The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) (4 page)

*****

“That’s your plan, Diedrika?” her mother asked incredulously.  Andromeda’s booming voice bounced off every wall of the royal banquet hall where they now gathered.  “You are going to do the best you can to acclimate these Orcas to Gryphons, and as your master stroke, Gryphons are going to lead an elk or some other large animal to the beach, into the sea, and then these whales are just going to have at it.”

“Well, Mother, I was thinking they would more likely have to, um, well,” Diedrika began to glide away, “
drop
the elk into the sea.”  A few choice cuts of penguin and squid selected from the banquet spread, she then turned to the others to watch as they carried on their discussion.

“This seemingly crazy idea just might work.”  Cassiopeia tipped her head in Perseos’ direction and winked.  “We all know that the fastest way to a male’s heart is through his stomach.  Who says Orcas are not the same?”

“Centaurs train dire wolves using food as a reward,” Perseos added as he grinned at Cassiopeia through a half-chewed bite of his lunch.  “Orcas feel hunger like any animal.  And if only Gryphons give them foods they come to love, but cannot get on their own, then this could be the key to getting the whales to feel comfortable in their presence.”

Diedrika and Penelope locked eyes.  The historian just smiled and shook her head.  Lounging in a corner, she appeared to be scribing away all she saw and heard.  Diedrika glided closer.  Penelope was not scribing the words she heard, but instead sketched the scene she saw.  Her sketch was magnificent, of course.  In a quirky twist Poseidon probably laughed about still, most Mermaids were skilled artists and artisans, yet Diedrika – daughter of not only the queen, but the most renowned artist in all of Atagartis – possessed the artistic skill of a sloth.

“You might want to put away your canvas and find those bamboo strips of yours.  Our jovial discussion about dropping meaty treats into the sea is about to turn much more serious.”

Diedrika had seen a little too much sneaking for her tastes on the other side of the hall, and she now angrily glided back toward her parents and Cassiopeia.

“Why do you speak of me in secret as though I am not in the same room?” Diedrika demanded.  Cassiopeia peeked up sheepishly as she pulled away from Andromeda and Perseos.  “That is why the king and historian are not here with us – they await Prince Judiascar!”

“You are almost seventeen, Diedrika,” Perseos told her softly.

“Father, no!  I don’t need a winged nanny to follow me around.  There is still so much I want to do before the prince is assigned as my protector.”

“The time has come, Diedrika,” her Queen Mother rose from her chair, “for you to think of more than just yourself.  Your grandmother assigned Simonacles as my protector when I was seventeen and I bore you only a year after.  I had to grow up in a hurry then, it is time for you to grow up now.”

“No, I won’t accept him.”

“Well, there you go, Andromeda!  Like I have always told you, she has no ––”

Andromeda threw an open hand in Cassiopeia’s face.  “Put a tail in it, Mother!  Or do you need me to bronze-make something to clamp
your
mouth shut?”  Andromeda’s face hardened as she buried her emerald daggers into Diedrika.  “What is the first principle to being a Mermaid?”

“But, please …” Diedrika begged, “please reconsider.…”

“
What
is the first principle to being a Mermaid?” Andromeda repeated tersely.

Diedrika sucked in a deep breath.  Her eyes darted in every direction – Penelope was now just behind Cassiopeia.  “To obey my queen,” Diedrika choked.

“You may have violated this first principle by taming the Orcas, but your disobedience stops here.  There is a point when bravery becomes recklessness, but your actions make it clear you do not know where one ends and the other begins.  For your own good, Diedrika, you will yield and you will do so now.  From here on out, what do you promise?”

“No matter the command, no matter what my heart demands – I will obey my queen.”

“And don’t you forget it.  Judiascar is on his way and will be here soon.  Once the prince arrives, unless you are dead or he is, he does not leave your side.”  Andromeda straightened her crown and glided away.

Perseos rose; he kissed Diedrika on the forehead, but the sting was just too deep for even his touch to soothe.  He then followed behind Andromeda.

Only once they had gone did Cassiopeia rise as well.  Diedrika and her grandmother shared a long, hard stare before she finally spoke.  “I only say what I do because of my love for you as my granddaughter,” Cassiopeia turned to depart, “and my fear of you as my queen.”  The door to the banquet hall slammed shut, Diedrika and Penelope were now alone.

“You know, Princess,” Penelope drawled after a long silence, “maybe this is not so bad.  Although you are aloof toward the prince when he is near, both from what I have noticed and you have told me, you seem to be as fond of him as anyone.  Bigger than any Gryphon we have ever seen, maybe Judiascar is braver and bolder than any Gryphon too.”

Diedrika held her hands out, and a soft glow emanated from each.  A brash thought, even for her, then swept into her mind.  She chortled.

“We’re about to find out.”

*****

For many full turns of the clepsydra, Diedrika and Judiascar wandered the palace grounds.  As they talked about what was important, what was not, and everything in between, Diedrika chuckled to herself once she realized the silliness to it all.

She felt like she was being courted!

Such things were further from her mind than the moon – okay, the East, but that ship had sailed – yet that was exactly what this felt like.  Unlike a husband, however, she had no say in the matter.  But she could test Judiascar and test him she would.  Pass and he would be her protector for life.  Fail and … well, she really didn’t want to think about the fallout from
that
.  At least not until she had to.

“Judiascar, there is a magnificent plateau upon a tall hill I wish to visit.  It will take until nightfall by horse and carriage or a full turn or so by flight.  How do you suggest we reach this lovely destination?”

“We fly, of course,” Judiascar proclaimed in his deep voice.  “Sapiens did not give us wings so we could flap along the ground like crazed penguins!”

Diedrika giggled at this quip.  A large pack retrieved and his saddle prepared, she raised herself into it.  She then pointed east toward Elkabydos; long abandoned, long haunted, this was not their destination, of course.  Not even Diedrika had the courage to go there.

With an effortless burst, Judiascar sprinted no more than a dozen pike lengths before he leapt into the sky.  His massive wings spread out fully, Diedrika marveled at the parallels in magnificence of Gryphons and Orcas.  To hold dominion over such awe-inspiring creatures, to be able to glide upright on land, breathe underwater, bronze-make any weapon – there was just no doubt about it:

Mermaids ARE Terra Australis’ superior species.

The large hill with a flat field upon its top sighted, Diedrika instructed Judiascar to land in the middle of this plateau.  He swiftly did so, and she dismounted.  Her pack slung over a shoulder, she breathed in the salty air that swirled about the fields and looked all about.  Not a single tree in sight, only beautiful wildflowers of nearly every color wandered for hundreds of pike lengths in every direction.

Diedrika withdrew her walking sticks.  She loved being a Mermaid, but if there was ever a day to wish for legs, today was it.  The carefree youngling inside her taking over, she stirred amongst the wildflowers and took a moment to smell each kind.  And with each long sniff, that smile she still remembered from her youth grew wider.  This made perfect sense – she was last here when a youngling and owned nothing but fond memories of this place.

Fond memories that just might have a very unhappy ending before the night was out!

Judiascar followed behind with the giddiness of a dire wolf puppy.  “You are true to your word, Princess!  This patch of plains is indeed spectacular.”

Diedrika now made her way north where the plateau overlooked the sea.

Happy thoughts, happy talk … the time had come to put an end to both.

Close to a large boulder – the only one she had seen on the plateau – and hearing the waves of the sea crash into the cliffs below, Diedrika halted.  She had perused for long enough.  She breathed in deep, exhaled, and the youngling that had arrived with her was gone forever.  Only the next Mermaid queen remained.

Judiascar’s rump on the soft grass and his head held high, that great chest looked fuller than ever.  His silver eyes tinged with gold gazing north, Diedrika approached.  She stared into these proud eyes and threw Judiascar a devilish grin she had yet to let him see.

“You understand, Good Prince, that if you are to be my protector, my trusted guardian, you can be nothing less than extraordinary, yes?”

Judiascar’s proud posture remained as rigid as the large boulder a short distance behind him.  “My father has been a great king since the day he was crowned.  To be an extraordinary king our subjects desire, to be the extraordinary protector you demand, he has already taught me all I need to know.”

Diedrika let out a sly smirk.  She then let her walking sticks fall by the wayside.  By sundown, Judiascar would either be hers to do with as she pleased or she would drive him to strike her down – either way, she would never need these walking sticks again.  Diedrika now glided around him slowly, cautiously.  In the commanding tone a general would strike a fresh-faced soldier with, she set her sights on him and fired away:

“Tell me, Judiascar, will you be loyal to me?  Forever loyal, unconditionally loyal?”

He puffed out his chest even more than before, “Yes, Princess.  As my royal bloodlines demand, there is no greater Gryphon trait ––”

“Accompany me on any adventure I choose no matter the danger, no matter the fear that grips your heart?”

“Without fail; anytime, anywhere, I will be at your side.”

“Will you kill on my command?”

“Yes, Princess!”

“Good, good … those are proper answers, my friend,” Diedrika said softly.  She had circled him twice and was directly in front of him once more.  Judiascar’s body language suggested to her that he believed he was finished and had performed well.

Too bad for him the true test had yet to begin.

Her pack behind her, Diedrika turned her back to Judiascar, knelt down, and opened it.  From it, she withdrew the one thing – more a tool than a weapon – that would both enslave Judiascar to her desires and free him to be a far greater king than either he or his father had ever dreamed.  With it firmly in hand, she slowly rose and then spun around to face him; clutched to her chest with both hands was what she had pulled from her pack.  As Diedrika stared intently into Judiascar’s eyes, with a single hand she unsheathed a large cutting blade, let the sheathe fall to the ground, and held out the blade in both hands.

Judiascar’s confident stature slumped.  That great chest no longer puffed out so fully, his beaked mouth crashed into it.  She could ‘feel’ the fear tearing through his heart as she stealthily glided toward him.

“Do you know what it is I hold in my hands?”

Judiascar said nothing.  He simply nodded his meek, massive head.

“Yes, Gryphon, you do know.  A punishment reserved for unrepentant thieves and would-be murderers, for a Gryphon to have his mane cut down or a Mermaid to have her long hair chopped away brings great shame to both the sufferer
and
that sufferer’s family.  But shame is for peasants, isn’t it Judiascar?  To be done to a member of the nobility, such as the prince who now sulks before me – this disgrace is doubly horrendous!”  Now but a hand from his face, now staring more into him than at him, Diedrika could feel her eyes catch fire.  “I order you now, Gryphon: Yield to your future queen and bow your head!  With not a sliver of dissent, lay still as I shear off every last hair from your princely mane.”

Proclaiming to Diedrika his undying loyalty just moments ago, she now treating him as if he was the scourge of his kind, his stare back at her was vacant, soulless, but that mind had to be racing in every direction.  Diedrika tried to imagine just what thoughts were now rampaging through it:

What would my father do?

To deny this command from my future queen – was this bravery or betrayal?

To allow her to fulfill this command – was this loyalty or cowardice?

The choice that would define the rest of his life now in his talons, Judiascar sucked in a breath that took in more air than would ten of hers.  To Diedrika’s delight, the sweet smell of wildflowers mixed perfectly with the stench of fear now emanating from his shaking body.  Still peering into his eyes, she eagerly awaited his response.

Judiascar lowered his head to the ground, laid down, and let out a groaning sigh.  “Do as you see fit, my future queen.”

“That’s the spirit!” Diedrika happily told him.

First, she removed his dark blue cloak – all he wore now was a simple wrap covering his hindquarters.  Then gently, yet purposely, she began to cut.  Her wish was not to trim just a little; she exerted extra effort to make his mane as short as possible.  When Judiascar wasn’t trembling, he whimpered; when not whimpering, he trembled.  Diedrika watched in glee as his silver eyes followed each glistening hair as it fell helplessly onto the grasses and wildflowers around them.