“Can we do theWhaling Song?" Jeanie yelled over the mysterious noise.
“Fine,” Nora replied.
The woman turned and began marching toward the glowing portal that opened into Leviathan Hall, all clapping their hands in rhythm.
“Slash him, slice him, stab him with a spear,”Nora sang.
“Make the brute regret his birth, cripple ‘im with fear!”came Jeanie.
“Use the bow to break his bones, and with a fury, grim!”Molly chimed.
“We’ll boil away his oily flesh and make an end of him!”they all finished.
“How is this song in any way calming?” Tyrell asked.
“It’s really more about the rhythm than the words,” Julian shrugged.
The wailing sound quieted as theWhaling Songcontinued, with each line becoming progressively more disturbing. Lia had not heard many shanties in her life, but she could not help wondering if all of them were so pointlessly morbid or only those sung in Manor Salamar?
As Lia finally passed into the hall, she was momentarily blinded by the bright lights. When her eyes adjusted, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
The hall, once a splendid gathering place for nobles, still flaunted high arched windows, chandeliers, and white walls with golden trim. However, most of the floor had been replaced by a deep pool of foamy seawater.
None of this was what made Lia question her vision though. It was the creatures she sawinthe pool that gave her pause. The two . . .animalslooked like they had been taken directly from the tapestries in the corridor. The larger was poking its head up above the water as a seal would while eying the shore. Its blobby head looked like it belonged to the child of a catfish and a walrus.
Lia might have been horrified if it weren’t for the whiskers and sad brown dog-like eyes. These combined with the fat-blubbery body made the . . .thingsort of endearing in a strange way.
It had flippers like a seal, but the tail was like that of a dolphin except scaly instead of smooth. Twisting its body into a U-shape, it brought both its head and tail above water at the same time, then with a great slap of its flukes, submerged all at once.
The smaller creature popped its head up a moment later. It looked just like the other, except with larger eyes and a pudgier face. It was a baby . . . um,thing. The little one threw its head back and released that strange wailing sound.
“Give us a moment, Chunky,” Nora sighed. “My voice is getting sore.”
“You ladies sound lovely,” Julian complemented. “You must sing something for our wedding.”
Tavia responded with the squeak of a cornered mouse. The poor princess was drinking in the scene with her mouth slightlyopen, and her tiny eyebrows arched all the way up into her hairline.
Lia probably looked much the same. Whatever she expected to find in Julian’s forbidden hall this . . . this was not it.
“Well, we ought to be good! He never lets us stop,” the speaker was yet another woman, who was strolling toward them from the opposite side of the pool. Her skin was blotchy from decades of sun-damage, her long silver hair was frizzy at the ends. She had what looked like a white choker necklace on her throat, but Lia realized it was just a tan-line.
She glanced around the room again, noticing two other women — one carrying a bucket of fish and another was sitting by the far wall repairing a net. That made six women, she started to look for number seven but her gaze snapped back to the women mending the net.
She was the oldest of the lot but her silver hair still maintained a hint of . . .Blue.Lia shot a glance at Julian’s beard, then back at the woman’s hair. While still processing this, a loud splash echoed through the room as woman number seven emerged from the water and pulled herself out onto the poolside.
“I’ve opened the hatch!” the sopping newcomer called as she pulled the wet hair away from her face.
As she did so, Lia noticed she also had a white tan-line across her throat. Did any of the others have that? Nora did and . . . Lia squinted. So did the blue-grey lady in the corner. Chokers necklaces must have been the fashion here at some point.
“Has she been under water this whole time?” Tyrell sputtered, gaping at woman number seven.
Julian shrugged.
“You could hold your breath too, if you just practiced,” Nora pointed out.
“Not for twenty minutes!” Tyrell cried.
“You forget,” Jeanie grinned at Nora. “Men of his station don’t like wetting their dainty toes.”
