Savia's Heart [Sequel to Bastian's Song] [HIATUS]

[ 3 ]

[ Lachlan ]

Nereus glittered under the fading light that signaled the end of the day cycle. Lachlan felt a deep peace settle into his body as he swam toward the edge of the city. He closed his eyes, and for a moment, he could hear the laughter of his best friends through the quiet evening water. 

A smile blossomed on his face. He knew that if he opened his eyes, Bastian would be on his left, teasing him about how slow he was. To his right, Zareb would mutter something sarcastic to make him feel better. Together, they would race to the palace for a delicious dinner. 

"We have to be quick." The deep voice pulled him from his memories, and Lachlan's heart broke a little more.

"I know, Militum. We don't have much time to spare."

"The Selachs are growing restless, but the Naiads are the real problem."

Lachlan frowned. Zareb, as the Trident to Bastian, had taken up many of the duties that would have fallen to the missing Triton. That included being the peacemaker between the standing Naiad army and the Selach tribes. It was something he was uniquely suited to, seeing as he was a Naiad warrior who was romantically involved with the son of the Selach chieftain. 

Even with the support of Atreus, second in command to the now broken Arsenius, Zareb was losing control of the people. Soon, it wouldn't matter that Arsenius had lost his left arm, and so the goddess Selene's mark was gone from him. And it wouldn't matter that Bastian had given his lif—his best to stop an all out war with the Selachs. Any day now, a distant cousin to Bastian could come forth and stake a claim to the throne, undoing all the work of the Selach treatise. 

The people were tired of waiting.

Lachlan was tired, too. 

The search had been non-stop since the day Bastian disappeared. There were rumors, among all the merfolk clans, that Bastian had simply been completely vaporized by the magic of Neptune's Trident. That was a better rumor than the one whispered amongst the more violent merfolk... that Bastian's vitae gem had been stolen by some barbaric Selach for some nefarious reason. 

It was a ridiculous notion, fueled by fear and ignorance. Even the Selachs, with all their strange customs, respected the dead. Lachlan lifted a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose, where he could feel a tension headache beginning to brew. Soon, it would spread behind his eyes, and then it would rage all through his head if he left it unchecked.  

"We're running out of plausible leads, Militum. You know we had to come back." He waited for Militum to speak, but Lachlan knew that his only reward would be silence. Militum spoke less now than he had when he had been the sworn guard of Melodia. 

The loss of both the previous Queen and the current Triton had weighed heavily on the old warrior, and he had since been driven with an intensity that would have frightened Lachlan if he didn't share the same goals. 

Lachlan sighed. "I'm sorry. I know it's not what either of us wanted. But we can't keep searching blindly. It's a big ocean, Militum. And there are far too many who would take advantage of our desperation. Too many leads have turned up false for us to chase all of the rest. We'd be dead before we could get to them all anyhow."

Militum's face remained stony, but he didn't offer up any protest. It would have to be good enough, for now. A flash of red caught Lachlan's attention, and the pain of his brewing headache was momentarily forgotten.

Warm arms wrapped around him and hugged him close, and Lachlan laughed for the first time in too long. "Brother!" He returned Zareb's hug. 

"Oh, thank the goddess you're here Lachlan. I really needed to see a friendly face." Zareb pulled back to give Lachlan a once over.