Chapter 12 : Beneath the Water, Over the Mountain
“The dead,” he stammered, trembling. “There were dead men down there, many of them, all around floating like clouds, like—like jellyfish.”
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Places mentioned:
Tyrannoson:
One of the three kingdoms on the Central Continent, ruled by the Valrino family.
Castle Katella
A self-sufficient, city-like castle where the King and the Queen and the unmarried Valrinos live.
Spring
The capital city of Tyrannoson.
Kent:
A dynamic, inclusive town in the outskirt of Spring, swarming with foreign traders and merchants. All imported goods must pass here before entering the capital city.
Linsaidea:
One of the three kingdoms on the Central Continent, northwest of Tyrannoson, across a narrow sea, the Rustless Sea, to Mandia. A nomadic, rather savage people that tame mammoths.
Dovewing
The Queen of Tyrannoson, Evelyn, came from this nation that is northeast of the Central Continent.
Dewy Eye:
A calm but dangerous sea surrounded by three continents. No ship has ever crossed it.
Sanlostier:
The forbidden forest that seems to be ruled by a certain subspecies of Elves.
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Creatures (that can speak and have names) mentioned:
Leopoldo Valrino
The King of Tyrannoson, and the sixth monarch of the Valrino family.
Queen Evelyn
Leopoldo’s wife. Her brother is the King of Dovewing.
Yisreal Valrino
A son of the King. Leopoldo met the young Yisreal in the woods while hunting. Then the King brought him back to Castle Katella and announced him to be his son.
Chester Valrino
The first-born son of King Leopoldo and Queen Evelyn.
Princess Irene
Leopoldo’s daughter-in-law, married to Prince Chester. She’s also a princess of Dovewing and Queen Evelyn’s niece.
Leslie Valrino
The third son of the Queen. When Leopoldo first brought Yisreal back from hunting, the Queen was pregnant with Leslie.
Nicholas Valrino
The youngest son of the Queen.
Meredith
A mysterious murderess—presumably a mermaid—entrusted to Ivan’s custody by Yisreal, who was supposed to execute her.
Mr. Galorde
Ivan’s grandfather’s apprentice, having served both his grandfather and father as their assistant.
Barnet
A fisherman living by the coast of Dewy Eye.
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12
Beneath the Water, Over the Mountain
Nicholas met them in front of the river that bordered the Castle—Chester and Yisreal appeared together; they had just escorted the murderess to the dungeon, and the next day she would be hanged. He didn’t go to the execution but Leslie did.
“He said there was nothing extraordinary about her,” Nicholas looked at me as if I could confirm that.
“I wish I were there, Your Highness, but I overslept it.”
He didn’t respond. And immediately, I started analyzing if I had said anything wrong. He was incredibly comfortable with silence. But I wasn’t, so I brought up a brilliant topic.
“I heard about the marriage with Linsaidea.”
He glanced down as he smiled. “I wish that woman is still alive. What a waste—imagine delivering her into the Mammoth Plain.” He stood up from the table he sat on and walked away.
At this point, I had no choice but to go to Chester. I withdrew behind the corner as soon as I saw the Queen’s maids standing in the corridor outside his chamber.
I hadn’t thought about Princess Irene’s infertility for a second since the Queen assigned the task to me. She could be the best person to deal with Meredith’s evil, but between her and Meredith, I feared her more.
I rode back to the Medical Tower, and before I could reach the gate, a pigeon fluttered toward me. I took the message, which read:
Stay still. It’s not your battle to fight.
It was left-handed, just like the one Nicholas had shown us when he came to Unicorn Tavern. I showed the message to Galorde, but he said it wasn’t Yisreal.
“His handwriting doesn’t look like this.”
“But it’s left-handed,” I insisted.
“I don’t know where you got that idea, but he’s good with both hands; I’ve seen it.”
Galorde sighed, seeing my confusion, and added, “Does he look like someone who would send messages?”
“But this sounds too relevant,” I insisted. “Who else could it be?”
“It’s even worse if it’s someone else.”
“Unless this person works for Yisreal—” to spy on me.
“Whatever—that’s good advice anyway,” Galorde said. “I told you from the beginning: just be Maester Mellon, nothing else, nothing more.”
But how could I stay still, wondering who Meredith would kill tonight?
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I left the Tower at noon and rode to the coast, waiting on the dark side of the ocean while the other side gleamed in the moonlight. It was still cold these days. I wanted to make a bonfire, but that was obviously a stupid idea.
The sea I was facing was Dewy Eye, loosely enclosed by three continents. Along the shore, the water appeared calm and gentle, yet beneath the waves, far from dry land, where the light could not reach, a border—one that had commanded the water to go no further since the beginning of Creation—was collapsing. No one saw the border collapse, only that no ship had returned in the past forty years.
I believed this was the place where Meredith came to land and sacrificed the hearts of men, as it was the closest coast to Spring. It would still take her hours of riding—if she did ride—to bring the heart here and throw it into the sea. So I assumed she would instead seduce her victim here.
I noticed a few fishing boats from afar in the moon and approached them, keeping myself within the shadow. If I were her, I would target fishermen, not those whoremongers in Kent, to streamline the whole process—from seduction to murder and sacrifice. Instead, she’d exposed herself in Kent, which got the King’s attention.
Unless that was her intention from the beginning.
One fisherman was still in his boat, and from the movement of his silhouette, it seemed like he was preparing to go out to fish, not heading home. This got on my nerves. I didn’t even know whom I was worried for—the fisherman or Meredith. What if he saw Meredith—why did I even care if he did? But what if Meredith chose him to be her victim?—well, that was what I was here for—
I had no extra attention to analyze, as I must watch intently to see from a distance. The fisherman rowed deeper into the sea, toward the brightest spot on the water’s surface. The moon lit his boat as he threw in the net and waited. I grew tired after a while and stopped watching, as it consumed my energy.
Then, I heard singing wafting from the water through the saline breeze—gossamer singing, permeating the shore like mists. I started watching again. The fisherman turned his head and stood up. The net was shaking, but he walked around his boat and looked out at the sea, leaving the full net of fish behind, which opened up into the water at the fish’s effort.
Meredith!
The alert shook me out of my outsider’s stance. I put a deaf spell on my ears before refocusing on the fisherman. He was kneeling on the deck, leaning his body out of the boat to peer into the water. Then a woman rose from the water and met the fisherman’s face, almost touching him.
It was not Meredith. I rushed to the anchored boats, untied one of them, and then did my best to row over to the fisherman. The woman in the water placed her hands on his head, holding it as if it were disjointed from his shoulders, and she kissed his lips on that head. The boat tilted further to her side, and the fisherman was about to plunge into the water.
As I was trying out a spell to tip the fisherman’s boat back, the woman was suddenly pushed away as another woman emerged. The fisherman fell back into his boat, and the boat tipped over, rocking like a cradle of nightmares.