About an hour later, in the palace’s dining hall, except for the occasional grunt and nod in their direction, the king ignored them all as he sat at the end of the long banquet table, letting Verena, Tiphaine’s mermaid friend, explain the current situation to them. His expression was one of utter indifference – he clearly didn’t believe they could be trusted with anything. He’d rather simply kill them and have them join the corpses, though luckily, it seemed he would stay his hand due to Verena’s wishes.

The table they were sat or floating at in the cavernous palace dining hall was huge, it could easily seat a hundred men. Emony briefly wondered about its purpose, given the four of them were the only ones there, sitting at one of its ends, while fish of every variety swam under the beautifully ornamented domed ceiling.

“It’s not necromancy,” Verena was explaining in answer to one of Tiphaine’s questions. “They’re not undead – just puppets controlled with strings of magic. The same spell could be used on a wooden doll, it’s just that skeletons and corpses are better suited for the task.”

“What task is that?” Emony asked. She had been avoiding the question for a few minutes now, speaking around the issue instead.

The real mermaid uneasily glanced over at her and sighed. “I suppose I should tell you… We want to find my sister. She’s… missing. She was taken by the humans, over ten years ago.”

“I heard the men of the lake started attacking about two months ago,” she thought out loud, privately wondering about which exit would most likely get her and Tiphaine out of the palace alive if things went sour. There were no good options.

“That’s what they call them on the surface, isn’t it? Yes, you’re right. Aulduyen only recently managed to climb up out of the abyss, gaining these strange powers. But this whole tragic story started much earlier. Did they tell you anything about the rebellion? About the coup?”

“Not really,” Tiphaine said, “But we’ve only been here a day, and we spent it gathering things to unpetrify the villagers.”

“A poor excuse,” the king murmured, mostly to himself. “Nothing is more important than my queen.”

Verena glanced at him for a moment before continuing. “Aulduyen’s taken her loss poorly, as have I. We just want her back… But, Tiphaine, I hope my veil is serving you well. Are you still on your quest to cure yourself of the Eyes?”

“Yes, I am. I’m… not having much luck. It doesn’t seem like the curse can be broken. But the veil is great.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I must confess that I’ve found nothing, either, and I have spent some time searching. Even the sea witch couldn’t find a solution. The Eyes are truly a terrible curse, and for you to be the one unfortunate lamia in the whole world that must bear it… It must be difficult for you, no? I’m so glad you’ve found a companion. But how did you come to meet another mermaid?”

“About that… I first met Emony before I did you, actually. And he’s been great, though I wonder how long he’ll stay with me, considering the things I get him into—”

“You’re admitting they’re your fault?”

“I’m sorry, him?” Verena asked.

The king, sitting on his throne, threw them a bemused look, removing himself from his thoughts for a quick moment.

“Emony is… a guy,” Tiphaine stammered, “Though me and Lenah complicated things slightly a few weeks ago.”

“I’m still a guy,” Emony corrected.

A quiet chuckle escaped Verena. “Lenah? That hedonist? You’re still in touch with her?”

“Yeah. And she is the one who brought us here, actually. We thought you might know something about how to help Emony. You’re the only mermaid any of us know.”

“What happened, precisely?”

“Let’s just say Lenah’s tinkering didn’t work properly. Emony used to be a werewolf, but now… he seems to be human on land, but whenever he touches water, he becomes a mermaid.”

“I’m no human.”

“That’s… some tinkering. Could it really be possible?”

“You can see my tail, can’t you?” Emony asked.

The real mermaid turned to her. “Yes, but to create something like this out of lycanthropy… And for you to be able to leave the water freely and walk the surface, regrowing legs at will… That makes you one of a kind. No mermaid could do such a thing – and Aulduyen tells me you are even able to sing as a siren? Lenah must have seriously improved her craft. The last time I saw her, she was still abusing love potions. I don’t know if I can help you… But… but Aulduyen might be able to.”

The king turned his gaze upon them again. “The only thing that is important is the return of my queen,” he said quietly, before becoming lost in thought again.

Verena turned to face Emony again with a look of uncertainty. “I think… Maybe if you could help us, we could help you.”

Emony exchanged a glance with Tiphaine. She really made the worst kinds of friends.

“Actually, if there is a solution in this world for your curse, too, Tiphaine, it may be here. Aulduyen possesses magic the likes of which has never been seen,” Verena said. “The measure of it is unbelievable. I’ve never seen something so dark, but perhaps it could erode even the Eyes. He may be able to cure you! We just… we need your help first. Emony, your song could prove useful if you could deploy it on land, along with Tiphaine’s Eyes, as long as she has them.”

“Do you really think...?” Tiphaine exclaimed. “I’ve… I never thought… Do you really think I can be cured?”

Emony hoped Tiphaine wasn’t getting her hopes up too high again. Hers was truly a vicious cycle of dreams and disappointment. After being thoroughly manipulated by every sage, mystic and witch they could find, they’d always been told the same thing – that only her death could make it move on, and that nothing could break it. Not the Eyes.

“You want us to help you find your sister – the queen?” she interrupted.

“Yes, that’s right. The villagers avoid the lake, and they always run at the first sight of our soldiers, but you could go ashore and make them speak the truth. If you find Imarah… I can see your doubt. No, you’re right, Emony, we don’t know if she’s alive. It’s been ten years, and while Aulduyen has been in the abyss, I have done next to nothing, as I cannot leave these waters. The last we saw her... well, it was… Aulduyen, it was when you died.”

The king lifted his head and glanced over at them, pulled away from his thoughts once again.

“Yes… It was the day of my greatest mistake. When the bastard usurper came for my head…”

Sickly grief flashed through the king’s gaunt face for a few moments before rapidly turning into a homicidal rage. “Raynardt… He took our kingdom from us! He terrorized my love! She was so scared… I will rip him apart, limb from limb! Oh, my love… Where is she…? Oh, you are wrong, my lady Verena, she is alive out there somewhere. I can still see the strings of magic and love connecting the two of us, I can still hear her songs in my ears. “Aulduyen, save me!” she cries. Oh, my love…”

Verena swam over to the king and laid a hand gently upon his shoulder. The king laid his own hand, trembling, atop it, black tears leaving his eyes and staining the water.

“The villagers will speak of it as the rebellion,” Verena said. “That much I have heard. Who knows what they might say, they may be afraid of the usurper’s wrath. But Aulduyen died that day, ten years ago. He was thrown into this lake, bleeding, tied to an anchor falling into the abyss, while I tried in vain to untie him. I couldn’t help him. But… my sister did not share his fate. She’s not in these waters. They took her off that boat, so she may be alive.”

The king suddenly arose from his throne, staring madly at the mermaid.

“As I said, lady Verena, Imarah is alive! Death has not claimed my queen, I know it hasn’t! Do not look at me now as though I am a fool! It was her song that pulled me off that anchor and lifted me from the depths of the blackened abyss! She cries to me, even now that I must find her and save her! We must do so without delay! Without her…! Without her… there is only darkness.”

“We will, Aulduyen. We’ll find her. We will bring her home, I promise,” Verena murmured.

The king quietly sobbed onto the mermaid’s shoulder. Caressing him gently, she turned back towards Emony and Tiphaine.

“Tiphaine, Emony, Imarah was a siren. Her mouth may have been bound, but she might have gotten a chance to escape. The shortest of songs could have brought her freedom if only a single human had made a mistake. Please… I won’t lie to you, I do not know for sure that we can free you of your curses, especially not you, Tiphaine. But we could really use your help.”

Emony, though likely only due to her altered mind, found even herself slightly moved. She turned to Tiphaine. No doubt she wanted to help her friend, perhaps she even pitied the king… But still. The two were in league with magic so dark even she was disgusted by it. And they were certainly killing a lot of humans…

What if there was a chance, though? She knew full well that she was being a fool, too, but… What if they really could free Tiphaine from the curse of the Eyes? What if their magic was even darker than her legendary curse? There was nothing she had wanted more.

Emony sighed, noticing Tiphaine shake nervously.

Despite it all, she made her choice stupidly easily.

“We’ll help you. Tell us what you need.”

“Thank you. Thank you so, so much,” sighed Verena. “Please, we just need you to talk to the villagers. They might know something. I cannot leave the lake with my tail, and Aulduyen inspires far too much terror. We’ve tried making contact with them before, but they were always so fearful. So… sing to them, make them tell you the truth. And those knights and the soldiers that came, could they be from that city? What was it called, where you were born, Aulduyen, was it Terrena? If so, those men may know something too. Could you talk to them?”

“Yes. We’ll do it, we’ll make them help. What about the men of the lake?”

“You have nothing to fear. They’re Aulduyen’s puppets, he controls them. We can probably even offer you some if you come to fear for your safety, surrounded by those humans – but know that they cannot touch dry ground. Aulduyen’s magic is tied to water, were they to lose contact with it, they would crumble to dust. That is why we are limited by rain – until the snow begins to fall.”

“Understood. I’m sure Tiphaine will be able to keep me safe.”

Emony glanced over at the king, who was merely looking through him, lost in thought.

“The trail leads south,” the king said quietly. “I cannot reach far enough yet, but the trail of magic…”

“We’ll follow it,” Emony said. “We can’t see it, but we will find it. To do so… I think… as much as I hate it, I think that we will need to work with the humans. But if we want to continue dealing with them, at the very least, before we return to them... We cannot rely on our powers alone. We’ll need to employ deception.”

The king stared blankly into her eyes.

“The humans will have seen that we disobeyed them and escaped their camp before the battle began. But we need them to think we are on their side.”

She was understood quite quickly. The king got up from his chair without a word, taking up the hilt of his long sword.