Son of a Mermaid (17 page)

“I hope so,” she said. “It’s too late to choose a new vantage point, but there’s nothing that says we have to stay close to the ocean’s floor.” Grabbing his arm, she pulled him upward, swimming toward the large head of the Buddha. “Good thing you chose a big statue.”

From this new perspective, they looked out over the heads of the other merfolk. Shea was surprised to see that the gathered crowd came in an even greater variety of sizes and colors than the University students they’d been following. It was similar, in a way, to any large gathering of humans, but different.
Humans don’t generally have blue hair…or green skin,
he thought
. Or tails.

Slowly the filtered light began to dim as the sun above the ocean began to finally settle to the horizon, the longest day of the year finally drawing to a close. At the moment the sun touched the edge of the horizon, the liquid gold of the sunset on the water changed the light in the courtyard to a warm honey color. As if by some unseen signal, the guards all suddenly stood at attention. A second later, a conch horn sounded a long, low note, hushing the crowd into complete silence. Shea watched the door on the far right creak open. The merfolk gathered in the courtyard let out a great cheer as the King stepped into the open waters, the jewels on his crown glittering brilliantly in the golden light.

“That’s your grandfather, King Koios,” Kae whispered into his ear. “Your mom should come out next.”

Servants carrying glass globe lanterns suddenly appeared on either side all along the pathway, serving to both illuminate the procession with a brilliant green light and keep the onlookers at arms length from the dignitaries. As the cheering continued, the King held out his hand and Princess Brynneliana emerged from the doorway, resplendent with glowing emeralds around her neck and beaded through her long, flowing blonde curls. Her entire head seemed to glitter with twinkling green lights as the gems reflected the glow of the lanterns. Bands of yellow gold clamped on each of her arms, flashing coldly in the warm light. The crowd roared its approval once again, as the King and the Princess made their way forward along the path.

Shea couldn’t take his eyes off the Princess. His mother. She looked exactly like the woman in his dreams, but she also looked so royal and otherworldly. “She looks like a faerie princess out of a movie,” he whispered to Kae.

Kae snorted, bubbles bursting from her gills. “Are you kidding? Faeries are downright ugly. All pointy ears and sharp cheekbones…” her sentence trailed off as Shea stared at her with wide eyes. “What? You think merfolk are the only magical creatures in the world?”

He stared for a moment longer, then shifted his gaze back to the courtyard without answering. The procession of dignitaries was flowing out of the castle and winding around the glowing path through the courtyard. The crowd was still cheering and clapping, exclaiming over the fancy jewels and elaborate outfits from around the globe. Shea noticed a burly, dark-haired merman in the procession, escorting an elderly royal. The crown on his head denoted royalty, but even from a distance Shea could see the merman’s sneering eyes were black as evil. Despite the rainbow of colors represented in both the procession and the crowd, the merman’s dark olive complexion and bulging forearms stood out oddly next to the fair mermaid at his side.

“Who are they?” He poked Kae to get her attention and pointed to the dark merman. “That couple, behind my mother?”

“The old mermaid is Princess Winona, the King’s sister,” Kae said. “The merman next to her is Prince Demyan, the Regent from the Southern Ocean.”

“Is that the guy my mother is marrying?” Shea gripped the rock statue in front of him with both hands to steady himself. “He looks completely evil!”

“Prince Demyan is a warrior,” she told him, “and Regent. Your mother is supposed to marry her cousin, King Theo. There, swimming behind Demyan with that dark-skinned princess.”

Shea absorbed this information and took note of Theo, but his eyes zoomed back to focus on Demyan as he made his way around the courtyard. “What happened to Theo’s parents?”

“The King died on a shark hunt, a hunting accident they say,” Kae told him. “The Queen…” Kae paused. “It was rumored that there was a military coup in the Adluo castle. Some say Demyan himself delivered the killing blow.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe he would slay a woman, though. Not his own aunt.”

“He doesn’t look like murder would bother him one bit,” Shea said, his eyes still riveted on the Prince. The merman seemed to feel the boy’s scrutiny, his black eyes darting among the crowd of faces as if seeking someone in particular.

“We’re here to take a peek at your mother,” Kae reminded him. “Don’t waste your time worrying about the Prince.” She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, but he wriggled away from her touch, dislodging several small pebbles from the shoulder of the rocky statue. The stones bounced down the front of the statue toward the ocean’s floor. Shea saw the black head of the Prince turn sharply toward the small movement. Suddenly the moment seemed frozen in time as the two glared into each other’s eyes, black and green locked together.

“Shea!” Kae grabbed his wrist. “Someone will see you” She yanked him back behind the statue’s head.

“Too late,” he told her. “Let’s get out of here!” The pair swam out into the open ocean, darting far away from the castle courtyard. After staring into the Prince’s eyes, Shea doubted anyone could swim fast enough to escape his wrath, but they had to try.

Two hundred yards away, at the far end of a field of oysters, the pair slowed their swimming to make sure no one had followed. “That was too close,” Kae said, keeping her voice low. “I can’t believe we got away without being seen.”

“The Prince did see me, that’s the problem,” Shea said, mentally kicking himself for being so clumsy.

Kae shook her head. “He has the Solstice ceremony to deal with. And finalizing those awful peace treaties.” She frowned. “I mean, I’m happy for the end of war, but it’s going to change my life so much.”

“Are the clans always at odds with one another?” Shea took her hand in his. “Is that how merfolk are, always fighting, always at war?”

“I don’t know a lot about politics, or about how the other clans handle disputes.” Kae paused for a moment. “But I think this particular war has been over resources. The Southern Ocean is pretty barren, and getting worse for some reason. I think the Adluos fight because they want what the Atlantic has to offer.”

He considered her words. “Why can’t everyone share the resources? Or trade peacefully? Did the Adluos fight when their old king was in power?”

Kae shook her head. “Not nearly as much. There were skirmishes, but not the bloodshed we’ve seen recently. The royal families used to be related by blood – the Adluo King sent his sister to marry King Koios. She died giving birth to your mom.” Kae cocked her head to one side. “I guess that makes you part Adluo, too.”

“You mean I’m related to that Prince guy? No, thank you!” Shea frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “I think…” A rustling in the seaweed fence caught his eye, and he stopped mid-sentence. He turned just as a burly merman wearing a blue sash burst through the barrier, dragging a net behind him. “Watch out!” Shea grabbed for Kae’s hand, but the other merman threw the netting over her head, pulling her backward. Furrowing his brow, Shea wound up to punch the soldier, but someone else grabbed both of his arms from behind.

“Got you,” growled the second soldier as his fingers tightened their grip. “Thought you could escape, did you?”

A third Adluo swam into the oyster field, holding the ends of bright chains that harnessed a pair of six-foot long sand sharks. “Best hunters in these waters,” the soldier said proudly, tugging the leashes on the grayish brown pair. The chains threaded through iron muzzles on their snouts, preventing the sharks from opening their voracious mouths. “Killers, my girls are,” the soldier continued, “Trained them myself. The females are much better hunters, you know.”

“Shut up, Griffin,” yelled the soldier wrestling with Shea. “Why don’t you help me with this prisoner?”

“No problem.” Griffin moved in closer with his two deadly predators until the sharks’ muzzles poked into the golden scales on Shea’s tail. The sharks snorted wildly at the scent, straining against their muzzles. “I’d stop struggling if I was you, boy,” Griffin said. “You wouldn’t want me to let my pets loose, would you?”

The same way Shea had listened to the thoughts of the blue fish he’d caught with Hailey, he could hear the frantic, jumbled thoughts of the sand sharks, seeing bloody pictures projected in his mind instead of words. He shivered for a brief second at the images of horror, then tried his best to tune them out. He straightened his shoulders, meeting the soldier’s eye. “On what grounds are you taking us prisoner? We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You were spying on our Prince,” growled the guard who was still holding the boy’s arms. He pushed Shea down, as the other soldier pulled the fishing net wider. In moments, Shea and Kae were bound together, enmeshed in netting.

“We were watching the procession,” protested Kae, her front now pressed tightly against Shea’s back. “Are you going to arrest everyone in the crowd for spying?”

“Ah, but you weren’t in the crowd,” said the soldier tying the ends of the net. “You were hiding outside of the courtyard. And you ran from us when we came to politely ask you to join the rest of the gathering.”

“Politely?” Shea snorted, sending a burst of bubbles shooting from his gills. “You came after us with sharks and nets. Of course we ran away!”

“Only the guilty run away,” the soldier named Griffin said, nodding his head and stroking the dorsal fin of one of his trackers. “We’d better take the prisoners to the Prince. Something about the boy’s shiny scales is making my girls extra hungry.”

In one of the smaller buildings outside the palace courtyard, two Adluo soldiers waited with their newly captured prisoners. The third soldier swam off with word for the Prince. Despite his dire circumstances, the surroundings fascinated Shea. Everything in this underwater house seemed so similar and yet so different from his home on dry land. He focused on the curtains waving in the current that wafted through the open window, trying to ignore the noises from the sharks caged right outside the door.

There were other things he couldn’t ignore. Like the feeling of Kae’s body, pressed tightly against his back. The pair were still tied together, the thick ropes of the net tangled around them. Shea could feel Kae’s warm cheek against the back of his neck, her hemp shirt against his bare back. He could feel her body trembling, and he longed to see her face. “Hey,” he whispered to her, tilting his chin down, his head toward his shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Kae let out a nervous laugh and he felt her body tremble anew. “Oh sure.” She was silent for a moment before adding, “This isn’t the way I pictured things.”

“Yeah.” Shea smiled, despite the circumstances. “I thought I’d be facing you the first time we got this intimate.”

“Oh…” He heard her sharp intake of breath. Her cheek felt even warmer against him as she whispered, “I’m not sure I know…”

The door flung open, banging against the wall, stirring the current in the room, interrupting whatever Kae was about to confess.

“I must return to the Great Hall before I’m missed,” the dark Prince snapped as he entered, not bothering to disguise his impatience or his anger. He stopped in front of the bound pair, eyeing the thick ropes with disdain. “How can I question two prisoners if I can only look at one of them?”

One of the guards sprang forward to untie the knotted fishing net. The Prince rolled his eyes as the soldier fumbled with the rope. “Can’t you move any faster, you insufferable wad of eel slime?”

“I’m doing my best…” the soldier’s voice trailed off into a yelp. Shea turned his head to see the Prince’s knife slice through the netting that bound him to Kae, lopping off two of the soldier’s fingers in the process. Thick blood oozed from the fresh wounds, clouding the water around the soldier’s hand.

Shea’s nose prickled at the scent, the blood filling the seawater with the strong scent of iron. His stomach clenched down tight, a twisted knot forming in his belly.
Death,
he thought.
This is what death smells like
. He could hear the excited thoughts of the sharks penned outside as the strong scent wafted out through the open window.

“My time is more valuable than you seem capable of understanding,” the Prince growled through clenched teeth.

The guard named Griffin rushed forward. “Let’s keep the blood to a minimum,” he said, his voice anxious. He wrapped a kelp rag around his comrade’s hand to stem the ooze of red. The sharks outside thrashed restlessly, banging against the side of their cage with a resounding clatter. “My girls get easily excited.”

“Now then,” the Prince drawled, locking eyes with Shea. He pulled the net off his head and reached out to snap the cord holding the
transmutare
stone. “No need to have you contacting any friends.” He handed the medallion to one of the soldiers and motioned for him to take Kae’s
transmutare
as well.

“Tell me your name, you pusillanimous little squid, and why you felt the need to spy on a public procession?”

Shea stared silently into the Prince’s dark eyes. He’d dealt with plenty of bullies back in Oklahoma. The boys who played football and thought the world owed them everything. The kids who didn’t have to rush home to do chores after school, the ones who lived in town and thought they were so much better than a farmboy.

Give them an inch and they’ll take the whole farm, his dad always said. Shea had no intention of giving the Prince that inch.

Prince Demyan pressed his lips together tightly. “Do you need further motivation to talk?” He slowly scraped his bloody blade against the boy’s neck. Shea shrugged, as if to say
“So what? I dare you,”
but kept his mouth firmly closed.

“Or perhaps,” began the Prince, removing the blade and swimming backward a few inches. He wiped the blade along the left side of Shea’s vest, leaving a dark bloody stripe on the green seaweed. “Perhaps I’m threatening the wrong
mermaid
.” He reached over and grabbed a handful of Kae’s blonde curls, yanking her toward him as she winced in pain. He pulled her head backward, fully exposing her delicate neck. With slow precision he raised the knife and rested its shining blade against her skin, where the blood pulsed through her carotid artery.

Shea couldn’t stand the look of fear in Kae’s eyes. “We couldn’t see,” he blurted. “We were trying to get a better view of all the royalty. Let my friend go.” His hands clenched at his sides, helplessly. He knew he’d be outnumbered if it came down to a fight. That wouldn’t help Kae.

“You claim to be innocent onlookers,” drawled Prince Demyan, scraping the knife slowly down along Kae’s pale neck, until it came to rest on her collarbone. She bit down on her bottom lip as he pressed the blade harder against her skin. A thin red sliver of fresh blood appeared along the knife’s edge. “So, why did you flee?”

Abruptly, the Prince released Kae. He shoved her toward Shea, who caught the mermaid in his arms. He gave her a quick hug before pushing her behind him again. “As if you could protect her,” smirked the Prince.

“Guards chased us. With sharks,” Shea said through tight lips, his brow furrowed. “Of course we fled.”

The Prince seemed suddenly lost in thought, staring intently into Shea’s face. “Those eyes,” he murmured. “I’ve seen those eyes somewhere before…the blonde hair, the angry green eyes… It couldn’t be mere coincidence, now could it?”

Shea had no idea what the madman was babbling about. He turned his head slightly, to catch Kae’s eye. She shrugged, shaking her head.

“So,” said the Prince as a thin smile slashed across his face. “Could it truly be? The long lost bastard son of the Atlantic’s beloved Princess! And here I’d been told you were a mere drylander.” He laughed. “I’ll have to have that informant killed. And revise my plans.”

Shea’s eyes shot open wide. His secret was exposed!

“Yes, my boy, we’ve been expecting a visit from you, although I must admit I didn’t think it would be so soon. Or so voluntarily.” Prince Demyan spun to face the guards. “Bind and gag these prisoners. I’ll not have them spoil any of the surprises I’ve orchestrated for this fine Solstice evening.”

The Prince turned back to stare at his prisoners, his black eyes glittering in the faint light coming in through the window. The thin, calculating smile stretched across his face reminded Shea of a venomous snake about to strike.

A venomous
sea
snake.

“I’ve waited long enough to take my revenge over the Atlantic. I’m a man of action, and I shall have what I want,” Prince Demyan snarled. “King Koios shall pay for the death of my father, and you jelly-brained urchins shall not spoil my fun.”

One of the soldiers spoke up, his voice quivering. “Shouldn’t we kill ‘em then? Get rid of the problem?”

“Of course not, you worthless son of a manatee,” roared the Prince, rolling his eyes as he jabbed his knife back into its sheath. “I’ve always found hostages to be wonderfully motivating.” With that, the Adluo prince swam out of the room, a flurry of swishing bubbles in his wake.

All three guards breathed a heavy sigh of relief and gathered around the one who had lost fingers, momentarily ignoring the prisoners.

“You’ll need to steer clear of my hunters for at least a week,” said Griffin, nodding as he checked his comrade’s ragged stumps. “Listen to those girls outside in the pen. Smell of blood drives them insane. They’ll tear you to pieces, I tell you.”

“Forget about me,” the head guard said gruffly. “Let’s get some fresh rope to secure these Aequoreans, now that the Prince has shredded my net.”

“Well, pack this mud on under the kelp to mask the smell. Stay on the far side of me until you get past the shark pen,” Griffin insisted, helping the merman with the kelp. “I won’t be able to control them if you get too close.” First aid complete, the three mermen exited the room, forgetting to leave a guard in the room with the prisoners.

“We need to get out of here and warn King Koios,” Shea whispered to Kae, who still hid behind him. “Did you hear that Prince guy? More than a little crazy!” When she didn’t answer, he turned to find her staring down at the floor, her hand covering the spot where the Prince’s knife had been. “Are you okay?”

Kae nodded slowly, and raised her eyes to his. “I’m bleeding,” she said, moving her hand to show the trickle of red seeping from her body and dissolving into the water. “I can’t escape past those sharks. Go without me.”

“I won’t leave you.” He glanced around the small room. “What was it the soldiers used to stop the bleeding?” He spied the pot of mud on the table and grabbed it, poking his index finger into the thick, black ooze. He wiped the mud across the red line at Kae’s neck, and glanced around the room for another piece of kelp. Seeing none, he took off the seaweed vest Kae had woven for him. “Use this,” he insisted, shoving it into her hands. “Hurry!”

Kae stared at him a moment before pulling two long strands loose and pressing them against her wound. She lifted her arm and Shea ran the seaweed around her torso, tying the ends together at her back. She turned her head and glimpsed the trident between Shea’s shoulder blades. “You’ll be in greater danger if the Prince sees the Mark on your back,” she whispered as she handed the vest back to him. “It’s bad enough he knows you’re the son of the Princess. If he sees the Mark he’ll kill you for sure.”

“Prince Demyan is going to kill me no matter what,” Shea said, but put the seaweedy garment back on. “We need to warn someone.”

“How will we get away from the guards?”

“Leave that to me,” said a gruff voice. Shea and Kae whirled to see a tall white-haired merman blocking the doorway, holding what looked like a wooden club in his left hand. In his right, he held a blue sash with a small bloodstain on it. He slipped the sash over his head.

“Mr. Guenther!” Shea couldn’t quite comprehend what he was seeing. “What are you…? Why did…? How can…?” He couldn’t finish any of his questions. His grandmother’s strange old neighbor was apparently…a merman?

“You’re Adluo,” Kae said quietly, her eyes wide. “Why would you help us?”

“Call me Gregor, please. There has been enough killing of innocents,” the merman said as he scanned the room. “Are you alone?”

“The guards will be back any minute to tie us up,” Shea told him. “We should get out while we can.”

“I wouldn’t worry about my old friend Griffin,” Gregor said with an odd smile. “He and his mates are taking a nap for the moment.” He dropped the wooden club to the floor. “But your friend was right when she said you need to cover the Mark on your back. The Prince would not have let you live even for one more minute, had he known the truth.”

Kae crossed her arms over her chest. “Why, in Neptune’s name, should we trust you?”

Gregor smiled. “Do you have a choice?”