The Fourfold Key

Mermaid Lagoon was an eerie place. Large barnacle-encrusted rocks stuck out at odd angles all over the place. A thick mist clung to the air. The air was cold and damp. But the worst part was the singing. Even through the makeshift ear plugs, Ruth could hear it. The haunting melody rang through the air, shrilling and high their voices creating a cold, mysterious song. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, and she didn’t want to. Ruth shivered as the eerie wail grew louder. How am I going to find the Key here? There must be a million different places to hide it. Just as she thought this, her horse stumbled slightly. Ruth decided to leave it there and continue on foot. The rocks were slippery. As she walked, she began to hear words among the voice. She reached up and adjusted the wax. She turned her head and gave a start. There, sitting on a rock, was a merman.

His skin was pale green and his solemn eyes purple. Almost like seaweed, his hair was dark green, fashioned into a mohawk. The rest of his shiny green scalp was bare. His chest was broad and muscular. If he was human he would be one heck of a football player, Ruth thought. Her head told her she should be afraid, but his presence was somehow calming. His light-green body was littered with dark green freckles. His human body ran down to the waist, and there it changed from the pale green to a dark, purple, scaly tail. It was like a fish’s tail, only bigger. He turned slightly to the side, and Ruth saw he had a dark purple fin running down his back. The merman lifted his head, and began to sing.

Ruth tried to block the noise, tried to ignore it, but it pounded and shivered into her. The music flowed through her, chilling her to the bone, and yet giving off a comforting warmth. Her eyelids grew heavy.

The next thing Ruth knew, the singing stopped. Ruth blinked, then gasped, horrified. She was underwater! She held her breath, preserving what little air she had left. Looking to the right, she saw the merman that had lured her under. Ruth’s lungs begged for air, and she fought against the urge, but she couldn’t hold her breath for much longer. Before she knew what was happening, she swallowed a huge breath of air. How am I breathing? she wondered, more with relief than surprise. She looked over at the merman, who was, to her surprise, swimming toward her.

“Greetings, human child. Why do you enter our domain?” His voice was low and musical. Soothing.

“I—I don’t know,” Ruth stammered. Then she grew angry. “You tell me! You brought me here!”

“Fear not,” he said softly, ignoring her outburst. “I am Sea Foam. I am here to whisk you away from your nightmares. Come, to the City of Eternal Contentment.”

“The City of Eternal Contentment?” Ruth asked, resisting the urge to snicker at the dumb name. “What’s that?”

“The City of Eternal Contentment is our city,” Sea Foam said in his soft, whispery voice. “We bring humans we find here to ease their heartache. Those who do not wish to come are left in the lagoon, doomed to die. Which do you choose, mortal girl?”

“Well, maybe I’ll stay just for a little while,” Ruth said, realizing that if the Key was anywhere, it would most likely be there, in a place from which no human returned. Sea Foam made it sound pretty impenetrable. Plus, she didn’t really like the idea of being left here to die. “I’m Ruth.”

“Good. This way, Ruth.” He began to lead her deeper into the water.

“So,” Ruth huffed, trying to keep up with him, but since she didn’t have fins, she wasn’t getting very far. “Does this City of Eternal Contentment or whatever have, like, a leader?”

“Yes, as a matter a fact, it does. Her name is Conch.” Sea Foam turned a sharp corner around a massive boulder. “She lives in the biggest shell under the sea, for she deserves no less.”

“Conch sounds very nice. Does she have, like…I don’t know, a treasure chamber of sorts?” Ruth asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Why do you want to know, human?” He cast Ruth a suspicious glance and she grew warm, trying to think of a credible lie.

“No reason. I’m just trying to get to know this place a little better, since I’ll be here forever apparently. Should I not have asked?” She donned her best worried face.

“No, I suppose it’s all right,” Sea Foam sighed. “Queen Conch does indeed have a treasure hoard. It is located in the very center of her palace. Our queen is so generous, she allows her subjects to view her trove in the afternoon. It should be beginning soon if you would wish to join them.”

Ruth said yes, she would, and so they set off. First Key, here I come.

Ruth was at the bottom of a deep trench. She could just barely see the top. Coral grew everywhere. Suddenly, Sea Foam began to swim directly up, to the top of the trench. It took a few minutes, but she and Sea Foam were soon at the peak. Ruth gazed out at the sight before her. Massive structures made of giant shells, coral and even bits of seaweed were everywhere. If she looked hard enough, Ruth could just make out small dots swimming about the large city. Mermaids. And mermen. Probably some of the ‘Escaped’, too. Sea Foam had told her that the humans they brought here were called the ‘Escaped’, because they had run from their heartaches. He seemed to have a rather tragic outlook on humans.

Sea Foam led her towards the chaotic city, nodding politely to anyone they passed along the way. As they neared the gate, Ruth saw that there was more than just merpeople and Escaped. Many different types of sea creatures lived there as well - crabs, fish, octopi, even some whales and sharks. Sea Foam swam up to the large gates, which looked like they were made out of many different things from the sea: seaweed, coral, driftwood, and some odds and ends that had sunken down here years ago. Sea Foam made his way towards the merman positioned in front of the gate. He began to talk to him, gesturing to Ruth a few times. After a minute of discussion, the merman turned and opened the gate. Sea Foam turned and gestured for Ruth to follow him into the city.

“The treasure viewing will be very soon,” he said when Ruth had caught up. “I will show you the way. Come, mortal.” Off he swam down the street, Ruth struggling to keep up.

The castle was truly remarkable. Sea Foam was right about it being the largest shell in the ocean. It was massive. About eight times the size of Ruth’s house back on Earth, and she had always thought that her home was a pretty decent size. The shell was, coincidently, a conch. It was a light pinkish-orange color and sat upright in the very center of the city. Ruth tried not to think of the size of whatever had once lived in it.

Again, Sea Foam had a small conversation with a guard, who then opened the gate to let them enter.

“Welcome, mortal,” the guard murmured as she swam by.

“It’s Ruth,” she said, more than a little irritated with the name-calling. “Not mortal, not human child. Ruth.”

The castle was even more impressive on the inside. A large staircase spiraled up the shell to the top. Chandeliers made from quartz hung from the ceiling. Guards lined the corridor, dressed more elegantly than Ruth could have imagined. Huge statues stood against the walls.

As she traveled deeper into the castle, Ruth began to see people other than guards. She saw merpeople and Escaped swimming in the same direction as she was. The crowd became thicker and thicker, the bubbles churning and flowing around her making it hard to see until they ended at a large room, full of treasures of all shapes and sizes. As she swam underneath the arch to enter, she saw writing above another doorway. Sha Boj a Gool.

“What does that mean?” Ruth whispered to Sea Foam, pointing to the gibberish.

“The Room of Gold,” he whispered back. “It is written in the ancient tongue of the merpeople. Only a few can speak it fluently. Most only know simple words.”

“What do all the other doors say?” Ruth asked, noticing there were other doors with the same strange writing above them. “Can you read those too?”

“Certainly. The one there is The Room of Jewels, Sha Boj a Jem. That one is The Room of Oddities, Sha Boj a Obolem. Next to that is The Room of Gifts, Sha Boj a Gill. And there are countless other rooms down that hall.”

“Great. Thanks. I’ll just have a look around,” she said, inching away. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.” Off she swam towards The Room of Gold. She wasn’t sure if there was a room full of keys, but she knew the Key was gold, so it was a good start.

The Room of Gold was amazing. Everything you could possibly think of made from gold was there, from great golden statues of merpeople to small golden pens and inkwells. It was magnificent, but Ruth could only feel overwhelmed and hopelessly lost as she viewed all the glowing splendor. As she looked around, she saw a small group of keys labeled with the words Melfar Keck. She couldn’t believe her luck! Ruth figured there must be someone in the room that spoke merspeech. She turned and headed towards the first mermaid she saw.

“Excuse me.” Ruth tapped the mermaid on the shoulder. “Do you know what that says?” She pointed to the label.

“It says Magic Keys,” the mermaid answered in a lilting voice. “There is a small booklet of mer-speech translations in that corner if you would like to know more about it.”

Ruth thanked her and hurried to the table. It turned out that the ‘booklet’ wasn’t really a booklet at all. It was a strange bit of technology the merpeople had created. It had a thick plastic-looking frame, and inside that was a thin sheet of what looked like glass. Ruth soon discovered that to make it work you had to press a button on the frame while aiming the contraption at the thing you desired to translate. She then swam back to the magic keys. It must be here. It has to be. There were twelve keys in all. Each one was marked with what power it possessed. With the booklet in hand, Ruth pieced together what they were saying.

Whatever this key is put into and locked grants the wishes of the one locking it.

If this key is lost it will immediately return to the owner’s pocket.

This key holds secrets that only a person pure of heart can posses.

This key can detect a person of noble blood.

This key fits into any lock.

That one must be it. It fits Tom’s description perfectly! The first Key! Ruth’s heart raced.

The Key wasn’t all that extraordinary. It was just a simple gold key. The thing that caught Ruth’s eye about it though, was the emerald in the ring. It sparkled like it was fairy dust and sunlight and a boatload of glitter all rolled into one precious gem.

Ruth looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching. No one was in the room. She picked up the Key and slipped it into her pocket, rubbing the emerald as she did so. Finally! she thought, and rushed toward the exit. As soon as she passed through the doorway, a great wailing burst forth. An alarm! Ruth began to swim as fast as she could, but the doors and arches were already shutting, locking her, and the rest of the merpeople, inside.

Everyone was frantic, swimming to and fro, whacking people with their tails and clutching others in fright. People shouted to one another, while others screamed in terror, and everyone whirled about in confusion. One door burst open and five burly mermen sailed in. The guards. Ruth had to think fast, but her mind was so panicked she couldn’t think at all.

The guards began to search people, one by one.

She was running out of time.

She slid her fingers into her pockets and brushed against the Key. She had come this far. She couldn’t lose it now. Think! she ordered herself.

She slid into the thickest part of the crowd at the very back. Her side bumped against the doorknob of the exit door. Slowly, her fingers slid over the doorknob and she desperately tried the door. It was shut tight. Then she stopped. The Key! The Key can open any lock!

Gleefully, she slid her back in front of the door, blocking everyone’s view. She extracted the Key from her pocket and fit it into the lock behind her, keeping her body facing front so no one would suspect.

It took her a few tries to get the Key into the lock. When she fit it into the lock, she turned it.

The Key didn’t budge. She tried again. And again. Her heart rose to her throat, panic and desperation along with it.

Then she tried turning it the other way. It slid smoothly around, the lock giving a faint click. Ruth nearly fainted with relief.

She opened the door as wide as she dared and squeezed out. A moment later the guards gave a shout and sped after her.

Their fins and tails gave them the advantage. They were gaining.

Ruth rounded a corner and scrambled behind a statue. The guards swam right past her.

As soon as they were out of sight, Ruth reemerged from behind the statue and rushed in the opposite direction.

She swam as fast as she could down the corridors, her panic and frantic paddling not keeping her moving as quickly or as smoothly as she would have liked.

Think! she commanded herself. How am I going to find the exit? She forced herself to stop swimming, and slid behind one of the many statues. How do I get out? Do I have something to follow? Someone? Ruth froze in disbelieving success. The guards! The guards were following me, thinking I would escape out the exit! She needed to follow the guards.

Ruth slipped out from behind the statue and began making her way back the way she came. She had not gone far when she began to hear voices. Slowing her pace, she carefully peeked around the corner of the hallway to see who it was.

Dozens of merfolk and Escaped were swimming down the corridor in her direction. But they weren’t guards. From the looks of it these were the people from the viewing!

“...Stole something…” Ruth heard one say. Her ears perked up and she focused on what they were saying.

“The nerve of it to take from Queen Conch’s own treasure trove!” So I’m an ‘It’ now, am I? She thought wryly.

The crowd continued forward, pushing and shoving each other, but moving at a leisurely pace. As one, they turned down the hall right before getting to Ruth. Ruth realized that they must be leaving the castle. And even if they weren’t, they had to leave at some point. As carefully as she could, she scooched around the corner and began to follow the noisy group, always staying a hallway away from them.

Ruth followed them through twists and turns, up stairs and down some, into large spacious rooms and small, cramped, dark rooms that didn’t look like they belonged in a castle. Then again, castles didn’t belong underwater in an enormous sea shell, either. Every now and then, a pair or so of merpeople would break away from the crowd and turn into a different room or hallway. Ruth worried that maybe that meant that these were just merfolk and Escaped that lived in the castle. But her worries were in vain. The main group swam down one more corridor, then turned into a wide hallway. At the end of the hallway stood the gate.

Ruth had walked through that gate earlier that day. Then, it had seemed like a trivial matter. Now, it was life and death. She needed a way to get past the guards waiting at the gate without being caught. She viewed the gate and the archway, searching for inspiration. It was then that she noticed that the gate stopped at a certain point, but the entrance kept going. There’s a huge gap with no gate or anything right there! Ruth couldn’t believe her luck. All she needed to do was swim up without being noticed and go over!

The ceiling of the hall was shadowed and dim. While the guards were busy letting the crowd Ruth had follow through, she swam up to the top and made her way to the opening. Her heart pounded, and her breathing was quick and heavy. Something told her that this wasn’t right. This is too easy. Ruth dug around in her pockets, hoping to find something to throw through the entrance. She came up with some leaves and twigs that had made their way into her pockets during her many recent mishaps. She approached the opening and threw a few of the twigs at it. They moved slowly through the water, then sank down to the ocean floor, settling comfortably into the sand without touching the fence. Ruth caught her breath and took to the shadows, but no one seemed to notice the twigs. She took the rest of the twigs and leaves, swam right up to the opening and flung them. They passed harmlessly through.

It doesn’t seem like there’s a barrier or anything. Still…

Ruth had to take the risk. She backed up and braced herself. Kicking her legs vigorously, she propelled herself through the opening.

A great shock of electricity raked through her, sending her flying forwards through the opening. She rushed downwards, hitting the ground much harder than she had thought possible. Should’ve seen that coming, she thought dazedly to herself. Alarms blared, lights flashed, guards shouted and people screamed, but all Ruth could do was lay there, unable to breathe.

Suddenly, a pair of arms grabbed her and dragged her back out of the light. Ruth’s breath shot back into her lungs. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand smothered the sound and pulled her farther out of the light. She kicked her legs and wriggled, trying to get a look at who had grabbed her.

“Stop it, you idiot!” a voice told her. “We’re trying to help!”

At the unexpectancy of that statement, Ruth stopped struggling. The person holding her dropped her against a wall, facing him.

It was a merman. Merboy would be more accurate, since he was only a year or two older than she was. Two mermaids about the same age flanked him, their arms crossed.

“What do you want with me?” Ruth asked, glaring.

The boy grinned and held out the Key. Ruth paled. How did he get that?? It had been in her pocket before, and she hadn’t felt him take it out. Maybe he was a thief or a pickpocket or something. She opened her mouth to defend her innocence, but couldn’t think of a good explanation. She hung her head.

He held the Key up and examined it as he spoke. “We’ve all been to Queen Conch’s treasure trove. This was part of it.” He looked at her, waiting for her answer.

“Are you going to hand me over to the Queen?” Ruth asked warily.

“No! Well, maybe. It really depends,” the boy answered.

“Depends on what?” she demanded.

This time the girls answered. “We want to know why you stole this.” They spoke at the same time, in the same tone.

Ruth looked closer at the girls. They looked exactly the same. Their long purple hair waved at exactly the same time, they blinked their black eyes simultaneously, and they swam forward in unison.

“Identical twins.” She said wonderingly. She had seen identical twins before, but these two seemed different. More...identical.

“Cursed twins,” they spat. “We were cursed to do…this.” They gestured to themselves together.

That would explain their strange alikeness. “By who?”

“The Sorceress,” they hissed venomously. “She was searching for someone. We don’t know who it was. She thought he or she might have been here, in the city. The mermaid guarding the gate at the time was our mother. She was pregnant with us. The Sorceress demanded to be admitted into the city. Our mother refused; she would never let such an evil person into our city. In a rage, The Sorceress cursed our mother’s womb, making us who we are.” The boy lay a comforting hand on the girls’ shoulders, and they leaned into him. The gesture made Ruth wonder if they were siblings.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” she said. She didn’t have much else to say. Anything she could put to words, anyway. But her feelings were clear. The shock, and fear, and rage, and the gut-wrenching sickness that any creature would do something to someone like this.

“We don’t want ‘sorry’,” they spat. “We want The Sorceress dead.”

And suddenly Ruth’s thoughts were resolved. “So do I,” she declared. “Well, I didn’t until now. Before I just wanted my dad back. But now…she has to go. That’s why I need that Key. And why you can’t turn me in.”

The twins and the boy exchanged looks. Ruth held her breath. Was this going to work?

The boy turned his gaze on her. He leaned over her, eyes narrowed.

“Kill the Sorceress,” he said, handing her the Key. “There’s a secret entrance right under your feet. It goes all the way outside the city.”

“Thank you,” Ruth gasped, accepting the Key.

The twins leaned down and opened the hatch. It was a tunnel. Ruth scrambled down into it.

“Good luck,” said the twins.

“I hope killing the Sorceress will cure you,” Ruth said fervently. Then she scrambled into the tunnel.

She reemerged from the tunnel with the deep trench in sight. She hopped out of the tunnel and swam toward it. Swimming over the trench, Ruth was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard a shout.

“There she is! It’s the mortal that stole the key from the palace!”

Not even bothering to look around, Ruth swam five times faster than she had before. Even so, the merpeople were gaining. She could hear their shouts becoming louder. Come on, come on, come on! Oh gee, why me? Why me? She heard a loud shout.

“Fire!”

Fire? Fire what? There was a blast of bubbles and Ruth was shot upward. What are they doing? I’m going so fast I’ll fly out of the lagoon and—Oh no! They’re trying to kill me when I fall on the rocks! At this speed I’ll break every bone in my body!

She began to flail in the water in the hopes of slowing herself down. It didn’t work. She was nearing the surface and could no longer breath. She was one hundred feet away…fifty feet…twenty…ten…she shot out of the water, flailing and screaming at the top of her lungs.

“I’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIE!!!” She flew through the air, kicking and yelling. She fell towards the earth and hit something. Ruth was expecting hard rock and shattering pain, but instead, she hit something relatively soft and...alive. It was still very painful, but it would have been much more painful if she landed on the rocks. And the only thing she heard was…neighing.

“Wha—?” And then she realized... “The horse!” she cried. “I fell on the horse!” She stood up on shaky legs and gave the frightened horse a big hug, ignoring the pain in her side. Ruth was laughing and crying at the same time. She was alive.

Tom saw her as she hobbled towards him leaning on the horse—it was too shaken to let anyone ride it—and jumped up to greet her.

“Ruth! Thank goodness! What took you so long? You’ve been gone for three days! Are you hurt? Are you hungry? I can cook up something for you. Are you alright?”

“Three days?” Ruth asked, staring at him. “It only seemed like a few hours to me.”

“I don’t know how that could be. But it doesn’t matter right now. Tell me what happened.”

So Ruth told Tom her whole adventure - right up from leaving the horse to falling on top of it. Tom’s eyes grew so big Ruth was almost certain they would pop out of his head. She handed him the Key, grinning with pleasure. He took it reverently and tucked it into his pocket, his eyes glinting with excitement.

“Amazing,” he marveled, shaking his head. “Now, let’s have a look at your side.”

Ruth lifted her shirt a bit of the way up, to where the pain was. Tom examined it and felt around. Ruth closed her eyes and tried not to cry.

“I think I may have sprained my ankle too,” she added, forcing her voice to stay steady.

“Well, we’ll just let the ankle heal. You’re going to be riding anyway. It looks like you broke your rib, though. You’re sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She bit her lip. “How long is my rib going to take to heal?”

“Well,” Tom dug in his bag, grinning ear to ear, “normally, it would take over a month, but, with this salve Lemonjello gave me, you’ll be healed within the hour! It’s magic.” He touched a bit of the salve to Ruth’s side. “Just lay back and rest. We’ll be ready to head off soon.”

The salve felt cool and tingly. Ruth had no doubt it was magic. She sighed and leaned back, letting it rush through her, relaxing her body.