The dark waters| ✓

34. CITY BENEATH THE SEA

Everything fell quite.

The sounds of battle that echoed off the walls like dull thunder stopped abruptly, leaving heavy silence. Kai's body fell down slowly, blood oozing out of his chest his face still in a state of shock. Llyr fell down to his knees, dropping his head down. I move towards him and help him get up. I look around the room at the confused faces of the guards.

"This is your new king. King Llyr." I say, my voice echoing through the room. There is a moment of silence. Then one by one, the guards kneel down and drop their weapons.Their weapons hit the floor with a thud. No one speaks or moves for some time.

"I will always be faithful to Kai!"A guard shouts charging forward. Lee comes in his path swiftly and thrusts his sword into him.

"Good that you clarified. Anyone else who would like to confess their feelings." He says getting his sword out. He moves around looking at each of them. "Come on. Don't be shy."

"We need to go inform the people of Marinus about this. This calls for a celebration." I say suddenly remembering. "Any place where you can make public announcement?"

"There's a balcony right here. Let's go." Dylan says moving forward.

He puts Llyr's arms around his shoulders and starts moving towards the left wall. The wall is just like the others except for a curtain in the middle of it. We walk through the curtain and come out on the open. The balcony shows the whole view of Marinus and I gasp. It is even more beautiful than I imagined.

The houses I saw that day are clearer now and look even more elegant. Most of them are made of white or black marble, surrounded by fluorescent flowers so bright that they are visible radiating their light for miles. The houses are mostly mushroom shaped, shining a bright blue and purple themselves. They tower high above the ocean bed, each of them looking as tall as the Eiffel Tower. The whole city is a mixture of radiant purple blue and green. There is lush green underwater plant life everywhere which makes it look even more prettier. A stream of fast moving water snakes through the blue neighbourhood, through which automobiles and vessels of all kinds zoom by.

"People of Marinus." Llyr says. His voice somehow gets amplified so that the whole city can hear him. He moves away from Dylan and keeps a hand on the railing of the balustrade.

"I'm Llyr. Your new king."

Many minutes tick by and there is no response from the city. Than slowly a few people start coming out of their windows from the tall buildings.

Yeah right why would you come out of the door when you won't fall down from the window.

I think to myself. Soon a large crowd is formed near a small green plain right below the balcony.

"Celebrate, for Kai is dead and I reunite with my daughter. Cordelia." He says his voice booming through the whole city. I feel the colour rise up to my cheeks. The crowd starts applauding. Some start hugging each other and almost all of them look relieved and very happy.  I step forward an I face them. Silence falls upon the crowd. All of them look up, expecting me to say something.

"This calls for a celebration. Take a leave from all of your jobs today and enjoy a joyous evening. Do something that makes you happy. Of course not something illegal. Thankyou Marinus." I say clearing my throat.

Smiles break out on the faces of the crowd and some start cheering for Llyr. I can't help but smile at all these wonderful people.

"You should leave." Dylan says coming ahead. Llyr nods his head.

"You take Leah, Nerida, Lee and Noelani with you."

That reminds me of someone.

"Alun!" I shout rushing into the room. I see him resting against a pillar, eyes half closed as if in pain. I move towards him and sit down. I take his hand and concentrate on him.

Wake up.

I open my eyes and I see that the wound is closing up but it's still very red. I close my eyes again and try to close his wound. This time I give it all I can. I cannot afford to lose any more of my friends. I hear a gasp and I open up my eyes.

"Alun...." I sigh. I turn around to see that everyone had come to stand behind me.

"We had given him medicine you know." Dylan said smiling.

"I know but he needs to come to the headquarters with us."I say.

"The headquarters are shifting. Now that there is no need for us to stay in the suburbs, we are gonna stay somewhere near the castle." Nerida says.

"Okay Good so we just have to pick up the clothes right?"

"Wrong. You just have to go there and dress up. I'll send the guards to pick your luggage up. You need to relax and celebrate." Llyr says.

"Woohoo! Now you sound a little bit like Leah's dad." Lee says.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Llyr says laughing. "Get ready, I'm taking you to the best pub in Marinus."