The Lost Secret of the Silver Sea

Chapter 34: A Captain on Land

            Alister clicked his fingers in front of his face until he had no choice but to acknowledge him. Out of the habit that has reawaken from his partial transformation, Kaelonne bares his teeth at him with a scowl. The doctor pulls back in surprise but fixes him with a fearless glare.

            The young royal finally takes Hartley and Nora slumped on the deck, clothes wet. They eye him with hopeful, weary grins, watching for anything that may alert them that the creature before them was not their friend. Axel and Madeline are armed with a jacket and a stick, watching the water for the slightest movement. The comical turning of the pair’s head is what snaps him out of his fight-or-fight feeling.

            “Sorry.” Kaelonne shoots Alister a pained smile, ignoring the way they seem to slump in relief at his words.

            “Not a problem, are you hurt?”

            “My ankle alone, I think.” The young royal winces as he pulls in the offending limb. He wasn’t familiar with legs so he couldn’t exactly tell what kind of injuries he had, or how bad it would be. Alister makes a move towards him when a sound pierces through the air. The young royal ducks in surprise, going stock still in hopes of hearing it again. His eyes searched the calming waves.

            “What is it?” Hartley is immediately by his side. He turns to see the others watching him worriedly, Axel holding his stick a little higher. They didn’t give any indication of hearing the sound… because they couldn’t.

            “Cassian.” Alister’s head snaps towards him at this, Kaelonne pays it no mind as he struggles to his feet. Hartley puts an arm around his back as he stumbles, watching him over for any other injuries.

            “Good guy or bad guy?”

            “Good, he’s hurt, very much hurt.” The young royal hisses as he puts weight on his right foot, Hartley and Nora offer to help him, but the pain wasn’t too bad. The cry comes again and it’s a little weaker, he had to find him now. Kaelonne points to in the direction he heard it, leading them ever closer to the low cliffs.

            It made for quite the procession, Kaelonne leading the charge over the rocks. A tail was fine on choppy water, he was trained well enough for that, but legs on wet rocks. It was one of the most tiring, terrifying things he’d ever done. He was sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest the entire trek or crawl out his throat the few times he slipped.

            There. Blood in the water. A green-blue ink turning red as it reached the surface. Kaelonne slipped down the last small hill, ignoring the warning shouts of the humans behind him in his haste to get to the hand peeking out from behind a large rock.

            His ankle protested the reckless running, but he shoved it to the back of his mind. The sun was hardly in the sky, and his wet clothes clung to him. He must be quite the sight. The young royal skates around the rock and gets to his knees, finally taking in the unconscious Mermatian in front on him.

            He was on his stomach, blue back fin broken. The tail was covered in scratches and half-healed gashes, it would be quite the sight when it healed over. The main thing that matter right now was the fact that his gills was too far out of the water. Hartley slid to a stop beside him, freezing at the sight.

            “What- how- Kellon?” Hartley turns to him with panicked eyes, Kaelonne unhelpfully returned the gesture. The others finally arrive, Alister taking initiative to kneel down beside the creature.

            “We- uh-  we need to get him in the water.” Worry for his Captain kicks some semblance of his princely status back into Kaelonne. He gets to his feet and takes residence on Alister’s other side. With a nod to the doctor, they get the Mermatian onto his back.

            “He’s still bleeding bad, we can’t leave him here.” The doctor fixes him with a man on a mission, he checks his vitals was well as he could as the young royal splashes water on the drying scales.

            “What do you suggest we do?”

            “I can have a tank brought here, there’s an open area to the side of the building. It’s connected to the sea and the building with nets, it’s not ideal but it’s the best idea I have right now.” Nora and Axel each take an arm  of the Mermatian as Madeline takes over keeping check of injuries and vitals. Alister, Hartley and Kaelonne take the weight of the tail, dragging him back into the water until only his head remained above.

            “Go, Cassian won’t fight.” Alister gets to his feet, gesturing for Nora and Axel to join him, Before he could leave, Kaelonne catches his worried gaze, “Thank you.”

            “No need to.”

            The young royal situates himself next to Cassian’s head, concern burning in his heart. The last time he’d see the Captain, he’d gone off to fight, leaving Kaelonne to escape on his own. Now, here he was, saving his life again and stuck with the consequences. The Captain showed no sign of waking up, his hand still loosely clutched around a dagger. On closer inspection, it was the twin to the one he’d given Kaelonne.

            Madeline glanced at him as he bumps his nose on the Captain’s head but says nothing, keeping a hand on his wrist for proof that they had not lost him yet. Hartley sat opposite of him, letting his back create shade for the unconscious creature, the sun not quite bright but enough to give off heat.

            “Who… is he?”

            “My… father’s right hand, the captain of the guard.” Kaelonne whispers, not willing to take his eyes off Cassian in case he wakes up. “He protected me, basically the only reason I’m alive.”

            “You’re close to him.”

            “I’ve known him for a thousand years, he’s practically family… I don’t ever want to imagine a place where he isn’t alive.”

            “Alister will make sure he’s okay.” This gets Kaelonne to looks up at Hartley with a smile. The scientist shoots him a grin, sand stuck to the side of his face and hair an absolute mess.

            “I know.”

            “You’ve explained to me you entire kind, from how they look to how they act…” Madeline speaks up, sitting back in the water with a tired smile and dazed look, “But it’s an entirely different thing to see up close.”

            “It is, isn’t it?” Hartley smiled back, clearly remembering the first time he’d met Kaelonne in his true form. Kaelonne shakes his head and takes one of Cassian’s hands, rubbing a finger on the discoloured scales on his knuckles. He ignores the two of them chatting for now, looking out to the sea.

            Was his partial transformation from the surge of energy from the attack? Was it from the song? And the Sirninian cry, what was that about?

            The last one scared him, it could be a latent ability from his family line, but why now? His throat felt scrubbed raw, like he’d swallowed sand, while his chest gave off a sharp pain at every exhale. Was it possible to use this cry again, or was it a onetime thing?

            The rumbling sound of something on wheels coming at them tells him that he’ll have to think about this later. Hartley pats a heavy hand on Kaelonne’s shoulder before heading off in the direction of the sound, pulling him back to the situation on hand. Cassian had not moved since they found him, and it was worrying.

            Alister and Nora appeared with a large net in hand, taking a place on the either side of the Mermatian. “We need to get him on this to get him in the tank. It’s on the truck and there’s no way we can take his full weight without support.” Alister takes the lead, spreading out the net next to them with hurried movements.

            Kaelonne gets to his feet and gestures to the others where to stand. With some grunting and manoeuvring, they manage to get him on the next, each of them grabbing a part of the rope and pulling up beside them. Cassian was heavy, Kaelonne never really considered the weight of his kind, considering they were consistently underwater, but he didn’t realise it would be this much.

            Being twice the size of a human – including tail – it made sense. The young royal had to admit he was kind of curious as to how heavy he would be in his full form. He grunts as the sand sinks under his foot, stumbling back onto the rocks. He’s suddenly aware of shoes, or rather his lack of them.

            It’s a difficult procession, the four of them trying to get over the rocks with a fish-like creature between them. The quicker they got to the truck, the less time Cassian would have to stay without water. It was disturbing how he didn’t even react to the movement, but Kaelonne was certain that Alister would get them back on his feet – tail – in no time.

            Axel meets them at the truck, a large tank filled with water in the trailer. He revs the engine as soon as they get the large creature in the contraption. Alister sits up front as he directs the engineer where to go, the rest of them sitting on the sides of the trailer, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

            Kaelonne grips Cassian’s hand tightly as he stares ahead, muttering a soft prayer to Viatrix. He didn’t know why he did, but it felt like  the only thing he could do at the moment.