trouble is closing in, I can feel the ground trembling, shivers on my skin, if you shut your eyes, better hold em tight, I hear a roll of thunder, fear tryin to take us under, it's shaking everything now,
sound off the sirens,  we're in the fire,
sound off the sirens, it's do or die
-Sam Tinnez

-----❅-----

- Nicolas -

-----❅-----

After less than thirty minutes we were getting closer and closer to the dense, dark cloud cover. Icy and strong winds were coming up, and the water was getting choppier.

I stood at the railing and folded my arms. The dragons above us were now veering away from our lane and taking a detour to avoid the storm.

"Why aren't we following them?", asked Victorine suddenly behind me, who had been watching the flying creatures as well.

"Because the route is not traversable. It's all surrounded by sharp stone floors. We would run aground," Vane answered her.

The wind was now whizzing in our faces and I was having trouble understanding them both. It was beginning to rain.

"You should go below deck," Vane suddenly shouted.

Alarmed, I turned to him and looked at his serious expression, then I knew what he meant. I heard it. I heard it.

"Come with me," I ordered, grabbing Victorine by the arm to pull her along with me.

She tried to pull away from me, but then gave up and stumbled after me. We ran across the deck and almost slipped, running down the stairs and slamming the hatch shut.

"What's going on?" asked Orestes, who was clustered around the small table with the rest of the troop.

"Sirens," I answered curtly. "We should be safe here."

"Sirens?" repeated Victorine in a shocked tone. I realized I still had a tight grip on her forearm and quickly released it.

"They'll tear the crew to pieces," Tryphosa interjected, standing up.

"They're sailors, they should know something about sirens," another soldier interjected.

"They didn't look very prepared!" exclaimed Victorine accusingly.

My word quickly ended the discussion. "We're going to wait and see. We can't risk any deaths, at least not ours."

So we waited. And soon we heard horrible screams and sounds of fighting. Annoyed, I closed my eyes. I had really hoped that the sailors could do this on their own. I knew exactly what was coming now.

"We're going out," Victorine decided without hesitation and grabbed her weapons.

Of course. "No way. You're staying here, that's an order," I thundered, cursing her stubborn expression.

Still, she put on her armor and I noticed the other soldiers doing the same. Had she just defied my command and conquered my troop of soldiers?

That damned brat had no idea how important she was and how deep she was supposed to hide with her rear end in the safety of the cabin. I would have loved to give her a mind numbing blow.

But the thing was also that we couldn't go on with a dead crew.

"You don't leave my side an inch," I ordered with a firm look at the king's daughter. Then I turned to the others. "Do not deviate from the usual formation. None of us will die here today, are we clear?"

"Yes, King Nicolas," everyone shouted and followed me as I tore open the door to the deck. Rain pelted our armor. Strong winds pushed us backward and the wetness into our faces. It rushed in our ears, but what was more agreeable to hear was singing.

Hardly anything was discernible through the heavy drops. In the distance, I could make out some blurry silhouettes. I yanked Victorine to me and rushed to the rail.

We pulled four sailors away from the edge. One was about to throw himself into the water.

"Orestes, bring them in," I shouted over the singing, the rain, and the wind.

I had to summon all my willpower not to pay attention to the singing.

I equipped myself with my crossbow and my bolts. Now came the difficult part.

The ship swung back and forth a lot on the choppy water. With shaky feet, I stood at the edge of the railing and aimed my weapon into the water.

As soon as I could make out a shock of hair, I fired. It was a while before I heard the first, horrible scream and the water under me turned red.

I was so absorbed in this activity that I noticed too late how Victorine lowered her gun next to me.

I shook her energetically by the shoulders, but she only looked forward, frozen. Her gaze was vehemently fixed on the water.

"Her eyes..."

I stopped her from taking off her helmet. As soon as she did, the singing would enter her ears more easily, but worse, the beguiling pores that the sirens emitted would easily penetrate her skin. Then she was probably lost altogether.

"We're going back below deck!", I shouted to the others, yanking Victorine with me. She hardly resisted, but simply stumbled along. We dodged the people running wildly, taking care not to slip. Most of all, I made sure to concentrate on everything but the singing, which took almost all my willpower.

We had almost reached the door to safety. And then silver hair flashed on the ground.

A siren had reached the deck. The naked, six-foot-tall figure lay with its back on the wet wooden floor, staring up at the sky. Like a person lying down in a sunlit meadow, watching clouds.

She radiated such calm that we stopped instantly. She paid no attention to us at all. Her beautiful, plump, chubby figure ended in an iridescent turquoise fin that swayed elegantly back and forth, moving the rainwater from side to side.

The mermaid opened her mouth and sang. High and melodic. It sounded like an old sea shanty, though I didn't understand a word of the strange melody. Her head turned slowly toward us. In her eyes was the infinite depth of the sea, the still waters very deep at the bottom.

My loins contracted excitedly, my whole body heated up. I wanted to touch her, and yet I knew how deadly that was.

Something fought its way into my consciousness. Fear. Why fear? I closed my eyes for a second and tried to concentrate. Felt the gun in my right hand. Gun for what, to defend myself?

I concentrated on my left hand. It was holding Victorine's.

My eyes snapped open.

No, I had to defend Victorine.

I put on the crossbow. The mermaid suddenly shot toward me like an attacking snake. Her sharp teeth bared as she let out a scream and reached for me.

The bolt penetrated her chest before she could even graze me with a fingernail. Her scream became a tortured gasp. She looked at me in the last moments of her life. The sea in her eyes dried up. All life drained from them. The blue turned gray. Her body sank to the floor.

"No," Victorine whimpered, making a move to rush toward her.

"Don't," I replied, gently taking her arm. Then I opened the door and pulled her down the stairs with me.

Chaos reigned below deck as well. Orestes was struggling to keep the dozen sailors sitting still. He turned to us. "King Nicolas, thank God. They're dying to get back out there. Man, this is exhausting. Hey, stay seated!" He yelled at a man who had scrambled up to sneak past us.

I pulled out my sword and blocked his path. The blade came to a stop just short of his adam's apple. "Sit back down," I warned him slowly and forcefully.

The sailor swallowed hard, but then turned back around and sat down with the other members of the ship, who all at once sat dead still on the floor.

We took off our helmets and I looked at Victorine. She made no effort to rejoin the sirens, but on the other hand she did not behave normally either. Instead of helping, she stood absently around the room staring at the floor.

"What did you see?", I finally asked.

Startled, she looked up, then back somewhere into the void. "I don't really know", she muttered, leaning exhausted against a wall. "It doesn't make any sense at all..."

"What doesn't make sense?", I impatiently demanded to know.

Straining to think, she stared at the floor. It had to have something to do with Cepha's plan that I wasn't supposed to know about.

"Now tell me, Higness Victorine," I demanded, trying to keep my rage-filled voice under control.

"I need to talk to Vane," she snapped instead.

My patience thread snapped. With two long strides, I stood by her and pressed the blade against her throat. One false move and I would see the blood flow.

Breathing shallowly, she looked at the blade, then into my eyes.

If I didn't know about her ability, I would have no idea that someone was just invading my mind. But if you paid close attention, you could feel the cold sensation. Like I had felt when she had first invaded.

I drew the sword a hair's breadth past her skin and instead rammed my fist into the wall beside her. Instinctively, she jerked her head to the side. With the utmost willpower, I built up all my protective walls and braced myself against her ability.

"Don't ever, ever try to get inside my head again," I warned softly. Victorine was still looking to the side. I could hear her breathing as I slowly brought my mouth closer to her ear. "It's too dark for you in there."

Except for the hurried footsteps overboard and isolated screams from above, nothing could be heard. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath and no one dared to stir.

"I could cut the information out of you, choke it out, beat it out, or burn it out. Then we could see how much you would give for your sister." My voice sounded so low I didn't recognize it for a moment.

"Anything." The rest of the sentence didn't need to be spoken aloud by her. I knew what she meant. Everything, including her life.

Her answer was so definite that it left no room for discussion. Victorine did not lower her head as she looked into my eyes again without fear. I did not feel a cold sensation. All I felt was that she might know that I couldn't really hurt her. Not anymore, anyway.

Then the tailgate was yanked open and several sailors stumbled in. Their step was shaky, some of them clinging to the walls and pulling themselves forward with difficulty.

Some had bloody scratch marks on their faces and others had bleeding wounds on their bodies.

It was not long before other ship members and the soldiers of my troop joined them. The last person to step below deck was Vane.

"Sailors, sailors," he announced in a loud voice. Everyone fell silent and turned to look at him. His posture reminded me of something. Even before he continued speaking, I knew what.

I may have been a king, that of Sanguis, the second most powerful kingdom with the bloodiest history in the land, but Vane was the king of this ship here.

"We survived the attack," he began in a firm voice. "But we must continue to be vigilant until our arrival. The uninjured have their hands full above deck, so tend to your wounds and help on when you're ready."

Vane finally looked over at us. He nodded slowly to express his gratitude and respect. Then he turned back around and disappeared upstairs.

My servicemen and servicewomen strode over to me while everyone else went back to minding their own business. The troops were complete, but two were injured. I closed my eyes for a moment and waited for everyone to gather around me.

"Tryphosa," I then said. "You are under my command. I will remind you of that only once."

Her gaze was hard as she tried to hide the fear. "Yes, King Nicolas," she then replied.

I was anything but pleased that they were going to go outside without my clear order. But even less so that two of us were now injured and the others exhausted. I needed the best men and women if I was going to see Cephas' head roll.

"Get some rest. Get some sleep. When we arrive we can't afford any delays." I said this mostly because I knew from Victorine's reaction that something was wrong.

Wherever our destination was, we had to get there as soon as possible.

❅

When I woke up, my neck hurt. Still, my body felt strong and rested. It had been sensible to get some sleep.

I looked around the room. Two soldiers were each sleeping to my side. Not too close to seem intrusive, but still close enough to be with me quickly after I woke up. Orestes sat a few steps away from me, polishing his sword.

"Where is she?", I asked in a raspy voice.

The blond man looked up and didn't have to think about who I meant. "She was here for some more time and then went out on deck. Should I have stopped her?"

"No, that's all right," I sighed. She was hardly going to be stopped, that stubborn one.

I scrambled to my feet and braced my body to wake up the tired muscles. Then I strode up the stairs and opened the hatch.

It was already dawn, which meant that we would probably have to dock soon. On deck it was quiet. The ship's crew was going about their business. I stepped up to the railing and looked up at the slowly darkening sky. The dragons were flying overhead again by now.

My eyes fixed on the water and spied out the horizon. I had to know what Cephas wanted. How much time we had left. Whether I could trust Victorine. Normally, I was in command and in complete control. It made me angry that everything depended on this stubborn woman staying alive despite her risky decisions.

Again, I thought about how I would have to proceed if I never found out about Cepha's plan. How would I ever make it to his kingdom? Stop him from doing further damage to the entire country?

My brain rededicated itself to all the thoughts I had shoved deep in the back of my mind. What if the spy had the wrong information? What if Victorine had misunderstood or seen something wrong? What if I left my kingdom without a leader while Cephas could attack?

Pushing the thoughts away, I stared down. The dark water reminded me of my constant dreams and memories of how he had murdered my parents. My nose caught a faint smell of burning wood. Then I noticed how my hands, clasped around the railing, had caught fire. I quickly shook them out and looked around. No one seemed to have been watching me.

I continued to walk the deck, looking for my servicemen and servicewomen. My eyes continued to roam up the stairs, where I spotted Vane and Victorine at the controls. Tryphosa was leaning against the railing a little bit away from them, looking down into the water.

When the top soldier looked up, she took a few steps toward me and lowered her voice. "As soon as you get close to them, they don't speak anymore. What is she hiding from us, King Nicolas?"

Her suspicion was understandable. After all, this trip could decide about our life or death. About what the fate of the whole country would be.

"I don't know," I admitted grimly, keeping my eyes on the king's daughter the whole time.

Suddenly Victorine turned away and walked down the stairs on the other side of the ship. Apparently she hadn't noticed us. I squinted my eyes to decipher what she was holding. It looked very much like raw fish to me.

She stopped in the middle of the stairs and waved the fish around, looking up.

Out of nowhere, a dragon broke free from the formation in the sky and sailed toward her. It was too big to land anywhere, so it swung its wings to keep itself level with Victoire's face as it fed and nestled its face against hers.

The king's daughter's smile was so wide that it could be seen from here without effort.

Turning to Tryphosa, she wore a warm smile on her face.

"Remember. She's hiding something." She's selfish. "We can't trust her." She puts saving her sister above the safety of the entire country. "And she will never be loyal to us," I reminded her, turning away.

My voice sounded harsh. Probably just to remind myself again.