Because she looked so different from the rest of them, Evagoria could never blend in with the other Mermaids. Even with a palla to cover her head, those sparkling eyes gave her away. And this was just fine with Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis. The best part of being friends with Evagoria when inside Atagartis – everything was free. And not just free, but near every merchant begged her to take valuable wares off their hands.
“Adamarcus?” Persepolis whispered. “Why do these shopkeepers keep asking Evagoria to just take things?” He motioned to her pack set between the walking sticks on her back. “I can hear them jingling inside – she has plenty of gold pieces in there.”
The three watched as Evagoria kindly turn down yet another request to make off with whatever she wished. Adamarcus was not so sure he could have done the same, but understood why she did so.
“Well,” he told Persepolis as Taharqa leaned in, “for other Mermaids to see their future queen – their Gift from Poseidon – wear certain clothes or favor one food over another, then many others would pay almost any price for the same clothes and food. If Evagoria accepts something from one, I suppose she would feel guilty about this and be compelled to accept something from them all.”
“Ahhhhh,” Taharqa and Persepolis gasped as one.
Halfway to the middle of the market square, the monster’s stench now wafted about the air. They were getting closer to their prize.
No longer able to resist the lure of Evagoria’s magnificence, Adamarcus drifted close to her. “Why do I see every Mermaid parent carry or push in carriages younglings who are no longer toddlers? The infants and very young I understand, but why still carry or push around these older ones too?”
Evagoria pulled the three off the walkway and pointed among the crowd. About to learn something new about Mermaids, Taharqa looked as if a wide-eyed youngling himself. Persepolis probably did not care much, but at least made it appear as if he did.
“A little lesson in Mermaid biology needed I can see – let me explain. See that infant carried by her father?” The trio nodded in the direction she pointed. “Although tinged with streaks of silver, the tail of an infant is mostly white. Its shape,” she giggled, “looks a lot like that of the leftover tail of a tadpole about to become a young frog.”
“HA!” Persepolis crowed. “You said Mermaids look like ‘frogs’!” Evagoria’s suddenly stern pout and blank looks by Adamarcus and Taharqa swiftly shut him up. He then sheepishly nodded his head, “Um, sorry – please continue, Princess.”
Evagoria let out a deep sigh as if a disappointed mother before speaking again. “Only once a toddler will she have any real control over moving her tail. During her second year, it turns a solid blue and the flukes begin to take shape. By about four, she can finally balance on it.” Evagoria pointed to an older Mermaid youngling. “By six years old or so, she should be able to glide upright.” The princess then sucked in a deep breath and deepened her voice a bit. “Only once a youngling is eight or nine do the emerald greens and fiery yellows, reds, and oranges, paint their way across the brilliant blue that is the canvas making up each of our infamous tails.” She smiled wide as the other three gawked at her upon such a pompous description. “Okay, I admit it – Penelope taught me to say that last part!”
“‘Penelope taught me to say that last part!’” Persepolis mocked back. The others – Evagoria included – nearly keeled over laughing.
“Wow, Persepolis! Your mimicking is now so good, you sound just like me!” Still giggling as she spoke, Evagoria snorted a few times and now all four laughed together.
Just as dear friends should!
As they snorted, giggled, laughed, and chuckled, excited cheers and begging growls from close by silenced the giddy quartet. Three blank faces watched a shockingly wicked grin sweep across Evagoria’s face.
“It’s feeding time,” she said darkly. With these shadowy words as sharp as scythes, but softly spoken, they made their way to the crowded center of the marketplace.
Once there, the three visitors stared in wonder at the wildest of wild beasts. Evagoria told them earlier that she had seen the caged brute many times, as it had of the princess.
As the seated Yeturi gazed back at her, did Evagoria’s eyes remind the furry monster of the deep blue sea surrounding the colony it left behind?
“Is it a boy or girl?” Persepolis asked.
“It’s a male,” Adamarcus answered quickly as if this question was for him. The others looked at him queerly. “You can tell by the horns.”
Horns or not, how the terrible troll stared at Evagoria told Adamarcus that it coveted her not so much in the way a Centaur might a Centauress, but how a fiendish collector would what it collects. And the latter was much more dangerous in his eyes than the former.
“Right you are,” Evagoria confirmed. “Good guess!”
Adamarcus studied the princess. She seemed to be wholly unaware of how the shaggy ogre gazed upon her. Evagoria now cocked her head to one side and pointed at its belly.
“Poseidon’s tail,” she blurted, “what are they feeding you?” The Yeturi grunted back as if it understood her question. “With each visit, the monster appears bigger and stronger than the last – it’s going to need a new cage soon!”
“How about the open air one from where it came?” Adamarcus snapped.
This Centaur no fool, he was rightly terrified of this, this … thing.
“Come on,” Persepolis chided, “have a sense of adventure!” He gestured toward the cage. “The little ones seem to like it. Especially at feeding time.”
His friends now busily talking with each other, Adamarcus snuck away. Two marble fountains that bookended the Yeturi enclosure on each side caught his eye as he did so. Not quite in line with the cage, they sat about fifteen pike lengths away from it and were at least seven pike lengths in diameter. Hieroglyphs carved in fine detail along the sides told stories of legendary Mermaid heroes and heroines alike. Adamarcus could barely make out these carvings from where he stood, but knew that they were there. He even knew of what they said. During his first visit to Atagartis with his father, the newly elected Chiron, they spent a grand afternoon together reading them.
“Just what is that you have a hold of?” Adamarcus whispered to himself as he carefully made his way around the cage.
He had caught sight of something in the monster’s hand that needed a closer look. The Yeturi repeatedly looking down at it had tipped him off. Adamarcus started around the cage’s right side and then made his way toward the back. The cage had open bars all around and an elegant bronze fence about half a pike length high surrounded it. To his surprise, this fence was only about a pike length away from the cage. Now at the back end of the cage and a bit past the creature’s right shoulder, Adamarcus peeked into its right hand. A small shiny object glimmered back. It was metal and small enough to hide in the sneaky beast’s palm once its claws wrapped around it.
Adamarcus leaned in closer. As the monster opened its claws and again looked down, a single eye caught the one intending to spy on it. In an instant, it leapt up, spun toward him, and let out a vicious roar. Adamarcus and everyone around him leaned away from the cage like sunflowers in an open field caught in a sudden gust of wind.
Each horn bigger than his own head, this thing was even taller than he was!
With its free hand, the Yeturi then angrily shook the cage – complete silence swept over the marketplace. Suddenly, gaping mouths and thumping chests turned into raucous cheering and thunderous applause. Adamarcus terrified, everyone else was overjoyed.
With a last shake of the bar that it held and a deep growl, the Yeturi turned its back to Adamarcus and slumped to the floor of the cage. As if stuck in ice, he could not move. Luckily, Persepolis came over to help drag him away.
“P-Persepolis,” Adamarcus stuttered, “the monster … it has, it has something m-m-metal in its right hand.”
Persepolis was not impressed. “Maybe it is a locket your stinking friend
plans to give Evagoria for her birthday!” he offered with a laugh.
But Adamarcus did not laugh back. The Yeturi now looked past him, right at Evagoria. Again. Aside from Adamarcus ‘interrupting’ it, the troll had done so since first seeing her.
“I don’t know,” Adamarcus drawled. “The way it looks at Evagoria with those eyes the same color and fury of fire ––”
“HA! The monster fancies the princess!” Persepolis’ voice turned mysterious, wondrous. “Eyes of enraged flame but calm embers when it looks tenderly upon Evagoria – could the Mermaid beauty feel the same way about the heinous beast?”
“Now that’s a creepy thought.”
Persepolis laughed again. ”Eh, forget about the troll. Instead,” he spun Adamarcus toward Evagoria, “feast your eyes on that!”
As Evagoria looked about the market, her sparkling sapphires twinkled as if the only stars in the darkest night sky. Not just any stars, but the brightest ones the heavens had ever bore.
“Good idea,” Adamarcus agreed in a relieved voice. “What would I do without you, Persepolis?”
“I dare not guess, my friend,” Persepolis answered quietly in a serious voice. “I dare not guess.”
Once they had gathered again with Evagoria and Taharqa, the two barely seemed to notice that Adamarcus had returned.
“It appears different than usual,” the beauty remarked as she gazed upon the beast. “As I look into its eyes, take note of its mannerisms, it seems almost … thoughtful, thinking – perhaps even learning.”
These last three words – in a pitch that more suggested a question – intrigued Adamarcus. He now looked harder at the Yeturi. As this was the first one he had ever laid eyes on, he had nothing to base Evagoria’s observation on. He was surprised, however, to see pieces of fabric strewn about the cage floor with knots in them. As Adamarcus wondered if this mindless beast could possibly do this, he looked to its left claw and the fabric piece it held. In an instant and without taking its stare off Evagoria, the Yeturi tied it into a perfect knot! It then tossed this knotted cloth aside and, without looking down, scooped up another.
Although somewhat impressed, Adamarcus’ mind began to wander and he looked around for something else to do. A sudden thirst sweeping across his searing lips – PERFECT!
“I see a kiosk that serves your favorite berry juice, Evagoria,” Adamarcus teased as he pointed in this kiosk’s direction. “Come on, let’s go get some.”
“The sun is setting fast,” Taharqa reminded them. “We need to hurry or it will close with the rest of the market and leave us parched.”
Evagoria nodded excitedly and, with her in the lead, the four headed to the kiosk. As they did so, a couple of Mermaids passed by them with a waddling lamb as dinner for the fluffed troll.
“That looks delicious!” Persepolis drooled as he spun around and leaned toward the lamb. Adamarcus and Taharqa quickly grabbed a limb and now dragged him away from the cage. “But, but – aw, come on! I finally have a chance to see something make more of a mess when it eats than I do.”
“Just remember, Persepolis,” Taharqa reminded, “this is how we feel about wanting to watch you eat!” With a sigh, Persepolis relented and followed behind them.
The Yeturi suddenly sprang from its seated position and angrily rattled the bars of its cage. More joyful cheers and applause came next. Everyone else might have thought such an outburst was because dinner was on its way, but Adamarcus knew better. The monster did this because the object it fancied more than any other had now abandoned it. Such distress upon their departure was fine with him – he was just glad to be away from the covetous demon.
The thirst-quenching beverages beckoned and together they made their way to the miniature oasis of delectable refreshment. About halfway between the Yeturi and kiosk, Adamarcus turned back. The bleating lamb lowered into its cage ignored for the moment, the beast had yet to release its stare from Evagoria.
“Waiting to be ripped to shreds, the monster’s food cowers meekly in the corner of its cage, yet it only has eyes for Evagoria.”
“Maybe,” Persepolis chortled, “it’s not as dumb as we think. I mean, who would have guessed that such a senseless beast could be a hopeless romantic?”
Although he laughed along with his best friend, Adamarcus warily continued to watch the Yeturi. Pieces of the torn apart lamb half in its gut and half littered about its cage or in claws dripping in blood; no matter in what direction the four friends roamed, not even for a moment did those devilish eyes stop stalking Evagoria.
Chapter Twenty-Four
ADVENTURES IN EATING
As the blood of the impaled boar drips from Persepolis’ fangs, I imagine this blood sliding down my bronze-made sword. That it is I, not he, who has taken this life. For nothing more than my own glory do I impale this beast. AND I LOVE IT! I am both terrified and emboldened by such thoughts. On the eve of turning fourteen and to have ideas such as these? Since when has madness become the realm of the young? For now, I will keep secret these imaginings, but I cannot do this forever. I must eventually tell my friends, but it is most likely that once I do so, I won’t have any friends left.
– Evagoria, Mermaid Princess
– Mid-Fall, Year 4,253 KT[28]
“I suppose you two would like something to eat as well,” Evagoria asked as she turned to face her friends.
Their overflowing berry drinks already in hand, Adamarcus and Taharqa gleefully nodded their heads as Persepolis glumly followed along. Evagoria would let him do so for now, but this unhappy state would not last long: She would soon reveal to him a most desired surprise. Evagoria led the trio to a kiosk that served what she believed to be the tastiest food in Atagartis. Once close, she took her friends aside. Evagoria then motioned to the five guards who had escorted them to the marketplace and they approached.
“So that’s where your guard wandered off to,” Adamarcus noticed. As for Taharqa and Persepolis, they really didn’t seem to notice much of anything.
“Wait here and I will get all the food you and Taharqa can stuff into your happy little faces.”
Many dozens of Mermaids now watched Evagoria and her guard. Two steaming buckets of food accepted from the giddy shopkeeper, those watching now rushed the food kiosk.
It was nice to know that others were eager to partake of what she favored, but this was all just so silly.
A chore to weave through the mob to reach Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis again, once she did so, the five guards drifted out of sight once more.
As the two Centaurs and Evagoria merrily sipped their oversized drinks, Persepolis looked at them as if left out of the fun. He could certainly smell the food, but as it was not freshly dead, he wouldn’t dare take even a bite. Watching as Adamarcus and Taharqa dug into their buckets, Evagoria had not even told them what they eagerly tore into, but their dancing eyes and drooling mouths told her they both found it delicious.
“I’m so sorry, Persepolis.” Evagoria rubbed his limb closest to her. “Atagartis is nothing like the Agathis and has none of the well thought out luxuries for you that Lacanesia has.” She knew Persepolis had visited Atagartis twice in the past, but last night was the first time he had ever stayed overnight.
“No, no, it’s nothing,” he sighed in a cheerless voice. Persepolis picked up one limb after the other and watched as water ran off each before setting it back down. Next, he looked in different directions and sighed once more. “Atagartis is beautiful, a work of art like pretty much everything Mermaids touch. I guess it’s just that, well – everything is so wet. And it always smells like fish.”
Adamarcus and Taharqa chuckled at this goofy remark, but Evagoria just stared at Persepolis in disbelief.
“Mermaid.” she shouted playfully with both hands held high. With her free hand, she then pointed north. “Ocean.”
Persepolis chuckled at Evagoria’s theatrics as well. He then took in a deep breath. “I know, I know. Live prey not always so close, I just wish that som
etimes I could eat dead things too. Like,” he cocked his head, “um – what exactly is that?”
Adamarcus and Taharqa looked at Persepolis as if he had just caught them in the act of a grand theft. Their twin sets of cheeks stuffed so full, these two put hoarding chipmunks to shame.
“Well … I don’t really know,” Taharqa mumbled. “Covered in some kind of sauce, delicious – hard to tell.” Pieces of food fell from his mouth as he blabbered through yet to be chewed morsels sticking to his lips that chose to die gloriously instead of cowardly dropping into the shallow water they stood in. “What is this, Evagoria?”
Evagoria peered inside each bucket, grabbed a plump piece from Adamarcus’, popped it into her mouth, and smiled. “Mmmmm, elephant seal snout.” With a pause, her grin grew even wider and she reached into the bucket for more. “Oh, how lucky!” Evagoria tossed a few smaller pieces into her mouth, “bits of penguin too.”
Two cheery faces suddenly froze. Four glassy eyes then gawked at her. With a wink, she spun around to face Persepolis. As Evagoria took her time to enjoy each sumptuous chew, she continued to smile at the hungry Arachna. These bites swallowed and ready to reveal her surprise for him, Persepolis leaned to his left.
“Oh, Persepolis, I have a gift for you, my friend! For two days, Father ––”
Evagoria stopped mid-sentence. Persepolis still staring over her shoulder and past her, she slowly turned around. Pained, twisted faces owned by the clowns she adored most met her not-so-pleased gaze.
After hurriedly pouring the remaining chopped and sautéed cuts of meat into Taharqa’s bucket, they took turns spitting the food still tucked in their cheeks into the other. Next, Adamarcus pushed his near-empty pail against his chest, stuck out his tongue, and poured water from a canteen held above his head. More water than not landing on his outstretched tongue, it dribbled sloppily from his mouth. Before he could finish, Taharqa ripped both from Adamarcus’ shaking hands and then did the same.
The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) Page 26