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“Felix!”
“They said you were dead,” the young guard said wonderingly. “How did you survive in the open ocean all this time?”
“I had help.” Merletta looked meaningfully at August and Eloise, and Felix’s eyes widened in shock.
“Merletta?” the first guard repeated sharply. “You’re the fugitive?”
The conversation had caught the attention of others, as well. Slowly, word spread through the crowd like ink in the water, stilling the fighting.
“It’s our trainee!” someone shouted. “She’s alive!”
“She’s a criminal,” one of the guards said, steel in his eyes as he swam forward with purpose.
A roar of fury greeted his words, and he was immediately swamped by a dozen of the onlookers. As other guards rushed to his aid, panic rose quickly in Merletta. This would be a bloodbath if she didn’t calm the frenzy.
“Stop!” she cried. There was a pause, as many pairs of eyes darted to her. “Yes, I’m Merletta. I’m very much alive, and I’m not guilty of the crime I was accused of. I’m not hiding. I’m here to respond to the allegations made against me. Please, don’t anyone kill anyone else over me.”
“It’s just like those shellsmiths said,” someone told their neighbor excitedly. “It was all a set up, and she escaped.”
The guard who had been going to seize Merletta made no immediate move to grab her again, although she noticed the subtle nod he sent toward a fellow guard at the back of the crowd. The mermaid detached herself from the group, swimming rapidly away toward the Center.
Merletta wasn’t perturbed. She’d never expected to be able to sneak in, not this time.
“You have nothing to answer for, we all know you were framed!” someone called from the back.
“Don’t speak nonsense,” snapped one of the guards. “She’s been convicted of stealing records from the Center.”
“Convicted without any chance to give an answer to the allegations?” August chimed in. All eyes flew to him.
“Who are you?” the guard asked rudely.
Felix made a tsking noise, and the two guards from the barrier shifted uncomfortably.
“My name is August,” August said calmly. “I’m a squad leader from Skulssted. I haven’t been inside the triple kingdoms for some time, but I understand that my patrol and I are reported to have died of land sickness. That’s not quite how I remember events, however.”
Shocked exclamations sounded throughout the crowd—which had doubled in size by now, everyone in the vicinity sensing a commotion. No one could fail to remember the furore over the supposedly dead guard patrol.
“Enough of this,” said another guard uneasily. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think we’d best escort you all back to the Center.”
“By all means,” August said coolly.
“You’re not taking our trainee off to the Center!” shouted an onlooker. “We’re not giving you another chance to kill her somewhere out of sight.”
“Thanks for the support,” said Merletta, sending the speaker a grin. “Why don’t you come along?”
The crowd roared its approval, everyone surging forward to swim alongside the group. Merletta saw merpeople darting off on all sides, no doubt telling their friends of the imminent showdown.
Perfect. The more public the coming scene, the better.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” muttered Felix, coming up alongside her.
“Just barely,” Merletta informed him lightly. She frowned, taking in the new stress lines on his face. “Where are Freja and the others?”
“Freja was demoted for standing up for you,” Felix said shortly. “We were all reassigned.”
Merletta winced, gratitude and guilt shooting through her. But she was too distracted by her surroundings to say more. As they progressed through Tilssted, she was horrified to see how far things had deteriorated in her absence. The city was swarming with guards, and fights like the one she’d witnessed near the farms were happening everywhere. More than once she caught the cloying taste of blood in the water, and her heart broke a little more for the city of her childhood.
Not that the fighting continued in her path, of course. As the cavalcade continued southward, everyone stopped to gape. The whispered rumor was traveling more quickly than the group, and everyone seemed to already know that their supposed champion had returned from the dead, full of accusations and ready for a reckoning. By the time they crossed into Skulssted’s cleaner waters, there were hundreds of merpeople swimming in their wake. The onlookers now considerably outnumbered the guards, who were growing visibly nervous.
