The Little Water Elf

10- Her Voice

「 Each night, while at the prince's palace,
and when all the household were
asleep, she would go and sit on
the broad marble steps; for it eased
her burning feet to bathe them in
the cold sea-water; and then she thought
of all those below in the deep. 」

Rayla returned to the beach that night, when the water reached the steps so that she could sit and bathe her aching feet in its soothing, gentle pull. She went through the signs Callum had taught her that day, slowly memorizing the motions and trying to go through the full alphabet without hesitation.

She could hear nothing but the steady crashing of waves out at sea.

Unlike the night before, Rayla felt numb to the fact that she was stuck on land and unable to return to the world she came from. The ocean was so beautiful on land, yet it was still nothing compared to under the sea.

This was so stupid, yet she couldn't bring herself to fully regret the decision. How was that stupid, stupid human boy able to make her feel so many emotions all at once. She's with him, and everything's worth it

Her head fell to the side of the staircase's railing, the longing to sing once again filling her being. But she couldn't sing, Viren had stolen her voice.

Rayla placed a hand on the railing, pulling herself to her feet. Another blast of pain filled her entire being, causing the elf to gasp, her legs giving out under her as she went crashing down into the water.

Just as quickly as the pain appeared, it dissipated as soon as her body hit the shallow water. She had to remind herself not to breath in the salty water. She decided to lay there for several seconds, shocked by the exhaustion that was now quite potent inside her.

She pulled herself up, more and more exhaustion present in her being. Returning up the stairs was a painful task, and each step felt more and more agonizing than the one before.

When she reached her room, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

• • •

The human side was cold and unforgiving. It was barren and endless, nothing but bleak sands lining the bottom of the seas with an ocean of nothing. There were the skeletons of sunken ships littered throughout the wasteland, and coral was nowhere in sight. The only fish visible were dimly colored and kept their distance.

Runaan felt no fatigue as he continued the eternal swim throughout the human-claimed seas. Still, there was no sign of Rayla. He continued his swim closer to the shoreline his anxiety growing as the sand started to slope upwards, signaling the edge of a beach. If Rayla really was with the humans, he didn't even want to know what would happen.

It became increasingly difficult to swim the closer her grew to the shore, his tail consistently brushing the sand beneath him and the water like a pane of glass above his head. He gently pressed his hand against the sandlot floor his head peeking up above the water to view the shore.

He could see dry land several meters in front of him, closer than he had ever dared to venture before. There were no humans in sight.

Runaan sighed and returned into the sea.

He soon came upon an area of shore with stone cliffs lining a beach, where a large castle filled the seaside. This was the only human settlement he'd found in his searches so far.

He followed the shore alongside the castle, his eyes sharp and desperately taking in every possible detail. A small glow caught in the corner of his eye.

He swam down the slope, picking up a small pearl from where it sat in the soft sand. It was a the tear of a merperson. He clutched it tightly slipping it into the pack at his side. He had the sickening feeling that Rayla had been here, and was closer than he ever could have imagined.

He continued his trek along the shore, pulling to a stop when he saw yet another pearl, hidden under a thin layer of sand, and slowly being tugged back into the ocean where it belonged. Runaan placed it with its counterpart, their small weight nothing under the sea's protection.

It was then that he saw the cave, a cavern of shadow amongst the ocean's usual dimness. Runaan clutched the grip of his trident tightly, and swum into the cavern.

The water here felt wrong. He was no longer filled with the ocean's familiar warm embrace. Instead, he was plagued with strange, cold, foreign pressure. It was as if the ocean behind him was pulling at his body, it's currents pushing him away from this place.

He had a very bad feeling he was about to find out what happened to Rayla.

The tunnel led to a small, round pool, the size of a closet compared to the caves his people made their homes in. The walls were a smooth, dark, freshwater stone that he'd only ever seen far upstream in rivers back when he used to actively partake in the war efforts. This wasn't natural.

Then, heard it. The soft, melodic sound of singing.

"I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue—"

Runaan froze, his eyes gazing upwards towards the break of the water. That voice...

"...look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you—"

No...

"—in mysterious fathoms below..."

Runaan rose up from the water, looking into the empty room around him. It took all of his willpower not to flee right then and there.

It was bad enough that the tower was lined with the corpses of sea animals who survived from the ocean's magic, but in the center of it all...

Oh stars, what had that idiot elf done?

On a single pedestal in the center of the room, gently arranged on a small pillow, was a glowing green orb, clutched in a single clawed hand.

Rayla's voice emanated from within it, switching from song to song. From lullabies to sailors tunes, to simple senseless humming.

It was her voice.

It was Rayla's voice.

Runaan began to reach out to the pedestal, pausing only when the sound of footsteps echoed from the other side of a wooden door at the far end of the room.

Runaan turned, swimming as fast as he could through the tunnel and out to the sea, stopping only when land was nowhere in sight. His body collapsed weakly on the soft floor, a cloud of sand flowing up around him before settling back into place.

Her voice was gone, and in the hands of a dark mage.

He didn't even try to stop the pain that erupted within him.

Runaan only watched as pearl after pearl appeared in the sand surrounding him.