Chapter 10
The halls of the palace had always seemed too gaudy and bright for Soulara. But today the gloom of her mood followed her like a cloud and infiltrated everywhere.
She had been up all night, tossing and turning on her moss bed. But no solid answers came to her. No other steps but this one. She drew closer to her father’s office, dragging her end fins along the pristine floor. Two flukes from his office, Soulara stopped and sucked in the water once. Twice.
“Stop being a clownfish,” she muttered and pushed forward with one decisive slap of her tail.
“Father,” Soulara said as she reached the office door. She stood in the archway, waiting for his acknowledgement before braving entry. Pregtox’s face had aged in the past few seasons. She had noted it as they ate breakfast together every morning. The idea sent shivers up the back of her fluke right to the base of her skull. Her family was far from perfect, but the King of Reine had always been Soulara’s father first. No matter the flaws or fights they found themselves in.
“Soulara.” He looked up, furrowed brow and scrunched features smoothing. “Did we have a meeting?”
“No.” Soulara smiled and slowly swam into his space.
He gave her that ever prying look, the one that spoke more than words, the one that told her to spill every secret she had. Yet he still carried the air of king, and for the first time, Soulara was grateful that he rarely shrugged off the title to reveal the man beneath. She needed both her father and his position for this conversation.
“I know what’s been happening to the water,” Soulara spoke confidently. She channeled all her years of training, pushing her authority into the words.
“This again?” Pregtox rubbed circles into his temples.
“Yes.” She wouldn’t back down. Not this time. She would be a leader, despite how much she hated the idea. “The attack in the deep soundings was because of aliens that have come to our planet. They’re known as humans. They use mechanical beasts called water collectors to steal the water.”
“Soulara.” His tone of forced patience told her everything she feared his reaction would be. It foretold an explanation about how their kingdom ran, and that she needed to learn the finer details of how it worked. More had to be considered.
“No.” The word came out sharp, and for a moment, a tense silence hummed between them. Soulara grasped onto it. The tension meant he was listening, that she had his attention. “You don’t understand, and you never listen long enough.”
“Soulara, there are many things that need to be considered when ruling our kingdom.”
“I know.” Soulara shook her head, trying to rein in her own frustration. “I need you to pay attention to me this time. Not the lessons you want me to learn, but to me. Your daughter. Future Queen of Reine.” Those last words nearly lodged in her throat on their way out.
Her father jerked back as though Soulara’s words had physically hit him. Someone else might not have even noticed the reactionary movement. A nauseating slither of discomfort settled in Soulara’s stomach.
“I’m listening.”
“I’ve spoken to one of their human soldiers.”
“What?” He glared, nostrils flaring.
Soulara swallowed the lump in her throat and kept eye contact. “She’s confirmed the suspicions and provided many details.”
Pregtox held his hands up. “What is a human?”
“Oh.” Soulara pursed her lips. Was he really this ill-informed? He didn’t have spies around telling him what was happening? “They’re not from here. They live above the water. They have legs instead of a tail. They breathe air, not water.”
“And how have you spoken to this alien?” Pregtox spat the word like rotten seaweed on his tongue. But Soulara could see something working in his brain. This wasn’t all new information to him. And she wanted to know what he knew.
Soulara faltered and broke the eye contact. She looked down at the space between her and the shelf where piles of seaweed scrolls lay in various stages of being written on or unrolled. He was ever tied to the past, never wanting to move into the future.
“Soulara?”
The water rippled around her, but she refused to look up and see what her father was doing to cause the movement.
“Soulara.” His voice was soft and close.
Soulara jerked her head up as Pregtox’s gentle fingers brushed her upper arm.
“Please believe me, Father. I know what I’ve learned, and it’s the truth. The water is being stolen, and the humans are responsible. We have to stop ignoring the problem.”
“Things often seem one way, but they are rarely as they appear on the surface.”
What did he even mean by that? Did he know something he hadn’t told her? Of course he did. But what exactly was it? Why was he so adamant that the humans weren’t a problem?
“Why won’t you trust me?” Soulara’s frustration burned, yet her voice betrayed the pain she felt instead. Because she wasn’t just some princess. She wasn’t someone who would stand aside and let her people die. She wasn’t someone who did nothing. Didn’t he know that by now?
“I know you believe what you’ve seen.”
“No. I know what I am talking about.” Desperation kicked in. She had to make him understand. She had to make him believe her because everything hinged on this one moment.
Without permission, Soulara pressed her memories into her father’s mind. Filtering some of Autumn’s own memories in as well.
Pregtox’s face drained of color as he gasped.
“You have your mother’s magic.” His eyes fixed on Soulara’s, wide, all-seeing, pained. Why was he so wounded? There wasn’t accusation in her father’s tone, but something else. That combined with the look, Soulara understood.
Sadness.
“Yes.” She would have apologized, but Soulara knew better. One didn’t apologize as a royal. Not even to the king.
The silence stretched until Soulara knew she had no choice but to break it.
Soulara swallowed again, wishing she hadn’t forced food down before this. She feared a reappearance of the heated starfish. “I’ve been spending time with my mother.”
“Milan.” Pregtox spoke the name on a reverent whisper. Soulara didn’t have to check if he said her name wanting an answer from Soulara.
Despite the fight that had torn them apart, her father never spoke ill of Soulara’s mother. The rare moments Milan had come up in conversation, Pregtox had floated off to a different time. A time long before the fights and the anger.
His jaw tightened, and he didn’t tear his gaze away from her. “Is she…” he paused, as if deciding whether or not to continue. “Is she well?”
Soulara’s lips curled up into a smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes, Father.”
“Good.” He shifted uncomfortably, as if snapping back into the moment. “And Milan has been training you. You’ve been spying on these humans.”
Soulara often forgot how clever he could be. He already understood more than Soulara knew how to say.
“I have been talking to a human.” Soulara forced down the swirl of emotions that coiled inside her, heating to the middle of her tail. “She doesn’t want to take the water, but she is a soldier following orders. And her world is in desperate need of it.”
“Soulara. If you want to be involved in stopping these aliens, there’s one condition.”
Only one? Soulara bit down on her bottom lip to stop the words slipping out. She nodded, which seemed enough for him to continue.
“You must lead this battle. You must finally accept your responsibility to our people and your place in this kingdom.”
The condition didn’t shock Soulara. She’d expected it, along with many other demands. That didn’t stop her stomach churning with the full reality of what she would be accepting. And why, after all these years of pushing against her role as leader was she now so willing to put herself second for her people?
She knew the answer.
Autumn’s name hovered in her heart.
But it couldn’t be that way. It never could and never would.
“I’ll lead this battle, but only alongside Honour.”
“I expected nothing else.” Her father’s smile stretched, but his eyes glinted, hinting at something other than joy. Were his thoughts still on Milan?
“I’ll go talk to her now.” Soulara hesitated, still seeing that distant look in his eyes.
After another second, she swam quickly away before she could turn around, take everything back. She hadn’t ever wanted the throne. But it had never been the responsibility that she didn’t want. It had been something far more personal. A desire to not repeat the actions of her parents, the desire to live a life of love and privacy, of following dreams.
She followed the coral hallways without seeing the decadence of bright colors and molded shells and rocks that formed statues of previous leaders. It didn’t take her long to find Honour.
“Your Highness,” Honour spat the words. She breathed heavily as she stopped mid-circuit in her training and bowed. Soulara floated in front of the general who had been practicing agility moves. The rocks, coral, shells and other debris one might encounter outside the castle were set up in a more rigorous circuit than Soulara had seen before. Honour must have seen Soulara from the corner of her eye, as Soulara had no intentions of interrupting her.
“Honour.” Soulara’s shoulders dropped. Something in her face must have slipped through her mask as Honour dropped her eyes and moved away from the circuit and closer.
“What’s wrong?”
Soulara barked out a bitter laugh.
“Soulara?”
“I’ve accepted my title.”
“What?” The horror that rippled over Honour’s face mirrored her own internal dismay. “Why?”
“He wouldn’t accept the truth, about the humans.”
“Right,” Honour snapped.
“Honour.” Soulara reached out her hand and placed it over Honour’s. It was larger and so much stronger than her own. Everything about Honour spoke of strength. Her broad shoulders, strong arms, and the muscles that remained present down her stomach even when she relaxed.
“You used magic on us. On me.”
“I did.” Soulara nodded, swallowing the guilt and accepting the accusation. “I had two choices. To use it and try to stop the situation getting out of hand, or to allow it to escalate and have her blood on my hands.”
“She has enough of our people’s on hers.”
Soulara closed her eyes and led Honour to the rocks for those waiting to train or there to watch the strength of their forces at work.
“She’s a soldier, and she’s part of the machine. I know that.” Soulara pulled on all of her diplomatic power to word this in ways Honour might understand and accept. “But she doesn’t want to be following orders.”
“But will she follow them?”
“I don’t know, but I do know she’ll help us in any way she can. She already has.”
“Is that really worth anything? Does she have any power to do anything?”
“She’s worth what any life is worth.” Soulara snapped before she reined herself in and softened her tone. “They don’t think she’s important in their world, but she is. And she can help us learn more about what we are up against.”
“All right.” Honour’s lips quirked in a way Soulara didn’t like.
“What?”
“She’s important to you.” Honour’s quirk slipped into a smile, and Soulara’s heart lightened at finally seeing her friend, instead of only the general.
“All life is important,” Soulara repeated.
“All right, you aren’t there yet. But I’ll try to understand. I’ll try to remember she didn’t directly kill our people.”
“We will avenge them,” Soulara vowed. “And stop those who are directly responsible.”
“Are you’re leading this battle?” Honour pursed her lips, and Soulara saw the moment her friend resigned herself to the fact that she would no longer be in charge of her troops.
“No.”
“No?”
“We’ll do this together.”
“That’s not how it’s done.”
“It is now.” Soulara grinned cockily. “If I’m taking my place as leader, if I need to put that sharp thorny crown on my head, then I’m doing it my way.” Soulara flipped her tail just for good measure.
Honour chuckled for a moment. It didn’t last long though.
Soulara felt the same grimness rest upon her shoulders.
“Where do we start?” Honour asked.
Soulara wanted to hug her friend. She knew how much it would have taken Honour to ask her before diving in and presenting her solution.
“I need to talk to Autumn more about what the humans have, but I know already that there are at least three of the water collectors.”
“Water collectors? They’re monstrous beasts. They’re the krakens of myth and legend.”
“Oh.” Soulara nodded. They did look so much like the ones she had heard about in the childhood stories. The krakens were the big bad of the deeper soundings, and played their role in the cautionary tales.
Her mother’s words returned to her. This hadn’t been the first time aliens had come to steal their home. She pushed her curiosity to the back of her mind for now.
“Yes, they’re the krakens.” Soulara nodded, still pulling her mind back to the present. “I suspect the three I saw in Autumn’s mind are just a fraction of what the humans have come here with. Or at least what they’re planning to come here with.”
“More than the three?” Honour’s jaw jumped as though she clenched her teeth.
“If I’m right. We can’t attack them on land, but I don’t think we have enough troops to make a plan of assault.”
“We can do another recruiting.”
“That’s a good idea.” Soulara nodded. She pushed up from the rocks and swam back and forth in front of Honour. She pivoted and enjoyed the strength of muscles in her fluke as she took the turns at the end of each stretch.
“But we may not have enough time to train them.”
“What’re you thinking, Princess?” Honour spoke the term with respect and a hint of curious concern.
“I’m thinking it’s time to speak to my mother.”
“What?” Honour pushed herself up from the rocks and moved in front of Soulara, stopping her swimming.
“We’re not the only ones who’ll suffer from the humans thieving.”
“You want to ask outside of our people? You want to ask another tribe?”
“No.” Soulara smiled, wickedness and a finger to tradition sparkling within her. “I want to ask all of the tribes, and the nomads, and all the other creatures living in our waters, to come together to save our home from those who would take it from us.”
Honour blinked, mouth agape.
“Are you coming?” Soulara called over her shoulder as she swam around Honour and headed toward the door.
“You’re crazy!” Honour called, but Soulara felt the water move behind her and knew Honour followed.
“Most likely.” Soulara laughed.