Iᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴜᴍ (Bᴏᴏᴋ 1) (editing)

Chapter 16- Leap of Firth (Part 2)

Previous Part

All three walked back to their horses, two of them looking back out over the cliff, and one of them hesitating as the other two walked off to the horses.

Cyrus remained for a moment longer looking, searching out in the water. He noticed a little movement down below, but with how high up he was he could not see. He felt nothing but worry wondering where Rayna was, but his worries instantly went away as he heard her voice in his head. I'm okay, Cyrus. Tell uncle to meet down at the shore.

Cyrus sighed in relief, and turned away from the water and went toward the two men waiting for him.

Part 2

The moment Rayna resurfaced she took a deep breath as she struggled to swim, her cloak weighing her down. There was nothing around her, but then she heard the whispers almost like hisses calling her name.

"Queen Rayna?"

"Queen Rayna?"

"Where are you, Queen Rayna?"

Suddenly mermaids were swarming where she landed, looking for her. She waited a moment, remembering how jealous and cruel a mermaid could be, remembering the stories of many women that had been drowned and many men that had been captured by them. She remained silent to see if they were here to help her or drown her.

"I hear her, but I don't see her." One hissed, her hair as white as snow. Rayna had only seen a mermaid up close once before when she was a little girl so she took in every detail she could. Their eyes were completely glossed over in these cloud blue colors almost making them look blind. They could see clearly as they searched for her, but she was fascinated by them remembering reading how they were not exposed to the sun enough, so their eyes had a glossy blue look to them, their eyes so big and wide. Their skin a pale, pale white, almost translucent looking made each look even more luminous; so beautiful. She looked at their tails as they kept swimming around her, each a unique shade of color their scales gleaming so beautifully in the sunlight. The scales weren't just one color, but different shades of a singular color. Each mermaid has a different shade to its tail. They were shades of colors she never even knew existed.

"King Silas will be so angry with us if she dies. And Queen Firth will be upset if we lose the trust of the Quatacrunas, and lose a new ally in the Docrunas. With this little queen as an ally, maybe they will be less angry with us." Rayna wanted to snort at their words for land walkers. Docrunas referred to those with two legs, Quatacrunas referred to those with four. She thanked the Gods for her years of studying so she knew what they were discussing.

That was all Rayna needed to hear to know they were here to help her especially at the mention of Queen Firth. "Videteur." She appeared in front of them, startling the mermaids as she appeared before the four that stayed above water as the others went to the depths of the ocean to make sure she didn't drown. "So, you are here to help me then? I could really use the help getting back to shore, this cloak is weighing me down."

After the shock of seeing the girl floating beside them, the mermaids sprung into actions, two grabbing her by her arms to help her float. The other two removing the cloak and sword to carry with them back to shore. All four of them made screech noises that pierced her ears painfully. She knew that it was them calling out to the other mermaids that they found her. Then the scolding started.

"What were you thinking, Queen Rayna? Jumping into the sea like that? You could have been killed!" the one with white hair said. The one with blue spoke next, "Yes! What were you thinking? You have not been swimming since you were a child!"