Tails Are For Water, Legs Are For Land (Unedited)

Chapter 4 - The Arena

I swam in with my back straight and doing my best to not show how nervous I was. I scanned the arena for Dylan. My eyes locked with his and he nodded slightly. I nodded a little and scanned the room for Chris and Angel. I found them not far from Dylan, sitting next to the queen and king.

I locked eyes with Chris and he gave me a slight thumbs up. I looked over at Angel, and I think she mouthed out 'Good luck'.

The queen finally got up and motioned for people to sit and be quiet. "Today!" she shouted. "My daughter will show her loyalty to her kingdom. Today she will prove as my daughter and my blood! Today she will become your future queen or die trying!" she shouted and sat back down.

Eventually, the crowd settled down and the announcer started speaking. "First! The princess will take a lie detector test!" he boomed. He asked me simple questions about where my loyalty lied and the kingdom.

Then, the queen stood. "Today, the council and I have added a new obstacle. All princesses will face a monster and slay the beast to prove their loyalty to the kingdom before the bloodshed!" she roared.

My eyes widened. Even with the warnings, I didn't think she hated me this much. She waved her hand at someone and he nodded and then pulled a lever. Metal creaked as a gate slowly rose up.

I squinted, trying to make out what it was. I saw huge, glowing eyes and then felt a sharp pain in my side. "Ah!" I cried out and cradled my injured side. The creature darted back and I finally saw what it was. It was a Dragonfish. It looked about a hundred feet long.

I looked up at the queen. They weren't giving me a weapon. It moved like lightning and bared its long fangs at me. A plan, a plan. I need a plan. "Got it!" I silently shouted.

"Wysss doosss yousss doosss thsss?" I asked in serpent tongue. I had learned it when I was younger, and was slightly rusty on it. It looked at me with new eyes and cocked its head at me.

"Tthhe hynesssss wantsss yousss deatthhsss," it said.

"Wysss?" I asked. It smiled in an eery manner. "Yousss no takesss thronesss iffff deatthhsss?" Realization hit. She wanted me dead so I wouldn't become queen.

"Wantsss thronesss forsss ownsss bloodlinesss," it said.

"Watsss doosss yousss meansss?" I asked.

"No moresss questionsss!" it snapped and lunged at me. It swallowed me whole and I felt long cuts all over me from where my body had scraped up against its teeth.

It was mostly dark inside except for the cracks of light shining through its teeth. I heard applause coming from outside. It had a long tongue carpeting the floor leading back. How do I get out? I checked the gills, but they weren't opening. Probably holding its breath so I can't get out, I thought. I sighed.

I don't know how long they can hold their breath for so the gills wasn't much of an option. I screamed in pain as it bit down all the way on the corner of the fin of my tail. I pulled my tail back and felt sick when I saw it.

I was missing the corner of my tailfin. A triangle about the size of my pinkie finger on each side was missing from my left tailfin. I knew I only had one choice left if I wanted a chance of getting out alive.

I backed up slowly as far as I was willing to go. I nearly threw up when I saw bones covered in gore but I shook my head and took a deep breath. I put my hands in front of me and closed my eyes, deciding that if I died I wanted it to be quick. As if closing my eyes would make it quicker.

I charged forward, horizontally spinning and opened my eyes at the last moment, changing my mind and deciding that I wanted to face death with courage and look death himself in the eye.