Brellitine Grever and The Sea of Gelled (The Brell Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  She looked away and realised that everyone in the room except for Callum was staring at her. He stood up and said, “Everyone knows that Timothy Grever has been taken. Brellitine is his sister. She is here for one reason and one reason only: to save him.” His eyes swept the room meaningfully. It seemed as though he was trying to warn them.

  Meaken broke in. “Stephano.” She looked at the copper-skinned, muscular merman sitting to her left and he stood to face Brell.

  “What is more expensive, time or money?” he asked.

  A sense of déjà-vu hit her. She remembered her mother asking her the same question on multiple occasions. The answer and the reason had always been the same. “Time, because once it’s lost you can’t get it back.” She frowned. “Is this a test?”

  “Yes.” Stephano smiled. “Do you have any experience in working… like cleaning rooms, dishes?”

  Brell glanced at Callum. “What does working have to do with saving Timmy?”

  Stephano repeated his question, as if he were talking to a five year old child. “Do you?”

  “When my dad passed away, my mum took me to my Aunt’s house and we lived with her even after my mum disappeared too. My aunt made me work all day. I’ve scrubbed millions of dishes, pots, pans, cleaned floors, milked cows, cut wood and made every single room in the house sparkling clean. So yes, I have worked, Stephano.” The angry tone rang throughout the room.

  Slightly embarrassed, he sat down.

  Meaken placed her palms in front of her and spread her fingers. Then she raised her hands, and a silver holographic image of a castle rose from the table. “This is the Great Queen Zeldae’s castle.” Meaken turned her palm and the semi-transparent castle swivelled till the main door faced Brell. Its massive pillars and giant central glass dome were odd, but mostly it reminded her of old fairy-tale castles, surrounded by vast, impressive gardens.

  “Brell, you have to enter from here —” Meaken turned the holographic image so that Brell could see the back, where there was a small door and an abnormally large knob. “Turn the knob thrice to the right and twice to the left. The door will open to reveal the servants’ quarters. Go straight through it and you will meet a merman named Thomas Red.”

  “Wait, wait.” Brell interrupted, baffled. “Why am I going inside Zeldae’s castle? And even if I am, why the servant’s quarters? That has nothing to do with Timmy.”

  She looked around the room, at Callum and then at Meaken. The latter pursed her lips into a firm line and said, “You want to save your brother and we are here to help you. Timmy is in the castle. If you want to rescue him, you must go there.”

  Brell frowned and only after a few moments did realisation flood her. She gasped. “You… want me to become a servant to enter the castle?”

  Chapter 10: The Sacri

  Meaken nodded, her mouth still set in a tight line. “You’ll have to. It’s the best way to roam about freely in the castle without being caught. You can search for clues and give us details about what is happening.”

  Brell took a few minutes to process what Meaken had just said. This was going just too fast. Her head felt slightly woozy. “Callum lives in the castle, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes, but he has guards always watching him. The Great Queen keeps an eye on him. A rather strict one, might I add. He will not be able to do what you can in the disguise of a servant. There is no other way. Either go into the castle, or don’t go at all.” Meaken said softly.

  She couldn’t believe this. It was so hazardous, waltzing into enemy territory. She had a sudden urge to go back to land, but the thought of Timmy captured make her blurt out, “Fine. What work will I have to do?”

  “Basic stuff.” Stephano pointed. “Things you have already done before. Cleaning rooms, doing the dishes, making beds, serving food.”

  She glanced desperately at Callum, who obstinately refused to meet her gaze and stared straight ahead, his jaw tight.

  “Ok.” She nodded, her head feeling a little heavy. “When do I leave?”

  “Tomorrow. There is a vacancy for a servant in the castle and I’ve already applied for you. Your name will be Susan Morris from now on, the same name used to book your room at Bucklebow Inn.”

  “Tomorrow.” Brell murmured to herself. “What did you mean when you said ‘search for clues’ earlier?”

  Stephano explained, “The Great Queen will not keep your brother out in the open. He will be hidden; most probably with an invisibility spell.”

  Brell nodded, swallowing hard to tamp down her rising panic. It didn’t work. “I have a question,” she said slowly.

  Callum smirked, probably for the first time since she met him. “Don’t you always?”

  Ignoring him, she continued. “Why is Zeldae the ruler of the Seven Seas?”

  The merpeople in the room grunted, as if the answer was one a child could answer. Meaken looked at her thoughtfully, and then said, “Do you have any other questions?”

  Brell sighed. “Tons.”

  “This meeting is over.” She announced, and with a wave of her hand, she dissolved the image of the castle. The merpeople swam to different parts of the cave, huddled together, whispered, and cast furtive glances at Brell.

  Only she and Meaken were left at the table. Scooting closer to Meaken, Brell noticed that Callum was in a deep conversation with Stephano.

  Meaken rapped her nails on the table. “The rebels forget that you don’t know much about the sea. They are just hesitant when someone new comes and that can turn quickly to irritation. You must understand that The Great Queen is extremely powerful. People don’t raise their voices against her because they are afraid of what she can do to anyone she is displeased with.” She steepled her fingers, a pensive look on her face. “She wants power, and she keeps it by being feared. She influences any and every decision when it comes to policies of the Seas. She shows herself to the public very rarely and it is the mystery that surrounds her that adds to the fear in people’s hearts.” She turned to Brell, gave her a searching look. “Don’t let the colour and energy around you fool you into thinking all is jolly and good here; it isn’t. We’ve just learnt to smile despite the situation around us.”

  Brell opened her mouth, but Meaken just smiled knowingly and asked, “How did she come to be the ruler? Well, here we have a matriarchal system, unlike the one that you humans have on land. We used to have one family that ruled all of the Seven Seas. Revolts broke out in all the Seas, with merpeople demanding to have separate rulers for each sea. They felt one ruler for all the Seas would neglect the small cultural differences in each sea while making policy decisions. So individual Royal Families whose bloodline had inborn magic were formed for each sea although the original family who ruled all the seas, now known as the Ruling Family, continued to have control over the Royal Family of each Sea. The Ruling Family and Royal Families are distantly related.” Meaken sat back, a grim look on her face. “Enter Zeldae. She was the great granddaughter of the Ruling Family. Her mother died at childbirth. Her grandparents were both dead — there is a whole other controversy surrounding that. They say Zeldae killed her great-grandparents and every other member of the Ruling Family to assume control over the Seas. Now she has undisputed authority, ruling over the individual Seas although they have their own Royal Family. Did you see any merpeople in black after the procession was over?”

  “Are you talking about the ones with weird tattoos of a fish with an arrow through it?”

  Meaken nodded. “You’re observant. That’s good. Those people are Zeldae’s prisoners. The rules here are so strict that even if a person commits the smallest of crimes, like stealing a fish strip, they are arrested. They are tortured, beaten and punished at even a small whimper of protest. Once, a young man stole a bottle of very cheap medicine for this ailing mother, and he was never heard of again. You might wonder why they do not swim free and hide. That tattoo you saw covers a scar which is caused when they are injected with an Inflictor. It’s a small metallic device
that can read the thoughts that run through the prisoner’s brain. If any of them decides to escape or entertains other subversive thoughts, the Inflictor causes them excruciating pain that renders them immobile.

  Brell shuddered, trying to prevent herself from imagining what was being talked about. “That’s… pretty ruthless.”

  “Oh, I’ve barely scratched the surface with the horrendous things she does.” Meaken gave a humourless chuckle. “She’s even turned drowning humans into a sport held annually.”

  “Who would support that?” her hand was over her mouth, horrified now. Innocent people died every year because of that horrendous creature.

  “Here in the Seas, we don’t know much about humans. They are this… species that are constantly hunting for us and the only way we know how to retaliate is hunt them back. But I’m sure if we get to know more about your people we will realise that you are almost just like us.”

  “Do you honestly believe that?” she looked around the room, realizing for the first time that she was a ‘different species’ for the merpeople staring at her. They probably didn’t even think she had feelings of her own. “What does Zeldae do with the dead humans?”

  “Use them for experiments, to find out more about them.” Meaken looked at her frankly. “Kind of like what humans would do if they captured a merperson. A demon lives within each of us, Brell. It’s up to us if we try and change that or not.”

  “Go on.” Brell whispered, her face pale.

  “Before the Ruling Family disappeared, the Seas were a much brighter place. The Ruling Family as a body were kind. Noble. Deserving. Zeldae, though she comes from their bloodline, is their antithesis. In her first year of rule, she declared that the eldest merchild of every family, at turning twelve years of age be taken away for either her army or as a servant. They don’t ever come back home. Her iron control of the people is strictly enforced; when merpeople turn seventy years of age, she has them executed.”

  “Why?” she was appalled, her thoughts moving to gentle Jane.

  “Because they are no longer an asset. According to her, beyond that age they become useless because the money spent on their food, clothing and accommodation is a wasted resource. Once, on a whim, she swam down to the residential boulders with only five guards. Anyone she thought looked displeasing was executed on the spot. One brave merman saw this and swam ahead to warn the others to stay in their homes. She killed him herself and put his entire family in prison. Just on a whim.”

  “People should revolt against a terrible beast like her.”

  “That’s what we’re here for.” Meaken gestured to the room.

  The rebel group was needed. She hadn’t realised how dire the situation was in the sea. Perhaps they thought that by helping her save her brother, they would give people hope. And hope can be a very strong emotion; she of all people knew that. Her gaze had drifted to the symbol that was carved into the walls of the cave. Meaken caught her staring at it. “You must want to know what that is.”

  Brell nodded. “Can I touch it?”

  Meaken looked surprised. “Sure, go ahead”

  She got up, and brushed her fingers over the large, rough sign, its curves and the dots next to each curve. The symbol was six feet wide. “What is it?”

  “It’s our sign. The twisted line,” Brell pointed to it and Meaken nodded, “stands for flexibility, bravery, courage and the ability to adapt to any situation presented to you. The dot at the bottom stands for the most fundamental principle we live by, which is self-worth. The dot above that represents the power of the mind over the body. And the last one…” she paused, gazing at the indentation with gentle eyes. “is for freedom. That was the original meaning of our symbol. However, many of our group now think of it as a representation of revenge. But if that’s what will give us freedom from Zeldae, I’m not complaining.”

  “How did the Sacri come about?”

  Meaken sighed. “There are so many stories, and honestly, I don’t know which one is true. Some say The Great Queen wronged a powerful and wise group of merpeople, and they retaliated in this way, the only way they could find. They wanted to get rid of Zeldae, but in non-violent ways. Others say that it was just a mutual understanding between a group of peace lovers who hated the destruction Zeldae caused.” She got up and moved close to Brell. “But the one I believe in is probably the most unlikely of all.”

  Her voice lowered to a whisper. “The queen who died giving birth to Zeldae knew that her daughter would be born evil. Supposedly, before the birth, she entered into a pact with her most trusted followers that they would do what was best for the Seas — the original Sacri.”

  She considered that for a moment, trying to picture the events in front of her. There was so much history behind this sign, behind this world she was in. It intrigued her, challenged her, but she also felt apprehensive about it at the same time.

  “No one even realised that Zeldae was a spirit in the form of a mermaid until the first time she held a ceremony to put a human heart inside her body.”

  “I won’t let her do that to my brother.” Brell spat out the words before she even realised it.

  “I know it’s hard for you.” Meaken gently placed her hand on her shoulder.

  Brell pressed her temples. Letting out a slow water-breath, she said,

  “I’ll be fine. Thanks.” They sat in silence for a few moments.

  “Callum told me that you all know how it feels when Zeldae takes someone you love. Who did she take from you?”

  Meaken stared at the cave walls, lost in memory. Finally, she sighed heavily. “Everyone knows this story, so I think you deserve to hear it too. A decade ago, even before I joint this group, I had a younger sister named Erene. She was just three and I was twelve. We were inseparable. We did everything together. Then my parents sent me to my cousins in Tatis,” seeing Brell’s confused look, she added, “another Sea. They didn’t tell me why they sent me away. Erene couldn’t come because she was too young. So I had to bid my younger sister farewell and I left. When I came back, Erene was gone.”

  Brell didn’t know what to say.

  “Zeldae was to take away the eldest child of our family; me. That’s why my parents sent me away. They thought that Zeldae’s guards wouldn’t take the trouble of taking me from Tatis and they would let me be. But …”

  “They took Erene instead.” Brell finished.

  “Yeah.” Meaken nodded miserably. “And every day I live with the fact that had I known the reason why I was sent away, I could have just come back and Erene would still be here.”

  “You would have been taken, thereby saving her.” Brell said quietly. She knew how it felt, with Timothy gone.

  “Hey Brell?” She looked back towards Meaken. “Would you do me a favour?”

  “Sure.”

  “I didn’t know that Erene was alive until six months ago. We have tried so hard to rescue her but it’s almost impossible because she is always under the supervision of other mermaids and Callum is always followed by guards around the castle. There are other reasons too. Every plan we make fails. Most likely, she doesn’t know or remember me. But if you see her, can you tell her that I love her and miss her? And please tell her that I will try my best to get her out of there!”

  “Of course I’ll tell her.” She took Meaken’s hand and squeezed it gently. “But…” she hesitated. “If Zeldae has taken her, how is she alive?”

  Meaken managed a small, sad smile. “Whenever she takes somebody away from a family, she makes them her servant or trains them for her army. That’s the reason she has so many servants and such large armies. I’m counting on that fact, even though Erene was quite young when they took her.”

  “I promise I’ll do my best to find her.” Brell said.

  “Thanks, Brell.” Meaken stared blindly into the cave wall, lost in memories again.

  Brell let her be, giving her some space.

  Getting up, she wandered around the cave. The other merpeople were sti
ll giving her doubtful glances. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Callum looking at her.

  “Tell me what happened after Meaken realised Erene was gone.”

  Callum frowned. “She, like everyone else who had been wronged by Zeldae, was angry. She thought Erene was dead, and the anger she felt was the main reason she volunteered to join the Sacri. I think it is this anger that drives her and makes her such a great leader.”

  Brell lowered her voice. “Why are all of them staring at me like they expect me to start tap-dancing or something?”

  Callum chuckled, but behind that laugh, there was some seriousness. “That’s another story I’ll tell you some day.”

  She sighed. “Something’s puzzling me.”

  “Shoot.” Callum said.

  “You’re the prince of this sea. I don’t understand who Zeldae took from you.” She said slowly.

  Chapter 11: The Talking Map

  She wished she could just reach out, grab the words she had said, and stuff them back into her mouth.

  Callum frowned, and his hands clenched into fists.

  “I’m sorry.” She said quickly. “I didn’t mean to —”

  “It’s fine” Callum said. “It’s just a touchy subject.”

  She didn’t say anything, but just watched him carefully. After a few agonizing minutes he said “You know that Zeldae can do magic, right?”

  “So I’ve heard.” She was choosing her words carefully now.

  “The magic she uses to control people is extremely powerful, but there is a catch. It only works for those who are above the age of twenty. She uses it only on the Royal Family because only they are worth controlling. It has no effect on me and Lenny, my sister.” He stared into the distance, but she could tell he was seeing something else. “She will turn twenty soon though.” He gave a minute head shake then refocused on Brell. “But… it worked on my parents.”