The Blue Divide

Chapter 34

Ekrios.

It was his first awareness. A name. His name. But who was he?

Ekrios.

He was lying on a stone slab. It was dark except for a pulsing blue light. He sat up and floated in the water, mesmerized by the light. He couldn't take his eyes from it. For all he knew it was the only other thing that existed in the world.

The voice of Poseidon said his name each time it pulsed, inviting him to come closer. It was a voice he had only heard once in a dream.

He reached out and touched it with one finger. A shock went through his entire body. He could feel electricity in every nerve ending. For a moment he could see nothing but brilliant light, and then his mind erupted with images.

He saw a boy reaching out to touch the same blue light. He wanted to stop him, to warn him what would happen. Then it occurred to him that he was the boy. What he saw was a memory. He had touched the light and when he did, it latched onto his mind, forming a bond he didn't have the power to sever.

All his memories came rushing back like a fast current. He grasped his head, trying to make sense of them. He was a merrowman of Atlys. A fish herder. He was betrothed to the daughter of the Nyxus. He was human once. There were glimpses of the peculiar Upperworld. Alec. Lainey! Mr. Kerring. The Aeolus. Nerine pulling him under the water. The darkness of death. Poseidon's Heart.

He looked down on himself. Where the legs had been there was now a cascade of silver scales ending in fins. His skin was hard and smooth and he didn't feel cold anymore. His eyes glowed green in the darkness of the vault, and when he breathed in the water, it felt right. Nerine had done it.

The blue light blinded him, reminding him of its presence. No. The Heart had done it. It chose to restore him. But why?

The door to the vault slid open and the Nyxus entered. Eko stiffened. Where was Nerine? Why had she left him to confront her father alone?

"My daughter told me you were here." He had the voice of someone used to being obeyed.

Eko nodded. "Thanks to her, I have escaped the Upperworld."

"She loves you far more than any fish herder deserves."

"I know I'm not worthy of her."

The Nyxus's laugh was like a slap across the face. "Not worthy? What was a despicable match before is now unholy. You have been to the land, the source of evil. You have become a threat and abomination to our kind. What right do you have to wed any merrow, let alone my firstborn?"

Eko knew if he opened his mouth words of anger would spill out. He couldn't afford to lose his temper in front of the most powerful being in Atlys.

"You have done nothing to prove your love," said the Nyxus. "Still, I made a promise to my daughter on her nameday. I announced before the city that she could choose any merrowman of any caste to be her husband. I thought for sure she would choose someone among the nobility of whom she has many friends. You can imagine my horror when she spoke your name."

"I bet that was very difficult for you," said Eko, clenching his fists.

"And now I've had to keep your situation hidden from the entire city. I've told them all that you are seriously ill. I've wanted to announce your death for some time, but Nerine has refused to choose another."

"Are you going to exile me now?" said Eko, looking him straight in the face.

"If I do, my daughter will never forgive me. Even I am bound by my own promises." He circled around the Heart, his face reflecting in its crystalline surface. "There are men that know the truth about you. I have soldiers searching for the human ship as we speak. It must be destroyed, along with everyone on board."