An Atlas of the Known Worlds, page 11
“No,” I said.
“Well, let us consider then. What might they do? If the body of a unicorn and the feathers of a phoenix could be used to make one magic book, might they suffice to make a second book?” asked the Sea King.
“I suppose so,” I said.
“I also suppose so,” said the Sea King. “Indeed, they might make many books. After all, that’s what wizards do, isn’t it? Make books and put spells in them. But these spells, being formed of the body and blood of a powerful magical creature and being set down with a quill itself possessed of a powerful magic, would be stronger than ordinary spells. So strong, in fact, that they might bind the whole of a world’s magical forces to their command. Did they tell you this?”
“No,” I said again.
“And that magic stone, the dragon’s heart, did they say why they would not return it to the dragon?”
“Because if they did, the dragon would become even more powerful than he is now and be able to wreak even greater destruction than he already does,” I answered.
“That may be. It may also be that so long as they have the stone, the wizards are able to use its powers for their own ends. That lightning you saw, that your companion here used against my storm—I am almost certain that its power came from the dragon’s heart. Do you deny this?” he asked, turning toward Greytail.
“I do not,” said Greytail. “But it is one thing to use the stone’s power to defend myself and my shipmates from harm and quite another to use it to lay waste to the countryside, as the dragon would. And we do no such thing.”
“Hmmmm . . . and I suppose that it was to protect yourself and your fellows that you stole the pearl?” asked the Sea King quietly.
“Pearl?” asked Greytail, as if unsure what the Sea King was referring to.
“A pearl. One that belongs to me. You know what pearls are, I suppose?” the Sea King asked mockingly. “Or are you going to tell me that you know nothing of that?”
“I know something of pearls, Your Majesty,” said Greytail smoothly, “and those that adorn Your Majesty’s crown are certainly magnificent. Do you mean to say that one of them has been stolen?”
The Sea King’s face darkened with a terrible scowl, and his eyes glowed in a way that reminded me all too vividly of the Black Dragon. If the thin stream of bubbles that floated up from his nostrils had been wisps of smoke, I might have said that they were twins.
“Do not lie to me, little wizard. You know perfectly well of what I speak. And do not deceive yourself that your puny powers can avail you in any way against me here in my own halls,” he said fiercely.
“I would not presume to doubt Your Majesty’s power when every breath I draw here beneath the waves is proof of it,” said Greytail.
“So you do not doubt my power. Only my intelligence, apparently. Do you deny that someone from your order stole my pearl?” he asked.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Greytail pleaded. “I am by no means the most elevated of our order, and there are many secrets that are not known to me. Thus, I cannot deny with certainty that what you say may be true, but neither can I affirm that it is true.”
“You quibble,” said the King. “And you, Master Mariner,” he said to the captain, “what can you tell me of my stolen pearl?”
“My lord, forgive me,” said the captain, “I am as ignorant as my passenger, if not more so. Until tonight—if this is night—I had no idea that any pearls had been stolen from you, much less that a wizard might be the thief.”
“A wizard, perhaps—or a sea captain. One who knows the secret of breathing beneath the sea? You told your fellows you had been in a place such as this before.”
“If you, or your guards, overheard me telling that story, then Your Majesty will know of the circumstances by which I came to be in that place and how I left. I did not steal your pearl.”
“And you, wanderer from another world?” asked the King, turning toward me. “What do you know of this pearl?”
“Very little, I confess. There are stories on my world about a Sea King and realms beneath the waves, but before tonight I would have said they were mere legends.”
“And are legends, in your world, so devoid of substance that none believe them?”
“People in my world believe many things,” I answered, “but I do not see how all of them can be true. But whether some are true and others false, or all false alike, I cannot say. It may even be that all are true in some way I cannot understand.”
“And of my stolen pearl?” he asked.
“Nothing, my lord. Tonight is the first time I have learned of it.”
“So you, too, like your fellows, claim ignorance of its theft. All three of you deny any knowledge of the theft of my pearl.” He looked at each of us in turn before going on. “And yet, for all of that, the pearl is missing, and here are the three of you. Mighty spells I wove about that pearl to bind its magic to my own. And today I have pulled in the strands of that magic like a net, so that whoever stole it should be brought within my grasp. And here are you three before me, all saying you know nothing of my pearl or its theft. Which of you is lying, I wonder, or all three?” He paused. “Perhaps it will jog your memories if I show you where it was taken from. Yes, that might prove very useful indeed.”
He spoke again in the kind of barking and clicking language he had used to summon his daughters, and two mermen appeared. They listened to his orders and sped off again to fulfill whatever unknowable command the Sea King had just given them and we sat, anxiously wondering what our fate would be. As none of us spoke their language, or at least not that I knew of, none of us could guess the Sea King’s intent. Had he just ordered our executions? Imprisonment or some more subtle torture? In a few minutes the mermen returned. Between them, they were pushing the largest shell I had ever seen, an oyster shell more than six feet across, which they set on the floor in front of the Sea King. The King barked again and, at his command, the shell began to open. Inside was a gelatinous pink mass that wriggled like a tongue in an enormous mouth.
“My treasure box,” said the King. “And now, thief, thieves, or innocents, it is time to prove the worth of your words. You first, I think, Captain. Step into the shell.”
“What?” cried the captain, a look of horror on his face.
“Step into the shell. It will not harm you. Not even if you are guilty. I swear it. But when you step out we will know whether the words you have spoken are truth or lies.”
The captain shuddered and would have backed away, I think, if two of the Sea King’s daughters had not seized him by the arms and brought him forward to face the enormous oyster. When he stood before it, they released his arms, but stood behind him ready to grab him again if he should try to flee. The captain looked back over his shoulder at the Sea King, who said nothing, but stood impatiently grasping his trident, waiting for the captain to step forward into the giant oyster. Then slowly the captain turned to look first at Greytail and then at me. I, too, said nothing as there was literally nothing I could think of to do or say at that moment, except to watch to see what happened.
“Well, if it’s truth you’re after,” said the captain, “you will find that I spoke nothing less, assuming that what I myself believe to be truth is true. And if not . . .” He paused. “Well, it has been an interesting life anyway. I can’t deny that, though I might wish it were just a trifle less interesting at the moment.”
He stepped into the satiny pink mass that lined the shell of the giant oyster. His feet sunk into the oyster’s flesh and it seemed to grab onto his ankles. The captain started but did not cry out.
“So, Master Mariner,” said the Sea King, “I ask again. Did you steal my pearl?”
“I did not,” said the captain.
He stood there a moment with the oyster’s flesh grabbing onto his ankles, waiting to see what would happen, and then slowly, the oyster began to loose its hold of him.
“So, you spoke the truth,” the Sea King said, sounding surprised. “At least about the pearl. Very well, you may step out.”
The oyster released its hold on Captain Fleischman’s ankles and he stepped, shakily, out of the giant shell.
The Sea King turned to me.
“You next, other-worlder,” he said, gesturing with his trident.
I did not wait to be dragged, but stepped forward, bowing to the inevitable. And having seen the captain survive the ordeal, my own fear was somewhat lessened, although I cannot say I felt no trepidation as I stepped into the giant shell. The flesh of the oyster when I stepped onto it was rubbery and yielding, like stepping into a pool filled with jello. My feet sank into it until I felt the hard inner surface of the oyster’s shell beneath my feet. I tried to turn to see what was happening behind me but found that my ankles were held fast by the oyster’s rubbery flesh. The Sea King swam over into view.
“So, other-worlder, I ask you again. Where is my pearl?” the Sea King thundered.
“I don’t know,” I answered, as before.
“Did you take it?” he asked.
“I did not.”
“Do you know who took it?”
“I do not.”
The Sea King said nothing, but continued to peer intently at me, and it began to seem as if the shell of the oyster were closing upon me like a great pair of jaws. But after a moment, that feeling passed, and I wondered if the shell had moved at all.
“You may step out,” the Sea King said to me, just as he had said to the captain, and I did so quickly, eager to be out of that terrifying space.
“So, wizard,” said the Sea King, “now we come to you. The captain and the other-worlder have proven the truth of their words. It is time for you to do the same.”
“I have never lied,” said Greytail, bravely. “And if I do not speak the full truth to you, that is because it is not mine to give, even if you could stand to hear it. The truth, after all, is larger than any one of us, and one can speak but his or her own portion. Cork,” she said, turning to me, “if you manage to float yourself back to the surface, I beg you, return to our order and tell them what has happened. They will know what must be done.”
“Brave words from a lying wizard,” said the Sea King. “Stop wasting my time. Will you swim or be dragged?”
A look of fury crossed Greytail’s face and her eyes blazed like blue fire. For a moment I thought she might actually be going to attack the Sea King in his own hall, so fierce did she seem, but she merely stood, pushed off the floor, and swam into the giant oyster’s mouth. Planting both feet on the giant oyster’s rubbery flesh, she said defiantly, “I do not have your pearl, and I do not know where it is. And so, your worst unto me if I lie.”
Nothing happened for a moment, and I thought perhaps that she would go free as we had, but the Sea King turned to her and asked, “Did you or one of your order take the pearl?”
She did not answer but stared defiantly back at him without speaking.
“That is answer enough,” said the Sea King, and raised his trident. There was a flash of blue light that shot out of the tips of the trident and enveloped Greytail like a liquid lightning bolt. She stood, trapped in the radiant blue glow with her feet planted in the oyster’s mouth, and the shell began to close. I rushed forward, unthinkingly, to try and pull her out, but our erstwhile hostesses, the Sea King’s daughters, now became our jailors, and I found myself pinioned by two sets of burly arms and watched helplessly as Greytail was swallowed up by the shell of the giant oyster. The captain’s arms were similarly restrained though he had made no move towards the giant shell that now imprisoned Greytail.
“She will come to no harm,” the Sea King assured the captain and me. “My magic will enable her to breathe as surely as you are breathing now. I merely wish to keep her ‘safe’ for a while. How long a while that may be is up to you and the other wizards. I would bid you follow the little wizard’s advice. Return to the surface and go to the wizards’ castle and tell them what has befallen her. Tell them, also, that when my pearl is returned, I will release the little wizard. Until then, she will stay here for . . . safekeeping.”
How long I stood there staring dumbly at the ridiculous oversized oyster shell I cannot say. I had never before thought of oysters as particularly sinister, but at that moment the giant shell seemed the most hideously ugly thing I had ever seen. There was no sound of struggle from within it, and I was not sure whether to feel relieved or terrified at that thought. The captain, too, looked ashen-faced and badly shaken. Up till now, it seemed, this had all been some sort of grand adventure to him, or a daydream without consequences, but with Greytail gone, the jest had soured.
“What, gentlemen, lost your appetites? A wizard on the half-shell is not the sort of delicacy you see every day, I’ll admit, but there’s no reason for such glum faces. I assure you that your friend’s absence is merely temporary. As soon as you return the pearl to me, she will be released unharmed. But perhaps, if you’ve finished your dinners, you will want to get back to your ship, so you can begin looking for it right away,” concluded the Sea King with a jovial smile that seemed, nonetheless, vaguely, or perhaps not so vaguely, threatening. “Unless, of course, you’d rather stay . . .” he added with a casual wave of his arm toward the shell where Greytail was imprisoned.
“Thank you, no,” said the captain, recovering his tongue at last. “We would not wish to overstay our welcome.”
“I will convey your message to the wizards,” I said, “and I hope they will look more kindly upon the messenger than on the message, or else who knows what sort of creature I may find myself turned into.”
“Have no fear for your person, other-worlder. The message you carry is mine, and while you bear it, you shall be under my protection. If the wizards give you any trouble on account of the message you bear, blow this.” And here he handed me a great conch shell, with scenes such as those I had seen depicted on the mosaics carved into its spiraling sides. “When you blow it, wherever you are, I shall hear it, and answer your call, so do not use it lightly.”
“A kingly gift,” I said, admiring the delicate carvings on the shell, “but I would rather have my friend back.”
“And so you shall,” said the Sea King, “just as soon as my pearl is returned to me. Bear my message to the wizards.”
Apparently that was to be his last word on the subject, for having said it, he rose up from the table, hovered for a moment to add, “My daughters shall convey you to the surface when you are ready,” and with one mighty swish of his tail, sailed from the room.
I went toward the giant oyster shell with the vague idea of trying to pry it open somehow but was blocked by two of the mermen with long pikes, which they crossed in front of me. I thought briefly of trying to wrestle my way past them but concluded I would only end up getting myself speared like a fish. I turned back to the captain.
“Any suggestions?” I asked.
“None, save the obvious one of doing as the King bids us. We will be of more use to our friend alive than dead in any case.”
“Then let us go.”
“You are ready?” asked the mermaid who had introduced herself to me as Tigris.
“As ready as we can be under the circumstances,” I answered.
“Then come,” she said.
She and one of her sisters, the same I think who had stopped me earlier when I had tried to go to Greytail’s defense, each took me by an arm, while two other mermaids took the captain in a similar manner and began to swim with us in tow through the arched doorway and then up through the many levels of the palace. I had little time to marvel at the architecture and less inclination after what had just happened to Greytail, but I noticed as we ascended that the planes and right angles that would have defined any building made by men were far less common here and many rooms seemed to be built as a series of interconnecting caves of varying dimensions with only here or there the plane of a floor or the right angle of column to mark it as something built rather than carved out of the surrounding stone. We emerged after a few minutes through the palace roof and continued to swim upwards.
Soon the opening in the roof where we had emerged was just a distant square of light far below us, and then it vanished entirely, swallowed up by distance and the blackness of the seafloor. The light grew stronger as we approached the surface. I had heard that when deep-sea diving, you cannot rise too quickly because of the danger of getting “the bends,” something to do with nitrogen dissolved in the blood, I think. Apparently whatever magic the Sea King had used to let us breathe beneath the waves would prevent this from happening too. Or perhaps “the bends” was something that only afflicted mere humans, and the mermaids, unaware of this possibility, were rushing us up toward our deaths. There was nothing I could do about it in any case, but hold on and hope for the best as the mermaids towed us rapidly up through the water to the surface.
We did not die, but no sooner had my head emerged from the water than I was filled with a terrifying sensation. There was no air in my lungs and they were full of water! Having seconds ago been able to breathe comfortably and easily beneath the water, I was now suddenly choking, drowning, unable to draw breath now that my head was out of the water. The mermaid who held me, placed one great hand on my chest and pressed hard on my back with the flat of the other, forcing the water out of my lungs. I drew in a great gasping breath, but before I could do or say anything, she lifted me up out of the water and flung me through the air like a rag doll to her sister. I landed with my face pressed up against those enormous breasts, and then the sister picked me up and did the same—first holding me in her hand and striking me on the back to force water out of my lungs, and then flinging me back to her sister like a toy. This went on for some time, with the sisters laughing and tossing me back and forth between them like a sodden doll, but with each pass, I felt more of the water forced out of me and soon I was yelling at the top of my lungs, “Stop! Please, you’re killing me! Just put me back in the boat, please!”
For I saw now that we had emerged alongside our ship, the Siren’s Song, and the crew stood at the railings, watching open-mouthed as the mermaid sisters played their odd game of catch with the captain and me—and he, I could see, was getting just as rough treatment as I. The sisters laughed and continued tossing us back and forth between them.
