One of the mermen had something that resembled a large bitemark on his arm, recently made by something Wendy didn't dare guess at. "But maybe I can show you something else. Can you come here?"
...
The merman looked to Murcus questioningly, who nodded and he flicked his tail and moved over until he was next to Wendy. Wendy instructed him to hold his arm out and raised her hands over his bite-wound, her palms emitting a greenish glow as she focused her magic into them. The merpeople watched in stunned amazement as every trace of the bitemark swiftly vanished, leaving not a mark in sight, as if it had never existed.
"Well, I'll be," the merman rolled and inspected his arm. "Maybe I should keep you around until I finish training that pet Grindylow of mine."
"It seems you are indeed something new," Murcus hissed in appreciation. "I have never seen anything of the the like before, though admittedly my contact with the surface world is limited."
Wendy smiled but said, "Now can you take me back to my friends?"
"Unfortunately… no…" Murcus shook her head.
"Huh? Why not? You said you'd let me go."
"And we will. But we cannot return you to your friends because this numbskull," she reached out to bop the boy on the head with the staff of her crude trident. "Can't remember exactly where he was when he found you. We have no idea where to go to return you to your friends."
"What?" Wendy cried. "But that's… that's just…"
"Keep calm…" Murcus sniffed. "We will not just take you up to the surface and leave you to wander around. We will take you somewhere that is safe. You can begin trying to find your friends again from there and you may even have a good deal of help in doing it from other humans."
Wendy brightened. So there were other humans in this world after all? Well, that was a relief at least. It was hardly the solution that she was after but that seemed to be her best option right now, so she merely nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "Sounds like a plan. Thank you so much."
"We apologise for the extreme inconvenience this must be," Murcus replied.
"It's fine, it's fine. Maybe if he hadn't brought me here, I might have drowned. I don't know what happened after I was knocked out… I just hope all my friends are okay."
"Come…" Murcus extended a greyish hand out to her. "You will need to hold your breath for it is a long way back to the surface from here. Frankly I am surprised you survived the trip here through the underground tunnel."
"Well… I have very good lungs…" Wendy chuckled, reaching out and taking Murcus' hand. One by one, the merpeople turned and swooshed back down into the darkness.
Wendy lifted her head back out of the water and took a deep breath before she plunged all the way in, Murcus whisking her down the tunnel like it was some kind of chute. Wendy's Sky Dragon Slayer lungs meant that she was capable of holding her breath for a good five minutes if she wanted, but the water was incredibly cold and she didn't want to be in it for any longer that necessary, so she stretched her hand forwards and silently cast a Vernier spell on all the merpeople present.
There were yelps of shock as suddenly they all blasted forwards much faster than they'd ever gone before and when Murcus looked down at Wendy, the young girl could only give her a thumbs up.
Murcus chuckled. "I wonder what Albus Dumbledore is going to make of you."
...
Wendy was pretty sure she would have gotten hypothermia or something on the journey the merpeople were taking her on if she hadn't known a couple of spells to keep herself from doing so. The water was so cold! But she bore it, because she had little other choice,
When they'd finally breached the surface once again after leaving the cave, Wendy had spent the rest of the journey travelling on the back of the merchieftaness, Murcus. The merpeople moved swiftly and sleekly through the water, their powerful tails spurring them onwards at what Wendy could only assume was at least forty miles an hour, possibly more.
But she also noticed that they were swimming against the current, taking her further upriver, which meant that if her friends were still out to sea she was actually heading further away from them.
But she knew there was very little she could do about that right now. She had to get herself into an environment that she could actually live in, because right now she couldn't remember the last time she'd had to hold her breath so much, since the merpeople seemed to prefer swimming underwater and Murcus was the only one who ever rose to the surface at regular intervals to allow Wendy to take a breath before ducking back down again.
For a Sky Dragon such as Wendy, this was not too much of a strain, but she was fairly certain that many of the others in her guild would have struggled with this, with the obvious exceptions of Juvia, who could both breathe underwater, and Lisanna, who could become a fish and therefore also breathe underwater.
It was not too long before Murcus finally said, "This will be another big one, girl. Take a deep breath when I go up to the surface again."
Wendy nodded her head, unable to speak back while underwater, but did as bid - sucking in a huge lungful of air moments before Murcus plunged down, down, down until Wendy was pretty sure they were underground again. Almost all the light was blocked out and Wendy couldn't see a thing, so she didn't bother trying to. She closed her eyes against the strong current rushing into her face, bubbles trailing out of her nose as she fought to bear it out until she felt the fresh air on her face once again.
When she finally did, it came with a shock and she coughed and gasped, sucking in precious air as quickly as she could just in case Murcus wanted to dive again. When she didn't and Wendy realised they had slowed down considerably, she sat up a little and pushed hair and water out of her eyes.
When she opened them and saw what lay before her, she gasped in astonishment.
It wasn't the massive lake that made her gasp, though that was impressive, stretching outwards for what Wendy assumed was at least a mile, possibly more. No, it was what was on the shore of that lake which made Wendy gape in disbelief. She'd seen a couple of castles before when she'd gone to Edolas, and both the Royal City and Extalia had been extremely impressive in their own way, but that did not diminish the splendour of the castle before her right now.
With towers that seemed to pierce the sky, the fortress was constructed in a manner that didn't look like it should be physically capable of standing up - an assorted mish-mash of bridges and turrets and towers suspended over thin air and only attached to the rest of the building by the smallest of margins… there was no way that this place could be real unless it was sustained by magic. And boy, Wendy could feel that magic. She could taste in on her tongue - a veritable haze of magic that blanketed the entire area around her like some type of fog.
"What is this place?" Wendy gasped. "I've… I've never felt anything like it before…"
Murcus had to pull Wendy back underneath the water to answer her, powering through the water in the direction of the shore, a phalanx of merpeople behind her. "That is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where all young humans in this country go and learn how to use magic.
We just happen to live in the lake next to it, but we are on good relations with their Headmaster, who is capable of understanding us even above the water. He is a very good man, and we recommend that you seek him out when you head up there. Tell him of your problems and I am sure he will attempt to help you. His name is Albus Dumbledore. Remember that. Albus Dumbledore."
Wendy nodded her head slightly, grunting her assent under the water as the merpeople streamed her along. Dear gosh, she had so many questions. Witchcraft and Wizardry? Headmaster? School? She'd never been to school - they were rare in Fiore and generally only the richer higher-class bothered to send their children to them while everyone else taught their children what they thought they needed to know from home. Which had been what Grandine had essentially done with Wendy until she'd vanished mysteriously seven years ago…
No… wait… thirteen years ago now. Mavis had said she'd spent six whole years frozen in time inside the Fairy Sphere.
A dull throb of sorrow pulsed through her at the thought. Had Grandine noticed her absence? What if the Sky Dragon had decided to start looking for her only to find that she'd vanished off the face of the world. What if Igneel and Metalicana had started doing the same with their own Dragon Slayer children? She had no idea of knowing but… for the first time… Wendy found herself hoping that Grandine had not been looking for her. The thought of not being there to meet her mother when she came back for her… was nothing short of heartbreaking.
But she forced herself to think about the situation at hand instead. There was nothing she could do about Grandine right now. Her other friends who actually were in this universe were more important at this point.
Albus Dumbledore… she had to remember that name.
And it was at this point that she saw something in the distance. Some kind of… dark shadow… slipping through the water like a huge torpedo, but she was unable to make out what it was through the gloom.
Until it came closer…
…and a massive tentacled beast came sweeping over in their direction, huge wide eyes piercing the darkness of the depths as it rose up into the light and each of its ten tentacles flexing to push itself forward towards them.
"GGHHNNM!" Wendy glubbered, bubbles pouring out of her mouth as she kicked around, trying to warn the merpeople. "Shghgh mhrnnstrtrtr. MNNRHSTRTRTR!"
"Calm yourself, child," Murcus chided her with a hiss. "We know it is there and there is nothing to fear from it. That is merely the Giant Squid that shares our domain in this lake. He is perfectly friendly, I assure you."
Wendy blinked, staring at the incoming shape and focusing her magic to create two air bubbles over her eyes to get a better look, which was easier to do now that they were not moving so fast. The Giant Squid arced lazily in one big circle until it pulled pulled up alongside the swimming merpeople, one huge eye rolling down to inspect Wendy briefly. Wendy reached up a hand and waved uncertainly, and she was sure that the Squid started waggling one of its tentacles a little more vigorously as if to wave back.
But then several of the younger merpeople broke away from the group, including the boy that had snatched her away in the first place, and homed in on the squid, which spurted away with a large cloud of ink. The young merpeople motored after it and started chasing the Squid round and round in circles in a way that at first seemed to be something like a hunt but the silly grins on the faces of the young merchildren told Wendy that this was just a silly game.
And apparently the Squid seemed more than ready to indulge them, moving at incredible speed considering its massive bulk and weaving in and out and around them, slapping a couple of them gently backwards with its longest tentacles whenever they got close.
Wendy smiled beneath the water as she watched the game, wishing she could join in to some extent. It seemed there were new surprises for her every other minute in this world. What the heck would she find when she finally got back onto land?
...
if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :
p atreon/Moonhorse