The First Kingdom Page 2

  Sanee stumbled home with the guards but he turned back a second time, unable to shake the sensation he was being watched.

  The waves crashed against the beach, undisturbed.

  * * *

  Sanee sat in his room that night and stared at the ceiling. Its ornate paintings used to comfort him. Now they only reminded him of how he’d never escape his duty or this life. His younger brother entered without a word, the whisper of his steps the only familiarity of note. He sat down on the edge of Sanee’s bed and waited for his elder brother to address him.

  Sanee turned his head and looked at his little brother.

  “What?”

  “You almost drowned in the sea today.”

  “No, I didn’t. The water was a little churned up. I’m fine.”

  “What if you hadn’t been? You would leave me here to rule in your place?”

  That’s what this was about. His younger brother had few concerns, but that was the one thing he most feared. He’d watched his older brother dragged from friends to lessons in every kind of combat and social training, along with hours of boring discussions with their father and other leaders about their lack of technical advancement. Never able to make any lasting friends due to a grueling schedule and a life of service. Even his choice of wife taken from him didn’t go unnoticed. However, if something happened to Sanee, this forced his brother into the role. His younger brother was just another link in the chains that kept him locked up here. Karmir's new chieftain would be Sanee, there was no way of getting out of it. He'd already tried.

  “I’m fine and I’m here. Go attend your mother,” Sanee said, turning away from his brother and dismissing him.

  Without a word, his brother got up and left the room.

  Sanee reached under his bed and pulled out a box. Inside were things he’d collected over the years. He brushed several small pebbles aside before he grabbed the item he wanted: a necklace with three shells he’d hidden years ago. He held it up to the light and swore he heard singing, an ethereal voice with no words. That night, he tossed around in his bed. The music from inside the necklace called to him, over and over.

  He slipped out of bed after midnight and, with the shell necklace in his hand, he crept out to the sea. After the drowning incident, no one would tolerate seeing him risk his life again by going back out there, so he covered himself in a guard’s cloak and carried his staff as if he were patrolling the area. He went, unnoticed, into the woods. Before long, he stood at the water’s edge between Karmir and the home of the mermen.

  The singing stopped the minute he reached the water. He held up the necklace, straining to listen, but no longer heard the haunting song. He hummed the tune while he stood staring at the water.

  Adera rose out of the waves as if her flesh and bone came from the surface itself.

  When she stood before him in the moonlight, he gasped. She was just as beautiful as he remembered.

  She saw the necklace and reached for it, then placed it around his neck.

  Her lips parted, and she whispered the words of a song.

  A familiar tune, but only now had he remembered its source.

  “Adera from the depths down below. Adera, a mermaid you do not know. I sing to your heart to open your mind. Like you, I am young but I am kind.”

  Sanee smiled as he looked down at her wrist and saw the leather bound there. She was his little mermaid friend from long ago. He’d forgotten. They’d played as children for less than a full week, and only until his father tore them apart. Imagining he’d been followed, he looked around to make sure they hadn’t been seen. He grabbed her hand as led her deeper into the forest. He took her to a place where he went when he needed to be alone and think.

  The girl didn’t protest until he started the fire. She backed away from it in fear.

  “It’s okay, it’s just to warm us.”

  She shook her head and backed away, deeper into the woods.

  He couldn’t let her leave without finding out more about her. He stomped out the fire before it began and reached out to take her hand.

  “Come.”

  Adera seemed to understand as she stepped around the warm embers and sat next to him. She emitted a warmth all her own, and he found he wasn’t so cold in the dark with her beside him. The smell of the sea permeated her skin, along with a hint of flowers

  “I’m so glad you found me again, Adera.”

  “Sanee,” she said pointing to his chest with smile that lit the night and his heart. The sound of his name across her lips loosened something in his chest.

  “Yes, that is my name. I am Karmirian, of Karmir.”

  “Sanee the Karmirian from Karmir,” she said, her voice more lilt than a song.

  “Adera of?” he asked as he gestured to the water.

  “My name is Adera, the mermaid you used to know. Adera of Majiwa a Majiwana. The girl from the depths below.”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  She reached out her four fingers to touch his forehead as he’d taught her when he was a boy. Then he did the same, only she didn’t have the same white dots on her forehead. He remembered the first sign she’d taught him. Friend. He made the gesture with two fingers and she giggled. Her laugh was so delicate, it tickled something inside of him, making him also laugh.

  That night, they sat at the water’s edge talking in stunted song and broken signs. When the sun rose to the South, he brought her back to the water. Adera slipped beneath its surface and splashed with her fin as she pushed herself deeper.

  3

  IT WAS AN UNSPOKEN RULE. They told no one about meeting together and they always met at night. Sanee explained to Adera what was happening on land and how the other lands were all fighting, not just against the mermen but each other. When Sanee told Adera about his role in his kingdom as chieftain, she wasn’t sure how to react.

  “My father would never permit such a unity. He sees anyone who is not red as the enemy and you don’t unite with an enemy.”

  “When my enemy is my friend, there is nothing to fear only lives to mend,” Adera said in her poetic way.

  “I agree, but when your father always gets his way, there’s nothing to do until you are chieftain yourself. I won’t be chieftain until I marry and my father steps aside. This might be soon or many years to come.”

  Adera nodded. She did her best to teach Sanee how to sing in the way of the Majiwanos. To say he sounded like a wounded beast was being kind. He had no sense of tone, but the signs came easy to him. She understood most of his words now.

  She spoke her next words with his hand on hers and her eyes on his. “When you love your enemy, is he not now your friend? Can a playmate ever be more than a friend, when you desire more in the end, will you find in him your soulmate?” She almost choked on the words before they were out. There was nothing they didn't say to each other or share. But this was the first time she doubted his response. Sanee seemed to understood her declaration and lifted her chin so they stared into each other's eyes.

  When his lips parted, she saw what was coming.

  She’d seen it done but never experienced it herself.

  His lips touched hers, warm and inviting.

  Her own cold lips welcomed the warmth as it traveled to her belly.

  “Sanee loves Adera with his whole heart. They shall live together and never part,” he said. It was the most melodic thing he’d ever said. Something inside her burst with joy at the thought of them being together forever.

  She kissed him again, this time with more boldness, and he held fast to her. They couldn’t stop touching each other and they were still kissing each other until they reached the beach the next morning.

  “I must go away for a short time. In three days, I will return and we will reunite right here.”

  “In three days’ time, you will be mine,” she said. She stepped into the water but didn’t let go of his hand until she could no longer reach his fingertips. Adera walked backwards so she didn’t have to take her
eyes off of him as she slipped into the sea. When she reached the sand’s cliff, she let her legs solidify into one fin. The sharp pain that stabbed at her heart had nothing to do with the change. She didn’t want to leave, never wanted to leave. Did he have the same sharp pain in his chest, an echo of the one she carried? Still watching him, she saw him lift his hands.

  “I love you, my mermaid.”

  “I love you.” She signed back to him.

  The sun rising to the right touched the water’s surface the glimmer would expose her. She had to go. Her heart soared as she dived down into the cold depths, and away from the rising heat of the sun.

  4

  Three days later, Adera spotted the increased number of hunters on the shores of Karmir and knew there was something wrong. She maneuvered around them, avoiding getting too close to their nets on the coast line. She swam further south than normal to avoid them. Then she waited and waited. Sanee wasn't anywhere. She risked getting out and onto the beach to go to their secret place.

  The hours passed as she waited for him there. Then the sun was rising and he still had not come. Adera shied away from the heat of the sun burning her skin, dipping further into the trees. The sun’s direct light would burn her if she didn't find shelter soon. She continued south until she found a small pond where she refreshed herself. Her legs soaked in the water, but she resisted the change to her natural form. It wasn’t time. She needed to walk some more. If Sanee could no longer come to her, there had to be a reason.

  She would go to him.

  A rustle in the trees got her attention, and she crouched down in the bushes. She had no weapons. If Karmirian hunters found her, she’d be captured and most likely tortured. Despite her love for Sanee, she had no illusions about what his people were capable of in times of war. She picked up a rock at her feet and clutched it in her hand, ready to throw it at the hunter. A squeaky voice chittered away, stopping her from throwing it. The confusing chatter forced her to stop and listen.

  “You might want to put down the rock. It’s not going to do you any good around here. I’m not a hunter but if I was, I’m pretty sure a rock of that size wouldn’t be enough to stop me.” The girl stepped forward. “But, of course, they’d capture you. Me, they’d kill on sight. But you? They have reason at least to keep you alive.

  “I’m Poge,” the girl said. She had the shortest hair Adera had ever seen on a girl. If it hadn’t been for her high-pitched voice, she would have taken her for a small boy. The clothes she wore were also strange; the loose-fitting coverings were decorated with leaves like the trees in the same color as her green skin.

  Adera took a step back and listened. The silence told her this tree chatterer was the only one in the vicinity.

  “You speak to the trees, you weaken my knees,” she said in her way, putting up a hand with her fingers splayed. It was the universal sign of greeting for her people and she hoped it worked on this green one.

  Poge raised her hand, copying the signal. “I’m not as skilled at rhyming as you, but I’ll do my best—how do you do?” Poge put a musicality to her question that helped Adera to understand her words better.

  “My heart is struck, I’ve lost my love. He’s not of the sea. He’s from the land above.”

  “Oh,” Poge looked around and shrugged. “I haven’t seen anyone.” Then, remembering her song, she tried to compensate. “My eyes are big, but my job is small. I look around, and report back all.”

  Poge was a spy for her people, but she seemed so young.

  “How is it you’ve come to be here, among the trees in the land of Karmir?”

  Poge thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t have a song for that one. I’m stuck and I need to find a way out.” She used her signs to support her words. “Can you help me? I’ll help you find your lost love.”

  Adera couldn't follow the quick cadence of Poge’s words that time, but the signs she used—‘lost love’—at least meant the green girl had understood her. This Poge needed help, and, in exchange, she might help Adera.

  Adera nodded in agreement.

  “My love, he is red, he is the chieftain’s son. I’m desperate to see him before this day is done.”

  “Whose son?” Poge asked.

  “The son of the leader, the angry Red-man. I need you to help me, please tell me you can.”

  “The prince? You mean Sanee!”

  “Yes, Sanee.” Adera nodded enthusiastically.

  Poge pulled out her equipment. The device she held up had a place to put both eyes and could see long distances. Adera looked through them she saw the bark of a tree so close she thought she could touch it. She raised her hand to reach for it, but she grasped at the air.

  “This device can record an image. This is from yesterday.”

  One large structure in the center of their community overshadowed the smaller simple buildings. Sanee, his expression angered, stood in front of the largest structure with what looked like his family and their people watching them.

  His father’s mouth was open wide. He appeared to be yelling. She remembered his booming voice and didn’t like the sound. Guards stood all around them. Poge showed her another image Sanee looked down at his younger brother and mother with contempt.

  Then another with a young girl who’d stepped forward from the crowd. Poge’s picture only caught her back. The girl’s height was similar to Sanee, and her long black hair hung loose and stretched toward the ground.

  The next image was of Sanee’s father taking her hand and joining it to his son’s hand.

  In the last picture, Sanee’s father held up their clasped hands, and the girl’s face beamed.

  Adera felt something in her heart sink at the sight. It looked very much like a marriage.

  Sanee’s father was promising this girl his son in marriage. What hope did she have for them if he was already promised to another?

  Adera’s heart filled with pain. She let the tears that welled in her eyes fall down her cheeks one at a time.

  “Wait, little mermaid, there’s no need for tears. At least you see what happened isn’t what you feared. He’s just a boy and they’re no good. A red one at that, so goodbye is good.”

  “Of the Karmir, next to nothing is what you know. I’ve loved Sanee for a lifetime, I’ll never let him go.” Adera wept into her hands as Poge watched helplessly.

  “There’s something else, if you want we can leave him a message. A message about where to find you.” Poge struggled with the rhyming, but she caught herself and made an attempt. “In the north are people from various lands. There, they live together, hand in hand,” Poge said with a pat on Adera’s shoulder.

  Adera nodded. She wanted to hope for the best. If she managed get to this place in the north along with Sanee, maybe they could live there for a happy lifetime.

  “It will be cold, you must prepare. We should travel as boys, because girls must beware,” Poge said.

  “How is it that you speak my language with such ease?” Adera managed with halting speech as she’d done with Sanee.

  Poge piped up, excited now. “I’ve studied your race along with so many others. I want to understand everything about you but first we have to leave these lands. The war is building and the hunters are everywhere. If they catch me, I’m a dead Tero.”

  Adera shook her head again. This green girl had such an awful fast way of speaking, it was an assault on her ears.

  “Now, let’s go before the snow.”

  Adera nodded, but her feet moved slower and stiffer as her legs were unaccustomed to being so long on land.

  Poge managed a note made of paper and tied with twine.

  “I’m not sure about the symbols. I hope he’ll understand these,” Poge mumbled to herself.

  Adera pulled out her wrist and flashed it in front of Poge’s face.

  “He’ll understand these.”

  Poge nodded. The leather band had markings on it and they used them to end the note. Then she bound it to a tree in the are
a where Sanee and Adera used to meet.

  If he loved her, Poge said, he would find the note and come to meet her in the North.

  “If he doesn’t, I will be lost. A little mermaid girl, gone at great cost,” Adera said, whimpering her song.

  Poge looked closely at Adera's bare arms and legs. “Like I said, we can’t travel like this. You’ll have to do as I do and dress like a boy. It’s the only way. Try on my things and see if they fit. We’ll get more if we need once we’re out of these lands and in Tero.”

  Again, Poge had forgotten to rhyme. But when she held up the body coverings in front of her, Adera understood most of it. She changed into them. Poge was a head shorter than Adera and her small frame made her clothes a tight fit. On top of all that, they gave her an awful itch. As she stood fidgeting, Poge looked her over and shrugged with an unspoken apology on her face.

  “You might be the most beautiful boy anyone has ever seen, but it will have to do for now.”

  5

  SANEE PACED HIS ROOM IN fury. He stomped from one end of the room to other, the act only reminding him of his confinement. He lifted a hand and hit the wall with his open palm. The structure, a solid construction, didn’t give when his hand connected with the wall. Sanee swore under his breath.

  “Mind your tongue,” his mother said as she entered his room, passing through guards posted outside, unbothered.

  “He’s out of his mind if he thinks I'll marry that girl.”

  His mother made a sound in the back of her throat as she sat down on his bed to watch him pace the room.

  “Your father once said the same thing about me.”

  Sanee slid to a halt.

  “What?”

  His mother’s nod was slow. She patted the seat next to her and he moved to join her on the edge of the bed.