He had it all. Millions upon millions of creatures catering to his every whim, the love and adoration of all his subjects and their respect. Or so they claimed. For, you see, the Sea King wasn’t exactly the nicest ruler the sea world had seen.
He was easily annoyed. He did not take interest in the affairs of the state nor his subjects. Sure he listened to the occasional plea from a starving peasant or a poor single mother, but he never really heard any of it. In truth, the Sea King was very bored.
But, as you can imagine, having such a large kingdom, filled with creatures sucking up to you every day, serving you pretty sparkly lies just to get ahead… Well, it would wear just about anybody out. The constant lying, pettiness and falseness would numb even the most enthusiastic of rulers.
So the whimsical king decided to take a slave… Not that he couldn’t just pick out any of his subjects. He decided he wanted to own one of the creatures from the world above. A human. This creature should, the king decided, keep his interest for a while, until he can think up something better to occupy his time and thoughts.
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As some mothers sometimes do, Carlotta didn’t care much for her youngest children. It was the oldest, her firstborn, Marcus, that she gave all her affection to. His father had been an officer of some sort and a well off one at that. So on the night before going off to war, he proposed marriage to a young greedy barmaid, Carlotta. He promised to wed her as soon as he got back from the war. He never did return.
The officer’s father, a retired, wealthy general, a favorite of the current ruler, of course, as these things go, refused to hear the young barmaid out. Her stories of an only grandchild did not reach him. He was an old man, he had seen a lot of the world and he could tell a gold digger when he saw one.
The fact that Marcus was indeed the general’s grandson was kept by his mother. She adored the boy, thinking that once he’s grown, he will have his father’s features and the old man will have to come to his senses and give up his fortune to them.
And as these stories often tell us, the world did not take kindly to children being born out of wedlock and Carlotta had to marry. A carpenter. Her ambition wanted a rich husband, but the carpenter was a good soul and he took her in when nobody else would. He promised to provide for her child and care for it as if it were one of his own.
Carlotta gave the carpenter two children. A boy, Seth, a ten year old, so much like his father that it infuriated Carlotta and a girl, aged six, Amaya. Carlotta did not enjoy or, for that matter, even want to give birth so many times. Especially not to the offspring of such a poor man. But the carpenter had been kind to her and certain things were expected of a married woman, and Carlotta was not one to let people talk.
She didn’t like the children. Seth was a small copy of his father, a constant reminder how her oldest, Marcus, never seemed to resemble his own father, thus diminishing her chances of an inheritance. And the small girl was too smart for her own good. She was quiet, but Carlotta always had the feeling that the six year old knew much more than she let on.
This silent hostility did not bother Amaya. Since her father was killed and his shop robbed, she kept to herself, talking only to Seth. They both knew that they were somehow different than Marcus… not just because their mother treated them like dirt. Marcus, who was now fifteen, used to tease Amaya, take away what little toys she had, spill her milk and pull her hair. Seth tried to protect her, but there was little he could do against the growing teenager. So he mostly got punished for annoying their mother’s favorite.
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Later, Carlotta would claim that the storm came out of nowhere, that it seemed as if the sea itself rose up to take her little ones, that she tried her best to protect them, that she searched the waters when the storm had ceased, that she cried for days on end for her children, that she suffered terribly. Later, Carlotta would claim a lot of things. That did not necessarily make them true.
Let us take a gander at the events that in fact took place, shall we?
It was true, the storm did come out of nowhere and the sea itself did rise up. But it rose to take just one child. The small boy, Seth.
As a sea king, one has certain powers and certain things have to be done for show. Keeping up appearances is very important to a king. So you can’t just pop up out of the water, bow and say “I’ll be taking your child, madam.” It is just not done like that. Now, if you could concoct a nice little tempest, make it scare the wits out of fishermen and land lovers alike, then you knew the right way to go about things. Merric was a very theatrical king indeed and he could cook up a sudden storm like no other.
He noticed the child playing in the water. Why he was looking at exactly that place, he never knew. But all in all, the boy seemed somehow right. He seemed to be right for the purpose of entertaining the king. His mother had, no doubt, brought him to the beach. He was playing with a girl, smaller than him, and they seemed to be having a jolly time. Shame, really, to interrupt them. But then again, Merric hadn’t got to where he was by minding other people’s feelings.
Making the sea whip around was no problem. It required little effort and produced a lot of amusement for the sea king. He made storms for fun and very often, as hundreds of very unfortunate and very dead sailors knew.
So he did. The wind was strong, the skies went dark the water started splashing around. From afar you would think the storm was quite impressive. But from a closer point of view, I do believe, you would try to get away as soon as possible.
The sea king was quite pleased with himself.
Carlotta never did come after the little ones. Truth be told, she would be happy to be rid of them. She screamed at Marcus to get out of the water and run for cover, but didn’t call out to Seth and Amaya, didn’t tell Marcus to help them out of the water, never tried to do it herself.
Amaya stood up from the water, her puzzled look not lost on her brother. She would sometimes get that look, as if she knew something nobody else did. She looked at Seth and smiled, despite the fury of the storm starting around them. He would be safe. She knew that much.
It all happened rather quickly, but let’s slow down the events so you can understand what took place. The storm raged, a wave lifted and took the small boy under. His sister was left unharmed. The wind swirling around her, she made a quick decision and dived. She always was too smart for her own good.
As the storm blew over, Carlotta looked out to sea, where the two little ones had been playing. No sign of them. Carlotta smirked. It was just too easy. Keeping up appearances was not only important to Merric… Carlotta threw herself on the ground, crying for her lost babies as a few people ran up to her to see what happened. She was never one to let people talk…
You don’t call. You don’t write.
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