The First Kingdom (The Bolaji Kingdoms Prequel)

CHAPTER 2B

"Prince Sanee, are you all right?" The nearest guard put out a hand to steady him as he swayed.

"We found your boat—it's safe on the beach again—but when we didn't see you, we feared the worst," the other said, giving him a supportive shoulder to lean on.

"I'm fine," Sanee said. He choked out more of the salty sea before looking back toward where he'd been.

"What happened?" It was the first guard, Bruhn who asked.

"I don't know. It happened so fast."

"It's not safe out there, not with the mermen increasing their activity in the water and punishing us land dwellers."

"Punishing us for what?"

"There are other humanoids from other lands fishing from our beach looking for Majiwa, agitating affairs between the mermen and our people. The fighting has only increased all over our borders," said Zedomo who still helped support him.

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 technological 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 Majiwa 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 Majiwa 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 and 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 a 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 Majiwa 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. There, Adera slipped beneath its surface and splashed with her fin as she pushed herself deeper.