— Chapter Eighteen —
The Merfolkian Kingdom
Down, down, down—deeper than ever before. At first it was beautiful: swimming past coral reefs, admiring colourful schools of fish. However, once past the drop-off, the kaleidoscopic landscape turned into a world of midnight blue.
I had no idea how dark the sea gets, Lunathought, frightened. Should I fall back and return to the shore?
No, I have to press on. This merely feels like a prison. In actuality, I am free—for how dark would my dungeon at Suicide Island be?
Luna kicked harder, willing herself to move deeper into the sea. Thank the Cosmos she was still able to breathe underwater! But now there was another problem: she did not know where the Merfolkian Kingdom was—just that it was in the West Coast Sea, somewhere off the Greenlands.
Maybe we camped too far north? she wondered, as she moved into waters the sunlight could not reach. Maybe the Merfolkian Castle stands parallel to the Greenlandian Castle?
Pure blackness enveloped Luna now. But the thought of her and Zale’s stay in Rebel Cottage gave her the strength to keep going. Although she was disoriented and didn’t know where she was going. I can’t tell backward from forward—nor left from right—nor up from down.
She tried casting some wand sparks to light the way, but it proved useless underwater.
Alas, if I wanted to turn back now, I wouldn’t know how.
Luna prayed to the Cosmos. She prayed that she would see something—anything—other than this blackness. If the Lunar Prophecy preaches Truth, the Cosmos will help me.
It was then that Luna saw a distant twinkle. The Merfolkian Kingdom? she thought desperately as she kicked off towards it.
And a castle did appear—a castle of coral. Its towers were crowned with spiral seashells fit for giants. This has to be it! Luna decided.
And sure enough, as she swam slowly forward, the half-fish, half-folkian creatures were revealed in the glow of the coral castle. Their presence chilled Luna. They were stunningly beautiful beings with their long, scaly fins that only added to the kaleidoscope that was the castle: some had green fins and some had blue; some purple and some pink; yellow, orange and red; silver and gold; black and white—whatever shade imaginable—there was a merfolkian with those fins.
Many of the mermaidswore seashells to cover their breasts, but Luna noticed how some of them were bare-chested. It was uncomfortable seeing the nipple of a woman, even if the woman was half-fish. It was so uncomfortable, in fact, that Luna dived behind a rock, hiding for a moment.
Her mind raced back to what her mother used to tell her: ‘The breasts of a woman should only be exposed to one’s husband after marriage.’ And her father: ‘Any woman who freely exposes her bare body is a worthless whore, and may as well join the elves in their lowly nymph activities!’
There was no wonder what her parents would think of the mermaids.
The Moon-Child shook her head, clearing the thoughts. I can’t afford to worry about what my parents would think, she decided. And after all, a nipple is just a nipple.
Luna pursued the castle, swimming under the merfolk. Their eyes were on her—she could feel it. She thought about casting the invisibility glamour, but figured, like wand sparks, it wouldn’t work underwater. Just as she was begrudging the Cosmos for not blessing her with a merfolkian tail, the jeers began:
“A land-dweller!” cried a merman with a deep blue tail. “And not an elf, but an Earthling!”
“How is she able to breathe underwater?” a pink-tailed mermaid asked.
“And why has she come to the depths of the sea?”
“Insolent Earthling! She’s heading towards the castle!”
“Stop her!”
Luna reflected: When I saw Zale’s boot prints in Secret Glade, I shared the feelings the merfolk have towards me now. I can’t blame them for being troubled by my presence. Cosmos, how will they react when I ask their king and queen for the seashell locket?
Still, the Moon-Child hadn’t come down to their kingdom for a mere swim, but to do what was needed to manifest the Lunar Revolution; so she pressed on.
When she reached the coral gates, merfolkian guards with deep blue tails hissed at her, threatening her with their tridents.
“Please! Let me through!” Luna begged. “I intend no harm!”
One of the guards stared at her a moment with his icy blue eyes, then said, “That’s the problem, isn’t it? You Earthlings intend no harm. Alas, harm is done.”
But then the other, older guard eyed Luna’s gills and he said, “That is true, and I do not want to let her pass. But she has made it to the depths of the sea. She is able to breathe underwater, and the skill appears divine in nature.”
“How can you be so sure?” the first guard asked.
“She pays no price. This must be a blessing from the world above land. King Poseidon will want to speak to her.” And the older guard lowered his trident.
The younger guard followed his lead.
Luna did not argue. She was grateful for this piece of good fortune. She moved past the gate, inside the castle, and through the corridors of coral, until she reached the throne room.
Big and circular, with arched reef ceilings of pink, orange, purple and blue—it made Emperor Sola’s Magical Moat seem mundane.
The throne room sat many merfolk; were these the nobles of the Merfolkian Kingdom? But directly across from her, resting on their thrones of coral, were, undoubtedly, the Merfolkian king and queen. Their hair, white from old age, seemed to glow with a slight green undertone.
But Queen Arielle, despite being a crone, was strikingly beautiful. And indeed, she wore a seashell locket around her neck, just as Luna wore a Moon of amethyst.
“A land-dweller!” King Poseidon scoffed, flicking his deep turquoise fins towards Luna. “And not just a land-dweller, but an Earthling. What brings you to our home? Here to rape the seas just as you have the forests?”
Luna shook her head. “No—I come in peace—I come in the name of the Lunar Revolution.”
The throne room erupted in merfolkian laughter.
“I’m serious!” Luna cried over their cackles. “Whatever else would motivate me to journey to the depths of the sea?”
The laughter died, and now the throne room held a darkness.
King Poseidon stared at Luna—was it disgust or pity?
“I don’t know how you got down here,” he said, “but if you’ve come in the name of the Lunar Revolution, you can take your leave.”
Luna stared back at him. How can he just dismiss me like that?
And then she got an idea. It had worked on the Leos. It had worked on the Pond of Mirrors. Surely it would work on King Poseidon too.
“But I’m the Chosen One!”
More laughter. More jeers.
“Silence!” King Poseidon bellowed. Then, as the merfolk quieted themselves, he gave Luna a look up and down. “Are you claiming you are Princess Aurora, daughter of King James and Queen Audrey Green?” The Merfolkian king said their names with utter disgust.
Perhaps I will be in more trouble for telling the truth, Luna thought. Still, if he knows how ‘Princess Aurora’ was the one destined for this task, then he must know about the Lunar Revolution.
“I am Aurora Green, Your Highness.”
King Poseidon cackled and swung his golden trident around. “You?! Princess Aurora?! Come now! You land-dwellers don’t think highly of us merfolk, but you don’t think I’m stupid, do you?”
“No, Your Highness, I don’t, but—”
“If you really are a Green, then where is your golden hair?”
“Right here!” Luna cried. But just as she was grabbing her ebony braid did she realise how mad this sounded. “I mean, it was here—when I was Princess Aurora. No longer am I a Green. With the help of Zelena and the Lunar Coven, I have transformed into Luna Noir.” And she gestured to the Moon-shaped amethyst hanging from her neck.
The Merfolkian king seemed to only just notice this detail. “Wait—that pendant—are you serious?” It was as though the very possibility frightened him.
Queen Arielle finally spoke: “Excuse me, my king. But the necklace—it’s the one Zelena spoke of. It resembles the Lunar Prophecy.”
The Merfolkian king and queen know Zelena, and they know about the prophecy, Luna observed. This is good.
With her dark purple fins, the Merfolkian queen gestured Luna closer. Once Luna had swum all the way up to the throne, the queen continued, “And look how it’s crafted! Undoubtedly a Cosmic blessing!
“And if she isn’t the Child of the Moon, then how has she not yet drowned? This ability to breathe underwater is not the work of a folkian mage—let alone a rebel witch. No, this gift was bestowed upon her by the Cosmos.”
But King Poseidon still wasn’t convinced.
It was then that the shrieks came echoing through the coral walls: “Help! I’m hooked!”
The word ‘hook’ turned the throne room frantic. Everywhere fins were fluttering, splashing through the water as they found a safe crevice of reef to hide in.
Six mermen darted out of the throne room, through the corridors, out into the open sea. “Don’t hide you cowards!” one shouted back at the mermen recoiling in the reefs.
The shrieks were still coming: “Help! Oh, help me!”
Luna didn’t even give it a first thought, let alone a second: on impulse, she kicked off, and swam out of the throne room, following the mermen into the world of midnight blue.
Just outside the underwater castle was the mermaid, and sure enough, a giant cast iron hook had been driven into her coral-pink fins.
The six mermen were holding onto her, weighing her down. But they were no match for whatever was pulling the hook.
Luna stared at the chain connected to the hook. It travelled all the way up to the surface. She thought of the last time she had been bound by her blood mother. She pointed her wand and shouted, “Spheraflamma!”—but of course this was useless underwater, just as the wand sparks had been.
“Witch!” hissed a red-tailed merman. “You’ve done this, haven’t you?”
“No!” Luna cried. “I swear!”
“Why else would a land-dweller come to the bottom of the sea?!” the merman interrogated, as he was pulled upward; for the efforts to keep the pink-tailed mermaid underwater were in vain.
“Uh, long story—need to save your friend first.”
“Don’t pretend to be on our side, earthling!”
But Luna was already darting towards the surface. She paused by the pink-tailed mermaid only to say, “I will stop this!” even though she hadn’t the slightest idea how she was going to do such a thing.
Up, up, up—Luna was kicking as quickly as possible. It was a relief when she made it to the water that the sunlight reached. Sure, the sun reminded her of Emperor Sola, but still, Luna didn’t like the darkness of the sea’s trenches.
She reached the surface quicker than she had the Merfolkian Castle. But before greeting the air, she swam away from the chain, behind a large rock.
Luna pulled herself up out of the water and onto the surface of the rock. It was rough with barnacles. Her gills faded away, and she breathed the salty sea air again. The early-Autumn sun warmed her back. The Greenlandian Isles surrounded her; she was directly in the middle of them. This was significantly further out than she had ever swum.
“Honestly, my king, do you really think I want to find her just because she is my daughter? No! This is for the reward Prince Daniel promises!”
“Audrey, Audrey! We’ve won! We beat the Hearts! Why should we hold Aurora’s behaviours against her? Clearly, they worked in our favour.”
It took Luna a moment to process the situation—a moment in which only the calling of seagulls and the crashing of waves could be heard.
And then, unable to censor herself, the words escaped her mouth: “My blood parents?!”
“James, did you hear that?”
Luna brought a hand to her mouth.
“You’re hearing things, Audrey. You must be stressed. Come, have some ale.”
Another moment’s pause—this one presumably involving Queen Audrey taking some drink.
Luna listened carefully, trying to drown out the sound of the waves.
“I have no interest in a relationship with Aurora—not after she rejected us, leaving her tiara on the chamber floor. Unless she can help us grow our power, of course.”
“Yes, yes! We will grow our power! Beating the Hearts was the first step. And now, if we can bring Prince Daniel the body of a mermaid—an early wedding present—he will certainly be on good terms with us. Not many men have managed to capture a mermaid, let alone perform the curse to preserve their figure forever.” The Greenlandian king gave a horrible chuckle.
Luna thought she might vomit and not out of sea-sickness; This is what my blood-parents are going to do? To the pink-tailed mermaid? How evil!
Gingerly, she propped herself up on the rock so that she could see her blood parents’ ship. Out of the sea, the chain travelled up to a large pulley; and, on the other end, several Greenlandian servants were yanking on it, dragging the poor mermaid up to the ship. She pointed her wand at the chain and whispered, “Spheraflamma!” Flames escaped the tip of her wand and shot towards the chain. But even above water, this effort was in vain—the chain was made of cast iron, after all.
Luna’s mind raced desperately back to that fateful day on which she had made her final escape from the Greenlandian Castle: I was angry. And I’m angry now too. But maybe that magic doesn’t work if I’m not the one wearing the chains.
Hmm, well, I could use Airiforce in an attempt to knock their ship over. Oh, but they can’t swim! What if they drown? Could I really kill my own parents?
Then it dawned on her: I might have to kill them—or at least hurt them—to complete the quest. This is the choice I am faced with: my blood parents or the rebels?
Obviously, I choose the rebels! I already chose the rebels! They are my true family, even if not by blood.
Then two more problems arose: Is the ‘Airiforce’ spell even strong enough to topple a whole ship over? And if I cast it, they will know someone is here, hiding behind the rock.
And a final, and most pressing, problem: I left Zale and Aiden back on the shore—in direct line of the ship. Will my parents spot them? Oh, what if they already have? Frantically, Luna pulled herself even higher up on the rock, to get a better view of the ship.
Only a handful of times had she been on the ship, as a young child. Her parents rarely sailed, as they despised the outdoors. But the Mundane Princess had, privately, loved their ship—Arianna, she was called, after ‘Princess Aurora’s’ late grandmother.
Arianna was huge, what with her three masts. Of course, she had been painted green and gold. And she was complete with the figurehead of a redheaded, purple-tailed mermaid on the bow. The mermaid wore both a bralette and a crown of white seashells and pearls. The thing was so realistic that, as a young child, ‘Princess Aurora’, had often thought it looked alive.
Luna was relieved to not spot Zale and Aiden on Arianna, but when she looked at the shore and saw that they were no longer on the beach, panic flooded her. Silently, she prayed to the Cosmos that not seeing them was, in fact, a good thing.
But there was no time to worry about the other rebels now, nor about whether or not the spell would work. The mermaid’s pink tail could be seen just below the surface of the water.
Luna drew her wand back and then, with all her might, shot it towards the sailboat, as she bellowed, “AIRIFORCE!”
Then she closed her eyes and waited. But there was no splash.
Luna opened her eyes. Arianna was merely rocking side-to-side.
She could hear her blood parents panicking, but she repeated the process—this time focusing more intently, and thinking, They will not get away with this!
Much to her relief, this time she did hear it: a great splash. And this time when she opened her eyes, Arianna was upside-down.
Her mother was splashing around frantically; “James! Who did this?”
“Could be a storm coming,” King James suggested thickly, barely able to stay afloat.
“You stupid goose! There’s not a cloud in the sky!” Queen Audrey hissed, as the waves rocked her violently.
King James coughed out sea-water; “Well, what else could it have been?”
“A rebel!” The Greenlandian queen said this with such disdain.
“Or an assassin. Perhaps the Hearts are jealous.”
This was no place for such a conversation, however, for the Greenlandian king and queen were struggling to stay afloat. Hastily, their servants helped them into a rowboat.
Once safely afloat, the drenched Greenlandian queen gave an order to a noble mage: “Find the one who did this! She’s lost us our mermaid!”
The mage bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty. But where could they be?”
Queen Audrey was shaken with a rage that Luna was all too familiar with; “You idiotic cow! Check behind that rock to start!”
Hastily, Luna jumped off the rock and dived underwater. Thank the Cosmos the gills emerged again!
She swam towards the pink-tailed mermaid. The mermaid was still hooked, but flipping her fins as quickly as possible, dragging the chain and pulley down towards the bottom of the sea.
When the mermaid noticed Luna, she gave a raspy hiss and began wrapping her scaly, webbed hands around the Moon-Child’s throat.
“No!” Luna choked. “I sent the boat toppling over! With magic! I saved you!”
The mermaid’s grip tightened. She gave Luna a menacing glare, almost growling.
“I didn’t want them to hook you!” Luna wheezed.
The mermaid let go, but it wasn’t because of Luna’s claims. Instead, she was staring at the Moon-Child’s neck. She said, “The Cosmos blessed you with those—I can tell.”
It took Luna a moment to realise what the mermaid was talking about. “Yes, they are a blessing from the divine,” she then confirmed, even though she couldn’t yet fully comprehend the notion herself. “I’m not here to fish you, I promise.”
“Then why are you here?!” the mermaid demanded to know, her golden blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight that cut through the sea’s surface. “Us merfolk don’t like to associate with land-dwellers! Let alone Earthlings!”
“Long story.” Luna glanced down at the mermaid’s pink fins. Red clouds of blood were escaping the wound. “We need to get you back to your kingdom. Once we do, will someone be able to get this hook safely out of you?”
“I think so.” The mermaid looked up at the rowboats above, then back at Luna. She gave a nod. “Alright, let’s go.”
Downward they swam, back toward the bottom of the sea.
Once they were deep enough to feel safe, Luna asked, “How in all the curses of the Underworld did they find your castle?”
Then privately she remarked, And how did they find the underwater castle, but not the rebel hideout on land? She counted her blessings.
“The Greens discovered our whereabouts many Suns ago,” the mermaid said sombrely. “Earthlings have been infatuated with merfolkians since they arrived on this planet. Mundane fish, they consider food. But magical fish… to Earthlings, we are some kind of novelty.”
Luna was appalled; “They were going to give you to Prince Daniel, Emperor Sola’s son.”
“I know who the Imperials are!” the mermaid shrieked. “Sola is but one of many who have destroyed our sacred world.”
My blood parents have contributed to this destruction, Luna privately reflected. And that only adds to the anger I feel towards their desire to make the Greenlands more like the Heartlands, more like the Solar Kingdom.
“I still don’t understand what they were going to do with you once they caught you,” Luna admitted.
“Paralyse and preserve me like a statue—a fate worse than death.”
“Like Suicide Island,” Luna said.
“Worse. An Earthling has to break a law to be sent there. We don’t do anything, just exist as we have since the dawn of time—and then, the next thing you know, Earthlings are fishing us.” At this, the mermaid shuddered, and she swam faster.
Luna took a moment to consider this: I thought the peasants and rebels were treated with the most injustice. Could perhaps there be issues even larger than the Magical Moat? And she thought of the elves enslaved in the Solar Kingdom.
Oh, but what would Zale or Zelena think of such an idea? The thought twisted Luna’s mind.
She decided to push the subject away for now: “What do they do to paralyse and preserve you?” she asked the mermaid. “I mean, they must use some sort of spell?”
“Not a spell—a curse! They jinx you in such a way that you no longer need to breathe water or feed. You’re just left there—frozen—as a statue for them to ogle.”
“Are you still conscious?”
“As I said, it’s a fate worse than death.”
“And have you known anyone who’s been—”
But then Luna’s words came to a halt. A mixture of disgust and rage flooded her. The mermaid at the bow of Arianna. I once loved her purple tail—oh, how I now loathe myself!
When the witch and the mermaid reached the underwater castle, the other merfolk were nowhere to be seen.
“Everyone must be inside,” said the mermaid, and she swam toward the unguarded gate.
Luna followed her into the castle.
Indeed, the merfolk had been hiding out in their walls of coral, in the throne room. Just like the first time they spotted Luna, they stared at her. And just like she had at the Grain Moon Ball, Luna hated having everyone’s eyes on her.
“There’s that land-dweller!” a mermaid with an aqua-blue tail cried.
“Earthling scum!” one with a tail of amber shrieked.
And then, “She was the one who hooked Princess Arielle!”
“What is Princess Arielle doing with her?”
Luna stared quizzically at the merfolk. “Princess?” she echoed.
No one addressed her confusion, but they did not need to. A closer look at the pink-tailed mermaid showed the tiara resting in her golden hair: it was made of spiral seashells and adorned with pieces of rose quartz.
“Doesn’t Princess Arielle know it’s dangerous?”
“Seize the land-dweller!”
“No!” cried Princess Arielle. “This one’s different.” Then she paused before adding, “I think, anyway.”
And she turned to her parents, the Merfolkian king and queen. “Mother and father, this Earthling saved me! She swam to the top before the Greens could pull me up, and she used magic to turn their ship upside-down and send them overboard!”
There was a moment of silence, in which King Poseidon and Queen Arielle were registering these claims.
Finally, the Merfolkian king spoke, first to a noble merman, “Can you take Princess Arielle to the healing chamber? Have someone get that hook out of her and nurse her fins back to health!”
And then to Luna, “You—you really sent your own parents to drown—to save our daughter?”
“Her parents?” Princess Arielle questioned as a noble merman led her out of the throne room. “You don’t mean to tell me that she’s Princess Aurora?” And she gave Luna a look of disgust and betrayal.
A pang of guilt flooded Luna, but she ignored this and answered the king: “Yes! I mean, they didn’t drown. Their servants saved them.”
“Curses of the Underworld!” King Poseidon growled. “If only they had drowned!”
Luna said nothing. It was a surprise, how the thought troubled her—even after running away, joining the rebels, and all.
“Why did you come here?” the king asked, more curious now.
“I already told you—the Lunar Revolution,” Luna answered earnestly.
Laughter once again—though this time not from the king.
“Zelena sent you?” he asked.
“Zelena sent me on a quest: I have to collect the Essence of each Element. For Water—” But her words came to a halt. She did not know how to ask for the seashell locket that still hung around Queen Arielle’s neck.
To her surprise, King Poseidon finished for her: “I know what it is you want: the seashell locket—our ancient relic—a treasure of both regal and holy value.”
Luna nodded weakly.
The merfolk could be heard in the background, making remarks of shock and fury.
Whatever respect Luna had earned with the merfolkian king was lost now; “Absolutely not! What renders you Earthlings so entitled that you think you can swim down here and demand that we give you our greatest treasure?”
He’s right, Luna admitted to herself. As much as I stand with the rebels, we are not entitled to this.
But Queen Arielle spoke: “Lady Noir, you just saved our youngest daughter from a fate worse than death—a fate our eldest, Princess Artemis, has already been subjected to.”
There was an uncomfortable pause in which Luna thought, I’ve already met—or rather, seen—Princess Artemis.
“My king, you know as well as I the power of the seashell locket. If one sought to create the Essence of Water, they would require the locket. This is unorthodox, I know, but Lady Noir just saved our youngest daughter from a fate worse than death, and now, we owe her and her folk the same heroism.”
King Poseidon looked at his queen with wide eyes. “You’re saying we should give it to the Earthling?”
“The Cosmos clearly desires that we help the girl, for why else would it have blessed her with the ability to breathe our waters? And this is for the Lunar Revolution.”
“Why should I care about land-dweller politics, Arielle? It doesn’t matter whether this Earthling is with the rebels or the monarchy. They’re all the same to me: ignorant! Why, those rebels are the same folks who robbed the elves of their forests!”
“Those in and allied with the Lunar Coven have seen the errors of their ways. And they have a new vision for Eutopos.”
King Poseidon stared intently at his golden trident as he rotated it between his fingers. “That I don’t believe.”
“My king, choosing not to aid the rebels is the same as choosing the side of the empire—and they are the ones who got our Artemis. Who do you trust more? Emperor Sola or Zelena? Those working for the empire or those working with the Cosmos? Surely the latter.
“I say we give her the locket. And as queen of the Merfolkian Kingdom, isn’t it really my locket, anyway? Isn’t it really my choice?”
King Poseidon gave a defeated sigh. Luna didn’t know anything about Merfolkian politics, but it did seem as though it was Queen Arielle’s choice.
“I can’t stop you, no,” the Merfolkian king obliged. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Queen Arielle unfastened the locket, removed it from her neck, and gestured Luna closer.
“Turn around, Lady Noir,” she instructed, when Luna reached her throne.
Luna was overjoyed, and she did as she was told.
But upon turning away from the king and queen, a throne room full of unhappy merfolk was revealed to the Moon-Child:
“Queen Arielle! Why are you giving it to her?”
“Don’t let the Earthling take it, King Poseidon!”
“She is a Green and she always will be a Green!”
“Earthling scum!”
The Merfolkian king bellowed, “SILENCE!” and the throne room went quiet.
Queen Arielle spoke, “Folk of the sea, I understand your fear and confusion. But you will find, in times as mad as those to come, those who are allied will do far better than those who hoard their power.”
She began fixing the locket around Luna’s neck. “There are times traditions must be broken—this is a sacrifice we must make, if we want to see Eutopos rise again.” And she fastened the chain.
Relieved to have what she needed, Luna turned back to the king and queen and said, “My greatest of thanks!” And then privately she thought, Although I’m not sure what this ‘Eutopos’ is. Must be the name of the Merfolkian Kingdom.
King Poseidon pointed his trident in Luna’s face and gave an order: “If you use this locket against us merfolkians or any of the undersea creatures, I willhave your head on the end of my trident, and I willpreserve you the way your blood parents preserved my daughter!”
Luna swallowed hard. “I promise,” she assured the Merfolkian king.
Then she turned to the rest of the throne room and made a proclamation: “When the Lunar Coven overthrows the empire—when we manifest the Lunar Revolution—we will ensure the safety of the merfolk!”
But as soon as the Moon-Child said this, she wondered, Should I make such promises without the approval of the crone?