Into The Eighth Sea

(Amphitrite POV)

The Western Citadel was a huge grey stone and ice castle, cold and unforgiving. At least we were all still together, the five of us. The little ones were tucked up in bed, and Poseidon had already fallen asleep. I was looking out one of the tiny windows in our little room, down onto the bleak village below us. Why was everything so bland here? Sure, the Arctic was no vibrant Atlantica, but I had never seen such a dismal place.

"Ami, come to bed, darling," Poseidon murmured, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I thought you were asleep," I commented, leaning back into his chest.

"Who can sleep?" he replied tiredly, kissing my cheek. He had been on edge ever since we left our castle, doing his best to conceal aches, pains, and tiredness. There was still something regal and magical about Poseidon that commanded respect from the guards here at the Citadel, in spite of him no longer being King. They stammered in his presence, had to stop themselves from bowing at him. There was something about Poseidon that Kai could never be. We were both still reeling from his sudden betrayal, and wondering what was going to happen to us while we were here. Were we doomed to be trapped in this little room for the rest of our lives?

"Come on, Ami," Poseidon gently led me back to bed, and we curled up together, listening to the whales singing as the migrated in the distance. It could be quite peaceful here, if you forgot about everything else going on. Though it was so terribly cold, even in sealskin coats and as we lay nestled underneath the pile of blankets we buried ourselves. And Poseidon wasn't warm enough to snuggle up with, he was cold like metal. He seemed like a different person since we had left the castle, as though he was weighed down by everything in the ocean.

There was a loud knock at the door and the sound of movement in the hallway. Poseidon and I exchanged a worried look, before he got out of bed and swam over to the door.

Poseidon opened the door, "Yes?"

The guard standing at the door looked nervous, and kept his head bowed. He was a young merman, only in his mid-teens, with two other teenage mermen peering out from behind him.

"You and your family are being moved to another location, sire," the guard murmured, looking up at him under his eyelashes.

"Oh… alright," Poseidon nodded, and added after the teenage guard didn't move, "do you mean, we're being moved now? As in, this moment?"

The little guard cleared his throat nervously, "right now, sir. The rest of the guard is preparing to me moved now."

"I see. And you're to escort us downstairs?" Poseidon remarked dryly, causing the three mermen to all blush, "well, we'll be down in a moment or so."

With that, he closed the door in the teenage mermen's faces, and turned to me with a worried look.

"Moved? Again?" I remarked, getting out of bed as he swam over to me, "whatever for? What do you suppose it means?"

"I have no idea. I have no idea why we were even moved here," Poseidon replied, "where are the children's bag?"

"Next to the baby's basket," I sat down at my vanity table, and rolled the hair curlers out of my hair, "what on earth is the point of moving us so late at night?"

"Well, I suppose it is so no one can see us," Poseidon suggested, as he collected the bag and picked up the baby basket. I collected up Poseidon and my things and put them into our bag. Poseidon slung the bags over his shoulder and handed me the baby basket. Our tiny little baby was still sleeping oh-so-peacefully, sucking his thumb. Poseidon picked up the other two, wrapping them up in blankets, and kissing both of their foreheads.

"Daddy?" Prince murmured, "What's going on?"

"Shh, baby, go back to sleep," Poseidon kissed his eldest son's forehead and turned to me, "shall we go, then?"

"I suppose we can't do anything else," I replied with a tired shrug. We left the room, and were escorted downstairs and into a carriage surrounded by guards. It was too dark to see anything outside, so we sat in silence, still too tired to think too much. Finally, the carriage stopped and we were escorted out and into a cavern of bleak grey stone with icicles hanging from the roof and walls. What a terrible place to be. The waters here were filled with the chill of death and misery, surrounding us and drowning us in the sorrows of the dead and the lost. The guards assembled themselves in a line in front of us, blocking the exit from the cave. The head guard stood in the centre of them, looking deathly pale and clutching a government-issued scroll to his chest. Why had we been moved here? This was worse than before. We couldn't live here. There must be something wrong. The head guard cleared his throat, unrolling the scroll.

"Citizen Poseidon Arctic, you and your family have been found guilty of high treason against the Arctic Republic by the President's Council," he paused, "You have been condemned to death."

"I beg your pardon?" Poseidon stared at the head guard, wide-eyed. I stared at the guard in confusion.

"You and your family have been found guilty of high treason against the Arctic Republic by the President's Council. You have been condemned to death," he repeated.

"No," Poseidon said sharply, shaking his head angrily, "No, we shan't die-"

He was cut off and his eyes grew wide and stunned. It was only then that I saw the handle of a dagger stuck out from the middle of Poseidon's throat.

"You've killed him! You've killed him!" I shrieked in horror. Prince and Carmen cried out in their father's arms as he gasped and fell forward. Oh, the children! They were going to kill my children!

"Oh, please, not my children! Not my babies! You make take my life, but don't harm the children!" I begged them. My heart was beating like a bat against my chest, as terror filled every inch of my body. We were going to die. The guards looked

"I'm so sorry, ma'am," the head guard murmured, unable to even look at me.

"I can't kill women and children," one of the guards hissed as he clutched a tiny dagger to his chest, unwilling or unable to throw it at my throat.

"We don't have a choice," the head guard replied, his voice pained. I started sobbing, as I grabbed Prince and Carmen and hugged them tightly one last time.

"Not my children! Don't hurt my children! They're just babies; they have nothing to do with this!" I pleaded, as the children started to cry, terrified and confused. Poseidon spluttered his last breath,

"We cannot die here," he murmured, breathing heavily. There was a blast of bright white light, sudden and sharp. The children cried out in my arms, and I wrapped my arms around the three of them tightly, squeezing my arms. This was it. This was the end. I heard Poseidon whisper something, but his voice was faraway and tossed around by the wind. Was this what death was? It was so freezing cold and blindingly white. I hadn't even seen the dagger being thrown... and the children! They had killed the children! I could feel them in my arms, warm and clinging to me for death life, their hearts fluttering with fear. My eyes started to adjust to the bright whiteness, and I realised it wasn't all white. There were clouds above us, but in between the clouds there was soft blue sky. And beneath us was ice. I looked around, blinking to help adjust my eyes to the brightness of here after the darkness of the cave. There were miles and miles of white ice, as far as I could in all directions. We were trapped, left here to die. Slowly, but surely, they had left us here to either freeze or dehydrate or starve. I could already feel my tail becoming dry as the cold arctic air whipped around us. I bit my lip, trying to stop myself from crying. I had to stay strong, to not scare the children. They were already crying and shivering.

"Hush, my angelfish, hush," I whispered, kissing all three of their foreheads. How could I comfort them here? How do you comfort your children as we all lay upon our deathbeds? I couldn't tell them that everything was going to be alright when it so clearly wasn't.

I looked up to see Poseidon, a few metres away from me, lying on his back. I stared at him for a moment, bewildered. The dagger had disappeared, leaving only a bloody gash on his throat, and now he wore his gold crown upon his head and was clutching the Trident. It seemed like a dream, we had left the crown and trident back at our castle.

"Poseidon?" I called as he looked over to me, "What's going on, Poseidon? How did they get us here?"

"I brought us here," Poseidon replied, as he dragged himself across the ice to me. He hugged me and the children, breathing heavily.

"You brought us here? How?" I whispered, nuzzling his neck.

"It's hard to explain. I had to take us away quickly, and go somewhere that no one could find us. But we have to go now," he murmured. He moved back from me and the children, and began focusing his energy on the Trident.

"Where are we going to go?" I asked, wrapping my arms around the little three a little tighter.

"To the Eighth Sea," Poseidon replied. I almost dropped the children as I stared at him in shock.

"Into the Eighth Sea? That's insane! If we wanted to die, we could have just stayed here!" I exclaimed, looking at him in horror. The Eighth Sea was where the ghosts of dead merfolk went, the sea of lost spirits.

"Ami, you just have to trust me," Poseidon said gently. His bright eyes were so sincere and desperate; I couldn't doubt him for a moment. If we had to go into the Eighth Sea, that was simply what we would do.

"What's going on?" Prince sobbed into my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my neck.

"Shh, darling... everything is going to be alright," I promised him, hoping I would be able to keep my promise, "you just have to trust Daddy and Mama more than ever now, okay?"

He nodded, snuggling closer to me.

With the trident, Poseidon created a golden shimmering portal above us, so enchanting and terrifying at the same time. It fell down onto us; the golden light consumed us and vanished as we disappeared. Then, there was only silence and darkness surrounding us like a cloud of ink.

No one quite knew what became of the Arctic Royal Family. The guards could not account for what happened to us, only that we had been present at the execution before we suddenly vanished. No one saw King Poseidon, Queen Amphitrite, Prince Oceanus, Princess Crustacia, or Prince Neptune ever again.