by V. M. Sang
They woke at dawn and, after a breakfast of fruit, they dived into the sea once again.
_We're going to go deeper soon,_ said Kinne after a while. _We'll need some light as it gets darker the deeper we go. The sun can't penetrate, you see. There are some phosphorescent creatures living round here and we can capture some to give us some light. See, there are some over there._
He pointed to a rock sticking up out of the sand ahead.
When Kinne said they had collected enough, he opened the sack he had with him. He pulled four shells out of it. They had been stripped of the outer, hard layer, leaving the translucent inner layer. He held one out to Pettic and told him to put two or three of the creatures into it. This Pettic did and he was surprised to see that the mother of pearl allowed a beautiful light to shine through.
_It's not as bright as the light from the sun that gets down to the city,_ Kinne said. _but it should be enough for us to see something of where we're going._
Pettic wrinkled his brow and wondered about the effect of the higher pressure on him. He asked Kinne about it. The merman told him that to all intents and purposes, except for the fact that he had kept his legs, the aquamarine had turned him into a merman. He would have the strength to resist the pressure.
_One other thing you've not got, apparently, is the ability to sense the water currents and vibrations. You weren't aware of the approach of the shoal of younglings and the shark. Not surprising really, because those sensors are in our tails and you've not got one,_ he laughed.
As they swam deeper, Pettic felt the pressure increasing on his body. In spite of the merman's assurance, Pettic still felt anxious and he frowned as the depth increased.
Soon the only light came from the shells with their phosphorescent creatures inside. Still, he was not feeling too uncomfortable.
They swam on through a forest of kelp. Pettic kept on looking around him. Anything could be hiding in these forests and they only had a dim light to see by. He expressed his anxiety to Kinne who told him not to worry.
_You have only your eyes and ears, we merfolk have other senses as I told you. I'll be able to sense anything coming, so don't worry._
Pettic did worry, though, in spite of what Kinne had said and was glad when they had passed through the kelp forest and saw a cave before them.
_Here we are,_ Kinne told him. _We must be very respectful. After all, she is a queen._
Chapter 11
They hesitated in the dark just outside the sea hag queen's cave. The surrounding sea seemed to suck up the small light given off by the phosphorescent creatures in the shells.
Eventually, Pettic turned to Kinne and said, _We're not getting anything done out here. We'd better go in._
They slowly passed the curtain of kelp hanging in front of the cave entrance. They expected the inside of the cave to be even darker than the outside but the walls were covered in myriads of the phosphorescent animals like those they found and put inside their shells.
The cave itself was beautiful and the pair gazed around in awe. The phosphorescent light shone on walls that, between the creatures, were covered in jewels. These reflected the light and seemed to make it even brighter.
The space was enormous and they could not see to the far end. There little patches of red and green seaweed grew at intervals on protuberances in the cave walls and amongst them were sea anemones, sea fans and other plant-like creatures.
The pair paused in the doorway and gazed around open-mouthed. This was not what they expected at all. The sea hag who had been allocated to their city lived in a rather dull cave with nothing to brighten it up at all. Kinne wondered how she lived there because she rarely came out, and only then if it were to attend to one of the merfolk. He thought the sea hags had no concept of beauty. Until now.
They looked at each other and with one accord began to swim slowly forward. They needed no communication. It was just not right to hurry here, there was so much to look at.
They passed corals in all their many shapes and colours as well as more seaweed and plant-like animals. The whole place reminded Pettic of a garden. Then as they rounded a corner they saw the sea hag queen tending the creatures and seaweed, much as a gardener would do.
If Pettic had thought the city's sea hag ugly, he changed his mind. The queen was the ugliest creature he had ever seen. She was larger than the ordinary sea hag. Her face was still monkey-like, but a monkey that had its face bashed in and then re-moulded by a drunken sculptor. Her eyes were not in line with each other, her mouth was too large and her nose too small. The eel-like hair writhed around her head and instead of two tentacles for arms, she had four.
Pettic froze, just as he had when he first saw the City's sea hag.
I think I know where the myth of the Medusa comes from, he thought, and where the idea that a look from her will turn a person to stone.
He noticed Kinne had also stopped. So the merman was afraid too. Pettic felt a strange sense of satisfaction. Nothing so far had fazed the other man, but now he seemed as afraid as Pettic. Then he heard a voice in his head. It was not the harsh voice of the other sea hag, but a gentle and kind one.
_Come, I won't hurt you. I know your kind find me frightening, but I can assure you I will do you no harm._
The queen led them deeper into the cave until they came to a place where there were niches to rest on. She indicated they were to recline in these niches, which they did as she went to one herself and lay down.
_Now, what do you want?_ she asked. _You want something. No one comes here without wanting something._
Kinne began to explain about the missing trident.
_Ah, yes. I made that trident myself and so have some affinity to it. It's gone missing, you say?_
She turned to Pettic
_What have you, a human, got to do with this?_
Pettic explained how he came to Aqua and his reasons. The queen seemed fascinated by the other three elemental worlds and asked many questions. The idea of having cities flying in the sky instead of safely under water made her laugh. She knew about volcanoes, she said, because most of the islands were born from ones under the oceans that eventually poked their heads out of the sea.
From her conversation it appeared she remembered the birth of many of the islands, and Pettic wondered just how old she was. Later, he asked Kinne, and he said that while he did not know for certain, she had been the queen when his great, great grandfather was alive. His grandfather had told him that his grandfather talked about her. It was said that she had been born when Aqua was created.
Another thing that puzzled Pettic was how the sea hags reproduced. They all, it seemed, were female. Had anyone ever seen a male sea hag? Kinne told him it was one of the biggest mysteries on Aqua and not likely to be solved. None of the sea hags serving the cities ever had children, and they thought it likely that only the queen gave birth, but how, with no males, had never been answered.
Eventually they asked her help in locating the trident.
_I can certainly do that,_ she said, _but I'll want something in return._
The pair took the fish they had brought and the lobsters and octopus tentacle and laid them at her feet. Then Pettic took some of the fruit he had found on the island and gave her that too. She took a fruit in one of her tentacled hands and took a bite.
_This is delicious._ she said. _People who come to petition me rarely bring me fruit. It's so good to taste some. Still, good as these offerings are, there's actually one boon I would have of you. There's a sea dragon around here somewhere. She's not really a great trouble, but she annoys me somewhat. I would be grateful if you could get rid of her. Then I'll find your trident for you._
The two young men looked at each other. How were they to dissuade a dragon from coming near to the queen's cave? Yet, if they were to gain her help in finding the trident, that is exactly what they needed to do.
The queen continued. _Stay here tonight,_ she told them, _and you can set off to find the dragon tomorrow._
There were some sleeping niches covered with piles of seaweed as mattresses. They were very comfortable and Pettic and Kinne slept well. They rose the next morning and breakfasted on clams and oysters before swimming through the queen's garden to the cave entrance.
The queen came with them and bade them good luck in their task and added that the last time the dragon was around she had swum off to the east. She hoped to see them once again after the dragon had left the area completely.
_Why did she say that?_ Pettic asked Kinne. _She knows we'll come back for her to tell us where the trident is._
_She thinks the dragon might kill us, Pettic. They're dangerous creatures._
_I've met dragons before. On Ignis. They are dangerous, truly, but I think they're selfish rather than malevolent. If we're very careful and persuasive, we may be able to do this job._
Pettic heard something that sounded like Hmph in his head and looked at Kinne, but the other man was swimming away towards the east so all he could do was follow.
A day went by without any sign of anything larger than a dogfish. Kinne spotted a rising of the sea bed ahead and they swam towards it. It continued to rise until it broke the surface of the sea. They climbed out to find a cloudy sky.
The island rose steeply towards the centre and was wreathed in smoke. This was one of the volcanic islands the sea hag queen had mentioned seeing being born. Just how old was she? This had been an island for many hundreds of years.
The night passed uneventfully, and Kinne suggested they should turn south and swim in that direction for a while. Dragons had large territories and this one could be many miles away. It was almost like looking for a particular grain of sand on a beach, Kinne said. Pettic sighed. This task must be performed before he would be able to find the sapphire he needed to leave this world. It was the last of the gems. He must not fail now.
The pair swam south for half a day. They saw a shoal of younglings in the distance. A group of merfolk with spears and tridents surrounded them and seemed to be herding them back the way Pettic and Kinne had come.
_What's going on there?_ Pettic asked.
_They are taking them to their city for The Choosing,_ replied Kinne.
_The Choosing?_
_Yes. They'll be herded into a cave and couples who've already mated will go and choose a child for themselves. Then, the Chosen will be taken back to the city for taming and education._
_What happens to any not chosen?_
Kinne shrugged as if dismissing them. _They'll be set free and driven away from civilisation._
Pettic frowned. _Will they set up their own cities then?_
Kinne laughed.
_They have no idea of civilisation. They're wild and unruly. Most will be eaten by something bigger than them before the end of the year. If any do manage to grow to adults, they're amongst the most dangerous creatures in the sea. They're intelligent, you see, but have no idea of co-operation or empathy. They're clever enough, but they fight each other as much as work together so very few live beyond twenty years. Those that do manage it have usually managed to teach themselves to use tools, make spears and the like. You don't want to meet one of them._
Shortly after this, Kinne said something large was near. It seemed to be south of them and coming in their direction. It could be anything–a whale, a shark, or even a dragon. They had just passed a pile of rocks and they swam back and hid behind it.
As they were swimming, the sea bed had been gradually rising and now light filtered down from the sky above. Then a shadow like a large cloud drifted over them. Pettic involuntarily shivered as the dragon swam past. It seemed to blot out the sun for minutes, although it was probably only seconds.
He looked up and saw light blue scales on the dragon's belly as she passed overhead. They kept perfectly still and she swam on, seemingly oblivious to their presence. Once the shadow of her passing had gone, Kinne beckoned Pettic to follow and they slowly swam in the wake of the huge beast.
The dragon did not seem to be in any hurry and she meandered this way and that, stopping occasionally to examine things that took her interest. Once she picked something up and carried it with her.
Then the sea floor began to descend again towards the deep trench that housed the sea hag queen's cave. When she came to the cave she poked her head in. Then just as suddenly she pulled it out again and shook it. The sea hag queen came out brandishing a trident. It looked as if she had poked the dragon on the nose with it. Then the queen threw the trident and it bounced harmlessly off the dragon's side. The queen dashed back into the cave and came out holding something small.
_Let's make ourselves scarce,_ said Kinne. _She's got some kind of gem. That means magic. She looks to be in a temper so it'll not be nice magic in that jewel._
Pettic was fascinated by the conflict between sea hag and dragon and would have liked to stay to see what happened, but Kinne pulled him away.
It was a good job he did, for in a very few minutes, the sea erupted in an area that covered the place from where they had been watching. The eruption threw the dragon away from the cave but did her no harm. The queen rubbed her tentacled hands together in satisfaction and re-entered her cave.
_We'd better get after that dragon,_ Kinne said. _We'll lose her if we don't get moving._
As they swam, Pettic asked Kinne if he knew anything about the relations between sea hags and dragons. Kinne told him they had been enemies for many long years but he had no idea what the cause was.
Perhaps the dragon will tell me, thought Pettic.
They managed to catch up with the dragon without too much effort. She had gone back to meandering around and looking at things.
_Perhaps she's looking for something. Maybe she dropped something precious to her and wants to find it,_ Pettic said.
Kinne shrugged.
They followed the dragon nearly all day until she eventually reached an enormous cave. It was far bigger than any cave Pettic had yet seen on Aqua. Then again, the dragon was bigger than any other creature he had ever seen. She was even bigger than the dragons on Ignis and they were enormous.
The two young men decided to wait until the next day to confront the dragon. Whether this was a sensible idea, because a tired dragon was not a safe prospect, or whether it was simply due to a desire to put off the difficult task until later, Pettic could not have said.
He still had no thoughts how he was to go about telling the dragon to leave the area and he reckoned another few hours might furnish him with some ideas.
They slept on the floor of the sea that night. Next morning, Pettic had no more ideas about how to approach the dragon. He decided to play it by ear. First, they had to get her to listen to them rather than eat them. This, Kinne told him, would be difficult. Dragons were untrustworthy and dangerous, sometimes killing for pleasure and not for food.
Pettic thought back to his life on Fusionem. That description could be applied to many humans who rode out to hunt other creatures for the pleasure in killing them. It applied to the people he had met on Aeris too. The ariels chased and killed the groundlings for fun. So what was different in what a dragon did to what these humans did? At least they did not kill other dragons for sport.
They cautiously approached the cave entrance. When they were about ten yards away, they heard a voice in their heads. It was a gentle, feminine voice and Pettic looked around for a mermaid, but there was no one to be seen. Just a few fishes trying to get food from the rocks and a crab scurrying along the seabed.
_Come on in,_ the voice continued. _I ate yesterday. A large whale it was. I couldn't finish it and left the rest for the scavengers. That's how nice I am. I could have tried to drag it back here or stayed with it and guarded it until I needed to eat again, but I decided to leave it for others._
The pair approached the cave with trepidation. As they neared the entrance the dragon poked her head out, followed by the rest of her.
She was beautiful. Her scales were a light greenish blue, d
arker on her back than her underside. She had horns like the other dragons Pettic had seen but they were shorter and swept forwards instead of backwards and were black. She had a small horn on the end of her nose. Around her neck, instead of a mane, she had what Pettic could only call a ruff. It covered her gill slits and waved around as she inhaled and expelled the water.
She was much slenderer than the dragons on Ignis and her legs were shorter with webbed feet. She had three rows of black spines along her back, but the main difference Pettic could see was the lack of wings. He supposed dragons on Aqua did not need wings and they would be a hindrance in the water.
Pettic reached up and felt his earring. Yes, he was right. It was warming. He had been unsure in the cool of the water, but his fingers detected a very slight amount of heat. The sapphire was somewhere near.
_Are you going to tell me why you're here?_ the gentle feminine voice sounded in Pettic's head.
Then she caught sight of Pettic. _What are you? You're not a merman, although the top half looks the same._
Pettic explained again how he came to be on Aqua and that his world was mostly land so he had legs to walk not a tail to swim.
The dragon thought about his story for a few minutes and then said, _Why are you doing all this for someone else? If he's been captured, then it's up to him to escape not expect someone else to do it for him._
Pettic remembered the selfishness of the dragons on Ignis and decided it was a common trait amongst dragonkind everywhere. He tried to explain about friendship, not really expecting to have any success, and he was not disappointed. The dragon seemed to shrug and then she continued talking.
_I suppose that sea hag queen sent you. She's a nuisance you know. I was here first. Then she arrived._
Kinne swam up beside Pettic. _Why is that a problem? I'd have thought there was enough space for you both._
_It's not about space, you idiot. It's about her just being here. Dragons and sea hags don't get on. That's just the way it is. Always has been, always will be._