Apollo and I swam out into a small cove set into the cliff face. I wanted to find a beach somewhere, but he explained to me patiently that the troll might think of waiting for us. I reluctantly agreed - he was the expert on Chinese wood trolls, not me - and we treaded lightly in the cove while the water reflected on our rocky ceiling and made our skin glow.
As Apollo stared out into the water good-naturedly, humming something under his breath, I finally found a moment to think over what had happened so far. I thought back to Feloix Felaii, the amazing city of lights. I remembered how Neroii's voice broke when he spoke about his daughters, and how he had become a white speck in the night sky as he flew away. Avaia's silver blood reflected in the recesses of my mind, and the hum of the raw power Gantris gave off shivered in my veins.
Everything that had happened so far was so overwhelming! The idea of a magical world hadn't been new to me, but I'd naively assumed that the magical world solely belonged to Apollo and his house in the woods, and the few shifters I'd come to know. My mind flashbacked to all the creatures I'd seen and encountered in Feloix Felaii - the scaly, hard skinned mongools, the unique and shifty eyed witches, the demure and sultry vampires, and the glowing beauty of the solstae. It was all new and exciting and heady - and I wished miserably that we were back in the house in the woods. A warm bed would be really nice right now.
And one of Myrnah's heavenly bread rolls. Oh, dear lord.
I glanced glumly around our little cove. Scores of algae and covered the majority of the rocky wall, and the water lapped against it gently. Looking down, the ocean floor was myriad of colour; I watched as the tail of a remarkably big fish swished as it swam far below us. That was one huge fish.
I did a double take and squinted, suddenly nervous. The fish was nowhere to be seen, but it really had been huge. I wished I took a better look - my mind was suddenly full of terrible images from movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea. It hadn't been a shark, but still.
"Apollo, did you see that big fish down there?" I asked him nervously.
He glanced at me with calm eyes before following my gaze.
"I don't see anything." He told me, taking my hand soothingly.
"Yeah I probably imagined it." I said nervously, smiling at him.
"Maybe." He smiled back.
Suddenly, there was a huge splash. The sound echoed around the cove, and I stared in shock at the person who had materialized in front of me and Apollo.
He had pale skin that was tinged slightly bluish, and his hair was long and golden, and it floated in silky strands around his broad, bare shoulders. His face was stretched in a wide, attractive grin at the expression on my face, and his huge blue eyes were twinkling in amusement. This wasn't why I was so shocked though. Below the water, he had a rock hard chest that end abruptly at his abdomen - from her downwards, his lower body was that of a long, powerful fish. It was blue and green, and the scales shone like jade. His powerful green tail fin flexed gently in the water as he floated in front of us. He was the big fish I'd seen!
"Jed!" Apollo laughed. "Still sneaking around, I see."
I glanced at Apollo in amazement. Did he know absolutely everyone in the magical world??
"I had to." Jed winked at me. "I could smell you from miles away, enemy of sun, but your human's scent was harder to identify. Imagine my joy when I venture closer and find that she is indeed human! I love getting a laugh out of their reactions."
Apollo chuckled. "You were scaring her a few moments earlier, friend. She was asking about a really big fish she saw below us."
"Did I?" Jed grinned and suddenly surged forward till he was right in front me. I gulped as he stared at me. "My apologies, human. It was never my intent to scare you."
"It's okay." I said nervously.
Jed suddenly picked up my hand and kissed it. "My name is Jed Ofaiaa Medropolitis. And yours?"
"Lilah Winters." I forgot his full name the second it was out of his mouth.
"Lovely!" Jed exclaimed. He turned back to Apollo. "Not that I'm mad to see an old friend, but what in ocean are you doing here, floating by a cliff in China? This isn't where I usually swim into you, Apollo. And with such poor ocean clothes! Your delicate skin won't be protected for a second in that blasted cloak."
"It's a long story." Apollo replied, smiling wryly. "But you have no idea how glad I am to see you, Jed. What are you doing so far from your merhren?"
Jed shrugged, his face suddenly conspiratory. "If you must know, I'm disobeying my king by being here. We're not supposed to leave the merhren's boundaries, but I got bored, as usual. Good thing I did! I'm here to rescue you yet again."
Apollo laughed and shook his head. "Nothing's changed since I last saw you, it seems. Is it possible for you to get us out of here?"
Jed stared at him, mystified. "Why don't you just climb back onto your precious land, earth walker?"
"There's a troll waiting for us back on land," Apollo explained, his long arms moving back and forth almost lazily in the water, "that's why we're in the water."
Jed chuckled. "Well, in that case, I can lead you to one of the tunnels close by, it'll probably lead you to a shore close by India - "
"Actually, on second thought, "Apollo stared at the merman with sudden interest, "can we come visit your merhren? Your uncle has been begging me for a visit for the last century."
"Why, of course!" Jed laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's best not to ignore the king for too long, Apollo - he might send a tsunami or a typhoon your way!"
After asking us sceptically how deep we could dive, Jed dived away for a moment before returning with some weird kind of blue algae I'd never seen before.
"Don't swallow it," Jed explained to me happily, obviously excited at the prospect of bring Apollo and me home, "just let it sit on your tongue. It has unlimited stores of oxygen in it, so you can breathe from it. When we get back to the merhren, a water witch can fix you up so you won't need it under water."
I looked over at Apollo worriedly, but he was already calmly putting the stuff in his mouth. "What is it?"
Jed winked at me again. "Can't tell you; it's a mer secret. We don't get a lot of humans down there, no matter how much we like them. If they found out, the ocean would be flooded with humans all the time, and they'd bring their annoying tendency to destroy things with them."
I ignored his casual jib and hesitantly brought the algae to my lips. It was squishy and cool, and to my surprise, tasted kind of minty. To my surprise, when I tried breathing through my nose, I found it mysteriously blocked. Instead, my cheeks automatically hollowed out and became full again as my breathing naturally diverted to the blue stuff in my mouth.
Jed laughed at my expression. "Alright, let's go!"
He dived down with a little splash, and with an encouraging smile from Apollo, we dived down and followed him. Swimming had somehow become easier with the blue algae; not only was breathing now allowed, my limbs seemed almost to glide through the water like a knife through butter. I marvelled at the bright blue and green wonderland we were swimming through. It was absolutely amazing!
In front of us, Jed's tail undulated and flexed as he powered down to the ocean floor. I looked around curiously for what he was heading toward. There were clumps of sea rock, covered in algae and coral and various sea creatures, and the rest was colourful sea weed and pale sand. There wasn't anything that looked like a tunnel.
"You can't get through without a mer." Jed suddenly spoke, reading my mind. I was shocked to realize he could speak under water, and that I could hear him.
He smirked at me, probably reading my mind again, before stretching out a large pale hand and pressing it to an ordinary looking patch of sand. Almost immediately, a large circle around his palm turned a bright blue, and suddenly, there was a great yawning hole that disappeared into depths that glowed the same colour. I stared in surprise, but beside me, Apollo seemed unfazed. He'd obviously seen this before; at the back of my head, I wondered how his travels had brought him into the ocean before.
I didn't get time to think about it too long. Jed reached back and pulled me after him into the tunnel opening, and I hastily grabbed Apollo's hand and pulled him with us.
It was like getting sucked into a vortex. Every inch of my skin felt like it was in the grip of some giant vacuum, and my hair swirled around my face like an angry group of scarlet bees. The water was rushing and turning and swirling around me, and I felt my body turn and twist with it. My vision caught snatches of bright blue, and the bodies of Apollo and Jed twisting violently about exactly like me. I felt a slight twinge of fear, but it disappeared immediately when I heard Jed's whoop of exhilaration.
The merman was having fun, and after a moment I realized that I was as well.
As soon as it had started, it stopped. The three of us were spit out of the tunnel violently, and we rolled in the water a few times before stopping. My head was spinning, and I blinked several times to make the dizziness go away. When the world stopped turning, I realized what I was staring at.
At first, there was nothing there. But the longer I stared, the water began to shimmer, and suddenly, a great domed city arose from the gloom. It was almost like an underwater Feloix Felaii; the interior of the dome sparkled and twinkled like the night sky, and giant buildings constructed from sea rock rose in the water like spear heads. Tiny dots floated around the interior like little insects, and I realized immediately that they were merpeople.
"Come on!" Jed waved us forward cheerfully, and we swam forward and approached the merhren.
Up close, I realized that the dome wasn't constructed from glass, like I'd assumed, but was actually some sort of clear, thick membrane and shivered slightly in the water. The only opening into the hren was through a giant algae covered arch that was guarded heavily by a group of formidable mermen.
I stared at them in awe. They were similar to Jed in their human characteristics; they all had silky golden hair that floated softly around their torsos, and their skin was pale and slightly blue tinged. Their large, blue eyes were narrowed in suspicion as we approached. They were all wearing some sort of leathery brown breast plates, and their thick arms flexed as they brandished long, sharp harpoons and spears. Their tails, however, ranged in a variety in colour; it was like looking at a myriad of rainbow coloured fish.
"Halt!" A huge merman with a sleek orange tail spoke out from the front. He was obviously the leader from his position slightly apart from the rest of the mer guards.
"Okello!" Jed replied happily, continuing to swim forward despite the merman's command. "Good to see you too, brother!"
"Jed?" Okello sounded exasperated as we approached. On closer inspection, it was obvious they were siblings; although Okello was far bigger, they shared te same strong jaw line and deep set eyes. "Where have you been, little brother? Our poor mother has been so worried her tail paled."
Behind him, the other merguards visibly relaxed. From the looks of it, Jed was always sneaking out, and always strolling back in like it was nothing.
Jed waved a hand dismissively and laughed. "Oh, mother's tail is always pale, Okello. I was just looking for some more ship wrecks over by China, I've done it before."
"It would do you good to respect our mother, Jed Ofaiaa." Okello responded sternly, frowning at his carefree brother. His gaze turned to me and Apollo."Who are your companions? I doubt you found them in your precious ship wrecks."
"Not at all!" Jed chortled. "I found them shivering by a cliff wall in Ningde. This here is Apollo Ambrosia and his human, I'm not sure if you met him on his last visit."
"Apollo?" Okello drifted forward, his orange tail fin quivering. Apollo smiled at him. "Why, it is! Of course I remember you! Come on in, my uncle will be glad to see you."
His broad smile was good natured and as attractive as his brother's. Despite his large frame and the scary looking harpoon he was holding casually, I found him as likeable as his brother.
Unable to speak, Apollo just smiled and nodded at him. Behind Okello, the ranks of mermen drifted apart to let us through. Okello locked eyes with me and smiled. I smiled back, mollified by the gentleness in his wide blue eyes.
"Twill." Okello turned to the yellow tailed mer beside him. "I will escort our guests; you are in charge."
Twill nodded curtly in response and touched his forehead in some sign of respect. Okello did the same to him, and is if synchronized, the mermen behind him did the same.
"Let us go!" Okello announced, surging forward into the merhren. He turned back to beam at us just inside the gate. "Welcome to our humble merhren of Gorlan Fay."
Humble wasn't the right word for it. Gorlan Fay was enormous and exquisite; although underwater, it matched Feloix Felaii in grandeur. The buildings stretched high into the watery indigo sky above us, and upon closer inspection, I realized intricately detailed murals were carved on every inch of every building that we passed. There were little membranous balls of light hung from rock posts all over the place - Jed explained to me that the light came from some kind of sea urchin that were like "earth walkers'" fireflies. They were bright and multicoloured, exactly like the floating lights in Feloix Felaii.
And the merpeople! There were young merchildren with vibrantly coloured tails that stopped what they were doing and stared with wide indigo eyes at me and Apollo. One little girl reached forward boldly to touch my foot, she giggled delightfully and the girls with her followed suit. There were old merpeople, with silvered hair that floated like clouds around their wizened faces - their tails were coloured but pale. And in the middle, merpeople the same age as Jed and Okello drifted by, looking unabashedly in interest, their golden hair streaming behind them and the light reflecting off their vivid tails.
I realized in embarrassment that the women had the torsos of female women, except lacked any sort of concealment. Merwomen swam around with their breasts out without a care in the world, and I flushed crimson and avoided eye contact with any of them. If I tried strutting around with no shirt on back in my hometown, I would have been arrested on the spot and charged with pubic lewdness. Things in the magical world were extremely different, as I was beginning to realize.
Suddenly, Okello stopped swimming in front of us. I looked up to find that we had arrived at the entrance to a great amphitheatre; two merguards stood at the entrance but didn't react - Okello's presence signalled no threat. Rows of benches looked down on a wide platform that was holding an immense throne. As the guards waved us through, and we drifted down passed the smooth rock benches, I realized there were three merpeople seated there.
The one in the middle was obviously the king. He had a huge mass of silver hair that he tied at the base of his neck; he was even bigger than Okello, and I could see countless white scars pitting the broad pale skin of his chest. His tail was a shimmering silver; as the light changed, the scales reflected different colours in an illusion similar to that of a rainbow.
To his right, a proud golden haired merwoman who was obviously the queen watched us approach with bright eyed curiousity. Unlike the other women I had seen, she was not bare breasted; instead she wore a golden breast plate with an elaborate sun engraved on the front. Her tail was a deep, beautiful violet.
Finally, to the left of the king sat a young merman. I immediately realized he was the prince; with his wrought silver breast plate and haughty expression, he could be no one else. His tail was a dark green, and it flicked in annoyance as we came closer.
"Cousin Okello." His voice was as haughty as his expression. "You know no visitors can approach until court is held at dawn. You should have found our guests some lodging until tomorrow - "
"Come on, Natori." Jed grinned and surged forward to touch his cousin's tail with his own. The prince flicked it away. "Uncle Kavait has been waiting for this visitor for a while!"
Natori opened his mouth to protest, but his father cut him off. "I have?" His voice was deep and rumbly, and he looked over Okello's shoulder in content curiousity. He didn't seem to have the same attitude as his son.
"Yes, uncle." Okello said, smiling at the king. "It's Apollo, our friend from the earth walkers and his lovely human."
"Apollo Ambrosia?" Natori suddenly spat, rising from his seat. To my shock, his eyes were wide with hate and his lips were twisted into a sneer. "I thought I warned you never to come back again, you evil earth spawn - "
"Natori!" The queen said sharply. Her eyes were disapproving as she stared down her son. "That is no way to speak to our guests!"
"Yes, my son." The king turned to scrutinize the prince gravely. "And besides, any of your commands become null beneath mine. I have been inviting Apollo to visit court every year since his departure; it is best that you leave any childish disagreement with him in the past. Am I understood?"
"Yes, father." Natori settled reluctantly back into his seat, but his eyes were still shooting daggers at Apollo. He looked back at him impassively, and I wondered what he would have said if he was able to speak.
As if reading my mind again, Jed darted over to the king with a swish of his tail. "Your Majesty, it completely slipped my mind; I forgot to bring our friends to a water witch."
King Kavait immediately understood. He chuckled and flicked his nephew's tail with his own. "Ah, that much is to be expected from you, dear boy." Jed grinned bashfully. "Apollo, come forward."
Apollo complied, tugging me along.
Up close, the king's eyes were like all the other merpeople I'd seen - except his were slightly darker, and seemed to exude a kind sort of light. He smiled when his eyes met mine. "Come closer, little one."
I swam even closer to him, feeling my cheeks redden even under water. He put two fingers to his lips before gently trailing them along mine. "Take a breath, earth walker."
And I did. It was a curious sensation; although I knew I was breathing under water, the rush through my nostrils felt like nothing more than breathing in fresh, cold air. It was almost minty, like the blue algae. Remembering it, I took the stuff out of my mouth, and unsure where to put it, stuck it deep into my pocket, making sure none of it floated out.
"Thank you, my King." I looked up at Apollo's voice. He was holding King Kavait's large hand in his own, and his solemn green eyes looked into the merking's blue ones. "I hope I haven't angered you by ignoring your invites."
"You should have kept on ignoring." Natori muttered, and I seemed to be the only one who heard him.
"Not at all, my old friend!" Kavait's eyes sparkled and his lips broadened into a smile. "However, my age has garnered wisdom, and it seems a rather large coincidence that you decide to visit me in the dawn of a possible earth war."
"You know of Neroii's flight?" Apollo asked in surprise. His deep green cloak floated around him, and here in the gloom of the deep sea his skin seemed to glow.
Kavait cleared his throat and glanced at his nephews, who were floating contently and listening quietly. Okello got the hint faster than his brother. "Say, red-haired earth walker, would you like me to show you our grand city?"
Jed jumped in, mysteriously territorial. "Brother, you have responsibilities at the gate. I can show Lilah around."
"Fantastic idea!" The queen jumped in, smiling warmly at me. "Perhaps my son can join you."
Natori started in indignation. "Mother!"
"Natori." Her voice was stern. The merprince drifted off his seat scowling, and surged past me and Jed without so much as a glance.
After parting politely from the court, Okello swam back in the direction of the gate, and Jed and I approached the disgruntled figure of Natori cautiously. It was extremely obvious he was used to getting his way, and being stuck with his cousin and me clearly was not what he wanted.
"Hi," I went up to him, determined to make everything somewhat bearable. I had no idea how long Apollo would be talking to the king and queen. "My name's Lilah, I don't think we were properly introduced."
"If you knew anything about proper, you would know that you shouldn't speak to royalty unless spoken to first." Natori sniffed and gave me a single disdaining look before swimming away again.
I looked at Jed, unsure of what to say, and he shrugged at me and smiled apologetically. "He's a charmer, my cousin. It takes a lot of patience to be around him."
"I see." I said dubiously.
Natori seemed to have gone off to sulk somewhere, so Jed took it upon himself to show me around Gorlan Fay. He brought me to the jelly fish nursery, where they somehow collected the light they gave off and enclosed in into a ball made of the same membranous material that the domed ceiling of the city was made of. We swam into a marketplace bursting with cramped little stalls and sloped awnings made of fish skin, merpeople thronged in a huge multicoloured crowd, lilting voices attempting to sell their wares. Jed bought me a turtle amulet carved out of a milky white shell with strange coral coins. He explained to me that a turtle symbolized patience in the midst of pressure, and almost every mer had one. I was flattered that he would buy me one.
"This here is steam gardens." Jed told me reverently as we came to a wide, empty expanse of sand. I looked around in confusion. Although he'd called the place a garden, there wasn't any vegetation as far as the eye could see.
"What - "
Suddenly, a pillar of bubbles exploded from seemingly out of nowhere. I gawked at it. It seemed to be emerging out of a small hole in the sand a couple yards in front of us that hadn't been there before; the hot air gushed up for a few seconds before disappearing again.
Jed laughed hard at my expression, his tail flicking back and forth in his amusement. "We come here to collect hot water so we can cook our raw food. It's kind of hard to start a fire under water."
"I bet." I murmured, watching as two other pillars of bubbles exploded in front of us.
"It's kind of fun actually." Jed went on, watching the pillars with me. "If you're careful not to go in the actual stream, it's kind of like getting what you earth walkers call a massage. The trick is to lay on top of the stream."
"How do you know where the stream's going to appear?" I asked curiously as the pillars disappeared.
Jed shrugged. "You guess! Here, I'll show you." And without further ado he surged forward and floated about ten yards above the steam gardens, his tail swishing until he was floating horizontal. I watched as a pillar exploded a little bit behind him, and he manoeuvred himself over so he was lying astride it. His body bucked and bounced with the force of the steam, and despite my close watching, he didn't seem to be burning in pain. He whooped in delight.
"This is heaven!" He cried out.
As the pillar abruptly stopped, he pushed himself so he was on top of another one. I laughed in amusement as he put his arms behind his head, the picture of complete relaxation. I wondered how it felt lying on top of a jet of steam.
"Come join me!"
"No thanks!" I called out, rubbing my hands over my clammy arms. Being underwater was so weird.
"Suit yourself!" Jed called out, shrugging and drifting over to another stream.
I chuckled to myself again. It was so easy to like the easy-going merman. I felt extremely grateful that he'd been the one to find us.
"My cousin is a fool." I jumped at Natori's voice and turned to find the merprince floating directly behind me, his face dark as he watched Jed lounge on top of the bubbles. "He'll be one of the first to fall, mark my words."
"Excuse me?" I asked, baffled.
He slid his blue eyes to look at me, and I had to work to repress a shiver. They were exactly like his father's except there was no light at all in them. It was like staring into the eyes of a dead man.
"There's a war coming up." Natori told me softly. "I can feel it humming in the water. And when it comes, I'll be quick to do what needs to be done."
I stared at him in shock, and if revelling in my fear, he leaned closer. I flinched, and immediately regretted my show of weakness. His eyes narrowed.
"Tell your precious Apollo that he needs to be quick as well." Natori hissed. "Or else he'll be on e of the first to fall as well."
"Hey, Natori!" Jed called out, noticing his presence. "Wanna jet float with me?"
"Not at all." Natori called back coldly. He spared me a single look of contempt before surging away and disappearing behind a neighbouring building.
I turned to look back at Jed. He shrugged again, and shivered and rubbed my arms harder. The merprince had made the water feel much, much colder.
Comment, vote, fan! (:
Hi Jed! Not sure what's up with the headband on this model, just try to ignore it :P