“We remain true to our word,” it said while questioning my concern.
“Then we will cross on our own. I will see you in four days, friends.”
I moved behind Axel and pushed my wings out of my back. The femens eyes all went wide. I grabbed under Axel’s ribs and we rose off the ground. I flew over the Red River, without looking down at it. I only glanced a peek once we were over the other side.
I touched down on the ground. The trees here were extremely tall, and I was not comfortable with the height I would be required to fly to avoid setting the forest ablaze.
I saw the femen watching us from the other side. Sure, I’d said I wanted to keep my talents a secret, but the femen needed to know how powerful I was, and not to cross me.
“Now we walk?” Axel asked me.
“What’s wrong, you get to fly one time and then you become lazy?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said with a teasing smile.
“Use those strong muscular legs of yours. I can’t prioritize your comfort over a whole forest of match sticks,” I teased back.
I focused my magic back into my wings causing them to fold into my back.
This will never get old.
“How far is the dragon’s den in Hydra?” I asked.
“Further than I wish to walk. We will need to fly on the way back again to make up some time. Hopefully we can be there in two days from now if we make good time with no issues.”
“We don’t ever get lucky enough to have no issues,” I told him.
“I know,” he said, getting serious.
“Then away we go,” I said.
Then we started walking into the dark forest, leaving the twilight of the river for the darkness of Morthsoul.
Chapter Nine
Trin
“How do we get to the Siren Queen?” I asked Thomas as we started walking south.
“I’m not sure. I know we have to get to the southern shores, as her reef is located somewhere south of there. At least the water will be warm, not cold like the northern shore,” I replied.
I shivered remembering how cold the northern waters were in Violet’s trial. I never wanted to think about that again.
It’s over and done with Trin. You can do this.
To be completely honest, the idea of going anywhere near the ocean terrified me. Now that we put the pieces together we knew if any of us had died in that trial, we would have died here too. My magic might have been able to save them, but I had no idea about my powers at that time. If Violet hadn’t saved me in the first trial, I wouldn’t have been able to bring her back to life after the third.
Thinking about how our lives were constantly hanging in the balance unnerved me. I got anxiety from time to time, but it got worse with each new issue we faced. While Violet got more confident, I got more anxious.
“You ok?” Thomas asked me. I must have gone quiet.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I answered.
“Liar.”
I shrugged my shoulders, not falling into his trap. I wasn’t going to talk about it with him. I’m strong, and I don’t want him to see me any other way.
“So now that we now have an extra task, four days is not a lot of time to get them accomplished. How much gold did the Queen give you?” he asked.
He still wasn’t comfortable with calling Violet by her first name, even after she told him it was ok when we weren’t around others. He told us he respected her, and that meant always addressing her as Queen. I outranked him too, but he didn’t care about that as much. I didn’t technically have a royal title as the hand to the Queen, but because we were cousins, I was pretty sure I was technically a princess.
Thomas threw all caution and respect out the window when we started kissing in closets. Now it was something more than that.
“Enough for anything we could ever need,” I answered.
“How about we buy a horse then and make up some time? We want to make sure we can get to the Children of the Willows. It’s important that you learn more about your magic. You are probably capable of some more amazing things.”
“Good idea. You know that if I do learn more about my magic I’m going to join in the fighting. I’m going to go into battle with you,” I said proudly.
“I know. The idea worries me sick, but you can bring the dead back to life. You and the Queen will likely be the two most important people in this battle to our cause. I can’t be selfish and deny our kingdom that shot, no matter how much I want to,” he said, after a moment of hesitation.
I let his words hang in the air. I didn’t want to sour them with my response.
Just come out and say it then! We’re more than friends and you want to officially court me. The words shouldn’t be so difficult for you to say!
When we got to the next village, we bought a horse, with a nice comfortable saddle, along with some snacks to keep our spirits up.
I was useless when I was starving.
An hour later I was on the back of the horse holding onto Thomas for dear life. We galloped along and I was bounced all around the back of the horse. Occasionally my teeth would slam against each other, and the items in my bag, including the coins would crash against each other and make a lot of noise.
This was far from a relaxing ride.
A half a day’s ride later, and I saw the shore come into view, and I instantly felt uneasy. My instincts told me to turn around, run, and do not come back. I felt a shiver go up Thomas’ spine, so he must have felt the same way.
Miles and miles away I could see what looked like a dense fog. There was a mountain that peeked high above the fog, looking very ominous. I could sense that something was not right about that area, and I did not want to find out what it was.
We will stay far away from that fog.
When we finally got to the shore, Thomas dismounted and then helped me down. We secured the horse to a large piece of driftwood, which was within reach of some coastal grasses.
I looked down to the sand beneath my feet and kicked off my slippers, slipping them into my bag. Thomas took the bag from me, stating that it would get much heavier in the water, and he didn’t want it to weigh me down.
“This is it,” he said, and took my hand.
“This is it,” I echoed.
My anxiety climbed at my words. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I wasn’t even in the water yet. My breaths were irrational and my chest hurt from the beating of my own heart. I broke out into a sweat, and I wanted to puke. I only stared at the ocean and had a panic attack.This wasn’t even brought on by touching the water. I was in trouble.
I could feel the power of the ocean, like an electrical surge from a lightning strike all around me. It was the first time I felt any magic, other than my own, and it made this even more nerve wrecking.
Thomas squeezed my hand. It was clearly obvious that I was not ok.
My instincts wanted me to turn around, but my stubbornness had me walking towards the water, despite the panic I felt. Thomas followed.
After I waded in knee deep, I heard a voice calling out. Like a sweet lullaby that I couldn’t get enough of. I could feel the pull deep inside me, like a cord linked me to the ocean by my belly button. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Thomas. He had a dopey smile on his face. He had to have heard and felt this too. It looked like he was ready to drown himself to hear more.
I shook my head and cleared away the hold the lullaby had created; however, Thomas was still under its spell. I shook him, but it didn’t release the hold of this strange magic. He had started to walk deeper into the water, and soon it would be over his head.
Then what?
Something wrapped around my leg and tugged me under, hard. I grabbed onto Thomas’ hand in a desperate attempt to keep myself above water, and us together. I saw a scaly hand grab onto his ankle. I looked to my foot and saw a similar scaly hand. I shivered as fear took over.
The Siren Queen must have sensed us. How powerful was she?
I c
ontinued to hold my breath as we were dragged deeper into dark, cold water. When I was about to pass out from the depth, pressure, and lack of oxygen, we entered a reef system encased in a pocket of air.
I took in a huge breath to calm my lungs, which had been screaming in pain. I felt even colder, now that my skin was exposed to air again. I shivered so violently that my body ached. I looked to my left and saw that Thomas was still in a trance from the strange magic of the Siren Queen.
Now that we were in an air pocket, I was able to make out more of the creature that had dragged us down here. It was a man with strong chiseled arms and midsection. He had a dark stormy blue tail that blended in with the almost black water. His hands and arms had patches of scales, and there was a fin down his back. His long dark red hair was tied back behind his head, and there was a shark tooth tied on a cord around his neck.
This man did not give me good feelings about how this visit was going to go.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked.
Thomas still didn’t seem aware of anything aside from the magic that held him captive.
“You sought out the Queen, did you not?” The man asked.
“We did,” I answered, trying not to let my voice give away my fear.
“Then I am taking you to who you seek.” He sounded annoyed with my questioning. The joke was on him because I wasn’t done yet.
“We haven’t been here before, what do we do, when we see her?”
“You address her as her majesty, and you do not look her in the eyes. She is not a kind Queen. If you upset her, you will be left to rot down here until your skeleton merges with the reef.”
“Is that all?” I asked somewhat sarcastically.
“No, don’t use that tone. That is the quickest way to end up shark food.”
I gulped. Trying to steady my racing heart, and keep my mouth shut.
“Ok.”
I was dragged closer to the reef and could see the beautiful colors of stones mixed into it, along with lots of white skeletons. Some looked human, others looked like fish, the rest I couldn’t identify.
A large squid swam by us outside of the air pocket. A shark swam by and scared it. The squid let out a bunch of ink which mixed with the water in a dazzling display. It was like watching smoke dance in the wind. The sharks seemed to hang around outside of the air pocket, like they were guards for this underwater kingdom. There must have been a hundred sharks ranging in species and size. While Violet had told me a little about the sharks in her world, these were different. They were much larger and had extra fins for more power in the water. They had to feed more because of their massive size. I hoped that none of them would attack us on our way back to the surface.
The reef was getting larger and larger as we moved along. I could see spikes and other dangers hidden on its surface. Underneath I spotted a cave entrance, and Our trajectory was straight toward it. My heart rate spiked even further. This place gave me nothing but bad feelings.
We were pulled into the opening, and Thomas still looked love struck. He had no idea how close we were to being shark food.
Wake up, Thomas!
I needed him to be alert and ready in case we needed to make a quick exit. I wasn’t even sure how quick the exit would be. I didn’t have elemental magic like Violet. If the Queen decided she didn’t want to help us, and conversations went sour, we wouldn’t be able to hold our breath long enough to swim to the surface.
We were so far over our heads in trouble, it wasn’t even funny.
Inside the cave there was nothing but opulence. Gold, silver, and jewels were everywhere I looked. The floor, the walls, the furniture were all covered in shiny metal. We passed guards who also had tails similar to the man pulling us along. Their weapons also appear to be coated in precious metals. What’s with the Queens obsession with precious metal?
We were led through a series of tunnels until we stopped in a large room. The walls were the prettiest shade of blue I had ever seen. There were silver floors, with aquamarine jewels laid into it. The throne was silver, with golden sea shells and diamonds covering it. The throne was large and extravagant. It was meant to be the show piece of the room, along with the person who occupied it. The rest of the room was bare.
The sirens were able to walk on their tails somehow. They stood around the perimeter of the room, watching. I took a closer look and I realised that their tail had separated further, and looked like a set of feet.
Was that what the air did to them?
A shiver went up my spine, and I knew I was being watched by a deadly predator, the Siren Queen herself. It was no wonder Thomas was struck dumb by her magic. She was even more beautiful than the call of her magic, and that spoke volumes.
She had silver hair that fell all the way to the bottom of her back. Pieces of it were woven into different braids. The braids wrapped in and out of a simple golden tiara. Her eyes were completely white, and it was the most unsettling thing I had ever seen. Her pale complexion was smooth. She wore a tight clingy dress made out of shimmering silver, and she had legs.
She was a siren Queen with legs. How was that possible?
“Your majesty,” I said, as I bent forward.
Thomas dropped to his knees, caught up in the magic still. I tried not to roll my eyes, she had clearly made him do that.
“For what do I owe the unexpected visit?” she asked, not taking her creepy white eyes off of me. Something about her body language had me on edge. It was almost as if she could shoot straight out of her throne and harm us in a blink of an eye.
Her tone and her eyes made my blood turn cold. We were definitely her prey, and she wanted to play with her food.
“Your Majesty, we came here on behalf of our Queen.”
“Your Queen, who might she be? I rarely deal with matters of the surface,” she said, she sounded bored and annoyed, but I know that wasn’t the case. Not with how tight her muscles were, just waiting to spring into action.
“Her name is Violet, great granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the Morthlands. Queen of Morthsoul, Morthshadow and Ubrem Glacies.”
“Hmm, I am familiar with Victoria. She once did me a favor,” the Queen responded.
Is that a hint of fondness in her voice? I will play on that.
“Victoria’s great-granddaughter needs help. War is eminent on land. The Kingdom of Tate has plans to kill Queen Violet and steal the Kingdoms. His plan is essentially to rule everything. Once he has conquered the land, he won’t stop there, and he will come for the sea.”
“You think Tate stands a chance at defeating me?” she asked. She sent out a wave of magic so strong it knocked me to my knees.
“I never said he did. He may not be an issue for you right now, as Queen Violet stands between him and you. If he were to defeat Queen Violet he would become bored and set his sights elsewhere. While you may be very powerful, he can be very annoying, and very persistent.”
“I see. Who's to say he wouldn’t go to the forbidden lands next? Regardless you are proposing that I help her, so he never turns his sights on my kingdom?” she asked.
I’d completely forgotten about the existence of the forbidden lands. They were exactly that, forbidden. No one alive on the continent today had ever stepped foot there. Supposedly Queen Victoria had sent a scouting ship there once, and it never returned.
“That is correct,” I told her while doing my best to avoid eye contact.
I wouldn’t bring up the forbidden lands. It was in my best interest for her to believe Kennan would come here next, and I was the last person who wanted to challenge her.
“What is it Queen Violet has proposed to give me in trade for my help. What exactly is it she needs from me?” she asked, as she leaned back in her throne . She crossed her hands in front of her and she stared coolly at her bright blue nails.
“Well, she gave me a gift for you,” I said, while pulling the bag from Thomas’ currently useless back.
I pulled out the golden crown, and t
he Queen’s eyes grew with excitement. While her body language remained stiff, and uninterested, her eyes gave away her interest. While they remained all white, they appeared to get brighter, and her eyebrows raised. I only spared the briefest of glances to avoid challenging her. She clearly wanted this crown, and I wouldn’t stand in the way of that.
“Is that all?” the Queen asked with a wicked glance. She was playing a game that I didn’t want to play.
“She thought that with the weight of the gold alone and the attention to detail she put into this for you, that you might accept it for help in securing safe passage for her armies across the sea to Tate.
“Does she know how many sea monsters are out there?” she asked me coolly.
“Many, all of which bow to you. With your power, we were hoping it would be a simple request to make,” I said to butter her up.
“You are right, it is a simple request for someone of my power,” she said, all too vainly. Sometimes creatures like her could be easily manipulated, and I was relieved she was one of them.
“I will help your Queen, but I expect a favor at another time in the future.”
“Do you have any idea what type of favor this might be, so that I can pass this onto her?”
“No, she will just have to make due with an open-ended request.”
I don’t like this one bit, but we clearly need her help. Look at the power she has. She could keep the sea calm for us, and ensure safe passage.
I nodded my head in agreement.
“Fantastic,” she said, while she grabbed the arm rests with both hands and sat up.
“I will even have some of my warriors accompany her ships and fight with her on land. My warriors are fierce and will not disappoint her, but that is where the help stops, no more and no less,” she said.
“I understand,” I thanked her.
“No, I don’t think you do. You will not have an escort up to the surface. I will give you both a small bubble of oxygen which will last you several minutes, as your Queen’s gift has made me feel generous. It is up to you to make it top side before the bubble runs out.”
Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3) Page 6