The Sorceress of Belmair

Please come back again, Antea. I must go now or they will see you.

I will come back. Antea swam swiftly away through the thick seaweed that surrounded the magic bubble. She could not wait to find Agenor and tell him of what she had discovered. For weeks the Merfolk had searched the seas in vain looking for something out of the ordinary. And now she, Antea, a mere slip of a mermaid, had discovered something very unusual. She hoped it was what Agenor had been looking for all this time. She, like all the rest of her kind, had been told little. Seek for the unusual beneath the sea, Agenor had instructed them. Well, she had certainly found something unique in the civilization of bubbles that seemed to house small villages, and a very large bubble that held a castle.

It took her several days to reach her destination. The tide was high, permitting her to swim directly into Agenor’s cave. “Father!” she said, calling to him.

The chief of the Merfolk was lounging upon his great rock, peeling and eating a pineapple. His russet-red beard was wet with the fruit’s juices. He looked up at the sound of her voice. “Antea, my daughter, you looked exhausted. Here. Have a piece of pineapple, and refresh yourself.” He handed her a chunk of the fruit.

Antea popped it into her mouth, chewing, well satisfied. When she had swallowed the piece, she said, “Father, would you consider a community of great bubbles beneath our sea in which are villages, and one with a castle, unique?” Her green eyes were dancing merrily, for from the look upon his face Antea knew she had found whatever it was which her father had been seeking.

“I would indeed consider it odd,” Agenor said to his daughter. “You have found such a place? Where is it?”

“It is located in the remote western seas nearer to Beldane than any other land mass. I spoke to a girl within the bubble. She knows the silent language, Father. I think those within the bubble must be magic.”

“I believe, my daughter,” Agenor said, “that you may have found what we have been looking for, and I must now send for Duke Alban. See if you can find that pesky gull of mine,” he told her.

Antea swam to the mouth of the cave, and called, “Nereus! Your master needs you. Come quickly!” As she swam back into the cave, the gull whizzed by her ear, landing itself on a ledge near Agenor’s rock.

“Greetings, Agenor! How may I serve you today?” the gull asked.

“Go to Duke Alban, and tell him I may have found what he seeks,” Agenor instructed his messenger. “And hurry!”

“Is the duke to await further word from you, Agenor, or is he to come with all possible haste?” the gull wanted to know.

“Ask him to come as soon as possible,” Agenor replied.

“I will return with his answer as soon as I can, but it is afternoon now. I suppose you can expect me on the morrow sometime,” the seagull said. Then swooping down from the ledge where he had perched himself, Nereus left through the cave entry, his wings stirring up a slight breeze.

Duke Alban was surprised to find himself being addressed by a large seagull in his gardens as the sun set into the western sea. He listened, and then thanked the bird.

“You will remain the night, of course. I will have my servants bring you some fresh herring. Where will you be?”

“The water is calm, and will remain so for a time,” the gull replied. “I shall rest there in your little harbor, my lord duke. Your servant may call to me, and I will come for my meal. My name is Nereus.”

The seagull remained the night, bobbing upon the gentle swell of the sea by Alban’s home. When the duke looked out of his bedchamber window as the sun was coming up the following morning, he saw the gull rising from the harbor on his strong wings, and flying off down the coast to the realm of the Merfolk. Dressing himself, he then turned to face a small blank section of wall within his apartments. He spoke the words that Dillon had given to him. “King of Belmair, hear my call. Come to me from out yon wall.” Still he was a little startled to see Dillon stepping from the stone wall and into his chamber. He bowed. “Agenor wants us to come with all possible haste. He may have found something for you, Majesty.”

“I hope his news is good,” Dillon said. “Sapphira is driving me mad. She is beautiful. She is uninhibited, but she is the most boring female I have ever known. Even my littlest sister, Marzina, has more of interest to say than Sapphira. Her only virtue is that she gives me pleasures without complaint.”

“It is early,” the duke said. “Have you eaten? Would you like breakfast?”

“Let us go and see what Agenor has to say first. I will not enjoy my food otherwise. We will use Shadow magic today. Step beneath my cloak,” the king said.

“What if the tide is in?” Alban asked nervously.

Dillon smiled. “A good thought,” he paused. “And now it is fixed.” He draped his white cloak about them, and when Alban opened his eyes again, for he had instinctively closed them, they were standing upon a crescent of sand before Agenor’s rock.

“Good morrow, Agenor!” Dillon called to the merman.

“Ah, so ’twas your magic that swept the water back,” Agenor said. “My messenger isn’t even back yet, and here you are. Come up and join me upon my rock, and let the waters flow back in. It is my young daughter, Antea, who brings the news I believe you seek, king of Belmair.”

With a casual wave of his hand, Dillon set himself and Duke Alban up upon Agenor’s huge flat-topped stone seat of office. He next produced two pillows, and they sat, one on each side of the chief of the Merfolk. “I believe we are ready to hear what it is your daughter has to say to us, Agenor.”

“Antea, come into the cave,” Agenor called in a booming voice.

They watched as the mermaid swam beneath the crystal blue-green waters and over the pale sugar sands into the cave. When she popped to the surface, they saw a very pretty girl with long, thick, blond hair and bright sea- green eyes. “Good morrow, Father,” Antea said. “Good morrow, my lords.”

“This is the king, Daughter,” Agenor said, gesturing with a hand to Dillon. “Tell him exactly what you saw, and where you saw it.”

“Three days ago as I swam beneath the western seas I came upon a group of large bubbles, and within these bubbles were villages, and in one, a castle. I knew at once it was magic. As I watched I observed mortal folk moving back and forth within the village bubbles, living their lives in an ordinary fashion.”

“Were some of these folk silver-haired, Antea?” Dillon asked the mermaid.

“Indeed, Majesty, all the men seemed to be and some of the women, but most of the women were dark or fair,” Antea said.

“Did you swim near the castle?” Duke Alban inquired.

“I did! It is most beautiful, but it is set within a garden. As I swam closer to view the garden I saw a girl, and she saw me. She smiled, and then she spoke to me in the silent language. I was very surprised, but then I thought that all of it is surely magic-made, my lords, so the folk within, while looking mortal, are nonetheless magic.”

“Did the girl tell you who they were?” Dillon asked.

“Nay, we spoke but briefly, but then someone called her. She did not want them to see me, and told me to go. But she asked me to return again. She says she goes to the garden at the same time each day,” Antea said.

“Did you hear the girl’s name when it was called?” Dillon said.

Antea nodded her head. “But she had already told me her name, and I told her mine. Her name is Cinnia.”

Dillon groaned as if he had been injured. Then he took a deep breath, and asked Antea, “Tell me what this girl looked like.”

“She was as pale as the moonlight with beautiful long sable-black hair and spring-green eyes. When I first saw her she was digging in a great box of what looked like real earth such as I have seen from the sea. It was not sand.”

“It would appear that my daughter has found the queen,” Agenor said quietly.

Dillon nodded, and then he said, “Antea, I need you to return to that castle. Will you go for me? I know it is far, but you have already earned a great reward for your discovery. And you will have anything I can give you if you will continue to aid me.”

“My lord, I will gladly aid you for naught,” Antea said, and Agenor beamed with pride at his daughter’s kind heart.

“You must go back to the bubble with the castle, and wait until you see Cinnia again. Let no one else see you. Speak to no one else. Speak only to her,” Dillon said.

“What shall I say, Majesty?” Antea asked him.

“Ask her if she is the daughter of Fflergant, and wife to Dillon. If she tells you she is then say to her,