~ Chapter 16 : Arrivals and Departures~
Melody sat on the cold metal floor of the cage and spread out her hands. “And that’s it. I guess the old story must be true, since the sceptre is now in the Sorceress’ hands.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Jeremy admitted.
“What about the king?” Dash said. “King Triton? Wouldn’t he know what to do? If anyone can figure out a way to stop her, it’d be His Majesty.”
“They must be keeping him somewhere,” said Jeremy.
The three of them swam to the border of the cage and peered out. They had a reasonable if restricted view of the throne room beneath them, but there was no sign of Melody’s grandfather. However, they could hear the Sorceress’ voice coming quite clearly from somewhere directly underneath them.
“…and the Atlantican prisoners next,” the Sorceress was saying. “What this kingdom needs is more sprucing up. Better décor, that sort of thing. Knock down a few walls, set up a few new towers, et cetera. Oh, and remind me to send the Octopans out to that old mine, once the Atlanticans are out of the way.”
Melody, Dash and Jeremy looked at each other in alarm. Once the Atlanticans are out of the way…
“Of course,” was the Manta’s reply. “Shall we deal with that now, or would you like to put that off for tomorrow?”
“Hmm, yes, tomorrow would be good,” said the Sorceress. “It is rather late and it’s been a long day. But let me talk to Melody first. Fetch her, will you?”
Melody shrunk back from the edges of the cage just as the Manta appeared in view. “Hello again,” he said, easily opening the café door. Melody struggled for a moment when the Manta grabbed her, but she might as well have struggled against a brick wall.
After shutting the cage door again, Jeremy and Dash clung to the bars to watch as Melody was brought down to the throne where, as she’d guessed, the Sorceress was comfortably sitting in.
“Greetings, Princess,” the Sorceress said. “Nice to see you’ve recovered well.”
Melody wanted to say a hundred things at once; angry, hurtful things to the Sorceress and the Manta, but all the words fought against each other so angrily that in the end nothing could come out of her open mouth.
“Good,” said the Sorceress, nodding at Melody’s furious expression. “You have every right to be angry with me, but hear me out.”
“I don’t have to listen to you!” Melody shrieked, breaking her own struggling silence.
“Not even when I’m offering you exactly what you want?” the Sorceress asked.
That shocked Melody back to silence. “What?”
The Sorceress interlaced her fingers together calmly, the benign sceptre resting in the throne’s trident stand near her elbow. “All I want – all I’ve always wanted – is Atlantica. I don’t care about its people and creatures, especially now that I have the far more efficient Sharkanians, Octopans and serpents under my rule. Your people are free to leave Atlantica and go wherever you like, maybe to join the neighbouring kingdoms or start a new one of your own.”
“But…” Melody struggled to understand the Sorceress’ words. “Just like that? No catch or anything?”
“Of course there’s a catch,” the Sorceress said. “The catch is that all of you swim away and never come back. Ever. Atlantica is no longer yours… It’s mine.”
Atlantica, no longer belonging to the merpeople? But that’s…
“You do realise that you would have never gotten such a generous offer from the Sharkanians or Octopans, don’t you?” the Sorceress said, a slight smile on one of the corners of her mouth.
“Generous?” Melody echoed. “That’s not generosity, that’s—”
“Oh, then shall I just wave my sceptre and execute every mermaid, merman and merchild right this instant?” the Sorceress said, her yellow eyes flashing with sudden malice.
“No!” Melody gasped.
The Sorceress sat back calmly, and the smile was softer now, almost gentle. “Think about this carefully, princess,” the Sorceress said. “I’m giving you exactly what you want, and all I ask is that you take it without looking back.”
“I would never want this,” Melody said, her voice almost a whisper.
One of the Sorceress’ long arms shot out to grab Melody by the neck and drag her close to the Sorceress’ face, her cold breath puffing out in harsh gusts. “You didn’t want this? You didn’t want to be able to live among the merpeople? You didn’t want to be able to stay a mermaid? Let’s be honest, princess, you never belonged up there. You never fit in; you were clumsy, unloved, untalented… But down there… Down here, you’re free.”
Melody was caught in the Sorceress’ gaze; trapped by the sharp truth of her words. “You don’t know me,” she managed to whisper.
“I don’t have to know you beyond what I can see so clearly,” the Sorceress said. “You have the merpeople’s blood singing in your veins; you always have. Your grandfather may have given you a tail, but today he would have taken it back, leaving you to become the disoriented fool on two legs you were cursed to be for the rest of your life. But this way… This way you can stay a mermaid.”
A mermaid… Forever. The idea was unthinkable. Unimaginable.
Unbelievable.
“Why are you telling me this?” Melody asked.
“Because you can talk to him,” the Sorceress said. “To your grandfather, the great King Triton, and explain to him that this is for the best. He’ll listen to you, Princess Melody.”
“No, he…” Melody’s voice trailed off. But he would, wouldn’t he? She may not have been the oldest of Triton’s granddaughters, but she was the daughter of the famous Ariel, whom Melody heavily suspected was Triton’s favourite. He loved her, so wouldn’t he also listen to her?
He might.
“And with that, I bid you a good night,” the Sorceress, getting up from the throne. “I have plenty of exploring and catching up to do, while you, I’m sure, have had a long day and need to sleep on my proposal.”
The Sorceress nodded at the Manta who returned Melody to the cage, but when Dash and Jeremy tried to get her to tell them about what the Sorceress had told her, Melody just shook her head numbly, curling into a ball at one of the corners of the cage as she struggled to think the thoughts that had otherwise been absolutely impossible. Jeremy and Dash looked at her, then at each other, and decided to leave her to it. Melody didn’t notice either way.
She could stay a mermaid forever? Melody slept fitfully.
+++
Eric had been six years old when he’d had his very first swimming lesson. His mother had hired the most accomplished swimmer in the kingdom as his instructor, and Eric had been enrolled in a twice-a-week-except-when-he-had-princely-duties arrangement, and Eric had taken to it like a duck to, well, water. The natural progression of Eric’s talent in the aquatic evolved to him taking to the seas by ship, which he did with his parents’ blessings, and when they eventually passed on, his seafaring had travels became a source of solace.
But in all those years and in all that travelling and with all that swimming, he’d never experienced the ocean quite like this.
“You turn your fins like this,” Ariel said, and she demonstrated by turning the twin green fins at the end of her tail a certain way to let her hover in the water.
Normally he’d have to tread water to keep still and upright, but legs didn’t work the same way as tails. He’d never really thought about it, but Ariel was turning into an excellent practical teacher in Mer-Swimming 101.
“Keep practising,” Ariel said, and Eric did.
Nearby, Miasma and Tip were resting on makeshift rock chairs. Miasma was chewing something (no one had dared ask what it was) while observing the lesson, and Dash had his eyes shut as he took a quick nap. It may not have been very heroic to take a nap in a time of crisis, but it was the practical thing to do when they had to be in the best possible physical condition for the oncoming rescue of Atlantica.
“Tell me about the sceptre,” Ariel said, though she kept an eye on her husband as he tried to switch between hovering and horizontal swimming without losing his balance.
“I told you all I know,” Miasma said. “It essentially has the same powers as Triton’s trident.”
“Which is out there somewhere,” Ariel said. “Daddy wouldn’t have destroyed it, not even under the threat of losing the whole city.”
Tip opened his eyes briefly and said, “That’s what I said,” then went back to sleep.
“Maybe,” Miasma conceded. “But I’m just telling to you the conditions of the prophecy. The trident had to be gone from the city in order for the sceptre to return. That was non-negotiable.”
“That only means that the trident isn’t in the city,” Ariel said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s gone for good. Daddy could have hidden it somewhere, and is waiting for the right time to take it back.” Ariel reached out and corrected Eric’s swimming posture, then continued with, “That’s what we should do.”
“Find the trident and then use it to take back the city?” Eric asked. “That’s a good idea. Much better than the idea of four people – okay, three people and a penguin – attacking an entire city.”
“But where to start looking?” Miasma asked. “Only Triton would know where it is.”
“Then we ask him,” Ariel said, her eyes sparkling. “We sneak into the city, find my father, ask him where the trident is, and then sneak out.”
“And when we find the trident, the Sorceress will no longer have the magical advantage,” Eric said, turning slightly and nodding in satisfaction when his fins obeyed him perfectly. “Sounds like a plan.”
Miasma looked doubtful, but she nodded.
“I’m ready,” said Eric. “Let’s go.”
They woke Tip up and swam on towards Atlantica. Ariel held her husband’s hand as Eric ventured for the first time into this strange new world of odd formations and curious currents the kind of which he’d only been able to have a glimpse of from far above, where the surface was his safety. This world wasn’t completely strange, because Ariel had told him many stories of what it had been like to be a mermaid, but actually being there and swimming as a merman was…
Well, for one, Eric had to keep reminding himself that he didn’t need to surface for air. Humans were in-built with a natural instinct to return to the surface, but right here and right now Eric had to suppress that part of himself.
“I’ve thought about this,” Ariel said suddenly. She was speaking to Eric, not the other two who had gone a little forward away from them. “About swimming with you at the bottom of the ocean.”
Eric squeezed her hand comfortingly. “I’ve thought the same thing.”
Ariel smiled at him. “I just wish that…”
“That it could be under better circumstances,” Eric finished for her. “I know.”
“Oh, the things I could show you,” Ariel said wistfully. “My grotto, the old shipwrecks I used to visit…”
“We could,” Eric said, so softly that Ariel almost didn’t hear it. “When this is all over, we could. And our people, the ones on land, they’ll know they have nothing to fear from the merfolk or the undersea kingdom.”
“I’d like that,” Ariel said, her voice just as soft.
They swam further on in silence as the wild growth sprouted up all around them. Miasma signalled for them to be quiet as they stealthily made their way through coral beds and reeds, keeping as low to the sea bed as they could to avoid being seen by far off eyes.
Eventually Miasma slowed down and came to a stop behind a rock. “Just around this corner,” she said.
Eric didn’t know what to expect when he looked around the rock. His wife’s underwater hometown, the subject of many-a-story as told by her to him, a place he’d only been able to visit in his imagination but was now seeing for the first time with his own eyes.
When Eric didn’t say anything after a while, Ariel said, “It’s much nicer in daylight. And with all of its towers and buildings intact.”
“It’s beautiful,” Eric said, and taking Ariel’s hand into his own. “Like nothing I’ve—”
“Hate to cut this short,” Miasma interrupted, “But it looks like there’s somethin’ going on in the city.”
They looked, and sure enough, there was movement. They couldn’t make out the exactly details since they were still quite a distance away, but there were little explosions of light, like mini fireworks, exploding between the towers that were still standing tall, but somehow not as friendly nor as pretty to look at.
At another flash of light, a tower appeared in the city. There was no other way to describe it; where a moment ago there had been nothing but open water, there was suddenly a new tall structure looming out from the city. And it wasn’t like the other towers with gentle curves and a comforting brightness; it was a strange dark grey and green colour, with spikes and sharp corners like a misshapen thorn branch.
“The Sorceress is playing around with her new sceptre, I reckon,” Miasma said. Sure enough, there was another flash of light and suddenly there was a new tall arch over the city from one wall to the next, though arch was a kind word to describe the weird structure that had the same combination of corners and spikes.
“Okay, we need a plan,” Tip said. “A way to enter the city without being seen.”
“Oh, I know plenty of hidden exits,” Ariel said. She paused for a moment and then added, “Though it’s more likely that many of things have changed since I last came here.”
“I may have an idea,” Eric said suddenly. He looked at Miasma. “It may not be a good idea, but it’s an idea.”
“How?” Miasma asked.
The small group huddled together to discuss Eric’s plan, while behind them two new grey towers appeared in the underwater city.
+++
Melody dreamed that she was swimming free, darting between the long wavy seaweed trees that flowed around her like a living forest. There were the sounds of voices around her, and though she couldn’t make out the exact words, they seemed to please her and make her laugh. Her tail was longer and glistened as she moved upwards and downwards in the 360 degree movement that was only available to those who lived underwater.
Suddenly there was a scream. Melody stopped swimming, but she wasn’t frightened. She thought about the scream logically, and she could see herself thinking about the scream logically, the mental words going clunk-clunk as she said to herself, “A scream, how curious. Do seaweed scream? I do not think they do, but I have not met all the seaweed in the ocean so I cannot be sure that Screaming Seaweed do not exist.”
Then suddenly a tall piece of seaweed turned to her and said in Jeremy’s voice, “Wake up.”
Melody woke up and saw the real Jeremy, who was not at all green or leafy, and shaking her shoulders gently to wake her up. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
“What is it?” Melody asked, her voice sluggish with sleep.
Jeremy cocked his head nervously in a direction. Melody followed it and saw the Manta hovering just outside the cage.
“Time for your answer,” the Manta said.
Melody avoided looking at Jeremy and Dash and said, “I’ll give it to the Sorceress herself.”
“Very well,” said the Manta, and once again plucked Melody out from the cage.
As Melody was brought down to the floor of the throne room, her thoughts became strangely calm. The nap, as short as it had been, had brought new strength to her mind and body, aligning her thoughts from the frantic mess that it had been earlier. She could see the future so clearly. Well, a future, and it was filled with hope, something that Melody thought had been lost completely.
The Sorceress was not sitting in the throne this time, but standing to one side and looking through a long parchment filled with Atlantican alphabet that Melody could only read on a good day, and this was not one of them. She was holding the sceptre against a shoulder so casually that it seemed that she had almost forgotten that it was there at all. The Sorceress looked up when she saw Melody, and smiled.
“Well?” she asked.
“On behalf of my people, I accept,” Melody said. Once the words were out only did she realise that she’d used ‘my people’ instead of ‘the Atlanticans’.
The Sorceress did not gloat as Melody had half-expected her too. Instead, she bowed slightly and said, “Then we shall go and meet your father.” Then she turned her attention to an Octopan who was nearby and said, “Fetch the Lady Aquata.”
“Aunt Aquata? Wh-why?” Melody asked as the Octopan left the room, muttering under his breath.
“She is first in line to the throne,” the Sorceress said. “And Triton is an old merman. She has to be present to hear what you have to say.”
For some reason this planted a teeny tiny seed of doubt in Melody’s stomach. It remained there even as the Sorceress and the Manta brought her through the castle to the royal office a level up, where Melody’s grandfather was bound by ropes to the leg of his desk. He looked like he’d aged another ten years from the last time Melody had seen him. However, at least half of those years melted away the moment that he saw her.
“Melody!” he said, and tried to sit up properly.
“Grandfather!” Melody said, and swam to him. Neither the Sorceress nor the Manta stopped her, though at this point Melody and Triton wouldn’t have noticed as they were too relieved at being able to see each other. Melody threw her arms around her grandfather and hugged as tightly as she could.
“Are you all right?” Triton whispered, just soft enough for her to hear.
But the Sorceress was having none of that and quickly swam forward, grabbed Melody’s shoulder and pulled her away from Triton. “Tsk tsk, no whispering now,” she said. “Anything you have to say to each other will be said in front of everyone.”
“Everyone…?” Triton’s voice trailed off and he looked over at the office doorway where two Octopans were dragging Aquata by a piece of rope. Aquata looked wide awake and mildly angry, two traits that were in her favour at the moment.
“Father,” Aquata said, sighing in relief at the sight of King Triton. Then she saw Melody and smiled. “I knew you’d be okay.”
“Sort of,” Melody said sheepishly.
Aquata turned sharply to the Sorceress and demanded, “Why are we here?”
“Melody has something to say,” the Sorceress said, gesturing at Melody who shrank under the gaze of her grandfather and aunt, their expressions of puzzlement and concern making the knot in her stomach worse. The Sorceress waved the Octopans away and then left the room herself, leaving only the Manta in the little office with the three merfolk, though the Manta himself was hovering politely to one side, leaving the family members in a triangle filled with awkward silence.
“I…” Melody swallowed. “The Sorceress… I mean, I…”
“Melody,” Aquata said, her voice kinder now. “Say whatever you want to say. We’re listening.”
Melody took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She carefully kept her gaze on either her grandfather or aunt, completely ignoring the Manta who had gone very quiet. “The Sorceress has offered to let us go—”
“What?!” Aquata gasped, her brows coming together in scowl angrily. “Don’t believe that menace, she—”
“Aquata,” Triton said firmly, cutting her off. “Let’s listen to what Melody has to say first. Go on, Melody.”
Melody nodded gratefully at her grandfather. “The Sorceress said that she has no need for us. She already has the Sharkanians, Octopans and serpents under her power and she doesn’t want us. She’ll let us go on the condition that we never come back.”
Aquata bit her lower lip, but the anger in her face did not go away.
“Is that an offer worth considering, Melody?” Triton asked.
Melody was surprised at the question. She’d thought that her grandfather and aunt would discuss it among themselves. “I… I don’t know.”
“The way you said it is as though you believe it’s a good offer,” Triton said. “But it is true that the Sorceress has never been interested in any of the merfolk, even way back when I first met her. She only had her eyes on the city and the trident.”
Aquata said carefully, “But would Atlantica be safe?”
Triton answered, “Atlantica has always been safe.”
To Melody it seemed that for a moment Triton and Aquata were talking about more than just the city. But the feeling passed when Aquata said in a more normal tone, “I suppose it’s up to you, daddy.”
Triton looked at Melody, who felt a sudden rush of guilt as she realised what she was asking of him. But he just said, “Under the circumstances, this might be… worth considering.”
Aquata flinched, her face barely masking her anger. But though Melody was worried that some of that anger was directed at her, Aquata’s eyes were unfocused, as though she were thinking of something else entirely. Melody’s gaze moved away over her aunt’s shoulder to the Manta, who was still watching from the other side of the room.
“That’s agreed, then,” the Manta said.
Aquata jumped in surprise, as though she had forgotten that the Manta was there. She turned and gave him a look of such malice that the Manta smiled at her.
“You may leave this instant,” said the Manta. “Lady Aquata, you may gather your people and take them beyond the borders. Our servants will guide your leave beyond the borders. No one will be harmed, unless you try something stupid.”
“Servants?” Melody echoed.
“The Sharkanians, Octopans and all the others,” said Aquata, her voice tense. “All right, let’s get this over with.”
“You two,” the Manta said, gesturing at Melody and King Triton, “Will be the last to leave. So to ensure the peaceful going.”
“Peaceful going, scale tripe,” Aquata muttered angrily under her breath.
The Manta lead Aquata away to talk to the rest of the Atlanticans, and in his stead two Sharkanians (with the strange translucent green rings still around their necks) entered the room to guard Melody and Triton. Melody could feel the restlessness and unease growing inside her – had that been the right decision? Did she really have any right to determine the future of the Atlantican people?
Then she looked at her grandfather, and when he saw her looking at him he smiled. It was just a faint smile, but it calmed her down, at least a little.
Suddenly it hit her. He must have a plan. He had to, or else he wouldn’t be so calm. He had been king of the merpeople for years and years, after all, surely he had something up his metaphorical sleeves to save the city.
Ah, but remember, he destroyed the trident, the treacherous thought entered Melody’s head. He destroyed the trident without a thought; surely that means that he’s given up.
Melody bit her lip and surreptitiously glanced at the two Sharkanians who were mumbling under their breaths and guarding them without much passion. If anything, they looked like they were thinking about something else entirely. Under different circumstances their misfortune would have made Melody smile, but not at that moment.
“Is that…” Melody asked, surprised at her own bravery at speaking up, “…Is that the Sorceress’ magic around your necks?”
The Sharkanians looked at her. One glared and brandished his spear, while the other looked cautious but thoughtful.
“Shut up, you,” said the fierce one.
The other Sharkanian put a hand on his companion’s shoulder. “Yes, it is,” he said, answering Melody directly. The fierce Sharkanian gave him a look, then turned away in a huff. The other one continued, “It is her means of… binding us.”
Melody and the Sharkanian looked at each other. He was frightening, but then again there was probably no Sharkanian in existence whom was not frightening. Still, despite the fierceness of his teeth and eyes, there was something almost welcome in his gaze, as though he was not against the conversation continuing on.
“My name is Melody,” she said carefully.
The Sharkanian paused for a long few seconds before answering, “I am Longtooth.” As soon as he said it, the other Sharkanian hissed angrily, but he didn’t do anything else. Instead he chose to focus on Triton, spear still at the ready.
“I think…” Melody picked her words cautiously. “I think we’re both unhappy with the current situation.”
Longtooth’s expression didn’t change. “You may be right.”
Melody let out a little huff of exhalation, hoping that her relief didn’t seem too obvious. This was something she could work on.
+++
Jeremy and Dash were removed from the cage and brought together with Aquata, who told them curtly that they were all going to leave the city peacefully. Neither Jeremy not Dash or made any comment, for they were painfully aware of the Manta, hovered over them like a cloak, guiding them out of the palace into the main courtyard.
The Sorceress was out there, and as soon as she saw their little party, she grinned. The Manta nodded at her. Satisfied by this, the Sorceress swiftly turned her attention back to the construction of a few more artistic arches and turrets in the city, the sceptre flashing yellow and white at every magical zap.
Aquata made a face at the new structures, but said nothing.
“You, over there!” the Manta barked, summoning a group of Octopans who were nearby. They grumbled and muttered, but came forward as ordered. “Remove the Atlanticans from their prisons and bring them out here. Lady Aquata wishes to address them.”
Aquata muttered something else under her breath that might have been a curse.
“What do you think?” the Sorceress asked, gesturing at the new structures.
Apparently the question had been directed to the Manta, for he answered, “Nice, but aren’t you going to do anything about the current buildings?”
“Oh, I’ll get to those,” the Sorceress said. “I’m just trying to get a feel for the city as it should be.”
Just then, some distance away there was a shout and a noise like a scuffle. It came from somewhere beyond the walls of the city, beyond the view of Aquata, Jeremy and Dash, but the Manta could see it from where he was and was on it in a flash. There was a rush of moving water as he swam over them straight towards the noise like a spear.
The Sorceress paused in her renovations, her angular brow furrowing. “What’s happening?” she called out, just as the Manta disappeared over Atlantica’s outer walls.
There was silence, then another thump and the Manta’s voice (slightly muffled by the distance) saying, “Nothing important. A few of the serpents found some Atlantican runaways beyond the boundaries of the city. It’s under control.”
Jeremy and Dash looked at each other in shock. The only Atlanticans they knew of that managed to escape from the city were the children.
Then to their even more shock, the individuals that the Manta and serpents brought over the wall towards them were not any of the children. Two of them, one an elderly mermaid and the other a penguin, they recognised instantly. The third, however, Jeremy nor Dash could recognise.
Aquata made a strange sound, as though she had just swallowed a gasp.
“More prisoners, though at this point it shouldn’t really matter,” the Manta said, disinterested. The three prisoners were dumped on the courtyard, the serpents forming a ring of guards to keep them from escaping.
Tip brushed himself off and snapped at the nearest serpent: “Watch the flippers, bub!”
Jeremy squinted at the merman who was calmly helping Miasma up. He looked vaguely familiar but Jeremy couldn’t quite place him—
Holy Neptune.
Eric looked at Jeremy, his face passive and blank. Jeremy took the hint and pretended that he hadn’t just jumped in his skin. Dash, however, seemed to not be surprised at all – he just had a faint smile of satisfaction, and nodded at Eric, who nodded back.
“You,” the Sorceress said, her voice low with angry recognition.
They froze and looked at the Sorceress. But to their surprise, the Sorceress was not looking at Eric, but at Miasma.
“Hullo, Scunheid,” Miasma said calmly.
“Hold your tongue, crone!” the Sorceress snapped. She had completely forgotten her makeover of the city, and swam towards them, sceptre brandished. “You… Now you I might not let go with the others.”
“Let go?” Eric said, surprised.
“Yes, let go!” the Sorceress screeched, suddenly inexplicably angry. “All of you, free to go, how about that, huh?! But not you.”
Miasma shrugged, as though none of it mattered to her. “Whatever.”
previous chapter :: main page :: next chapter ::