by Eric Vall
“Me?” Cienna cried out. “You’re going to make me do it? I was the most doubtful of all.”
“And that’s why you can convince her.” I nodded. “Definitely you, Cienna. And, shh, she’s coming back.”
“Dinner will be up in a moment,” Ariana told us as she swam back into the room with a smile. “After everything bad that’s happened, I’m happy to be back here. We now have the chance to discuss things, and I’m glad you’re going to get a chance to taste some of my kingdom’s delicacies. I saw the way you looked at the kelp, but you’re going to find out how good it really is.”
A servant came in with a large tray of food, and he set it down on a table that sat in the middle of the four of us. The tray contained four small bottles of golden liquid, and Ariana passed them around.
“Cheers,” I said, and I unscrewed my bottle and took a large gulp of the beverage before I immediately recognized the sweetness. “It’s rum, isn’t it?”
“It’s the drink of the seas,” Ariana informed me with a small smile and clinked her bottle against mine. “Let’s eat first, and then we can talk about… things.”
The red-haired princess hadn’t been lying about the food, which was surprisingly delicious. A thick white steak of fish that reminded me of halibut tasted like it was grilled to perfection, though I wasn’t sure how exactly they’d achieved the effect underwater, unless they had magical fire that worked beneath the sea. The colorful kelp was tossed in what tasted like some sort of sweet vinaigrette, and a bowl of sugared seaberries on the side completed the meal. I thought it was amazing they’d been able to season the oceany taste out of the food so thoroughly, though everything had a pleasantly salty tang.
I popped one last berry into my mouth and leaned back with a groan.
“Ariana, that was incredible,” I told her. “You weren’t kidding. I’m sorry I ever made fun of kelp.”
“I’m glad I could convince you, Joe.” She stared directly at me with her huge turquoise eyes for a moment before she blushed and looked away. “It’s very important to me you’re happy here in my kingdom, and I’m so grateful we’re going to try to come up with a plan to defeat Eudora and Morgar.”
“So… about that…” Cienna began with a frown. “I think it’s time we teach you more about the legend of the great hero.”
“Of course.” The redhead nodded. “I would love to learn more about the folklore of the surface peoples.”
“I know we told you a little bit about the genie, and the bonding ritual, and that we are now married to Joe,” the blonde princess continued. “We have already seen your magic, and we know you are very powerful--”
“To be honest, I used to be a lot more powerful,” Ariana interjected. “I know I told you Eudora now sings with my voice, and I told you about how she hypnotized my father, and then it happened again with Joe today. I… I actually used to be able to hypnotize people with my voice, too. It was mostly men, but not exclusively.”
“So, one question we need to answer is how we can get your voice back,” Jessamine mused.
“Yes, that’s right,” Ariana agreed. “It was a strong power I really do miss.”
“Regardless of your singing powers,” Cienna continued, “the way you have managed to create the shield around your palace is nothing short of incredible, not to mention your mermaid’s kiss skill. You obviously have great talents already, not to mention your potential.”
“Potential?” Ariana asked with a puzzled look on her face. “What do you mean by that?”
“I know this is going to sound weird, but… would you mind holding Joe’s hand for a moment?” Cienna asked the redhead.
“O-Oh, no, of course not,” Ariana stuttered. “I-I would do anything Joe--I mean you--need.”
I reached out a hand to the red-haired beauty, and I thought her porcelain face was going to catch on fire. She reached out a dainty hand and placed it in my own, and a faint green spark flashed in front of my eyes. She quickly let go of me, but not before a hot rush came over my face.
“I… I felt something,” Ariana gasped. “It wasn’t something I’ve ever felt before, and I’m not sure what it means. Can you tell me?”
Jessamine and Cienna looked at each other and nodded before Cienna began to speak again.
“Joe, you felt the spark, right?” Cienna began, and I nodded to confirm. “Ariana, if you felt a spark when you touched hands with Joe, that means we now know you are one of the princesses who must bond with the hero. It seems like you have felt alone down here, but our destinies are actually knitted together very tightly.”
“Yes,” Jessamine cleared her throat. “I have always had some magical talents as a princess, but nothing could ever compare to the strength I’ve had since I’ve bonded with Joe, and truthfully, my bond is just as strong with Cienna, as well. The two of us are like sisters now.”
“So, when you say bond…” Ariana began to speak, but she trailed off.
“Let me handle this one, Jessamine,” Cienna told her sister-wife before she faced the mermaid. “Well, the thing about the bonding ritual is it’s very… intimate. Let’s just say that to become man and wife, you have to…become… very intimate… and… you know. ”
Cienna trailed off and blushed a bit, which was a first, since the blonde didn’t usually have trouble getting words out. Nonetheless, there was no way in hell I was going to step into this conversation.
Ariana downed her glass of rum, and I thought to myself maybe she was a little less delicate than I’d realized.
“U-Um, yes, I believe I know what you mean,” the redhead said in a brave voice. “And you say your powers have increased since you completed this ritual?”
“Yes, I have the gift of time magic, which you saw a little bit of before, and Jessamine has the gift of powerful illusions,” Cienna explained. “Since we have become Joe’s wives, I have, usually in any case, been able to hold my time magic for much longer, and Jessamine has been able to create even more complex illusions that actually change the shape and weight of things. I know this topic may be difficult for you, and I completely understand, but I wouldn’t be broaching it with you if I didn’t think there was something to it.”
“S-So, you are saying you believe if I… marry… Joe, we will be able to defeat Morgar and Eudora together?” Ariana tried to clarify.
“Yes, that’s right,” Cienna said with a nod. “Although, I hope I made clear you are marrying me and Jessamine, as well. We’ll be sister-wives. If you are worried about the ritual itself, I just want you to know we can all be there to help, and it can be very… pleasurable.”
“Yes,” the redhead said. “I think I understand. I wonder… I wonder if there are any books in the palace library that will help me understand this phenomenon.”
“Okay.” Cienna nodded with relief. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought. Ariana, I hope you will consider what I told you.”
“I… I will,” the redhead said, and she glanced up at me briefly from under her eyelashes.
All this talk of the ritual was sending major shivers up my spine, but then I saw something blue swim into the room through one of the open windows.
“Hey, what’s that?” I asked, and I couldn’t wait to change the topic of conversation. I looked over, and I saw a creature that looked basically like a seahorse from home, except it was about five times larger and covered in iridescent, bright turquoise scales.
“Hi, Callie!” Ariana exclaimed a little too brightly, and I suspected she was also glad for the interruption. “Jessamine, Cienna, Joe, this is my seahorse, Callie. She likes to roam free a lot, but she might have something to tell me.”
The large blue seahorse swam over to Ariana and made a small gesture with her head, and the redhead nodded. I wasn’t exactly sure how the princesses could communicate so well with their animals, but it seemed almost telepathic at times.
I suddenly noticed Ariana looked pale.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her.
“No, not exactly,” she replied in a trembling voice. “It’s my advisor, Marinus, who’s been poisoned. I think we need to get to him quickly.”
Chapter 10
The three princesses and I followed Callie out of Ariana’s chamber, and we followed the curve of one of the palace’s golden bridges as we swam downward toward another white coral tower.
When we reached our destination, all of the windows and doors to the chamber were closed. Ariana knocked on a huge, mother of pearl-encrusted door, and we heard a woman’s voice call out to us.
“Who’s there?” the unfamiliar voice greeted us.
“It’s Princess Ariana,” the redhead replied, and the door almost immediately swung open to reveal an older mermaid with silver hair pulled up into a bun on top of her head.
“Your Highness, I do apologize,” the mermaid gasped, and she bit her lip. “I’m the nurse who is looking after Sir Marinus here in the infirmary. He is asking for privacy right now, but I know he has called for you. Please, do come in.”
“Yes, I understand,” the red-haired princess said with a nod. “You have done nothing wrong, and I am grateful to you for taking care of Marinus.”
The four of us swam through the gleaming door into a round chamber with pale green walls, and the color instantly reminded me of a hospital. A bed was set up in the middle of the room, and a merman laid there covered in a thick, deep green blanket woven out of long strands of seaweed. The nurse wiped his head with a towel one last time, and then she bowed to Ariana.
“I will take my leave now, Your Highness,” the elderly mermaid said, “but if his condition seems to worsen, please call for me as soon as you can.”
She turned and swam out the mother of pearl door, and it swung shut behind her with a bang.
Ariana had swum over to the bed and was gazing down at the man lying there with heartbreak in her eyes. His own eyes were closed as he laid back with his head slightly elevated, as if he were in some sort of underwater hospital bed. The merman was so skinny his ribs were showing, and he was pale white except for his flushed, hollow cheeks covered in dark stubble. It was difficult to tell how old he was, but I suspected the poison had aged him beyond his years.
“Oh, Marinus, I’m so sorry,” the red-haired mermaid whispered through her tears, and when the merman opened his eyes, she reached out to clutch his hand. “I can’t believe this has happened to you.”
“I suppose I look pretty bad,” her advisor rasped with a weak smile. “I don’t want to scare you, Your Highness, but it concerns me a great deal that I don’t know how I was attacked.”
“That concerns me, too,” Ariana sniffled. “Marinus, please meet Princess Jessamine and Princess Cienna. They have come under the sea to assist us with the troubles we have been having in our kingdom. And this is Joe, who is famed above the surface for his successes in battle.”
“I’m pleased to make your acquaintances,” the sick merman replied, and I could tell even nodding took a great effort.
“It is an honor to meet one of Princess Ariana’s advisors, and I, too, am so deeply sorry for the attack you have sustained,” Cienna said with a pained expression. “We will do whatever we can to help you in your time of need.”
“I-I am grateful for your assistance,” Marinus coughed. “I have only recently heard of some of the troubles you have been experiencing on land, so it is especially meaningful to have your leadership down here now.”
“What has been happening in your kingdom is extremely concerning,” Jessamine told the merman, “but we will never give up fighting.”
“I am afraid you, specifically, were targeted in this attack,” Ariana said, and she set her mouth into a tight expression. “Did you eat anything different lately?”
“All I’ve done is fish near my home and eat the vegetables I grow in my garden.” The merman shook his head before he covered a loud cough with his hand. “I’ve had some meals at the palace, which I still assume are safe, but I’m afraid my personal food supply has been compromised.”
“Yes, that is my concern as well,” Ariana told him. “How secure are your own crops right now?”
“Well, I could probably be safer,” Marinus admitted. “It hadn’t occurred to me until quite recently that Eudora and Morgar were doing anything other than their highly visible attacks. Stealth poisoning is, in a way, much more terrifying. If they are targeting me like this, it may only be a matter of time before they start directly attacking our citizens.”
“There must be a way to solve this problem,” the redhead said and scratched at her chin. “If they are using some sort of technology to poison plants, I am going to figure it out.”
“Yes, and we are here to help,” Jessamine agreed with a brave nod. “Please tell us, is there anything we can do for you while you’re so sick?”
Marinus erupted into a huge coughing fit, and we waited anxiously for him to finish. The attack finally stopped, and he gave us another weak smile.
“Well… there is one thing, but it’s only based in legend,” the merman told us. “I would hate to send you off on a fool’s errand, and I wouldn’t ask you to do this just to help me, but if there’s any chance it could help our people…”
“Of course, Marinus, what is it?” Cienna leaned in closer to listen to the man’s soft voice.
“I have heard tales of a magic medicine originally owned by a pirate referred to as the Sea Dragon,” her advisor began his story. “The Sea Dragon commandeered a ship known as the Serpent’s Curse, and, for many years, he terrorized the seas using a combination of brute force and magic.”
“The Serpent’s Curse…” I said with a frown. “Seems like he met Morgar at some point.”
“Yes, it’s entirely possible,” Marinus replied. “There have been legends of witches and giant eels attacking both our own merpeople and ships for centuries now.”
“What did the medicine consist of?” Ariana asked.
“No one knows,” her advisor answered as a grimace of pain flashed across his face, “but it is told its magic was incredibly powerful. It has been said the Sea Dragon lived for over two centuries because he was able to keep healing himself with this potion. Other pirates thought the man himself was invincible, but I suspect it was this serum that kept him alive for so long.”
“And you think it might help our kingdom now?” the redheaded princess asked. “If it’s real, where could we find it? Marinus, we will do literally anything to save you and protect my people.”
“Yes, I think there’s a chance you may be able to find the potion,” the sick merman informed us. “It’s not going to be easy, but the wreck of the Serpent’s Curse is said to still lie far under the waves. Many have searched for the shipwreck and the magic cure it is said to contain, but no one has been successful.”
“Well, I haven’t gone yet,” Ariana said in a resolute tone. “If there’s even the smallest probability of success, I must do it to help you and our kingdom.”
“Princess Ariana, I implore you to bring guards with you,” Marinus responded, and a look of concern for the princess flashed in his eyes. “The way you travel the ocean alone is not safe.”
“Sir Marinus,” Cienna began, “Ariana will not be alone. Joe, Jessamine and I are committed to her protection.”
“It’s true,” the mermaid confirmed. “The princesses and Joe have already shown me their strength in underwater battle when Eudora and Morgar appeared before us earlier. Plus, until we find out exactly who did this to you, I’m reluctant to share information with my guards at this point.”
“So, you were able to attack the witch?” Marinus asked as he glanced between the three of us with wide eyes. “That’s very impressive.”
“Yes, Joe was able to strike a couple blows,” Ariana explained. “His sword hit Morgar with a purple explosion, which clearly caused the eel pain, and it was able to deflect a cloud of poison back toward Eudora. Joe, show Marinus your sword.”
I pulled Genie’s Wrath from my belt and held
it out to the ill merman. He took it from my hands and inspected it from end to end.
“This is a very impressive weapon,” the merman told me. “If you have already learned how to shoot lightning from it, you clearly have very advanced skills.”
“Uhhh, well, thank you,” I murmured as he handed it back to me, and I thought back to the way Fiona had enhanced my sword. It seemed like a lot of what I’d achieved in Fairyland to date involved a lot of magical good fortune rather than skill, but I decided to accept the compliment.
“So… the Serpent’s Curse,” Cienna said, and she twirled a strand of long, blonde hair in thought. “How exactly do we find this sunken ship?”
“You’re going to have to head east of the kingdom and swim down many fathoms,” Marinus directed us. “That part of the sea is so deep it’s very difficult to explore, which is why I believe no one has found the serum yet after such a long time. You will see many ships down there, so you will need to find the right one.”
“Yes, Marinus, I understand,” Ariana said, and she looked at me and the other princesses. “I know Joe and the princesses will support me, and I also know you wouldn’t send us on this errand if you didn’t feel like it was a critical mission.”
“That’s right, Your Highness.” The merman nodded, but it was clear he was fading quickly. As we watched, his head sunk back down into the bed, and his eyelids began to flutter.
“Oh, Marinus, please just hang in there for us,” the red-haired princess implored, and she rushed over to the door to the chamber and pushed it open. “Nurse, come quick! I think we need help.”
The silver-haired mermaid must have only been a short ways away, because she quickly reentered the chamber and hurried to Marinus’ bedside.
“I hate to ask you to leave, Your Highness,” the nurse said in a nervous tone of voice, “but I think Sir Marinus needs to rest now.”
“Yes, I understand,” Ariana responded, but her aqua eyes glistened with pain as she looked to her advisor. “We will go. Marinus, we will cure you. Don’t give up yet!”