LEGEND OF THE MER (40 page)

Lana had Tempest stay close beside her with Rose while Titus and Makoa ventured further out.

Suddenly, Lana noticed that a school of blue marlin was swimming quickly past her. 

Titus and Makoa swam to her
. 
“Something is frightening the fish.  Where is Tempest and Rose?” Titus asked with concern.

“He was just here!” Lana cried as she frantically looked all around.

“I will go!” Makoa said as he quickly
dropped his net bag of crabs and
swam off in the direction of the fish.

B
oth Titus and Lana heard the sound of a large ship’s engine and looked up to see a cruise ship passing far above them.

Makoa swam back with Rose in his arms and Tempest was following cautiously behind.  “She is fine
.
” Makoa
smiled
.

“Tempest went fast Mommy!” Rose said to Lana.

“Yeah, I bet he did
.
”
Lana smiled with relief to Titus and he just smiled and shook his head.  They both realized that they would have to be more watchful in the future.
 

T
hey all began to swim back
with the crabs
and before they knew it, King Thaddaeus and two
of his guardsmen were s
w
imming up
to them.

Lana saw that their
King wore an ornate golden crown and the two guards wore
the golden circle
.  One of the guards was dark haired and
Lana sensed that Titus was angry that
he and their King had
seen
her
.

“Makoa, take them to Cole quickly!” 
Titus said as he gripped his spear with both his hands. 

Mak
oa gave a quick bow of his head, dropped his bag with the crabs
,
and grabbed Lana and placed her on his back while holding R
ose in his other
arm and quickly
swam
away
, Tempest sped off
with them
.

Titus stayed and held firm to his spear; he was not sure why they had come, but he would do anything to protect his mate and
little
daughter.

Lana was afraid for Titus as they were leaving him behind.   Soon they passed King Titan and some of his guard heading towards Titus;
t
hey must have sensed the others’
presence
, Lana thought.

Makoa
gave a quick bow of his head to King Titan and then
swam
on and went
right up to the
Bonnie Rose
where Cole quickly met them.

“I must return to Prince Titus; Ahanu is now head of the guard for King Thaddaeus,” said Makoa
coldly
and then he quickly dove
below.

“Dad, what is it?  Who is Ahanu?”

“Well Lana, Ahanu is Makoa’s father.”

“Makoa’s father?” she asked more confused than ever.

“Yeah, you see when
some of
the dark ones left
with Darious,
Makoa’s father was one of them; Makoa’s mother
had
died shortly after giving birth to him.”

“Gosh that’s awful; I never realized that Makoa didn’
t have any parents in
the p
od.”

“No, his father had taken
it pretty bad after Nu
tt
ah died and he seemed to
distance himself from Makoa.  You could say that Prince Terranc
e and Princess Cassandra became
his parents after that.”

“Wow, now I know why he and Titus are so close.”

“Yeah, they’
ve become brothers.  How many
of the others were
with King Thaddaeus?”

“I only saw two guards with h
im, but we passed King Titan and
many of his guardsmen on our way here, I just pray that Titus is alright.”

“You should know by now that your husband’s a pretty tough guy
.
”
Cole grinned trying to encourage her.

“Yeah I know, but I’m still worried.

“If I know Titus, he’s none too happy that their King has seen you.”

“
No he’s not, b
ut w
hy Dad?”

“Lana, you don’t realize what an unusual person you really are.  I don’
t even think there’s another
merwalker
in
the
whole
world except for Talei.
  You’ve seen yourself how much the mer enjoy you being able to get them things on land; only I think the others would have different intentions.
”

“
I guess I
just
never realized.”

“Don’t worry, Titus will be fine.”

When King
Titan reached the others, Titus was relieved and loosened the
grip he h
el
d on his spear.

“What have you come to say?” King Titan asked King Thaddaeus.

“We have come to ask for a truce; I am sure that neither of us wish
es to have war,”
King Thaddaeus
said while
grin
ning
to Titus.

“No, we
have never wished to fight
you; however, now you know that we will defend ourselves against any
and all
that come against us,” said King Titan boldly.

“Then it is agreed that we have a truce?” sa
id Thaddaeus, but still staring
coldly
at
Titus.

“It is agreed
,
”
s
aid King Titan
;
realiz
ing that Thaddaeus was
taunt
ing
Titus. 
Ki
ng Titan firmly gripped
his golden forked staff and Thaddaeus glanced toward
s
him and gave a b
ow of his head and turned, giving Titus one more cold
stare
and then swa
m away.

The one guard did the same, but the other named Ahanu glared at King Titan, then Prince Titus, and then
he let loose of some of his
anger as he looked toward
s
Makoa.

Makoa only glared back at him with disdain.

Then Ahanu also turned and swam away.

“We will always have to be on our guard; I am sorry King Titan, he has seen Lana,” said Titus sadly.

“It is well; he knows that we are strong,” said King Titan and then they all turned and swam back to the pod.

~~~

Lana
was
sad to see their journey
spoiled by the appearance of the others and now it seemed to
end so quickly; it had been
a fun trip before that
.

Now that they
reached Tullius; everyone was tired and went to their own homes.

Micah took the yacht to
Kaloki
Island
where he, Tarra
and Fianna greeted his family and his new little niece Faith.

Andrew was so happy to see Fianna once more.

Cole
anchored near the city of
Tullius
.

Lana and Titus said one last goodnight to them and took their children and Tempest home.
 
When they entered their small home Titus said, “You know, if we have many more children, we shall need a bigger h
ouse
.
”
H
e smiled and kissed her
.

“Yeah, it’s starting to get a little cramped; but I like it.  I love having all of you so near.  Remember, I never had a lot of family when I was growing up
.
”
S
he smiled as she looked into Titus’ eyes.

“Yes, I remember.  I also remember that you did have a large family that was waiting for you to come home to them
,
”
h
e said as he ran his fingers through her long white hair.

“I’m so glad
they waited
and I’m so glad to be home
.
”
S
he smiled even brighter and tenderly kissed him.

~~~

The next morning, Lana surfaced to the smell of breakfast cooking.  Titus knew that Cole had promised Lana a big breakfast because it was Sunday and it had become their tradition once more.  Titus wanted Lana to be able to have the food and the fellowship that she came to love.  He also knew that it was good for Cole and Rose to visit with her as well.