The Lost Secret of the Silver Sea

Chapter 2: Golden Chains and Training Blades

One week earlier…

He hissed as the crab snapped at his fingers, sticking his tongue out in retaliation. The shelled creature merely continued it’s strange sideways scuttering, ignoring him once more. Kaelonne sniffed in disappointment as he eyed the shiny decorative chain wedged into the small cave the crab built for itself, just out of the reach of his fingers.

            The underwater being scrunched his nose in thought, humming under his breath when he finally came to a decision, a bad one obviously. With a small tensing of muscles and a quick growl, Kaelonne stuck his hand into the tiny cave and grabbed the chain, yelping when the crab snapped his fingers. He grinned in triumphant, however, as he stared at the prize in his aching fingers.

            A peel of musical laughter from behind him catches his attention. He spun in surprise, pulling the chain close to his chest with ear-fins raised in mild panic The perpetrator, his brother, continued chuckling, glancing over at the crab safely tucked away in its home once more. “What have you gone hunting for this time?”

            If you’re going to keep laughing Falkon, I’m not going to show you.” Kaelonne sniffed at him, hiding the chain behind his back, and sticking out his tongue again. His brother raised his eyebrows in mocking disbelief, resting his hands were his tail scales faded into skin.

            “Okay, okay, sorry.” Falkon smiled apologetically at his younger brother’s glare, holding out his hands in surrender.

            “Found an entire chain, most likely a human one, it’s not even broken.” Kaelonne held out his prize, letting it float gently in the natural movement of the water.

            “Again?” Falkon sighed as he took the item gently in his claws, eyeing it warily, “Don’t you have a handful of these already back home?”

            “Yea, but look at it, it’s fully intact and it’s not even covered in moss!”

            “So what? It’s still just a chain.” The older Mermatian raised his eyebrow at him, a genuine look of confusion and curiosity on his face. Falkon may support his position as a researcher and his inherent need to find new things, but he didn’t always quite understand it.

            “A human must’ve lost it recently for it to still be so shiny, might have been in the storm yesterday.” He swam up to his side, pointing out the lack of damage and organic growth on the fragile trinket.

            “I will never understand your fascination with these things, but if it makes you happy, put it in the pack I brought.” Falkon handed his back the chain, swimming back and nodding his head in the direction he came from, “Now come help me out, I learned a new move and I want to try it out.”

            “You and your training. You do know they give you that at the start of the position, right?” Kaelonne tied the chain around his neck instead, clicking one of his claws on the strange pendant that settled on the base of his neck.

            “Yea, but I want to be considered the best. It’d be so cool to start training with everyone, but already know all the moves.” Falkon shot him a ‘duh’ look, waiting a few seconds for the younger Mermatian to catch up enough to swim alongside him

            “There’s a name for that, it’s called cheating.”

            “Hilarious.” The older being tossed him one of the old spears he managed to sneak out of the castle as they came to a somewhat large clearing, baring his fangs in challenge. Kaelonne rolled his eyes and returned the gesture, rushing him with all the strength he could muster without warning.

            Their scales glittered in the low light, reflecting in timing to their dangerous dance. The powerful beings laughed in their chaos, the world narrowing to just the two of them for a moment. They were the fighters of the underwater realm, the merfolk, as the humans called them. Creatures that have made themselves the apex predator through their intelligence and need to keep their kind alive and safe.

            Kaelonne wasn’t as big as the others, his tail the length of a dolphin and the scales the darker side of black and silver on his delta tail, much like his mother, as his father would always tell him. He used to be jealous of his siblings, eyeing their bright golds and shiny blacks, and the strength they carry in a single turn. They were easily elected as fighters from the day they were born.

Then he found his curiosity of the ocean, in the way things moved and worked, labelled a genius among his kind. On his side, from the beginning where his tail met skin, was a specialized tattoo, stretching up to his back and over his arm and up his jaw, signifying both his position and status as a prince and a researcher. Gaining it was one of the proudest days of his life.

            He grunted again as the spear struck his hand, successfully pulling the spear out from his claws. Falkon gave a shout of surprise, raising his hands in self celebration, Kaelonne huffed and rushed the older Mermatian, laughing at the yelp he received as he crashed into him. Their professional fight turned into a childish tussle. 

            The fight eventually ended with Falkon as the winner, his hands pinning his brother’s arms to his sides and fangs bared in laughter. Kaelonne hissed his irritation, tugging at one of the fins on the elder’s arms as he released him. “You only win because I let you.”

“Sure, if saying that makes you happy.” Falkon stuck his tongue out at him, swimming down to pick up his fallen spear. “I got two more moves I want to learn and then we have to go home, it’s getting dark and Idris will definitely have our tails if we’re late to dinner again.”

            “Still wasn’t my fault, I can’t help it when you lose track of time… but I will proudly claim that I did nothing to warn you when I did remember.” Kaelonne cackled with laughter as Falkon tosses a rock at them, watching as it missed him entirely and then to the not-yet-solider who returned to his self-training.

            The young royal flicked his tail and headed back to the crab he was poking earlier, taking in the wreckage the recent storm brought in earlier. Fish sheltering in small holes naturally carved into the rocks and others burying themselves in the sand, bits of seaweed floated lazily past him, tangling in his hair and tail fins. Normally, he wouldn’t come so close to the surface on a day like this, but it was the best that he could think of doing to get away from the hustle and bustle of his home for just a little while.

            He plucked at the chain on his neck, observing the strange carving on it. It looked like a stick branched out, surrounded by a hallowed diamond shape, hardly the size of the tip of his finger. It was a curious, little etching but it felt like it was worth something important. Despite its weightlessness, it’s gold sheen was genuine.

            Kaelonne curled his lip as he picked up a new scent in the area, metallic and fresh, floating in the water like squid ink released from a vial. He swiveled around and took sight of his surroundings in a small rush of panic as he recognized the scent, as rare it was to him. Blood, human blood.

            The young royal pushed himself away from the rocks, slowly flicking his tail and lowering himself to the sea floor. Everyone warned him, stay away from the humans, they brought nothing but trouble, but they also thought him that if something was in trouble, it was just of him to do everything to help it. It left him torn in his decision now. The scent was not strong, meaning that it could only be one human, and an injured one at that. Should he get his brother?

            He eyed the distance of the older royal, the small voice warning him about the possibility that his bother would pull him away, taking him home and leave the injured human to fend for itself. Kaelonne flicked his tail again, pushing himself closer to the surface, it wouldn’t hurt to just check it out.

            The scent of the blood was getting stronger, easily leading him to a broken, painted board stuck next to sharp rocks. He frowned at the red staining the edge the board, hesitating to carry on his mission. Death of a creature is something he had dealt with as a researcher, but it did not mean he was familiar with it and he was not planning to be anytime soon. Worry pushed him on though, the thought that the human might still be alive and needing help to get back to his home.

            He flicked his ear in the irritation of proving true his soft heart that Falkon always teased him about, ducking under the water and continuing his search once more. He swam fretfully, following the scent that was quickly becoming the reason for his upset stomach.

            A flash of light catches his attention, the scent of the blood is now at its strongest. Kaelonne watches the waves bobbing a small, broken piece of board, heart stuttering as he notices the being draped on it.

A creature with two legs, hands gripping the piece of wood tightly despite his strange form of sleep.