The palace of Atlantica could by no means compete with that of his homeland, and yet the Lione was amazed when he was led to the throne room by one of the guardsmen. In all his admiration, the Lione did not notice that the guardsman did not actually lead him through the palace, but only did not leave his side because he had aroused the suspicion of his colleagues.
If only it weren't for the persistent headache that made it difficult for him to take in the ambience. The messenger hoped that his audience with the king would not be too far away. He longed to finally be able to rest a little.
"Wait," the guardsman instructed him as they arrived at an archway flanked by two of his colleagues. At a nod, one of them left his position and swam through the portal.
A tense silence fell over the three remaining mermen. The guard eyed the stranger suspiciously and slowly the Lione began to feel that he was not as welcome here as he had expected.
What did these Atlantians have against him? Weren't they usually his compatriots, who were known to shine with their mistrust?
Just as he was about to ask them what was wrong, a small colourful fish with a frilly collar approached him.
"Name and business?" he asked curtly in a squeaky voice that absolutely matched his appearance.
"My name was, Yuan. I am a messenger of your Royal Highness, Prince Zion of Liones and the Prince Consort Princess Alana. I have important news for your ruler, King Triton of Atlantica," he replied quickly.
The little fish also gave him a disdainful look before he started to whistle again: "The king is not available at the moment. Tell me what you want to report to him and you can swim home again."
"I can't. I was instructed to deliver the message only to King Triton himself," the messenger did not respond.
The fish heaved a sigh of relief, "As you say, then you will have no choice but to wait. There are more important things than your request at the moment."
"Outrageous, such insolence would not travel again to a royal messenger in my homeland!" he was indignant at the treatment.
Just as one word was about to follow another, two more guardsmen appeared, causing the parties to reconsider.
These two also eyed the stranger critically for a moment before turning to the fish in their turn.
"The palace is secured, the intruder arrested," one of them reported.
Hearing this, the messenger understood what an exceptional situation he must have just encountered the staff in.
"I apologise for my lack of understanding," he rowed back, ashamed of his previous temper.
The fish seemed to think for a moment whether he should simply ignore the other, but then replied: "I will inform the king of your arrival. Wait here until he grants you entry."
After these words he turned and swam away through the portal.
"Your Majesty, the royal guard has apprehended the intruder. The two guardsmen who succeeded are waiting outside to report to you. Also, a messenger has arrived from Liones seeking an audience with you," the fish's high-pitched voice reached the ears of the others.
"Let the men swim in," boomed Triton's mighty baritone through the throne room before whose entrance they were, as the messenger now termed it.
The two guardsmen swam in and were immediately announced by the fish.
The messenger looked after them, unsure whether he was allowed to follow. When his name was called, he started to move past the two statuesque guards. Before he swam through the archway, he looked back at his companion. He was already hurrying back to his abandoned guard post. As he looked after him, a golden fin caught his eye for a short time, which disappeared behind a pillar a little later. Unsure whether he should draw the attention of the two guards to it, he looked at them thoughtfully. Was there perhaps another unwanted guest in the halls of the palace?
While he was still thinking about it, he heard his name being called out a second time. The tone in which this happened made him realise that he should not let it come to a third time. So he suppressed his observation. He told himself that the guards would do their job conscientiously if necessary and finally swam into the throne room.
Anaya snuggled close to one of the stone pillars so as not to be discovered by the guards. Her heart was still pounding from the moment the handsome merman had looked in her direction. He seemed to have seen her and yet he had said nothing. She was infinitely grateful to the stranger for that. Because if the guards found out that she was here, she would probably be back with Ares sooner than either of them would have liked. Then they would both be condemned to twiddle their thumbs in his rooms and puzzle over what was going on.
So she pricked up her ears and listened into the throne room.
Inside the hall, the two guardsmen were already reporting on their success. As etiquette dictated, the Lione kept his distance until he was allowed to present his request.
"The ray was found by us in the ancestral passage. He thought he could impersonate one of Krono's companions to elude us. But he could not fool us with this ruse," one of them reported with a proudly swelling chest. The Lione could observe how the higher-ranking of the two gave his colleague a disapproving look for this, which probably did not go unnoticed by the king.
"Is that so?" asked Triton suspiciously, critically raising one of his greying eyebrows towards the surface of the water.
"A...well..." the guardsman stammered in response to his king's query.
"The king asked you a question" Sebastian interjected.
"Yes...",the guardsman began, but then lapsed into silence again, unsure.
"A ray?", Triton inquired.
"Yes, Your Majesty, but a rather young specimen," the higher-ranking guardsman replied now that his colleague was no longer showing such a big mouth.
"I want to talk to him. Bring him here!", Triton finished.
"As you wish, Your Majesty," the first guardsman quickly replied, bowing and giving his colleague a cursory glance before they set off together to fetch the prisoner.
Attina, who had remained quietly beside her father the entire time, then turned to the ruler.
"Father, do you really think it is a good idea to take the intruder from his cell?" she offered, observing etiquette.
"What do you fear, my dear? You have heard for yourself. It's only a young ray. I'm pretty sure we've even swum across his path a time or two. Don't you think so?", Triton replied and gave her a smile that immediately made his first-born understand that he had made his decision and that any arguments on her part were pointless.
"Now to you," Triton turned to the Lione, while the two guardsmen obeyed his order and his daughter practised silence again.
"Swim forward and address your request to the King of Atlantica," Sebastian urged the Lione.
"Thank you," said the messenger, approaching Triton respectfully, "My prince bade me deliver this scroll to you."
Leaning forward graciously, he extended the scroll to Triton resting on his flat upturned palms.
"Sebastian, would you be so kind," Triton urged his advisor to bring him the scroll. The crab immediately hurried off, but when he reached the other's hands, he closed his fingers protectively around the scroll so that Sebastian could not take it.
"Excuse me, but I was expressly instructed to deliver this document only to you personally," the messenger explained himself.
Triton nodded his understanding and called Sebastian back. He then raised the trident in his left hand. The Lione watched the fabled artefact devoutly while its owner used his power to take the scroll.
The power of the trident materialised and wrapped itself around the scroll, with a flourish Triton let the scroll drift towards him until it finally came to rest in his right hand.
The ruler finally stowed his trident in the specially designed holder and took the message. He rolled up the document and let his eyes wander over the lines.
Some time passed until Triton let the parchment roll up again and looked up.
"Thank you. These words of the prince are extremely valuable, you have done a good job. Allow me to show our appreciation for your service," he turned gratefully to the messenger.
"That is very kind of you, King Triton. A bed would be all I ask," the Lione replied delightedly.
"Of course it would. Sebastian, arrange for one of the guest rooms to be prepared and then please let the doctor know that I would like to speak to him," he addressed the red crustacean.
"As you wish, your majesty," Sebastian replied and rowed off.
Anaya was just able to pull away before Sebastian swam past her, followed by the Lione. As she had guessed, he knew exactly that she was behind one of the pillars and had glanced briefly at her. The little mermaid had simply smiled stupidly at him and waved. She didn't really know what had driven her to this embarrassing action, but at least the other person seemed to be well-disposed towards her.
Anaya was still brooding when the two disappeared behind a remote corner and the next passers-by appeared on the scene. Ares' friend could not believe her eyes when she recognised the prisoner the two guardsmen were escorting towards the throne room.
Phobo's eyes also grew wide when she managed to attract the ray's attention by calling his name softly. In order not to get her into trouble again, however, Phobos thwarted any further attempts on her part by demonstratively evening himself while being herded by the two towards the throne room.
Anaya's eyes fell in shock at the cuff Phobos wore on his right flipper. Her friend was in obvious pain and when she looked at the wound nothing surprised her. That was cruel! Who had done this to him? She was sure that if Ares were to be informed of this, he would find this treatment of his friend completely unacceptable. It was hard to imagine how the prince would have reacted if he were swimming here instead of her.
But unlike Ares with his status and influence as crown prince, she could do nothing but eavesdrop and tell him everything later. Anaya's hands were tied. She fervently hoped that the two of them would be able to bail out their friend in a roundabout way after all.
"Your Majesty, we bring you the prisoner," the guardsman's voice made Anaya sit up again.
"Thank you,..." the king replied, but his further words were too quiet for Anaya to understand. She tried to get a little closer - she didn't have many options left without immediately catching the eye of the two guards. So she decided to try again from the opposite side. She left her current hiding place and hurried to get back to the throne room as quickly as possible. To do this, she used her extensive knowledge of all kinds of shortcuts that probably not even the staff she had accumulated over the years together with Ares knew about. Her plan worked and she reached the other side unseen. Briefly, she had to hide again when the doctor crossed her path. But when he was let through by the guards, an opportunity opened up for the little mermaid to slip inside the hall herself.
Now she had the best view and could follow what was going on in the first row.
"...Well, I guess we all know who we are dealing with. Accordingly, we can skip the round of introductions," Triton interrupted the collar-bearer's seemingly never-ending list of his titles.
The fish instantly lapsed into an embarrassed silence, which was finally lifted by a clearing of the throat by the doctor swimming in.
"Ah, one moment please," Triton apologised for the moment for the interruption to the two guardsmen and the prisoner. He then turned to the doctor.
"Doctor, thank you for coming so quickly. Please come closer," the king greeted the healer and asked him to come closer.
Phobos watched the interaction between the octopus and Ares' grandfather closely. When he saw Triton pass the scroll to the other, all alarm bells rang.
"Please take a look at this cure, Doctor. It should help my grandson recover," the king stopped the other. The doctor reached for the scroll with one of his tentacles and skimmed the ingredients written down there.
"No!" Ares interfered, disregarding all caution and causing the eyes of all present to turn to him.
Now Anaya no longer understood anything. Why did Phobos suddenly want to prevent Ares from getting better? Ares' mother seemed to be asking herself very similar questions and Triton also furrowed his brow in surprise.
"Ares must not be given this medicine!" the ray demanded, unperturbed by the reactions of the others.