by Neha Yazmin
The Combat Master had never known the details of the trial—he was barely thirteen years old at the time—but he knew that the Lord had confessed to trying to summon a sea folk to stop Kanona from dying. Reading between the lines, people had deduced that he loved her—that’s why he took such a big risk to save her.
When King Vijkant sentenced him to the dungeons for life, some suggested that Kanona had been Rubin’s lover at some point, and the King had punished the Lord for having carnal knowledge of his wife.
Soon after her death, Kanona’s family had left Court, never to return, not even for Leesha’s wedding or coronation. Was it the King’s wish to distance himself from his previous in-laws, distance his daughters from their maternal uncles and aunts? Or did the Nidiyas want to fade away until everyone forgot about the scandal surrounding Kanona and Rubin?
The Island had forgotten now, though. Why hadn’t they returned to the Palace? Queen Leesha wouldn’t deny them. Her uncles, aunts, and cousins on her mother’s side of the family could support her when it came to politics. If she could convince them to join the Queen’s Council, that is—as far as Rudro knew, no Nidiya had ever sat on the Council.
Why had they always been close to the monarchs of Adgar, but refused to get involved in the running of the Kingdom?
Well, had he not seen his Academy students do something similar? The weaker ones befriended the stronger ones, sometimes even the bullies, but they never did the bullying. They stuck to the leader-types for protection, but didn’t want to hurt their peers. Could it be that the Nidiyas needed the King or Queen’s protection but not the attention that came with being influential at Court? If so, what did they need protection from?
There was no way Rudro could answer that question, not without learning as much as he could about the Nidiya family and their history.
To do just that, he set off for the public library early the next morning. It was a Tuesday, so he didn’t have a class to teach until the afternoon, and he thought it was worth looking up the Nidiya family tree. The library was open when he arrived, and as he’d hoped, empty bar the guard by the entrance and two librarians. Rudro shunned them both—he didn’t want anyone to know he was digging into the Queen Mother’s past—but he regretted it an hour later.
He couldn’t find any trace of the Nidiyas in the family tree records. They must be here somewhere. Apart from the Royal Families past and present, everyone’s family trees were in this library. With an Island this small, it was easy to keep track of births, deaths, and marriages.
“Excuse me,” he went and said to the older of the two librarians, “I think I might need some help…”
“Yes?”
The man seemed friendly enough—grey eyes, white hair, and no doubt grandfather to several grandchildren—but could he be trusted to keep quiet about the Combat Master flicking through the Nidiya family tree?
“I think some of your records are missing,” he hedged. “From the family trees…”
The man hadn’t expected that. “Your own?”
“No.” Rudro added no more.
The librarian seemed to realise that Rudro didn’t want to divulge which family he was interested in.
“Well,” he said, “I can’t see how that could be. No one’s allowed to take out those records. No one would be able to do so, anyway, not without being spotted by the guard at the door. Did you look properly?”
“Yes.”
The old man sighed when Rudro didn’t say anything else. “That’s really quite odd.” He headed towards the shelves that Rudro had been checking. “I mean, the only time family trees are removed is when someone in that family marries into the Royal Family. Everything gets shifted to the library in the Palace…”
Rudro made no comment or noise as he slipped out of the building, the librarian oblivious. If he’d known that all records of the Nidiya family had been moved to the Royal Library when Kanona married the King, he would have gone straight there. Hardly anyone at Court bothered to use that library, and it barely had more than two supervisors at a time. It was so large that you could get lost in there—or lose the librarians. With the exceptions of the Royal Guards at the entrance, no one else would even know that he was in there or what he was investigating.
Someone was bound to report to the Queen that he’d returned to the castle for the first time since she’d ascended the Throne. It wouldn’t take a lot of time or effort to find out that he’d gone to the library. What would she make of it? And if she asked him for the reasons behind the visit, he’d need a believable story.
Now, what could the Combat Master need from the Royal Library?
Deciding to think up an excuse on the way, Rudro urged his horse to hurry towards the castle. It was quite early; the Courtiers were probably trickling into the dining hall for breakfast now.
At the castle gates, he was let in without a word, and didn’t have to use his excuse of needing to take something from his room in the Palace. He hadn’t been asked to clear it out or anything, so he probably still had access to it. As far as he knew, that room would be his until the next Combat Master was appointed. That chest full of poisons that Myraa had confiscated from Aaryana’s chambers was in there—maybe he’d come for that? Details were key when it came to lies and alibis. Should he go to his room first? Truths were even better when it came to alibis. No. I shouldn’t waste time.
The Royal Library was on the ground floor and in the west wing of the castle. Rudro stuck to the walls, out of the way, as he made his brisk walk towards it. When he arrived at the lobby outside the library, he stopped still. Two unfamiliar men stood in front of the doors, armed and alert. They had seen him so he couldn’t walk away without an explanation—word of the Combat Master behaving so strangely would reach the Queen faster—nor could he claim to have gotten lost. He was a Royal Guard once and knew the castle by heart.
Lifting his chin, he started towards the entrance, ready to provide a different reason for wanting to use the library than the one he’d settled on earlier. It was Aaryana’s chest of poisons that inspired him, actually—
“Combat Master.”
Rudro froze mid-step. His heart began to race and his mouth dried up. Leesha. The Queen had caught him heading towards the library. If he failed to convince her that he’d come to research a poison that his students were gossiping about, she might just follow him into the library. Or get one of the guards or librarians to keep watch.
Steeling himself, Rudro turned around slowly, readying to bow low and to lie for his life.
Yesterday, Malin hadn’t shut herself in her bedchamber, even though it had been a dry day. No one had batted an eyelid at breakfast when Leesha queried Malin’s presence in the dining hall and she’d responded with, “My headache hasn’t set in yet. I’ll retire to my room as soon as it comes on.”
“Perhaps that’s a sign,” Leesha had said over the table, “that your condition is improving.” The hope in her eyes seemed genuine, as did her smile.
This morning, her sister had seemed even more delighted to see her at breakfast for the second dry day in a row. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you out and about during the dry days, sister. I think you’re going to be just fine from now on!”
“Yes,” Parth had said from beside his wife. “Though, I heard that you were ensconced in the library all day yesterday, as you were the entire weekend, rather than enjoying the weather.” So, he was keeping tabs on her.
Before she could formulate a reply, however, Sarsha scoffed, “Enjoying the weather?”
“It’s horrible!” Ash complained, fanning herself frantically. “It’s too hot. I hate it.”
“I would rather it rained all week,” Sarsha added.
“Careful what you wish for, sister,” Parth said with a teasing smile.
“Yes,” Leesha breathed, “half the Island will drown if it continues raining like it is.”
“I will die from the heat if it continues to be this hot,” Ash whined.
&
nbsp; “You should join me in the library, Ash.” Malin knew the twins wouldn’t accept, and she was saying this for Parth, to explain away her time in the library. “It’s dark in there, because it’s windowless, and slightly cooler. I think that’s why my headache doesn’t worsen when I’m in there.”
Her brother-in-law had smiled a knowing smile, as though he knew exactly why she’d said that.
“Thank you, Malin,” Ash said, not sounding grateful at all. “But I think I will die of boredom if I go to the library.”
“Especially with you,” added her twin.
“Suit yourself,” Malin said with a shrug.
Not wanting to give Parth the satisfaction of driving her away from the stacks, Malin ate quickly and headed for the library. Only to find one of her former teachers slowly making his way there.
“Combat Master,” she blurted out.
The man stopped dead in his tracks, turned around slowly, and bowed so low that Malin wondered if Leesha was standing behind her.
“There’s no reason to bow so low, Combat Master,” she said with a smile. “It’s my sister that’s Queen, not me.”
When he straightened up and took her in, his mouth parted. “Princess Malin.” He sounded as shocked as he looked; yes, he thought it was Leesha.
Well, the Vijkanti sisters did sound quite alike. But he’d taught them for years; hadn’t he differentiated between their voices?
“How lovely to see you again, Combat Master.”
The man relaxed somewhat and smiled at her, inclining his head. “And you, Princess, but you needn’t address me as Combat Master anymore.”
“You may no longer be in charge of the Academy,” she said as she closed the gap between them, “but you are still Combat Master.”
“But not to you,” he pointed out. “I’m no longer your teacher. You may call me Rudro.”
He was right. Malin smiled. “I think I will. If you call me Malin.”
Rudro only smiled.
“Would you like to go for a walk with me, Rudro?”
Was that relief on his face? “I’d be delighted. But what of your headache?”
“It hasn’t set in yet,” she said. “I’ll come back when it does.”
Rudro sent a quick glance at the library door before offering her his arm and together they made their way to the gardens. It was deserted. Most of the Court was still eating breakfast. The heat kept the majority of people indoors, anyway. They had plenty of privacy, but something about her companion made Malin think that he wasn’t going to divulge his reasons for visiting the Palace today, specifically the library.
They exchanged pleasantries, asked each other how life post-Contest was treating them, what they did to entertain themselves when they were cooped up inside on the rainy days, before Malin changed the mood completely.
“I know that you and Aaryana… cared about each other.”
Rudro didn’t flinch. His steps didn’t falter. But his reply took a few seconds to come. “You say this because I saved her from drowning,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I did what anyone else would have done in my position. My duty to—”
“It’s because I saw how the two of you behaved around each other after you rescued her,” she said. “I saw—”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Princess.” He laughed awkwardly.
“I haven’t told anyone,” she assured him. “And I never will. I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
“Well, even though it’s not true, it’s good that you’ll refrain from speaking of it.” He cleared his throat. “This sort of talk won’t bode well for me. Or you.”
Malin nodded. Rudro would be thrown into the dungeons for having an affair with a student and Malin would get in trouble for not telling anyone that her sister was cheating in The Contest.
“Like I said, I swear to keep it to myself.”
“This is why you asked me to walk with you?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No. I invited you to save you from disappointment. The guards wouldn’t have let you into the library. Anyone outside the Royal Family that wants to use the facilities in the Palace—including the library—has to write to Leesha and Parth’s secretary with the exact dates and times that they want to visit.” When Rudro furrowed his brow, she added, “It’s for security reasons. Apparently, they have this system in place at the Royal Palace in Khadak.”
“Sounds to me like spying on everyone,” Rudro grumbled under his breath.
“Me also,” she said. “But my new brother made quite a good argument about how we ought to know where everyone is at any given time, in case we need to evacuate the castle for a fire. So, we don’t leave anyone behind.”
The Combat Master was quiet. Malin glanced at his face. He was wrestling with an inner conflict, contemplating whether or not he needed a library book enough to ask her to get it for him. Obviously, he wanted to keep it secret, otherwise he would have mentioned his business. Malin herself was researching something in secret and she saw in Rudro that same determination and vigilance.
“Do you need it badly?” she asked him hesitantly. Did she want another secret to hide? “I could look it up for you.”
Rudro stopped walking and faced her. Sighing, he said, “No, Princess. I’ll write to Her Majesty’s secretary and go about it the right way.” But it didn’t look like he would.
“You’ll have to tell them what you want from the library…”
“Of course.”
“So, why not tell me?” She was really intrigued now. “You can trust me to be discreet.”
“I know, but like I said, it’s not that important.” He began walking again, Malin tagging along.
Before she knew it, she found herself telling him, “I’m trying to find out about the sea folk.”
Rudro was so surprised that he halted.
She walked on, pulling him along. “I believe that the people that have gone missing over the years may have been taken by them.”
“As do many,” he said with a nod. “But there has been no evidence.”
“There is some.”
And she told him everything. From interviewing the people in the Outskirts, to what Ark had said about the sea folk luring their victims to the ocean with their singing. She knew Rudro wouldn’t betray her in fear that she’d reveal his relationship with Aaryana. Besides, she didn’t tell him that she was doing all the digging as Shahan. Shahan was a secret that wasn’t for sharing.
“That is worth looking into,” he said when she finished explaining. “Have you found anything in the library about their singing?”
“Not yet, but I think there’s bound to be something. So many people claim to know what the sea folk are like, what they do. Something must come up about their ability to use their voices to put people to sleep, lure them to the water.”
Indeed, in the last three days, she’d read a number of accounts from Adgaris that claimed to have seen the sea folk. Some said that they’d seen the higher sea folk leap from the water and dive back into the sea, causing tidal waves and storms. Others had accused certain humans of being sea folk in disguise, because they went swimming almost daily—they couldn’t survive on land for too long without water. There had also been people that had supposedly gone to live with the sea folk willingly, because they’d fallen in love with one of the species.
A number of accounts seemed too far-fetched and made up, but with regards the stories that were familiar and believed by many around the world, no physical evidence had been found in support of them. Those that had claimed to have seen the half-human, half-fish higher sea folk—and described them in detail—had always been alone during the sighting, no other witnesses to corroborate their statement.
In essence, she’d been reading about myths.
But what Malin had discovered about the musical dreams… enough people in Adgar had backed up that claim. She was onto something, she knew it.
“If only I could find something in the library stating that people in the p
ast have heard the sea folk sing, too, that more than one person heard it at the same time.”
“You’ll find something,” Rudro assured her. “There have always been stories about the sea folk having beautiful, haunting voices. One of them being the Sea Princess.”
Malin laughed. “That’s just a fairy tale.”
One of the most popular children’s stories in the world, yes, but fiction nonetheless. In Adgar, it was the most told story at bedtime, closely followed by the legend of the Dungeons Keeper. The Sea Princess, daughter of the Sea God, falls in love with a fisherman, leaves the ocean, sheds her sea folk skin and tail, and lives on land for the rest of her life with the man she loves.
As in all tales however, there are various obstacles she has to overcome before she can live happily ever after, the most notable one being the greedy Prince that wants to use her voice to triumph over his enemies, conquer other Kingdoms, and eventually rule the world. Luckily, the Sea Princess sees him for what he is, escapes his clutches, and her true love kills the evil Prince in the end.
“Yes,” said Rudro, “but some believe that her tale was inspired by true events from a faraway land.”
Malin raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard anything of the sort.”
“I was sceptical, too,” he said. “But after what you’ve just told me about your investigations… It might be worth reading more into the Sea Princess’s tale.”
“I suppose it won’t do any harm. Thank you.”
Her step-mother had told her the story many times when she was little, and she’d seen the Sea Princess’s tale performed on stage on a few occasions, but she hadn’t actually picked up the physical book and read it. If there was a small possibility that it was based on a true story…