was hard to miss. Maybe they were going to get reinforcements, but if that was the case, why hadn’t they left yet?
“Hold very still if you want to live,” Lilliana heard the voice and felt a sharp stab in her back. Spectrum’s ears twitched back, but he too had a sword on his side, pointed toward his heart. The strangers had approached from the other side of Spectrum, where Lilliana couldn’t see. She never heard them coming.
7. Fish
“Back slowly away from the cave entrance,” said the voice behind the princess. Lilliana did as she was told. The voice sounded different from the other mermen. This one had a different accent, as if he were from a different tribe or perhaps the other side of the mountain. Lilliana turned her head to the side to get a better look.
“None of that now” said the voice and she felt a sharp stab. Was she bleeding? She knew she couldn’t turn her head. She patted Spectrum. His eyes looked wild and Lilliana could see more white than ever in them. The light was dimming in the cave as they moved backwards.
“Can I turn around yet?” Lilliana asked her captor.
“Did you hear that Pierce?” said the voice behind her.
“Indeed I did Lance. What do you make of it?” said the voice behind Spectrum.
“I’m not certain, but it old-fashioned, sort of like you,” replied Lance.
“Not that, you clownfish, just that it can talk. Have you ever heard a no-gills talk?” said Pierce.
“It appears she does have gills though,” said Lance.
“Still, it’s not one of us, but it talks like one of us,” replied Pierce.
Maybe their confusion could help Lilliana get away.
“It is exceedingly difficult to continue in this way while facing backwards, can we please turn around?” Lilliana said in her most official princess voice. She put her feet down and stopped going back.
“It even has good grammar. How do you think it learned that?” Pierce asked.
“Perhaps the mermen kept it as a pet?” Lance suggested.
They were now surrounded by the little stars on the cave walls. A faint light in the distance marked the entrance to the cave and it looked a long way away. Were the mermen still outside? Weren’t these mermen too? Lilliana looked down at her feet and turned her head to the side. If she could just see what she was dealing with maybe she would know what to do. Right. Like any of this was covered in her diplomacy classes. Her tutor had covered the Ice Country, and the Jungle Country, but nothing on the Fish Country. She remembered some strange language of gurgles that had something to do with the sea, but she couldn’t quite place it. She could see the scrolls now, gilded in gold and entitled “How to deal with angry mermen and other sea creatures.” She looked at the ground behind her and saw no sign of feet. As if any creature other than her had feet in the sea. Well, her and her horse she amended to herself.
“Mermen are barbarians,” Pierce said.
“Yes, they are usually too hungry to keep pets,” Lance replied.
“But this one looks like them a bit.”
“Maybe it did. What do you think they did to its tail? That’s terrible.”
Lilliana subtly lifted her feet as if in response. She tried to measure the distance to the entrance, but it was difficult in the dark. Could she swim there fast enough? Spectrum would be left behind. What would the… whatever they were, what would Pierce and Lance do to him? Nana had always said a woman should always fly or fight if a situation was intolerable. Swords in her back in a dark cave had to qualify as intolerable. It was time to go.
“Look at how there are little pink nubs at the ends of those long white things,” Lance said. Lilliana felt the sharp pressure release from her back as the creature continued. “What type of weapon must have destroyed its tail to replace it with those horrid pink nubby things?” It sounded as if Lance had turned his head away, and Lilliana hoped he had turned his sword away as well. If she wanted to go, it was now or never.
Lilliana kicked at the place where the talking had come from and felt her foot impact something slimy and slightly cold. She heard a swish followed by a thud, and pulled with her arms. Swim like a fish she thought. Not far to the entrance really, just a short swim. Lilliana kicked for all she was worth. She pulled the water past her head with her hands and tried to make her body as streamlined as possible. She kicked with her legs stretched and straight and tried to make them powerful like the fish she had seen at the reef. She glanced over her shoulder and felt something hard grab her feet. Suddenly she was going backwards. Her feet hurt. No, they burned. She felt millions of tiny razors digging into her ankles and meeting with the bones. She was pulled violently backwards and rolled to face her foe. Spectrum was rearing and bleeding. He must have fought with them too.
There was a huge fish with a sail on his back and a sword for a nose in front of Spectrum. The fish was keeping her horse from her, but Spectrum was crazed. He shook his head and his mane flowed around him like a lion’s. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he flailed at the fish with his hooves. The fish was faster though. His body was made for the water, and he easily edged out from under each strike of the horse. The water was darker. Turning red. Lilliana felt cold. And so tired. Her legs were numb and her chest was burning.
“We’re losing it,” said the fish guarding Spectrum.
“No, here come the reinforcements,” replied Lance, or was it Pierce.
The water was churning now and Lilliana could hear murmurs around her. Spectrum whinnied loudly. Lilliana closed her eyes. She was so tired, and the pain was unbearable. What would Nana think of her now, she wondered idly. Lilliana felt the water moving around her face. Her feet and legs felt so cold. She couldn’t tell if they were even still there. Just a little rest was what she needed. She could keep her eyes closed and think of something later. Maybe she was dreaming. She would wake up and find herself in her castle on her bed. Nana would wake her up and serve her favorite honey cakes.
“Mmmmm,” Lilliana sighed as she thought of the sweet cakes that melted in her mouth just that morning.
“Hold still dear, this will sting a bit,” said a softer voice with a light lilt. It was such a nice voice. This voice might give her honey cakes. It made Lilliana think of sunshine and sparkles. Lilliana felt a light fluttering over her feet and ankles. It felt so nice with light tingles. But the tingles didn’t go away. They became sharper and more intense. They felt like pins, then like nails. The nails were digging into her flesh and boring into her bones.
“Ouch!” Lilliana yelled. She sat up quickly and tore at her legs with her hands, but she couldn’t reach them. Her feet felt as if each hair follicle had turned into a sharp spear going through her body. She vaguely noticed that she was no longer bleeding, but this was much worse. It had to be worse. Her chest had straps around it holding her arms to her sides. She could see her legs, but she couldn’t reach them. She couldn’t pull the invisible spears out of her skin.
“Let’s get her to the healer’s home before we attract unwanted company,” said the soft voice. Lilliana felt someone pull her down so she was lying on her back, and she realized that she was tied to something that was moving her. Some sort of fish was moving her away from the small white light at the end of the cave. They pulled her backwards smoothly. Backwards again. Lilliana could feel small, cool movements underneath her. They kept her feet up off of the bumpy floor. The water was growing cooler and it eased the pain in her legs somewhat. The swords in her legs had shortened to daggers. The stars that were present all over the cave were dark. Or perhaps that was because there were so many fish around her now. Fish. These were not the mermen, but just plain fish.
Lilliana put her head back and allowed herself to be pulled. She could not move her arms and her legs were too painful to bear. She had to reserve what strength she had. She could hear Spectrum behind her and she wondered if he was going backwards as well. She tried to list
en to the conversation around her, but all she could hear were soft murmurs. It was strange to be moving without the sound of feet or hooves. There wasn’t even the sound of heavy breathing. Everything was hushed and smooth as they traveled.
Lilliana thought about the mermen. Would they be helpful? They had at least talked to them before poking spears in their backs and carting them off. Spectrum hadn’t liked them, but even on land her horse was not known for being friendly. The fish were so different. They tried to capture them, eat her legs, and now they were dragging them backwards to some healer’s house. Her tutor didn’t talk about fish societies. She would definitely have to update him when she got home.
The cave around Lilliana got brighter and they seemed to be moving up again. She noticed that her legs were simply burning now, as if they had been touched with fireweed. She could hear voices in the distance. It sounded like many voices at a party, or a public gathering. The cave gave way to a bright light and Lilliana could see brilliant blue ocean above her head. She twisted to the left and saw a line of sea creatures. The same was on her right.
The voices were loud now and they didn’t sound friendly.
“What is it?” asked one.
“Kill it now!” another called.
“Take it back to the ship shadows!”