The Wild and Lonely Sea

by Isobel Robertson

  “Lisbetta is a selkie,” Moira pointed out. “The situation is a little different.”

  “And please don’t involve me in this,” Lisbetta said hastily, turning her attention to her own soup bowl. She could already feel the magic crackling in the air. Did Cormac really not understand how much he upset his sister with all this talk of marriage?

  “Just eat your dinner and get back out to Jamie,” Moira said. “You’ve got more to worry about than getting me married off. Go train your little one-man army.”

  “Actually, it was Jamie I wanted tae talk tae ye about,” Cormac said.

  Surely he did not mean what it sounded like?

  “I know he’s interested in ye,” Cormac said. “And he was asking this afternoon why ye aren’t married. He’d make an offer if I gave him a little encouragement.”

  “Jamie?” Moira and Lisbetta said at the same time, their voices loud and incredulous.

  “He’s only a boy,” Lisbetta pointed out.

  “He’s an idiot,” Moira said.

  “He’s twenty-one, the same age as Moira,” Cormac said. “And he’s made some mistakes in life, that’s true, but he’s a good lad at heart. Ye ken that, Moira. We practically grew up with him and Red.”

  “If you’d wanted to be related to Red, you should have married one of his sisters,” Moira said, her face set stubbornly.

  “Stop making a fuss, Moira. Ye know ye have to get married. Ye cannae keep living here forever, especially now Lisbetta is here.”

  “I want Moira here!” Lisbetta said, alarmed. How could she possibly run this entire house by herself? She didn’t have the faintest idea how to manage a house when they had too many secrets to risk employing servants.

  “I’m not about to throw Moira out straight away,” Cormac said. “But think about when we have children. We’ll want this tae be our house, and Moira needs her own place to live. She has tae get married.”

  “It’s not happening, and that’s a fact,” Moira said, jumping to her feet so quickly that her chair crashed onto the stone fireplace behind. “I’m not getting married, and I’m definitely not marrying Jamie McCloud. Forget it.”

  Cormac looked oddly thoughtful.

  “And the reason is that ye’re afraid any man ye marry will find out about yer magic and treat ye badly?”

  Moira nodded.

  “It’s sensible enough,” Lisbetta put in. “It’s a sad way to live, but not everyone is accepting of those who are different.”

  “Oh, I know,” Cormac said. “That’s that then.”

  He dropped his spoon into the bowl with a splash and left the room, his half-empty soup bowl still on the table. Moira and Lisbetta exchanged glances.

  “Do you think we should clear that up?” Lisbetta asked.

  Moira shrugged. “Leave it. If he’s that determined to have me out of the house, I’m certainly not doing his washing up, and you shouldnae either.”

  Lisbetta laughed. “That sounds reasonable. And don’t worry, Moira, I’m on your side. No one should have to marry against their will.”

  “Like you had to?”

  Lisbetta busied herself collecting plates and silverware from the table, not wanting to meet Moira’s eyes.

  “That’s different. Your brother’s a good man. And it seems to have worked out for everyone. I’ve not been dragged in for questioning, have I?”

  “Cormac would have wanted to marry you anyway,” Moira said softly. “I think he fell in love with you as soon as he saw you.”

  “That’s nonsense,” Lisbetta said, sweeping off into the kitchen before Moira noticed the tears prickling in her eyes. Cormac could not possibly have wanted her that much, even before he knew about her true nature.

  She was busily washing the dishes in magically-heated water when Cormac re-entered the dining room. Curious, she adjusted her senses so that she could still hear clearly through the heavy wooden door.

  “Sorted,” Cormac said, a smug tone to his voice. Lisbetta could almost feel Moira’s anger through the wood. Something hissed near her feet, and she looked down to see Moira’s cat bristling, its fur up on end. She couldn’t help but smile. Moira might try to hide her feelings, but that little cat gave them all away.

  “What do you mean, sorted?” Moira asked, her voice muffled but clear.

  “I’ve explained everything tae Jamie. There’s been witches in his family before. He’s a wee bit confused, and probably a little scared, but he willnae use it against ye. And he’s still interested in marrying ye.”

  “You told him?” Moira’s voice came out as an angry shriek. “How dare you tell someone my secret, Cormac King!”

  “Ye need to stop hiding behind it,” Cormac said. “It’s just an excuse, and ye know it. Jamie’s a good lad and he’d treat ye well. Just marry him.”

  “I will not marry Jamie McCloud, or any other man you choose for me,” Moira hissed, her voice full of angry magic.

  Lisbetta shoved open the door, instinctively throwing up magical shields around Cormac. Moira turned to her, eyes wide.

  “Are you on his side too?”

  “Of course not!” Lisbetta said. “I mean, I don’t think you should have to marry Jamie. I don't think Cormac has any right to take away your choices. But I’m not going to let you do anything that you’ll regret. Don’t use any magic until you’ve calmed down.”

  “Ye were going to use magic on me?” Cormac asked, his eyes full of surprise and panic.

  “She can’t help it,” Lisbetta said, in what she hoped was a calming tone. “It just happens.”

  “The magic just happens?”

  “Starting to understand a bit more?” Moira asked, a bitter edge to her words. “My magic isnae some wee hobby that I want my husband to be understanding about. It’s a dangerous, nasty part of me that could hurt everyone around me if I lose control. Well, I’ll not let that happen. Stop pushing me.”

  She left the room, the door slamming behind her. Cormac and Lisbetta stood there, staring at each other.

  “Is it like that for ye too?” Cormac asked at last. “Angry, and out of control?”

  Lisbetta shook her head.

  “Moira is human. Her magic is different to mine. I don’t understand why some humans have magic, but none of you are built for it. I’m entirely magic, every part of me. I use magic like you breathe and eat. It’s effortless. But Moira will always have to fight to balance the two halves of her.”

  Cormac shook his head slowly.

  “I had nae idea how hard it was for her. I mean, I ken it was a terrifying thing for her to discover, and that she found it hard to keep the secret. But I never thought about how it must really feel for her.”

  “Your sister is a very strong woman,” Lisbetta said softly.

  Cormac slumped back down into his chair. “She always has been. I just hope that she’s strong enough. We may all need her if we’re to survive.”

  *****

  Chapter 15

  “You’re a fool, Lisbetta.”

  The words cut through her consciousness, jerking at her mind so hard that she gasped and dropped the basket she held. Wet washing splashed all over the courtyard floor.

  “Are you alright?” Moira asked, looking at her with concern.

  “You didn’t hear that?”

  “I didnae hear anything.”

  “Then it wasn’t magic.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Erlend.”

  “What’s happened?” Moira said, dropping her own basket of washing.

  “We’re too late,” Lisbetta said, reeling a little from the flood of information that had slammed into her brain. She sat down hard, spraying mud as she hit the floor of the yard.

  “What do you mean?” Moira asked.

  “While we waited and wondered what to do, they’ve been acting. They’re here already and we have no way to win.”

  Moira went white.

  “We have to fetch Cormac.”

  “I’m going to the beach to do what I can. I’ll see you
down there.”

  “They’re that close? Lisbetta, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

  “I don’t know,” Lisbetta said. “But I can feel Erlend and, worse, I can feel Anja. I’m worried that she’s made a big mistake, and I have to try and protect her. I can’t stay here.”

  She pulled herself to her feet, mud everywhere, and couldn’t help but laugh. Some princess. Enough was enough. With a burst of power, she span in the air, lightly landing back on her feet with her hair flowing in bright, clean curls and her body wrapped in the turquoise silks that she had worn as a selkie princess. Moira gasped in awe. Lisbetta swept straight past her, almost gliding as she passed through the house and out into the street, drawn towards the beach like a lodestone.

  The horizon was still empty as her bare feet sank into the golden sand. Power charged the air, though, and she realised that her worst fears had come true. She could feel Anja’s magic wrapped around Erlend’s, spiralling through the waves in endlessly complex patterns. Once, as young selkies learning to use their magic, they had twined their three powers together and watched the spiralling shapes flow through the water. Lisbetta had never thought to see two of those magics turned against her.

  And something else laced the sea: the steel-edged feeling of the selkie army that Lisbetta had grown so used to as a child. Anja brought the full might of the Kingdom along with her. Why had her mother not stopped this? Something was very wrong. There had been great changes in the selkie kingdom, and they spread like ripples hitting up against the shore.

  Lisbetta stood and faced the sea, drawing up barriers and shields as best she could. This town had become her home, despite its foreign nature, and she would do anything to protect it. She knew that her shields would hold moments at best against the weight of an entire army, but perhaps she could hold the selkies back long enough to negotiate with Erlend and Anja. No one else had to get hurt.

  But then the first shadow appeared on the horizon. A ship, drifting closer and closer. Then another, and another. A stray breeze caught one of the pennants and flicked it open, revealing the sign of a roaring lion, still so far away that it would have been invisible without Lisbetta’s selkie senses. Sigurd had come. A man that Lisbetta could certainly not negotiate with.

  She slumped onto her knees, mind blank. Her fingers were shaking as she clutched blindly at the sand. What could she do? Would she have to watch this entire town burn? Sigurd did not seem like a man to show mercy, not even to his own daughter. He would not forgive Cormac and Red for abandoning him, or let Lisbetta escape him a second time.

  “We’re here,” Moira said, laying one hand on her shoulder. Lisbetta looked up at her. Cormac and Red flanked Moira, Jamie and Norah beside them. Their faces were all grim and set as they gazed out to sea.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Lisbetta said, hating the helplessness in her voice.

  “Red, Jamie and I will sail out and face Sigurd,” Cormac said. “We’d appreciate any extra advantage you can give us.”

  “You’re going to go out there on one ship, against a fleet?” Lisbetta said, fighting to keep down the hysteria. She could feel the waiting selkies hovering out on the horizon, watching her, testing her strength.

  “That’s why we’d appreciate an extra advantage,” Cormac said, a wry twist to his voice. Did he not realise that this meant death?

  “We can’t win this!” Lisbetta said. “Erlend has the entire army of the Kingdom with him. My sister has betrayed me. There’s no way we can defeat this kind of magic.”

  “Then hold them off long enough to let us do some serious damage,” Cormac said grimly. “If we slow them enough, maybe everyone else here can get away.”

  “They aren’t your problem,” Lisbetta began, but Cormac shook his head.

  “I brought Sigurd into this, and I willnae let other people suffer for my mistakes. And I know that ye willnae, either. Ye’re a born queen, and ye’d never let yer people down.”

  Lisbetta burst into tears. Her true people were watching her, and they already knew she had failed. Cormac crouched down to wrap his arms around her.

  “We’ll get through this,” he whispered, his face buried in her hair. “I know that it looks impossible… but just look at us. A retired pirate and a selkie princess. If anyone can do this, we can.”

  Lisbetta laughed through her tears, struggling to breath properly.

  “There’s no harm in trying,” Moira pointed out. “If Sigurd and Erlend are determined to ruin us all, we might as well go down fighting.”

  Lisbetta thought of the painting that decorated her mother’s throne room. A portrait of one of their ancestors, it showed a warrior woman who had united the warring tribes of the North Atlantic. She had been painted in her human form, a sword in her hand and human armour around her body. The ancient painting had faded over time, but the swirling red hair had always reminded Lisbetta of herself. She needed to be as strong as that ancient, near-forgotten ancestor.

  “Then we fight,” she said, pulling herself back up to her feet. “I just don’t know how. I can give you some information on selkie battle strategies, but there’s no way I could hold off more than two or three selkies.”

  “Tell us what you can,” Moira said, her voice firm and strong. “Then I’ll decide what sort of magic might work.”

  “Are ye seriously going tae let yer sister get involved wi’ this?” Red asked, his voice incredulous. “Cormac, ye should send her away afore it’s too late.”

  Cormac shook his head. “Moira makes her own decisions. And I trust her to find a way to help us.”

  Lisbetta and Moira both looked at him in surprise. He shrugged a little awkwardly.

  “There’s nae time for arguing. We need a plan.”

  “Selkies tend to attack in formation,” Lisbetta began, and launched into a summary of everything she remembered from her lessons. She had never led an army into battle, and to the best of her knowledge neither had her mother, but they came from a long line of warrior queens. Lisbetta had learnt from the greatest generals of the underwater world.

  “If we can take the fleet out with enough force, we’ll throw the selkies into disarray as well,” Moira said after only a few seconds of silence.

  “You’d need some incredible power,” Lisbetta said, shaking her head. “I don’t see how you could do it.”

  “You havenae yet seen everything I can do,” Moira said, her face so pale as to be almost grey. “There are darker, stronger powers to call on.”

  Lisbetta looked deep into her eyes, feeling a flicker of fear at the darkness in them. Moira was already more powerful than she could ever have imagined a human becoming. What more could there be?

  “What will the cost be?” Cormac asked slowly. “I’ve heard enough of the old stories to know there’s always a cost.”

  “The price has already been paid,” Moira said, her voice flat and emotionless. “By Liam.”

  Cormac’s expression filled with horror.

  “Blood magic? Moira, ye’re mad. I’d rather die than use anything like that.”

  “Do you want our brother to have died in vain?” Moira shot back. “I’m owed that power, and it can save our lives.”

  “Do it,” Lisbetta said, her voice coming out in the ringing tones of her mother. The voice of a queen. “We will use all the power we have. Go to your ship, Cormac, and prepare to fight off any survivors. Do not interfere with what you do not understand.”

  Cormac opened his mouth, then shut it firmly again when he met her eyes. He bowed stiffly.

  “As ye command, my queen. Red, Jamie, let’s get moving. We only have a few moments to get underway.”

  The three men turned and left. Red and Jamie both glanced back over their shoulders, eyes wide, but Cormac faced resolutely ahead. Lisbetta watched the back of his head until he disappeared out of sight around the curve of the beach.

  “Let’s begin,” she said to Moira. “What do we need?”

  Moira pulled a necklace up fro
m where it hung under her dress, usually out of sight. A little wooden charm dangled from it, carved in the shape of a shell.

  “This was my brother Liam’s,” Moira said, stroking it. “I was there when he drowned. By the time Cormac pulled him ashore, it was already too late. But I made a bargain with the sea. For taking my brother, it owed me.”

  “You bargained with the sea?”

  Moira smiled a crooked little grin. “I always get what I want. All the force and power of Liam’s life is bound into this little charm. I’ve never used it, until now.”