The Merman's Mark

by Tara Omar

  “Yes, the pill you saw Gabe ingest contained the same contents and concentration as what killed Saladin,” said Imaan. “Gabe is literally a snake.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Then prick yourself with the blade,” said Imaan, holding the handle of the dagger toward David.

  “What?” asked David.

  “Prick yourself with the blade,” repeated Imaan. “If you are right and the blade is indeed laced with ordinary headache pills, you will have nothing more than a minor cut. If you are wrong, then I will have disposed of yet another man who doubts my judgement, saving me significant hassle.”

  Imaan was unflinching as she held out the dagger. David looked from her to it and back again. He dropped his eyes and shook his head.

  “You’re using your politics to mask your own faults,” said David, staring at the floor.

  Imaan chuckled.

  “Oh please, do you honestly think you could have it all figured out after living here less than a year?” asked Imaan. “Yes, of course you do. It’s much easier to think I’m a silly, old woman, not worth her say.”

  “And what about Rahul?” asked David.

  “What of him? He has nothing to do with this.”

  “He caused the war! Isn’t that what started this mess? Isn’t that why you lost your power?” asked David.

  “Raphael did no such thing,” said Imaan.

  “Isn’t that why you had me train with him, so I could learn how to kill the mer King as he did?”

  “I thought you could use a friend of similar circumstance.”

  “Friends among murderers?” asked David.

  “Friends among mers condemned for crimes they did not commit,” said Imaan.

  “What?”

  Imaan tossed him the latest edition of the Rosy Herald, its headline emblazoned in bold letters.

  SALADIN DEAD

  Underneath the words was a picture of David with his hand on the dagger the Lady had given him, its blade buried deep in Saladin’s chest. Dominic was running toward him, his face wild with shock and anger.

  David’s heart jumped to his mouth.

  “You see, I may have killed the King with a poisoned dart, but Aeroth only knows the King was stabbed and killed with a poisoned dagger,” said Imaan. “And the one who thrust the dagger through Saladin’s heart in front of three witnesses and a photographer, was you.”

  C H A P T E R 8 3

  David sat on the waterbed near the fire, staring at the front page of the Rosy Herald Lady Imaan had just given him. He squinted at the picture of him driving his dagger into Saladin’s heart. As he looked up he noticed a linen cloak lying next to the fire, similar to the one in the photograph. As David picked it up, a familiar mask tumbled toward his feet; it was the same one Imaan had used to save him from the guards in the Suez. David looked at her.

  “You set me up,” said David.

  “Yes,” said Imaan.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t look so shocked. It’s not like Aeroth would have welcomed you with open arms, coming here as a mer,” said Imaan. “To the humans a mer and a murderer is one in the same, and that’s not going to change overnight. Saladin was going to have you killed anyway, so from a certain perspective I saved your life.”

  “Don’t try and turn this around,” said David, pulling away. “Murder is murder.”

  She dropped a parchment drawing on his lap.

  “Paradise Island, forbidden to men and mers,” said Imaan, pointing to the drawing. “You are both and neither, and it is the neither quality that I’m hoping will let you slip past the cherubim, with the shield’s help of course.”

  “So you expect me to get into Paradise now?” asked David.

  “You can’t go back to Larimar, and you obviously can’t stay here.”

  “After you’ve framed me and murdered Saladin,” said David.

  Imaan frowned.

  “David, listen to me. You pulled the shield away from the mers and returned it to the humans, preventing a major war. The Leviathan is not happy. We must be swift with our response before he devises an even more disastrous plan.”

  “I’ll be damned if I do anything more for you,” said David.

  “Do you really think it’s a coincidence that you ended up here, possessing the precise knowledge necessary to finish the task? That you survived so many dangerous encounters? You are the One, David. Politically, you are worth far more than was Saladin, more than a king.”

  David shook his head.

  “I know what you’re trying to do, Imaan. All this nonsense about being ‘the One’ is just to make me feel important so you can further manipulate me. I won’t be your puppet on a string, even if it means I meet the same fate as Saladin.”

  “Saladin was given a life of far more influence than he could have ever hoped to acquire on his own, and he used it for his own devices. You were given a similar gift, and so far have thought only of others. You should give yourself more credit.”

  David’s eyes narrowed.

  “You argue well, Imaan, but strong argument can support a lie the same as the truth. After what you’ve done, I can’t trust you.”

  “Then you do not trust yourself,” said Imaan. “I will give you forty-eight hours to make up your mind. If you are interested in toppling the Leviathan, meet me at my house in the middle of the Marah, where you will be given the shield and the plans for entering Paradise. If not, disappear. It’s your choice, but every member of Ibex will be looking for you then. Aeroth will not be safe for you.”

  Imaan dropped the mask and cloak in the fire and climbed up the ladder behind the slide near the ball pit, pushing up the trap door in the ceiling. She paused.

  “Oh, and don’t think you’ll just show up at my house and take the shield for your own devices,” said Imaan. “The Marah is a vicious place, more vicious than Faerkbërde. You will only survive if you have the utmost clarity of thought and intent. Otherwise you will die in the desert.”

  David nodded.

  “Good day,” said Imaan. She hoisted herself up through the ceiling, disappearing just as Norbert burst through the top of the pit, sending plastic balls bouncing across the bunker.

  “Aha! I just caught a big one, I did. Hope you like albacore tuna,” said Norbert, brandishing his harpoon. Attached to its end was a skewered metal can, which was now leaking salty water like an ailing boat.

  “Where’s the Lady?” asked Norbert, as he climbed out of the ball pit.

  “Gone,” said David. He covered his face with his hands. “I’m such an idiot.”

  Norbert removed his goggles and sat down next to him, patting his shoulder.

  “Now Davey, none of us could have been knowing what the Lady was plotting in that head of hers, most especially not us men. You fulfilled your promise. That shows a lot of character.”

  David grunted.

  “Yeah, because I had to,” said David.

  “No, you didn’t,” said Norbert. “Did they use the sword for the vowing?”

  “Yeah.”

  Norbert laughed.

  “Oh Davey, that fancy stuff with the sword is just fancy stuff. A vow is supposed to be binding, but there’s no way to force you, like magic,” said Norbert. “You got the shield because you cared about Saladin and the humans, not because of some shiny show. At the end of the day, honourable actions can only end in blessing.”

  “Do you agree with this madness?” asked David.

  Norbert frowned.

  “I’m old, David. I follow the Lady because that’s what I have been doing, and it’s far too late to be changing now.”

  “But she murdered your king.”

  “Given the circumstances, I’m a pretty bad person to be speaking all judgemental on the subject, I am, though Saladin did seem a good fellow from what
I knew of him,” said Norbert. “Anyway, it’s done now. All I can do is look after what’s been given to me now, and that’s you. You’re a good spark, you are, I can tell.”

  “What does the Lady want with Paradise anyway?” asked David.

  “Well you’ll have to be asking her that yourself, but if I had to guess, I would gather it has something to do with the Tree of Knowledge. That’s what I’d be after, if I were her,” said Norbert.

  He pulled his can of tuna from the harpoon and turned the harpoon’s point around, knocking it against the perimeter of the can in an attempt to open it.

  “What would she want with a tree?” asked David.

  “To talk to it, of course! Trees know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, they do, and none better than the Tree of Knowledge. Most trees are quiet and keep to themselves, but they say the Tree of Knowledge has the gift of the gab. Lady Imaan probably wants info about the Leviathan and the poison that’s affecting the humans, and how to stop it. You know… how he came to be Gabe, how the poison works, how to stop the Leviathan and cure the humans. That’s what I would gather, anyway.”

  “And let me guess, I’m her only hope to get inside,” said David.

  “Looks that way, yes,” said Norbert. David jumped up from the water bed, sending Norbert rolling backward.

  “You know what? Just wake me up. Someone wake me up; I’ve had enough now,” said David. He slapped his cheek and pinched his arm, grimacing.

  “Uh, Davey, what are you doing?” asked Norbert.

  “Trying to wake up,” said David.

  “Aren’t you already awake?” asked Norbert.

  David glared at him.

  “Look, I am a high school teacher,” said David. “Next thing I know I wake up here, in a completely different world; I’m falling in love with mermaids, saving people from impending disaster with my supposedly special knowledge of art and music, getting wrapped up in political intrigue in which I’m the only one who can make things right… I mean, come on. Things don’t happen like this.”

  “Why not?” asked Norbert.

  “They just don’t,” said David.

  Norbert nodded, thoughtful.

  “This waking up you want to do, is it any different from passing away?”

  David paused.

  A horrendous, screeching sound reverberated from the ceiling before he could answer.

  “Bi Yowla. What was that?” asked Norbert. He set down the harpoon and can of tuna, wincing as the awful sound echoed again.

  “Excuse me a minute,” said Norbert. He climbed up the ladder and disappeared into the ceiling, returning with a fat, green parakeet under his arms. It screeched as soon as it saw David.

  “Sweet cicada, that sound is enough to strip the skin off my eardrums, that is. Do you have business with this poultry?” asked Norbert, dropping the bird. Kiwi flew straight to David, landing on his lap.

  “Kiwi, how did you find me?” asked David, smiling as Kiwi nibbled his finger. “You’ve had music lessons with Mozart, I see.”

  Kiwi fluffed his feathers and walked in a circle, singing to himself.

  Squak. Squak. Squak.

  David frowned.

  “I’m afraid I’m not very good company at the moment, unless you don’t mind being seen with a wanted criminal,” said David.

  As David stroked Kiwi’s neck he noticed a small, papery bead attached to the bird’s leg with thread; as he unhooked it, the bead unfolded into a creaseless, cotton note embossed with a metallic purple insignia, under which was a paragraph of perfectly-angled writing. He read.

  Dear David,

  Since we last met I am sure you have discovered your search for seaweed was not an entirely honest venture. Contrary to what you may think, however, I did not try to kill you. In truth, I sent you toward Lion Mountain as a gift, offered in the hope that you may avoid the upcoming trials and rejoin your former world via the pool in Lion’s Mouth, which occasionally acts as a portal when Silence wills it. Now, against all odds, you have returned—much to your merit—only to find yourself entangled deeper in the Lady’s nets than when you began. On the chance that you feel trapped in her snare with no means of escape, know that the aforementioned option is still open to you, and that I am willing to assist you in reaching Lion’s Mouth, should you desire it.

  Respectfully,

  Raphael

  “Looks like he’s offering you a way out,” said Norbert, reading over David’s shoulder.

  “Or a way to kill myself,” said David. He dropped the letter into the fire; the flame turned purple as it burned. David sighed and shook his head.

  “What am I going to do?” asked David.

  Norbert shrugged, watching the purple flame as it danced itself back to orange. Kiwi, on the other hand, could not be bothered in the least with the affairs of mers and men; he poked his head inside David’s satchel near the bed.

  “No, I have no treats for you,” said David, pulling the bag away. Kiwi chewed the seams with his beak.

  “No, I have no treats. See,” said David, as he dumped the bag on the floor. Kiwi chattered and jumped back as a pair of monstrous-looking abalone slippers fell from the sack. David’s heart smiled a little when he saw them.

  “I’ve been to a lot of places since we last met,” said David, wiping his eye. Kiwi waded through the fallen items, keeping one eye on the abalone slippers in case they decided to rise up and eat him. He pulled a drawing from the bag and let out an inquisitive squeak.

  “That’s… Natalie,” said David, clearing his throat as he saw the parchment. Natalie had left him a portrait of them together with Albert and Stew, all with slightly apish-looking faces. David blinked his eyes and swallowed hard, fighting back tears.

  “That’s Albert, and that’s Stew,” said David, pointing. Kiwi squeaked. “Yes, I can draw you in.”

  Norbert noticed the change in David’s voice; he set down the can of tuna and wandered nearer to David, picking up the drawing in front of him.

  “Well, look at that,” said Norbert, smiling. “You have a family of your own now. Good work, Davey.”

  “It’s a picture of what could have been,” said David. Norbert laughed.

  “Don’t be so dramatic; you’re talking like an old man now,” said Norbert, shaking his head. “‘What could’ve been’… sheesh. You’ve been separated for what? Like two days now? There’s a lot of living yet to be had, and by the looks of her, it’s worth the hadding.”

  David rubbed his lips with his fingers, remembering their goodbye kiss.

  “The Tree of Knowledge would know if Rahul is innocent?” asked David.

  “Yep, she most certainly would,” said Norbert.

  “Then it would likely know what happened to the Disappeared,” said David, thinking.

  Natalie’s mom. The Tree of Knowledge would know what happened to Natalie’s mom.

  David folded up the drawing and tucked it into his shirt pocket, near his heart.

  “Alright, I’ll do it; I’ll go to Paradise,” said David, rubbing his hands together. “How do I get across the Marah?”

  “Now we’re talking!” said Norbert, jumping up. “We’ll have your Marah Meandering Kit ready in a jiffy, we will,” said Norbert. He ran around his bunker, pulling empty containers from hidden places. “You can pick what you want from the canned items; only a few, though, with low salt and high fluid content. Most of what you’ll need to carry is water, especially being a mer now. Nothing’s as important as proper hydration.”

  “Thanks,” said David.

  “I would suggest the stinkbugs. They have a refreshing, apple-y flavour about them that’ll be good in the heat,” said Norbert, his hand at his mouth. “Don’t forget about Hongi’s sweet crab koeksisters. They’re delicious.”

  David scanned the walls of cans, most of which contained some sort of jell
ied insect. He picked a can of creamed locusts from among the tower of tins, while Kiwi watched lazily from his spot on the mantel. Norbert tossed a can of stinkbugs into David’s bag.

  “That about does it, it does. Any more than that and the bag’s going to get too heavy.”

  David closed his satchel and attached the last of the water bottles to his belt, while Norbert opened the trap door above the slide. David pulled off the bandage covering the merman’s mark; there was no sense in hiding it now. He dropped it into the fire and headed toward the ladder, grabbing one of Hongi’s sweet crab koeksisters as he left. Kiwi took off from the mantle above the fireplace, following David into Norbert’s shack. It was night; the dunes were awash in the light of the full moon, sparkling like merish crystal. David felt the warm paper that was Natalie’s drawing clinging inside his chest pocket as he followed Norbert through the sands behind his house. He breathed deeply, pushing aside the achy, longing feeling in his arms that already wished to be back at Ten-on-Farm.

  Norbert, meanwhile, thought of the metal picture frame on his desk, which now held the newspaper clipping of David in the casino with Dominic.

  He’s come a long way since then, thought Norbert. Maybe… Just maybe…

  “Well, here you are,” said Norbert, “the start of the Marah.” He stopped at a secluded area a little way from his house, where the beach ended and the desert began. Norbert paused and became very serious.

  “Davey, before you start this next adventure, I just want you to know you are a real class act, you are. I’m proud to have made your acquaintance,” said Norbert, extending a hand. David smiled.

  “Thanks, Norbert, same here,” said David, shaking Norbert’s hand. Norbert pulled him in for a big hug.

  “Well, enough of that,” said Norbert, clearing his throat. “Best be getting off, son.”

  David turned toward the endless sea of glittering sand with Natalie’s drawing held close, while Kiwi nodded off on his shoulder. He offered one last wave to Norbert before trudging forward, his mind focused as he began to chase the horizon.