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Now that my birthday has been and gone (yesterday) things are a little diffrent. But let me continue...
I asked Yama about the map. He told me that yes, the maps had been surpressed by the goverment, then apparently lost. Only the Order of St. George had them, and they were old. Then came the surprise. He asked me if I wanted to join the Order and be a knight like him. Don't ask me why, but that set alarm bells off in my head. I hated the idea of belonging to any qroup, however well-intentioned, and I politely declined. All the same, Yama gave me a packet of maps and a small velvet bag containing a silver cross on a chain. They were mine to keep, he said and if I ever needed help, I should come to the Order and show the cross. I thanked him and started to look at the largest map. Then...Sophie came in.
She carried a waterproof bag, which, as she showed us, contained a hundred vials of the vaccine and a lot of syringes too. I was quite sure she was a witch now, for how could she have made that so fast? But I was glad she had it. She told us that each vial contained enough for five injections. If we needed more, she would make it later. Yama asked if he could go down to the ship with me, and after tucking the maps and bag into a cubbyhole in the library, we set off for the shore again with me holding the bag.
I was worried as we headed for the sea. Would we have enough vaccine? Would it work? How many of the sea-people were there anyway?
We waded into the sea. This time there was almost no pain as my gills opened, just a sting across my cheeks. I was grateful for the current to the sunken ship, as it was much harder to swim with a short, tight, skirt on than the baggy pants I had worn before. Thank goodness I had left my sandles on the beach!
I was just starting to feel satisfied with myself when we came within thought range of the ship. Unlike before, the water seemed to be filled with panic-filled thoughts. Trouble, just as we had come!
The deck was deserted, and we dived into the hatch. Several sea-people swarmed around inside. They seemed to be guards, and flew into even more of a panic at our appearence. Finally I managed to get one of them to blurt out the story. Somehow the jellyfish had gotten into the cave where the young were kept during jellyfish season! Most of the young ones had died, and many adults were badly injured whiel trying to get them out. My hand clenched around the handle of the bag. "Take us to them!" I thought.
As he pulled us through a narrow tunnel in the reef, I felt like my heart was turning into a lump of ice. Why should this happen now, just as we were able to help? The only hope we had was if the vaccine would work after they were stung...
We shot into a huge cave. It was filled with sea-people, and their thoughts were horribly unlike any I had heard before. It was clear that most of them were dying.
We hadn't a moment to lose. Quickly dividing the contents of the bag between us, me and Yama set to work doseing the stung sea-people. I managed to show some of the less upset unhurt ones how to do so, the vaccine seemed to be helping, and I was just starting to feel a spark of hope again when a sea-man grabbed my arm.
"The king wishes to see you," he thought.
"Can't you see I'm busy?" I thought back.
"The king was wounded in the attack, we fear mortally..." he started, and I shoved a nearly empty vial and syringe into his hands.
"Inject him with this, it'll help! Understand?" He nodded and swam off.
I went back to work. Just as that little spark was starting to warm my heart and perhaps melt the ice, the sea-man came back.
He insisted that I must go to the king. He told me that he could take my place here perfectly well. He showed that he could, and told a sea-woman to take me to a place he called the old palace. And so I followed her out of the huge cave, and back to the tunnel.
This time we went along another branch of the tunnel. After a long swim, we swam into what looked like an even huger cave, full of kelp. Only when I looked up did I see, much to my surprise, that we were actully outside, in a kelp forrest.
As we swam through the kelp, the landscape got tamer, turning into fields of seaweed and finally an area that looked like an unkept garden. Another wall of kelp loomed up, but this time my guide directed me over it. It turned out to be a hedge of sorts, and when we were on the other side, I found myself in a real, though very unkept, seaweed garden. Ahead of me stood a huge palace of white marble. What could this be doing here?