Berganashio - Chapter 23

Larkin was restless. He tossed and turned in his bed. Cotton and Bry had both fallen asleep very quickly. Bry had grown very accustomed to snuggling up close to Cotton’s woolly albino fur. Indeed, it felt as an extravagant blanket. Cotton felt calmer than he’d ever felt in the last several days in the presence of the merfarie children.

Larkin sat up, resting his chin under his fists. He looked over to see if Keenwai was awake or asleep. Keenwai also could not seem to relax and fall asleep. He was lying on his back with his paws under the back of his head. Looking up at the ceiling, as it was covered with all sorts of green and blue plants and exotic flowers.

“Keenwai, are you awake?”

“Yes.”

He answered Larkin.

“My mind is very awake. I just keep thinking about the other meerbirds… Just... hoping they made it back safely… and that the rest of the mob is well…”

Larkin nodded and asked,

“Well since you can’t sleep, wanna’ see something neat?”

“Sure, I guess so.”

“Okay, well, it’s outside. It’s in the back courtyard that you have not seen yet.”

The two of them carefully slipped out of the room, trying hard not to wake up Cotton and Bry. They were both snoring soundly. Keenwai followed Larkin to the courtyard. The green vines were woven in a swirling canopy configuration.

“Ah, this is spectacular! I’ve never seen so many splendid plants in all my life. It inspires me to recite a new poem!”

Larkin rolled his eyes.

“I’m glad you like it, but can you hold off on the poetry stuff? I haven’t even shown you the best part yet! Come over here!”

Larkin led Keenwai to a wall that was thickly covered with ivy and jasmine flowers that smelled incredible. Larkin pulled on a hidden handle and opened a secret door.

“It’s a secret room! With weapons!”

“Ahhh. I would never have guessed that this was here.”

Keenwai exclaimed, as he glanced around. Larkin opened up a dark cabinet door and several swords glinted in the candlelight. Larkin set his candle down and grabbed one of the swords.

“Here’s one for you to use.”

He took another one for himself.

“If we’re truly allies, then we must practice sword fighting together as brothers would.”

Without another word, Larkin swung his sword at Keenwai. He defended himself adroitly.

“Not bad!”

Their swords flashed back and forth, glinting in the candlelight.

Keenwai’s heart raced, as he asked Larkin a question.

“Are you sure we won’t wake anyone up? It is nighttime… after all…”

“Nobody cares! We’re fine. I’m a prince around here, remember?”

Larkin impulsively sliced at the candle flame. The flame died and the room dissolved into darkness.

“So, you’re going to fight me in the dark now?”

Keenwai asked.

Meerbirds have pretty good night vision. What about you, mister prince?”

Larkin laughed in amusement.

“Admittedly, I can’t see anything right now! You’d definitely win now.”

Keenwai smiled with satisfaction. Larkin stumbled toward the door, which was slightly cracked open. He started opening the door wider but spotted another merfarie flying across the courtyard. He pulled the door back and peered through the crack of the doorway, attempting to see who was outside.

“Who is that?”

Keenwai whispered in Larkin’s ear.

“Why, I know exactly who that is! It’s King Phineas himself… father!”

“Apparently, he can’t sleep either…”

Keenwai nonchalantly presumed.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him out late…” Larkin informed. The wheels in his mind were spinning in all sorts of different speculations. “And it’s high time that I followed him to see what he’s up to!”

He smiled back at Keenwai.

“Since your night vision is so wonderful, you can come with me and we can…”

“…What? Spy on him?”

Keenwai finished Larkin’s sentence with disapproval in his tone.

“We’re not exactly spying... We’re just making sure he’s alright! A king should not be unprotected. Consider us his covert guards... Here, put this sheath around your waist, so you can bring that sword with you.”

From a different cabinet, Larkin had pulled out two leather belts that had black sword sheaths attached to them.

“We should be armed... Because you never know what dangerous predators prowl in the night.”

“Have you thought about the fact that your father may be needing privacy for whatever matters he is going to attend to?”

“I’m not worried about privacy here. He seems to be sneaking around lately. Kings should not have to sneak. So, something’s going on and it’s time I find out. You agreed to an alliance, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but us following him… wherever he’s headed in the middle of the night... it just feels like some kind of mutiny!”

“Relax! Besides he won’t even see us. We’ll keep our distance!”

Keenwai felt uneasy for a number of reasons but finally decided to go with Larkin.

“See! He’s leaving the merfarie kingdom now.”

Larkin observed his father from a safe distance.

“He’s on a mission for something.”

The air was growing chillier by the moment. The moon was beaming above them, and the stars appeared to be very bright. Larkin and Keenwai followed the king in flight for several miles.

“I still have not the slightest idea where he’s going.”

Larkin was bothered by his father’s mysterious actions. Finally, they came to a large circular mountain range. The king was going down into a valley. The mountains loomed all around in the shadows.

“This is eerie…”

Keenwai whispered.

“Look there… father’s going toward that large open doorway. What is that?”

“I’m not sure but it looks like a very large mound of something in that doorway!”

The doorway was large. It appeared more as a large cave opening. They looked closer.

“Why, it’s a giant head laying there in the doorway!”

Sure enough, there was a very large shape.

“It’s a giant sleeping creature!”

Keenwai gulped, and asked,

“What would your father want with something that large?”

“I don’t know but watch him now. Look how close he is going to that large beast-of-a-thing.”

The king swiped his arm, where he, like the merfarie children, had silver birth markings too. Some of his birthmark's scales were dropped right on the head of the sleeping giant.

Larkin was horrified.

“To think! Pori thought I was cruel for blinding a small lizard once and here father is blinding sleeping giants! What if that thing wakes up? These swords are like tiny toothpicks compared to that thing! Wait ‘til I tell the girls about this one! Oh, and I wonder if mother even knows... One thing is for sure... father has been keeping some secrets about his night trips. Clearly, it’s important enough for him to go all the way there himself. He could have just had one of his servants do this kind of thing, but no! He comes himself because he's hiding things from us all!"

Keenwai didn’t know how to respond to any of it, but he finally sighed and said,

“It’s been a long night. Don’t you think we should head back now?”

“Not until father starts back home. We can’t miss anything else he may do!”

Clearly, there was nothing else that the king had come to accomplish because just a few minutes after the sprinkling of his scales, he started flying back to the merfarie gardens. Larkin and Keenwai followed him all the way back home. When they finally made it back to Larkin’s bedroom, they collapsed onto their beds, out of pure exhaustion. Several hours later Larkin woke up to Bry tickling and poking him.

"Wake up sleepy head brother!"

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Author's Note:

To read chapter 24, please follow the link below: