A wide berth had been cleared in front of the king's throne. At Caelum's prompting, Emily walked from the crowd to the middle of the open space, legs shaking. She stood before the king in all her naked glory, wearing naught but borrowed jewelery. After a beat, she remembered to curtsy.
King Trilato sat in a slump on his throne, cradling his chin in one hand. A curious expression came over his face as his eyes flicked over Emily's form.
"So it is true, then," he said. "Human women move across the ground on legs, just as human men do. None of the paintings of Evangeline show this—her legs were always covered by her false alkayi."
"Y—yes, your majesty," Emily stammered, feeling the muscles in her butt clench. It seemed as though everyone she talked to had a different idea about what kind of attire was appropriate for a visitor to Aquius.
"Move them for me, would you?" asked the king. "I have not seen a human before, and it would give me great pleasure to watch you... 'walk'."
Caelum had told her in no uncertain terms to do anything the king asked of her. She obeyed him at once, taking a few shaky steps forward.
The king's eyes sparkled as he watched her. Once she had walked ten steps forward, he had her turn her side to him, so he could watch her walk in profile for another ten steps, and then he had her walk away from him, so he could watch the movement of her legs from behind. "Very interesting," he mused.
It would have been kind of weird to do this if she was clothed. Doing it naked was so much worse. Emily winced at the motion of her hips and tried to walk as stiffly as possible. She felt like a piece of meat. In asking her to parade before him, King Trilato was surely motivated by more than a scientific interest in human anatomy.
Once Emily had returned to her original spot, she curtsied again and smiled as winningly as she was able, hoping the king would not ask her to do anything else.
"Fascinating," said King Trilato. "Though quite lacking in grace. King Irontail was a strange man."
An expression of annoyance flashed across Emily's countenance, but she quickly suppressed it.
"I have been told you bear the Stoneshell," King Trilato said. He gestured towards Emily's chest. "Is that it?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Emily replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Approach, let me see it."
With trembling legs, Emily stepped closer to the throne, the mosaic of shells and corals under her feet glimmering faintly. King Trilato beckoned her nearer until she stood within an arm's length, the weight of his gaze heavy upon her.
He extended a hand, and Emily fought the urge to recoil as his fingers grazed her skin, finally closing around the Stoneshell. His eyes narrowed in scrutiny, making Emily's heart throb painfully in her chest.
"It was Sir Caelum who brought you to us, is that correct?"
"Yes, your majesty."
The king rubbed the Stoneshell absently between his thumb and forefinger. "Sir Caelum is one of my finest knights. He fought and defeated a leviathan when he was little more than a boy. A tale he must have shared with you."
An image of the white scar on Caelum's back flashed through Emily's mind.
"Sir Caelum is also a great admirer of Thurseus Irontail," the king continued. "Irontail united the squabbling merfolk tribes into a single kingdom, a feat that has not been repeated since his death. He was a great king, but had some strange proclivities." As he spoke, Trilato's fingers moved from the Stoneshell to Emily's chin, tilting her face up to meet his eyes. "A beautiful woman often leads even the strongest of men to folly."
Emily held Trilato's cold gaze, willing her face to display no emotion.
Suddenly, the king released her chin and gripped the Stoneshell again. In a swift, violent motion, he yanked the necklace, sending Emily staggering forward. A gasp escaped her lips as she felt the Stoneshell slip from her neck.
A cruel shout of triumph erupted from Trilato's lips and he seized the trident which had been resting at the side of the throne. Eyes blazing, he raised the weapon high and, with a mighty roar, brought down it on Stoneshell.
Emily turned to watch the trident strike. A brilliant flash of white light filled her vision and she felt a momentary constriction in her chest. The water around them rippled violently, dislodging strands of her hair from Nerissa's intricate styling.
But the Stoneshell was unharmed. The king's laughter died in his throat as he stared at the shell sitting on the armrest of his throne, looking entirely undisturbed. Emily followed his gaze to the middle spike of his trident, which had been bent by the impact.
Emily's mind was still reeling from the shock of seeing her most cherished possession nearly destroyed. She focused on the Stoneshell and called it back to herself, just as she had done in Elara's study. The Stoneshell leaped at once from its resting place and shot through the water. Once again, Emily felt its comforting weight and warmth against her chest.
"What?!" King Trilato bellowed, eyes narrowing on Emily. "Guards! Seize her!"
The music and chatter in the ballroom had ceased, and all the mermaids and mermen had turned to watch the scene unfold between their king and the human woman. Mermen and mermaids with hard faces and sharp swords advanced on them from all sides. "Spy! Traitor! Enemy! Usurper!" shouted the king.
Emily glared defiantly at the king, her hand outstretched. Drawing upon the Stoneshell's power, she attempted to conjure a massive fireball. The shell glowed with a fierce orange light, heat building within her. When she could contain it no longer, she unleashed the energy with a primal scream.
But instead of a fireball, only a puff of black smoke appeared. King Trilato's laughter echoed mockingly around the room. "Foolish girl! You cannot light a fire at the bottom of the ocean!"
Emily's cheeks glowed with embarrassment and her heart sank. How could she have been so stupid? Of course the Stoneshell's fire power was useless underwater! She had expended her strength for nothing.
Trilato lifted his damaged trident once more and advanced toward Emily at a frightful speed. The king and his guards were closing in on her. Emily's legs trembled as she stared at the powerful tails of the merfolk advancing on her. No matter how strong a swimmer she might be, she would be no match for these beings in their native habitat.
Just then, a familiarly scarred back atop a familiar blue tail appeared in front of her. "Please do not do this, your majesty," said Caelum, a slight waver in his voice as he addressed his king.
"It is as I suspected," Trilato said, his voice tired and heavy. "The star knight seeks to follow the path of Irontail—to usurp his king and unite the Mer, side-by-side with the heiress of Evangeline."
Shocked gasps rippled across the ballroom. "Grab hold of me," Caelum whispered to Emily. "We may need to make a swift exit."
Doing as she was told, Emily slipped her arms around Caelum's waist and pressed up against his back.
"Fool!" Trilato bellowed. "Do you truly believe that sharing Irontail's unnatural predilections gives you the right to rule?"
Emily furrowed her brows.
Caelum took a moment to gather his thoughts before saying, "No, I do not, your majesty. But tell me, do you believe that the right to rule is due to he who shies from battle as his brothers are murders? Or to he who poisons his sisters and cousins? Or him who imprisons or executes his knights and nobles at the merest whiff of challenge?"
The ballroom was alive with murmurs, and the king was becoming angry. His face had turned completely red and veins were bulging from his forehead.
"The truth is, your majesty," Caelum continued, "I would have happily served you and your house all the days of my life, had I not reason to fear your paranoia. As soon as I arrived in Aquius with the Stoneshell Bearer, I was advised that you would take it as a challenge to your authority. I took such advisories as slander against my king, but I would have been wiser to heed them. Such is the way of King Trilato Thinskin, as he will be known to the history books."
Another shocked gasp rippled through the ballroom. Trilato sputtered incoherently and gestured wildly with his trident. The palace guards resumed their advance on Emily and Caelum.
"Time to go," Caelum whispered. "Hold tight." With a powerful flick of his tail, Caelum rocketed up to the ceiling of the ballroom and shot through one of the numerous open skylights. Emily clung to him desperately, her arms locked around his midsection.
The rush of the ocean currents hit Emily as they left the confines of the palace, entering the vast open sea. Her hair billowed out below them, free from the last of Nerissa's ministrations.
The open sea was too exposed, and the king's guards approached from all sides. Caelum made at once for the outskirts of Aquius and a particularly dense section of kelp forest. But their pursuers were relentless; the king's guards, skilled and swift in the water, followed close behind. Emily could hear the muffled sounds of their shouts and the rush of water as they gained on them.
"Caelum, they're catching up!" Emily cried out, her voice laced with panic.
"I know a place where we can hide," Caelum replied.
In a swift, evasive maneuver, Caelum led them into a narrow, winding canyon lined with sea anemones and sponges. The canyon split into multiple forking paths, which Caelum took at random, pulling Emily deeper into the labyrinth. The sound of the kings' guards grew fainter as they descended further into the canyon's depths.
In a dark, hidden alcove, Caelum stopped to rest, setting Emily down on the sandy ocean floor. Then he turned to her and she saw that he held a small book in his right hand. "Zephyr wanted you to have this," he said, handing it to Emily. "It contains her notes about the Stoneshell. When it became clear to us that Trilato would try to destroy it and capture you, she entrusted it to me."
Emily took the book from Caelum and flicked through it. The cover was made of a substance very similar to leather, but smoother and slicker. The pages were faintly green, as though made from algae. The ink, she imagined, came from a squid. "Thank you, Caelum," she said, hugging the book to her chest.
"Zephyr only regrets that she will not be able to tell you these things personally."
Once he had regained his breath, Caelum took Emily in his arms and swam out of the alcove. There was no sign of the kings' guards, and they had left the city of Aquius far behind them. For a time, they swam in silence. The water around them grew lighter as they approached the surface.
"I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble," said Emily. The chaotic events at the ball had sunk in and she was beginning to realize the magnitude of what Caelum had sacrificed for her. "What will you do now?"
"King Trilato is an unpopular ruler," Caelum said flatly. "Everything I accused him of is true. He has made many enemies through his paranoia and insecurity. The moment I met you on that beach and discovered you were the Stoneshell Bearer, I knew that to bring you to Aquius would enrage him."
Emily frowned. "Wait, so you knowingly put me in danger?"
Caelum locked his eyes on Emily's, his face a solemn mask. "It was a danger you willingly accepted the moment you donned the Stoneshell, Emily. To wield such a powerful and ancient artifact is to choose an auspicious destiny."
"Well, you could have at least warned me," Emily said morosely. She glanced down at where the Stoneshell lay, nestled between her bare breasts. It was the source of a lot of conflicted feelings lately and she couldn't help but wonder how things might have gone if she asked a few more questions before putting it on back in Castle Elid. The fire powers were awesome, of course, but it seemed to entangle her in a lot of dangerous quests, while making it very difficult to keep a proper outfit intact.
"I had hoped I was wrong about Trilato," Caelum replied. "One always tries to think well of one's ruler. But in the back of my mind, I suppose I always knew I was destined to defy him. Meeting you just confirmed it."
"What are you saying, Caelum?"
Caelum's voice seemed caught in his throat as he gazed into Emily's eyes. "I must go into hiding for a time. But I have many friends and supporters in Aquius and the surrounding Mer dominions. I will gather my armies and meet King Trilato on the field of battle, just as Thurseus Irontail defeated Amegnon Graybeard. It is my destiny. Will you accompany me, Emily Stoneshell Bearer?"
Before Emily could think of a reply, the water around them jolted violently as something from the surface plunged into its depths. Thick ropes descended around them, and Emily felt herself being pulled away from Caelum's grasp.
A fishing net, cast by a surface vessel, had ensnared her, dragging her upwards towards the light of the sun. The more she writhed and attempted to break free, the more tangled she became in the net's criss-crossing ropes.
"Caelum!" Emily screamed, reaching out towards him.
"Emily!" Caelum cried out, his face a mask of horror and desperation. He tried to follow, but the net pulled her away too quickly.
"Caelum!" Emily shouted until she was hoarse, but the net was moving too fast.
Caelum made a valiant effort to catch up to her, but his progress was impeded by the sudden reappearance of the king's guards, along with a host of animal mounts and companions. Two strong mermen grabbed hold of Caelum's arms and he struggled against them in vain.
Emily could only watch helplessly as she was pulled higher and higher, the pressure of the water changing rapidly around her. She clutched Zephyr's book tight against her chest. Its contents could hardly make Caelum's sacrifice worthwhile, but this was all she had.
The net breached the surface of the water, and Emily was breathing air again. Her lungs took it in in great, shocked gasps. While the Stoneshell had allowed her to breath underwater, it was nothing like the sensation of breathing fresh air.
The great net was soon hoisted up to the ship that cast it, spilling its contents out across the wooden deck. Emily tumbled out, surrounded by writhing fish and algae, Zephyr's book still firmly wrapped in her arms. Laying on her front, Emily took a series of deep breaths, still adjusting to her sudden return to the surface.
A low whistle met her ears. "Well, aren't you a pretty little thing," said a grizzled voice.
"That's good fishing!" said another voice.
Emily raised her head to the source of the voices. Various men stood around her, all a slightly different flavor of rough, hairy and disheveled, and all wide-eyed and gawping at the naked woman their fishing net had just brought in. Eye-patches, peg-legs and hook-hands were in plentiful supply.
It appeared that, much like the heiress in that book she had never gotten to finish, Emily had been captured by pirates.