The Legend of Alexandros: Belen (20 page)

“Oh, hello. I am Bixbin. What might your divine name be?”

“I am Soraya. It is nice to meet you, Bixbin.”

“What might you be up to on this most beautiful day?”

“Collecting shells from the bottom of the lagoon. Would you like to join me?”

“No thank you…I hate the sea.”

Soraya let out a gasp and covered her mouth.
“How could you hate the sea? It is the most beautiful thing ever.”

“I cannot swim; I never learned. No matter.”

“I know how to swim,” Winston said loudly from afar. Winston wobbled forward to Bixbin and Soraya. “I know how to swim. I love the sea; it is most refreshing to swim.”

“Oh how pleasant! Come and join me then, I shall show you a great place to find the loveliest shells.”
Soraya maneuvered back into the water.
“Come friend.”

“I am on my way,” Winston said and plunged head first into the lagoon. “Would you like to hear how I learned to fly?”

“I would love to. Let me gather my sisters so we can all listen to your story.”

Valchor crouched next to Bixbin.

“My friend, you might hate that Dragon, but he sure knows how to sweet-talk women. I bet you wish you were in his place right now.”

“Curse that Dragon and his women-catching stories…” Bixbin mumbled to himself.

“I am sorry,” Alexandros said to Elora as they sat side by side on the sand watching the sunset. “I broke my promise to you. It was something I regret doing.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I was upset with you, Belen. But I am sorry as well. I should have spoken up, I agreed with you. I understood why you wanted to go to Hesuhezo. I just did not want to make things worse by causing a division within the group, but all I did was made you think I was against you.”

“My anger is more than I can handle right now. I killed the creature that slaughtered my village, and I am still full of anger. When will this all come to an end?” Alexandros put his muscular arm around her.

“Barbarious is the one to blame for all this. We must stop him. He has caused so much grief and madness.” A tear fell from her eye as she thought of her father. “He has to be stopped for good.”

“Trust me; I will end him for good. His days are numbered.”

As the sun went down, the sky became a combination of a purple and pink. The Mermaids swam into a cave near the beach—a cave covered by thin, multi-colored flowered-filled vines. The warm breeze now became very cool and gave Elora goose bumps. Alexandros held her close to warm her. Once the sun was fully set the lagoon flowers illuminated the shore giving off a most ravishing spellbound light. Lucinda rose to the surface of the lagoon near Alexandros and Elora.

“Belen, it is time. My mother will see you now.”

Lucinda sat at the shallow part of the lagoon; Alexandros and the others spoke amongst themselves and decided Alistair only two should go along to see the Queen. Alexandros alongside Alistair stepped to Lucinda and told her only they would be going with herwould go as well to see the queen. Lucinda was not as thrilled to bring Alistair along and would only agree to take them if Valchor was one of the two. Valchor softly pushed Alistair to the side and jumped at the opportunity.

Alexandros did not understand why Lucinda would want to bring Valchor—Alexandros could barely stand him. Lucinda turned back into the lagoon and motioned gracefully for them to follow. Alexandros and Valchor then waded into the lagoon. She led them far from the beach toward the mountains that separated the lagoon from the ocean. Soraya was there to greet them.

“We are here. Take a deep breath and do not release our hands,”
Lucinda said softly. Alexandros nodded and took in a massive deep breath. Soraya took his hand and dove down.

“
Do not be afraid, Valchor. You are safe with me. I will not let go of you,”
Lucinda whispered to comfort Valchor. He smiled nervously, took in a deep breath, and he and Lucinda dove down as well.

The lagoon was deeper than they could have imagined. The brightly colored coral reef radiated, giving off an almost a blinding light of ravishing colors. Colorful fish of all sorts swam beside them; giant sea turtles swam close and all around Alexandros and Soraya. Manta rays, half buried in the watery sand, rested on the lagoon floors, and the lagoon dolphin swam close to catch a peek of the new visitors. The Mermaids call the dolphin Lucky.

Lucky was grey in color with big round dark eyes and a scar on his dorsal fin; he was rescued by Lucinda after sailors speared him at only five months old. Lucinda, upon seeing what they did to Lucky, caused an enormous wave that destroyed the sailors’ ship. She took Lucky back to her lagoon and left the sailors in the sea…they were never seen again. Lucky never left the lagoon and was cherished by the mermaids, considering him their only brother.

Lucinda and Soraya led Alexandros and Valchor to an undersea cavern deep beneath the lagoon. Alexandros’ chest began to burn from the lack of oxygen; he shut his eyes tightly and tried his hardest to hold his breath for however much longer. Suddenly, Soraya and Alexandros burst to the surface, followed by Lucinda and Valchor. Shimmering blue orbs floating in the air dimly lit the cavern, which was shaped like a pentagon. Seaweed grew on the caverns walls. In the center of the cavern sat the queen; her throne was made of shining purple coral.

“I am Priscilla, the Mermaid queen. Welcome to our lagoon,”
she said, her magnificent voice echoing through the cavern. The queen’s hair was ruby red; her full lips were as red as her hair. The queen was pale with a deep-red tail; she had dark thin eyebrows and long eyelashes. Her thick long red hair covered her bare breasts, and her golden crown shone brightly. The queen sat with her fins submerged in the water.
“What brings you to our Lagoon?”
she asked.

“We were rescued by your daughter. She was kind enough to bring us here,” said Alexandros.

“Rescued you say?”

“Yes. We were almost killed out at sea by a most evil wizard. We shall not stay for too long. The wizard Barbarious is sure to find us here, and we wish not to involve you in this mess.”

“Oh…Barbarious…”
Priscilla said with a smile.
“Such a magnificent wizard. He is most powerful.”

“Barbarious is a monster,” said Alexandros. “He is the very meaning of evil. He is far from magnificent.”

Priscilla thrashed her tail in the water.
“Silence, human. There will be not one harsh word said of Barbarious in my lagoon.”

Valchor quickly sized up Priscilla. “You are not the queen,” he said.

“What?!”

“You are not the queen,” he said. “It is an illusion…and not a very good one.”

Priscilla snarled at Valchor and her beauty began to fade—her luscious red hair began to fall out and slimy green seaweed formed; her tail began to slither and split into two. Her body began to thicken and boils formed on her face; her nose grew pointed and her eyes were far apart and dark.

“Who are you?” cried Alexandros. “What have you done with the queen?”

“That is Luna-Doris! The sea hag!”
Lucinda said in horror.
“What have you done with my mother, you monster?”

“Your mother has been gone for some time now…but I have looked after you dearly…” the sea hag giggled in a croaky voice. “You fools may have ruined my plans, but I cannot allow you to ruin Barbarious’ plans…”

The sea hag launched herself from the throne into the water toward Alexandros and Valchor. She raised her moldy arms to claw at Alexandros. She laughed wildly and insanely as she thrashed him around in the water. Lucinda swam up behind the sea hag and yanked her seaweed hair. The sea hag hurled Lucinda in the air, sending her crashing onto the throne, breaking it in half. The sea hag then held Alexandros’ head underwater. He punched and kicked, but could not release her grip on him. Valchor drew his sword, swam behind the sea hag, and impaled the sea hag’s throat until wrenching her head from her squirming body.

The sea hag’s cold green blood poured into the water. Valchor tossed her limp body out of the water slamming it against the cavern wall, followed by her head. He then swam to Lucinda, took her in his arms, and held her tight. Together they swam back to the lagoon’s beach. Alexandros surfaced, gasping for breath as the sea hag’s headless, twitching body slid down into the water.

The morning sun rose to a sorrow-filled lagoon; the Mermaids were saddened by the loss of their queen. For however long they were fooled by the sea hag and her wicked intentions, there is no telling how long their true queen had been gone.

“I am terribly sorry for your loss,” Alexandros said to Lucinda. “Your people need you now more than ever; you are their queen now.”

“Thank you, Belen Alexandros.”

Lucinda sat on the beach looking off at to the lagoon.

“My
sisters! This will not be a day of overwhelming sadness. Our true queen would have wanted us to honor her passing and with that we shall. Tonight, since we cannot give our queen a true sea burial, we shall hold a ceremony in honor of Queen Priscilla.”

She took Valchor’s hand.

“I hope you will and your friends will be here for it,” she
said to him.

“Yes. Of course, we will.” Valchor replied to Lucinda he held tightly to her hand as well.

Siruac

The rain continued to pour down over the grey kingdom, as the goblins recklessly searched for the staff of Alistair. The kingdom barely stood standing; out of the ten tall towers that once stood high around Siruac, only four remained. Hundreds of goblins ran through the kingdom digging and searching for the staff. Jasmine and Zuers made sure the goblins did most of the searching. They patrolled the halls, ordering the goblins and their zombie-like slaves to search.

“Why
did
you betray the Amazons?” Zuers asked in a gurgling voice as he and Jasmine patrolled what was left of the castle halls.

“What I did was to show them I am and forever will be better. Cassandra lived by a code that was old as the wizard Barbarious. The only regret I hold is that I left before I could see the pathetic harlot die,” Jasmine answered in a harsh, conceited voice.

“Shut your face. You are the pathetic one here. A true warrior would have stayed, but what did you do? You fled in case she overpowered us and won. You are as cowardly as these goblins; only you are worse because you are human. You humans have to come up with an excuse for all your actions. Have a backbone and speak the truth.”

Jasmine was so full of anger she could not even think of what to say to Zuers. Zuers walked off, leaving Jasmine where she stood, and peered out a gaping hole in the castle wall. The view looked out to where the forest once grew. The grey sky was now completely darkened by monstrous vampires flying in from their mountains.

Zuers turned to Jasmine and, with a most sinister laugh, said, “Look what we have here…our troops have arrived…”

The Lagoon, Nightfall

Lucinda, followed by Soraya, placed the first illuminating night flower into the lagoon. The night flowers shone brightly as they floated in the water. Other mermaids placed even more night flowers. Valchor held the moonflower, a most lovely flower that grew abundantly around the lagoon. He placed the flower into the lagoon and watched it drift away. As Alexandros and the others placed their flowers into the Lagoon, Lucinda recited…

“Let her soul sail through the sea, and guide her
To the place she needs to be…
Let her soar through the ocean while free…
Our mother you are gone but we can see that you shall
Be with us from all time to be…”

Lucinda placed Priscilla’s golden crown onto a lily pad and gently pushed it out into the lagoon where it soon drifted out to sea with the night flowers. No Mermaid swam in the lagoon that night; instead, they rested on shore, dipping their fins in the water every now and then. Lucinda lay on her stomach, resting for the night, when Valchor approached her.

“Valchor, why are you not resting with your friends? Belen Alexandros said you were leaving as soon as the sun was in the sky.”

“Well, I choose to stay awake with you. I do not care if I miss a night’s sleep.”

“You are a most kind being, thank you.”
Lucinda gently wiped a tear from her eye.
“These two days knowing you has been most precious to me. Will I ever see you again?”

“I promise, once this is all over and the war is done…this is the first place I am returning to.”

Lucinda gently pulled a scale from her tail and placed it in his hand.

“When you are ready to return, just think of me and place this scale into the sea…I will hear the call from wherever I am. I will come find you.”

Valchor placed the scale in his gauntlet. He placed his arm around her and sat by her side the entire night.

At sunrise, Alexandros and the others were ready to go. He stepped into the lagoon. Lucinda swam up to him.

“Are you ready, Belen Alexandros?”

Alexandros nodded and Lucinda took his hand.

“Take his hand and do not let go…”
Lucinda said to the others.

Lucinda led them into the water, and together they swam toward the mountain opening and then through it. She dipped her finger in the water and created a whirlpool.
“Do not fear or be alarmed, this shall take you to shore safely.”

Alexandros was a bit weary, but he had no choice but to enter into the whirlpool. Valchor turned to Lucinda. She smiled at him and watched as they were slowly sucked down…

They awoke on a rocky, muddy shore, not knowing where they were. Alexandros rose up to his feet. A massive hillside of mountains surrounded them.

“Great. How are we to cross this? Not all of us are able to fly,” said Bixbin.

“Here you are, son of Mabruk; we are here to help you…” a growling voice echoed out.