Nikolas and Company: The Merman and The Moon Forgotten by Kevin McGill Read Free Book Online Page A

I
showed promise, but schooling was a trifle expensive, and there
wasn’t one to apprentice me. And now—” Yeri rubbed a slightly
bulging tummy. “—afraid I’m not quite in the condition for
heroism.”
    “Would you like to be one?”
    “Agatha would like it.”
    “Agatha?”
    “Yes,” Yeri said. “Agatha is my
sweetheart. But she won’t marry me on the account of, well, my
belly, to be honest. She will marry nothing less than a hero. And
Agatha made it quite clear that a hero does not have an “amorphous
midsection”. Afraid I’m destined to live out my days with
Mother.”
    “I need a hero of high quality to take
a message to the Huron City Council,” said Nia. “It must be someone
who is not Merrow, one whom the fouls could not smell.”
    “ Oh . . . well, honestly,
ma’am, it being the holidays and all . . . and, er, my dear mum. I
mean, I . . . forgive me. When you asked for my help, I imagined a
ride free of charge or lending a horse. But all this? More than I
can handle. Nuus doesn’t see too much in the way of adventure.
Once, when I was no bigger than a leviathan’s pimple, there was the
scourge of the three-headed chicken. It was a bit frightening at
first. One head breathed fire; the other two breathed chicken feed
and pond water. But it turned out when the first two heads spewed
out fiery chicken feed, the last one would put it out.
Counterproductive in the end.”
    Nia leaned in. “Agatha, right? Well,
Yeri. You will trim up that hero’s physique within the
month.”
    “Truly?”
    “Truly.”
    Yeri paused, saw Agatha’s flirtatious
eyes flash across his mind, and then clapped his hands. “Always
wanted to holiday in Huron!”
    Nia smiled and reached out to her
husband. “Love. The greatest motivation.”
    Lir squeezed her hand and immediately
picked up a squid pen and scroll. “Because our kind guards the
treasure of the brother worlds, we carry a special citizenship
under the city of Huron, and with it, the protection afforded her
citizens. The Merrows are in need of that protection. Within this
scroll is a secret to which only Merrows are privy. Our enemies,
the Dujinnin, have discovered it and mean to exploit this secret.
If we are exposed, it will destroy all Merrow kind. I now entrust
this secret to you and to the Steward of Huron, Nikolas Lyons. He
sits on the city council under The Roggen Tree.”
    Yeri noticed a guard moving toward him,
holding a large pearl.
    “We must have full assurance you will
not betray us, Yeri.” Lir’s voice dropped. “This is a
pearl-of-devotion. It will rest itself in the lining of your
stomach. If you betray us in any way, this pearl will turn your
skin to algae and your insides to seaweed. It will be a long,
painful death, to be sure.”
    Yeri looked at the
iridescent hand of the guard. Something like a conscience reminded
the stagecoach driver he was about to take another oath. Was this really a good
idea?
    “Big bugger, isn’t it? Heh, heh,” Yeri
said.
    “If you are loyal to our kind,” said
Lir, “then take, Yeri, and swallow.”
    With a sigh, Yeri picked up the pearl.
“A bit of harjuice?” he asked the guard. “Or maybe a swallow of
harchoco to wash it down?”
    The guard’s face remained
stolid.
    “Right. I see.” With a sigh, Yeri set
the pearl-of-devotion between his teeth, hoping it was
chewable.
    Krrekkkk.
    It wasn’t chewable.
    So, with watery eyes, Yeri
swallowed.
    “Now,” Nia breathed in deeply, “you may
read the message.”
    Yeri bit his bottom lip as he slowly
unscrolled the seaweed parchment.
    To Your Honor, Steward of
the City of Huron and its surrounding provinces, Nikolas Lyons.
This document contains the folly of the Merrows.
    Yeri began to read out loud. “This
secret is the shame of our kind. To state it plainly, we
are—”
    Yeri choked on the words. “We are . .
.”

 
     
     
    Six • R-5235

     
     
     
     
     
    Both boys lay on their beds. They were
shimmering red, and their hair was tinted