Falling In The Deep Blue

~43~ Your People

Eleazar's P.O.V.

"The defendant is hereby sentenced to an immediate expulsion from the pod."

Ethuranell's voice echoed in my head, the word 'expulsion' repeating itself over and over again. It was really happening. What had always seemed like one tiny possibility, something that could happen, but probably wouldn't, was now turning into reality.

The last two weeks had been literal hell. It had been worse than anything I had ever imagined. They hadn't taken me straight to see the king, no, they had put me into some sort of dungeon under the castle, where I had almost been starved to death.

Thoughts of my family had driven me insane. Of them not knowing where I was, of them worrying about me. I still didn't know wether they knew where I was or what was happening to me.

But the hunger or the sorrow about my family wasn't the worst part. It was knowing, what they had done to Trystan. Or rather not knowing, what they had done.

I was sure that they had taken his memory, like they had taken Amias' all these years ago. The thought of Trystan, not even remembering my existence, made my heart sink. But maybe it was better like this. Maybe he was happier.

But something about the expression on the mermen's faces, as they had taken me away, had told me that that wasn't all they had in mind for him.

I gulped. I just wanted him to be okay. He didn't do anything wrong. It was me who deserved to be punished, me who should get all the blame. If I only knew that he was okay.

My eyes wandered over the row of official looking mermen that were framing the walls of the huge courtroom. Their faces were expressing pure authority.

I knew that it was impossible to escape. My hands were tied up behind my back, with two very strong ropes, consisting of seaweed. Another rope around my tail, that was attached to one of the stone pillars next to me, made it unable for me to swim anywhere.

I didn't get it, though. If they wanted to throw me out of the pod anyway, then why did they keep me like this? Or was the expulsion just one part of my punishment and the other one was yet to be announced?

My eyes met Ethuranell's and for a second, I thought that I saw a spark of pain in them. But then, it was gone and his face turned cold again. It was hard to believe that he was supposed to be my Grandmother's little brother. How could a mermaid, so kind, so loving, have a brother that turned out to be like this?

Ethuranell spoke up once more, his eyes dangerously sparkling.

"Not only will you be banned from this community and the waters surrounding it, but also will we make sure that you will never be able to walk on land again, since the danger of you exposing us that way, is too high."

A wave of shock spread through my body. No, he couldn't. Not this.

I wanted to speak up, say something, protest, but I couldn't. The words got stuck in my throat. It had been my one silver lining, one last glimmer of hope, that I could always just go on land, find Trystan and make him remember me. But now, they wanted to take that away from me, too.

"Tomorrow morning, all your powers will be taken, including the power to change your tail into legs and the power to communicate with other creatures of the sea. You will be treated as a renegade by everyone you meet."

My body was shivering uncontrollably now. He couldn't do that to me. He just couldn't. I knew that there were merpeople with special powers, like being able to take others memories. But how would they do this to me?

Ethuranell raised both of his arms over his head.

"I have spoken. So be it." he said, his powerful voice echoing through the court hall.

"No." I cried out, trying to free my hands of the ropes. It was useless. Ten pairs of eyes immediately turned to me, ready to attack. It was impossible to escape.

Now I knew why they had tied me up.
Not only did they want to ban me from the pod, they also wanted to make my life as miserable as possible.

Was this really happening?

"Don't do this to me, please!" I begged, staring at the King. He didn't even look at me.

"If you love your sister, don't do this!" I shouted, making Ethuranell turn to me. His eyes widened. Now I had his attention.

"Oh yes, I know." I said bitterly.
"I know what your father did to her. I know that you just stood by and did nothing to help her, even though you knew she was miserable. And now you are about to throw your nephew out of the pod! She will never forgive you, when she-"

"Silence!" Ehuranell's voice boomed through the hall, interrupting me."Stop this nonsense." He hissed, his eyes turning dark. They flickered back and forth between the other mermen and me.

I looked around the room, noticing all the shocked expressions on the other mermen's faces. Good, I thought to myself. They needed to find out. They needed to know what kind of King he was.

"Take him into the dungeon." Ethuranell commanded, turning away from me.

"No, please." I whimpered, as two guards swam behind my back, each one taking one of my arms.

Shortly before swimming out of the hall, Ethuranell stopped in his movements. He turned around and looked me straight in the eye. 

"Tomorrow morning, you will no longer be known as Eleazar, merman of the Western Pod. You will be nothing. That is what happens, when you break our most important rule. That is what happens, when you decide to betray your people."