She had almost taken a bite. Both the octopus and the Newas warrior stared at her in horror.
Hazel pulled the claw out of her mouth. “Uh, right. My bad. Here you go, little guy.” She tossed the claw to the octopus, who caught it with a happy red shimmer.
“We have better food than rock lobster,” the warrior assured her, and the octopus hopped on its arms, its malleable expressive body turning spiky and smoothing again. “Quickly! Bring food for the queen. She tried to eat rock lobster.”
Oh, the horrors.
She then had to assure everyone that she was not starving, that Lotar had taken great care of her, and it was all a big misunderstanding. But they were even more solicitous, as though she must have endured incredible hardships to have even considered eating rock lobster.
Thirty-dollars-per-tail rock lobster…
Oh, well. The food she did get was delicious, and she had no complaints.
Lotar was quiet that night, and he never let her out of his arms’ reach. Which was sweet but also worrisome.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. Look.” She held up her fingers, silently chanted the opening of “It’s Raining Men,” and by the time she got to the first hallelujah, her fingers glowed like a nightlight. “I just have to channel my inner ‘Dancing Queen.’ How crazy is that?”
His brow smoothed. His mouth twisted as though he was smothering a smile, and he finished eating the next serving of food.
After she was stuffed, the king introduced a large, ill-tempered elder. “You will spend the night in the castle of Elder Iliat.”
Elder Iliat glared at them.
Huh.
She looked at Lotar.
Lotar drew her against him, careful to adjust her among all his weapons. “Him?”
“He is the highest-ranked elder of Newas and the most important male.”
Warriors escorted them to Elder Iliat’s grand castle and departed, leaving her and Lotar with the angry-looking guy. Well, Lotar was fully armed. So this couldn’t be awkward.
“Here, your sleeping areas,” Elder Iliat snapped. “Touch nothing.”
A small green octopus peeked out from behind a frond. Hazel waved at it.
“Ignore the cave guardian.”
Okay. This was too much. “Are you mad?”
“Of course I am furious.” He crossed his arms. “Newas treasures every male deeply. How dare you take my son from me? Now, describe the conditions of his capture.”
“Uh…I don’t know about any capture.”
“Tial. In Atlantis.”
“Oh, I’ve never been there. I saw his interview. I work at MerMatch. Or I did. Lotar?”
He squinted at the angry father. “He is healthy. Well. And free.”
Elder Iliat hung on Lotar’s every word. “And?”
He shrugged.
Elder Iliat turned to her. “You have seen him? My treasured young fry?”
“Yeah.” She hoped that wasn’t breaking privacy laws. Or that Tial wouldn’t get upset. “But I can’t gossip about him. Is there anything specific you want to know? If it’s not private, I’ll say what I can.”
He glanced up at the entrance where the other warriors had been. “Do not tell anyone I asked this. Do not. I will throw you from my castle.”
“Uh… Okay…”
A big smile broke across his face. “How is my young fry? How is Tial? Has he made friends? Has he met his bride? Will he be bringing any young fry home to us? Is he happy? What are his patrols? Does King Kadir recognize his skills? Tell me everything.”
Whoa. Talk about a one-eighty. Even Lotar blinked as if he had whiplash.
“Uh, Lotar knows,” Hazel said.
“He…” Lotar frowned. “Tial seeks his bride.”
“Yes? And?”
Lotar shrugged.
The father looked eagerly to Hazel.
“I haven’t met him myself, but he surfaced once in Bermuda, and his interview was fine. Dannika said he was sweet, very earnest, thoughtful.”
“Of course, of course, that is him. And the brides? They love him?”
“Oh, absolutely. He hasn’t met his ‘one’ yet, but I’m sure any time—or at least he hadn’t when we left, but you know, we’ve been traveling a long time and haven’t gotten any updates. He’s definitely happy. Isn’t he, Lotar?”
“Yes.” Lotar looked relieved. “He is.”
“That is my greatest wish.” Elder Iliat leaned back and rested his hands on his belly. “I had to help him escape. It was difficult. And the last section of the journey, he had to cross on his own. My heart was in my throat until the king’s scouts said they had spotted him in the enemy’s camp. And then he settled in that anathema, Atlantis.”
Anathema.
Right.
“So you’re okay with it?” Hazel queried. “You actually helped him?”
“Yes, of course. You see how it is here. Traditional to the death. ‘The kraken will tear us out by our roots before a mainland female enters our city.’” He sounded like he was quoting the king. “That is how it is.”
And that had almost happened.
“Why don’t you support him in public?” she suggested.
“It is not done.”
“Yeah, but didn’t I hear you offered a bounty for anyone who would kidnap him?”
“You pressured the king,” Lotar said as though he’d just realized something. “Blackmailing me to abandon the All-Cities Gyre and return to Atlantis to kidnap him.”
Elder Iliat nodded proudly and tapped his fingers against his chest. “I did that. Yes.”
“Why?”
The elder looked shocked and wounded that it wasn’t obvious. “Tial must not think I do not care about him!”
What?
Seriously?
Hazel held out both hands. “So you helped him escape to Atlantis to get a bride, and you’re also making constant efforts to kidnap him.”
Elder Iliat swelled with pride. “Yes. And if I succeed, I will help him escape aga
in.”
That was…
Well, it was a lot of work. “You could just tell him.”
“Words are meaningless.” He waved his hand. “Anyway, you must rest for your long journey. The king will pressure you again to go to Atlantis. I have held my support for the next great hunt over him. He wriggles like a bait worm. So he will chase you from the territory at trident-point.”
“Or you could just not do that,” Hazel said.
“You are fast, so you will escape.”
Lotar eyed him with the same confusion that Hazel felt, so hey, at least it wasn’t a mer-human cultural difference. This was a different difference. Haha.
After the Elder left, they snuggled together in a side room, and Hazel had never felt more protected under the shelter of a heavily armed man. Elder Iliat was so blasé about setting the city on them, yet so insistent he couldn’t wish his son well and support him. “Geez. I don’t suppose your dad has two perspectives like this and saying awful things to you is his way of proving he loves you.”
“No.”
“Well, maybe by the time we get to Syrenka, he will have changed.”
Lotar’s mouth stayed in its thin line. He clearly didn’t think so.
She nuzzled him. “You’ve changed.”
His brow smoothed, and he snuggled her close to him. Wrapped in his protective arms, she let herself drift.
And yes, they awoke before anyone came after them at trident-point.
Lotar was his usual alert self as they journeyed to the edge of the city, keeping her safe from what they knew—by Elder Iliat’s theatrically black, glowering expression—was coming.
At the edge of the city was her last chance to pitch the party. Last chance to avoid another no.
The king approached.
She had to do something.
Now was her last moment to shine.
Twenty-Three
Hazel tensed in Lotar’s arms, and he felt the same kick to readiness.
But the king’s first words were not what he’d expected. “Are you determined to complete the All-Cities Gyre? All the cities of history?”
Lotar nodded, his hand hovering over his closest dagger.
“The All-Council army is in the region to ambush you. A unit came several surface days before you. They are waiting in the ruins of Oria.”
That was irritating.
But not surprising.
If he could not stealth past them, perhaps Hazel could create an impenetrable shield…
“Ruins?” Hazel tilted her head. “Why are we visiting ruins? Does anybody live there?”
“Not since the Seven Cities’ War,” the king replied. “They, along with their two neighbors, suffered most from the lack of sacred brides. Being less robust, they withered or fled.”
“Oh. So there’s no one to deliver an invitation to?” She patted Lotar’s chest. “Easy. We’ll skip them.”
Skip them…
But then he would not be the first warrior to complete the All-Cities Gyre.
“But then you are not completing the All-Cities Gyre,” the king vibrated, echoing his thoughts.
Hazel shrugged. “If it means delivering invitations to empty ruins, I guess not.”
An anxious wet-rag feeling twisted in Lotar’s gut.
Skipping the cities made the most sense. It disappointed him for no reason. Second Lieutenant Ciran had said nothing about which cities to visit.
But they assumed, like the king and the All-Council army, that he would visit the ancient cities.
“Will you come to the party?” she asked.
The king’s brows drew down. “You are still holding my warrior hostage.”
“Well, if you come to the party, that’s the best chance to meet him. I mean, free him. Of course, if he’s already found his bride, she might have something to say about it.”
The king looked back at the frowning Elder Iliat. It was a clever ploy. And Hazel was right. If Tial had a bride, she would not go without a fight.
Although the king was looking at Elder Iliat, the warriors reacted as if he had consulted them. The first lieutenant floated forward respectfully and clearly under the charge of the other warriors. “You mentioned our mothers will be there?”
The king frowned harder and looked as though he were about to chastise the warriors.
Hazel vibrated first. “Another queen, Zara, has been researching them. So if you tell me the name, I’ll double-check when we surface in the Azores.”
“Alawa,” he vibrated quickly, as though he also knew the king did not want him to ask.
“Okay, great. I’ll—”
“And Chepi,” another interjected.
The other warriors answered behind him, fighting to be heard. Hurit, Karie, Sooleawa, Nadiea. Esoteric ones, modern ones, and all for a culture Hazel didn’t know. At last, the deluge ended.
Hazel blinked. “Um…”
“And Brittany,” the last one called.
“Haha, I’ll remember Brittany,” she promised, and the anxious warrior’s shoulders lowered in relief. “Uh, Lotar, did you get all that?”
He had.
“Thank God.” She laughed again with a bright glow. “And if Zara hasn’t found your mothers yet, she can trace them with their names. Plus I’m sure knowing that you’re seeking them will motivate your moms to seek you too.”
All the warriors brightened.
Even Lotar’s chest lifted.
The king’s mouth opened and closed, and he tapped his fingers together. He must have been about to order his warriors to chase them from the city, but now that they were doing his warriors a favor, he could not do so. “I need volunteers to escort them to the city’s echo point.”
There was nearly a fight over volunteers, and many more than were necessary escorted them the extra distance to the echo point instead of at the edge of the city’s territory as usual. They used the opportunity to remind him and Hazel of their mothers’ names, as well as ask more questions outside of the hearing of their king or elders who were still loyal to the All-Council.
Lotar didn’t think about his mother much. She had left before he made permanent memories, like many of the mer. He had never sought her although the surface world was open to him. If he went to her and she was as disapproving as his father…there was no need to seek her out.
Outside the echo point, when the Newas warriors were trying to get him to repeat names one more time, Hazel stopped them with a laugh. “Lotar gets it. He’s exceptional, okay? I’d forget in a day—except for Brittany—but if he says he’ll remember, he will remember. I promise.”
They looked so anxious, but swam away.
His chest tingled.
Hazel approved of and celebrated his abilities. She’d never shown irritation when he exceeded her.
It was possible, just possible, that his mother might be the same.
He floated with Hazel into the echo point.
The news of the ocean swirled around them.
Now was the time to announce their next destination.
But…
A rebellious flare ignited.
He would complete the All-Cities Gyre. The All-Council would not stop him. He would leave Hazel and…
No.
This attitude aimed him at trouble. He wanted to test his limits, not endanger others.
He had to reconcile himself to not completing the All-Cities Gyre.
Hazel vibrated, stopped, and motioned him to get out of the echo point.
He kicked out of the echo point and into the ocean to talk without being overheard.
“Where are we going next?” she asked.
It tore at his chest to even say it, but he must. “If we cannot continue on the Sol Nord, we must cycle the opposite direction on the Sol Sud.”
“And pass the cities we’ve already visited? Do we even have time to do that?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“So can we bypass Oria? Get on a fast current?”
&n
bsp; “If the All-Council general is smart, he will station scouts and ambush parties on all routes.”
And detouring meant Lotar would not finish the All-Cities Gyre…
Hazel grimaced. “So our only choice is to turn around. Unless…are we sure there’s nobody behind us? Can we go over the All-Council? Around them?”
He drew an invisible map for her on his chest. The next cities after Oria were along the coast of her Europe and Africa, and they would circle through the Azores and shoot up the Arctic coasts over to what she called the Pacific.
“The exact route has changed, but this is what King Kadir remembers from the All-Council archives,” Lotar finished.
“The route changed?”
“The ocean currents have changed, yes.”
“Huh. Why are you so disappointed about skipping cities? If it’s changed anyway.”
He twitched. His heart palpitated. He had not told her of his unworthy disappointment.
“It’s obvious.” She rubbed his shoulder. “Or maybe it’s just obvious to me. My plans never work out. I get to deal with disappointment a lot.”
He rubbed his jaw. How embarrassing. Was he a trainee or a warrior? Such an unworthy complaint.
Such emotions would not distract a real warrior such as Second Lieutenant Ciran.
And Lotar acted as the kind of warrior his father accused him of being. Petty to the point of endangering others, so focused on increasing his own glory, he did not consider what was best for his fellow warriors.
“If the route changed, does that mean you used to visit different cities?”
“The same cities, but a different order.”
“Hmm. What about added cities?”
“Added cities?”
“Atlantis is new. The old Atlantis sank so long ago, nobody even knew where the ruins were, right? And we added in Sanctuary Island. Have any more changed?”
What an interesting question.
He had only considered what he’d lost. Not what he’d gained. The plan was to complete the last All-Cities Gyre on record, but that didn’t account for the change in ocean currents, or the loss and addition of cities, or even the history of alternate routes.
“But I suppose it doesn’t matter if we still have to sneak past the army somehow,” she said.
