Fortune's Fool - Mercedes Lackey [96]
By this time, his guards were listening, and one or two of them had tears in their eyes—
At least, he presumed he had moved them to tears. He hoped it wasn’t laughter. But the two in question had turned away for a moment and were rubbing their eyes. If he had moved them, that was important because he needed them to fetch the King; he needed the Sea King to hear this for himself.
He changed back to a major key, and though he did not go into the kind of detail that would have turned this from a ballad of love into a bawdy one, he made sure that there was no doubt of what he and Katya were to each other. Now all four of the guards were hiding smiles; he tried not to make this part sentimental, for coming after the previous section, that would be cloying. He kept it respectable, but earthy.
And if that didn’t get the Sea King’s attention, nothing would. Hopefully the King would not demand his head…
Now he changed to a minor key again, and sang of how duty had called her and he had waited, waited, realized that something had gone wrong and she had been taken from him. He sang despair, then resolution, reprised the theme of loneliness and—
“Oh for the sake of all that is sane, do stop.”
His hands, which had been forming a complicated chord, fumbled it into a dissonant twang as he looked up.
There was a tall, blond man standing in the doorway, hands on his hips. He wore a golden-scaled, fish-skin tunic, and tight-fitting trews of sharkskin. If the coronet hadn’t given it away, the demeanor, and the resemblance to Katya, certainly would have.
“Apparently you are unaware of just how well sound carries underwater. You have half my courtiers and family swimming about looking for me to plead with me to forgive you,” the handsome, strong-featured fellow said, arms crossed over his chest, wearing—to Sasha’s intense relief—an expression of amusement. “And the other half are swimming about looking for a way to help you escape.” One eyebrow rose as he examined Sasha. “You’ll be a very useful sort of Drylander to have about, I think. Between the two of you, you and my daughter might just equal a Godmother.” He raised the other eyebrow. “Of course, you’ll have to marry her. You did intend to do that, I assume? I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here, on your intelligence. I am supposing you were going to ask me for her hand, otherwise you wouldn’t have been wailing about your undying love in the heart of her father’s palace—”
Relief suffused Sasha, and he was very, very glad that he could answer, honestly, “I already asked her, gracious Majesty. She consented, and if you would grant me the honor I—”
“Ah good, that’s settled then. Now, let’s get down to tactics. Here—” the King took the balalaika from his nerveless fingers and thrust it at one of the guards who had been wiping his eyes. “You put that away. You, Drylander, come with me.” And as he grabbed Sasha by the elbow and bustled him away, the King turned and shouted back over his shoulder, “And stop sniffling.”
Chapter 15
“I know exactly where my daughter is,” said the Sea King, leading Sasha through a bewildering array of corridors and out into the “gardens” again. It was very peculiar to follow someone swimming rather than walking. It was even more peculiar to be walking through “gardens” and see fish rather than butterflies and bees darting past. “The problem is that neither I nor any of my people can help her. She’s the only one of us that can freely walk on dry land.” He made a face. “Well I can, but one old warrior isn’t going to do her much good right now. She got herself some Champions, but they can’t come underwater. You, my good fellow, are exactly what I need. A foot in both worlds.