Page 4 of Secrets Among the Tides
“Long may they reign!” Only the guards echoed those words, banging their fists against their chests before they promptly left, leaving Christof’s body to sink to the stage.
I tried to blink back the image of his head rolling, of the blood that burst through the water to darken our pond. But the image was there, and I’d witnessed so many already that this should have been easier to bear, but it never was. Friends, acquaintances, strangers…their faces were etched so deeply into my mind that every night when I closed my eyes to sleep, they followed me into unconsciousness.
A touch at my arm brought me back to reality. I whirled around to face the vendor of weapons. He was looking at me, his yellow eyes soft, with both sorrow and caution.
It was then that I realized I was gripping the hilt of the blade so tightly that my fingers began to hurt, and I held it in a position poised to strike.
Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, I loosened my hold on it and held it out in front of me, balancing it on my palm as he had. He merely observed it there. “Looks like your infamous Black Blade is nothing but myth.” And one too good to be true, at that. No one would ever come to free us from this tyranny. No outlaw. No royal. No guard.
We were on our own.
And always would be.
The merman looked at the blade and then up at my face. Something in him seemed to soften and I knew he understood every emotion running through me right now. I didn’t doubt it was readable on my every feature.
“Keep it,” he said. I blinked and he leaned forward, closing my fingers around the hilt before pulling away.
I stared at him with disbelief. “I can’t take this. I’ve no money.”
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I’m not asking you for money. I’m asking you to take the blade.” He bent beneath his table and emerged a second later with a black scabbard and a leather waist strap that were as finely made as the blade. He handed those to me as well.
“But, why?”
He sighed. “Because maybe the Black Blade cannot come here to save you or your people, but that weapon is a piece of him and maybe it will give you the strength you need to save yourself. Now get. I’m about to close shop.”
I weighed his words the way I’d weighed the blade in the palm of my hand. There was a possibility I could be selected tomorrow. If I was, would I face what was to come or would I run? There would be no outlaw to help me, and the merman was right. I knew first hand we could rely on no one but ourselves if we wanted to be saved.
I stuck the blade into the scabbard. “Thank you,” I whispered before turning around and swimming away, out of Artisan’s Square. Noticing that all had gone quiet now, as the weight of death settled deep into our bones.
~~~
LIKE MOST HOMES IN LAGOONA,mine was made from discarded two-legger material. But unlike most homes, mine was entirely secluded, deep in the cattail forest. It had been my grandmother’s and when she’d died, it became mine.
A small and shabby place, the house was made from an overturned blue boat that was chipped and furry with algae. A long, wide board had been pried loose, leaving a gaping hole in the front that served as a doorway. I swam through it now and into the confined space. The inside had been carved out, the mud hollowed to give the illusion of space.
There was a small kitchenette with a table and a few supplies I used to make my meals with. To the right was my sleeping area. I had no bed, or rather, couldn’t afford it, so I’d taken cattails, kelp and tadpoles and woven them together to form a hammock.
After placing the blade carefully on the table, I made my way to the hammock, climbing into it. My long tail hung off the end.
The boards holding it up creaked as I settled in comfortably, resting my hands on the flat of my stomach. Looking at the wall, I sighed. My telly hung there, albeit it was incredibly smaller than Josiah’s and the shell was chipped around the edges, it still projected images just the same.
I looked at them now, at the Queen and King of Thalassar, sitting upon their coral thrones and felt hatred stir within me anew.
Years ago, the King had been married to thetrueQueen of Thalassar. She’d been good and kind and just, but she’d died so many years ago when her daughter, the Princess, was only five. She’d soon been replaced by another, hercousin. This new Queen was rather cruel, as she’d been the one to start the war with Kappur and had plummeted the kingdom in darkness.
I closed my eyes against their forced images and turned away, wrapping my arms against myself, meaning to block out the cold, yet still it seeped through my bones, spreading throughout my entire body until it was numb. And pretty soon, I felt nothing at all.
CHAPTER TWO
Maisie
IDRESSED QUICKLY THE NEXT MORNING,pulling off my black tunic, switching it for a brown one so that I blended in with the crowd. It was old so it fit me tight around the chest and waist, but at least it covered half of my tail. Sweeping my long hair above my head, I hid the tresses beneath a hat. When I finished, my gaze wandered over to the blade on the table. My hand itched to reach for it and belt it to my waist, but I shook that feeling off.
The guards would double—or triple—today. If one of them saw me with it, they wouldn’t hesitate to take me down. They were more of a “shoot first, ask later” type of mer. So I left it where it was and swam out towards town.
To Selection day.
~~~
