by Starla Night
Warlord Yashu’s expression went lax.
Anik lowered his trident and slumped. “Father. Lotar was never near Syrenka. He could not have injured Prince Oska. He was on the surface with his bride.”
The ocean fell silent.
Warlord Yashu frowned. “There has been a mistake.”
“More than one.” Anik lifted a finger. “Lotar. How did you know where to seek the poison bag?”
“I did not. I swept the area.”
“I watched you circle with glee. ‘Only the real poisoner would know to search for the bag here,’ I thought.” Anik slanted his gaze at his father. “How did you know where I should wait in ambush?”
“My son, I do not like the way you look at me. I am an honorable warrior with a long history of friendship—”
“Just answer, Father. Please.”
Warlord Yashu shrugged one shoulder. “It was logical. As he said.”
Anik’s hope slid off his face into despair. “No more lies.”
“I have never lied to you.”
“No more mistakes, no more ‘Maybe I heard something.’ No more.” Anik slashed his trident in frustration. “Prince Oska is my prince. A warrior I would die for. And I will kill whoever has hurt him. Even if that is…” Anik couldn’t quite seem to accuse his father, but the implication hung in the heavy silence. “Now, tell me. How did you know where to find the poison?”
Warlord Yashu pursed his lips. “Son, Syrenka needs you—”
“Now!”
Warlord Yashu’s brows drew together. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot tell you more. It was logical, and so I thought of it.”
Anik squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I suppose I will die without learning whether my suspicions dishonor me or you.”
“No, my son. You will not die. This is your time. I have laid out everything. Go forth and claim your rightful place as Syrenka’s king.”
“Starting with the All-Council? Very well. I will take on this mantle to parlay.” He tossed a calculating look at Lotar. “Prince Oska is laughing at me. He said my brows had grown scales to cover my eyes. If he departs for the blacknight sea first, do not fear. He will not be alone for long.” To the other warriors, he lifted his trident. “Syrenka or death!”
His warriors roared.
“Hold.” Lotar swam forward to block them.
The other warriors, including Anik, stopped in shock.
“You are not king. The elders offered that position to me.” Lotar faced the elders. “And I accept.”
Lotar faced down the shocked first lieutenant.
“All hail King Lotar,” the head elder blurted before Warlord Yashu or anyone else could protest, and the rest of the elders agreed.
First Lieutenant Anik blinked rapidly and lowered his trident. The warriors behind him lowered their tridents as well, but no one moved out of formation. Despite the elders’ choice, their loyalties aligned with the first lieutenant. And if First Lieutenant Anik turned against Lotar, so would the city’s warriors.
“We are on the same side,” he told his new first lieutenant.
Anik snorted. “Are we?”
“We are.” Lotar released Hazel. “Heal my father.”
“No.” Warlord Yashu blocked her path, and guards formed behind him. “She cannot touch the king. She is not his bride.”
“I am his bride, and I say fine,” Irina said.
Warlord Yashu’s lips flapped even though his words vibrated in his chest. “I will not allow it. She is a danger. A threat.”
Hazel floated in the center between them.
Lotar was not an effective king if he could not take control.
But…
First Lieutenant Anik waved his trident at his father. “Move.”
“You cannot do this, my son. You cannot allow her to touch the king. She will injure him as she injured Prince Oska.”
“She never handled the poison. She never injured Prince Oska.”
“My son, brides have ways—”
“Move.”
When Warlord Yashu still blocked the way, First Lieutenant Anik ruthlessly ordered the guards to remove him. After a short, shocked hesitation, they obeyed. Warlord Yashu yelled and struggled, cursing them fluently.
Hazel looked at Lotar. He had only been king for a few moments and yet he had already shaken the city to its foundations. And this was only the beginning. He waved her forward.
“Okay.” She swam on her short but effective fins for the Life Tree dais. “Um, I’m still kind of mad at him, though.”
“Do your best.” Lotar stared down the guards, who reluctantly moved aside, and she knelt at the king’s side.
“K-king Lotar.” The warrior from the front barely stumbled over his name. “The All-Council general is waiting for your parlay.”
“Let him.”
The warrior blanched. “They will destroy the outer castles.”
“Syrenka can lose the outer castles.”
The messenger gasped. The warriors moved restlessly behind Anik.
“He will kill Syrenka,” someone muttered.
Warlord Yashu crossed his arms. “I told you.”
First Lieutenant Anik curled his upper lip. “Is that your plan? Let the All-Council fell our castles? Get your revenge by watching our city die?”
“This is not my first time losing every castle to an unstoppable All-Council army,” Lotar replied. “This is not my first time making a final stand at the Life Tree with few warriors and no allies. And this is not my first time defeating those armies, defending that Life Tree, and saving the city.”
Anik’s chin jerked back.
Lotar enunciated. “Do you have more experience than I?”
Anik held his gaze. Shoulders square, spine straight. Grip tight on his trident…but he clenched it tight to his side.
The Life Tree chimed.
Hazel knelt beside the king. White light shone on her hands and flowed into the king’s injured back. She hummed as his color improved and his tattoos shimmered, iridescent with the Life Tree’s energy.
The king groaned and straightened.
A tension long coiled in Lotar’s belly released.
The king stretched, winced, and rested against the Life Tree. His lashes fluttered.
Hazel scooted back and sat on her heels. “Hey. I healed you.”
He waved her away. “Not me. My son.”
“How’s that for a thank-you?” She prodded the poultice. “Hmm. Well, I must still be mad at you, because I feel like I could do better, but it’s a start.”
The healer knelt on the king’s other side, nearly elbowing Hazel out of the way, and began poking and prodding beneath the bandages. “Hmm. Yes. Just like the rumors. It defies my old eyes.”
“Then, King Falki will live?” the head elder asked.
“He will, although he is weak and faint. He cannot fight off an army.” The healer nodded at Hazel with respect. “I treated the poison. Will you heal Prince Oska?”
“I can try, but…”
Hazel bounced onto her feet and stepped over the other injured warriors, singing quietly as she danced healing fingers over one and another, increasing his army one surprised yawn and stretch after another. She stopped at Oska and studied him.
“I still don’t know why it didn’t work the first time. If I try again and he chokes up, he might get reinjured even worse.”
“What is wrong?” Lotar’s mother asked.
“Warlord Yashu stabbed Oska,” Lotar told her. “The healer could not fully clear the injury so Hazel’s powers fail.”
Across the open space, Warlord Yashu stiffened. “How dare you accuse me? I am a loyal warrior, and I will die before admitting to treason.”
“Yes, Yashu, I think you will.” Irina flexed her fingers. “Anik. You are very brave, eh? To challenge the army and die for Syrenka.”
He lifted his chin. “I have failed my prince and my king. I will not fail my city.”
His son ignored him.
“Very brave.” She nodded in approval and lifted her hand as if to high-five him. “But your death can have meaning. See?”
Her hand glowed.
A wall of energy blasted out, smacking First Lieutenant Anik in the chest. He flew back and hit the wide trunk of the Life Tree with a thump.
The Life Tree emitted a shattering sound. Resin pearls cascaded onto the warriors resting below. The warriors pushed off the dais and shifted to fins, clasping daggers, battle-ready.
First Lieutenant Anik’s eyes bugged. His trident slipped out of his fingers and clattered to the dais. He slid down the trunk and landed in a heap on the other side of Lotar’s slumped father.
The elders gaped.
Warlord Yashu froze.
“Hm.” Irina flexed her fingers. “Maybe too much force.”
The warriors advanced on Irina to battle the new threat.
Lotar held up his hand.
They stopped, suspended between grief and fury.
“Irina!” Hazel swam to the first lieutenant’s side, as did the healer. “What did you do that for?”
“Now, he tells you how to fix Oska, or you do not heal his son,” Irina said.
“That’s insane.” She closed her eyes. Her hands glowed.
“Hazel.” Lotar waited until she opened her eyes again and looked at him. He subtly shook his head.
“But Anik’s really hurt.”
“I know.”
“But…”
He willed her to think this through. Her desire to heal the first lieutenant was honorable. Listen as my partner. Your wish is not wrong. I even agree with you. But consider our choices. Do not act on impulse now.
Hazel clasped her hands. The glow faded. She wriggled unhappily on the mating gemstones. “It’s not Anik’s fault his dad is a backstabbing murderer.”
“It does not matter,” Irina said. “Yashu kills my son, I kill his son. That is fair.”
“To you, maybe.” Hazel crossed her arms. “Either way, it’s still wrong.”
Irina shrugged. “I speak the way Yashu understands. Eh, Yashu? Tell Hazel how to heal my Oska, or your Anik dies.”
Warlord Yashu licked his lips. “I know nothing about Prince Oska’s injury.”
The first lieutenant spasmed, arching his back and moaning.
Warlord Yashu cried out and kicked to the Life Tree.
“Stop him,” Lotar ordered.
Warriors blocked his path.
Warlord Yashu pushed against their tridents, cutting himself. “Let me through to my son!”
They blocked him, impervious to his curses and commands.
The healer checked First Lieutenant Anik’s heart and palpated his ribs. A dark bruise had already formed over his sternum, and spots of blood drifted above his mouth.
“She crushed his body,” the healer announced. “He will not survive.”
Warlord Yashu snarled at Lotar. “How could you hold back a grieving father while his son dies? And when you have the means to heal him?”
Lotar met his honest grief with cold fury. “You must have asked yourself that question every moment of my father’s vigil.”
Warlord Yashu’s eyes widened.
Hazel bounced unhappily. “Lotar…”
Yes, he understood.
And he agreed. Under Lotar’s leadership, Hazel and the healer may have successfully undone the sabotage and healed Oska with no interference.
But Irina had acted. Time was of the essence. And her assessment of Warlord Yashu was not wrong.
“I could try to heal Oska anyway,” Hazel said. “I don’t want to wait so long that they both die.”
“If they die, they die.” Irina’s eyes were cold as she fixed on Warlord Yashu. “I still have one son, so I win.”
Rage flashed across Warlord Yashu’s face. He whirled to Hazel. “Please. Heal my son. I beg you.”
She glared at Warlord Yashu. “Why can’t I heal Oska?”
Warlord Yashu curled his lip.
Anik made a choking sound and stilled.
Warlord Yashu gestured at Oska. “I lodged a coral spike in the shell necklace.”
“His mom’s necklace?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sick.”
Warlord Yashu shrugged. Nothing mattered but his son.
The healer kicked to Oska’s side and inspected the necklace. On the reverse, a cleverly hidden spine pierced skin. The healer carefully removed the dangerous necklace and handed it to a guard, who conveyed it to Lotar.
Lotar pried out the spine with a dagger, but the coral had ruined the necklace. The shell was crushed, leaving a gaping hole that could not be filled.
“Give me,” Irina said.
He handed it to his mother, and she pressed it to her heart.
Hazel knelt at Oska’s side. “That little spike couldn’t have scratched through all those bandages, could it?”
Warlord Yashu said, “When I was left alone, I worked more slivers under the bandage.”
The healer removed the bandages, exposing Oska’s jagged, red, seeping wound. He used a medical tool to pinch out more small pieces of coral. “So they did not bubble up in the blood. You replaced them.”
Warlord Yashu nodded.
The healer rubbed his brow. “That is a relief. I was beginning to question my competence.”
Hazel spread her hands over Oska’s wounds. Her chest glowed, her hands glowed, and a matching light glowed in his soul.
The light spread through his body. His color improved as his wound knit together faster and more completely than her last attempt. Oska hunched his shoulders, stretched, and yawned. His eyes opened on Hazel, and he frowned.
Then his gaze lifted to Lotar. A great smile broke over Oska’s face. “I knew you would come. I knew. Warlord Yashu… He…” Oska waved at his injured chest. “I swam away from the blacknight sea. So many times. You stopped him?”
Lotar’s chest squeezed.
His brother’s faith was painful. He had been wiser than Lotar. And he had never stopped believing in Lotar’s honor.
Lotar nodded.
Oska closed his eyes and sagged. His body paled and his iridescent sable tattoos dulled as though he’d fought all this way just to hear the answer and now he gave up and died.
The healer pinched his toe, but he did not respond.
“Oska.” Irina floated to the edge of the dais. “Do not sleep now. This is a dangerous time. Our fight is not over.”
Oska forced his eyes open with a moan. “Mama?”
Irina smiled. “Hi, my darling.”
“You are here.” Oska’s color returned, and his tattoos shone. He straightened stiffly. “I dreamed about you.”
She stroked his cheek. “You have grown. I am so proud.”
He beamed.
The healer floated close, relieved. “Stretch your fins, but do not go far from the Life Tree. You will tire quickly and must replenish your strength.”
Hazel pressed her hands to her bright, shining chest. “Aw.”
“My son.” Warlord Yashu waved at Hazel. “You promised.”
“I did.” She bounced over to First Lieutenant Anik, knelt by his side, and rubbed her hands together. “I’m still a bit angry at you, but I’ll do my best.”
First Lieutenant Anik pushed her hands away while trying to touch her as little as possible, rolled into a pained sitting position, and winced. “Save your strength for my warriors.”
Warlord Yashu stilled.
“Huh?” She rested on her heels. “But your chest is crushed. Look at that bruise. Aren’t you going to die?”
First Lieutenant Anik shook his head tiredly.
“I may have made a slight miscalculation.” The healer nodded at Lotar in silent apology for his deception. “Perhaps the first lieutenant is not as injured as I had believed.”
>
“Oh-ho.” Irina smirked. “Perhaps Yashu is not the only one who smiles with one half of his face.”
Lotar’s father groaned. His lashes fluttered, and he squinted. “Oska? You are… Irina? Are you really here?”
“Early retirement.” She crossed the dais, Oska limping behind, and rested beside King Falki. “I had to sort things out.”
“I am glad to see you.” He tried to roll more upright, but winced and instead settled her into his arms. “Did everyone survive? The sorting out.”
“So far.”
“Good.” He covered her mouth with a tender kiss. “Oska was ill.”
“Yes, yes. Lotar and Hazel saved him. And you. The All-Council army is here.”
He winced again. “I must face them.”
“You rest. Lotar is king now.”
His father opened his eyes, sought Lotar, and focused.
Lotar straightened.
You will never be king. The words had echoed in these waters so many times.
And yet…
“King Lotar.” His father held his gaze as one ruler to an equal. He accepted him, after all this time. “Save Syrenka.”
So that was it, then?
Lotar simply held his father’s gaze, locked in private communication, while his father hugged Irina and Oska floated close by. They still had a family unit while Lotar was out floating alone.
Well, not alone exactly.
He was king, and he had an entire army to fend off.
First Lieutenant Anik tried to roll forward and gave up with a pained whimper.
Great.
Hazel reached out and pressed her glowing hand against the first lieutenant’s back. Pure white light glimmered through his torso, reflecting in his tattoos, and pooled in the chest.
He straightened as the light flowed into him, then frowned at Hazel and brushed at the glowing sparks. “I told you not to waste your strength on me.”
“Yeah, but you’re about to fight an army, so you should probably go into it without an existing injury. Besides, I don’t take orders from you.” She hopped up, shifted to fins, and swam to Lotar, her eyes bright and her chest glowing. “I accept suggestions from my partner. Partner.”
He snugged her against his body. Gratitude curved his lips, and he traded a sweet kiss with her.
Sure, she’d disagreed with Irina’s problem-solving, but after taking a moment to think things through, she’d understood Lotar’s position. They were on the same page, aiming at the same goal, shooting fish in the same barrel. So to speak.
