Authors: Sheri L. Swift

LEGEND OF THE MER (13 page)

“Nope, you’re our guest, just take a seat,” said Lana’s father.

“Okay
.
”
Miss Perry sat down and smiled to see how the two worked so well together. She knew that Lana and her father shared a real love for one another and was glad to see that they had gotten past their differences.

“Lana has some news,” said her father with an encouraging look to Lana.

“Yeah, I’ve decided to spend a month getting to know the mer and see what that life might be like,” she said a little hesitantly, not sure what
Miss Perry
might think.

“Lana
that’s wonderful, I know it will help you find some answers for yourself. I’m sure that isn’t going to be easy for your father,” she said as she looked to him.

“No, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he said with a slight smile.

“I’m sure it is
.
”
Miss Perry
smiled
sympathetically.

“At least I know that Dad won’t be too lonely while I’m gone
.
”
Lana smiled as she looked at the two of them.

“No, I’ll make sure I give him plenty of attention
.
”
Miss Perry
glance
d
towards him
and smiled
.

“You promise?”
H
e smiled back, making Miss Perry blush.

“Yes, I promise,” she said softly.

“Okay you guys, we better eat before it gets cold,” Lana said as she poured everyone a glass of iced tea.

All three enjoyed their dinner and dessert. They enjoyed talking over Lana’s plans and Miss Perry was genuinely happy for her. Lana told her about all the fun she’d been having w
ith Prince Titus. Cole
didn’t enjoy it quite as much, but he let the two girls talk on. Miss Perry was amazed to hear that Lana was able to stay under the water as well as the mer and even more amazed when Lana showed her the gills on either side of her neck.

Lana’s father drove Miss Perry home and Lana headed to her room. She went to bed and sat looking out her window once more. It was a beautiful starr
y night. The moon cast its light
over the ocean making it appear to have a neon blue glow. Lana wondered
;
how do the mer
sleep?
She thought about Prince Titus and wondered
;
is he thinking of me?
Lana
was finished with her suit and knew that it was going to be hard to say goodbye to her dad.

Lana was still staring out her window when her father came home. He came up the stairs and gently knocked on her door. “Come in Dad, I’m not sleeping,” she called.

“Good, I tried not to be too long so we could talk,” he said as he entered her room and sat at the end of the bed.

“I’d like that
.
”
Lana smiled.

“I know it’s time Lana, even though it hurts to let you go
.
”
H
e smiled tenderly.

“Thanks Dad, I was hoping to leave in the morning,” she said softly, trying not to hurt him.

“That’s alright, but after you’ve had a good breakfast, okay?” he said finding it hard to get out the words.

“Okay Dad, after breakfast,” Lana said a little misty-eyed herself.

Then her father kissed the top of her head and said, “Goodnight kid, I love you.”

“Goodnight Dad, I love you too,”
she
said as she watched him leave and close the door behind him. Lana looked out her window once more and thought
;
what will it
be like
living in
the ocean for a month?
She hoped that the mer were all like King Titan and Princess Tarra. She hoped they would treat her as one of them and not an outsider, even though she knew she was not completely like them. She had been treated badly her entire life from people who couldn’t understand her differences. She hoped that the mer were not the same.

Lana let her thoughts settle on Prince Titus and how much she knew he c
ared for her.
Surely that will be enough to keep me
strong in the days ahead?
Lana fell asleep with the memory of his smile.

~~~

Once more, Lana woke to the smell of breakfast. This time, however, she didn’t hear her father whistling d
ownstairs.
This is gonna be a sad goodbye for us
both
. She went ahead and put on her suit and the belt, placing the knife in the sheath. She decided to leave the whale bone combs so that she wouldn’t lose them
as well as her brow ring
. She briefly took out the grey pearl necklace fro
m her jewelry box and felt the
smoothness
of the pearls
and smiled to remember that night when Prince Titus gave them to her. She put the necklace
bac
k, also not wanting to take it
. Then she took a deep breath
,
here we go
,
and headed downstairs.

“Good morning, I made you plenty of bacon, you’re gonna need the energy
.
”

H
er father
grinned
.

“Thanks Dad, the mer do eat don’t they?” Lana laughed.

“Yeah, but you know, it’s mostly fish and seaweed
,
” he
said
wrinkl
ing
his nose.

“Dad, it can’t be that bad,” she said laughing out loud.

“You’ll get used to it; you know that you do have the cavern to cook the fish if you want.”

“Yeah, that’s how I ate my last meal there.”

“You know, I will be talking to Prince Titus myself before you go,” said her father seriously.

“Yeah, I figured as much
.
”
S
he
rolled her eyes and
smiled slightly.

“Your suit looks great. I’m glad you remembered the knife. I’m not kidding Lana, you’ll need to keep it with you always,” he
said
sternly with raised brows.

“Okay Dad, I’ll remember
.
”

“Alright, eat your breakfast
.
”
H
e gave
her
a slight grin.

When it was time to leave, Lana’s father walked her to the dock. Prince Titus surfaced. Tempest waited for them further out
.

“It’s good to see you again Prince Titus, I understand that you’ll be looking out for my daughter?” he said seriously.

“Yes Cole, you may be certain of it
.
”

“I want you to be sure to have one of your maidens stay with her each night in the cavern. She needs to have some kind of human routine. Also, make sure she gets some sunlight; she’ll get too weak if she doesn’t. She’ll probably want to cook her fish...”

“Dad enough already!”
Lana rolled her eyes.

“I assure you Cole, all of her needs will be attended to. And yes, she will be chaperoned by one of our maidens,” said Prince Titus
respectful
ly.

“Lana, your
birthday is a little more than a
month
away
, I expect to see you home
by
then,” her father said in a serious tone.

“Wow Dad, I had forgotten, sure,” she said as she hugged him and he kissed the top of her head. Then she hesitated and softly said, “Dad, one thing, please don’t drink while I’m gone.”

“Lana, I haven’t touched a drop since I first talked to you about your mother, and I don’t think I ever will again
.
”
H
e smiled and hugged her and she smiled back and kissed him on his cheek.

“Wish me luck!” Lana said as she ran and jumped into the water.

“I wish you love and safety!” he called out and gave Prince Titus one last stern glance. The Prince gave a slight bow of his head and flipped into the water following after Lana and Tempest.

~~~~~

Chapter 9

CITY OF THE MER

Prince Titus, with Lana on his back, slowed his speed as they neared
Gull
Island
. He began to circle around the base and passed the opening to the cavern.

“Aren’t we going to the cavern?” Lana let her thoughts ask.

“No, we are going to the city
.
”

“What city?” Lana asked confused.

“You will see
.
”
H
e smiled as he looked back to her. They swam around to the other side and at the very b
ottom
was a dark hole covered by seaweed. It looked barely large enough for one of them. He swung her around and took her hand and led her through the opening with Tempest following behind. It was wider than it first appeared, with a long dark tunnel. As they neared the end, a bright light shone. When they finally left the tunnel, Lana could hardly believe her eyes. She saw a large underwater city that was beyond anything she could have imagined.

“Welcome to Torbist, the city of the mer,” Prince Titus said smiling to see Lana’s expression
.

“It’
s so beautiful and so big,” said Lana surpri
sed by it. There were hundreds
of what appeared t
o be
domed houses. Each one had only an oval shaped hole in the front. They were brown and seemed to be made of some type of hard clay. The homes outlined the entire city. There was also coral reef gardens running throughout the entire cavern and Lana couldn’t believe how many brilliant colors there were. The gardens had several white marble archways and statues of the mer within them. The center of the city had the most brilliant light coming from what looked like a large multi-faceted crystal. The walls of the large cavern sparkled even more than the blue cavern Titus had taken her to.

“Your great-grandfather helped to build this light for our city. He placed several lenses in the tunnel above that goes all the way to the top of
Gull
Island
. They refract the sun, leading the light down to the crystal. Even on a clear night, the city is lit by the light of the moon. We also have luminous plants all along the cavern walls that keep the city from ever being completely dark
. The top of the cavern has a breathing space which is also vented like the smaller cavern in which you used to live
,” explained Prince Titus.

“Is this her?”
S
miled a young boy of a mer. Lana thought he looked like a younger version of Prince Titus, only he had light blonde hair instead of white.

“Yes Uly, this is she,” s
ai
d the Prince.

“Hello, my name is Prince Ulysses, but you can call me Uly like everyone else.”

“Hi
Uly, my name is Lana
.
”
S
he smiled
at him
.

“Her name is
Princess
Lana. This is my nephew, Tarrock and Rema’s son,” said Prince Titus.

“Uncle Titus has been waiting a long time for you,” said Uly.

“Yeah, I know
.
”
Lana smiled to see Titus blush a little.

“Hello Princess Lana, welcome to our city. My name is Princess Rema and I am the mother of Ulysses,” she said as she gave a smile to Lana and a stern glance to her son. She looked a little li
ke Princess Tarra.

They all have
such similar features
, Lana thought.

“Lana, I wish you to meet my parents, Prince Terrance and Princess Cassandra,” Titus said as he turned to them. They were both smiling and seemed to be so young. Titus’ father did have a short white beard and some white hairs upon his chest, but their faces appeared to be nearly as young as Lana and Titus.

“Hello, I’m glad to meet you,” Lana said nervously.

“We are very pleased to meet you,” said his mother.

“Yes, welcome home to your people,” said his father.

“Lana, I am so
happy
that you have returned,” called Princess Tarra as she swam towards them.

“Thank you, it’s good to be here,” Lana said again a little nervously.
How strange that
we
’
re all able to
carry on a conversation in our
minds
. Then all those gathered around let out a slight giggle and Lana realized that they must have just read her thoughts. Her father was right about no one having a private thought.

“You will get used to it,” s
ai
d Titus.

“It is time Titus,” said Princess Tarra.

“King Titan wishes to greet you in the Hall,” said Titus as he held her hand and began to lead her towards rows of large white columns that went from the cavern floor to the ceiling. They were on either side of what looked like marble tiles on the floor. They were beautiful with a blue and green Italian motif. It looked as though they were joined by gold grouting.

Lana thought
;
that must be real gold!
At the end of the long open Hall, there were steps leading up to a golden throne where Lana saw King Titan sitting. He was holding a golden forked staff.

King Titan smiled to Lana and said, “Welcome Princess Lana, long have the mer waited to greet you.”

“Thank you King Titan, I’m glad my dad let me come,” she said nervously.

“I have a gift for you. These are the pearls that your mother gathered to make a crown for you long ago,” said King Titan as Princess Tarra held a golden tray with a circle of grey pearls out to the King. He carefully picked them up and gently placed them on Lana’s head
as she leaned forward
.

Lana could hear the shouts of many in her mind.

She couldn’t help but remember the cost that her mother and grandparents paid for such a gift
.

“Do not be sad Princess Lana, it was her wish that you should have them
.
”
T
he King
smiled
lovingly.

Then King Titan swam up from his throne and took Lana’s hand from the reluctant Titus. He turned her to see the hundreds of mer that had gathered in the Hall.

Lana
couldn’t believe how many there were. Some were even dark haired with dark eyes
and dark blue tails.
These must
be
the dark ones
that dad told me
about
.

All the mer were smiling and King Titan shouted, “I give you my granddaughter, Princess
Lana the merwalker,
and daughter of Princess Leona and Cole Prentis the guardian!”

Once more, Lana heard the many shouts of all the mer at once and she couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed by all the attention. “We are having a dance tonight in your honor,” said King Titan with a smile.

“Wow, thanks,” said Lana timidly.

“Prince Titus, will you dance with the Princess Lana?” asked the King.

“It would be my pleasure
.
”
S
miled Titus taking her hand once more. Prince Titus led Lana out t
owards the center of the cavern near the large crystal
and Lana was amazed to hear music being played. She looked across the floor and saw several of the mer playing instruments. Some played golden harps, others played some sort of golden flutes with several pipes. There were large golden drums and some of the mer were blowing into conch shells like the one that her father had.

“How are we able to hear the music?” Lana sent her thoughts to Titus.

“All mer can hear the music
.
”
H
e smiled as he put his arm around her waist and continued holding her hand. He began to swirl them both around like he had done the last time they danced. Lana smiled to remember it.

“Where’
s Tempest?” Lana asked.

“He is in my home. He knows to stay there once he enters the city,” answered the Prince.

Lana began to hear the many thoughts of those gathered all around them. Some of the thoughts were coming from the younger mermen. They were all thinking how they would like to dance with her.

“Does that surprise you?” Prince Titus asked reading her thoughts.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine why they would.”

“You still do not understand how very beautiful you truly are
.
”
H
e smiled
,
looking into her eyes
.