Aurelius feigned ignorance. “Mmmm?”
“I said—”
Aurelius interrupted him with a strangely echoing whisper. “Yesha ter ara congelisen.”
Martanel realized what was happening too late. He tried to counter the magic with his own, but his lips would not move to form the words. Had he known that the man before him was not really Aurelius, he might have had his guard up, but as it was, he was helpless to resist the spell.
Aurelius smiled, and whispered another command to freeze the other guardsman in place. Once they were completely motionless, he unveiled the relic and held it up to Martanel’s eyes. “Is this what you were looking for?” Aurelius’s smile broadened. “It’s all mine now. Oh, and you can tell the queen: I’ve had better. Her daughter for one.” With that, he tucked the relic back inside his tunic and continued on his way. As he left, he froze the guards at the main entrance, just for good measure. It wouldn’t do to be discovered before he could escape.
They would snap out of it soon enough and alert the queen to his betrayal. Of course, he could have disabled the guards more permanently, but he wanted witnesses. Aurelius was going to be in a lot of trouble when they all woke up. By then, he, Gabrian, would be long gone, a stowaway on the princess’s mission to the surface. By the time she returned to rescue Aurelius from the queen, he would have already been executed in the ring for his crimes.
What a pity,
Gabrian thought, smiling to himself as he hurried down the corridor.
* * *
Lashyla awoke just before dawn to find Aurelius already gone. She frowned, feeling bereft and rejected anew, but she knew he had left to keep their secret, not because he couldn’t stand to be with her. She hurried through her morning routine, taking her usual swim, catching and eating a quick breakfast as she swam her second lap around the city. Then she swam back inside and dressed once more, not even taking the time to dry herself. She hurried to her room and collected the supplies she would need; some more appropriate clothing for one, which she could use to walk around the dusty cities built upon the shores of the Misty Sea.
She bid her guards goodbye. One of them asked where she was going, and unthinkingly she told him, only to swear him to secrecy a moment later. The fewer who knew about her journey the better.
Lashyla hurried straight to the Launch. There she found the
Queen’s Carrier
waiting in silent readiness. It was a fairly large vessel, but even for all its size, it only required one person to pilot it, which was just as well. Lashyla certainly didn’t want to have to involve another maiden in her plot. No, this way was better; by the time anyone discovered the reason for her trip, she would already have the champion she needed to steal Aurelius from her mother.
Lashyla walked straight up to the sleek black hull of the vessel and began climbing the rungs of the ladder to the top of the conning tower where the hatch lay. She was barely halfway up when she heard hurried footsteps come echoing into the yawning chamber. Lashyla turned to look. It was one of her guards.
“Princess!” he called up to her, stopping just beneath the conning tower.
“What is it?” she called back, annoyed to be troubled just before she was about to leave.
“It’s Aurelius. The queen’s guards came for him only a moment ago. I told them he was back in his quarters, and they left to search for him there.”
Lashyla shook her head, confused. “So? What did they want?”
“There’s an order for his arrest. He’s to be executed immediately for theft and treason.”
“Theft? What did he steal?” Lashyla demanded.
The guardsman shook his head. “I don’t know, but the queen is not happy about it.”
“Fool!” she hissed. Her guard flinched, but the exclamation wasn’t directed at him. “He is ruining everything!”
“Your apologies, princess, I didn’t mean to—”
She made a sharp gesture with her hand, cutting him off, and then began descending the ladder. A moment later she stood scowling before him. “Were you one of my witnesses?”
“I was.”
“And the other?”
The man shrugged. “Guarding our beauteous queen perhaps.”
“Fetch him and meet me at the queen’s chambers. We have no time to lose.” With that, the princess stalked away. She could feel her fury coming and going on pulsing waves that throbbed insistently in her forehead. What had Aurelius been thinking to steal from her mother? He’d left her with only one choice, and it wasn’t a good one.
* * *
Gabrian waited a long time in the sepulchral stillness of the submarine’s cargo hold. He’d hidden himself inside one of the old, empty alloy boxes stacked along the walls. The inside of it smelled like rotting fish. His legs were cramping, and his backside ached from sitting so long on the hard floor. Something was wrong. The princess should have left by now. They should already be on their way. What was taking her?
Reluctantly, Gabrian unfolded himself from his hiding place and stalked through the submarine to find her. The vessel was as silent as a tomb. When at last he reached the cockpit, he found it empty. Now he was certain that something was awry. It had been hours since the dawn. If Lashyla were coming, she should have come by now. Something had delayed her, which meant that something had delayed
him
as well.
With a grunt of irritation, Gabrian turned and strode from the cockpit. It was time to find out what that
something
was.
* * *
The guards came for Aurelius while he was still sound asleep on the couch. They’d slammed through the door and marched straight up to him before he’d even finished blinking the sleep from his eyes. He’d sat up just as they hauled him to his feet and began half carrying, half dragging him to the door. Another pair of guards disappeared into Reven’s room and Aurelius heard the rising sounds of a struggle. The sounds of struggle drew four more guards from the hallway outside and soon the growling and snarling began, followed by the snapping of teeth and the wild, frightened exclamations of men.
“He’s a wolf!”
“Stick him!”
There came a scream and then a startled yelp. Aurelius struggled against the hands holding him to twist around and see what had happened. He saw four men emerge from Reven’s room dragging a massive, furry monster behind them. Aurelius couldn’t tell if it was dead or alive. Another two men came limping from the room. One of them was holding a strip of cloth to a bubbling gash in his forearm.
“What’s going on?” Aurelius demanded.
“Quiet!” A guard cuffed him across the back of his head, and Aurelius’s teeth clacked together noisily. Another pair of guards emerged from Gabrian’s room shaking their heads. One of those holding Aurelius turned to him, his eyes flashing dangerously. Aurelius found that he recognized this guard. This was the guard who had been with the princess when she had taken him on a tour of the city. This guard had been the one to escort him back to the galley after he'd successfully repelled the princess. Along the way the guard had praised Aurelius for his restraint and introduced himself as Martanel.
“Where is the old man?” Martanel demanded.
Aurelius met those accusing blue eyes with honest ignorance. “I don’t know.”
“Fool!” Martanel hissed.
One of the other guards called out, “Take him to the queen. She wants a word with him before he’s thrown into the ring.”
Suddenly Aurelius was being dragged along again. He felt his heart hammering with anxious dread. “The ring?”
“That’s right,” Martanel said while helping to drag him through the corridors of the city. The glowing clumps of coral flashed by in shades of vermillion, jade, and ocher, dazzling Aurelius’s still sleepy eyes. He blinked away the glare. “What did I do to be sent to the ring?”
“You stole from the queen . . . or don’t you remember?” Martanel turned to look at him with eyes that were suddenly less accusing than curious, as though the man’s question were genuine rather than sarcastic.
“I . . . when did this happen?”
“Last night, as you were leaving her majesty's chambers.”
“What?” Aurelius gaped. “But I was never there!”
The other guard carrying Aurelius snorted, and Martanel shot him a pitying look. “You were seen by many witnesses, including myself. It's no use trying to deny it.”
“I . . .” Aurelius shook his head. “That’s not possible . . .”
“Think carefully before you decide what is and isn’t possible,” Martanel whispered. “And think long and hard about where your friend Gabrian is, if not in his quarters.”
Aurelius’s eyes widened suddenly and he felt a dawning dread. He shot his captors a quick look and opened his mouth to object. “Then it was him! He—”
Martanel silenced him with a quick shake of his head. “What use are excuses if no one will believe them? What good is a defense without an alibi? Save your breath, Aurelius. It will not save you from the queen’s wrath, only enrage her further.”
“I have to speak in my defense! If I don’t, who will?”
“Tell me, Aurelius, did you not come to Meria seeking something?”
“I—”
“An object of great value, perhaps?”
Aurelius felt himself being baited for a trap, so he kept silent.
“Then tell me, now that the object is mysteriously missing, how you are still innocent, and maybe I will believe you.”
Aurelius endured a brief silence, his mind racing to catch up. Apparently Gabrian had found the relic and promptly stolen it; but his theft had been discovered, and he had disappeared, leaving his companions to take the fall for the theft. Aurelius could only hope that now the old man would come looking for him and Reven.
“What will happen to me now?” he asked.
Martanel shook his head. “You’ll be executed for your crime.”
“What?! For stealing?”
“Mermaids are not tolerant of crime, much less when the crime is against the queen herself. Making matters worse is that you mated with the queen first.” Martanel merely shook his head. “I do not envy you. The princess’s scorn is nothing compared to the queen’s, and somehow, you poor fool, you have earned them both.”
“But I haven’t done any of that!”
“Save your breath, Aurelius.”
By the time they reached the queen’s quarters Aurelius was more than slightly frightened of what was about to happen to him. He already knew he was to be sent to the ring for his alleged crimes, but if he didn’t watch himself now and what he said to the queen in his defense, she might easily execute him sooner. He needed to buy time in the hopes that Gabrian would come to his rescue.
The doors to the queen’s bedchambers swung open, and Aurelius was shoved inside. The queen had her back turned to him and was standing at the viewport, staring out over her city. “Welcome back, Aurelius,” she said, her voice flat, inflectionless.
“There’s been a mistake, my queen.”
The queen turned to him with a frown, one eyebrow slightly raised. “Has there?”
One of the guards standing beside Aurelius kicked him behind his knees and he sunk to the floor with a grimace. “Bow, you worthless dog.”
Aurelius hung his head in reverence, but kept his eyes raised to watch the queen. Her hips swayed with seductive grace as she approached. She stopped just a foot away from him and lifted his chin so that they were looking each other in the eye. “Why did you steal from me?”
“I—”
“You could have had anything, Aurelius! Anything at all! If you had only but
asked
me first . . . now, however . . .” She shook her head sadly. “Now, I see that you only wanted me for one thing.” The queen’s expression turned angry, and her blue eyes were suddenly hard and flashing. Her hand tightened on his chin, pinching until it hurt, her nails digging into his skin. “You used me!”
Aurelius's eyes widened with all that the queen's accusation implied. Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle snapped together and Aurelius understood exactly how he'd come to be in such a mess. Somehow, Gabrian had framed him, first by mating with the queen, and then by stealing from her. Aurelius had a sinking feeling that Gabrian wouldn’t be coming to rescue him or anyone. The old wizard had what he wanted. He was probably even now on his way to the surface.
“No, my queen.
I
didn't use you. It was—”
The queen's nails dug suddenly deeper, cutting off his words, and Aurelius felt a hot trickle of blood running down from his chin. One of the guards standing behind him cuffed him again, setting his ears ringing.
“You presumed to mate with me, then steal from me, knock out my guards, and then run away. Did you not think you would be caught? Punished? You are an abhorrent man, Aurelius! It is an insult to other men to even call you a man.”
Aurelius faltered for something to say in his defense. He knew it wasn’t him that had stolen the relic or mated with the queen, but there was no way he could prove it.
The queen turned suddenly to address her guards. “Did you find it?”
“No, oh beauteous queen, we did not.”
“Well he can’t have hidden it far. Keep searching! If need be, beat the location out of him.”
“With pleasure.”
“Hey, hold on a minute—I don’t
know
where it is!” Aurelius said.
The queen met his protests with a terrifying stare. “Then, pray tell, who does know, if not the thief himself?”
“Begging your pardon, oh most beauteous queen,” Martanel began, “but Aurelius may be telling the truth.”
“
Really?
Do go on.” the queen whirled on the royal guard.
“We searched but could not find the one called Gabrian anywhere in the boy’s quarters. It would seem he has managed to escape. It is possible the boy gave him the object. Or that the old one stole it for himself.”
“Is this true?” the queen demanded, her gaze finding Aurelius once more.
He considered his answer carefully. If he said yes, he would be as much as admitting to his crime, but was it any use to deny it now? If he said no, he would be beaten senseless to discover the location of the relic, when he actually had no idea of where it was. Aurelius hung his head once more, as if in shame or defeat.
“It is true, my queen.”
“Then find him!” she thundered to her guards. Aurelius peripherally saw them scatter and heard their footsteps rapidly retreating.
The queen lifted Aurelius’s damaged chin so that he was forced to meet her blazing blue eyes. “It would seem that your treachery knows no bounds. I should kill you myself!”