Page 54 of A Kingdom Restored

Still, in spite of her belief that Tish was alive, Merletta remained deeply uneasy over the mystery of her friend’s whereabouts.

There was nothing she could do for Tish, however. Nothing she could do at all, except await events, she acknowledged to herself as Felix swam from the dining hall. By the end of the afternoon, during which the Center still gave no sign either of moving against her or seeking to contact the dragons through her, she started to wonder if the waiting might just kill her before the Center could.

She knew conflict was still raging in Tilssted, and Center employees were still carrying out questionable tasks all over the triple kingdoms. But she couldn’t even find the heart to pursue her mission to expose the Center’s lies to the populace at large. Not when willfully ignoring one of the Center’s rare truths had brought the whole triple kingdoms under threat of violent death.

Besides which, as little as she might trust the Record Master, his hierarchy of power surely had a better chance of stopping the dragons than anyone else in the triple kingdoms. Bitter as it tasted, it wasn’t the time to stir up rebellion against the Center. It was the time to support whatever efforts were to be taken to fend off the coming attack.

When she drifted into bed, hardly able to believe the Record Master had gone another day without acting, Merletta’s thoughts floated to Heath. As she so often had, she wished she could watch him the way he watched her.

At least, she hoped he still watched her. Lying in her hammock, surrounded by whispering and snoring first years, her mind went back to their last meeting, on the island. When he’d kissed her, she’d let herself believe for a moment that things would work out, that they’d somehow find a solution for the various disasters engulfing them. As long as they worked together.

But he was far away, out of her reach, and their separation was eroding away her hope, steadily and mercilessly.

Chapter Sixteen

Merletta rose from her hammock with determination the next morning. During a restless night, she’d come to a conclusion. Whatever the Record Master did or didn’t intend, she wasn’t going to let another whole day pass without any change.

If it had been a couple days earlier, she would have skipped class and gone straight to the central spire to confront the Record Master. Ibsen had abandoned all pretense of teaching her—no fourth year material had been covered in his class since the commencement of her fourth year studies. But it was an Agner day, and on reflection, Merletta decided it wouldn’t be a bad thing to start her day with some physical training, to sharpen up before anything else.

To her own surprise, she found herself looking around for Ileana, not to avoid her, but in hopes of sparring with her. But the young Center guard was nowhere to be seen, presumably out on patrol.

“Merletta.” Agner drifted up beside her, his eyes also scanning the training area. “I think Andre is just about the only one who’ll really challenge you among this lot, and he’s fighting with Lorraine right now.”

“I’d like the chance for a bout with a senior trainee.”

They both turned at the hopeful voice, to see Indigo floating nearby. Her eyes were a touch too innocent as they rested on Agner, and Merletta felt herself tense, waiting for the instructor to become suspicious.

But Agner just shrugged. “I don’t object. Merletta has probably done less than her share of training younger fighters.”

The two mermaids started a fairly half-hearted bout, and the moment Agner was out of earshot, Indigo spoke, her words low and urgent.

“I did it. I wasn’t able to get access until this morning, but I made the report we talked about, that I’d followed you outside the barrier and seen you searching for a new settlement site. Then I pretended to leave, but doubled back. I know the guard I’ve been reporting to is someone important. I was hoping he would be senior enough to make a decision about how to respond, and I was right. I heard him give an order to his assistant.”

“And?” Merletta pressed. “What order did he give?”

Indigo bit her lip, her spear movements sluggish. “You’re not going to like it. He said, ‘Get the shellsmith. It’s time to move on the trainee.’”

Merletta stilled, hardly realizing she’d stopped sparring. “So they do have Tish,” she whispered, horrified. “They’re keeping her captive somewhere.”

Panic raced over her. Did that mean they knew about the others on Vazula as well? Or had a scouting patrol found Tish in the water, not realizing about her time on land? It was certainly possible—she spent as little time with legs as she could. Merletta hated to think of leaving August and the others on the island without warning, but there was no question of going to Vazula. If the Center had kidnapped Tish, she had to be Merletta’s first priority.

“Thank you,” she muttered, lowering her spear. Agner seemed to have noticed their pathetic bout, and was working his way toward them along the line of clumsy first years. “I know you took a risk, and I’m grateful.”

“You understand that they’re coming for you, right?” Indigo said earnestly.

Merletta nodded, her thoughts already far from the conversation as she raced through a series of hopeless options.

“Will you flee?” Indigo pressed.

“Flee?” Merletta brought her gaze back to the younger trainee, startled. “And leave Tish at their mercy? Of course not!” She groaned to herself. “They already tried using Tish to get to me. Can’t they think of something new?”

“What are you going to do?” Indigo asked.

Merletta’s face was grim. “I’m not sure yet. But whatever it is, I’m going to do it today.”

She turned away from the other mermaid, intending to leave before Agner reached them. But she’d barely made it half a dozen strokes before a much younger form barred her way, arms crossed.

“What was that about, Merletta?” Andre demanded, his fight with Lorraine apparently over. “Why did Indigo corner you?”

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