Hello! Finally got a break from schoolwork to finish this chapter off! We have a lot happening here. The setting to this chapter is so beautiful in my mind, I wish I could draw. But no spoilers, just read and find out what I mean! Lol, anyways. I hope you're ready, as now the plot starts to really kick in haha. We're almost done with this semester, which is crazy to me. Time's gone by so fast! Alright, I don't have anything else to say. Hope you enjoy, and remember, review!
"Zen, stop!" She hissed. The ex-human, now mer ignored her. He rushed through the water like his life depended on it. His fin spread and sent the water spiraling back towards Shirayuki. Aggravated, she lifted into the air and put her arms forward, slipping through the water like a minnow. When she was over Zen, she lunged downwards.
But Zen saw her coming. He twisted around onto his back and caught her, spinning with her so quickly Shirayuki's hair tangled over her back. "Zen, listen to me! To my voice!" She ordered.
He grasped her shoulders. He pushed her away from him, but in that moment Shirayuki grabbed his wrist. She winced when she saw his eyes. They were dull, his eyelids drooping and the only light a feral need. They weren't the eyes she liked to see on him. Zen ignored her clinging to his wrist and swam on, towing Shirayuki along as if she was nothing more than a strand of kelp.
The singing was just getting clearer as Zen rounded the tower. Shirayuki couldn't help but glance up and around as she kicked her tail to keep up with the Prince. Where were all the electric eels? The guards? Why hadn't the eels sounded the alarm yet?
"Come hither, come nearer. I cannot stand to be apart from you…"
Shirayuki gritted to her teeth. She kicked her tail and crawled up Zen's arm, until she was holding his shoulder. He didn't even look at her. She had to counter the singing. She had to stop Zen before his reckless need to follow the song got them caught. Shirayuki held Zen's shoulders and thought of a song to sing.
"Stop, no more. Stop, before you fall." She began.
Zen jerked like an eel had grabbed his fin. He kept swimming forward, but he turned his head to look back at her.
"Let me protect you. Let me guide you home." Shirayuki sang softly, only to Zen.
His eyes brightened, ever so slightly, then darkened again.
"Come be mine tonight." The other song broke through the water like a tidal wave. He turned away from her and pushed ahead.
"No!" She took a deep breath and put her head closer to Zen's body.
"I will be your guide through the darkness of nights. Your shade in the harshest of lights. Your boat in the roughest of waves."
Zen's muscles tensed and relaxed under her grip.
"No more, before you fall. Let me protect you. Let me guide you home."
Zen turned to look at her again.
She grasped his hand.
"Come now and realize, the home you seek is not here. Let me protect you, guide you."
Zen's eyes narrowed and he slowed. Shirayuki took this chance and pulled back, spreading her tail and plunging it downwards. They stopped, Zen bending and slowly spinning up and down to face her.
"I wish to keep you safe, I wish to hold you dear. But I cannot do that down here."
Zen's breath labored, his gills closing one by one to then open as one.
"I will be your guide through the darkness of nights. Your shade in the harshest of lights. Your boat in the roughest of waves." Shirayuki was struggling to remember the words. She hadn't ever sung this song before.
Zen's fingers slipped around until they were wrapped around her palm. Shirayuki squeezed his hand back.
"Let me protect you. Let me guide you home."
Zen's eyebrows furrowed and he leaned closer to her.
This is when Shirayuki faltered. She remembered the last time she had sang to Zen, and the memory of him brushing her hair back ever so slightly as he pressed his lips to hers made her stumble.
And the other singer took over. "Come hither, come near. Come deep into the sea to feel safe with me."
Zen's eyes clouded over. Shirayuki was sure for an instant he gave her a pitying look. He turned and started to swim away.
"No, Zen. Zen, wait!" Shirayuki saw no choice but to follow him. She couldn't give up.
She followed Zen all the way to a small hole. Shirayuki stopped while Zen plunged straight through. It was located at the bottom of the prisoner's tower, just barely big enough for a mer to fit. It was covered in moss and algae, and a faint green glow was slowly flickering as Zen's fin blocked it then showed it again. Shirayuki glanced up. They were on the other side of where their cell had been. Far above, electric eels flickered. But none seemed to notice them.
Shirayuki glanced down again. She bit her lip, then plunged down after Zen. Her head spun with how tight the water felt around her. She couldn't move her tail too much out of fear of hitting the top and bottom of the tunnel. Swiftly she followed Zen. The singing seemed to echo through the walls, as if the tower itself was humming along. No wonder Zen was so entranced. Shirayuki bit her lip as she swam, her shirt's fabric snagging slightly on a small rock for a moment. She stopped to free it, then darted after Zen.
Zen ducked out of the slanted hole and Shirayuki had enough time to grab his fin and pull it back. He didn't even look at her. He lifted his arms up, and then Shirayuki noticed the current rushing through this water. She crawled up Zen's tail, wrapping her tail around his like she would when she was a child playing with the other mers. This effectively stopped Zen from moving, and gave her the high ground. She lifted her arms and covered Zen's ears. It wasn't enough to totally block out the sound, but it did buffer it just enough for Zen to stop fighting. He sank to the floor, Shirayuki with him. She didn't trust herself to let go of his tail yet. She looked around while she had the moments.
They were behind an odd rock formation. It was old and cracked, like the remains of a coral piece. It was good enough of a cover, Shirayuki supposed. But if anyone looked too hard, they would easily see their tails. The room beyond the naturally formed coral cage was alight with a massive Vidre crystal. The crystal was easily the size of a blue whale, dead center the massive tower. It was here that the singing was coming from. Shirayuki scanned desperately, trying to follow the voice. Her eyes took her to the top of the massive, glowing structure.
A mermaid was sitting atop the crystal. It took Shirayuki a minute to recognize the Queen. She looked evil as ever, even when her eyes were shut. Her tail rocked slightly to a silent melody as she sang the cruel luring song.
Shirayuki blinked at herself. She called this song cruel, yet wasn't it the exact song she had used time and time again?
The Queen finished the final verse of the song; "Now, come. Sleep in my arms, and under the cradle of the sea. Your tears will be stopped, come and be with me alone. Come into my hearth, into my warmth. Let me protect you. Let me show you. Forever more you will belong to the sea, forevermore you shall belong to me." On the last note, the Queen opened her eyes. She took a deep breath, then looked directly at Shirayuki and Zen.
Zen might as well have been a dead fish for how his body was relaxed. Shirayuki didn't drae remove her hands from his ears, but she looked at his eyes to see a glassy, sleepy gaze focused on nothing. She cursed.
"You would use that language in front of your Queen?" The Queen's voice still boomed. Looking around, Shirayuki could understand why it had been so clear. The tower was empty with many holes all throughout the tops of it. The sound was amplified and then thrust into the ocean. This room had to be specifically for singing.
Shirayuki heard a zapping noise and looked back. Fear rushed through her. At least four electric eels were in the tunnel. All of them had their eyes on Shirayuki and Zen, and two were angrily sending sparks through the water. They were trapped.
The Queen swam up to the coral fence and folded her arms. "Did you think escape would be that easy?"
Shirayuki bit her lip.
The Queen gestured to Zen. "I knew he wasn't a real mer. He's the Second Prince of the country that sank ours."
Shirayuki's alarm made her squeeze Zen's tail tighter. He didn't respond. "The Second? There's a first?"
"Yes, you barnacle." The Queen rolled her eyes and adjusted her crown. "I'm surprised you didn't know that. You're his girlfriend, right?"
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Shirayuki felt her ears grow hot. "Anyways, how did you know that?"
"A little minnow told me." The Queen sneered. Her skirts gently drifted upwards. Shirayuki caught the motion and looked down. There was a current coming upwards, which would also explain how the sound moved so swiftly, but she couldn't see where it was coming from. "The original plan was to drown him, but of course the human pirates failed in that trivial task." The Queen continued, making Shirayuki's head jerk up.
"You…You dealt with pirates? You hired them?!"
"The point is, my dear. Since he couldn't die then, he shall die now." She nodded to the tunnel.
Shirayuki turned, and sure enough, the electric eels were creeping down the tunnel. She could hear the crackles of electricity running through their bodies. "And me too?" She demanded. "Are you going to kill me as well?"
The Queen shrugged. "I see no reason not to. You're just another mer, what makes you so special to let you live?"
Shirayuki had to think. She had to get them out of this. She checked Zen's eyes again, but he was still lost to the song. "Why go to all this trouble for him specifically? Why not the first prince?"
The Queen let out a chuckle that echoed all around the hall. "He's only the first step! The first of the many. We want the Wistalia line gone. Forever. Let Clarines go up in their accursed flames, let the people of the land burn. It is time to enact justice!" The Queen laughed again, then grabbed the bars of the cage.
"That's….awful." Shirayuki managed. But her voice was strangled. She stared at Zen. She had the full intent to kill him as well – for revenge. How could she accuse the Queen of evilness, when her plan was just a larger version of Shirayuki's?
I will not justify my ancestors' actions by any means. I am not my ancestors. They are as distant to me as you are. I don't know their names, none of them are hailed as heroes. Zen's words came back to Shirayuki. "And to blame me for their actions will do nothing to cease your rage.
"You can't dare to call me awful. You've killed more than me."
"But at least I'm not planning to kill more!" Shirayuki blurted. She released Zen's head, uncurling her tail from around his tail. He sank to the floor without a blink. She swam up and got as close to the Queen's face as she could. "We'll stop you."
The Queen laughed again. "Have you seen your human? He's as good as gone already."
"I can combat your magic." Shirayuki glared.
"Can you? You did such a fine job of it before. Don't think I couldn't hear your feeble attempts, little mer."
Shirayuki took a few deep breaths. She closed her eyes. She needed a healing song. She wished she wasn't a herbalist. If she was a proper doctor, she would know the proper songs. But, unfortunately the only healing songs she knew were to help the potency of plants.
Shirayuki could feel static reaching her scales. She turned and yelped. Two of the four eels were slithering out of the hole. Slowly, moving like stalkers, they began to swim upwards to the top of the cage.
The Queen backed up. "Oh yes. You won't have time to heal your human. He will be the first to die." She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. In this chamber, it sounded like a blast of thunder.
The eels lunged for Zen, mouths open.
Shirayuki panicked. She threw herself over Zen's unmoving body. Sure enough, two pairs of sharp teeth buried into her skin. One got her in the side, the other on the tail. She pushed off of Zen just in time for the electricity to rush through. She clenched her teeth as her body convulsed. It felt like she was being cooked alive.
A horrible laugh reached her ears. "Fine, her first."
Two more points of physical pain reached her. One was on her fin, the other was right next to her neck. The electricity made her lean backwards and hit the coral reef. Her teeth jittered in her mouth, her ears rang.
However, the electricity suddenly stopped.
Shirayuki gasped, trying to blink the stars out of her eyes. She could only just blink. She felt herself sinking, but she couldn't move any of her muscles. Her entire body felt tensed up. Her gills flared rapidly.
"What?" The Queen hissed into the still water. "What's happening-ah!" Shirayuki heard her shout and a faint thump, but she couldn't turn her head to see. Her shoulder hit the ground and a leftover arch of electricity made her vision go dark again. When it came back, she was staring at Zen's face. Because of that, she watched as his pupils shrunk. He twitched, then shook his head.
"Ugh." He reached up and put his hand on his forehead, running his fingers through his air. She felt a loose current of water brush against her front and assumed Zen moved his tail. His eyes lightened, and then he blinked. He was back. "What hit me?" He groaned. Then he saw her, and his gills flared. "Shirayuki!" He reached down for her than jumped back as he was shocked.
Shirayuki's vision was fading. She blinked slowly, watching as Zen turned his head to look up at something.
"What is this? Who's there?" Zen lifted off the floor and out of her sight.
The last thing she heard was Zen's voice; "Please, help Shirayuki!"