"That doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy talking to." Damari objected smoothly, dragging his feet in protest as Alena pulled him towards the hidden sound.
"Oh stop being such a baby." she barked at him. "You'd think I was forcing a toddler along with me to the Underworld with the way you're acting."
Her words shut his mouth immediately. She knew now that he hated being called childish, and that was her best bet of keeping his mouth shut.
The roars quieted down as they moved closer to the side of a canyon, but a strange set of vibrations began to unsettle the ground beneath Damari's feet, scaring him slightly as he stuck closer to Alena.
Sparks of awareness danced across her skin as he gripped onto her wrist. "Where are we going?" he whispered harshly.
The vibrations became harder and closer. "We are entering the lands of Poseidon's folk, I've never dared to swim in these waters before."
Damari flinched when the vibrations rumbled through his body so violently that he could feel his teeth chatter. "Why is that?"
Alena looked back at him behind her shoulder, his blonde curls floating around his head like a halo. "Sirens are forbidden to leave the waters they were assigned to, mine was the Cape Pelorum along with waters near your port, but now I've left," She took a deep breath, "and entered into one governed by Poseidon himself."
Damari swam past her, his legs kicking furiously as he moved closer to the vibrations, his voice trembling even as he spoke. "Well I guess that means we face whatever mythological creature that is coming after you, yes?"
She nodded slowly, nudging ahead of him with one thrust of her powerful tail. "Surprised you're actually willing to believe that, seeing as how you think I'm something that shouldn't exist."
He grabbed the tip of her tail to jerk her back to face him. "I didn't mean it that way."
"Obviously you did or you wouldn't have said anything, and don't touch my tail!"
He hit the side of her tail again for good measure. "Too late, already did, now what's wrong with that? Afraid I'm going to violate you?"
Alena smacked him over the arm, away from her tail and any other part of her body. "Why you little--"
They both began bickering loudly, hitting and slapping each other in order to annoy the other out of their senses.
But as they were fighting so viciously, bubbles exploding from their movements, they failed to see the flash of light that dipped into the opposite side of the canyon that stood between them and the dark open sea.
"I can't believe I told your mother that I would--" Alena started, before looking over Damari's shoulder and gasping at the sight that stood a few feet away from her.
No words could describe the fear and beauty that displayed itself within the regal line of the royal guards hippocampus'.
The hippocampus was a grand creature, both loved and feared by the people of Poseidon as well as other creatures that roamed the deep, being part horse and part fish, their large bodies heaved from the silent way they swam towards their targets.
Alena had only heard stories of the great beasts that stood before her. Their scales reflecting a light of many colors, their bodies three times bigger than she, and the fire that hid in their crystal blue eyes showing off the tempers they must have had when coming upon intruders.
"And you're the intruder." she muttered to herself, wishing she could slide back to her waters and forget the entire misunderstanding had occurred.
Alas, the royal guards were probably not as forgiving as she.
Atop one of the majestic seahorses at the front of the line, to Alena's growing dismay, was the prince of the kingdom of Aegea himself.
Triton, son of Poseidon as well as brother to the sea nymphs Rhode and Benthesicyme, known for his power and command over the lands of Aegea when his father was bothered with greater business.
He was blessed with a tail thats silver gleam would make any siren jealous, he was far different from her kind and Alena envied him for it.
As well as being uncharacteristically handsome, his eyes morphed colors drastically from one to the other, it was told that they contained as many colors as that of the goddess Iris who was said to be the rainbow embodied in human form.
Alena inspected him closer, zeroing in on Triton's eyes to see that they were an unnatural shade of blue and green, the desire to overtake his prize, being her and Damari, ran rampant threw his unbridled gaze.
He reigned in his hippocampus that whinnied and grunted below him, wishing to rush forward and attack the unknown creatures in its line of sight.
Triton leaned forward, rubbing his hand affectionately across the back of the sea horse's neck, whispering kind words into its ear while his eyes bore into Alena's.
Damari noticed the exchange between the two and a noticeable frown tugged down the corner of his lips.
He moved between Alena and Triton to somehow provide protection, which only caused a deep bellied laugh to escape Triton.
"I must admit Alena Cali, I had expected more of a, how shall I say, protector, than this scrawny human of yours." The Prince taunted.
His eyes sparkled with laughter when Damari's frown grew deeper, highlighting grooves in his skin that Alena hadn't realized were there to begin with.
Triton quirked a perfectly manicured eyebrow at Damari. "Have I unsettled you somehow? I do hope so for that is my manner when speaking to those lower than my stature. I find it an incredibly helpful virtue to possess. Perhaps your Alena can show you how to perform it properly."
"She is not my Alena!" Damari shouted at the same time Alena protested. "I am not his Alena!"
Their predicament appeared to amuse Triton as he signaled for the other mermen in his group to lower the spears they had previously held towards the "dangerous pair".
"Even a siren as deadly as yourself wouldn't prove a challenge to my men," Triton said, moving his stead back a few feet in the direction they had come, "but according to my father's orders you are to be taken to our palace in Aegea; whether it be against your will or with it, please dear lady, make this easier for all of us." he chuckled.
The rest of the men in the group chuckled as well, but they were too stiff and it appeared almost like they would be happier punching the living daylights out of one another.
Unaware of the uncomfortable aura being given off from his men, Triton pulled a medium sized conch shell from a plant based belt that was wrapped securely around his waist, the shell's beige colored exterior glistening as the prince drew it to his lips.
A long, powerful sound burst forth from the shell, commanding the waters as it roared.
Alena covered her ears to prevent them from ringing as Triton's shell heralded itself throughout the barren waters.
Damari seemed shocked that a sound like that could come from such a tiny shell, his eyes wide as he moved back from his place in front of Alena to swiftly hide behind her.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes and look out towards the deeper part of the ocean that Triton had called to.
A few moments later, a fainter, but no less stronger, sound rang back through the waters, reaching Triton's ears with a satisfying ring that made Alena stiffen even more.
"We're ready." Triton exclaimed with a small smile, releasing a sharp, curt whistle between his teeth.
A merman broke from the ranks, his black hair contrasting with the water like oil, the separation so defined but exquisite at the same time while his lean muscular body cut through the sea with a lithe grace.
He came forward with two hippocampus' on each side of him, both snorting anxiously as they drew closer to Alena and Damari.
"These are to be at your disposal." Triton explained, riding up next to one and bringing it closer to Damari. "Seeing as how you're new at this, I suggest you hold on tight."
Triton paused as he brought the other to Alena, stroking the beast's neck as he carefully handed the reigns over to her.
"You know how to handle a hippocampus I assume." he replied lazily, his eyes morphing from the blueish green they had been to a deep golden brown. "I expect no funny business from you, Siren, while we escort you to my father. Is that clear?"
Alena held the reigns tightly fisted in her hand before throwing herself astride the magnificent creature. "Understood."
Triton nodded and turned his hippocampus with a click of his tongue, pushing it towards the opening they had recently come through.
"Um... How exactly do I get on this thing without it biting me?" Damari asked plaintively, standing a good foot away from his steed as it chewed on a small bunch of sea kelp.
"Like you would any regular horse. Climb on." Triton smirked. like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Damari glared at him and Alena shrugged, turning her sea horse to face the same path as Triton and his group of scouts.
"Of course, just climb up on the horse, Damari," Alena heard him muttering to himself, "couldn't be more simple than that now could it as it stares at you like you're going to stab it."
He hiked his left leg up over one side of the hippocampus, alerting it to his attempts and causing it to move around occasionally, making his body slide down its opposite side from the efforts he had made to get on top of it.
Grumbling again to himself, Damari tried this time to jump onto the back of the hippocampus, but as his chest smashed into the horse it screeched with fright and broke into a run, leaving Damari to crash breathless into countless clouds of sand.
Everyone was silent and unmoving until Triton's laughter traveled through the currents.
Soon, not one person wasn't laughing, save for Damari who chose to wallow near the back of the pack until one of the men grabbed him by the tail of his shirt and threw him into the back of another riderless hippocampus.
Triton blew his conch shell once more before clipping it back into his belt and sending his seahorse rocketing forward, soon followed by the rest of his group at a steady speed.
A breeze of water sailed through Alena's hair, shifting it to her shoulders as it reminded her of when she would run through her father's fields of rye near her family's home in Sicily.
A quiver of fright struck her body as it mixed with shock and confusion as she thought back to what she now couldn't believe could have been her father's fields.
Do I even have a father? she wondered to herself, a sorrowful air surrounding her as she struggled to remember anything.. Anything that would tell her what she had been before Persephone.
But she couldn't, it was impossible, like a barrier had been erected and itself between her past and the present, rather depressing, future.
I may have had a family.. One that loved me..
The thought made Alena freeze where she sat while her hippocampus took no notice as it continued its journey across the flowing seas.
She wasn't going to dwell on the past, she reasoned logically, the past was the past and that's how it was meant to be. Rehashing her old problems would do her no good.
Her empty sigh caught the attention of Damari who had finally found a semi comfortable position to sit on the hippocampus, although he still struggled to hold himself steady while watching her form.
Alena shook her head furiously, she knew she had hope, but hope...was improbable, something that people put their faith in only to have cut down like a machete threw a coarse vine; she once had hope that had been as vibrant as her best friend's flowers.
But she'd grown up.
And the world she woke up to was a cruel reality.
"Alena, are you even listening?" Damari hounded her, jerking his head back up to Triton who was watching Alena expectantly with fiery red eyes.
She opened her mouth once, shut it, then reopened it again to speak with a clearer voice. "What was it you asked, your Highness?"
Triton smirked again and outstretched his hand to display the beauty behind him. "I was merely introducing you to my home, dear siren. May I and my people, welcome you warmly to the Kingdom of Aegea."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alena found herself in awe of the city before her as she watched the lamp posts sparkle, the windows reflecting the goods inside the stores and, to her surprise, the number of merpeople that swam around the royal guard.
It was a flurry of activity that surrounded her and Alena thought she had never seen anything so beautiful before in her life.
Children swam with their parents down the coral lined streets, carrying small brown packages in their fists from one store to the next while clutching sugared candies in the other, keeping care to avoid extravagent shell carriages that were being driven in their path.
"The kingdom of Aegea is host to merpeople and creatures all alike," Triton explained proudly as the scouting group made its way through the crowded streets to the crystal towers of the palace. "Poseidon is most gracious in providing homes for those who.." He looked inconspicuously at Alena, "don't fit in."
Damari leaned forward, revealing his fist to be raised back to strike Triton with an angry blow when Alena placed a hand gently across his, having seen his intent and known what trouble it would have brought.
"It isn't any less prejudice than what I have faced above waters, Damari. You must learn to calm yourself, or one day your anger will get the best of you and you won't have me to get you out of it."
She kept a calm and steady gaze on Damari to give him some type of security and authority when on the inside she was bubbling just to whale the prince off in his royal face.
But to do so would mean treason and it was the last thing Alena was looking forward to doing.
Damari carefully removed his hand from her grip as he rode up closer to the prince, inspecting the commoners more closely as they all bowed and moved out of the way as the procession made its way through.
Alena's attention locked onto a small girl as her hippocampus lazily followed the others, its canter possibly moving even slower as the masses of merpeople thickened.
The girl's hair was a mellowed forest green, blending in peacefully to the scenery around her. Its short, bouncy curls wisping around her face in harmony while she played with a doll.
It looked rather worn out to still be played with, frayed stitches sticking out from its left arm, its blonde hair hanging in tatters, and a small bend in its right knee cap.
The dress the doll wore also displayed a little wear and tear, but homemade stitches and patches could be seen where time had taken its toll.
Her mother was dragging the girl down the street when the delicate doll fell from the little girl's tiny fingers.
"Mama, my doll!" The girl shrieked, pulling against her mother's hand to try and reach for her doll that lay abandoned on the sandy surface, but to no avail. "Mama, I need my doll!"
"Mommy will get you another doll later Val, right now mommy needs to get something important for work."
"But Mama!" The little girl cried louder, deciding to yank forcefully at her mother's hair. "My doll!"
Val's mother glared at her daughter with the rage of a Fury. "What I said is final, Valimena, now move and be quiet!"
The girl's face drooped with sadness and the largest tear that Alena had ever seen tracked its way down the child's face, her sorrow filling her movements as she swam down the street with her mother.
"No child deserves to be treated that way." She whispered, sliding off her hippocampus quickly and darting over to where the treasured doll now lay, a layer of sand dusted across its cheek.
Holding the doll close to her chest, she searched the crowd until she found the familiar bob of green hair about to enter another store, the way in which her head was held showed she was still overly upset.
The hippocampus continued at its slow pace without Alena, and she realized she could make it back virtually unnoticed if she hurried, so as she speeded through the people, she made sure to grab a hold of the right girl.
As was expected, the child didn't immediately take to Alena, looking up with frightened eyes at the woman in front of her.
Alena bent down to the child's height and gave the kindest smile that she could, keeping her sharp canines in place and holding the doll out carefully. "I believe you dropped this."
Valimena's eyes lit up and she squealed with joy, ripping the doll from Alena's hands to hug close to herself.
"You found Mrs. Wanber!" she screamed even louder, bopping up and down on her tail excitedly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, oh Mama look I got Mrs. Wanber!"
She was so excited to show her mother her doll that she didn't see Alena disappear again, the shadow of a smile not only reaching her eyes, but her heart as well.
Situating herself back atop the hippocampus, she found Damari staring at her incredulously. This turned out to be rather annoying and creepy after awhile so she decided to turn her body to one side and ignore him.
She assumed he had looked away from her at some time during the trip as she had been thinking about the girl's obnoxious mother, for when she snuck a glance his way she saw him talking with Triton.
It shouldn't have struck her as odd, but it did, and the same unexpected hollow feeling began to form deep in her stomach.
She nudged her ride forward to try and eavesdrop on their conversation when loud trumpets filled the air, bouncing from one end of the kingdom to the other.
They had finally made it to the great courtyard of the palace and Alena had failed to notice anything except the girl in need and the annoyingly handsome smirk that Damari now wore on his face.
Zoning back into reality in hopes of knowing something that was going on, Alena felt her breath lodge in her throat as a tall, regal figure made its way to the large gold encrusted gates.
Damari squinted and raised his hand above his eyes. "Is that Poseidon?"
Alena threw a look at Damari that screamed at him to shut up, for the elegant figure that stood at the top of the courtyard's steps was certainly not Poseidon.
The woman was wearing a flowing deep blue gown sprinkled with small white pearls across the hem along with her dark brown curls pinned on top of her head and flowing down her back.
She wasn't Poseidon for she was the goddess of the sea.
Queen Amphitrite.
~*~*~*~