Part two: garvish

Garvish was nothing I could have ever imagined. When we walked out of the door, we came to an ocean. It stretched out before us, a vast sea of blue. It was down a bit, though, so that it would not run over into the other sides of the planet. We were standing on a wooden dock. A little hut stood down the way. We headed toward it.
A small man came out of the hut. “Welcome to Garvish. Come inside and I will give you what you need to really enjoy your stay here,” he said, laughing at the last part. We went into the little hut.
“What do we need?” Myrie asked in a bored voice.
“This,” the man said, holding up a little bottle of dark green powder. “This will give you gills so you can breathe underwater. There is no land until you leave Garvish.”
“How much do we need?” Myrie asked.
“One bottle each. It lasts until you take some of this,” he held up a bottle of purple powder, “This is the only thing that can restore your lungs. You will have to buy some here, though. you need one bottle of this, too. To get them both, it costs thirty weights each.” The price was steep, but I knew it would not be a problem.
“Okay,” Myrie said, “Fragen, get ninety weights out of your bag.” Fragen did so, creating ninety when his hands were hidden. He handed them to the man.
“Oh, I forgot,” the man said, handing two bottles to each of us. “You will need waterproof bags for your stuff and waterproof clothes. Those will cost…”
“We won't be needing those,” Myrie said, leaving.
“Don’t forget to jump into the water before you take that!” the man yelled agitatedly out of the hut.
We headed down the pier a bit. Once we were safe from the prying eyes of the man, Myrie stopped.
“We need to waterproof all of our stuff,” she said. “Be sure to get all of your stuff. Point at the object that you need to waterproof and say disotfout michse.” She pointed at her shoes and demonstrated. Fragen and I followed suit, pulling things out of our bags and waterproofing them.
When we had finished, Myrie hopped off of the dock into the water. She pulled out a rope and tied her floating bag to her wrist. This way, she would not lose it. Fragen jumped in and did the same. I followed, nervous. I had never really swam in my life, so I was afraid of drowning.
The water was cold. I started to sink. Fragen grabbed me ad pulled me up, instructing me to get out my dark green powder and take it. I pulled it out, took out the cork, and tried to swallow everything at once. I managed to get most of it down, but I coughed some up. The powder tasted like rotten cabbage.
I could feel the difference immediately. I started to gasp and choke as my gills developed. Fragen quickly grabbed a rope and tied my bundle to my wrist. He then forced me under the water. I found it easy to breathe now. After a minute or two, I opened my eyes. Myrie and Fragen were waiting for me to follow them. they had started down into the murky water. I followed them, kicking powerfully. I was surprised that I could swim.
“Where are we going now?” I tried to say, but only bubbles issued from my mouth. I caught up to them and tried to ask again. It still did not work. How were we supposed to communicate? Myrie motioned for us to go deeper. Down and down we went, cutting through the dark, icy water. Every now and then, we would see a fish or a dolphin, but they ignored us. after about half of an hour, we saw something new.
It was a blue person-shaped thing, with webbed feet and hands. It was sort of like a human, but its limbs were longer and seemed to have no bones in them. It had a pointy face, long, green, seaweed hair framing the sharp features. I noticed its abnormally large eyes when it started toward us. those eyes were empty, void of reason and intelligence.
“Who are you?” it asked with a squeaky, high voice. It smiled, baring many sharp, jagged teeth.
“We are visitors to your great land… well, er, sea,” Fragen answered, reddening.
“I’m Marscy,” it squeaked, “I guess I have to be your guide. Come on!” Marscy swam off at a fast pace. We followed, losing ground every second.
“He is a waterwaif,” Myrie informed us. “They are the main inhabitants of Garvish. They take nothing seriously, so watch out.”
“Are you sure that it was a male?” I asked sarcastically. Fragen laughed. I suddenly noticed that we could hear each other now. When I thought about it, I noticed that the water seemed lighter somehow, as if the pressure was not as great down here. My movements felt more natural. It was definitely a change for the better, I concluded.
We swam after Marscy for less that a quarter hour. After five minutes, I noticed a large, indefinite shape appearing. The closer we got, the clearer the shape. It turned out to be a city. The buildings were built awkwardly, just a mass of some wood-like substance and nails; they did not look like they would have stood on land. Waterwaifs flitted around the place, in and out of buildings, down the streets, everywhere. No other human was in sight.
“Well, come along, now,” said Marscy, swimming back to us. “You are slow! Hurry, hurry, I want you to meet the Kablah before time runs out!”
“Kablah?” I whispered confusedly to Myrie.
“The Kablah is the ruler of the city,” Myrie whispered back. “I guess we’re the first humans they’ve seen in a while; we aren’t usually taken to see the Kablah.”
We swam until we reached the biggest building. I was a bit afraid of going into the building. It was especially haphasard. We went through the doorway slowly, following Marscy.
There was a huge throne, made of coral, with a large waterwaif sitting on it. I guessed that this was the Kablah. He stood as we approached. Following Marscy’s lead, we bowed.
“Welcome, creatures of land!” the Kablah said, the voice startling me. the Kablah was a woman – her voice told me that much – but she did not look any different from Marscy in any way. She wore a tattered blue loincloth identical to his. This baffled me. “I welcome you to our great city. You will stay in the guest chambers of my own house. Marscy, thank you for bringing our guests over. Let us have a minute alone. You may go and ready the chamber.” A look of unhappiness on his face, Marscy did as he was told. I was surprised at how strict and serious the Kablah sounded compared to all of the other waterwaifs.
“Oh, great Kablah,” Myrie said, taking another sweeping bow, “why have you brought us into your house and giving us room here?” she sounded so humble and lowly as she spoke. This submissive act was so very unlike her.
“Please, call me Merial,” Kablah said, motioning for Myrie to stand. “I know you are not here for a visit. You want the Stone of the Seas, do you not?” Myrie nodded mutely. How did the Kablah know this? An icy stake of fear pierced my heart. We were going to be punished for intending to steal their Stone. We stood in a line and waited for the Kablah to speak again, grim looks of fear on our faces. “I shall overlook this, even help you to find it. But,” the Kablah help up a finger, cutting off our relieved sighs, “you must help me. I only want one thing from you.”
“What would that be?” Myrie croaked, hoping that whatever the Kablah wanted was not hard to make or give away.
“Freedom. You must give me freedom from this place. I do not belong here. I hate this pointless life that I am living, ruling over these insipid waterwaifs. You must – and I do mean must – help me.” I was dumbfounded. The Kablah wanted our help to break her from here underwater prison? This was an interesting twist.
“But, how? And why? Don’t you like this place? They are your people,” Myrie said, surprised as I was. Fragen’s face said that he was very surprised too. Neither I nor Fragen had said anything yet. We were afraid and astounded at the Kablah.
“Don’t you get it?” the Kablah asked, appearing to lose her temper. We all winced. “I hate this life. I feel trapped with these lesser people. I am much to good for them. and don’t you dare suggest I simply quit. I cannot do this. It would break the bonds that tie our city together – literally. The buildings can only stay up if there is a ruler. If I quit, there won't be a ruler for the smallest amount of time and everything here will fall and everyone will be killed. However, if I am taken away against my will, they can find a new ruler without there ever not being one, see? That is where you come in.” I suddenly understood her insane plan. Myrie and Fragen were still trying to figure it out, though.
“So we have to kidnap you, manage to get out of the town unscathed and then you will lead us to the Stone? Are you sure that’s even a sane plan?” I blurted, turning red as soon as the words left my mouth. Surely this meant death for us.
“Yes, that’s my plan. I don’t know if its sane or not. But you have to try. Your options are either help break me out and maybe loose your lives, but quite possibly succeed, or say no and loose your lives anyway.” I hated the Kablah for just a moment. She put us in such a rough spot, yet I could not help but admire her for it. She was such a rebellious person, not afraid to go against the flow. I liked that about her.”
“Why don’t you just travel to a distant city and declare that you won't rule anymore? That way you would be safe,” Myrie pointed out.
“I couldn’t do that to my people. I would kill all of my loyal servants and people that way. As much as I hate them, part of me loves them. you couldn’t possibly understand.” I understood this. I had not in any way like living with my family, but I would not have killed them just to escape. This was a selfish, dishonorable act.
“I could understand,” I said, looking at her with something like pity in my eyes. I knew the exact place she was in.
“And why would that be?” the Kablah asked.
“Well, I hated life on the farm that my family still lives on. I felt out of place. I had no means of leaving, yet I couldn’t kill them so I could be free. I finally was able to run away, though. I know how difficult your situation is,” I explained. The Kablah smiled brightly. I noticed her pointy teeth and decided not to ever make her angry, lest she decide to use them on me.
“I like you, child,” she said. “What is your name?”
“Phoenix,” I said.
“What a wonderful name! you are lucky to be named after a mystical being. The phoenix is an especially good creature to be named after.” She stood again and walked over to me. “Come, Phoenix and Phoenix’s friends. Let us enjoy our time here.” Throwing her arm over my shoulder – I noticed that it did not seem slimy and scaly as I had expected – she steered me out of the chamber and into a corridor. I noticed the guards placed about every five feet or so. A couple of them had obviously been laughing at some joke but snapped to attention when their queen came out.
“Let me show you your personal chambers,” the Kablah said loftily, letting go of me. she walked, back straight, head high, down the hallway. Every now and then she nodded to one of the soldiers, who would salute her. We got out of that corridor and into another one, guards still lining the walls. I saw her roll her eyes, as if saying, “Why are there all of these guards?” I was thinking the same thing.
We finally got to a corridor that was empty. It was old and, well, not dusty but the underwater equivalent. The Kablah sighed and whipped around.
“Finally, we got away from the guards. I have no idea why there are so many of them!” she giggled. Linking her arm through mine, she marched away, still smiling. This behavior left me with a question.
“Miss Kablah, if you don’t mind me asking, but how old are you?” I said nervously.
The Kablah let go of me and hit my arm softly. “I told you already, call me Mariel. This is a command. And no, I don’t mind you asking how old I am. I am seventeen.”
“That’s my age,” I said with a gasp. She was only my age, and yet she ruled a city.
“I thought so,” Mariel said triumphantly. “Oh! I only now remembered your friends here.” She gestured to Fragen and Myrie. “I have not even asked their names!”
“I am Myrie and this is Fragen,” Myrie said, unhappy that she had been forgotten. Fragen looked as if it did not matter to him, but I am sure it did.
“Well I hope you enjoy your stay.” Mariel seemed not to care about them, only me. I noticed this when she gave me the largest guest chamber, when she let me sit by her at the dinner table, and how she let me wear her own jewelry. I could practically smell Myrie's jealousy.
When Mariel had left us for the night, Myrie came into my chamber. “You little freak,” she said. I found this uncalled for. “Why did you let Mariel dote on you like that?” I did not respond. I merely sat there, taking it all. “This is not going how I planned. You are messing it up.” Fragen had heard her rising voice and came in too.
“Why are you yelling at her?” Fragen shouted. I still sat, watching silently.
“She is a little brat, letting herself be patted and pampered by a queen,” Myrie said, offending me.
“No, she is not!” Fragen insisted.
“Yes she is. You know it. You just won't admit it because you have a little crush on her!” I felt hot anger seeping over me.
“I do not have a crush on her,” Fragen said quietly. A pang of hurt stabbed my heart. I had thought that we might have something… apparently, I was wrong. I could not contain myself any longer.
“You both are heartless! Myrie, stop being jealous! You just cannot stand it when you don’t have all the attention, can you? You need to be the big, important one, don’t you! I think you are pathetic. You are vermin that only cares for itself and nobody else! You know what I think? I think you should rot in a jail cell! Admit it, the only reason you are about us is because you aren’t capable of getting the Stones on your own! And Fragen, you have problems. Just get your thoughts about me straight and stop sending mixed signals! I am sick of the way that you act like you know each other. I am tired of feeling like I don’t matter to either of you! So, you had better start treating me better or I am leaving! Got that?” I sat down, chest heaving. When neither answered, I shouted again, “GOT IT?” they nodded mutely and left the room, looking like whipped dogs. I felt much better than I had in a while. A servant came into my room.
“Lady, I heard you screaming. Is everything okay?” he asked. I nodded. “May I get you something?”
“Yes, please. I would like some tea,” I answered, pulling a book off of the shelf next to my bed. The servant nodded and left the room. I fell asleep before he could get back, still holding the book.
When I woke up, the book had been placed back on the shelf and a cold cup of tea was on the bedside table. A sudden thought came to me: how could tea be in a cup underneath the water? I resolved to ask someone later. I could hear Myrie up through the walls. I stood and stretched.
I went over to my bag. I was surprised to find it empty. I looked around the room and saw a wardrobe. I found my clothes in it, which did not even surprise me. this did unnerve me a bit, though.
Mariel came into my room, dressed in a white tunic. “I hope you found your clothes,” she said in way of greeting.
“I did, thank you,” I answered, wondering if she had heard me yelling last night. “You and your servants have treated me so nicely.”
“Have they?” she asked absentmindedly, playing with a decoration. “Oh, I heard you last night.”
“Really? I am really sorry about that,” I said, reddening. She smiled.
“No worries,” she said. “I would have done that a long time ago. I think that Fragen does have a bit of a thing for you, though.” I blinked at her.
“Really, you do?” I asked, hoping that she was right.
“Oh, I am quite sure,” Mariel answered, an honest look on her face. “I know these kinds of things.” She suddenly slammed down the decoration, causing me to jump. “Breakfast is ready!” she ran out of the room. I followed her, wondering how she knew that breakfast was ready.
The table was filled with wonderful breakfast foods: sausages, eggs (from what animal?), white rice, pastries, the choices were endless. I noticed that Myrie and Fragen had not shown up yet.
I sat down next to Mariel and a servant poured me a cup of steaming coffee. “How can the coffee stay in the cup?” I asked. Mariel looked at me with a smile.
“This water is more like air than anything. You just have to have gills to breathe this air,” she answered, filling her plate. This made sense to me. I had even forgot that we were underwater until I saw the drinks.
Fragen and Myrie came in when we were almost done. The food was cold. Apparently, they had been forgotten. Myrie did not look happy about this. She scowled at me when she sat down. Fragen gave me a sleepy smile and a small wave. He looked half asleep. Maybe he had not been able to sleep after my outburst the night before. I shot an apologetic look down the table. He noticed and nodded as if to say that everything was fine.
Presently, Mariel grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. She was running and I nearly fell trying to match her pace. “Where… are… you… taking… me?” I panted.
“I have to show you something,” she said, which did not answer my question. We turned abruptly and I saw that she was running straight for a wall. I yelped and waited to hit it, closing my eyes. I felt a strange brush on my skin, like we had run through cloth instead of a wall.
“Hidden door,” Mariel explained. I had already figured this out. We were going up a staircase. It ended in a trap door on the ceiling. Mariel pulled me up through it. I found myself in a large, circular room filled with air. I could not breathe.
“Mariel, can't breathe,” I choked, thinking that maybe she was trying to murder me. I looked around the room for her, but she had disappeared. In her place, stood a human woman. The woman came over to me and shoved something down my throat. This caused my gills to disappear and my lungs to grow back. I gasped for breath. “Who are you?” I asked as soon as I could.
“Mariel, of course,” the woman answered. I recognized her voice. It was Mariel’s. I stared at her, a look of confusion on my face. “I can change shapes, Phoenix. I’m a shape shifter. I want to teach you how to also,” she explained. My eyebrows shot up. “So, what do you say?”
“I say… what are you talking about?” I answered slowly.
“Watch,” she said. In front of my eyes, Mariel changed. First she was a dog, then a bee, after that, a bird, and finally, back to human form. I was dizzy. This was new to me. I did not know that shape shifting was possible. “I want you to learn.”
“Why?” I asked, still confused. “Why do you like me so much?”
“Oh, yes, I suppose I should explain some things to you,” Mariel said. She launched into a story. “Long ago, there was a Magic. He was the most powerful Magic the world had ever seen. He married a non-magical woman. They had six children. Each of the children could do magic like their father. There were three girls and three boys. After a while, their mother started to age. You see, Magics do not age like normal people do. after Magics hit a certain age – twenty, I think – they stop growing and remain the same for decades, centuries. The Magic could not bear to live without his wonderful wife, but he could not make her live any longer than the average human. So he split up his magic into six parts and put each bit into a different stone. He gave the Stones to his children, who scattered to different sides of our earth. They each hid their Stone on the side they chose. Meanwhile, the father was making a book of Magic. He recorded everything he knew in that book. When he finished, he hid it in the center of the earth. By that time, his wife had died. His magic gone, he died also. The children had settled down and made families. However, they did not age. They were cursed and had to live forever. For centuries, they roamed their side of the earth, making families and faking their own deaths. They were trying to sneak magical children into society. Your mother is one of those cursed children, Phoenix. Mine is too. We are cousins.” She stopped. My mouth dropped. My mother was alive. She gave me her magic. But that also meant….
“what about Fragen and Myrie? Are they our cousins/siblings as well?” I asked. It was all I could get out.
“No. they came from some of the other children from your mother. Each magical child would grow up, find a family, pass their magic down to one of the children, and die. This has been going on for thousands of years. I doubt that you are related in any way.” We sat and stared at the ground, lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I had a question that seemed important enough to ask.
“How did you find this out?” I asked. Mariel looked slightly startled at my voice, as if she had forgotten I was even there.
“My mother told me just before she left,” she sounded angry and remorseful, as if her mother leaving had been her fault. I decided to leave that subject alone in the future. To get her mind off of it, I asked another question.
“How are you going to teach me shape shifting?”
“So you’ll learn?” her face brightened up. I nodded, smiling too. “Well, I learned by practice, so I suppose that’ll have to be the way you learn.” She showed me how she did it and instructed me. it was hard. Mariel assured me that it got easier.
By the end of an hour, I had managed to change half of myself into a waterwaif. I started with a finger, then a hand, then an arm, a foot, a leg, and so on. Eventually I would be able to turn my whole self into anything in the blink of an eye. Mariel handed me a bottle of the green powder that we had taken before Myrie, Fragen, and I had come here. I gulped it down, mouthful by mouthful. I was smarter this time. When I started to feel the change, I dove into the water. Mariel followed, shifting into a waterwaif.
“I wonder what Myrie and Fragen have been doing this whole time,” I said.
“I instructed them to start planning.”
“Myrie is going to hate me even more after this.”
“She needs help, then,” Mariel said, flinging herself through the hidden door. “Oh, yep, she’s mad. I can hear her yelling.” I strained my ears but could not hear a thing.
“How can you hear this stuff?” I asked. Mariel looked at me.
“Why, waterwaifs have incredible hearing. Shift your ears,” she advised. I tried it. Amazingly, it worked.
“I can hear her! Wow!”
I could hear her. She was screaming at an old servant. “Where is the girl? I know you did something to her! We can't do anything without her! Do you have any idea how valuable she is? I thought not. Now lead me to her this instant.” Then the servant’s quiet, shaking voice, “Please, madam, I honestly don’t know where Lady Phoenix is! Please, please, stop yelling.” I shifted my ears back. What had Myrie meant by that? I felt anger bubbling up in my chest. I was just “the girl” to her, the “valuable” girl that they cannot do anything without. I knew it. They could do nothing without me.
I started off in the direction of the voices, hoping that I would not get lost. Mariel followed, every now and then turning me the right way. I burst into the room that they were in.
“I heard what you said about me,” I said lowly, my voice hard and cold. Myrie blanched.
“What do you mean?” her voice was overly sweet, dripping with honey. “But you were on the other side of the castle. How is that possible?” I looked at Mariel, silently asking her if I could show Myrie my new abilities. She shrugged. I took it as a yes.
“Like this,” I said, turning my lips up in a triumphant smirk. I concentrated and changed my ears. Myrie gasped, anger clouding her features.
“You little… I cannot believe that you have done that… who taught you?” she snarled. I looked at Fragen, who was sitting quietly, trying to take everything in.
“I taught her, Myrie,” Mariel said loftily. “I thought the skill might come in handy.” Myrie looked ready to say something, but Mariel cut her off. “I am quite sure that you don’t want to say that. Think of what I can do to you.” Myrie's mouth went up and down. She looked like a fish. I laughed.
“But, why did you teach her?” Myrie said, spitting my name out like it hurt to say. “Why not someone better than her, like me?” I knew that she meant the words to hurt me, but they did not. They merely slid right off. I did not care about her opinion.
“You think that you are better than Phoenix,” Mariel stated, nodding. “I would have to say you were wrong, then. She’s far better – far more powerful too – than you. We heard you, ‘do you have any idea how valuable she is?’ now we do, thanks. The reason I taught her is because we are cousins.” Myrie blanched again, face whiter than anything I had ever seen.
“Co… cousins?” she said, looking fearful. “How can that be? I thought….” Suddenly she snapped her mouth shut. I wondered what she had been ready to say. Mariel decided to explain everything to her. After she finished, we all fell silent.
We stayed three weeks in Mariel’s castle. Three long, quarrel-filled weeks. Something about being underwater (I think it may have been the pressure of the water) made us all edgy and moody. Our only read conversations were about how we were kidnapping Mariel, when it should be done, and so on. The servants remained unsuspecting and gracious to us.
every day, Mariel and I escaped into the room, where I learned to shape shift fully. After the learning process was done, we discussed our childhood and our plans. We made secret plans to find all of the original six children of the Magic. We knew that this was most likely impossible, but we still had fun planning. We were having one of our sessions on the last full day that we were staying in Garvish.
“Are you nervous about leaving?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mariel nodded, “very. I have lived here all of my life and now I am leaving. Wouldn’t you be nervous?”
“I was very nervous,” I said, reminding her that I had done the very same thing only a few months ago. I shifted into a snail for the fun of it.
Mariel and I shifted a lot, much to the displeasure of everyone around us. I turned back and laughed. Mariel changed into a shaggy dog. I changed into a butterfly. This continued until we changed into the same animal. This was our game. Our own, secret game.
“I am still working on wordless magic,” I said. Mariel, who turned out to know more about magic than Myrie did, could do just about everything without words. I was practicing this. I demonstrated for Mariel, causing a storm cloud to form and soak us with purple rain.
“Good one,” Mariel said, face held straight, with a tip of her head. I stopped the rain and returned the head tip.
“Thank you for your generous comment,” I said. She stood and extended a hand to me.
“Shall we go down and spend time with the others?” she asked, face still held in the serious manner. I nodded and took her hand, pulling myself up.
“I think that would be proper of us.” at that, we both burst into peals of laughter. I shifted into a waterwaif (I did not even need the nasty powder anymore) as Mariel did. We leapt into the water and started down.
I was surprised that Myrie could not find the hidden door. she wanted desperately to see where we went every day and spy on us. somehow, Mariel had magicked the door so that no one unwanted could get in. Myrie was definitely unwanted. I had stopped talking to her altogether. We used poor Fragen to go between us with messages. Fragen tried to remain indifferent, but I felt sorry for him.
We finished the evening as normal, Mariel trying not to appear excited. As she bid me goodnight, she whispered one word, “Tomorrow.”
Tomorrow came all to quickly. We started the day as normal. We would not make of with Mariel until noon. I said that if we were going to kidnap her we would do this in the middle of the night, but Myrie insisted on going in the middle of the day. Finally, the time came.
We were all walking in the museum of artifacts. The museum was filled with important memoirs of past kings and queens and such. Suddenly, Fragen pulled out a rope and started to bind Mariel. She gave one loud scream before he gagged her, to alert the guards. This way everyone was sure that we had kidnapped her. As planned, the guards ran in. they started to storm the place. I started to panic. There were more of them than we had planned.
“Release her,” one of the guards bellowed. Myrie shook her head. The guard shrugged and charged us, everyone else following suit. Mariel pretended to struggle against Fragen.
What happened next has haunted me for years. Myrie raised her hand and shouted… no I think I should not say the curse. About ten guards dropped dead. Still more rushed in. Myrie repeated the phrase over and over. I stood, paper-white, ready to pass out. Somehow, a guard got past Myrie's curses and came after me. I spoke another killing word and the guard died. I looked at him in shock and horror. I had killed someone. I hated myself for it. Luckily, no one else got past Myrie. After about two hundred fifty people had died, the guards gave up. We shot through the ceiling. As soon as we were out of sight of the guards, Fragen let go of Mariel. She started to sink immediately. I shouted and grabbed her. She was limp.
“Mariel… Mariel… Mariel, please!” I was shouting. Her eyes fluttered open.
“It is in… the… place where my ancestors are hidden,” she whispered. She must have meant the Stone. That was all she managed to get out before her eyes closed and her head lolled back.
I carried her for a while, numb. What had happened? How did she end up… dead? I did not cry. Could not. My throat was dry. We finally reached a nice place to hide and rest. I laid Mariel on the ground. She looked like she was sleeping.
“How did that happen?” I asked Myrie. She shrugged.
“My curse was supposed to kill anyone who was against us,” she said, “I guess Mariel was bad.” This seemed highly impossible. I knew Myrie had killed her on purpose. I rushed at Myrie, ready to hit her. Fragen caught me and held me back. I turned and hit him half-heartedly on the chest. Then the tears came. Hot tears were streaming down my face. I sank to the ground, head in hands. I felt Fragen kneel and awkwardly pat me on the back.
Myrie only put up with the crying for about five minutes. Then she nudged me with her toe. “So what did she say before she died?” I thought how she said this, like she was bored, was rude.
“‘the Stone is in the place where my ancestors are hidden,’” I answered.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Myrie yelled. I stood up and faced her.
“You know what?” I said angrily. “I just lost my only friend. You killed her, Myrie. On parlous. I know you did it, so don’t even dare try to deny it because I am way more powerful than you know. I also know that you cannot complete this insipid quest without me. you had better try to stay on my good side, or I will leave. Just like that.” I shoved her to show that I meant business. Realization dawned on her face. She had finally realized that I could do magic silently. Myrie knew that I could kill her and she would not even know how to protect herself. She feared me now.
“So, Mariel taught you silent magic?” the question was casual, which made me slightly angrier.
“Yes,” I said simply. Myrie nodded, thinking that she knew all of my cards. I knew she did not.
“Well, I suppose you could be lying. Prove yourself.” I shook my head in disbelieve. She thinks I would lie to scare her? I am not a liar. So I proved myself. I nodded at a rock, which was reduced to a pile of dust, more or less. Her eyes, along with Fragen’s, widened.
“So, where are her ancestors buried?” I asked, not glancing at Mariel. I knew something would have to be done with her body. What was the question.
“Hmm…” Myrie pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe, just maybe, in the ruins of Ansceroth, the holy city. That would be my guess.” That made sense. “What should we do with her body?”
“We could create a tomb for her and leave it out here in memorial,” Fragen suggested. I nodded.
“She would like that,” I said, sniffling. Fragen did everything while Myrie and I watched silently. Soon, mariel was in a strong tomb that would not wash or wear away.
“On to ansceroth,” Myrie said. We gathered our stuff and started out west. In my muddled mind, I noticed that we could hear each other when we spoke. We must still be in enchanted water.
We reached the ruins in a few hours. Only a couple of buildings still stood. The ruler of this city had merely quit instead of trying to save the people. I felt a dull anger at this. What a selfish ruler. So unlike… I could not bring myself to remember mariel. The wound was still so fresh.
“The burial chambers are underneath the ground,” Myrie said. She knew a lot about things like this. I wondered where she got all of the knowledge.
“I think it’s in there,” she said, pointing at the ruins of an elaborate building. A stone killer whale stood where the entrance should have been, still guarding the ruins. We started out toward it.
“How do we get in?” I asked when we had reached the building. Mryie rolled her eyes.
“We magic it open,” she said, making me feel stupid. She did this a lot. I hated her for it.
“Right,” I said, blasting a door into it before she could. We made our way in. we had to crawl along a path that we made as we went. I saw an opening in the floor. That must be the stairway down to the burial chambers. I made my way toward it, Myrie and fragen turning to follow me.
“How has that stayed open?” I asked. Myrie shrugged. When we had clambered into the stairwell, we stood. There was dirt ground into our clothes. We looked a mess.
I made a little light and placed it on my shoulder, where it sat, almost like a sort of glowing parrot. Myrie and Fragen did the same. We started down the dark stair. What we met at the bottom was surprisingly closed-in. it was just a hallway with half-preserved bodies laying on shelves hewn from the walls. I could barely glance at the decaying bodies, glad that we were underwater so that there was no rotting stench.
“Where will it be hidden?” Fragen asked.
“I don’t really know, but,” Myrie answered, “I would think it would be with the first king of the city.” We walked to the very front of the burial hall (they started way far over and worked their way in and out the other side) and saw the first king’s body. It was up on a ornate pedestal. The bluish-green Stone sat on his chest, clasped in his hands. How simple was that?
“Is that the real Stone?” I asked, unsure.
“Oh, I am sure it is,” Myrie answered. She started to grab it and almost had it pried from the king’s half-gone fingers when he grabbed her arm. I shrieked, but Myrie seemed prepared. She yelled something harsh and the king let go of both her arm and the Stone.
We started to dash back down the hall and almost made it to the stairway when some of the other kings awoke from their slumber and started to grab at us. I turned a few of them to dust or stone, but it did not work. They were still going after us, and after one was gone, they all got even more vicious. Bodies were blasted every which way. I thought of the nightmares I would have of this event.
Finally, we made it up through the stairwell. The dead kings seemed unable to follow us out of the burial chamber. I was very glad.
Instead of coming out the way we came, we blasted through the rubble and up and up and up some more, until we broke the surface of the water. Myrie and Fragen quickly ate their nasty purple powder while I shape shifted. They glared at me jelously. Somehow they knew that I would never teach them to shape shift. This was my special ability, and mine alone. I doubted that they even could, had they tried. It must be a special power that children of the Six Children of the great magic possesed.
We reached the boardwalk/dock thing by nightfal (propelling ourselves through the water by magic). We got out and made our way to the Gateway to… I did not know where this gateway led to. All that mattered was that we got out of garvish.
“Papers?” asked the lady who was at the desk in the small building, once again underground. Though this one was metal, build underneath the waters of garvish. Myrie pulled them out of her bag and handed them to the lady, who introduced herself as Dileah, which I thought was a beautiful name. “I see that you have horses in Estubia,” she remarked. She pulled out something odd and spoke into it. “We need the three horses under the name Trink.” Our horses materialized in a small room off to the right. They were led, making a fuss, out by dileah. As soon as Midgen saw me, she settled down.
“So nothing has changed?” the woman asked us. we all shook our heads, hoping that this was the truth.
“All right, then. Come this way.” We followed her through some hallways and ended up by a small iron gate, much like the one in the Gateway to Garvish building.
“Have a nice stay in reaknos,” she said, unlocking the gate. So we were going to the desserts. Once again, I went through the dark tunnel, but this time I came out in the moonlight.