14 Shady welcome in Mersal

"Blurgh… Ships are the worst…" I mumbled. Lily chucked and patted my back. I could feel her red-painted fingernails pushing through the short-sleeved shirt I wore. She said she knew how I felt, but I think she just liked to see me suffer once in a while.

"C'mon, Carnel! It's been three days already. Can't be that bad, right?" The redhaired vixen said before she slapped my back. I wanted to yell at her, but a wave of nausea silenced me. I could only produce a garbled mess as I hung over the ship's railing.

"We're almost at the Abyss Passage. Get your mind out of the gutter." A blonde woman stepped out from the boat's cabin and stretched out. She wore nothing more than a breezy white shirt, a knee-high skirt and comfortable shoes.

I pouted and put out my tongue; I was feeling ill. I couldn't just snap my fingers and feel better, you know!

"Blergh… That's rich, coming from a woman who lied in a dark room for two days straight…" I weakly rebutted. Tanya puffed up her cheeks and walked over to the other side of the ship to see if we were still on course.

It was true, though. The blonde woman had been in her bunk bed for almost the entire journey. According to her, it was because she used way too much energy destroying that group of attackers before we departed.

"Where is Angelique, by the way?" I mumbled under my breath. I hadn't seen the squid-girl since the moment we departed for Mersal. I knew the attack on our house and getting chased weren't pleasant experiences, but shutting herself off from the entire world was going a bit far.

"She said she's going to be outside in just a moment. She had to get her stuff." The blonde teacher explained. Her tone explained she didn't want any more inquiries regarding this topic.

"What the hell is that?!" Lily's alarmed voice echoed from the front of the ship. I took a deep breath and stumbled towards her. On a wobbling boat. With legs made of jelly.

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God, I wanted this to end!

The redhaired woman pointed at something in the distance. I focused my sight and watched how a pair of craggy, thin deep-blue rocks reached for the sky. They were massive, easily going beyond the reach of a couple of thousand feet.

"Ah, we're here." Tanya stated matter-of-factly. "Let me do the talking. I've heard border guards are rather fickle and against outsiders." That seemed counter-productive to me, but whatever floated their boats.

When we approached the impressive structures, bubbles appeared beside the hull of our boat. I reached back to grab the small knife hanging from my belt. I grabbed it from the boat's storage; Better safe than sorry.

"Don't be so anxious." The blonde teacher grabbed my wrist. Her calm voice and strict grip calmed me down enough to leave the blade for what it was. A second later, a couple of fish bubbled to the surface.

Or rather, fish-like people.

I shouldn't have been surprised; I lived together with a girl with real-life tentacled and webbed limbs. But seeing other kind of merfolk still was a bit… weird for me.

They had big fins on the spots where their ears should've been. Their gills twitched softly on their shoulders and neck. Their scaly skin was a deep blue colour, although some had a brown colour. Like the colour of the ground. I guessed they were different kinds of merfolk.

"Halt! Who goes there?" One of the merfolk surrounding us swam forwards. He held a big trident, inlaid with various gemstones. I doubted that would be an efficient weapon to use in combat. But it was the perfect tool for showing off.

"Tanya Chaffendale, current leader of the human Fairy Court. I send you a letter three days ago detailing how I would be visiting your country." The blonde woman announced. She held her back straight, yet somehow, made sure that she didn't seem to look down upon the surrounding soldiers.

"I have received a memo about that, indeed. However! I was not aware of any humans joining you." The soldier responded. Tanya rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I did not, indeed. However, these people are my aides and friends. They are entirely trustworthy." That made my eyebrows take a jump. Since when did I become friends with her? I glanced at Lily and the redhead had as much of an idea as I had.

The soldiers gathered around and started whispered to each other. Some of them glanced over their shoulders at us. I didn't like the look in their eyes: they were seemingly very wary of us.

Which didn't stroke with my knowledge about the relationship between humans and merfolk. We weren't the best of friends, but I'd never thought that they would be this hostile.

While we were waiting for them to be done with their whispering, Angelique walked out of the boat's cabin. She leaned over the railing and helped herself to the refreshing salty air around her. She brushed her seaweed-coloured hair backwards.

"Captain! Look there!" One of the soldiers pointed at my squid-like companion. When the man focused on her, his fishy eyes went wide. He corrected himself quickly, though, and swam forwards.

"Hrmm… right. I can give Miss Tanya Chaffendale a pass, but the rest of you need to come with us to the palace. I don't want to be held responsible for any mishaps happening, so I'll let the Her Majesty the Queen decide about you." The captain announced. We were going to see the queen?

Something about this seemed fishy to me. No pun intended.

"Here. Humans need air to survive, right?" One of the soldiers swam to the boat and handed us something peculiar. It looked like a surgical mask, but made of steel with goggles and a nose guard.

"The hell is this thing?" Lily asked while she poked the glass goggles with her red-painted nails. Tanya tanked the fishy soldier, who retreated back into the water.

"Her Majesty the Queen has created this, to facilitate land-walkers to take in enough air underwater. Be grateful!" I was rather hesitant to touch it.

"Don't worry. About 1 percent of the entire population of Mersal has a Mark. They have developed themselves with science. In other words, your Mark shouldn't be a problem." Tanya explained. I carefully touched the metal device. My Mark activated, since it thought it would be fed. It hadn't eaten in three days, so I imagined it was pretty hungry.

But it wasn't interested in the device. Once it sniffed it, it put up its nose and retreated back into my arm. I could've sworn it glared at me with a hungry gaze.

Suddenly, bubbles appeared around the ship. The welled up from underneath the hull and quickly surrounded us. At first, I thought the bubbles were climbing up the wooden exterior. I soon realized the boat was sinking.

I panicked, but Tanya grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to the nearest railing along with Lily.

"Grab on to this! And do not let go! You can just breathe through the devices they gave you." The blonde teacher explained before she stood at the other side and grasped the wooden railing tightly. Angelique just let the water engulf her.

It was quite a surreal feeling; The cold ocean water easily pulled us under. When the bubbles disappeared, the azure world around me baffled me. Mountains made of rugged stone, covered in a variety of colours. When I looked closer, the colours came from corals and fishes that made their home there.

I wanted to talk to Lily, but only bubbles appeared. I realized talking wouldn't be possible for the moment. Besides, the redhead seemed more engrossed in the world around her than the boy dangling on a sinking ship right beside her. Not that I could blame her.

After what felt like an eternity, the boat crashed in the pristine white sand at the bottom of the waves. I looked up and saw that we were more than a thousand feet underwater. How didn't we get crushed by the water pressure yet?

Just when I thought about this conundrum, I saw a set of weird towers in the distance. They exuded a calming green light, even from this distance.

I didn't know why, but their light felt very soothing to me. I wanted to stare at them for much longer, but one of the soldiers poked me with his two-pronged spear and gestured to follow him.

Walking underneath the waves felt so weird; It was like moving through some kind of very thick pudding. Something pushed against my limbs while I tried to keep up with the speed of the group. Angelique had no trouble moving through the water. She grew up beneath the waves, after all.

She was rather stylish about it, as well. Like a real squid, she seemed to squat in mid-air before she propelled herself further. Her smooth tentacles flowed behind her, with her seaweed-coloured hair brushing against them. The shy girl seemed to feel rather at home, judging from her smile and waving at various people.

For the rest of us, though, it was rather awkward. Even Tanya seemed to have trouble with the suspicious gazes of the soldiers. The citizens we passed seemed nice enough, though. The closer we came to the pillars I saw earlier, the more I noticed.

Like the walls surrounding what looked like a massive city. It was way bigger than the human city we three came from. Angelique seemed to recognize the place, though. I've never seen her smile so happily.

When we walked through the entranceway to the city, I noticed how busy the city was. People, all merfolk, were going from left to right carrying all kinds of unknown things. Some things I recognized, like watermelons or sea cucumbers. Other things were a bit weird, like some kind of plants that only had wriggly tentacles that waved in the soft oceanic current.

"No dawdling! Get moving!" The closer we got to the capital, the harsher our envoy became. I had no idea what kind of stick they had up their ass, but it was starting to get on my nerves. They ushered us past the shopping people, past a huge plaza to the royal palace.

And what a place it was.

It was absolutely massive, yet didn't have the gaudiness I expected from a royal palace. A thick wall made of some kind of white stone protected the building. At first, I thought it was some kind of marble stone, but on closer inspected, it was heavily-compressed sand. The black streaks that created a nice contrast with the white of the sand, seemed to be some kind of oil.

I had heard the sea-floor had an abundance of oil. Not that any country needed it. The city was powered by magic, I heard the Elves used natural resources and the beastmen seemed to use more primitive methods. But it looked nice, at least.

" Keep walking!" A boatload of bubbles escaped through the metal mask I wore when one of the soldiers pierced my ass with her spear. I glared at him, but he was less than impressed. We passed through the courtyard that hid behind the towering walls, where several groups of soldiers were doing their drills.

And there were a lot of them. Was this some kind of power-play, coming from the queen? Like 'Look how strong my army is!' ? Judging from Tanya's expression, she had the same idea.

We got forced into a long, regal-looking hallway. The sides were decorated with delicate curtains, made from a material that looked a lot like sponge-coral. The sunrays falling through the holes of the hallway created intricate patterns on the walls opposite to it.

Suddenly, I felt a top on my shoulder. It was Lily. She casually pointed to her left.

A group of soldiers were looking at us. And they were not friendly. I grunted and let my finger glide over the dagger in its sheath. The redhead glared at the soldiers which made them hide behind the nearest corner.

Real sneaky, guys…

"Wait in here. Her Majesty the Queen will see you shortly." One of the soldiers said and shoved us into a nearby room. It was a grand room, with a coral seat at the back of it. I realized this was some kind of audience chamber.

I looked at my four companions. Not being able to talk was a major disadvantage. I wondered how the soldiers did it? Angelique looked nervously around her. But she seemed excited as well.

"I've never been in the royal palace as well. Mother has been a couple of times during meetings with the queen but…" That made me raise my eyebrows. Angelique's mother was acquainted with the queen of the merfolk.

"Oh, right… I guess I didn't tell you yet. " Angelique twirled her soft tentacles between her fingers.

"Mother is the economic advisor of the queen. Since she runs the biggest company in the country and all…" The squid-girl seemed shy to admit that, judging from her blushing cheeks. She wanted to explain more, but suddenly, a group of soldiers burst into the room.

One by one, they were fully decked out with spears, shields, helmets and protective armour. It was like they were going to war!

"Halt, intruders! You will tell us where the princess is, or you will die! We have good information that you are the culprits!" One of the soldiers yelled when the doors fell shut right behind them.

Uh-Oh, this wasn't good. At all.

What were they going on about anyway?