were the largest creatures in the room, and possibly the largest creatures in the ocean. Lilliana held her teeth together so she wouldn’t gape at them with her mouth open. Over their heads were floating bright golden circles where crowns might be on human kings and queens. Lilliana couldn’t tell quite what the crowns were made of, or if they were simply made of light. Beneath the circles of light and in front of the white patches in their faces were huge, dark eyes. Queen Doris’s eyes looked warm and welcoming, while the king’s eyes looked thoughtful, as if he knew something about Lilliana.
“Hello child of the land, air and sun,” the king said. “I have heard that you gave my finest soldiers here a rough time yesterday. Care you to explain how that might have happened?”
Lilliana swallowed hard and her heart beat faster. She looked directly at the king and answered, “I’m so sorry if I hurt anyone sire. I was not sure if Pierce and Lance were friends or enemies. I had just met with some mermen and they threatened my horse and me with their spears. We hid in a cave and found ourselves with swords in our backs and strange voices in our ears. When I had a chance to escape, I felt I had to try.”
“Well child, do you find them so evil now?” the king asked.
“No sir. Even my horse deems them friendly.”
The king nodded and considered Lilliana for a moment before continuing.
“Please tell me who you are that you would know our language so well.”
“My name is Lilliana and on the land I had a tutor that tried to teach me your language. I wasn’t truly able to speak it until I came here. I found that when I talked to the people of your sea, I was able to understand them and converse with them.”
“Icthus doesn’t come naturally to humans, even with tutoring as you say. How do I know that you aren’t a mermaid in disguise?” Queen Doris asked. Her voice was mellow and lilting; it reminded Lilliana of a harp her father sometimes played.
“I don’t have a tail for swimming in the sea. I have two legs and they have feet on the end so that when I stand I can balance on the land,” Lilliana moved forward and brought her foot up with her hand to show the king.
All at once there was a flurry of activity as a line of dolphins moved in front of the king and a line of marlins and sailfish had their swords pointed directly at Lilliana and Spectrum. Spectrum snorted nervously and pawed the ground. Lilliana swam straight and put her feet behind her. What had she done? The fish moved in closer to Lilliana blocking the king and queen completely from her view. Each swish of their tails reverberated over the princess making her quake in place. Lilliana clutched Spectrum’s mane and forced herself to face the menacing swords. Spectrum’s eyes rolled and he let out a nervous whinny.
“Excuse me your majesty,” began Pierce. “This creature is new to our court and I do not believe she intended any harm. She is very peaceful and has only expressed a desire to meet with you. She was not trying an attack, and she has no tail to attack with.” Pierce began swimming among the other swordfish and marlin, and they gradually backed away. “If I could have the honor of showing her lack of fins to you sire,” said Pierce with a decided shove against a fierce-looking marlin.
“Guards, you may back away from our guest,” Queen Doris said.
“How do we know she won’t attack?” asked one of the guards.
“I give my personal guarantee that she will not attack anyone,” Pierce said. The crowd grew quiet and the water stilled. Lilliana thought that must be a serious guarantee.
“I will second that,” Lance agreed.
A murmur rushed through the court.
“Did I just hear both brothers agree on something?” the king asked from behind his protectors.
“Yes sire,” both fish said solemnly.
“Then we shall discover more about our guest. As you were,” he said to his guards and the fish dropped their swords and slowly backed away from Lilliana and Spectrum. Sunlight showed again as the fish above the princess backed towards the wall.
“If I may sire?” Pierce asked as he motioned to Lilliana’s feet. The king nodded. “She has these things on the ends called mitoes that may indeed mean the difference between a mermaid and a ship dweller.” Pierce motioned to Lilliana to pick up her foot slowly. She held her foot close to Pierce so he could lift it with his sword. She slowly wiggled her toes.
“I’m sorry to have moved so rashly. I simply wanted to show you that I’m like other ship-dwellers and humans with toes on my feet and feet on my legs,” said Lilliana quietly. “I have no tail, although it would certainly make moving through the water much easier. I am not a fish nor am I a mermaid. You were right to call me a child of land, air and sun.” Spectrum nodded his head, and Lilliana wasn’t surprised. He always seemed to understand her, whether it was the language or her thoughts, she still didn’t quite know.
“I see,” said King Nereus. “That doesn’t answer how you could possibly speak Icthus so fluently, or how you can breathe the air that is found in my water. You are not a normal ship-dweller, and you are not a mermaid. Tell me child what are you, where are you from, and who is your father?”
Lilliana swallowed nervously. She didn’t know if the king would like the truth. How would he react to royalty coming unannounced? Would he find her a threat or think of her as a spy? Then again, this morning her joke about poisoned toes turned into a complicated mess. She had only meant to keep Spike from nibbling her toes, but she ended up creating confusion between the only fish here who had helped her. Not to mention the fact that most kings didn’t like lies of any kind, and King Nereus seemed to be no exception. There was nothing to do but tell the truth. Lilliana just hoped the truth didn’t hurt.
“I have grown up human and on land,” she began. “As any normal human girl I breathed the air with my lungs, I walked on my feet, and occasionally I swam at the surface in the ocean. Two days ago I was chased into the sea by a witch riding a dragon.”
The fish in the throne room gasped.
Lilliana continued, “I found out when I first gulped the water that I could breathe. I was scared and I wandered through the sea with my horse. I was confronted by mermen and my horse attacked them so we hid in a cave. That was when your soldiers found us.”
“You are telling the truth and yet you are not revealing all,” the king said. Nereus swam forward on the dais, then back again, allowing the warm water from the throne to flow over Lilliana. His crown began to shine and Lilliana felt a shiver run down her spine. “Please tell us what your father does child.”
How could he know? What else did he know? Did he read her mind or did he have spies on the land? Lilliana hesitated for a moment, and then she looked directly at the king.
“My father is the king of Atlantis and I am his daughter and heir to the throne,” Lilliana said. She held up her head and Spectrum seemed to puff out his chest.
“You were right dear. She is brave,” the queen said.
The king looked at his wife lovingly, and then faced Lilliana again.
“Are you here then to fulfill the prophecy?”
That was not quite the reaction Lilliana expected. Did they know her? They almost seemed to expect her, but how could that be?
“I’m sorry your majesty, I am not aware of a prophecy, and really I’m here simply by accident.”
“No prophecy? What do they teach their young on the land?” the king said to himself. “Lilliana,” he said to the princess, “was it an accident that you could breathe under the ocean?”
Lilliana had to think about that for a moment. It was definitely a surprise, but was a surprise the same thing as an accident? She didn’t have any idea that she would be able to survive under the surface of the ocean until she discovered her gills at the bottom of the sea.
“I don’t know how I was able to manage it sir,” Lilliana said.
“Yes, but you didn’t fall and split open your neck and accidentally make gills, did you?” ask
ed the king.
“No sir. They just appeared when I needed them,” Lilliana replied.
“Yes, and they arrived just in time. And you, I believe, have arrived just when we need you too.”
Lilliana was confused, but she remained silent.
“We have been waiting for hundreds of years for the Star to send His chosen one. Let me tell you the prophecy as we have learned it and passed it through the ages:
PRAISE TO THE STAR, THE KING OF KINGS,
THE MORNING STAR SHALL BE WITH THE EARTH AND THE SEA FOR ALWAYS
HE SHALL RISE AND NEVER FALL
WHEN HE OPENS HIS HAND, ALL OF HIS CREATION IS SATISFIED WITH GOOD THINGS
MAY THE GLORY OF THE STAR ENDURE FOREVER.
It shall come to pass that a child will come born of the land and living in the sea. He will have a circle of light at his head, and a rainbow at his side. He shall be a sword traveling on the light of the Star and will be the bringer of peace. Though he travels through the pit of death he will not be alone, for I, the Lord your God, the one true Star and King will always be with him. I am the Morning Star. When my child has passed through all the lands that are mine, he will leave a blanket of peace in his wake. I will vanquish the evil one and the kingdoms of my light shall be united in peace for a thousand years.
The king finished and all the room looked at Lilliana. She could feel their eyes on her. This was not a prophecy that Aaron