Colors of the Sea (A DNF Fanfiction)

Chapter 83: In the Palace

TW: Wound, Blood, Mentions of Captivity and Death

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Maybe if he could catch Prince Clay alone, George could subtly ask him what his life was like, pretend to be understanding and all and avoid getting killed if they found out he wasn't who they were looking for by befriending the prince.

And if he had already gotten that far, maybe he could find a way to get home...

All of a sudden, George felt himself being pulled off the back of the swordfish. The taciturn siren took him to the backdoors of the palace.

After a few minutes of tense waiting in front of them, she mumbled something under her breath and pulled him inside, only to be met with a bleeding soldier laying in the middle of the hallway.

The siren immediatly forgot about George and hurried over to her companion. "Love", she cried out.

The guy was tightly clutching a wound on his side. Quickly, his lover looked around searching for bandages.

George realized this was his chance.

He swam over to them, grabbed a dagger made out of a shark's tooth off the girls' belt and cut through the plant fiber ropes tying his hands together. He took what was left of them and teared it apart until he was left with small fibers, which he connected to stripes as best as he could.

"This'll be enough until you can find real help", he said, handing the sirens what he had created. "Thanks..." The girl smiled shyly. "No problem", George answered.

While she was taking care of the wound, George slowly backed away until he was sure he could leave without them noticing.

As he was making his way through the seemingly endless corridors that appeared to not have any kind of systematic plan, he was chased by soldiers, scared royal guests and maids and was almost hit by arrows and other weapons flying past him more times than he was comfortable with. Not that he was comfortable with any.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and hid in a corner, only to find out he wasn't the only one who had that idea. A young male servant was swimming there, shivering.

"Hey", George decided to speak to him. No answer. "Can you tell me what in the world us going on here?"

The servant slowly raised his head, staring at George with wide eyes. "Who are you that you don't know that?!", he whispered in shock.
I'm the prince of the merfolk, George thought, but kept his mouth shut.

"The rebels...", the boy finally mumbled. "What?" "The rebels are attacking the palace", he repeated louder.

George furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember what he knew about the rebels. And suddenly, it hit him. Dream was their leader!

Could that mean... that he was in here somewhere? If he had managed to make it to the capital city after escaping Punz, he might be! And even if he wasn't, he could tell his friends about what had happened and maybe they could find him.

Eager to find his friend, George left the corner. And he didn't even have to look for long, only a few turns away, he saw a group of what he assumed to be rebels.

A very familiar back was turned towards him, muscular, broad shoulders, the typical siren fins on the ears, shoulders and arms, blonde hair and a green tail.

"Dream?"