Page 100 of A Kingdom Restored

“Wait!” Heath called, as they neared the island’s shore.

Looking down, Rekavidur caught sight of figures in the shallows below.

“Who are they?” Heath cried. “None of them look familiar.”

Rekavidur noted that the figures were not emerging onto the beach. Perhaps these merpeople didn’t know about their legs.

“I heard Merletta talking to her friends in the water just before,” Heath said. “They were sending people toward the island. It’s heartening to know that some at least are escaping the dragons’ attack, and making it through the barrier that was never intended to be a prison.”

Rekavidur shook his head slowly. “It is an immeasurable difference, is it not? Between what the original merpeople intended the barrier to be, and what it has become, I mean.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” Heath said heavily.

Rekavidur restrained a smile. How easily humans invested their whole hearts into matters outside of themselves. How easily those hearts broke, and were reformed, and broke again. It was both endearing and absurd.

“So much makes sense since seeing those memories,” Heath added. “And yet, so much else is incomprehensible.”

“Indeed,” Rekavidur agreed gravely. “Human motivations are so often incomprehensible.”

A few heads had poked tentatively above the surface on reaching the island, but Rekavidur saw that they disappeared back under quickly as the dragons flew overhead.

“I hope they’ll realize that you’re leaving,” Heath said anxiously. “I hope they don’t lose their heads and flee into the open ocean alone.”

Rekavidur gave no response either to Heath’s words or to his anxiety. He felt not the smallest interest in the fate of the unknown individuals below him.

He felt magic stretching out from Heath, and cocked his head to the side as he flew.

“You are using your farsight. What do you see?”

“Merletta is still alive,” Heath said, unutterable relief in his voice. “She’s not even fighting at present. She’s talking to someone. It doesn’t look like she’s injured, although she looks tense.” There was a pause. “Wait!” Heath cried, fear creeping into his voice.

“What has she done now?” Rekavidur asked indulgently. “Likely put herself into more danger, as is her habit.”

Heath’s groan seemed to contain confirmation. “Out of nowhere, she’s abandoned her conversation and thrown herself in front of a clump of merpeople. They don’t seem to be fleeing like everyone else. They’re…I don’t know, hypnotized. They’re staring at something I can’t see.”

Heath’s magic intensified as he presumably attempted to extend his farsight further out to cover a greater area. Wearying of relying on Heath’s descriptions, Rekavidur sent out his own farsight, letting it follow the path left flagrantly by Heath’s. Merletta’s form and surroundings came quickly into his view, and he had no difficulty identifying the reason for Heath’s strangled cry.

A dragon was swimming rapidly toward the mermaid, jaws open.

“We have to get to Merletta NOW!” Heath screamed.

By Rekavidur’s estimation, they were moments away—a glance at the water ahead showing churning, as though battle was happening just below the surface.

But he could feel Heath’s terror, and he understood the cause of it. Moments away meant they were moments too late. Both of them could only watch through farsight—Heath’s horror a potent taste on the air—as the dragon’s jaws closed around Merletta’s torso.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Merletta didn’t pause to listen to Agner’s horrified oath. She took no pleasure in being right at his expense. Not in these circumstances.

Everywhere she looked, the water was full of fleeing, panicking bodies. Merletta could see unwary merpeople being buffeted mercilessly by the crowd, some of them clearly not even having seen the approaching dragons.

Merletta streaked back toward her friends, her mind oddly clear in light of everything. This was the moment they’d dreaded and waited for all this time. In a strange way, there was some twisted relief in its arrival—whatever happened, there would be no more waiting.

“Merletta!”

Sage’s scream helped Merletta locate the others, and she closed the last distance, even as the first dragon reached the central square. Merletta spun in the water, colliding with Sage and Emil as her attention darted behind her, to the horrible sight of a dragon snatching a fleeing merman in its jaws, then streaming toward the surface with his burden. The victim’s terrified screams faded away, and Merletta turned to look at Sage. Her friend’s face was as ashen as hers felt, and she knew they were both thinking of the account they’d read in the restricted records room. It was like seeing it acted out in front of them, just as they’d feared.

“What can we do?” Andre cried, his face tormented. “We hardly got anyone out. They’re all still here. How can we save them?”

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