Once upon a time, hundreds of millions of years ago, there lived a colony of merpeople under the sea. Though they were all very different, they managed to coexist peacefully, united by the kind and benevolent King Ragde. Each day he took the time to sit in the main hall of his underwater castle, and receive visitors from throughout the region. Sometimes they came with complaints, or sought out Ragde’s words of wisdom; every so often one would arrive bearing a gift. Such was the case one afternoon, when an elderly merman swam up slowly to the base of the King’s throne.
The curse of the trident
