She raised a white eyebrow at me. "Cora… What’s this about a barge?"
"Where’s Dynah?" I echoed to Shoal.
"In her cell, Your Highness."
"Please stop calling me that!"
We followed the towering guard around a few more limestone corners before we arrived at Dynah’s cell. She was sharpening her nails on the stone wall, which just made me angrier for some reason.
"Your Highness." She forced a smile when she saw us.
My mother cleared her throat and folded her arms over her armored breastplate. "Ah, Dynah of The Depths. And why are you bound in my detainment cell?"
"Surely, Your Majesty was aware of the assault that took place just beyond the boundary waters? One of our own, again, hurt by humans," she echoed innocently.
My mother narrowed her eyes, concerned, then looked to me for answers. I could only shake my head. Dynah hadn’t told me one of the Undines had been hurt.
"What assault?" I echoed, glaring at her.
"On you, of course, Your Highness." She glanced at my arm.
"What? This?" I raised my forearm and glanced at the bite wound. "No, this is because—" I started, but she cut me off.
"And I’ve already shown Cora the attack on the Gnome Queen’s barge, Your Majesty. In our waters, no less. Mara has learned that the Gnome Queen believes it was us rather than her own mutinous crew."
I gasped involuntarily at the ridiculousness of the claim.
"Were there survivors?" My mother looked intently from Dynah to me. "And the Gnome Queen? Has there been any sight of her?"
"I… I didn’t see her, Mother. There was only—"
"Send an envoy to the boundary waters." She interrupted me. "Search everywhere. She must be found. Bring any survivors to the shore. We cannot afford anything that looks like we’ve broken the treaty."
"Oh, it’s too late for that," Dynah echoed innocently. I wanted to murder her with her own hair. "They're all dead. And those of us who even tried to help the sailors were met with violence. Just look at Cora's arm."
I’d already forgotten again about the bite the human inflicted when I’d pulled the halfling from his back. I looked down and noticed the wound was still ragged, and the pain started all over again.
My mother blanched and looked at my arm. "A human did this to you when you tried to help him?"
I stammered. "Well, no. I mean, yes, but it just happened so fast," I finished idiotically, like that ridiculous statement alone would somehow negate the fury in my mother’s darkening eyes.
"I see. Cora, go to the infirmary." The queen nodded to Shoal. "And you see that Dynah is released."
"No!" I caught myself before I continued. "Dynah was leading the halflings to raid the wreckage. It was probably Mara’s idea! Look!" I pulled the chains from around my neck and held them out to her.
"I’m afraid we have bigger problems than this now. Captain, see to your wound and then assemble a team to find the Gnome Queen. Dynah, thank you for reporting this. You’re free to go."
"What? Mother!" I began to protest, but Dynah stopped me with an obnoxious, sweeping bow.
"Of course, Your Majesty. I’m at your service," she lied as Shoal unlocked the cell door.
I started to protest again, but it was pointless in the wake of everyone's departure and Reed’s untimely entrance.
"That looks bad" he echoed, glancing at my arm. "I didn’t realize you’d been bitten, Cora."
He tried to cradle my elbow with his arm, but I pushed him back squarely in the chest. "I could've used your corroboration on what happened out there. Dynah has my mother thinking the humans mutinied and sunk their own barge, but that Mama Luz will blame us since it happened near in our waters!" I echoed.
None of this seemed to get through to Reed. "We can deal with that after you go to the infirmary. We can't do anything if you get a blood infection."
"Reed, are you listening to me? Mara’s clan attacked that barge. There were men still alive who saw the Undines attacking—maybe even Mama Luz herself!"
"Cora, let go, you’re—"
"It’s a clear law to stay away from the humans! They blatantly disregard—"
"Cora!" he echoed loudly, startling me into silence.
"What?"
Reed cupped the fist I had wrapped around the chains and lifted my arm, which was bleeding all over again.
"Infirmary? I don't want to have to kill any innocent sharks today just because you're stubborn."
3
I'd almost let myself forget about Reed losing his promotion to Squadron Captain all because of me. The realization of it washed through me again like sand in my gills, and I instinctively swallowed hard to combat the feeling.
It didn't work.
"Reed, I'm sorry about your promotion. I didn't mean to—"
"Don't worry about it," he echoed as we left the infirmary, my arm wrapped in kelp and covered by a piece of mollusk shell. "You should really wait here for the healer, though."
"We don't have time. She'd make me sit through a saline infusion since this is a human bite, and we need to find at least some of the squadron to look for Mama Luz."
We swam through the now-empty Royal Cavern and out the corridor to the open water. I had no idea where my squadron—er, Mara’s squadron was now with everyone scattered after the promotions ceremony, that is, until I saw Dynah wrapping herself around three of my—of Mara’s—new second lieutenants.
Reed laughed. "Found some of the squadron."
I rolled my eyes and swam toward them.
"Oh, Your Highness…" Dynah bowed obnoxiously.
"Save it," Reed echoed. "We need to find Mama Luz. Now. And you're going to show us where she is."
Dynah’s silver skin flickered in shades of gray and black at the mention of the Gnome Queen's name. The three second lieutenants stood at attention, the fins just below their jawlines fanned straight out.
"Stand down," Mara echoed, waving to the lieutenants as she approached. Her silver hair was pulled tightly against her scalp, her new Squadron Captain bar tattoo on her shoulder red and angry. "We have no idea where to find the Gnome Queen. She probably washed up on that island and is plotting her invasion as we speak."
"We're under the queen's orders to find her, and Dynah is going to beg her forgiveness for sinking her barge." I glared at her. "I know you ordered that attack, Mara."
She laughed so loudly that the reverberation actually rang in my ears.
"Scan the shore," Reed echoed to the young lieutenants. "We'll be right behind you."
They nodded, fanning the fins below their jaws one more time in acknowledgement before disappearing into the dark waters toward the island.
"Take us to the Gnome Queen, Mara," I echoed, extending my arm for her to lead the way. She cocked a silver eyebrow at me and smiled just before exchanging glances with Dynah and together, darted away. "Mara!"
We moved quickly through the water and around the coral reef just before the boundary line that separated our territory from the open water—from the depths of the lawless Undines like Dynah who were still subject to my mother's rule, but did not respect it. Ships were dragged down there without a trace remaining, despite our laws against interfering with anything above the skim.
"Cora! Let them go!" Reed called to me.
"They need to answer for what they did!"
We chased Mara and Dynah into the depths, the moonlight diluting in the water the farther out we went. It was still and surreal with only jellyfish floating by periodically until Mara finally slowed, then darted behind a dune. Dynah was right behind her.
"We're too far from the boundary, Cora. Let them go," Reed insisted again. A great white shark moved slowly in the distance beyond the dune, and the phosphorous algae on the skim created a soft, eerie blue canopy under the moonlight. I swam after Mara, ignoring Reed’s protests, then stopped abruptly when I rounded the corner.
"Your Highness!" Opal echoed, her long, silver hair instantly shadowing
in fear.
"Opal? What in the seven seas...?" I started, but didn't need to finish my question when I saw the sneer on Mara's silver, almost glowing face. She swam a half-circle around Opal, gathering her into the group of five other Undines of The Depths: Dynah, two other sirens, and two tritons, each of them glowing arrogantly. Their silver hair mottled in the light, and their round, dark eyes bore into me. They smiled, revealing four rows of small, sharp, needle-like teeth.
"Is this Cora, Princess of the Undines?" one of the tritons asked. "Out slumming are you, Your Highness?" he moved slowly toward me, swimming in a circle around me.
Reed drew the short spear from his sling. "Know your place, triton."
Mara smiled. "Oh, Lieutenant. We're all friends here, aren't we, Opal?" She stroked Opal's hair, which was shifting from silver to black.
"Why are you here, Opal?" I echoed as calmly as I could. All five of the Lawless Undines circled us.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness. Please don't put me in the hole," she echoed, flickering with fear.
Mara continued to pet Opal's color-shifting hair. "She won't put you anywhere, halfling. Don't worry. Our friend will be here soon."
I narrowed my eyes at Mara. "What friend?"
The disturbance in the water came first—the low, reverberating hum of ship engines.
"It's another ship," Reed echoed, surprised. "No, two ships."
I glared at Mara. "What are you planning out here? Another attack? The queen won't tolerate this. As Captain of the Guard, I officially charge you with treason, Mara. You're going to the hole."
I advanced to bind her arms, but she moved too quickly, twisting and wrapping Opal's long, silver hair around the halfling’s neck until she was clawing to free her gills.
"I don't think so, Princess. You as Captain of the Guard will be no different than you as Squadron Captain. You're really just a pampered little pearl who has no idea about the real world. We’re done waiting for you to lead."
I lunged at her, stopping only when Opal's strangled voice halted me. The two tritons attacked Reed, one lashing at his arms and the other cutting his torso with his razored fins while another siren went for his throat. I pulled my short spear from the sheath and hit Mara in the face, catching it in her hair and jerking her away from Reed. I jabbed the other end of the spear into the closest triton’s ribs, which gave Reed enough space to pin his remaining attacker's throat to the dune with the center of his spear.
"Come here, Opal," I commanded, pulling my spear free from the siren’s hair and holding it ready in case anyone decided to attack again.
Mara gripped Opal's hair. "You don't own the Undine, Your Highness."
"Stop calling me that!" I darted toward her, and she raced up the dune pulling Opal through the skim to the surface. "Opal!" I echoed, breaking through to the open air. I couldn't see either of them in the sparkle of moonlight over the water...or over the shadows of approaching ships.
The sandbar stretched for as far as I could see in front of me. The ships would be forced to come directly through this channel. Directly toward us, which was exactly where they were headed. Mara did this on purpose. She led us here.
Reed surfaced next to me along with the other three Undines, who laughed collectively, but no longer tried to attack us.
"Where's Opal?" he echoed.
"Mara took her over the dune."
Reed noticed the sandbar and sheathed his spear. "Into the cove?"
"No, they'd be cut off from the depths there." I echoed. "She wouldn't risk that. She has to be—"
"Right in front of you," Dynah echoed through a laugh. Mara was swimming toward the approaching ship, her tail and Opal’s both disappearing into the water.
"No!" I echoed, hearing my voice like a human's shriek above the water. I dove under through the skim after them, my spear catching in the seaweed field and ripping stalks from their roots, which slowed me down. Reed shot in front of me in pursuit of Opal, and soon, we were both free of the field.
The Lawless Undine surfaced and dove like dolphins triangulating the two boats—the first one much smaller than the second. They echoed location signals, and within minutes, dozens of Lawless were encircling the crafts.
Reed swam to my side. "There are too many Lawless, Cora. We won't be able to stop them if they attack."
"I know. We just need to get Opal and return to The Shallows. We're too far out now for any of the Guard to hear a rally echo."
Reed and I swam toward Mara and Opal while the Lawless were taunting the men aboard the boats. Some of them succumbed to the echoes that sounded like birdsongs above the skim and leaped over their deck railings. Once in the water, they were quickly surrounded by the Lawless, whose birdsong echoes became background shrieking to the cries of the drowning men.
"Opal! Come with us! This isn't what you want! This isn't who you are!" I echoed to her, but she was already completely shadowed in Mara's grasp, her hair, her skin, even her eyes pulsing black with fear.
"And what are deez here ya brought me?" a voice called down from the railing of the smaller ship. It came from a woman in red, her braided black hair stacked on top of her head and wrapped in a red cloth. She flashed a wide, white smile that ripped a hole in the moonlit air. The Gnome Queen.
"It's her," Reed echoed, his voice above the skim sounding rough and low.
"Is dat da wee princess?" Mama Luz asked, squinting in my direction.
"Oh, she doesn't like being called that now. She's Captain of the Guard," Mara answered mockingly.
Mama Luz raised both her dark eyebrows, the whites of her eyes standing out that much more against her dark skin.
"Is it dat way now then? All righty, Miss Captain of de Guard. Come, come to me child. Let me see how you've grown."
Mama Luz waved me toward the barge, which was not the Luna Bay. Behind her, more splashes and screams filled the night air, causing Opal to start squalling until Mara wrapped Opal's hair over her mouth.
"Let her go!" I echoed to Mara, pulling my short spear out of the sheath again.
"Tsk, tsk," Mama Luz said. "At least, not among yer own kind. But dat's entirely up to you now, ain't it?"
"You weren't on the Luna Bay when it sank?" I asked, but I didn't get an answer before a man started yelling to one of the sailors who was lowering a smaller boat to the water.
"Pull him up! That's an order!" the man shouted, but only some of the others were listening. Once the boat hit the skim, the man inside leaned over the edge to reach for the female Undines who were tempting him, floating on their backs and pulling at their chest wraps, their echoes blending together in a chorus that had the man nearly falling from the boat.
Other Undine swam to him, pulling at his coverings until he was free of them. With outstretched arms, one of the Undine came close enough to him to be half-lifted into his boat. He embraced her, pressing his face to her body, to her mouth, until she opened her jaws and swallowed his head, pulling the rest of his coverless body into the water where the rest of her clan devoured him in a frenzy of splashes and shrieking.
"Stop! Stop, I command you all in the name of the queen!" I echoed, but none of them obeyed.
"Aw, little princess. Dey not gonna listen to ya, urchin," Mama Luz said. "Dis boat is der payment."
"Payment for what?" Reed demanded over my shoulder.
"Ah, he's a handsome one. I may keep dat one for me-self."
"You brought that boat here?" I asked. "You brought it to the Lawless so they could attack it?"
"Well, of course I did. I need happy allies in dis war, now don't I?”
I shook my head at her, confused. "We're not at war... We have the treaty!"
Mama Luz threw her head back in a booming laugh. "Not wit you all, child. Don't yer mama tell you nothin'? We takin' back our world, Princess. Takin' it back from de human beasts. Jest look at dem," she said, gesturing in disgust at the men pulling at their coverings and climbing over themselves to get into the small boats that were lowering to t
he skim.
They grabbed at the taunting Undines, occasionally pulling them up into the boat by their hair and burying their faces into them in the seconds before the men’s flesh was torn from their bones.
"I want to go home!" Opal shrieked at the sight and bolted from Mara's grasp. Blocked by the sandbar behind us, she darted into the open water...directly toward the boats.
4
"No, Opal! Not that way!" Reed called, and we both dove after her. She was faster than we were, but she couldn't navigate the falling bodies and darting Lawless ravaging them. She swam directly into a lowered net, which was quickly lifting out of the water.
"Opal!" I shouted, swimming toward it to cut her free. It pulled us both out of the water and onto the deck of the largest ship where several men were waiting with their teeth bared. Opal struggled in the net as I tried to cut her free with edge of my short spear, her screeches causing the men to cover their ears.
"Get back to your posts!" one of the men commanded. His coverings were different from the other men. White and ornately woven. His dark hair was platted like Reed's, and his blue eyes were stormy with rage like the most violent of seas.
"But Captain, lookee what we caught. A harpy!"
Opal shrieked again as the men grabbed at her, only tightening herself in the net.
"I said get back to your posts! We're under attack, you fools!" the man in the ornate coverings...the captain, shouted, pulling out a blade and cutting the net.
"She looks like a lassie! Git me that harpy lassie!" one of the men said.
"We got two! And this one's a ripe!" another man said, pulling the net tight around my arms and making me drop my spear. He pulled off my armor plate, and I bit him, ripping the flesh from his arm. He screamed and fell back.
Two of the other men rushed me just as the captain slashed the net entangling Opal. She pulled herself to my side, which stopped the advancing men for a second. They laughed.
Kingdom of Salt and Sirens Page 49