The Cursed Mermaid

Chapter 15: spear fighting | Nam

Justina picked at her salmon, barely eating it, even when Cailyn urged her to at least eat half the plate. The grey and purple haired girl was practically devouring her own salmon, so Justina wordlessly pushed her plate over to her. She gazed upwards, and blinked before saying, "Don't turn around, but the King just entered, and he looks kind of worried for once - "

Everyone seated at the table turned in unison to face the King, who did indeed have a concerned frown on his face, a drastically different expression compared to his usual angry stare.

"I said don't turn around," Justina snapped. Since I'd turned around in my seat, as I'd had my back to the royal table, I swivelled back around in time to see her rolling her eyes at Penny and I. Penny had been seated next to me, hence why she couldn't simply crane her neck to have a better view of the King like Brendan, Cailyn and Kameron.

Luckily for us, the King was too preoccupied with speaking to his family to notice our attention solely on him. I wondered what had happened to worry even the King of Narmia.

Brendan facepalmed. "You idiots make it so obvious. Turn back around, dumbass," he reached out and yanked Penny's arm, forcing her to face us again. She snatched her arm away and rubbed the spot on her skin which was starting to redden from his touch.

"Ouch, can't you be gentle?" the onyx eyed girl glared at Brendan, who smirked, but rubbed a hand down her arm, as if to soothe her. The irritated look lessened from Penny's face, and she continued eating.

I was halfway through my lunch when I noticed Arya rise from the table and call Sreya to her side. They huddled in the corner, talking in hushed voices. Deciding to excuse myself from the table, I swam over to the two.

Sreya was in the midst of explaining something with wild gestures to Arya when she spotted me, and stopped. "Oh, Nam," she greeted with the best smile she could muster in the space of a second. "What brings you here?"

"Is something wrong?" I asked, and Sreya's smile dissipated into a steely stare. She glanced at Arya, who shrugged, as if to give her approval.

The royal advisor sighed, playing nervously with one of her curly brunette strands as she glanced over her shoulder at the King, but his back was to us. "We got word that one of the guards had been attacked by a demon whilst on patrol beyond the gates."

That was shocking news indeed. Going beyond the gates...that was almost like suicide, as one would have to give up the safety of Narmia's defences to venture out, close to defenseless against the might of the demons. I thanked the angels, or whoever was up there, for allowing myself and the others to reach Narmia safely.

"His name was Niloy," Arya's voice was barely a murmur, and both Sreya and I had to strain to hear her. The mermaid princess' face was ashen. "He was possessed by the demon. He couldn't resist it - no one has ever been able to. He was forced to attack the rest of his patrol. They are all dead, by his hands."

Dead. The demons had relentlessly forced a merman to kill his own kin without remorse. They had no feelings; they did not care. Life was nothing to them. That was our enemy. That was who we were sworn to face.

Catching the troubled look on Arya's face, I prompted, "And?"

"And then the demon made him kill himself." Arya quickly wiped away a tear, trying to keep herself composed. "We assume that the demon did not perish, and is currently somewhere out there gloating about his victory while we mourn the loss of our own."

A creature that could control the mind of an innocent and force them to commit things they never would've done - that was pure evil. I felt overwhelming sympathy for the fallen guard. Had he been aware of what he was being made to do? Did he have to watch himself do it?