Mervidia (38 page)

The
octolaides in the atrium also stared into the inky blackness of Marin’s room, waiting to see what horror might emerge. Marin reached out with her magical senses but no longer felt any stirrings of sorcery from within. Silence yawned for several moments before dark aqua tentacles finally crept out of the inky dark like eels from a murky cave in search of prey. The strange octolaide slowly emerged from within. He carried a limp Uchenna by the domo’s bone choker, pulling him unceremoniously out of Marin’s room. The dagger Odette had stabbed into Uchenna still protruded from his back.

In the stranger’s other hand was a bone staff topped with a large black pearl.
He wasn’t leanly muscled like Ring and Ebon, yet he was not unfit either. He was skinny by merwin standards, which was not uncommon for a kalku devoted to his trade. Wielding such draining dark forces often took its toll on the caster. The kalku’s face was plain, his nose small and his forehead looked elongated due to his hairless brow.

There was a wicked grin on the intruder’s
thin-lipped mouth, its corners turned up cruelly. Unlike Uchenna, he wore neither clothing nor jewelry of any kind. The domo’s infamous purple kelp garment was ripped as if he had been grabbed by its collar and the delicate kelp had torn all the way down the side. It hung off of him in tatters, its inner pockets dangling out like a jellod’s scalloped stinging tendrils. Even had it not been damaged so severely, it was now soiled with ink and blood, ruining the garment. Uchenna’s breathing was labored as he was hauled around by his necklace, still fastened around his throat.

The stranger released him once they were out of the room, drawing the dagger out of the Uchenna’s back with one of his tentacles as he cast him forward to sink flaccidly to the flagstones.
He wiped the blood off its blade on the domo’s kelp coat, before tucking the weapon into the black eel skin belt that circled the kalku’s narrow hips. The domo lay on the stone walkway, coughing from being hauled around by the throat, but there was also a gurgling coming from his back after the weapon had been withdrawn. His lung was showing signs of having been pierced by Odette’s strike and was now in the process of collapsing.

Uchenna looked up weakly and saw his brother, Ring.
The muscular octolaide instinctively straightened under his domo’s gaze, holding Odette still in one strong arm while his free hand brought to bear his bone chakram, the enchanted runes inscribed around the many skulls on its interior circle pulsing green. He held it in towards his body, ready to hurl it at the stranger. Ebon followed his uncle’s example by retrieving his sword from the stones, where he had laid it in an effort to better hold his sister. There were disadvantages to being half ethyrie in a room full of octolaide. Had her brother been a full octolaide, he could have just used a tentacle to hold the weapon or his sister.

The remaining guards also readied their weapons
and braced for an attack that would never come.

“My quarrel is not with any of you,” the stranger said, meeting their gazes in turn.
“For those of you who do not know me, my name is Ambrose.” Everyone looked confused, save for Odette and Ring. Odette merely looked away, and Ring’s face lit up with recognition when the octolaide spoke his name.

“The houseless kalku living amongst the
grogstack near the Deep Mines,” Ring stated.

“The very one,” Ambrose replied, his little nose crinkling into an amused sneer.
“Good, you may not recognize me, but at least you know
of
me.” His bemused look faded, replaced with a stoic expression. “Uchenna attempted to murder my daughter. That, I could not allow.”

“Odette is your daughter?” Marin asked, perplexed.
Ambrose’s milky white eyes focused on her, studying her face. His gaze was piercing, yet she could not look away.

“No, Marin,” Ambrose said. “
You
are my daughter.” Marin’s jaw dropped open of its own accord. She immediately looked to her mother for her to deny Ambrose’s outrageous claim. Marin was not prepared for Odette’s resigned visage.

“No,” Marin said lowly, but it was loud enough for her mother to hear, only a tentacle’s length away.

“I always suspected, but I did not know for certain,” Odette supplied, shrugging her bare shoulders.
“Ambrose was my teacher before I married Uchenna.” That was all the information the older female chose to disclose in front of so many witnesses.

Murmurs arose from those gathered, all family members of Uchenna’s.
The chattering created an irritating din that was silenced quickly with Ambrose’s next words.

“Uchenna
attempted to murder my daughter,” the kalku repeated. “Now, I will take him with me so that he may pay for his crime. Any who swim in my path will meet the same fate as the
four
who first accosted me upon my arrival.” House Chimaera’s guards glanced at each other and at the dead merwin still floating about the atrium. There were eight merwin able to defend their domo if they so chose, but they moved not a tentacle, nor fin in Ebon’s case, towards Ambrose.

A kalku that can kill four at once
,
Marin thought.
I have never heard of one so powerful. Our remaining guards would be foolish to try to stop a master such as him.
The guards seemed to agree and remained still, weapons drawn but making no effort to rescue their domo.

“Brother,” Uchenna begged of Ring, having never taken his eyes from his sibling, “do not let him do this.
Please…,” the defeated kalku gasped, his breathing getting more impaired with every word; it clearly pained him to speak.

Ring regarded his brother, but then
he looked serenely down, contemplating Odette in his arms. He raised his eyes again, meeting Uchenna’s imploring gaze once more.

“
No
,” Ring stated aloud, his tone stern and defiant.

Ambrose broke into a booming malicious cackle that reverberated throughout the stone atrium.
He raised his head as he laughed, reaching down and retrieving Uchenna by his bone choker once more.

“How quaint!
Odette has already found herself a new mate,” Ambrose said, after he had finished sniggering. House Chimaera’s denizens simply watched the kalku’s actions, some with curiosity, some in horror, and a few with a combination of the two. “Would one of you be so kind as to open the door?” Ambrose asked confidently, his tentacles propelling him forward, pumping and gliding with graceful rhythm, dragging the limp
former
domo along with him to the building’s exit. House Chimaera gathered themselves up and followed Ambrose at a safe distance across the atrium to the front door. Ring and Ebon aided Odette and Marin, each male with a steadying arm around their waists, helping them across the courtyard.

The guard, who had shut the door not long ago, murmured the opening word.
He had uttered it quietly, but Marin knew the entry word would need to be changed. She made a mental note to mention that to her mother; they didn’t need Ambrose
visiting
unexpectedly again.

The House Chimaera sigil rotated on its disk in the center of the door.
Bubbles rose from its edges, as the pressure was released and the stone door rumbled open. Ambrose was impatient, his tentacles twitching irritably. However, he had no choice but to wait for the door to open. As it slowly slid open, Captain Raygo and two dozen Palace Guard floated in the street outside, their weapons at the ready. In his hands, the red-finned ethyrie captain held a plain spear that Marin did not recognize. It was different from the one given to him by King Reth, Marin noted. She also saw that Uchenna’s sister Liane was at the captain’s side.

She must have gone to the palace for help,
Marin thought. Her aunt was a talented kalku as well and had likely used sorcerous means to accelerate her swim to the palace.

The
master kalku, victorious a moment before, sank to the entryway’s threshold, his confidence sapped by the small army that awaited him outside.

“Ambrose of House Tenebris,” Raygo stated, fixing the
octolaide intruder with a resolute stare, “release Domo Uchenna immediately.”

“I belong to no house,” Ambrose snarled in response, moving Uchenna behind him as if the merwin was a toy the kalku did not want to give up.

“Have it your way, Ambrose the Houseless,” Raygo amended. “Although, I must insist that you release the domo.”

Ambrose grumbled and seemed as if he would comply, pulling Uchenna’s weak form up before him.
He still held the domo by his choker. Marin was taken aback at just how bad her
stepfather
looked. His face was wan, his once proud demeanor as tattered as the coat that hung from him in shreds. Uchenna was gasping and trying to breathe, yet he could not draw water into his collapsed lung. Blood seeped from his back in crimson tendrils that snaked out and dissipated into the dark water. Marin feared the predator it would undoubtedly attract, but far less than the kalku who had entered her home. The sooner they could close the door to House Chimaera the better. She hoped Ambrose would act quickly, whatever course of action he chose.

“I think not,” Ambrose stated
calmly. Marin could not see Uchenna’s face or the spell that had been cast, but she felt it. A sharp intake of power was drawn from the waters around them and focused precisely at a single target. The water around her stepfather suddenly bent inwards, crushing him. The beginnings of a feeble scream erupted from his throat before his body exploded into tiny chunks of chum.

Ambrose’s laughter filled the stunned silence.
Seeing any merwin so casually murdered in public was shocking enough, but seeing one pulverized before them was startling beyond comprehension. The gruesome event had stunned all those in attendance, floating quietly in the icy water. No one moved other than to keep themselves afloat with flicks from their tails or pulsations from their tentacles. Though, a few merwin did sink to the stone street below. Liane was among them, her face a mask of horror. All anyone could do was gawk at the spectacle and watch the gruesome remains of Domo Uchenna drift away on the current, dipping down between the two octolaide houses that flanked the street. Only Captain Raygo managed to rip his eyes away from the grisly befouled water, as Ambrose approached him with his wrists extended.

“I believe this is the part when you take me into custody,” Ambrose stated.
He had partially turned Marin’s way in doing so, and she could see his satisfied smile.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The Coral Assembly floated
beside their chairs, but did not sit, not yet. Zane floated next to the Royal Chair, waiting for the vote that would formally appoint him as the King of Mervidia. Nayan drifted nearest to him, her coral chair neighboring his stone one. The jellod was the eldest merwin on the Coral Assembly, and her decades of wise council had earned her the right to sit next to the king. The Royal Chair separated them, yet with the room so quiet he could hear the rhythmic flow of water being sucked gently into her gills and then out her sides. The sound should have been soothing. In that moment though, it was grating to Zane. Usually calming to the eye, the slow, rhythmic undulations, travelling from her trim waist down the length of her transparent bulbous lower half, were not enough to calm his anxious heart. The neondra also knew that under that mesmerizing gelatinous skirt were scalloped tendrils, which were capable of delivering an excruciating painful sting. Such was the nature of all merwin, dazzling or distracting their prey just enough before striking an unexpected fatal blow.

Zane was nervous, resigning himself to clench and unclench his fists to pass the time.
Repeatedly tightening and relaxing the muscles in his arms, they slid under his skin like circling sharks. The sensation felt good as it traveled back and forth up his forearms, through his biceps, and to his chest. He felt strong, maybe even resilient enough to rule an entire city of blood thirsty merwin.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself in the Coral Assembly
chamber, much less about to become king
, Zane thought.
Why am I so anxious? I have led my Red Tridents for going on ten cycles. Being a leader is something I know I am good at.

Zane knew that ruling a whole city would be an entirely new arena for him
, though much broader in scope. He’d be responsible for
all
of Mervidia, some fifteen thousand merwin. His Red Tridents had never numbered more than two hundred. Also, the Red Tridents had a singular purpose, whereas the city was wildly divided by personal ambitions.

His stomach felt like it was packed with tightly-roped kelp
. Nayan had assured him that the afternoon recess would be relaxing, but that had not been the case. The Coral Assembly had adjourned for a time after the uklods’ descent. The Merwin needed some time to let what had happened sink in and to tend to the arrangements involved in harvesting the beasts.
Apparently, the good fortune was not felt by all. Mervidia, like Zane’s innards, still sourly churned on, while the Assembly had been at recess
, the neondra grimaced
inwardly.

Word had been sent by the Palace Guard to Zane’s home that House Chimaera had been attacked
by a houseless octolaide named Ambrose, just before the uklods had arrived.
No wonder Uchenna had not been present at the last meeting,
Zane reflected.
He was busy being turned into kalku chum.
Zane wanted to rub his temples to ease their stressful throbbing, but he knew that such a gesture, in this room and so early in his station, would be seen as weak.
How am I supposed to reign over Mervidia in its current state? The city seems content to consume itself. I will have to bring order to Mervidia at once or it may never recover. However, instating martial law and making the merwin hostages in their own homes would only bring about more distrust and chaos. No,
we need something to unite us, a common goal. But what?

Zane looked at the eight remaining Assembly members.
It was his second time there. The first had been merely a visit, and for the majority of that time he had floated idly by while they insulted him and bickered amongst themselves.

Not so much now
, Zane thought. It was deadly silent in the room, and the tension was almost palpable.

Of the merwin present, most he had only
known of by name; the single one he knew personally was Penn. The rest were strangers. Zane searched the unfamiliar faces for answers, but they were regarding him curiously as well. They all wore tired expressions, the tragedies of the last week having worn them all down. He realized then that
he
was their fresh blood. He was about to be their leader, and it would be him that was expected to turn Mervidia around before it destroyed itself.
No easy task,
Zane knew.

The
neondra took some comfort in the knowledge that the bulk of his Red Tridents waited on the level below. When Zane had been originally summoned, he had been fetched by the Palace Guard and escorted to the Coral Assembly like a common prisoner. The neondra had been thoroughly embarrassed, especially since every merwin now knew his face after the city-wide vision and had blatantly stared at him as he was taken through Mervidia’s streets to the Palace. His brave merwin had insisted on accompanying him back to the Palace the second time in a display of support. They would not allow their captain to be gawked at again, and the Red Tridents had been successful in that endeavor. Merwin tended get out of the way and find someplace else to be, when a large force of over a hundred armed mercenaries made their way through Mervidia. Zane had wanted to stop at House Chimaera to check in on Marin, but he did not want to alarm the house with a small army at their door, having already been besieged the same day. The report had stated that she and her mother were fine, so he had had no choice but to take minimal comfort in the fact that she was alive.

Zane was proud of his Red Tridents, pleased at how they had rallied behind him.
He was among his own, surrounded by numerous other houseless merwin, who were bound together under a banner of loyalty to the city’s inhabitants. He sometimes didn’t realize that his company had grown so large; rarely did they all gather together at once. Usually, they were on separate errands or helping the city out in smaller groups. Zane had hoped that the display would impress the Assembly, showing them that he was quite capable of leading his fellow merwin.

Unfortunately, t
he only ones who had seen the long escort trailing into the building had been the Palace Guard
, Zane thought with mild disappointment. They had arrived before any of the Assembly members had returned from their homes. He was still happy to have them with him though.

The guard initially would not allow so many merwin carrying weapons into the Palace; not until the Red Tridents had relinquished their arms would they be admitted.
Zane’s company was intimidating, doubling the number of the Palace’s defenders, but they were there to back their leader, not to wage war. If supporting their commander meant laying down their arms, they were irritated but willing to do so. Fortunately, Captain Raygo had come to see what was going on at the front door. He had intervened and allowed the Red Tridents to enter as they were, but only after Zane had given his word that they were present as a show of support. They were under the neondra’s direct orders not to cause trouble. Raygo had allowed them inside but insisted that they wait on the lower level in a large ballroom. He didn’t want any member of the Assembly to be alarmed as they entered the building, seeing an armed force bristling with weapons. A wise merwin would turn around and go home when presented with such a sight.

Only Lachlan had swum up to the meeting room with his captain.
It eased Zane’s mind somewhat, knowing a friend and an ally was on the other side of the massive door in the antechamber. Not like earlier in the day, when he had felt very much alone, surrounded by strangers and luxury to which he was not accustomed. All the Palace’s carved bone doors, which lined the columned hallways of perfectly-squared blocked stone, were unsettling. The plainness of the Ghet, rough homes made of irregular mine scrap, suited Zane just fine.

Unable to distract himself any
further, the red-finned neondra turned his attention back to the council chamber, watching and waiting along with the rest of the Assembly. The prolonged silence was beginning to wear on Zane.

Nayan sighed deeply; even her patience was waning.

They were waiting for Damaris
again
. This was the third meeting for which she was absent. Despite her earlier calm, Nayan now looked the most worried, concerned for her friend who had not been seen for more than a day. The Palace Guard had been sent out to look for her, after Damaris’ handmaidens reported that she had not returned to her bedchamber on the previous eve. The guards had not found her, nor a clue as to what had become of her or where she might have gone. Missing merwin in Mervidia usually meant only one thing; they were dead, felled in the night by a blade in the name of vengeance or greed. The fact that Damaris had not been found after such an exhaustive search meant that the job had been done well.
No body, no evidence
, Zane sighed.

The
neondra had always had a great deal of respect for the Queen Mother. He remembered her frequent kindness to the Ghet’s inhabitants, when those of the High Houses had turned up their noses at her
soiling
herself by swimming through the decrepit neighborhoods and coming in contact with the merwin of Mervidia’s slums. As often as she could, Damaris had brought desperately needed food to the Ghet. Zane had seen the dirty but happy faces of children, darting through the decrepit neighborhood’s hauntingly empty windows with fresh fish in hand. They had no strong-walled High Houses to protect them, no training, and no weapons with which to hunt for food. Their lives were an endless Culling, an everyday battle to survive. Fries often did not survive long in the Ghet, eaten by predators and other merwin alike. With her visits, Damaris would give them hope with a full belly, if just for a day. Zane hoped he could be half the sovereign the Queen Mother had been. He would miss her beauty, inside and out.

“I think it is time we find a temporary replacement for Damaris as the
ethyrie representative,” Nayan said finally, her pale brow creased with worry. Zane was glad it was her who said the woeful words; the sentiment would have come across as crude from anyone else. “We seem to have no choice but to proceed with today’s meeting… with yet another empty seat among us,” Nayan paused, her eyes glancing at Uchenna’s vacant coral chair. More than one merwin fidgeted, nervously glancing at the octolaide’s unoccupied place at the long stone table.

Who would be next to disappear or be murdered?
Zane silently asked. The neondra was sure he shared that curiosity along with the rest of those in attendance.

“First though, let us instate Zane,” Nayan said, distracting them from feelings
of sorrow, “so that we can all sit, and he can then address the latest matters at hand.” The Assembly members nodded as one, so Nayan proceeded, “All in favor of Zane, Captain of the Red Tridents, as Mervidia’s new king, please raise your hand.”

Zane appreciated Nayan using his proper title.
There was no need to bring House Ignis into this
, he thought.
My family had no part in this future for me, as I left that house of my own free will.
Nayan’s wording also meant that the Assembly was accepting him for who he was: a houseless merwin yet a respected leader of the common people. The neondra was grateful and could think of no nobler beginning than to enter into his new role with honesty. Mervidia needed much of that virtue if it was to survive in the coming weeks.

Nayan, Vaschel, Thaddeus, Hasad, Slone, Penn, Kiva, and Quag all raised a hand.
It was a unanimous vote. Zane could thank the mysterious appearance of the six dead uklod for sealing the deal for him, convincing both the Coral Assembly and himself that he should be king. Nayan sighed, but this time it was with relief. Her shoulders relaxed, dropping slightly, their tension loosened by the employment of good reason.

The
jellod removed a long flat stone from the Royal Chair that served as its right armrest, setting the heavy slab on the seat of the chair. From within the hollowed depths, she drew out a bound sheaf of frilled shark skin scrolls, using the utmost care in her handling of the precious documents. Untying the eel gut cord that held the Mervidian Scrolls in a tight bundle, she laid them out before the red-finned neondra. Nayan delicately set aside the first five pages, all covered in black flowing script, Mervidia’s laws in their original form and written by the First King’s own hand. There was no decoration and no illustrations, just the law simply and beautifully written in calligraphy.

Zane could not help but feel awestruck.
Seeing such a special document, so rich with history, made his chest swell with pride. It made him want to swim to the edge of the city and shout at the Deeps, “
Mervidia
!” Their city was a blazing beacon of civilization in the middle of chaotic darkness. The inhabitants of Mervidia had much to be proud of, having come so far from their caves and primitive ways. Zane wanted to ensure that their city’s greatness remained intact.

Squid ink and a bone stylus had already been placed on the table in front of the Royal Chair.
Nayan pointed to the bottom of the final spell-cured hide, indicating where Zane should sign. Taking a deep breath, already feeling the heavy weight of commitment on his shoulders, the neondra complied, removing the sponge from the ink and dipping the tip of the bone stylus into the container. He added his name to the List of Kings on the last page of the Mervidian Scrolls, some of the ink floating up from the skin in dark tendrils. Zane closed the small stone jar of black liquid and placed the stylus back where it had previously rested on the table.