Chapter Sixty

Rendezvous with the King

MELODY

Both Melody and Tracy were woken by heavy poundings on the door a few hours later, only to find Harry outside with an invitation to one of his night clubs for a late dinner. They'd agreed, since there really was nothing else to do but wait for Triton's arrival the next day anyway. And so, they were re-introduced to Eiden's night life.

The last time had been more than two years ago, but Melody still had no desire for the local delicacies. She remembered wanting to gag after tasting something Harry had recommended as a specialty, and she wasn't eager on reliving the experience. Instead, she ordered the safest looking thing on the menu, while Tracy indulged her adventurous nature and tried the weirdest things Eiden had to offer. Guess some things run in the family.

Food and drinks were on the house, as Harry insisted. Melody couldn't deny that the night was rowdy, but surprisingly pleasant. A much needed change from the atmosphere of an army camp. Much later in the evening after returning to her shared suite with Tracy did she realise that for a while, she had completely forgotten about her task here in Eiden.

She'd had the impression that she would want to finish her mission and get out of the trading post as quickly as she could, but she found herself feeling less on edge as compared to her last visit. Maybe it was because Harry had really turned things around and Eiden was a much better place than before.

The next morning, they were woken again by the same erratic pounding on the door. Stirring from a gummy-eyed slumber, Melody floated lethargically across the room to answer the door. Harry was outside, appearing like he hadn't slept at all the whole night. Still, he looked alive and he had an urgent expression on his face.

"King's here." He hissed. "Just arrived at the borders."

"Right." Melody pulled herself out of her stupor and ran a hand through her bedraggled hair. "We'll meet you downstairs in five minutes." She closed the door and put her hands to her temples and massaged them. Now things were getting a little clearer. Whatever she had drank with Tracy and Harry last night was still leaving her with a slightly buzzed feeling. Her head throbbed and her memory was a blur. Somehow, both she and Tracy must have managed to find their way back to the inn, probably with Harry's help.

Swimming over to Tracy, she shook her violently. Tracy grunted and turned over in bed. "Get lost."

"Get up." Melody shook her again, though she herself just wanted to collapse back into a peaceful slumber to escape her headache. "Now. My grandfather's here."

"Here?" Tracy mumbled. "In Eiden?"

"Yeah. Get up." Melody hauled Tracy to a seated position, and the former sea witch gave a long groan.

"Bloody hell. My head."

"Yeah, me too." Melody said. Tracy had a much better alcohol tolerance than she did, but if she was having a hangover, then the drinks they'd both consumed the night before must have really been potent. "We're meeting Harry downstairs in five. Come on."

Both of them managed to spruce themselves up enough to resemble having freshened up, and then swam downstairs. They found Harry out in front of the inn with a group of his own inn-keeping East Siders. The usually busy streets were cleared this morning, merchants were no longer shouting crudely to be heard above each other, and the general atmosphere was one of a civilised market. Everyone knew that the King of the Seven Seas was in town.

Far out, Melody could see the royal entourage travelling through the streets, King Triton acknowledging the people around him with dignified nods. Locals, merchants, tourists. Mermen, octopids, sharks and all other forms of sea creatures. All stopped in their tracks and bowed, clearing a wide path.

As they drew nearer, Melody saw that her grandfather looked tired. Even though he had a regal smile on his face and an upright figure, she could tell that he was drained. Perhaps too much travelling across his domain to visit countless other towns. He was as she had always remembered him though. An infallible leader, full of wisdom and decades of being battle-hardened.

Harry and his East Siders bowed as the King arrived outside the inn with his entourage.

"Your Majesty." Harry said, trying to affect a formal tone with his normally casual nature. "Welcome to the East Siders' Inn. I hope your journey here was smooth."

"It was." Triton couldn't help but stare at Melody and Tracy. "You two are the last people I thought I would see out here today."

"Hello, Grandfather." Melody smiled warmly, restraining herself from hugging him in public. "There's something we needed to see you about."

"In private?"

"Yes."

Triton glanced at Harry. "Is there somewhere we can talk without being disturbed?"

"Of course." Harry said, and then added in haste- "Y'Majesty." He gestured casually for the King to follow him. "Right this way."

###

"So what's so urgent this time that you had to come all the way out to Eiden to intercept me?" Triton asked, taking a sip from his cup of strange inky liquid.

The dimly lit club they'd been in last night was now empty. Harry had cleared out the remaining patrons from the night before as well as the morning drinkers from his club and ensured that the King, Melody and Tracy had all the privacy and secrecy they needed before excusing himself as well.

"Actually, we went to Atlantica to find you, but your ministers were there instead." Melody said.

"Ah, yes." Triton set down his cup. "I've decided to take more of a backseat in governance. There's only so many years that an old merman like me can do this sort of work."

"They told us that you'd be here." Tracy went on. "So we came."

"Which proves my point again." Triton glanced at Melody. "You girls only come to visit when you need something from me."

Melody cringed. "Don't say it like that, Grandfather. You know I've been busy."

"Oh, I do." Triton had a peculiar look on his face, a mix of pride and disapproval. "Running about with an army and waging war on this Exonian Empire. The usual danger you put yourself in isn't enough anymore?"

"The nations are at war." Melody explained. "We can't just stand by and do nothing. I can't."

Triton sighed. "And that's the problem. But it's not my place to lecture you anymore. You make your own decisions." He sighed again and took another sip from his cup. "So what do you girls need this time? Surely not the Atlanticans to fight the surface armies again?"

"No. Nothing that complicated." Melody said. "We need information. Something probably only you might know. You know all there is to know about magic, both on the surface and here under the sea. I'm willing to bet you know something about them."

"Oh?" Triton looked intrigued. "And who's them?"

"The Crimson Order." Tracy said.

A muscle twitched slightly on Triton's face. Melody watched as his expression grew very serious, and she wondered just how deep the Warriors had unknowingly gotten themselves in this time.

Her grandfather leaned forward, his face grim. "I want you both to stay away from this. Whatever you've faced before, it's nothing like the Crimson Order. Please, do an old man a favour and drop it before you get in too deep."

Melody felt her heart skip a beat. Just what are we up against?

"No." Tracy said curtly, as if she weren't talking to a king. "We're already stuck neck deep in this. It's too late to pull ourselves out now."

"What have you girls done?" Triton's voice was tight.

Melody didn't like where this was going. She took a deep breath. "We've been stuck in a war with them for the longest time and didn't even know it. They were there manipulating events in the shadows, secretly working against us back when we were trying to free Denmark from Exon's occupation.

Triton looked absolutely perturbed.

"The Empress of Exon has been working with the Crimson Order the whole time, and so has the people on our side." Melody went on. "There's been a traitor in the Confederation. One of them was working for the Crimson Order in secret all this time. All of these efforts, just to achieve one thing. The elimination of sorcery from the world."

"But they failed to do it in the shadows," Tracy added. "We're legally free now."

"And we need to stop them." Melody said. "Before it's too late. If the Empress has been working for the Crimson Order all this time, they're going to do everything to make sure we don't make it to the capital of Exon."

"Yeah, but the problem is we don't know anything about them." Tracy said. "We interrogated one of the Order's lackeys, but we didn't learn much. We still don't even know the name of the guy who runs the show."

"Grandfather, please." Melody pleaded. "We need to know what we're up against."

Triton ran a hand through his thick white beard and looked pensive. After what might have been a good few minutes, he finally met their gaze.

"I'd have preferred it if you both didn't get yourselves mixed up in all this." Triton sighed unhappily. "And I thought your mother was wild and adventurous."

"Runs in the family." Melody remarked.

He shot her a displeased stare and she averted her eyes. Getting up, Triton paced the floor of the club with hands clasped behind his back. Drawing himself up, he let out a quiet breath. "The Crimson Order has been in existence for centuries. Perhaps even longer than the League of Sorcerers."

Her grandfather was of course privy to the knowledge that the Warriors were working together with the League of Sorcerers. He'd made it his business to know whatever went on up at the surface.

"Like you've deduced, the Crimson Order has been an expert at manipulating events from the shadows." Triton went on, coming to a stop in front of the table. "I don't know how, but they were somehow instrumental in inciting the Seven Seas War about two centuries ago."

"They've access to the sea too?" Tracy asked.

Triton nodded.

"Two centuries ago?"

"I've heard stories from my own ancestors." Triton said. "They've seen things that even I haven't. All I have are records of the war and memories of what they told me when I was a child. The accounts line up. I believe that the Crimson Order has influence all over the world. Their techniques have evolved over the centuries, but their mission has remained the same: to incite war and in the process get as many sorcerers killed in the crossfire. They want to purge the world of sorcery."

Melody sucked in a breath. "We know that their figurehead has been dubbed the High Priest. Does that mean anything to you?"

"I'm sorry." Triton shook his head. "No one knows. Not even my predecessors."

"What about where they're based?" Tracy asked.

He shook his head again. "I don't know. They've fashioned themselves into a myth, striking anywhere and wherever they see fit. But what I do know is that they employ assassins. Supernatural ones."

"So they wield magic too?" Tracy snorted. "A little hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Not magic." Triton said, looking uncomfortable. "During the Krethn Reef War four decades ago, the Crimson Order allied with the Krosnan Kingdom against us. I was there on the battlefield that day, and these assassins came for me. When I fought them, I could sense something different. The abilities they had, the sources they were tapping into…it wasn't sorcery at all."

"I don't understand." Melody was perplexed. "If it wasn't sorcery, then how could they tap into the supernatural?"

"Demons." Triton said in a low voice as though he were afraid someone might overhear them. "The Crimson Order fused demons with these assassins and gave them darker powers."

"So they're demon-possessed?"

"From how they fought, I could tell that these assassins controlled their demons." Triton explained. "It must have taken years of training and immense willpower. But one thing's for sure. They aren't common sorcerers. These assassins aren't to be trifled with."

"We'll bear that in mind when we find the Order." Melody said.

"Please," Triton's forehead was creased with wrinkles and Melody saw not an infallible king, but an old man worried for the safety of his loved ones. "Don't get any deeper into this. For your own sakes and mine."

"We haven't survived in this business so long for nothing." Tracy reassured him. "We can take care of ourselves."

"This is different." Triton insisted. "This is unlike anything you've ever faced before. No one has crossed them and come back alive to tell the tales. How do you think they became a myth?"

"The League of Sorcerers was a myth before we found them and beat the Pilgrim." Melody argued. "Look, it doesn't matter whether we stop looking into it or not. The Crimson Order is coming after us regardless. They know that the Warriors are a threat, and they won't stop till they get rid of us. We have to get to them first…somehow."

Triton closed his eyes and sighed. "I've said this a thousand times before, but please. Be careful. I know I can't stop you, but I don't want to see you both end up dead." He met Melody's gaze. "You're my family." Then he turned to Tracy. "And you're like family too."

"Gee, thanks." Tracy grinned.

"We'll be careful." Melody got up and gave him a hug. "I promise. We'll come back to Atlantica when it's over and tell you about it."

Triton nodded lightly, but Melody knew as well as he did that things weren't going to be quite so simple as that. Like he said, this time was different, and Melody could sense it too.