Ash (The Underground Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  “It’s probably a good thing that they stopped us,” he said quietly after a while.

  “Why?”

  “You’re a little too irresistible for both of our own good.”

  Autumn said nothing as thoughts filled her head. What did he mean by that? Wasn’t it good that he found her irresistible? Unless… Oh. Right. Elves were much more cautious when it came to physical acts of love. What was it Crystal had said that day at Arbor Lake? Something like, elves only slept with each other “within the bounds of true love.” Autumn thought she and Avery were in love, though. Was there a difference between love and “true” love in the Underground?

  As wise as Autumn sometimes felt in regards to her views on the world—Underground included—there were still so many things to which she was rather ignorant.

  The Sea King’s Decision

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Autumn was awakened by the sound of shouts and loud exclamations coming from somewhere near the shore. Fear filled her core like plumes of smoke. Throwing her blanket off, not even bothering to put her shoes on, she hurried out of the campsite and down to the sandy beach. She sighed in relief when she found that it was just some of the boys playing a game using a coconut as a ball. Avery and Lucian were sitting the game out, in what looked like a deep conversation near the edge of the water. The girls were all watching the boys play in amusement, except for Ember, who was off somewhere on her own. Probably burning more bugs.

  Scanning the water, Autumn saw that Pontus, Ceto, and the other three mermen were back to guarding the shores above water. Their eyes were all on her. She almost waved, but remembered that they hated elves and may think that she was trying to curse them with her evil Powers.

  They needed to see that elves’ Powers really weren’t all that dangerous unless they were using them against Atrums or Shadows.

  “Hey, Crys!” Autumn called.

  “Yeah?”

  “Want to help me train?”

  “Sure,” she agreed, standing and dusting the sand off of her.

  “I want to train too,” Charlotte said, hopping up. “Come on, Kyn.”

  Kyndel continued to fan herself with a leaf as she frowned up at her friend. “I’m good, thanks.”

  “Kyndel Caroline Butler, get up and train with me right now,” Charlotte ordered.

  Kyndel rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she drawled.

  “We’ll join you,” Eden said, beckoning Willow to follow her. “Sounds more entertaining than watching these primates toss around a coconut.”

  The six girls moved a little ways down the shore so the mermen wouldn’t feel threatened, though they kept their unblinking, narrowed eyes trained on the Warriors. The girls paired up, facing each other in their dueling stance.

  “Ready?” Eden said, keeping her eyes locked on Willow. “Attack!”

  Autumn aimed her Song at Crystal, but she’d already moved lithely to the left, covering her ears and sending a stream of Ice at Autumn, which she leaped over like a frozen hurdle. They continued on like this as Eden and Willow—now an enormous white tiger—wrestled in the sand and Charlotte was enclosed in a cocoon of fog while Kyndel was nowhere to be seen.

  Autumn heard Willow let out a loud roar and turned to see Eden perched on her back. In her split second of distraction Crystal hit Autumn in the chest with a wave of Ice and she stumbled backward onto the sand. Crystal nimbly pinned her to the ground.

  “Damn,” Autumn muttered.

  Crystal laughed and said, “That’s the first time I’ve beat you in forever!”

  Eden exclaimed as Willow rolled over, knocking her off of her back, and rested an enormous paw on Eden’s chest.

  Willow stuck out her foot-long pink tongue, licking Eden across the face.

  “Ergh!” Eden protested. “Get off me you big cat!”

  Willow changed back to her elf form and laughed hysterically at the disgusted look on Eden’s face.

  There was a high-pitched squeal within Charlotte’s Fog and Kyndel soon stormed out, rubbing her arm and frowning. Charlotte followed, trailing Fog behind her, with a triumphant smile on her face.

  “I’m going to go back to sunbathing, thank you very much,” Kyndel said with her nose in the air.

  “Good idea,” Autumn said. “You’re looking a bit pasty.” Kyndel shot her a dirty look and flipped her blonde hair before trudging off.

  Glancing over at the mermen guards, Autumn saw that they were no longer looking at the elves through narrowed eyes, but were actually studying them in interest. Pontus even looked somewhat amused at Kyndel and Autumn’s exchange. It would appear Autumn had accomplished what she’d meant to with their little training session.

  Back at the campsite the guys were still playing with the coconut and Avery and Lucian had joined in now as well. It looked like Luke had taught them how to play American football. They were playing three on three and Forrest was sitting out, talking to a pack of sea dogs near the shore. Luke, Avery, and Jack were on a team and Lucian, Edric, and Jastin were on the other.

  Luke crouched in front of Avery, calling out a stream of seemingly random numbers before he hiked Avery the coconut. Jack rushed to the other side, attempting to get open. Edric tried to block Jack, but Jack managed to slide under him. Avery passed the ball in Jack’s direction just as Jastin tackled Jack to the sand. The coconut ball flew over their heads and soared to the water. It landed with a loud clunk.

  “Ow!” a small voice exclaimed from the spot where the coconut hit the waves.

  The Warriors all looked over in surprise, as did the mermen guards. Autumn recognized that little voice. Uh oh.

  “What was that?” Jastin said, squinting at the water.

  Pontus swam quickly to the spot where the coconut had landed and reached into the waves to pull Isabella and her friend, Yvonne, out of the water. Yvonne looked terrified and Isabella looked simply disappointed at being caught.

  “Princess Isabella?” Pontus said. “What are you doing up here? Your father forbade you to see the rest of the dryadales.”

  “I know, but we wanted to see what they were like for ourselves,” she said. “They don’t look very scary. They even used their Powers on each other and they didn’t get hurt!”

  “Yeah,” Yvonne said, “and if they’re so bad, wouldn’t they have hurt us by now?”

  Pontus shook his head. “You’re too young to understand.”

  “No,” Autumn called out suddenly. The other Warriors shot her warning looks and the mermen regarded her carefully. “She’s not too young to understand. In fact, the young seem to be the only ones who do understand.”

  Pontus narrowed his eyes at her. “Understand what, exactly?”

  “That we’re not all that different from one another. Elves and merpeople. We both live in the Underground, we both want to keep our people, our friends, our families safe from the evils this world holds and we will both do whatever it takes to make that happen, even if it means jeopardizing our character by placing judgment and blame on an entire species without actually knowing them.

  “Yes, Vyra Vaun is an elf and yes, she is evil. But we elves are here, humbly asking for your help in defeating her, even though she is technically one of us. These young mermaidens have seen what the elders are too blind to see—that just because we look different and have different abilities, doesn’t mean we’re something to be feared or hated. Teaching the young to hate turns them hard and causes them to be untrusting of everyone. What the creatures of the Underground need to learn is acceptance—acceptance of our differences and recognition of our similarities. Only then will the creatures of the Underground be able to live in peace.”

  Autumn took a deep breath as she finished her proclamation. The four mermen gazed at her with dazed looks, but Pontus’s expression was quite different. His usual hard features had softened slightly, his brow no longer furrowed. He looked at her as if he was just now seeing her. Then he glanced over at Isabella and Yvonne, who were both beaming innocently at Autu
mn, no sign of hatred in their wide eyes.

  “Perhaps…you have a point,” he said. Then, looking at the other mermen, added, “I am going to speak with Aecorex. Perhaps he has not yet made his decision. Keep watch, and keep an eye on the young ones.” He nodded over at Isabella and Yvonne.

  Pontus disappeared into the water then and Autumn turned to the face the Warriors with a hopeful smile. Most of them were looking at her with awestruck expressions. Some actually seemed to be contemplating what she’d just said. Even Kyndel was looking at her differently—her usual glare absent.

  “That was impressive,” Lucian stated after a while. “Did you plan that?”

  Autumn shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I’d thought all of those things, but hadn’t really intended to voice them, and I had planned on going through the young mermaids to get to the elders, but not this soon. I don’t even know where that speech came from. I’m usually a horrible speaker.”

  “Well you were especially eloquent just now,” Eden said.

  “Because she was talking about something she’s passionate about,” Avery remarked, a note of pride in his tone.

  Autumn blushed. She hadn’t intended that speech to make such an impact on her fellow Warriors, but she was glad that it had. It would be much easier to convince the other magical creatures on this subject with the Warriors’ support.

  The fourteen of them stood on the shore in a staggered line, waiting for Pontus’s return, hopefully with the King’s decision. Autumn could feel the Warriors’ eyes on her every so often. It seemed the Tetras’ opinions of her had risen quite a bit since her impromptu speech.

  Time passed slowly, so some of the Warriors started up another game with the coconut, including Yvonne and Isabella this time. The mermen who were left behind to guard the shores kept watchful eyes on the princess and her young friend, but seemed much more open to their interaction with the elves.

  Autumn sat beside Avery on the sandy beach, watching the mermaidens play with the elves with a wide smile.

  “You know, the Underground isn’t going to know what hit them when you become queen,” Avery murmured to her.

  Autumn snorted. “I don’t know about that. I just said what I was thinking.”

  “Exactly.”

  Lunchtime rolled around and the others ate their meal on the beach while one of the mermen led Isabella and Yvonne back into the water so they could eat as well. Autumn wondered what merpeople actually ate. Fish? Seaweed?

  “Goodbye, Autumn!” Isabella called as she and Yvonne prepared to leave with an exaggerated wave. “I hope we can see each other again.”

  Autumn smiled. “Me too.”

  The young mermaidens disappeared and the Warriors finished eating, the nervous tension now palpable. Autumn wasn’t sure how much longer they waited before Pontus finally returned to the surface, his expression unreadable.

  “I discussed with Aecorex what you have said, Princess Oaken,” Pontus began, speaking only to Autumn, “and he has also considered what Vyra Vaun has done to our people. In the end, all he wants is to do what is best for the merpeople. So he has made the decision to aid the elves in their battle against Vyra Vaun and her brother.”

  Hope bloomed in Autumn’s chest again like a flower opening its petals to the sun. She tried not to smile too wide as she said, “Thank you so much, Pontus.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a respectable nod. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

  Autumn took a couple of steps forward into the waves until she was only a few feet from Pontus. She held out her hand for him to take. He looked quizzically from her to her outstretched hand.

  “It’s a handshake,” Autumn offered. “It just means that it was good to have met you.”

  Pontus still seemed confused, but reached out to squeeze her hand anyway. The simple gesture allowed a moment of mutual reverence to pass between the merman and the elf. “Good luck with the remainder of your quest,” Pontus said before sinking back into the water, along with the other mermen.

  The Warriors exchanged looks for a second before shouts and exclamations of triumph resounded around the group. The guys patted each other on the backs, the girls hugged, and they all smacked each other’s hands as they traveled back to their camp to prepare for their next journey.

  “That wasn’t so hard,” Forrest said as he rolled up his cot.

  “Don’t get too confident,” Lucian said. “The merpeople are only the beginning of this quest. We still have to convince the vampires, the warlocks, and the centaurs, who will all prove to be exceptionally difficult to reach.”

  Forrest’s face fell at this, as did many of the others.

  “Way to be a buzzkill,” Luke muttered.

  “Just have the princess say her little speech to everyone first thing,” said Kyndel. “Then we can get home sooner.”

  Lucian shook his head. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure that will work on the rest of the magical creatures. Saying that we are no different from them would be an insult because they feel they are greater than the elves, each for different reasons. While the merpeople were afraid of us, the rest of the magical creatures think we’re a joke, especially the vampires.”

  “Well, we will just see how funny they think we are when we mutilate them with our Powers,” Edric said, punching his hand into his fist.

  Autumn shot him a disgusted look. “That’s not the point of this quest, Edric. The exact opposite actually.”

  Edric shrugged, but then looked sheepish when he saw Crystal crossing her arms and frowning at him.

  “You’re right, Autumn. Sorry,” he said.

  Luke rolled his eyes.

  “All right?” Lucian called. “Let’s head out.”

  “No way,” Kyndel said shaking her head. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m filthy. We haven’t bathed since we left Arbor Falls. We’ve been in the woods and in the sand and the sea. This is not sanitary.”

  The male Warriors looked exasperated at this, but the girls seemed to agree with Kyndel, even Autumn. A hot shower sounded pretty good at the moment.

  “I’ve bathed,” Ember said in a bored voice. They all looked at her in surprise. Autumn didn’t even remember her returning to camp. Showed how inconspicuous Ember was when she wanted to be, which was surprising given the vibrant color of her hair.

  “Where? The sea?” Charlotte asked.

  “Yeah, because I’m that stupid,” Ember snapped. “While you all were playing around with your Powers and the boys were playing around with that coconut, I went looking for fresh water. I found some hot springs not far from here.”

  Kyndel’s mouth dropped open. “There are hot springs near here and you didn’t tell us?”

  Ember smirked. “I thought you enjoyed being dirty.” The girls all glared at her.

  “Well, take us to the damn hot springs then,” Eden demanded. “And boys, this is merely a suggestion, but you all could use a shower as well.”

  The guys frowned, seeming to think this over. Forrest even lifted his arm and sniffed, making a face.

  “All right, I’m coming,” he said.

  Ember led everyone up to the hot springs. The guys agreed to wait while the girls bathed first.

  “No peeking,” Charlotte sang, winking at Jastin, who blushed profusely.

  “Unless you want to,” Ember purred, looking at Luke, whose mouth dropped open, along with a few of the other guys. Crystal shot Ember a look of disgust. Autumn glanced at Avery to see him watching her with a look of contemplation and something resembling frustration. She quirked an eyebrow at him, but he just looked away.

  They climbed over rocks and fallen trees to reach the hot springs. When the girls made it to the pools of steaming water, Autumn stripped off her Warrior uniform, too filthy to worry about feeling self-conscious. There was a small waterfall where one hot spring fell into another. She went to stand beneath it, letting the warm water spill over her shoulders and trail down her back. She let out a sigh of contentment
as she scrubbed her hair with some cleanser that Charlotte had been smart enough to pack. Once her hair and body were both clean, Autumn wiped her face and stepped away from the water, wringing out her curls, shaking them so they could form again. Glancing up, she saw Kyndel watching her with a strange look in her eyes.

  “What?” Autumn said.

  For some reason Kyndel’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “Nothing. Just waiting for you to quit hogging the only waterfall.”

  Autumn shrugged and moved away from the waterfall to the place where she’d left her fresh Warrior uniform, pulling on the dragon hide pants and form-fitting undershirt, throwing the dragon hide vest over this and buttoning it up the front. She stepped into her boots and laced them up before beginning the trek back to camp. She spotted Eden a few feet in front of her and impulsively called her name.

  “Hey—um—Eden?”

  “Yeah?”

  Autumn came up beside her and they continued walking. “This may sound kind of random, but, uh, are you with Lucian?”

  Eden chuckled and said, “In a sense.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we aren’t bound to each other by any roses, but we love each other.”

  “Oh. How long have you been in love?”

  “About four years I suppose.”

  “Four years? And you still aren’t bound to each other?”

  Eden laughed and shook her head. “Lucian doesn’t like the idea of binding roses and I don’t care about them either way. I love Lucian. That’s all that really matters.”

  “I see. So have you two—I don’t mean to be rude by asking, and you don’t have to tell me or anything, but have you…”

  “Made love?” Eden offered.

  “Yeah.”

  “We have.”

  “Really? So you don’t have to be bound to do that?”

  Eden laughed at this. “No. Who told you that?”

  “No one, I guess. It’s just, everyone I’ve talked to seemed sort of scared of the idea of sex. They make it sound like it’s forbidden or something.”