“Sounds familiar,” Brother Al said.
“One of his high-ranking soldiers—an angry, arrogant Aquan known as Venom-heels.He led a revolt, a mere three months ago, and in the fray, our society has been destroyed and is in the process of being rebuilt.There are expectations—Venom-heels assumes he will, by right of power, retain the Throne since it was his hand that slew Shatter-pins.And he is correct if things had not shifted tonight.”
“What does any of this have to do with our friends?”I asked.
“Patience, my dear,” Flag-Staff said.“Venom-heels is the one who imprisoned your friends.He has charged them with the high crime of Invasion, Land-Walking, and Sedition, and intends on punishing them via public execution.”
I gasped.
“No, that won’t work,” Brother Al said.“I hope you have your methods sorted.Most of them have died once already.A second execution may not even register.”
“There are torches and flames at the ready.And an array of assorted torture devices, including some particularly rare, extremely toxic jellyfish.”
“I’m sure they didn’t mean to invade,” I said.“And you can’t blame us for walking on land.”
“You are correct.I believe, as do many other nobles such as myself, that Venom-heels is appealing to racial hatred we Aquans have for land-dwellers.It is a crude, nasty, unforgivable part of our nature, and yet all societies have their prejudices, do they not?”
“How can we stop this?”I asked.“If you guys will let us leave, I’m sure we’ll all get out of the lake and stay out.”
“If only Venom-heels would listen to reason,” Flag-Staff said.“It’s a shame.He considers logic and compassion tools of the air-breathers.”
“Are we not breathing oxygen now?”I asked.
“It’s different,” Flag-Staff said, voice annoyed.“You’re distracting me.The only way to stop this is the prophecy regarding Shatter-pins’ heir,” Flag-Staff said.“When we were first founded—our dwelling, that is—an old priestess uttered one final prophecy before she, ah… croaked.She said that our ruler would die and be replaced by a terrible King.And he would be dethroned by the heir of Shatter-pins, once he was inspired by the kiss of the moon found on the lake waters.”
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“You’re kidding me,” I said.“You cannot be serious with this.”
“Yes, I speak of the mark on your neck,” Flag-Staff said.“The Moon Kiss.”
“Unbelievable,” I said.I shot my gaze over to Brother Al, whose face seemed blank.“This is crazy, right?”
“All things have a reason, though I admit, this beggars disbelief.”
“There will be yet time for more discussion at a later juncture,” Flag-Staff said.“I am also your… oh, what’s the word… representation.Your attorney.”
“For what?”I asked.
“Your trial,” Flag-Staff said.“You are charged with Heresy.”
“I didn’t even do anything,” I said.
“Yes, but you are, in fact, the Moon-Kissed, or have been perceived as such during your initial arrest.”
“I’m not the Moon-Kissed,” I said.
“Mmmm, perhaps that is not the best defense,” Flag-Staff said.“You are to go on trial for the crimes of being Land-Dwellers.For entering forbidden space.For being the Moon-Kissed.All of this and more.Now, we have two trial defenses.You can deny being the Moon-Kissed, which will likely free you from sentencing for that crime.”
“Let’s do that,” I said.
“Of course, then you will be equally as guilty for being a Land-Dweller,” he said.“For which you will most likely be executed.The best defense here seems to be a long-running policy plan.We establish legally that you ARE the Moon-Kissed, and then from there, we will have legal reason to keep you alive.And legal groundwork for the succession of the Shatter-pins’ heir.”
“How long do we have before our trial starts?”Brother Al asked.
“Approximately, oh, five minutes.”
I cursed loudly.Flag-Staff blinked, first his left eye, then his right.
