Chapter 5

"Oh… Rondri…. I can’t breathe…."

Himeki couldn’t recall Belcis shoving anything down her throat, but she recalled the dizziness it caused mixing in with her various other causes of dizziness.

She felt something lean over her, but her vision consisted of swirling gray blobs. When the spinning lessened and things became a bit less blurry, she could identify the person. It took a moment to remember her name.

"Gelrini…?"

"A…are you okay…?"

"Yeah…" Himeki lied.

"…That’s good."

"Where…are we?"

"I don’t know. I think they said it was an inn."

"Does it look like an inn?" Himeki couldn’t make out much, but the purple was odd.

"I’ve never seen an inn before this…."

"Ugh…. Where is everyone…? Aikel, Kyri…?"

"They left…."

"Left? W… where… and why?"

"They said they had to go get something."

"Do you know what?"

"They were talking about a ‘Sea Orb.’ I think they went to get that."

"Oh, for the love of…." Himeki felt what little hope she had drain out of her. It was hard to draw in her next breath.

"I really wanted to go with, but Pegasus said that someone had to stay and help Belcis make sure you were okay…. They said I could do that."

"Belcis…?" She felt her head lifted, and something like a plant stem was shoved in her mouth. She was forced to swallow the foul stuff that was squirted down her throat.

"She gave you medicine…" Gelrini said. "Kyri said you were real sick." She waited a few moments and said more quietly. "I think she’s scary…. She doesn’t have any legs, and she’s like a fish. I can’t understand what she says, but she sounds mean…."

"C… can you… help me sit up…?"

"I think so…."

Even with Gelrini’s help, moving at all was a painful struggle. Being upright caused a renewed wave of dizziness, but when it passed, Himeki’s surroundings were clearer.

"Are we… underwater…?" she asked incredulously. Belcis swam through the door.

"I don’t know. It kinda seems like it and kinda doesn’t," said Gelrini. "The others said we were."

Belcis handed each of them a small bag made of fine netting. Each bag held a small piece of fish-looking meat and a glob of slimy plant pieces. Himeki’s was coated in something purple that added extra sliminess.

"Esca!" Belcis grumbled before she turned and left.

"What?" Himeki asked. She looked at the bag with disgust.

"You’re thupposed to eat it," a female voice said. Himeki and Gelrini looked at the door just in time to see the speaker’s head—she looked rather human—disappear.

"Fishy food…?" Gelrini mumbled dejectedly.

Himeki was hungry enough to eat it without complaint. It didn’t taste so bad, but the sliminess was disturbing. Watching her reassured Gelrini, who nibbled at the plant.

"When Aikel and Kyri left," Himeki said, "Pegasus, Unicorn, and Yousei were all with them, right?" Gelrini only nodded. Himeki gave a sigh of relief. "Do you know exactly where they went?"

"Um… to a temple to the west. There are lots of sorceresses there to study, I think."

"Do you know of a way to get there?" Himeki looked around, hoping for a window or something, but the door was the only opening in the walls.

"I think they walked," Gelrini said.

"When did the leave?"

"I don’t know. It feels like a long time. Maybe it was about an hour or two ago."

Himeki grumbled a swear word and stood up. She was feeling better, but she nearly toppled over. After regaining her balance, she walked toward the door and looked out.

The room beyond was lit with a soft blue. The ceiling—which apparently accommodated for two stories—was closer to Himeki than the floor was, causing her to squeak, shrink back, and look out more carefully.

The floor and ceiling were covered in round-edged irregularly shaped pearl-colored tiles with purple grout between them. There was a large circle cut in the middle of the ceiling that looked like it was covered with glass. Directly below it, there was a garden of colorful sea plants contained within a circle of the same size. The wall was porous pink rock with the occasional seashell fused into it. There was another round doorway below the one Himeki was leaning out of. The wall curved around until it was somewhat perpendicular and there were two more pairs of doors, and when it curved into the opposite wall, there was another pair. The wall to the right had only one very large door. Strings of jewels, shiny beads, and small shells hung down to cover it, but half of them were pulled aside and tied out of the way. Across from the door was a large rectangular stone. The top was smooth and flat, and the front was covered in carvings of mermaids.

"Hey!"

Himeki gripped the edge of the door fearfully. She looked down and saw someone swim through the door below and float level with her in the water.

"Even if you to can’t swim, you can jump the floor without getting hurt," the woman said, laughing. She was tall and thin, and her skin was dark. Her hair was black and mostly cut short, but she had long bangs that hung down on either side of her face. Her bright brown eyes had a friendly shine masking the hint of sadness in their depths.

After a moment of staring stupidly, Himeki asked, "Who are you?"

"Anyone who thinks I am worthy of a name calls me Venali," she said, grinning. "I am sorry if I talk funny. It’s been a long time since I used this tongue." She had a light lisp and occasionally accented something wrong.

"I’m… Himeki."

"Not your real name either, huh?" She winked and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I don’t know how my friends and I got here, and I don’t know where they went…. Why are you here?"

"Shipwreck." Another grin. "I’m a slave."

Himeki’s stomach lurched. "Oh… I’m s-sorry!"

"Eh, if you’re gonna pity us slaves, pity a different one," Venali advised. "I’ve got it good here compared to my other life. I have to work hard, but heavy lifting is not so bad underwater. I know I always have food. They give me clothes that are nice, even though they’re sort of funny-looking." She indicated her clothes, which were various shades of bright purple. Her blouse was tied in a knot halfway down her torso, and her shorts were tight-fitting. She laughed. "That’s why I was interested in you though. You and those others that were with you are not going to become slaves. That’s fortunate for you, but I wonder why. Your friends are the two humans, the little elf, and the two little white animals, right?

"Yeah, that should be them," Himeki said, assuming that Yousei could be mistaken for an elven child if the observer was unfamiliar. "Do you know where they went?"

"They went to the Fanum le Maris with my master’s younger daughter," Venali said. "I think they were looking for my master. All I know is that it leaves Belcis in charge of us." She glared toward one of the other doors. "She is so obnoxious. She speaks to us in baby talk." Venali rolled her eyes.

"Fanuh what?" Himeki asked. "How can I get there?"

"…Walk?"

"Isn’t there a faster way?" Himeki asked. "She said she thinks they left at least an hour ago." She started to motion toward Gelrini and nearly smacked her before realizing that she was standing nearby.

Venali considered. "Not unless you got mareques."

"Got what?"

She grinned again. "Sea-horses."

Himeki’s head dropped in defeat. "Where would we find seahorses…?"

Venali shrugged. "I don’t own any. I don’t need to, and I wouldn’t be allowed to. I only take care of the ones my master or her customers own.

"Your master owns some?" Himeki asked, raising only her eyes.

"Yep. She’s got one named Pluo, and it’s her favorite. It swims really fast and can pull all sorts of heavy things. I am surprised she did not use it to get to the Fanum, but the people she went with gave her… a ride…."

Before Himeki was able to speak again, she heard a sharp command from the voice of Belcis. Venali kicked the wall to propel herself towards the main door. She swam through as quickly as she could. Himeki saw Belcis shake her head and go back through the door she’d entered with.

After several moments of consideration, Himeki asked Gelrini, "That girl’s mother was in danger, wasn’t she?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Gelrini.

Himeki nodded and stepped out of the room, tried to ignore the sense of falling, and trudged toward the main door. She dropped out a few feet and landed on sand.

This was apparently an average-sized city. The sandy streets, if they were streets, were curved about nonsensically. The buildings were all rounded. They were often very tall, as if they were made of many buildings stacked together. Mermaids were around in abundance. Some were moving by very fast, some were taking their time or not moving at all. Some had tails like Belcis, but some younger ones had legs ending in webbed feet.

None took notice of Himeki. She thought she might’ve heard Venali’s voice come from her left and started to head in that direction when she heard Gelrini scramble over the edge of the door and stumble into the sand with an, "Oof!"

"No, you need to go back," said Himeki. "You can’t come with me."

Gelrini seemed to make an attempt at stomping one hoof angrily, but she was buried in sand up to her knees. "What do you mean I can’t come?! Why not?!"

"Because it’s dangerous!"

"Well, duh!" Gelrini snapped. "Of course it’s dangerous! I’m not stupid! But the danger doesn’t seem to bother you."

"I’m bigger than you!"

"So?! I’m healthier than you! I bet you can’t even see straight!"

"And what good will you be?"

"I’m good at distracting!" Gelrini proclaimed. When Himeki only smacked her own forehead, Gelrini said, "When I was a kid I kept a coyote away from our duckies long enough for the goose to come and scare it away!"

"A coyote is nothing! Especially if it’s wimpy enough to be scared off by a goose! You have—"

"My goose could beat you up any day! Even if you could see straight!"

"Ugh! This is stupid!" Himeki growled. "Go back!" She stood with one hand on her hip and one pointing back through the door.

But Gelrini made a point of standing taller. "I only agreed to stay here in the first place so that you wouldn’t have to be alone with Belcis, so you’re not leaving me here by myself! You’ll ask Venali for a seahorse won’t you? She might let you borrow one, but will Belcis? If I go back, I go back to tell Belcis what you’re trying to do."

"Oh, damn it!" Himeki turned and stomped to the left. Gelrini followed.

On the back side of the building, there was a half-dome of netting and something wood-like built against the wall. The door was a net that hooked over a large space in the dome at four corners. The creatures within the dome were almost nothing like the small curly-tailed creatures that land-dwellers call seahorses. Their bodies began as those of true horses do, save that they were scaled, but behind the first pair of fin-edged hoof-ended legs, their torsos melted into long sinuous serpent tails. Some had a fin running down their spines, some had a brightly colored mane of hair instead, or some had the fin in the midst of the hair. The seahorses came in all sorts of bright colors, and their sizes varied as much as those of land horses.

Most of them were tethered to the ground, the wall, or the dome so that they couldn’t come in contact with each other, but there were a few with young at their sides. Venali was petting a little pink foal. As she swam away, bag of feed in hand, and spotted Himeki and Gelrini near the doorway and frowned in confusion. Himeki unhooked one corner of the net and stepped through. She casually began to close it on Gelrini, but the girl shoved herself through.

"Venali, I need to talk to you…" Himeki said uneasily as she approached.

Venali didn’t answer verbally, but she stopped what she was doing and looked attentive.

"Um… w… we need to barrow one." Himeki flung her arms out to point to the seahorses surrounding her.

Venali spent a few seconds looking at her with an unchanged expression before she burst out laughing. The bubble covering her mouth quivered and reflected light in bizarre ways.

"I’m serious!" Himeki whined.

"You can’t be serious! These mareques aren’t even mine, and even if they were, I wouldn’t lend them to a complete stranger!"

"But you got to—" Himeki grabbed Venali’s shoulders when she shook her head. "Why did my friends go with your master’s daughter?"

Venali’s laugh settled down to a lopsided grin.

"Wasn’t it because your master was in danger? They wanted to protect her?"

Venali stopped smiling and paid attention.

"Who’s going to protect them?! Unless your master’s daughter is one of the greatest mages in the world, they’ll only make it worse!"

"I can’t loan what isn’t mine."

Before Himeki could respond, Gelrini piped up with, "What if you never see Gyozoki or her mommy again? Who’s your master then? Belcis? Isn’t she mean to you?"

"It doesn’t matter," Venali said firmly. "She wouldn’t be mean enough to me throughout the rest of my life to be worse than what would happen to me if I lost a mareques."

"But that girl and her mother could die," Himeki said, regretting that she couldn’t hide the word from Gelrini. "Do you want to be responsible for that?"

Venali turned aside, folded her arms over her chest, and closed her eyes.

"You said your life was better as her mommy’s slave, didn’t you?" Gelrini asked. "What would your life be like if you weren’t anymore? Would it be like it was before you were her slave? What was your life like before that?"

Venali twirled around and stared at Gelrini with wide—almost terror-filled—eyes. The sight of nothing but the centaur’s bright honest mahogany eyes seemed to calm her, but she was still wide-eyed and twitchy like a person who had just awakened from a horrible dream. Himeki turned and looked at the girl suspiciously, but there was nothing but childish innocence on her face.

"You’re master’s favorite seahorse…" Himeki said. "It’s a good animal, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it know its way back here if it was just set loose? If you give me that, I’ll let it go as soon as I’m done, and it’ll come back in one piece whether I do or not. I won’t cause it any harm."

"I don’t know you…. What if you’re just stealing it?" Venali asked quietly.

"What if I’m not…?"

After staring in Himeki’s pleading eyes, Venali asked, "What’s your name…?"

"Er, Himeki…."

"No, your real name…."

Himeki twitched. "I… I can’t tell you…. I can’t tell anybody! It’s illegal for me to use my true name outside of special ceremonies. It’s the law of my people…." When Venali gave her a look full of suspicion, she protested, "I’m not even allowed to write it! When I was little and they were teaching me how, they just had me point out the letters individually! With the way my people’s magic works… it might mess something up… to use it, I mean…. I, I… I…."

Venali cut her off and said, "That’s an awful lot to make up in a split second…." Himeki bit her lip. "Pluo-Pluo!" Venali called. As the only untied seahorse approached, she mumbled, "A mareques as strong as Pluo can pull you both easily. I’m sure he’ll take you straight to Miropo with no problem, and he’ll probably even take you to the Fanum le Maris. If he doesn’t, you’ll be able to see the top of the temple’s tower from anywhere in the city—hell, from halfway between here and the city…."

She gave Himeki and Gelrini a quick lesson on how to use a seahorse—you didn’t sit on it; you just held the leather-like straps with your hands and let it pull you—and whispered a command to the creature when they were ready. They yelped in surprise as Pluo took off. The ratio of a centaur’s body mass to its arm strength seemed hard on Gelrini’s fingers, and she looked like she would let go at any moment and be left behind… but she kept her hold without complaining.

Once they were out of her sight, Venali turned her vision south and kept it there a long time before returning to her labor.