Love in Dangerous Waters

Chapter 20 - A Way Up?

At first, people didn’t take a second glance at me. The nature-dressed Wingless faeries didn’t care to even share a look with me. I hid the bloody dagger as much as possible before I was back at the lake, sitting on my knees next to it and cleaning off the King’s blood. But it wasn’t the one I was looking for.

“Stupid Wingless King with their stupid guards and stupid Tanyela with their stupid Kings.” I muttered angrily as the water rushed over the blade and the liquid was being carried down the river. A perfectly good waste of my time trying to kill the King that didn’t need to be killed. Did that mean the one I was looking for was in the bright one that didn’t look evil? It’s ironic, really. But ironic or not, he was going to die. 

I headed past the bridge, and I was now in the more-colorful part of Tanyela, with multiple flower fields and the peaceful grounds of this world. I knew Talamaki was going to send the guards after me, or he was going to warn his nephew about me, but I wasn’t sure who was going to find out about me first, or if they were going to be too busy caring for the stabbed King… either way, I had to do this as fast and unnoticeably as possible.

As I found myself drawing closer, I saw how big the castle really was. I was still a good mile away and it was already huge, and I saw other flying dots in the distance disappearing into it. It was maybe twice the size of the other castle I went to, and the other one was still three times as large as my school.

The houses were a little different as well. The houses were made of stone with broad leaf roofs, and the windows looked a little off, but I didn’t know what the clear substance was made of. The houses were in clumps with grasses and fields in between; a very rural area compared to Earth. How did they not have better technology for building? I could never live here.

Once I finally made it to the castle, I tilted my head up at one hundred and eighty degrees for my eyes to capture the full picture. What kind of person could live in these walls? Whoever it was… it made me second-guessing myself. But I still had to do it.

I searched for a while until I found a pegasus, standing aimlessly to the side of the walls. I approached it carefully, hopping on the back as it whined at me, shaking its nose. I held onto its neck.

"Okay." I started, but I had no idea how to control it. "Um… to the castle?"

It neighed as it took for the sky, making me hold on for dear life and screaming repeatedly. The sky raced faster, and when it finally stopped, I flung myself on and kept still, wondering how the hell I’d get down.

“Okay Lily.” I told myself, breathing heavy, long breaths. “It’s just a pegasus, it’s just a pegasus… nothing can go wrong, faeries use it all the time…”

Why would they use them if they had wings!?

The pegasus took a nosedive, falling rapidly out of the sky with the feathery wings that felt useless when we were falling. I was focused on holding on and screaming, but the neck of the Pegasus was slippery, and my arms detached, sending me up even more into the sky as the pegasus flew away effortlessly, leaving me plummeting to my doom.

I wasn’t worried about my death… I was worried I wasn’t going to kill the one who killed my sister. “I’m sorry, Ocea…” I whimpered, watching the sky reach farther and farther away from me.

But my neck whipped back as I felt something hard against me, but I didn’t feel like I died… I still felt the wind in my face, but my eyes stayed shut. I couldn’t open them even if I wasn’t dead. But I was sure I was alive once I felt the skinny things that wrapped my back and legs, and the softness of human flesh next to me… holy crap, what was going on?

I forced my eyes open slowly, seeing a guy with blonde hair and bluish-grey eyes above me, holding me in his arms as we jolted back, and I realized we landed. He flipped me upright, planting my feet on the ground and helping me balance. My heart was racing, beating fast, making me breathe heavy. I could've died right then and there! But this guy, whoever he was… saved me.

"Hey, you alright?" I heard his deep voice as I felt a big hand on my shoulder, and he slowly made me face him, his eyes burrowing into mine, and saw that he also had wings. Legitimate wings, that were light blue with darker blue stripes. "You looked like you were having one hell of a time up there."

"Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine." I stammered, shaking his arm off and avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry, thanks for saving me."

He laughed lightly. "No problem, I'm used to saving damsels in distress." He said as I heard grass crinkling louder and louder as I looked up again, seeing a woman with a kid in each arm approaching us.

"Oh my God, you're alive." The woman whispered intensely, handing the toddler girl over to the guy, who took her in his arms. "That looked rough, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I looked back over at him, and then back at her, realizing they were a family. "Sorry to interrupt your day."

"Oh, it's quite alright." The woman smiled, but she didn't look much like one. She looks like she should be in college. "Cylak can't help saving girls."

"Oh, be quiet." He ordered as the infant in the woman's arms started crying, which she apologized for before stepping away for a minute. "You just don't go and ride anymore winged horses, alright?"

"But I have to get up there." I argued, pointing up at the castle. "I gotta find somebody named King Aaron."

"Oh, him." He scoffed, throwing the word aside like trash. "He doesn't really like me that much, but I can't really blame him."

"I don't like him at all." I muttered, growling a little at the thought of him. "But I came to… discuss… a couple things with him."

"Oh, are you one of the many people that he's ticked off?" He laughed, shifting the girl in his arm more comfortably. "He's very good at doing that."

"Then we're going to have lots of problems." I muttered as he leaned in closer, examining me up and down.

"You don't look like you're from around here…" He stated, eyeing my human clothes. "You don't look like the person who'd be around Tanyela." He raised my head slightly, but I couldn't turned away as he burrowed his bluish-grey eyes into mine for the second time. "In fact, you look like you're one of those… one of those…" But then he stopped, and I flicked my head away from him. "What's a mermaid doing in Tanyela?"

"Look, it’s a personal matter, which is no one else's business but mine." I replied as sweetly as possible, reaching into my jacket to find the dagger… but it wasn't there. Just a big empty hole. "Now, um-" I stammered, searching the other inside pockets. "I really must be going, but it was nice meeting you, and really, thanks for saving me."

"Is everything alright?" He asked, reaching out, but I took a couple quick steps back.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine." I told him, jerking my head around and skimming the ground for the silver object.

"Did you lose something?" He asked, and I only nodded, dropping to my knees, running my hand over the dirt. "What'd you lose?"

"Oh, it's fine. I don't need help, I'll find it myself." I told him as I headed off, keeping my eyes on the ground as I hurried away from him. Some questionable guy he was… but I had no business with him, I'd never see him again.

The plan to kill Aaron was pushed back while I had to find the dagger that fell when I was falling. I hope it didn't hit anyone… or at least, anyone but the King. Maybe it fell and stabbed him, maybe my work was already done. But I couldn't exactly shout to see if anyone's seen it… if they knew I was a mermaid, they could think I was up to something, oh, how did they put it, "fishy". But I wouldn't exactly deny it.

It took me a while, but I traveled a hundred feet and I found it lying on a patch of grass. "Ha!" I exclaimed, picking it up quickly and putting it back in my jacket. "Now, to find a way up there…"

I eventually picked a different pegasus and sat on it more carefully, and this one was better trained, because it got up to the top easily. I muttered at the other horse who was probably laughing at me on the inside, but picked myself up, strutting through the side entrance. I was five hundred feet up on a floating castle. Sweet. Let's hope it's as easy to find this King as it was for the other one…