Kingdom of @TalesOfTheDeep

***

The sun barely brushed the sky with its bright fingers when I left Scydelle's shores this morning. Now, it's at its peak, glimmering off the little waves of the ocean around me, but my basket is still empty.

A tug on my fishing line sends a flutter of hope through me. I reel it in to see that it's nothing, just the ocean teasing me again. 

I sigh. Maybe I should give up. If I keep rowing, I can get to Aelfdene. From there, I can go anywhere.

That isn't an option. My family would go hungry without me. Running away would only prove my stepfather's assertions that I am a no-good son.

I have long fantasised about venturing into the unknown. Quorin has many kingdoms and even more legends. I could reinvent myself. I didn't have to be Jacopo, the poor fisherman. I could be anyone.

But dreams are pretty like clouds, and as insubstantial.

As the sun journeys across the sky, I row over the sea.

Where have the fish gone? They have never lured me so near to the ruins of Aeqor before.

Legend says a mysterious disaster destroyed the underwater kingdom four centuries ago.

I'm not afraid of Aeqor, only of returning home late and empty-handed. My mother would forgive me, saying tomorrow would be a better day. My stepfather wouldn't agree.

I push on past the discouragement, further from familiar shores, in the hopes of catching a fish.

When I reach the crumbling walls of Aeqor, I stop to examine them. If I row closer, I can touch them. I wonder if the pillars would stand tall or collapse at my fingertips.

I look down. A shadow flits beneath my boat. Feeling a flicker of hope, I toss the end of my fishing line over the boat's edge.

At that moment, a wave throws my boat forward. I fall against the side, losing hold of my fishing rod.

"No!"

I snatch at it, but I'm too slow. It vanishes into the deep.

What am I supposed to do now? I can't fish with my hands.

An idea strikes me.

I pull a tiny seashell out of my pocket. An old woman gave it to me at the pier this morning. She said if I put the shell under my tongue and recite the incantation, I can breathe underwater for half an hour. I'm not wearing a wristwatch, but surely it would take me less than thirty minutes to dive down, retrieve my fishing rod, and return to my boat.

I slip the shell under my tongue and hope that it works.

"Da caeli," I say.

Give me air.

With that, I dive into the water. I force my eyes to stay open against the stinging saltwater pressing against them as I plummet deeper, seeking out my fishing rod.

I blink. Is that light I see at the bottom of the ocean?

My feet touch the ocean floor. I'm not thinking about my fishing rod but the underwater kingdom in front of me. I never thought something like this was possible.

Large lamps on tall posts illuminate the city. The light within them burns underwater. The buildings are made from some sort of packed stone I have never seen before. I touch a hand to the rough, sturdy wall.

My fishing rod lies a short distance away from me. I retrieve it, keeping to the edge of the city where none of its inhabitants can see me.

Shadows move between the buildings. Looking closer, I see that they are people.

I gasp.

The rest of Quorin believes Aeqor is dead. Is the legend a lie?

I must know the truth. I'm sure I have time to do some exploring before my air runs out.

I duck into a nearby building.

A young man stands behind a counter. Strange, shiny gadgets are arranged on shelves around the shop. He is dusting the one in his hand with a cloth. He drops it when he sees me. It floats, landing on the counter with a soft thud.

His eyes widen. They are blue, like the ocean, but I wonder whether they would be the colour of the sky if we were standing beneath that instead.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

With a whooshing sound, the twin cylinders strapped to his back propels him across the room. He locks the door of his shop.

Trapped, I swallow. "Do I know you?"

It's a stupid question. I would've remembered if I'd met him before.

"No," he says. "But it's obvious that you're not from here."

He glances at my fishing rod. It looks primitive next to the transparent lungs built into his chest.

"You're from mainland Quorin, aren't you?"

"Yes."

He leans in, his face barely a finger's distance from mine.

I try to focus on what he says, not the soft blond hair that the water whips back and forth across his forehead in the current.

"You need to leave before anyone sees you."

I nod.

Aeqor vanished from Quorin's history centuries ago. I don't know what their rules are. I don't want any trouble, only to return to my family with my fishing rod.

The man opens the door to three figures in dark cloaks. They also have transparent artificial lungs.

"No..." says the man.

He tries to close the door, but the central figure, a woman with long tentacle-like grey hair, wedges her foot in the doorway. She smiles, and my skin crawls.

"We thought we sensed an intruder," she says.

Without waiting for an invitation from the shop owner, she and her companions enter the shop. One of them locks the door behind them, sealing off my escape once again.

The woman says to the shop owner, "I hope you weren't trying to hide him, Adrian."

"No, Elder Kosmussen."

"You weren't trying to help escape him, were you?"

Adrian looks down.

The woman raises her voice. "Were you?" 

Adrian's silence is an answer.

"You know the punishment for any intruder is death," Elder Kosmussen says.

My eyes widen.

"Death?" I cry. "Surely not. I only came down here to recover my fishing rod."

The woman looks down her nose at my simple instrument.

"See? He didn't mean to trespass, and he doesn't know anything," says Adrian.

Elder Kosmussen narrows her eyes. "Do you know where you are, boy?"

"Aeqor, the lost kingdom."

When Adrian groans, I realise I've said the wrong thing.

Elder Kosmussen's lip curls. "He does know. He cannot live."

"You can't do that!" cried Adrian. "He has done nothing wrong."

Elder Kosmussen's nostrils flare. "I can't have him telling the surface about us. The rest of Quorin will want to take everything we've developed for themselves, destroying us in the process if they have to."

"You can stop him from carrying stories to the surface without killing him," says Adrian.

I glare at him. Who is he to bargain on my behalf?

He rests a hand on the small of my back, a little comfort.

"Can't he stay here for the rest of his life? That way he can live without having contact with the surface."

I'm not sure if that's what I want, but it's better than a watery death at the hands of some crazy sea-people.

Elder Kosmussen consults her companions using eye movements and grunts.

"He doesn't know our ways," she says. "Who will teach him?"

"I will," says Adrian.

Elder Kosmussen nods stiffly. "Then he is your charge. Should he escape or break any of our rules, you shall pay the price as well. Do you understand?"

I turn to Adrian. He nods, holding his head high.

"If that's what he wants," says Elder Kosmussen.

Everyone in the room looks at me.

I nod. "It is."

I wish I didn't have to leave my family, but I can't resist the call of a new world. This is what I've always wanted. I will pay the price.

Nodding in farewell, the Elder leaves with her companions.

"What's your name?" asks Adrian.

I consider changing it. He'd never know, after all. But my name was given to me by my mother, and it's the only piece of her I can carry into this new life with me.

"Jacopo," I say.

"Well, Jacopo, whatever you're using to breathe underwater will run out soon. We must get you water lungs."

Adrian leads me out of the shop by my arm.

In the city, people propel themselves between shops. Children laugh, firing water at each other with little weapons I have never seen before.

They seem so happy, much happier than everyone had been in Scydelle, growing grapes for wine or spending all day at sea just to catch some fish to sell.

"Welcome to Aeqor," says Adrian.

My heart flutters when he smiles at me.

That's strange. It hasn't done that before.

I return his smile, knowing every day with him will be an adventure.