Mervidia (29 page)

Odette’s spiny fingers, curling around her bare arm, roused Marin from her moody thoughts.
Her mother fixed her with a look that said, “Save it for another day. Be patient.” Marin had heard her mother say the words aloud several times before. Her expression while saying them was even the same as the one she currently wore.

Very well, mother,
Marin silently replied.
I will watch and wait. My opportunity to shine will arise someday. I will be ready to seize it, as you did.

Marin nodded to her mother and bowed before her
domo, mirroring Ebon, who was already complying with her father’s command to leave. Ebon was closest to the door, so he pulled the stone portal open and exited first. Marin followed, but her brother, in his haste to comply, was already far down the hall, when she softly closed the door behind her. The octolaide watched as her sibling flicked his black ethyrie fin one last time, before he disappeared around a corner. No doubt, Ebon was en route to his room to do as his stepfather had commanded.

Marin was about to depart to seek solace in her own boudoir, when she heard her parents’ muted voice
s behind the door, next to which she still floated. Marin briefly glanced around to see if anyone would see her eavesdropping. The octolaide confirmed that she was alone. She put her ear against the bone door, trying to better hear what was being said. Marin was barely able to make out their words.

“I’d be happy for either one of our children to wear the Fangs, my love,” Odette was saying.
“Yet, I see why Ebon would be the better choice, one that the Assembly would be more comfortable with. His blood represents the old and the new. He would be the best to take us into this new age.”

“I am glad you see it my way, Odette,” Uchenna said, his voice a purr once again.
His next few words were muffled. Marin turned to depart, figuring they were about to
celebrate
with each other, imagining that her father’s mouth was already kissing some part of her mother’s pale skin. Marin’s attention was sharply drawn back by her mother’s voice though.

“We cannot let Nayan’s trivial ritual alone determine Ebon’s claim,” Odette said.

“Oh?” Uchenna asked, his voice becoming audible again. “Did you have an idea? I do love how your brilliant mind works.”

“We must
make sure
that Ebon is the merwin seen in the vision,” Odette replied, her voice full of the confidence that Marin greatly respected about her mother.

Always a plan, mother
, Marin thought.
I can’t wait to hear this.
The young octolaide glanced about one more time at the atrium. At this time of day, most of the adult merwin were out running errands and the mothers of the house’s younger members were napping along with their young fries. Confirming that only the fish schools in the large vestibule were regarding her with their dull milky eyes, she leaned her ear back against the door.

“You will be a participant in the ritual, if I correctly remember a particular historical volume detailing these types of ceremonies,” Odette said.
“Act as my conduit and allow me access to the ritual, to skew the seeing from afar and turn it in Ebon’s favor.”

“A bold move, my love,” Uchenna said, “but also dangerous.
If anyone suspects…”

“Leave that to me,” Odette cut him off.
“I will make sure I am undetected.”

“If you feel so confident that you can be successful in this endeavor, I will do as you ask,” Uchenna said.
“You never cease to amaze me with your many… talents.” Her father’s voice grew muffled for a second time and Odette giggled. Marin had gleaned all she would from their conversation which was obviously transforming into a more
physical
interaction.

If mother can tamper with the machi ritual, what is to stop me from doing so as well?
Marin thought, floating backwards from the door, as she pondered her mother’s words.
I could appropriate my mother’s spell, ride undetected into the ritual upon her energy… and shape the vision to show me as queen, sitting upon Mervidia’s throne with the Fangs resting upon my head.
Marin licked her lips, tasting the magnificence as if she had already succeeded.
I’ll have to think on the details more. I have the mystical strength, of that I am sure, but mother has impeccable control in her spell-weaving, something I still lack. I’d have to wait for her to commit to the spell, so that she’d be sapped of power and unable to stop me from interfering.

There is also the matter of discovery.
Without mother’s skill, I’d surely be detected by Nayan, yet with mother… she’d recognize my energies and know that I had obstructed her spell. Father would be cross if mother told him, but what could he do to me? The Coral Assembly would have me crowned. How could he object without revealing his deceptive participation in the altering of the vision ritual?
Satisfied with the early stages of her plan, Marin rotated her torso, lifting her tentacles to propel herself back to her room…

… and found herself face to face with her Uncle Ring.

The remarkably muscular octolaide wrapped his meaty left hand around her bicep and pulled her away from her parents’ door, far enough down the stone corridor that their voices would not be heard from within the domo’s office. Marin grabbed onto his black spiral-tattooed arm for stability, but she knew better than to try and pull away from him; Ring was much stronger than she. The young octolaide took comfort in knowing that her uncle would never actually harm her, fearing the wrath of her protective parents. She also knew he had always admired Odette from afar and was biding his time, patiently hoping his brother would slip up, so that he could have her for himself. He would do nothing to Odette’s precious daughter that would cause him disfavor in her eyes.

He’d have House Chimaera too, if he could manage it
, Marin thought as she allowed herself to be pulled into the courtyard, scattering more than one school of fish as they went.

“It isn’t polite to listen in on the
domo,” Ring said lowly, leaning in to an uncomfortably close distance. His thick mass of head tentacles could easily have entwined with hers. Marin held very still.

“What business is it of yours, Uncle?” she asked boldly, her voice as deadly calm as his.
I do know enough kalku magic to make you disappear, Uncle…
Marin added silently.

“You won’t always be so
treasured
in this house, sweetling,” Ring stated, his tone souring with his last word. Marin narrowed her eyes at him, ready to weave a defensive spell if need be. “Unless… you can prove yourself useful.”

“What do you want, Ring?” Marin asked, relaxing her captured arm.
The muscles under her cold skin loosening caused Ring to glance down. His right eyebrow lifted, showing that it was punctured with a shard of bone in a similar fashion to, but for different reasons than, Uchenna’s forehead piercings. Ring’s single shard was purely decorative, a statement of fortitude, and not meant as a reminder of the pain involved in kalku magic like his brother’s. The subtle facial expression betrayed the older octolaide’s realization that he still held her in his grasp. He released her.

Not the brightest piece of orihalcyon, are you?
Marin chuckled to herself.

“Information.
What does my brother plan?” he asked.

“He plans on House Chimaera replacing House Lumen and taking up new residence in the
Royal Palace,” Marin said dully, feeling annoyed at the futility of their conversation. “Either Ebon or myself will wear the Fangs on the morrow.” The words bolstered Marin’s confidence, even if they were not entirely true. Her uncle did not know that it was Uchenna’s plan for Ebon to sit on Mervidia’s throne, not her. Even so, if the young octolaide’s plan to tamper with the vision was successful, she could very well be the merwin wearing the Fangs by the eve of the next day.

Marin placed a hand on her uncle’s chiseled chest, right on the striking eel’s tattooed face, and pushed him away from her with slow deliberate force.
“You would do well to show me some respect,
dearest
uncle,” Marin said, her voice seething with as much exasperation as she could muster, blatantly showing her annoyance.

Their conversation done
, Marin swam away, leaving Ring alone in the inner atrium staring after her departing form.

Chapter Twenty-N
ine

“Cassondra of House Lumen,” Captain Raygo said formally. “As decreed by the Coral Assembly, you are hereby banished from Mervidia, never to return. Should you be found again within the confines of the city….”

“You’ll kill me,” Cassondra uttered sarcastically, interrupting the head of the
Palace Guard. “You do realize I was there when my sentence was passed, don’t you Raygo?” Normally, she would have used the ethyrie’s rank, but she wasn’t feeling particularly formal, or polite, at the moment.

“You will be executed on sight,” Captain Raygo continued, undisturbed by the
interruption. He was a soldier performing his duty. “In accordance with the Mervidian Scrolls, as set down by the First King, you will be provided with certain necessities to survive in the Deeps.” The ethyrie gestured to one of the merwin behind him. A purple-scaled ethyrie swam forward carrying a tightly-woven kelp bag filled with various bundles and a number of other implements that were supposed to help her subsist beyond the protective confines of Mervidia. “You have been provided with….”

Cassondra snatched the bag out of the purple-hued
Palace Guard’s hand. “I know what’s in it, you simpleton. I’ve been studying the Scrolls since I’ve been able to read. My family
wrote
them.” Her voice was thick with contempt and condescension. “Unsurprisingly, I know them better than you do, apparently.” The pink-finned merwin stuck out her hand, opening it wide and giving Raygo an expectant look.

The
captain of the Palace Guard gave her a perplexed look, his eyes traveling back and forth between Cassondra’s hand and her face several times. Finally, he said, “I don’t understand, ma’am.”

“Of course you don’t,” Cassondra said, her voice rife with disdain.
“Give me your spear,” she stated simply.

Raygo’s eyes widened.
“My what?” he asked, looking even more confused.

“The long pointy thing in your hand,” Cassondra replied, as though speaking to a particularly slow fry.

The captain of the Palace Guard’s brow furrowed in anger, his formal facade finally cracking. “I know what a spear is,” he stated indignantly. “Why should I give it to you?”

Cassondra sighed impatiently.
“If you actually read the laws that you supposedly enforce, you would know that I am to be given a weapon to defend myself.” She indicated the kelp bag she had been given, “and I do not see anything of the sort in the supplies you have so graciously bestowed upon me, before sending me off to my death.”

“Very well,” Raygo said, doing his best to regain control of the situation.
He pointed at the purple-scaled ethyrie, who had given Cassondra the bag of supplies. “Give her your spear,” he ordered.

“No,” Cassondra stated simply.
Raygo looked angry again, while his merwin, who was already extending his weapon to give it to the exiled ethyrie, looked bewildered.
Clearly, neither Raygo, nor his merwin, are used to the puffed up remora having his orders questioned.
“The laws clearly state that I am to be given a weapon
of my choice
.” Cassondra looked him directly in the eye. “And I chose yours, Captain Raygo.” She could not keep the self-satisfied smile from her face.
Technically, I should have been given my choice when the sentence was passed, but this will still do nicely, regardless.
It was a small victory, but Cassondra was determined to enjoy it nonetheless. She didn’t know how many more she would have before the Deeps claimed her. Beyond the confines of Mervidia, there was no refuge.
Well, there might be one,
she hoped desperately.

“Surely,” Raygo said, his voice had taken on a petulant quality that Cassondra found rather satisfying, “any spear would be sufficient.”
The captain’s spear had been a gift from King Reth to commemorate Raygo’s promotion to head of the Palace Guard cycles ago during the former monarch’s reign. Subconsciously, the red-scaled ethyrie started holding the weapon closer to his body, a child protecting a toy he didn’t want taken away.

“The law is quite specific in this matter, I am afraid, Captain Raygo,” Cassondra stated, her face taking on a look of mock sorrow.
“I am allowed my choice of weapon and I choose yours.” She gestured again with her open hand. “I would hate for it to be reported to the Divine Family that you denied me rights afforded by the Scrolls.” The ethyrie seer nodded at the purple-colored merwin who had carried the bag of necessities, giving him a conspiratorial look.

Cassondra had never seen the merwin before,
but Raygo doesn’t know that,
she thought. The captain of the Palace Guard shot his subordinate a harsh look and then returned his gaze to the exiled ethyrie. Cassondra was thrilled to see the look of uncertainty on Raygo’s face.
It’s not particularly enjoyable to get tangled in the same net you use on others, is it?
she silently asked. Raygo had used the laws to further his own interests for cycles, and Cassondra took no small amount of pleasure in turning the tables on him.

She gestured again with her open hand, her manner clearly indicating that she expected co
mpliance.

Raygo hesitated for several long moments.
His pride regarding the spear, a gift from the late king, appeared to war with his desire to comply with the laws that he was sworn to uphold. Also, he no doubt feared that word would get back to the Coral Assembly that he had not followed said laws. “Cassondra,” he said finally, a pleading look on his face. “King Reth himself…” his voice trailed off, seeing the hardened look on her face.

“I am quite aware,” Cassondra said, her voice hardened blood coral, “of the origin of the spear, Captain Raygo.
I am also aware of the lack of concern you showed to House Stonegem, and I am as equally unconcerned regarding your sentimental attachment to the weapon.” Her milky white eyes darkened with intensity as she regarded her captor. “Now, give me the spear or shall we go discuss the particulars of my exile with the Coral Assembly? I am sure that they would enjoy reopening that wound so recently dealt to Mervidia so that you can keep hold of your precious weapon, one that
my
uncle gave to you.”

Raygo loosened his grip on the haft of the spear and began to extend his arm.
At the last moment before relinquishing the weapon though, he hesitated.

“Give me the spear,” Cassondra demanded, her voice holding all the power of her bloodline, regardless of her recently being disowned
from it.

Reluctantly, the
captain of the Palace Guard surrendered the spear, and Cassondra snatched it out of his hand.

As she held the weapon in her hand, a small part of her understood why Raygo had been so r
eluctant to give it up. It was an exquisitely crafted spear with a perfectly balanced haft of polished white bone, topped with a long, slender piece of yellow, spell-hardened coral. Whether the rare blond hue of the material was by natural occurrence or a sorcerous creation was impossible to tell, and that fact made it all the more valuable. Regardless of the color’s origin, the spear’s head had been honed to a dangerously sharp edge. It was as deadly a weapon as it was beautiful.

“Thank you
, Captain,” she said, angling her eyes to the side and nodding to the purple-scaled ethyrie. He blinked at her, looking helplessly from Cassondra to his captain, unsure as to what to say to defend himself. She almost felt sorry for the merwin.
It will drive Raygo insane for days, trying to figure out how I gained influence over one of his guards, then attempting to discover if I’ve swayed any others to my side.
Meanwhile, the merwin, who she had tacitly implicated, had probably seen the apex of his career as a member of the Palace Guard.
He’ll be cleaning shark pens for the rest of his days,
she thought.

Cassondra settled the pack of supplies she had been given over her shoulder and took the o
ffered lantern from a third member of the Palace Guard. She looked beyond the score of assembled ethyrie warriors, her
honor guard
as she had been escorted to the edge of the city. Behind them, in the distance, she saw Mervidia, the twinkling lights bright jewels in the darkness of the Deeps. Raygo continued to drone on, monotonously spelling out the terms of her formal banishment, but Cassondra was not listening. As she watched, the distant orihalcyon lights wavered momentarily. Cassondra knew the twinkling had mostly likely been caused by a current of warmer water from the thermal vents near Mervidia’s borders which had dipped down momentarily from above the city to flow between the buildings. However, the part of her that was still a member of the Divine Family saw something different. It was as if the city itself was expressing its sorrow at her impending banishment.
Don’t mourn for me, Mervidia,
she thought, speaking to the home of the Merwin people.
Soon, all will be as it should be, as it was meant to be. I won’t be gone long.

Cassondra gripped the lantern tightly and then turned tail.
Captain Raygo was not done with his speech, but she did not care. Cassondra of House Lumen refused to give him the satisfaction. She swam unhurriedly away from Mervidia, into the darkness of the Deeps. She decided when it was time to go, not when someone else said so.

Besides, if she was going to find a place of refuge, where she might have a slim chance of su
rviving to see the next day, she needed to start out immediately.

By the Deeps, what was I thinking?
Cassondra said silently to herself, afraid to breathe too noisily, much less admonish herself out loud. She had her hand clamped hard over the shutter of her orihalcyon lantern. The latch would keep the small, solid spell-thickened coral door tightly sealed so that no light would escape, but she was afraid to take the chance that even a sliver of radiance might betray her hiding place. The sickly orange light from the raw orihalcyon imbedded in the walls of the tunnels caused grotesque shadows to slither across the roughhewn surface.

I need to get out of here,
she thought.
I need to find him.
She knew that the particular merwin she was looking for lived near the mines, but she didn’t know exactly where. Cassondra had hoped that her simply entering the general vicinity of his home would have alerted him to her presence, causing him to seek her out. Unfortunately, that had not happened, which was how she found herself in her current dilemma. Instead, whilst she had been swimming blindly around, skirting the edge of the Deep Mines, she had been spotted by a school of grogstack. In her desperation, she had darted into the yawning ravine, which held the source of Mervidia’s orihalcyon, and then down one of the mineshafts that dotted the chasm’s walls. The tunnels were a chaotic maze of intersecting passageways and tubes that doubled back on themselves. Too often she had thought she had found a way out, only to find herself back in a shaft she had traveled through before or, more perilously, at a dead end.

Which is how I ended up here,
she thought miserably.
I should not have taken that smaller branch off of the larger tunnel.
She had hoped that her pursuers would continue along the main passageway. Cassondra thought that they would assume their prey had chosen the path that would allow her to swim away from them the fastest. Unfortunately, the side passage she had taken turned out to be a dead end, the terminus of a long convoluted tunnel. When she had realized her mistake, she had turned to retrace her route, only to hear the sound of approaching voices. She had quickly shuttered her lantern.

Cassondra currently huddled, trying to hide in the meager shadows cast by the wavering orange light shed by the raw orihalcyon in the walls around her. She hoped that her pursuers would turn back before they reached her.

“You shee her?” a rough voice asked, its already abnormal quality further distorted by the tu
nnels. The voice reminded her of Quag, the grogstack representative on the Coral Assembly, but it was as though the voice was coming from a stuffed mouth. Cassondra had seen only the briefest of glimpses of the merwin who pursued her, but she had gleaned that they were as misshapen as most grogstack. Their heads were bulbous and elongated. Both had gangly limbs that helped propel them through the water. One even had a second set of appendages sprouting from his waist where a tail should be. She wondered how he was able to swim at all, much less keep up with her.

“No, but I smell something,” said a second voice.
This one’s speech was higher pitched and clearer, but it had a weird ululating quality to it that set Cassondra’s nerves even further on edge. After a moment of hesitation, the second grogstack said, “This way.”

Shadows began to move along the walls of the tunnel in which Cassondra had taken shelter.
They’re coming closer,
she realized.
They’ve found me.
The ethyrie’s panicked mind began playing out horrific scenes in her head, all of which ended with her in the gullet of one of the grogstack coming down the tunnel towards her. Cassondra’s neck gills opened wide in her fear, and she began taking in huge draughts of water.

“Yeash,” said the first, more guttural voice.
“I shmell it too. It shmells like…
ethyrie.
” Though Cassondra could not see the grogstack, she could hear the smile that was on the ugly merwin’s face as he said the last word.