Chapter 29

An alarm blared throughout the entire palace, no doubt extending to the ears of the civilians throughout Amarald.

Without a second thought, I rushed out of bed, putting on my fighting leathers. I made my way downstairs, heading towards the ocean only to be met by my personal Sol, the Royals and their Seconds.

Eliasson rushed up behind me, dressed in his own fighting leathers as he looked me up and down. ‘Fyrel, did you see where the threat is coming from?’

Fyrel didn’t need to answer for me to know. I could feel their presence in the water, dangerously closing in on the shore. My heart dropped.

‘The ocean, Your Highness. The beasts are here,’ Fyrel gravely confirmed.

I shared a look with Slaviya, both of us knowing what needed to happen but equally hesitant. We knew this would change everything. There was no way of hiding our magic in a battle with the tidal beasts. Her attempts to dissuade Arlom aid, and keep magic hidden for a little longer, would all be for nothing after this. With a nod from my sister, I turned towards my Sol.

‘Mer, you take Fyrel and Eliasson. Mazyr, Amire, Rynelle, split yourselves up between the others and meet us there. You know where you’re going?’ I commanded, receiving nods in return. ‘Slaviya and I will go separately. I can’t expend any energy carrying them, I’ll need every reserve I’ve got.’

‘Wait, what are you doing Valare? We can’t split up,’ Eliasson argued.

‘We aren’t splitting up, Eliasson. Can you just trust me? Please?’ I stuttered, bracing myself for the feelings of betrayal I knew would ultimately follow.

I could see the scepticism on his face. I noticed he side-eyed Xylan who returned his look with a nod. But he was at a loss for what else to say other than, ‘Okay.’

I nodded. ‘I promise everything will be okay. I need to focus on saving the Kingdom right now and can’t have any distractions. I’ll explain everything later but please know that I’m sorry.’ I stumbled over the last words.

Before he could respond, I nodded at Slaviya and my Sol. I chose to ignore the knowing eyes of the other royal mages.

Slaviya and I teleported to land on the beach which, prior to tonight, had been my private oasis. The waves were enormous, the wind so fierce that I struggled to stay upright. Despite it being pitch black, my eyes adjusted quickly to the view, almost as if it were daylight, and I could see giant tentacles emerge out of the aggressive waves, before crashing back down into the water.

‘Shit. You weren’t exaggerating when you said they were getting bigger,’ I muttered to Slaviya. I’d never seen tentacles on them before either.

My sister merely snorted, rolling back her shoulders to take a fighting stance. I felt the others arrive.

Rynelle stepped up to my side, using a gust of wind to push back the others. He created a fire from the large torch he was holding.

‘What the hell …’ I heard Fyrel mutter in disbelief.

‘Mazyr, Amire, do you think you can combine your magic to create a shield to hold back these waves? Mer needs to work on bringing the water level down,’ I said.

‘On it,’ Mazyr nodded before grabbing Amire’s hand. The spark of their twin magic started as a small ball in their joined hands before growing bigger. The twins worked in sync with one another, raising their free hands to frame a rectangular shape before pushing their magic out and across the length of the strip of beach. We watched as the fifty-metre-high shield shimmered into place, effectively stopping the waves from crashing onto the shore.

As Mer started to work on the water levels, I started to see more of the massive beast. I had never seen anything like it. It was the biggest I had ever seen. It had at least twenty thick tentacles crashing against the waves as it made its way closer to the shield. The dwindling water levels did nothing to stop its pursuit.

I turned to Slaviya, kissing my middle fingers and placing them on my chest, ‘For the Goddess Wystia, God Merlot and the continent of Fyriane.’ I wasn’t ready to throw in the True Infinite part yet. Not until we sorted out our shit.

Her eyes flashed, noting my change of wording. But she didn’t do anything other than kiss her own fingers and placed them on her third eye. ‘Protect our family.’

With a nod, I latched onto her hand and shot us into the air, flying towards the beast. I reached out my free hand, counteracting the twins magic to create a hole in the shield for us to fly through. As we approached, the purple, scaly creature let out a shriek of rage. Its wide mouth opened to reveal an endlessly dark pit framed by hundreds of sharp teeth. One of its tentacles flicked out in an attempt to strike me just as Slaviya pulled and directed Rynelle’s fire to weaken the beast. The hit landed, bringing another shriek as the tentacle burned.

I concentrated on the beast’s physical presence, lifting its heavy body out of the water. While Slaviya continued to work with the fire to slow the tentacles down, I grabbed a long dagger sheathed on my thigh. I imbued fire and air into the weapon, creating my own green fire dagger, and flung it at the tentacles. In one clean cut, tentacles started to drop into the water one-by-one. I commanded my weapon back into my hand only to repeat the process again and again.

As predicted, the lack of water was making it increasingly harder for it to breathe, slowing the beast down. Between Slaviya’s fire and my dagger, we made quick work of the tentacles until there was only one left on its body.

A sudden yell to my left pulled my attention. One of the stray tentacles had re-formed to create smaller versions of the beast and it had latched onto Slaviya’s leg, pulling us down into its awaiting mouth. I saw more beasts appearing from the tentacles, those on shore moving to intercept them. Shit. I’d never encountered this before.

I ceased using my magic on the larger beast, letting it drop into the water as I called upon my dagger to make quick work of the beast holding onto Slaviya. Whatever was on the tentacles had stopped Slaviya’s ability to use her magic. She plummeted towards the crashing waves. I lashed out with my magic to gain a firmer grip on her body as I hauled us higher, creating some distance from the beast before teleporting back to the shore.

‘Rynelle, get Lyzia. She needs a healer,’ I screamed. I turned back to the beast and readied myself to finish it off. But a thought struck my mind when I saw the Marlysts and Nyarelleans shimmering with gold.

I turned to Xylan. ‘Do you think you’d be able to help by controlling the beasts mind? Do you have that kind of power?’

‘I’ve never tried with a beast but it’s worth a shot. How many are there now?’

‘There’s the main creature and the smaller ones from the tentacles.’

‘Should be doable, but I’ll need to come with you through the shield.’

I nodded, grabbing his hand before he could protest. I ignored the warmth under my ear.

‘Don’t let go of my hand. If you focus on the main creature, I can take care of the rest,’ I shouted, not bothering to pay attention to his response as I flew us over the ocean, back to the beasts.

I threw up my other hand, calling the green fire to my palm as I got to work attacking the smaller tentacles as they rose out of the water. The creatures now were significantly easier to dispose of. I presumed it had something to do with them not being attached to the main creature. That, and my green fireballs were effective.

After making quick work of the regenerated beasts, I turned my attention to their source to come up short. It was laying on the surface in a blissful state, purring its little heart out. I couldn’t help but laugh as I turned to Xylan with an inquiring look.

‘Turns out it quite enjoys belly rubs. So, I made it think it was in the great depths of the ocean getting them,’ he smirked.

I allowed my chuckle to linger before concentrating on the task at hand. I reached for my dagger again and aimed for the middle of its body. Poised for the killing shot, a gold shimmer fell around us, a head bobbing out of the water shocked me into not releasing the weapon.

The creature looked human with long white hair, and the same nose and lips, but that’s where the similarities ended. Its ears were covered in purple scales and shaped like pectoral fins. Its smile revealed two elongated fangs curving downwards to his chin. But the most startling feature were the eyes – they were crystal clear, like a quartz stone. The pupils were a dark blue slit, mimicking that of a reptile. All in all, the creature was freaky.

‘Well, it’s not nice to treat my pet like this. Do you Fyrianeans not know how to be hospitable?’ the creature, clearly male, taunted, moving towards the beast before laying his human-like torso over its body. A purple, scaly tail flicked behind the creature, curling up on the last tentacle of the beast.

‘It’s okay baby,’ he crooned at the beast, running his hand up and down its belly. ‘We’ll be gone soon.’

What. The. Fuck.

‘Who are you? What are you?’ I demanded.

‘I am Lars. I am a merman,’ the creature stated matter-of-factly, like I should already know this.

‘Give me one good reason, Lars, that I shouldn’t destroy you and that beast right this sec –’ I started.

‘Now, now, mage. Intruding on someone’s mind isn’t a great start to building a working relationship, is it?’ He cut me off, eyes narrowed in accusation towards Xylan.

My gaze swung to Xylan. His fuchsia eyes flashed in determination as his lips twisted into a sneer. ‘Working relationship? I’m thinking I should ruin your mind from the inside out, while my partner ruins you physically. Don’t need a working relationship for that.’

Partner? Now that’s a new word for what we are.

‘Firstly, you wouldn’t succeed. My mind is protected against that magic. Stop trying to get in there, I do not particularly enjoy the tickling sensation. Secondly, I am here to deliver a message,’ Lars stated.

‘A message? And you bringing a deadly beast along with you is the right way to do this?’ I scoffed.

‘Well, it got the attention of the King and Queen of Fyriane, did it not? Although not the King and Queen I had the pleasure of delivering a message to last time. The Svaxlyn will be very interested to hear this new progression,’ he drawled.

‘I think you have the wrong people,’ I denied.

Lars flashed me a wicked, toothy smile. ‘No need to lie to me young Queen, your eyes tell me all I need to know.’

‘What’s the message?’ Xylan demanded, cutting me off before I could continue to argue.

Lars focussed his eerie eyes back on Xylan. ‘The Svaxlyn wish to claim their rightful dues in accordance with the Svaxlyn Pact. If the rulers of Fyriane do not heed this message, you should expect to see more of these beasts that are bigger and stronger. They will be tasked with destroying your continent.’

‘The Svaxlyn Pact?’ I asked, confused.

‘Dear, the na?ve act is getting very old, very quick,’ Lars responded.

‘Tell your superiors the rulers of Fyriane don’t take kindly to messages of violence. We request a formal meeting to discuss these alleged dues.’ The firmness of Xylan’s voice shocked me.

The merman’s deep belly laugh startled us both. ‘Oh, Your Highness, why do you think I am here? They are unable to cross into your lands otherwise they would have already. And the agreement that was made is a thousand years overdue. They aren’t particularly inclined to talk. May I suggest you try a different message?’

A thousand years … was the merman referring to the Royal Forum with Queen Wystia and King Merlot? If he was, that means it’s been an eon since they sat in that room with those other beings. This wasn’t good.

‘That’s the message. Yours has been received, ours sent in turn. Now be gone from our shores, Merman.’ The conviction in Xylan’s words would have convinced me of his confidence, except he was squeezing my hand to the point of it being painful.

Lars cocked his head to the side, assessing us. ‘As you wish. I suspect this will not be the last time we see each other. Until then,’ he nodded. In a moment of hesitation, I saw his eyes darting towards the shore, a flash of longing in his gaze. Before I could ask, he was diving into the ocean, carrying the beast with him.

‘What the hell was that?’ I blurted out, looking at Xylan.

‘We don’t speak of this to anyone else until we know what it all means, Valare. Promise me,’ he said. His fuchsia eyes were filled with unwavering determination.

‘Is that not going to be a problem considering they can see all of this play out from the shore?’

He waved his free hand at me dismissively. ‘I put an illusion around us as soon as I felt a presence other than the beasts,’ he said. ‘From their view, time has stopped, and you were delivering the final blow on the beast. When I release the illusion, teleport us straight to the shore and no one will question it.’

Huh. Neat trick. I made a note to find out more about these psychic mages. I was getting a little over finding things out on the run.

‘Now, give me your promise,’ he demanded.

‘Alright, I promise. The Goddess knows I have enough to deal with when I get back to shore.’

‘Ah yes, your magical secrets are no more. That will be a fun conversation with your husband,’ he teased, despite everything we just learned, apparently having taken our work together as a sign.

‘Don’t make me go back on my promise,’ I threatened. ‘And don’t for a second think you’re forgiven.’

Eyes twinkling with pleasure, Xylan ignored my words. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’