THE SEA DRAGONS
ENGLISH VERNACULAR EDITION
BEYOND ENDLESS TIDES
NOVELLA 3
Chrythus swam high invisible to all around. Below him he watched Morgella and her youngling swim over the lip of the sheer rock formation. Their descent would take them to Dregorn, a ravine of great depth and dwelling to many asperini, including Nepulus. A pity they sought his counsel, though it was no surprise. The youngling had changed, and of all the living still clasping the use of magic, Nepulus was the only one to be trusted.
The dolphin's which'd helped both, bringing the youngling back from near death, had departed. All but five: the youngling's protector, and four others, connected by blood, or by friendship, Chrythus was not certain. The four were near the surface breathing, and the yellow rune clad one swam to join them. The last was his quarry before attempting to take Morgella's young Aquithus bearer. It was a quick and nimble adversary, one which, if care not taken, could strike him from any direction should his wits fail him.
He stayed where he was, hovering out of scent range and let his mind drift. The scent of Aquithus had awoken in him thoughts of his life with Amberline. Of the three mates he'd had in his long existence, she was the one he truly loved. The first two he ended the pairing, not Amberline. He'd been with her in old age and watched her, cradled in his embrace as she let go of this life. He longed for her, could taste the smell of her hair in the water around him. A picture emerged in his mind, of her long, thin hair which ended just beyond the tip of her slender tail. Dappled blue it had been, her tail so soft to touch he'd often nestled his head against it; the feel of it on his cheeks calmed his very core. The memory so fresh in his head, he could almost feel her tail when he brushed his face with his palm.
'Amberline,' he whispered. 'I'm ready.'
***
With Sherez at her side clutching Ethos’s bill tighter than she had need, Morg swam down. At her sixtieth stroke into the abyss, lights greeted them – clusters of Wergums with their luminescent bodies showing greens, yellows and reds, were gathered together, much like she had witnessed when she’d first met Ethos’s sister Bi. She’d been hungry then, but not this occurrence, thanks to the efforts of the dolphins. She looked across at the small face which looked nervous and scared, and had Ethos’s chin and nose. She would always be grateful to the dolphins for what they had done to aid Sherez, bringing her back from wherever it was she had gone. Her eyes traced the yellow runes the grey dolphin had left upon her body. What has it done to you? She asked in silence to no one in particular. What must become of you?
Long after the two young mer-girls they’d seen on their way down from the cliff edge had left them, they had happened upon a deep crevice near the rock wall's base – a mere crack in the vastness of this place, and had dived right in, unafraid. She was sure the dolphins had understood her needs and had led them to that cliff top, and knew they would not lead her to harm. She trusted them.
More clusters of Wergums came into view the lower they swam. In places other such luminous fish cast light for young ones to see at play. Further down faint light showed this ravine to be deep, very deep. She estimated three if not four hundred strokes would be needed to take her to its depths, that’s if what she was seeing was the end of it, where the rock she followed would meet the silt.
As they approached the nearest of the clusters of Wergums, cave entrances began. Some were occupied by the small faces of young ones, all others were empty.
A clicking call from above told her the dolphin was not far behind them. She rolled her head to glance in its direction between her wilted dugs. It was diving at a slow pace, ten strokes from her and Sherez. She hadn’t noticed before but the dolphin had changed appearance as well. When she'd first seen it, it had been silver shaded like any other dolphin, now a dark shade of blue brought out its own newly acquired yellow runes permeating its whole body. It slowed its pace and righted to a levelled position, and then tilted its body to keep its left eye on them.
Lower she and Sherez swam and soon they neared the ocean floor. Bodies were everywhere and moving about in a cacophony of motion. Mermaids played with the young; mer-girl and mer-boy alike, and though there were older mer-girls she could see only a few older mer-boys, who looked timid, almost scared in the way they looked about them, laughing it off as they joined in the fun. Perhaps this sect banished mer-boys as they matured into full-grown merman: her father had told of such sects sending the young mer-boys off to find their own way, encouraging only the fittest and toughest to aid purer bloodlines. She brushed the thought aside knowing the truth would come the longer she stayed.
Holes in the silt were arrayed in no particular pattern. Young ones who’d mastered their swimming techniques expertly and looking to have seen as many soltaire revolves as Sherez, darted inside these holes and appeared from different ones, smiling. Some swam fast and hard at ones in front of them, when the groups ahead darted into other pits, the one pursuing disappeared after. All across the silt young ones did the same. In one group as they came rushing out of darkness, their pursuer, a mer-girl with long, light coloured wavy hair, grabbed the mer-boy farthest back and kissed him on the lips, then somersaulted back down into the depths from where they had all come. Thinking about it she realised the mer-boy hadn’t been going as fast as the others, hadn’t even been trying to get away. She remembered playing the same in Finyarn, but all the mer-boys she’d kissed, she’d done so on their cheeks, never their lips. As the mer-girl vanished, Morg saw her dugs were just forming. The mer-boy she had kissed changed course, span around and with laughter on his lips dived after her. They did not come up again. With a smile she looked away as two familiar faces came towards them.
It was the two mer-girls who’d darted off ahead of them from the crest of the ravine. Curiosity etched their small faces. A mermaid swam a tail’s length behind. She was shorter than Morg, with blood red hair flowing down to the nape of her back. She carried a small bundle within her rounded belly and her wholesome dugs were filled in anticipation of the arrival.
A ripple touched the insides of Morg’s stomach at the sight as if Sherez still grew there.
The newcomer smiled on her approach. ‘My mer-girls don’t talk yet, but when they came to me, I knew they were excited about something?’
Morg was perplexed. ‘They are both yours? They look to have seen the exact same amount of soltaire revolves, how is it possible?’
The other smiled. ‘Yes, they were both in my belly, growing together and came out one after the other.’
Morg had never seen nor heard of such things. She winced at the thought of having two growing within her. ‘How did you manage it? I mean bad enough to have one in there, but two.’
The other laughed. ‘Yes it was a struggle, and makes me appreciate just having the one this time,’ she cradled her stomach. ‘Least I hope there’s only one in there.’
Morg laughed. A warm feeling ran through her, she had found a friend she thought, someone, besides Ethos, of whom to talk to, and about things she could never discuss with him. She smiled.
‘Though my two hadn’t asked me to, I knew from their behaviour I had to follow and see what had captivated them so.’
Morg looked across at Sherez, and nodded her agreeance, ‘they have their ways of making us do their bidding. I’m Morg, we, my mer-girl and I—’ she checked herself. She was about to tell the other where they had come from, but she had no way of knowing what the asperini here knew of how close they were to becoming non-existent, and moreover, how they felt about what the White Queen felt they must do to rectify it. The warm feeling she had running through her turned cold, she had to be careful and not tell too much of herself, not until she knew more about this sect. ‘I’m sorry, we have been on a long journey,’ she said, ‘this is Sherez, my daughter. We got lost looking for food and wandered into the vast expanse of nothingness. I’m sure I don't need to tell you there’s nothing out there. We haven’t eaten in a few soltaire ups.’
The other’s smile dimmed, her face contorted to a concerned glare. ‘Come, I now see you are both in dire need. The merman and mer-boys that have proved themselves worthy of wielding their hunting weapons have gone off to seek out more feasts. What little we have we store till they return.’ Without another word the mermaid turned, called her two mer-girls, and swam away.
Morg didn’t hesitate. The mermaid had seemed genuine, so she led Sherez to a meal neither of them needed.
As she followed a sense of ease crept through her. She hadn’t realised before but the thought of sending young mer-boys off to fend on their own had left a tight feeling in the pit of her heart. The more she thought of it the more she realised it was because of her own experience of being outcast by those she loved.
They wove around many mermaids who were tending the holes below. Young ones came to them with bright colourful stones no bigger than their young balled fists, of glistening reds, greens, blues and yellows, clasped to their torso. They dived inside the holes, and when they returned they held stones of the same colouring but which had faded. She wanted to ask, but now that she had said they were hungry wanted to keep up the pretence and made a mental note to ask her new friend after they’d eaten.
The short mermaid dived low and when she stopped an arm’s reach from the ocean floor her stomach almost touched the sand. She shifted the silt with her hands. As her fingers caressed the ocean floor, bright red glistening colour filled the space between her short digits. Soon she had four fish long as a forearm in hand and swam back, sharing the offering to Morg and Sherez, two each. They both ate eagerly and when finished, each of the mer-girls offered them two more. Knowing the uneasy feeling inside if she ate too many too quickly, she took smaller bites and gestured Sherez did the same. Sherez didn’t and soon she had eaten all her offerings.
‘I’m Sherpa,’ the other said, ‘these two are Deemlak and Gosharn.’ Morg nodded to each as they were introduced. ‘They are hard to tell apart sometimes, even I struggle and they know it. If you look closely, Deemlak has two dark patches just behind her left ear above her gills. Gosharn teases me sometimes and covers herself pretending to be her sister, especially when she’s up to mischief,’ Sherpa laughed.
Morg laughed, too. Deemlak was looking directly at her, hiding her markings from view. It would be something she would remember and watch out for. She took another bite, chewed and swallowed. ‘What were those young ones with the stones doing?’
Sherpa smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. They are bringing faestones into the caves below. Faestones keep the worst of the big predators from finding us whilst we sleep. Their power fades after five sun ups and they must be replaced. The young mer-girls you saw as we swam by were bringing fresh ones in and removing the ones with diminished power. They are only found here, nowhere else, and when we take them back they regenerate their lost power. How they do it is beyond me, and I’ve never asked. We teach the young ones to rotate them, so only the strongest come back to our caves.’
Morg was in awe. She had never heard such stones existed. There again, if they were only to be found here as Sherpa had said, none outside this sect would know of them.
Sherpa’s eyes roamed above. ‘I see you have a follower.’
Morg looked in the direction Sherpa was staring. There, just beyond the reach of the lights from the clusters of fish was Sherez’s dolphin: she may as well think of it as such. It was moving in a circle, keeping a watchful eye on Sherez, as it made a descent. As it came closer, the yellow runes on its blue body shone brighter. She looked across at Sherez. Her yellow runes were intensifying in colour, and pulsing light danced from her head to the tip of her tail, matching those on the dolphin.
‘They are one.’ Sherpa stated. ‘The power of Aquithus burns in their blood. This is good.’
‘The power of what?’ Morg asked.
‘The power of Aquithus.’ Sherpa said, and with no other words swam off towards her kin, her two mer-girls somersaulted and were soon at their tamer-girl’s side.
Morg whipped her tail to follow then stopped. She had seen something in Sherpa’s eyes she didn’t like. She wanted to grab Sherez and swim away in the other direction. Yet deeper in her conscience she knew these were good asperini. She hesitated a moment, then whipped her tail to catch Sherpa. As she past Sherez she gestured for her to follow, changed her mind and pointed up to the dolphin. Sherez smiled her understanding and swam upwards, faster than any young one ought.
She gained on Sherpa, Deemlak and Gosharn at her flanks, and swam above them. Looking down she had to ask, ‘what are you talking about? Do you know what has happened to my remer-girl? Is that what you meant?’
Sherpa looked ahead unfaltering in her strokes, and said: ‘Come, there is much to discuss and you have a merman to meet. He will answer what you wish to know. Your Sherez may stay with the dolphin, they are quite safe.
She wasn’t sure what to do. Somewhere in her mind a voice chanted to her, swim away. Swim as fast as you can, it echoed. She looked up at Sherez. She and the dolphin were at play. It had saved her once, and she knew it would not let anything happen to Sherez. She looked away, she needed answers and if the merman Sherpa was taking her to knew them, she owed it to Sherez to at least hear him out. In the end she knew Nepulus would either tell her they had lied to her and put her in the know, or would affirm what she was about to learn.
The dolphin's which'd helped both, bringing the youngling back from near death, had departed. All but five: the youngling's protector, and four others, connected by blood, or by friendship, Chrythus was not certain. The four were near the surface breathing, and the yellow rune clad one swam to join them. The last was his quarry before attempting to take Morgella's young Aquithus bearer. It was a quick and nimble adversary, one which, if care not taken, could strike him from any direction should his wits fail him.
He stayed where he was, hovering out of scent range and let his mind drift. The scent of Aquithus had awoken in him thoughts of his life with Amberline. Of the three mates he'd had in his long existence, she was the one he truly loved. The first two he ended the pairing, not Amberline. He'd been with her in old age and watched her, cradled in his embrace as she let go of this life. He longed for her, could taste the smell of her hair in the water around him. A picture emerged in his mind, of her long, thin hair which ended just beyond the tip of her slender tail. Dappled blue it had been, her tail so soft to touch he'd often nestled his head against it; the feel of it on his cheeks calmed his very core. The memory so fresh in his head, he could almost feel her tail when he brushed his face with his palm.
'Amberline,' he whispered. 'I'm ready.'
***
With Sherez at her side clutching Ethos’s bill tighter than she had need, Morg swam down. At her sixtieth stroke into the abyss, lights greeted them – clusters of Wergums with their luminescent bodies showing greens, yellows and reds, were gathered together, much like she had witnessed when she’d first met Ethos’s sister Bi. She’d been hungry then, but not this occurrence, thanks to the efforts of the dolphins. She looked across at the small face which looked nervous and scared, and had Ethos’s chin and nose. She would always be grateful to the dolphins for what they had done to aid Sherez, bringing her back from wherever it was she had gone. Her eyes traced the yellow runes the grey dolphin had left upon her body. What has it done to you? She asked in silence to no one in particular. What must become of you?
Long after the two young mer-girls they’d seen on their way down from the cliff edge had left them, they had happened upon a deep crevice near the rock wall's base – a mere crack in the vastness of this place, and had dived right in, unafraid. She was sure the dolphins had understood her needs and had led them to that cliff top, and knew they would not lead her to harm. She trusted them.
More clusters of Wergums came into view the lower they swam. In places other such luminous fish cast light for young ones to see at play. Further down faint light showed this ravine to be deep, very deep. She estimated three if not four hundred strokes would be needed to take her to its depths, that’s if what she was seeing was the end of it, where the rock she followed would meet the silt.
As they approached the nearest of the clusters of Wergums, cave entrances began. Some were occupied by the small faces of young ones, all others were empty.
A clicking call from above told her the dolphin was not far behind them. She rolled her head to glance in its direction between her wilted dugs. It was diving at a slow pace, ten strokes from her and Sherez. She hadn’t noticed before but the dolphin had changed appearance as well. When she'd first seen it, it had been silver shaded like any other dolphin, now a dark shade of blue brought out its own newly acquired yellow runes permeating its whole body. It slowed its pace and righted to a levelled position, and then tilted its body to keep its left eye on them.
Lower she and Sherez swam and soon they neared the ocean floor. Bodies were everywhere and moving about in a cacophony of motion. Mermaids played with the young; mer-girl and mer-boy alike, and though there were older mer-girls she could see only a few older mer-boys, who looked timid, almost scared in the way they looked about them, laughing it off as they joined in the fun. Perhaps this sect banished mer-boys as they matured into full-grown merman: her father had told of such sects sending the young mer-boys off to find their own way, encouraging only the fittest and toughest to aid purer bloodlines. She brushed the thought aside knowing the truth would come the longer she stayed.
Holes in the silt were arrayed in no particular pattern. Young ones who’d mastered their swimming techniques expertly and looking to have seen as many soltaire revolves as Sherez, darted inside these holes and appeared from different ones, smiling. Some swam fast and hard at ones in front of them, when the groups ahead darted into other pits, the one pursuing disappeared after. All across the silt young ones did the same. In one group as they came rushing out of darkness, their pursuer, a mer-girl with long, light coloured wavy hair, grabbed the mer-boy farthest back and kissed him on the lips, then somersaulted back down into the depths from where they had all come. Thinking about it she realised the mer-boy hadn’t been going as fast as the others, hadn’t even been trying to get away. She remembered playing the same in Finyarn, but all the mer-boys she’d kissed, she’d done so on their cheeks, never their lips. As the mer-girl vanished, Morg saw her dugs were just forming. The mer-boy she had kissed changed course, span around and with laughter on his lips dived after her. They did not come up again. With a smile she looked away as two familiar faces came towards them.
It was the two mer-girls who’d darted off ahead of them from the crest of the ravine. Curiosity etched their small faces. A mermaid swam a tail’s length behind. She was shorter than Morg, with blood red hair flowing down to the nape of her back. She carried a small bundle within her rounded belly and her wholesome dugs were filled in anticipation of the arrival.
A ripple touched the insides of Morg’s stomach at the sight as if Sherez still grew there.
The newcomer smiled on her approach. ‘My mer-girls don’t talk yet, but when they came to me, I knew they were excited about something?’
Morg was perplexed. ‘They are both yours? They look to have seen the exact same amount of soltaire revolves, how is it possible?’
The other smiled. ‘Yes, they were both in my belly, growing together and came out one after the other.’
Morg had never seen nor heard of such things. She winced at the thought of having two growing within her. ‘How did you manage it? I mean bad enough to have one in there, but two.’
The other laughed. ‘Yes it was a struggle, and makes me appreciate just having the one this time,’ she cradled her stomach. ‘Least I hope there’s only one in there.’
Morg laughed. A warm feeling ran through her, she had found a friend she thought, someone, besides Ethos, of whom to talk to, and about things she could never discuss with him. She smiled.
‘Though my two hadn’t asked me to, I knew from their behaviour I had to follow and see what had captivated them so.’
Morg looked across at Sherez, and nodded her agreeance, ‘they have their ways of making us do their bidding. I’m Morg, we, my mer-girl and I—’ she checked herself. She was about to tell the other where they had come from, but she had no way of knowing what the asperini here knew of how close they were to becoming non-existent, and moreover, how they felt about what the White Queen felt they must do to rectify it. The warm feeling she had running through her turned cold, she had to be careful and not tell too much of herself, not until she knew more about this sect. ‘I’m sorry, we have been on a long journey,’ she said, ‘this is Sherez, my daughter. We got lost looking for food and wandered into the vast expanse of nothingness. I’m sure I don't need to tell you there’s nothing out there. We haven’t eaten in a few soltaire ups.’
The other’s smile dimmed, her face contorted to a concerned glare. ‘Come, I now see you are both in dire need. The merman and mer-boys that have proved themselves worthy of wielding their hunting weapons have gone off to seek out more feasts. What little we have we store till they return.’ Without another word the mermaid turned, called her two mer-girls, and swam away.
Morg didn’t hesitate. The mermaid had seemed genuine, so she led Sherez to a meal neither of them needed.
As she followed a sense of ease crept through her. She hadn’t realised before but the thought of sending young mer-boys off to fend on their own had left a tight feeling in the pit of her heart. The more she thought of it the more she realised it was because of her own experience of being outcast by those she loved.
They wove around many mermaids who were tending the holes below. Young ones came to them with bright colourful stones no bigger than their young balled fists, of glistening reds, greens, blues and yellows, clasped to their torso. They dived inside the holes, and when they returned they held stones of the same colouring but which had faded. She wanted to ask, but now that she had said they were hungry wanted to keep up the pretence and made a mental note to ask her new friend after they’d eaten.
The short mermaid dived low and when she stopped an arm’s reach from the ocean floor her stomach almost touched the sand. She shifted the silt with her hands. As her fingers caressed the ocean floor, bright red glistening colour filled the space between her short digits. Soon she had four fish long as a forearm in hand and swam back, sharing the offering to Morg and Sherez, two each. They both ate eagerly and when finished, each of the mer-girls offered them two more. Knowing the uneasy feeling inside if she ate too many too quickly, she took smaller bites and gestured Sherez did the same. Sherez didn’t and soon she had eaten all her offerings.
‘I’m Sherpa,’ the other said, ‘these two are Deemlak and Gosharn.’ Morg nodded to each as they were introduced. ‘They are hard to tell apart sometimes, even I struggle and they know it. If you look closely, Deemlak has two dark patches just behind her left ear above her gills. Gosharn teases me sometimes and covers herself pretending to be her sister, especially when she’s up to mischief,’ Sherpa laughed.
Morg laughed, too. Deemlak was looking directly at her, hiding her markings from view. It would be something she would remember and watch out for. She took another bite, chewed and swallowed. ‘What were those young ones with the stones doing?’
Sherpa smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. They are bringing faestones into the caves below. Faestones keep the worst of the big predators from finding us whilst we sleep. Their power fades after five sun ups and they must be replaced. The young mer-girls you saw as we swam by were bringing fresh ones in and removing the ones with diminished power. They are only found here, nowhere else, and when we take them back they regenerate their lost power. How they do it is beyond me, and I’ve never asked. We teach the young ones to rotate them, so only the strongest come back to our caves.’
Morg was in awe. She had never heard such stones existed. There again, if they were only to be found here as Sherpa had said, none outside this sect would know of them.
Sherpa’s eyes roamed above. ‘I see you have a follower.’
Morg looked in the direction Sherpa was staring. There, just beyond the reach of the lights from the clusters of fish was Sherez’s dolphin: she may as well think of it as such. It was moving in a circle, keeping a watchful eye on Sherez, as it made a descent. As it came closer, the yellow runes on its blue body shone brighter. She looked across at Sherez. Her yellow runes were intensifying in colour, and pulsing light danced from her head to the tip of her tail, matching those on the dolphin.
‘They are one.’ Sherpa stated. ‘The power of Aquithus burns in their blood. This is good.’
‘The power of what?’ Morg asked.
‘The power of Aquithus.’ Sherpa said, and with no other words swam off towards her kin, her two mer-girls somersaulted and were soon at their tamer-girl’s side.
Morg whipped her tail to follow then stopped. She had seen something in Sherpa’s eyes she didn’t like. She wanted to grab Sherez and swim away in the other direction. Yet deeper in her conscience she knew these were good asperini. She hesitated a moment, then whipped her tail to catch Sherpa. As she past Sherez she gestured for her to follow, changed her mind and pointed up to the dolphin. Sherez smiled her understanding and swam upwards, faster than any young one ought.
She gained on Sherpa, Deemlak and Gosharn at her flanks, and swam above them. Looking down she had to ask, ‘what are you talking about? Do you know what has happened to my remer-girl? Is that what you meant?’
Sherpa looked ahead unfaltering in her strokes, and said: ‘Come, there is much to discuss and you have a merman to meet. He will answer what you wish to know. Your Sherez may stay with the dolphin, they are quite safe.
She wasn’t sure what to do. Somewhere in her mind a voice chanted to her, swim away. Swim as fast as you can, it echoed. She looked up at Sherez. She and the dolphin were at play. It had saved her once, and she knew it would not let anything happen to Sherez. She looked away, she needed answers and if the merman Sherpa was taking her to knew them, she owed it to Sherez to at least hear him out. In the end she knew Nepulus would either tell her they had lied to her and put her in the know, or would affirm what she was about to learn.
