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The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
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By the Deep Blue Sea
Chapter 25
Long Time Gone
From Chapter 24
Raising the still warm heart high over his head Ashur displayed it to the crowd. Curling plumes of blood rippled in the water, washing the organ clear. He then lowered it, took a bite and tossed the mutilated heart into the blood bowl as a tribute to Nammu. The Blood Rite of Nammu had not been performed in public in thousands of years but Ashur completed it perfectly. He could have been doing it daily, it came to him so naturally.
The Assyrian turned and smiled at his lover with bloody teeth. Marduk reached out and pulled his lover in for a kiss. The taste of the Witch Queen's blood flooded Marduk's mouth.
Chapter 25
One Year later
Marduk and Ashur were alone in the audience room. Everyone had gone to greet the new Mere King and Queen. Whale song filled the water, singing of a new day, a new reign, a new Mere world.
The lovers were ready to go. It had been a long and tiring year. Every day Marduk had hoped for the successor to the old King to be found and every day he had been presented with new problems. It was a continual round of decisions, disputes and rituals. Ashur had done the best he could to take some of the burden but Ashur was an impulsive creature. Too often his solution to a problem was to eliminate the problem makers as quickly as possible.
Marduk loved his emotional Assyrian madly but it was easier to work with Alto and her family than a blood thirsty Warrior. He often sent Ashur home to the cave to craft more jewelry for his Maids or sent him to meet with his spiritual brother Warriors, the Orcas.
Oddly enough it was Ashur who finally found a solution to Marduk's problem. The Assyrian had pressed and argued for the restoration of the Mere Mating Festival. Of course Ashur loved the idea of pretty Maids arguing over him and, of course, he was more than willing to participate. Nine months after the original battles there were a number of babies around whose tails showed the shadows of Assyrian color bands to come. Of course there were also one or two who's tails suggested the bold Royal Babylonian markings also. Marduk's people were not noted for their shy ways.
It took months of gentle nagging but finally Marduk gave in. He allowed Ashur to find helpers and to set the Festival back in motion. The brothers saw to it that the Festival was restored to its original meaning. It had been traditionally a means of calling home the male Meres in from their solitary wanderings to create that greatest of Mere treasures, a family.
The Witch Queen had distorted the Festival; turning it into a bacchanalia without the deeper meaning. She had limited attendance and used it as a reward for her followers. The free Mere males had fled the Festival and ignored her summons. It had worked for some decades until she had made the fatal mistake of trying to order the Children of Nammu to attend.
She had believed it to be a good idea because the Mere population was heavily weighted in favor of females; they outnumbered the males three to one so she needed males. Ashur and Marduk had not bothered her so she regarded them as weak. Also she had been loping to breed the Nammu magic back into her world. The Children of Nammu made the very best of witches.
Now she was dead. Ordering Ashur and Marduk to attend had been on a par with poking a sea snake with a stick to see if it would bite.
The first restored Festival had been an incredible success. Word had spread through the Oceans that the Witch was dead and Nammu's Children had returned. The Orcas and Whales had spread the word. Even the followers of Thetis were appeased. It was Thetis who had protected Dionysus when he fled from King Lycurgus of Thrace. The God had taken refuge with her and his Maenads had followed him. The Festival was born and blessed by both Goddesses; Nammu and Thetis.
It was at that Festival that old bloodlines had returned to Deep Water and older Meres had recognized one strong, young dark haired Merman as the son of the Old King. Discovery of a possible successor had ignited hope again in Marduk that there was a way out of this Regency and back to his old life on San Miguel with Ashur. The young Mere's name was Crassus. When he was fascinated by Alto at the Festival and started courting her Marduk could almost taste his freedom.
Ashur floated just out of reach, teasing Marduk. The Babylonian wanted to hold his lover, clutch him close and take comfort in the feel of Ashur's skin but the Assyrian was being sly. Marduk decided that Ashur was helping. He was adding balance to Marduk's days; reminding him of what he truly desired.
Together they would return to San Miguel and leave the Mere world to King Crassus and Queen Alto.
Marduk moved to the tower window and looked out at the city below. He waved Ashur over and they watched as Crassus and Alto stood elevated on a coral mound. Around them the Mere world frolicked and danced.
Alto was beautiful. She had kept her hair short as she felt it was befitting a Warrior. She wore her trailing sheer vails of blue and green. She still wore Ashur's diadem of pearls and gems that twinkled even though only lit by bioluminescent creatures swimming feely. There had never been a reason to hold those creatures captive. They actually preferred to be around Meres. Their soft glows kept the city ablaze at night with the most delicate fire.
Marduk watched the Royal couple kiss and his heart pained him a bit to know that his Alto was now pledged to another. He would miss her. He was also losing his pretty little Witch Finders, Ashee and Gemma. The girls were going to stay with their sister.
Their brother, Ander, however was coming with Ashur and Marduk for a while. The natural Merman solitary nature was pushing the young Mere into adulthood. He was looking for worlds to conquer on his own and Marduk had spoken to him of those dry land cities and the dry land men who lived there.
Marduk offered to introduce Ander to his human friends, Gabe Wing, Simon Kettle and Paul Kenny. Ander was going to try to walk Marduk's path and learn about the human world. Alto fully approved of the plan, seeing an advantage in having an inside man among the humans. To Ander it looked like an adventure. To Alto it looked like a reasonable precaution.
Marduk thought he might take up the threads of his old life again. He even thought of trying to go to that school that Simon Kettle had approved; Pepperdine by the ocean. He smiled to himself thinking about a former Regent of the Mere civilization sitting in a class room with young humans.
"What are you grinning about?" Ashur asked and pushed into his brother's side.
Marduk wrapped his arms around Ashur and rested his cheek on top of the Assyrian's head. "I'm dreaming about us going home to stay."