The Evenstar8 Serial

The Sea-King's Daughter - Part 2

She would like to be able to help her father with the kingdom, too, for it was impossible not to notice the times when he looked weary. For all the Sea King's magic, there were things now in his kingdom which were fading. Even parts of the outer walls of the Palace (since he bothered about that the least) had crumbled. And some of the places Neria had explored with the dolphin had plants which were dying from the heavy black stains of something the Land people apparently called Oil; or from evil substances leaking out of throwaway containers. Any creatures which lived near them began to look sickly and lose all their energy, or even die.

Her father, however, clearly still thought of her as a child, for if she tried to catch his attention by asking him questions, he would always rumble at her to "stop bothering her head about things" as if she had no business with anything serious. That was frustrating. It was true that he said once, "You are my only child, and all this will be yours one day," looking at her thoughtfully as if he were seeing her properly. But he finished what might have turned into a conversation by telling her abruptly to go and help Nurse, and moved away when somebody called for his attention.

It was after this that all kinds of Sea Folk started to visit the palace. Some were mostly Fish, while some were half-and-half like Nurse; some were scaly, some were hairy, some had outer shells, and some had strange dark snub-faces like the Seal Men. Neria thought perhaps that her father was taking a roll-call of all the outlying peoples of his kingdom.

This kept Nurse, as the palace housekeeper, very busy. And Neria with her. For Nurse did need her help: Neria realised all at once that she was growing old.

"It's the Fish side of me," she wheezed crossly after the latest batch of visitors had left. "Short-lived and short-winded the Fish are, and always have been. Why couldn't I have had more of my other grandfather in me? I don't ask for a thousand years, mind - just long enough to see you properly grown up and married."

"Don't be silly, who is there for me to marry?" Neria asked, cross in her turn. She was in a bad temper today because she had found the last visitors particularly ugly (and short on manners) so had had to try especially hard to be polite when they were formally presented to her.

"Why do you think your father's been calling all the Peoples in?" Nurse demanded. "To find a husband for you, as anyone with any sense would have realised!"

"I'm not going to marry one of them," Neria stormed, outraged.

"Not for a while yet, perhaps, but you'll have to find a husband one day, won't you? Someone to rule with you, when the King - Even he's aging," Nurse said, wiping her eye for a moment, "even him, without the Stone...so he's got to think ahead for you, hasn't he?"

"He doesn't have to think of - of marrying me off!" Neria retorted angrily. She was so incensed that the water around her gave a swirl. "And if it's because of the Stone of Renewal being missing, he'd be better off trying to find it!"

"Don't be silly, child. Do you think he hasn't sent out time and time again to hunt for it? And not just for the Stone, either," Nurse muttered half under her breath, and then went on. "If they - I mean it - could be found, don't you think the Seal Men would have told him by now? You must have seen him conferring with them when you were peeping into the throne room over the years, and how sad he always looked afterwards -" She broke off, apparently swallowing something else she might have said, swished her tail smartly, and then continued. "Anyway, there's you to be thought of, and he needs a son-in-law because he's got to teach his wisdom to someone before he goes. Now Neria, stop kicking up the water like that, you're not a baby any more!"

"Indeed I'm not!" Neria cried. Her sea-green eyes flashed. "If my father wants to teach his wisdom to someone, why not to me? But instead I'm to be married off - before I've ever been anywhere, or seen anything?"

"Where would you go and what would you see?" Nurse asked reasonably. "The sea-bed's much the same the world over, except where it's worse because Men have got at it. You're better off down here, where the King's power and the Stone of Invisibility can hide us - better off staying safe! Do you want to cause your father more pain, when - Now, there's plenty for you to do, if you've got a mind to, so you'll oblige me by going to tend to the nurseries for me, before I say things I shouldn't!"

She swam away with a wheeze, and a flick of her tail so fierce that it almost sent Neria spinning. And Neria was left to cry with frustration, her mother-of-pearl tears falling in a shimmer around her. But she went to the nurseries, of course, for the young creatures there had to be tended; and tried to crush her feelings of outrage and rebellion. Nurse had given her plenty to think about. It had shaken her to think that her father (even he) might be aging, however slowly; and she vowed to behave better.

It was a relief when the Sea Folk coming to visit the palace became less and less without her father mentioning any marriage. Perhaps it had merely been an idea of Nurse's, after all. Neria made a further resolution to be contented with her life. And she managed it - for a while...

It didn't help when the dolphin didn't return this year. Or perhaps he had come when she was too busy at the palace go out and look for him, and had left again, not finding her. Restlessness caught at her again. She began to go out secretly at night, again - telling herself that she was looking for the Stone of Renewal, to help her father. She went to the Shore, too, telling herself that it might have been washed up there. If it had been the Seal Men who had been sent to look for it, why not?

At first she went only to the empty places where she and the dolphin had been before; then one night she lost her direction and found herself in a different area. There were lights of cottages showing not far inland from the beach. She wondered curiously what the Humans inside the cottages might be doing, and if she had dared, she would have crept up to look through a window. But she had been out for quite a long time already...

She did not know that the village was one of the places where the Seal Men went. Nor did she realise that a dark hump (one she had taken for a rock, among a lot of other rocks humped along the sand) had shifted, catching her movement with eyes grown suddenly watchful. So it was a shock, as she turned back towards the sea, to find the beach suddenly coming alive and herself all at once surrounded by dark shapes. Terror seized her and she cried out, thinking she had been captured by Men. But she was hustled back into the water, with the creatures crowding her: her panic turned into a different kind of fear, and into anger too, as they pushed her this way and that down into deep water. Furious (because they were treating her with little dignity) she called out in the sea-speech that they were to leave her alone, but the seal faces which looked into hers made no response. She dived and twisted to escape them, but they were still with her, as close as before.

They were treating her as a prisoner, that was plain. And it was plain, too, as they drove her on, that they planned to take their captive all the way back to the Palace.

They must have sent a messenger on ahead, for the Sea King's anger came out to meet them. It could be felt in the water, and all the creatures in their path, fish, crabs, seahorses and all, fled to hide themselves under weed or in crevices in the rocks. Even the Seal Men seemed to feel the need to huddle together, hemming Neria in even more closely, so that she began to feel a fury of her own. As the Sea Princess she ought to be able to swim wherever she would, yes, and walk wherever she would if she chose!

It made her angrier than ever to be pushed so hard into the Throne Room that she almost tumbled at her father's feet. It was just as well she felt so angry, or the look she saw in his eyes would have made her quail as she stared up into his face. He sat implacably on his throne, and his frown was terrible. Even her captors ranged around her trembled: she could feel a shiver in the fur of the Seal Man closest to her.

Nevertheless it was Neria who spoke first. She held her father's gaze with eyes as sea-green and cold as his own, and said haughtily, "Tell these people to move away from me, please. There is no need for them to stand round me as if I were a prisoner."

The Seal Men fell back (she was pleased to notice) though they remained behind her. Her father's voice rang coldly in her head.

"What were you doing on the Shore?"

"Walking there. Why should I not?"

"It is forbidden for you to go on the shore, as you well know."

"Why?" She flung the question at him. Only when everything in the throne room suddenly seemed to quiver did she remember that no-one ever queried the Sea King's orders. She reminded herself that she was the King's daughter, and her chin lifted defiantly. "Why should I not go where I please?"

"Because I have said so - and you will obey me!"

His anger now was like a blast through the water, and directed straight at her. But Neria had been frightened enough tonight, and most of all when the Seal Men surrounded her on the shore and she had thought them human Men, and hostile. Something inside her snapped.

"What will you do to me if I don't?" she screamed. "Chain me up until you can marry me to some sea monster? Is that what you plan for me? Am I never to be allowed to go anywhere, or see anything new, but just to be held prisoner here without anyone even to talk to?"

"You are saying that I harm you?"

"Yes, you do - by keeping me penned in! Father -"

His voice inside her head was telling her sternly to go to her room and stay there. She could only obey him. She knew there would be a guard on the door of her room, and there was: one of the swordfish guards took up his position there, looking shifty and taking care not to catch her eye. The whole palace had a shivery feeling, as if the King's anger might break something unless everyone kept very quiet. Neria cried herself to sleep, and since even Nurse didn't come to her, guessed she must have been forbidden to do so. Perhaps her father would give her some terrible punishment for defying him so openly in front of everyone...

It seemed hours the next day before he sent for her. The swordfish guard escorted her through empty corridors to the throne room. She almost expected to find the whole court assembled there. But when she went in (the swordfish guard remaining outside) her father was quite alone. He sat on his throne with his chin resting on one hand, and seemed not to be aware even of her, until she went and stood directly in front of him. Even then he looked at her for a long moment before he spoke, and his face was not angry any more, but sad.

"I would never marry you to anyone against your will," he said, his voice quiet. "If you thought I would, then I - am sorry. Have I neglected you?"

"No! You have so much to do..." She reached out tentatively to touch his hand, feeling confused by the fact that he was no longer angry with her, but seemed instead to be asking her to pardon him. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

He made a gesture which put the thought away. "I should have known you were unhappy." He added quietly, "How often have you walked on the Shore?"

"I've tried it a few times, that's all. Is it so wrong? It was only because I was curious. And - I suppose, because I was told not to!" She dared a smile at him, and then, since he was still showing no anger, the words came tumbling out of her. "Father, can't I go on to the shore properly and see what it's like there? I want to know so many things!"

"No! It would be dangerous for you."

"Why? It would be no more dangerous there than under the water! I don't want to stay on the shore forever, I just want to see. I want to know what Land houses are like, and how the people live in them. It must be so strange with everything dry. I don't even know how far the Land stretches. Is it as big as the Sea? If I've never seen it," she said wistfully, "I shall go on being curious about the Land all my life. It's different if you've already seen everything, as I expect you have."

"I have never walked on the Land. I was born here, not long after everything changed, and I can only live and breathe under the sea."

"Well, since I'm different from you, it must be because my mo-" Neria abruptly bit off the word as she remembered that her dead mother the Queen must never be spoken of. She looked anxiously at her father's face, but he said only,

"Yes, you are only half Atlantean. But you are my daughter - and I cannot let you go!"

"Cannot - or will not?"

"Will not! You belong here, and I will not lose you! Not you, too."

Because of his last words it seemed a cruel thing to ask of him, but somehow talking about the shore had made Neria's restless longing all the greater. "Father, let me go for a little while," she pleaded. "I would come back, and settle down and marry anyone you liked...well, within reason! Or I'd stay with you and help you with the kingdom, if you'd let me. But wouldn't it be valuable if I knew what the Land is like, and the sort of things Men do there? If I had some first-hand knowledge to help us understand them?"

"You might never wish to return. Do you ask me to say you may go, when I might lose you forever?"

"I would give you my promise. An Atlantean - even half an Atlantean - never breaks a promise. Don't you remember telling me that when I was a child? As I am your daughter, I would promise to come back to you. Please, won't you at least think about it?"

"I will think about it."

The look he gave her suggested his thoughts would not make him agree, but at least he had not grown angry again. Neria asked meekly, "May I go and help Nurse now?" and he nodded, and let her kiss his cheek. As she reached the door she turned her head to look back at him, and found him watching her. He said,

"Neria, will you promise me not to walk on the Shore again unless I give you leave?"

"Very well, Father." Her heard sank a little, for it was true that an Atlantean never breaks a promise. Something made her add,

"You taught me many things when I was a child. One of them was that one should never hold any of the sea creatures too tightly, because it would only make them wish to run away; but if you let them be free they will know you care for them, and so come back to you. I am only giving you back your own wisdom. You have my promise."

There was no swordfish guard waiting for her now, and she was free to go where she pleased. However, she had said she was going to help Nurse, and so she did. And had to put up with that lady's dark mutterings. It would take a lot of work to set the palace straight again, Nurse said grimly, when all the disturbance in the water had sent sand into everything. And no less than three sea anenomes had died of fright, and a pregnant lobster had lapsed into hysterics and still needed careful minding. That was what happened when some people upset everyone with wild escapades. Neria supposed she was lucky Nurse didn't say more. Everyone was still showing signs of nervousness, and it was a relief when a couple of fish started singing again, even if they were a little off-key.

She did not see her father until he sent for her again. She had been busy in one of the nurseries when a seahorse came flitting in with the message. She tidied herself and went to the throne room. To her surprise Nurse met her in the doorway, looking pale green all over as if something had upset her badly. Before she could ask what the matter was, Nurse had embraced her with a choked sob and swum away fast, if shakily. Neria went in to find two Seal Men with her father, one of the younger ones (from the look of him) and one older. They were both looking grave. (Seal Men often did, however; she had always thought them rather gloomy and given to anxiety.) Neria looked quickly at her father.

His face was set in its usual mask of sadness, but she thought there was something like pain in his eyes as he looked at her. His voice, however, was calm and solemn.

"Daughter, you have asked to go onto the Land for a while. If I give you leave to go for a year-and-a-day, will you promise to come back at the end of that time?"

Neria gasped, but the words tumbled out of her. "Yes, I will - indeed I will!"

"Then you have my permission to go, for a year-and-a-day. You have the looks to pass for a Human, and I will give you the power to speak and understand the Land languages. And you can take some of the treasure which Humans use for money." He gestured towards the two Seal Men, and Neria saw that each was carrying a cloth bag which chinked a little in the movement of the water. "These two Seal Men will go with you. They have the magic to appear as Men, and they will protect you. Do these arrangements satisfy you?"

"Yes, Father, and thank you!"

"You may go where you please, as long as you are back by the appointed time. But you should pay attention to your guardians since they know the Land and you do not."

"Oh, I will!" With sudden excitement (for she was only now taking it in) Neria turned to smile at the younger of the Seal Men. If he merely gave her an awkward look in return, it did not dampen her lifting spirits. "When will we go?"

"At once," her father said, surprising her still further. There was a sudden gleam in his eye. "It is better that you go at once, so that I cannot change my mind!"

He signed to the Seal Men, who bowed and left the room. The King and Neria were left alone. She ran to him then, to put her arms round him and hug him as she had not done since she was quite small. That her father should give her this sudden freedom was the last thing she had expected.

"Thank you," she said against his seaweedy cheek. "I'll try to learn things which will be useful to us, and I'll tell you everything about it when I come back."

"Do as your guardians tell you. And stay safe." He kissed her on both cheeks, and laid his broad hand on her head as a blessing. Then he struck the polished shell beside him so that it rang to call the Seal Men back into the room. There was no time to say any other goodbyes, for the Seal Men took her out of the palace quickly.

For one moment, as they moved swiftly up out of the deeps, Neria felt a quiver of fear for what lay ahead, and almost wished to turn back into familiarity and safety. But the feeling passed, swallowed up in the gaiety of adventure. She turned her head and called out to the elder of the Seal Men.

"Tell me your names, for I must know them, if we are to be together for a year-and-a-day."

"I am Skyro, Princess. And this is my son, Varten."

It was strange to think that she had never done more than exchange polite greetings with the Seal People before when she met them in the palace corridors, and now two of them were to be her companions. Strange too that she knew them so little when they were her mother's people. It did not seem to be the moment to raise that subject. "I am glad you are with me, Skyro and Varten," she said politely, "and that you will be able to teach me what you know. I hope we shall be friends."

They each muttered a respectful answer, sounding thoroughly awkward. And the three of them swam on, towards a different world.

Land.