" She is as powerful as her mother. "
The mer-queen exclaimed as she sat with her inner circle, in their inner lair.
" Don't forget she even has a wolf's traits. "
Observed another.
" What about the child? "
Asked one.
" What about it? "
" Isn't it supposed to be the most powerful of the lot? "
" What do you mean? "
" The little fox that is about to be born, has the blood of the three most powerful clans on land, down its veins. "
" But it's cursed. We don't even know if it will be able to live to see the sun. "
" We now know the source of the curse, Lana. "
The queen retorted. " It's just tied with dark sorcery and blood. "
" What do you mean by that, my queen? Are you implying there must be a way to turn things ? "
" I am still contemplating. I haven't come to any particular decision. "
" What about Mia? "
" What about her? "
" How long do you plan on sheltering her here? "
" This is technically her home, Bushra. What do you mean by sheltering? "
The queen had a smile on her face that was difficult explaining.
" Pardon my queen. What I meant was the evil spirit of the creature is still lurking outside. Will not be jeopardizing the lives of our people by entangling ourselves in meaningless tights ?
As you used to say, isn't every life precious that we have? "
" Precisely. Every life is important. So is Mia's and her child's. They are part of this ocean too.
Besides, the distorted wolf spirit will not be able to enter these waters. That is its parameters.
We don't really have much to worry about. You all can calm down. "
The queen motioned.
" But there is one important ritual that needs to be taken care of. "
" What is it, my queen? "
"We need to summon the forces to determine the sex of Mia's child.It is of utter importance for to know if it is a boy or a girl. "
The queen finished with the wave of her hand.
Mia was collecting some rainbow shells from the eastern side of the ocean. She hated being alone all by herself. It had been quite a few days since Lin was gone. And it was difficult her to even get news from the surface above.
" There she is. Mia! "
A pair of young mer-maids swam towards her.
" Her majesty calls for you? "
" Right now? "
"Yes.They said it was about some ritual. They said you needed to hurry. "
The girls started pulling Mia by her hand.
" Ok. Ok. I am coming." Mia said. The shells fell from her in their tug of war.
" Come Mia darling. Sit comfortably here. "
The queen called her.
She was taken to what looked like a place situated at the very heart of the Queen's palace. Yet was the gloomiest place in the entire mer-world.
The walls seemed covered in black moss. The weeds covering the floor were the shade of the blue. The place seemed like an old, abandoned kitchen or camp site. It reeked of charcoal.
But how could anything burn under water? Mia seemed deeply puzzled. She looked here and . There were some huge cauldrons at the side indeed.
" Those are for our brews and concoctions, " The queen said following Mia's curious gaze.
" Your mother might not have had the chance, since you were born away from here but as a figure in your life I called you here to perform a very important mer-ritual.
As you know Mia, we have an amazing and legendary wizardry heritage But due to some in the past, we have been living in the shadows of the regret of our fore-fathers.
I wish Crystal was here. She used to be the best amongst us in brewing and potion making. She use the blue flame before she had learnt to walk. "
It felt different. It was the first for Mia to ever listen about her mother's childhood
This queen didn't seem that cruel and evil, after all. They were in fact trapped in their vicious of struggle for survival.
Mia sincerely wished she could come to their aid when she finally returned to the Tree of .
"Mia, do you know what this ritual is about? "
She asked, making Mia sit down
Mia had no clue. She shook her head.
" Well, it is to determine the child's gender in the mother's womb. "
Mia touched her belly.
It had grown quite a bit . It was prominent under her gown.
" I thought it was not possible to tell a child's gender before it is born. "
" Well, for the surface folks it's true. But not for us. We have the power to summon the spirits at will. We can harness the spirit energy and also channelise at will. They call us the mer- not for nothing. "
The queen smiled.
Mia could not help but smile back.
" Shall we begin? "
Mia nodded.
" Alright Mia. You need to lay down on your side. "
Mia followed instructions without any hesitation. No matter what she knew about them. Their secret, their cult. Nothing could change the fact that she was one of them, their own. And was genuinely feeling there, at home.
" This might twitch around your lower abdomen a little, but you should not move. Alright? "
Mia gave them the go.
The Queen raised her left hand towards the surface. A blue light in the shape of a string and circled around. She carefully held it at one end and the other end he let slide on
Mia's abdomen.
What Mia felt was more like a tingling. It was ticklish to some extent. It wandered there for a few , when Mia felt the Queen's grip around her hand tighten.
Mia turned.
The Queen's eyes were glistening.
" Are they tears? ", Mia thought.
" It's a boy. Mia. IT'S A BOY. "
Then Mia heard the Queen proclaim aloud.
********
War plan
"The wolves have sent somebody, prince Lin. He urgently wants to see you. "
A soldier came running to inform Lin.
" Who might have sent it? I will be back in a minute Nana. See if you can make anything out of . "
Lin had been busy trying to join loose ends.
He had been trying hard to figure out ways to stop the evil spirit of Jin from causing havoc in the of the palace.
He had also been keeping an eye on the movements at the human kingdom.
Something about the water breather being at the human king's place didn't seem to make much . Besides he could not even trace the human who had come in as the messenger.
He had meant to visit Xie and the wolf king but he could hardly make time out given the grave around. The spirit of the evil curse was wreaking havoc everywhere.
" OH! Xie. How have you been? I have been meaning to visit you. "
He greeted his brother-in-law with a warm hug.
" How is Mia? "
Xie enquired.
" It's been quite a few days since I felt her underwater. Since evil is running rampant on our , I can confidently confirm that it has not been able to track Mia. Or even if it has , it 't found a way to infiltrate the southern waters. She surely is secure. "
" That's great. But we will need to find some concrete plans to stop the damage being caused to . Their lives and properties. Moreover , before all this causes a mass panic and . "
" You are correct. We have been trying to locate the pendant. But from what Mia could tell me,
Nana has not yet figured out how Mia could escape Jin. Or how she even used the pendants' without having it. She only has assumptions about it. "
"What assumption? "
Xie asked Lin.
" Mia might have absorbed its power as a child. That is, it's inside her. Even if we take this as , we don't know how to retrieve it from her. Nana can't go in the water with her health . We cannot bring Mia above on the ground. Even if the two meet, Nana is yet to figure way out to retrieve the pendant from a person's inside. It is our only way to stop the beast. "
Lin looked very tense.
" Father sent some things that might be of use against the fighting. They are our ancient warfare . And father also sent some of Uncle Jin's old belongings. "
" His belongings. Why? "
Lin was a little surprised.
" He asked me to give them to your Nana. He said she would know how to use those. The I have given to your father, the king when I first visited him.
Shall we? "
Xie asked, pointing his hands in the direction of Nana's place.
Nana's hands trembled and she let it pass over the items spread over her bed.
" They still have his aura. Even the smell still lingers. "
The boys stood silent as they watched.
Lin could not fathom how some old armor, comb, perfume bottle, scarf and knife could be of any use. It could only serve one purpose that was to make Nana reminisce about the past.
She was already suffering. This would make her more sad.
" Let me put these away. The wolf king might have mistaken. "
Lin came forward to take those away as tears started dropping from Nana's downcast eyes.
" STOP BOY. "
Nana held Lin's wrist with a firm hand.
" These are tears of lament. Not a weakness. The king didn't do anything wrong. These are the things that will help us avert the ongoing attacks on the commoners. "
" How can they be used? "
Xie asked, also intrigued.
" I will have to extract and mix the essence of these belongings of his. I might even add a few that I have. It will then need to be cultivated with the help of our troops. The more the . Even better if the wolves could join in too. The essence will be made to transform into a form with the help of the cultivation. We will then be able to use it as a territorial marking. "
The boys looked at each other. Baffled. Then I looked back at Nana.
" You mean like animal piss? "
Lin sounded disgusted.
" Not real piss but yes , the like of it. Since it has reached an evil beast form, it is driven by its instincts. We could confuse it by giving it the notion that all the lands belong to him. "
" What happens then? "
Xie asked.
" What do you mean? "
Nana looked at him.
" What will the beast do after it is confused? Will it sit idle? Go back and lock itself up in its lair?
"
Xie had a genuine point.
" You are the correct boy. We are just buying ourselves sometimes. This confusion will only him retreat momentarily. It will even drive him more wild. But we will have to come up with bigger by that time. Something that will be enough to end that thing. "
" How can a spirit be ended? Not even a spirit. A grudge. "
" If only we could locate where his other part is located, maybe we would hope for some backup.
"
Nana walked slowly towards the window.
" If only things had been different, he would not have to bear this fate. If only I could find the part of you Jin, maybe we could end this together. "
She talked to the moon it seemed, staring outside.
Xie and Lin slowly felt her feelings and walked towards Lin's chamber.