I was singing, singing with all my heart, joy at the return of my voice releasing my entire power. The ocean danced in response to my song, forming waves that sailed meters into the air before collapsing in on themselves, forms of dolphins, horses and plants also danced in the waves, all of it formed from my own voice. Happy tears ran down my cheeks and I spun around happily, letting the salty ocean wind whip at my short hair as I continued to sing. Suddenly, my body shook at my voice was cut off, the ocean stilled and no longer danced. I fell to my knees, trying to let the song come out, but my voice wouldn’t come out. The happy sound built up inside me, and turned into a soul-wrenching song of longing and sorrow. My body slowly began to move, seeking any way to release the song that was pent up inside me. I began to slowly dance, every single movement slow and graceful and flowing along with the song that only I could hear. I spun and twirled and leapt and bent, and slowly, very slowly, I could feel the pressure of the song begin to lessen.
“Miss Delta, wake up!”
My eyes snapped open and I shot up from my bed, reaching for blades that I realized, were still skewering the corpse of Lonan. A moment later I realized that it was just the servant girl, and let myself relax a little bit, was it time to fight again already? By my estimation, I’d only been asleep for thirty minutes, I’d only recovered about a quarter of my mana…..
“The King wishes to see you Miss…..”
I raised an eyebrow, if the King wanted to see me…...well, that could be good or bad, I can’t tell because I’ve never met the guy, I don’t even know his name…..No wait, I think the girl said his name was Edric earlier when she gave me his socks…..I stood up from the bed and gave a wave of my arm, indicating for the servant girl to lead the way.
I let my thoughts drift to my dream as the girl lead me through several long hallways. The joyful song left a bitter taste in mouth now that I had woken up and realized it was just a dream, that my voice was still gone. What happened after though, was what really held my attention. For a moment, it had almost felt like I had managed to channel the song, but with dancing, not my voice…….It was probably nothing, it’s just a dream after all…..I dismissed the tiny sliver of hope that had risen in my mind, merkind has been around for over a millennium, if song magic could be expressed through dance, someone should have found out about it by now, dance was the second thing mers treasured behind singing. The servant girl suddenly stopped and turned to me.
“Alright Miss Delta, this is as far as I’m taking you, the carriage will take you the rest of the way to the palace and someone will meet you there to guide you to the king.”
Hmmmm, so I wasn’t meeting the King here? That’s strange, he was already at the arena, so why meet me at the palace, and what about the rest of the tournament the was supposed to go on today? Could this be a trap? I turned to the servant girl, doubt clearly written across my face. She didn’t even blink an eye.
“The king has moved the rest of the tournament to tomorrow and has ordered a council meeting to deal with the matter of your match, which will be held at the palace. The King thought it only right that you be allowed to sit in on the meeting, as you will be the main factor discussed...”
Ah, that makes sense...It’s pretty cool of the King to let me into the meeting too, not a lot of kings would normally think to do that….Satisfied, I turned to get into the carriage, then paused. Wasn’t I forgetting something?......Ah! Firesong! I turned back to the girl, wondering how I was going to ask about Firesong, flap my arms maybe?
“Your bird is already in the carriage.”
Wow, her prediction power is excellent, she must be a top class servant…..I might be a good idea to keep in touch with her. I pointed at her at tilted my head questioningly. The girl’s mouth quirked down in a frown for a short moment, but then relaxed as she realized what I was asking. A spark of surprise lit her eyes.
“My name is Grace, Miss, if you ever need help, you can come see me, I’m one of his Highnesses trusted maids, so you’ll be able to find me fairly easily when you become one of the Royal guards.”
Grace, it suits her, but what was this about becoming a Royal guard? It seems this girl might have a lot of faith in me already. I smirked and raised an eyebrow at her. She flushed slightly, but gave me an unrepentant smile.
“You’re clearly the best out of the bunch of them Miss Delta, so long as you aren’t disqualified, which I think is unlikely, you’ll definitely become the new royal guard!”
I couldn’t help but smile at her stubbornness, it reminded me a bit of Melly….a pang of loneliness rammed my heart, and I smiled sweetly at Grace before quickly turning so she couldn’t see my happy expression shatter into pain. I hopped into the carriage and Firesong screeched angrily at me, I looked to see her in a simple iron cage and winced. That could not have been easy…..I quickly unlatched the cage and placed Firesong on my shoulder. She slapped me on the head a few times with her uninjured wing, but other than that, she was content to stay on my shoulder. I settled into the padded seats of the carriage as it lurched into motion and pulled my bag onto my lap. Reaching into the bag, I pulled out the three spheres of sea glass Melly and my two brothers had given me.
Were they ok? Was Melody being bullied by her brother because she had been chosen to become Queen? Was that nasty witch of her mother trying to control her? Did my father remember to send my brothers to the outer command centers so they wouldn’t end up beating nobles who annoyed them black and blue? Would father be able to go over the tax records that I usually examined and make sure there wasn’t anyone skimming off the top, namely the hag that is his Queen? Oh dear, I could totally see her doing that…...I had trained Melly how to go over the financials though, so she’ll probably take control of it just to spite her mother….But what if she didn’t and that hag bankrupt the kingdom?.......Firesong suddenly poked me in the cheek with her beak.
Owwwww! That hurt! I glared at her balefully as I rubbed my cheek, her beak was sharp! The unrepentant bird gave a stern trill and swatted my head with her wing again. She then turned her head away and pointedly ignored me.
…...I think I’ve just been reprimanded by a bird for being a worrywart…..I smiled ruefully and stroked Firesong’s head (she still ignored me). Firesong was right, there was no point worrying about things I had no control over, I needed to focus on the situation at hand so I could get my voice back as soon as possible and get back to Melly and my family.
Almost as soon as I came to that resolution, the carriage conveniently swung to a halt and the door swung open. A boy no more than ten years old stood there proudly, decked from head to toe in the attire of a page. No matter how mature he was trying to act though, his eyes still sparkled with a boyish excitement as he gave me a bow that was a bit too deep and almost lost his balance.
“M-Miss Delta, I’m to escort you to the king!”
Despite his near fall, the boy still tried to regain his dignified appearance. I hid a smile at his antics and stepped out of the carriage. The kid’s eyes widened for a moment at the sight of Firesong, but then he smartly turned and clicked his heels.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Follow me!”
Fufufufu, this kid really is something~ I dutifully followed the cute kid up a long set of stairs to the massive palace doors, which swung easily open at the light touch of the page, they were definitely enchanted. The kid lead me inside and took me up another long flight of stairs. Really, what was with humans and their tendency to build massive buildings that required numerous stairs!? At least with the mer, it made sense because with our large buildings, we didn’t need to build stairs, we just swim to whatever room we need to go, there’s no tiring climbing of stairs for us to deal with.
After three sets of stairs and several long hallways we finally arrived at a large pair of double door, my thighs only slightly sore from all the climbing, luckily, having a tail most of my life translated to have very strong legs in human form. The page, on the other hand, was huffing and a bit red faced as he turned to me and bowed once more, this time a bit sloppier than his first bow, but with the right depth.
“The….Haaaaa…….King waits…….Hewwhhhh…….. inside, Miss.”
I couldn’t help but ruffle the kid’s hair as I walked past him to the door. He gave me an injured look and scurried off. Snickering slightly, I pushed one of the doors open and stepped into the room beyond. The room was filled with dozens of chairs, all filled with colorfully dressed nobles. At the end of the room sat a man on a large, but simple wooden throne, his darker and more subdued clothes standing out from the rest of the room of people. His long black hair was topped by a simple and elegant crown, he was the King of Serac. The king’s electric blue eyes focused on me the moment I entered the room and his firm mouth quirked into a polite smile as he nodded his head to me in greeting. Man, those human princesses are going to swarm, this guy is pretty good looking even by mer standards, though I have seen better. This guy was one of the rare princes that was actually good looking. Most of the various kingdoms princes ended up as fat sniveling brats because they had been pampered, this guy, however, was clearly a strong martial artist from what I could see of his seated body.
A brightly dressed but heavily aged nobleman had been standing in front of the King and talking while wildly waving his arms when I entered. He soon noticed the king’s attention was no longer on him, and he turned to see the transgressor who had dared turn the king’s focus away from him. The old man’s wrinkled face turned venomous as he saw me and he pointed a crooked finger at me.
“Why is that THING here!?”
The King of Serac’s Point of VIew:
I noticed Delta the moment she walked into the meeting room. It was the first time I had actually seen the woman up close. She was beautiful, but not in the ditzy princess way that I’ve mostly encountered. A predator, that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw her lean and graceful form, this woman looked just as deadly and elegant as her swordsmanship. Her strange tawny gold colored eyes caught mine and I politely smiled and nodded my head to her in greeting. Best to make on good impression on the woman that was likely to become my new royal guard. I shifted my eyes away from her as she began to evaluate me as I just had her, and I noticed the fiery colored bird perched on her shoulder. The bird was a beautiful creature, but one of it’s wings was firmly bound up to keep it from moving, the wing was clearly broken. Hmmmm, I’ll should see if one of the castle healers have time to look at it when this whole debacle is over….
“Why is that THING here!?”
My trail of thoughts were suddenly shattered as the old nobleman Ebenezer suddenly shrieked at Delta with all the might his elderly voice could muster. I barely bit back a groan, Ebenezer was old and firmly set in his ways, and one of the things he hated most was ‘floozies trying to become warriors, that was a man’s job, not a woman's!’ Ebenezer had been ranting about how we should just disqualify Delta for being a woman for the past ten minutes (the entirety of the time he had been in the room) and the meeting hadn’t even started yet. I leaned forward in my ‘throne’ and assumed a properly stern and kingly expression.
“Sir Ebenezer, Miss Delta has been invited to this meeting by my request. As she is the person who we will be discussing today, I thought it only right that she be allowed to participate in the proceedings…...Miss Delta, please have a seat over here.”
I indicated an open chair in the right side front row of seats, all of which were conveniently empty (no one wanted to sit there any more once I heard that I’d be placing Delta there). The woman nodded at me and walked to the chair with calm, smooth steps. Ebenezer turned to me sputtering, his face starting to turn purple. Hmmmm, was the old man going to have a heart attack and finally free me of his presence?
“Y-you cannot be serious, your Highness, a w-woman should not be allowed in such import-tant matters!!!”
I barely stopped myself from childishly rolling my eyes at the stubborn old man. Turning my attention to a emerald green clothed blond haired man seated in the first row opposite to Delta’s, I waved my arm at him imperiously, gesturing for him to come forward.
“Archduke Lucius, please escort your grandfather back to his seat, it is time to begin the council session!”
“Of course, my King”
Lucius Zourkat was the head of the Zourkat house, one of the major noble houses that lead the faction against my rule, secretly of course. The man reminded me of a poisonous snake, colorful and charming on the outside, but ready to bite at the moment I showed a glimpse of weakness. A little bit of satisfaction filled my heart as I watched the man struggle to drag his furious grandfather back to his seat.
A chill suddenly ran down my spine and instinctively, I looked towards Delta. Her face was as pale as a sheet and her golden eyes were wide with horror. Following her line of sight, I realized she was looking at the corpse of Lonan that was pushed off to the side of the room….or more accurately, her swords that were still stuck in the dead body…...her broken swords…..I turned my head to look quickly back at Delta, but her seat was empty. I looked back at the corpse and found Delta, hugging her swords, which she had apparently wrenched out of the corpse, and crying silently…….I have a feeling this isn’t going to turn out well…..
-Far, Far away, deep beneath the sea in a outer command post of the mer-
Delta’s two brothers who were playing shellfish poker with some of the other men posted at the fort suddenly froze, their faces turning pale.
“H-hey Caspian, this feeling…….”
“I know Alden, it’s just like that time we broke one of Sis’s swords……..”
The two grown men looked cautiously around with terrified looks on their faces before relaxing slightly, the other men at the table giving them weird looks.
“Well, it definitely wasn’t us, so we should be fine, but I feel sorry for whoever is the culprit this time……….*Shudders* I still have nightmares every night about That day…...”