“My Runa was lucky enough to survive the blast that took her twin sister, but she is badly injured and unconscious. She may never wake up.”
The crowd reacts, unquestioning. They believe every word, though curiously, no one had heard ofthismine explosion before. No rumor made the rounds. There wasn’t an eyewitness account. Not even a well-placed hero dragging the girls’ bodies into the castle, relaying the story.
Nothing.
He just says it and they believe him. No criticalthinking. Not even a question.
I nearly wipe my view right then. I can’t watch a man lying to his people. Using untruths to work them into a caustic froth of fear and vengeance.
“The royal family will bury Princess Alia in her garden at dawn tomorrow. The funeral will be closed to the public, and I ask that you respect our privacy in this time. Meanwhile, I would be honored if you would pray to Urda to return Princess Runa to us soon.”
He expects to get Runa back.
He’ll visit again.
And if she stays on land, he’ll kill her off, too, using her death as another strike against humankind.
“The loss we as a people have suffered today is great. But hear me now: it will only become worse. This war above has the markings of being the greatest, most devastating war the world has ever seen, and the mines are not our only danger.”
The people sit up, spines straight.
“Great warships are already patrolling our waters, new cannons at the ready. Flying ships have appeared in the sky, dropping bombs a hundred times as powerful as the floating mines. And if a threat doesn’t come from a mine or a cannon or a great flying ship above, it may very well come fromdown below.”
There’s another collective gasp.
“Yes, down below. The humans have created ships thatsail underwater. U-boats are what they have named them, but what I call them is the greatest threat we have ever faced from humankind.”
Feverish, the crowd is in motion now, tails flapping, sending plumes of violent bubbles swirling.
“The U-boats are meant to destroy large warships before being detected. They’re stealthy metal beasts, loaded to the teeth with ammunition. One has already sunk a large British warship, killing more than two hundred human men—a mission so successful it is sure to lead to a swarm of these boats in all waters from here to the Atlantic.”
The crowd grows louder, and the panic on their faces makes it all come clear. Everyone is setting up scenarios in their heads—for the lack of thinking they did when accepting his story of Alia’s death and Runa’s “injuries,” the wheels are really turning now.
“A swarm of these U-boats means not only more explosions, but, for the first time, we face a real, immediate threat of discovery. Humans can live on these ships underwater for days at a time. Reach depths no man can swim. They have equipment that can sense our settlements in a way no human has before.”
He pounds on the podium, the coral spires threatening to snap.
“If they can see us, they can capture us. If they capture us, they can prove our existence. And then we all knowwhat comes next—mass imprisonment, enslavement, extinction.”
The crowd has risen off the stadium steps.
“Humans have always been our enemy. The most dangerous threat to our kind. We have lived in peace for millennia, but the time has come when we can no longer hide. We can no longer sit quiet. We cannot wait for them to find us. To save our kind and our way of life, we must act.”
The stadium roars in approval. It’s loud enough that I not only hear the booming applause through the cauldron, but in echo as the tide carries it from the sea kingdom straight into my waters. The polypi tremble with the vibration of hundreds of thousands of voices yelling.
The king finishes, his voice no longer thunderous but heavy and grave. “Go home, my dear citizens. Go home and hug your loved ones tight, have a good meal, and get a solid night’s sleep. Because the day is coming soon when we will fight back.”
Ragn was right.He’s planted fear within them. He knows how to sow it and grow it into what he needs it to be.Yes, yes, he has. And what the sea king needs is war. He could have easily blamed Alia’s death on me. It would be true, and they’ve always feared me. But if he turns the merpeople against me, he’ll never get his Runa back.
Still, there is no way he will win a fight against man.With magic or without, if humans are good at one thing, it’s destruction.
I swivel the tentacle to capture the sea king’s face as he returns to his chambers after the big speech. Only Queen Bodil is with him, the other members of his family stripped away. She leans into an embrace that seems somewhat forced, his stance cold. “Don’t stay up too late, my king. Heed your own words—even kings must sleep.”
“I’ll be along shortly.”
The queen tips her lovely head in acknowledgment and then disappears without another word.
Bodil gone, the sea king closes the door to his study and pulls out a tightly corked bottle—what looks to be hvidtøl, pilfered from a human vessel.
