Page 110 of A Kingdom Restored

She took off, and Merletta found herself swimming slowly toward the central spire. She was aching to see Sage and the others, to assure herself they were all right. But for all she knew they were still in Tilssted, not yet even aware of the dramatic happenings in the Center.

They would know soon enough. News like this always traveled through the water with astonishing speed. Merletta drifted into the lobby, although she had no desire to browse the restricted records room. She’d seen enough of it to last her a lifetime in the two days before her third year test.

Was that really only a matter of weeks ago? It was hard to wrap her head around.

She continued upward through the ruined building, driven forward by a vague idea of finding where the airtight record had come from, in case there were more. She ascended all the way up through the lobby unhindered. The upper part of the building was even more damaged than the base, and she had to dodge the occasional sinking stone. It was so unstable, she wondered if the whole thing would have to be torn down and rebuilt.

Near the top, a strange looking room caught her eye. It was clearly not intended to be exposed to view—part of the surrounding wall had been destroyed. Merletta swum through a long corridor to reach it, entering the space cautiously in case the whole thing collapsed.

The room looked like a private living area, larger than any Merletta had seen before. From the way items were strewn around, it looked like someone had rifled through them in haste. And Merletta had a pretty good idea who. Surely these were the most luxurious living quarters in the Center. And they could only belong to one individual.

None of this was what had caught her eye, however. The central spire was all polished stone, gleaming and perfect and well-maintained. It had been a surprise, therefore, to see what looked like the wall of a rough stone grotto rising up in the middle of what must have been the Record Master’s home.

She ran a hand along it, realizing as she moved around the edge that it was a large column.

A large column with a mermaid-sized hole near the base. Frowning, Merletta ducked down, swimming into the confined space before she could talk herself out of it.

When she emerged on the other side, she gave a gasp. She didn’t know if it was a natural phenomenon, or another instance of the magic used to establish this place, like the barrier. But her head came up into air, not water. She was in a small circular room, and with a push, she clambered up onto the rocky floor, her human form settling instantly into place.

The walls were lined with shelves, and many records sat on them. Not records on writing leaves, either. They were on paper, and they had clearly never been copied out by any Center scribe.

Again, Merletta’s exhaustion was too great to allow for much anger. It was impossible by now for any new layer of the Record Master’s deceptions to surprise her. But she was glad to have found this place, all the same. She would need to speak to Heath about relocating these records to land, perhaps reproducing them for dissemination, if they could find a way to mark the copies as authentic.

Merletta didn’t linger, her skin crawling a little at the thought of standing where the Record Master had carried out his scheming. Plus, she was cold in her human form, here in the depths of the ocean.

She dropped back into the water legs first, her tail reappearing as her torso slid in. But before she could make it through the small tunnel, something grabbed her fins, yanking mercilessly.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Merletta gave a cry that started above water and ended below it, as she was dragged out into the Record Master’s personal room. The moment her captor came into sight, she began to struggle wildly, desperate to be free.

She’d almost forgotten that the Record Master’s personal guard remained at large. A hysterical sound bubbled up inside her, the relentlessness of it all too absurd even for fear. It would be too ridiculous if she survived everything—even managed to help drive off the dragons from destroying merkind—only to be murdered after the fact by this disgruntled stranger.

And, worst of all, shestilldidn’t have a spear. If she got out of this alive, she was never going anywhere without a weapon again.

Unable to free her tail, she twisted around in the water, bringing her fist to bear against the merman’s exposed stomach. He let out a grunt, but his hold on her didn’t loosen. With a swift motion, he brought his spear down, pinning her fins to the stony ground.

Merletta let out a cry of pain as blood trickled into the water.

The guard gave no reaction as slowly, purposefully, he raised a knife—not a paua knife, but a real, metal blade which had obviously come from the human world—his eyes locked on Merletta’s.

“Why, though?” she demanded. “What do you have to gain from killing me now?”

“A foolish question,” the guard growled, “when directed at someone who has losteverythingdue to your intervention.”

“There, Agner!”

The new voice caused both Merletta and her attacker to turn, but neither had more than a second’s warning before a spear sliced through the water, taking the guard full in the chest. His eyes widened for the briefest moment, then he fell backward, his motionless form drifting to the smooth stone floor.

“No stabbing my favorite trainee,” Agner said cheerfully, swimming into sight. He tutted as he removed the guard’s spear from Merletta’s fins. “What’s this, Merletta? I thought I trained you better—never let yourself be pinned!”

Merletta winced as she wiggled her fins. She hated to think how mangled her toes might be when she next assumed human form. Maybe better to let the injury heal underwater first.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Agner blankly. He was still grinning at her, but she could no longer take pleasure in his approval. Not since he’d revealed his true attitude to the death the Center planned to mete out on Tilssted.

“Well, it was actually Instructor Wivell who alerted me to the fact that you’d been followed in here,” Agner said. “We had a bad feeling about it, and as neither of us wanted to see you dead, we thought we’d just paddle in and make sure you weren’t in any kind of trouble.”

“Thank you,” Merletta said mechanically, her eyes passing between them. “Both of you.” She met Wivell’s eyes stonily. “It’s something of a surprise to learn that you don’t want to see me dead, Instructor.”

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