Mervidia (5 page)

Chapter Five

The Coral Assembly sat at the long stone table that dominated one half of the room.
The other half of the chamber had been intentionally left empty, save for a few chairs, for the sake of expediency. It was a large enough open space that tables of food could be set up for the occasional long meeting or so that individual representatives would be able to have quiet conversations away from the rest of the members. No matter the circumstance, it meant that the Coral Assembly could continue to govern Mervidia without the need for anyone to leave the room.

Kiva drifted several feet above her council chair, refusing to sit as the others did, their tails, tentacles, and other appendages keeping them anchored to the ornate furniture made from spell-shaped coral.
Like all faera she was much smaller than the other Merwin races, and oftentimes this placed her at a disadvantage, at least physically. Had she sat, she would barely have been able to see over the table’s edge, and she purposefully denied the other members of the Coral Assembly the opportunity to look down upon her literally as well as figuratively.
Let them think they have an advantage,
Kiva thought to herself with a suppressed smile.
Others have thought me weak before, and it did not play out so well for them.

“I support the motion, of course,” Hasad stated impatiently, drawing Kiva’s full attention.
The seifeira representative vehemently nodded his head, causing the small tendril and glowing orb that sprouted from his forehead to bob with the motion. His red eyes looked around the chamber daring anyone to disagree with him. His muscles tensed beneath his blue, tattooed skin and his large frilled ears twitched with irritation. Hasad, being an eminently practical sort, apparently thought that the vote to formally instill Iago as temporary Regent was a waste of time.

Such a simple merwin,
Kiva thought,
to hold such power.
Hasad, the Domo of House Verdant, oversaw Mervidia’s largest kelp beds, the main source of food for the general populace. That leverage alone would have given him a great deal of sway over the city, but added to that was the fact that Verdant was the most powerful of the seifeira houses, which guaranteed Hasad a racial seat on the Coral Assembly, and the amount of the influence the merwin had was truly impressive.
At heart, you are still just a farmer though, are you not Hasad? You never really take your eyes from the thermal vents that feed your precious plants to see the larger ocean all around you.
Kiva’s smile grew by a miniscule amount; she knew that Hasad’s power was subject to her own more subtle and insidious influence.

“As do the
jellod,” Nayan intoned, her voice soft, almost a whisper. Where Hasad’s head had bobbed with exuberance, the older jellod’s dipped gracefully in one measured nod of acquiescence. Her yellow drape of finely woven kelp fibers barely stirred on her shoulders.

Kiva had to fight hard to keep her inward smile from becoming a full grin on her small face.
Feeling a little superfluous today, are we Nayan? Could not save the Queen, despite all your grand powers to decide life and death? Such a shame.
Kiva focused on the pink starfish that the jellod representative wore in her black hair to avoid the subtle sadness she saw in Nayan’s milky eyes. Despite her distaste for the machi’s inflated sense of self-importance, Kiva gave Nayan a healthy measure of respect. The jellod had managed to ingratiate herself nicely with the Divine Family, giving her a significant amount of influence over all of Mervidia, not just the jellods whom she represented.

“We, the
faera, also support Iago as temporary regent, until such time as the Assembly can decide on a suitable course of action following the untimely death of our beloved Queen,” Kiva said in a somber voice. She bowed her head in a genuine show of unhappiness.
“In peace the assassin’s blade does not grow dull,”
she reminded herself of the old saying. With Beryl dead, the odds of open conflict amongst the houses grew more likely, and the shadowy services of Kiva’s House Perna would be in less demand.
“With conflict comes opportunity” though,
she reminded herself. Secrets were still valuable, regardless of the political climate, and the faera had plenty of secrets available for the right price. Kiva placed a webbed hand over her mouth, ostensibly in grief. In truth, her hand, adorned with elegant green tattoos and pearl rings, hid her smirk at all the opportunities that lay before her, no matter which way the tide turned.
I will come out better than before,
she thought.
As I always do.
She raised her head and smoothed the strands of green kelp woven into her sandy colored hair, as if to compose herself. She looked up just in time to see Iago’s jaw grow tighter at the mention of his wife’s death.
That is not the only knife I have to twist, Lord Regent.

“As always, the
neondra support the will of the Coral Assembly,” Slone of House Tigin, intoned in his usual pompous way, “especially in this grievous and tumultuous time.” The merwin warrior placed a bright orange and black striped fist across his chest in a salute to the late Queen’s consort.

Don’t attach your suckers too hard, Slone
, Kiva mused.
It might be difficult to extract yourself from Iago’s carcass as it sinks into the Deeps.
The head of House Tigin was fiercely loyal. However, Kiva knew that Slone wasn’t entirely happy with the status quo in Mervidia. The neondra warrior felt that too much time was wasted on discussion and politics, that the Merwin should return to their past when the strong of limb ruled.
At least that is what your lover tells me,
Kiva thought. Still, it was never a bad idea to support the popular opinion, on the surface at least. Though Slone appeared to be all brawn with very little brain, he was not an idiot. He knew that the tides of influence were as fickle as a grogstack’s attention.

As if on cue, Kiva’s head turned to Quag, the representative of the loathsome
grogstack. The merwin was hideous, hardly a proper merwin at all, and his presence here was an abomination. Though technically the grogstack were one of the seven races of Mervidia, to Kiva and many others, they were barely sentient fish with delusions of civilization.
It is like putting a pet shark in a seat and calling it a dinner guest,
Kiva said inwardly. She knew that this particular shark was deceptively smart.
Though saying smart for a grogstack is not saying much.
Quag looked around the table in the intervening silence, as the other members of the Assembly waited patiently for him to realize that it was his turn to vote.
Not the first time we have had to wait for Quag to catch up, and I doubt it will be the last.
Quag, like most of his kind had no hair on his head, just strange ragged tentacles that trailed off with no apparent rhyme or reason. Similar
growths
sprouted from his torso, just below his breastbone, though these were longer and thinner than the ones that grew from his misshapen skull. He had a long sinuous tail, like many of his kind, but his had small fins about half way down his back, one on top and two below, that reminded Kiva of a malformed shark. It was an impression that was further strengthened by his noseless face and thin-lipped mouth, full of rows of sharp jagged teeth. He had webbed hands, like a proper merwin, though his fingers were much longer than they should have been, containing an extra joint and ending in sharp curved claws. Kiva couldn’t keep a tiny shudder from her stomach as she stared at the beast. Grogstack were known cannibals.

How was your kind even able to secure a seat on the Assembly?
she wondered inwardly and not for the first time. Quag finally realized that it was his turn to cast his vote. As he turned his gaze to Uchenna from House Chimaera, Kiva answered her own question. Uchenna had been an ardent champion of grogstack rights, convincing the other members of the Assembly that to truly represent the Merwin as a whole, they had to have a seat for the grogstack. The number of clandestine deals and convoluted arrangements that had to be made for the vote to come out in the grogstack’s favor made even Kiva’s involute brain hurt.

The
faera kept an eye on the head of House Chimaera at all times. He was the only merwin on the Coral Assembly whose mind rivaled her own when it came to devious deals and malicious machinations.
Though I know something about your own house that even you do not,
she said silently to Uchenna, keeping her face impassive the whole time.

The
octolaide nodded his head faintly in response to Quag’s look. The grogstack immediately turned to the rest of the Assembly. “We grogstack support Iago for king,” he said and then was silent. Several representatives opened their mouths, as if to correct Quag’s mistaken use of the word “king,” but apparently thought better of it.

We are installing him as temporary
regent, you misshapen buffoon,
Kiva thought.
He is not even of royal blood. He has as much right to wear the Fangs as you do.
She envisioned the ugly brute wearing the pearl encrusted crown of Mervidia and felt a physical revulsion twist her stomach in a knot.
I would sooner slit your gills myself than see you taint the Fangs with your touch.
Kiva took a moment to flush water in through her neck and out of her torso to settle herself. Anger and the feeling of sickness in the pit of her stomach washed away with the saltwater, as it flowed through her body.
Do not let emotion sink you Kiva,
she admonished herself.
“The blade strikes truer when driven with determination rather than with anger.”

“The
octolaide support Queen Beryl’s consort as temporary regent as well,” Thaddeus said calmly, yet with a certainty that was unmistakable. The octolaide representative’s eight long purple head tentacles twitched as he spoke, the motion accentuated by the coral and pearl bands that encircled each one. Normally, they hung down across Thaddeus’ back and shoulders sedately, but something had caused them to spasm, just once and only faintly.

Kiva doubted anyone else had noticed the tic, save Uchenna, who always kept a close eye on the more traditional
octolaide. Despite being the head of the most powerful octolaide house, Uchenna of House Chimaera had not been able to secure the racial seat on the Coral Assembly. Being more power hungry than wise, he had earned one of the seats reserved for the three most powerful houses in Mervidia. The distinction was a slight one, but it was one that Uchenna had obviously taken to heart.

Kiva looked at Thaddeus, reviewing the
octolaide’s words in her head and adding the image of his tentacles twitching. He had made it a point to mention that Iago was the Queen’s
consort
and had used the word “temporary” as well.
Ah, Thaddeus,
she thought. Y
ou think that only royal blood should wear the Fangs. You are as much of a traditionalist as Nayan,
she realized.
No wonder you constantly voted against having a grogstack seat on the Assembly, and not just to spite Uchenna.
Kiva once again smirked inwardly.
Worry not, my friend. Iago will not sit on the throne long.

All eyes turned to Damaris, the Queen Mother.
Despite the best efforts of her ladies-in-waiting, the widow of King Reth looked ghastly. The assassination of her daughter had clearly taken its toll and probably would for some time. As Kiva wondered how she could turn that to her advantage, the former queen spoke quietly. “The ethyrie support Iago,” she murmured and then bowed her head, placing her slender, pale-skinned webbed hands over her face. The deep red fins across her forearms trembled, as she gracefully contained the sobs that threatened to wrack her body.

If that is an act, then I have clearly underestimated Damaris,
Kiva thought, though she was almost certain she had not. The Queen Mother, having been married into the Divine Family to inject some new blood into House Lumen, was a formidable merwin. She had been chosen for her clever mind and her strength of will, as well as for her great beauty. However, even she could not weather the death of her daughter, her only child, without succumbing to grief. The Queen Mother’s struggles with producing a royal heir were common knowledge, as was the octolaide kalku Odette being brought to the Royal Palace to assist the wife of King Reth. That the king had taken Odette into his bed and produced a son with the kalku after Odette’s magic coaxed Damaris’ eggs into hatching a single healthy daughter was also a known secret in Mervidia. Though Reth had never officially claimed the child as his own, he had also never denied him either.

After Odette’s fertilized egg
had been discovered, Damaris had banished the octolaide from the Royal Palace, and shortly thereafter Odette was wed into House Chimaera. The kalku, despite being thrown out of the king’s bed, was still a powerful kalku and had managed to secure herself an advantageous marriage to the house’s domo, guaranteeing her safety and that of her son. Kiva couldn’t help but admire Odette’s political skill and wherewithal.

After a moment of quiet, out of respect for the Queen Mother’s grief, the Coral Assembly co
ntinued to conduct the business at hand. “House Yellowtail also votes in favor of Iago being installed as regent,” Penn spoke into the silence. Uchenna shifted in his seat, as did Vaschel, the representative of House Paua, Mervidia’s first and most influential house. Vaschel’s bright red fins waved as he settled more comfortably onto his shaped-coral perch.