King Edric:
I stared down at the figure of Delta, who stood over Fin Lightfeather’s unconscious body, a thrill of some primal feeling I couldn’t understand running through my body. When Theron turned to look at me, I could see the same emotion mirrored in his expression, it wasn’t really fear, nor was it despair, it was like a mix of admiration, worry, relief, something you would feel when meeting a tyrant, someone who could stand at the top of the world with pride.
“Until now…...she’s just been playing around…...”
I shook my head at his words.
“No…..she’s always been somewhat serious….but the other fights are like plays, a simple display for the audience, this though….this was just a glimpse of her raw ability, with no flair added in to disguise it…….”
Her playful act had fallen away to reveal a brutal, ferocious fighting style. It true that this fight didn’t have the flair of the others, but the sheer rawness of it drew people in, waking the animalistic emotion we all had hiding within us.
“She’ll make a good guard for you…..I’m glad that she’s going to be on our side, instead of an enemy's.”
I used my link to the arena to create a grand set of stair that started from Delta’s feet and led to my balcony. I watched as she began to climb.
“I’m glad too.”
Delta:
I sheathed my sword and started climbing the stairs, surrounded by the noisy roar of the crowd. It only seemed to take moments before I stepped onto the king’s balcony. King Edric stood from his throne to greet me, a wide smile on his face. When he spoke, his voice rang out from every corner of the arena.
“We pleased to announce that as the winner of this tournament, Lady Delta Aquis shall be our new royal guard. May all know her name and face as the Aquarian dragonguard of the Seven Dragons of Serac!”
Ah, that’s right, the royal guard is called the Seven Dragons…….I had forgotten about that….So the Aquarian guard was the one who retired…..Fuuu, how ironic, I’m filling the role of the water dragon...Edric placed a hand on my shoulder, turning me so I faced the crowds, and I saw massive banners suddenly appearing in the air, unfurling to reveal my face staring out from their surfaces…..Hmmmm, I still look pretty good despite the fight I had just been. Edric leaned in to my ear.
“The oath ceremony will be done in the castle, Grace has has already gathered everything in your room and placed in a carriage for you, and you’ll have time to clean up, some court clothes should be provided for you.”
I turned my head slightly to look at him and gave a small nod, noticing a thin glint running along his skin, it was probably a protection barrier. Smart, since an event like this was bound to attract assassination attempts. We stood there for a few more minutes, letting the crowd cheer and roar. Then I was allowed to duck out a door in the back of the balcony into a hallway where Grace was waiting for me. Smiling, she told me to follow her and started walking down the hallway, which was lit brightly with light stone implanted in the walls.
“See, I told you you would win, you were so tense for that fight, you didn’t even tell, err, smile hello like you usually do. Not that I blame you though, you were reaaaaalllllyy focused. that last fight was brutal, this is the first time you got injured….Speaking of that, we should get a healer to look at your injuries….eh!? That cut on your arm is healed!?”
While she had been chattering away, I had used a small spell to knit the split flesh of my wound back together. The blood was still there, beginning to dry into a crust, but the cut itself was now only a bright red line. I summoned a bit of water and used it to wash the blood away, dried blood made my skin itch. Grace’s eyes widened.
“Ehhhh!? Miss Delta, you know how to heal, you’re aligned with the water element!? I thought for sure that your element was fire because I heard you burned the Archduke’s hand…..Nnn, did you use a common spell then?”
I shook my head and held out my hands, conjuring a orb of water in one hand, and a ball of fire in the other. Common spells were something anyone with a bit of talent in magic could use, like body strengthening, and sensory enhancement, with various levels of success. People who were truly gifted with magic had an affinity with an element, with which they could delve into deeper and more complicated spells with, depending on the level of their affinity. It was rare to have two elements, but I and my two brothers all had double affinity due to our mixed natures, we naturally have the water element due to our mer blood, and we each got a random element from our human side. My dual elements were particularly rare since water and fire are conflicting elements, they usually didn’t show up in one person. Seeing the phenomena, Grace’s eyes widen and her jaw dropped as she skidded to a stop in shock.
“Yer a dual elemental!? And it’s fire and water ta boot!?? Why in da bloody ‘ell haven’t I heard of ya before!?”
……..
In her shock, Grace’s proper speech and accent had vanished into what could only be described as a gutter born accent. She sure had climbed far………….I was quite startled by the sudden change, when meeting Grace, a gutter child was the farthest thing from my mind to describe her, though I suppose it explains a bit about her later friendly attitude, it must be tiring to have to act all prim and proper all the time. Shaking my thoughts away, I shrugged at her question, I couldn’t exactly tell that I been sure to keep a low profile when I visited land these past fifty years because, first of all, I was pretending to be twenty-five year old, and secondly, she would never believe me if I said I was half mermaid, we had done our best to fade into human legend, deciding it would be safer that way after the elven massacre. Grace stared intensely at my face for a moment before she gave up and pouted, her speech somewhat returning to it’s proper state.
“Not gonna tell me, eh? Well, I’ll figure it out eventually!”
…..Good luck~
Grace had to lead me down several long sets of stairs before we reached street level, where she led me to a waiting carriage. Swinging the carriage door open, I was pleased to see that Firesong was not in a cage this time, but perched on a little stand positioned on the flat floor of the carriage, my small bag right next to her. Smiling and waving goodbye to Grace, I hopped into the carriage, only to be followed by Grace, I looked at her questioningly.
“Ah, I’m to help you freshen up and get dressed, I can guide you to your new room too, oh and don’t worry, I made sure your metal tree was moved from the guest room to your new room.”
She needed to help me get dressed? I know it was a weird tradition of noble humans, but I had never not dressed myself, well, except for that time I broke my arm, but still…..I started thinking of a way to politely refuse Grace’s assistance. The carriage bounced up and down the cobbled streets as Grace continued to chatter on.
“We should still see a healer for your bird’s wing. You should tell me what happened to it some time. I think you’ll like your dress, I picked the color so that is goes with your hair, and I made sure the hoop skirt was the standard fifteen hands wide, so none of the noble ladies will be able to say anything about lack of manners…….Oh! I should be able to get some jewelry for you to wear as well, the oath ceremony is a really big deal, so you have to look your best!”
…...Hoop skirt…...Dress…...jewelry…...I leaned over and grabbed Grace’s shoulders to get her attention, and then crossed my arms in a vigourous manner to say ‘no way in ‘ell’. I had never worn those ridiculous and massive constructions they called dresses and I wasn’t planning to start now. Grace frowned.
“But you need to wear proper court attire for the ceremony…..It’ll look strange if you aren’t dressed properly, and I checked your bag, there’s no close in there that will do….and you most definitely can’t show up in men’s attire, it fine for fighting and all that, but in court…..”
Her frown deepened as I continued to shake my head vigorously. She crossed her arms and leaned back, a challenging look on her face.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“Well, what’s your solution?”
It took me a moment to consider, and then I snatched her hand, spelling out words on her palm.
-TAKE ME TO A POND-
“Eh? How in the world will will that help?”
I just stared at her. She stared back at me, clear consideration in her eyes. Then she bit her lip and her eyes turned curious.
“Fine, there’s a pond in the royal gardens, we can go there, I want to see what you’re going to do.”
Grace opened one of the windows and leaned out, shouting something incomprehensible at the driver, then she plopped back into her seat to wait.
The carriage stopped at the entrance of the gardens, unable to go any farther, and we hopped out. Grace led me down several winding trail before me came upon a pleasant little lake decorated with lily pads. While Grace watched curiously, I took off my jacket and boots, dropped my bag on the ground, and stepped into the water. Feeling the familiar tickle of water at my ankles, I smiled. This would take a chunk of energy to maintain, but it was far better than wearing one of those ridiculous dresses. I let my magic reach out and merge with the pond water, drawing it up into the air as
I filtered out any muck. I first used the water to clean every inch of my body, letting in swirl along my skin, catching up a particles of dirt or sweat before spitting them out into the pond.
Next came the hard part, now clean, I willed the water to form around me, it’s clear form creating kaleidoscope of colors. The water smoothly covered my armored breastplate, hiding it from sight and creating small straps over my shoulders and then flowed down my belly and legs to stop just above where the pond lapped at my ankles. My arms were left bare to show my marks, but two wide ribbons of water floated around my arms, each flowing from the small strap attached to my breastplate and swirling to an end around my wrists. I let another portion of water swirl through my hair, morphing with it so my hair looked much longer, and then piling it up on the top of my head into a simple but fancy looking updo that I used ice pin and combs to decorate. I also added delicate ice earrings and a matching necklace. Finally, I formed a pair ice heeled shoes, my skin unaffected by their cold. Overall, this transformation had taken about a half an hour, the detailed ice taking the most time.
Turning, I stepped out of the pond, my water dress swirling about me in hundreds of colors, Grace staring at me with her mouth moving silently as she tried to talk. I smiled and gave a small spin, the water flaring out in a flash of color before settling back around my legs in a simple, elegant skirt. I cocked my head and smirked at the speechless maid. Yep, I still had it~
After a long minute, Grace could finally speak again.
“Amazing……...I’ve never seen a water mage do something like THAT, how strong does your affinity with water have to be to be able to do that!??????”
Well, as a magical creature, I had what humans called a perfect affinity (the highest level you could get) , but that might be a little Too mind blowing for Grace right now….So I just smiled and shrugged, then frowned down at my stomach. Man, I could use some food right now. Using this much magic all at once always makes me hungry. Scooping my jackets and boots up, I stuffed them in my bag, which was laying next to them and then dug around for a left over snack that was sure to be in there. Finally, I found a stick of dried sea serpent marrow wrapped in a cloth and happily bit into it, enjoying the crunchy feel of the salty yet sweet bone marrow as I chewed it vigorously. A few bits of marrow fell on my dress, but the water just swept them down to the hem of my dress, where they then dropped to the ground. I smiled as I felt the residual energy from the marrow replenish a bit of the energy I had spent.
Magical beasts were poisonous to humans, but to a magical creature myself, the flesh and bones of those beasts were actually quite delicious and nourishing. Speaking of magical beasts, I glance down at the two eggs nestled safely between my breasts. A few small golden lines had started to form across what surface I could see…….they would probably hatch in a week or two. Lonan must have had these eggs for quite some time, it usually took magic beast eggs two or three months to gather enough energy to hatch. I wonder what kind of magical beasts they would become. Ruminating on the thought, I walked my way back to the carriage, munching on the bone marrow the whole way there. Grace kept glancing at the stick, clearly curious about what it was, but also clearly unsure if she actually wanted to know what strange thing I was eating. If she asked, I’d probably indicate it was a stick of crunchy sugar or bread or something, as I couldn’t exactly tell her what it really was…..and she had better not ask if she could taste it.
The carriage took us back to the front of the castle, where Grace led me through the massive front doors to my new room, anyone we passed by turning to stare at me with wide eyes. We finally made our way to a wide hallway that had seven doors, each a different color, red, green, yellow, blue, white, black and purple. Grace led me to the blue door and opened the door for me, I stepped inside and my jaw dropped as I stared in amazement at the room around me.
The room was a brilliant sapphire blue that made the room glow as though it was underwater, light coming from two large glass windows set in the back wall. Tittle bits of sea glass were strung up from the ceiling, creating dancing blue lights that drifted around the room as the glass turned slowly. The massive dark oak bed was set on the far left wall, the large mattress decked with a dozen pillows and a vibrant blue silk sheet. It was summer time, so there was no need for blankets. On the other side, a massive tube was sunk into the dark oak floor, currently empty, and lined with shimmering mother of pearl. Next to the tube was a massive cabinet, probably meant to hold clothes. and next to that was a wide writing table, on which the metal tree that used to be my sword sat. Vases of white lilies that reminded me of sea foam where scattered about the large space. This room….almost felt like home. I could feel a smile tugging at my lips. Grace stood by my side, looking quite proud of herself.
“I had them string up the sea glass from the ceiling last night, I saw those bits of glass in your bag and the idea hit me, don’t they look pretty? Oh, and I had them bring in the lilies this morning, so they’re nice and fresh. I had a few extra pillows added to the bed as well, you struck me as a comfort kind of person. This has always been my favorite room, the last Aquarian didn’t let me do anything to the room, saying it made it look more like a girl's room, it drove me crazy, but you let me add a little touch here and there, right? I can tell you like what I’ve done with the place.”
I hugged her, my smile morphing into a grin. This chatterbox of a maid is awesome! Grace reached up and patted me on the head.
“Heh, you Really like it then…...well, no time for affection right now, the ceremony should be starting soon, I only took you here so you could drop off your stuff and get a look at your handy work. And…..while your dress somehow isn’t getting me wet, it is rather cold…. I didn’t know you could get too c-cold in summer”
Whoops! While I wasn’t really bothered by water temperature, human are. I quickly pulled away from Grace, glancing up and down to make sure she was alright. She looked a bit cold, but there wasn’t anything else visibly wrong. Focusing slight, I pulled a light heat around her, banishing the cold before letting it disperse. Grace visibly brightened.
“Nice trick! Now, let’s head to the grand reception room!”
Minutes later, I stood before two massive doors, the two guard standing attention at each side of the door staring at me. Then a horn sounded and the guards turned and flung the doors open.
I stepped forward.
Jaws…..Dropped.