She noted even the lady of the manor was carrying a rather hefty bag that, in racing after two young boys and dragging a little girl, all clothed warmly, she could not have had time to pack.

Melisse stopped next to Jorie and watched the procession.

Lena was not far behind in joining them.

“Is it empty?” Jorie asked.

She cast her senses through the space.

She then answered, “Nine guards. All unconscious.”

“Do we go and wake them?” Lena queried.

“No,” Jorie answered. “Come,” he grunted.

He then turned and strolled toward the guardhouse.

Melisse and Lena shared a glance before they followed him.

They moved through the guardhouse and across the drawbridge to the other side.

They then walked the short trek into the town.

Hearing the commotion, shutters were open with heads poked out, and doors were ajar with people standing on stoops to watch.

Jorie stopped in the town’s square, Melisse and Lena joined him, and the lady of the manor made haste to their position.

“I have conducted a rollcall. All are here, save, my husband’s, erm…”

Indeed, they had prepared for this.

It was smart.

And it gave Melisse relief.

“They should have chosen more wisely. Now they are casualties of war,” Jorie declared.

“You killed them?” she peeped.

“No,” he replied, turned, slammed the shaft of his trident into the turf and then touched it to his forehead before, holding it about three feet from the upper points, he swung it out and up.

A gasp sounded all around as a bright, white-blue burst shot forth from the middle spike and arced high into the night sky, soaring through it.

And soaring, soaring and soaring…

Until the sky swallowed it from sight.

Their signal.

A beacon.

It would reach Sky Bay many miles away.

And then the dragons would come.

“You are Mer,” the lady of the manor (Melisse felt certain she’d heard her name was Ellen) whispered in awe.

“No,” Jorie replied, turning again to her and looking down his nose at her. “I am King of the Mer.”

Her eyes nearly burst from her head.

“The Regent has allied with the King of the Mer?” she wheezed.

“You landed are finally sorting yourselves out,” Jorie told her. He then smiled, which made the woman blink, caught in an altogether different form of amazement. “We are back.”

“It is not just the landed who have that reaction,” Lena leaned into Melisse to mutter. “The mermaids slip all over themselves to gain his attention.”

“Why is he not taken?” Melisse asked.

“I am right here, and I can assure you Mer hearing is exceptional,” Jorie said.

“Why haven’t you found your queen?” Melisse asked him directly.

He raised his brows. “And this is your business because…?”

“I’m simply making conversation until the dragons annihilate the castle,” she replied.

He shrugged. “I do not know what I want.”