by Ruhi Jain
She paused, trying to think clearly.
“Yes.” Timmy.
“Well then do you want to know what’s worse than dying? Dying with regrets.” Pauline’s voice drifted away, mixing with the water. “Goodbye.”
Pauline’s purple aura and nautilus shell moved away. She noticed that so did Richard’s and John’s and the kids’. Then, in unison, they slowly came down to rest on the seabed once again. Scattered nautilus shells inside a silent cave.
Brell stepped back, her heart hammering. What had just happened? She stumbled her way back to the inn, glad that she could find it. With shaking fingers she placed the black pebble at the door. The merman at the reception stood up to greet her. She looked at him, wondering if it was only her who could talk to spirits.
When back to the safety of her room, she thought hard about what she had just experienced. Either it was a dream or it was real. Either way, after seeing what the Witch was capable of, she had an even firmer resolve to save her brother now.
*
She awoke with a deep yawn, basking in the gentle morning light. With a start, the memory of her journey in the sea and the previous night came flooding back to her. She rubbed her head, unable to erase the memory of the previous night from her mind.
Brell picked up the blue pouch of money, the bracelet and the map - the only three belongings she had in this vast, large, unknown place. She secured the bracelet on her wrist and put the money and the map into the small left pocket of her shirt. In the lobby, she handed the blue pebble and the feedback form to the mermaid at the reception desk, and had kelp noodles and some seaweed salad for breakfast.
At the door of the inn, Brell stopped, her hand touching the rough, cold stone. Was she ready to push it, and go into an unknown place? She thought of Timmy’s face as a guide and pushed the door that would lead her to him.
In the bright morning, the water was light azure in colour, with fish flitting here and there. It was too early for merpeople to be awake, and the boulders floating solitarily in the water seemed kind of eerie. She wasted no time and shot ahead, beating her tail against the water as hard as she could. The sooner she reached Meethe, the better.
Brell passed an ancient boulder. Then she stopped, and swam backwards. On the boulder ‘Silverfin Plaza’ was etched into the stone. She consulted her map and was glad to see that she was on the right track. She held her arms flat at her sides, creating a streamlined shape, and hurtled through the water. By midday, she was exhausted. Her tail seemed like jelly and her head was spinning. By this time many merpeople had come out, colouring the sea with their multi-coloured tails and shirts.
Along the way she saw this huge stretch of the sea covered with rotating semicircles. There were attached together. As she watched, she felt the sea current shift direction. Amazingly, the semicircles turned inside out to match the sea current and began spinning again. They acted like flexible shells, changing with the direction of the sea current. She stared at them for a moment until it struck her that they must be like windmills, used to generate electricity.
She also caught sight of notice rocks at multiple places, engraved with words. It must be the way messages were delivered to all the people of the Seas.
Something bright red caught her eye. It looked like a sunken ship, half the size of a normal man-made ship, complete with an anchor and sails. It had a bright scarlet door with fleur-de-lis hinges, and upon peering through the large windows at the side of the ship, she was shocked to see a plant nursery. The plants all looked strange, some with long leaves and white stems, others as small as her palm but with flowers as big as her head. What confounded her most was the sighting of a cactus plant.
She sat near some seaweed for rest, under the shadow of a large rock. Right in front of her, a few yards off, three mermaids and a merman sat on a boulder, apparently gossiping. Next to them were two dolphins, laughing, singing, flipping and jumping. The dolphins would circle them once in a while, worming their way between them. One mermaid left on a dolphin, waving goodbye to the group.
They seemed so happy, so carefree. Did they know loss, pain… sacrifice? Did they know what it was like to lose the only person who you love?
She got up, ready to leave once again. But the moment she tried to move her tail, a sharp yank pulled her back. The seaweed had somehow wrapped itself around her tail. What? Seaweed couldn’t move by itself. She struggled against the seaweed, but it wouldn’t let go! It wrapped itself more firmly around her, creeping up her tail, getting tighter.
Brell’s hand smacked it again and again, trying in vain to loosen its grip. What was this marauding creature?
Okay, now was the time to ditch the ‘low profile’ rule. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no words came out of her mouth! The three mermaids continued to mind their business, not even noticing her struggling figure in the dark. Her heart beating fast, Brell wriggled and struggled, but no result. Why couldn’t she speak? She opened her mouth again, but was a prisoner in the terrible cage of wordlessness. The seaweed had reached her hips, climbing fast up to her waist. On god, would she die here? Brell panicked, and she could hear the frantic thumping of her heart.
Suddenly, a dark figure shot past her. Then it stopped a few feet away from her, and came back towards her. But she was too preoccupied to notice it. The seaweed was up to her waist and she could feel its grip tightening, like a cold vice. Brell opened her mouth again and again to scream, but nothing came out, not a single word. Then she stiffened, and a cold sensation spread through her. Her tail stopped moving and she couldn’t even lift her arms. For a moment there was dead silence. Was she… paralysed?
Chapter 12: Lukas
With her eyes, she saw the dark figure coming towards her, with something shiny in its hand. It came closer, but in the darkness she couldn’t recognize the creature. It attacked the seaweed, and immediately she could feel her blood warm up her cold body. She fell back on the sea bed with a wild gasp, clutching her throbbing tail with quivering fingers. She could move her limbs again, but her tail hurt terribly. Glancing down at it, Brell was shocked to see blood coming out of a long gash on her tail. Strangely, instead of mixing with the water and floating away, it sank down into the sand and unexpectedly disappeared below it.
“What —?” Brell gasped, light-headed as adrenaline raced through her body. She immediately covered her wound with her hand and pressed it to prevent the blood flow. The seaweed was cut into pieces and was lying in shreds on the light brown sand. One long piece of it was in the hands of the dark figure. Then Brell finally got a good look at the merman who saved her life.
He was a bit taller than her, with ashen brown hair that complimented his dark eyebrows. He had broad shoulders and a muscular frame, but seemed close to her age. He had a square, firm jaw and beautiful tan skin that was complemented by the sepia leather jacket and snug grey shirt he was wearing, topped off with a beautiful dusky green tail. There was something about him that made her lower her guard immediately. Something safe.
His eyes softened. “Are you all right?” he asked in a husky voice and held out a hand for her. She took it with her free hand, and the merman pulled her up.
“What was that thing?” she said eyeing the seaweed in his hand. “I’ve never seen seaweed behave like this.”
The merman frowned. “It isn’t seaweed, actually. It happens to be Noralian Thorolis.”
“Norlian what?” Brell said.
“Noralian Thorolis,” the merman repeated “is a plant which closely resembles seaweed by really isn’t. It feeds on living material, mostly fish, but on rare cases, if it is mature and strong enough it will attack a merperson.”
Brell raised one eyebrow. “You say it is a plant, but it seems like it has a mind.”
The merman snorted, as if he was amused. “It doesn’t really. It attempts to capture anything that goes past it. It tries to kill its victim by either paralyzing it or hurting it. It did both to you. It breeds in dark areas. Actually I�
�m quite surprised that it survived so long without anyone noticing it.”
Brell nodded, still a bit woozy from the experience. Common sense told her that she should not be talking to the merman. She had to keep a low profile, but she didn’t want to stop.
The merman looked at her curiously. “How is it that you didn’t know what Noralian Thorolis is?”
Brell opened her mouth, and closed it. What should she say?
“I— I didn’t recognize it.” She said quickly. Trying to deviate from this topic, she said “Thank you for helping me. What’s your name?”
The merman’s eyes opened wide in surprise for a moment.
“Lukas” he said simply. “Yours?”
“Bre —” she mentally cursed. “Susan.”
“Bresusan?” he almost smiled.
“No, no. Just Susan.”
“Oh my, is that Lukas Tract?” the mermaids sitting on the boulder flew towards them. “Hi!” One said, fluttering her eyelashes till she looked demented.
The other giggled. “What is a royal messenger for the Royal Family doing here?”
“Royal messenger?” Brell gasped. A messenger. Royal Family. Messenger. The words swam in her head. Low profile; she had to maintain a low profile! She had to stay away from merpeople and now she was chatting away with a merman who was a messenger for the Royal Family.
“I better get going, um, Lukas” she said hurriedly. “It was nice meeting you. Thank you.”
She smiled, and had just turned her back when she heard him tell the other mermaids, “I’m sorry. I’m busy right now. Excuse me.”
He swam after her. “Wait, where are you going?”
She turned around and the same feeling of wanting to talk to him longer washed over her. She replied before she could even think.
“I’m going to castle Meethe, to get a job.” She blurted, and then clenched her hand, realizing her fatal mistake.
“I —” she stuttered, “I really need to go. I’ve got a long journey ahead of me.”
“How about we go together?”
“Excuse me?” she was stunned.
“How about I accompany you? I happen to be going to Meethe myself. We could go together.” He didn’t look like he was joking.
She paused, actually considering it for a moment. She was supposed to keep a low profile. But she didn’t think this would do any harm. He was just going to accompany her. As long as she didn’t reveal anything to him it should be fine.
“Sure.” she smiled, warming up to the idea. “That would be fine I guess, but,” she paused. “I’m afraid I’m not going directly to Meethe. I’ll be stopping at Bubbly Blues.”
“That’s fine with me” He smiled back at her. It was an easy smile, which immediately put her to ease.
“Oh!” his smile vanished when he saw her bleeding tail. Slipping his hands into a brown pouch hanging down from his narrow waist, he withdrew a small black jar the size of his palm. It had a rectangular base and a black round cap. While he was carefully unscrewing the top, she glimpsed the black gel that was inside.
“What’s that?” she sniffed it and recoiled from the pungent ammonia like smell it gave off.
“It’s a healing balm. You have to apply on the cut you have. It will help, trust me.” He handed the black box to her.
Brell wrinkled her nose, dipped her fingers into the black goo and bent down to apply it on her tail. Before she could touch her fingers to the bleeding wound, she saw her filthy tail with its dull mauve colour and remembered that she was supposed to be seeking a job. What was she doing here, chatting with someone she barely knew while her brother was going to be killed?
Lukas misunderstood her frozen posture “It isn’t something bad, the gel,” he said hastily. “It will help soothe the pain.”
She slathered the gel over her wound and sighed as the burning sensation went away. This must have been the same gel Lily had put on her hurt forehead. “It works. Thanks.” She smiled.
He grinned and put the box back in his pouch.
“Ladies first,” he said, and gestured towards their awaiting path.
“So, tell me about yourself.” Lukas said.
They had already passed the turtle race, where mermaids raced those huge creatures across the sea. The noise was deafening, just as Brell remembered it. She smiled fondly at the thought of the tiny turtle that had made a bid for freedom; she missed Ripples. This time she noticed more stores. ‘My Tail-a-Do’ was a shop where accessories for tails could be bought. There were hip girdles, fin piercings, metallic spikes and permanent tattoos. You could also dye your tail a different colour.
She wondered what to tell him. She knew she shouldn’t reveal too much about herself, but she had no company and no friends. A sudden urge to blabber about nonsense and in doing so, forget her current predicament surged through her. Keeping incredible self-restraint, she just said, “What do you want to know?”
Lukas shrugged, tilting his face a little to the left.
“Tell me about your family.”
When he saw the dismal look on her face he quickly said, “Did the Great Queen Zeldae …” he trailed off.
“No.” She said quickly. She didn’t know what to say but she knew a small part of the truth wouldn’t hurt. “My dad died when I was little, and I lived with my mom, aunt, uncle and cousin sister until my mother …” she trailed off. “My aunt is terrible. She made us work day and night for her. Me and,” she wavered, “my brother.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so I… left them. I rather work and earn money, than work for nothing at all.” She said the last words firmly.
“So where is your brother now? Did you leave him with your aunt?”
She was about to answer, then thought twice.
“Hey!” She said in a teasing voice. “How come you can ask me all the questions you want and I can’t ask you anything in return? It’s my turn.”
He grinned. “That is fair.”
“So, tell me, how did you become a messenger for the Royal Family?” She tried to sound casual, but curiosity burned in the back of her mind.
He fidgeted with his pouch. “Do you want the long story or the short one?”
“A medium one, maybe?” It was starting to get dark, and she could feel the water’s temperature dropping.
“Okay.” Lukas played with his fingers.
“My parents — like yours — passed away when I was quite young. I had no relatives and no home. I was like a lost fish in a dark sea. I began as a waiter at a restaurant. The owner was a really kind lady who took pity on an orphan, and I was the youngest person there. Anyway, one day the Prince’s carriage stopped outside and Prince Callum got down. He was a kid then and was on a round of the Sea with his father. Hey, are you ok?”
She didn’t realise she had turned pale. “Yeah, I’m just tired.” she cooked up. Lukas knew Callum! “Go on, please.”
“Where was I? Prince Callum dined at the restaurant I was working in and I was his server. I don’t know what happened, but,” Lukas grinned, “We became really good friends. He brought me back to the palace with him and introduced me to Her Highness Queen Maude. She wasn’t pleased to see me, but on the Prince’s insistence, she allowed him to keep me in the castle. You see, the prince had no friends. I became and still am, his only one. I was grateful because I had a roof above my head, food in my stomach and a companion whom I could trust.”
Brell was wordless for a few moments. Then she pointed out, “You still haven’t told me how you became a messenger.”
Lukas blinked. “Right. When we both turned twelve, many duties were imposed on Callum.” He huffed in fond exasperation. “Everyone in Gelled knows that he didn’t want to have duties, much less even be a part of the Royal Family. He wanted an ordinary life. He was pretty preoccupied with all his responsibilities being a Prince, and I was more or less alone all the time. Queen Maude decided that instead of spending my time doing nothing, I should be useful. So, I was to be made a me
ssenger. I was trained with five other mermen for six years to be excellent in every field of combat. I’m the youngest among the five but the best swordsman and the most resourceful. That is why I got the job. They made sure that I was a lightning fast swimmer, and that I was a master at concealing myself.”
“So that’s why when I ‘met’ you, you were travelling in the dark.” She realised.
“Yeah.” Lukas said, in a guilty voice. “Actually, I’m not supposed to talk to anybody while I’m doing my duty.”
“You’re on duty?” Brell was interested in spite of herself.
“I shouldn’t be speaking!” Lukas said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ve told you enough,” he murmured.
It was true, but Brell still wanted to know more. She suddenly noticed the way they were going and surreptitiously glanced at her silver map. They were on the right track. “We’re heading straight towards a rock, you know.” She glanced at him sideways and he laughed.
“Yeah, I do. But the tunnel will give us a shortcut.”
They rounded the edge and she gasped. Cut into the gigantic mass of rock that rose till the sea surface was a tunnel large enough for seven huge trucks to pass through. She grew more astounded when they swam inside. A thick metallic net was placed along the walls of the tunnel, probably to keep it from caving in, but the net was barely visible under the mass of heart-shaped locks and padlocks that covered every inch of available surface. They even hung from the ceiling of the tunnel, covering the entire tunnel in scales of glittering red, silver, gold and pink.
“The Tunnel of Love.” Lukas said, smiling at her awestruck expression. “Some love locks have been hanging here for over a century. It’s a really long tunnel.”
Almost all had the initials of the lovers, some even the full names. Quite a few were flashy heart shaped locks but she spotted some simple, humble plain silver locks. “Clara+Gared” she read out from one of the simple locks. She had heard that the Archbishop’s Bridge in France was the Bridge of Love and she had always wanted to visit it but never got the chance. She had never stepped out of Britain. This seemed a good enough substitute, though.