“That’s true. I’m the daughter of Wulf Rome. Daddy’s brave. Mommy’s brave too. I sort of came out that way.” She stopped, biting her lip as she thought. “Daddy says you saved the city during the war. So you must be brave too.”
“I remember being very frightened.”
“Aislin says you know everything about the sea.”
“No one can know everything about the sea. She hides many secrets.”
Liv looked up at him, one eyebrow rising. “Aislin said you say strange things sometimes.”
“I’m alone a lot. I don’t get much practice talking.”
“So you really live here by the sea?” she asked him.
“Just over there,” he said, pointing.
“I’d love to live by the sea. It’s so pretty.”
“It’s my favorite place. Is this your first time coming to the beach?”
Liv nodded. “Mommy doesn’t like it. It took forever to get her to let me come.”
“It’s not for everybody.”
“Is it true you can do sea magic too?”
Treylen nodded. “I wouldn’t call it magic, though.”
“What else is it?”
“It’s more of an ability, a talent. Like how you have the ability to talk to anyone.”
“That’s not an ability,” Liv said. “It’s just something that’s easy for me to do.”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t you get lonely out here by yourself?”
“How can I be lonely when there are so many people living close by?”
Her forehead wrinkled as she thought about his words. “I guess I never thought about it like that.”
“And I have the sea.”
“But you can’t talk to the sea.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She started to argue with him, then said, “You’re doing it again, aren’t you? Saying strange things.”
“I’m not sure I can help it.” He sat down on the sand with a sigh.
“It’s okay,” Liv said, sitting down beside him. “Strange people don’t bother me.”
Liv looked out to where Aislin was swimming. “Aislin says you have a boat. Can we go out in it?”
“Aren’t you afraid to go out on the sea?”
“You just said I was brave.”
“I stand corrected.”
“But you’re sitting down.”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“There you go, doing it again,” Liv said with mock sternness.
“I keep forgetting,” he replied.
But when Treylen asked Randel’s help to get the boat into the water, Randel started shaking his head. “I don’t think the queen would go for that.”
“But Mommy didn’t say anything about not going out in a boat,” Liv said.
“Probably because she didn’t know there was a boat,” Randel said.
“She’ll be safe with me, Randel. I promise you that,” Treylen said.
Still Randel looked doubtful. Liv got up and started pulling on his arm. “Please, please, Randel. She’ll never know. I’ll never ask you for anything ever again.”
Randel made a sound of disbelief and looked at her. “Neither of us believes that.”
“I have to go out in the boat or I’ll just die.”
“I don’t believe that either.”
“When did you stop being fun, Randel?”
“When your mother threatened to skin me if I let anything happen to you.”
“But Treylen just said nothing will happen. And he has sea magic!”
Randel rubbed his eyes as if he was tired. “I should be getting paid extra for this.”
“So that means yes?” Liv asked him.
Randel looked at Treylen. “I feel like I never really had a chance.”
“I’m not sure you ever did.”
Randel sighed and stood up. “Wait here. I’ll go get it.”
A few minutes later he was back with the boat. Liv and Treylen got in. Liv looked at Randel. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
Randel got a very uncomfortable look on his face. “Once was enough,” he said with conviction.
“You’ll be fine. Nothing will happen,” she said.
“Not if I don’t go,” he agreed.
“A little girl will go, but you won’t?” she teased.
“I never claimed to be brave. It’s too much trouble.”
“But you’re our guard!”
Randel shrugged. “I’ll practice being brave while I watch from the shore.”
Randel pushed the boat out into the surf, and Treylen struck his hand in the water and steered them out to sea. At first Liv gripped the gunwale tightly and stared around with big eyes. Each wave that lifted the small craft made her grip tighter.
But after a couple of minutes she began to relax and even managed a small smile, though she kept her grip on the gunwale. “It’s fun,” she said. “Once you see it’s not going to sink.”
“It has never sunk before.”
“Plus Aislin would rescue me if I fell in. She’s strong like that.”
“Do you want to go see her?”
Liv nodded and they headed that way. “How do you do that? How do you make the boat move?” she asked.
“It’s the sea that does it. I only ask her to.”
“But you didn’t say anything.”
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk without words.”
“You’re doing it again. Saying strange things I don’t understand,” she warned him.
“It’s a failing I have,” he agreed. “One of many.”
They were getting close to Aislin. Liv stood up and waved. “Hey, Aislin! I’m over here! I’m in a boat!”
Aislin swam toward them with that eerie speed she had. She bobbed in the water beside the boat. “Well, what do you think?”
“It’s very deep here. I can’t see the bottom.”
“Not without going down there.”
Liv gulped at the thought and sat down. “I think I’ll stay here for now.”
“Want to pet a dolphin?”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll see.” Aislin cupped her hands around her mouth and gave a strange call. A few minutes later several dolphins surfaced a few hundred yards away and came swimming towards them.
The dolphins reached them and began playing around Aislin, emitting long series of chirps as they did so. Aislin chirped back at them. “They’re beautiful!” Liv cried, clapping her hands.
One of the dolphins slid up beside the small boat, chirping at Liv.
“It looks like it’s laughing,” Liv said, a huge smile on her face. “It looks so happy.”
“She’s telling you that you can pet her if you want,” Aislin said.
Liv touched the dolphin’s skin. “Her skin is so smooth.”
“She likes you,” Aislin said, as the other dolphins gathered around, chattering and splashing. They seemed to be jostling for Liv’s attention, clowning for her. One leapt in the air and did a flip before splashing back into the water. Liv squealed at the sight.
“Dolphins like everyone,” Aislin finally said. “They’re not like sharks. Sharks are grumpy. They hardly like anyone. I’ll show you. Say goodbye to the dolphins. They don’t get along with sharks very good.”
She chirped at the dolphins, and they gradually moved away. Then she gave a new call. A minute later a large dorsal fin broke the surface of the water on the other side of the boat and came slicing toward them.
The shark swam over to Aislin and circled her. “He’s being dramatic,” Aislin said. She slapped the water. “Come on. She wants to see you.” The shark slowed. “They have big teeth.” It stuck its nose out of the water and Aislin rapped on it a couple of times. “Open your mouth and show her.”
The shark’s mouth gaped open, revealing rows of sharp, triangular teeth. Liv pulled back, her expression worried. “I hope he’s not hungry for little girls.”
“Probably. Sharks are
mostly always hungry. But he won’t bother you.” Another whack on the shark’s nose. “Will you?” The shark slid back down into the water and disappeared.
They stayed out on the sea for some hours, Aislin calling in various inhabitants of the water and Liv exclaiming over them. Finally, they headed back to shore. Randel pulled the boat up out of the water and helped Treylen get out.
“I don’t know anyone like Aislin,” Liv said.
“She’s the only one like her I think,” Treylen replied, settling himself on the sand.
“How does she do it?” she asked, looking out to where Aislin was still swimming around. “She never gets tired or anything.”
“How does the dolphin swim?” the old man replied. “How does the gull fly? They desire to do so and it happens.”
“Maybe she is the sea king’s daughter. That makes her a princess like me.” Liv smiled at the thought.
“She might be,” Treylen agreed. “I wonder where the sea king lives. I wonder why he never comes to visit his daughter.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know she’s here. Maybe he lost her when she was a baby,” Liv said.
“Maybe,” Treylen said, with an odd look on his face. After that he didn’t say anything for a long time. He seemed to be thinking hard about something.
╬ ╬ ╬
One day while the girls were at the beach, Liv began building a wall with sand. She packed it down tight and squared off the sides and the top.
“What are you doing?” Aislin asked her.
“I’m building a castle. Want to help?”
Aislin joined in eagerly and after a while they coaxed Randel in too. They tried to get Treylen to help, but he told them at his age it would be best if he simply advised them. They spent all morning on it, dumping flasks of sea water on it to wet the sand when it got too dry. The walls grew taller. Towers rose at the corners. They pressed seashells into the sides for decorations and stuck small limbs festooned with seaweed into the towers as flags. When it was done they stood back and looked at it.
“Looks like your castle is all ready for you to move in, my princess,” Randel said, bowing.
“That’s not my home,” Liv said. It’s the castle of an evil king. There’s a great dungeon down below.”
“Ah, and you are the fair princess that I must rescue,” Randel said.
“No, that’s not it at all!” Liv cried. “I’m the daughter of the mighty Black Wolf himself! I’ll never need rescuing.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“You’re the evil King Rix! And Aislin, you’re my fellow warrior, Aislin the brave.” She pointed at Randel. “Arm yourself, Rix, and prepare to be defeated!”
Liv snatched up a piece of driftwood and the other two did as well. She and Aislin charged Randel, who fell into his role with relish, waving his make-believe sword and shouting about how he would have their heads.
“Hey, take it easy,” he said after a minute, after Liv feinted a jab, then slashed at his leg, the stick smacking his knee. Liv parried his counter and whacked him on the arm. “Ouch! That hurts.” He barely parried two more attacks. “Why are you so good at this?”
“I’m a hero, that’s why!” Liv yelled.
Randel retreated until he was back up against the castle wall. Aislin came at him from the side and as he fended off her attack, Liv darted in, sword flying. She managed to slip through his defense and jab him in the chest. Randel yelped and when he stepped back he tripped over the wall of the castle and fell down.
“And that is how heroes do it," Liv said triumphantly. She looked at Aislin. "Much better to be a hero than a helpless princess, don't you think?”
Randel got to his feet and put his hands up. “I surrender. You win.” He rubbed his arm ruefully. “Where did you learn all that?”
“From Daddy. At first he said no. He said sword fighting isn’t for girls. But for once Mommy was on my side. She told him he was being pigheaded and he gave in. He says I’m good at it too, so I guess Mommy was right.”
“Judging by how sore I am, I’d say you’re doing fine,” Randel said.
“You’re not supposed to talk,” Liv said. “I already locked you in the dungeon.”
Randel muttered something and walked off to join Treylen in the shade.
“I should practice more,” Liv said, as the two girls went down to the water and walked in up to their knees. The waves were gentle, the sea calm. “I don’t want to ever have to wait for some boy to come save me. I want to be able to save myself.” She jabbed the air a few times with her pretend sword. “You’re lucky, Aislin. You don’t need to learn how to fight with a sword.”
“I don’t?”
“No. You can just use your sea magic. Conjure up a shark or a hurricane or something.”
Aislin frowned. “I don’t think I can do a hurricane. That’s a really big storm, right?”
“Then you’ll do something else. You’re going to be the greatest hero ever, you know? Especially once you’re all grown up.”
Aislin thought about this. “I don’t think I want to be a hero.”
“But you have to be! Daddy says Ya’Shi is a crazy old coot, but if he says you’re going to save the world it must be true.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Aislin said. “I don’t like thinking about it.” And she didn’t. She’d heard enough even though she tried not to. And she’d seen the way Rome and Quyloc looked at her, especially Quyloc, like he was trying to see inside her brain. She didn’t like it. She wanted to be a regular little girl and have fun like Liv did. The rest only made her scared.
“Okay, we won’t talk about it,” Liv said agreeably. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice anyway. Let’s do that.”
“Practice?” Aislin said hesitantly. “Practice what?”
“Why, what you’ll do when danger comes, of course.”
“I don’t know if I want to.”
“Sure you do. Daddy says it’s always best to be prepared. Pretend I’m Lowellin,” she said, holding up her stick, “and I’m coming to stab you. What do you do?” She slashed at the air a few times and advanced on Aislin, who backed up, worried her friend was going to actually hit her with the stick.
“No! You’re not doing it right at all!” Liv hollered. “I’m coming for you with my sword. Defend yourself!” And she charged at Aislin.
Aislin responded without thinking. She made a gesture with her hand. A large wave rose up out of nowhere and loomed over Liv. The child just had time to turn, her mouth open wide, before the wave crashed down on her.
The wave withdrew and the water went back to normal. Liv was nowhere to be seen.
Shouts came from Randel and Treylen. Randel came running down to the shore and jumped into the water, boots and all. Treylen wasn’t far behind, moving faster than Aislin would have thought possible at his age.
At first Aislin didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. She and Liv were only playing, right? It was pretend fighting, not real fighting.
Then she realized Liv was still underwater. Randel was thrashing around, diving under to look for her, calling her name, but he wasn’t even close to her. Aislin could sense right where she was. Quickly she reached out and flipped her hand up.
Liv shot to the surface so fast she flew clear out of the water. Aislin waggled her fingers and another wave picked Liv up and brought her to shore, dumping her unceremoniously on the beach.
For a moment Liv lay there on the sand, coughing and retching, while Aislin looked on with alarm. She was suddenly sure she’d made a terrible mistake. Would Liv be angry? Would she stop being Aislin’s friend? She started to back away.
But then Liv bounced up onto her feet. Her face was red, but she was grinning ear-to-ear. “Wow!” she said. “That was just…just…” She could find no words. “That wave grabbed me and there was nothing I could do. Bam! And then I flew into the air!”
Randel and Treylen converged on her then, exclaiming and ch
ecking her over.
“I’m fine,” she said cheerily, though there was a little bruise starting on one cheek. “I was a bit worried there for a second, while I was still under water,” she admitted, “but I knew Aislin would take care of me and I was right.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Randel asked worriedly. He looked more troubled than Aislin had ever seen him before.
“I’m sure. Stop making such a fuss.”
Randel looked at Aislin. “You about stopped my heart there, you know?”
“I…I didn’t mean to,” Aislin said softly.
Treylen said seriously, “You have to be careful with your power, child. You understand that you could have hurt her, right?”
Aislin nodded. She felt bad and there were tears in her eyes. She backed up a little more, close to running. But before she could, Liv came bouncing over and grabbed her hand.
“Can we do that again?” she asked.
“No,” Randel and Treylen both said at once.
“You both worry too much,” Liv said.
“It’s part of getting older,” Treylen replied.
“Which is something I’d like to do. If you get hurt, your mother will make sure I don’t get to,” Randel said.
“Then I hope I never get old,” the little girl replied. “I don’t worry about anything. C’mon, Aislin. Let’s work on my swimming some more. I think I’m finally starting to get good at it.” But then she stopped and turned around.
“You’re not going to say anything to my mother about this, are you, Randel?”
“Uh…” Randel looked to Treylen for help.
“It was only an accident. She doesn’t need to know,” Liv said.
“I guess not,” Randel said. To Treylen he said, “Do you have any extra room in your house? I may need somewhere to hide.”
Chapter Six
“Can we go out in the boat alone today?” Liv asked Treylen. It was a warm, sunny afternoon. Fall was coming on, just starting to change the leaves on the trees. The sea was calm.
“No,” Randel said right away.
“Why not?”
“Because of your mother. If you want to go out in the boat, Treylen has to go with you.”
“Come on,” Liv said with exasperation. “You’re as bad as she is, you know. Nothing’s going to happen. Not while I’m with Aislin.”
Sea Born (Chaos and Retribution Book 3) Page 8