Page 92 of A Kingdom Restored

The flight over the ocean felt twice as long as the trip to Valoria had done. Merletta kept searching the skies, expecting at any moment to see dragons swarming around them. No such vision appeared, but halfway to their destination, Elddreki swooped close above them, calling aloud for the humans’ benefit.

“They have seen us. They follow our journey with their sight, and are gathering a large enough party to pursue their purpose. They will not be far behind.”

Merletta met Heath’s eyes, seeing her own fear reflected there. She reached for him instinctively, and he mirrored the gesture, their hands meeting in the air, nothing between their clasped fingers and the surface of the ocean far, far below.

“Merletta,” Heath whispered.

She shook her head, too full of emotions to name any. There was no need to say any of it. They both knew…they both understood. Heath’s hand shifted, entwining their fingers in an intimate clasp that only succeeded in reminding Merletta of the distance between them. They’d fought fate for an impressively long time, but they’d reached the end of the current.

“Heath,” she said earnestly. “Just promise me that if you don’t find anything, you’ll stay on Vazula until it’s over. Don’t get caught up in something impossible to change.”

He met her eyes, but remained stubbornly silent, refusing to give the promise she sought. Her fear spiked, but she knew there was nothing she could do to convince him. As much as she’d always loved the gentleness of his spirit compared to hers, she’d learned long ago that he had plenty of his own stubbornness.

There were no more words between them. Merletta wished desperately that they’d made time for a better farewell, but zooming through the air in a dragon’s talons was not that time.

They crossed the maelstrom far below, the deadly tumult looking small and unthreatening from their height. When Merletta caught sight of Vazula way off to her left, she knew they were almost at the triple kingdoms. She hadn’t even needed to direct—of course Elddreki had been there before.

“Do you want to go to the island first?” Rekavidur called out over the rushing air.

Merletta shook her head. “No time! Drop us right over the Center. It should be that way.” She pointed, and Reka adjusted his trajectory slightly.

“Yes, I can feel the concentration of your strange type of latent magic,” he commented, sounding clinically fascinated, as if they weren’t racing toward mass slaughter. “I’ll drop you in the middle of the patch, as best I can judge.”

Barely a minute later, he began to descend, lowering himself to a safer height for releasing his burden. Elddreki followed, wheeling down alongside him.

“Merletta!” Heath cried, as she pulled her hand from his and ripped at the laces on her gown in preparation for entering the water.

She looked over at him, again wishing she had the words, or the time, or anything more to give him. But she didn’t, and the next moment Rekavidur had released her without a warning.

She plummeted toward the surface, entering the water with a splash. She could hear two more bodies hit the water beside her, and she twisted, shedding her gown as efficiently as she could. Sage was doing the same, and the Record Master—still chained at the hands and around the base of his tail where his ankles had been—was sinking rapidly down below them.

“Unbind me!” he shouted furiously.

“No, I don’t think we will,” Merletta said coolly, as she dove down to match his descent. “In fact…”

She paused to snag her discarded gown, which was slowly drifting down through the water. It had a decorative sash tied around it, which she detached fairly easily and affixed to the Record Master as a gag. She could see that the chain from his feet was cutting uncomfortably into his tail. Hopefully it would be enough to hamper him from swimming properly. She also saw that the impact with the water had caused one of his injuries to start bleeding again, and she glanced around nervously. They weren’t inside the barrier yet, which meant they were still vulnerable to sharks and other predators. That was the last thing they needed right now.

“Come on,” she said to Sage. The two of them seized the Record Master by either arm, flipping downward and streaming toward the distant ocean floor.

It soon became evident that Rekavidur had judged the location well as the Center came into view below them. They weren’t right over the central spire, but Merletta could see it not far away. They appeared to be north of it, descending toward the inner edge of the drop off.

Merletta had expected trouble at the barrier, assuming they would hit the web formation she and Sage had witnessed guarding the barrier in an upward direction. But they met no such resistance. Merletta felt the moment they passed through the magical shield, and she and Sage exchanged uneasy glances. Scanning the water below and around her, Merletta heard the faint sound of conflict. She shifted direction toward the noise, fear clutching at her as she realized where it was coming from.

“There’s still fighting in Tilssted,” she cried to Sage. “We have to stop them! If they’re too busy fighting each other, they won’t even know about the threat from the dragons until it’s far too late.”

Sage nodded fervently. “Emil and Andre are in Tilssted, too!” she reminded Merletta. “Indigo and Ileana took them there.”

Merletta’s eyes widened. She’d momentarily forgotten. A brief selfish hope crossed her mind, that her friends were hiding safe somewhere far from the fighting. Andre’s eager, incorruptible face flashed before her sight, and she smiled grimly. Not a chance of that.

They swam over the top of the Center, far enough up to make it unlikely anyone would see them. Merletta made for the poorest city’s central square, and it quickly became clear that her instinct hadn’t failed her. The clash of stone spears filled the water, and there seemed to be a large concentration of merpeople in the open space. As they neared it, a familiar voice rose above the babble.

“Do not give in! Fight your way through! If you stay inside the barrier, you’ll die!”

“Emil!”

Sage’s gasp told Merletta she’d spotted their friend as well. Emil was floating at the top of the stone sculpture which sat in the middle of the square, his spear out as he repeated the same simple instructions over and over, interspersed with directions on how to find temporary haven in Vazula’s shallows.

Below him battle raged, dozens of what looked like Tilssted residents clashing with armed guards. Gathered more closely around Emil was a small group, fighting off any guards who made it through and attempted to silence him. In addition to Andre, Indigo, and Ileana, Merletta saw Freja and most of her old patrol, Felix included. She even caught sight of Paul and Griffin—clearly they’d made it back into the triple kingdoms as planned. Her heart swelled painfully as she increased the speed of her strokes.

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