In the beginning the earth split in two and water rushed forth to cover half the land. Under the weight of the water the land sank. In desperation the people drowning called out to the heavens and begged to be saved. The Gentle God took pity on his people and granted them the ability to live beneath the waves of his sundered land. Those left on land grew jealous of their changed brethren and sought to steal their favor, their lands, then eventually their lives until the two lands once one were separated by more than just water.

400 years later…

I knew I should not have gone, but the urge to move had overcome me. My father’s greatest lesson had always been patience; waiting for the sun to rise, waiting to harvest our crops, waiting to heal from wounds, but I had always lacked this virtue. This was why I had strayed away from our fields and crossed the Forbidden Line. This was why I was now running for my life.

My lungs burned and my body ached from running as I rested with my back against a sun warmed rock. I glanced at the trees surrounding me sensing danger behind each as my pursuers called to each other; their beasts had found my scent. I choked back a sob as I thought of their sharp teeth tearing into me while the men watched with their hairy faces. I now knew what it felt to be prey, to feel fear freeze my limbs then force them to shake to run towards freedom. I imagined my father admonishing me for my fear while my cousins laughed, then that dream turned dark as I pictured them crying when I did not come home.

I paused in my thoughts, I had heard something move. A bass bray tore through the woods chilling my heart. They had caught my scent. I forced my legs to move, used my arms for balance as I fell against trees and rocks. This terrain was different than the flat plains near the village I had spied and much different from home.

I tripped over a log and scraped my knee, but ignored the pain; I had too much everywhere else. By now I could smell my goal, the sea with its salty waves forever beating at the land. Legend said it had stolen half the land and still sought more, that one day the world would be as it was beneath the waves. My mother always prayed for that saying the demon men on land would drown and we could live in peace.

A growl ripped through my private thoughts and I fell to my knees exhausted, my goal yards away. I glanced behind me through the shorn grass of the cliff back to the ragged tree line. In its shadow I saw two men and three hounds. Five sets of eyes glared at me with fear and hate. They knew with one glance I did not belong, my eyes much rounder and black, my hair with a sheen that reflected light like metal despite my attempts to mask it with dust, and my fingers much longer than theirs. By my people’s standard I was beautiful, by these men’s standard I was a monster invading their land.

The older man lifted his hands aiming a gun at my heart. He clicked his tongue and his hounds raced forward to attack me. I bared my teeth at them, I would not show fear to my enemy. The first hound reached me and I cut his throat with my harvesting blade, it fell with a whimper and the younger man flinched. The other hounds were more wary, but as they came close I sliced through fur and bone, painting everything in blood. As I fought them off I slowly made my way back to the cliff edge yearning to be in the water again, a place I knew and trusted. The younger man noticed my progress and ran forth shouting obscenities at me. Surprised at his ferocity I let him grab me as my heels reached the cliff edge, only air separating me from home. I stared into his blue eyes, like ice, that froze me to my core. I almost missed the knife in his hand as he pressed it to my throat nicking it. Surprise spread over his face the longer he stared at me, the wind whipping our clothes as it raced toward land.

“What are you waiting for? Kill that demon! Kill her!” the older man yelled as the younger man began to drop his hand with the blade. Taking the opportunity I pushed against him and launched myself into the air above the waves, but he did not let go and he began to fall with me, his voice invading my ears as he screamed. Some instinct awoke within me and I cradled him to my chest and he clung to me as we hit the waves below.

I felt the change as soon as I hit the water. My legs disappeared replaced with a tail built for strong swimming, spots to hide me in the water and strong claws to grapple with. I found a current leading out to sea and slipped into it with the man in my arms. The current was fast and within a minute I had already traveled a thousand feet. I came up for air, not that I needed it, but for him. I turned to look behind me at the cliff. The older man stood there, his gun aimed at me, but he did not fire. More men joined him as I swam away with one of their number. I cringed at the thought of having to face my father.

Within an hour I reached my destination, an outcropping of rocks separated from the mainland. High above trees grew out of reach, a peaceful place for the birds to roost away from predators. I located the landmark I needed and dived below the water and surfaced in an underwater grotto. I pushed the man onto the black sand that made up the shore then crawled out of the water, my tail turning to legs once more. I dragged him clear of the water’s edge. I heard a splash and looked up to see one of my cousins watching me, his eyes suspicious as he stared at the unconscious man.

“Does your father know you have brought one of them among us?” he said, hissing the word “them”. I shook my head as I gently placed the man down and crouched at the edge of the water. My cousin ran his finger tips on my cheeks tracing a cut I had received in my flight. “Did he do this to you?” Though he spoke to me, his eyes were on the man behind me.

“No, he did not. I have to get my father, please watch him till I return.” Before he could answer I dived back into the water and swam away. I found my father harvesting kelp in our south field. I could read the tiredness in his limbs as he swung his scythe. It took more energy to move quickly beneath the waves, it was what made us stronger than those who walked on land that labeled us demon. We were once one people, but those on land have forgotten that. My mother had been killed during a confrontation with a fishing expedition from the land. The Landwalkers had not realized they had strayed into one of our sea cattle fields and both sides paid for it.

I approached my father cautiously, head down. He looked up about to smile then frowned when he noticed my posture. “What is it, what is wrong?” he asked in his singing voice, swimming toward me. I shook my head then lead him behind a storage dome. He took my arm to hold me still as he ran his fingers across my cut as it seeped blood into the water. “You’ll attract sharks with this. How did you get it?” My father asked gently. I decided to cut straight to the issue.

“I brought a Landwalker with me,” I sang.

I saw the surprise widen my father’s eyes then his pupils slit, his grip tightened on my arm. “You did what?” he hissed in a low voice. I hated that sound in our people, but I hated it more in my father who never hissed until my mother died. Pain had changed him. “If the house hold were to learn of this we might lose our jobs! Where did you take the Landwalker?” I pointed west toward the grotto and noticed the hesitance in my father as he stared in that direction. That had been mother’s favorite place because she had fallen in love and given birth there, she used to say. On bad days I would see him staring at the rocks longingly, hoping to see her rare blue eyes that I did not inherit. She had been a warrior where my father was content to farm for the lord of the household. The soldiers of the household spoke admirably of her and hoped that I would follow her path, but my father was against it.

I looked at the warrior house then, seeing my cousins and friends practicing for the next hunt on land. A shiver went down my spine at the thought of the coming bloodshed. Though I would eat their kill I knew what it meant to be prey.

“Pa, I will show you where he is, please don’t be angry,” I sang as I took my father’s hand and led him to the grotto. My cousin was waiting for me there along with the human. The blue-eyed man was awake and pressed against the wall farthest from the water. His eyes were wide as he hyperventilated.

The man watched us break the surface of the water. The only light in the grotto came from a vent three feet wide and two feet tall resting in the ceiling. We, who needed very little light to see because of our watery home, could see him clear as if he stood outside.

“Stay back demons!” the man shouted at his, his voice stressed and hoarse. He coughed for a moment.

“Ha, a demon calling us demons,” my cousin said smirking.

“Ollin, leave us,” my father ordered. With a flip of his tail my cousin swam away singing insults that lingered in his wake. I hid a smile.

My father stared hard at the man before speaking again. “I apologize for my daughter bringing you here, but now I must tell you that you must remain here until our lord can decide what to do with you.” I raised my eyebrows. The lord who ruled these waters was known for his temper alone. His second wife had begged her father to disavow their union fearing for her life.

“You creatures think you can keep me here? Our hunters will find every last one of you until the sea turns red from your spilled blood!” I could not hide my smile any longer and laughed, the sound filling the grotto. Both men glared at me and I shrugged my shoulders.

“He sounds like one of our hunters. They sang of it yesterday.” My father touched my head and sighed.

“Please forgive my daughter’s rudeness. She is young and knows not when to hold her tongue.” My father gave me a stern gaze and I gave him my best “I’m sorry” look. I turned that look on the man and he scowled at me. I suppressed the urge to laugh and instead concentrated on the man’s boots. He shifted them in unease.

“Are we to leave him here alone while we notify the Lord?”

My father hesitated, reminded of the hidden entrance leading to the top of the isolated rock, my people’s specially guarded secret. He shook his head. “No, I will have Ollin return, go fetch him.” Annoyed that I was being sent away I gave the man one last look before sinking beneath the water.

I found Ollin near the entrance to the grotto, his arms crossed in boredom. As soon as he saw me his eyes brightened. “So, what’s your father think of your catch?”

“Tempest and waves Ollin, he wants to tell Lord Cadfael! He’ll have my tail as a shark lure.” Ollin rolled his eyes at me.

“No, he’ll probably marry you.”

“It’s as much the same thing in my mind.” I sighed and he patted my shoulder before returning to the grotto. My father soon joined me and we made our way passed the fields to Lord Cadfael’s home carved into a rock nearly as large as the one where the grotto rested. We swam freely through the small portal and entered the open greeting hall. While the entrance to the hold lay below the water the rest was dry, caught in an air pocket. Only the nobles maintained living quarters above the water, they and the hunters learning to walk gracefully on foot.

The change came quick as we ascended the stairs, my tail turning to legs as we cleared the water. I looked at the gossamer skirt my scales had become, liking the way it gleamed like a smooth pearl. We had been taught that this was another blessing from the Gentle God who had saved my people long ago.

I held my head high as Lord Cadfael’s personal attendant greeted us curiosity in his eyes. When they fell upon me they became hooded in thought. “Manolo, I see you’ve brought your daughter Sol. What brings you to the Lord’s home?”

“A matter of great importance has been dropped into our waters, if not addressed it will make dangerous ripples.”

“Hmm… I will take you to the Lord, but be forewarned that he does not like intrusion upon his personal time.”

“Yes, thank you Bran.”

We followed Bran unsteadily through the hold passing servants and guards. All regarded us with curiosity, it was not often that field workers outside of a trial day. Silently I looked at their hair bound with white cords and threaded with black stone beads. The beads would go for a fair price at the open market on the edge of Lord Cadfael’s waters yet he adorned his servants with them as if they were common sand. I briefly touched my neck suddenly thinking of the necklace Lord Cadfael had once offered me. My father had declined it for me and said I was too young to have such a precious item, but unbeknownst to him Lord Cadfael had given it to me as a gift one month ago. Fearing my safety I had accepted it and kept it hidden in an old jar by my bed.

We found Lord Cadfael in his moss garden pouring water on the highest stones. Shafts had been drilled into the ceiling allowing light to reach the gloomy room and plants. He set down his metal can when we approached and snapped his fingers. Immediately two servants rushed forward with a chair and set it down behind him and he sat down with a drawn out sigh like he had been on his feet too long. He pulled a fan from his belt and fluttered it in front of him like an irritated bird fluttering its wings. His black hair, like his servants, was strung with black stones carved to look like flowers with a pearl acting as its center. The flower decorations had belonged to his mother; he had begun to wear them after her death.

“Sol, where is the necklace I gave you?” Lord Cadfael asked. My hand went immediately to my throat once more but I stopped it at my waist. I stared at Lord Cadfael’s bare feet ignoring my father’s gaze upon me.

“Sol is still too young for such recognition,” my father answered for me.

“You speak out of turn Manolo,” Lord Cadfael snapped and we both jumped. He settled back in his chair and continued to fan himself in the jerking fashion. “Why have you imposed yourself upon my house today?”

“A man was brought into our waters, a Landwalker.”

We jumped as Lord Cadfael’s fan closed with a snap. “You…found a Landwalker?” His voice was low, masking the rage that could be seen building in his eyes. “I presume that he has been executed already by the warriors.” The fan was flapping again and I watched it move with interest.

“No my lord.” My father looked down at the floor and I felt my temper rise. There was no reason that a man should fear his ruler, but Lord Cadfael demanded it, engendered it when it was absent. Those under him who did not fear him either feigned it or died.

“Where is he? Who let him down here?” I fought the urge to cover my ears as Lord Cadfael’s voice echoed in the chamber, his words clashing like sticks. Stepping forward I raised my eyes in admission to face him. Why did I have to travel beyond the Forbidden line? I should have let the man drown, one less problem for the Waterfolk. “You?” the accusation drew his voice to a higher pitch. A shadow crossed his face. “Come here.”

The fan had stilled as I cautiously approached him. Sweat broke out on my skin and my knees began to quake as I firmly placed each foot before me. I stopped an arm’s length away. He motioned me to kneel and I dropped ungracefully, biting my lip as I bruised my knees. “Why did you bring him here?” his voice sounded calm again but his eyes gave away his anger.

“I could not let him drown though I had dragged him below the water.” Lord Cadfael took my chin in his hands and pulled me forward until I was almost in his lap. The smell of his cologne calmed my body though my mind shrieked to be afraid.

“If you weren’t my betrothed I’d kill you for your compassion,” he hissed so my father could hear. “What you have done endangers us all.” His grip tightened until I gasped in pain. I heard my father’s heel scuff the stone floor. My heart went out to him though I kept my eyes on Lord Cadfael. Slowly he released me and I backed away on my knees fighting the urge to rub my jaw.

“Sir, Sol is too young-“

Lord Cadfael waved his hand to silence my father before standing up. “Manolo I’m tired of you saying that your daughter is too young to marry. She has lived twenty years. Would you rather that she married one of my warriors, a servant, another farmer? At least with me she would never have to worry for anything.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. I watched my father’s lips tighten in anger as Lord Cadfael held me at his side. “She has accepted my proposal, did she not tell you?” Lord Cadfael’s arched an eyebrow as he noticed my father’s silent anger. He gave him a smug smile then pulled my left hand up and kissed it mockingly. “We have been betrothed for a month now; I was thinking a midsummer ceremony.”

My father briefly glanced at me with such sorrow that I felt my heart break and sink to the bottom of my stomach. I looked away unable to bear the result of my mistake. How was I to know that the necklace was a betrothal necklace? The ones given outside of the Lord’s house were much simpler and usually contained a single pearl. I’m sorry, I said silently as Lord Cadfael’s arm tightened around me possessively. I pushed at his arm and he pinched me. Before I could stop myself I glared at him and he simply smirked.

“Where is the Landwalker, I would like to see him before I make my judgement.”

“He’s… he’s in the grotto my lord, with Ollin.”

“BRAN! Assemble my guard, we are going to the grotto to deal with a pressing matter.”

I heard a quick, yes sir, and the scramble of feet as Bran rushed off to gather the warriors. My heart having returned to my chest beat against it wildly. Was Lord Cadfael going to have the man drown? They could not let him live and return to the surface. Who knew what information he had gained already?

“Manolo, Sol, please join me. I want to make sure you know of the consequences of bringing Landwalker’s among us. This… will hopefully never happen again.”