Heiress of the Sea

Chapter 15

WARNING: There are some sensitive subjects mentioned in this chapter.

"Before Goridian arrived in the Sea Kingdom, it was a beautiful, peaceful place. No one ever left, and no one ever came from the outside. I was raised by my parents; a pair of Triton's sea warriors. I was the youngest of five sisters. Although my parents were trained to fight, their skills were never required, and they were free to pursue their real interests in the meantime. As long as Triton had possession of his trident, his power couldn't be taken away from him."

"I take it the trident got taken away?" Soren murmured.

I nodded. "I'm getting there. Anyway, when I was a very small child, Lord Goridian arrived in the Sea Kingdom willing to serve Triton, in his army. He surrendered to Triton, took an oath of loyalty, and even fought for him. He was considered an honorable warrior for many years."

"One day, Triton's trident went missing. No one knew what happened. One minute it was there, and the next it was lost. I was nine years old at the time. Lord Goridian overthrew Triton and his government in a matter of days, after a short and easily won war against Triton's loyal army. He was a God, and the mortal warriors couldn't defeat him. He soon sat atop Triton's throne. The adults of the kingdom knew he was a traitor, but young children, such as myself, didn't realize it. My parents had been training me and my sisters in combat since we were old enough to stand upright. They always assumed we would continue their legacy of fighting for King Triton, but once he was overthrown, they stopped. One day, they were telling us to hit harder; to jump higher, and the next they just let us play with toys, like normal children. It was strange, but but we were young; we didn't question it."

"One day my parents mysteriously disappeared. They were known for being loyal to Triton. Many others like them disappeared too, and, well...none of them ever returned. My sisters and I were taken in by an orphanage meant to train the children of the kingdom as warriors, to one day serve Lord Goridian, in his army. We were told our parents had just moved away temporarily, and that they would come back if we put everything we had into becoming warriors. It sounded, to me, like something my parents would have wanted—after all, they had always told me I was meant to be a warrior in Triton's army. None of us knew the difference between fighting for Triton and fighting for Goridian."

"Most of the other children hadn't been trained on a daily basis as I had, and, as soon as the instructors realized I was excelling at a much higher rate than the other children my age, I was separated from all the others, and put into private training," I said, taking a few moments to breathe. You can say his name, I told myself.

"At the age of ten, I began training one-on-one with Goridian. He introduced himself to me as a teacher...a friend. I believed him, of course. He was kind to me. He complimented me; told me I was gong to be the best warrior in his army when I grew up. He trained me, every day, for two years. I began to like him. In fact, I viewed him as a replacement for my parents; as an older brother, or uncle. Someone I could trust. People blamed him for being evil, and I defended him."

"By the age of twelve, I was known as the warrior whom would lead Goridian's army for the entirety of my mortal life. Then, one day, Goridian stopped showing up for training. And he didn't show up the next day, or the day after that. Eventually, I realized he wasn't coming back. He left me—just as my parents had: in the blink of an eye, without an explanation or warning. I felt betrayed, and so I turned, as any angry adolescent probably would have, to Goridian's sworn enemy: Triton."

"At first, I thought I was going to hate Triton. We were taught to view him as this blood-sucking, fish-eating wizard of the sea. None of us could remember that life under his rule had been better, and freer, than it was under Goridian's. We were too young to remember it at all. I found Triton in a small cottage, where he dwelled alone, forever in hiding from Lord Goridian. I told him of Goridian's betrayal, and he offered to train me until I was eighteen years old, in exchange for my loyalty."