'Kill her!' That was Eileen.
'No!' The selkie king overruled her. He had barked, yet Melcorka understood the language. Why was that? It must be some power of understanding that passed from her close contact with Alva when she had momentarily altered to a seal. He barked again. 'I want her as my own.'
'You can't have me!' Melcorka shouted. She did not know if her words came out in human speech or as the bark of a seal. She only knew she would not be changed into anything other than her own shape and form. 'I am Melcorka! Why are you attacking us?'
'Stop!' The selkie king commanded, and his followers immediately withdrew, to stand in a black-pelted mass at the edge of the channel. They stared at Melcorka through round eyes as they held up their taloned flippers and bared bright teeth.
St
